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shanie-the-toyaddict · 4 years ago

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"Close Quarters and Fake Steak" from Part 2 of Into the Horizon

A full chapter of Zowens from Part 2 of my story. The only real context you need to know here is that "Mara'Monto" means Deathmatch and "sa Heig'on a Manu" is The Arena of Fighting (the gladiator fighting circuit they've both been forced into fighting for.) Everything else I think you can pick up from within the chapter itself. Oh, and sorry for the alien language. It's a thing. It isn't necessary to know exact translations as it's written to only be understood as much as Kevin does. (Third Person Limited Shifting is a hell of a trip) Anyway, this if for my darling@zayneeac's birthday. Happy birthday, darling. Here's to many many more. Enjoy.

Kevin hadn’t intended to fall in love.

Fighting as a team again hadn’t been nearly as difficult as he’d expected. Far from it, he found it exhilarating. He’d always known that he was meant to fight with Sami forever and even the distant future in the 9th Era or Period of those dinosaur bastards fell under the category of “forever.” The only thing that Kevin never would have predicted was the environment where they’d be spending that forever. He’d pictured a marvelous main event sunset at WrestleMania, not some deathmatch pit in a science fiction nightmare.

And yet, they were surviving. Somehow, against all the odds, they were a team again and God it was just like old times. The way they moved in sync hadn’t changed much from their days as a tag team on Earth, although the fighting style was completely different. They won most of their matches, and the ones that they didn’t win were exhibition fights or Gontzos.

Gontzo. Mara’Gontzo, Mara’Monto, sa Heig’on a la bullshit language. Holy fuck did he hate Gorosian. He was trying to learn it but the notion of indoctrinating himself into the society of his captors wasn’t remotely appealing. When he’d taught himself English, it was on his terms. Having the Gorosian’s pisstastic, apostrophe-laden nonsense shoved down his throat offended him on levels he couldn’t express to them if he were permitted. Mainly because he didn’t speak the fucking language. But he still took the lessons and tried a little (very little) if for no other reason than Sami was fascinated about learning the language and attending the sessions with him meant more time they could spend together.

Although, since becoming a team again, they’d been spending all their time together anyway, so it really didn’t matter. Honestly, as much as he loved Sami, the guy could grate on you, and maybe skipping the classes would give him a moment of relief from Sami’s endless curiosity.

Whatever. He knew he wouldn’t stop going. Sami was the one thing keeping him sane in the Arena. Kevin was miserable as all hell, but every time Sami learned something new, his eyes would light up just enough that it stoked the minuscule remaining flame of Kevin’s soul. He hated himself and what the Arena made him do, but every spark of happiness that Sami felt, Kevin felt too.

And frankly, those sparks were all he lived for anymore.

At least they were doing great in the BattleRing.

When they started their run as a team, all their matches were two on one, which you would think would benefit them, but naturally, the Heig’on just loved to make everything difficult. Rather than one standard Manu opponent, they were pitted against anything from giants to ferocious beasts. Even their training had proved little use when facing down some unholy six-legged blend between a rhinoceros, a lion, and an elephant. They had to adapt quickly, and thankfully they did. Even more thankfully, their stint as strictly beast fighters was mercifully short as, once the crowd got behind them, they started to face off against other tag teams. After that happened, there was no stopping them. True, Kevin was always the one to strike the killing blow, but they made it work. Tag teams were unheard of in the Arena before them, at least, that’s what he figured. The years of developed chemistry between him and Sami meant that they could get in each other’s heads on a level their opponents could never dream of. There were still fights where they had to battle monsters, but even then, once they got the hang of fighting the various demon-beasts from across the galaxy, they had no trouble winning.

They were a nearly unstoppable team and with their new winnings, came new privileges. So many privileges. They were called Man’Yokulae in Gorosian and they usually involved some level of comfort or entertainment. But the best privilege of all was that they finally had names. Well, sort of. They weren’t their real names, but whatever powers of the universe threw them into that pit had a sense of humor because their designations in Gorosian both ended in something similar to their real names. 59 translated to Kae’do, and 63 was Zev’ii. It was close enough to KO and Sami that he could deal with them, and he’d requested their names as Kaydo and Zehvee. The names were granted, and finally they were able to use actual pronouns for a change.

Although, Sami wasn’t nearly as fond of calling Kevin “Kaydo” as he was being called “Zehvee” and usually just called Kevin “Kae”. Kevin didn’t care, as long as they didn’t have to speak French. Sooner or later their habit of speaking en français would come back to bite them, so any time they didn’t have to use their native tongue was beneficial.

There were other privileges as well, but being a proper noun was by far the best. He wouldn’t say they were well off though, but whomever their mysterious benefactor was had made them comfortable. They had their own room now, cramped but private. Perhaps a bit too much of both, as Kevin could no longer escape Sami when he was sick of him. And that meant that when he wanted peace and quiet, there was usually none to be found. Far from it, Kevin was slowly being driven insane by Sami’s ceaseless questions.

One day, while resting after a mid-day Gontzo fight, Sami was laying on their bed (because of course, the assholes had only given them one bed) and staring at the ceiling. Kevin was quietly attempting to read an ebook he’d been given to pass the time. The tablet was programmed with a translator, but it was a bit like trying to read a foreign novel filtered through Google Translate. Still, he managed well enough and it helped stave off the boredom. It was a story about some noble rebels standing in defiance against the corrupt Government. It was poorly written and reeked of propaganda, but it was better than making small talk with Sami.

And yet, Sami kept trying

Sami was laying on their bed, playing a small handheld block game that he’d earned. It somewhat reminded Kevin of those old, grey-brick Game Boys, if the Game Boy only played the originally included Tetris game. Sami usually played his game with the sound off, and the room was blissfully quiet, when Sami just had to go and ruin it with yet another question.

“How do the time scoops work?” he chirped from his spot on the bed.

“How do what?” Kevin asked.

Sami popped up from the bed to sit on the edge, putting the game down.

“The time scoops. Those machines that brought us here. That’s what they call them, right? How do they work? All the different aliens around here. Do they have different scoops for different aliens? I can’t imagine a Gorosian fitting comfortably in the pods we arrived in. I know you said they only work one way, but why? Why can’t you go back in them? What’s the hang-up?”

“Just accept that you can’t,” Kevin replied, trying to brush him off.

Sami shook his head, gesturing with his hands as he spoke. “No, it’s just, you’d think time travel would work in both directions. If you can use the devices to pull something into the future, why can’t you use it to shove something into the past?”

“They’re called scoops,” Kevin replied gruffly, “you don’t scoop something backward. Scooping is for removal. From what I understand, without a pod at the other end, you can’t go backward.”

Sami looked sad at the response, dropping his hands into his lap.

“Besides,” Kevin added, “I told you what happened to Earth. The world was already a dumpster fire when we left, and it never got any better. If you went back, you’d just be caught in the same apocalyptic hell as everyone else. All those people, back there on Earth? They’re dead. All of them. Humanity burned, Zehvee. This place is shit but at least we’re alive.”

Sami stared at the floor and his voice was quiet as he replied, “I’d rather have died on earth with them. I hate this place. I hate hurting people just to survive. The arena sucks.”

“Yeah, yeah it does.”

There was a pause before Sami’s voice picked up once more.

“But how do the crowds work?” he asked. “They aren’t actually in the compound; how do we see and hear them like they’re live? What kind of technology does that involve?”

Kevin groaned and threw up his hands in frustration. At that rate, Sami’s questions were going to end him long before some Heig’on fighter did.

But Kevin had nowhere to go; he couldn’t escape. Regardless of how pissed he got, they were together almost constantly. In the events of their inevitable arguments, the close quarters and lack of alternative entertainment forced them to reconcile quickly. It led to far fewer arguments, knowing that they couldn’t escape each other, although if Kevin was being honest, it wasn’t because he wasn’t frustrated, just that he had to watch Sami be in pain over their disagreements, something he’d always managed to avoid when they were rivals in the WWE.

And, somewhere along the way, something changed.

If Kevin had to pick a day or moment, it was after something that happened in the mealhall one day. They weren’t scheduled for a fight that day, so they just trained for several hours before spending some time in their quarters. When it was time for dinner, they were escorted to the mealhall. Sami was excited, he’d done well in an exhibition fight the previous day, knocking out both opponents himself. Of course, Kevin had let him do so, exhibition fights were becoming less frequent for them and Sami shone best when the fight didn’t involve murder, so Kevin had feigned injury to drive Sami to perform harder. He’d stepped up to the challenge and was told he’d be receiving a treat the following day at mealtime.

Kevin laughed. “It’s probably just a different flavor of grey pudding, or maybe a different color. Hey, maybe you’ll get orange pudding, to match your hair!”

Sami just glared at him and said nothing, and when they headed for the mealhall, Sami was excited for whatever he had earned.

He grew even more excited when they turned into the meal hall and Sami saw his favorite Orbaka helper working the food table again.

She, at least Kevin was pretty sure the alien was female, was designated Orbaka-10014. She was of a species that Kevin learned was called “Jakkan” and she was quite attractive, all things considered. She had pale, pearly skin with eyes that, while resembling somewhat human eyes, were a touch too large. Her lips were a royal purple shade, and she had a nose-shaped feature between her eyes and mouth that even Kevin admitted was cute, although there were three “nostrils” rather than two. However, her most prominent feature was how she didn’t have hair. Instead, traveling down the back of her head, neck, and back were two thin black tendrils, about three inches apiece, with small spherical ends on them. Overall, she resembled something out of Star Wars and the rest of her kind had very similar appearances. Jakkans in general, Kevin had decided were probably the most visually appealing aliens he’d seen since arriving in Hell, and if he had to pick the best of them, it’d probably be her.

But Sami… if Kevin had to guess, Sami had a crush on her. He kept trying to flirt with her, something that always seemed impossible due to communication issues. Kevin had learned long ago that everyone they encountered had universal translators, but they didn’t work the same with every species, and whatever algorithm was used to translate English to Jakka was spotty at best. Also, despite his efforts, she never seemed to enjoy seeing him. She always smiled, but it was never a friendly smile, and Kevin was beginning to wonder if smiling meant the same thing on the Jakkan planet. It still didn’t stop Sami from trying, and as he grabbed his tray and headed for the food table, he was looking quite happy.

“Hi, again,” he said cheerfully to the Orbaka, a wide smile on his face. “You look nice today.”

10014 squinted her eyes.

“Friendly?” she asked, not understanding his comment.

Sami raised his eyebrows, nodding. “Well, I’m trying to be, anyway. How have you been?”

“Beans?”

“No, I mean your day. How has your day been going so far?”

“Distance? I have never left Heig’on compound in three revolutions.”

Kevin couldn’t help but be amused as Sami shook his head. He wondered if he should suggest Gorosian as an alternative, but to him, watching Sami struggle with flirting was too priceless to disrupt, so he said nothing.

Sami tried again. “No I mean, how have you been feeling?”

That, she seemed to grasp a bit more and she replied “I understand. I am… alive. Not dead yet, which is preferred.”

Sami smiled again. “Good to hear. So, what’s my surprise?”

Kevin watched as she smiled again, that same miserable version she always used with Sami.

“Trophy?” she returned. “You have won no trophy.”

“No,” Sami replied, “My surprise. My gift. I was told I’d earned something.”

Her smile fell flat and was replaced by confusion once more. As she stood there, trying to understand his meaning, a guard behind her made a loud grunting noise.

They were holding up the process too much.

10014 huffed a bit, her three nostrils puffing out as she scooped the (still) grey pudding into Sami’s bowl.

“Urn?” she told him, “Those perished in Heig’on do not in urns. Incinerated only.”

Sami sighed and dropped his tray against the table in frustration. Kevin, deciding to step in, put a hand on his friend’s shoulder.

“His privilege,” he spoke up.

Still no sign of understanding.

Kevin thought for a moment before deciding to give in and try the other approach. It would probably ruin his fun in the long run, but Sami deserved whatever gift was coming to him and he wasn’t about to let him go without. Wracking his brain to pull out the little bit of Gorosian he’d absorbed, he tried to parse together a sentence.

“Rio Man’Yokulae do Tor’ooq’toan,“ he said. He was certain he was messing it up, and his belief was confirmed when he saw Sami look away, his hand over his mouth to suppress the laughter.

Still, it seemed to get the job done and 10014’s eyes widened, and she made a sound of understanding, an oddly joyful scowl crossing her face.

“Yes!” she said enthusiastically, “Earned reward!”

She stuck her spoon into the pot of foodstuff and headed into the back room.

“See,” Kevin told Sami, “You just need to know how to talk to them.”

Sami was still choking on suppressed laughter.

Kevin shook his head.

Fine. I’ll bite.

“All right, Mr. Quad-Lingual, how bad did I do?” he asked, although he really didn’t want to know.

Taking a deep breath to compose himself, Sami replied with a grin. “Well, you called me a trans woman and referred to yesterday as ‘the before time’ but at least you got your point across.”

“Jesus. I hate it here.”

Before Sami could respond, the Orbaka returned with a small plastic cup with dark liquid in it.

“SolTerra bean beverage,” Orbaka-10014 chirped, holding the cup out to Sami.

Sami looked confused for a moment before realization dawned on him. It was his turn to go wide-eyed as he exclaimed, “Wait, coffee? There’s coffee here?!”

The Orbaka moved the cup a bit closer to Sami who gladly accepted it, not even putting it on his tray. He looked down at it, before commenting, “Black, hm? I guess I don’t get any kind of soy or sweetener.”

The Jakkan just stood there looking perplexed, replying, “Added sweet? Coffee not meant as sweet. Bads flavor.”

Sami shrugged and gave a warm smile to the alien woman, saying, “Still, it’s nice to have.”

He paused before adding in Gorosian, “Hintoq’ho Gyntviana Roa”

The Orbaka’s eyes lit up and her cheeks flushed a shade of violet.

The guard behind them grunted again, this time louder and angrier.

The Orbaka’s shock disappeared, followed by a quick “Yo’Vaa’Dan” as she served Kevin his food. More of the same as usual. God, he hated the grey pudding. But, with the guard getting angry, Kevin knew they needed to be moving along and he gently nudged Sami’s foot with his own.

“Right,” Sami said, moving and, taking their trays they both headed for their assigned seats. Midway there, Sami took a sip of his coffee. Immediately, he stopped in his tracks, so abruptly that Kevin nearly plowed into him.

“Shit,” Kevin swore. He took a moment to readjust his food on the tray and moved to stand beside Sami, looking for what the hold up was. Sami was standing there, staring at the cup of coffee with the most disgusted look on his face as though he was about to retch on Kevin’s boot.

Kevin couldn’t help but smile. “Not good?” he asked.

Sami’s face un-contorted, transforming into a look of determination and he held out his tray to Kevin.

“Kae,” he remarked, “would you mind taking my tray with you to our table. I need to… um… go water that plant over there…”

Sami motioned towards a potted, tree-like plant in the corner that was standing unattended. Kevin fought valiantly to suppress the snorted laughter that was trying to erupt from him, instead silently taking his tray across his forearm and doing the same with Sami’s on the opposite side. With both trays balanced, he silently headed for his table, making sure to keep an eye on what Sami was doing. He sat down, trying to be discrete, and as he sat there he watched Sami casually make his way over to the plant. After checking to make sure nobody was watching, Sami turned his back to the plant and, without even looking at it, dumped the cup of coffee behind him into the dirt. After the cup was empty, he returned to where Kevin was and sat down across from him.

Kevin was unable to hold back the laughter anymore, nearly choking on his efforts to do so (as well as that damn pudding).

He swallowed his mouthful and asked, “That bad, huh?”

Picking up his spoon and digging into his bowl of slop, Sami just shrugged. “I guess I should have known better. I can’t imagine them having coffee plantations here.”

“No, probably not,” Kevin agreed. “Hey, out of curiosity, what did you say that made her blush like that?”

Swallowing a spoonful, his friend replied, “Oh not much. I said thank you.”

“Uh-huh. And? I knew that much, what was the second part?”

The redhead turned sheepish. “I might have called her beautiful as well.”

Kevin rolled his eyes. “God you’re hopeless.”

They both got quiet after that, focusing on their meals, until, after about five minutes, KO happened to glance back up at the plant Sami had “watered”.

It was starting to wilt.

Kevin had to suppress another laugh, an action that he wasn’t getting any better with over time. Sami heard him and, following his line of sight, also noticed the plant in distress.

“Ah hell,” his friend muttered, before grabbing the cup of water off Kevin’s tray, standing, and leaving.

“Hey!” Kevin cried out as he took the cup away, “Dammit Zehvee!”

Sami wasn’t listening, nor was he trying to be inconspicuous this time. He strode over to the plant and, bending over, distributed the water around the soil in the pot.

Naturally, a guard noticed, and Kevin let out a worried sigh as the guard headed over to where Sami was. He strained his ears to hear the conversation, but they were a bit too far away. He just turned his eyes down toward the table, an almost instinctive action in the face of possible trouble, and waiting until Sami returned to his seat. When he did, his friend let out a satisfied hum.

Kevin was a bit surprised at that and, his eyes still on his food, asked in a hushed, low tone, “You get bitched at?”

“Nah,” Sami said, totally undisturbed as he returned the empty water cup to Kevin’s tray, “he just told me that there’s Orbaka that tend to the plants and that I shouldn’t bother with them. I’m fine. Thanks for the water, though. It’s looking better already.”

Kevin looked up at Sami. His smile was so warm and infectious, and as he looked behind his friend, he realized Sami was right. The tree did look better.

Sami was still smiling. The misery and steel-walled prison they were in, forced to fight for the amusement of slavemasters and bloodthirsty sadists, and Sami was concerned with a damn plant. He couldn’t help but return the smile and as he sat there, basking in the glow that his friend always seemed to have around him, the walls of his heart began to crumble, broken down by cinnamon curls and hazel eyes.

After that, it was only a matter of time before Kevin loved him completely. TBC

#Fanfiction #Into the Horizon #Part 1 #Happy Birthday #Zaynee

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twistednuns · 6 years ago

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December 2018

Iglo Veggie love with broccoli, buckwheat and black beans. Quick and easy.

The TEDxTUM event was pretty inspiring. I loved how they organised it and some of the speakers were amazing. Seeing all the cool stuff other people are working on actually motivated me to try and achieve great things myself. I'd like to learn about something new, start a project or volunteer.

Pick Up Limes videos.

The way Cher sings the word Memphis in her cover song.

Seeing Frank for the first time in four months. Having a good time at the Uncle Acid concert, getting a beer at Flex. Even though meeting him always causes some kind of emotional turmoil it might actually help to solve a few things I've been stressing over this time, for example that whole deal with Claudia.

Spending two hours in the kitchen on a Sunday morning. Preparing a summer and a winter curry. Pre-cutting salad. Listening to Tai Chi music. Baking these divine buckwheat chocolate cookies - absolutely delicious even though I forgot to add salt. Kinda healthy, too! It's grain-free (I even used groats) and I substituted part of the sugar with honey.

Gift ideas for rock collectors and mycophiles.

A spotted woodpecker in our backyard.

Dalmatian Jasper. Such a pretty stone.

Blinded by the Light. And a trip down musical memory lane. Making a nostalgia mixtape. Singing, enjoying the sound of my voice (as long as I hit the right vocal range).

Drawing owls. For hours. Using my Polychromos coloured pencils. I'm currerntly working on two owl-related projects, designing a logo for coffee roasters and making my friends' wedding invitation. Drawing owls like lovebirds is such a satisfying thing to do. Also: making my students come up with new ideas! Some actually drew some owl logos, too!

Tetris.

Reading books I don't understand. By people who are smarter than me. A very humbling experience. There is so much more to learn, experience and achieve.

Franzi's elegant coat and her ice crystal earrings. She's pregnant but she is skinnier than before and looks great. We cuddled up on a rooftop and had Kinderpunsch.

Practising The Pogues' Fairytale of New York for for karaoke night. I never hit the NYPD choir note quite right. My neighbours must hate me.

Taking a mental health day. Starting the day with baking cookies, making vegan sushi rolls. Reading, taking a nap. Yoga in the evening. Feeling really happy and relaxed. One of those rare inspired days when everything just falls into place. I kept revisiting beautiful places and memories during Shavasana. And I LOVE my yoga teacher more and more each week. So sad she is leaving the studio.

Taming your temper - tips for anger management.

Another coincidence. I wondered when the next Bilderbuch record will be released when I was looking at Mavi Phoenix at her concert - that girl is the female version of Maurice Ernst. A few hours later I found out that Bilderbuch actually had released a new album one day ago. WHAT.

Mirror tape.

Being a fluffy little red cat's human of choice. We sat in a cat café, no animals in sight. After a while a cat walked up straight towards me, sat down on my yellow scarf and kneaded it. Later she demanded attention and purred while I scratched her jaw. Apparently this was quite a rare occurence because she is said to be really shy and hard to handle. Weirdos unite!

Making Bhindi Masala, a vegan okra curry. Spicy and intense - delicious! Oh, and sushi rolls filled with avocado, veggies and fancy tofu/tempeh. Now I have a whole container waiting for me in the fridge.

Practising yoga for 20min on a gloomy Monday morning. Lighting a candle, drinking a cup of Ayurvedic Kapha tea with honey and lemon.

Tom, who inspired me to learn more about Ayurveda. And to rewatch The Darjeeling Limited because let's face it - Wes Anderson really knows how to make one of the poorest countries in the world look gorgeous.

We become what we think about. It's impossible to be successful without having a destination.

Quotations from Siri Hustvedt's The Blazing World: 1 / 2

"Smelling you almost makes me cum."

Running around with a fake septum piercing. I kinda like the look. I'm actually considering getting a real one but so far I'm fine with the clip-ons. The good thing is that you can't see the ring's ends anyway in that kind of piercing.

Spending time with the old friends. The best ones. The ones you don't have to speak to and it's still not uncomfortable. The ones you can be super weird around and they embrace it. The ones you can tell your strangest ideas and stories.

There is a new Turkish supermarket right around the corner! Fresh cilantro whenever I want! YES!!!

Heavy snowfall. It does look kinda pretty, I admit.

Many questions, not enough answers at the ESO Supernova exhibition/planetarium. / Making another cat friend over breakfast. / Seeing my foxy ginger lady Anika again after such a long time! / Orange marzipan lebkuchen and roasted coconut almonds (they taste like Raffaello). / Finding the perfect earrings and a beautiful head band at EDITED - The Label. / Performing Fairytale of New York live on stage with Manu. Being able to curse at somebody through song is perfect, I had a lot of fun. Also, he promised me his art teacher sweater as a Christmas present.

A knitting project with rainbow wool.

Making a clay sculpture for my mum. Taking it out of the oven at 80 degrees, wrapped in a dish towel like a baby.

The honey marzipan nougat bar from dm bio.

Meeting Manu at his office. Receiving the most awesome paint palette sweater as a Christmas present! And he let me spend a full hour in virtual reality! He has such an amazing programme which lets you draw in 3D and float around in space (with VR goggles). I'm absolutely fascinated and intrigued. Gotta visit him more often.

Meeting Tobi, Maike, Lena and Christian at Märchenbasar. Being drunk after some Feuerzangenbowle with rum (Pfeffi in Manu's case) and white mulled wine. Taking the long way home.

Buying Paulaner Spezi for my class. Supermarket trips with the kids before 8am. Schrottwichteln. Watching random goat videos and intros to children's series.

Having a drink at Goldene Bar in Haus der Kunst. Such a gorgeous place. I'm trying to get into a workshop on the museum's architecture at the end of January.

Making random people want to kiss me. Having no desire whatsoever to actually kiss them.

The Harry Potter round (on special request) at the pub quiz.

Reading Stephen Hawking's short answers to some of the big questions. I have to admit, I know nothing about physics or cosmology and at times his explanations were super hard to understand (fine, I probably didn't understand most of it) but I love creating a need to use my brain in uncommon ways.

Vivid dreams. About dangerous skyscrapers (just different floors stacked loosely on top of each other), a kidnapping in a futuristic car by very glamorous gangsters, lesbians on a scooter trying to save me, travelling through Asia and the US with Sash, a sinking ship (but all the passengers swam back to the surface after a short period of unconsciousness), ATMs, fancy drinks, meeting strangers with beautiful eyelashes at a restaurant.

Discovering the Trouvelot astronomical drawings (1882) on the darkest day of the year, winter solstice. Watching the night fade away ever so slowly in the morning from the kitchen window, squeezing fresh oranges to make juice for breakfast. Bright orange and midnight blue is a great colour combination.

ASMRctica.

An article about a dear friend of mine appeared in Süddeutsche Zeitung! So happy for him.

Spending time with very old friends right before Christmas. Tobi, Sash, Michi, Yanic, Fischi and his wife... Playing MarioKart on SNES with Peter and taking weird selfies together. I had a very nice evening.

Managing to get a look at downtown Chicago during my layover. I uber-ed into the city centre (watching the skyscrapers getting larger and larger), walked around Millenium Park and along Lake Michigan. I spent quite a bit of time at Blick, an amazing art store, before I took the train back to the airport.

Arriving in Mexico in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve. Seeing the city sparkling from above. Watching a bunch of kids beating a pinata well after midnight. Arriving in a beautiful artist's apartment in Condesa.

The Anthropology Museum in CDMX made it on the list of my favourite museums ever. I could have spent days there. I kept sketching some of the funny masks and Maya figurines. There were plenty of creepy tombs and skeletons, depictions of weird Gods, handicrafts and woodcarvings. It was just so interesting, probably because I had never seen a lot of South American / Aztec culture before and I love learning and exploring new things.

Christmas day in CDMX: sunshine, tacky glitter decorations, pointy balloons and spiky pinatas. Dancing, ancient smoke rituals performed by a Mayan community.

Mexican street food, especially the vegetarian street food tour with David. Meeting the Blue Corn Lady (her quesadillas are with cactus and beans and they're incredibly delicious). Flatbread, corn, fruit with chili and lime. Pulque and Mezcal. Finding out that the green salsa is actually worse than the red one. Tacos, Enchiladas, Tamales. If you go to Mexico just for the food you'll still have plenty to explore.

That evening with the pink sunset. Walking through the old used book store in Roma. Reading an interesting take on Lars von Trier's Melancholia. Meeting the resident cat.

Lucha Libre! Watching the luchadores, especially the small people in the second round. Laughing about the Mexican boy next to me swearing at the top of his lungs. Getting a mask as a souvenir.

Climbing the sun and moon pyramid at Teotihuacán. Getting a sunburn. Enjoying the atmosphere. It's a very impressive site.

Diving in Cozumel with Brooke-Anne (a librarian from Las Vegas who was raised by Mormons), Cynthia from Quebec and Lucie from Toulouse. Entering some coral formations underwater. Eating cantaloupe melon and chocolate cookies after the dive. Spending the evening with another Canadian, Jussi from Finland and that other dude from Puerto Rico. And some Indio beers.

What I loved most about Tulum were the ruins (right next to a gorgeous beach) and the health food restaurants (La Hoja Verde and Co.Conamor).

And this year I don't really have a good New Year's Eve story because I fell asleep at quarter past eleven in a little village west of Tulum. All alone. Could be worse though, I had an amazing year.

#personal #present perfect #things i love #december #2018 #december 2018

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thetygre · 8 years ago

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Dark Souls Lore Ramblings #2

Oh, I should not be allowed to go off by myself. This was originally just going to be a part of the greater Dark/Dark Soul/Humanity post. But then I got my teeth into it and it just kept growing and growing and now it’s its own thing. And I guess there’s no sense in making you folks wait any longer if it’s already done. I’ll be along with the Dark Soul post proper in due time, but until then, here’s this.

Manus, the Father of the Abyss

So King Kong here and Oolacile. I think it’s a valid theory to assume that Manus was the Furtive Pygmy, but I’m personally not fond of the idea. I just don’t like the idea of giving up two distinct characters for one. But, it’s still plausible, and it really doesn’t matter much who Manus was before he became Manus. All that’s important about his identity was the he was the man holding the Dark Soul. Although if he wasn’t the Pygmy, that does raise the question of why Manus had the Dark Soul in the first place. Would it have been passed down to him? Does it just jump around when its host dies?

Taking an aside, I dig Manus’ overall design, and I think it’s got some interesting details in it worth noting. First off is the obvious; he’s a big-ass monkey. Covered in fur, bowlegged, has a long tail; he’s a monkey. And that’s kind of an interesting aesthetic choice to make not just because primates aren’t usually fodder for monster design, at least without being goofy, but because it’s part of Manus’ description. Manus is ‘the Primeval Man’, the ancestor of all humanity, and from an evolutionary perspective, that’s what apes and primates are. Manus’ humanity reverted him back to an earlier stage down the evolutionary ladder. Humanity, gone wild, goes into a primitive state. I dunno’, I think it’s just a cool idea, even if it gels more with real world science than Dark Souls’ fantasy logic.

Second off is his giant hand. At this point, we all know Manus’ tragic backstory, or at least one version of it. Oolacile mages dug him up, brought him back to life/woke him up, tortured him, tortured him some more, mind-tortured him, and then threw in a couple of hours of extra torture before calling it a day. Manus, not a fan of this process, used the only thing he had, his good fist, to try and punch his way out his cell like some kind of Alexandre Dumas protagonist. Now, in beast mode, it’s all gnarled and giant.

But look closer at Manus’ hand; you get a great view of it whenever it reaches out to grab you. It’s absolutely covered in teeth (molars, to be exact). And right in the center there is a great big puckering orifice. Manus’ hand isn’t just a hand, it’s a mouth. And just what happens to be the hot ticket item for the Darkwraith covenant? That sweet ass armor. But after that, it’s an evil magic hand that lets you eat humanity and summon raw Darkness. Manus’ hand is the predecessor of the Dark Hand. (Or an imitation of it.)

Let’s reel back some here; the Dark Soul proper and whoever was carrying it. According to Kaathe, the Dark Soul bearer was supposed to lead humanity against the Light and the Lords. Even if Kaathe is just talking out his non-existent asshole, eventually the natural cycle of the universe is supposed to favor an age of humans. There was supposed to be some titanomachy here; just as the Lords overthrew the Dragons, the humans are supposed to overthrow the Lords. But there wasn’t; if anything, it looks like humans started working for the Lords. And at the bottom of the Chasm of the Abyss, right where Manus is, we find a grave.

Let’s all take a moment to celebrate the serendipity of three of the Lord Souls bearers having graves. Nito is in a grave because he’s a giant goth, Gwyn has a grave as a memorial, and Manus has a grave right next to where he was tortured. I mean, the game could not be whacking you in the face with the whole ‘the world is dying’ theme any harder if it tried. Not only are the gods dead, but you can dance on their graves.

But that gets to the real heart of the issue here; Manus was in a grave. A Lord Soul bearer was buried. Why? How? There’s some different routes you can take here. The obvious answer is that this isn’t just a grave, it’s a murder scene; if you believe Kaathe’s narrative, Gwyn put down the humans and the age of the Dark. It’s only natural that that would involve killing the bearer of the Dark Soul and hiding them away. But I don’t wholly buy into into that. When you look around the main grave, you see all these little stones in what are clearly arrangements, like a little mini-Stonehenge. I think that if this is a grave, it was a burial mound, made by the Dark Lord’s people. You can still say that Gwyn killed the Dark Lord, but there’s one final detail that sticks out clear to me.

When asking around Oolacile, Gough and Chester mention that Manus was ‘awakened’. Not resurrected; ‘awakened’, or ‘upturned’. Put simply, I don’t think that Manus was dead when he went into that grave. He deliberately put himself there, and just kind of went to sleep or half-death, a centuries-long coma that he didn’t intend to wake up from. My reasoning’s not exactly solid on this, so bear with me.

First off, while the term ‘god’ in Dark Souls is pretty nebulous, the bearers of Lord Souls are probably the closest thing the universe has to genuine deities. With that, they seem to be apparently immortal. The Witch of Izalith is still kicking, and her Lord Soul went as crazy as Manus’. They can’t die from natural causes; the only way they can go out is through violence. Now that makes it look like it reinforces the whole ‘Gwyn killed Manus’ thing, but then why would he leave the Dark Soul? Especially a guy as hard up for Lord Souls, or as afraid of the Dark, as Gwyn?

And second, frankly, I believe that just straight-up necromancy is beyond the scope of Dark Souls’ magic. Yeah, I know we fight armies of skeletons, and I’ll touch on those guys when I get to Gravelord Nito and Pinwheel, but other than them, the majority of undead we see in Dark Souls are… well, Undead. The mages of Oolacile might have been pretty strong but a.) Oolacile’s specialty appears to have been illusory magic, not necromancy and b.) it took an occult rebellion stealing power directly from a Lord for someone like Pinwheel to get as far as they did, and his work was a dismal failure. Once people are dead in this universe, unless they have the curse, they’re pretty effectively dead. (Time shenanigans notwithstanding.)

Finally, the whole game seems to be built around the notion that the Dark Soul, as an individual item, isn’t that important; it’s not like the other Lord Souls. All is not lost because Manus went crazy and turned the Dark into the Abyss. Any Undead and their fragment of the Dark Soul will do in linking the First Flame. That’s the rug that gets pulled out from under you once you find out Frampt was lying to you. The Furtive Pygmy’s original plan was that the Dark Soul proper could be bolstered by being regrown in fragments. Even if the original Dark Soul was destroyed, there would be another to take its place.

So what all this adds up to is that if Manus was immortal, Oolacile mages couldn’t raise the dead, and the Dark Soul wasn’t actually that important, then killing Manus would serve no purpose, and he wouldn’t be able to be resurrected even if he was killed by the Lords. Ergo, Manus’ grave was not for Manus’ corpse, but for him while he was still alive (or at least Undead). Now, maybe he was bound down there, but I’m drawn to the sleeper theory.

Manus chose to lock himself away; he did, in fact, go gently into that good night. If he was the Furtive Pygmy, then he started out dreaming of revenge and rebellion against the Lords, breeding an army to usher in the Age of Dark, with him as the Dark Lord. But over time, he mellowed with age. Manus came to understand that people, his literal children and grandchildren, aren’t tools just to be used for power. And eventually, he may have even made his own kind of peace with the Lords. Not to get too sentimental, but what Manus came to value was the well being of his fellow humans, of prosperity and love.

Remember, the item that can control Manus is a pendant from when he was still human. What drove him over the edge was the mages of Oolacile destroying that little piece of jewelry. That trinket, that bit of nostalgia, was the personification of Manus’ humanity. So, when Manus saw that his people didn’t need him, whether because the Age of Dark was prospering or because he trusted the Lords, he locked himself away in some deep place, to sweet dreams and a long rest. If I was the accusing type, I might speculate that Kaathe wasn’t particularly pleased with this development. His whole purpose is to bring about the Dark, and now his strongest champion just up and quit. So Kaathe decides that he needs to kickstart things back in the right direction. And you know the rest from there.

Why am I so drawn to this theory? Well first off, it’s the simpler theory; assuming Manus was killed by someone implies a lot of off-screen dickishness from the Lords mixed with a lot of divine incompetence. Too many hypotheticals spoil the broth, so to speak.

But I think more drawn to the tragic optimism of it. That seems more in line with Dark Souls. For however grim the world may be, Dark Souls doesn’t seem particularly misanthropic or critical of human nature. Most of the NPCs you meet in the first game are laid back and even helpful. They only go Hollow when they’re without a purpose. Even the Gwyn and Gwyndolin aren’t total assholes. That’s what makes an effective character, isn’t it? That they have some goodness in them, something that you can see driving their darker nature?

Places like Oolacile and New Londo are as dark as we see it get. Humans praying on each other for power. Oolacile was straight up torturing people for magical experiments. All through it, we’re taught that Humanity is this base, ugly thing that devours and hurts and runs wild. It’s not a pretty picture, but it’s where things are at while the world is crumbling apart. But if the sleeper theory is true, then Humanity isn’t inherently cruel. It has the capacity to be, but that’s balanced by a capacity for love and kindness as well. We go looking for the Dark Soul, building up to some Dark Lord at the height of his strength, and in the end, we find out that he was sleeping, that the real face of the Dark Soul was a memento of happier times. It’s tragic, but it also reaffirms that people can be good, especially if they have something worth living for. And honestly, that just seems more in tune with Dark Souls for me.

#Dark Souls #Dark Souls Lore #Manus #Oolacile #Soulsborne #dark souls lore ramblings

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top1course · 5 years ago

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Steve Jobs Marketing Strategy – Sell Your Ideas the Apple Way – Dan Lok

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If you’re ready so, now there’s a new movie coming up in October, call Steve Jobs, steve Jobs, double those of you who know me I’m a huge fan of Steve Jobs, i’ve read his book like Polly, 5/6 *, so that’s a new movie coming out called the man in the machine call Steve Jobs apparently there was an otter, steve Jobs movie a couple years ago yes, you seen that before, yeah so apparently this movie They said that, i’ll from the people working apples that that this is a more accurate representation of thief, actually say that when they washed the movie, steve, the thing is Steve so that’s pretty incredible, interesting to do maybe a a short keynote on Steve Jobs and on, marketing and one of what makes Apple so successful, and what makes them different from any other companies and more importantly how does that apply to you, What type of Interest, and again this is just from my own perspective by what perspective, my observation is and I will do it in a way that, cuz he was in the computer business, software business, you see as I share with you these things can can be applicable to you doesn’t matter what business you’re in, so Steve Jobs the secret to Apple’s marketing genius, now when I say apple what kind of company did I ask you the question what kind of company is Apple, what would you say y’all the answer, what pieces, okay, lifestyle okay, culture okay, information Innovation yes, cool brother, design okay good, all challenging status quo, style okay very cool, using directive how many PC users, okay how many of your Apple how many volts, how do you do both, like how do you do both, statistics about Apple so in case, Of course you know it’s very profitable, everything hell yeah but you might not know actually exactly, we know that there are nowadays are there a lot of retailers that struggling and it states that thousand, thousands of retailers going out of business yes or no, aldair retailers going out of business in Canada, name some of them Sears, dallas, max, mcDonald’s closing some of their shop yes stores yet, okay yeah okay, second City, zone e s no let me ask you a question, small companies of a company’s so even big companies are having a tough time with this economy, what is going on, no in spite of apocalypse, aldi’s bajor changed not just a certain sector, across different people company been around a long time you see them for 5 10 20, bam overnight, not one store, how many stores, 100000 Long View Farm Shop Yorktown closing., socialproof time, how to apply for small business, Small companies what do we have to do what we have to be aware of looking at this as a small business.

What do we have to be aware of, change yes, innovation yes, emerging technology s, customer needs female where being able to yes, relationship management very good very good, so without Mystics I pulled, fuel by the popularity of the new iPhone 6 gave Apple and even bigger the over other retailers, how many people Apple Store, okay, overall the retailers in productivity with its doors at generating a staggering 4700, $30.82 in sales per square foot, now if any of you understand, that’s how they measure yes earning per square foot, is that a low number is that a like a high number, it is a crazy crazy numbers, i was, when I want a few months ago I was in New York, and I went to this an Apple store right, On 5th Avenue, which bill is very well-known, yeah they’re well-known, and I talked to check it out when it was Winter and I checked the dog winning at the store and was it was a winter and with snow, freezing cold pack, the place was packed, and then later on I went online, that particular store mix, so we’re on Accu-Chek check, i don’t know how much is doing now but they stayed kind of report approximately that Fifth Avenue, about 350 million dollars in sales a year, one store, 350 million in sales, amazing, apple announced Financial results 2015 third quarter, end of June to 27th 2015 the company posted quarterly revenue of 49, 2.6 billion dollars and quality net profit of 9.7 billion dollars, okay, so is this a yes or no, yes or no Revenue, is it applied to my business I’ll share with you, my observation is there are basically and by the way over 200, Building Dalton Casper serve, 200000200 billion in cash that you don’t know what to do with, that’s a lot of cash, yes that’s a lot of cash because apple has a lipid different Google acquisitions, so pretty incredible, five powerful ways how many ways of ways Apple has called, loyal raving fans, lauren fans, so, way to take notes, okay here we go how many people you know the first day of opening a new iPhone I need, iPad or whatever Manu product coming coming out and people line up in front of Apple Store for days, yes, okay so what is a very big, loyal following yes almost fanatic following yes, the questions why doesn’t people lined up to buy Sony products, why doesn’t people want to buy Microsoft products, number one I believe because Apple give people products that exceptionally good, And putting down Lobster make a they make coochie, they make cool ship, not just good product exceptionally good products, if you think about it how many of you use an iPhone curious, okay think about it with an iPhone, it is, actually, but, it is actually, an unnecessary, expenditure, 2 years ago nobody needs, and iPhone, we don’t need an iPhone we need food we need water with each other in iPhone, but nowadays you ask people ok your TV, all your iPhone, pick one, what about iPhone vs your computer which one, computer I told iPhone so you think about it from so what they do, don’t stuff that people actually, don’t really need, but now it’s to a point where we cannot live without, like why oh my God how many of you lose your phone go crazy, you’ll be like, my God right, all my contacts everything I want my business from here so you think about it, People exceptionally good.

How do you make products that are good, a better question would be how good is your product, how good is your service, the point of service, and it’s a great quote by Steve Jobs, it’s really hard to design products by focus groups a lot of times people don’t know what they want until you show, what next, apple so successful is they can predict what the word, predict the needs of the marketplace, what do people want, maybe they don’t even know they wanted yet but how can we create something, exceptional that’s so extraordinary that, when people see it they would be like wow I didn’t expect that you could, i thought this the phone but, full music internet, it’s not just a phone, steve Jobs, number to the parts of fun and easy to use AKA in a cell, Article that iPad, wheelie is Child’s Play more than half of these babies use Apple tablet when they’re just one, one, so they make it very very easy use, intuitive one time I was going to my friend’s house having dinner, and his son was, 6 years old I think 67 years old back then, and then my friend that dad was telling him all go back to the room don’t leave candy and which is kind of, talking to the kids, okay, and I was like, listening listening and finally the cables like, like that so that. That was pretty funny but how how did the kids learn how to do that, hello, that’s it swipe, are the kids from using iPad for 2 years, janSport music, so, the question is how can you you make your product and services, more simple to understand, It’s what you doing to complexes you offer to complex, because complexity is the enemy of execution, complexity is the enemy of what, of what, execution so, i always say this Genie is just what, genius in simplicity, so how can you make what you do simple, 50 weeks ago I was in a business meeting and there was another entrepreneur, talking about one of his Venture and talk about the picture me on a deal, and he was explaining to me, and he said it gave me up like a 5 minute elevator pitch and I said I don’t quite get it, and he’s I need more time like I need an hour to explain this to you, explain this to me we’ve got a blah blah, help me fall what I’m saying if you can explain what the heck you do forget find Minute in 1 minute, we’ve got a father, Don’t even have one minute, the attention span is so short, want me to forget about it and I always say, you don’t have a business, you should be able to simplify a tickly what you do, very very simple, an approach that most people understand, and he’s what Steve Job has to say simple can be hotter than complex you have to work hard to get your thinking, lean, to make a simple, what is worth it in the end because once you get there you can move mountains, so whatever you’re offering how can you make it simple your Machina message, can you simplify whatever you offer how can you, mickey Mickey very simple no baby whatever you offering your product and services, could there be incidents where it is a complex, yes or no, if it is a complex offer what you want to do if you want to show them everything that you do and everything, The apartment service capable of right now.

So you can pick up bits and pieces of it that you know that you don’t let me simplify, let me make a compelling and just make that your front end offer, so that they get a little bit it’ll taste of what you do and they showed them a little bit more you show them a little bit more, all the things you could do for you, is what all my company can do for you, when I get to Duke operating one of the rule that I’ve learned is when I’m writing my coffee when I’m writing a, what I’m talking my landing page my mocking message, i picture my Prospect is this, it’s my message simple in, enough the Homer Simpson will get it it’s my message compelling enough, If Homer Simpson sitting on the couch, drinking beer watching TV that would compel him to take an action, and by, so I always have that picture in my mind when I’m crafting my message, what Homa understand this, if I know how much time to understand this, i got something, that makes sense, okay take 2 minutes how long, 2 minutes discuss among the table just the first couple ideas of share with you, awesome, so how does this apply to you, does how does it apply to you, house party business, yes, yes, what I do a couple of things of course not even saying is, addicting, in 2-3 years what people want, as far as I’m concerned for mold entrepreneurs, you go where the money is, meaning you look at what people already buying, and then you sell them all of that, versus, i’ve got this part of nobody has it it’s it was revolutionary, When did the Revolutionary I stop listening, nobody’s done this before, like it’s not a plus, because most of the deal that I was involved in that lost money is because of those ideas, because nobody’s ever done this before nobody was seen this before this is going to change, he would because it means that is going to take off a lot of money to educate the market place to buy this, and I don’t want to play the game, business is a matter of, 6 biggest Celtic figures, i want to play that game I want to go with okay people spending money on this, well maybe I can sell something Elizabeth similar can I sell it cheaper, can I can I sell going to make it faster can I make a bigger can I make it, looks different different, i don’t want to challenge in business, Are You the One Challenge, nobody ever done this before, let me do it, coffee kind of money, it’s my ego talking, nowadays, i’m like okay I don’t want to challenge I don’t like the analogy I use all the time on a show there with Benson, if I’m going to find a boxing match I don’t want to fight Mike Tyson, i’m not interested., i want to fight a 10 year old kid, going to rain I win, i want to know if I’m going into this business I’m going to this industry that even though I could be, wrong 50% 60%, and I could have a lot of failures I can make a lot of mistakes, this thing was you work I have enough margin that this thing would work so that’s why I hate low-margin, business because there’s no margin for error if your business only got 10% margin, So I don’t even touch those businesses I want high-margin I want existing demand I want lousy competitors.

I want I want to see competitors the marketing sucks the customer service sucks the product, average making a shitload of money I want to give you that, because I know I can create something better, i know I can provide better service I can provide better experience, i Can Do Better marketing and beat them, i don’t want strong competitors I’m not interested that doesn’t make sense, i just my perspective not saying you cannot do something totally revolutionary I mean I support you for that I’m just saying, i prefer to go with more a proven path because when you go to the bank and deposit a big check, is not going to ask a question, what you think they should make this money, what’s it what’s the original idea, Or did you know I can’t say I can’t accept this deposit, cuz, it’s kind of like it., innovative enough, yes, anyone know how much, but so nobody’s answered that question number three to deliver unique and outstanding experience, from the moment of contact, aKA did deliver holyshit moment, did you live a holy s*** moment is an experience when you go to an Apple store to experience when you buy a knife, iPhone, are you actually just buying a phone, what are you buying, what are you buying, what artificial does he have, what can you do when iPhone, what are you buying, apple ecosystem very good yes, you buy access to Internet access to music you buy access to music, you buy access to what, the everything, it’s not just the phone, is access now to a whole much bigger Apple ecosystem so think of what you, You are doing as a small business you want to deliver value experience more than just your core product, whatever you’re selling that thing that you selling that’s good, but you better be able to add value out of them, beyond just, the thing that you sell, because whatever you said was so limited, your financial planner your real estate agent you are a tech person you’re a person you whatever might be, he’s what we do but what you do is only a out of the thousands and thousands, one need to sell at any given time, so if this is all you do you’re so limited, bush’s hey you know what this is what I do but what you do is not who you are, play Down, what you do is not who you are, a lot of people, know Who You Are, you are who you are, What you do is not who you are, it’s like example, i, people see me and they would think oh Danny says speaker yes, i don’t think of myself as Speaker first of all, i think of myself maybe maybe more like a teacher, i speak, a conferences, but I’m not a speaker, i, can do marketing, but I’m not a marketer, i can write, which of the number of books, but I’m not a writer, i do internal marketing, but I’m not an internet marketer, respond on April 2nd now what I mean by that, what I mean by that, what I mean by that, that’s it nothing more, dim the skill sets out the evolved over the years, tools, on my tool belt, but versus, you looked at that talk to people all I’m a blogger, i only do blogging all I’m a Facebook guy only do Facebook advertising on social media, No I do social media.

Autoblog, i do podcast, i’m all these things and I’m going to be snakes, because they kiss inflexibility is only what I do, who I am who I am I, you’re so limited, so think it’s so what you do we are, will you buy a Matthew Jordan community and you don’t just own computer you’ve become part of the entire Apple ecosystem, the entire Apple ecosystem, uPC office yet, i’m cool right, single disc, legal example, an experience so when can give entrepreneurs group we host a meetings at here Vancouver Club, why do I do it at Vancouver Club how how does that tie in with the experience, siri, about the environment yes, ambiance yes, it’s interesting because, if we talkin about success we talked about entrepreneur we want to impact the world we wanted to say well if you want to provide for family, We want to keep between the income what’s a better place than, a building that has there’s over a hundred years old a hundred years of History, where you have some of the most powerful wealthiest influential, entrepreneurs business people, as members, there’s no place like this isn’t is it it’s an experience yes, i could have done in a McDonald, how to do the same speech, do we get heated whatever makes sense, with what you do think of how can you create a craft and experience an environment that, before they even talk to you when they get in touch with you, don’t they have a, it’s a different experience for him, people willing to pay more for the connection with a person of elevator status and proceed celebrity, people willing to pay more for the connection with a person of elevated status and proceed, Celebrity going back to do business with you and you have your competitor provide kind of similar, same everything but if they perceive you as they perceive you as more, how well-connected they would prefer to do business with you does that make sense, okay and notice I said pre sieve, celebrity, perception, is reality, weepy. My perception is reality, does Steve Jobs have been position at the iconic celebrity in the Apple world in the computer world, not just Steve Job he’s the CEO, he’s Steve Jobs, not if you think of Bill Gates, is Bill Gates wealthy, is Bali wealthier, steve Jobs, but look, look at what they have done Apple has created position, wedding soup. Way better in the Apple world and Bill Gates versus Microsoft, it’s a difference, okay, experience to their retail outlets interesting story Apple, actually, got the idea at first model the store after get the gap, The gap, the CEO of the gab, so actually the gap, how to seal the gap, what’s involved with whole process of creating store cream the Apple Store, and want to make a simple make a queen make it, kind of high-tech, how do you think about it and funny because Apple people actually used to call himself, cuz this phone looks like the gap, remodel what works and the CEO of the Gabby when he was phenomenal and they were involved in the process, so that’s an experience as well, number for Apple has very wisely taking on an overall look at what the computer, figure out what they really want to do with their computers and built a platform around that this is critical, critical, the pocketbook reading predicting the needs right where, the money is where, the cash is Flowing you want to position yourself in front of that have a quote coming up, So Steve Jobs said you can just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them.

By the time you get it built if you want something you know of course Steve is referring to the tech world is, things change how fast, integro, very fast right there very fast, what is anticipating needs, you think, apple when you buy again which I think was a boy’s brilliant thing they have done is iTunes, because they sell me the song they make money on the front end, how many of you by, apps by the way if you please, how many of you by songs, joe’s Auto on iTunes, interesting, so you don’t just spend the money on the iPhone but you spent a whole lot more money yes, it’s funny I was playing this a game that I don’t play a lot of games but somehow it down with the stupid game anyway, Call The Walking Dead, walking Dead, a man yes awesome so I told my wife Jenny, free game, free game free game, i’m not going to spend money don’t worry I teach marketing I get all the tricks, can you deposit coins and upgrade, how to play the game on him a couple of minutes a day or something like that, weather in the bathroom, play the game, and I hit a certain plateau, but we’re getting killed by these other, enemies Walking Dead The Zombies, promise, 10 bucks, attends whatever little 10:15 bucks, that’s it that’s it, promises Jenny smart, because my iPhone iTune account is hooked up with her account, because if I buy something she’ll know, not a smart idea, stop spend 15 bucks an hour, awesome right, After few more days, couldn’t get through the next level, i’m like hey you don’t with you, oh and you said you need to teach marketing, we want to keep spending money it’s a free game to help you in your bio, lots of Grey I get this that said it’s a stupid game anyway I’m looking for that long this and that right, long behold back and forth this and that I spent about a hundred fifty bucks on the stupid f****** game, free free right now, i’m smart so at the first time is like, 50 X15 pocket bike fakta dispense big box one time the 56, one day, so I know my wife is going to yell at me she’s going to get me one, that’s three times right, if you wanna kill me just kill me once, three transactions one day, salsa Brava, but seriously leaving what you do what is, Define an offer how can you make it enticing it and how can you build a back in and they, services to your customers make it easy for them to buy is absolutely brilliant what can you do, to directly Larvitar customer-based increase your back end, what can you do to directly leverage your customer base increase a back-end and it may not be, core products and services, i’ll still get in may not be you call products and services and maybe somebody else, copart account services, it caught a joint venture is called what, you can put your other people’s parking services and get a cup, cuz your most valuable asset is not your customer service is not your products your customer base, the people to Loyal following, let me ask you a question, the new iPhone 6s is coming out right, how many have an iPhone right now like perfectly good iPhone, How many going to get the iPhone 6s be honest.

Couple people one person two people thinking about it okay, there you go, so even protecting myself and like I just got this phone a couple months ago, iPhone 6s, somebody needed, the camera is a little bit higher resolution, can I get it get it and then the new Apple TVs coming out, can I get that iPad Pro is coming up, can I get that to tell you one thing, no, not at all, go where the money is flowing and then just stand in front of it, simple statement, go where the money is Floyd and then to stand in front of it not where you think it’s going, stephen expect it’s going what it is doing is playing right now and spending money and then just stand in front of it, Are people spending money on Amazon yes or no, are people buy more digital products yes or no, yeah I’ll people buy online courses yes or no, so go where the money is, apple is absolutely and absolutely Shameless and Relentless about self-promotion, akad, so they make the nickel ship they sell cruise ship they deliver holyshit experience, moment and a polyp removed the s*** out of it, a lot of what we do is think about it you are a personal brand what, you are a personal brand regardless if you think you’re one or not, regardless, give you a call, repeat after me, attention, is the new currency again attention is the new currency, what is, attention is new currency, most companies fail because you’re not getting enough attention because of obscurity, people don’t know that their products are not good, not that the service and not with nobody knows who the f*** they are, The marketplace is so much noise they don’t even know, they exist, they don’t even know, this is a loud noise on the internet, how many how many tweeters are there, think about how many Facebook post, because attention is the new currency you can grow your company if you’re not getting attention, ., it is struggling to get customers I could almost guarantee, you not get enough attention to Marketplace, you’re not cutting through the Clutter you are not, wrecking you not standing out in this, noise, so how do you stand out, in Japan now they actually have, this new form of vending machine machine if you want to go buy a bottle of coke and you go there and you put in one, sandpoint right couple bucks, depends on how this new phone language vending machine you go there you press, They play you stand there and you play a commercial, 46160 seconds to minutes and out pops, about to cook, they don’t want your money, the one you attention, your attention given more valuable than money, but that says something, that’s pretty profound you think about it, not so good if you love Coke and you just sit there and there all day and, so they promoted Sheamus with letting self-promotion Donald Trump example, having another presidential yes, not the guy hate the guy doesn’t matter it does not matter there’s something to be learned from him, is Donald Trump famous easy well-known, ecco promoting himself, more than ever, what does that say what when is the best time to do marketing, when you’d only clients, unique lines on my God I need to make that sound when you don’t leak lines when you’re busier than ever, marketing, Not when you’re when you’re desperate.

That’s not, don’t have enough Capital to do so, so Steve Jobs again relentless, promoter, the speech every time the announcement new product, millions of people turn into that, what is a great speaker, the most companies go out of business because of a security so visibility, is more important than ability, disability, no I’m saying so good stop Philip exceptional service, instead of the money where the money is Flowing but I’m saying is disabilities one point in the building, i would consider, local Vancouver even on the internet, i’m relatively well no, do I stop promoting my brand, does this year I’ve done over now I think 1211 book something like that, just this year in the last 12 months I’ve done two more books in the next 6 months I’m going to publish two more books, in August while I was on vacation Alone by podcast short of Titans, In the next 12 months you see that on my YouTube channel probably, just going out there uploading producing, 3 to 500 videos, in the next 12 months, and that’s what I am doing, non-Stop, domination, promotion, personal branding, because when you have that, good things come to you you don’t have to chase deals, is easier when things come to you that you chose videos, yes, so my question to you is then what should you be doing to promote your brand, your Facebook I’m talking to social media I’m talking about your blog I’m talking about all these things, and that’s not even my main business this is on top of running all the companies being a part of the 25 companies, this is the size thing and I do more than probably a lot of entrepreneurs, because I know you by pushing that by you got to cut through the Clutter you got to stand out, By standing out there are bigger opportunities, that more lucrative opportunities and you can impact a lot more people does that make sense, so he’s what you need, pMP personal media platform, personal media platform so what is a personal media platform, i’m talking about your blog, how do I block right now, yes how often update a block, vlog, how many weeks in a month, superstore so you block your Facebook your Twitter on YouTube iTunes podcast, where is your platform, now what is a platform a platform is nothing more than nothing, a community a something that you do, does serve the greater good of others, write this down, a plus one is not something for yourself, because if it’s all about yourself, it doesn’t work you only go so far, so you think of Teresa socialite conference is that a platform yes or no, She’s able to meet other successful entrepreneurs like we’re friends on yes, proctor it’s a platform, if today is just Teresa alone and she goes knocked on doors on these big names, is she going to get the same attention, no because she has this, nASA platform, tucci created the platform first exposed to more opportunities, how many platforms do you have if you’re not getting enough business is your business not going as fast as you want, pretty much I can almost guarantee again, you missing this, it is not big enough, is not wide enough in Tekken twin pack enough people just like your today your Facebook, and so having 1000, like spend 100 thousand likes and fans business, is very simple, but you can still get attention without this, and this thing the problem is it is f****** slow, it is slow, it gives your building a personal media platform, It is slow do you just big one block your phone rings off the hook.

Tempos in the phone rings off the hook, no you got to keep doing and it takes time for some time to pick 6 months I’m going to take it one year, but when is the best time to start, you got a man that you got to keep growing and that’s why I said I promise you right now I’m making this promise, right now my YouTube channel has I don’t know 1000, 1200, 1200 subscribers, apathetic, 1001b on-camera 1200 subscribers, let’s have this conversation again A year later, let’s see how many subscribers I have, am I just do what I say I’m going to do like, i don’t know one video every two months in, 6 videos maybe 10 videos I don’t know, i sent 3 to 500 f****** videos, in the next 12 months, That’s the attitude that’s what it takes, not at all. To Portuguese now that’s what it takes, your computer is doing 10 is doing 20 I don’t want to win my competitor by little bit, i wanted you do 20 I do 200, you do 100 I do 1000, because as I build more than one to figure my personal media platform, easy it is to make money, so take a moment Take 2 minutes yesterday, if you’re a smaller, yes what if you tell me, yes, which you’ve done to the great right now. But what if your small business, tell me, okay, partnerships what do you mean by that, yes, yes, good, so if you don’t have a platform is it a good idea to get on other people’s platform, hello you have to pull people so what I’m doing now I’m on just this week, being on to other podcast being interview, because I launch my podcast, So if I want to grow my podcast what’s the best way I go other people who has a podcast, and then I talked about my podcast and talk about vision and talk about what podcast is about and I go there and I, people a percentage of all I like dad’s message I will go straight to his podcast to, to unlock everything on the people’s platform does that make sense, so that’s perfectly fine, how often do that, us, as much as possible, when do you stop promoting a personal brand, i just always look at Trump, this excerpt from a book about Trump the art of the deal, not very popular, call no such thing, as overexposure, not a book written by him but it’s by a reporter follow him for a couple years, and he was just talking about the whole time is the book is basically, Trump is up, relentless, shameless nonstop self-promotion machine that sprays basically what the book is about, supercell media platform for small business I believe there are 5 Keys how many keys, biggest Ricky’s, you want to be what, be somebody and then you want to do something, and then you want to, be somewhere, be somebody do something be somewhere, how do you beat somebody, give you an example of a block you can see as an expert if you have a book if you are providing education, no videos, somebody somebody somebody, do something means taking that yes, awesome question what are the two businesses, life coaching website design, so in this case you think you’re doing, so you like coach, okay which is better, i’m curious, wikipedia, web design okay, think of what I just said you are not yet you’re not what you do you’re not your business, So look at example.

It’s my brand but all the companies under the umbrella of the personal brand, so, i don’t you call me Rush, i do digital marketing, i have a financial planning business New Zealand I do events, i do publishing, i do a membership site, top Niche membership site we have ebooks, we have, so I’m all these things all these different businesses, but, with my bad back because my personal brand is strong enough, that I could use that to promote all these companies yes, ibiza weather, call Dusty, no no this is this is the action steps, so you offered this caca well now what how to apply disc when I say is you want to be somebody, you by being somebody to easiest way to add value to the marketplace by giving this a easy uke notes right, i getting my education the marketplace before I sell anything else, That position, and then do something everyday everyday if you stood 10 minutes a day promoting a business moving a business for work, weak and out tweeting Facebook something everyday every damn single day. Doing something, the people going to be somewhere I’m talking about this at home, going to be somebody, could you don’t know who we going to meet, you just don’t know who you going to meet, does icracked example met Jeffrey, they doing this massive project together and making this but if, jeffrey want to stay home, do to miss the opportunity so I never to almost I never turned any places, i could be a speaker I could I could get back I could be on podcast, what’s the time unless it’s so small but I’ll do it because I want to always do something and be song, Because I don’t know where that is going to lead to, i cannot predict what that can lead to, i called the unpredictable miracle, you don’t know, but I know by putting myself out there just keep, promoting my myself branding through something be somewhere something would show up is that make sense, and in this case anything show up so I have to be selectively pursue, 2 minutes discussing a table water just wanted a 10 times your finances 10 times, business ten times your marketing ten times your life hit the Subscribe button now.

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#People & Blogs #apple #become an entrepreneur #build a business #business success #create a business

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justluchettathatisall · 8 years ago

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Words from my heart 💖 tonight: Somethings I'm not going to explain and get into, however rest assured I am STILL Elder Manus. I had to understand that I wasn't designed to fit in. I struggled so long to be accepted and for others to understand what God had placed in my heart to do. What God called me to do. I didn't ask God for for the easy stuff. When I was in middle school I asked God for a ministry that would save lives and a ministry that reflects the love of God. And he gave me what I asked for. Not knowing fully what I would have to go through to get it. God wanted me to preach freedom, love and that he wanted a relationship with people and to buck tradition because it is killing his kingdom. Which means I had to make some tough decisions. To convert to how and what man wanted me to be verses what God wanted me to be. There were times I felt alone but I wasn't really alone because God is with me. I wasn't made to be adorn all pretty and sit stand in a pulpit in churches full of so called saved people who feel that they have no need for anything. I was created to be out and about , here and there preaching to everyday people. People who are NOT in churches thinking they have it all together. Now that I'm not tied to the inside of a church I feel God's presence so strongly and get to get my hands dirty. I can do what Jesus had done. I can love the unloveable. Speak of God's love and the miracles he have done for me. I get to pray for those who normally church folk would pass them by It's an awesome feeling to know that I can share God with people who are lost and surprisingly accept and appreciate God more than people who have spent most their lives in church. More importantly I don't have to shout form the roof tops that I got God. People are drawn to me by the life I live and ask me why I am the way I am and boy oh boy they are just as happy to hear about my Savior Jesus Christ as I am about telling them about him This to me is ministry. I miss being in the pulpit. But I'm getting my hands dirty for God and I don't ever want to sit still and look pretty.

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shanie-the-toyaddict · 3 years ago

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"Into The Horizon" - Part 1 (A quick and dirty synopsis)

So, I don't remember if I ever posted this or not but remember that mega-fic saga I was writing and abandoned?

I've decided to post synopses for all the parts on the off chance that someone might potentially give a damn or want to know how the story ended.

Note: This is just Part 1, "Vanished With The Dawn". That story is on AO3 in full. Again, this saga will never be fully completed, but it will be listed here for... I dunno. I guess this is just my way of saying goodbye.

So, without further adieu.

Synopses Under Cut

Chapter 1 – Into The Mists

It’s 2001.

Meet Tina LaMotte. She’s a rising women’s MMA superstar from Sacramento, California. She likes violence, tea, and the WWE. Very specifically, she likes Shane McMahon who she thinks is the hottest guy in the company. She also enjoys the internet and chatting with her two best online friends Billie and Nikki. They also like Shane.

Shane disappears one day. There is no trace of foul play but also no trace of him. Everyone is sad and tries to cope. Tina, meanwhile, starts having really weird dreams about him calling for her to “come with me”.

Chapter 2 – Traditional Family Ruthlessness

It’s the 28th Century on the other side of the Galaxy.

Meet Shane McMahon. Stolen from 2001 on Earth, he’s been pulled through time and space to the outskirts of a galactic empire called “The Gorosian Empire”. Now, he’s just trying to move up in the world he’s been stuck in for over a decade, namely a futuristic arena fighting syndicate where he’s just gotten promoted. Now he’s helping promote the show. Unfortunately for the syndicate, they have a ton of competition. Lucky for Shane, the 28th century knows nothing of his father’s methods of destroying those pesky territory systems and it works out really well for everyone, especially Shane.

Chapter 3 – What? Where? When?

It’s still the 28th Century and still the other side of the galaxy.

Now Tina is trapped there too, stolen for usage as a fighter in the same syndicate Shane’s working for (although she doesn’t know that yet). She’s stripped of her name and given a designation – Manu-9172. She is not happy about this. She's also fitted with a Biotechnological device in her neck which allows her to survive in her new environment and a universal translator which lets her understand everyone - More or less. Tina is displeased by all of this as well. The arena circuit or “Heig’on” doesn’t care and she's sent to begin her training.

Chapter 4 – The First Fight

Tina has her first fight in the arena. She was an unbeatable fighter on Earth, and decided to blow off her training sessions because why bother? Unfortunately, aliens don’t share the same weaknesses and her UFC-style tactics don’t work. She is humiliated and decides to try and learn how to fight Heig’on style.

Chapter 5 – The Era of Cathal

Shane has a new name: Cathal. Like Tina, he was stripped of his real one upon arrival and, despite now being a big shot in the syndicate, still isn’t permitted to have it back. But he enjoys his new name (pronounced ka-THALL due to alien translation errors) and is doing well. When he finds out about Tina he is fascinated. There aren’t many other humans in the syndicate. And, oh shit, she’s pretty.

Chapter 6 – Musings of an Ancient God

Meet The Songminder – a non-binary time-displaced telepathic alien superbeing who, like Tina and Cathal (Shane) is also stuck in the Heig’on. Zir extinct species was immeasurably old and too peaceful and passive for its own good and, after being brought far forward through time to the 28th century, Zhe tolerates being in the Heig’on for the sake of Zir best friend Cathal. Also, the two of them are plotting a rebellion against the Heig’on, so that keeps Zir around as well.

Chapter 7 – Life and Times in ‘Sa Heig’on a Manu’

Tina is fighting and winning in the Heig’on. Along the way, she does everything in her power to absorb her new surroundings including learning the language (Gorosian). She also learns several other things including basic Gorosian history and the disturbing fact that none of the slaves revolt because the Heig’on Masters have a particularly horrid torture technique called “The Living Hell” that makes you wish you were dead but never grants you the luxury. When she’s not learning though, she’s fighting. This includes frequent matches to the death or “Monto” fights. (Non-deathmatch fights are called “Gontzos”) They bother her at first but she adjusts. After five or so years, she is invited to join a deathmatch tournament. She accepts and, as a qualifier, is pitted against her first human ever. It’s another women’s MMA/UFC woman with sandy blonde hair, a mean face, and a wicked armbar. She kills the woman and goes on to reach the championship match. Before it, though, she discovers that she can never go home (due to lack of technology) and that humans went extinct by the early 22nd century.

Chapter 8 – The Grandest Stage in The Galaxy

Cathal, now one of the highest ranking officials in the Heig’on, is both excited and terrified about the championship fight. On one hand, the reigning champion is an undefeated, nearly invincible rock creature that will very likely kill his new favorite fighter (Tina). However, if anyone can beat the bastard, it’s her, and he really hopes she can succeed as it means that he will finally get to meet her.

Chapter 9 – The Bronze Inferno and The Great Wall

Tina enters the ring with the Champion, dismayed to find out it’s a creature she’s never fought before and has no idea how to beat. She tries anyway and comes dangerously close to losing before accidentally finding his one weakness and killing him. She is crowned champion and, soaking up the fan’s adoration, vows to be on top of the Heig’on forever.

Chapter 10 – Small World, Big Galaxy

Tina is cleaned up and taken to meet the big boss who has been pulling the strings for her since she arrived. She’s shocked to find out it’s Shane friggin McMahon. Shane, meanwhile, is stunned to realize she knows who he is as he had originally thought her to be from decades after his time. Things get complicated though when sparks start to fly. Literally. There’s this weird electricity current that flows when they make direct contact and, to Tina’s surprise, Cathal asks for her to be his date to the tournament ball. She accepts.

Chapter 11 – To Be a Person Again

Tina, for the first time in over half a decade, is being treated like a person. On top of that, she’s been permitted to leave the Heig’on compound and visit another planet for a grand ball as the guest of honor. On Shane’s arm no less. But Shane isn’t the Shane she remembers from TV. He has mood swings and is aggressive and angry. He seems to get angrier as the night progresses and she realizes that she might get executed before her reign can even begin.

Of note: Upon leaving the Heig’on for the first time, Tina finally gets a look outside and realizes they aren’t on a planet or even a space station. They’re on a moonbase to a gas giant. She files the knowledge away for later.

Also of note: Rather unexpectedly, Tina and Shane travel to the grand ball, not via spaceship, but by a teleporting speeder that Shane named Ann’A, after Marissa.

Chapter 12 – A Puzzlement

Cathal has no idea what the new champion is going to him. She keeps sending electric shocks into him when they touch and she’s making him feel emotions again which, after over two decades in the Heig’on, he’d managed to get rid of. The particular emotion that that makes him feel is anger but, on a suggestion, he decides to spend the rest of the night with her to try and “sort her out”.

Chapter 13 – We Aren’t In Greenwich Any More

Tina finds herself taken to a lush garden with a treehouse and a surprising amount of privacy. There are no cameras, guards, or any surveillance in this place and she and she has a candid conversation where, after an outburst, Cathal admits that he is feeling for her and has her speak his real name. She does and he makes a vow to protect her in the Heig’on for as long as he can. This includes taking her on as a live-in side piece and personal assistant. Tina is stoked. She’s gonna get laid! By Shane!

Also, she finally earns a name:

Solara.

Chapter 14 – Love Is A Battlefield

Cathal is concerned about Solara’s “Test” to become his companion. She’s already been installed as his PA but being his sex companion involves a test with a rather large amount of domming that he isn’t completely comfortable with. Also, the thought of his prized fighter as a hired lover disturbs him. He seeks advice from The Songminder who tells him that he's approaching the situation wrong. Solara won't be his courtesan, she'll be his companion. It comforts Cathal and, during a coffee break with Solara, she proves that she’s happy with being a sub (something very surprising to Cathal) and Cathal realizes it just might work.

Chapter 15 – Beyond the Sunrise

Tina passed the test and moves in with Cathal. However, Cathal is being very distant. He really didn’t like domming her that hard. Tina figures this out and gives him what he really wants – a chance to not be in charge for a while. Turns out, Tina is a switch and, as she finds, so is Cathal. They have a wild night of sex and Tina falls asleep dreaming of Earth and the WWE. When she wakes up soon after, Cathal is there and she takes solace that, although she’s lost her entire life on Earth, she’s made a new one in the Heig’on and, even though there are no windows in the compound, she knows there will be sun.

Part 2 will be posted as soon as I get the synopsis written.

Again, not sure if anyone cares, but I'm doing this mostly for me.

#Into the Horizon #Shanie's Insane Dream Fic #Shanie's Fanfiction

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top1course · 5 years ago

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Steve Jobs Marketing Strategy – Sell Your Ideas the Apple Way – Dan Lok

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If you’re ready so, now there’s a new movie coming up in October, call Steve Jobs, steve Jobs, double those of you who know me I’m a huge fan of Steve Jobs, i’ve read his book like Polly, 5/6 *, so that’s a new movie coming out called the man in the machine, Steve Jobs apparently there was an otter, steve Jobs movie a couple years ago yes, you seen that before, yeah so apparently this movie They said that, i’ll from the people working apples that that this is a more accurate representation of thief, actually say that when they washed the movie, steve, the thing is Steve so that’s pretty incredible, interesting to do maybe a a short keynote on Steve Jobs and on, marketing and one of what makes Apple so successful, and what makes them different from any other companies and more importantly how does that apply to you, What type of Interest, and again this is just from my own perspective by what perspective, my observation is and I will do it in a way that, cuz he was in the computer business, software business, you see as I share with you these things can can be applicable to you doesn’t matter what business you’re in, so Steve Jobs the secret to Apple’s marketing genius, now when I say apple what kind of company did I ask you the question what kind of company is Apple, what would you say y’all the answer, what pieces, okay, lifestyle okay, culture okay, information Innovation yes, cool brother, design okay good, all challenging status quo, style okay very cool, using directive how many PC users, okay how many of your Apple how many volts, how do you do both, like how do you do both, statistics about Apple so in case, Of course you know it’s very profitable, everything hell yeah but you might not know actually exactly, we know that there are nowadays are there a lot of retailers that struggling and it states that thousand, thousands of retailers going-out-of-business yes or no, aldair retailers going out of business in Canada, name some of them Sears, dallas, max, mcDonald’s closing some of their shop yes stores yet, okay yeah okay, second City, zone e s no let me ask you a question, small companies of a company’s so even big companies are having a tough time with this economy, what is going on, no in spite of apocalypse, aldi’s bajor changed not just a certain sector, across different people company been around a long time you see them for 5 10 20, bam overnight, not one store, how many stores, hundred thousand Longview Farm Shop Rio 2 on Kodi., socialproof time, how to apply for small business, Small companies what do we have to do what we have to be aware of looking at this as a small business.

What do we have to be aware of, change yes, innovation yes, emerging technology s, customer needs female where being able to yes, relationship management very good very good, so without Mystics I pulled, fuel by the popularity of the new iPhone 6 gave Apple and even bigger the over other retailers, how many people Apple Store, okay, overall the retailers in productivity with its doors at generating a staggering 4700, $30.82 in sales per square foot, now if any of you understand, that’s how they measure yes earning per square foot, is that a low number is that a like a high number, it is a crazy crazy numbers, i was, when I want a few months ago I was in New York, and I went to this an Apple store right, On 5th Avenue, which bill is very well-known, yeah they’re well-known, and I talked to check it out when it was Winter and I checked the dog winning at the store and was it was a winter and with snow, freezing cold pack, the place was packed, and then later on I went online, that particular store mix, so we’re on Accu-Chek check, i don’t know how much is doing now but they stayed kind of report approximately that Fifth Avenue, about 350 million dollars in sales a year, one store, 350 million in sales, amazing, apple announced Financial results 2015 third quarter, end of June to 27th 2015 the company posted quarterly revenue of 49, 2.6 billion dollars and quality net profit of 9.7 billion dollars, okay, so is this a yes or no, yes or no Revenue, is it applied to my business I’ll share with you, my observation is there are basically and by the way over 200, Building Dalton Casper serve, 200000200 billion in cash that you don’t know what to do with, that’s a lot of cash, yes that’s a lot of cash because apple has a lipid different Google acquisitions, so pretty incredible, five powerful ways how many ways of ways Apple has called, loyal raving fans, lauren fans, so, way to take notes, okay here we go how many people you know the first day of opening a new iPhone I need, iPad or whatever Manu product coming coming out and people line up in front of Apple Store for days, yes, okay so what is a very big, loyal following yes almost fanatic following yes, the questions why doesn’t people lined up to buy Sony products, why doesn’t people want to buy Microsoft products, number one I believe because Apple give people products that exceptionally good, And putting down Lobster make a they make coochie, they make cool ship, not just good product exceptionally good products, if you think about it how many of you use an iPhone curious, okay think about it with an iPhone, it is, actually, but, it is actually, an unnecessary, expenditure, 2 years ago nobody needs, and iPhone, we don’t need an iPhone we need food we need water with each other in iPhone, but nowadays you ask people ok your TV, all your iPhone, pick one, what about iPhone vs your computer which one, computer iPhone iPhone so you think about it from so what do you do with it, don’t stuff that people actually, don’t really need, but now it’s to a point where we cannot live without, like why oh my God how many of you lose your phone go crazy, you’ll be like, my God right, all my contacts everything I want my business from here so you think about it, People exceptionally good.

How do you make products that are good, a better question would be how good is your product, how good is your service, the point of service, and it’s a great quote by Steve Jobs, it’s really hard to design products by focus groups a lot of times people don’t know what they want until you show, what next, apple so successful is they can predict what the word, predict the needs of the marketplace, what do people want, maybe they don’t even know they wanted yet but how can we create something, exceptional that’s so extraordinary that, when people see it they would be like wow I didn’t expect that you could, i thought this the phone but, full music internet, it’s not just a phone, steve Jobs, number to the parts of fun and easy to use AKA in a cell, Article that iPad, wheelie is Child’s Play more than half of these babies use Apple tablet when they’re just one, one, so they make it very very easy use, intuitive one time I was going to my friend’s house having dinner, and his son was, 6 years old I think 67 years old back then, and then my friend that dad was telling him all go back to the room don’t leave candy and which is kind of, talking to the kids, okay, and I was like, listening listening and finally the cables like, like that so that. That was pretty funny but how how did the kids learn how to do that, hello, that’s it swipe, are the kids from using iPad for 2 years, janSport music, so, the question is how can you you make your product and services, more simple to understand, It’s what you doing to complex if you offer to complex, because complexity is the enemy of execution, complexity is the enemy of what, of what, execution so, i always had this Genie is just what, genius in simplicity, so how can you make what you do simple, 50 weeks ago I was in a business meeting and there was another entrepreneur, talking about one of his Venture and talk about the picture me on a deal, and he was explaining to me, and he said it gave me up like a 5 minute elevator pitch and I said I don’t quite get it, and he’s I need more time like I need an hour to explain this to you, explain this to me we’ve got a blah blah, help me fall what I’m saying if you can explain what the heck you do forget find Minute in 1 minute, we’ve got a father, Don’t even have one minute, the attention span is so short, want me to forget about it and I always say, you don’t have a business, you should be able to simplify a tickly what you do, very very simple, an approach that most people understand, and he’s what Steve Job has to say simple can be hotter than complex you have to work hard to get your thinking, lean, to make a simple, what is worth it in the end because once you get there you can move mountains, so whatever you’re offering how can you make it simple your Machina message, can you simplify whatever you offer how can you, mickey Mickey very simple no baby whatever you offering your product and services, could there be incidents where it is a complex, yes or no, if it is a complex offer what you want to do if you want to show them everything that you do and everything, The apartment service capable of right now.

So you can pick up bits and pieces of it that you know that you don’t let me simplify, let me make a compelling and just make that your front end offer, so that they get a little bit it’ll taste of what you do and they showed them a little bit more you show them a little bit more, all the things you could do for you, is what all my company can do for you, when I get to Duke operating one of the rule that I’ve learned is when I’m writing my coffee when I’m writing a, what I’m talking my landing page my mocking message, i picture my Prospect is this, it’s my message simple in, enough the Homer Simpson will get it it’s my message compelling enough, If Homer Simpson sitting on the couch, drinking beer watching TV that would compel him to take an action, and by, so I always have that picture in my mind when I’m crafting my message, what Homa understand this, if I know how much time to understand this, i got something, that makes sense, okay take 2 minutes how long, 2 minutes discuss among the table just the first couple ideas of share with you, awesome, so how does this apply to you, does how does it apply to you, how’s the party business, yes, yes, what I do a couple of things of course not even saying is, addicting, in 2-3 years what people want, as far as I’m concerned for mold entrepreneurs, you go where the money is, meaning you look at what people already buying, and then you sell them all of that, versus, i’ve got this part of nobody has it it’s it was revolutionary, When did the Revolutionary I stop listening, nobody’s done this before, like it’s not a plus, because most of the deal that I was involved in that lost money is because of those ideas, because nobody’s ever done this before nobody was seen this before this is going to change, he would because it means that is going to take off a lot of money to educate the market place to buy this, and I don’t want to play the game, business is a matter of, 6 biggest Celtic figures, i want to play that game I want to go with okay people spending money on this, well maybe I can sell something Elizabeth similar can I sell it cheaper, can I can I sell going to make it faster can I make a bigger can I make it, looks different different, i don’t want to challenge in business, Are You the One Challenge, nobody ever done this before, let me do it, coffee kind of money, it’s my ego talking, nowadays, i’m like okay I don’t want to challenge I don’t like the analogy I use all the time on a show there with Benson, if I’m going to find a boxing match I don’t want to fight Mike Tyson, i’m not interested., i want to fight a 10 year old kid, going to rain I win, i want to know if I’m going into this business I’m going to this industry that even though I could be, wrong 50% 60%, and I could have a lot of failures I can make a lot of mistakes, this thing was you work I have enough margin that this thing would work so that’s why I hate low-margin, business because there’s no margin for error if your business only got 10% margin, So I don’t even touch those businesses I want high-margin I want existing demand I want lousy competitors.

I want I want to see competitors the marketing sucks the customer service sucks the product, average making a shitload of money I want to give you that, because I know I can create something better, i know I can provide better service I can provide better experience, i Can Do Better marketing and beat them, i don’t want strong competitors I’m not interested that doesn’t make sense, i just my perspective not saying you cannot do something totally revolutionary I mean I support you for that I’m just saying, i prefer to go with more a proven path because when you go to the bank and deposit a big check, is not going to ask a question, what you think they should make this money, what’s it what’s the original idea, Or did you know I can’t say I can’t accept this deposit, cuz, it’s kind of like it., innovative enough, yes, anyone know how much, but so nobody’s answered that question number three to deliver unique and outstanding experience, from the moment of contact, aKA did deliver holyshit moment, did you live a holy s*** moment is an experience when you go to an Apple store to experience when you buy a knife, iPhone, are you actually just buying a phone, what are you buying, what are you buying, what artificial does he have, what can you do when iPhone, what are you buying, apple ecosystem very good yes, you buy access to Internet access to music you buy access to music, you buy access to what, the everything, it’s not just the phone, is access now to a whole much bigger Apple ecosystem so think of what you, You are doing as a small business you want to deliver value experience more than just your core product, whatever you’re selling that thing that you selling that’s good, but you better be able to add value out of them, beyond just, the thing that you sell, because whatever you said was so limited, your financial planner your real estate agent you are a tech person you’re a person you whatever might be, he’s what we do but what you do is only a out of the thousands and thousands, one need to sell at any given time, so if this is all you do you’re so limited, bush’s hey you know what this is what I do but what you do is not who you are, play Down, what you do is not who you are, a lot of people, know Who You Are, you are who you are, What you do is not who you are, it’s like example, i, people see me and they would think oh Danny says speaker yes, i don’t think of myself as Speaker first of all, i think of myself maybe maybe more like a teacher, i speak, a conferences, but I’m not a speaker, i, can do marketing, but I’m not a marketer, i can write, which of the number of books, but I’m not a writer, i do internet marketing, but I’m not an internet marketer, respond on April 2nd now what I mean by that, what I mean by that, what I mean by that, that’s it nothing more, dim the skill sets out the evolved over the years, tools, on my tool belt, but versus, you looked at that talk to people or I’m a blogger, i only do blogging all I’m a Facebook guy only do Facebook advertising on social media, No I do social media.

Autoblog, i do podcast, i’m all these things and I’m going to be snakes, because they kiss inflexibility is only what I do, who I am who I am I, you’re so limited, so think it’s so what you do we are, will you buy a Matthew Jordan community and you don’t just own computer you’ve become part of the entire Apple ecosystem, the entire Apple ecosystem, uPC office yet, i’m cool right, single disc, legal example, an experience so when can give entrepreneurs group we host a meetings at here Vancouver Club, why do I do it at Vancouver Club how how does that tie in with the experience, siri, about the environment yes, ambiance yes, it’s interesting because, if we talkin about success we talked about entrepreneur we want to impact the world we wanted to say well if you want to provide for family, We want to keep between the income what’s a better place than, a building that has there’s over a hundred years old a hundred years of History, where you have some of the most powerful wealthiest influential, entrepreneurs business people, as members, there’s no place like this isn’t is it it’s an experience yes, i could have done in a McDonald, how to do the same speech, do we get heated whatever makes sense, so with what you do think of how can you create and craft and experience an environment that, before they even talk to you when they get in touch with you, don’t they have a, it’s a different experience for him, people willing to pay more for the connection with a person of elevator status and proceed celebrity, people willing to pay more for the connection with a person of elevated status and proceed, Celebrity going back to do business with you and you have your competitor provide kind of similar, same everything but if they perceive you as they perceive you as more, how well-connected they would prefer to do business with you does that make sense, okay and notice I said pre sieve, celebrity, perception, is reality, weepy. My perception is reality, does Steve Jobs have been position at the iconic celebrity in the Apple world in the computer world, not just Steve Job he’s the CEO, he’s Steve Jobs, not if you think of Bill Gates, is Bill Gates wealthy, is Bali wealthier, steve Jobs, but look, look at what they have done Apple has created position, wedding soup. Way better in the Apple world and Bill Gates versus Microsoft, it’s a difference, okay, experience to their retail outlets interesting story Apple, actually, got the idea at first model the store after get the gap, The gap, the CEO of the gab, so actually the gap, how to seal the gap, what’s involved with whole process of creating store cream the Apple Store, and want to make a simple make a queen make it, kind of high-tech, how do you think about it and funny because Apple people actually used to call himself, cuz this phone looks like the gap, remodel what works and the CEO of the Gabby when he was phenomenal and they were involved in the process, so that’s an experience as well, number for Apple has very wisely taking on an overall look at what the computer, figure out what they really want to do with their computers and built a platform around that this is critical, critical, the pocketbook reading predicting the needs right where, the money is where, The cash is Flowing you want to position yourself in front of that have a quote coming up.

So Steve Jobs said you can just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them, by the time you get it built if you want something you know of course Steve is referring to the tech world is, things change how fast, integro, very fast right there very fast, what is anticipating needs, you think, apple when you buy again which I think was a boy’s brilliant thing they have done is iTunes, because they sell me the song they make money on the front end, how many of you by, apps by the way if you please, how many of you by songs, joe’s Auto on iTunes, interesting, so you don’t just spend the money on the iPhone but you spent a whole lot more money yes, It’s funny I was playing this game that I don’t play a lot of games but I’m not down with the stupid game anyway, call The Walking Dead, walking Dead, a man yes awesome so I told my wife Jenny, free game, free game free game, i’m not going to spend money don’t worry I teach marketing I get all the tricks, can you deposit coins and upgrade, how to play the game on him a couple of minutes a day or something like that, weather in the bathroom, play the game, and I hit a certain plateau, but we’re getting killed by these other, enemies Walking Dead The Zombies, promise, 10 bucks, attends whatever little 10:15 bucks, that’s it that’s it, promises Jenny smart, because my iPhone iTune account is hooked up with her account, because if I buy something she’ll know, not a smart idea, stop spend 15 bucks an hour, Awesome right, after few more days, couldn’t get through the next level, i’m like hey you don’t with you, oh and you said you need to teach marketing, we want to keep spending money it’s a free game to help you in your bio, lots of gray I get this that said it’s a stupid game anyway I’m looking for that long this and that right, long behold back and forth this and that I spent about a hundred fifty bucks on the stupid f****** game, free free right now, i’m smart so at the first time is like, 50 X15 pocket bike fakta dispense big box one time the 56, one day, so I know my wife is going to yell at me she’s going to get me one, that’s three times right, if you wanna kill me just kill me once, three transactions one day, salsa Brava, but seriously leaving what you do what is, Define an offer how can you make it enticing it and how can you build a back in and they, services to your customers make it easy for them to buy is absolutely brilliant what can you do, to directly Larvitar customer-based increase your back end, what can you do to directly leverage your customer base increase a back-end and it may not be, core products and services, i’ll still get in may not be you call products and services and maybe somebody else, copart account services, it caught a joint venture is called what, you can put your other people’s parking services and get a cup, cuz your most valuable asset is not your customer service is not your products your customer base, the people to Loyal following, let me ask you a question, the new iPhone 6s is coming out right, how many have an iPhone right now like perfectly good iPhone, How many going to get the iPhone 6s be honest.

Couple people one person two people thinking about it okay, there you go, so even protecting myself and like I just got this phone a couple months ago, iPhone 6s, somebody needed, the camera is a little bit higher resolution, can I get it get it and then the new Apple TVs coming out, can I get that iPad Pro is coming up, can I get that to tell you one thing, no, not at all, go where the money is flowing and then just stand in front of it, simple statement, go where the money is Floyd and then to stand in front of it not where you think it’s going, stephen expect it’s going what it is doing is playing right now and spending money and then just stand in front of it, Are people spending money on Amazon yes or no, are people buy more digital products yes or no, yeah I’ll people buy online courses yes or no, so go where the money is, apple is absolutely and absolutely Shameless and Relentless about self-promotion, akad, so they make the nickel ship they sell cruise ship they deliver holyshit experience, moment and a polyp removed the s*** out of it, a lot of what we do is think about it you are a personal brand what, you are a personal brand regardless if you think you’re one or not, regardless, give you a call, repeat after me, attention, is the new currency again attention is the new currency, what is, attention is new currency, most companies fail because you’re not getting enough attention because of obscurity, people don’t know that their products are not good, not that the service is not good nobody knows who the f*** they are, The marketplace is so much noise they don’t even know, they exist, they don’t even know, this is a loud noise on the internet, how many how many tweeters are there, think about how many Facebook post, because attention is the new currency you can grow your company if you’re not getting attention, ., it is struggling to get customers I could almost guarantee, you not get enough attention to Marketplace, you’re not cutting through the Clutter you are not, wrecking you not standing out in this, noise, so how do you stand out, in Japan now they actually have, this new form of vending machine machine if you want to go buy a bottle of coke and you go there and you put in one, sandpoint right couple bucks, depends on how this new phone language vending machine you go there you press, They play you stand there and you play a commercial, 46160 seconds to minutes and out pops, about to cook, they don’t want your money, the one you attention, your attention given more valuable than money, but that says something, that’s pretty profound you think about it, not so good if you love Coke and you just sit there and there all day and, so they promoted Sheamus with letting self-promotion Donald Trump example, having another presidential yes, not the guy hate the guy doesn’t matter it does not matter there’s something to be learned from him, is Donald Trump famous easy well-known, ecco promoting himself, more than ever, what does that say what when is the best time to do marketing, when you’d only clients, unique lines on my God I need to make that sound when you don’t leak lines when you’re busier than ever, Marketing.

Not when you’re when you’re desperate, that’s not, don’t have enough Capital to do so, so Steve Jobs again relentless, promoter, the speech every time the announcement new product, millions of people turn into that, what is a great speaker, the most companies go out of business because of a security so visibility, is more important than ability, disability, no I’m saying so good stop Philip exceptional service, instead of the money where the money is Flowing but I’m saying is disabilities one point in a building, i would consider, local Vancouver even on the internet, i’m relatively well no, do I stop promoting my brand, does this year I’ve done over now I think 1211 book something like that, just this year in the last 12 months I’ve done two more books in the next 6 months I’m going to publish two more books, in August while I was on vacation Alone by podcast short of Titans, In the next 12 months you see that on my YouTube channel probably, just going out there uploading producing, 3 to 500 videos, in the next 12 months, and that’s what I am doing, non-Stop, domination, promotion, personal branding, because when you have that, good things come to you you don’t have to chase deals, is easier when he has come to you that you chose videos, yes, so my question to you is then what should you be doing to promote your brand, your Facebook on talking to social media I’m talking about your blog I’m talking about all these things, and that’s not even my main business this is on top of running all the companies being a part of the 25 companies, this is the size thing and I do more than probably a lot of entrepreneurs, because I know you by pushing that by you got to cut through the Clutter you got to stand out, By standing out there are bigger opportunities, that more lucrative opportunities and you can impact a lot more people does that make sense, so he’s what you need, pMP personal media platform, personal media platform so what is a personal media platform, i’m talking about your blog, how do I block right now, yes how often update a block, vlog, how many weeks in a month, superstore so you block your Facebook your Twitter on YouTube iTunes podcast, where is your platform, now what is a platform a platform is nothing more than nothing, a community a something that you do, does serve the greater good of others, write this down, a plus one is not something for yourself, because if it’s all about yourself, it doesn’t work you only go so far, so you think of Teresa socialite conference is that a platform yes or no, She’s able to meet other successful entrepreneurs like we’re friends on yes, proctor it’s a platform, if today is just Teresa alone and she goes knocked on doors on these big names, is she going to get the same attention, no because she has this, nASA platform, tucci created the platform first exposed to more opportunities, how many platforms do you have if you’re not getting enough business is your business not going as fast as you want, pretty much I can almost guarantee again, you missing this, it is not big enough, is not wide enough in Tekken twin pack enough people just like your today your Facebook, and so having 1000, lifespan of 100,000 likes and fans make a difference in a business, is very simple, but you can still get attention without this, and this thing the problem is it is f****** slow, It is slow.

It gives your building a personal media platform, it is slow do you just big one block your phone rings off the hook, tempos in the phone rings off the hook, no you got to keep doing and it takes time for some time to pick 6 months I’m going to take it one year, but when is the best time to start, you got a man that you got to keep growing and that’s why I said I promise you right now I’m making this promise, right now my YouTube channel has I don’t know 1000, 1200, 1200 subscribers, apathetic, 1001b on camera 1200 subscribers, let’s have this conversation again A year later, let’s see how many subscribers I have, am I just do what I say I’m going to do like, i don’t know one video every two months in, 6 videos maybe 10 videos I don’t know, i said three to five hundred f****** videos, In the next 12 months, that’s the attitude that’s what it takes, not at all. To Portuguese now that’s what it takes, your computer is doing 10 is doing 20 I don’t want to win my competitor by little bit, i wanted you do 20 I do 200, you do 100 I do 1000, because as I build more than one to figure my personal media platform, easy it is to make money, so take a moment Take 2 minutes yesterday, if you’re a smaller, yes what if you tell me, yes, which you’ve done to the great right now. But what if your small business, tell me, okay, partnerships what do you mean by that, yes, yes, good, so if you don’t have a platform is it a good idea to get on other people’s platform, hello you have to pull people so what I’m doing now I’m on just this week, Being on to other podcast being interview, because I launch my podcast, so if I want to grow my podcast what’s the best way I go other people who has a podcast, and then I talked about my podcast and talk about vision and talk about what podcast is about and I go there and I, people a percentage of all I like dad’s message I will go straight to his podcast to, to unlock everything on the people’s platform does that make sense, so that’s perfectly fine, how often do that, us, as much as possible, when do you stop promoting a personal brand, i just always look at Trump, this excerpt from a book about Trump the art of the deal, not very popular, call no such thing, as overexposure, not a book written by him but it’s by a reporter follow him for a couple years, And he was just talking about the whole time is the book is basically, trump is up, relentless, shameless nonstop self-promotion machine that sprays basically what the book is about, supercell media platform for small business I believe there are 5 Keys how many keys, thickest three keys, you want to be what, be somebody and then you want to do something, and then you want to, be somewhere, be somebody do something be somewhere, how do you beat somebody, give you an example of a block you can see as an expert if you have a book if you are providing education, no videos, somebody somebody somebody, do something means taking that yes, awesome question what are the two businesses, life coaching website design, so in this case you think you’re doing, so you like coach, okay which is better, i’m curious, wikipedia, web design okay, think of what I just said you are not yet you’re not what you do with your not your business, So look at example.

It’s my brand but all the companies under the umbrella of the personal brand, so, why don’t you call me Rush, i do digital marketing, i have a financial planning business New Zealand I do events, i do publishing, i do a membership site, top Niche membership site we have ebooks, we have, so I’m all these things all these different businesses, but, with my bad back because my personal brand is strong enough, that I could use that to promote all these companies yes, ibiza weather, call Dusty, no no this is this is the action steps, so you offered this caca well now what how to apply disc when I say is you want to be somebody, you by being somebody to easiest way to add value to the marketplace by giving this a easy uke notes right, I getting my education the marketplace before I sell anything else, that position, and then do something everyday everyday effusive 10 minutes a day promoting a business moving a business for work, weak and out tweeting Facebook something everyday every damn single day. Doing something, the people going to be somewhere I’m talking about this at home, going to be somebody, could you don’t know who we going to meet, you just don’t know who you going to meet, does icracked example met Jeffrey, they doing this massive project together and making this but if, jeffrey want to stay home, do to miss the opportunity so I never to almost I never turned any places, i could be a speaker I could I could get back I could be on podcast, what’s the time unless it’s so small but I’ll do it because I want to always do something and be song, Because I don’t know where that is going to lead to, i cannot predict what that can lead to, i called the unpredictable miracle, you don’t know, but I know by putting myself out there just keep, promoting my myself branding through something be somewhere something would show up is that make sense, and in this case anything show up so I have to be selectively pursue, 2 minutes discussing a table water just wanted a 10 times your finances 10 times, business 10 times your marketing 10 times your life hit the Subscribe button..

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