#my college classes are killing me (I am studying topics I am very passionate about and excited to attend)

[bi-ocelot]

Hope you guys don’t mind if I relapse into a sparkledog(pony) phase for like one second. I’m channeling my inner horsegirl (genderneutral)

[the-shiftshop]

Hey Diary - Part 4

PART 1, PART 2, PART 3 and SIDE STORY 1 of the Hey Diary Series

The day ended unexpectedly fun. Everyone was so confused why Keith and I had been laughing together, eating together and even sitting side by side in class today as if Keith never had bullied me. Some even tried to confront us, asking if Keith held me hostage. Keith had been dragging me all around with him. He even asked me to play ball with Peter and Tom, who seemed more closer than usual. I would make assumptions that my recent changes are still affecting them, but I already had deleted that log, and these two would, time by time, give hints that they’re nothing more than a friend, so I shrugged it off.

On my way home, I couldn’t get the fun out of my system. I finally felt so free to move. It’s like I can finally do whatever I want and be whatever I want to be.

Then I suddenly remembered what Keith had asked me this morning.

“Make me old enough to be a teacher for a day.”

It got me thinking about what he’s planning to do once more. It’s not that I don’t trust Keith. It’s just that I’m wondering what his goal is. It’s probably just because he wants to experience being old, or being a teacher. He looked so exhilarated when I told him all about the Diary App, so I’m pretty sure he just wants to give it a try.

At home, I didn’t waste anymore time to tinker with the app as I am very tired and I already want to fall asleep. I carefully wrote down on the app, thinking of the desired outcome I am aiming for.

Monday

Hey Diary,

Today was fun. It felt like I was friends with Keith, Peter and Tom ever since the first day we met. We all had fun together and it felt like all my problems are fixed. This morning, I talked to Keith about this Diary App. I have trusted Keith on this, and I do hope he wouldn’t take that for granted. He was super amazed with this app and the ability of it to change reality and he specifically gave me one request.

I wish that would come true, I wish Keith would turn into the person he want him to be just for a day, and that he would be aware of any changes that may occur.

With that properly typed out, I pressed save, then in just a few seconds, I lost consciousness on my bed.

---------

As soon as Felix fainted in his room, Keith was lying on his bed in the frat house, tossing and turning as he feel his body contort in uncomfortable ways. It wasn’t painful. It just felt like his body is growing far more foreign in every seconds that pass by. It’s like his body wanting to grow numb, but he can still feel pain if he try to pinch himself. With his fingers still pinching his cheeks, he noticed hair poking out to them. He proceeded to feel his face with both his hands, realizing that he’s growing a full beard. Finally recognizing what’s going on, he stopped moving around, and he instead just lied on his back and let it all happen.

He moved his hands down to his growing torso, feeling each muscles expand in his touch. He’s growing, that’s for sure, and it’s not just his body. His mind started to fog up a little, making him wince for a bit.

“I should be working on my lessons for tomorrow-” He blurted out unconsciously. He stopped himself midway, realizing what he had just said. That was the first time he said that. And not only that he meant he’ll study for a lesson, he knows he meant that he’s the one teaching them tomorrow.

He finally decided to stand up. His eyes widened when he saw that it had suddenly gone dark. Not only that, but his beddings changed. His shock soon changed into amusement when we quickly see the night change into day then back to night simultaneously, starting off slow, then it sped up. Even the weird feelings all over his body start to feel more prominent. Memories of years of teaching poured out into his brain. Names of all the student he should know popped out in his mind. Charles, that up-to-no-good student but gets straight As in his class; Marie, that campus nerd who kept asking him weird questions; Lawrence, that jock who needs to keep up with his quizzes. Keith already knew some of these students, but he started to see them in a different light. These are the students he teach, not his friends, not his classmates, not his football teammates.

Keith fell back on his knees as he started to feel tiredness.

It was exhausting feeling all of these happen in just a few minutes. It hurts his eyes to see the outside change between night and day as if like flashing images. His vision started to blur and in replace to his clear sight, a thick round glasses appear on his face.

He remember finishing college and finally started his first practice teaching. Now he’s a fully pledged professor. Everyone liked him. He can even remember students confessing their feelings for him, but of course, declining these for his job. He can remember going into classrooms, not to sit with the crowd, but to stand in front of them. He knows how to make a hard topic fun and he knows his students enjoy his class as much as how he loves to teach.

Tiredness was replaced with pleasure as he arched his back, placing both hands on his crotch, then giving a loud satisfying moan. Feeling his cock ballooned through his shorts. He slowly humped against his hands as he put more pressure on them.

He remember tons of hook ups from college up to recent. Remembering women bouncing on him, kissing him passionately, touching him with deep romantic and sexual connection. These thoughts of women is making him hard. His colleagues had been asking him why he haven’t been properly dating anyone yet, or even planning to marry anyone since he’s already nearing age of marriage, but he just enjoys having flings with a lot of people more than sticking to one, at least, for now. He knows when he will find that right person, and that person has not come yet.

He realized that both of his hands are already in his underpants, pawing that hard cock with one hand, while the other is teasing his tip. He finally had let both of his hands stroke his large shaft. He pulled his cock out of his shorts, then finally gave into pleasure.

“A-Ah! Yeah! Damn!” He cussed in his new deeper voice. Not only that he noticed his voice, he realized that his cursing got more softer, less of that slurs, but more of that expression used to show immense satisfaction. “Aww.. This feels so...”

He cut himself as he finally real his climax, cumming all of what seemed like a 14 year stock of cum all over the floor. The cum stain on the floor disappeared soon enough and his room straightened up more. Finally the quick changing of time came to a full stop.

It was morning and it’s time to take a shower and go to school.

---------

Wish was completed. Please take a picture and attach to the log to confirm change and to keep the new reality.

I stared at the pop-up message in my phone. Peter and Tom are laughing beside me while they eat their lunch. I haven’t seen Keith since morning. I’m kinda worried if I messed up with something. The suspense is killing me and I don’t like this. Tom waved a hand in front of me.

“Dude. You’re been staring in your phone since the time you got here. You fine?” He raised his eyebrows.

“Yeah. I’m fine. Just wondering where Keith has gone to.” I said.

“Keith? Who’s Keith?” Tom asked, before giving me a shocked face. “You don’t mean Professor Keith, right?” He chuckled, “Didn’t know he’s your type.” He joked.

I gave him a confused look, then realizing what he meant, I quickly tried to reply back. “N-No! It’s not like that-”

“Tom, don’t tease him. Let him like whoever he likes.” Peter laughed.

“I mean, I should’ve been saying the same. But then, who wouldn’t fall head over heels for Professor Keith? He’s damn ripped. Unlike the other professors here who focus on growing their stomach and ego, more than growing their muscles.” Tom continued eating his food.

Keith’s a professor now, huh? I guess it worked.

After lunch, we proceeded to class. More than usual, everyone had been talking about Keith. I was sitting on my chair, still staring in my phone as it display the same message. I haven’t used this phone on anything else yet.

My attention switched to Alex who walked in front of me. I haven’t seen Alex in 2 days. He looks like he wants to ask me something. I looked at him and he opened his mouth. “Hey, Felix, uhm... Can we talk-”

“Okay, class back to your seats.”

A deep voice came booming through the room. Everyone sat back to their chairs, including Alex who looks disappointed.

I looked at the man by the whiteboard. He was wearing a denim dress shirt and a black jeans. His round glasses flare with the florescent light in the room. Everyone in the room is staring at him. Most girls are looking at him with hearts in their eyes.

The man dropped his things on the table, then started roaming his eyes around the room. “Before we start our lesson. Felix, a word.” He called onto me. I looked around to see everyone looking to my direction, most of them in shock. “Come now.” He said, walking out the room.

I hurried out to follow him somewhere. He didn’t bother looking back, and I just rushed to follow him. He finally stopped where there are barely no students around. He sat down by the window and stared at me. I just stared at him back, looking from his head to toe. He scuffed and gave me a short chuckle.

“Take a picture, it’ll last longer.” He grinned.

“I- Uhm. Sorry, prof. I don’t swing-”

“Nah! I’m messing with you, man!” He laughed. “It’s me! Keith! Well, it’s Professor Keith for you now.”

My eyes widened. This man is Keith. It worked. I mean why am I so surprised right now? I’m the one who knows about this Diary App.

“I’m enjoying this knowledge so much! I know about A LOT of stuff I never knew before. So this is how it feels to be a professor.” He flexed, touched his muscles, and basically showed off. He pulled out an apple and tossed it around. “A students gave this to me today. I never received any offer from anyone.”

“You like it?” I asked him.

“I like it? I LOVE IT! Though, I might not stay like this forever, at least I don’t want to.” He replied.

I raised my eyebrows. “Why?” I asked him.

“Well... For now I want to enjoy being this kind of adult.” He answered.

He stopped for a while, running his fingers against his chin. He then took a bite from the apple he was holding, chewing it thoroughly, then swallowing.

“The reason why I’m asking your help is... I want to experience being different people for the whole week.”

[ashistrashhh]

here are some fic recs!! including sakuatsu, bokuaka, kuroken and matsuhana bc i couldnt help myself

if you want, ask me about a certain ship and ill give you some recs!

-sakuatsu-

Marble and Sandstone by red_camellia

rating: G words: 12,937 chapters: 2/2 

author summary: Miya Atsumu only cares about volleyball and nothing else. That is, until he develops a strange obsession with the marble statue of a young man that seems vaguely familiar in his university's arts department. One day that statue comes alive as the very real Sakusa Kiyoomi, and they are left with the mystery of why Sakusa Kiyoomi was turned into a statue and only came back to life when Atsumu touched him. Their new-found connection and the strange mystery turns Atsumu's life upside down, not least because of his growing feelings for Sakusa.

my notes: this was a rlly cute fic!!! 11/10 would read again!!

let it go (paint my body gold) by lunarism

rating: T words: 3,272 chapters: 1/1

author summary: It becomes a routine for them. Sometimes they go grocery shopping and make dinner together, other times they end up talking until Sakusa feels like his own shower and bed is calling him. Every single time Sakusa gets home, shrugs his coat off, balls it up, and proceeds to scream profusely into the fabric for a few minutes.

my notes: pining!!! sakusa!!! also casual painter!atsumu!!! and they paint together!!!

craft a miracle with these hands, lips, (silence) by chrysanthe (sonderesque)

rating: T words: 4,252 chapters: 1/1

author summary: ‘Someone is here to ruin your night,’ his door tells him. ‘You should let them in.’ “I’M HOMELESS OMI-OMI. HOMELESS,” yells the one here to ruin his night. “LET ME IN.”

(What does Kiyoomi sell his sanctuary for?)

my notes: hnnn rlly fuckin cute,, and domestic,,,,

Clipped To You by littleboat

rating: T words: 8,174 chapters: 1/1

author summary: It starts with Hinata Natsu, of all people.

Well, if Atsumu’s being honest with himself, it started way before that, but he’s not, so that’s besides the point. And thankfully, he’s just petty enough to blame all of his problems on a thirteen year old girl.

or Sakusa starts wearing hair clips and Atsumu is more than a little obsessed

my notes: minor kagehina, bokuaka // god these fics rlly make me simp for fictional characters even more than i should. but!! sakusa!!! in hairclips!!! and a pining atsumu!!!

learn how to lay me down in something other than danger, other than fury by rosevtea 

words: 34,211 chapters: 1/1

author summary: All of the ways fellow college TA Miya Atsumu reinvents Kiyoomi's definition of normal.

my notes: god i loved this. it’s a fake dating au and like,, even though they’re “dating” sakusa keeps letting his guard down little by little around atsumu and it surprises everyone. komori and akaashi just know  that they’re were genuinely pining for eachother

among probabilities and a thousand fates by aalphard

rating: T words: 15,675 chapters: 1/1

author summary: prompt fill for “in a world where the red string of fate exists, person a’s finger always twitches when person b, who can see the string, tugs on their string” | or sakusa thought he had a tic and atsumu liked to see his confused expression when it started to happen exclusively when he was around.

my notes: i! loved! it!! so basically atsumu and osamu have the rare gift of seeing the red string of fate, so they know its real but sakusa, like most other people dont believe it exists. so atsumu gives sakusa a (kinda) hard time. rlly cute!! i love soulmate aus!

-bokuaka- 

love in the time of wifi by dalyeau

rating: G words: 4,177 chapters: 1/1

author summary: Akaashi is coming to terms with the fact that he might be romantically interested in his volleyball captain. Hence, doing what any sixteen year old with a problem should do. He asks about it online.

my notes: really cute fic about akaashi asking what he should do about his crush on a site similar to reddit. its kinda a “i didnt know it was you” kind of fic and it made me happy

steam by orphan_account

rating: E words: 8,474 chapters: 1/1

author summary:

 bokuto: why is he so hot bokuto: why am i so gay kuroo: LMAO you mean your vice captain right bokuto: yeah

The coach blew the whistle for practice to begin, and Bokuto drummed his fingers against the bleachers, awaiting Kuroo’s reply. He was about to walk away, when his phone buzzed in his hand.kuroo: i got this bro bokuto: what bokuto: wtf does that mean

Bokuto started to panic.

my notes: explicit!!! but really wholesome. kuroo is honestly the best wingman. i also think this is my favourite bokuaka smutfic?? 

just to miss the sun by rosevtea

rating: T words: 15,126 chapters:1/1

author summary: Everything begins to implode when MSBY Jackals outside hitter Bokuto Koutarou crashes Akaashi's livestream.

my notes: akaashi is a booktuber and bokuto crashes one of his streams. fans begin to speculate. rlly fluffy and can u tell i like bokuaka

brain fish by iceblinks

rating: T words: 12,026 chapters: 6/6

author summary: Akaashi wakes up to a string of texts from an unknown number. 

my notes: i love text fics and i love wrong number aus so u can tell how much i loved this. really fluffy and i come back to it time to time

-kuroken-

us three by honey_s

rating: T words: 5,137 chapters: 1/1

author summary: Kuroo’s gaze flits over to the utensil. His eyes bulge out of his skull. “Wh—is that a meat hammer? Put it back!” Akaashi’s head recoils back in confusion. “I don’t understand the problem here.” “Why on Earth have you got a fucking meat hammer? We aren’t going to kill somebody!” “Well,” Akaashi begins, clearly taken aback, “I apologise for assuming. I had heard Kenma-san had been hurt in school and after getting a message from both of you to meet late at night, I merely filled in the blanks and assumed we were going to beat someone up, for lack of a better term.” “Not literally! I meant metaphorically, or figuratively, or something!” “Idiomically?” “That isn’t a word, Bokuto-san.” “Jesus Christ,” Kuroo groans, dropping his head into his hands. “We're going to jail."

my notes: bokuaka and kuroo are ready to beat someone up for kenma!! and we stan!! 

Cherry Pits and Cat Tattoos by strawberryriver

rating: G words: 6,141 chapters: 1/1

author summary: 

Kuroo has been in communication with his soulmate ever since they were kids. They've known each other for so long that he never really worried about when or how he would meet them. At least, not until he meets the roommate of Bokuto's soulmate.Soulmate AU in which things written on your skin show up on your soulmate. Companion piece/same AU as Serendipty

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

Kuroo Tetsurou liked to write on his arms. Despite his mother's half-serious warnings about “ink poisoning” or staining his skin, he insisted on marking his arms and legs wherever he could. Not like his best-friend-since-always Bokuto Koutaro, who had to write on his arms or he’d forget to breathe, but artfully. He’d draw designs, animals, the occasional chemical compound. The whole idea behind soulmates fascinated him: how one person could mark their arm and someone potentially thousands of miles away, would have that same mark appear. The amount of articles, studies, and books he’d read about the topic, even at a young age, could put an undergrad researcher to shame.

my notes: again with the soulmate au bc i cannot help myself. but really cute!!! probably gonna read this again later!

Boom, Toasted by protostar (hearthope)

rated: T words: 6,782 chapters: 1/1

author summary:

 FROM: yuuji any bets on who hes texting??

FROM: eita He's smiling at his phone. Kuroo, probably

FROM: kentarou Kuroo

TO: fake family Have any of you ever once considered not prying

FROM: eita You deserve it

FROM: yuuji how can we not when ur in love!!

Kenma gets a text from an unknown number. He'd be lying if he said the guy behind it wasn't kind of endearing.

my notes: again, i love wrong number texts. it focuses more on kenma’s friendship, but kenma’s pov with texting kuroo is more than him realizing feelings and stuff. really cute, ive read it multiple times. 

Japan's most subscribed by NeverNothing

rating: T words: 3,631 chapters: 1/1

author summary: Kuroo Tetsurou @blacktetsurou changed his bio : volleyball player, co-owner of Bouncing Ball Corp. and so much more ;)

my notes: i! love! social media! fics!!! really cute and basically people wondering who the mysterious kuroo is to applepi. 

MATSUHANA!!! the underrated gem

texting (with a capital S) by parenthetic

rating: M words: 2,119 chapters: 1/1

author summary: Hanamaki breaks his No Texting In Class rule, and it's all downhill from there.

my notes: honestly more funny than it suggests, but its matsuhana, they’re meme lords.

rated m for by orphan_account

rated: T words: 10,692 chapters: 1/1

author summary: He should have known that there was a Specific Reason™ why it was so absolutely vital that he and Matsukawa specifically meet for a reading of the script. He should have known that there had to be some evil catch beyond sitting in a tiny, cramped studio with his newly sworn enemy.

Hanamaki stares at the title of the script he’d so gracefully neglected the night before.

FORBIDDEN PARADISE

“Excuse me,” Hanamaki starts, raising a pen in the air while staring blankly at the packet in his free hand. “Just to clarify, you want me to record a boy's love CD with Matsukawa?”

my notes: a very good voice actor au. there is some misunderstanding on hanamaki’s part bc he didnt finish listening to matsukawa, and this is really cute and i love matsuhana. 

In A Quiet Night, All Sounds Carry by levyovochka

rating: E words: 4,794 chapters: 1/1

authors summary: “Ah, ah, Too—!”

Hanamaki hates his university dorm.

“—ru, let me cum, please!”

Hold up. That’s a fucking understatement. Let him rephrase it: Hanamaki loathes his university dorm with passion. Detest the damned abomination, abhors it—

“—ru! Coming, coming—”

It has only been a month and Hanamaki already wants to die.

my notes: as u can guess minor iwaoi // rlly well written and bottom hanamaki rights and maybe my favourite matsuhana smutfic??? and hooh boy i simp for matsukawa

call me maybe by totooru

rating: T words: 33,689 chapters: 14/14

author summary: Hanamaki texts the wrong number when trying to extort tips out of Oikawa in order to defeat Iwaizumi in arm wrestling, and then continues to text the witty stranger who had answered.

my notes: minor iwaoi, daisuga, bokuaka // god i think this is my favourite matsuhana fic overall, maybe in general, but my god is it great. this is probably a common rec, but its understandable as to why it is. basically au where makki texts matsun (who goes to karasuno) instead of oikawa for tips to beat iwaizumi at an arm wrestling match. but they keep messaging. and holy shit i love their conversations. please read this, it is 256/10

there we go!! i might go a part two with more ships (kagehina, tsukkiyama and iwaoi) but this took up way to much time lol. i have an essay due in a couple hours. but hope u like these fics as much as i do!!

[heartists]

i need to stop thinking about race.

i’m autistic and i have some of the most exhausting special interests on the planet: researching and writing about racism and fascism. over the past few days i’ve been reading and talking more than usual about racism in my spare time and the righteous anger has really gotten to me. but my dumb autistic brain gets obsessive about things and i can’t stop thinking about this even when it’s hurting me. i can’t escape into the world of my fantasy novel because my novel is all about race. i can’t escape into RP because everywhere i go, i’m reminded of my headcanons about race--how my characters experience racism, how they can be racist and problematic, etc.…every time i try to get my mind off stuff with RP, i just spiral back into that, and when i’m not thinking about how my characters’ race affects their lives, i’m thinking about other issues of justice in the pokémon or voltron worlds. i can’t even study to take my mind off “the cause” because much of the material of my classes is related to race and social justice, whether directly or tangentially………i either pick classes because i want to learn more about justice and politics or want to learn more about my heritage. i literally started writing this because i have been so preoccupied with issues of justice that even a document about marriage reform in 1900′s china exhausts me. even though i don’t experience, say, people calling me racial slurs every day as i walk down the street, i am still surrounded by questions of justice every single waking moment of my life.

there’s no escape.

and it’s tough thinking about race as a han chinese person. on one hand i have colonizer’s guilt that comes from the fact that han chinese people colonized and oppressed a ton of places (tibet, xinjiang, taiwan, vietnam, etc.), so i’m in a position similar to white people in that regard. but on the other hand, i have genuine and justifiable anger toward what we have faced. after slavery was banned we were used as cheap labor in the caribbean to replace the slaves that had just been freed--we were housed in the same barracks as black slaves had been, some of us were even kidnapped. there was the chinese exclusion act in the 1800s that tried to ban us from entering the country, and it was a time in which we were threatened and lynched by whites. in 1994, 50% of violent hate crimes against asians in NYC were perpetrated by the police, and recently, violent crimes against asians have been on the rise. we used to be tolerant of homosexuality until white people came around and all of a sudden, being gay in china is taboo. our chinatowns are being gentrified, pushed out of existence by rich white people who think it’s cool to move into an immigrant neighborhood--and these were spaces into which we were forced by anti-chinese violence, now being taken over by the descendants of the people who forced us in. as asian americans, we’re also part of the fastest-growing group of undocumented immigrants into the united states. god, even typing out all this is fucking exhausting me and i lowkey want to cry. 

yet han chinese people can occupy such a privileged place in both the u.s. and the world…china is the world’s foremost economic power. asians are overrepresented in college admissions compared with the population, and we still sue harvard for not letting enough of us in. we also have the luxury to bitch about things like peter liang getting convicted for killing akai gurley, an unarmed black man, in an act of police brutality--the complaint was literally that white cops get away with shooting black people so why not an asian one? so honestly, as an east asian chinese person, i have to shoulder the guilt of the oppressor--but at the same time my people have a history of being oppressed. it’s a space i fucking hate being in--one where i see my people at once being adversarial toward the white people who have treated us like scum and adversarial to the fellow POC that we might otherwise call our allies. and i can’t stop thinking about it.

what brought this on was really my nonstop research of racial issues, as well as having to deal with some incidences of online racism. i was reading a lot about social justice issues relating to native americans and other indigenous peoples, and even though indigenous and chinese issues are very different, just reading about race in general made me go into this spiral. i need to take better care of myself while researching such a heavy topic and definitely find some hobbies where i don’t think about justice every second of the day (though since i can honestly relate anything back to justice due to how much i know about the topic, where am i going to find those?). 

in conclusion to this shitty rambling essay: i have spent way too much time being woke over the past few years and i think it’s finally caught up with me. i’m exhausted. i want to stop. i want to be able to not think about world issues for five seconds so i can just live. but i can’t. as a queer disabled woc who is passionate about social issues and is painfully aware of her place in the world and in history, i just can’t. social justice is my entire life. i’m too far down the rabbit hole and there’s no way i can get back out.

[scifigeneration]

Astronaut Sally K. Ride's legacy – encouraging young women to embrace science and engineering

by Bonnie J. Dunbar

On June 18, 1983, 35 years ago, Sally Ride became the first American woman to launch into space, riding the Space Shuttle STS-7 flight with four other crew members. Only five years earlier, in 1978, she had been selected to the first class of 35 astronauts – including six women – who would fly on the Space Shuttle.

Sally’s first ride, with her STS-7 crewmates. In addition to launching America’s first female astronaut, it was also the first mission with a five-member crew. Front row, left to right: Ride, commander Bob Crippen, pilot Frederick Hauck. Back row, left to right: John Fabian, Norm Thagard. NASA

Much has happened in the intervening years. During the span of three decades, the shuttles flew 135 times carrying hundreds of American and international astronauts into space before they were retired in 2011. The International Space Station began to fly in 1998 and has been continuously occupied since 2001, orbiting the Earth once every 90 minutes. More than 50 women have now flown into space, most of them Americans. One of these women, Dr. Peggy Whitson, became chief of the Astronaut Office and holds the American record for number of hours in space.

The Space Shuttle democratized spaceflight

The Space Shuttle was an amazing flight vehicle: It launched like a rocket into Low Earth Orbit in only eight minutes, and landed softly like a glider after its mission. What is not well known is that the Space Shuttle was an equalizer and enabler, opening up space exploration to a wider population of people from planet Earth.

STS-50 Crew photo with commander Richard N. Richards and pilot Kenneth D. Bowersox, mission specialists Bonnie J. Dunbar, Ellen S. Baker and Carl J. Meade, and payload specialists Lawrence J. DeLucas and Eugene H. Trinh. The photo was taken in front of the Columbia Shuttle, which Dunbar helped to build. NASA

This inclusive approach began in 1972 when Congress and the president approved the Space Shuttle budget and contract. Spacesuits, seats and all crew equipment were initially designed for a larger range of sizes to fit all body types, and the waste management system was modified for females. Unlike earlier vehicles, the Space Shuttle could carry up to eight astronauts at a time. It had a design more similar to an airplane than a small capsule, with two decks, sleeping berths, large laboratories and a galley. It also provided privacy.

I graduated with an engineering degree from the University of Washington in 1971 and, by 1976, I was a young engineer working on the first Space Shuttle, Columbia, with Rockwell International at Edwards Air Force Base, in California. I helped to design and produce the thermal protection system – those heat resistant ceramic tiles – which allowed the shuttle to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere for up to 100 flights.

Mike Anderson and Bonnie Dunbar flew together on STS-89 in 1998. They both graduated from University of Washington. Anderson was killed in the Columbia accident, in 2003. NASA

It was a heady time; a new space vehicle could carry large crews and “cargo,” including space laboratories and the Hubble Space Telescope. The Shuttle also had a robotic arm, which was critical for the assembly of the International Space Station, and an “airlock” for space walks, and enabled us to build the International Space Station.

I knew from my first day at Rockwell that this vehicle had been designed for both men and women. A NASA engineer at the Langley Research Center gave me a very early “heads up” in 1973 that they would eventually select women astronauts for the Space Shuttle. In the 1970s there were visionary men and women in NASA, government and in the general public, who saw a future for more women in science and engineering, and for flying into space. Women were not beating down the door to be included in the Space Shuttle program, we were being invited to be an integral part of a larger grand design for exploring space.

1978: Becoming an astronaut

The selection process for the first class of Space Shuttle astronauts, to include women, opened in 1977. NASA approached the recruitment process with a large and innovative publicity campaign encouraging men and women of all ethnic backgrounds to apply. One of NASA’s recruiters was actress Nichelle Nichols who played Lt. Ohura on the “Star Trek” series, which was popular at the time. Sally learned about NASA’s astronaut recruitment drive through an announcement, possibly on a job bulletin board, somewhere at Stanford University. Sally had been a talented nationally ranked tennis player, but her passion was physics. The opportunity to fly into space intrigued her and looked like a challenge and rewarding career she could embrace.

Sally and I arrived at NASA at the same time in 1978 – she as part of the “TFNG” (“Thirty-Five New Guys”) astronaut class and I as a newly minted mission controller, training to support the Space Shuttle. I had already been in the aerospace industry for several years and had made my choice for “space” at the age of 9 on a cattle ranch in Washington state. I also applied for the 1978 astronaut class, but was not selected until 1980.

Sally and I connected on the Flight Crew Operations co-ed softball team. We both played softball from an early age and were both private pilots, flying our small planes together around southeast Texas. We also often discussed our perspectives on career selection, and how fortunate we were to have teachers and parents and other mentors who encouraged us to study math and science in school – the enabling subjects for becoming an astronaut.

STS-7: June 18 1983

In January 1978, NASA selected six women into the class of 35 new astronauts to fly on the Space Shuttle. From left to right are Shannon W. Lucid, Ph.D., Margaret Rhea Seddon, M.D., Kathryn D. Sullivan, Ph.D., Judith A. Resnik, Ph.D., Anna L. Fisher, M.D., and Sally K. Ride, Ph.D. NASA

Although Sally was one of six women in the 1978 class, she preferred to be considered one of 35 new astronauts – and to be judged by merit, not gender. It was important to all the women that the bar be as high as it was for the men. From an operational and safety point of view, that was also equally important. In an emergency, there are no special allowances for gender or ethnicity: Everyone had to pull their own weight. In fact, it has been said that those first six women were not just qualified, they were more than qualified.

While Sally was honored to be picked as the first woman from her class to fly, she shied away from the limelight. She believed that she flew for all Americans, regardless of gender, but she also understood the expectations on her for being selected “first.” As she flew on STS-7, she paid tribute to those who made it possible for her to be there: to her family and teachers, to those who made and operated the Space Shuttle, to her crewmates, and to all of her astronaut classmates including Dr. Kathy Sullivan, Dr. Rhea Seddon, Dr. Anna Fisher, Dr. Shannon Lucid, and Dr. Judy Resnick (who lost her life on Challenger). With all of the attention, Sally was a gracious “first.” And the launch of STS-7 had a unique celebratory flair. Signs around Kennedy Space Center said “Fly Sally Fly,” and John Denver gave a special concert the night before the launch, not far from the launch pad.

Continuing the momentum

One of the topics that Sally and I discussed frequently was why so few young girls were entering into math, technology, science and engineering – which became known as STEM careers in the late 1990s. Both of us had been encouraged and pushed by male and female mentors and “cheerleaders.” By 1972, companies with federal contracts were actively recruiting women engineers. NASA had opened up spaceflight to women in 1978, and was proud of the fact that they were recruiting and training women as astronauts and employing them in engineering and the sciences.

National needs for STEM talent and supportive employment laws were creating an environment such that if a young woman wished to become an aerospace engineer, a physicist, a chemist, a medical doctor, an astronomer or an astrophysicist, they could. One might have thought that Sally’s legendary flight, and those of other women astronauts over the last 35 years might have inspired a wave of young women (and men) into STEM careers. For example, when Sally flew into space in 1983, a 12-year-old middle school girl back then would now be 47. If she had a daughter, that daughter might be 25. After two generations, we might have expected that there would be large bow wave of young energized women entering into the STEM careers. But this hasn’t happened.

Rather, we have a growing national shortage of engineers and research scientists in this nation, which threatens our prosperity and national security. The numbers of women graduating in engineering grew from 1 percent in 1971 to about 20 percent in 35 years. But women make up 50 percent of the population, so there is room for growth. So what are the “root causes” for this lack of growth?

K-12 STEM education

Many reports have cited deficient K-12 math and science education as contributing to the relatively stagnant graduation rates in STEM careers.

Completing four years of math in high school, as well as physics, chemistry and biology is correlated with later success in science, mathematics and engineering in college. Without this preparation, career options are reduced significantly. Even though I graduated from a small school in rural Washington state, I was able to study algebra, geometry, trigonometry, math analysis, biology, chemistry and physics by the time I graduated. Those were all prerequisites for entry into the University of Washington College of Engineering. Sally had the same preparation before she entered into physics.

As part of NASA’s commitment to the next generation of explorers, NASA Ames collaborated with Sally Ride Science to sponsor and host the Sally Ride Science Festival at the NASA Research Park. Hundreds of San Francisco Bay Area girls, their teachers and parents enjoy a fun-filled interactive exploration of science, technology, engineering and mathematics on Sept. 27, 2008. NASA Ames Research Center / Dominic Hart

Although we have many great K-12 schools in the nation, too many schools now struggle to find qualified mathematics and physics teachers. Inspiring an interest in these topics is also key to retention and success. Being excited about a particular subject matter can keep a student engaged even through the tough times. Participation in “informal science education” at museums and camps is becoming instrumental for recruiting students into STEM careers, especially as teachers struggle to find the time in a cramped curriculum to teach math and science.

Research has shown that middle school is a critical period for young boys and girls to establish their attitudes toward math and science, to acquire fundamental skills that form the basis for progression into algebra, geometry and trigonometry, and to develop positive attitudes toward the pursuit of STEM careers. When Dr. Sally Ride retired from NASA, she understood this, and founded Imaginary Lines and, later, Sally Ride Science, to influence career aspirations for middle school girls. She hosted science camps throughout the nation, exposing young women and their parents to a variety of STEM career options. Sally Ride Science continues its outreach through the University of California at San Diego.

Challenging old stereotypes and honoring Sally’s legacy

Sally Ride and Bonnie Dunbar are fighting outdated stereotypes that women are not good at STEM subjects. Creativa Images/shutterstock.com

However, there are still challenges, especially in this social media-steeped society. I and other practicing women engineers have observed that young girls are often influenced by what they perceive “society thinks” of them.

In a recent discussion with an all-girl robotics team competing at NASA, I asked the high school girls if they had support from teachers and parents, and they all said “yes.” But then, they asked, “Why doesn’t society support us?” I was puzzled and asked them what they meant. They then directed me to the internet where searches on engineering careers returned a story after story of describing “hostile work environments.”

Sadly, most of these stories are very old and are often from studies with very small populations. The positive news, from companies, government, universities and such organizations as the National Academy of Engineers, Physics Girl and Society of Women Engineers, rarely rises to the top of the search results. Currently, companies and laboratories in the U.S. are desperate to employ STEM qualified and inspired women. But many of our young women continue to “opt out.”

Young women are influenced by the media images they see every day. We continue to see decades-old negative stereotypes and poor images of engineers and scientists on television programs and in the movies.

Popular TV celebrities continue to boast on air that they either didn’t like math or struggled with it. Sally Ride Science helps to combat misconceptions and dispel myths by bringing practicing scientists and engineers directly to the students. However, in order to make a more substantial difference, this program and others like it require help from the media organizations. The nation depends upon the technology and science produced by our scientists and engineers, but social media, TV hosts, writers and movie script developers rarely reflect this reality. So it may be, that in addition to K-12 challenges in our educational system, the “outdated stererotypes” portrayed in the media are also discouraging our young women from entering science and engineering careers.

Unlimited opportunities in science and engineering

The reality? More companies than ever are creating family-friendly work environments and competing for female talent. In fact, there is a higher demand from business, government and graduate schools in the U.S. for women engineers and scientists than can be met by the universities.

Both Sally and I had wonderful careers supported by both men and women. NASA was a great work environment and continues to be – the last two astronaut classes have been about 50 percent female.

I think that Sally would be proud of how far the nation has come with respect to women in space, but would also want us to focus on the future challenges for recruiting more women into science and engineering, and to reignite the passion for exploring space.

Bonnie J. Dunbar is a retired NASA astronaut and a TEES Distinguished Research Professor of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University.

This article was originally published on The Conversation, a content partner of Sci Fi Generation.

[shelleyseale]

12 Days of Giving: The Gift of Passion

This is the seventh in our special “12 Days of Giving” series running for the holiday season. It’s a little different from what you might think of as traditional presents or giving. We aren’t really talking about stuff you buy or a gift list. Rather, on these 12 days, we will be talking about different gifts that you can give to yourself, or others — those that have a deeper meaning, that can help you live with intention, be happier, be healthier. Soul gifts, you might even call them. Join us on the journey. Passion is what drives us as human beings, what makes things desirable and worthwhile. It's why we fall in love, why we pursue a certain profession or talent, why we take up causes, why we explore the world. The dictionary defines passion as a "strong and barely controllable emotion." So how do you find your passion? How do you develop it, and gift it to yourself or others? While that can be a tricky and complex question, there are a few different schools of thought about passion. First of all, there are certain things in life that you just know you're passionate about, that you probably always have been for about as long as you can remember. Things that you can't imagine not doing or not having in your life. For example, for me some of those things are: reading, writing, animals and travel. They've always been a part of me, and I wouldn't really be me without them. "Nothing great in the world has ever been accomplished without passion." ~Georg Hegel

Image by Freepik So part of giving yourself the gift of passion, is giving yourself the room in your life for those things you are passionate about. Making sure they are a part of your life in some capacity. When it comes to animals, I've almost always had pets (and have a dog right now, Selma). But I also volunteer and foster quite a bit for several animal rescue organizations (I have a foster dog right now), I dog-sit regularly for other people, and I often incorporate animal/wildlife activities in my travel. Bingo! Hitting two passions with one stone! I make travel a priority — I forego a lot of other things that people spend money on like new car payments, expensive haircuts, new furniture or extensive wardrobes in order to put money back to fund my travel. I read books like they're going out of style, and as far as writing — well, I built an entire career around it. Which brings me to one of the differing opinions about the idea of "following your passion" as your work livelihood.

Should you build a career around your passion?

Personally, I think there's no right or wrong answer to this question. Many people, myself included, do exactly that and because of it, lead incredibly happy and fulfilled lives. Not feeling like they are working at a job they don't really like, or merely tolerate, or even like but don't love. In short, a job. Instead, we feel like we aren't really "working" the way other people define it, so to speak, because we get to do what we love every day for our living. For people like us, we also generally can't imagine not doing our passion work, or doing anything else. This defines me as a writer; and I have many friends and acquaintances who fall into this category as musicians, people who founded nonprofits around a cause they are passionate about, people who started up entrepreneurial ventures, and many more.

Image by Rawpixel on Unsplash But this isn't always the best route or piece of advice for everyone. Take this article in The Atlantic, for instance. Carol Dweck, a psychology professor at Stanford University, thinks that advising people to follow their passion in work is steering people wrong. That it can lead them to think that if they don't experience an overwhelming sense of emotion about the work they're doing, or if you in fact do anything that feels like work, you are in the wrong career. Personally, I can say that these two beliefs are misguided, even if you are following your passion in your work. While overall my work is my passion and I wouldn't want to do anything else, it most certainly does feel like work many times; there are many days or projects where I just plain don't feel like doing it; and I often decidedly do not feel an overwhelming sense of emotion (at least, not positive emotion) about what I'm doing at that time. That's just life, in my opinion. Dweck and two other college professors conducted a study on this, and now argue that passions aren't found — they're developed. For example, you may not have ever known that you were passionate about a certain subject, until perhaps you attend a class or a lecture or have a conversation with someone who knows a lot about it, and find yourself thinking it is incredibly interesting and fascinating. To the extent that you delve into it and become passionate about it. I do think that this happens to us a lot throughout life; I've gotten much more passionate about cooking in the past decade or so (though I would never want to make that my career), and I didn't really develop a passion for travel until I was gifted a month-long European trip as a high school graduation presents (thanks Mom and Dad!) When it comes to making a passion your life's work, I think it depends on A) What kind of person you are; B) what the passion is; and C) what else you are good at or passionate about. Like I said, I'm very passionate about food and cooking, and it's something that I enjoy immensely. But I would never want to work in that field; I think it would quickly kill my love for it. Some passions are better off left as hobbies or side interests. To give you another example, my partner Keith loves scuba diving. He's been certified for a long time and he goes on dive trips frequently (he has one coming up in less than two weeks), or goes diving while he's on other travels. He even got me into diving to a certain extent; although it's not a passion for me like it is for him, I've done those "introductory" dive sessions in Nicaragua and in Australia and had a blast. At one point, Keith even considered becoming a dive instructor or leading people on dive trips. But the more he thought about it, the more he realized that to make an activity that he enjoyed so much into a job, he believed that he would lose the joy he got from it, just as a diver.

Cultivating your passion

In his book So Good They Can’t Ignore You, author Cal Newport writes, "There’s little evidence that most people have pre-existing passions waiting to be discovered, and believing that there’s a magical right job lurking out there can often lead to chronic unhappiness and confusion when the reality of the working world fails to match this dream." Newport's main point is that you don’t have to discover your dream job, you create your dream job. In this article on Medium, Rey HS shares some good advice from Newport and others about how to cultivate your passion into a dream job. Maria Forleo, that I follow and love to read, has another take on passion. Writing for Oprah Magazine, Forleo says that the problem with trying to find our passion is that we think about it and analyze it too much; in short, we're using our heads, when passion lies in our hearts. Here are a few other great articles and resources on cultivating your passion: Gretchen Rubin, one of my favorite inspiring people to follow and author of the fantastic book, The Happiness Project, wrote this article in Forbes. The website Positively Present also has a good story on the topic, that was part of the Random Acts of Kindness Kick Arse group. Take the Passion Profile Quiz at Clarity on Fire, a coaching and inspirational website. Eight ways to find the true passion in life that has eluded you is the topic of this story at The Telegraph.

Photo by Jenna Anderson on Unsplash

You don't have to be good at your passion — just do it!

I had to throw this in there because  I think it's important. Like I said at the beginning of this story, we all have passions, big and small. Some of them could possibly fuel our entire career, while others make up a piece of our life that makes it that much more enjoyable. That is cooking and caring for animals, for me; while my passion for writing is my life's work. But believe me, I'm no great chef. I'm a pretty good cook, so don't think I'm belittling myself. I would say I'm above average, even. But it would terrify me to compete on a cooking show, even one like Master Chef that is geared towards non-professional home cooks. And there's no way I am good enough to cook in any restaurant. Could I get that way if I cultivated and developed that passion because I really wanted to? Yes, probably. But I don't want to. I want to keep my cooking as an enjoyable hobby, and I don't have to be James Beard material to do that. Let's look at other potential passions someone might have: dancing, or athletics, or painting. You don't have to necessarily be great at any of these things to make sure they're incorporated into your life. If you are truly passionate about something, it must be a part of your life. There are plenty of places around that have dance classes, whether formal studios or even clubs and live music venues, like White Horse in my Austin neighborhood, that offer regular dance lessons (often times even for free). For someone who loves to dance, that could be a fantastically fun thing to incorporate into your life. Maria Forleo's article is an example of just how she approached this with dance. Or joining a local soccer, swim or volleyball team, if sports is your thing. Take an art class, or get together a group of like-minded friends who want to meet once a week or once a month at someone's house to paint, drink wine, and enjoy each other's company. Or just go buy your own art supplies and make a commitment to yourself, to give yourself the time each week to immerse yourself in that passion. Don't let fear of not being the best at something, hold you back from doing it.

Above all, make sure your passions are part of your life!

Read the full article

[lawblrworld]

Hi!! I hope you’re having a wonderful day! I’m new to your blog so I’m sorry if you answered this elsewhere, but how did you know you wanted to be a lawyer? I’m weighing a couple of career options and lawyer is definitely on my list, in fact I’m pretty sure I want to go to law school. I’m honestly just terrified of going to college for something and then finding out later in life that I don’t like it or wishing I’d done something else with my life. Thank you so much!! -soft anon

Hey there! Thanks for the question - I actually haven’t answered this one before so yay! there are a couple of reasons why I decided on law, some of them more personal and some more practical.

Firstly, I am blessed to come from a background where my parents & I have on the whole never had to struggle for money by living paycheque to paycheque worrying about bonds and loans. We weren’t super rich but we didn’t have to worry. I have always been grateful for what my parents have given me and I realise there are many families where money is a scary topic. I wanted to choose a career where I would be as near as guaranteed to be financially stable as possible. My boyfriend and I both want kids one day, and I want to be able to travel overseas once every few years so I knew I wanted to do a university degree which would up my chances of not ending up in debt or financial stress one day.

secondly, as a lawyer, there is a huge job market. It’s important to get a job for the first 5 years somewhere, but after that you can make your own firm or work from home, so chances of ending up unemployed are a lot less than some other jobs like teaching, where you need to be in an institution to get a salary.

I also went through a very traumatic and personal tragedy - members of a family who I was very close to were killed by one of the brothers in the family which moved me towards wanting to seek out justice to help others in similar situations.

I previously wanted to go into the arts - specifically drama (I wanted to do broadway and maybe Hollywood) -but as I got older the dream got less realistic and so I needed to seek out something else out. I have always loved reading, and I never wanted some boring (no offence) office job as a business woman, sales person or banker so law was the most viable option. There’s a lot of reading (SOOOOO MUCH READING OMG) and although you do sit behind a desk sometimes, you also get to have cool meetings with clients and appear in court.

There are also SO many job opportunities within law. You can become a lawyer (advocate at the Bar, attorney, defence lawyer) or a judge/ magistrate. You can be a state or private prosecutor and collect evidence and help create case dockets to put criminals behind bars. If you take a year MBA course after law you can go into business and entrepreneurship. You can write up cases in the court room (the cases we read & study from) as the judge speaks (someone in my family does this and it’s very interesting). You could become a professor or doctor and teach the law, or you could become a legal academic, writer and researcher. This is literally just the tip of the iceberg in terms of where you could go with your law degree.

Just remember; you need to be passionate about law (it isn't for everyone and all of the people who dropped out of the course in my class just took law because they weren’t sure what else to do, or they were pushed by their parents to take law). It’s a lot of hard work, and your marks may not always reflect that - anything from 55%-60% in law is good; 65% or more is amazing. You need to be a good reader with a large vocabulary and you should have a knack for languages because Latin is a bitch and you will be reading a lot of Latin. You should be a creative and logical thinker (all the best law students are) because you need to think of different ways to answer questions in tests: there often isn’t a black & white answer in law - nothing is set in stone.

I hope this helped you & I wish you & anyone reading this all the best in your future studies & career choices, whether it be law, arts & social sciences, engineering or business!

-M xxx

[magicalgirlpropaganda]

Things that are hot and sexy (because i do them)

• being unable to cite sources no matter how long you spend on it or how long you try

• getting a boost of motivation to work but on the wrong thing

• actually don't mind doing school work and have a thirst for knowledge but hate failure and not having time to finish assignments

• "wow i can't believe i finished all my assignments for the week! So fast. I have time to study and actually perfect my work and get better grades" *gets more assignments* *cries*

• i can't meet my own high standards

• being so stressed because of mom that i have horrible mood swings and im in a constant state of rage and anxiety

• being relieved when my friends invite me to do things because then i see it as an obligation and im "forced" to go (even though they'd understand if i said no, i see it as an obligation for my own mental wellbeing)

• wanting desperately to help others but struggling to even take care of yourself

• i can do the work, i can handle the workload. But i can't handle the pressure of my mom checking my grades

• i know that I'm smart and i know that I can do it. Ive been working so hard and my work is paying off but i need my mom to trust me

• overeating due to stress and went on an etsy shopping spree. Had to force myself to stop "stress buying" stuff and "stress eating"

• my dumb little passion project went on hiatus because im busy. Which is fine but a bit dissapointing

• i love it here. I don't want to leave. I love the art program. The work is a lot but i love my classes and my friends and my life here. What if one day something horrible happens and i have to leave because its too expensive?

• everything in my life is going good but my mom stresses me out so much that it's no longer going good

• I'm sorry for being incompetent... Even on my medicine. I am much better off than before and i can actually think but. I can't focus and i often miss intructions on assignments unless i write down absolutely everything. Why am i like this?

• my high empathy problems are coming up again because im so emotional.

• i am fine on 6 hours of sleep a night now but i wonder how long that will last. I don't have enough time to sleep for 8 hours every night. And maybe its because i take too many breaks but if i dont take breaks, i can't focus and everything just because thoughts that don't make sense

• im so stressed. Please just let me get my work done. All i ask is to be able to just sit down, relax, get my work done. I want to do so well on the exam later this week that I bump my B to an A or just even a high B.

• at least i enjoy school. High school and before was... Much worse. I don't enjoy spending hours trying to find out how to cite very specific topics and i dislike that one of my professors is a big perfectionist and so i often lose points on assignments (everyone does) no matter how hard i try to make it perfect. And i dislike having to check canvas so often because its difficult to navigate and i swear they try to hide assignments from us. And i hate that i have so much work that some weeks i wonder if i can possibly get it all done. And i hate group projects and i hate writing boring essays. But i love my classes at least. And i want to do well. I will do well. I am going to make all A's if it kills me. I was a B/C student in high school with occasional A's. If i just studied more (i never studied), i could have been one of the best students there, i believe. I didn't study, but I'm glad I didn't because it didn't matter as long as I got ok grades and I passed. I enjoyed my youth (not that im not still young...not that those years weren't the worst). But now i have to make A's or at least high B's because I know i can and I have to prove to my mom that I can do it. Maybe if i get good enough grades, she will back off some. Then I can prove to her that i really don't need her "help".

• this is way too specific of a list

• i want a job. If only i had time for a job. I have a strong work ethic. Im a good little capitalist slave. Please give me mone- i mean. Work. Yeah... Work...

But I dont have time for a job. Im very thankful that i dont need one. But I need to grow up and get a job because it will help me in the future

• speaking of which....a job i applied for months ago just called today... A lite late, buddy. Im 2 hours away now.

• but god... I so want to work there. I hear its a great place to work and the owner is gay (aka, not going to be homophobic to me)

• i wish i had my suitemate/neighbor's life. Like loudly talking on the phone and slamming doors as loud as possible all day long? And she's an RA so she gets paid.

• im calling my mom soon and getting this shit over with. Also i have somewhere to go with friends tonight so we can kidna- i mean recruit ppl for the theatre club. Im no theatre person but i am there for my friend and to make props.

• i can't do it.

• but if i do this, ill be free....

• maybe a quick meditation beforehand. Maybe self hypnosis so i can emotionally numb myself for a few minutes... Idk if im experienced enough to do that yet... But I've been doing it for years so might as well give it a try

• have i really resorted to self hypnosis to deal with the stress of calling my own mother?

• am i really so weak that even though everything is going well, something as simple as my mom calling to check my grades once a week makes me so upset that I cry almost every day about it?

• i know what she is doing is not legal. But what can I do about it?

• my mom thinks that im incompetent as well. That's why she checks my grades. She thinks I can't do it. She didn't even think that I had the ability to live by myself. I proved her wrong there.

• im working so hard partly because of her. So why does me working hard and thus not having time to call make her upset?

• it will all be over by tomorrow.

• perhaps calling her on the phone in a public space would be better. Maybe if she realizes that im not just in my dorm....

Luckily, my mom cares a little too much about social norms. She's used against me this all my life but perhaps it could be beneficial to me.

•thats right. I can just pack my stuff i need for my work. Then ill meditate for a bit and take a tea break. Ill go take everything to a public place with lots of people and call her then.

• i don't want to bring my friends into this, it wouldn't be right. But i wish that they would just sit next to me while I was on the phone. For emotional support at least. But i wouldn't ask them to do that, especially since we haven't known each other long. But i think it would make everything better if i had someone else to back me up

• people must be sick and tired of these posts. Im sorry.

• my mom says she's proud of me, but she doesnt act like it. She used to trust me. When i was 16/17, she would say that its up to me, my responsibility, that I knew what I was doing. Now, im 18. Why does she no longer trust me? I am an adult now. It doesn't make sense. I'm more responsible than I was at that age and im an adult now. It doesn't make sense at all, shouldn't she trust me more?

• i check my own grades religiously. Why is it necessary for her to do so too? What does that accomplish?

• i have an A, 2 almost A's, 2 low B's (but i know i can get the grade up and im studying hard to do so) and one C (it was an assignment that everyone did poorly on and another homework assignment that i did poorly on because I was exhausted). I know a C is bad but it's my drawing class. My favorite class. I do well in there and i think I'm probably one of the better peforming students in there. The C was just a small mistake and since we have more work in there now, getting that grade up will not be difficult. But i feel like all of my hard work just doesn't matter anymore. It will not satisfy her either way. Even if I had all A's, she would probably still be upset that I didn't have high enough A's. One of my professors says that she doesn't give A's on projects because "mistakes happen in art and you have to accept it".

• heavy workload... Im fine doing it but... I can't do it well with the amount of time I'm given. If i just had the weekend as well and not just the rest of the week. If i had just one full day more.

• this weekend will probably be dedicated to next week's work if i can do it early

• i can't call her. It's too stressful.

• im lightheaded just thinking about it

• i have every right to be angry. I have every fucking right to be angry.

• my day should revolve around schoolwork and studying. My weekends should revolve around taking breaks and light workloads. But every moment of every day revolved around my mom instead.

• and to think... If i lived in a place where college wasnt so expensive... Perhaps she would leave me be. Perhaps my grades would be so much better and perhaps I would be happy.

[devilsmagic]

butterflies around a flame (chapter one)

His plan to save his family is starting to come together, but Flynn can’t help but to be intrigued about the woman who wrote his journal. Deciding to kill two bird with one stone – learn more about Lucy and American history – he starts to attend her lectures. He knows he should stop, but he can’t help coming back.

Lucy is Rittenhouse royalty, although she doesn’t know what that means just yet. Her life is one monotonous day after another, until she spies a mysterious man sitting in on one of her classes.

[Set pre-series. Basically Timeless meets Romeo & Juliet, but our trash ship lives to tell the tale.]

AO3 link

It was a normal Friday afternoon on a normal week in a normal month. Lucy was standing at the front of the auditorium, conducting a lecture on the events surrounding the establishment of the Civil Rights Act. Her students were enraptured – well most of them were; some typing away at their laptops or tablets, while others couldn’t take their eyes off of the front of the room, at her passionate eyes and motioning arms. Of course there were the slackers, those only in it for the class credit, but Lucy counted roughly two-thirds of the room who were listening attentively, and that was more than enough for her.  

This was her favourite part of the day. The hours she spent with her classes, sharing her love for history with her students. Detailing how events years, decades, centuries in the past had shaped and moulded their reality. American wouldn’t be what it was without the American Revolution, President Kennedy’s assassination, the moon landing.   

It was during a particularly entertaining class discussion on the introduction of the Pill into American society and its effect on the Civil Rights Act amendment (never let it be said that Lucy’s lectures were dull) that she first noticed him. 

He wasn’t a student in her class, or at least he hadn’t attended the first two months’ worth of lectures, but he sat at the back of the room as if he belonged there. His eyes were glued to her, bodying leaning heavily towards the front of the room – towards her. Lucy got the sense that the subject matter wasn't the only thing that held his interest.

She could feel him analysing her every word, her every move. Suddenly she felt self-conscious in a way that she hadn’t been since her very first year of teaching. She cleared her throat before intervening in what was quickly becoming a very heated debate between a mansplaining hipster and the college’s head cheerleader, bringing the class back to focus on the topic at hand. She decidedly ignored his side of the room, refusing to look at the man again. Yet still she could feel his heated gaze on her skin.   

----  

That night, she inserted her key into her parents’ front door and let herself in. Throwing her keys onto the rack beside the door, she pulled out a Snickers bar from her handbag and hid it behind her back. Retracing her childhood steps, she made her way to the far end of the corridor where her parents were in the kitchen, putting the finishing touches on their habitual Friday night family dinner.  

Her father sat at the island, tossing a salad with his special homemade vinaigrette while her mother stood before the stove, sprinkling a handful of chopped coriander on top of the perfectly cooked bolognaise sauce.  

“Hi,” Lucy announced as she walked into the room.  

Her parents echoed her greeting with smiles. She leant over to give her father a kiss on the cheek and then hugged her mother tight from behind. Lucy bit back a smile as she brought out the Snickers bar from behind her back and presented it to her mother.  

Carol laughed at the sight of her favourite candy bar dancing in front of her. “You’re spoiling me.”  

“You deserve it,” Lucy replied, giving her mother a quick peck on the cheek. “I’ll set the table.”  

She had just begun to prepare the cutlery when her father spoke. “Actually, there’s something we need to discuss with you, Lucy.”  

Lucy looked up in time to see her parents share a pointed look. “Is everything okay?” she asked, eyebrows furrowed in concern.  

“Everything’s fine sweetie,” her mother leaned over and ran a hand through Lucy’s hair with a soft smile on her face. “It’s time we talked to you about something, that’s all.”  

“Okay,” Lucy shot her parents a look before grabbing the plates and cutlery and taking them into the dining room.  

They were well into their dinner before the subject was brought up again. Lucy had finished her meal and was eyeing the leftovers, trying to decide whether to serve herself a second helping of pasta. She grabbed her glass of wine and took a small sip instead.  

Her parents shared a secret look and Lucy sighed.  

“Alright, out with it. What did you want to talk to me about?”  

Her parents looked at each other again. Lucy’s stomach twisted in response and she was suddenly had she had decided against seconds.

“Your father and I,” he mother paused, “we’re part of an organisation.” 

“Okay?”  

“It’s an old organisation,” Ben took over, “we’ve been around since the late 1700s.”  

“Are you trying to tell me you’re part of the Illuminati?” Lucy deadpanned.  

“Funny, but no,” her mother replied.  

“The organisation is called Rittenhouse,” her father continued. “We’re an elite group. You can’t request to join; you have to be born into it.”  

“Born into it? So if you’re both members then I am too?” 

“In short, yes. Or rather, you will be,” her father took a sip of his own wine. 

“Why are you telling me this now? Is there something you need me to do?”  

“No. At least, not right now. It is tradition that the children of Rittenhouse members join the organisation as adults, but that doesn’t have to happen right away. We just want you to get used to the idea, to think about it.”  

“Okay,” Lucy said, trying to collect her thoughts. Her parents were making everything sound like a giant conspiracy theory. She couldn’t help but be unnerved by the entire conversation. “What exactly does Rittenhouse do?”  

“We have many aims,” Carol continued. “The most important is to help further each other’s interests; help other members to grow in the community.”   

“That doesn’t sound so bad.”  

“It isn’t. It’s a wonderful organisation with some truly powerful people. Thomas Edison was a member back in his day.”  

Lucy blinked. “Wow.”  

“But like I said,” her father moved to stack the dirty dishes, “we just wanted to tell you about it, make you aware that it exists so that when the time comes for you to join, you’re ready.”  

“Do I have a choice?”  

“It’s our family legacy, dear. You’ll see.”

----  

 That night, Lucy lay in bed, one word repeating itself over and over in her head.  

“Rittenhouse,” she said out loud, testing how the word rolled off her tongue, heavy in the air. “Rittenhouse.”  

Her head pounded with all the new information that had been crammed into it at dinner. Knowledge of a legacy older than the land she called home. A legacy she was supposed to be a part of.  

But despite everything her parents had said, she couldn’t help but wonder about what had been left unsaid. Why had her parents picked now to tell her about Rittenhouse? They’d clearly been a part of it for years, so what happened that made them want to include her? Did she even want to be part of Rittenhouse?  

Her mother’s vagueness when she asked about what the organisation did tickled at the back of her brain. She knew it couldn’t be anything terrible. Her parents were good people and there was no way she could imagine them condoning, or even being a part of, anything malicious. But still, she couldn’t help but wonder. And the wondering kept her up all night.   

----  

Coffee was the only thing on Lucy’s mind a couple of weeks later. The sun was shining but the wind was cold and she was so so sick of winter, even though it had yet to truly begin. She could practically taste the hot bitterness of the coffee; feel the warmth trail down her throat and deep into her core.  

The bell of the coffeehouse tinkled as she opened the door. It was much warmer than it was outside, and she could feel the heat blush her cheeks. She walked straight up to the counter, the café empty except for a few solitary figures huddled at their respective tables. It was still too early in the day for the morning rush, but she knew from experience that the café would get painfully busy in a few short minutes.  

She was standing at the counter, waiting for the pink-haired barista to make her double shot latte when she spotted him, the man who had been listening in on her lectures for the past few weeks. He always sat in the same spot, half in shadow, so she wasn’t able to get a good look at him. But she could tell by the way he was currently sitting, his intense gaze as he read from the notebook in his hands, that it was him. His dark hair was artfully dishevelled, longish strands falling down his forehead and obstructing her view of his face. 

It was a split second decision, but as soon as the barista placed her coffee in front of her, Lucy grabbed the cup and made her way over to his table.  

“Is this seat taken?” Lucy asked, startling the man.  

Surprise coloured his face as he quickly closed the notebook, slipping it into the large pocket of his coat.  

“Not at all. Please, sit.” He had a light accent; a trace of something Slavic coated his words.   

Lucy placed her cup on the table. Her stomach churned, angry at her impulsive decision to talk to this stranger. But it was too late to turn around and leave, and so she took the seat directly opposite him.  

“I’ve seen you in my lectures. Are you enrolled in my class?” Lucy’s head popped to the side as she studied him, her hand playing idly with the plastic lid on her cup.   

The man chuckled, dimples drawing across both his cheeks. Her heart gave a small thump and she took a deep breath trying to steady it. 

“No, I don’t attend this university.”  

“Oh? Then why have you been at the back of every single of my Friday night U.S. History classes for almost a month?”  

He shrugged casually. “I like to learn new things, and I’m very curious about the events that shaped America’s development.”  

“What you’re saying then is that you’re scamming yourself some free education?” Lucy smiled so he knew that she teasing.  

“I wouldn’t say scamming. I’m not getting a diploma out of this, am I?”  

“Touché,” she replied, taking a sip of her cooling coffee. “What made you choose my class?”  

“I like the way you teach.”  

Heat unfurled deep within her.  “And what is it about my teaching that you like?”  

The man, whose name she still did not know, smiled indulgently. “You’re very passionate. It’s clear to anyone who looks at you that you love history, love teaching it. History is important to you and you’re good at making me feel like it’s important to me too.”  

“You seem to know a lot about me,” she said, voice husky as she dug her fingers into the soft cardboard of her cup.  

“I’m very observant,” his voice lowered, as if he were sharing a secret with her.  

“And who are you, exactly?”  

The man’s face fell for a second, but the sly smile reappeared so quickly that Lucy wondered if she’d imagined it.  

“Gabriel,” he almost blurts. “My name is Gabriel Garcia.”  

A biblical name, a Hispanic surname and a Slavic accent. Pieces of a puzzle that just couldn’t quite fit together.  

“I’m Lucy Preston.”  

“I know.”  

“Of course you do.”  

Lucy was caught by his eyes, a strange grey or green, she couldn’t quiet decide. He was just as entranced with her, until he blinked and looked away, allowing her to come to her senses.  

“Well, I should get going. I have some prep work to finish before my classes today. I suppose I’ll see you on Friday, Gabriel,” she smiled as she stood, cup in hand.  

“Garcia.”  

“I’m sorry?”  

“Call me Garcia.”  

Lucy nods. “Don’t be a stranger, Garcia,” she says just before she walks out the door.

[biofunmy]

‘I’m 17 Years Old, and I’m Terrified’: The Issues Our Readers Hope Come Up at the Democratic Debate

Discussions about health care have dominated the six previous nights of debates among the Democratic presidential candidates. Ahead of Wednesday night’s debate in Atlanta, we asked our readers what issue they most wanted the candidates to address, and why it mattered to them and their families.

One issue stood out: climate change.

About two-thirds of the more than 1,000 readers we heard from across the country said they wanted the next president to aggressively try to head off a climate catastrophe. These included young people grappling with the desire to grow a family ahead of a looming crisis, and grandparents fearful their youngest relatives would inherit a damaged world.

A middle schooler in Havertown, Pa., wrote simply: “I am young and want to live.”

In addition to the environment, readers cited health care costs, an economy that leaves many behind, gun control and student loan debt as the issues they most wanted the Democratic candidates to address.

Below is a selection of responses, which have been lightly edited.

Make climate change a priority

I am a young woman who cannot imagine a happy future because of these issues that older generations have caused.

I have lost hope in having children because it would be selfish of me to bring children into this doomed natural world. — Molly Meehan, Yardley, Pa.

•

I live on a beach, and rising water threatens to inundate my home and others. Sea walls that go unrepaired, and roadways and bridges that need replacement or repair mean I cannot count on escaping the waters if I need to. — Mary Klein, St. Pete Beach, Fla.

•

My home state of Michigan may become a last refuge from rising seas and worsening droughts. I’m afraid of what a rise in population will do to the beautiful natural spaces I love.

And the little things scare me, too. The uncertain future of chocolate and coffee, in part due to climate change, is terrifying in its own way. — Hannah Ellery, 20, Traverse City, Mich.

•

I live in southwest Colorado. Despite having an extraordinary amount of snow last winter, we are back in a severe drought. Our snowpack is changing. We are experiencing more severe wildfires.

I’m concerned about other countries and the impact the warming temperatures are having on them and also on places in our own country, with increased flooding and more severe storms. — Gail C. Harriss, Durango, Colo.

Strengthen our health care system

I am a single mother who is self-employed. My family depends on insurance from the Affordable Care Act. But the plans have become so expensive that just paying premiums pushes my business into the red some years.

You might imagine that I am a fan of “Medicare for all,” but I am not. I work in the health care industry and I know how complicated and traumatic it would be to try to overhaul the way health care providers and insurance companies interact.

I do not want to turn everything upside down. I just want the A.C.A. shored up so that it works for freelancers and small businesses. — Frances Verter, Maryland

•

The high cost of our prescriptions in this country compared to the rest of the world’s is my greatest concern.

In 1998, my sister and I spent three weeks in Spain. She became ill. I was sent to the pharmacy for her medicine. I gave them the prescription and they gave me the meds.

I paid a small amount, under $5, for what turned out to be a form of penicillin. From that moment on, I came to believe that there was something very wrong with our pharmaceutical companies and the greed of it all. — Jean Zappia, Morehead, N.C.

•

I work in health care. I see the devastation our health care system causes. The current stranglehold insurance companies have on medicine in our country is destroying us from the inside out. — Yvonne McCarthy, Kansas

•

I was diagnosed with breast cancer last year, and without health insurance the cost of my treatments would have been a quarter of a million dollars out of pocket.

When families are facing a devastating health crisis, they shouldn’t also face a devastating financial crisis. — Ann Dixon, Pennsylvania

Have a plan for implementing and managing health care changes

I am a cancer patient. I have to live in fear of losing everything I worked for my whole life, to stay alive.

I want to hear how candidates will get their idea passed through Congress and how it will be implemented. Otherwise ideas mean nothing. — Judith Salyer, Ypsilanti, Mich.

•

Thousands of Americans will be out of jobs if we move toward abolishing private health care. I want to know how politicians plan to transition the jobs that they will be eliminating.

I work in insurance and I know how many jobs there are in back-office functions in billing, collections, claim handling and customer service. Most of these jobs require a very specific set of skills that will not necessarily transfer to other industries. — Alex Sam, Philadelphia

Make our schools safe

As a survivor who was wounded in a school shooting, I have been waiting for a candidate who is passionate about the topic of gun violence and reform.

With Beto out of the race, I am looking for the person willing to take on this issue with as much passion and resolve as he did. — Taylor Schumann, Charleston, S.C.

•

I’m 17 years old, and I’m terrified. That my friends will be killed. That I will be shot down dead. All I want to do is go to college, but what if I’m not safe there? — Rachel Ellynn M., Missouri

•

I have a high school son and a husband who is a high school math teacher. With every school shooting I hear about, I become more nervous about it hitting home. — Kristy Fitzgerald, Frisco, Texas

Make our economy work for everyone

The rate at which the economy is changing affects all of us. I used to work at a now-closed retail establishment. My boyfriend worked in a distribution center. He saw the company automate jobs away. — Nicole Sanchez, Columbia, S.C.

•

I live in Dayton, Ohio, and our county swung for President Trump, yet also elected Obama. People are struggling. Our community has job openings but a serious skills gap. Workforce issues are huge here. Just because the overall economy is booming doesn’t mean we’re not being left out.

We need a president that will fight for working-class people and prioritize programs that get people the training and support they need to compete in today’s global economy. Our middle class has been hollowed out. I live in a city with 7,000 vacant structures. Wall Street and corporate greed have left the Midwest behind.

We need someone who will focus on supporting programs that help economic mobility across the country. — Bryan Stewart, Dayton, Ohio

•

I make six figures, but between me and my husband, we can hardly afford to pay all our bills. With day care and health care costs for two kids, we have no money to save.

If this was 30 years ago, a boomer would have a substantially more comfortable life at a similar life stage.

My generation is already doomed to be a lost generation. I want to make my children’s economic future less bleak. — Justine Graham, Plymouth, Minn.

•

Where is this tight job market and booming economy everyone is talking about? It doesn’t exist in my world, and I am a college-educated experienced professional. — Jane O’Donovan, Dunedin, Fla.

Reset how America engages with the world

I am a Vietnam combat veteran and come from a military family. I visited Vietnam last year and I can tell you that after 50 years, the effects of abhorrent combat behavior such as the My Lai Massacre continue to haunt the Vietnamese people.

Pardoning war criminals endangers the entire military community, and it sends a message to our troops that there are no repercussions for criminal behavior on the battlefield. — Mark McVay, Golden, Colo.

•

When my preteen son was adopted from Korea, I was so proud to bring him home to us in America. I held him in my arms just a few short weeks after we brought him home, and wept while listening to Obama’s inauguration.

It felt so right.

We were once the nation that gave hope to democracies around the globe, including Korea. We have our share of historical evildoing, but after World War II, American soldiers handed out Hershey bars. We’ve built hospitals in war zones and we put our money where our mouth was in upholding ideals with aid. — Sophie Johnson, Arlington, Va.

Help pay down student loans

I pay about one-third of my family’s income to student loans. This is crippling to a growing family.

It would be a huge boost to our family and to our spending if some or all was forgiven. — Jacob Theurer, Grand Rapids, Mich.

•

I pay more than my rent in student loan payments each month. I have paid about $20,000 over the last four years and I still owe almost as much as I borrowed.

My interest rates range from 5 to 7 percent. This financial situation is holding me back from goals like owning a home or starting a business. — Megan Gileza, Baltimore

Ensure women’s rights

My daughter is a scientist. She will continue her graduate studies next year. I want her to live in a world where her gender, studies and intellect matter to the country, to the world and to the future. — Susan Goldstein, New York

•

As a young woman, I feel my right to reproductive health services is under attack, especially in the Southern states.

I want to feel safe in this country and know that if I ever needed it, I could access specialized female health care without significant hurdles. I know that when women are properly cared for and provided the care they need (whether it be safe abortions, contraception, or necessary labs and tests) the entire community benefits in some capacity. — Isabel Watkins, Carrboro, N.C.

Improve the quality of public education

My community has an excellent education system, but looking around the country, you see the stark disparities so that our citizens cannot participate in our democracy intelligently.

It might be the downfall of our country. — Diane Pursley, Lexington, Mass.

•

I live in Florida and have two kids. One is in middle school and another is in high school.

Education quality here is less than excellent. I would like to see kids having a well-rounded, meaningful education, instead of being bombarded by standardized tests. — Teresa Restom Gaskill, Florida

Defeat President Trump

The only issue for the election is removing Trump and Republican senators, not radical proposals that have no chance of voter or congressional approval. — Jim Austet, Colorado

•

Get Trump out of office. He is the greatest threat to the United States, its values and its place in the world in my lifetime. — Joe Distelheim, South Carolina

•

At 84, I have never been so scared for our country. I see the destruction of our democracy as the most critical.

I will not live to see it repaired, but maybe I will live long enough to see this president removed and see his corrupt administration held accountable.

This affects everything we need to care for our people. — Sara Davis Huff, Atlanta

A note to readers who are not subscribers: This article from the Reader Center does not count toward your monthly free article limit.

Follow the @ReaderCenter on Twitter for more coverage highlighting your perspectives and experiences and for insight into how we work.

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[topicprinter]

Hey - Pat from StarterStory.com here with another interview.Today's interview is with Kelan Kline (u/thesavvycouple) of The Savvy Couple, a brand that makes digital financial products and coursesSome stats:Product: Digital Financial Products and CoursesRevenue/mo: $20,000Started: July 2016Location: Rochester New YorkFounders: 2Employees: 2Hello! Who are you and what business did you start?Hey! We are Kelan and Brittany Kline the founders and co-owners of the popular personal finance blog The Savvy Couple.Our blog was started just over three years ago with the mission of helping families find their freedom by creating more time and money in their lives. We do this by helping couples learn how to budget together, pay off debt quickly, and make money online.imageWe have two digital workbooks The Budgeting Binder and The Debt Binder that have helped thousands of families take control of their spending and pay off massive amounts of debt.imageWe also created our flagship course Bloggers’ Secrets helping beginner bloggers take their struggling blog from $0 to $1,000+/month through proven expert strategies.If you are interested in learning how to make money online you can grab our free eBook with over 18+ Proven & Legitimate Ways to Make Money Online.We are currently on pace to make over $250,000 this year alone with our personal finance blog!What's your backstory and how did you come up with the idea?I was your average kid growing up wanting to be a police officer and changing the world one bad guy at a time. Brittany also knew what she wanted to be when she grew up, a teacher.imageAfter meeting each other in 9th grade American Sign Language class the rest is history. We started dating at age fourteen and have never looked back. Best friends would be an understatement.We both went to school together at The College at Brockport, State University of New York. I graduated with a Bachelor's in Business Administration while Brittany graduated with a Masters in Elementary Education.I quickly found my first job as an insurance salesman and it lasted all of about 2 weeks. This process has happened many times over again from being a UPS driver, office manager, eCommerce drop shipper, and even my landing a job in my dream industry of law enforcement as a Jail Deputy.I worked as a Jail Deputy for two and a half years. I fell into a deep depression, working in a stressful environment, long hours, forced overtime, and holidays. I had to let go of my dream of being a police officer and literally turn down an offer to move to a road patrol deputy. I knew deep down in my heart God had another plan for me. I wanted to be a family man and being in law enforcement makes that very difficult to do.It was a tough couple of years of marriage never getting to see each other and transitioning to our new life.We sat down and laid out a plan. We knew this was not working and we needed something better.I was absolutely done working for other people and knew I needed to start a business that gave me more freedom over my time and money. I was on track to open my own home inspection business. Went back to school, got insurance, business cards, the whole nine.imageThen, we somehow came across these personal finance bloggers making an absolute killing online working from home. Instantly THAT is what I wanted to do. THAT is the life we wanted to live.We decided from that moment forward we were going to start our own personal finance blog and give it a shot. We had nothing to lose and everything to gain.After nine months of non-stop hustling to get over the learning curve, we made our first $50! It was the spark we needed to know that we could make this work. I went to Brittany and told her I wanted to quit my job and work on our blog full-time.Luckily, I married an incredible woman and she gave me her full support. We had been saving like crazy and had entire years worth of salary saved up to reduce as much risk as possible. We really followed as much of Dave Ramsey’s advice as possible when it came to using a monthly budget, living frugally, and finding a good side hustle.I quit my job and within two months I had completely replaced my income working as a freelance digital marketer and online English teacher for VIPKID. God was continuing to guide this long journey of finding our freedom and now we just needed to continue to put in the work.Less than two years in we hit our first $ 10,000-month blogging! It was the most incredible feeling in the world. It was validation for everything leading up until this point in our lives.Less than three years after starting our blog we have both quit our jobs and are on track to make over $250,000 this year alone.Take us through the process of designing, prototyping, and manufacturing your first product.We did not make our first product until we were in year three of running our business. We followed the normal revenue model most bloggers take using display ads, affiliate marketing, and sponsorships to make money in the beginning.Now that we have an awesome following of dedicated readers we have been creating products and services to help solve some of their biggest problems.We normally run some type of giveaway with a survey attached to it. This survey provides us with invaluable information for creating future products and courses.We have learned that validating an idea and even selling it before jumping in and creating it is the best way to protect your time and make sure you are creating a winning product.Describe the process of launching the business.I am someone who takes action first and pivots later on. So, I simply read a post on how to start a profitable blog and jumped right in. The learning curve was huge, but little by little I knew together we could figure it out.The beauty of starting an online business is that there is very little overhead. We spent less than $500 in the entire first year of running our business.Obviously, as you grow so does your expenses, but we have been able to maintain our very low monthly expenses averaging close to 80% profit margin before taxes. Tell me any other business you can do that with? Go ahead, I’ll wait. Right, you can’t.If you want to take complete control over your life and are willing to put in a lot of hard work to make it happen blogging is one of the best businesses you can start.imageSince launch, what has worked to attract and retain customers?We made sure to always have a purpose with our content and know exactly who we are trying to serve with it. All of our content solves a specific problem. Whether it’s learning how to budget, make money as a stay at home mom, or learning how to live a more frugal life all of our content solves a problem our readers have.Along with always having a purpose, we create three types of content. Making sure we focus on each article fitting into one of these categories social, SEO, and link building helped us significantly increase our blog traffic.Social articles are created to go viral on Pinterest (our heavy hitter), Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. These are your more “listicle” articles that are short and sweet and fun to read. We are huge fans of starting with one social media platform and becoming an expert on it. We always recommend new bloggers start on Pinterest as it’s a visual search engine and is the most evergreen social media platforms.SEO articles have one goal. Be the absolute BEST article on that topic on the entire internet. These are much longer in-depth articles that we pour our heart and soul into making the best they can be. SEO traffic is by far the best type of traffic because it’s very passive and most of the time the users are very warm and ready to take action (sign up or buy something).Link building articles are created to have others share, link to, and collaborate on. Think expert roundups, studies, or awesome visuals others would want to link to. These types of articles are great because they can go viral and also are a huge SEO play with building out backlinks to your site.The most important thing to focus on is being very purposeful with your content and not just writing about the things you want to write about. Your business is to serve others not yourself.How are you doing today and what does the future look like?This year we have been on a roll. We are continuing to grow our traffic each month averaging around 300,000 page views per month and averaging more than $20,000 per month in revenue.Our income is generated in the following order sponsorships, display ads, affiliate marketing, and selling our own products in that order.Our business is lean and means only having my wife and me as full-time workers. We do have two part-time freelancers that help us write articles and manage the day to day tasks that keep things running smoothly.We have no intention of becoming a huge corporate blog. We love the family-style business we have as it lines up with the lifestyle we want.We both read the book “Work Less Make More” and it changed our lives. We focus on growing our EHR (effective hourly rate) and only on growing our EHR. The higher we get our EHR the more time we get back in our life.We currently both average around 20 hours of work per week. Leaving us plenty of freedom to pursue the passions that make us happy in life that include things like family, traveling, sports, camping, and more.imageimageThrough starting the business, have you learned anything particularly helpful or advantageous?The most important thing I have learned in growing a business quickly is having good time management and focusing on high ROI projects. The goal is to make money fast so using your time efficiently is an absolute must.We use the Eisenhower chart in everything we do. It helps us clearly see what is most important to work on and what we should be outsourcing. Before we go to bed we both write down the three big tasks we are going to work on the next day so when we wake up we are off and running.We also make sure we have good life habits like eating healthy, staying active, and getting enough sleep at night. I am a big proponent and working smarter not harder.What platform/tools do you use for your business?These are the tools that are necessary for us to use to operate our business at our current level.BigScootsWordPressSocial PugAhrefsKWFinderConverKitTeachableShopifyAdEsspressoTailwindBufferAsanaCanvaPowerpointGoogle DocGoogle DriveQuickbooksWhat have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources?Work Less Make More12 Week YearLifestyle BuildersBlogging With Purpose Facebook GroupAdvice for other entrepreneurs who want to get started or are just starting out?Keep it simple and commit to making it happen. If others are being successful, learn from them and implement them. Don’t reinvent the wheel. Learn something new, implement, and take action.I know this sounds cliche, but you are in complete control over your life. The only magic pill to be a successful entrepreneur is hard work.Starting right now believe it and you will achieve it!Are you looking to hire for certain positions right now?Unfortunately, at this time we are not hiring any positions. But if you are a blogger, podcaster, YouTuber, or freelancer I highly recommend you join our free Facebook groupto get connected with others.Where can we go to learn more?The Savvy CouplePinterestInstagramFacebookTwitterThe Savvy Couple CommunityBlogging With PurposeIf you have any questions or comments, drop a comment below!Liked this text interview? Check out the full interview with photos, tools, books, and other data.For more interviews, check out r/starter_story - I post new stories there daily.Interested in sharing your own story? Send me a PM

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Indian film industry (Bollywood) – Perspectives and outlook| Bollywood Latest News

The Indian film industry or Bollywood is known as the mechanism for Indian film production and has been an interesting case study not only for film lovers but also for the business world. It has made a transition across cultures and countries and has reached almost all parts of the world with very little formal marketing (if any). Tejaswini Ganti, associate professor of anthropology at New York University, is an expert on the subject.

In this interview, Tejaswini shares information about Hindi filmmaking in India and why it is unique. He also has some suggestions on how Bollywood will meet some of the challenges it faces today. latest Bollywood movies articles If you are interested in commercial, commercial and operational aspects of the Indian film industry, this is required reading.

 Indian Film Making - Interview with Tegaswini Ghanti (New York University)

MBA Crystal Ball: Tell us a bit about yourself and your interest in the Indian film industry.

Tejaswini: I am a cultural anthropologist and have conducted ethnographic research in the Indian film industry since 1996. I lived in Mumbai for a year in 1996 while researching my doctoral dissertation and then did fieldwork later in 2000, 2005, Indian films in the United States over the last decade. In anthropology, our main method of research is what we call "participants' observation", which means that we derive our information about the society, community or group in particular, to immerse ourselves in this particular social world and observe and interact with people at home. from him. So, for my research, I devoted a lot of time to filming movies, filmmakers' offices, editing studios, dubbing studios, outdoor photography and other production sites; I also worked as an assistant in two different films. In recent years, formal, recorded and recorded interviews have been conducted with nearly 100 people in the industry, but conversations and daily interactions with industry members play a key role in the analysis of the film industry.

I study at New York University in the Department of Anthropology and its Culture and Information Program; some of the courses I study include Anthropology Anthropology in South Asia. And visual anthropology [among others].

Since I was a child, I was probably 3 or 4 years old. I was a passionate fan of Indian films. I grew up with them in my first years in India and then in my childhood and adolescence in Indian cinema in the United States. UU. It has always been a very important feature of my leisure/leisure/ social life, and I am lucky to be able to transform my personal passion into professional research. This credit is for the consultants at the Graduate School who encouraged me to think about continuing to search for Indian cinema for my thesis project. In the early 1990s, there was growing interest within anthropology about mass media and culture, so it was in the right place at the right time.

 MBA Crystal Ball: What Makes the Indian Film Industry (Bollywood) Unique?

 Tegaswini: First, although filmmakers, government and the media speak of it as such, there is no "Indian film industry" in terms of funding, production, distribution and integrated exhibitions at the national level. Even if there is some overlap and turnover among the six major film industries in India. There are many Bollywood celebrity in India, including the Mumbai-based Indian film industry, now known as Bollywood, which is the most famous around the world; however, Indian films account for about 20% of the total number of films produced in India, With an equal number [and sometimes more] of films produced in Telugu and Tamil each year. When all films produced in all languages ​​are counted, about 20 or less, this makes India the largest producer of films in the world; Bollywood does not produce 800-1000 films a year, about 200 or more a year ago.

Now to answer the question: I think what is striking is how, despite the years of hostile or indifferent government policies, high tax rates, the lack of full attention to much of the formal sector, the lack of capital and very decentralized structure, and the Indian film. The industry has managed to survive and continue making films that have been successful, conveying the hearts of people and seen by millions of people around the world. The example of Indian filmmaking contrasts with all those theories that neo-liberal economists and Republican politicians in the United States explain how excess taxes and regulations kill entrepreneurship, and certainly not for the Indian film industry! The filmmakers complained and still complain about the economic policies of the Indian government that affect them negatively, but did not prevent them from producing their films.

The second feature I find also unique is that Indian films have spread all over the world since the 1950s: Morocco, Egypt, Nigeria, Ghana, Israel, Tanzania, Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, Poland, Indonesia, USSR, Peru, and China. , And many countries without any important Diaspora community, without any marketing effort by their producers. These films spread everywhere and planted a loyal audience and the producers who were in Bombay had no idea. It's a hobby for me to collect stories/stories about where Indian films appear. The most interesting example was when he mentioned a student in the anthropology class at Barnard College where he gave a guest lecture that he had seen a Hindi film on the video. Yanomami people in the Amazon! In this sense, these films have been able to reach all kinds of unexpected and unexpected audiences with their own power with promotion or marketing without any row. I often found myself telling filmmakers in Bombay stories about where all their films came from and they were very surprised!

 Crystal Ball MBA: From a business perspective, what are the similarities and differences compared to Hollywood?

Tegaswini: Both are similar in that both are large, commercially oriented, and profit-oriented, and are traded globally in the major entertainment industries. However, this is where the similarities almost end. In contrast to Hollywood, the Indian film industry is largely decentralized, funded primarily by corporate capital, organized through social networks and kinship, and until the early decade of the 20th century was subject to verbal contracts rather than written contracts. The financial and distribution structures in Indian filmmaking, power sites, organization of work and the culture of work are generally different from Hollywood. It has been and remains an industry of independents who are challenging for a particular film project.

 Until the emergence of so-called "collusion", which began to take shape in a very serious way about five years ago, there was no integration between production, distribution or exhibition, although that is now changing. Finally, a very important difference between these two sectors is that Hollywood has always been supported by the US government. Since the early twentieth century, to help expand its objectives, unlike the Indian industry, which was first taken under colonial authority. The British were trying to figure out how to promote their films in India and have no interest in promoting Indian cinema. After independence, the Indian government dealt with films similar to a deputy in terms of censorship and taxation policies.

 Tegaswini: In fact, when it comes to media in general, specifically the Indian film industry, it is very difficult to predict trends. The kind of changes that have taken place in the Indian film industry from the state of the industry, the shift to multiple companies and the arrival of Indian cinema in the finest film festivals in the world, predicted by industry members. When I started my research, most filmmakers were absolutely certain that the central government would not give the filmmaking status, two years later.

However, if I have to predict, the growing integration between the production and distribution sectors and exhibitions I mentioned above will continue. However, even with large companies such as Reliance Big Entertainment and UTV, it seems that the producer and the independent distributor are still forced to do the actual work of producing and distributing the films. There will also be increased links between filmmakers in Bollywood celebrity news Hollywood and Hindi; although I can not predict where he will take us.

Tegaswini: A number touches a variety of topics ranging from marketing to data collection. First of all, I think filmmakers, whom I use extensively to refer to producers, distributors, directors, and others, should think outside the box about who their fans think and who they will be; they should not think that South Asians are the only audience for their films, In a mentality, white American audiences are a kind of Holy Grail, when the whole world has been watching Indian films for decades.

Secondly, in India, I think that filmmakers should not be happy to take all their money from a small segment of the audience, which has made multicast access to the high ticket prices for the movie business. The industry should try to increase its audience, not reduce it.

Thirdly, the industry is experiencing significant capital injections by entering the corporate sector into cinema, but much of this capital is chasing stars themselves rather than trying to develop new talent. There is also a tendency to trade in the desire to gamble on the children of the stars and not to risk-taking external roles to the main roles. I think the industry should try to expand its talent base and not just automatically trust children, grandchildren, sons, brothers, etc. Of industry members

Finally, as a result of the decentralized nature of the industry, there is a real problem with collecting reliable income data: no one really knows how much money the film has won and the success and failure of the factors associated with the location where you occupy the chain.

 Crystal Ball MBA: Do you see similarities with other popular genres that do not belong to Hollywood (for example, martial arts films have been madly dubbed a decade ago, but they are no longer)?

Tegaswini: Not really, because I do not think Indian films are a kind of fashion; they may be fad for some journalists or the media, but Indian films will be made and popular whether a small group in the US [in the media or film schools] find it strange or strange Firstly.

 Crystal Ball MBA: In terms of market penetration, do you think the Indian film industry has more acceptance (beyond the Indian diaspora)? Does language, culture and flavor are very typical of forums as a deterrent in the process?

Tejaswini: I think Hindi movies have a global audience. Language, culture or songs have not been a problem in the past, but the challenge for filmmakers has always been to get those benefits. Part of the problem is that global data collection mechanisms, such as publications with a very European-American perspective, produce a very narrow picture that ignores and / or obliterates the global presence of Indian cinema.

In addition, there was nothing universal in substance or less privacy about Hollywood movies. Not content, but a series of historical factors that led to its global hegemony from the devastating impact of the Second World War on the European film industries to the colonial relations of the United States with Latin America and Japan. The United States is actually one of the most protected and closed film markets in the world, because the MPAA is a very powerful lobbying group.

As the latest Bollywood movies  I mentioned, the United States Government. Since the first part of the twentieth century, he has seen the economic and ideological potential of film exports, and Hollywood is often referred to as the "small foreign ministry". In the 1920s, "every foot of the American film sold the goods manufactured in one place in the world for one dollar." Therefore, the problem of market expansion is related to political and economic factors rather than simple content.

 Crystal Ball MBA: What skills do we need to develop to get there?

Tejaswini: India's government needs a better long-term view of how it wants to promote cinema in the global marketplace. Filmmakers should put their films in more languages ​​to reach a new audience, because although most of the world is used to watching films that do not offer their people their nationality, they expect to hear their languages. There should be better interpretation of the markets where the translation of films is more favorable and the songs must certainly be translated and translated better!

Essentially, filmmakers can not be fools and idiots; all of these efforts will require substantial investment, but you can not expect to reach new markets without expenses. If Indian films in the past have reached many audiences without any effort from the creators, can you imagine what you can actually do?

[101percentindia]

My Walk At The Queer Pride Parade In Guwahati

Lesbians, gays, transmen, old men and women – it was an eclectic mix.

It was a regular Sunday afternoon in Assam’s Guwahati: shops closed, middle-class Assamese homes napping the afternoon away, streets rather empty.

But the mood in Dighalipukhuri, a neighborhood in the city was more upbeat than usual. Colourful balloons, rainbow flags, theatrical masks, and several banners that raised slogans in both Assamese and English lay around a corner close to the park entrance opposite the Assam State Museum. Many were dressed in garish outfits and some just looked confused, chatting about what was going on. I heard someone mutter behind me: ‘I am new to this. Could I just walk along with you?’

Proud of who I am

It was the fifth Queer Pride March in Guwahati where many people came together to celebrate their identities and protest against Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. The Pride was organized by Xukia, an organization in the city working for the rights of the LGBTQ community.

Even during my years in Delhi I made it a point to never miss the Pride, more so because it was an occasion for bumping into friends and breaking into a random dance. With no one willing to tag along with me this time, I decided to go on my own.

I quickly walked towards the ring where all the celebration was taking place and pretended to be comfortable. In a small pick-up truck stood Abhishek Chakraborty, a student of Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) Guwahati, and also one of the organizers of the Pride. Holding a mic, he announced, “The Pride is a celebration of everyone who is asserting their identities and fighting for who they are, and who they want to be. There are a lot of people who cannot walk with us because of the circumstances they live in. We walk, sing and dance today for every one of them.” Passionately, he raised slogans in Assamese: ‘Mur xorir, mur odhikaar; mur jibon, mur odhikaar’ (my body is my possession, my life is my possession).

You will never walk alone

I realized I hadn’t worn anything bright that loudly claimed that I’m part of the Pride. I unzipped my bag pack and pulled out a bright-coloured scarf. I instantly felt more at home.

Related: My Democratic Country Thinks It’s Okay To Kill Me For Being Gay, How About You?

A Queer Rights Activist Milin Dutta, who identifies himself as a transman, waves at me from the crowd. Milin is middle aged and has a very friendly demeanor. He introduced me to a couple of his friends - Bitopi Dutta and Ankita NE. They were all part of organizing the first pride in Guwahati in 2014, and were amazed at how it had grown.

Milin was born a girl but brought up by his parents like a boy. He moved to the US where he was able to achieve his transformation. He now shuttles between Assam and the US, ‘six months here and six there’. He told me that the Pride is great but there should be more involvement with more marginalized voices at the fore. “By next year I hope we’ll have parents support groups as well.”

When he was young, he wanted to move out of Assam and its patriarchal society. Lonely and unaware, he wondered if people like him existed anywhere in the world. “Then, I went to study engineering in Surat where I attended a seminar and someone mentioned being gay and I was like Oh!”

He had a girlfriend then but they didn’t call themselves lesbians. “In future, I would go on to date several women and I also went through severe heart breaks.”

Choose love

The sound of the drums got louder and the group started moving: The march began. It started from the Dighalipukhuri park entrance, passed through localities in the area - Handique Girls College, the Guwahati High Court etc. and returned to the same point after an entire circle.

Related: 101 Coming Out

On the way, I noticed the crowd increase and a lot of people kept joining in, making it a massive turnout. It mainly comprised enthusiastic college students, and young people, but only a few middle aged men and women. Perhaps most of them indulged in ogling at the crowd from the view of their balconies.

I met Guwahati-based freelance journalist Prabir Talukdar who felt that an annual 45-minute event on a holiday would barely make an impact. Apart from some who are genuinely interested, others are mere spectators for whom LGBTQ makes no sense. But having more such events would help.

Love has no gender

Snehashish Das, a student activist from TISS, Guwahati and a student of TISS felt differently. “Pride is a struggle against homogenization of identities, experiences, choices. A lot of pre-pride events had been organized at TISS and in some other parts of the city urging people to be a part of it. The Queer Collective in Guwahati has often organized many discussions and events around gender and sexuality.”

Right to choose who I am

Just when I was about to leave, Pragati Kalita, one of the members of Xukia introduced me to Joyshree Sharma (name changed to protect identity). Joyshree is an activist from a small town in Assam, much smaller than Guwahati, who identifies herself as a lesbian woman and admits that she has had massive crushes on women since her schooldays. Confused about her orientation until a year ago, Joyshree dated a man for five years. Laughing, she said, “We were never close physically.”

I asked Joyshree if the Pride has been liberating for her. She told me she found out about it last year and came from her town to attend it. “After I got here, I felt I’d found my community.” Post last year’s Pride, Joyshree has dated three women, all who identify themselves as bisexual.

Back in her hometown, LGBTQ is not a topic that is openly talked about. But at the same time, she thinks Guwahati isn’t very evolved either. “Only certain sections of people are. The youth is less homophobic these days but the elders are never going to be open to the idea.”

Her close friends know about her. Opening up in front of her siblings was a challenge. “I’m hopeful they will understand, eventually.” But the biggest fear is coming out in front of her parents who don’t know yet.

Aware of the fact that her sexual orientation is an open secret in her hometown, she said, “I know people talk behind my back and make assumptions that if a woman is seen with me for more than a week, she’s got to be my partner. People are really judgmental but I can’t help that.” For many women in her hometown it’s unthinkable to even speak about it, let alone openly attend a Pride in a big city.

Related: I'm An Unapologetic Liberal Atheist Feminist And As Queer As They Come

In Assam, Xukia has been involved in sensitization work but they need more support groups. Joyshree feels an alliance between queers and heterosexuals will help. Though this year there have been people from Nagaland, Manipur and Meghalaya, but they still have a long way to go.’

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are independent views solely of the author(s) expressed in their private capacity and do not in any way represent or reflect the views of 101India.com.

By Sanskrita Bharadwaj Photographs by Sanskrita Bharadwaj

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[shelleyseale]

12 Days of Giving: The Gift of Passion

This is the seventh in our special “12 Days of Giving” series running for the holiday season. It’s a little different from what you might think of as traditional presents or giving. We aren’t really talking about stuff you buy or a gift list. Rather, on these 12 days, we will be talking about different gifts that you can give to yourself, or others — those that have a deeper meaning, that can help you live with intention, be happier, be healthier. Soul gifts, you might even call them. Join us on the journey. Passion is what drives us as human beings, what makes things desirable and worthwhile. It's why we fall in love, why we pursue a certain profession or talent, why we take up causes, why we explore the world. The dictionary defines passion as a "strong and barely controllable emotion." So how do you find your passion? How do you develop it, and gift it to yourself or others? While that can be a tricky and complex question, there are a few different schools of thought about passion. First of all, there are certain things in life that you just know you're passionate about, that you probably always have been for about as long as you can remember. Things that you can't imagine not doing or not having in your life. For example, for me some of those things are: reading, writing, animals and travel. They've always been a part of me, and I wouldn't really be me without them. "Nothing great in the world has ever been accomplished without passion." ~Georg Hegel

Image by Freepik So part of giving yourself the gift of passion, is giving yourself the room in your life for those things you are passionate about. Making sure they are a part of your life in some capacity. When it comes to animals, I've almost always had pets (and have a dog right now, Selma). But I also volunteer and foster quite a bit for several animal rescue organizations (I have a foster dog right now), I dog-sit regularly for other people, and I often incorporate animal/wildlife activities in my travel. Bingo! Hitting two passions with one stone! I make travel a priority — I forego a lot of other things that people spend money on like new car payments, expensive haircuts, new furniture or extensive wardrobes in order to put money back to fund my travel. I read books like they're going out of style, and as far as writing — well, I built an entire career around it. Which brings me to one of the differing opinions about the idea of "following your passion" as your work livelihood.

Should you build a career around your passion?

Personally, I think there's no right or wrong answer to this question. Many people, myself included, do exactly that and because of it, lead incredibly happy and fulfilled lives. Not feeling like they are working at a job they don't really like, or merely tolerate, or even like but don't love. In short, a job. Instead, we feel like we aren't really "working" the way other people define it, so to speak, because we get to do what we love every day for our living. For people like us, we also generally can't imagine not doing our passion work, or doing anything else. This defines me as a writer; and I have many friends and acquaintances who fall into this category as musicians, people who founded nonprofits around a cause they are passionate about, people who started up entrepreneurial ventures, and many more.

Image by Rawpixel on Unsplash But this isn't always the best route or piece of advice for everyone. Take this article in The Atlantic, for instance. Carol Dweck, a psychology professor at Stanford University, thinks that advising people to follow their passion in work is steering people wrong. That it can lead them to think that if they don't experience an overwhelming sense of emotion about the work they're doing, or if you in fact do anything that feels like work, you are in the wrong career. Personally, I can say that these two beliefs are misguided, even if you are following your passion in your work. While overall my work is my passion and I wouldn't want to do anything else, it most certainly does feel like work many times; there are many days or projects where I just plain don't feel like doing it; and I often decidedly do not feel an overwhelming sense of emotion (at least, not positive emotion) about what I'm doing at that time. That's just life, in my opinion. Dweck and two other college professors conducted a study on this, and now argue that passions aren't found — they're developed. For example, you may not have ever known that you were passionate about a certain subject, until perhaps you attend a class or a lecture or have a conversation with someone who knows a lot about it, and find yourself thinking it is incredibly interesting and fascinating. To the extent that you delve into it and become passionate about it. I do think that this happens to us a lot throughout life; I've gotten much more passionate about cooking in the past decade or so (though I would never want to make that my career), and I didn't really develop a passion for travel until I was gifted a month-long European trip as a high school graduation presents (thanks Mom and Dad!) When it comes to making a passion your life's work, I think it depends on A) What kind of person you are; B) what the passion is; and C) what else you are good at or passionate about. Like I said, I'm very passionate about food and cooking, and it's something that I enjoy immensely. But I would never want to work in that field; I think it would quickly kill my love for it. Some passions are better off left as hobbies or side interests. To give you another example, my partner Keith loves scuba diving. He's been certified for a long time and he goes on dive trips frequently (he has one coming up in less than two weeks), or goes diving while he's on other travels. He even got me into diving to a certain extent; although it's not a passion for me like it is for him, I've done those "introductory" dive sessions in Nicaragua and in Australia and had a blast. At one point, Keith even considered becoming a dive instructor or leading people on dive trips. But the more he thought about it, the more he realized that to make an activity that he enjoyed so much into a job, he believed that he would lose the joy he got from it, just as a diver.

Cultivating your passion

In his book So Good They Can’t Ignore You, author Cal Newport writes, "There’s little evidence that most people have pre-existing passions waiting to be discovered, and believing that there’s a magical right job lurking out there can often lead to chronic unhappiness and confusion when the reality of the working world fails to match this dream." Newport's main point is that you don’t have to discover your dream job, you create your dream job. In this article on Medium, Rey HS shares some good advice from Newport and others about how to cultivate your passion into a dream job. Maria Forleo, that I follow and love to read, has another take on passion. Writing for Oprah Magazine, Forleo says that the problem with trying to find our passion is that we think about it and analyze it too much; in short, we're using our heads, when passion lies in our hearts. Here are a few other great articles and resources on cultivating your passion: Gretchen Rubin, one of my favorite inspiring people to follow and author of the fantastic book, The Happiness Project, wrote this article in Forbes. The website Positively Present also has a good story on the topic, that was part of the Random Acts of Kindness Kick Arse group. Take the Passion Profile Quiz at Clarity on Fire, a coaching and inspirational website. Eight ways to find the true passion in life that has eluded you is the topic of this story at The Telegraph.

Photo by Jenna Anderson on Unsplash

You don't have to be good at your passion — just do it!

I had to throw this in there because  I think it's important. Like I said at the beginning of this story, we all have passions, big and small. Some of them could possibly fuel our entire career, while others make up a piece of our life that makes it that much more enjoyable. That is cooking and caring for animals, for me; while my passion for writing is my life's work. But believe me, I'm no great chef. I'm a pretty good cook, so don't think I'm belittling myself. I would say I'm above average, even. But it would terrify me to compete on a cooking show, even one like Master Chef that is geared towards non-professional home cooks. And there's no way I am good enough to cook in any restaurant. Could I get that way if I cultivated and developed that passion because I really wanted to? Yes, probably. But I don't want to. I want to keep my cooking as an enjoyable hobby, and I don't have to be James Beard material to do that. Let's look at other potential passions someone might have: dancing, or athletics, or painting. You don't have to necessarily be great at any of these things to make sure they're incorporated into your life. If you are truly passionate about something, it must be a part of your life. There are plenty of places around that have dance classes, whether formal studios or even clubs and live music venues, like White Horse in my Austin neighborhood, that offer regular dance lessons (often times even for free). For someone who loves to dance, that could be a fantastically fun thing to incorporate into your life. Maria Forleo's article is an example of just how she approached this with dance. Or joining a local soccer, swim or volleyball team, if sports is your thing. Take an art class, or get together a group of like-minded friends who want to meet once a week or once a month at someone's house to paint, drink wine, and enjoy each other's company. Or just go buy your own art supplies and make a commitment to yourself, to give yourself the time each week to immerse yourself in that passion. Don't let fear of not being the best at something, hold you back from doing it.

Above all, make sure your passions are part of your life!

Read the full article

[javleech-blog]

New Post has been published on Jav Leech

New Post has been published on https://javleech.com/blogging-is-a-extra-moneymaking-activity-than-banking-laila-ijeoma-ceo-lailasblog/

Blogging is a extra moneymaking activity than banking – Laila Ijeoma, CEO, LailasBlog

  In the Nigerian blogosphere, Laila Ijeoma commands a whole lot of appreciation, not simply because she owns www.LailasBlog.Com; a leisure internet site that reports trending Nigerian news examine with the aid of tens of millions month-to-month. On June 30, 2016, Laila took an ambitious step of leaving behind her over N5million per annum financial institution task to come to be a complete time entertainment blogger; risking the whole lot to take a bet on her passion. She traded her lucrative activity to pursue what changed into nonetheless at that point, only a hobby she becomes passionate about, however, nowadays, the decision has come to be one in all her first-class turning factors. In a chat with Saturday Woman, she says she has no regrets a year after taking this huge jump of religion as she now has all of the time to awareness on her circle of relatives and continues to grow her weblog even bigger. Laila Ijeoma Why did you dump your bank process for full-time blogging? I commenced running a blog as a joke in 2012;

        I wasn’t seeking out money due to the fact I turned into already gainfully hired at that time. All I wanted to be turned into an outlet to proportion my existence with Nigerians, inspire them with my stories. So I began a Facebook group called, ‘True love for my man’- that should be round 2010. That becomes the primary social media account I used to collect people collectively and we chatted about love and heartbreak. My huge dream had always been to have a top Nigerian talk display, so I later started a display on the radio. I subsequently had to put it on preserve because it was so traumatic.

Being married, a mum to 3 boys, running on the financial institution, there has been plenty to do in only 24 hours every day and the whole time table almost ‘killed’ me, so I needed to drop the radio display. Along the line, I found running a blog via a colleague at the bank wherein I worked; he owned a blog, after he introduced me to it that fateful day, I were given hooked. I found out I may want to reach out to humans through it with much much less pressure as compared to a radio show. I instructed him I would like to have mine and he helped me set it up. I didn’t even take it critical then. But as I kept on sharing stories, and I study feedback from my target audience, I knew this became what I changed into born to do. I even have usually been a science student in college, I knew not anything about running a blog, and I had 0 celeb friends, 0 celeb resources for my tales but I didn’t let that forestall me. How hard was it juggling being a banker, blogger, wife and mother of 3 boys? It become a crazy, disturbing schedule! On a daily basis, I awoke 4am; go to bed on occasion 12 nighttime. And tomorrow, I nonetheless should go to work. No excuses. I became able to run my existence like that for four years due to the fact I became simply fuelled with the aid of passion. I just love blogging, there’s this irreplaceable, lovely pleasure it brings me. As with each new assignment, the beginning is normally slow. How lengthy did it take for your site visitors to skyrocket? It took approximately 6 months after I made the first post on my blog for my visitors to start skyrocketing. Did the visitors immediately translate to cash for you? No it didn’t. My visitors didn’t translate to so much cash until 2014. That become the 12 months this particular employer contacted me and ran an advert with me that lasted for a full 12 months and modified my life. Would you say blogging is moneymaking in Nigeria? As lengthy as you are a passionate blogger, as long as you’re in running a blog due to the fact you revel in what you are doing, so long as your weblog, its concept, its contents are authentic, no longer a rip off of another blogger’s internet site; running a blog is the exceptional element which can ever happen to you. The rewards will blow your mind! It’s already an open mystery that running a blog can make you a billionaire. You get plenty of unfastened stuff from manufacturers too. People just call you up. They want to put it on the market for your internet site and they are handing out their services and products to you free of charge so that you can assessment them and share along with your readers.

Then you have the best reward; you’re known as a voice that may begin a change. You are respected. People want to study what you’ve got to mention about a scenario. Readers are so addicted to your blog that they wake up in the morning and may wait to read what is on Laila’s Blog these days. As a blogger, you can simply work from home in your pajamas. So you decide upon blogging to banking? I did banking for 10 years in one of the high-quality banks in Nigeria and I loved it. But I wasn’t self-fulfilled, I wanted greater. Again, I became already running a blog for over three years alongside my day process. Truth is as time went on, it became more difficult walking my blog, financial institution task, family and looking after myself correctly. I wanted to awaken in the morning to the pleasure of knowing that every one I had to do for that day turned into write approximately the trending testimonies in Nigeria and now not leave out any story simply because it came about while I became offline. I additionally desired to spend more time with my very supportive husband and children every day. How might you compare your income now to while you were a banker? It has been particularly rewarding, spiritually, family-clever, and financially. You recognise with a regular day task, you don’t should worry approximately getting your paycheck on the cease of the month. There are days I worry- what if I don’t make money this month? That become why earlier than I stop my financial institution activity, I made certain I saved up my earnings and had at least 6 months’ income set aside. I virtually had a complete year earnings stored up before I made the bounce and resigned. If you don’t plan well, matters can genuinely go wrong and your goals received pop out the way you deliberate them; you may fail and existence turns into depressing. I’m so happy I conquered my fears of what if something is going wrong and took the jump. My friends, circle of relatives, dad and mom idea I become crazy once I first referred to it. But after they noticed I wasn’t going to cease blogging and that I had prepared for the worst; they rallied spherical and supported my selection to leave banking. Having them at the back of me made me more potent and I left. Any regrets to this point? None in any way; my earnings tripled. My youngsters wake up inside the morning they see mummy. Mummy takes them to high school, mum brings them lower back, mum tucks them into mattress every night time, mummy helps them with their college assignments, things I couldn’t do earlier than. I love what I do now and it gives me so much joy. I just omit my former colleagues every now and then. What are the challenges you face as a blogger, particularly those extraordinary to the Nigerian blogosphere? My biggest challenge is internet network; there are instances I awaken to blog and I discover my internet isn’t as rapid as I need it to be. Sometimes, it’s totally down so I can’t even weblog. The second venture is power; a computer is a blogger what the Bible is to a Pastor. Laptops can best work if they’re charged. Because I am online at least 18 hours daily, I spend lots of gas for generators. What stands you out from different bloggers? You may be very positive that out of the over 50 memories you read on Laila’s weblog in an afternoon, at least 50% are our original memories. Again, we deliver memories as they are taking place. You will examine breaking news, trending testimonies first on Laila’s weblog earlier than they appear on different web sites. In your estimation, what’s the destiny of running a blog in Nigeria inside the subsequent 5 years? With a computer these days, all of us can build a worldwide commercial enterprise from his/her bed room, with a bit of creativity and sheer determination. Every day, we have over a hundred new bloggers coming on-line. Vlogging is now a huge thing! Five years from now, I see extra more youthful human beings doing massive things, conquering barriers, becoming millionaires through running a blog in Nigeria. I also see running a blog in Nigeria turning into extra expert. I am a registered member of this CAC registered bloggers’ association known as The Guild of Professional Bloggers in Nigeria. Aside blogging, any destiny plans? I actually have this massive ardour for taking care of orphans and prone kids, children underneath the age of 18 years who are at excessive risk of lacking ok care and safety. Right now I even have 10 underneath my care, youngsters my husband and I deal with. We have plans of taking that wide variety up a notch. Any hints for upcoming bloggers who look up to you? One Mr. Mohammed Mustafa Ahmedzai as soon as said ‘The simplest task in the world is beginning a blog but the toughest job is preserving it.” And that is truly because persistence topics in running a blog, and maximum upcoming bloggers don’t have that! Experienced bloggers will let you know which you ought to handiest begin to consider making money out of your blog at the least after 6 months of running a blog. But every day, I get emails from new bloggers with 1-2 month antique blogs asking you the way to observe for Adsense. These new bloggers apply for AdSense and maximum instances, they’re rejected and you see them give up running a blog. From the day every person starts off evolved running a blog until the day he/she ends her running a blogging career, there are plenty of troubles you’ll face. Solving those problems and transferring beforehand is not clean as it sounds! And that’s any other cause upcoming bloggers end running a blog without difficulty. So my first tip for them will be to have staying power. Without it, their eyes shall now not see the billions running a blog can drop in their financial institution accounts. If your major cause for running a blog is money and you have no patience for incomes it, then you definitely are now not going to earn from blogging at all! What’s your biggest wish in existence? I want to make the world a higher region by saving abused and prone children and ensuring their oppressors get critically punished for his or her wickedness.

[lavleech-blog]

Blogging is a extra moneymaking activity than banking – Laila Ijeoma, CEO, LailasBlog

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Blogging is a extra moneymaking activity than banking – Laila Ijeoma, CEO, LailasBlog

  In the Nigerian blogosphere, Laila Ijeoma commands a whole lot of appreciation, not simply because she owns www.LailasBlog.Com; a leisure internet site that reports trending Nigerian news examine with the aid of tens of millions month-to-month. On June 30, 2016, Laila took an ambitious step of leaving behind her over N5million per annum financial institution task to come to be a complete time entertainment blogger; risking the whole lot to take a bet on her passion. She traded her lucrative activity to pursue what changed into nonetheless at that point, only a hobby she becomes passionate about, however, nowadays, the decision has come to be one in all her first-class turning factors. In a chat with Saturday Woman, she says she has no regrets a year after taking this huge jump of religion as she now has all of the time to awareness on her circle of relatives and continues to grow her weblog even bigger. Laila Ijeoma Why did you dump your bank process for full-time blogging? I commenced running a blog as a joke in 2012;

        I wasn’t seeking out money due to the fact I turned into already gainfully hired at that time. All I wanted to be turned into an outlet to proportion my existence with Nigerians, inspire them with my stories. So I began a Facebook group called, ‘True love for my man’- that should be round 2010. That becomes the primary social media account I used to collect people collectively and we chatted about love and heartbreak. My huge dream had always been to have a top Nigerian talk display, so I later started a display on the radio. I subsequently had to put it on preserve because it was so traumatic.

Being married, a mum to 3 boys, running on the financial institution, there has been plenty to do in only 24 hours every day and the whole time table almost ‘killed’ me, so I needed to drop the radio display. Along the line, I found running a blog via a colleague at the bank wherein I worked; he owned a blog, after he introduced me to it that fateful day, I were given hooked. I found out I may want to reach out to humans through it with much much less pressure as compared to a radio show. I instructed him I would like to have mine and he helped me set it up. I didn’t even take it critical then. But as I kept on sharing stories, and I study feedback from my target audience, I knew this became what I changed into born to do. I even have usually been a science student in college, I knew not anything about running a blog, and I had 0 celeb friends, 0 celeb resources for my tales but I didn’t let that forestall me. How hard was it juggling being a banker, blogger, wife and mother of 3 boys? It become a crazy, disturbing schedule! On a daily basis, I awoke 4am; go to bed on occasion 12 nighttime. And tomorrow, I nonetheless should go to work. No excuses. I became able to run my existence like that for four years due to the fact I became simply fuelled with the aid of passion. I just love blogging, there’s this irreplaceable, lovely pleasure it brings me. As with each new assignment, the beginning is normally slow. How lengthy did it take for your site visitors to skyrocket? It took approximately 6 months after I made the first post on my blog for my visitors to start skyrocketing. Did the visitors immediately translate to cash for you? No it didn’t. My visitors didn’t translate to so much cash until 2014. That become the 12 months this particular employer contacted me and ran an advert with me that lasted for a full 12 months and modified my life. Would you say blogging is moneymaking in Nigeria? As lengthy as you are a passionate blogger, as long as you’re in running a blog due to the fact you revel in what you are doing, so long as your weblog, its concept, its contents are authentic, no longer a rip off of another blogger’s internet site; running a blog is the exceptional element which can ever happen to you. The rewards will blow your mind! It’s already an open mystery that running a blog can make you a billionaire. You get plenty of unfastened stuff from manufacturers too. People just call you up. They want to put it on the market for your internet site and they are handing out their services and products to you free of charge so that you can assessment them and share along with your readers.

Then you have the best reward; you’re known as a voice that may begin a change. You are respected. People want to study what you’ve got to mention about a scenario. Readers are so addicted to your blog that they wake up in the morning and may wait to read what is on Laila’s Blog these days. As a blogger, you can simply work from home in your pajamas. So you decide upon blogging to banking? I did banking for 10 years in one of the high-quality banks in Nigeria and I loved it. But I wasn’t self-fulfilled, I wanted greater. Again, I became already running a blog for over three years alongside my day process. Truth is as time went on, it became more difficult walking my blog, financial institution task, family and looking after myself correctly. I wanted to awaken in the morning to the pleasure of knowing that every one I had to do for that day turned into write approximately the trending testimonies in Nigeria and now not leave out any story simply because it came about while I became offline. I additionally desired to spend more time with my very supportive husband and children every day. How might you compare your income now to while you were a banker? It has been particularly rewarding, spiritually, family-clever, and financially. You recognise with a regular day task, you don’t should worry approximately getting your paycheck on the cease of the month. There are days I worry- what if I don’t make money this month? That become why earlier than I stop my financial institution activity, I made certain I saved up my earnings and had at least 6 months’ income set aside. I virtually had a complete year earnings stored up before I made the bounce and resigned. If you don’t plan well, matters can genuinely go wrong and your goals received pop out the way you deliberate them; you may fail and existence turns into depressing. I’m so happy I conquered my fears of what if something is going wrong and took the jump. My friends, circle of relatives, dad and mom idea I become crazy once I first referred to it. But after they noticed I wasn’t going to cease blogging and that I had prepared for the worst; they rallied spherical and supported my selection to leave banking. Having them at the back of me made me more potent and I left. Any regrets to this point? None in any way; my earnings tripled. My youngsters wake up inside the morning they see mummy. Mummy takes them to high school, mum brings them lower back, mum tucks them into mattress every night time, mummy helps them with their college assignments, things I couldn’t do earlier than. I love what I do now and it gives me so much joy. I just omit my former colleagues every now and then. What are the challenges you face as a blogger, particularly those extraordinary to the Nigerian blogosphere? My biggest challenge is internet network; there are instances I awaken to blog and I discover my internet isn’t as rapid as I need it to be. Sometimes, it’s totally down so I can’t even weblog. The second venture is power; a computer is a blogger what the Bible is to a Pastor. Laptops can best work if they’re charged. Because I am online at least 18 hours daily, I spend lots of gas for generators. What stands you out from different bloggers? You may be very positive that out of the over 50 memories you read on Laila’s weblog in an afternoon, at least 50% are our original memories. Again, we deliver memories as they are taking place. You will examine breaking news, trending testimonies first on Laila’s weblog earlier than they appear on different web sites. In your estimation, what’s the destiny of running a blog in Nigeria inside the subsequent 5 years? With a computer these days, all of us can build a worldwide commercial enterprise from his/her bed room, with a bit of creativity and sheer determination. Every day, we have over a hundred new bloggers coming on-line. Vlogging is now a huge thing! Five years from now, I see extra more youthful human beings doing massive things, conquering barriers, becoming millionaires through running a blog in Nigeria. I also see running a blog in Nigeria turning into extra expert. I am a registered member of this CAC registered bloggers’ association known as The Guild of Professional Bloggers in Nigeria. Aside blogging, any destiny plans? I actually have this massive ardour for taking care of orphans and prone kids, children underneath the age of 18 years who are at excessive risk of lacking ok care and safety. Right now I even have 10 underneath my care, youngsters my husband and I deal with. We have plans of taking that wide variety up a notch. Any hints for upcoming bloggers who look up to you? One Mr. Mohammed Mustafa Ahmedzai as soon as said ‘The simplest task in the world is beginning a blog but the toughest job is preserving it.” And that is truly because persistence topics in running a blog, and maximum upcoming bloggers don’t have that! Experienced bloggers will let you know which you ought to handiest begin to consider making money out of your blog at the least after 6 months of running a blog. But every day, I get emails from new bloggers with 1-2 month antique blogs asking you the way to observe for Adsense. These new bloggers apply for AdSense and maximum instances, they’re rejected and you see them give up running a blog. From the day every person starts off evolved running a blog until the day he/she ends her running a blogging career, there are plenty of troubles you’ll face. Solving those problems and transferring beforehand is not clean as it sounds! And that’s any other cause upcoming bloggers end running a blog without difficulty. So my first tip for them will be to have staying power. Without it, their eyes shall now not see the billions running a blog can drop in their financial institution accounts. If your major cause for running a blog is money and you have no patience for incomes it, then you definitely are now not going to earn from blogging at all! What’s your biggest wish in existence? I want to make the world a higher region by saving abused and prone children and ensuring their oppressors get critically punished for his or her wickedness.