#my other retirement account says i get about 150€/month

[casbitchh]

not to brag but i just got an update on my retirement fund that if i retire at 68 i’ll have $10 a week until i die at 90 😎

[kp-alice]

The Puppy With an MAcc

Summary: Despite officially retiring as a professional dominatrix months ago, there's one client you've decided to keep. Maybe it's because of the generous amount he pays, or maybe, just maybe, it's more than that. With the lines between the two of you continuously blurring, you can't help but return every time.

AKA a hopelessly devoted accountant!sub!Yunho x hesitantly-in-love!dom!f!reader

Word count: 5 150

Warnings: non-sexual dominance (kneeling, various acts of service, pet names - Miss, Puppy, etc.), crying, implied minor age difference (like 3-4 years but both characters are in their 20s), basically just two cowards in love who are too scared to admit their feelings to each other but love to indulge in non-committal domesticity

A/N: This fic is the second part of my sub!Yunho Kinktober 2024! The event's masterlist can be found here.

A/N 2: MAcc = Master of Accountancy (I think?? if I got it wrong, please correct me!!)

Your "dominatrix era", as your close friends liked to call it, was pretty short-lived, to say the least.

Well, it's not like you intended on making it your full-time job for the rest of time, anyway. Really, at the core of it, it was mostly just curiosity you wished to sate before getting out into the real world after university. Because of this, you didn't exactly focus on "expanding your empire", keeping only a handful of clients you'd found nice enough to deal with on a semi-regular basis.

The first few months were fun, to say the least. After all, how could you not feel excited at the thought of ordering wealthy men around for money? It made you giddy just thinking about it - you, a normal uni student, making powerful guys crawl around like dogs and thank you for it at the end of each session. Not to mention how good it felt to see them enjoying it too, all that stiffness in their shoulders and the frowns on their faces vanishing a minute into your session. And though a lot of what you did could be described as sexual in nature, you never actually had sex with anyone, keeping things as professional as can be. In a weird way, all of it felt more like a therapy session than stereotypical sex work.

But, as with everything else, even your little side gig had to come to an end a little less than a year later. Because while everything was fun and paid more than enough, you really couldn't see yourself doing this work long-term. Even with just a handful of clients, eventually, taking care of them started to take a mental toll on you. You tried to separate work from personal life, you really did, but as time went on and you got to know them a bit more personally, it was just not possible anymore. Even outside of your dominatrix persona, you felt burdened with each client's struggles and stories, eventually overwhelmed to the point of quitting.

And so, after a few weeks of careful consideration, you finally sent out your goodbye letters to all of them.

Well, all of them except one.

Jeong Yunho was one of the last clients to request your services, sparing him your initial awkwardness when you were just starting out. The first thing you noticed about him was his age - in comparison to your other clients, you were surprised to learn he was just three years older than you. The next thing was his profession. Despite his relatively young age, he had already established himself as the local manager of one of the biggest accounting firms in the country, earning him both a nice sum of money as well as unbearable loads of stress.

Which is exactly what brought him to you.

Unlike your other clients, Yunho didn't overload you with random bits of his tragic past and complaints about his depressing marriage. No, no, his case was much simpler than that.

"I don't know," Yunho shrugged nonchalantly at your question, letting you tuck him into bed, "I get really stressed from making all the big decisions at work and I love powerful women. It just felt natural to combine the two."

Somehow, it was exactly that reasoning that had made you keep him even months after quitting.

You didn't tell him he was the only one left, though. Didn't want to make it weird or make him think there was something deeper to your decision. Your dynamic was perfect just the way it was, and despite its deep and stable foundations, you still didn't dare risk breaking it in any way.

Another thing that set Yunho apart were his requests. Unlike your other clients, his preferences had stayed pretty much the same since the first time you'd talked to him. He liked it when you visited his apartment instead of just some random hotel, and when you wore clothes that could pass as everyday attire rather than the stereotypical leather and latex. His scenes were nothing short of domestic, either. You always felt like a husband from the 50s, coming home to his loving and generous wife after a long day of work (classes) and letting her shower him with affection and praise.

Much like today, as you yet again found yourself on an all-too-familiar doorstep. It had been a few weeks since your last visit, and you had to admit, you'd really missed Yunho during that time. The longer pause wasn't intentional on either side, mind you. It was just a case of his busy schedule clashing with your finals week and the mandatory week-long recuperative period that followed. Now that you were back, however, you couldn't help the small smile on your lips, looking forward to whatever awaited you inside.

Not to mention this visit would mark your first anniversary with Yunho as your client (though you couldn't dwell on that too much in order to keep those incessant butterflies in your stomach at bay).

You didn't have to knock or ring the doorbell. Instead, you fished out your very own key that Yunho had given you a few weeks back. A sign of his trust and how welcome you'd always be in his home, as he'd described it.

Any other potential thoughts were quickly halted, though, as the door suddenly swung open, revealing a very excited-looking Yunho.

"You're here!" He exclaimed excitedly, flashing you a big grin. He stood like that for a second, just watching you in what appeared to be awe before suddenly straightening up again and stepping to the side. "Oh, right, sorry. Come in!"

You let out a small chuckle at his antics, an undeniable warmth blooming in your chest at the mere sight of him.

The next steps were pretty much automatic at this point. First, Yunho helped you remove your coat and hung it up for you. Then, he knelt down, letting you lean on his shoulder for support while he slipped your heels off and neatly set them aside.

"Good boy," you cooed enthusiastically, moving your hand up from his shoulder to ruffle his hair slightly. "Always so happy to see me, hm? Are you all ready for tonight or should I go wait in the living room?"

He quickly shook his head at the suggestion. "No, no, it's okay! Everything should be ready, me included. Oh, and I made you your favorite today, just how you like it! You know the one, the- the..."

You watched him try to finish his thought, but it was too late. In just a few moments, Yunho's eyes glazed over the same way you'd witnessed many times before. He was still present, yet his gaze grew a bit distant, retreating into himself to adjust to the sudden change. A change he clearly needed a lot, considering all it took for him to slip into subspace was the small ritual he'd always done to welcome you into his home.

But just as quickly as his voice trailed off and his eyes lost focus, he snapped back to reality, almost startled by the sudden clarity in his mind.

And there it was. All of his personal and work-related worries had been set aside, making his head feel almost overwhelmingly light and empty in comparison to his day-to-day state.

"What is..." He began, making you follow his line of sight, "what's that?"

A fond smile spread across your lips at the innocent curiosity in his eyes, realizing he was looking at the gift bag in your hand.

"Just a small gift I got for you, Puppy," you spoke softly, watching his eyes widen.

"Wait, for me?!" He asked excitedly, though you could sense a hint of uncertainty in his voice as if he didn't dare believe it just yet.

"Yes, hun, for you," you confirmed, unable to stop yourself from ruffling his hair again with your free hand. "But we'll get to that later, okay? How about you show me what you cooked for us tonight first?"

It didn't surprise you to find out Yunho had already eaten before you arrived. Sometimes, if he was still lucid enough, he'd eat alongside you and chat about random things that came to mind. Usually, though, he'd just eat in advance so that he could fully relax and focus on you only.

You sat at the small dining table, zeroed in on the delicious dish in front of you. Over time, as Yunho began cooking for you more and more frequently as a show of gratitude, you noticed a considerable improvement in his skills. Not that he was bad before, of course not, but now? It almost felt illegal to be paid for your services in both money and food this good.

In Yunho's eyes, though, it was all worth it. The time he'd spend cooking for you helped him ease into the scene, in a way. Even just preparing all this for you felt extremely calming, knowing how much you'd always compliment him and how appreciative you were.

Much like right now, as he sat on the floor next to your chair, cheek resting against your thigh. His eyes were closed as you ran your hand through his silky hair, muttering small words of praise every now and then. This part of your evenings was one of his absolute favorites, as he truly got to just think about nothing. No work or family issues could reach him here. All he had to do was just lean against you and focus on your soft voice and loving touch.

Sometimes (not that he'd ever admit it), when he couldn't sleep at night and felt extra lonely, he'd try petting his hair just like you always did. He'd try to think about your words of praise to force out all the negative thoughts clouding his mind. And yet, it could never compare to the real thing. The warmth of your fingertips just felt different and he could never quite replicate your voice in his head for it to be satisfying enough.

After a while of not thinking at all, Yunho liked to talk. A lot.

While he cleaned up in the kitchen, you let yourself get comfortable on his couch, propping your back up with some extra pillows since you knew you'd be here a while. Like usual, you'd put on a skirt today too, knowing it was the most convenient option considering what was in store for the two of you.

A minute or two later, Yunho emerged from the kitchen, the content smile on his lips spreading even wider at the sight of you. Without an ounce of hesitance, he walked up to the couch, looming over you with his tall self for just a second before dropping down to his knees again.

This, too, was one of Yunho's interesting, distinct traits. Whenever he could, he'd find himself on the ground, looking up at you with nothing but utter devotion.

"People always marvel at how tall I am," Yunho muttered, nuzzling his face into your hand while you finished your meal. "And it's really flattering, don't get me wrong! It's just that... sometimes, I also want to feel small, you know? Even if it means I have to literally kneel down in front of someone."

"So? How have you been?" Yunho began, flashing you a bright smile. As tentatively as always, his hands reached for your left foot, giving you enough time to stop him (even though you never did). "I want to hear everything."

You groaned. "Ugh, don't even get me started. Remember the professor I told you about last time and how he can never grade our papers on time? Guess what? We're still waiting! I swear we've collectively sent him like a hundred emails already and he's still acting like he doesn't see them."

Yunho hums thoughtfully at your words, brows furrowing as he keeps massaging your leg, going up to your calf now. "That really sucks, I'm sorry. I'm sure it's gonna be fine, though. He'll probably be more lenient because of the delay, not to mention you always ace all your classes anyways."

Your leg involuntarily jolted as he grazed a particularly ticklish spot, making him giggle. "Thanks, I really hope so too," you replied, trying to stay focused despite his skilled hands. "It's still nothing in comparison to our dorms, though."

Yunho shot you an inquisitive look, urging you to keep going.

"I mean, it's nothing too shocking, they're just raising the rent again for the second time this year. I really shouldn't be surprised at this point, but just- I wish they were at least honest about being greedy instead of making up random excuses as to why we have to pay even more outrageous prices than before."

"You know I'd love to help you with that if you want-"

"Puppy," you warned in a stern voice, making him immediately hush and drop his head. "We've talked about this, remember? You already pay me more than enough, I can't ask you for any more than that. Besides, the rent thing is an issue of principle, not finances."

"I know," Yunho sighed, halting his movements. "I just want you to be happy and pursue your dreams without having to worry about things like money."

"Yuyu," you cooed, leaning down to tuck his hair behind his ear. "I know you want to help, but please believe me when I say you're already doing more than enough. Not just because of the money, but because of your company in general, okay? I always look forward to spending time with you and I'm really thankful we get to meet like this. Seeing you happy makes me happier than any sum of money you could possibly offer."

There was silence for a moment as Yunho took your words in, still gently holding onto your foot to stay grounded. But even with his head dropped down, you could see his lips begin to tremble, fighting back tears.

It had been a while since he'd got to talk to someone so openly and vulnerably. To just say whatever was on his mind without fearing it would be somehow used against him later. To be appreciated so genuinely without any ulterior motives from the other side.

Sniffling quietly, his hands resumed their work, taking hold of your other leg to massage it as well.

"Thank you, Miss," he said in a mere whisper, afraid his voice would break if he spoke any louder.

"Of course, Yu," you muttered back. "You'll always be my good boy, always," you reassured him lovingly, giving him a playful nudge with your now-free foot. The effect was immediate as a small smile spread across his lips, lighting up his teary eyes again as he looked up at you adoringly.

Oh, how he'd missed you.

After a good while of just talking about anything and everything that came to mind, the two of you settled into a comfortable silence. Yunho's hands rested on your shins while you pet his head on your thighs. His breathing had evened out over time, and you could see the way his eyelids were beginning to grow heavy. It was time to sleep.

This was usually considered the end of your sessions, where you'd help him get dressed for bed and caress his hair until he'd doze off. He always felt really sad when you left and he hated going to bed alone, so this solved both of those issues. Besides, you had to admit that the sight of someone as overworked as him sleeping so peacefully did something for your soul as well.

"Alright, Puppy," you began softly, making Yunho lift his head up, "let's get you to bed, shall we?"

Ever the good boy, he gave you a sleepy but content nod.

Happy with his agreement, you were about to stand up and lead him to the bedroom, but quickly paused in your tracks.

The softest kissing sounds echoed through the living room, one for each of your knees.

Yunho quickly sensed your tension and looked up at you in confusion, which then turned into alarm.

"I-I'm so sorry Miss, I should have asked for permission!" He rambled in panic, leaning back on his haunches to give you as much space as he could. "I guess I spaced out a little too much and forgot myself for a moment, it happened without me meaning to, I'm really sorry-"

"Yuyu," you interrupted him gently, fighting the smile on your lips, "relax, it's okay."

Yet another thing you really cherished about the man before you. No matter what, he always asked for permission when trying something new. Sometimes, he'd even ask with things you had already agreed on in previous sessions, just to be sure. So to see him get flustered the one time he accidentally got too carried away and forgot to do so? It was strangely endearing, to be honest.

Had you had any suspicions that this wasn't a mere accident, that this was simply Yunho's way of "sneakily" pushing your boundaries, your reaction would have been much more different. You weren't afraid of stopping a session mid-way through and banning your client on the spot; you'd done it before.

But seeing the genuine panic written all over the man's face, clearly scared of upsetting you? He was nothing short of adorable, looking like a small, frightened animal.

"But- but I," Yunho tried again, but stopped at your firm gaze.

"I said it's okay, you're not in trouble," you repeated. "...Besides, it was actually quite cute. Maybe I'll even let you do it again in the future."

Oh God.

After calming your precious puppy down, you walked him down the hall to his bedroom (well, you walked; he decided to crawl instead - after shyly getting your permission, of course).

"Think you can change yourself, hun?" You asked him as he sat down on the bed, patiently awaiting further instructions.

While he always tried to be good for you and not feel entitled to anything, he visibly deflated at your words. "Why? I mean- I definitely can if you want me to, but..."

It took all your willpower not to cave at his puppy eyes.

Alas, you had more important things to sort out.

"The gift, remember?"

And that was all you needed to say for Yunho to immediately jump into action.

The second time you entered his bedroom, this time with the gift bag in hand, Yunho was tucked in bed and ready to go. His clothes were neatly folded on a nearby chair, exchanged for a set of comfy-looking pajamas. He perked up at the sight of you, sitting up and making more space for you by the edge.

"Ready for your present, Pup?" You asked giddily, wanting to hear him say it out loud despite the obvious curiosity and excitement in his eyes.

"Yes, please!" Yunho beamed at you as you sat down next to him, trying to resist peeking into the bag before he was properly allowed to.

But as you finally handed him the bag, his features turned sad, a small pout on his face.

"What is it, Yu?" You asked, worried at the sudden change in tone.

He let out a deep sigh, cheeks warming. "I'm sorry I didn't get you anything back. I wasn't sure if it would be appropriate and the internet didn't give me a clear answer either so I panicked. I hope it doesn't look like I don't appreciate your services or anything, that's not it at all, I swear!"

You let out an amused chuckle. "Sweetheart, I'd never think that about you. You already show me enough gratitude as is. Besides, this wasn't even supposed to be a gift exchange in the first place. I just saw something online and it made me think of you so I bought it. I'm not expecting anything in return."

Whether you said something after that or not, Yunho wasn't sure. His mind had already stopped at the mention of you thinking about him outside of work.

Sure, he did that all the time when it came to you, using you as a source of comfort to cling onto whenever he had an especially hard time at work. Whenever he had to stay in his office late into the night, or heard his subordinates gossip about him, only to give him smiles and compliments the second they noticed him, thoughts of you were the only thing that could ground him again. And even when he was doing alright, he still liked to think about you, reminiscing on your past sessions and looking forward to the next. But to have you do the same with him?! Yunho's heart felt like it would leap out of his chest if he didn't calm down soon.

"...Well? Aren't you gonna open it?" You nudged his thigh with your hand, a playful glint in your eyes. "You looked so excited before, don't you want to see what's inside?"

Yunho didn't need any further enticing, flashing you a big grin before he finally reached into the bag. Inside, he found a pretty, dusty pink box with an unknown brand name embossed into its center.

With shaky hands, he lifted the lid.

"What do you think?" You asked, nervously scanning his face.

Yunho was frozen, stuck staring at the custom-made leather collar. Attached to it was a silver tag gleaming in the dim bedroom lights, the word "YUYU" engraved into it staring right back at him.

"Sweetheart, are you okay?" You spoke again, trying to hide your growing concern. "We can totally return it if you don't like it, I won't be-"

All the words died in your throat as Yunho suddenly lifted his head, looking right into your eyes as his bottom lip trembled, fighting back tears. The second he spoke, however, they spilled over anyway.

"It's perfect."

"Oh, Puppy," you cooed as a sob ripped through him, bringing him into a tight embrace. The anxiety weighing down on your chest immediately dropped at his words, making you sigh in relief. His hands clutched at your shirt, almost desperately so, wetting your shoulder as he sniffled in your hold.

You stayed like that for a moment or two, soft snivels and affectionate whispers filling the room.

"I- I've never," Yunho began, but quickly stopped again, hiding his face in the crook of your neck some more. It was right then that you'd noticed the unusual proximity between the two of you, never staying this close for more than a second or two when he occasionally hugged you goodbye instead of you tucking him in. But now, it felt as though you were enveloped in him, his comforting warmth and light cologne all around you.

"It's okay, hun," you encouraged him gently, "take your time."

Yunho exhaled heavily, as if steeling himself for whatever he was going to say next.

"It's just- this is everything I've ever wanted but never actually dared wish for, and now that it's real, now that you're real, I don't even know what to say."

Reluctantly pulling away from your embrace, he reached back to retrieve a few tissues from the bedside table. "Every day, I have so many people relying on me, so many people waiting for me to make a mistake so that they could take my place, have to deal with so many awful clients while acting like none of it affects me, and it's just- it's so hard. I've always wanted to have someone who I could be vulnerable with, who I could confide in without fearing they'd use it against me later, but it always seemed too good for me. And then you appeared, and you've made my life so much more bearable, made me look forward to every day because it meant I'd get to see you soon again. No amount of words or money could ever match just how thankful I am for you, seriously."

"Yunho..."

Stunned by the sudden confession, you silently sat and processed his words. Yunho just smiled at your shocked expression, though it didn't quite reach his eyes.

"I know this is a lot to unload on you so suddenly, so please don't feel like you have to respond to any of this right now. We can just brush past this and never discuss it again, I won't be upset. It's just something I've been thinking about a lot lately, and seeing you care for me so honestly made me finally tell you, I guess. Like I said, you don't have to say anything if you don't want to, but just know that if there's anything, and I mean anything, that I could do for you, just say it and I'll do it. Even if it's something small, like confiding in me the way I do with you, I'm always here for you."

You couldn't help but chuckle at his offer, unconvinced. "I'm not really sure you want that, Yu. All of my problems are pretty repetitive and boring, not to mention how annoying and stubborn I can get when stressed. Wouldn't want to break the illusion you have of me, you know?"

...A hand gingerly grabbed yours.

"And what if I tell you that's exactly what I want?" Yunho challenged, a more genuine, playful smile on his lips this time. "I'm not stupid, Y/N. I know you're much more than the persona you put on when you visit me. I want to know the real you, good and bad included - if you'll let me, that is. You already have the keys to the apartment, don't you? My home is open to you anytime, even outside of our sessions."

Just as Yunho had said, this was a lot to unpack on the spot.

And yet, somehow, deep down in your heart, you already knew your answer to his confession, even if you didn't fully want to admit to it just yet.

"I mean," you began hesitantly, mulling everything over as carefully as you could, "there's no harm in trying it, right?"

Yunho's eyes lit up at your words, looking at you hopefully.

"Besides, I come here so often it feels like a second home anyway."

He gave you a thoughtful nod. "Yeah, same here."

"What do you mean?" You asked, eyebrows raised in curiosity.

"Exactly what I said before - you." His grip on your hand tightened, the other pointing to the collar sitting in front of him. "I've found my second home in you."

Silence.

It felt as though the Earth had stopped spinning for a second. Everything around you faded into nothingness, leaving you to stare into his eyes.

You don't know for sure how his lips ended up on yours, but judging by the surprised noise coming from him, it must have been you who'd initiated the kiss. Not a second later, however, he replied with matching enthusiasm, resting his palm against your thigh to lean in even closer.

In spite of every cell in your body screaming at you to stay, you eventually pulled away, giving the two of you a chance to breathe. Yunho's gaze was nothing short of reverent, looking at you like you've hung the stars in the sky.

"So? Would you like to try on your present?"

Yunho refused to believe any of this was real.

No matter how much you tried to convince him to take it off, Yunho refused to sleep without his collar. Looking at the way it pressed into his neck when he lay down, you knew there was no way it could be comfortable to sleep in. And yet, Yunho insisted that it was fine, that it actually felt nice despite the way it was smothering his Adam's apple. In the end, you had no option but to concede, tucking your overgrown puppy into bed with the collar still around his neck.

But as you were about to get up to turn the lights off, a hand grabbed yours to stop you. You looked back down at Yunho, being met with his signature pout and teary eyes.

"I know this is a lot to ask, especially considering how much I've asked of you today already, but... stay? Please?"

You gave him a long look, considering your options. Or pretending to consider them, rather, since there was no way you'd be able to deny him anything right now.

"Only because you've been such a sweet boy today, okay?" You said, trying to sound reluctant even though you weren't fooling anyone.

You quickly excused yourself to the bathroom, boldly taking one of Yunho's sleep shirts with you to change into.

Despite his eyelids growing heavier by the second, Yunho bravely fought to keep them up until you'd arrive, sighing in relief when the bathroom door opened again.

No more words were needed as you plopped down next to him, joining him under the blankets before moving to rest your head on his chest. Despite no visible reaction from him, you could hear his racing heartbeat below you, making a soft smile creep up on your lips.

Within the next two minutes, you heard his heart eventually calm down again, breaths evening out as he fell asleep. It took you a while longer to follow, mind struggling to relax with so many thoughts racing through it. What did all of today mean for your relationship? How professional will you be able to stay with him after this? You should probably tell him you haven't had any other clients for months now, shouldn't you.

No use worrying about it now, you suppose. All of those concerns can be solved only once Yunho wakes up again. And until then, you have no choice but to enjoy whatever it is that you have right now, no matter how ambiguous.

Snuggling further into his chest, you finally doze off as well.

Whatever this is, it's perfect.

taglist: @justconniez @domribo @another-random-fanfic-blog

Thank you for reading! And remember, feedback is always very appreciated! <3

[gettingoverthemoon]

First Quarter Review: A Goal Check in With Myself

At the start of the year I made 10 “Big Picture” Goals. After the first three months of the year, here is an update on my progress.

I am doing this to keep track of goals, update the goals, provide myself with some recognition, check in with myself, celebrate my accomplishments, reevaluate goals, and hold myself accountable. 

1. Keep track of Monthly spending

Initially (early January) I made an excel document to keep a running tab of bills that I would be splitting with Chris. Now, I have been spending like crazy. This is a goal I need to work on. Having my fixed costs in one organized place is a good start, but I am not holding myself to a budget. Moving forward, I would like to prioritize my spending on needs and wants and also savings.

Just checked in on my 401k and I have saved over 10G’s. Looks like retiring by 60 could be in the cards for me 8D, so that’s a great accomplishment.

2. Get a promotion/raise

I got a 3% raise in March. Which is a good start. I had an in depth conversation with my boss about getting a promotion and think I am on the right track to getting there. I will continue to work hard at my job, step outside of my comfort zone, and learn new things to advance my career.

I have also started an Etsy shop and have officially started profiting from my sales, so I’d like to note that!

3. Run a 5K non-stop

I have not ran a single time this quarter. I did however start walking 10+ miles per week. I think that is a good start, but I need to start pushing myself harder.

4. Do something charitable each month

In January I didn’t do anything. In February I mailed in my hair for children with hair loss and donated several bags of clothing and household items. In March I signed up and had conversations with the Children’s home to volunteer with the orphans.

5. Emphasize Self Care/Love one “Me day” per month

I have had at least one me day per month. In January I went to a pottery studio, celebrated my birthday, took a bubble bath, and journaled. In February I started an Etsy shop, became fully vaccinated for COVID-19, and journaled. In March, I got my nails done, spent time with friends and family after Chris broke up with me, went to Florida, started doing more physical activity, and started this blog.

My Journey for self love is going stronger than ever and for that I am very proud of myself. I will continue to choose myself, do things that I enjoy, say yes to me, take myself out on dates, and treat myself with kindness and love.

6. Build a garden, develop landscaping, make outside of the house pretty

I have a different garden flag for each month to make my house look cute, I have been collecting sticks/leaves/yard debris and burning them. My dad and I built 2 raised garden beds so that I can start my veggie patch when it gets warmer. The daffodils I planted are flowering and look really nice. My dad and I pruned the trees in my yard. I made a plan for getting top soil and grass seed to grow a better lawn. I’ve been building pinterest boards for landscaping projects and doing research on the best plants for MI.

Because first quarter is so cold, I was really only able to plan for this goal. I think I exceeded that by the yard work I did with my dad and by building raised garden beds.

7. Less consumption/waste

I bought a compost bin in January. I compost what I can and have been doing a lot of research on how to live more sustainably. I use reusable grocery bags, recycle, use food wraps instead of single use plastics, and try to limit food waste. This is an area that I can always improve on. I will continue to research more sustainable ways of life and do my best to bring them into action for myself.

8. Stay up to date with current affairs

I get a daily newsletter sent to my email that lists different topics that are going on in the world. But that’s about all I do. I should start to read the news more often and learn about what is going on around me. I feel a little conflicted about this goal because my doctor told me I shouldn’t watch the news because most of it is negative and will not help my mood.

9. Meditate 150 sessions.

For the 1st quarter, I logged 36 sessions with the calm app. I am on a good pace for reaching this goal for the year, but need to take it more seriously and make this a more permanent part of my daily routine. I have been doing really great with daily affirmations. I wake up, stretch, and compliment myself. I also started ending each day with a reflection on the things that I liked about myself for that day. I’ve also been trying to focus on my spiritual journey and coming to peace with that everything happens for a reason, that I need to learn to trust in the universe and be present in the moment. I am getting a better grasp on this practice and though it isn’t meditation by definition, it’s still a process that has the same results.

10. Get accepted into a graduate program

I submitted my *complete application to Central in January. I am waiting to hear back from them. I mentioned it to all of my loved ones and have their support. I will look up other programs and maybe apply to them as well.

[vegaszgreat]

Yang 2020 and the rambling of a wacko

Just so we are clear I'M the wacko. Not Yang. Mr Yang if you ever read this just know I'm writing this at 1:23am and can't sleep. I'm using my cellphone cuz I didn't want to get out of bed... Yes I am lazy if I'm not being paid to do shit.

I do love my job but I don't LoVe LOVE IT.

So I come from a large family. We all live near each other but I'm the only one who's 27 and still at my parents ( my little sister if 21 doesn't count cuz she's still getting her life together now that she's a mom). I've had a stable job for the past 2 years and 10 months and 22 days ( yes I have counted every day but mostly cuz we have no windows and I find it helps to keep track of the time) and I try not to take any days off ( even paid leave) just in case something happens or I've finally hit my end. And the other day when I was watching another interview with Yang he asked what we would spend the $1000 a month on.

I never thought about it but last night my brain wouldn't let me sleep cuz of that. In my house I've been in charge of the bills ( my mom n dad lost their job for a bit and they could only pay the rent and I was already in charge of some of the bills and after I took over I never gave them back the control of the bills). And thanks to Yang I stayed up all night redoing last year's bills since I took over around the beginning of that year. 😩I went a bit overboard.

Any who~

The bills in total in the whole house where about $7641 the whole year - which includes water, gas, electric, cellphone for the house hold, and the internet ( not included were Netflix, medical bills and Adobe account subscription)

Cell= $1568

Gas=$ 1079

Water=$1513

Electric=$2881

Internet=$600

So if I start to pay off my cell for the year and including my normal payments of the other bills, by 2nd month I should have it payed for that month and the rest of the year. And I'll just put the left over money into paying the bill for gas of that month n the year.

By the third month I should have the gas paid off for the year and that month. But now I have paid off my cell already so Eve. If the payment plan is about $110 for three phones I'll just start to pay $200 to give me more credit for the next year.

It's the third month and I still have about $93 left From the $1000 I used to catch up on the gas - so I use that to pay into the water along with what the actual total is , giving me a heads start to the water bill. Which I won't have payed off for till the 5th month.

5th month

I've been paying off the water bill and have it evened out for the year with the left over of $330. Which I use to get a head start on the real villain the electric bill. But remember I've been paying extra on my bills that I have already paid off on so right now it's like this

Cre means credit

mp means monthly payment

P means payment

Month 5 bills

CELL

Cre$180 - mp$110 +$200p= Cre$270

GAS

Cre$75 - mp $125 +$200p= Cre$150

WATER

Paid this month and the rest with the $1000 leaving me with $330 left over to start on electric. I pay the normal for internet.

I won't have the electric bill payed off till the 9th month and then I will have paid the year and that months. I'll have $570 left over which I use to take out the small fry called internet.

By the 10th month I'd have all the bills paid for the year and month. And the internet Bill will have been paid off leaving me with an extra $870 to put into wherever I want. I choose electric and internet so I can catch them up a bit with the others.

By the 11th month I'll be caught up with all and have to divided the $1000 between them all.

Water, gas, and cell get $200, electric gets $300, and internet gets$100. I'll pay the exact amount for the monthly payment.

By the 12th month (let's say it's December) I won't uses the $1000 for anything but presents for my family cuz it'll be Christmas and for once I could probably get them all anything they want. But I'll still do my monthly payments for all my bills which will leave me with some credit to start the year strong 💪💪💪💪.

Cell = credit $1020

Gas = credit $875

Water = credit $700

Electric = credit $975

Internet = credit $635

Which would mean I'd be $548 away from paying my cellphone bill away for the next of next year, $204 for gas, $813 for water, and $1906 for electric! Plus my internet bill would already be paid off in full with a credit of $35.

I could have all those paid off by the 4th month of the next year if I continue the monthly payment and the $1000 divided between all those. And on the 4th month I'd have an extra $529 to do away with.

Truth is by the fourth month of the next year I'd have it all paid off with Hu? I wouldn't have to worry about bills if I didn't use the $1000 for bills and just stuck with my monthly payment plan since it's estimated to always give credit back. And if I got fired or quit I'd still have a year to figure things out. Even without the $1000 a month.

I could continue to pay my bills with my monthly payment plan and then divided the $1000 the same way giving me more credit for the rest of the year or I could just save it all up for a place of my own and by then the bills will lower cuz there would only be me living there, no 6 plp home.

Or I could continue my monthly plan and use the $1000 like I did the first round so I didn't have to worry about the current year and the next. Which would be evened out by the 10th year of the next year. After that I could just do my normal payment plan for the bills and use the $1000 of the 11th and 12th month for Christmas ( I really like getting plp presents) .

Then at the start of the 3rd year I could save the fist few months $1000 to get my own place.

By now I'm probably 30 and should have my own place and yeah that's sad. 🏠. And we're I live you can get a decent home for like 50k ( might be a fixer but it won't be too bad) or a small plot of land ($12k -$25) then build a shipping container home there. Some aren't so expensive. I could easily pay it off in the two years I don't have to pay bills. Then I could place solar panels to reduce the electric bill.

And the year after that I could just redo my whole bills and $1000 thing so I'm always a. Year ahead of the game. So by the time I'm 33 or 35 I'll have a whole house paid off, my bills are always ahead and I have an extra $1000 I could save for retirement or whatever I want to do at 34. Maybe put some into my niece and nephew's quinceanera and quinceanero? That'd be fun. Then save up for the other two younger ones.

I don't have kids so they are my life.

I'd probably go to anime cons and so on.

Finally take a month vacation or save up to build a second home. Anything would be possible by then. I know nothing about business and I don't like to mingle with normal plp much but I could put some money away to start a small online business with my sister. Or focus on my real dream of making my own comic, manga, or book. Which ever comes first I guess.

I've noticed I've ramble on about this for a long a$$ time.

This is later. I woke up to find this when I opened my phone. I thought I dreamed this is lol. I feel asleep after that last part. I'm still going to post this since I thought it was funny 😂

[meditativeyoga]

Discover the Peaceful Practice of Yoga Nidra

One cool evening in a high-ceilinged eating hall in Novato, The golden state, an unlikely yoga exercise course is obtaining under means. Fourteen guys wearing blue denims, job boots, or running footwears roll out yoga exercise floor coverings and also obtain settled on resting bags, blankets, as well as pillows-- in prep work for Yoga Nidra.

The instructor, Kelly Boys, grins as she surveys her students, residents at Henry Ohlhoff North, a material abuse recovery. She asks if anyone intends to review their experiences in the previous week's session. A trim 52-year-old named Charles volunteers that he deals with feelings of loneliness.

Around the area, faces loosen up, jaws soften, as well as soon snores begin to roll as the guys go down further right into relaxation.

' How does your body really feel when it strikes you?' Boys asks. 'Stressful,' Charles says. 'And where do you really feel the tension?' she asks. 'In my shoulders,' he says.

' Just ask it, 'Exactly what do you need? What do you want?" Boys states. 'We're simply bringing inquisitiveness to it. When you truly satisfy it, it does slope.' Charles responds, completely satisfied for now.

As the men settle right into kicked back placements, Boys starts to speak them via a detailed trip of their own bodies on this day as well as currently-- the initial step in the method of yoga nidra. Slowly the room quiets, till the only sounds are the hum of the ventilation system as well as Young boys' voice: 'Can you feel the inside of your mouth? Currently bring your attention to your left ear. Really feel the in of your left ear. Feel your right ear. Can you feel both ears simultaneously?' Around the room, deals with unwind, jaws soften, as well as soon snores begin to rumble as the men drop deeper into relaxation.

The Benefits of Yoga Nidra

Yoga nidra is an ancient however obscure yogic method that's ending up being increasingly popular as both a kind of meditation and a mind-body therapy. It is a systematic type of led leisure that typically is done for 35 to 40 mins at a time.

Practitioners say that it typically brings immediate physical advantages, such as lowered anxiety and also much better rest, and also that it has the possible to heal emotional wounds. As a meditation method, it could engender a profound feeling of delight as well as well-being.

' In yoga nidra, we recover our body, detects, and mind to their all-natural function and also awaken a 7th sense that permits us to really feel no splitting up, that only sees wholeness, harmony, and wellness,' states Richard Miller, a San Francisco Bay Area yoga teacher and professional psycho therapist who is at the center of the activity to educate yoga exercise nidra and to bring it to a broader audience.

While several popular instructors offer classes, CDs, and also publications on yoga nidra, Miller is accountable for bringing the practice to an impressive variety of ultramodern setups. He's aided present it on military bases and in professionals' clinics, homeless shelters, Montessori institutions, Head Beginning programs, medical facilities, hospices, chemical reliance facilities, as well as prisons. Exactly what's more, thanks to Miller, it's beginning to get significant scientific focus. Researchers are taking a look at the practice's potential to aid soldiers experiencing trauma, addicts struggling to obtain tidy, individuals with depression, cancer, as well as MS, health treatment employees, and also married pairs managing anxiety and insomnia.

More than 40 years ago, in 1970, Miller attended his very first yoga exercise class at the Essential Yoga exercise Institute in San Francisco. 'At the end of that course, they taught a customized yoga nidra-- deep Savasana,' he says. 'I had one of the most profound experience, there was this sense of my inter-relatedness with the whole world. As well as a vow occurred in me to actually investigate this practice.'

Over years of researching and teaching yoga nidra, Miller has actually developed his own strategy, discovering ways to make the technique accessible to a wide series of individuals, also those with little or no education in yoga exercise. In 2005, he released a publication, Yoga Nidra: An Introspective Technique for Deep Relaxation as well as Recovery, as well as he's released several audio guides. He currently leads the not-for-profit Integrative Reconstruction Institute, an organization committed to the research study, teaching, and also technique of yoga nidra and yoga philosophy.

' Lots of people are attempting to change themselves,' Miller claims. 'Yoga nidra inquires to welcome themselves. That moment of real inviting is where the extensive change takes place.'

You Do not Have to Do Yoga exercise or Practice meditation to Do Yoga exercise Nidra

It's a stealthily simple technique. Since yoga nidra is usually showed relaxing-- at first assisted by an educator-- it's interesting individuals that might feel frightened by yoga postures or conventional seated meditation. A short version of yoga nidra could be introduced and also practiced in much less than 10 minutes. Yet its various aspects, taken with each other as well as practiced frequently, make up an advanced set of mind-body tools that can aid professionals navigate some of life's harshest minutes. Yoga exercise nidra could likewise be practiced as an accessible kind of meditation for those seeking everyday well-being.

In a regular yoga exercise nidra session, an instructor guides experts with a number of stages. You start by developing an objective for your life as well as for the practice. You find out to concentrate your understanding on your breath, physical feelings, feelings, and also thoughts. Throughout, you are motivated to touch right into an underlying sense of tranquility that is constantly present and to cultivate 'witness awareness,' observing and welcoming whatever exists without getting captured up in it.

' Yoga exercise nidra allows us to get to one of the most extensive level of relaxation feasible,' claims Pole Stryker, the creator of Para-Yoga, who has actually been educating yoga exercise nidra because the mid-1990s and who composes about it in his publication, The Four Desires. 'It opens an entrance to a location where we could see ourselves and our lives in the most favorable light.'

Unlike various other kinds of reflection, in which you concentrate on a concept or on your breath, yoga nidra asks you simply to allow go. 'The technique requires us to involve the muscle mass of abandonment,' Stryker says.

Yoga Nidra for Remedy for PTSD

The course to bringing yoga nidra to the focus of a wider audience led, oddly enough, via the Walter Reed Military Medical Center, a military treatment center based, at the time, in Washington, DC. In 2004, Christine Goertz, a scholastic scientist at the Samueli Institute, a not-for-profit research study institute, teamed up with Robin Carnes, a yoga exercise teacher that had actually instructed yoga nidra as component of a cardiac care program at Walter Reed. Carnes had actually found out yoga exercise nidra from Stryker as well as from Miller's publication. She as well as Goertz made use of Miller's technique as the basis for a pilot research study examining whether the technique could help soldiers struggling with posttraumatic stress condition (PTSD). The results of that first small research, conducted with active-duty solution members, recommended that yoga exercise nidra might be valuable for handling PTSD in experts. (Along the road, somebody at Walter Reed suggested renaming the practice to something extra available, as well as Miller created 'iRest,' brief for 'Integrative Remediation.') As a follow-up, a randomized, regulated test entailing 150 participants was conducted over 18 months at the Veterans Affairs (VA) facility in Miami from 2009 to 2010. And also one more study is starting this winter season at the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Healthcare Facility in Chicago.

On the basis of the pilot research study results, the military is currently offering Miller's iRest yoga nidra practice to wounded warriors at Walter Reed, Brooke Military Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, Camp Lejeune, a big Marine Corps base in North Carolina, and VA centers in Miami, Chicago, and Washington, DC. In these recurring classes, soldiers have actually reported that a few of their most unpleasant PTSD signs and symptoms, consisting of hyperalertness, anxiety, and rest disruptions, have diminished.

Tools like yoga exercise nidra could be crucial sources for soldiers changing to life after battle, says Mona Bingham, a retired colonel who's investigating the practice at Brooke Military Medical Center. 'A great deal of soldiers are returning [from fight] with physical, mental, and ethical wounds,' she says. 'It's not something we could simply provide a medicine for.' She's examining iRest's result on army couples handling the tension that frequently arises after an implementation ends.

Yoga nidra literally means 'yogic rest,' however that is a little bit of a misnomer. It's not a special sort of rest, however a state in between sleeping and also waking.

Cheryl LeClair shows the iRest practice to marines with PTSD and terrible brain injuries at Camp Lejeune. 'Most of the men do not sleep,' she states. 'Some have actually informed me they take 2 Ambien a night, and also they still can not sleep. Many of them drop rest in the extremely first iRest session. To see them kick back as well as release is simply incredible.'

Like the marines in LeClair's classes, new specialists typically falling asleep during their initial couple of yoga nidra sessions. That's not unexpected, claims Stryker, because nowadays several individuals are rest deprived. Yoga nidra literally means 'yogic rest,' however that is a little bit of a misnomer. It's not a special sort of sleep, however a state in between sleeping and also waking. With more experience, Stryker claims, professionals can experience deep rest while preserving just what he calls 'just a trace of recognition.'

For LeClair, whose partner returned from Iraq in 2003 with a mind injury, PTSD, as well as a smashed vertebra in his neck, yoga exercise nidra has actually ended up being a vital part of obtaining with exactly what are often extremely trying days. (She handles the family members finances as well as much of the duty for raising a nine-year-old grandson.) She first experienced the practice at a weekend workshop. 'After I awakened, I said, 'Whatever that is, I want a lot more,'' she says. Now, when she gets overloaded, she remembers the lessons of yoga exercise nidra: 'If you can tip back and also witness the ideas without response, it gives you some space. You learn how to have equanimity.'

Yoga Nidra Aids Emotional Healing

The roots of yoga nidra are believed to go back countless years. When Miller adapted the trainings to earn them more obtainable to Westerners, he intended to address emotional health. 'The Eastern yoga exercise principles took it for given that you went to a particular state of wellness and also wellness,' he claims. 'Just what I saw was that this was not true of a lot of students. So I included the component of the Inner Source.'

Early on in Miller's yoga exercise nidra instruction, as you begin to kick back, you are asked to invoke up your very own personal Inner Source, a vision of and also really feeling concerning a place where you really feel secure and protected. If intense feelings surface throughout yoga exercise nidra-- or, for that issue, at any moment-- you can return to your Inner Source to take a break.

Charles, one of the males at Henry Ohlhoff North, relies on the technique frequently. A previous exec cook, he retired after a back injury left him in consistent discomfort. He ended up being addicted to alcohol and also medicines as well as, after three apprehensions on drug charges, chose rehab rather than jail.

Yoga nidra has assisted him locate his back to a part of himself unblemished by dependency as well as persistent pain. His Inner Source is the bakeshop his parents ran. 'I go back to my youth,' he says, 'doing chores in my parents' bakeshop. I think of my papa and also how good it really felt to have his arms around me.'

Earlier this year, when Charles was approved his initial overnight pass 2 months into his six-month rehabilitation remain, a close friend amazed him with a birthday celebration that consisted of alcohol. Charles began to panic.

' I headed out to my cars and truck, put my head back on the headrest, and also went into [the practice],' he claims. 'My breathing boiled down, and I can concentrate better.' After concerning half a hr, he opted to leave the celebration and also go back to the rehab center.

Early research sustains the suggestion that yoga nidra can assist people like Charles who remain in recovery from dependency. In a study of 93 people at a chemical reliance therapy center, Leslie Temme, a teacher in the social work division of Western Carolina University, found that participants who practiced yoga nidra had less adverse moods as well as a reduced risk of falling back into drug abuse. With its focus on self-awareness, yoga nidra appears in order to help recovering addicts really feel much more comfy in their own skin, cope better with hard emotions, as well as make far better choices, Temme states. What's more, she adds, 'The customers liked it. They were aligning at the door to obtain to it.'

Discover Your Connection to All Living Things

If you've ever before attempted to sit in meditation for HALF AN HOUR, you understand that you don't need to be recouping from trauma to be unpleasant in your very own mind. As a reflection method, yoga exercise nidra offers a mild approach, starting with body awareness, after that working compassionately with thoughts and emotions as they occur, and slowly leading the meditator to access a better area of recognition. Actually, in several of the earliest written referrals to the term yoga exercise nidra, it is identified with samadhi, or union, the supreme goal of the eightfold path.

This aspect of yoga exercise nidra is perhaps one of the most tough to take into words, however, for Miller, it's the core of the method. Discovering to observe and invite all the feelings, feelings, as well as thoughts that develop in deep remainder could lead an individual to become less identified with the specific self-- just what Miller calls the 'I-thought.' Through this experience, he says, it's feasible to lose the feeling that one is different from others and also to tap into an unsinkable feeling of interconnectedness to all of life.

And when that happens, Miller claims, 'There's a deep swimming pool of wellness. It's just what I discovered because first yoga exercise nidra session in 1970. That's exactly what I attempt to share.'

[cindylouwho-2]

RECENT NEWS, RESOURCES & STUDIES, June 2019

Welcome to my latest summary of recent news, resources & studies including search, analytics, content marketing, social media & ecommerce! This covers articles I came across from May 31 to June 21, although some may be older than that.

(Unfortunately, a few of this edition’s entries were lost somehow, & I could only remember one of the missing, so if you know of an article/post that should be included, please let me know, & the piece will be added here as well as to the next post.)

My busy few months are now mostly over, so I will have more time to get working on this Tumblr, new blog posts & the new forum I want to start; expect more frequent updates starting in July. 

TOP NEWS & ARTICLES 

Shopify is going to run fulfillment centres for its US customers within the next 2 years. “Right now Shopify will offer early access for merchants who ship between 10 and 10,000 items per day, and by the end of the year the company aims to offer two-day shipping to 99 per cent of the United States.” They announced other plans at the same time, including better shop tools. 

If you have your own website, conversion rate optimization is something you should be looking at. Why? Because “[a] simple tweak on a landing page can double or even 10x that page’s conversion rate” which can be much easier to do than doubling your traffic. [Note that this is not a short article; it’s a full guide.]

Matching searcher intent is a crucial part of great rankings. This long article tells you pretty much everything you need to know on making that happen with your content, with real examples for their site. 

Mary Meeker released her annual internet trends report; shorter summary here. “If you're looking to connect with the next generation, you should be maintaining at least some awareness of gaming culture, which is where attention is increasingly shifting.” “Some 51 percent of the world — 3.8 billion people — were internet users last year, up from 49 percent (3.6 billion) in 2017...E-commerce is now 15 percent of retail sales. Its growth has slowed — up 12.4 percent in Q1 compared with a year earlier — but still towers over growth in regular retail, which was just 2 percent in Q1...Customer acquisition costs — the marketing spending necessary to attract each new customer — is going up.

ETSY NEWS

Etsy retired several of its Support/Help email addresses, including support@etsy.com, all without any official announcement. 

You can now link photos to variations - but only with one variation, not both. 

Etsy’s annual report for 2018 is out; I didn’t see much new here, but if you catch something, please leave a comment or send me an email so I can add it to this summary. [They actually mentioned “abilities” in their list of things they accept diverse ranges of, but as usual, they only give any details about gender, race/ethnicity and sexual orientation. Disability is invisible for them.]

A new bunch of US states will have state taxes charged for online sales as of July 1. 

Ryan Scott will be Etsy’s new Chief Marketing Officer as of June 24. 

SEO: GOOGLE & OTHER SEARCH ENGINES

Google broke with tradition & decided to warn SEOs about the core search algorithm update that started rolling out on Monday June 3 and ended on the 8th. There are multiple reports of some UK news companies taking a hard hit while others picked up visibility. It’s still too early for much comprehensive analysis, but here is a summary and another more recent one. 

At the same time, Google also rolled out an update that increases site diversity in search results, often limiting each website to 2 entries in Google’s top pages. Think of it as Google's approach to “clumping”. They insist it is separate from the core algorithm update. Early analysis finds that it didn't change much for most searches. 

Websites sometimes rely too much on Google traffic, which is dangerous whenever they change something (i.e., daily). Here are 5 ways to make your site/pages more resistant to algorithm updates. 

Most decent SEO tools cost some money to get the full value, but here is a list of 55 free tools including keyword research, stats, linking, and technical tools. (Some have paid versions as well, but just ignore what you don’t need.)

SEO sometimes requires stating the obvious; check out this tweet with a graphic from an SEO conference. 

Rand Fishkin did a major review of clicks from Google search, & found that nearly 50% of US google searches result in a click (often questions such as weather, or spelling). Only 45% led to clicks on non-paid links, & non-Google companies. But “for every click on a paid result in Google, there are 11.6 clicks to organic results. SEO is far from dead.” Search Engine Land did a TL;DR (too long; didn’t read) summary here. 

Fishkin also has some good insights on making a profit through SEO. [video and full transcript] I think the point about having a strong profit margin is really important - it is going to get more expensive to sell online as time goes on. Etsy is not the only provider trying to squeeze more pennies out of its customers. (Fishkin’s whole push lately is that you must be a known brand to survive; I am reserving judgement on that for the moment.)

Most blogs haven’t done their SEO correctly, but you can fix that. [video & full transcript]

Hate it when your site/business gets mentioned online, but they don’t link to you? There are ways to get other companies to link to you. 

The latest Google mobile search redesign has folks pitching fits about how ads now look like organic search results. For your own website & other sites where it is possible, make sure you have a favicon that stands out from paid ads. [If you Google “CindyLouWho2″ on mobile, my blue fossil coral avi shows for my website & this Tumblr blog.]

Voice search isn’t taking off like people thought it would, although around 30% of Americans use virtual assistants regularly. 

Is audio SEO going to be a thing? Dr. Pete looks at Google’s decision to post podcasts in search results. 

CONTENT MARKETING & SOCIAL MEDIA (includes blogging & emails)

Facebook announced its move into cryptocurrency with Libra, which will launch in 2020. 

Contrary to some reports, it seems that fewer people are using Facebook regularly. While time spent on FB drops, Instagram in particular is seeing more interaction. 

Getting the right image sizes and dimensions is really important for each platform; here is an infographic on all image sizes for Facebook. 

“[T]he right time for you to post on Facebook will be different than the right time for someone else to post on Facebook.” A summary of multiple studies on the topic, with tips on using your Facebook Analytics to narrow this down for your business. 

After banning mass messaging earlier this year, WhatsApp is prohibiting sending newsletters through the app as of December. 

A decent guide on using Twitter for your business. “...tweets with images get 150% more retweets”.

Thinking of running a Twitter chat? Here’s a complete guide, including Hootsuite templates. 

You can get new content ideas from Reddit. “Reddit.com saw 542 million visitors in March 2019 alone.”

Pinterest is expanding its shopping program, now called Pinterest Partners, to provide more shopping opportunities on the site. 

A study of the 500 top-followed Pinterest accounts shows that home decor is most popular among influencer topics. [infographic with text.]

Short video platform TikTok is still showing rapid growth. “Digital wellbeing is more important than it has ever been. Since tech companies started optimising for user engagement, the user is unable to escape the app. You will always feel dissatisfied when you close the app, because the notifications keep on coming and the content never seems to end. To us it seems, TikTok has taken this idea to another level and built the user experience to deliberately create addiction.“

ONLINE ADVERTISING (SEARCH ENGINES, SOCIAL MEDIA, & OTHERS)

Using Google Ads for your website? Make sure you avoid these 7 common mistakes. 

Google now allows you to target people who are “regularly in your target locations” - but it doesn’t really define how they calculate that.

Instagram Shopping is most popular with younger people (at least in the UK).

Good tips on improving your Amazon ad effectiveness, especially cost-effectiveness.   

Some tips on Microsoft Audience ads, and how to get the most out of them. It includes some good general tips, like looking at your profit margin. 

Facebook produced an infographic on how to best create FB ads, especially, for mobile. 

STATS, DATA, OTHER TRACKING

Google has purchased analytics company Looker; Etsy uses the platform already. 

The Google Search Console is now giving users 90 days of data for some reports. 

Here’s a new WordPress plugin that tracks clicks on pdfs on your site through Google Analytics. 

ECOMMERCE NEWS, IDEAS, TRENDS

Paypal has developed “a customizable e-commerce platform”. 

Amazon has extended 1-day Prime delivery. Their ability to do that largely depends on how they are taking control of the shipping methods used, moving away from using other big companies. 

Amazon closed Spark, its social media competitor, and it redirects to a page of customer-curated collections. 

Some Goodwill stores are now selling thrift items on online platform OfferUp.

Opinion article: is feature-driven retail preventing people from buying?

BUSINESS & CONSUMER STUDIES, STATS & REPORTS; SOCIOLOGY & PSYCHOLOGY, CUSTOMER SERVICE

Human brains like stories, which is why you should use them in your marketing. “Stories do another thing: They trigger the release of this neurochemical called oxytocin, which is known in some circles as the love drug. About 10 years ago, all we really knew about oxytocin is that it’s released when, say, a mother is with her baby. But what we’ve discovered since then, through the work of neuroscientists like Dr. Paul Zak, is that stories trigger the release of oxytocin in much the same way.” 

Sell luxury goods? The market is changing as younger people make up a larger chunk of the core. Millennials will make up 50% of the market by 2025. The article has some interesting stats on the luxury resale market: “Overall 45% of true-luxury consumers participated in the second-hand luxury market, and more than one-fourth (26%) have bought pre-owned goods”  which is a trend some luxury vintage sellers might want to watch.

Generation Z prefers personalized content & isn’t as worried about privacy as older generations. 

US adults now spend more time on mobile devices than they do watching tv. Much of that time is spent on mobile apps instead of browsers, & audio (podcasts & music streaming, mostly) accounts for a large chunk of time spent. 

US retail sales grew by half a percent in May, less than predicted. 

MISCELLANEOUS 

As the US looks at starting an antitrust case against Google, articles are reminding the government what other countries found, and what they should be looking at now. Businesses big & small have filed complaints. 

The Google Cloud outage on June 2 that took down YouTube, Snapchat and Shopify among other sites points to the need for everyone to have a backup system. [Remember, Etsy is also moving all functions to Google’s cloud.]

Sick of writing product descriptions? Imagine if it was your full-time job, and you didn’t have any hand in making or curating the products.

[geezeralert]

A Beatles fan gets back to where he once belonged

(Some albums from my collection)

(First of three parts)

As a really big fan of the Beatles, I have always been somewhat in awe of those who are really HUGE fans of the famed singing group.

They just seemed to enjoy the music on a whole different level, with thorough knowledge and appreciation for what was produced by this unique musical foursome in their eight-plus years together.  

So, over the last four months, as a retired-geezer-bucket-list endeavor, I took a huge leap towards earning my “huge fan” badge.

I re-listened to, re-enjoyed and studied — consulting at least five books — each of the some 300 Beatles’ recordings, as contained on their 13 official albums/CDs along with many of their various related versions (on the three two-CD anthologies, various collections like “One” and the BBC live sessions).

I am blogging about it because, honestly, I’d just like to share my experience and put my basic impressions down in writing.  It was riveting and sinfully fun, spending too much money and too much time — including many breaks to just sit back, travel down memory lane and simply be entertained by these pop songs/albums that took me through the 1960s, from my pre-teen to college years — on what’s really a rather personal, trivial pursuit.  

But I’m also holding out hope that my findings could be interesting for other Beatles fans, of whatever level.

Quick bottom line: I am more impressed now than I was before with the output of this pop group and the incredible blending of the four multi-talented musicians Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.  I’ll write about why and list the highlights of what I learned in the second part.

First off, though, I should define “really big fans,” my current state and that of many millions of my contemporaries worldwide from the sixties.

This group is familiar with all the Beatles recordings (able to identify them when hearing just the opening notes), their background as a group and individuals (back to teenage years), their basic timeline as recording artists (who authored what compositions and when), their alternate recordings, their post-Beatles recordings, their relations (girlfriends, wives), and their basic life stories.

In other words, we just just paid attention all these years, watching the relevant movies and videos, buying their records and reading at least the most reliable major books about them — first by Hunter Davies and then by Bob Spitz — while also picking up more than a few of the annual money-grabbing “new” ones.

I’ve read two books by “first wives” Patti Boyd (“Wonderful Tonight”) and Cynthia Lennon (“John”) and Lennon’s sister, “My Brother.”

I also bought one of the first song-by-song compilation books, “Beatlesongs” (1989) by William J. Dowling. For decades, it was my go-to source for day-to-day inquires like “who played that great bass part on ‘Hey Bulldog’”?  

By being a big fan, my Christmas and birthday presents from family and friends often have been Beatles stuff (when they tired of stuff feeding my other passion, baseball) including three coffee table books, a box of “The BBC Archives” TV and radio broadcast material, and three other books going into each of the group’s songs.

From all that, I am left wondering if the Beatles ever had a private, unphotographed, unrecorded (in writing or audio) stretch long than five minutes.

It was the final gift last Christmas,  “Revolution in the Head” by Ian MacDonald, that propelled me to finally take on this long-planned intensive study of the Beatles’ music.

MacDonald’s definitive work, updated three times since published in 1994, is classified as a textbook by the Los Angeles Public Library. It goes into great detail on the musical and sociological aspects of each song so it was sometimes beyond my sphere of interest. But it was most useful to me by going song-by-song in chronological order, referencing all the alternative versions of the songs and telling where to find them.  

Along the way, I also found the fascinating (although partially disputed) book “Here, There and Everywhere” by Geoff Emerick, a teenage recording studio prodigy who helped engineer (record, mix) just about every Beatles song, either as an assistant in his teens or the primary engineer in his early 20s.

His first-person observations helped flesh out the more technical aspects or third-party accounts of the Beatles songs.

(Other books used for the song-by-song marathon: “The Beatles: A Hard Day’s Write. The Stories Behind Every Song” by Steve Turner and “All the Songs. The Story Behind Every Beatles Release,” a massive, picture-filled coffee table book by Jean-Michel Guesdon and Phillippe Margotin.)  

Meanwhile, there are a ton of other written works out there awaiting my attention once this project is done – exhaustive books by Mark Lewisohn; memoirs by the group’s producer (and Fifth Beatle early on) George Martin and original drummer Pete Best; “Shout: The Beatles in their Generation” by Philip Norman; and “Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now,” by Barry Miles — to name a few . . . in my price range (more on that in part three). There’s a seemingly never-ending flow of written material and reworked music.

And it’s fair to assume “really huge fans” have read them all. (I’ll delve more into what constitutes that fan level in parts two and three.)  

The original idea for trying this project came after advanced technology, resolved legal issues and a favorable marketplace brought about the production of the entire Beatles catalogue on CDs nine years ago.

I had tried keeping up with the Beatles’ output over the years on vinyl, eight-track tapes and cassettes but, for one reason or another, had some holes.

Nearly my entire Beatles collection of vinyl albums was stolen from my college dorm room in the early 1970s. I then rebought some of the biggest ones at that time but then sat back and waited for releases in the latest medium (eight-track, cassettes, CDs, digital) and lost track of what I had.

So, when the complete collection on CD (remastered to sound even better!) became available, I perked up. But the price tag ($150-200) gave me pause.

Then came an offer to buy the whole shebang at half price. I was ready to pounce.

But there remained another major issue.

The Beatles’ studio personnel, I learned, recorded each of their songs in both monaural (“mono”) and stereo. Each version had/has its strong backers, especially as the original tapes were revisited and reproduced with improved quality (both in stereo and mono) for the latest CD versions.

For the “true experience” of listing to the Beatles songs, did one really have to possess and listen to both stereo and mono versions? The inner Beatles fanatic and picky perfectionist told me “yes.” My practical and realistic self, though, said that’s crazy, unnecessary and an expense only the crazy wealthy fan would want to pay.

Luckily, many music critics recognized the dilemma this posed for the average fan. From reading a few of their comparisons and conclusions, I came up with a fairly consistent recommendation for which albums are best in mono and which are best in stereo:

Mono sounds best for “Please Please Me,” “With the Beatles,” “Hard Days Night,” “Beatles For Sale” and “Help.” Stereo is recommended for “Rubber Soul,” “Revolver,” “Magical Mystery Tour” “The Beatles (The White Album)” “Yellow Submarine” “Let It Be” and “Abbey Road.” (The latter two were only mixed in stereo anyway.)

Mono and stereo versions of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” both offer great listening experiences, and the 50th anniversary remix in 2017 added yet another aural mix.

The mono box set includes all the songs released as singles (45 rpm) and not on any of the basic albums (though some, those that rose to no. 1 on Billboard lists, are included in the “Beatles — 1” album/CD).  

Emerick actually recommended the mono mixes of  “Revolver” and “Sgt. Pepper,” which he engineered. He said much more care was given to the mono versions than the stereo ones, which were rushed at the conclusion of the project.

He wrote:

“True Beatles fans would do well to avail themselves of the mono versions of Sgt. Pepper and Revolver because far more time and effort went into those mixes than the stereo mixes. The stereo versions of those albums have an unnecessary surfeit of panning and effects like ADT (Automatic Double Tracking) and flanging. (Fellow engineer) Richard and I would sometimes get carried away with them because of their novelty value . . . especially if George Martin wasn’t there to rebuke us. Needless to say, it was John who especially loved that kind of overkill — we’d sometimes whack something on too severely just to see how it sounded, only to find him winking at us, saying, ‘More!’”

It should be noted that Emerick wrote his book in 2007, before all the remastering of the Beatles albums took place. So, perhaps the new stereo mixes enhance those versions to the point that they now are preferable.  

And then there’s the whole “Let It Be” controversy, when the original recordings were turned over to “wall of sound” maestro Phil Specter, reportedly by John Lennon, much to the chagrin of McCartney.

So, a stripped down version of those songs “Let It Be-Naked,” was produced.

For my listening project, I listened to that naked CD as well as a number of mono vs. stereo renditions of Beatles’ songs.  

Basically, I agreed with experts (they are so grateful, I’m sure!) that the early albums are best in mono.

This was a time when few people had quality stereo systems, if any stereo at all (I had a small portable one in my room), and thus much more time and care was given to the mono versions (says my books). Those tunes in stereo sound pretty tinny and awkward to listen to (says my ears), especially with headphones (e.g. the drums and base in one ear, the voices in another).  

Of course, musical preferences, like all reactions to art, are wholly subjective. When I posted a list of my personal choices for “five worst Beatles songs” (yes, they did produce some songs I cannot stand: “Rain,” “Paperback Writer,” “Baby You’re a Rich Man,” “I’m Down,” “Helter Skelter”) on a Facebook site, several respondents said the tunes were actually among their favorites. Some fans treat all of the group’s output as wonderful and any criticism as sacrilege.

In the books I consulted, Beatles tunes certified as “classic” by one author sometimes were depicted as “a disaster” by another. Even the Beatles disparaged as “garbage” some songs I (and others) enjoy.

Typical of most listeners, my reactions when sampling the stereo and mono recordings are probably based on how I first heard the songs. And for nearly all of them, that would be mono. Anything different sounds off kilter.

Some examples: The stereo “Taxman,” the lead song on side one of “Revolver,” has the bass and rhythm section on the left side while the lead guitar and percussion are on the right, with vocals in both. It sounds wrong to my ears, which first heard all the music coming out of both speakers (mono). Likewise, on the same album, “She Said She Said” (a favorite of mine) splits the instruments into separate channels and doesn’t sound quite right to me.

Still, the later works, as remastered, do have much greater depth and clarity in the stereo versions. Songs like “Martha, My Dear,” “Savoy Truffle” and “Glass Onion” sound terrific (I played them over and over). Likewise, most of Sgt. Pepper, which was remastered a second time for the 50th anniversary CD, is fine in stereo.

In several cases, like “Martha My Dear,” I enjoyed a song in the latest version far more than I did originally.

Which brings us to my general observations on what I heard and read. That would be part two, coming tomorrow.  

[hamannpearson8-blog]

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[marian1215]

Suze Orman and 5 Laws of Money

I am at my Business Leadership, Ethics, CSR and class, and I am listening to financial guru Suze Orman’s talk on managing personal finances. There must be some disconnect here.

Personal finances is an area that most of my peers are struggling with. In my accounting class, when Prof. Rodel started to give tips on financial management, all my classmates started asking questions. As MBA students, we do need that financial education after all.

I know the value of money. I have been fortunate enough that I am financially secure. I had started financial planning in my mid-20’s so I can retire by the time I am 60. I have a savings account and a separate an emergency account. I know about diversifying your portfolio; I have short-term investments in bonds and mutual funds, and long-term investments such as a variable life insurance. I also started investing in the stock market last year, but I am currently at a loss since the stock market is down. I may be financially secure, but I still have some lessons to learn. Suze Orman’s 5 Laws of Money’s practical advice is a lesson on how I can better manage my personal finances.

The first law is: Truth Creates Money, Lies Destroy It.

When I started financial planning in my mid-20’s, I had truthful on my financial situation. I had to list down my income and expenses to even how much credit card debt I had. I remember the many lies I told myself when I spending my hard-earned money – I deserve this since I worked hard, or I can join my friends for a weekend getaway when I clearly know I have credit card bills to pay. I was in this dire financial situation as a result of these little lies. It was a humbling - knowing how much debt I was in, and how I needed to make the change.

In Suze Orman’s talk, she mentioned a familiar situation: A friend is asking to borrow US$4,000 and you clearly know that person will be unable to pay this amount. I found myself in a similar situation: someone is asking to borrow Php50,000 and knowing her, she will likely be unable to pay me back. Knowing my financial situation helped me make a decision, I cannot lend this person the entire Php50,000. I had to face the truth – I am not in the right position to lend her this amount. Knowing about my financial situation, I knew that Php50,000 is a significant amount and lending that amount will hold me back with my financial goals.

Facing my financial situation before was the first step on my path for financial security. It led me to the point where I was able to allocate more towards growing my money through investments. Had I not taken that first step of being truthful, I would not in this situation where I am now.

 The second law is: You got to look at what you have, not at what you had.

Suze Orman beautifully explains how investing works – you have to keep looking forward, instead of looking back. We have to accept that you will make bad investments. When I started investing in 2018, I invested in two high-risk mutual funds and 2019, their prices where 150% yield. Now, the price is even less than the amount I paid. Looking back, there were signs that I would should have sold my investment earlier. When I noticed that from 150% turned to 120% yield, I should have pulled my investment then. Now, I have to accept that I am at a loss and move on.

Funny enough, I find this law applies not just to money. Much like bad investments, we all had a share of bad friendships and relationships, or even make bad decisions that we can’t just move on from. We invest time and resources to these people, and it doesn’t work out. Yes, you had great times with these people, and you want to dwell on the good times. As much as you are willing to hold on, it may be best to part ways to your investments and move on. The good times may never return to the way it was.

The third law is:  You have to do what is right for you, before you do what is right for your money.

Suze Orman says that you need to feel right and comfortable about yourself and your money. You need to feel comfortable about talking about your finances, financial standing, financial decisions and investments. My peers and I have different experiences with talking about money. I grew up in a family where we openly talk about money and finances. While in my husband’s family, money was a taboo subject and the only time financial conversations take place is during paydays and bills have to be paid. He financially struggled for years as a result of bad financial decisions. When we started our relationship, we actually had to sit down and discuss his financial situation. His emergency fund was depleted and had a very small amount in his savings account. We had to get comfortable taking about money – what were our inflows and outflows, and what we are investing on. We had to ensure that both of us we feel right in the major financial decisions that we make -whether investing in our future home, buying a new car, or investing in a new business. We also review our finances regularly, especially how we feel on our investments.

The fourth law is:  You must first invest in the known before the unknown.

Suze Orman explains that you need to know what your needs are, before you need to invest into any financial instruments. You must first invest in the knowns, such as death and retirement. My financial planner asked me to calculate my monthly expenses and have at least 8-12 months as an emergency fund. This is very practical advice: if you become unemployed or get sick, the emergency fund can help you get back on your feet. In addition, she also mentions to invest in more permanent areas– like investing in our future home, where we expect to live in until we retire. I’ve also invested in multiple life insurance policies and started to contribute to a retirement fund as a form of security.

Once I had secured my knowns, I was more comfortable making investment decisions in the unknowns because I know I have the tangible and available assets that I can rely on. I was now able to diversify my investment portfolio – investing in short-term investments such bonds and mutual funds, and even how to invest in the stock market for the long-term.

The fifth law is the last but not the least:  You have to remember that money has no power of its own.

Money is an instrument, or a means to an end. A camera cannot take beautiful pictures on its own, it needs the eye of a photographer to take mesmerizing shots. Money is the same, I decide what I want to do with my money. Suze Orman mentions that we have to control where our money goes and what is our end goal. This made me reflect on the reasons on my purchases – do I purchase a new car, when my old 5-year-old Sedan still works well. In the end, we are empowered to make decisions with our money – whether to save, invest, our buy with the money that we have.

As a Catholic, I am a steward of God’s creation and I believe God’s blesses His children with the time, talent, and treasure. Unlike the old saying that, Money is the root of all evil, I believe money are is good, it is part of God’s provisions. Money is part of His provisions and it is my duty to safeguard my finances as part of my Catholic faith.

As an MBA student, learning about personal financial management is an important area of self-management and mastery. You have to be able to manage yourself first before managing others. You cannot manage a business, lead a team or run your own company if you are unable to manage yourself first. Suze Orman shared that business leaders, CEOs often mismanage their own finances, therefore also mismanaging their companies. 

My key takeaway in managing my personal finances – it all starts with me.

[makingmoneyonlinemethod]

How to Make an Extra $1,000 a Month (25 Ways That Actually Work)

When I was in college, I felt like having an extra $1,000 a month would basically make me rich.

It seems silly now, but when you’re in college, $1,000 a month can go a long way.

You could use it to:

·     Pay down your student loans

·     Cover your room and board

·     Start investing early

·     Buy a heck of a lot of video games, pizza, or ramen

By my last couple of months in college, I finally hit that $1,000 a month income goal. But looking back, I realize I could have hit that number a lot sooner if I had known what I know now. That’s why I’ve put together this guide.

Below, I’ll show you 25 ways to actually earn a $1,000 a month. No questionable methods, no b.s., and no get rich quick schemes. Just ways that, with a little hard work, will pay off quickly.

The Right Mindset for Making Extra Money

Before I get to the methods, you need to understand the right mindset to have when looking for ways to earn extra money. I include this section because, as a college student, I made the mistake of spending way too much money on courses that claimed they would help me make extra money.

I’m not saying that the courses were giving bad advice, but rather that I made the mistake of falling for the allure of extra income without wanting to put in the work required to get it. Certainly, there are courses out there that can help you boost your income. But you don’t need any of those to get started.

To make extra money, you just need 3 things:

1.       Be able to do something people will pay for.

2.       Get people to pay you for it.

3.       Keep doing #2 till you’ve hit your income goal.

The above advice applies whether you want to make an extra $1,000 or $10,000. Of course, there are details to iron out such as what you’ll do and how you’ll find people to pay you for it. That’s what the rest of this guide is for.

25 Ways to Make an Extra $1,000 a Month

 Ready to stop dreaming and start earning? Below, you’ll find 25 ways you can actually make an extra $1,000 per month. None of these require expensive equipment, high startup costs, or even a degree. What they do require is hard work, creativity, and the willingness to try new things or learn new skills.

Freelance Writing

I’m going to start with a method that’s near and dear to my heart. Freelance writing was the first way I started making serious money when I was in college, and I still think it’s a great thing to try if you have writing skills.

There are a ton of companies out there that need written content, including blog posts, video scripts, website copy, and more. They’re willing to pay, too; a starting writer can easily charge $50 for an article. 

More experienced writers can charge $150/article or more, depending on the length and subject matter. Work your way up to that level, and writing just two articles a week could net you $1,200 a month.

To get started freelance writing, you have a couple of options. The first is to check out freelance job boards like Upwork, Fiverr, and ProBlogger. Alternatively, you can reach out directly to blogs who accept guest contributions. Both methods can work, though I had more success with direct outreach when I was starting out – and in this realm, I had the most success when I worked to build relationships instead of doing cold outreach.

You’ll also want to build a portfolio to showcase your writing. Check out our guide to building an online portfolio to get started on that.

If you want further guidance, including tips on how to pitch articles and get your first clients, check out this freelance writing course my friends Kristin and Alex created.

Graphic Design

A few examples of our graphic designer’s work for the CIG Podcast.

Companies aren’t just hungry for written content; they’re also constantly in need of graphics, illustrations, logos, custom slide decks, and other graphic design assets.  If you’re artistic or enjoy design, this can be a great way to make money.

The steps for getting started with freelance graphic design are fairly similar to freelance writing. You can search on Upwork, Fiverr, or even 99designs for gigs. Alternatively, you can ask around campus to see if anyone needs design help. Making business cards and logos for people can be an especially fruitful place to start.

If you want to learn graphic design, there are a ton of avenues out there. I’ll note that it’s important to learn both the fundamentals of design (composition, type, white space, etc.) and the technical skills, such as how to use Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator. Here are a few courses to start with:

·     Graphic Design Basics – Core Principles for Visual Design

·     Master the Basics of Adobe Illustrator

Web Development

Having a website is a must these days, yet so many businesses and individuals still don’t have one. This is a great opportunity for anyone with web development skills to make some serious money.

But what if I don’t know how to make a website? Just read our guide, and now you have no excuses. Combine that with a few web development tutorials on Skillshare, and you’ll have all the skills you need to build beautiful, functional websites for just about anyone.

Our web developer, Martin, was able to charge $1,000 for a basic website when he was freelancing. And those development skills eventually led him to a full-time career working for College Info Geek. So whether you want to make some extra money on the side or enter an in-demand, well-paying field, web development is worth learning.

If you’re serious about learning web development quickly, I recommend these resources:

·     The Top Web Development Courses on Skillshare — These are all classes taught by experts and will get you up to speed even if you have no prior knowledge. The link will also get you a 2-week free trial, plenty of time to get through the courses.

·     Treehouse — Treehouse is a website dedicated to teaching you how to code, and they have a large library of web development courses.

Audio Transcription

Voice recognition technology is getting better every day, but it still isn’t great at transcribing real human speech. For this reason, there’s a demand for skilled audio transcriptionists.

Audio-what-tionists? When transcribing audio, all you do is listen to a recording and turn it into a word document. All kinds of companies and people need this service, and they’re willing to pay. While you can do this on your own, it’s generally better to work for an audio transcription company. This way, you don’t have to find clients.

I recommend looking into Rev — pay starts at $0.36 per minute of audio, which means you need to transcribe around 50 hours of audio per month (12.5 per week) to hit the $1,000 mark. Plus, you can do this job from the comfort of your home, making it great for fitting around your busy schedule.

Helping People with Computers

Using a computer may seem second-nature to you, you darn millennial-Gen-XYZ whippersnapper. But for many people who aren’t “digital natives,” it’s not so easy. Instead of making fun of your grandpa for not knowing how to use his iPad, why not see if you can turn your knowledge into some extra cash?

The possibilities here are only limited by your creativity and what people will pay for. Just a few ideas:

·     Make PowerPoints for your less than tech-savvy professors (a former professor reached out to me about this just the other day)

·     Give a class on computer basics at a local retirement home or community center

·     Start your own IT business that makes house calls (a friend of mine made one contact in college who paid him around $200/month for very basic computer help. The guy was pretty wealthy, but knew nothing about computers.)

You can choose to charge per hour or per project — whichever makes more sense.

Bonus Tip: If you’re willing to take some time and spend a bit of money to get an A+ Certification, you may be able to charge even more. If you choose to go this route, you should get Mike Meyers’ (no, not that Mike Meyers) excellent CompTIA A+ Certification All-in-One Exam Guide, which is updated every year.

Investing Your Money

I’ll state this up front: Compared to every other method on this list, investing will take by far the longest amount of time to make you an extra $1,000 a month. Still, you should seriously consider investing as early as you possibly can.

Here’s why: Investing means putting your money to work for you. Every other method here requires you to essentially trade hours for dollars; investing allows you to sit back as the money you have invested grows due to compound interest. And the sooner you get started, the more that compound interest will benefit you.

Here’s a simple calculation: If you’re 25 now and you invest just $200 a month for the next 30 years at a 7% rate of return (which is reasonable to expect over the long term), by the time you’re 55 you’ll have a bit over $228,000 – even though you only invested a total of $72,000 of your hard-earned money.

That means that you gained a whopping $156,000 while you slept. And that’s assuming you never increase your monthly investment as you get further into your career; do that (as most smart investors do) – and get started as early as possible to reap the benefits of compound interest year after year – and you can retire with millions.

Here’s another calculation, this time looking at what it would take to be able to pull $1,000 a month out of your retirement savings every month for 30 years:

 Again, assuming you never increase your contribution (which is unlikely), you still only need to save $316 a month assuming you start when you’re 25. (You can use this Bankrate calculator to play with the numbers.)

How to get started: The main three things you need to know are:

1.       Tax-advantaged retirement accounts are your friends. A Roth IRA is a great place to start.

2.       Index funds are your friends. These passively follow the entire stock market, providing a good rate of return without too much risk.

3.       High fees are your enemy. Even a fee of 1% on a fund can eat a huge portion of your earnings. And funds that charge these fees almost never outperform lower-cost funds.

While you can learn and optimize later, these three rules are really all you need to get started.

As for where to start, Betterment is a great option; their fees are low, there’s no minimum starting investment (you could throw in $50 now and set up a $25 monthly auto-investment to start), and they adjust your investments based on your goals.

For even more information, check out our beginner’s guide to investing.

Selling Your Old Stuff

Your closet, garage, or attic is probably full of perfectly good things that you just don’t use anymore. Instead of letting them sit there collecting dust and getting in your way, why not sell them for some extra cash?

Depending on how much stuff you have, you could certainly earn an extra $1,000 doing this. This is especially true if your parents or grandparents will let you comb through their old stuff and sell it as well.

That being said, this probably isn’t the best way to consistently make extra money. To do that, you need to branch beyond selling your stuff and into selling other people’s.

Retail Arbitrage

Retail-what? So it’s a fancy business term, but all it means is going to stores like Wal-Mart, Target, or even a thrift store and finding items that you can re-sell online for a profit.

Generally, people use either Amazon or eBay to do this, though you could also look into a more specialized platform such as Poshmark or Etsy if you’re focusing on clothing or vintage goods.

Now, be warned — if you do this wrong, you can lose a bunch of money and waste a lot of time. You have to be smart about what you buy, which generally means using a tool like the Amazon Seller app (Android | iOS) to calculate your potential profit. But if you do it right, this can be an effective way to make money in your free time.

Fixing & Flipping Cars (or Other Vehicles)

Hardly a day goes by that I don’t see an old car or bike for sale in someone’s yard. While I don’t have the time or mechanical skills to do it, I know lots of people who make good money buying old vehicles, fixing them up, and re-selling them.

This is definitely an area where you need to know what you’re doing, and you’ll also need the appropriate tools and space. But provided you have those things, it’s easy enough to get started. Even if you spend a few months fixing up a car and manage to sell it for a $5,000 profit, that’s easily an extra $1,000 a month.

Babysitting or Nannying

People have kids, and they need a responsible adult to watch them. There’s good money to be made here, particularly if you have the time to do a more involved job such as nannying.

You can either go through a site such as Care.com or build up your own business through word of mouth. I have a few friends that were easily able to charge $20 per hour for this sort of work, which means you would only need to work an extra 12.5 hours per week to reach $1,000 a month.

Yardwork

This category covers everything that people don’t want to do in their yards. People tend to associate yardwork with warm-weather activities such as lawn mowing, but it can also include things like shoveling snow and picking up dog poop. With these activities, you can stay busy earning money all year round.

Pro-tip: When I was a teenager, I stood out from the other teenage lawn-mowing businesses by BUNDLING dog poop pick-up and lawn mowing. Differentiating yourself is key!

How you price this work is up to you — you can charge a flat rate based on the size of the yard (this works well for mowing or snow shoveling) or an hourly rate (which is best if you don’t know how long the work will take). As long as you charge enough, you can hit your extra income goals with only a few hours of work per week.

Cleaning Houses

Cleaning is something that has to be done, but many people don’t have the time or desire to do it. This is where you come in — with just some simple cleaning supplies and a few hours per week, you can earn great money.

To maximize your earnings, we recommend doing this gig solo. You’ll get to keep all the money you earn, and you can often charge a more competitive rate than a bigger cleaning company. Getting started is as simple as asking around, and it’s easy to charge $100 for a small house or apartment. Do that 10x per month, and there’s your extra $1,000.

Home Repairs

In a similar vein to cleaning houses, things around the house tend to break. While some people know how to fix them, plenty of others will go running to a handyman (or woman) whenever they need to patch a small hole or fix a leaky faucet.

If you have some basic tools and a little bit of practice, you can earn good money helping friends, family, and anyone else with simple household repairs. People will pay more for this than you might think — my friend recently got paid $100 just to help a co-worker hang a curtain rod.

Note: Please don’t blow yourself up, chop off your hand, or get electrocuted. Leave any major work to licensed professional contractors. But for small fixes, go for it!

Tutoring

Many parents will do anything to help their kids succeed, even if it means spending lots of money. Tutoring is a prime example of this. After all, how is your neighbor’s kid going to get into Harvard at age 15 if they can’t pass their first-grade algebra class?

Okay, this might be a bit of an exaggeration, but lots of parents freak out when their kid is struggling even a little bit in school. To fix this, they’ll often hire a tutor, and that tutor could easily be you. As long as you know more about a subject than a kid and are good at explaining things, you can be a tutor (though some parents may want you to have certain test scores or grades in certain courses).

Reading and math are definitely the most popular subjects, but you can tutor anything that kids’ parents are willing to pay for. To maximize your earnings, we recommend being a freelance tutor, but you can also earn decent money working for a tutoring company.

Teaching a Foreign Language

¿Habla español? Sprechen Sie Deutsch? Parlez-vous français? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then you might be able to earn extra money teaching a foreign language.

Now, this won’t work if you just took a few classes in high school or college — you need to be fluent in the language. But assuming you are, then you can earn good money helping other people learn a language. This is especially true if you can teach a high-demand language such as English, Mandarin, or Spanish.

To get started, we recommend iTalki, which is our favorite place to find online language teachers.

Note: While not required, having some kind of degree or certification in the language you want to teach will definitely help boost your earnings.

Bookkeeping

Think you need to be a CPA to do bookkeeping? Wrong. In fact, you don’t need any formal certifications or degrees to be a bookkeeper. All you need is an understanding of basic bookkeeping and accounting principles. My friend Thomas (this site’s founder) landed a part-time job in high school doing bookkeeping for a small business.

It can also be helpful to know your way around the accounting software that small businesses use – the most popular is Quickbooks, though Wave and Xero are also popular. If you know Quickbooks, though, you can quickly adapt to others. Here’s a very thorough Quickbooks class you can take on Skillshare (this link gets you a 2-week free trial, so you could take other bookkeeping classes there for free during that time).

Selling Handmade Goods on Etsy

Know how to knit? Make pottery? Craft jewelry? If you can make it with your hands, then you can probably sell it on Etsy. Etsy is fairly mainstream now, but in case you haven’t heard of it, it’s an online marketplace for selling handmade and vintage goods. You set your own prices, and Etsy takes a small commission each time you make a sale.

Now, you won’t start making extra money with Etsy overnight. You need to take good photos, write compelling descriptions, and get the word out about your store. But if you’re willing to take the time to do this, then you can certainly build up a business that makes an extra $1,000 per month.

Working as a Virtual Assistant

There are lots of busy professionals who have way more money than time. Therefore, they’re willing to pay to get some of their time back. This is the whole premise behind hiring a virtual assistant (VA) — you do the things that a busy person doesn’t have time to do.

Many people associate virtual assistants with outsourcing, but there’s actually a sizable market for native English-speaking VAs based in U.S. timezones.

If you’re organized, responsive, and don’t mind dealing with stressed out, sometimes demanding professionals, then this can be a great gig. Your job will generally consist of scheduling appointments, booking travel, answering calls and emails, and doing whatever else the person you’re assisting is too busy to do.

To learn how to get started as a VA, check out this course from our friend (and former CIG virtual assistant) Kayla Sloan.

Personal Chef

There are lots of people who need help with cooking. Some people are too busy to cook for themselves, while others are unable to cook due to age or disability. Whatever the case, if you know how to cook, then you can turn that skill into extra money.

According to Career Trend, the average hourly rate for a personal chef is between $35 and $50 per hour. Even if you can just charge $35 per hour, that means you can make $1,000 with just an extra 29 hours of work per month. Plus, you’ll meet lots of interesting people and have an amazing experience to put on your resume.

Note: Be sure to check local laws to make sure you don’t need any special licenses or food-handling certifications to be a personal chef.

Help People Move

If you’ve ever moved to a new house or apartment, you know how much of a pain it is. It’s time-consuming, laborious, and often frustrating. For this reason, most people who can afford it will hire movers.

If you’re organized, careful, and capable of lifting heavy things, then you can start your own moving business today. Having a truck or other large vehicle also helps, though it’s not strictly necessary.

You can easily charge $100 for a small moving job (often more), so this is an awesome gig to earn the extra cash you’re looking for.

Street Performer

I’ll never forget walking down Fremont Street in Las Vegas, seeing the street performers, and witnessing the unbelievable things people will do to make a buck. While I don’t advise that you copy the things the performers on Fremont do (the man dressed as a giant baby still gives me nightmares), street performing can be a solid way to earn extra money.

What you do is entirely up to you. Busking (playing music for donations) is a time-honored approach, but you could also tell fortunes, make art, or just dress up in a weird costume and charge for photos. I’ve never done this myself, but I bet you can definitely make $1,000 a month doing this part-time.

Note: Many cities require you to have a license in order to be a street performer (especially if you’re going to charge money or ask for tips). Check your local laws before you begin. And, obviously, don’t do anything that will get you arrested, fined, or kicked out of school.

Personal Trainer

Most people would like to be in better shape than they are. And when going to the gym won’t cut it, the people who can afford it will often hire a personal trainer. If you know how to get (and stay) in shape, then there’s no reason that personal trainer can’t be you.

According to PayScale, the average hourly rate for a personal trainer is $19. That means you only need to work around 13 hours a week to hit your $1,000 monthly target. As long as you can find enough clients, this is an easy gig to get started with.

Note: We strongly recommend that you get a personal trainer certification if you’re going to do this. Not only will it help you market yourself to potential clients, but it will also make sure that you and your clients stay safe.

DJ-ing

Can you play music off your computer? Then that’s really all you need to be a DJ. Having some more specialized equipment certainly helps, but DJ-ing really isn’t that hard to learn.

You probably won’t end up playing festivals for millions of dollars, but you can certainly earn $1,000 a month DJ-ing weddings or parties on the weekends.

Consulting

This might well be the holy grail of earning extra income. There’s a lot of b.s. in the consulting world, but it can be a perfectly legitimate field. As a consultant, you help businesses (or sometimes individuals) overcome a particular problem. Generally, the goal is to help a business make more money.

If that sounds insanely broad and generic, it is. But that’s the beauty of consulting. If you can help a business make more money, then you can basically charge whatever you want, provided it’s less than the amount of additional money you’ll help the business make.

Here are just a few things you could consult on:

·     Bookkeeping

·     Sales

·     Marketing

·     Website design

·     Website copy

·     Business processes

Junk Removal

People have all kinds of crap in their yards and houses that they need help getting rid of. If you have a strong back and a vehicle that can haul junk, then you can start your own junk removal business.

To get started with this, your best bet is to hit the streets. Walk around local neighborhoods and see if you can spot piles of brush, trash, or other items that people might need help getting rid of. Then, just knock on doors and see if anyone is interested. It can take some persistence, but you can easily charge enough for this to make at least an extra $1,000 in 30 days.

Hourly Jobs

This is a very broad category, but we wanted to include it because sometimes making extra money is as simple as getting a good ole fashioned part-time job.

Assuming you can work 20 hours per week, you just need to find a job that pays at least $12.50 an hour in order to hit the $1,000 per month target. It may not be the sexiest way to make extra money, but it’s proven to work.

[cobbsandra1989]

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[librarybunny13]

10/25/2020

Today, or rather this weekend has been rough.

1. Facebook - hacked and someone who shall now be knowsn as Asshat wrote some shitty posts in my some of my library groups and adding me to some other groups that I have never heard of. I am now terrified that I will get in trouble for writing the posts. Fuck that shit. So now looking forward to being disciplines at work. Hurray!

2. Parents finally sold the daycare. It’s worth about 2 million but they sold it for 1.2 million. Sounds like a lot? It really isn’t once you consider that they now have no jobs. But they were only making a salary before of like 30,000 a year with both of them working. Sp I guess this will be okay. Except my mom wants me to retire and live on disability for the rest of my life. Where does she want me to do this? Casa Grande, AZ. They don’t even have a book store. Repeat, no bookstore there. Just......WTF?! And I hear their libraries are TINY.

3. Donald Trump is still my president and yes, he still is also an asshat.

4. I ran out of depression and anxiety meds on Thursday. Only was able to refull it today at my pharmacy because of course they didn’t have my meds in. So this whole weekend was forced withdrawls from my medicines. Hurray! I know some of you think, why not get it ordered via the mail? I can’t even get my tax checks and certified mail given to me  via mail to show up. Why would my medication show up?

5. Having some kinda weird allergic reaction. Nose been running and I feel short of breathe and like my heart weights a goo 20 pounds. Got tested for covid, but her the results it is not covis (hospitals have 2 hour testing or some shit) so they think it’s an allergic reaction.

6. Mom’s breast cancer is taking a bad turn. I don’t even want to think about that crap. FUCK CANCER!

7. Found out I am being sued for like $5,000. It has something to do with my HOA. According to them they have been sending me mail for months. See, how my mail is all fucked up so now on Monday I get to try to talk to this lawyer about it. Hurray!

8. The new coworker, who I don’t like did teen volunteers orogramming, called herself the teen librarian blah blah blah. Talked about how she will be in charge of teen programming. Not sure how this is going to work out as I am literally the only teen librarian in our whole library system officially. Even my business cars they bought for me say this and no one else in the system has anything like that.

Considering that I can’t see to fix anything though including literally having issues seeing the zoom chat function and others, I really don’t know what to do anymore. I’m falling back into depression and I don’t know if this is because I was several days without medication or if this is another depressive move coming to get me or maybe this is all because of my eyesight.

So I need to make a plan for each of these.

1. worked with facebook to get my account back and changed oasswords AGAIN. I have no clue what to do about the posts they made though, so I guess I’m gonna out myself to my job. Sigh either way I see myself being written up.

2. I really want to be my mom since they think she has about 2-5 years left. So maybe I should go on disability. I mean work isn’t helping my disability in any way shape or form. So instead maybe I should start writing that book I always wanted to get out of my system?

3. If you are of voting age and reading this please do not vote for Trump. Maybe he will be a memory come February of next year? PLEASE!

4. Got medicine refilled, not making any major posts until I have been 3 to 4 days on my medicines. So back to just reblogging shit for me. No going to reddit, no library posts.

5. they have me on allergy medication. please work.

6.Fuck cancer!

7.talk to attornies tomorrow. See if there is anything I can do to ensure I don’t have to pay 5,000 books for a 150 late fee or some shit like that.

8. wrote an email to my boss asking if this means I should be working on children programs. Realize that since I can’t see maybe I shouldn’t be working on ANY programs. Maybe I should just put in my two weeks notice. My job maes me miserable anyhow. My admin makes me miserable. But gosh darn it I need that sweet sweet health insurance. Mom is from Spain. Maybe talk her into moving to Spain and getting my dual citizenship so I can have free healthcare?

Kay, that’s all my complaining. Running off to reblogg shit for the next few hours. Maybe play some games. try to cheer myself up. update to myself soon as I scream into the void.

[ourmomzone-blog]

Wings of Fire: Autobiography of APJ Abdul Kalam, the Missile Scientist Turned President of India

I: Autobiographies, An introduction:

Writing an autobiography is a risky affair since any person is subject to personal weaknesses and failures. He is expected to openly admit his failures, notwithstanding the criticisms. Only a very few people like Mahatma Gandhi would be able to venture it. Since they are very great people their failures and weaknesses would not be able to diminish their popular and genuine images

There are some autobiographies, covering only one aspect of their lives (say, their profession), where there is not much exposure to their personal weaknesses. So there is no need to openly tell them since they will not come in the way of their narration. Most of the autobiographies we read nowadays belong to this second category.

II: Autobiography of APJ Abdul Kalam:

'A.P.J Abdul Kalam' is a magic name, sending electrical signal to millions of Indians, especially the youth who want to achieve something in their lives for the country. He is like Mahatma Gandhi in simplicity, Kennedy in charisma and Einstein in advancement of Science and Technology. As told in the foregoing paragraphs, in his autobiography he has covered the 'failures' in his experiments and personal losses too and hence his autobiography is also a must read for all the youth, like 'My Experiments With Truth' of Mahatma Gandhi.

In this book, he has covered important aspects of a Missile Technologist and how to come out successful in his mission. In the course of his narration, he has also given importance to Faith in God with a secular approach, devotion to elders, obedience to teachers, utmost loyalty and single minded dedication to duty, efficient managerial capabilities with a sense of team work etc which have taken him to the highest step in the ladder of profession and public life.

This is a brief review of his autobiography presented for the benefit of readers with a request to share the pleasure of taking right managerial decisions at the right time.

III. A Brief Discussion of His Autobiography:

His life may broadly be classified into three parts:

1. His early life till he becomes a missile Scientist, for which only a brief coverage is given in this review.

2. His role as a Scientist and Head of DRDO: This is the essential part of his book and hence this review. His rise from an ordinary Science Assistant to Chief of Directorate of Defence Laboratory with reasons thereof up to the eve of retirement is explained in this part.

3. Life after his retirement including his getting the highest civilian award Bharath Rathna and also his service as the President of India (2002-2007) are not covered in the book and so or in this review. Let us sincerely hope that concluding part of his autobiography, covering these aspects of his life may come out in a near future for our pleasure.

IV: His Early Life till He Joins as a Technical Assistant.

The first three chapters, widely classified into one group under the head 'Orientation' Cover his early life till he becomes the chief of the Rocket launching station at coastal town Tumba (Kerala).

He was born in an ordinary family in the Holy coastal town of Rameswaram in Tamilnadu, India. His father was a boat owner having fishing as his profession. He had a very humble beginning and had a very simple life as a school boy. On several occasions he had to earn to take care of himself.

There were several reasons for his possession of an honest, faithful, devoted, orthodox and secular outlook all along his life. He belonged to a simple orthodox Muslim family and hence he followed Muslim way of worship. He was born in a Hindu Pilgrim Centre (A visit to Rameswaram will clear a Hindu from all his sins) and so he had (and continues to have) great respect for Hindu Religion. He was taught by Christian and Hindu Brahmin teachers whom he acknowledges as the greatest influence in his life. Above all, he is an un-tiring worker who works 18 hours a day, even at the age of 81. Later chapters in this book show him as a very good go-getter, having excellent command over team working which are the most essential qualities of management. He is a lover of Karnatic music and is able to play Veena one of the most difficult musical instruments. He is highly religious, has unshakeable faith in the Divine will and pre-decided destiny. For this, he often quotes from Quran and other religious scriptures. He is a poet himself and writes poems in his mother language Tamil successful single mothers stories.

An account of his education at Rameswaram, Ramanathapuram, Trichy, and M.I.T at Chennai was given in the beginning chapters. Then the book narrates how he narrowly missed a job in Air force and got a job in Directorate of Technical Development and Production.

The rest is History and is covered in subsequent parts.

V: The Becoming: The Success Story of India's Space Rocketry.

In fact, the Techno-Scientific life of Dr Kalam started so early as when he, along with his two juniors constructed a model Hover Aircraft named Nandi (Bull, the vehicle of the Hindu God Shiva), which was appreciated by none other than the then defence minister of India Mr V.K.Krishna Menon. However, the project Nandi was shelved. Later he was sent for a six months training in NASA which changed the course of his life.

Abdul Kalam traces the History of Indian Rocketry to the period of Tipu Sultan who ruled Mysore in 1799. After the death of Tipu Sultan, Indian Rocketry also met with its demise, to be reborn after 150 years due to the technological vision of the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Prof Vikram Sarabhai, the Chairman of Indian Space research Organisations.

The following is the sequence of Space missions sent directly under the supervision of Mr Abdul Kalam.

V.1. On his return from NASA, India's first rocket launch took place on 21st Nov, 1963. It was a sounding rocket named Nike-Apache and made at NASA. It provided excellent flight data. (Dr Kalam records with deep regret, the assassination of J.F.Kennedy, the then President of USA, the next day evening.)

V.2. The first Rohini rocket, consisting of single solid propulsion motor weighing a mere 32 kg lifted a nominal 7 kg payload to an altitude of 10 km was launched next. It was followed by another, to which one more solid propellant stage was added to dispatch multi-experiment payloads weighing nearly 100 kg to an altitude of over 350 km.

V.3. Prof Vikram Sarabhai, Director decided in 1969 to go full steam ahead with the task of establishing indigenous (fully made in India) capability in building and launching our own satellites. SHAR Rocket Launch Station was born in Sriharikota, near Chennai. It was then the Satellite Launch Vehicle was conceived.

On 10th Aug, 1979 the first experimental flight trial of SLV 3 was launched. The first stage was a success. There was a smooth transition to II stage. Suddenly it went out of control. The flight splashed into sea 560 km away from Sriharikota.Hence, launching of SLV 3 on 10.8.79 was a failure.

VI: Failures and Losses:

As hinted already, Dr Kalam lists out the failures in his mission and tragic losses in his family in his autobiography. He listed three major failures of his career in his book. The first one was the death of his hovercraft project (Nandi), the second one was shelving of the project RATO (Rocket Assisted Take-off System) and the third was abortion of the SLV 3.

On the family front, he mentions about the death of his parents and his elder brother, thus he had to take the burden of his entire family, mainly his brother's younger daughter. In the beginning, he met only with failures. How did he pursue fresh dreams and came in terms with success is the most important part of his autobiography, which he shares with the readers without reservations so that youngsters will stand to gain and start Dreaming about a prospective future. "Start dreaming in a constructive manner" is the Mantra of Dr Kalam and thousands of youth were benefited by following this guidance in achieving their goals in their lives.

VI: Further Space Missions:

VI.1: The First Success: Un-deterred by the failures in missions and losses in family, Dr kalam started concentrating in his further space missions. On 18.7.1980, SLV 3 was again launched with Rohini Satellite carried as payload. Dr Kalam writes so: "Mission Director calling all stations. Stand by for an important announcement. The fourth stage apogee motor has given the required velocity to put Rohini Satellite into orbit". He says that these are the most important words he spoke in his life. There were happy cries everywhere; there was a great jubilation and celebration. The mission was a total success!.

The modesty and simplicity in Dr Kalam makes him to contribute this success to the Team and not for him. While he accepted the whole responsibility for the earlier failure, he shared the victory with all. Is it not a good quality for a Manager to be followed by everybody?

VI.2: If launching of SLV 3 with Rohini satellite is number one important day in his life, inauguration of IGMDP (Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme) was considered the second important day in his life. The proposed (integrated) projects were reflections of India's long cherished self reliance and christened in India's most traditional names as follows:

[wsmith215]

On Behind The Racquet, Noah Rubin brings tennis players’ mental, emotional struggles into focus

“This sport has a way of making you feel irrelevant while at the same time giving you this sense of entitlement … Chances are if you were once ‘talk of the town,’ that will quickly diminish over time.” — Noah Rubin, Behind The Racquet

AS THE CLOCK crept toward midnight and the winds blew off the Mediterranean and into the Puente Romano Tennis Club, Noah Rubin hunted for an escape. It was March 2018. Rubin had just lost his fifth straight professional tennis match, a disappointing two-and-a-half-hour roller-coaster ride that was a microcosm of his career.

The grounds of the chic club, founded by Bjorn Borg on the Spanish Riviera in 1979, had long ago emptied. Groundskeepers had switched off all the lights except for the ones for the court where Rubin had just lost. Security closed and locked up the café. Rubin, more than 3,500 miles from his New York home, gathered his belongings and headed into the darkness. Four courts away, he found a set of empty cement stairs. He sat down. And began to cry.

Fifteen months earlier, there had been another walk, onto the famous blue court of Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena for a second-round Australian Open match against Roger Federer. Rubin threw everything he had at Federer that sweltering January afternoon. After breaking Federer’s serve in the third set, he instinctively pumped his fist and screamed “Come on!” The outburst irked the tennis great, and Federer stared through Rubin during the subsequent break.

2 Related

“I was like, ‘I pissed off Roger Federer,'” Rubin said. “How amazing is that?”

Rubin lost in three sets that day but won the belief he belonged. A little more than a year later, after this first-round qualifying loss on the ATP Challenger Tour, tennis’ version of the minor leagues, the swagger was gone, replaced by anger, embarrassment and a plummeting sense of self-worth.

“I just didn’t feel I was worth anyone’s time,” Rubin said.

The story is a common one in tennis. Young star tastes the big time but struggles to escape the clutches of the game’s proving grounds. It’s a grueling climb, one athletes rarely discuss publicly until it’s over. Their competitive shield is too thick, the fear of vulnerability too strong. Rubin believed he had the talent — and work ethic — to be a top-50 player and build a comfortable life playing the game he loved. But he couldn’t crack the top 150 and was barely breaking even.

“I could just sort of feel my soul slipping away,” he said of that night in Spain. “I just sat there thinking, ‘What am I doing that I’m so upset and so miserable on the tennis court?’ It was my lowest point. It was also a beginning.”

“People forget we aren’t robots. People see this fantasy world and guess that everything is kind of perfect. There are true struggles that each and every player deal with that are far more important than winning or losing.” — James Blake, Behind The Racquet

NINE MONTHS AFTER the disappointment in Spain, Rubin sat in his childhood bedroom in Long Island, jet-lagged from his most recent trip to the Australian Open. It had been another up-and-down stretch for Rubin. He temporarily numbed the pain of six straight losses with an August 2018 upset of fellow American and then-No. 9 John Isner. But he then began 2019 with a second-round qualifying loss in Melbourne.

“He was down on himself and struggling, big-time,” said Tallen Todorovich, Rubin’s agent. “He was this blue-chip recruit who thought he would show up and have immediate success.”

Noah Rubin defeated Frances Tiafoe and Taylor Fritz, among others, on his way to the 2014 boys title at Wimbledon. Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

As the clock pushed past 3 a.m., Rubin scrolled through Instagram while watching “Inst@famous,” a Netflix documentary about social media influencers. He thought about “Humans of New York,” the social media project turned New York Times bestselling book profiling random New Yorkers blurred in the shuffle of the largest city in America. He wondered about applying a similar concept to tennis players lost in the pursuit of their on-court dreams.

The idea was simple, combining his passion for tennis, photography and journalism. Athletes would pose for a picture hiding their faces behind the strings of their racket. Then, in their own words, they would reveal the human struggles behind chasing greatness. Within an hour he had a name, “Behind The Racquet.” He quickly registered Instagram and Gmail accounts and purchased the URL https://bit.ly/2LKyq8l for $750.

On Jan. 19, 2019, Rubin posted the first picture for the project. It was a shot of himself, his face slightly blurred by the lime green strings of his racket. Below the photo, he revealed his greatest fear: letting down the people closest to him. It was an emotion he felt from an early age in a tennis-loving family. Rubin’s grandfather, a self-taught tennis star, passed the game on to Noah’s father, who put a racket in Noah’s crib when he was 1.

Noah’s dad was his coach early on, and Noah saw him lose work after his boss would give him an ultimatum about choosing the boy’s tennis tournaments over his work commitments. He saw his mom, who worked in education, sacrifice her summers to work at a local sports facility so Noah and his sister could receive free lessons. Then he saw his parents’ marriage fall apart. They divorced when he was 12.

“I always felt this yearning to pay my parents back,” said Rubin, now 24. “I would ask myself, ‘Am I doing enough for all their time and effort? Is all this worth it for them?’ Tennis is one of the most financially grueling sports. We were not wealthy. We were fine. But they used basically hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay for this. That’s tough.”

To the outside world, it all seemed worth it. By the age of 7, Rubin was beating kids five years older. By 12 he was competing internationally as one of the top-ranked players his age. Then at 18, with his dad watching from the stands, Rubin won the Wimbledon boys’ championship. Lawrence Kleger, the director of the John McEnroe Tennis Academy, tagged Rubin the best player to come out of New York since McEnroe himself.

It all led to a young man growing up fast. A young man sitting in his childhood bedroom on that January night in 2019 still trying to process it all. His place. His purpose. An understanding of what happiness and contentment actually looked like. Why was the game he loved making him so miserable? He’d begin to find answers through sharing the struggles of others.

“Throughout my life, I was always the youngest to do things, which added hype that I didn’t want. … I was just lost. I was confused and overthinking if this was what I wanted or what others did. It took many moments sitting, thinking and crying.” — Coco Gauff, Behind The Racquet

IN THE 16 months since launching Behind The Racquet, Rubin has shared more than 135 stories while building a following of more than 40,000 people on social media. The posts have shown the human side of sport, shining a spotlight on everything from eating disorders and speech impediments to the death of a parent and battles with depression and anxiety.

“These are humans. They have pitfalls,” says retired American tennis star James Blake, who has contributed to the site. “It’s great for young players to get that perspective. In the past, it was all kept secret. But this will help so many realize they’re not alone. It’s OK. And it’s a positive to get help.” Blake believes the pressure in tennis and other individual sports is unlike any other.

“That’s why some of the best talent isn’t always the best performer,” he said. “Every tennis player can tell you about a guy who beat them in practice but couldn’t put together the results when it came time to perform.”

Rubin does the interviews for most of the posts, then paraphrases those conversations into the subject’s voice. In one of his early interviews with his friend Darian King from Barbados, Rubin discovered that King had lost his mom in 2010 to pancreatic cancer, which he did not previously know.

“I stopped the interview,” Rubin said. “I just felt so sorry. I felt like an awful friend. But it wasn’t on him or me. It was on everybody. There just isn’t a platform to feel comfortable talking about things like that.”

Noah Rubin has featured Coco Gauff, Madison Keys, Petra Kvitova and other stars on Behind The Racquet. Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

In early 2019, Rubin connected with Jolene Watanabe, who upset Jennifer Capriati in the 1997 Australian Open. Watanabe was fighting appendix cancer and wanted to spread a message of hope and resilience. Rubin planned to run the post a few weeks later. But then he received a message from Watanabe’s husband, Sylvain Elie. The couple had just returned from the Mayo Clinic, and the news was not good. Doctors told Watanabe she had two weeks to live. She was saying her final goodbyes. Elie asked Rubin whether he could put her on Behind The Racquet before she died.

“She was basically bedridden,” Elie said. “She wasn’t using her phone that much. I told her you might want to check Behind The Racquet. She was emotional about it. It meant a lot to her.”

Added Rubin: “Here’s this dumb idea I had jet-lagged, and it becomes one of someone’s final wishes. I can’t even compute and articulate what that means. If anything, it just shows I have to keep doing this.”

In April, L’Equipe, the daily French sports newspaper, included Rubin as one of six active players in its list of the 20 most influential people in tennis. The other five: Federer, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams. The paper referred to Rubin as a “lanceur d’alerte,” a whistleblower.

There’s now a Behind The Racquet podcast, merchandise and long-term talks of a docuseries and a tabletop book. Rubin hopes to share the stories of athletes in other sports while also connecting with Talkspace, an online therapy platform, and developing mental health camps through the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

“It’s grown into something far bigger than I could have imagined,” Rubin said.

“It always affects me when people judge without any thought. It is one thing to argue but to think your opinion is the best never makes sense.” — Daniil Medvedev, Behind The Racquet

IF THERE’S ONE thing all professional athletes know, it’s that everyone has an opinion. For Rubin, it started with the passive-aggressive comments of neighborhood parents when he would miss a birthday or bar mitzvah for a tennis tournament. As a professional, it’s become the gamblers, who Rubin says reach out on social media with everything from “Your mom should die in hell” to “Hitler should have killed your people.” “The most racist, homophobic, sexist, anti-Semitic comments you can imagine,” he says. “It’s incredible.” Now the topic is Behind The Racquet. There are those who insist Rubin is complaining because he is not good at tennis, others who suggest Behind The Racquet is a distraction getting in the way of his tennis potential, and still others who insist just the opposite, that tennis is getting in the way of Behind The Racquet and his mental health work.

“Everything changes depending how I played that day,” he said. “I’m always like, ‘Just pick one, people.'”

Ignoring some fans’ wishes, Rubin intends to continue pursuing both his tennis passion and his work in mental health awareness. Barrington Coombs/Getty Images

For now, Rubin’s plan is to pursue both lanes. It’s become normal for Rubin to compete at a tournament and have a competitor tell him that he appreciates the site or that he’s thought about how he would share his own story.

“On the most basic of levels, it’s gotten people to think about these things, maybe even speak to others about them,” he said.

Rubin has spent the coronavirus pandemic back in New York with his girlfriend, practicing on the streets while using his free time to focus even more on Behind The Racquet. He says he has more than 30 interviews in his queue.

On a personal level, he has finally found a balance of happiness and contentment. His game is as strong as it’s been, he insists. And even when he does inevitably struggle, he has learned how to handle it better.

“It’s become an extreme form of therapy,” he said. “You have these deep conversations and begin to understand there is more to life than tennis. There’s more to tennis than tennis. And you can’t give up your happiness to get to the top.”

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[xtruss]

Associated Press Fact Check:

Trump Minimize IS Risk, Distort Iran Payout

By Hope Yen | January 8, 2020

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump wrongly dismissed the continuing threat of the Islamic State group and spread a false tale of the U.S. paying out billions of dollars to Iran as part of the multinational deal freezing its nuclear program in an address Wednesday that fell short on facts.

He also made an assertion that is as dubious as it was provocative: that the Iranian missiles fired by Tehran at two military bases hosting U.S. forces in Iraq were paid for by money “made available” to Iran by the Obama administration.

A look at some of the president’s claims in his remarks on Iran’s missile strike on the two Iraqi bases:

TRUMP: “Three months ago, after destroying 100% of ISIS and its territorial caliphate ...”

THE FACTS: His claim of a 100% defeat is misleading as the Islamic State still poses a threat.

IS was defeated in Iraq in 2017, then lost the last of its land holdings in Syria in March, marking the end of the extremists’ self-declared caliphate.

Still, extremist sleeper cells have continued to launch attacks in Iraq and Syria and are believed to be responsible for targeted killings against local officials and members of the Syrian Democratic Forces.

As recently as this week, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said the fight against ISIS in Syria was continuing.

IS controlled large swaths of northern and eastern Syria, where it declared a caliphate in 2014, along with large parts of neighboring Iraq.

U.N. experts warned in August that IS leaders are aiming to consolidate and create conditions for an “eventual resurgence in its Iraqi and Syrian heartlands.”

___

TRUMP: “Iran’s hostility substantially increased after the foolish Iran nuclear deal was signed in 2013. And they were given $150 billion, not to mention $1.8 billion in cash.”

THE FACTS: There was no $150 billion payout from the U.S. treasury or other countries.

When Iran signed the multinational deal to restrain its nuclear development in return for being freed from sanctions, it regained access to its own assets, which had been frozen abroad. Iran was allowed to get its money back. The deal actually was signed in 2015, after a 2013 preliminary agreement. Trump has taken the U.S. out of it.

The $1.8 billion is a separate matter. A payout of roughly that amount did come from the U.S. treasury. It was to pay an old IOU.

In the 1970s, Iran paid the U.S. $400 million for military equipment that was never delivered because the government was overthrown and diplomatic relations ruptured. After the nuclear deal, the U.S. and Iran announced they had settled the matter, with the U.S. agreeing to pay the $400 million principal along with about $1.3 billion in interest.

The $400 million was paid in cash and flown to Tehran on a cargo plane, which gave rise to Trump’s previous dramatic accounts of money stuffed in barrels or boxes and delivered in the dead of night. The arrangement provided for the interest to be paid later, not crammed into containers.

___

TRUMP: “The missiles fired last night at us and our allies were paid for with the funds made available by the last administration.”

THE FACTS: That accusation comes without corroboration. The administration has offered no information supporting the contention that in regaining access to $150 billion of its assets that had been frozen abroad, Iran steered a chunk of that money to the missiles that hit the bases in Iraq.

“I doubt anyone has the insight into Iran’s budgetary mechanisms to say that this money was used for this purpose,” said Gerald Feierstein, a career U.S. diplomat who retired in 2016 as the principal deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs.

“It’s a funds-are-fungible kind of argument,” he said. “I mean, if they have money, can you say that dollar went directly to buy a missile, as opposed to freeing up another dollar that went to buy a missile?”

Gen. Joseph Votel, who retired from the U.S. Army in March as the top military commander for the Middle East, said he was not aware of any specific intelligence on this question. “I don’t have anything that would particularly support that,” he said. “I’m not saying it did or it didn’t, but I don’t have details to demonstrate it one way or the other.”

As President Barack Obama’s secretary of state, John Kerry said it was possible Iran would use some of the money being returned to it for malign activities. Whether it did in this case has not been established.

Iran has many sources of revenue, despite the severe pinch of sanctions. Oil sales to China and other countries dominate its exports. It also sells chemicals, plastics, fruits and more abroad.

___

TRUMP: “We are independent, and we do not need Middle East oil.”

THE FACTS: Trump’s declaration of energy independence is premature. The U.S. still needs plenty of oil from the Mideast.

The volume of U.S. oil imports from the Persian Gulf alone — 23 million barrels in October – would not be easy to make up elsewhere, at least not without major changes in U.S. demand or production.

Technological advances like fracking and horizontal drilling have allowed the U.S. to greatly increase production, but demand remains brisk and the country still imports millions of barrels of oil from Saudi Arabia, Canada, Iraq and other countries. Moreover, much of what the U.S. produces is hard for domestic refiners to convert to practical use. So the U.S. exports that production and imports oil that is more suitable for American refineries to handle.

On energy more broadly, the U.S. is indeed close to parity on how much energy it produces and how much it consumes. In some months, it produces more than it consumes. But it has not achieved self-sufficiency. In the first nine months of last year, it imported about as much energy as it exported.

___

TRUMP: “The American military has been completely rebuilt under my administration, at a cost of $2.5 trillion.”

THE FACTS: That’s an exaggeration.

It’s true that his administration has accelerated a sharp buildup in defense spending, including a respite from what the U.S. military considered to be crippling spending limits under budget sequestration.

But a number of new Pentagon weapons programs, such as the F-35 fighter jet, were started years before the Trump administration. And it will take years for freshly ordered tanks, planes and other weapons to be built, delivered and put to use.

The Air Force’s Minuteman 3 missiles, a key part of the U.S. nuclear force, for instance, have been operating since the early 1970s and the modernization was begun under the Obama administration. They are due to be replaced with a new version, but not until later this decade.

___

Associated Press writers Michael Biesecker, Lolita C. Baldor, Matthew Daly, Robert Burns and Cal Woodward contributed to this report.