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srawesleyghuewrites · 5 years ago

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Back To You - Chapter 8

Series: Back To You(Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7)

For desktop users: masterlist

For mobile users: mobile masterlist

Pairing: Drake x MC(Anna Grey)

Faceclaim: Daniel di Tomasso as Drake Walker, Elizabeth Olsen as Anna Grey and Paul Wesley as King Liam

Book: The Royal Romance

Word Count: ~ 2200

Rating: M for language

Prompt:

A little green velvet box and Anna’s harsh words send Drake into a trance os possibilities, a future with her and one without. But which one should he choose? Which one could he choose?

Disclaimer: The characters don’t belong to me(except for Anna Grey), I just borrow them from Pixelberry!

Completely, Inevitably, Deeply

And what's the point in hiding?

Everybody knows we got unfinished business

And I'll regret it if I didn't say

This isn't what it could be (isn't what it could be)

It’s been twenty minutes since Anna left and Drake hasn’t moved at all, still frozen in place, trying to absorb everything that happened. Since she told him her decision seems like time passes at a weird speed and while he’s only processing the first information there’s already a new crisis to stop.

And then when time has finally returned to him, his silence towards her question and it’s importance hits him in the gut right away. He swears, letting out a deep breath as the weight of the situation finally sinks in.

The first thing he should do is find her and fix things, but he can’t do that before figuring out what he can actually give her. And for that, he’s gonna need to understand how the box in his pocket connects to everything.

Maxwell was experimenting some of the appetizers when Anna poked him in the side, she had tears in her eyes and a look that said “don’t ask why” so that’s what he did. He’s competing against her on who can put more appetizers on their mouth at the same time when Drake enters the ballroom again. And it doesn’t take more than a second for him to realize that whatever is wrong with Anna has to do with Drake. Especially with the apprehensive and guilty way he’s looking at her, and how she’s intentionally ignoring him.

“Don’t ask Max. Because I might not know what to answer.”

She says after quickly swallowing the food on her mouth and drinks a little champagne to help.

“I was...not...goinf-...! Mouth...too..full!!!”

He babbles the words and she takes a moment to understand, he has to open his mouth to make it easier and prove the point that he won. They both laugh at his goofiness and Maxwell’s happy that he was able to put a smile on his best friend face, until Drake approaches both of them.

“Grey…”

“No.”

“I’ll leave you two alone.”

The young Beaumont tries to leave them be, knowing this isn’t his business, however she holds him by the arm and turns to fully face Drake, her grey piercing eyes burning with anger on his.

“No Max, it’s not… just don’t. Drake and I have nothing to talk about.”

“Yes we do. Come on.”

“No. You don’t get to do that, not tonight, not ever, not again. You don’t want a future with me and you’re not gonna get one, so excuse us.”

Her words make time stop again and even before they leave Drake’s already lost in thought again. They echo in his brain until he’s found himself imagining exactly what they mean, and how they affect him so deeply and completely.

“I thought you wouldn’t come.”

Hana smiles at him, holding his face on her hands and giving him a peck on both cheeks before adjusting his tie. Everything he can give her is a weak smile.

“I almost didn’t, we both know how much I hate this Han. I’m here because of Liam.”

And Anna. That’s what he almost blurts out, luckily he caughts himself and then a well known voice came from behind him.

“As always.”

She looks as beautiful as ever in a red dress, but doesn’t have her usual amazing smile, instead she has tears in her eyes that quickly start falling. He cleans them with his thumb, wondering what happened to leave her like that.

“What happened Grey?”

“I’m just giving you what you want.”

She’s sobbing now, her always so strong and fierce eyes look empty and so lost he can’t help to embrace her. Bringing her body close to his as a relief for both of them, kissing the top of her head when he wants to be kissing her lips and telling her everything will be alright.

But the minute he pulls her close she disappears from his arms, becoming just a puff of nothing, a void of pain. Drake searches the room for her or any sign that he didn’t just dream that, but it all seems normal, even Hana standing next to him with a friendly smile.

The night goes on as if nothing happened and when he asks about Anna to people, they simply ignore and go on about their lives. After a lot of whiskeys he forgets about the incident and searches for her in the ballroom, hoping his partner of sneaking out of parties will be with him soon enough. Except that soon never comes because she’s nowhere in sight, like she’s been erased from his future.

“It’s not too late you know.”

Hana’s real voice brings him out of his trance. She’s standing next to him with a sympathetic smile and two glasses of champagne. Her eyes are focused on the other side of the ballroom and Drake follows her gaze to Anna, the sight of her makes his heart flutter. And then break, because as soon as their gaze meets he can see the teary eyes, that immediately turn to Maxwell asking if they could go out for air or something. She just can’t stand him looking at her like that and he knows it.

“Are you sure Han? Because this time it’s all a hundred times more fucked up than before.”

He takes the champagne she offered and drinks it at once, trying to ease the pain it was to see her leaving like that and worse, to know he’s the reason why she’s hurting so much.

“And I have no idea how to fix it.”

“Oh honey, that’s easy.”

She puts a comforting hand on his shoulder, shifting his attention from the place where Anna were to her own friendly face. Even after all of this, he’s still not sure how he got such an amazing friend like Hana, especially when he keeps screwing up with everybody. But Hana sees it differently, she acknowledges how deeply he cares about the people he loves and how Drake has no idea about showing that care. So the next words come out of her mouth naturally:

“I know you love us Drake and we love you too, however you really have a hard time showing it. Something inside keeps you from truly showing this, and right now? Anna needs it. She needs to know you love her. Because we both know you do, completely, inevitably, deeply.”

“Bu..”

“And telling her that doesn’t erase or change your love for Liam. You’re not hurting him by loving her, in fact, I think it hurts him to see you walk away from your love.”

“She wants to know about the future. If I want one with her.”

He lowers his head and lets out a shaky breath, the subject and her words tossing and turning in his thoughts. Hana touches his chin to make him look at her, and Drake’s very surprised to see her grinning at him and then moving her hand from his chin to his chest, right over the heart.

“I believe the answer is right here and it’s been there for a while.”

He doesn’t know if she’s talking about his heart or the box she just squeezed on his left pocket, but either way, it takes him to another reverie.

It’s been a fucking long long day for Drake, who angrily walks away from the castle doors, his footsteps strong and firm as his deadly gaze. Liam follows close behind with a huge tension vein popping just between his eyebrows and the million meetings he’s been attending might be the reason why. Or maybe he is simply guilty about how he’s been asking so much from Drake, causing those wrinkles on his forehead or the red eyes that betray his lie: “I’ve been sleeping just fine.”

He stops before entering the car and looks back at his friend, gaze softening at the worry clear in Liam’s features. Drake opens the door without saying a word and then drops his head, thinking of how to say for him to get the hell out without being rude. Then he realizes that every second he wastes thinking is a second longer away from home, so he takes a deep breath before staring back into those blue eyes.

“It’s fine Liam. I didn’t mean to storm out, but I’ve been in this castle, on those dreadful meetings, for over a week. Do you have any idea what another week would be like?”

“I’m aware of that and I’m deeply sorry but I don’t know what I could do to change. You are in charge of security and it’s necessary that you’re here for this, it’s about bureaucracy but also about danger. I thought we both knew that.”

Drake stiffens his hold on the door, letting out a gasp of incredulity towards his words and then more aggressively than necessary he answers:

“And we both know Valtoria is in danger too, my wife is in danger and I can’t stand here another day without her, without making sure that I can protect her.”

He enters the car and closes the door, quickly sending a message to his staff about going home when Liam’s head pokes inside his window. Drake couldn’t leave him alone to deal with that, not before the agreement has been signed.

“Drake..”

“No Liam, I won’t change my mind. I gotta go.”

“I need you here Drake.”

“And I need her, more than anything.”

Drake takes off. The trip isn’t long but for him sure does sound like it, especially since he spent half of the time staring at their beautiful wedding pictures on his phone. It’s been barely over a year since they got married and he’s still crazy about her, so much that those two weeks away, those two weeks where he couldn’t touch her or protect her because he was protecting the kingdom were the hardest of his life.

When he finally reached door to their bedroom, his heart was beating so fast it was almost like he was having a heart attack. Happens whenever they spend time apart but he’s not used to it yet, nor the butterflies still on his stomach by the time he opens the door.

She’s sleeping peacefully, since the clock on the nightstand marks 2:34 AM, and her breathing eases the worries he had. The slight sound of him closing the door wakes her and it takes about two seconds until she has a huge sword pointing at his chin’s height. This time away made her think a lot about safety, because her source of safeness was all the way in the palace and after everything she couldn’t take any more chances.

Her moves don’t scare him, there’s even a hint of a smile for how she’s capable of defending herself, which he already knew, but they hurt him because he can see how unsafe she feels without him around.

“What a welcome huh?”

“I thought… YOU DON’T WALK INTO A ROOM AT 2:34 WHEN SOMEONE’S ASLEEP AND EXPECT THEM TO WELCOME YOU!”

“I’m sorry… I didn’t know there was a right time to enter my bedroom.”

“Our bedroom.”

“Yes, our.”

Once the shock is gone her eyes light up like they only do for him and her arms embrace him so tightly he can barely breathe. Then he kisses the top of her head and hugs her back, caressing her exposed back.

“I thought you would stay for another week.”

“I thought you didn’t allow a sword in the room.”

“I was sca-…”

“I know Grey, I was too. But I’m here now and I’m not planning on leaving you again.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too, especially when you point my own sword to me.”

The vision is all it takes for him to know exactly what he wants, and he kisses Hana’s cheek as a ‘thank you’ before starting to walk fastly out of the ballroom. It isn’t hard to find Maxwell and Anna hiding near the font, Drake tries to create the necessary courage to say what he needs and approaches them slowly as to not make her run away like last time.

“Grey… I need…”

“NO!”

Anna says a little too loud, attracting some looks and then to smooth things over she continues in almost a whisper, but a firm one:

“You don’t get to talk to me again. Don’t you get it? You broke my heart Walker, you don’t get to try mend it now, or ever.”

With that she walks away, not even asking Maxwell to follow or saying anything, simply leaves him there. All the bad scenarios in his head become true at the same time and Drake feels like he’s wasting his time being around. Especially when neither her or Liam want him near.

“I’m leaving.”

“What?”

“Drake, no.”

Says Hana, surging from the ballroom doors and understanding the situation quickly. However Drake ignores their words and starts walking away, not before hearing Hana’s last question and answering:

“Why?”

“There’s nothing left for me here.”

To be continued...

#back to you #back to you series #playchoices #choices stories we play #choices trr #drake walker #king liam #hana lee #maxwell beaumont #anna grey #drake x mc #mc x drake #angst all the way #fanfiction #choices fic #choices fanfiction

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arteacactus · 7 years ago

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47, Roceit.

(In human AU, in which Roman is friends with Logan and Virgil and used to date Logan, and Deceit is close friends with Patton, who introduced him and Roman, though they don’t know each other all that well)

Also this is long as hell im sorry,, and will be read easier on desktop to get all the formatting correct- their are pagebreaks and blockquotes that i dont think are visible on mobile and might completely mess up the story.

047: “My ex just invited me to their wedding and I need you to be my date so it doesn’t look like I’ve spent the last few years failing to get over them.”

Roman would be lying if he said his heart didn’t ache when he got the invitation to Logan and Virgil’s wedding.

He was happy for them, truly! He was glad they found each other and they’re happy enough to get married; hell, he helped Logan plan his proposal.

But there was a bit of him that, even after years, yearned for Logan to come back to him.

This part of him craved to have his nerd back in his arms. He knew it was dumb, Logan was happy with Virgil and he was, quite frankly, very unhappy with Roman, so he shouldn’t be begging for things he won’t ever get, but he just couldn’t let go.

There was a void, and he wasn’t sure how to fill it.

Now, he was hit with a new dilemma, though.

He was definitely going to the wedding. If not to see Logan in a suit, then to support them as their friend.

But he didn’t want to show up alone.

It would be weird, wouldn’t it? He had to make it look like he was over Logan. He didn’t want it to look like he’d been trying to get over his past relationship after all this time.

So, he started going through a list of friends he could ask to be a fake, temporary date.

He thought of Logan’s brother, Emile, but that was just creepy, so he crossed him out.

Perhaps Patton’s brother, Remy? Though, Remy was a little too much sass and not enough romance. He couldn’t handle that.

Patton was out of the question. They’d be suspicious that they hadn’t heard about it before then, and Patton wouldn’t like lying to their friends.

Wait..

Lying.

Patton’s new friend Dolion.

Roman himself met the man only a few months ago, and he’s hung out with him more than once. They didn’t know each other all too well, but he knew Dolion enough to know that he had absolutely no problem with lying.

And a plus- Dolion was hot as hell.

Besides, Logan and Virgil haven’t met Dolion yet.

It was perfect!

Roman slammed the invitation on the counter and pulled his phone out, texting Dolion,

Ro: Hey, can you do me a favor?

Lio the Lyin: It’s nine in the morning.

Ro: Yeah, okay, I get it, you sleep late, but this is seriously important!

Lio the Lyin: Get on with it, then.

Ro: My ex just invited me to his wedding and I need you to be my date so it doesn’t look like I’ve spent the last few years failing to get over him.

Ro: Dolion?

Ro: Hey, you there?

Ro: Doll?

Lio the Lyin: I told you to stop calling me that.

Lio the Lyin: Do I know this ex?

Ro: Indirectly?

Ro: I mean, he’s one of Patton’s friends.

Ro: Logan?

Lio the Lyin: Oh.

Lio the Lyin: Him.

A few minutes passed, and Roman’s nails tapped against his marble counter nervously. He almost screamed out of frustration until he finally got an answer, five minutes later.

Lio the Lyin: I’ll be there in an hour, I have a plan.

Roman was, admittedly, a little concerned. Not all of Dolion’s plans held malicious intent, but enough did to cause him to feel a little careful when faced with “I have a plan”.

It was exactly an hour later when Roman heard a knock at his door, stumbling over his feet as he scrambled from the couch to the door, swinging it open to stand face-to-face with Dolion.

Dolion was unusually well-dressed, with a black button-up shirt and nice jeans on.

“Get dolled up. If we’re fake dating, we’re gonna kick it off by making it look non-suspicious that we suddenly start dating right on the day of the wedding. There’s, what, a week leading up to it? We have this week to gradually make it known we’re together, to get rid of suspicion.”

Roman was a little stunned, but he sure wasn’t complaining, because somehow, the idea of fake dating was a little fun. Or perhaps that was just his gay ass being overwhelmed at the picture of Dolion dressed nicely as opposed to his usual punk-like wear.

He invited him in, and he ran up the stairs, throwing his wardrobe doors open to be faced with an utter mess of various styles.

Oh dear.

The week passed surprisingly quickly, and Roman found that Dolion was one hell of an actor.

If he didn’t know any better, he’d have thought that Dolion really was head-over-heels for him.

He treated him sweetly, respectfully, and never pushed things too far. He took him out to nice places, they did things that both of them liked, and he was an all-around great person to him.

Perhaps that’s why Roman felt the hole in his heart start to fix, and he felt like he was a whole new person around Dolion.

He was.. getting over Logan, finally. But falling for an entirely new person.

“Roman. You’re not going to a wedding like this.”

Roman let out a loud groan, pulling the blankets over his head as his bedroom was raided by three new humans.

“Don’t eeeuuuuughh me, mister!” Patton scolded, ripping the blanket off Roman and exposing him to the freezing room. “I’m only gonna be here long enough to get your suit on and dolled up, because then I’m handing you over to Doe and Rem so I can help Lo and Vee.”

Roman sighed heavily, letting Patton grab his arms and pull him into a sitting position, tossing a suit at his face.

“Put it on. Technically you shouldn’t wear white but we made an exception since this isn’t that big of a deal, as Virgil requested. Logan is wearing dark blue and Virgil is wearing purple.”

“Red and gold, too?”

“Yes, Ro, red and gold, too. You’re gonna match with Doe, who’s wearing black and gold.”

Dolion in a black and gold suit.

That shouldn’t have made his heart race and butterflies flutter in his stomach, but it did.

Roman grabbed the suit and sleepily stood, letting his eyesight adjust to the light as Patton ripped the curtains open. “And you’re wearing..?”

“I’m wearing light blue, Em’s wearing pink, and Rem’s wearing this weird sort of wine color. Kind of maroon, but too light.”

Roman nodded.

So they’re all gonna be their own unique colors.

That was.. honestly pretty cute.

Patton left the room as Roman showered and got dressed, his curly blond hair almost falling over his eyes in a fringe as he blow-dried it, and he decided to leave it like that- it looked nice.

He studied himself in the mirror, smiling.

He thought he looked nice!

Walking out of his bathroom, Roman rushed down the stairs, where Patton was getting ready to head out, breakfast made at the table- Dolion and Remy eating.

Roman’s breath was caught as he saw Dolion, who had slicked his dark, dirty blond hair back against his head, somehow making his cheekbones more defined, his black and gold suit bringing out his pale skin.

Barely visible freckles peppered across only one side of Dolion’s face, much to Roman’s amusement and awe. He was.. a cross between hot and adorable.

He loved it.

“Bye, Roman! I’ll see you in a couple hours!” Patton waved him goodbye, some sort of knowing grin on his face that Roman didn’t quite enjoy, and left Roman alone with the two men.

“Ro,” Dolion greeted, lifting his eyes to meet Roman’s flustered ones, lips curling in a smile.

“Doll,” Roman replied, pleasantly shocked by how steady his voice came out.

“Remy. Now c’mon, greetings over, let’s get to work.”

“Roman,”

The voice took him by surprise, despite the fact it was his own wedding.

Roman turned to face Logan, who was gazing at him in warm affection. Just a week ago, that look would have made Roman’s heart thud with longing, but now, he felt.. weirdly, nothing.

Roman’s face broke in a smile. “Logan!” He greeted, throwing his arms around Logan in a hug that took the other by surprise, almost knocking them over, but Logan managed to hold them steady.

“Pleased to see you could come,” Logan grunted, letting Roman go once the other was satisfied with his hug.

“Happy to be here!” Roman replied, and was surprised by how much he genuinely meant it. He expected to be heartbroken, somehow, but..

Bumping his hand against Dolion’s, Roman took it and interlocked their fingers.

“Dolion. Pleased to meet you, Logan. Roman’s told me much of you.” Dolion introduced, holding his free hand out for Logan to take.

Logan didn’t seem bothered by his presence, though a little curious as how close he and Roman were. “Likewise. I’m assuming you’re..?”

“Roman’s date.” Dolion finished his sentence, flashing a pretty smile, “I’m his boyfriend.”

He said it with such a prideful tone that Logan never held when talking about Roman, and it made his face heat up and butterflies flutter in his stomach, his smile stretching wider across his face, and Roman almost worried his face was going to split in half. He was falling hard for Dolion, damn it. He wasn’t sure if this was good or bad.

Logan hummed, looking at Dolion’s proud face and Roman’s red one and flustered expression, allowing a smile of his own to fall on his face.

“I’m glad Roman could find someone to love him like he deserves.”

And something about that made it final.

Roman.. held no feelings for Logan, anymore. No romantic feelings, anyway. And Logan felt the same.

He was.. free from his heart’s desires, as they now lied with someone else.

Someone he could have.

And somehow, that made him happier than he’d been in a while.

Now.. onto ending the fake-dating and making it real-dating.

He had a plan.

101 Fluffy Prompts (please don’t send anymore, unless they include Deceit)

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financiallymint · 7 years ago

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Top Money Apps Every College Student Needs

Apps are the cool way to finance.

First you have that stroke of ‘ok I need to get my sh*t together’ and start sorting our your money. Then you move it online and have some fun automating the entire process (yes it’s fun). The thing is, there’s more and more of these apps out there, and they all seem to do the same thing.

I tested quite a few of the apps and have a few favourites that I think are especially helpful for students. All recommendations are my own – not a single affiliate on here.

Coinkeeper

My money diary. As the name suggests, it’s basically an app that tracks your spending and income and helps you follow your budget. It’s got a simple but nice design using coins and different colours to show you where you’re at with your budget (yes, red = bad). Every time you spend money, you pop onto the app and drag your ‘Bank’ coin to the ‘Grocery’ coin, for example. There’s also a nice desktop version.

Pros:

Control – only you put in the expenses and you decide how much

Very simple and easy to understand

Budgets are part of your expenses so it’s easy to see how you’re doing (see how the little coins fill up?)

Cons:

Easy to forget to put in an expense

Hard to record refunds

What I’d use it for: As I said before: my money diary. It’s great for those just starting out with budgeting as it helps you manipulate the expense system to the grain, and it forces you to be conscious about your money. It’s also great for those who are excessively controlling (#me) and need to know where every single expense goes and when.

OnTrees

Another cool budget and spending app. This one, unlike Coinkeeper, connects with your bank and uses the transactions on your bank account to calculate expenses and income. Might take some time to understand how it works, but once you do it’s simple to use. Also has a desktop version.

Pros:

No need to manually enter any amounts

Pretty nice graphs and designs to see how you’re doing

Cons:

All expenses are bank transactions, so you can’t add an expense you made with cash

Budgets are separate to your expenses

It automatically puts your expenses into categories so you have to keep readjusting them into the right ones.

Your expenses are your bank transactions (not great for people like me who has several bank accounts with several debit cards)

What I’d use it for: Once you grasp the basics of tracking expenses, OnTrees is good to get an overall view of your account transactions. Also it makes it easy to see if you’ve got unexpected expenses or a £100 seems to have disappeared from your account.

Money Dashboard

Basically a more flexible version of your bank account. It all syncs together and you get to see all your transactions on one app. The big plus for me is that you can see each separate bank account and compare the transactions between them. You just have to set up each tag so that the app knows which expense is what (the times I had to tell it that Matched Betting was notentertainment…)

Pros:

Several bank accounts on display

Handy planner and calendar to plan for bills, etc

Budgets work as a percentage – I like that

Cons:

Have to manually tag everything the first time you use it

No reports

Takes time for everything to sync (could also be because of my bank account)

What I’d use it for: MD is the budget app for everyone. It’s easy to use and makes expenses easy to track. Once you know your way around a budget, MD will help you keep track of it and you won’t need to use anything else. Also has an easy to use desktop version.

MoneyWiz:

A pretty advanced budgeting software and app. Takes time to set up but really helps you get into the nitty gritty of your finances. Also connects with your bank but you still have the flexibility to manually add transactions and even refunds. The interface is pretty user friendly and easy to understand – especially on Macbooks (I tried it on the university’s one).

Pros:

If you get the Apple version it all syncs beautifully between devices.

Can create some pretty cool reports – trends, net worth, forecasts, etc

Easy to see the budgets and will tell you the bills coming up

Cons:

It can get a bit overwhelming, especially when starting up.

Gotta pay – £2 (there is a 7 day trial)

What I’d use it for: Only used this one a couple of times, and more as a software than an app. Good to have a very in depth overview of your finances thanks to the very detailed reports. For the very personal finance pro who wants everything to sync together and have an overall picture of the money.

Chip

Nice app that helps you save. You connect it to a specific bank card and it’ll just randomly take out some money and save it onto the Chip account. Funny design: settings are basically talking to a bot. Not sure if I like that yet but it’s interesting.

Pros:

Helps you reach your savings goals faster

Easy to understand

Easy to cancel the transfer if you don’t want to save

Can set goals in the app

Cons:

Lack of clear interface: just have a chat and that’s it

Can’t attach several bank cards

What I’d use it for: To save up for a small goal. You don’t even notice the money leaving your bank account so it’s great to have that little extra for your goal. Personally I’ll use it for little luxuries or a short trip somewhere – the big goals need to be calculated carefully.

Revolut

Great app for those who travel a lot round Europe/change currencies often. You connect your bank account, top up your Revolut account and can easily switch from one currency to another without getting charged any foreign exchange fees. The cool part: you can very easily send and receive money from others, and they don’t have to have a Revolut account! (tried and tested myself) And if you want to take it to the next step, order the card and use it in a shop – really great for traveling.

Pros:

Very easy to exchange currencies and no fees

Very detailed: can see the exchange rate, your several currencies, etc.

Great to send and receive money

Cons:

Need to keep topping it up

Ordering the card costs £5

Free cash withdrawals are limited at £200 a month – after that you’re charged.

What I’d use it for: Weekend and short trips to another country. The quick and easy way to exchange currencies means you don’t have to plan too much ahead. Having the card helps, although you can’t withdraw as much as you like – there’s a better one below.

Debts Break (Apple)/Debt Payoff Planner (Android)

App to track all your debts (the Apple and Android version are pretty similar). You insert the different debts you have with their interest rates, amount left and date started. It also has a payoff plan (highest interest debt first, lowest remaining balance first, etc) and the coolest part: a calculator. You can even create reports and compare how you’re doing with each debt. Pretty sweet.

Pros:

Easy to understand and nice design

Has all you need to organise debts

Gives you a clear picture of your debts and how you’re doing, especially with reports

Cons:

Doesn’t connect with a bank account or debt provider

Can’t add recurring payments that don’t have starting or ending balances, e.g. phone bill

More payment options: bi-weekly, bi-monthly, etc.

Ads are annoying af

What I’d use it for: As the name suggests, this app is great to put all your debt and loans on one app and sort out the payment plan. Great to get started and understand how your debt will be doing in the future.

Starling Bank

Truly in love with this app/bank. It’s basically your normal bank, but only on mobile. You sign up, get verified and they send you a debit card. Every time you spend money you get a notification and you can very easily see how much you’ve spent and where it’s all gone. Oh, and did I mention no commissions when traveling abroad?

Pros:

No added expenses when taking out of an overseas ATM

Very easy to keep track of where your money went – no more ‘where did those £50 disappear to?’

Easy to get an account – no papers and weird hassle, just a video and photos of your documents.

Can directly set Saving goals into the app

If you lose the card you can block it very quickly from the app

Sleek design – I like it

Cons:

If you lose your phone you’re pretty much screwed.

No desktop version

What I’d use it for: I use this bank app all the time, mostly for travels. The ‘no commission’ rate and good exchange rate make it flawless when changing countries. You could also use it for your daily expenses so you can quickly see what you’re spending your money on. Or even for your Matched Betting side hustle.

Excel spreadsheets

Yes, it’s not an app but I honestly believe everyone, student or not, should have their very own excel spreadsheet to update every week/month/year. The apps are great for the small stuff, Excel is great for the big stuff. You want to have your goals set, your budget set and a way to track every month. Here’s mine:

Pros:

Highly customisable

Good to get an overall simple annual/monthly report

Easy to experiment with

For setting goals and comparing to past months and years

Can save a huge amount of data

Cons:

A little old school – manually input everything

No automatically generated reports

What I’d use it for: I use Excel spreadsheets for end of the month and end of the year reviews. Since I have so many bank accounts and different cards, it’s a good way to put everything together on one page. Great for forecasting and planning: ‘how long until I pay off all my debt?’ ‘how long until I can buy that laptop?’, etc.

And I recommend creating your own spreadsheet instead of downloading other people’s templates. Or downloading them just to see how other people do it and getting a bit of an idea of which system works best for you. Make the spreadsheet your financial buddy, the one that knows your darkest and deepest secrets but that also helps you accomplish your biggest ambitions and goals. No one else has to understand it, just you.

The Economist Espresso:

Of all the finance news apps out there, The Economist is my favourite. Short and to the point – if I want to find out something more I’ll do a bit of extra research.

Pros:

Easy to keep up to date with the daily news

Very short articles – easy to read and understand

Notifications if it’s something important

Cons:

Gotta pay £2.29 a month (there’s a 30 day free trial)

Not very in-depth

You don’t need to download every app on this page, but it’s worth checking out a few of them. Automating your finances makes the process way less time-consuming and monotonous – once might say it even makes it fun (the satisfaction of seeing the coin stay green). Imagine if one day Financially Mint had it’s own app…

Which app are you thinking of getting? Comment below your thoughts…

Oh and if you have no idea where to even get started with your money and budgets scare you, how about checking out this sweet and simple 6 day course to help you get on track?!

Read more like this over at Financially Mint

#mobileapp #financeapp #moneyapp #financialeducation #financiallymint #moneyhacks #savings #budget #studentonabudget #universityhacks

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courage-a-word-of-justice · 8 years ago

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The idea from now on: Once all 2016 shows are done (rewatches or not), expect the 2016 ranking.

Blue Exorcist: Kyoto Saga 5

You could see Shura’s pink phone in her back pocket. Hopefully, she doesn’t bum dial anyone…

One of the problems of this (part of the) show is its heavy reliance on flashbacks, since the original series was in 2011 (or 12?).

That’s what happens when you have an impulsive guy like Rin, I guess. Custody. (Partially joking.) Sometimes a pep talk is all you need to get back up though.

I can make out some of the hiragana and (maybe?) a minami (south), but otherwise I’m pretty lost on that cursive script too.

With a proper look at the right side of the letter, I can indeed make out “Okumura Rin”.

I just realised – Torako (tiger child) and Tatsuma (judging by the “tatsu”, it likely has something to do with dragons). It’s tiger vs dragon!

How is this letter even relevant to the current day, aside from the tale of Ryuji?

You subbers make me sic! (LOL.) The word is “disastrous” – remember that.

Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu: Sukeroku Futatabi-hen 5

Whoa. Sukeroku’s eyes were red!

I thought it was Yakumo’s ashtray Yota was talking about. Turns out it’s his bento.

Ah, the magic of technology. Yota knows it.

The Amakentei from season 1, episode 1. It’s still here after all these years.

There’s a creepy picture of a man in the back. Probably a photo.

Noxy stereo, LOL.

Note for later: Kajikazawa was the name of the story Yakumo did when he got enraged by Yota.

I thought Yakumo would be furious about the carp. Turns out he’s not. The Yakumo name bit made me laugh because that’s such a Yota thing to do.

“Atashi”? Did I hear Yota say “atashi”?

Hangon-ko is so spellbinding…

Hikobayuru is beautiful as always.

I-I’m crying right now. The preview basically is implying Yakumo’s…dead.

Nanbaka 18

Was that hit really that hard?

I think they skipped a line of the subs?

Oh, “the tall guy” is Qi.

What’s the name of this black/blue haired guy in the first place?

…but the staff was broken before…?

Ruka is apparently a kappa according to earlier comments, so him in the water makes sense somewhat.

Wow. Futamata-sensei really likes Chinese stuff.

Strangely, Uno has a point.

The Gojyousan underground cell. Of course it had to be called after Ruka. Plus the goroawase would definitely mean it has 5 levels.

How did Uno identify Trois and Honey by one middle finger? The nail polish and style of the nails, I guess.

*cue dramatic music* It’s a cliffhanger! (Dangit.)

ACCA 4

Walnut…cookies? Can’t tell what that “walnut” really is since it only appears for a second.

Seriously, who is Nino calling?

I think a captain’s hat like the one that guy was wearing makes people look silly.

There’s a lot of English in this theme song. Except for the autotune, the song suits this show perfectly.

I only just realised Jean has some buttons shaped like the letter H.

Man, having the freedom to decide your own schedule is nice.

Pentagonal table, eh? Not even “Knights of the Round Cross” exist here?

Jazz sounds and xylophones really suit this show.

Satsuei? I forgot what that means. Update: It means “to take a picture of someone”, although it appears to be a noun.

There’s even ACCA desktop wallpapers. I want one.

Interesting to note Beurre uses the word kuni (country) for Suitsu, which was subbed as “place” (“It’s a wonderful place!”). This just shows exactly how much autonomy there is for ACCA’s districts.

I don’t think I questioned it yet, but why is this guy called Biscuit? By the audio, it sounds like he’s called “Bisuke” and not “Bisuketto”.

Keitai denwa = mobile phone.

It’s like the French Revolution. Not that I’ve studied anything on that revolution, but eh. Coldplay’s Liberty Leading the People and all that.

Gag rule. I didn’t know what it meant specifically, but it kind of explained itself.

Jean has such a baby face and gangly neck that it’s easy to think he’s an example of what TV Tropes call “Noodle People”.

Classicaloid 17

I think the word Motz uses is oishii, but I’ve never seen it translated as “delish!” before.

It’s grilled mikan, technically. Didn’t I say that last time?

I got no Google hits on “yaki mikan” or “grilled mikan” that were relevant.

Welp, this seems to be set in Japanese winter. Or else you wouldn’t be seeing mikan (or colds) at all.

Did Cho-chan just do an extensive burn on Sousuke? That’s gotta hurt!

The hallways in blue light at that angle…it’s kinda creepy, due to what the staff put in the next ep preview…I’m actually so scared, I have a lump in my throat…

How did you communicate with Hasshie, Cho-chan? *laughs anyway*

The fact the subs go (verb verber verbing verb!) is hilarious.

It’s a flippin’ zombie apocalypse! I tried to do one of those (not as crazy as this) in one of my stories and needless to say, I utterly failed! *weeps* *stops weeping* Well, back to work.

What would Cho-chan say if he got infected?

Aloe vera? (Why and how did I know that pot contained aloe vera?)

What? Okay, that’s (Schu and Beethes having citrus heads) just plain weird.

O-Okay. So they basically made “Thriller” to the tune of a march…?! *bursts out laughing* That’s the most ridiculous they’ve gotten so far. I don’t love it because it made me sick to the stomach, but honestly, that’s the most original idea I’ve seen in ages!

The prospect of a pineapple zombie invasion though…urgh. I do not want.

I see no Google hints whatsoever about mikan being grown in Turkey.

Wasn’t it Einstein who said “success is 1% talent and 99% perspiration” or something like that?

(Morose Mononokean ep 1)

Why did I pick this show, you ask? It’s pretty obvious, right? It’s appealing to the eyes.

There’s something extremely iyashikei about this show, even if it’s also a supernatural show.

Why is no one wearing yellow except Ashiya?

…and the ol’ “problem with buttshots” comes right back from Bungou Stray Dogs. What is it with people and butts?

“I can’t stand it!” – Considering you’re not able to stand, it’s pretty obvious, Ashiya.

Why a giant fuzzball acts like a dog? Beats me.

My allegiance for the lil’ fuzzball started from episode 1, as you can probably tell. One episode is all I need sometimes.

“…to collect your debt.”

Hanae is a feminine name, normally.

His face when he saw that it was Abeno was…hilarious!

Is that youkai a (subtle) 4th wall breaker?

The ED is so pretty. It evolves too, which must be a pain in the butt for the animators but it’s pleasing to the eyes.

(ep 2)

“I can totally see them now.” – Okay, not many boys speak like that. Girls, maybe, but boys? No. (That is, if we’re talking about the phase where suddenly speech is littered with at least 20% more “like”s than usual.)

Of course, nobody questions the spraying of spontaneous flowers in the OP.

ESP doesn’t do that.

Being possessed by mutant pine cones really does take its toll on Ashiya.

Cyclops pine cones? Probably creepy if they’re all staring at once.

Turtle emblem, even though the maker is a newt.

Mutant pine cones never looked so adorable, especially when picked up by the “scruff of the neck”. Abeno basically tossed the little guy he held.

Doesn’t make much difference regardless of if you call the parasite shrub “incurable disease” or “curse”.

Notice how formal both Abeno and the big Scree are.

It’s not quite explained how the Screes learnt the guys’ names.

#simulcast commentary #blue exorcist: kyoto impure king arc #nanbaka #classicaloid #ACCA #showa genroku rakugo shinjuu #Chesarka watches Nanbaka #Chesarka watches AoEx #Chesarka watches Classicaloid #Chesarka watches ACCA #Chesarka watches SGRS #blue exorcist: kyoto saga #nanbaka the numbers #nanbaka - the numbers #acca 13-ku kansatsu-ka #Chesarka watches Fukigen na Mononokean #the morose mononokean #fukigen na mononokean

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glennato · 4 years ago

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Taking a look at none other than Windows 7 today.

What did you baby? What'S up? Everybody man we're going to be taking a look at none other than Windows 7 today. No, this is just a continuation in the process you already know like I had it initiated. I'Ve already done a Windows XP and Windows, Vista and 2019. If you want to go check those out, I recommend that and then coming to this one, so you can kind of see the progression. I kind of honestly wish. I started with like Windows 95 or something but whatever, but I am running this through the virtual machine, so I'm going to have to like record this audio like I'm, not recording, I'm not like filming this like the whole time, but I just wanted to say: what's Up to you guys, man, I love you, so I'm gon na record this and then paste it over. I'M gon na crop out everything else.

So it's going to look a lot better by my or I might just keep it like that and add bars on the side. Maybe I'll put some funny picture, I don't know, but nonetheless, let's go ahead and take a look at Windows 7 and see how it holds up in 2019. Ever personally, so far from what I'm investing with it, I freaking love it. I love I've, always loved Windows. 7, it's one of my favorite operating systems ever so. Let me go and explain to you why I love it so much! Alright, everyone and we're back and now I'm not going to talk about the performance of Windows 7, because this is our virtual machine. As you can see, it is a little like II like it's, not really the end of the world, but it's just a little bit. You can see so I'm not gon na judge on it. You know I'm not gon na be like racist or anything against it, but we are going to go ahead and look at some of the key differences and basically some of the upgrades and what I'll definitely tell you is.

I haven't used Windows 7 in a minute and looking at it from the Windows, XP standpoint and Windows, Vista standpoint and seeing the progression. I can definitely tell you this is such an improvement like it's such a timeless update. Looking at the bottom bar looking at the sides like yes, the newer computers and stuff have better operating systems and they look better and they may be more updated, but really there's not that much of a difference. When you were talking about that just the way they look, you sell the icons on the front. You still have all these this, the bottom bar. You have all these different things and, of course, they try to differentiate it with the Windows 8 and even with Windows. 10, but I still don't think anything comes close to Windows 7, in my opinion, now, obviously we have whatever we downloaded on the side.

We have a wallpaper which we can actually change and all these different things - and I just saw this - there's a gadgets button. I'Ve never seen this before. Let'S see what type of guy just okay, so just like Windows Vista we are able to put in, I guess we can still do this picture puzzle thing. What happens if we double click also goes in the corner. I honestly don't know why they did that. I mean it's cool, I mean I guess it adds a little bit more flavor to of it, but I still think it's kind of a random thing. Can you move these around? No, so apparently oh, you are able to move them around. So that's a pretty big thing. I don't even know that so going into the applications you can see, we have a lot of stuff built in still. You can see my note of my name. I should what happens if you click it okay, so it gives us just our all all of our documents and everything: okay, pretty cool, let's go ahead and get back into it.

Let'S see if there's any cool, little app set up builds, and so we have documents. Pictures all the standard stuff for the most part, and we have all these different options here as well. If we click all programs, you can see. Oh, let's actually go into games and you can see that we don't have pinball anymore, which kind of sucks. I don't even know why that happened. Didn'T seem like that big of a game. Okay, let's go ahead and go into minesweeper think I can't even play it. Oh wait! No! I'M! Okay and this my screen isn't much of a diversion. I don't know what the one I'm used to do. I might actually win. My city knows yo. I might get oh, my god that is unbelievable, actually might win my silver for the first time I'll have something to I was literally. I was not gon na come on.

Oh my god! Well guys you win some, you lose some all right. Let'S continue on with this other accessories. You have a ton of different things. You have command prompt, which I didn't see I before what is XP. You have no pad paint, I mean I'm sure it had it in it. Remote desktop connection, that's really cool, that's something even like it's still still relevant. Today you had the snipping tool, which is, I guess, Microsoft's built in the switch. I think I really understand. I don't know why they don't whatever does matter. If we going to paint real quick, let me go and just try to paint what you look like. I'Ve done this before and I've been pretty accurate. So, ultimately, I think this is something what you look like. I mean I'm not trying to be like a fence or anything, but I mean I'll. Definitely it's better than what I'll click so honestly.

For some reason, you kind of look like an alien, and I guess when we all rate area 51, which I'm totally joking we're not and when we get our own aliens, I'm pretty sure this is what it's going to look like. I'M not trying to say you look like an alien, but you know so I think this is something which you look like you mean you got probably a little hair on your face or something, but you know so good I mean I'm not I'm in I mean If you look anything like this drawing, I mean look like a pretty good-looking human and then continuing on. I kind of want to keep this in the background for a good look: let's go ahead and click all programs again now I've kind of already beat this thing to like the death. There'S really not too much else going on here, but you can see. I mean in terms of just the way this looks. It looks just like what we have today permission object,

I mean obviously with Windows 10. You have like the whole like awesome, like touch screen navigation thing that looks like the Xbox Live whatever like when you turn on your Xbox Live. It looks like that. I'M not a huge fan of that. I think this looks a little bit more premium and makes it feel a little bit more professional. I'Ve always liked the way this looks now. We have all these different functions here. You know obviously the standard stuff. One thing that I saw - and I saw this in like Windows - Vista too, but I don't know why I didn't do it. For the last video I forgot to upscale the resolution, so we were looking at it 800 by 600, which was really really low enough like right now I have it to 1280, so you can see a lot more and it looks a lot more premium. In my opinion, so hopping out of it, let's go ahead and go into an app such as actually let's go to Internet Explorer.

Now, as you can see, this is what people were working with back in the day and like I've said, and what I can tell you. It literally has not like changed that much in terms of Internet Explorer, but with Microsoft edge. That is a pretty big improvement and that's a humongous thing that I saw that you know going from Windows 7 to like Windows, 10, for example. You had that advantage with Microsoft edge and you actually might be able to install it on here. I honestly don't know, but that's a pretty big thing now, once I did open Internet Explorer, I tend automatically try to like load up Google just to see how fast it was, and I saw that it really wasn't that slow, as you guys saw like a lot Of people hate on Internet Explorer, even I remember when I was on a Windows - 7 people who are hating on it, but it's not really the case if you go and type in the worst person in the world that time I did take an extra second or Two, but you can see like it loads up everything, fine.

It does kind of have that old layout, though, which it's kind of weird. I wasn't expecting that if we go into YouTube, I wonder if it's going to show like the mobile version or the updated. No, it shows like the really good full version of it. I'M actually really happy about that. So people who were still on Windows XP can store. Windows. 7 can still watch my horrible videos. So if we try to bust open a video, let's go and watch this one and for some reason the video is not loading in neither is like the thumbnail or anything, and neither of the comments - that's really weird. That'S going up back into it. Maybe Internet Explorer does not support like videos anymore on YouTube. I'M just joking, I mean I'm sure, there's some people who are on Windows 7, watching my videos right now. That'S very weird now hopping into Google Chrome.

This is where probably most of the functionality is going to come with. So let's go ahead and do the same exact thing: let's type in the same exact person who probably shouldn't even be making videos anymore and let's go hop into the internet browser. Let'S go ahead and go to YouTube and let's see if videos play on here which they shut and as you can see, videos do seem to be working on Google Chrome, but it seems like my thing as frozen. No, we don't we're good now, as you can see the videos play on Google Chrome, which, like I said, if you have Windows 7, I would highly recommend downloading. Google, Chrome and everything works. I think with Windows XP, I was not able to get videos working. I was able to install Windows XP though I think I honestly don't remember. I know what the Windows Vista I was able to do that, but with Windows XP.

For some reason I was not able to have Wi-Fi drivers installed, but with this one you're able to see that I'm just connected to it through the Ethernet, but I'm not connected to the either now I'm connected to Wi-Fi, which is very interesting, was not expecting that Now, as you can see, this is the one I did about Windows XP three months ago. May you guys I even send this video is going to do if I totally forgot now. I am kind of curious whether this computer does have a Windows Movie Maker or not, and I think I saw it, but I honestly don't remember if you guys want a little history lesson. Windows Movie Maker was the first video editing software I ever used. So for the first couple, videos that you see on this channel - and that is the only thing I ever used up until probably for like dude I'm joking year - maybe a little bit less bit of something like that, and I had a computer that at the time Was running Windows 7, I eventually updated to Windows 8 and I hated hit.

I totally bogged down my computer so much, but I cannot find a Windows Movie Maker that is so weird and honestly, I probably just skipped over them and as you can see, we don't have it. We can easily get it install those! That'S not that big of a deal now, interestingly enough, one of the biggest upgrades to Windows 7 was actually within the calculator now before I guess was like just assuming a standard calculator, but now they did have an enhanced calculator, so you can go and do a Lot more functions: if you wanted a scientific calculator option, you had that ability - and I love the calculator application on this, but that's very interesting now. If that really truly is the case, and that I think that's really really cool, I never really understood what these calculators stood for the programmer ones. Maybe if I became a little bit more smarter,

I would understand, but we have a lot more functionality within this calculator and that's something a lot of people use all the time and apparently within Windows 7, there was actually a lot more power sufficiency. So your computer wasn't necessarily using like a ton of power at the time versus something like Windows, Vista or probably even Windows. Xp now because Windows Vista was such a strange operating system and have one seemed to dislike it windows. You really had to prove themselves here and by them allowing all these little like small little upgrades here and there, but also some big ones like that power efficiency thing that could be a humongous reason for people to have picked Windows 7. At the time, then, like Mac, OS or whatever other options are where now Windows 7, even though it came out in 2009, it didn't fully stop getting updates. Until recently,

I would say it like a year or two from now, or even just like. We even more recently than that, so this software was getting updates for many many many years and rightfully so. This thing is a solid piece of software, an interesting statistic actually that, as of July 20, 1931, almost 32 percent of computers running Windows are running Windows 7, and this still has a 50 percent market share in a number of countries such as China. At fifty one point two one percent: now I mean that's straight from Wikipedia so take that as you well but dude. That means almost a third of computers that are out there. Lehrer running Windows are running Windows 7. That is an insane thing. I mean this. Software is, you know a little bit of how data that would say it came out in 2008. You know, Windows, 8 Windows, 10 have more will be way, more features and everything, but there's a reason.

People are sticking to Windows 7 and there's a reason. They say this is the best version of Windows and the reason they say that is because of its professionalism. In my opinion, and also it's minimalism, there's not too much going on like I'm trying to find things to talk about, but maybe that's the thing that you know is beautiful about Windows 7. Is that it gets a job done for you. It has. You know the features of getting you to point A to point C. You can do everything with it. Obviously, as you go, you can install apps through Google, Chrome or whatever it can install any Windows file Exe file whatever, and you have that option with this piece of software. But then, when you go and upgrade - and you think about upgrading you're, like oh, my god, like Windows, 8 - is so much better this and that it's like you want something, that's overall better, and I understand that. But some people just want something that works is less buggy, they don't care about upgrades or anything.

They don't want a humongous change to their overall workflow from Windows, XP to Windows, Vista. Apparently that was a pretty large difference. You know people were kind of scared of that and with Windows 8, I'm sure people were the same way, a venture with Windows. 10 I mean like Windows, 10, isn't bad. I think I hate on his too much like I don't hate Windows 10 at all, but I think Windows 7 was just beautiful mixture of professionalism, minimalism and productivity and going on further. Apparently this was the first software that allowed you to fully put folders into the taskbar, which is kind of interesting. I thought you were able to do that before. As you can see, you pinned that okay, new folder or whatever, so that folder is now pinned. So whenever you open it it'll go ahead and go into new folder, and that might seem like a basic feature.

But apparently that was added in Windows 7 and I think ultimately, Windows 7 was the safest option. Microsoft had at the time Windows. Xp was amazing Windows. Vista was a very strange update, but eventually with Windows 7. I think they knocked it out of the park. I think they did such an amazing job. I don't think they necessarily focused on you know, putting crazy features in it or anything like that like to did on Windows Vista. I think Windows 7 was more so just cleaning things out and making things a lot more stable. That way, people pretty much could stop. Hating on Microsoft and Windows and people would just stop switching over or even just out complaining about it. Ultimately, so I think that's pretty much where I'm going to leave it at.

I wish there was more to talk about with Windows 7, but it's just such an amazing piece of software and such a safe option for people to still even use nowadays that it's not like feature packed to the brim. It'S just a very safe option and everything else. I'Ve pretty much already talked about with the XP and Vista video. So I think Windows 7 is awesome. If you guys want me to look at Windows 8 and 2019, I can go ahead and do that as well. If this video gets - probably I don't like 10 likes I'll, do it I'm gon na. Do it anyway, sorry that I took so long to do this one. I was supposed to do this like forever ago, but I just forgot about it honestly. Well, let me know what you guys think about Windows 7.

Do you think Windows 7 was the best operating system windows ever put out. I mean some people are going to say Windows, XP or whatever, but the fact that a lot of people are still using Windows. 7 just goes to show how amazing of a software this is. So if you have any experiences with Windows 7, if you love it, if you hate it, let me know in the comments section below I'd love, to hear what you guys have to say, but that is pretty much it and if you guys enjoyed the video like, I said hit that like button but more importantly, hit that subscribe button, every single subscriber that we get really does counseling me so much. You guys get hit that also check out the other links down in the description as well. My Twitter, my Instagram, my second channel. All those things are linked down below. I would really appreciate if you guys, could check it out, but, more importantly than everything else, I love every single one of you guys hopeful catch you guys in the next video peace are pullin [, Music, ], [, Music, ]

#windows permission #error #windows

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ddrkirbyisq · 6 years ago

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Let's see here...the first major thing I have to write about is foobar2000!!!

I'm perhaps ages late to the party (?), but I've finally taken the plunge and switched from using iTunes to foobar2000! This was not a decision I took lightly, but I decided to pull the trigger after working with foobar2k and considering the pros and cons, and I've been pretty satisfied so far!

Foobar2000 is a free windows-based audio player that is known for many for its customizability, advanced features, modular design, and basically being the dream of anyone who is not scared of complexity and wants to really have their music player function the way THEY want. It's also available for OSX as of ~1.5 years ago, though I have not tested that build yet.

Perhaps more importantly, foobar2000 now (as of ~a year ago I think) has a mobile client, available for all of iOS/Android/WindowsPhone. This is key as one of the primary things tying me to iTunes has always been the fact that my ecosystem includes a lovely iPhone SE running iOS and of course I'd really like to have my music readily available on that.

Right, so let's first talk about the things I'm losing during the move to fb2k:

First off, syncing music to iOS is a bit more involved. Unfortunately, foobar2000 has no way of directly interfacing with the iOS media library, so instead you write music to the foobar2000 app's sandbox and only fb2k can access it. There is no "automatic" way to do this, but fortunately the iOS fb2k app includes an FTP server that you can use to transfer files via FTP. This is as far as I can tell the best way to transfer music to fb2k mobile as you can't access the foobar2000 app sandbox directly (without jailbreaking your phone).

Of course there's no built-in "sync management" like there is with iTunes, so instead I first use foobar_onewaysync to copy out the relevant playlists (and their associated music files) to a temporary directory, then use WinSCP to mirror that on the iPhone over FTP. So like I said, this is "a bit more involved", but now that I have that flow set up it's as simple as running those two commands and waiting for them to complete.

Like with all things in foobar2000, I have so much more =confidence= in what is happening here with the sync. There would be all kinds of uncommon weird annoyances back when iTunes was in the picture -- you'd find it transferring old files again and again (why?), you'd find that certain songs were missing and showed up on the device but weren't actually playable (why?), you'd find that every time you did a sync one of your playlists mysteriously duplicated itself (why?). I think a recurring theme so far with foobar2000 is that you have to spend some effort setting up your workflow for doing certain things, but once you do, it Just Works.

The REAL main thing I'm losing during the move to fb2k is actually a significant one: it's bluetooth media browsing via the AVRCP protocol. In other words, browsing music via my car's on-board display (or through the controls on the steering wheel). I can still trigger playback and track skips via bluetooth, but any attempts to browse the tracks/playlists/etc from my car's bluetooth interface will result in it looking at the native iOS music library, which is now empty (as all of the music is in foobar2000). This is actually a pretty major loss as it means that I can't really fire up a music playlist in my car unless I'm parked or stopped for a good minute, as I have to actually do that browsing on my phone itself.

As far as I can tell there's no real way around this. foobar2000 used to have an iPod management module but that is looooooooong defunct and iOS tends to be very closed off in terms of these sorts of things anyways. The only way I could really get this functionality back would be to bring iTunes back into the picture, and then use iOS music as my mobile app while still using foobar2000 as my desktop/laptop music player. We'll see if it comes to that, but I don't think it will. foobar2000 mobile is a better media player anyhow, and I don't see an efficient way to sync from foobar2000->through itunes->to the iOS device for anything more than maybe a single playlist.

That being said, what I'm =gaining= in the transition to foobar2000 feels well worth the loss so far:

- A =working= ReplayGain implementation! I now use replaygain to play music at adjusted volumes for normalized listening. iTunes has a proprietary "Sound Check" feature that is supposed to do this but completely fails on VBR-encoded files. This is super useful for social dance DJing in particular as having normalized (normalized as in equal perceived loudness, not as in peaking at 0dB) volumes is pretty important.

- I've customized my UI to include a clickable waveform display that shows the current song progress and can be clicked to seek to any point in the song. Super useful for visually seeking to a given point in the song!

- The ability to work with ID3 tags and file metadata in a very fully-featured and rich way. Want to convert all ID3 tags to ID3v2.3? Want to batch-append a genre or grouping tag to 500 songs? fb2k can do it all!

- The ability to ensure that your media library's files are organized correctly and robustly. iTunes of course attempted to do this automatically, but it wasn't customizable at all and there were a lot of times when it would come up with filenames and/or paths that seemed a little....off. fb2k gives you the option to organize your paths however you want and will give you a preview of what files need to be moved where before actually reorganizing everything.

Anyhow, that's sort of been an ongoing pet project of mine, but I'm basically done with the switch now and have been enjoying not only the new functionality but most of all the peace of mind and robustness that fb2k offers.

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Alongside that big customization project, I also spent quite a while looking at mechanical keyboards and finally decided to get myself a pink Filco Majestouch 2!!! I first started thinking about buying a new keyboard when I saw the Razer Huntsman Quartz Pink edition, but after some research I figured that I'd probably be much happier with a less "consumer-y" brand and decided on the Majestouch 2.

Just look at that beauty! It's possible I might replace the keycap color scheme with something a little more exciting in the future, but I'm happy to just try going with the all-pink for now. I decided on Cherry MX 'brown' switches, as I'm not a huge fan of the infamous clickety-clackity noises of the blues, and I'd still like some tactile feedback (so not going with the reds). I also decided to go with a "TenKeyLess" size -- you'll notice that it has the arrow keys and home/end/printscreen/scrolllock/etc but no numpad. Having full arrow keys around I think is still very useful and necessary but I think I can actually live without a numpad as there are only really a few cases where I really use it and I think the prospect of having that additional desk space freed up (and having the mouse be closer to the keys) is pretty exciting. (if I REALLY miss the numpad I could always buy a standalone numpad, but I get the feeling I really won't miss it that much)

Anyways, that should theoretically arrive in a couple days -- super exciting!!!

I've also already gone ahead and got a Quartz Pink Razer Basilisk to go along with it:

Unfortunately for getting an aesthetically-pleasing pink mouse there are wayyy fewer options than keyboards, so it was pretty much between this and the pink Razer Lancehead (which has a symmetrical design), or perhaps a pink Zowie mouse, but that seemed to both look worse and have a worse scroll wheel/etc. (despite being lighter/etc). Razer's Synapse software is.....a bit shady to say the least, but unfortunately that is an evil I ended up having to swallow for now.

On the plus side, the mouse itself is working great. I was previously running a Logitech MX Revolution and this mouse feels more sensitive/smoothly responsive, and the control mapping is actually a step up as well. There's an optional thumb trigger (they give you two different sizes!) that you can use as a modifier to give yourself a whole other set of mappings, so for example thumbswitch + mouse wheel up increases my volume, thumbswitch + mouse middle click triggers a pause/play in whatever media player is open, etc. The media controls also work better than that of Logitech's -- no annoying onscreen display and it is also pretty intelligent about looking for media players to send the command to. I miss having the scroll wheel free-spin function, but I'm fine living without it to be honest.

No bluetooth version so I'm back to having a cord, but I don't actually find myself minding that too much either. Plus, it's got two multicolored lights (one in the scroll wheel and one on the logo display) and I have them set up to react to whatever audio is playing from my computer, which is pretty spiffy as well. If I wanted I could have gotten a keyboard that also has fancy backlighting (basically the corresponding Razer model) but I really didn't consider that a priority, so just the mouse lights will have to do.

Oh, related to mice: I downloaded Smooze for OSX and am happily using it for one thing and one thing only: disabling scroll wheel acceleration! I'm not super against scroll wheel acceleration in theory, but in practice the way OSX handles scroll wheel acceleration for mouse has just never seemed to be sensible for any mouse I've used (maybe it's different for an actual apple mouse). Now that I've completely disabled it, I can go back to sensible scrolling, yay!!!

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In other news, our game Goodnight Meowmie has gotten quite a lot of attention since I posted it on itch.io, which is really great to see, especially because I feel like this is the most significant game I've ever worked on. It's gotten about 2.5k views on itch since I threw it up there, which is pretty amazing. It's also been really cool watching people's video playthroughs of it on youtube, seeing their reactions and interpretations of the game. It really makes me feel like we did something worthwhile, that we were able to reach out to people and have them listen to our story, and perhaps take it to heart.

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In other other news, I'll be DJing at Friday Night Waltz this Friday! Be sure to come out if you're in the area, it's gonna be great!

Life has actually been going pretty fantastically lately -- this weekend was a lot of fun, between FNW, spending time with good friends, and just being in a good place. I feel as if I'm not losing my attachment with the past because of it either. Things are really good right now.

#Blogger

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manojvarmaposts-blog · 6 years ago

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A Review Of Apple iPad Air : The Best iPad You Can Purchase Right Now

It may not be without its shortcomings, but in the middle brother of the iPad family, it seems that Apple has enough products to "just right"

You have reason to believe that the iPad series has evolved to the point where you need to pack and find a bigger house. Look at the lineup.

There are new Mini, iPad, new iPad Air and two iPad Pro. For a product category, these five different models did not completely eclipse the world - despite this, Apple increased sales of the iPad last year.

This means that someone who is kneeling in their local Apple Store (or online browsing) can now spend £319 up to £1,869 on the iPad, depending on its stripes, which is almost crazy in itself.

Despite this, Apple still believes that the space of the new Air is enough, starting from 479 pounds, rather than the big leap forward of the vanilla iPad and the new Mini. While adding another tablet within a reasonable price range close to the iPad seems initially strange, in fact it may be Air's biggest USP: it may be just the best iPad available to the average user - not a cheap option, just The best value one.

Yes, the new Air looks like the Gold ilocks iPad. You get huge specifications from the existing iPad, which is a lot of features for professionals, all of which are only slightly skyrocketing. All in all, it makes it even more delicious. Almost delicious.

Basic

Yes, let's see how to use the iPad. In fact, we are not. You know how to use the iPad. Air works just like any other iPad. it is good? it is good.

The basic specifications are very similar to the new Mini. The iPad Air display uses Apple's P3 wide color display and excellent True Tone technology to automatically adjust the color temperature, which is better than the standard iPad, instead of Pro's ProMotion technology, which provides a cute refresh rate of up to 120Hz for fluid scrolling. Higher responsiveness and smoother motion content.

The 10.5-inch screen is significantly larger than the 9.7-inch iPad, and its lamination means that there is essentially no air gap, which is equivalent to a better picture. The screen on the Air is superb and you should not have any problems at all.

You can get the A12 Bionic chip with a nerve engine, which is the A10 Fusion chip on the iPad, for better performance and graphics, which actually means you can put a lot of energy into the air without sweating. Loading 3D games? no problem. Hardcore Adobe Photoshop? same. In fact, Apple claims that its performance has increased by 70%, while Air's graphics capabilities have tripled. Battery Life? Exceed your needs unless you want to take the application very seriously.

Camera?

The new Mini is equipped with the same 8MP f / 2.4 camera with automatic HDR and auto focus, compared to the (re-use Mini), upgraded 7MP f / 2.2 front camera (compared to iPad 1.2) million Pixel products) do significantly enhance video calls and selfies.

What else? Let's see. Oh, you get a real headphone jack. How weird! Suppliers of enthusiasts and cheap headphones will be encouraged.

Pencil Power

Like the Mini and the existing iPad, many people welcome Air's support for Apple's first-generation pencil news. Now, this is very beneficial for creative types and compulsive note-taking reporters. This means you can do more with your tablet than any competitor that can't hold these accessories. So now it's easy to annotate PDFs or write down letters in the air. You can delve into custom applications that have pencil support, such as Procreate.

However, although the addition of the stylus is the most popular, it is certainly not because it is the wrong stylus. The first generation of pencils looked awkward and half-baked next to the lovely second-generation pencil. The original version makes it easy to roll the desktop and protect the magnetic end of the lightning bolt from losing. For the sake of paradise, you must physically plug the stylus into the lightning port to charge.

The first generation of pencils shows how easy we love our products when the product is significantly better. The second pencil is better in every respect, with a touch-sensitive side, magnetic charging and anti-roll design. Don't misunderstand us, we are very happy to have pencil support, but we are also fickle and want the best pencil we can get.

Having said that, you may want to try the Logitech Crayon instead of the Apple Pencil 1. It's cheaper and won't give up every plane. However, although it has palm rejection and tilt support, it does not provide pressure sensitivity. Battery life is not long... but that's why it's cheaper.

Smart Keyboard And Touch ID

Another real advantage of Air is its support for Apple's smart keyboard, thanks to the side that includes smart connectors. I'm a big fan of smart keyboards, it's more popular than Bluetooth keyboards because you need to work with iPads because there is no pairing or battery required (plus if it's double the cover).

For such a slim keyboard, the buttons on Apple's proprietary accessories work very well and provide enough feedback for fast typing. If you exclude the screen size, this is the key difference between the iPad and the Mini and Air. Although the Mini may be almost as much as the Air when refreshing, only the Air can get both smart keyboards.

Of course, there is no Face ID. Anyone who uses Face ID on a new iPhone or Pro iPad knows how fast this technology is and how fast you are used to it. So, should we be a little annoyed about what to do with Touch ID on the plane?

The 2013 iPhone 5S is the first mobile phone to use Touch ID technology. Not surprisingly, it feels almost like taking a step back and having to open a brand new iPad Air with a fingerprint instead of simply browsing the 10.5-inch screen.

The technology we are talking about here has been around for six years now. And, of course, you can understand that Apple needs to clearly distinguish what professionals can do compared to Air, but another effect is that space must be made for Touch ID sensors, which means that there are thick, unsightly borders on the Air. The top and bottom of the tablet, not the slim lines of the professionals.

Style And Sound

This allows us to see the obvious design differences between Air and Pros. Remember what I said is how quickly people can't fall in love with a product when it comes to a better version? The Air is designed for the Mini and iPad camps, with its sloping sides and home button, not as good as the new Pro design.

It's shallow and easy, but put the iPad Pro next to the Air, it has a clean flat side and a borderless screen, just like when the iPhone 4 was introduced, let the 3GS look like ordinary Joey to Joey at all the money. Dre's clothes. If aesthetics is important to you, and you read Apple product reviews here, then I guess this is a very likely thing, which of course is something to consider.

Another major visual difference is that when you see the sides of the air, you will clearly see two speaker grilles instead of four, just like a professional. The sound on the 12.9-inch iPad Pro is very good - it should be much better than it.

Now, no matter how the DSP Wizard does it, you won't let the Air's two speakers sound as good as the Pro Four. This is the case. This is one of the few obvious concessions from Pro to Air. Although this is something you are used to, you will never forgive Air.

verdict

But, in fact, this is harsh for the air. Maybe I want it to have all the features of the Pro iPad because it reminds me of the top two in the lineup. It is very close to the 11-inch iPad Pro.

Apple itself classifies the Air, not as a replacement for the PC, because it sees Pros, but does not require all the fancy that the Pro pad provides for the user. But in fact, Air does not have a midway between the iPad and the 11in iPad Pro - it is closer to the latter in terms of performance and capabilities. Yes, you have the first pencil, the "old" design, no facial recognition, only two speakers, no USB-C can compete, but you should consider what you get.

Compared to the iPad Pro, Air represents a huge value. Almost all of the performance, smart keyboards, superb screen and pencil integration, all of which far exceed the professionals. The air is so eye-catching that it virtually eliminates the need for a vanilla iPad, and is just why you should pay a higher dollar for the iPad Pro to pay the highest price question mark.

Now it is indeed the Gold ilocks iPad. If there is no problem with money, you should go to a professional. But money is hardly a problem. If I had to recommend which iPad to launch in the current lineup, that would be the case.

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