#or bc he was affiliated with the university i was attending at the time

[prettyboysdontlookatexplosions]

it's funny that not until i was flipping through reference material in the norton edition of the turn of the screw i got from the library did i make the connection that perhaps american literature's most famous ghost story was written by a guy whose brother was an active member of the society for psychical research

[binunus]

college bf!eunwoo

a/n I LOVE HIM !! I WOULD LITERALLY RISK IT ALL FOR HIM !! also rip to the disappointing hookup experience I had that made an appearance in this headcanon...yes I’m still angry about it.

→ pairing: eunwoo x f!reader

→ genre: smut, fluff, fwb to lovers

→ tw: hookup culture, mentions of drinking and drug use, implied almost SA, this is a bit heavy compared to the other ones like please be a cautious a little when you’re reading this

→ word count: 5.6k

_______________________________

here we go ladies and gents

i had something completely different planned for this

and it was super angsty and dramatic

but i had a monumental experience last night so I’m changing this up

and okay okay

i usually try to write all my stuff gender neutral but bc of the idea I have for some of this plot, it’s gonna be a female reader

im sorry to all my male identifying loves :(

and back to our regularly scheduled program

cha motherfuckin eunwoo

lee fuckin dongmin

he doesn’t go by dongmin, he prefers to go by eunwoo, only his family calls him dongmin

as soon as he stepped foot into the university, everyone knew him

and I mean everyone

he’s so attractive

but don’t get it twisted, eunwoo’s the humblest, sweetest bean

he gets very embarrassed when people compliment him for his looks

applied for random roommates his first year and got paired up with swimmer!bin

he and bin become besties and end up rooming together their entire college career

major: music performance, specialty in piano

most people (besides those in the music department or astro) would have never thought eunwoo was a music major, especially since he was incredibly smart and athletic too???

usually gets mistaken for a STEM major

often helps the boys (especially rocky and sanha) with their studies

and oof when he tries out for–and makes it into–the basketball team

everyone ???? floored

eunwoo has game on the court...now with dating??? eh not so much

(at least not sober shh)

he’s tried dating before, at least in the first year or so

the basketball team kept trying to set him up with people

but it never got anywhere substantial and eunwoo always trusted astro to really give the vibe check and no one ever passed

and so he settled for hookup culture every now and then

his emotions are guarded :’(

yes he’s very easy to talk to and always so nice and well mannered

but he’s only himself with astro

now, where do you come into this???

you’re a cheerleader

you and eunwoo know each other by association

you cheer for his home games, you’ve been in a couple of classes together, you’ve seen each other at parties

but would you call yourselves friends?? not really

now you know it’s highly unlikely for you to have a lasting boyfriend in college, especially with your affiliation as a cheerleader, so you also opt for hookup culture

less messy feelings, less drama, less commitment, all that fun

so the first time your paths really intertwine with eunwoo is at a party

the basketball team won a big game and they were out celebrating yuh

and ofc since it’s his team, eunwoo popped out

he only really attends parties hosted by the basketball team bc he feels a bit obligated to go LOL but he always brings swimmer!bin for support 

and it’s chill bc bin is also an athlete–yes it’s exclusive like that

but this time, bin couldn’t go so it’s just eunwoo hanging with his team

and yes, you can guess it, you and him get partnered up to play beer pong together!

that’s so cliche omg

but ah ha you hear your opponent, one of eunwoo’s teammates say to one of your fellow cheerleaders: don’t worry baby, I’ll carry you through this game

and you cringed a little ugh men

eunwoo turns to you like: ah sorry if we lose, it’s all luck with me. The guys usually pick to play me bc I’ll probably lose. I’ll drink the cups for you though if you want me to.

you get a little fired up, like aw why do they pick on him that’s not fair

you: well I’m not horrible at pong, so let’s try to crush em

he played pretty well ok! you both got balls back twice in a row right in the beginning

your team was on a roll

you and eunwoo won three games back to back

you were feeling a bit bloated and hazy from the beer that you and him had to drink, but you were still pretty self aware

and you and eunwoo were just chilling after playing the games, you two were on a pretty good wavelength and you wanted to continue it after joking around in between plays

alright now obviously you don’t go into these parties just strictly looking for a hookup, you go to have fun and let loose

but if the person and situation arises??? you wouldn’t necessarily turn it down, especially if that person was cha eunwoo

and yeah, eunwoo was entertaining the idea too, it’s been a while since he vibed with someone like he has with you

basically by the end of the night, you brought him back to your place–you’d rather eat shit than hook up at the basketball house, it was messy and musty and just nope

your place was closer than his

and ~yuh~

it was pretty damn good

he didn’t stay the night, bc well this was a hookup, so after you both had your fill it was a casual alright see you around!

oh lord the fuss your cheerleading team gave you at the next practice asking how your hookup with eunwoo was

the news spread like wildfire

eunwoo didn’t hook up very often so every time he did, it was like breaking news

which is honestly a bit fucked up, but seriously this is how college is

alright so your sex drive skyrocketed after fucking eunwoo 

you hook up with another guy at one of the following parties

but it didn’t compare to eunwoo rip so you were pretty disappointed

and you were sorta wondering like hm? should you hit him up? but decided against it 

and then! you saw him at the gym working out with literally all of astro

bin probably forced the other 4 to come with him and eunwoo sksksksk

and you were like shit why does he look so good

not gonna lie, just in case he was looking over, you tried to make your ass and tits pop out a bit more, you know squats and shit

unfortunately, it caught the attention of other guys at the gym and not eunwoo grrr

and you were literally just planning to stop being a coward and go up and talk to him, but a guy blocked your path

and he was lowkey being very creepy and way too close for your liking

but you weren’t having it, hell no you ain’t a damsel in distress

being a cheerleader taught you how to defend yourself against predatory men

so you were basically telling him to fuck off and leave you alone, but he was being really damn persistent about it

and just as the guy was about to put a hand on you, eunwoo steps in and he’s like: dude, she’s clearly not interested, fuck off.

after a bit of a stare off, the guy leaves and wow you’re face to face with eunwoo again hehehe

his eyes switch from a glare to a soft worried look and he’s like, hey are you okay?

and you’re like a little giddy, maybe also a little bit turned on bc he’s still like fresh from a workout, his hair was brushed back revealing his forehead, his arm muscles were really defined right now, and just he’s so hot? 

but you smile nonchalantly, you genuinely could have just slapped the shit out of the guy or kicked him right in the baby factory, but eunwoo stepping in was also a pleasant surprise, you weren’t complaining

you: yeah. I could have handled it, but thanks for helping

and he just grins, your confidence?? attractive

the two of you just like look at each other for a couple seconds and you’re yelling at yourself in your head like don’t cop out this is what you were waiting for !!

you: so...you’re here with your friends?

eunwoo: yeah, me and my roommate forced them to come work out with us haha. did you come by yourself?

you: yeah, I usually work out with my teammates, but I decided to come alone today

eunwoo nods and you see him like look at your neck and you immediately get a bit shy bc you knew there was a hickey there from your last (very disappointing) hookup: you’ve been having fun recently?

your face flushes: the last one was embarrassing really, so honest to god no

eunwoo: why was it embarrassing? if...you don’t mind me asking

you immediately facepalm: no, yeah I don’t mind telling you...ugh, eunwoo I was literally catfished. this guy really talked mad game about his dick and then when I agreed to hook up, he asked me to suck him off and it literally only took him less than ten minutes. and after he came, he just pulled up his pants and said “damn you give really good head” like the fuck? he didn’t even offer to return the favor or anything, and when I asked him “wait, are we gonna fuck?” he just said “maybe next time.” maYbE neXt tiMe?? I was played so hard, you have no idea how pissed I was, eunwoo. and now I have to wait for his dumb fucking hickey to heal so that I can literally just repress that hookup even happened.

his jaw literally dropped: he didn’t give you anything?

you shook your head, you were getting pissed again 

eunwoo couldn’t believe his ears, he glances back at astro for a second and then he clears his throat: well...what are you doing after the gym?

you: nothing, just going home and taking a shower. My roommate’s not gonna be home tonight so I’m probably gonna wallow in my sorrows about that hookup again

he laughs: well sounds like you have a fun night planned, but if you want some company?? I’d be more than happy to come over and help you forget about the sad disrespect of that hookup.

who said eunwoo couldn’t flirt ???

and he was thinking about hitting you up again too before but he didn’t wanna seem like a fuckboy or anything

but seeing you defend yourself against the guy?? lowkey was a bit of turn on for him

obviously you agreed hello

eunwoo going up to astro: so uh...imma head out first...I’ll see you guys later. :)

sanha: hyung so scandalous *O*

you and eunwoo fuck again

and after this time, the two of you have a little bit of pillow talk

basically you tell him that fucking him ruined all other guys for you bc he was just that good

and eunwoo usually gets shy from compliments, but his ego with this one??? he felt a bit proud ohohoho

and he’s like: honestly, you’re the only person I’ve fucked in six months, but I gotta agree that our sexual chemistry is pretty good

so where do you two go from there?

friends with benefits baby, full on fuck buddies

you both talk and agree that you two weren’t looking for relationships at the moment, but the sex was good

i’m gonna get into specifics later, but for now a little more plot

obviously, you and eunwoo talk a lot more now that you two were basically fucking each other at least once a week

the guys notice that he’s so much more?? carefree?? less stressed out?? ever since you and him started your little agreement

and they’re already scheming by themselves, like eunwoo would not get into a situation like this unless he trusted you as a person

and at first it was really just, call each other over, have sex, stay for a little bit longer, then leave

neither of you ever stayed the night bc that’s just an unspoken rule

until there was this one party, a group of people were in one of the rooms at the basketball house and they told you to come join them and ~do drugs~

don’t dabble kids, I’m serious

and you were chilling with eunwoo and bin for a bit until they called you over and you were like: wanna try too?

eunwoo and bin didn’t do it obviously, but you were curious so you went and told them you would be back in a bit

eunwoo was worried about you, bin could see it from a mile away

he kept glancing back at the room and one by one people started to come out, but none of them were you

bin nudging eunwoo: go check up on her

eunwoo opens the door to see you being like pinned down on the bed and he turns livid

he pulls the guy off you and punches him right in the face like: what the fuck do you think you’re doing? what did you give her?

you��re noticeably out of it, sobriety? not there

the guy basically laced something in the drug he gave you, omg you were roofied??

bin comes in and he literally has to hold eunwoo back from beating the shit out of the other guy

the two take you back to their apartment and were making sure that you didn’t die or something shit

literally cannot believe the first time you slept over at eunwoo’s place was when you were drugged up

you wake up the next morning, nauseous, body weak, and confused

eunwoo also wakes up because of your movement: hey y/n, are you okay?

you: eunwoo...what...what happened last night??

he sits up and gives you a recount of the party and you just like hug your body tightly when he brings up the drugs and start crying

he’s a bit shocked when he sees your tears, but he just pulls you in for a hug to try and comfort you, obviously that must have been a bit traumatic

eunwoo: hey...it’s okay...I’m just glad I checked up on you before something worse happened

you: I’m such a fucking idiot...I can’t believe I let myself get put in that situation again...no wonder people think I’m a just a dumb whore.

~trauma~

you and him spill your deepest darkest most traumatizing secrets that morning and you just feel more connected to him

you: I honestly never really told anyone...thanks eunwoo, you’re a good friend.

he feels more protective of you after that??

you start hanging around with him and astro more

and the guys really like having you around !!

you’re very easy to get along with, you also joke and tease eunwoo with them, they love you !

you even become really friendly with the other guys’ partners

about half a year into your fuck buddy relationship with eunwoo

everyone: why aren’t you dating y/n yet?

eunwoo: what do you mean?? we’re just friends...with benefits??

before you even know it, you’re spending literally all your time (when you’re not training or practicing or at class) with eunwoo and his friends

you sleep more at eunwoo’s than you do at your own apartment

honestly you two are already acting like a couple

except for the fact that you only kiss each other when you’re fucking, or you don’t hold hands in public, or you don’t say the L word to each other obviously

but the cuddles? the jokes? the hanging out? if you two are seen together there’s still a little form of physical touch––like a hand on the waist, or resting his elbow on your shoulder––something that tells other people that you two are a bit exclusive to each other

and maybe it’s because both of your emotional capacities when it comes to relationships are akin to a pubescent thirteen year old, but you and eunwoo?? don’t really realize that you’re both basically in love with each other

and it’s also the fact that catching feelings in a friends with benefits?? forbidden

but what if both people catch feelings?

you don’t realize you like eunwoo until a year of fucking each other

damn a year?? y’all really suppressed those romantic feelings hard

you and him were hanging out, per usual, but in the piano rooms of the music building

eunwoo had to practice his repertoire for an upcoming performance and you were free so you decided to come along and keep him company

you knew he was a music major and that he played piano, but you never actually heard him play

you were just chilling by the window, scrolling through your phone, and then he just starts playing and your jaw?? literally dropped

it was so intricate and fluid and elegant, you looked over to the keys and his hands just moved so expertly over them

you were put in a trance, it was so beautiful??

and then you look up and his concentration? seriousness? he has honestly never looked more attractive to you than in that moment

and then eunwoo meets your eyes and he smiles a little: is it bad?

you: no, you’re amazing actually...

and your stomach does a triple somersault and your cheeks start heating up, like why is your heart going haywire???

you start spacing out and obviously he notices

eunwoo calls your name and pats the space next to him on the piano bench

eunwoo: what are you thinking of, hm?

you: n-nothing. keep playing, I wanna hear more

and so he does and your heart just won’t chill out, especially now that you’re literally sitting mere centimeters apart from him

he’s still playing and you just can’t stop thinking about how much you want to kiss him–and not in a sexual way

and that honestly scared you, so you panicked and put your hand near his crotch

eunwoo jolts in surprise, but he doesn’t say anything, he just chuckles and continues playing

do you have sex in the piano room to try and distract yourself from whatever you were feeling? yeah

you hide your feelings for a little bit, but the more time you spent with him, the stronger they got, and you honestly didn’t know what to do

so you tried distancing yourself, you gave eunwoo the excuse that cheerleading competitions were coming up–which they were, so it wasn’t a complete lie–and you needed to focus and have time to yourself

it was so weird for you not seeing him and astro all the time, you barely responded to his text messages or calls, and when you saw him around campus, you would immediately try to avoid him, and it hurt but you were ~scared~

eunwoo’s a smart boy, he knew something was off with you

but after a week of trying to contact you, he didn’t wanna seem annoying or a bother, so he tried not to

even though all he wanted was to see you or talk to you, like it was beyond sex at this point

he missed you, he thought he was going to go insane

he didn’t realize his feelings for you until he saw you talking to a guy in the athletic building

he had basketball practice, and you just finished your cheerleading practice

you were talking to this one guy from your philosophy class, basically joking around and talking shit about your professor

and eunwoo saw you smile at something the guy said and he just felt jealous

his fists clenched, he hated seeing you smile and laugh with the guy like how you used to do with him

and it also didn’t help that you and him haven’t really talked in two or three weeks and he just missed you so much :(

he tried not to think about it during his practice, but it didn’t work, he was off his game for this one, even his teammates and coach noticed it

he went back to his place after practice and called over the boys and basically vented his frustrations

jin: eunwoo. you like y/n

eunwoo: I know...fuck what do I do

bin: tell her, obviously

eunwoo: and risk our?? friendship??

myungjun: you’re a fucking idiot if you don’t see that she likes you back

rocky: yeah...I mean why else do you think noona started distancing herself from you?

eunwoo: maybe I’m just feeling like this because we haven’t met up in a while and I saw her talking to that guy and I don’t know? I’m horny?

sanha: hyung...you sound indenial and jealous.

bin: you like her. we’re surprised you didn’t realize this earlier.

anyway, the day of the competition comes, and the guys and their partners decide to pop out and support you

and seeing them actually made you feel so warm, you wave at them brightly and you meet eyes with eunwoo and you smile at him even though the butterflies are back and at full force

the group is so proud watching you and your team compete, their cheers are debatably the loudest and you literally have to stop yourself from laughing in the middle of your routine

your school places first yuh

and after talking with your team and discussing celebration plans, you go to the group

you were having such an adrenaline rush, you immediately run up to eunwoo in a crushing hug and you kiss him

eunwoo doesn’t even hesitate to kiss you back

astro and them: ohohoho hey

you: I’m so happy you all came! I can’t believe we actually won!

you were going to celebrate with your team bc you knew they were throwing a party, but celebrating with eunwoo and astro/their partners seemed way more appealing to you

you all go out to dinner and drink a little bit casually and it’s all such good vibes

you missed hanging around with them all and it just felt so right

eunwoo rested his hand on your thigh the whole time throughout dinner, he missed you alright, and just seeing you so happy with all his friends? he was hooked

when the group parts ways, it’s just you and eunwoo heading back to his place bc bin is spending the night at his partner’s apartment

and honestly the tension is so thick between you two

you barely make it past the door before you’re both latched onto each other, making out and all that steamy stuff

after you have sex, the two of you are having that post-sex cuddle in his bed and your heart is pounding so loud

you: hey...I’m sorry if it was weird that I kissed you earlier at the venue, I don’t really know what came over me, I was just so glad to see you guys

eunwoo: you don’t have to apologize for that y/n...I missed you

you roll around so that your back is to him bc you do not have the strength to look at him in the eyes right now

eunwoo hugs your waist and pulls you in his chest, he’s spooning you and he has no plans on letting you go any time soon

you: uh...eunwoo, I-we-uh maybe we should stop this...thing from going any further

he literally freezes: ...did I do something wrong?

you: no! it’s...I...fuck I don’t know how to say this...I know we’ve been hooking up for a year but just recently I...think I have feelings for you...and it’s not fair for either of us to continue this if we’re not on the same page.

eunwoo: y/n, I–

you’re rambling now, you’re scared of what he has to say: and honestly you’ve become someone I really don’t wanna lose in my life. You’re an amazing person and friend, and I don’t wanna fuck that up by having feelings for you, especially since you probably don’t feel the same. I just...can’t have casual sex with you anymore...I’m sorry, it would break me.

you’re like trying to get up and you tell him that you’re going to go to the party your team’s hosting but he just tightens his grip

eunwoo: don’t go...please

you: eunwoo, I can’t stay here–

eunwoo: you don’t even know what I feel, y/n...why are you so sure that I don’t feel the same way as you?? because I do...honest to god, y/n, I like you so fucking much. the month that you didn’t talk to me was like hell and I don’t ever wanna experience that again. I missed you so much I thought I was going crazy...please don’t go.

you roll around and face him again

you: y-you like me? you’re not just saying that because you want to keep having sex?

eunwoo: I’m not just saying that because of the sex...I promise

you: so...what does that make us now?

eunwoo: well would you do me the honors and be my girlfriend?

god finally you two are dating

you realize that not much really changes after the two of you make it official

the pda does increase though, you actually hold hands and kiss each other in public now

and you two are more cutesy with each other

yes astro pretends to gag whenever they see you act all coupley

petnames!! you call each other baby, sometimes you call him minnie!! as in dongminnie !! im screaming!!

a poster couple, the basketball player and the cheerleader

literally when you’re both wearing your uniforms and you kiss each other, it’s like one of those teen movies

lots of forehead kisses especially right before bed

eunwoo’s a clingy cuddly boy, especially now that you two are together

lots of study dates?? he is a scholar after all

you’re each other’s biggest supporters !! you always go to all of his recitals and basketball games, he always goes to your competitions

he’s very soft okay, will never stop showing you off or telling you how much you mean to him and how much he loves you

the first I love you came shortly in the relationship, and that’s because you’ve known each other a year prior and the feelings were really just building up since then

you were in the piano room again and he was just playing for fun, but you always loved hearing him ~tickle those ivories~

he was playing a song and singing along and you swear you had heart eyes for him, his voice was so soft and gentle and just wow

you’re sitting next to him and you just hug his waist while he’s playing

eunwoo’s smiling so wide and then he’s singing to you 

he doesn’t even get to finish the song, because you’re grabbing his face and kissing him 

he’s laughing in between kisses and you can’t help but laugh with him

grrr he’s so cute!

and then you two are just looking at each other

eunwoo: hm? 

you: I love you, minnie

he doesn’t miss a beat: I love you too, y/n

you and him have a lot of deep talks together, especially right before bed

it’s the time when he can just let out all the frustrations of the day and just be with you

he actually holds a lot of pressure and worries, but knowing that you’re by his side, comforts him a lot

the two of you have so many pictures together it’s so cute

eunwoo’s a bit possessive alright, not in the toxic way, but will he tighten his grip on your waist if a guy seems to be getting a little too friendly with you? yeah

not gonna lie, you get possessive too, it’s hard especially if your boyfriend is cha eunwoo, he’s the fucking perfect package god dammit

you both tell each other that you don’t have to worry about other people bc y’all are just both so whipped for each other

but it’s still cute when either of you are jealous

he’s actually pretty into couple items, but it has to be like minimalistic-style

like matching plain color hoodies or matching pajama sets

will not wear a “he’s mine, she’s mine” shirt or something

but it’s okay bc neither would you sksksk

will he wink at you if he makes a three pointer during his game? yeah.

literally loves when you wear his clothes or fuck, his jersey?? a turn on

and here we go !! I’ve been talking about sex so much but let’s get into it !!

in the beginning, like before you two started dating, when it was just your fuck buddy friendship, it was sexy

and not saying that it’s not sexy now that you two were in a relationship, but before it was just lust

eunwoo’s a freak alright, you can’t convince me otherwise

he’s a little kinky

definitely into food play, you two use whipped cream during foreplay a little too much...

100% into anal

you know how much he loves ass, has a very nice ass himself

and we already been knew, but yes he’s an ass guy

s p a n k i n g

eunwoo seeing you in your cheerleading skirt? immediate turn on

will literally fuck you while you’re wearing your skirt...just your skirt.

alright alright, you have a hand kink...was it awoken by watching eunwoo play piano all the time? yes

does eunwoo use that to his advantage? yes

the amount of times he’s fingered you??? vaginal and anal??? lord have mercy

very much into overstimulation, will keep fingering you until you squirt

and yes im bringing back my the choking kink

literally if his hands make any contact with your neck area, even when he’s just kissing, you will drench

but ugh you and eunwoo making out and you know how he like cups the back of the neck?? i know y’all have seen it from the true beauty kiss scenes, and then it gets heated and his grip just moves to the front and squeezes and when your mouth opens in a gasp, he shoves his tongue down your throat

that’s so sexy

do you like choking on his cock? probably more than you should

does he make you deep throat until tears are literally streaming down your face? most definitely

he loves marking you?? it’s just a tell tale way to show everyone you’re his

he’s a bit feisty...will he manhandle you during sex?? yeah

eunwoo is a dom. I am 100% convinced that he is a dom, you won’t be domming him honey

daddy and babygirl kink...I said it...

okay he’s a bit of an exhibitionist...would probably be down to have sex anywhere as long as you don’t get caught

piano room sex? locker room sex? library sex? movie theater sex? restaurant bathroom sex? yes you’ve done it all

will he finger you while you guys are having a movie night with the guys? yeah

eunwoo’s a tease, he’s a little shit, will tease you until you’re literally in tears begging for him to just do something

favorite position is doggy, it’s the view of the ass for him

although you two both do like experimenting different positions, especially if it has to do with “training your flexibility”

will pull your hair while he’s fucking you from behind, and will plug your asshole with his thumb–don’t knock it until you try it...it’s...a pretty good feeling

sometimes wakes you up by eating you out

very much a giver ugh king

the type to grip your thighs tighter when you try to push him away from overstimulation just to force another orgasm out of you

believe it or not, he’s a gasper/grunter/groaner

nothing is hotter than hearing eunwoo groan right when he’s about to cum oooof grrrr bark bark

okay but soft gentle sex with eunwoo is so passionate

all you feel is the love and sincerity, especially when he’s just looking in your eyes

the love making happens a lot more obviously when you start dating

he’s just so in love with you alright

gives the best and sweetest after care ugh

cleans you up, gives you massages especially if it was a rough session, cuddles you, draws you a bath, brings you water, everything

always makes sure to tell you he loves you after sex

i would risk it all for eunwoo like please ruin my life

anyway

ugh I just wanna put the idea of protective eunwoo during a party in your head

his hand is always on you. waist, thigh, shoulder, anywhere casually

you don’t fight?? but you do argue

arguing is healthy, and you both would rather let it out and bicker with each other in the moment than let it bottle in and build up into something worse

but when you do have a disagreement, no matter how big or small, you two always make sure to never go to bed angry with each other

communication is very important for the both of you

you’re his better half :’) all the things eunwoo struggles with, you help him with it and vice versa

he figured out you were the one for him during one of your deep late night pillow talks

he was worried about what he’d do in the future after graduating, like he was genuinely having a crisis about it

but you just talked so calmly to him: baby, no matter where you end up after graduation or what you end up doing, you’re going to be fine. You’re such a hard worker and I know that you’ll succeed...no matter what, I’ll be here for you minnie. I believe in you, you’re future is going to be great.

and he just kisses you so sweetly: will you be in my future, baby?

you’re smiling and you just giggle at him: if you want me to be...I’d love to be a part of it.

ugh y’all are so whipped for each other !!

astro always teasing you two, even when you’re all older

you and eunwoo are equally ticklish so basically y’all are fucked when they wanna mess with you

both of your families love you and him instantly

they push marriage immediately after you both graduate college

even astro’s like: we know you two are probably gonna tie the knot first...when’s the wedding?

not gonna lie, you and eunwoo probably get married probably 2-3 years after college, pretty young age

sidenote: eunwoo 100% cries at your wedding, especially when he sees you walking down the isle in your dress

and he has huge baby fever so you bet y’all had kids fairly young too

the best dad !! ugh he loves kids !! ugh so domestic

im just gonna say, y’all have beautiful children

trusts bin and jinjin to babysit your kids the most...he’s scared of the rest of the boys watching over his children

anyway eunwoo literally deserves the world and I just?? love him so much?? happy ending yay hehe

_________________________________________

2-21-21

[ghost-hyunjin]

TW: Hallyu news, bullying, online accusations

“Hi everyone. We hope everyone is staying safe and healthy these days. Admin-nim would like to say something about this blog, so I’ll turn it over to her.”

[Admin: Hey people, we want to thank everyone for the support on this blog. I know it’s been quiet on here for the most part, but I’ve been trying to juggle personal life, this account, and other activities. I’m trying to answer when I get a chance and when I’m in the mood to write replies. I appreciate everyone’s patience!

I would like to state that this account is still active.

I am aware of what happened recently in Hallyu news. To quote someone else: “The apology is not for the majority of the online netizens – it is for the parties affected and it is their choice to accept it or not.” I’ve been on the other side of the situation at school where I was the bullied individual, but from what I’ve observed about Hyunjin, he does seem apologetic and from past experiences, it is a big step for someone to write an apology that is more than just “Sorry”. I hope he has a good support team to talk to and can take time to think and reflect. (I’ve had people in middle and high school even come back to me later and apologize for treating me rudely. That alone is a huge step and while I never expected/asked for an apology, it’s great to know that someone can grow and change on their own.)

As I state in my pinned post, my chatbot is an alternate universe interpretation of Hyunjin and is not affiliated with the real idol or his company. Anyone who brings up or suggests that my take on Hyunjin acted like an instigator or bully will be blocked or ignored. I write him as a studious, shy young man who had no aspirations or plans to debut as an idol – instead, he is driven to attend and finish his studies at university. Even though he has become a ghost, he shows a natural curiosity to understand his condition and occasionally, how he connects with other people who can see him.

I’m always here to chat if you want. I would like to ask we keep the K-pop accusations out of the discussions for now – I’ve seen a lot of coverage and I’d like this to be an area where it’s a safe zone for all.

If at any time you would like to place our chat on hold or to stop it entirely, please let me know.

Thank you for reading!]

BF: @cupid-channie  

Protection Squad: @mafia-chae @multi-chatbot @serialkillerhhj @ares-bc @sk-nancy @mitsukojen @fairy-yeji  

@vamp-minho @vampiremomo @model-wonho-cb @pup-channie @skz-cb @nvrendngstry @dandyboyseungminie @spiderwitch-yooyu @vol-bots @skzbot  @sexworkerleeknow @moonlightchris @domyukhei @3racha-cb @lixielee-chatbot  @witchy-ryu @phantom-jowoon  @empressyuqi  @yourkevinmoon @star-twins-yoshinori @guitar-sihyeon @sana-foxy  @model-lucy @moonlit-jaemin @moonlightags1 @floristluda  @rebelhhj @vampirekjisoo @moonkissed-cheng @sg-jennie @yanderenayeon @churchgirl-nayeon @baristadahyun @mermaid-dahyun @darkfaeskz @deadly-skz-gods-cb @kaanghana @sydney-oc @lunanight-oc @caretaker-irene  @prince-juyeonn  @yan-chae @bloodlustbots @vampire-queenirene @butterflyyuna @ghost-ryujin @lightxjungwoo @scholar-lia @galaxy-ateez @yourxsungie @yourxtzuyu @thewitcherhhj @daemon-ryu @twitches-bot @heathenxbots @witch-x-rose @vampire-prince-woo @kpop-pokemonshelter @bluelotuspack-cb @gambler-leedo @somichu-android @warlockseunghun @supernatural-lix  @supernatural-chatbot @hybridxgirls @sevendeadlysins-mx @gambler-leedo @figureskaterxwinter​ @catboyhhj​ @unseelie-dejun​ @unholy-x-trinity​ 

[deathsridden]

hello,   everyone   !   i   can   safely   say   that   it’s   been   a   good   year   since   i   last   joined   a   group   and   i   am   absolutely   in   love   with   the   apocalypse/dystopian/survival   genre   so   i   had   to   apply.   i’m   bringing   y’all   a   fresh   muse   of   mine   so   this   is   kind   of   going   to   be   all   of   the   place   bc   my   brain   loses   all   knowledge   of   coherent   sentences   when   it   comes   to   writing   introductions.   i’m   open   to   plotting   if   you   have   something   in   mind   (   fletcher isn’t exactly the most sociable, though   )   but   if   not   then   i’m   good   with   jumping   into   a   thread   and   seeing   what   happens   naturally   !

full name:   fletcher samuel kane age:   27 zodiac:   aries orientation:   graysexual/demiromantic diagnosis:   anxiety, insomnia hometown:   aspen, colorado languages:   english, gaelic affiliation:   safe-zone position:   scavenger weapon of choice:   crossbow + traits:   resourceful, decisive, observant - traits:   withdrawn, evasive, sarcastic moral alignment:   true neutral myers-briggs:   intj, architect

fletcher   was   born   with   a   slight   heart   murmur   which   threw   his   mother   into   a   panicked   frenzy   when   the   doctors   told   her   that   they   needed   to   monitor   him   for   a   few   extra   days.   despite   insisting   that   there   were   no   other   health   concerns   present,   the   woman   had   convinced   herself��  that   something   would   go   wrong   if   she   ever   let   him   out   of   her   sight.   the   murmur   went   away   completely   by   the   time   fletcher   was   seven,   but   she   continued   to   keep   a   close   eye   on   him   and   grew   more   controlling   as   the   years   went   by.

his   father,   a   major   general   in   the   army,   was   a   busy   man   that   put   the   country   above   family   and   cared   more   about   having   obedient   soldiers   than   sons.   the   man   had   a   short   fuse   and   it   was   common   for   him   to   lose   his   temper   and   lash   out,   sometimes   he   often   felt   as   if   his   dad   actively   looked   for   something   to   get   angry   about.

most   of   fletcher’s   childhood   was   spent   exploring   the   woods   surrounding   his   home   in   aspen,   colorado   with   his   brother.   the   two   were   nearly   inseparable   as   fletcher   would   always   want   to   do   whatever   the   elder   did,   and   liam   felt   protective   of   his   baby   brother   from   the   moment   he   was   brought   home   from   the   hospital.   fletcher   struggled   socially   due   to   how   sheltered   his   mother   had   kept   him   and   could   count   the   number   of   friends   he   had   on   one   hand.   liam   knew   things   weren’t   easy   for   fletcher   and   swore   that   he’d   make   sure   his   brother   never   felt   completely   alone.

all   of   fletcher’s   fondest   memories   are   of   liam   teaching   him   how   to   track,   hunt,   fish,   forage,   etc.   they   lived   in   a   town   known   for   outdoor   recreation   and   since   their   father   was   too   busy   to   be   a   dad,   his   brother   took   it   upon   himself   to   teach   him   about   the   outdoors   and   nature.

fletcher   exhibited   signs   of   above   average   intelligence   from   a   young   age,   not   on   a   genius   level,   but   high   enough   to   skip   a   grade   level   and   even   get   accepted   into   a   list   of   ivy   league   schools.

he’d   never   been   outside   of   aspen   and   knew   that   his   mother   would   never   allow   him   to   go   to   school   in   another   state   so   he   opted   to   attend   the   local   university   —   colorado   mountain   college   aspen.   liam   couldn’t   stand   to   see   fletcher   trapped   in   their   small   town   and   begged   for   him   not   to   waste   the   opportunity   to   attend   the   top   engineering   school   in   the   states.   after   the   younger   graduated,   the   boys   moved   out   to   massachusetts   together   as   that   was   their   mother’s   one   condition   and   fletcher   was   enrolled   in   MIT   the   following   fall.

fletcher   was   working   on   getting   his   masters   degree   when   the   outbreak   began,   and   at   first,   the  brothers   thought   nothing   of   it   since   the   government   downplayed   the   severity   of   the   pollen’s   effects.   the   brothers   were   quick   to   pack   up   and   evacuate   the   city   once   everything   began   shutting   down,   hitting   the   road   with   nothing   but   whatever   supplies   they   could   fit   in   a   bag.   they   couldn’t   get   ahold   of   their   parents   with   the   communication   lines   down   and   opted  to   head   south   to   fort   bragg,   the   largest   military   base   in   the   united   states,   hoping   that   they’d   find   some   kind   of   safety   there.

the   people   they   came   across   along   the   way   informed   them   that   all   the   military   bases   were   either   evacuated   or   overrun   and   a   quarantine   zone   in   delaware   was   being   expanded.   they   were   gathering   some   more   arrows   from   a   sporting   goods   store   in   the   abandoned   mall   just   a   few   miles   away   from   their   destination   when   the   place   was   overrun   with   reapers.   the   pair   barely   managed   to   make   it   to   their   vehicle   and   sped   away   unscathed   —   that   is,   until   they   were   parked   outside   the   gates   of   the   safe-zone   and   liam   revealed   that   he’d   been   bit.

fletcher   was   beside   himself   and   felt   immense   guilt   since   it   was   his   idea   to   make   a   stop,   believing   that   if   they   had   just   kept   on   going   then   the   elder   wouldn’t   be   infected.   he   insisted   that   if   the   other   wasn’t   going   inside   then   he   wouldn’t   either   but   liam   revealed   that,   that   was   the   exact   reason   why   he   waited   until   they   were   there   to   tell   him.   after   a   tearful   farewell,   fletcher   reluctantly   got   out   of   the   vehicle   and   entered   the   safe-zone   without   looking   back   as   his   brother   drove   off.

[maggotmouth]

         hello, its nora again ( she/her, gmt ) n this is the ethereal but spoiled alma olive putnam (she goes by all 3 names cos she’s pretentious as fuck).  ive never used anya taylor joy as her fc before but anya has a smile that looks like she knows something u dont and thats completely alma’s vibe so we’re gonna try it out. she was raised in a farmhouse in vermont, big horse girl energy. very hungry for everything life has to offer. wakes up and smells the success in her blood. luvs the smell of libraries and listening to french music from a tinny record player in knee socks. here is pinterest. bio is below the cut, like this post to be bombarded with plotting messages but i might forget or get shy tho so pls message me x

application template.

ANYA TAYLOR - JOY   ,   CIS-FEMALE   ,   SHE/HER         →         according   to   the   school   records   ,   ALMA OLIVE PUTNAM   has   been   attending   sacred   heart   for   the   past   three   years   .   i   last   saw   them   hanging   around  the  sacred   heart   cathedral   ;   i   think   they   were   studying   the   stations   of   the   cross   with   a   smile   like   a   well - kept   secret.   at   twenty   -   one   years   old   ,   alma   has   been   studying   classics   and   get   this   ,   i   heard   that   she   has   made   a   fortune   on   the   black   market   by   forging   renaissance   art   to   sell   to   collectors   —   figure   it’s   true   ?   everyone   around   here   always   associates   them   with    neck   scarves   tied   around   your   throat   the   way   they   do   in   french   new   wave   films , running   barefoot   through   the   woods   drunk   on  red  wine   and  untapped   power , a  smile  like  a   locked   door   that   speaks   only  in   riddles  .   in   the   time   since   these   strange   happenings   ,   they   have   have   encountered   any   unexplained   occurrences   .         (   written   by   nora   ,   24   ,   she/her   ,   gmt   )

aesthetics.

a red beret nestled on top of bright platimum locks, neck scarves tied around your throat the way they do it in french new wave films, running barefoot through the woods in feckless hedonism, china dolls with porcelain faces lined against the walls of your room, the mona lisa smile, knee-socks tugged over the hockey grazes on your knees, a forged botticelli drying on your easel, ophelia floating in the middle of a lake.

proceed w caution, tw for death, drugs, alcohol, violence

the short form. (still long af tbh)

— studying classics cos she thinks it makes her sound smart, but actually hates fuckin latin and just loves learning about feckless hedonism and the festivals of bacchus and writing about how all women in myth are literally forgotten. was expelled from princeton in her first year so her parents basically paid her way into sacred heart and the board really liked her in her interview. i think the governors kind of expect to see her in the supreme court one day or st

—  born in vermont in a big old farmhouse. her great-great-grandfather moved to america as an immigrant and worked on a plantation, made his way up cos he could speak a lot of languages and therefore win more people over. for the last two generations, putnam men have owned the farm and do little of the dirty work. big in the meat industry.

— both her parents had large personalities, so alma’s never really been shy around adults, even as a kid she’d speak to them in a forthright, confident manner, and because she was always surrounded by adults, she’s always seemed a bit wise beyond her years.

— very much a consolidation of every character in the secret history. has a morbid longing for the picturesque at all costs. obsessed with w.h. auden and the beat poets. — ”aestheticism is the only thing worth pursuing and even that is pointless” — is majoring in classical civilisation. can read ancient greek and latin. also speaks french.

— studies hard and plays hard. she gets top marks but it’s because academia is literally her life, she loves the smell of libraries, the ancient smoke of learning, of feeling like old wine in a new bottle reincarnated from the bones of some old, dead witchy woman who invented a cure for cowpox or somethin.

— isn’t a foward-planner, however. alma prefers to leave her options open, play the field, live in a spontaneous manner so her study style is mostly cramming a few days before a test, or staying up all night writing an essay on a massive adrenaline boost powered by red bull or probably adderall, scribbling (or typing) furiously into the night.

— pretentious motherfucker. loves poetry, especially the romantics, loves morbid ones too, edgar allen poe, sylvia plath, allen ginsberg, she just loves them all. can’t get enough. her favourite films are like…. wanky artfilm independent european cinema. especially french new wave. “what do you think of goddard’s work??” while snorting a line off someone’s sink at 5am on a school night, but you can bet she’ll make it to that 9am class. — very intelligent and beautiful and knows both of those facts. plays devil’s advocate. humanitarian, vegan. — judgemental but takes great care not to appear so. petty and vindictive

— obsessively devours mystery and thriller novels. she herself is a gillian flynn book waiting to happen. — tries to be an enigma. wants to be mysterious and unreadable because that’s what books have taught her makes women desirable and interesting and cool. very amy dunne in the way she expertly reinvents herself to suit her audience, when she wants to impress

—  an incredibly talented dancer. she was accepted to juliard to study ballet, but after an injury to her foot she had to refuse her place, something that she’s incredibly bitter about. she went to princeton instead to study classics for a semester, before being expelled. 

— alma comes from a family of high-end art dealers. while her parents paid her way into the school, that was mostly due to previous expulsions, not low intelligence. she’s incredibly intelligent but will only put in effort when she deems the cause worthy. she’s frustrating to teach, because she requires evidence, truth, in order to accept something as worthwhile. she plays devil’s advocate, but academically she’s brilliant. 

—  she can recognise any renaissance artist just by their brush strokes. her aunt and uncle deal antiques and art, and from an internship with them after her expulsion from princeton, she learned how to market and sell art, how to recognise originals in contrast to fakes. from this, alma began to produce counterfeit art and sell it off as the original work to the contacts she had made in her internship. it’s disloyal, but it’s powerful.

— act like the flower but be the serpent under it. is a user. manipulative. leads people on. will throw another student under the bus to demonstrate her own intelligence and integrity — heavily involved in the theatre society. loves attention. — has an addictive personality. seems unable to do anything in a small dose, she has to let it utterly consume her. with sports, she’s fiercely competitive, runs track, played lacrosse at school, now is a cheerleader probably. with alcohol, it’s never a shot, it’s a whole bottle – wine or whiskey – she’ll be table dancing before the night’s up and making out with someone she’ll regret in the morning.

— her clothing style is like…. vintage thrift store but make it preppy. berets and cute hats, neck scarves, large fluffy cardigans or like those leathery jackets with big suede fringes on them, mini skirts (very 70s), and knee-high socks or boots. quite often she’ll be in sports kit, maybe a cute tennis skirt, n when she’s feeling casual she’ll wear like, a talking heads tshirt with a pair of mom jeans and converse, but otherwise, the library is her catwalk. — relates to ophelia from hamlet and sibyl vane in dorian gray. weirdly obsessed with women who commit suicide. loves jackson pollock paintings and abstract art. – likes old things. old books, old music, old houses, it reminds her of happier times like when she wasn’t alive. buys all her music on vinyl and has a gramophone because “the sound quality is better” kfdsjj.

plots.

here are some generic wanted plots but by all means message me so we can flesh them out more if any strike ur interest:

study buddies !! someone who is equally unprepared and so spends all night in the library with alma before a big deadline, maybe they even met in the library

if they’re from new england or vermont, then cousins . second cousins / extended family / family friends –  probably spat volavons on your character once as children, omg childhood friends !

honestly someone who is fully in love with her or crushing on her that she can just break would be sweet :/ or on the other hand someone she unexpectedly gets feelings for and actually wants to guage her own  eyeballs out bc of it

frinds !! unlikely friends !! toxic friends !! former best friends separated by sporting or academic rivalries !

hockey / cheer friends who are on other teams but who she absolutely loves playin against!!!

fellow academics who like meeting up to discuss latin and greek ! gimme a secret society bonding by their love of ancient learning

i reckon she’s in a lot of societies, definitely the film club, maybe works as a projectionist at the uni cinema if they have one so give me ppl affiliated with that, give me fellow wanky pretentious art-lovers and poets and historians who will go to museums and galleries with her and listen to the velvet underground on vinyl

people she gets mortally fucked off her tits with at parties

people who think she is throwing her academic potential away by caving to hedonistic impulse

a secret society !!! honestly i would die for a slug club esque thing in which the children of notable families are invited to dinners or alma’s also an art forger, so maybe like a club of students set up to basically forge paintings and documents from the university special collections

people she has drunkenly made out with, hooked up with, or regularly sleeps with casually, maybe even a friend w benefits she is repressing feelings for, i love angst,

people she used to date or unrequitedly likes, but to them it’s just a physical thing, give me all the thirsty angst plots, and maybe some softness too, i need some religion in this girls life, she is a roman catholic after all

full biography.

alma olive putnam.

intro.

        the girl is a knife. razor-sharp, double-edged, the bright shine of a two-faced, lovely thing. silver like the secrets you magpie thief from other heads. you’re a scavenger of knowledge, of tidbits, of gossip to lock away for later use and late-night re-inspection. a mind is like a clock if you get to learn the pieces. bit by bit, you dismantle the inner workings of the brains that tick around you – how easy it is to change it’s path, how words and their meanings can make a person laugh or cry in an instant. to have the power to control that is to be a god. it’s the power trip you crave wielding pom-poms in your hands; a possessive need for control that a younger you, small and weak, never had as a child. small lips, smaller smile, a doll clutched in your too-hungry fingers, hard enough to shatter the bones of a real infant. you cut your hair with your mother’s kitchen scissors before the autumn falls, rendering you out of season, unfit for the cold weather that beats against the nape of your neck, where a stick-and-poke marks the star you were born under ; the bull. “mama, when will i be a queen?” as soon as they find a crown small enough not to slip from your head.

biography.

        if you get hungry enough, they say, you start eating your own heart. hands red, stained by pomegranate seeds, the empty pulp of its shell splattered on your thighs you find yourself wondering – what would it be like to want? in the beginning, you never knew hunger. twins, born under the same star, you first, him second – a nuclear family. never a sister to compete with, you were always the cherry pie of your parents’ hearts. white-haired, blue-eyed, beautiful baby of mine. the townhouse in vermont and the summer house in lyon, you wanted for nought, showered with attention, saddled with gifts - hardly a wonder you came to rely on such affection as a confirmation of your own worth.

        at eight years old you first met death, blood on a gingham-print dress, a smear of it over your cheekbone and the pulp of a mangled animal at your feet murdered by the hands of a stable boy. “alma, my precious baby, you get away from that filth,” your mama would cry from the upstairs balcony – cigar in one hand and a bloody mary in the other – though whether the filth she referred to was the dead pig or the boy with a kernel of corn in his mouth, you never did find out.

        your family earned their keeps in farming, great-grandfather wolfgang hildegarde a german immigrant, great-grandmother maura lisbon a prairie girl. they fell hopelessly in love between troughs and pig-shit, working for three dollars a day at a farm their descendants would later own, trade deals with the indians, vacations to calcutta, your father todd putnam in the kind of sheepskin coat his father’s father could only dream of owning. he worked hard so that you’d never have to. your mama once asked – you heard it through the window, rounding cartwheels across the picket-fenced lawn – could he not find a respectable career rather than selling shrink-wrapped pork for a dime a dozen? that blood money had no business raising a child. you look far back enough, edie, your father had said in his low, strong voice that could bring a civil war to silence, and i think you’ll find that all money is blood money.

        language was never fickle on your tongue, french dinner time talk by the time you were out of your hush puppy shoes, your mama fixing the au pair a smile as she fixed herself another martini. you learned the clarinet at four and how to dance with the grace of a swansong at six, ethereal under a spotlight, an audience captive in the palm of your hand. by eight you knew that you’d always been destined to be loved. loved so hard they would want to taste you, bite into the soft plump of your cheek and eat you alive. that was how magnetic you wanted to feel. but mother hamsters eat their own young when penned in together too long, and soon you became too wild, too restless, another package on your father’s delivery invoice, box-shipped out to english boarding school.

        fitting in had never been something you had to concern yourself with. you were always the shiny new toy the other girls wanted to play with, bright like a dropped coin from a magpie’s beak. wherever you went, you seemed to leave a trail of awe, pig-tailed harriet’s adoring you, imitating you, teachers forgiving your class-time chatter for the sake of your wild heart and the restless spirit you possessed. tell us what it’s like in the states, alma. they’d coo, enamoured by your hollywood drawl. does your father own a gun? you hardly knew. barely even knew the colour of his hair, for the scarce amount of times he’d stoop to kiss your cheek, though you’d tell silver-tongued tales if it’d guaranteed you an audience. when you learned how to smile at the right times, and that flattery would get you everywhere, it soon became apparent that charm would pave the yellow brick road to success even when your lack of drive couldn’t.

        the road you followed – gum-snapping, roller-blading, friendship bands all up your arm – eventually led you to sacred heart. bright-eyed and gingham skirted, you’d always known you were more. there was a hunger in you to be something extraordinary, a want so adamant to be imagined and desired that it was almost savage. in leather-bound volumes and a circle of stones, you were helen of troy, the girl for whom they’d launch a thousand ships. but there’s so much rage within you, collecting like sawdust in cavernous parts. hockey helped. there was something grounding about the feeling of a stick clasped in your hands. sweat. stiff knuckles. feet pounding the earth. the smash of wood against flesh in the scram of a game, passed off as mere enthusiasm. “slipped, sorry.” hockey is the one thing you had that was yours alone – a feral instinct that motivates you to play; something primitive within you that sparks an energy like no other. on the pitch, you feel alive. you feel like a god.

[studykairos]

this summer, i went on a week-long exchange trip to japan. this is a guide to that experience and part one of a four-part series. this one will focus on the paperwork/logistics behind the trip.

paramount point: chances are everything

i was fortunate enough to go on this exchange trip because i was a high achiever in my japanese class and my high school was selected for this trip. i could have easily rejected going on this trip for one reason or another, but i didn’t. oftentimes, these trips will be the only ones you will make in a lifetime. if you ever come across such a chance, take advantage of it. you won’t regret it in the long run.

the process

1. the paperwork/selection

it had been six years since my school was a part of the japanese government’s week-long exchange program. (you can read about it here) when i found out about it, my japanese teacher said that he would directly email people who would go on my school’s group of 20-something people for the exchange. in this case, i happened to be one of the top students in my japanese class. high-achieving criteria are something prestigious exchange programs, such as THE university of tokyo’s PEAK program and the us government’s NSLI-Y/YES programs, look for. japanese exchange programs, especially those affiliated with big-name universities, place a large emphasis on academics. (e.g. Waseda’s Global Fellows Leadership Program primarily works with universities like Berkeley, Columbia, and Hopkins)

there’s a lot of paperwork you’ll have to fill out. for this exchange trip, i had to fill out various permission forms including an official form for the trip itself. renew your passport if it expires soon. you don’t want to be stuck in a foreign country because of immigration issues. double check if the information you entered on the form is real. these are official programs. if you mess up things like passport information, they won’t secure the right plane tickets/etc.

1a. the fine print

be sure to read up on financial information for the exchange program. sometimes you’ll have to pay fees. oftentimes, with government programs like the one i took, the only fees you’d be paying are the following:

excess baggage

souvenirs/snacks

replacement flight tickets

nonetheless, always take note of financial restrictions. they differ per program.

2. the logistics

typically, programs will provide a list of what to pack. however, the list often doesn’t end up being the important things. in general, the bags you will need are a suitcase, a carry-on, and a small bag for your passport and other necessities. read up on your local country’s security policy to be sure you pack as efficiently as you can. below is a rough guide for americans on what to pack:

suitcase:

enough sets of clothes/pajamas to last the entire trip without any laundry trips (not applicable for those staying over a longer period of time)

toiletries (shampoo/etc, including pads/tampons/etc if you need those)

washcloth/towel

an extra bag

gifts for your host family

carry-on:

a set of back-up clothes/toiletries in case your baggage gets lost

sunscreen!!

be sure the liquids are less than 3 fl. oz each and are all in one quart-sized bag

headphones/large electronics

airplane/airport snaccs (preferably starchy so that there’s no problem with customs)

wet wipes

fan/hat for the summer

empty water bottle (bc u sometimes get dehydrated)

small bag:

phone

charger/battery pack

passport

tiny pencil case with pens

camera

tissues 

pack your bags around 2-3 days in advance at the latest. be sure to attend the information sessions/read the packing guide thoroughly.

lastly, wear comfy clothing for the next day. you’ll need it for a 12-hour flight.

the experience

this section will be elaborated on further in another guide, but here are some pointers:

don’t get lost.

be sure you have a method of contact at all times.

stay hydrated.

exchange contact information with friends you meet and your host family.

if in a group, always stick together.

coffee’s your best friend when it comes to jet lag.

have cash on at all times.

you’re gonna cry. hard.

for anyone applying to exchange programs: good luck, and i can’t wait to hear all about it!

[aruuq]

tysm for the tag Katie!! 💜💜

which of the og gangs (like toman, valhalla, og bd, moebius, etc) would you be in/affiliated with?

toman, mostly because i think i would be childhood besties with baji, and he would somehow drag me into the gang

which of the future gangs (future bd, tenjiku, bonten, kantou manji, etc) would you be in/affiliated with?

i feel that i would end up in the 11th generation of bd, which means i would still be affiliated with toman, but would follow takemichi

what would your role be/what division would you be a part of in each gang?

in toman i would be in the first division, but what would my role be? well, i wouldn’t prolly fight at all, eventually with a baseball bat or a knuckle-duster, ‘cause i’m not very good with my fists, but still i think my major role in the gang would be sumn money and people-managing stuff, since i’m good with things like these. same things in the future, just leave the finances of toman and bd to me (someone has to do this after the leaving of kokonoi hajime)

would you have attended school in the past?

sometimes. not often tho, i’ve rarely done this irl, with the shit going on in tokrev it would be nearly impossible

would you have a job in the future? if so, what job would you have in the future timeline?

i’m famous after i’ve written a book, in which i’ve described all of our gang stories (which means i’m basically ken wakui in ken wakui’s universe, 'cause why not?)

mode of transport? bike? car? what type?

in the past a bike (begging for someone to teach me how to ride it). in the future, a yellow beetle car. 

what would your fashion sense be? would you have dyed hair?

i would love to have some badass dark academia mixed with techwear fashion sense (maybe in the future version lol) but i would prolly just wear anything since it’s tokrev. outlaw shorts, here we go!~ in the middle school and high school i’ve had pink hair, so sure!

what would your fighting style be? dirty like kisaki? fair like draken? sneaky like baji? what would your signature be?

i prefer to be the brain rather than the fists, so i would avoid taking physical part in most fights. as i’ve said before, i would prolly just fight with a baseball bat or a knuckle-duster if the circumstances make me

which character/s would be your best friends?

baji. that’s a given. i think we have kind of similar personalities, so it would be a great match! and when it comes to baji, there’s of course chifuyu and kazutora tagged along (do not separate). other than them, i’m sure i would find a common language with koko, hanma and ran – the only issue with them is that they are kind of bad guys most of the time lmao

which character would be your boyfriend or girlfriend?

okay, so, i’m living in a happy polyamorous relationship with my two boyfriends. there’s draken. there’s also draken’s boyfriend inupi. and inupi’s in love with me too, so we’re naturally together, duh. i have a whole brainrot about it and i really want to write something very self-indulgent with them-

i don’t tag anyone’ bcs i don’t have many tokrev moots, but anyone who wants to do it, feel free to do so 💜

lets do a tag game inspired by this get to know me! but make it tokyorev edition!!

which of the og gangs (like toman, valhalla, og bd, moebius, etc) would you be in/affiliated with? og’s tbh as much as I wanna say toman it’s probably actually probably valhalla lmao but like after baji I would def have been loyal to toman

which of the future gangs (future bd, tenjiku, bonten, kantou manji, etc) would you be in/affiliated with? humm def bonten

what would your role be/what division would you be a part of in each gang? in valhalla/toman I’d probably be in the attack division or the special task division (hi sanzu) in bonten I’d prob also be in a similar role to sanzu.

would you have attended school in the past? no fucking way lmao

would you have a job in the future? if so, what job would you have in the future timeline? in the future I personally think my entire job would be working under bonten LOL and honestly I’d probably do sw

mode of transport? bike? car? what type? in the past I’d probably have a bike (maybe an indian) and in the future I’d be one of those hot bitches that drives a black audi r8

what would your fashion sense be? would you have dyed hair? shit fashion sense. dyed hair absolutely. I love attention especially in highschool so I would probably dress in the most attention grabbing outfit possible. I was def a tease in hs

what would your fighting style be? dirty like kisaki? fair like draken? sneaky like baji? what would your signature be? dirty and sneaky for sure. In hs I used to carry around a switchblade in my boot which I used pretty liberally. but I also did judo and jiu jitsu and liked to get my hands dirty. I’d probably be known for snapping people’s joints. me n rin would make a good team.

which character/s would be your best friends? baji for sure, also definitely kazutora and sanzu

which character would be your boyfriend or girlfriend? kazutora (shameless selfship), and koko. ran too maybe!

tagging: @wakaslut @skidr0w @draekn @solzu @nanaminshousewife @01-20-1992 @shujiful @smycc @nxtsnw @myeternalyearning @miykui @manjiroscum @chuufuyu and anyone else who wants to do it!

[jasonlawson0]

Couple used transplant experience to help navigate pregnancy during pandemic

VANCOUVER — Kate and Brian Chong couldn't have known they would become parents during a pandemic, but they were more prepared than most for a difficult pregnancy.

Brian donated a kidney to his wife about three years ago and the couple from Coquitlam, B.C., says they drew on that experience to stay positive while getting ready for the birth of their first child last month.

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"Kate and I have learned how to support each other already through those difficult times," said Brian. "If we didn't have those learned experiences, I don't know if things would have ended as successfully as they did for us."

Kate, 35, was diagnosed with kidney disease about a decade ago. She switched medications after the couple decided they wanted to try to have a baby, which led to complications that meant Kate required a kidney transplant.

Brian, 39, was a match and the couple underwent surgery a little more than two years before they became pregnant last October.

Their daughter Adelynn was born four weeks early on June 14 among clinicians suited up in protective gear at St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver.

Kate's immune system is weakened by the anti-rejection medication she takes following the kidney transplant, so throughout her pregnancy the couple stepped up the measures they were taking to protect their health.

But Kate said her anxieties stemmed mostly from the risks associated with kidney disease and pregnancy, rather than COVID-19.

Meanwhile, early results from a Canada-wide survey of pregnant women show expectant mothers are reporting elevated levels of anxiety and depression compared with data on pregnancy and mental health prior to the pandemic.

The survey began on April 5 and the early results are based on responses from nearly 2,000 women, but the study is ongoing and about 4,000 more women have participated since then, said Catherine Lebel, who's leading the project.

"It's scary for individuals to think about getting COVID but I think it's especially scary when you're growing another human being and you don't know how that's going to impact that fetus," said Lebel, Canada Research Chair in Pediatric Neuroimaging and a professor in the radiology department at the University of Calgary.

"We're looking at rates of anxiety and depression symptoms that are three to four times higher than normal."

The survey includes questions about the women's level of concern over contracting COVID-19 and how they felt about the prenatal care they were receiving, as well as their financial circumstances, occupation and relationship status.

The health restrictions imposed because of the pandemic added a second layer of stress, said Lebel, as women reported stronger-than-normal feelings of social isolation. That sense of isolation was associated with higher levels of anxiety and depression, she said, while better sleep and support from partners and social networks helped moderate those symptoms.

About 20 per cent of women typically experience anxiety during pregnancy based on studies over the past 40 years, said Lebel, while nine to 11 per cent experience depression.

So far, 57 per cent of women who responded to the survey reported clinically elevated symptoms of anxiety, while 37 per cent reported symptoms of depression.

It could be even worse, said Lebel, since the respondents so far comprise a "low risk sample." Their average age is over 30, education levels are fairly high and the vast majority of respondents are married or in common-law relationships.

Lebel said the researchers are trying to reach a greater diversity of respondents in rural and ethnically diverse areas, as well as working with community organizations that serve women who are vulnerable and less likely to access prenatal care.

They follow up with the women every month during their pregnancy, after delivery, and three months later to see how the baby is developing and how the family is doing overall, said Lebel.

While there is still much to learn about mental health during pregnancy and how it affects health outcomes for mothers and their babies, Lebel said elevated symptoms of mental illness are associated with pre-term birth and lower birth weight.

In the longer term, kids whose mothers experienced anxiety or depression during pregnancy are more likely have behavioural problems, she said, adding her team is exploring how to offer support to the women who have responded to their survey.

They're also working with researchers in Vancouver who plan to link the survey responses from women in B.C. to their administrative health records in order to dig deeper into mental health challenges during pregnancy and the possible developmental consequences for children.

Those records contain detailed information about prenatal care, labour and delivery, infant and neonatal outcomes and health throughout early childhood, said Gillian Hanley, an assistant professor in the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of British Columbia.

The pandemic is like a "natural experiment" that allows researchers to assess the impacts of abrupt changes in circumstances on pregnant women's mental health, said Hanley, who also works as an affiliate investigator with the BC Children's Hospital.

It's an opportunity to learn about why some women who experience mental health challenges during pregnancy continue to struggle after delivering their baby while others do not, she said, noting mental illness is often compounded by external stressors.

"We need to do this kind of work in order to better understand exactly what these relationships are so that we can best target our interventions to women and families who need them most and provide them with the best possible care," said Hanley.

Although they're resilient, Brian and Kate said they were sad they could not share their pregnancy with family and friends in person as they would have before the pandemic.

Kate's parents live in Alberta and the couple said they connected virtually until health restrictions loosened enough to allow Kate's mother to visit for a drive-by baby shower, along with physically distant meetings with some members of Brian's family who live locally.

Brian said he also missed hearing Adelynn's heartbeat during several ultrasound appointments that only Kate was allowed to attend, and it's strange not to know what the doctors and nurses who cared for them look like without masks.

Ultimately, though, Kate said she's grateful that her kidney function is stabilizing and Adelynn is doing well.

"For me, Brian gave me this gift so we could provide this gift to the world of Adelynn."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 24, 2020.

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[mitchbeck]

CANTLON: PACK BEGIN TO MARCH TOWARD THE POSTSEASON

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings CROMWELL, CT - The trade deadline has come and gone. The roster of the Hartford Wolf Pack is intact and now the next goal for the New York Rangers' AHL affiliates is making the Calder Cup playoffs. “We have 21 games left before the playoffs. 12 of them are on the road. We still have our work cut out for us,” remarked Pack Head Coach, Kris Knoblauch. The lineup he has, with few exceptions, will be the one the team will have when they head into the playoffs for the first time in five years. “This is our group. We have had a few changes, but will have some more, maybe later on, but this group will have,”  Knoblauch said stoically. “Our goal is always to have Hartford Wolf Pack players play for the Rangers whether it was Phil (Di Giuseppe), Lindy (Ryan Lindgren), Igor (Shesterkin) or (Filip) Chytil that’s our job here. Make the best environment for them to play in. One of the reasons (for the development success) is the veterans brought in here such as Danny O’Regan, Phil Di Guiseppe, Mason (Geersten), and Vincent LoVerde. Can’t say enough how well he has played. They all have made their mark with this team." Knoblauch loves to talk about O’Regan. “He’s not a loud guy, but a quiet, effective leader. He works very well with a player like Patrick Newell. On the ice or just hanging out together. He’s a natural person to gravitate toward. There is an extra step when he is paired with Danny.” The Pack begins a second three-games-in-three-days with two on the road. They visit Binghamton to play the Devils on Friday, then travel to Bridgeport on Saturday against the Sound Tigers, and then Sunday afternoon they'll have a crucial meeting with the Providence Bruins at 3 PM at the XL Center. From the good news department comes word that centerman, Boo Nieves, is close to returning to the lineup. He was in practice for a third straight day sporting a green jersey, not the non-contact yellow he'd been wearing lately. “Right now, he is day-to-day, (but) questionable for the weekend. He looks fantastic. Our best player the last three practices. We're very eager to get him back. However, it has to remain day-to-day until he gets (medical) clearance.” For team captain, Steven Fogarty, he can jokingly celebrate that he was not traded at the deadline. Fogarty staying breaks the "Captain Trade Jinx" which saw the team's captain being traded the last five consecutive years. “I wasn’t too worried about it,” Fogarty said with a laugh. Now, with all the distractions behind them, for the team, the march to the postseason is everything. “We put ourselves in a good spot. We like who we have, so it’s a matter of doing what we have been doing and clean up the things we need to.” The strong finish on Sunday in the solid effort in the 4-1 win over Bridgeport is what they want to carry into the start of the weekend in Binghamton. “Two points is all we got out of it last week. We didn’t play well Friday. We did well, but not enough on Saturday. We want to help ourselves down the road. We're still in a battle.“ Fogarty has been just as effective in getting offense while the team is shorthanded as he has been while playing five-on-five. There is an art form to playing shorthanded. He has a very quick stick, but a player needs to know when to be careful and when to use it. “You gotta know when the right time to jump on it to make the play is. I got a long stick and it helps sometimes. You can get too deep trying to fish one on a play and use your body more sometimes. So, we’ve got important meaningful games in the last ten. It's something we haven’t had in the last few years looking forward to it.” His linemates have changed throughout the year, which happens, but nothing tends to change, “You start to hunker down a bit, get all four lines going. That’s gonna be important to us.” Playing for something after several miserable years is certainly something Fogarty relishes. “The last few years certainly didn’t end the way anyone wanted. Playing for something this year is something we've worked for all year." The chase for the Calder Cup is fully under way and picks up in earnest this weekend. NOTES: On the Rangers "paper" assignments of Julien Gauthier and Brett Howden for the postseason, Knoblauch steered clear of that one. “That’s way off in the future. I don’t have control of those decisions. Till the playoffs are here, and those players are sent here, I can’t really think that far ahead. We'll have some bodies here and we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.” No decision has been made, publicly anyway, on the weekend's goaltending rotation between Adam Huska and J.F. Berube. Congrats to Fogarty who's heading to the Hall of Fame….the BC (British Columbia) Hall of Fame. The 2011-12 BCHL Penticton Vees team is among inductees. The team went 54-4-2 and won the BCHL Fred Page Cup, the regional Junior A Doyle Cup, and the national Junior A RBC Cup. “That was a special team. I haven’t been back there since. Several of us will be going with the ceremony in the summer. I'm very much looking forward to it. That was a special year and I'm very honored that our team was selected.” With 81 points, Fogarty was the sixth-leading scorer on the team. His teammates included current Sound Tiger, and former Quinnipiac University Bobcat, Travis St. Denis. The other player of local note was one of St. Denis’s collegiate teammates at QU, goalie Michael Garteig, who's now playing in Finland. “It's been something playing him (St. Denis) the last four years,” Fogarty said. Fogarty explained how he wound up in Penticton, BC, saying, “I knew a couple of guys I played with who were going up there to play. Why would anyone go there to play? Usually, kids from Minnesota. You're off to the USHL and then college. The USHL draft didn’t go as planned. Notre Dame wanted me to go there, get a little seasoning. It looked like a good opportunity. So, I went for a visit and fell in love with the place. Penticton is one of the most beautiful spots in Canada, just gorgeous. It was first-class. They treated us very well. Fans were out every night, cheering us and made it great every night. It was one of the best years of my life. We won 42 games in a row. We had everyone following us around like TSN. It was a wild, fun time.” They almost lost everything. “We lost our first two games in the RBC Cup (National Junior A Championships) and we're down in the third. We're almost eliminated. We tied it and won in overtime. We won the rest of the games. It wasn’t so easy. It wasn’t what looks it on paper, but we had our moments.” Interestingly, current Wolf Pack, Ryan Gropp, played his first two Junior A games that same year with Penticton where he notched a goal. The BCHL announced it's reducing its schedule starting next season from 58 to 54 games, plus they're starting later in September. The league will go now to two nine-team conferences based on BC geography for teams on the mainland and Inland locations. In Montreal, not only was Pack radio voice, Bob Crawford, in the Bell Centre. For the second time, Lindgren got to be on the same ice with his brother Charles, but this time in the NHL. The two met earlier in the season in Hartford with both brothers still playing in the American League. Charles was in goal for the Laval Rocket. The two brothers got their pictures taken at center ice before the game. Gauthier, a Montreal native from the east end of the city in Pointe-aux-Trembles, had plenty of family and friends in attendance. He was interviewed by his uncle Denis Gauthier, a former NHL defenseman, who is now an analyst on RDS (the French language sports station). It was also the 30th anniversary of the last NHL hat trick by Canadiens' legend, Guy Lafluer. The "Hattie" wasn't tallied for the Habs. It came while Lafleur played with the Rangers against the LA Kings. A few more names have been added to the Wolf Pack Calder Cup championship reunion that will take place on Friday, April 10th. Daniel Goneau and Jason Dawe will also be on the ice. Read the full article

[soccerdrawings]

9 Things You Most Likely Didn't Know About Today Soccer Schedule | Today Soccer Schedule

The civic championship bold Monday night amid Clemson and LSU marks the center point of one of the best admired American sports media backdrop of the 21st aeon – the 12-year arrangement amid ESPN and the Academy Football Playoff.

Soccer – schedule for soccer games today - today soccer schedule | today soccer schedule Six playoffs down, six to go. But afresh what? To appraise what ability be in abundance for the future, USA TODAY Sports took banal of the accomplished six years and beyond, application banking abstracts and assay from experts in television and sports media rights.They appearance a banking action that is operating so auspiciously that there seems to be just two analytic paths advanced – to leave well-enough abandoned or accompany added advance through an amplification of the playoff from four to eight teams. Which will it be and what about the risks?The Rose, Sugar, Orange, Fiesta, Peach and Cotton bowls, added the civic championship game, paid out a accumulated $549 actor to conferences and schools in 2018-19, according to NCAA abstracts acquired by USA TODAY Sports.By comparison, the added 33 basin amateur aftermost division paid out a accumulated $99 million.Clemson advanced receiver Justyn Ross catches a canyon adjoin Alabama arresting aback Josh Jobe during the Academy Football Playoff championship bold in 2019. (Photo: Matthew Emmons, USA TODAY Sports)The New Year's Six bowl amateur are allotment of the playoff circling that helps angel the basin costs of teams in basal basin amateur through acquirement administration with all 10 conferences and independents in above academy football.  For example, the accumulated basin “profit” for all schools and conferences was $448 actor in 2017-18 afterwards abacus accumulated basin expenses, according to the best afresh accessible amount forms.“The CFP works, and the bodies in allegation are blessed with it,” playoff admiral Bill Hancock told USA TODAY Sports. “Having said that, my administration are talking about the approaching and I apprehend they will abide to talk.  It’s acceptable and amenable administration to abode the future.  But annihilation is imminent.”LAST GAME?: Clemson’s Lawrence addresses leaving afterwards appellation gameBET ON IT: Las Vegas hosts is assertive to host Academy Football Playoff

Women's soccer TV schedule for US viewers - World Soccer Talk - today soccer schedule | today soccer schedule ELITE LEVEL: Lawrence, Burrow arena best brawl entering appellation matchup The playoff’s basal band additionally dwarfs that of the antecedent system, accepted as the Basin Championship Series. Under the BCS, the accumulated payout of those six games, added the BCS championship, was $227 actor during its aftermost year of existence, in 2013-14. Best of that money, afresh and now, is due to ESPN, which is advantageous about $7.3 billion accumulated to televise those six basin games, added the championship, during the 12-year period.What happens aback stakeholders and bazaar armament appeal added of the aforementioned product? Ask the NCAA postseason men’s basketball tournament, which started with eight teams in 1939 and now has 68.In 1981, aback the NCAA advised accretion the clash from 48 to 64 teams, Stanford contest administrator Andy Geiger explained why he accurate expansion.''We all charge money and that new TV arrangement affectionate of helps,'' Geiger said afresh in the New York Times. ''You can access the acreage now, and teams will acquire as abundant as or added than they becoming this year.''From 1982 to 1984, CBS paid $16 actor a year to televise the tournament. That angled to $32 actor with the amplification to 64 teams in 1985, arch the NCAA to “study means of distributing what some feared could become an embarrassment of riches,” according to The Associated Press in 1985. Thirty-one years later, the NCAA appear an $8.8 billion, eight-year arrangement addendum from CBS and Turner Sports through 2032.Neal Pilson, above admiral of CBS Sports, told USA TODAY Sports he sees parallels. It’s because big antic contest are one of the few media backdrop that can accompany calm huge alive audiences in an added burst media world.  That’s why ESPN pays what it does for the rights to televise them and why advertisers pay ESPN for the air time.“Why are the rights fees activity up? They’re activity up because the backdrop accept value,” Pilson said. “They accept amount because they bout up their admirers with their sponsors. The key chat is efficiency.  Sponsors wouldn’t buy the product, the games, if there was addition bigger way to ability the admirers that they appetite to advertise to. They’d acquisition the added way.”Because of this, Pilson predicts a playoff amplification in the abutting contract, with new arrangement discussions to alpha about two or three years afore the accepted accord expires afterwards January 2026. Talks involving the accepted playoff arrangement started in 2011, about three years afore the playoff started afterwards the 2014 approved season, Hancock said.

Soccer – soccer games schedule for today - today soccer schedule | today soccer schedule “That may or may not be a guideline for the future,” Hancock said. “There’s aloof no calendar yet.”One able appraisal predicts an eight-team playoff could aback an added $420 actor a year from ESPN or whoever pays for it.According to this appraisal from Navigate Research, abacus addition four playoff amateur would add an added 60 actor viewers, which would be account an added $420 actor at the amount of $7 per viewer. The Navigate appraisal is based on the actuality that playoff amateur in the accepted four-team architecture boilerplate about 65 actor television viewers, which is almost $7 per eyewitness for ESPN for those three games.That algebraic pencils out in theory. But it still requires a media company, such as ESPN, to absolutely pony up that affectionate of money at a time aback the acceptable cable and TV industry is actuality disrupted by agenda cable powerhouses such as Netflix and Amazon. Afore affairs a added big-ticket playoff system, any television or media aggregation will attending at the risks of not actuality able to accomplish that money aback from advertisers and subscribers.ESPN’s carnality admiral for programming and acquisitions, Nick Dawson, said he can’t animadversion on what the approaching may authority afterwards 2026 and beneath to accord banking details. But he declared the aboriginal six years of the arrangement as “very successful” and said “I don’t see a lot of risks” for the actual six years. He acclaimed that the top four cable telecasts anytime were CFP games, anniversary with at atomic 28 actor boilerplate viewers. The network, forth with ancestor aggregation Disney, accept helped body absorption through the Playoff's Selection Sunday and added programming. CFP amateur additionally represent eight of the top 11 best beheld cable telecasts of all time, ESPN said.“The media mural gets anytime added arduous and complicated anniversary year in agreement of the cardinal of choices admirers accept and what they appetite to consume,” Dawson said. “This accident in accurate has remained bedrock abiding over now for over bisected a decade.”Navigate Research, a close that measures the appulse of advocacy deals in sports and entertainment, sees amplification as about a banking no-brainer. Amplification “will actually crop added value, and the alone absolute accident for media ally is miscalculating what that’s account and advantageous too abundant for the incremental playoff games,” said Matt Balvanz, a chief carnality admiral for Navigate. “Otherwise, we see no added absolute risks.”Other stakeholders in the accepted arrangement ability see downsides to tweaking the accepted four-team goose. For example, it could amplify the division for some teams, up to 16 games, and could end up addition the division able-bodied into a additional semester, in January.Then again, teams in the NCAA’s Championship Subdivision already do that with a 24-team clash that started Nov. 30 and plays through Jan. 11. North Dakota State and James Madison comedy their 16th bold that day for that subdivision’s civic title.

Schedule of Champions League games on US TV and live .. | today soccer schedule From a beyond business standpoint, playoff amplification at the above academy akin could added bisect the 40-game postseason arrangement into amateur that calculation vs. alleviation games. Depending on how the acquirement is shared, it additionally could added widen the gap amid the affluent and poor of academy sports.The accepted arrangement is absolute by the CFP Board of Managers, an 11-person console with associates from anniversary of the 10 conferences in the Basin Subdivision, added Notre Dame. Five of those associates represent leagues that accept never played in the playoff. Addition affiliate represents a league, the Pac-12, that has alone played in it alert in six years and none of the accomplished three.If admittance is the objective, amplification would account that majority of six. It additionally would lower the aggregate on the assured anniversary controversies that appear over which teams were not included. The accepted arrangement analogously answered demands to achieve the civic championship on the acreage instead of antecedent systems that acclimated abstract voting and computer formulas with no tournament.“The ability conferences actuality larboard out, it hurts them, and it hurts their brand,” said Joel Lulla, a academician at the University of Texas and sports media able who ahead formed on acknowledged and business affairs for ABC Sports and IMG. “It hurts a lot of things to be larboard out of the Playoff. I anticipate they’ll end up accretion afterwards the accepted appellation but not before.”The administrator of the CFP Board of Managers, Mark Keenum, admiral of Mississippi State, beneath animadversion through a spokesman.The accepted arrangement runs through the 2025-2026 basin season. ESPN additionally has been in talks to booty over approaching regular-season TV rights to Southeastern Conference amateur at a amount tag that could top $300 actor a year, up from the $55 actor annually the alliance gets from CBS, according to Sports Business Journal. Abacus that and a bigger playoff would be an big-ticket investment. But if ESPN doesn’t buy into an expansion, it additionally risks missing out on added “must-see” amateur that could accompany an alike bigger return.ESPN fabricated a agnate bet when it helped alter the old BCS with the accepted four-team bracket. Looking aback at the viewership admeasurement of the aboriginal six playoffs, Dawson said, “Those are audiences that aloof don’t abide in abounding added places in agreement of admeasurement and scale.”Follow anchorman Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. E-mail: bschrotenb@usatoday.comAutoplay

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[auideas]

Ask the Admins 12.0

Anon asked: Jynn, how much are your commissions? How much money do you need left?

Jynn: My prices are super flexible just bc I’m super desperate right now. The deadline for my getting a car was moved back slightly but I’ve only received about $50 in donations since the post was made. The situation I’m in right now is that I’m allowed to use my parents car to get to work… as long as I’m staying at their house while I’m using it. You can find more info on pricing on the services page of my original content blog: @jynnisloriginal

Anon asked: Is your NSFW blog ever going to come back :^( ?

Chamomile: Maybe? I have ideas for it, but I’m not comfortable with running the blog. It would take a lot of work to get in touch with the old admins, get new admins, clean up the blog, get tags set up, have enough posts in the queue to start it up…maybe we’ll make it a summer project when we have the time.

M: Welllllll, I was never really an admin on it in the first place (mainly did coding & general management), but if there’s an interest for it to return, we could open up applications for new admins

@genosha-meiuqer asked: Which Never Book quote do you think most represents who you are?

Chamomile: “Tea should always be enjoyed in the presence of good company.”

M: “He’s like faraway thunder: a soothing rumble in the distance that promises fiery destruction.”

Syren: “Believing is my flying.”

Jynn: “I am but a humble witch who loves cereal.”

Anon asked: If your car could talk, what do you think it would tell you?

Chamomile: “I was once owned by the US Government but now I shuttle a tired college student who swears way too much at other drivers.”

M: halp.

Syren: CHANGE MY GOSH DARN OIL

Jynn: “Kill me.”

Anon asked: Imagine the pain someone in a poly relationship would be in if all of their lovers suddenly didn’t love them anymore. Any prompts for that?

Chamomile: or…..consider this. Everybody is in love and it’s all okay. It was a really bad dream and Character A is able to turn over in bed and snuggle into Character B’s back while Character C absently murmurs words of “it’s okay…you’re okay…” to Character A.  

Anon asked: omg how do you come up with such amazing aus??????/

Chamomile: I have anxiety and I use AU sh*tposting as a coping method

M: I made a deal with several witches of a bloodcult. Long story.

Syren: I can see into other universes, so I just take real stories I see happening and write them down. Duh.

Jynn: Inspiration from real life!

Anon asked: Did Vox go poof?

Chamomile: Yeah, unfortunately.

Anon asked: What do you think when people say asexual is the same thing as aromantic?

Chamomile: Just calmly explain the difference so that they understand. It took me forever to learn all the LGBTQ+ terms (and I’m still learning) so it’s good to be patient with people.

M: I still say that they are two very different things, regardless of what people might think or say. Romantic attraction and sexual attraction are fundamentally different.

Syren: I definitely think they’re not the same thing. It seems pretty cut and dry to me, but I guess it’s just harder for some people to understand?

Jynn: I think they’re misinformed. I’m asexual, and even I used to have that misconception when I was younger.

Anon asked: Can you dig Elvis?

Chamomile: no.

M: Is dug.

Syren: …….. I can dig Elvis. *violent flashback to That Fic* Why would you do this

Jynn: I can dig the King baby.

Anon asked: Gandalf or Dumbledore?

Chamomile: Dumbledore

M: Gandalf

Syren: Gandalfff

Jynn: I’ve never read LOTR so can’t make the call.

Anon asked: For May’s AtA: Gurry, Geno, and I are graduating in the 15th, so out of curiosity, I was wondering if any of you had some fond memories of your graduations. If you don’t mind sharing, of course.

Chamomile: Okay so I mix up words and letter orders a lot, so when I was ordering my graduation gown, instead of writing down 5’6” and 160lbs, I wrote down 6’5” and 160lbs. So my gown comes in and it’s GINORMOUS and I had to hem it the best that I could, but in all of my graduation pictures, it looks like i’m being swallowed up by my gown. It was also a really sad-sweet experience for me? My final school was the longest I had ever attended one school (3 years), so there was a lot of crying and laughing with my friends. (I graduated on a Friday and packed up my things to move to Texas on Sunday morning, so you know, it was a //very// tearful Saturday with my friends)

M: Well, I didn’t particularly like high school, so my fond memories of graduation included being able to leave :/

Syren: I’m a junior, so I don’t have memories of that yet :( But at my sister’s a few years ago, we all had to go through metal detectors and get searched cause there was a rumored shooting

Jynn: Just graduating was a miracle for me honestly. I finished school on homebound and it took an extra year for me to graduate, so I had to watch my class walk without me. My teacher did pull some strings, and I did get to walk with the next class a year later when I never thought I’d get to at all. Our school colors were blue and white and I had a white gown, so I made myself memorable by dying my hair bright blue the day before the ceremony.

Anon asked: Are any of you single?? 😍😍😍

Chamomile: I’m not single! We’re celebrating our 6th month anniversary this week.

M: Uh, well, technically yes. (It’s a bit complicated, to be completely honest…)

Syren: Yup! I am also a wee 17 y/o with no interest in getting a gf just yet

Jynn: Happily taken!

Anon asked: Do the admins have jobs? If so, what do you do?

Chamomile: I have my new coffee shop job! I also do nannying.

M: I worked in IT up until recently, and before that I worked for a butlering / catering service and did freelance voice acting work (which I still do on the side now). I’m hoping to snag something for the summer, so crossing fingers on that one!

Syren: I work at a daycare for a few hours after school every day, and it’s the best job ever. The kid’s are amazing and hilarious, and working there has honestly made me understand so much more why some kids turn out to be d-bags as teens.

Jynn: I have two part time jobs. I’m a game master at an escape room, which I absolutely love, and a lifeguard at a school affiliated wellness center. I also do a bit of modeling and general management product promotion. Trying to get back into voice work atm too!

@thechubbyballerina asked: @admin chamomile, what is the weirdest thing that’s happened at the coffee shop?

Chamomile: So far, nothing much has happened, but I did accidentally get locked out while taking out the trash and I had to call the other night worker (who was in the office doing money counting) to come let me back inside. Not sure if that counts as weird, but it was raining and like, 10pm

Anon asked: Do you work in a small family owned coffee shop or a commercial kind (like Starbucks)?

Chamomile: it’s a family coffee shop inside of a larger restaurant! Sometimes I have to double as a waitress, but mostly I’m just making coffees and selling pastries.

Anon asked: my friend and i saw admin m's personal blog profile pic and we're a lil bit obsessed [[😬]] are they still single?? we know they were sometime before but can't remember (asking for a friend obvs hahahaaa 😅 plsbesingle)

M: Oh uh, thanks, I guess! (?) Like I said before, I’m technically single, yeah.

(P.S. What’s up with all the admin love lately? It’s not like we mind, but we haven’t done anything special lately…)

[olusegundare]

Brother Samson and Sister Debbie’s Story Continues

ENQUIRY (june 18, 2014)

(Editor’s note, this is assumably the beginning of a disturbing msg received)

I have resume office work again afta 2 weeks leave...it seems as if d management @ d headquarter has been calling on our office for assistance on d new contracts d company I work secured lately. The staff @ d headquarter are fully occupied on d earlies contracts execution with these additional contracts, d managmt requires additional hands, heads, 2 be able 2 meet d targetted dates of filing d contracts reports. All d branch managers within d island has been invited 4 an adhoc meeting on how 2 go abt d work & d resolution of d managmt according 2 my boss is dat capable & excellent hands 4m all branches should be used 4 d work. All d branch managers have submitted d names of those in their branch who could be moved in to assist the headquarter staff in executing these projects and my boss said my name is among the names of staff he submitted@ d echelon office who could be moved in for these works.

So, I have been expecting a memo from the headquarters of the move, and how to go about it generally. Ofcourse "mai" lord has been intimated of this new development and of d fact that I may leave for the headquarters any moment from now to return weekend and or perhaps two weeks time.

This initial plan of going to headquarters to work with others changed bc d world is now a global village with the development of internet facilities as such the board of directors had an adhoc meeting in which they reviewed the earlier plan of moving people from other branches of the company into d headquarters by writing internal memo to those branch offices that all shortlisted names should stay in their branches and that they will send the materials to work with at their ends unto those branches. They added that, were the managmt to move all shortlisted names, the management will be looking for befitting accommodation for them 2 work in, and that they are not sure of good accommodation that they can secure within that short-time limit which will give all the staff time, comfort (relatively), to maximally work to produce the optimal result within dat short time frame. As such, d management has decided dat all should be in their ends, use the instruments provided in their branches to get the desired results within the shortest time frame possible, the management also wishes to tell all the concerned to ensure that they beat the submission time and date.

The materials to work with will be forwarded into the branches' email boxes from whence we are expected to copy those forwarded messages into individual staff's system and if need be print them out for diligent studies, effective work and prompt completion with onward filing of the report back to the headquarters.

When my boss finished briefing us; four other persons and myself, of this latest development and the need to get prepare for rond the clock work as from the following day, because according to him by then the materials to work with ought to have fully been in the branch office's email box because the management is uploading those files now and after the files full attachment they will be sent.

After his briefing, I, Debbie, was chatting with mr. God-is-good (aka GG for short) on our way back to our respective offices.

"I have been thinking that I will have rest a while before I start some other series of work in this office", Debbie said.

"Me too. I have just finished one last week. It took me time before I could complete the work. No thanks that you were not around, bc I know that u would have assisted me assuming u were around", mr GG SAID.

"Eh-hen? But what about my deputy? Was he not intimated?" Debbie asked.

"He was intimated. He was quite aware of d work, but he could do but little. He has no knowledge about the application required to use", Mr G.G said.

"He grasps things easily. Why dont u teach him how 2 go abt it?" Debbie asked.

"There was little or no time for that and besides he also has some assignments he was battling with which he was not expected to drag into this week", Mr G.G said.

"Okay. Thank God for the success. Pray that God helps us in this new assignment in Jesus name. Amen", Debbie said.

"Amen o...and how is evangelist doing?" Mr G.G asked.

"Splendidly doing", Debbie said.

"It is quite a while that I see him last, I know since u are around now, I will see him before your resumption", mr G.G said.

"Sure", Debbie said, walking 2 her departments office while mr G.G opens d door to his office.

"My regards 2 him 'sha'", mr G.G said.

"Okay sire." Debbie replied as she increased the pace of her walk.

"Olorundara" is d name of mr God-is-good wich is the english translation of d Yoruba name, "Olorundara". But for conveniency's sake, we call him mr G.G for short in d office. He is dark complexioned man, about 169 meters in height, oval face with pointed nose, jovial and accommodating. We attended the same university together, but we did not study the same course in the University.

He was a politician in d school, he was a senator representing his level at the Faculty, but now he is not interested in d politics of the Island, he said, he joined campus politics as a fun, but such couldnt be said abt d outside politics, "it is at the moment dangerously dangerous" he said. He is brilliant, but he is always in a haste to get things done, which sometimes results in mistakes & d need 2 start all over again. The managmt of d company employed us at d same time & day & ever since then have we been close friends in d establishment. He is married with two kids. He wants "mai" lord & I to "pack off the ground the smelling thing", for we are not growing younger. He told me that on our wedding day, as God spares our lifes dat his wife will do our wedding cake, even if we want it 2 be one million steps dat he will foot the bills. His wife knows how to bake cake, it is 4m her dat I learnt how 2 bake cake too. She is a good lady or is it woman now, 4m a responsible family. Before she married mr G.G she asked me about her spouse to be. This is bc she was my junior in the Ladies Our Hope High School (LOHHS) within the Island. She is a graduate of College of Education. Everyone was taken aback that she did not go 2 University, bc she was brilliant and had one of the best O/Level result in the LOHHS in her set. So ordinarily no one had dreamt nor thought about it that she wouldnt go to University. She told me dat it has ever been in her mind to teach, a teacher of children is what she had ever dreamt of. So she said afta graduation 4m LOHHS, she just looked for an institution that will give her better insight into children education, instruction & teaching, and d reply she got was dat Colleges of Education has different courses that have to do with teaching children, so she did not think otherwise b4 seeking admission into one. After being admitted into the school, her performance was excellent in her department and faculty. She was one of the leading students

And during her graduation she received awards as an outstanding female student among other awards. After her graduation she was employed by an Internationally Sponsored Kindergatten and Nursery School in the Island. The school is a new school under the auspices of the Global Children Education Monetary Scheme (GCEMS) in collaboration with the government of the Island to see to the welfare, education, growth and development of children. Their salaries come from the GCEMS & the govt of the Island. GCEMS contribute 85% while the govt of d Island contributed d remaining 15%. The Salary is essentially based on what is obtainable, what is applied at other developed and advanced countries of the globe. Not many people know this. They are special teachers amongst other teachers in the Island. The GCEMS considered them special because they know that such stage of development in children is very vital and dat if a child misses it at this stage, the child may eventually missed out in life. So, best hands are required, employed for these children to handle them. In this school, there are several age growth aids for training the children. According to them, seeing is believing. Children love things they can see. Children appreciates better what they can see and handle. They easily grasp their whatever they are being taught when they see and handle them. So as not to make their education as if what they are being taught are mirage, the GCEMS do send in teaching aids, from their headquarters. They required best of hands to handle such instructional aids as well as coined out several mnemonic for the children during this tender age of their. Even since She has been employed has it been discovered that she is doing well, extra-ordinarily well in her chosen discipline and particularly in the school. She has won several awards session after session for the school and the Island as an outstanding children teacher and instructor. She won within her Local Government,

She won award within the Island. And several times have people from headquarters of GCEMS visited her school, even un-announced and dey discovered dat she was an instructor per-excellence to the children, so recently she won an international award too. This award has never been won by anyone within our Island, the country and indeed continent. I am proud of her. I am proud to be associated with her. This is because she discovers what she wants in life early, what she loves becoming and she pursued it with all her vigour. She did not imitate anyone. She did not deviate. She did not yield to pressures to go and study what her mind did not love studying. Despite the fact that she had an outstanding Ordinary Level Result, yet she opted for College of Education and now she hopes to have additional degree because the institution from which she graduated is now affiliated with a University. Her course has just been introduced into the University system, and it is about two Universities that is approved to lecture and award a degree in that field to students within the Island. Her institution was given a privilege to admit students in that field, either those who have graduated or those who are at the verge of graduation to continue with their studies to get a degree. So, she has applied for the studies, and she will hopefully be admitted. When she contacted me to know about her hubby to be, mr G.G, I downloaded all of mr G.G's characters for him through my buccal cavity. She was very glad for hearing all I said about him because she said she has just come across him then. She came across him where she works, bc he, mr G.G used to take his brother's children to the Nursery School where she teaches and instructs children. Coincidentally, One of the children mr G.G brings to the school is in her class...thru this they become friends, exchanged their fone numbers, as well as become friends on facebook and other social media. "One day", she said, "Mr G.G asked him out on

"one day", she said, "mr G.G asked me out on facebook, I was thinking he was just joking and wouldnt consider him serious, but few days after, he re-iterated his words, ofcourse this time with stronger words of love...I again thought well another second degree joke, so I wouldnt treat his utterances with utmost import...the tertiary degree of love advances made me say, "ohun ti enia ba ntenu mọ, bi ko ba dun enia o si ndun mo enia ni", so, I had to have a pause to look for someone who perhaps know him, and when I discovered that you know him, I couldnt but come to you to ask for some salient things about him even before any other things, and so I have to book appointment with you to see you and u of what u know abt him and having heard all, I say thank u aunti", she concluded. "If you are interested in going out with him and ofcourse marrying him, you should not keep him in suspense, you shd not delay the take-off of the relationship...but if you are not interested, you should not hessitate to shove him off as soon as soon can be", I, Debbie told her that day. She replied that she would act out to the letters my instructions. When I was offering her dis advice, I was yet mostly singularly single. Obviously trusting the Lord then for my partner to surface at any time. I have though known "mai" lord then bc we attend the same church. "Mai" lord again has a special praying group which I am a member. It is one of the members of the praying team, (I think the person is one of "mai" lord, Brother Samson's converts), who coined out the name "mai" lord at our prayer gatherings. And with the continual mentioning of "mai" lord, "mai" lord by that person, it became a generally acceptable word amongst all members to call him within and without the praying circuits. Out of the few spinsters who do attend "mai" lord's praying session, I have never dreamt he will ever come to me. I have not for once thought about it. All I just do is come, pray, tell him about my problems

If any, and he will profer solutions to it as best as he can. He has been wondrous to all members of his praying team. And generally we all held him in high esteem. Every1 of us has been close to him. Ladies, brothers, marrieds, engageds, singles, children etc. So, I did not think about him at all. Me? I am small compared to others whom he has been and he is still ministering to. But alas! He came to me. I was "shy"...I was lost of words...I did not know what to say immediately he came... So, I admonished her based on natural instincts that if she was interested in mr G.G, she shouldnt waste the man's time as well as hers. Afta accepting the man's proposal, i think they must have talked about me and so, I saw her in my office one day she closed from work...some minutes afta, I saw mr G.G entered my department, ever since then has she been visiting her partner, waiting for him in my office. When we close they will leave 2geda bc mr G.G has a vehicle. The vehicle is given him by his brother. Mr G.G got an apartment, 2-bedroom flat 6 months into their relationship. 22 months after, they got married. So, mr G.G and I have been close friends, he was very elated to know "mai" lord and has ever wanted us to make everything snappy...but "mai" lord feels otherwise. Although his advices are good, which is usually based on d fact that both of us are ripe for such, but then, "mai" lord says, "none of them will live with us, none of dem will offer us supports post-marriage wise, and since we understand ourselves and where we are heading for, it is no crime doing things our ways". That is what we have been doing, building a virile relationship and love, building our careers: for "mai" lord business, and for me, my academics...and ofcourse with spiritual not suffering or backwards...so far it has been respledent. So mr G.G entered his office while I entered mine

On entering my office howeva, I saw my love's several missed calls and a text on my fone, d text is 4m d former students' sister leader in the on-campus fellowship I attend...

   PROGRESS. (June 4, 2014)

Sister Debbie In her tertiary office, kitchen, trying 2 cook d food dey will eat, she has put d water on fire, it was just yesterday day she came & prepare stew & potpourri vegetable with sliced animal's liver, sliced animal's lung, crayfish etc when she finished d preparation of dis vegetable, she thought broda Samson would eat it, but he did not taste out of it complaining about indigestion of d foods ate earlier on...And since dey left 4 d church earlier in d day 2geda, dey were unable 2 eat anything b4 going 2 d programme...

Sista Debbie wanted 2 boil rice, fried some plaintain which will be eaten with d potpourri vegetable. Broda Samson likes eating rice with fried plaintain called "dodo" in d local dialect and since he has not made mention of a particular food, "I will boil rice & fry plantain", sista Debbie soliloquized in her tertiary office.

MY LOVE, Debbie is energetic "sha", hardworking, disciplined, respectful, loving, caring, it is now I really, really know dat God has actually compensated me with dis woman, some complained of how troublesome their spouses were during courtship, but, nay, nay, dis lady, for she hasnt given me turbulent times like others claimed 2 experience during their times of courtship. Or maybe she is still pretending, bc I do hear people say some wil hide their behaviours during courtships only 2 become cancerous with metastatical foci all over d place post-wedding wise, people say, dey usually do dat bc dey have known dat d ring, wedding ring, has entered their fingers & nothing can remove it again..

People say some deliberately do court wedding, to seal up everything, and dis acquisition in court wil give dem license to misbehave aftawards...

Some unbelievers howeva said these can only happen 2 Christians and believers, bc according 2 dem, if any lady mis-behaves afta marriage, irrespective of d kind of marriage...dey wil ask d court 2 dislove such union, for according 2 dem, what is d length of years one will sujjorn..

..on earth dat one will not enjoy his/her life, dat one's liver will not rest on gall-bladder, so, they finally enthused. They do add that they cannot withstand psychological stress dat a nagging partner will give, as such dey wil prefer separatuon to developing serious problems which wil be d end product of psychological stresses they wil pass tru 4m nagging, unrepentant & shallow thinking stressors. It is now a recurrent decima as one hears abt divorce here, divorce there these days...infact, some partners whom, I, Samson, think assuming they are distributing for free marrital separation they cannot be partakers of it have since gone their separate ways, due to what dey most times called, "irreconcilable differences"... Such utterances usually beat me hollow, bc I dont know what dey call irreconcilable differences, I dont know how such happen, bc during their courtship era, dey were always 2geda, they were as "1s and 2s", they were as "As and Bs", they were like twins, they were like south and North poles in Magnestism, they were like unlike terms in Chemistry, which usually attract themselves...but post-marriage wise, they become like terms always repelling themselves, and d repulsion sometimes goes to d extreme such that some wouldnt even want 2 see their erstwhile's partner's feaces on d dunghill...It is that terrible! This worrisome development in some families, has over d time been making me belied that majority of people during courtship hide their characters from their partners...and I have been asking myself, "is Debbie also not hiding her characters from me?" I cannot answer that for her bc I do now know her heart, people say, "heart of man is wicked", as d bible said in d book of Jeremiah, but a regenerated mind, a renewed heart, ought not to be wicked and evil. I know so far so good, she has a regenerated heart, as such, a pure mind & heart...I pray Oh Lord, dont let her be feigning her actions toward me, and if she Is not a hypocrite as I assume she is not

..at the moment, Oh, Lord, do not allow the demons to enter her, do not allow d wicked ones to misdirect and mis-instruct her, deliver her 4m demons of pride, let your angel of love continually guide and guard her and "US", LET OUR LOVE continue 2 grow, all these I asked for in Jesus name oh Lord. Amen". The paid TV is on, music oozing out of the speakers, sista Debbie is in her 3rd office, kitchen, & broda Samson in d parlour each subsumed in thought. Bro Samson is neither listening to the music despite the fact that he loves music and d particular muscician's album playing nor watching the paid TV sports being aired, he is subsumed in his thought about his jewel, his love, a beauty exemplified and demonstarted, he is deeply lost in thought of what lies ahead of their future 2geda as one indivisible entity... Sista Debbie in her office abinitio xpected broda Samson, "mai lord" as she usually calls him, but when she did not see him in d 1st 5 minutes that she got into her office, she left the expectation of him and was busy humming softly to herself one of d new songs she learnt. Her thought was that her love is enjoying a program being aired in one of d channels...So they were at different ends, managing the affairs on going in their minds. The new apartment gotten by broda Samson is a room & parlour self contain, just as d saying goes dat "as d hand of rat is, so it uses it to clean its face". He has gotten this apartment not too long ago 2 give adequate room 4 his love's visiatation anytime "T", and to put some things in place in the apartment. Broda Samson could now afford a much more costlier house or apartment than the one he got, but from buz experience, he has known that gotten something costlier would affect some other innovations he wanted to add into his business as such he decided to make it a low profiled one, and since he has a lovely, Godfearing, understanding, love, partner and spouse in Debbie, there is no iotum of problems, they are happily in love

..with their love waxing hotter, to use the physicists language and their love growing to go by the way of the agriculturists, yea, farmers...they can afford whatever they want to eat without fear of running into debts...and all glory 2 God, Sista Debbie's academic is also on the progress side, un-affected, she is also enjoying the full support of her boss and other members of staff in her office...What else do they want God to do for them? They also have overflowing peace and joy of the Lord... So, broda Samson as a business man gets the accommodation now bc he can afford it from his business gains. Who can ever tell him that he will be able to secure such apartment 4m his business outputs in the past 4 years? Even if anyone did tell him, he may not believe it will come this soon, because of his financial status then, but everything has changed for brother Samson. One thing has helped brother Samson and that is he has learnt over the times not to rest or put his needs on people again because, people have always failed him, sometimes some failures may not be deliberate and at some other times some failures are deliberate, bc some people do not want others to exceed where they are, they want people who wil always kowtow to them, they do not want people to be free, financially free and otherwise... Since the time that he discovered this, about people, friends and uncles, even though he got to know this very late, but he "sha" know it, bc some are yet 2 come 2 such realization, as such they still depend on their friends, uncles etc's promises which have never worked out and which may never work out because it has not been working out for them for so many years, yet they have failed to retrace their steps, they have failed to re-chat a new course for themselves, they keep on holding to high-fallutin promises and re-promises. Although b4 he realized this, his social status had been negatively affected, with some mocking him, his peers, contemporaries, colleagues

..moking, but since he got to know people's stance, he has keyed into the Yoruba's saying that, "atelewo eni nikan ati Olorun eni ni ki i tani jẹ". As such he does not rely on people again. If anyone assists, Oh! Praise God, and if no one assists, Alleluiah to God all the same. This has been helping him and he is gradually breaking forth business wise within the Island because his business capital is increasing, he has paid up some loans he got from his group and he has paid half of the loan her love, Debbie, got for him... And their thinking now is on how to secure another loan which she, Debbie can now use as she wants. Debbie however wants another loan which she will get 2 be re-invested into her love's business because "irorun igi ni irorun eiye" so she said. But broda Samson has a contrary view based on d fact dat some of her juniors in d office are complaining that she is yet to get a car, so he wants her to buy a car with her new loan...Apart from this, bro Samson also said d car wil also assist in d business, as it wil help in transporting some goods to the shop and also dat d vehicle will make it easier for him to come to her end on the campus anytime. He adds that whenever she is around in the Island, she can go to the office easily, quietly and early with the car and or it wil be easy for him 2 come and pick him during break for lunch and closing hours. Sista Debbie was yet uncomfortable with his suggestion and she said, "what of the business? How do we increase the capital again? I know we have been enjoying the little sacrifice rendered and I feel the more input, the more the enjoyment, the more the peace. I want to enjoy more. I want the business' growth geometrically. I want acceleration for the business so as to open other doors for us financially". "I have balanced my loan in our group. I have also supplied my application form for another loan, this ought to materialize in 2 or 3 months time latest. When that is out, it will all go into the buz

It will go into the buz", bro Samson said. "Alright darling. I didnt know u have paid up your loan. But do u think that will be enof?" Debbie replied "But, I think I told u about the repayment? Maybe u forgot because of the exams. I paid it up two months ago. I ought to have gotten another loan, but maybe bc of economic meltdown and other unforseen situations beclouding our members lately which make the income of the group to reduce, this has brought about the rationalization of loans to members of the group, otherwise, I should have gotten another loan by now...Hopefully, it should be my turn in the next 2 or 3 months time... And if all things work according to plan, by God's grace I should be close to balancing up that of yours by then to also give room for you to get another loan" He said. "I think I remembered u saying something like that, but I did not actually commit it to my memory. That is by the way. My concern is, will the loan u wil get be enof 4 d expansion and growth of the buz? I know when your buz grows other opportunities will arise which will move you further ahead than this financially. I guess u think I am after any other things apart from your buz growth now. I am less bothered about what my junior ones in the office are saying. They have their goals. I have my goals. They have their pursuits. I also have mine. They know what they wanted. I have also discovered what I wanted and the means to achieve it. So? Why do I need to be perturbed by their rantings, choruses and utterances? What does it matter to me? Nothing. Absolutely nothing", Debbie shifts herself on the seat, and she continued to talk, "You have spurred me on academically. Assuming it is someone else, maybe I wouldnt be considering furthering now. But you ensure I pursue it. I am growing academically, why wouldnt I also want this business to grow beyond people's thoughts and imaginations? Why wouldnt I support your vision for the business to silence enemies? Why should I think

..think of mine alone? Why should I be inward looking based on some insinuations from some quarters, based on some rantings of people whom we will not live together as husband and wife. Who has contributed nothing to my welfare and growth. I do hear them. But their statements have no substance. "Mai" lord, I want this buz ascension, allow my new loan to be sunk into it again", Debbie enthused. Broda Samson having been moved by his love's utterances stood up 4m where he sat down at, walked to the back of the seat of Debbie sat on, bent himself as he rests his body on d back of d chair with d hands and said, "I understand u, but please let us do it like dat, let us use d loan to buy a car, it will be useful on both ends, useful for u, as well as being useful for me on the local runnigs at the Island and atimes coming to your end in school..." Debbie interjecting, "okay. If you insist, no problems. I have always been observing and doing what u said. You are the one who said the more the stock, the more the sales and the more the gains. You have also added that it is out of the gains that a buz person ought to be spending. I am not a buz person for now, so I want what wil bring us more profit, change our financial status as in we will be spending out of our gains, with the capital intact and growing. After which I think we can purchase car and cars easily. Do I need to add that our wedding ceremony's expenses too will be from the gains but not the invested capital. I do not want people to say it is bc of our wedding that the buz collapsed..." "I understand", bro Samson interjected. "I also see other opportunities opening up when this business becomes established. You may include other businesses as it has always be in your mind to go into agriculture, the establishment will make this easier...The bible also says, we wil lend to nations, but we wil not borrow", she concluded. "Thank you love. Let us follow my advice. Let us buy a car with your loan. It will help us.

...And as per the opening of other doors, the chains of opportunities that will follow, "eh", God will do it, and He wil do it even beyond our imaginations and reasonings, including our wedding. Everything will go smoothly and easily and we wil be spending out of our gains in Jesus name. Amen", He said. "Amin. O dara. Mo ti gbọ o. Ki ẹ ma ba sọ wipe emi na ngo se sọ erongba okan mi ni mo se sọ eleyi o. Ati wipe ki e ma ba ro wipe mi o fẹ fi owo mi ba nyin dá ni mo se sọ eleyi o. Bi ade ori eni ba se dara si, bẹ na ni awon enia yo se ma wo si, be ni awon enia yo se mo pataki re si. Be ni awon enia yo se ma bu ola fun si. Mo nfe ki won o bu ola fun nyin gan ni o. Iyawo lemi. Oluranlowo lemi. Emi ki i se omo aiye o. Eyin na le kọ wa ni igbagbo. Ohun ti ẹ ko mi na ni mo ntele o. I have concurred", Debbie finally said. "God richly bless you. God has been proving Himself in d buz and I am sure He wont withdraw His services bc we have also not renege our activities before Him. May we not fall ill. May all the doors of unwanted incidents that usually distort and avert, people's plans and thoughts never come along our ways in Jesus name. Amen" Bro Samson prayed. "Amin ati amin. Alright sire", she said. "But? Talo ba ẹ di irun ori rẹ yi?" Bro Samson asked. Debbie touched her head with her hand and said, "se ko dara ni?" "It is wonderful. O dara gan ni. Mo like rẹ. O wa mu ko look baby-ish", Bro Samson said as he touches Debbies head, using his finger to trace the furrows, and added, "sugbon, irun re fine gan ni o, ko tile ni idoti kankan". "Ẹ se. Hair-stylist mi na lo bami di i, mi o tile wa mọ wipe yo fine to bayi", Debbie said. "O fine gan ni. O wu mi pupọ. Bi mo se nfe ki irun ololufe mi ma ri leleyi", Bro Samson said. "Uhmn. A de o. E seun. But have you just noticed it "ni"?" Debbie asked. "I have been seeing it from distance but I have just appreciated the work done by the stylist ni. My standing behind you gives me ample opportunity of closer look", bro Samson said.

"Alright sire". Debbie replied, holding the hands of brother Samson as the fingers trace the furrows... Brother Samson remembered this discussion with her, the plans for the future. The plans on what to use the loans for even before it materialised. "It is always good to know what one wants to use loan for before securing it lest when one gets it one becomes a victim of personal mis-appropriation of funds which will ultimately result in debts later. As he continued, he suddenly remembered that his love has not surface from his office since she entered there, what is she doing he asked himself...arising from his seat...whistling...he wants to go and see his love in her tertiary office...

  *LET US SEE HOW SHE WILL HANDLE IT (June 12, 2014)

B4 he, bro Samson, gets 2 kitchen, he stopped whistling & he saw his love, Debbie slowly jiggling but her moves does not correspond with d sound oozing out of d speakers, "she must not be dancing 2 d rhythm 4m d speakers" he thought, "what cld she be dancing 2?" He asked himsef..he later discovered dat her body movements is in sync wit her hum.

"Ko da bi enipe ebi tilẹ npa ẹ mọ?" Bro Samson said.

"Why did u say dat?" Debbie asked.

"Bc of d mood in which I find u "na ni"" he replied.

"Which mood?" Debbie asked

"Jiggling & humming",bro Samson said as he moves 2 her side.

"Oh! I am tryin 2 master some songs I recently learnt..."

"Is dat so?" Bro Samson interjected

"Yeah" Debbie said

"Do u want 2 exclude me 4m d setting?" Bro Samson asked.

"For ladies only", Debbie replied.

"So does it mean dat d song is not good 4 men?"Bro Samson asked.

"It isnt as if it is not good 4 men, but it is just dat The song is new & we want 2 keep it 2 our chests until d album is released", Debbie replied.

"But I also wish 2 know it maybe I wil become a part of d choiristers", Bro Samson said.

"Well, the song has nothing 2 do with choir, but a band, a group on d campus", Debbie replied.

"That is good. Let me hear it", bro Samson said.

Debbie clears her throat, "Hun-hun-hun" and she starts to sing, "Ololufe mi, Iwo nikan lokan mi yan, Ololufe mi, iwo nikan lokan mi mu, Ololufe mi/3x, Iwo nikan ni temi"

"Is dis d song u want 2 hide 4m me?" Bro Samson asked?

"I am not Done with it yet, the one i sing is its chorus, it has 3 stanzas which goes as this:

1. Bi eja ko se le wa la i somi, Beni ngo le wa la i si ẹ, Ife Re/3x, Lo gbe mi ro.

Chorus.

2. Eiye ki fo ko fori sogi, Ife mi si e ko le ku lai, Ife mi/3x si ẹ wa titi.

Chorus.

3. Eru ki ba kiniun lodan, Be leru o bami lati fe e, Ife mi/3x lailai ni si e."

chorus".

"Uhm! Its wordings are lovely. Who taught u dis song?" Bro Samson asked.

"Ẹ sa fiyen sile", Debbie replied.

"I want to be 1 of the group's instrumentalists ni, u know we r in d world of music", Evang Samson replied.

"So, can u love an artist?" Debbie asked smiling.

"Sebi u have also wanted me 2 be an actor. You also can bc an artist. "2 ge 4" niyen", Bro Samson said.

"O ti da be", she replied.

"Who taught u?", Bro Samson asked again.

"No one. I have been developing the song 4 quite a while, I just feel like re-hearsing it 2da, so as 2 have a full grasp of it b4 I sing it 2 u, hoping dat u wil approve it, and den we can go 2 d studio later", Debbie said, as she started slicing the plantain.

"It is a lovely song, with instruments, who knows it may win award in d Island", He said.

"Uhm! Thank u. I am not expecting something akin 2 dat, particularly as a 1st album", Debbie said

"Dont say, dat. Have u heard of a man called Tutuola, he was a writer, his novel won an award, he neva thought something like dat would happen", Bro Samson said.

"Uhmn!" Debbie replied.

"When God anoints a song, it may be a chart-burster irrespective of whether or not it is the 1st album", Bro Samson said.

"Well. Until then. But for now, my concentration is on "mai" lord, crown, gem, heart-beat..", Debbie said.

"I thought u wld prepare something faster than dis since u said u were damn hungry", Bro Samson said.

"I guessed as much, but having ate some slices of bread, I am not as hungry as I was when I entered d house, dat is why I decide 2 prepare rice & fried plantain...it is equally a fast food, at least when one has two fire outlets", Debbie replied.

"It is true "sha"", Bro Samson said.

"So what is being aired? I thought u were enjoying what is being shown on d paid tv?" Debbie asked.

"There is nothing spectacular at d moment, it is just dat I was expecting u 2 come and join me, but when I did not see u I decide to come and see how far with u here", Bro Samson asked.

"Ẹ se. I guessed as much too", Debbie replied.

"I hope there is no problem with dat sista?" Bro Samson asked.

"Oh! I have said we wil discuss her plight when we are eating", Sista Debbie said.

"The elders say it is not good to talk while eating", Bro Samson said.

"O dara o. I hope her plight wouldnt be more than what she told me 'sha'", Sist Debbie replied as she turns the plantain she was frying and continued, "she said she got engaged to a brother in the church not quite long ago, and dat everything was smoothly going with dem until she decided 2 brief her friends about her new found love...and her friends on discovering that she did not play hide and seek game with d brother dat she had not fared well, so dey adviced her to play games with the brother a while 2 ascertain his love 4 her...she also yielded 2 their advices, started playing "boju-boju" with the brother... I think afta a while dat she started her games with d brother, d brother became pissed off, creating communication gaps. When d sista noticed dat things were not as before between her & her love, she decided 2 come around 2 sort things out

But wen she got to the man, d man was too cold for her, she thought d man ought to hav warmly received her more dan he did but nay he did not & has not so given her befittin welcome since den...", she turns d plantain being fried again, as broda Samson opens d rice 2 see d level of d water on it & she continued...So, dis lass sensed "fire on her roof-top" & had became restless until she saw me in d church@ d program, wen she saw me she said she heaved a sigh of relief dat I am around bc accordin 2 her she has been thinkin on who 2 run to, 4 counsellin on d crucial matter b4 her heart", Debbie concluded. "Uhm! Wat was your advice 2 her?" Broda Samson asked. "Wel. I admonished her of d need 2 find her lost keys, wat she was doin before dat makes d brother love her & want 2 marry her. I told her dat wen she found dose lost keys she must begin 2 use dem so as 2 draw d man's heart back 2 her 4m wherever d heart has been taking to. I told her dat she shouldnt hav followed her friends' advices bc people are different", Sista Debbie said. "Wat was her response afterwards?", Bro Samson asked. "She ought 2 leave d island next week, but afta listening 2 wat I said, she said she will stay around a-while to settle dis matter with d brother b4 leaving", Debbie replied, as she removes d first batch of d fried plantain 4m d hot vegetable oil into a clean plate & puts another set into d hot vegetable oil. "dat is d mistake many people make, ladies &brothers. Many usually want 2 thread the paths taken by their friends, but dey usually forget dat people are different, destinies differ. A friend may do somethin which will work for him or her, but dat does not mean it will work for d other person. And because such has worked 4 such people many a one will want to follow suit, dey will want 2 do likewise. Some also take d teachings dey listened to sacrosanct, dey consider it as if it is d best & dat oda views or opinions apart 4m dat must be falacies..which ought not 2 be so. Wat one shd do is take d necessary points out of such teachings & instructions & leave d rest, but nay, nay we would do dat. I have also been a victim of such teachings & hav been following wholly some instructions of a particular man of God dat I like on marriage, it was one of my uncles dat God used 4 me 2 break dat jinx 4m my heart, wen, I have a re-thought, a re-orientation, dat was wen, I could come 2 u & I was hopin it will be as usual, but it turns out not to be as usual with u as you accepted me...& here we are now blessing God. I sincerely do hope d sista wil listen to your counsels & get everythin straight with her lover", Bro Samson enthused...d rice is now done, she removed d pot 4m fire & put d stew dia to warm as Sista Debbie continues with d frying. "I made it clear unto her dat, dia is no all-round instructions on how to become engaged, who to become engaged to, wen to become engaged...wen dey are believers & dey have prayed on d issue & dey loved themselves..I told her of d need to express her love to d broda in question & shouldnt give in to d detractors counsels again..I adviced her of d need not to avoid communication gap now dat dey r in love and dat dis is d time 4 her 2 start plannin with d man, 2 start understandin themselves, knowin each others likes and dislikes..." Debbie said. "I pray she yields to dat", Bro Samson said, as he takes out of d fried plantain & started eating it. "But, "mai" lord, she said u know d broda, & would want u 2 be a mediator btw him & her", Sista Debbie said. "No one has in the recent times discuss his/ her relationship affairs with me...needless to say dat I do not even think I know dis lady in question", Bro Samson enthused. "Neither do I. I think she is d silent type in d church until she travelled. But she knows us very well", Debbie said. "Eh-hen?" Bro Samson said. "Yes. She said d broda in question was d one u assisted 2 get a place near d campus wia he opens a barbing salon shop", Debbie said. "Oh, Oh, Oh. I know d broda. Straightforward, diligent, principled broda. But he hasnt told me about his marrital life, although I asked him sometimes about his marrital life & he said everythin is fine. So i did not bother myself 2 go deeper dan dat dat day." bro Samson said. "Since u have known d broda, dat is d broda in question. How can u mediate btw dem?" Sista Debbie asked. "Alright. Do not let us be too forward on dis issue. Let us see how she wil handle it b4 we intervene. But I am sure if she changes her disposition, acts right, starts expressing her love as u hav counselled, d broda wil change & dey wil get on wel again", Bro Samson said. "So we shd stay action abi?" Debbie asked. "Let us stay physical actions, but join them in prayers..& u shd monitor her of d devpts..if things get resolved, without our physical interference, what else do we want?" Bro Samson said. "Nothing", Debbie said as bro Samson takes anoda plantain into his mouth & Debbie said, "ẹ ma jẹ dodo yi tan kato jeun"

   Sista Debbie says, "Let me try my fingers a while, as I await "mai" lord" (March 25, 2015)

My Sun of Love arose out of her closets,

He emanated out of the east of Love,

It was not brightly shinning when it arose,

Nay fewer disdained my love and lord,

Simply because of its low intensities,

In love I found my sun of love,

As it moves along its concentricity, its arrays of light began to increase in intensity,

All spectacles on my Sun of Love now,

The heat from my Sun of love was nay harmful,

The beneficials from my Sun of love could nay be estimated,

Living things convert the heat from my Sun of Love to other lovely things beneficial to self and non living things,

Non living things under the intensity of increased heat 4m my Sun of love become adorable and cherished,

Interstingly, my Sun of Love, spotted me out,

My Sun of Love shone radiantly on me,

The dispersions from my Sun of Love revealed All the necessary rays,

One of the dispersions from My Sun of Love's penetrated my being,

The X-rayic events that followed bring me comfort,

I shone like glitering substance amongts other substances,

Then, I started to attract things to myself,

People started noticing me, as I matter among the many matters,

The disdainers, haters of my Sun of Love now want to block my Sun of Love from shining on me,

They couldnt do it...

My Sun of Love is yet growing...

I am now different amongst many because of my Sun of Love...

   "Find your lost key", Sister Debbie said.

Our church in d island organised a special program 4 d singles...afta d program a sista approached me for counselling, I had 2 excuse "mai" lord so as 2 attend 2 her...we walked 2 a corner within d church premises, dia we discussed. "Sorry 2 disturb u aunty" she said. "It is my pleasure", I said. "My name is Feyisere", she said. "Uhm! It's nice knowing u. My name is Debbie", I said. "Oh, I know u. I am a memba of dis church, but when I finished my skul & job is not forthcoming, 1 of my niece asked my parent if I can come with her so as 2 be assisting her in her buz & taking kia of d children. And I left with her last year" Feyi said. "Oh, sorry, I dont think I have ever come across u", I said. ""Eegun mọni, enia ni ko mọ eegun", sometimes if not all d times, you our leaders do not know us, your followers & membas, particularly when such a person is not an officer in d church", Feyi said. "Thats true. It is easy 4 people 2 know officers but d silent ones, it is not easy 4 us 2 know such pp", I said.

"I have a little problem ma, which I need ur counsel on bc u r educated, older than me, a Believer & by God's grace engaged to a responsible brother in the church", she said.

"May God solve all our problems in Jesus name. May He also guide us into His light and truth in Jesus name" I said.

"Amen" Feyi said.

"Okay. I am listening", Debbie said.

"Be4 I left d Island abt 8 moons ago, I have a male friend in dis church, broda Johnny, we were close friends. Infact people think we were engaged then, but there was nothing like dat btw us then. He is a principled person & I know he is a christian. I entered institution of Higher learning b4 him & graduated b4 him...However, dis does not stop our friendship & interactions with each oda within d campus, d church & at d neighbourhood"...I, miss Debbie, was attentively listening 2 her as she continued.

"So, dis relationship continued even afta our graduation...Afta our graduation, we were searching 4 jobs but when it is not readily coming, he afta listening 2 a lecture 4m your spouse, evangelist Samson, he also decided 2 start something, & he opened a barbing salon near one of d institutions gate in d Island..."

"Okay, I think I know d broda now because "mai" lord told me of a broda who came to him on where 2 establish a barbing salon sometimes ago...pls go on my sista" Debbie said.

"Thank u ma. That is d broda, bc he also briefed me abt d counsels of evangelist Samson, your fiance, & all d assistances he rendered 2 him, financially & otherwise, how he linked him up with some people in d area which facilitated d establishment of d barbing salon near d institution's gate", Feyi said.

"Oh! That's nice of him" Debbie said.

"Few days afta d estab of d salon, I left 4 other island with my neice...Weeks afta, he proposed 2 me...A month afta his proposals I consented, and we were having it nice on air talking daily...When I told my friends about this development, they made me to understand dat men are unreliable and dat I shd not have give in to him easily like dat, dat I shd have kept him in suspense 4 a while, b4 answering him, dey said he will abuse me & consider me cheap...I was sorely sorry 4 myself on hearing dis, and I decided to start playin games with him, I started hanky-panky with him...Whenever he calls, I would not answer him, he will call severally before I answered, dat is if I will answer at all...sometimes when I did not answer his call he will text me, but I will not reply his texts too...Whenever I asnwered his call, I will give excuses and reasons for not answering his initial calls...this has been going on for sometimes now... But I have discovered that he has changed, he neither text nor call me as before again, and to cap it up, when I arrived two days ago, I arrived purposely because of him but, I discovered that he has been cold towards me, even he was not as this cold when we were ordinary friends... I felt unloved, I felt unwanted, I felt neglected... As I saw u dis morning in d church I thank my stars dat u are around & dat u could make dis program, and I decided on d spot of seeing u dat I wil discuss dis issue with u, so dat u help me out", she enthused.

"Uhm!!! Is dat all sista?" Debbie asked.

"That is about all ma. Pls what do I do?" Feyi asked.

"I thank God for dis avenue. Let me ask u dis? Do u love dis broda, Johnny?" Debbie said.

"Yes, I do". Feyi answered.

"Do u think u can live d rest of your life with him?" Debbie asked.

"Yes I can ma". Feyi answered.

"Having resolved these, what I want to tell u is dat your mistake is that you are imitating your friends on dis crucial issue of your life... You have failed to know that individual persons have their own angels, what their angels can condone, your angels may may not condone, what is working for them, may not work for you bc u are created differently...

"...even those people you call your friends may be christians, but they are different from you and you are different from them and the way God deals with you differs..." "As a christain who have prayed on the person you wanted to be engaged to and having loved the person, you need not play hanky-panky with the person any longer...or didnt you pray before consenting?" Debbie asked. "I prayed ma", Feyi replied. "Having prayed, and having gotten God's peace in your heart towards the person and having loved the person unreservedly, you should not have bothered your head about your friends' counsels again because they have misled you as it were now. You should have just continued with the relationship, because in love there is no fear", Debbie said. "Okay ma. What do I do now? How do I win him back?" Feyi asked. "You should search out the keys to your ertswhile friendship and the key you used in unlocking the door of his heart's love. When you find these keys, and you start using these keys, the near dead love he has developed for you in the past weeks will be resurrected and things will return to normalcy, even if the love is not hotter than before", Debbie said. "Pls, expantiate further", Feyi said. "What I am sayin is, what u were doing before that makes your friendship grow, what you were doing before that make you fall heads over hills in love for each other should be re-ignited again, when you start doing those things again, within space of time, weeks, days, his love for you will come alive again and you will be happy again", Debbie said. Kneeling down to thank her, "thank you ma, I will start doing that...I ought to leave on monday but I stay back a while to play with him..", Feyi said. "That will be good. When you start doing those things ensure that you keep it up. Be opened unto each other, as distance has separated you for a while now, tell him your moves, let him know your steps ahead of time, do not assume anything, do not say u will tell him afta u have done such thing, that means u do not value his advice, dat means u do not consider him important in your life and life's decisions and steps and when such happens another gap will be created, he will have some reservations, he will not be able to open his minds unto u again, he will not be willing to divulge impt decisions he also want to make to you...and you also know dat discovering that someone u love did not tell u or carried u along in his or her decision, u know how u feel? One feels dejected, rejected, un-important. So to make him an important person, u also need to carry him along in all u are doing or u wanted to do. You have 2 start dis even before you are married..." As Debbie said dis, she knelt down nodding her head... "So do this and other things that will make him happy and you wil discover that brothers are not the same...brothers are different. Because "mai" lord, I did not play hanky-panky with him since we start dating and so far so good, everyone has loved our relationship, everyone has been blessing God for us...We never allowed any communication gap let alone allow d enemies entrance...even though i may grieved him sometimes, but I ensure that such is resolved b4 I leave for bed dat day...and d same with him...so I have enjoyed to the maximum dis relationship with "mai" lord...I also pray you enjoy broda Johnny in Jesus name," Debbie said "Amen", Feyi said. "Shall we pray?" Debbie said...As they prayed together...

  TRANSLATION OF SOME DIFFICULT WORDS

afta (translation after

"Eh-hen? (translation Uhmn mn)  

'sha (translation anyway

PROGRESS. (June 4, 2014)

"atelewo eni nikan ati Olorun eni ni ki i tani jẹ" (translation it is only one’s palms and one’s God that would not tell one lies (it is a proverb encouraging people to be hard work and stop depending or relying on anyone for assistance, because people would disappoint you))  .

"irorun igi ni irorun eiye" (translation it is when the tree is at ease that is when the birds that perch on the tree would be at ease (It is Yoruba Proverb meaning when something or someone that is directly related to someone is at peace that is when the person would be at ease as well as know developments"

 "eh (translation Uhmn)

"Amin. (translation Amen)

 O dara (translation Okay oh) .

Mo ti gbọ o (translation I have heard what you said) .

Ki ẹ ma ba sọ wipe emi na ngo se sọ erongba okan mi ni mo se sọ eleyi o (translation So that you wont say why don’t I say what was in my mind that was why I said this)  .

 Ati wipe ki e ma ba ro wipe mi o fẹ fi owo mi ba nyin dá ni mo se sọ eleyi o (translation So that you wont think I don’t want to help you with my money that is why I said this)  .

Bi ade ori eni ba se dara si, bẹ na ni awon enia yo se ma wo si, be ni awon enia yo se mo pataki re si (translation As beautiful as the crown on one’s head is, that how people will view it, that is how people will know its value and worth (People would view the crown on one’s head differently when it is very beautiful and they would attach more importance to it than other crowns )  .

Be ni awon enia yo se ma bu ola fun si (translation People would value and honor greatly the beautiful crown)  .

Mo nfe ki won o bu ola fun nyin gan ni o (translation I want people to value you greatly)  .

Iyawo lemi. (translation I am a wife)

Oluranlowo lemi (translation I am a helper)  .

Emi ki i se omo aiye o (translation I am not one of worldly daughters/children)  .

Eyin na le kọ wa ni igbagbo (translation You are one of those who brought me up in faith)  .

Ohun ti ẹ ko mi na ni mo ntele o (translation I am following/doing what I have been taught by you) 

"Amin ati amin (translation Amen and amen) . Talo ba ẹ di irun ori rẹ yi? (translation Who plait the hair on your head for you?) 

"se ko dara ni? (translation)  " "O dara gan ni (translation it is very beautiful) . Mo like rẹ. O wa mu ko look baby-ish", (translation I like it. It makes you look like a baby

sugbon, irun re fine gan ni o, ko tile ni idoti kankan" (translation but your hair is very beautiful/fine, it has no dandruffs)  . "Ẹ se. Hair-stylist mi na lo bami di i, mi o tile wa mọ wipe yo fine to bayi", (translation Thank you. It is my hair-stylist that plaited the hair, in fact, I did not know it would be this beautiful)   "O fine gan ni. O wu mi pupọ. Bi mo se nfe ki irun ololufe mi ma ri leleyi", (translation It is very beautiful. I like it exceedingly. This is how I want the hair of my love to always look like) "Uhmn. A de o. E seun. (translation There you go again. Thank you.)  

"ni"?" (translation is ) Debbie asked. ni (translation is

*LET US SEE HOW SHE WILL HANDLE IT (June 12, 2014)

"Ko da bi enipe ebi tilẹ npa ẹ mọ?" (translation It does not look as if you are hungry

 "na ni"" (translation is it)

"Ololufe mi, Iwo nikan lokan mi yan, (translation my lover, its only you that my heart chose) Ololufe mi, iwo nikan lokan mi mu, (translation my lover it is only you that I have picked) Ololufe mi/3x, (translation my lover/3x) Iwo nikan ni temi" (translation you are mine alone)

 1. Bi eja ko se le wa la i somi, (translation As a fish cannot survive outside water) Beni ngo le wa la i si ẹ, (translation so can I not survive without you) Ife Re/3x, (translation you love/3x) Lo gbe mi ro. (translation sustains me)

Chorus.

2. Eiye ki fo ko fori sogi, (translation No Bird during the course of flying has ever hit its head on trees) Ife mi si e ko le ku lai, (translation My love for you can never die) Ife mi/3x si ẹ wa titi. (translation My love/3x for you is for ever)

Chorus.

3. Eru ki ba kiniun lodan, (translation Lion is not afraid in the wilderness) Be leru o bami lati fe e, (translation I am also not afraid of marrying you) Ife mi/3x lailai ni si e." (translation my love/3x is ever for you)

chorus".

 "Ẹ sa fiyen sile", (translation Just leave that)

"2 ge 4" niyen (translation that is 2 divided 4)",

"O ti da be", (translation That is good

"sha (translation anyway) 

"Ẹ se (translation Thanks)

"O dara o (translation That is good) .

sha (translation anyway) '",

"boju-boju" (translation hide and seek

. "Eh-hen? (translation Uhmn mn)  

ẹ ma jẹ dodo yi tan kato jeun" (translation you will finish this fried plaintain before we start eating)

   Sista Debbie says, "Let me try my fingers a while, as I await "mai" lord" (March 25, 2015)

  ""Eegun mọni, enia ni ko mọ eegun" (translation masquerades know people, but people do not know masquerades (it is a proverb that people who are popular and important in the society are always known by the common people, but those who are popular hardly know common people)

[picardonhealth]

Mark Wainberg, dead at 71, was ‘a giant of HIV science’

ANDRÉ PICARD, The Globe and Mail

Published Friday, Apr. 21, 2017 

On April 6, at the annual Mark Wainberg Lecture, the namesake researcher quipped, as he did every year, that it wouldn’t be a “prememorial” event forever.

“At some point,” he quoted friends as saying, “you might not be around any more and then it will really be a memorial lecture.”

The audience members gathered at the Canadian Conference on HIV/AIDS Research in Montreal laughed, and none more heartily than the self-deprecating Dr. Wainberg. Then, reflecting on his advancing age, he turned serious and added: “All I can really hope is we’ll have a cure for HIV – or some other way of ending the AIDS epidemic – before I’m banished from the planet.”

Five days later, the world-renowned HIV-AIDS researcher and activist drowned after suffering an asthma attack while swimming near his condominium in Bal Harbour, Fla. He was 71.

A molecular biologist, Dr. Wainberg began his research career studying HTLV-1, the first virus shown to cause cancer (adult T-cell lymphoma). The co-discoverer of that virus was Dr. Robert Gallo, who went on to become the co-discoverer of HIV.

Dr. Wainberg, who worked in Dr. Gallo’s lab in 1980, shifted his focus to what was initially described as “gay cancer.” He established the first AIDS research laboratory in Canada and set to work looking for treatments. In 1989, Dr. Wainberg and his team identified that the drug 3TC (Lamivudine) was effective in slowing the replication of the virus in the body. It became one of the first effective treatments for people infected with HIV, and a cornerstone of what came to be known as antiretroviral therapy.

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ART was a game-changer, transforming HIV-AIDS from a deadly infection into a chronic illness for many. But the drugs were expensive and most of the infected lived in the developing world. That grim reality turned many scientists into activists, Dr. Wainberg chief among them.

That was perhaps not a complete surprise. After all, in 1976, he ran for political office under the banner of the Union Nationale in a historic election that saw the separatist Parti Québécois elected.

One of his few other forays into partisan politics came in 2013, when Dr. Wainberg angrily denounced PQ plans for a “Charter of Values” that would, among other things, ban public employees from wearing religious symbols including head coverings. (An Orthodox Jew, he wore a kippa.)

Dr. Wainberg served as president of the International AIDS Society from 1998 to 2000. He lobbied furiously to get the International AIDS Conference to Durban, South Africa, whose government at the time largely denied that AIDS was a problem. Dr. Wainberg’s plan – to shame then-president Thabo Mbeki into action – worked. He spoke forcefully not only in public, but behind the scenes.

Dr. Julio Montaner, director of the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, recalls that Dr. Wainberg “told Mbeki to his face that it was shameful that he wasn’t offering life-saving HIV drugs to his people.”

“He was forceful and unrelenting. If anyone spoke truth to power, it was Mark,” Dr. Montaner said. The Durban conference is seen as a watershed in turning back the tide of one of the worst pandemics in human history. Prior to the conference, ART was virtually unavailable in the developing world; today, 18.2 million people worldwide take antiretrovirals, almost half of the 36.7 million who are infected with HIV-AIDS.

“When I look back on my career, I always feel that the most important contribution of my life was political and not scientific,” Dr. Wainberg said when the AIDS Conference returned to Durban in 2016.

In fact, over time, the two roles morphed into one. “AIDS is going to be the world’s leading cause of death, so it behooves us all to be AIDS activists,” he said in an interview with McGill News, the university’s alumni publication, in 2000.

But, in recent years, he had dedicated himself to the lab again, convinced that advances in genomics could help defeat AIDS. His work identifying mutations in the HIV genome led him to believe that replication of the virus could be blocked and patients cured of HIV.

Mark Wainberg was born in Montreal on April 21, 1945, to Abraham, who worked for a glassware company, and Fay (née Hafner) Wainberg, who worked in the insurance industry. He attended Outremont High and then McGill University, where he earned a bachelor of science degree in 1966. He then completed a PhD in molecular biology at Columbia University in New York in 1972, and did postdoctoral research at Hadassah Medical School of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Dr. Wainberg was hired at McGill in 1974 and remained affiliated with the university for his entire career. He was the long-time head of the McGill AIDS Centre and the head of AIDS Research at the Jewish General Hospital’s Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research.When news of his death spread, tributes poured in from around the world.

“Mark Wainberg was a giant of HIV science. His work contributed to saving millions of lives,” said Michel Sibidé, executive director of UNAIDS.

Dr. Roderick McInnes, acting president of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and director of the Lady Davis Institute, said: “The 35 million people living with HIV-AIDS are indebted to Mark because, without him, many of them would not be alive today.” He described Dr. Wainberg as a “politician-scientist,” someone who combined scientific excellence with a social conscience.”

Linda-Gail Bekker, president of the International AIDS Society, was even more succinct: “Mark was a true mensch and a great scientist, and an even better friend.”

Dr. Wainberg was inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame in 2015. In its citation, the CMHF said he “revolutionized our understanding of HIV/AIDS at a medical, epidemiological and clinical level.” He garnered many other honours over the years. Dr. Wainberg was an officer of the Order of Canada, an officer of the Ordre National du Québec, and a chevalier in the Légion d’Honneur of France. He was awarded the Killam Prize in Health Sciences, one of the country’s top scientific prizes. He was also a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.

Dr. Wainberg’s son Zev, who is an associate professor of medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, said his father was a “complicated, humble, brilliant man.” In addition to his professional accomplishments, he was a deeply religious man. While raised in a secular Jewish family, he embraced Judaism during the time he spent studying in Israel.

Dr. Wainberg was also an inveterate traveller – with three million Aeroplan points, no less – who visited 120 countries. He also loved good Scotch and fine wine – and swimming.

“One of my dad’s joys was going into the ocean, which he did every day,” the younger Dr. Wainberg said at the funeral. He was with his father when he suffered a malaise, and managed to pull him from the water and perform CPR.

“I tried to save him, I tried and I could not. I knew HaShem was taking him away,” he said, weeping.

Rabbi Yechezkel Freundlich of Congregation Tifereth Beth David Jerusalem, the synagogue Dr. Wainberg attended every day he was home, said: “Words escape us to describe the great footprint Mark left on the world.”

He noted that the funeral drew an unprecedented cross-section of people, including diplomats, gay-rights activists, scientists, students and neighbours. Judah Aspler, president of the TBDJ synagogue and lifelong family friend, said that while Dr. Wainberg’s accomplishments are many and highly visible, he made many more invisible contributions in his community.

“He was always generous and gracious,” Mr. Aspler said. For example, if an elderly congregant missed weekly services, he would drop by their home to check up on them. Last year, after a 16-year-old girl was stabbed to death during a gay-pride parade in Jerusalem, Dr. Wainberg donated a Torah to an Ethiopian synagogue in her memory. Mr. Aspler also quipped that the gregarious Dr. Wainberg “was always excited to give a speech when invited – or not invited – to do so.”

Dr. Wainberg was predeceased by his parents. He leaves his wife of 48 years, the former Susan Hubschman; two sons, Zev of Los Angeles, and Jonathan of London; and a brother, Lawrence. Dr. Wainberg also had three grandchildren, Jake, Eliana and Julia. Family members said that of all the titles he accumulated over the years, the one that made him most proud was “Zaidy Mark.”

[cameronwjones]

Event Marketing Wisdom from 12 Social Media Experts

If you’re not marketing your event on social media, you’re missing out. According to Content Marketing Institute, Hubspot, Social Media Examiner, and Regalix—social media is one of the most important marketing tactics out there for both B2C and B2B companies. Nowhere is there more opportunity to build online communities into offline communities than with in-person events. But with so many different channels—Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Snapchat, Pinterest—where is an event marketer to start?

We recently asked 11 social media experts for their advice on making noise for live events on social media. The result is an extremely comprehensive guide on how to market your event on social media.

Given that this piece is about “making noise,” we also asked them the timeless question: If you had to be stuck on a desert island for a month with the music of one artist or band, whose music would it be? Get ready to rock!🎸

Courtney Smith Kramer

Executive Creative Director & Co-founder, Pure Matter

I think like anything else on social media, promoting an event will be as successful as the story you paint about the experience someone will have if they attend. After all, events are brands in and of themselves, and if there's no context around the brand, the compelling reasons to believe won't be there.

After all, you're competing against life itself for their attention and attendance; getting work done, or pajamas on the couch can be much more compelling than the thought of focusing on a webinar or Tweetchat for an hour – or even worse – putting on fancier clothes, arranging for a sitter and driving somewhere for the event.

Here is some advice for making the experience a positive one:

Know what your attendees expect out of attending, and paint them a picture about why they'll get it. If you're running a webinar series about your product, clearly outline the benefits the audience will take away from watching. Will it be new actions they can use to do something better? If it's a conference, don't forget to include the fun after hours activities with the balance of the business insights they'll learn. If you've ever attended a conference before, you know most of the good relationship building happens in the bar after a long day of sessions. In any case, the story you tell should never be about you; it's always about creating the conditions to attend.

Include the hashtags of others who will be part of the experience. The best way to encourage others to share your promotions is to include them as part of the bigger story. We help run the influencer program for DVD Netflix, and host a monthly Twitter chat about different genres of movies to give our Influencers a chance to partner with DVD.com. At the end of January, we promoted our Awards season-themed chat by appealing to fans of the individual movies nominated for an Oscar. We sent out tweets like "You think #StarWars #RogueOne will take home the statue? Join us 1/31 5pm PST/8pm EST for#@dvdnetflix #DVDme #Awards #tweetchat if you do!" Using the popular #StarWars and #RogueOne hashtags was in context of our event, and attracted fans of that franchise to come and join in on the fun. More Tweets were generated specific to the other films nominated in our event promotion online. The ripple effect of reaching new audiences on Twitter resulted in us earning 70% of our entire monthly Twitter impressions in just 4 hours on event day.

Make it easy for your influencers to help promote. Even if you're not running a formal influencer program for your brand, you likely have a handful of existing "superfans" who organically share your content. Tapping into these people who already love what you're doing can really help event attendance – but you have to make it easy for them to share. In our DVD.com example from above, we created social tiles graphics for our influencers with their own quotes and wrote Tweets for them so all they had to do to help promote the event was copy and paste. This way it's a win/win – your brand gets some extra hands to promote your event, while your superfans earn credibility by being publicly affiliated with your brand.

Desert Island Music:

Justin Timberlake

Neal Schaffer

CEO & Principal Social Media Strategy Consultant, Maximize Your Social

I have blogged about this in various posts,

Have a very clear hashtag. That hashtag should permeate anything and everything you do. Obviously that’s going to be huge because the day of the event you want people to post about it.  Letting people know about your event hashtag in advance is an amazing promotional tool. When people start seeing tweets and retweets and posts that have a certain hashtag—even if they don’t know what it’s about—that hashtag will make people interested in it and go to the event. More than promote the event, it can also be used to promote the content of those participating in the event. When those participants start sharing their content—which you’ve promoted for your event—you can see how that turns into a natural way of promoting the event.

Activate your speakers as advocates. Instead of just publishing—if you have an event page or even if you are publishing information about your event from your website—instead of just promoting and promoting and promoting, you also have something of value to share that is a great lead-in to your event. It also makes your speaker really happy that you are promoting them in advance of the event.

Utilize the content of your speakers for content curation. The flipside is that if your speakers become advocates, you help prepare landing pages for them, special discount codes, you interview them, help them create content that they can share with their networks. These networks are often vastly underutilized by most events that I see out there.

Make a better use of paid social. Retargeting is a standard practice these days, but not every event marketer is retargeting. Use paid social. Build community. Get people to the website. Retarget. Not rocket science. Don’t know if everyone’s doing that right now. It bears reminding as a best practice. And really, there is only so much that you can do on social organically. You have to have a component of paid social if you want to be successful on social in 2017.

Celebrate your fans. If you’ve done this event in the past, find out who your top tweeters are. Give them free admission in hopes that they will be doing as much tweeting to spread the word about your event. Celebrate those people that go out of their way to spread the word about your event, and bring them in for free—or a significant discount. Get them to help you spread the word. That’s one of the inexpensive ways and from a customer experience marketing perspective, one of the best things you can do, as well.

Influencer marketing. Give them free admission. If there are compelling influencers that you can invite as speakers, as moderators or as part of a panel, then do it. Have these at your event. It will pay off for you—from a social media promotion pre-event, during event, and post-event, as well.

Desert Island Music:

I guess Elvis Costello would be one of the people I think of. I’ve been a long-time fan and have seen several of his concerts. He has a lot of stuff from his early punk or new wave days to even country music ballads and other interesting experiments so that whatever mood I was in, I’d have music for.

Andrew Pickering and Peter Garland

Co-founders, Andrew & Pete

It's no good just saying 'come to this event, it's going to be great for X, Y, Z reasons' - you should SHOW it.

If it's an event that has happened previously - then get sharing videos and photos of previous successful events, maybe even video testimonials from those who attended. If it's something brand new there's still things you can do too.

One of the best ways to do this is via live video. How about showing people around the venue via live video? How about doing little guest interviews with speakers via live video leading up to the event? Or if the event is for a good cause, how about showing (not just talking) how the event is going to help those people and the impact it will have? Or if it's a music event - how about getting one of your band to play a live show via Facebook live? Whatever content you decide to create for the event it should give people an idea of what the event is going to be like - give them FOMO - so they need to buy a ticket!!

Desert Island Music:

Andrew: Lady Gaga. I am unashamedly a little monster. Pokerface and Bad Romance remind me of fun times at university, and I think she's eclectic enough to not get too bored after a month!

Pete: David Guetta would help turn the beach into a BEACH PARTY!

Wahiba Chair

Senior Social Media Strategist, Instructor, and Speaker, Wahiba Chair Consulting

The biggest advice I would give someone / an organization is to have a strategy and tactical plan that outlines who will do what when re: event promotion. I see so many events with great potential missing out on exposure and buzz simply because there is no well thought of integrated campaign. Or, because of lack of oversight on details; a common one being that different parties are not tagged properly on social. And speaking of, let me give you a real world example.

Last year I started #YVRSocial, a community of social media enthusiasts and professionals in Vancouver, BC. Our first event sold out with 100+ attendees, and trended on Twitter. But that was no accident.  It was a well thought of and executed integrated campaign that involved all of our stakeholders (i.e. speakers, sponsors, venue etc.). When that happens, and it happens well, everyone wins.

Here are the high level steps we took to make it happen:

Identify event objectives: Our primary objective was to drive event registrations. Secondarily, it was to drive engagement.

Develop an event digital promotional plan around our objectives inclusive of various tactics including email, social engagement (mostly organic), media sponsorship, and cross-promotions. We allocated different tasks to team members based on strengths and availability.

Execute the plan and make it easy for people to participate. For instance, we had a media kit with promotional images (seized correctly for each social channel) and sample tweets, Facebook and LinkedIn posts that speakers, sponsors, and volunteers could easily share. We also ensured to tag the right parties in relevant messaging in order to help us amplify our voice to their respective communities. I find Twitter is one of the best channels to do so. Another small tactics we used is to find people who registered on Twitter and then share an “excited to see you soon” message/GIF which they generally would amplify to their respective communities. This helped us build advocacy into the event promotion.

Example of a “pre-event” tweet to attendees by #YVRSocial volunteer

Desert Island Music:  

I would probably pick Bob Marley. Though I’m not a huge music buff, I’ve become a bigger fan of his after visiting Jamaica last year.

Joel Comm

CEO, Author, and Speaker, Joel Comm Inc.

Social media is a great place to promote your events. If you are going to be doing repeat events, having a Facebook group for members is a great place to start. Think of like a meetup group of sorts. And then, you'll want to set up a specific event page on Facebook for each event you conduct.

I find it helpful to create banners and graphics specific to the event. These can be shared across all the social platforms. Be sure to include a url on the image and in your posts that points to where people can register for the event or purchase tickets. (If you are in the Denver area, you are invited to our big event on June 30th at comm.us/smsdenver.)

Desert Island Music:

This question is always so unfair because I think no matter what I pick I'll eventually get sick of it! For now, I'm going to go with my #1 album of all time, Dark Side of the Moon.

Sunny Lenarduzzi

Social Media Strategist and Consultant

I always say break it into pre, during and post.In the pre-promotion, you want to use a lot of quick hit video teasers across social platforms and have them highly stylized to create hype around the event. If possible, you also want to highlight testimonials from past events to build buzz. During, you want to create FOMO by sharing as much live content as possible and Also you’ll want to share event recaps and ask influential attendees to share their thoughts on the event through social/blogging platforms.

Desert Island Music:

Al Green. I know that sounds weird, but I'm on a major soul kick right now and his voice makes my heart happy.

Daniel Hill

Social Media Consultant, Daniel Hill Media

Show the fun that people had. Show the real-world results that came from two people meeting. Show the conversations, and how the introductions became relationships. Show how 90% of life is just showing up, and this is their chance to do exactly that.

A picture is worth 1,000 words - so I would recommend using Instagram for some of the great pictures from prior events. Show people smiling, shaking hands, making connections, and building relationships. Show well-known speakers talking in a small group of engaged listeners, indicating their accessibility before and after sessions.

Knowing that a picture is worth a 1,000 words, how much more is a video? I went to a conference last year that built anticipation by releasing a video trailer as a preview of the content. This worked extremely well because it could be shared with others and get them interested in attending the conference as a guest. Video on Instagram can be up to 60 seconds, and that same video can be posted on YouTube, Facebook, and other sites. The goal is to make the video content so engaging that the immediate reaction is to share it and tag others in the post to draw their attention to it. It takes time and effort to make a great video, but the people watching will know exactly what to look forward to.

Desert Island Music:

Red Hot Chili Peppers but only from the Californication album onward. Nothing before 1998 except for "Soul to Squeeze". Their music has the underlying funk groove that you need to really get into the state of flow when you're trying to work, or when you're flying down the highway on the way to the beach. On the plus side, if I'm stuck on a desert island, I'll already be at the beach.

Luria Petrucci

Co-founder, Live Streaming Pros

One of the best ways to promote your event is to get your audience INVOLVED in the process so they’re totally invested in it and they feel like it’s as much THEIR event as it is yours.

How do you do that? With a Buzz Campaign. Go LIVE on social channels (Facebook LIVE, Periscope, YouTube LIVE or Instagram LIVE) early and often in the event planning process and bring them along for the journey.

Talk to them about what you’re doing. Involve them in the decision making process (you don’t have to give up control, but ASK them what they think). Share your experiences, your stress, the things that go wrong and the things that go right.

The bottom line is… the more they feel a part of the creation of the event, the more likely they are to HAVE TO be there at the event!

Desert Island Band:

Hmm… that’s a hard one! LIGHTS or Brandi Carlile (I cheated and picked two because I just can’t decide!)

Dorien Morin-van Dam

Social Media Marketing Consultant, More In Media

Step 1 - Create a written plan for promotion. Write down goals, objectives, target audience, budget, social media channels to be used, etc.

Step 2 - Create content to be used for the campaign(s). This includes images in all sizes for your chosen platforms and videos.

Step 3 - Implement any and all ideas for promotion on as many social media channels as possible. This includes outreach to bloggers, podcasters and vloggers to be on their show/blog as a guest, paid advertising, email marketing campaigns and a brand ambassador program.

Step 4 - Measure results daily/weekly and do more of what yields best results. Adjust as you go!

Desert Island Music:

It would have to be Adelle! I could scream with her, croon with her, sing with her, dance with her and cry with her.

Alon Alroy

Co-founder & CMO, Bizzabo

Unleash the Power of Your Audience: Part 1

Find a way to turn your attendees into promoters on social media because your voice is never objective when you promote your event. Think about reaching out to sponsors and vendors, but speakers, as well.

It’s not just enough to create a speaker card and be done with it. It’s a matter of iterating and optimizing to reach maximum engagement.

One useful tactic is to create speaker cards. People like to retweet things that make them look good. Simply find a photo, tag your promoter, and post it. Make sure to include any other relevant hashtags or handles.

Take for example this simple speaker card that Liz King recently created for her event TechsyTalk.

I saw this image on Facebook and thought, I want to share this! Notice the position of the text in the lower right-hand corner. One thing that King does that is great is that she constantly experiments with where the text is placed in her speaker cards. It’s not just enough to create a speaker card and be done with it. It’s a matter of iterating and optimizing to reach maximum engagement.

Unleash the Power of Your Audience: Part 2

Another great way to turn your attendees into promoters is with technology that incentivizes them to promote their event. For instance, Ticket Boost allows attendees to recoup a percentage of their registration price for every other person they get to attend using a special trackable link in social media. It can also be setup to reduce the ticket price of those who buy from your attendees for a double-sided incentive. Because these links are trackable, event organizers can see who their top promoters are and engage them appropriately.

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Partner Up with Other Conferences

As long as you are not overlapping in dates and topics, partnering up with other conferences is a great way to amplify your event marketing efforts. This lends itself to cross promotion on-site, in newsletters, and on social media. For instance you can feature something like “Check out our sister conference” on your event’s Facebook Page. To get the most out of these partnerships, make sure that the conferences that you partner up with have a big social media follower base.

Desert Island Music:

Barbara Streissand [I actually asked Eran, our other co-founder about to answer on behalf of Alon. I think this one is a joke.]

Nick Borelli

President & Strategist, Borelli Strategies

The three top tips I have for promoting your event through social media:

Know Your Audience. Before you promote your event, do as much research as you can on the types of attendees you are trying to sell to. Find out the answers to what excites them (what gets the most retweets), who is the most influential (check Klout scores), and what problems they have (join Linkedin and Facebook groups around your event’s topics). To be effectively social within a community, you have to become a native. If you just start selling at them you will become part of the noise they already don’t pay attention to.

Build A Team. Don’t promote your event by yourself, give tools to the people who are in the best position to help raise awareness and convert. All of your event’s formal stakeholders (sponsors, presenters, and vendor partners) should be given graphics, suggested social media copy, and links to help ensure this endeavor they are contributing to is successful. Determine who is the most influential to your potential attendees and incentivize them to promote for you as well.

Be Social. In order to sell tickets, you can’t always post about selling tickets. Focus on the mission of your event. If your event is educational, host Twitter Q&A sessions with experts. If you are planning an event to celebrate achievements, your posts shine a light on those who are contributing to the area you focus on. Your posts are just as much an extension of your mission as your event is.

Desert Island Music:

I’d have to go with something that is a bit cheerier than what I usually listen to (Bon Iver, Iron and Wine & Sufjan Stevens). I listen to different music depending on my mood, season and environment and Vampire Weekend would probably be exactly what I needed for that scenario.

Wrapping Up: The Power of the People

There's no shortage of great event marketing advice from these social media pros, but several tips have come up again and again:

Plan Ahead: As you begin preparing for your event, make sure that you have a social media strategy outlined. Before, during, and after your event, there will be ample opportunities to market it on social media.

Record Your Event: In both photos and videos, make sure you are recording your event. Interview attendees and speakers, put together a sizzler reel, show the world that your event is awesome. Facebook Live and other live video mediums will be helpful.

Utilize the Power of the People: Whether you use an influence marketing, brand advocacy marketing, speaker cards and content, or a social media tool like Ticket Boost, make sure you tap into the power of the people surrounding your event. 

For more great event marketing resources, click the button below. Your brain will thank you!

from Cameron Jones Updates http://blog.bizzabo.com/event-marketing-wisdom-from-12-social-media-experts

[viralhottopics]

Jeff Sessions just became the U.S. attorney general. Here’s what to do next.

On Feb. 8, 2017, Sen. Jeff Sessions was confirmed as our nation’s next attorney general in a final vote of 52-47. The Republican from Alabama abstained from voting for himself, and one Democrat voted for him.

Despite resistance and pushback from many organizations including an open letter from 1,424 law professors from 180 universities in 49 states asking to reject Sessions on the grounds that “it is unacceptable for someone with Senator Sessions record to lead the Department of Justice,” testimony from civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis (D-Georgia), a different hearing 30 years ago when a bipartisan group of eight Democrats and two Republicans voted to reject his appointment to the federal bench due in part to a black lawyer testifying that Sessions called him “boy,” evidence of his ongoing relationship with problematic organizations (*cough* white supremacists *cough*) Sessions was voted into office.

Presumably, for the next four years, he will be President Donald Trump’s chief law enforcement officer, overseeing how the laws are interpreted around immigration, elections, the War on Drugs, you name it.

It means the next few years could be challenging, to say the least.

Here are 19 real things you can do right now to make sure our justice system is working for everyone.

1. First of all: Dont freak out. Dont panic. Dont give up hope.

We’ve lived through a lot in our short time on this planet. The world didnt end when Bush was in charge. Obama didnt burn civil rights to the ground either or take away everyone’s guns. Youre still here. And there are ways to push back. Heck, some judges are already helping with that.

2. Maybe youve already donated to the ACLU. But there are other organizations that need your support too.

The ACLU has already raised six times what they normally do online in a year. Which is awesome.

Thanks to overwhelming support, we broke online records http://bit.ly/2oClpEl http://bit.ly/2oJ6hSs

ACLU National (@ACLU) January 31, 2017

But there are so many other organizations doing important work too, and they aren’t getting the same attention the ACLU has garnered in recent weeks. So, if you can swing it, help out organizations like the Center for Constitutional Rights, the National Lawyers Guild, and ProPublica that are also doing important work and could use the money too.

3. Support organizations led by people of color who are fighting for justice and equality on the ground.

Organizations like Black Youth Project 100 are creating the next generation of black leaders. There are a lot of brilliant and talented people of color out there doing super-smart things to help make our country more equitable with a focus on racial justice. But fighting for equality and justice isnt something that tends to be a huge moneymaker, so many people do it with little or no compensation.

Fortunately, The Safety Pin Box recently came onto the scene. It’s an amazing business with two important goals: 1. to turn white allyship into meaningful action toward racial justice and 2. more importantly, to fund black women who are doing hard work to change things for the better. The majority of proceeds from their monthly subscriptions are gifted to black female organizers who are doing said work. Their work will be key with Sessions in charge. Like their Facebook page if you want to learn more. And then subscribe. (If you need to know why you should subscribe, read this.)

4. Be ready for the midterm elections in 2018.

Take a few minutes right now to set a calendar reminder to vote so you can let the candidates who did (or didn’t) vote for Sessions and who are up for re-election in 2018 know exactly how you feel about that. Were still dealing with election fatigue from a tumultuous 2016, but midterms really are just around the corner. Stay informed and get involved. And make sure you vote.

Remember, Sessions has a history of prosecuting people who help others vote, as Evelyn Turner experienced firsthand.

Which brings us to

5. Support organizations that help protect peoples voting rights.

Sessions has a history of being a little aggressive about opposing voter rights. In 2013, he called the gutting of the Voting Rights Act “good news for the South.” The GOP has already started to take steps to eliminate the election commission that helps states protect the vote.

So check out organizations that report about and protect the vote, like Let America Vote, Color of Change, and the Voting Rights Institute.

6. Do you know what Black Lives Matter REALLY represents? Maybe it’s time to refresh your memory.

One of the criticisms often lobbied at any activist movement but especially at the Black Lives Matter movement, unjustifiably is that there is no clear set of goals. That all changed when Patrisse Cullors, Opal Tometi, Alicia Garza who founded Black Lives Matter and their allies rolled out their guiding principles document, a comprehensive guide to fighting for racial justice in America. Their website has policy agendas, actions you can take, and ways to get involved on a national and local level.

Another organization, Campaign Zero, also has a platform specifically addressing how to reform police departments, offering solutions that will make life better for all involved. If you are a white person looking to get involved, you might also want to check out Showing Up for Racial Justice, which has local chapters across the country.

7. Support organizations that are acting as watchdogs of the Justice Department.

Speaking of policing and crime, Sessions has a history of being a hardliner who prefers harsh sentences for even nonviolent crimes. The Brennan Center for Justice has been keeping track of his long record of filling prisons instead of rehabilitating offenders. Sessions has been very hesitant to let the federal government help reform city and state police departments. Hes blocked common-sense sentencing reforms that even Republicans wanted to implement. And hes a fan of private prisons.

We wouldnt know that without checking out organizations like the Brennan Center. So Like them on Facebook, and, if you can, donate to help protect folks.

8. Take some time to learn about the Innocence Project and the Equal Justice Initiative.

About 1 in 25 people sentenced to death in the United States ultimately would be exonerated for a false conviction (if time on death row were unlimited). The Innocence Project is on the front lines of death penalty reform, helping to get innocent people who are wrongly convicted off of death row.

Then, for those who actually did commit crimes in a system that is fundamentally broken, the Equal Justice Initiative is there to call out bonkers things like the fact that taxpayers spend $182 billion a year on mass incarceration or that there are 10,000 children stuck in adult prisons as we speak.

Learn more about them the easy way. Like the Innocence Project and Equal Justice Initiative on Facebook.

9. Learn about hate groups, since Trump no longer is interested in what they do.

A recent survey of law enforcement agencies discovered that law enforcement is far more worried about right-wing extremism and terrorism hurting Americans than the threat of Islamic terrorism.

Since the Trump administration decided not to track terrorism by right-wing or white extremist groups, make sure youre following the Southern Poverty Law Center. They keep track of hate groups in America.

10. Consider running for office locally. Yes, you. You can do it.

As they say, all politics is local. In many ways, whats happening on Main Streets across America is just as consequential as whats happening in Washington. Start attending your local city council meetings, and better yet run for office on the promise to uphold civil rights and social justice in every way you know how.

GOOD NEWS! Since Nov 8, more than 4,000 women have contacted @emilyslist bc they want to run for office someday. http://bit.ly/2oJ96my

ann friedman (@annfriedman) February 8, 2017

11. Support groups that fight for immigrant rights.

A lot of immigration groups will be under attack in the Trump White House. We know this because Trump has already picked a fight with the entire judicial branch of government over his poorly thought-out Muslim ban.

Check out Informed Immigrant for resources. The National Immigration Law Center is on the front lines of the Muslim ban in assisting immigrants with legal advice. The Black Alliance for Just Immigration is helping fight for the rights of black immigrants. Mijente is on the ground, confronting immigrant abuse by government at the source.

12. National organizations get a lot of attention, but did you know many of them have local branches that need help too?

There are lots of smaller groups doing great work protecting and ensuring progress on social justice at the state and local levels (the ACLU has local affiliates, for starters). Ask around. Do some digging.

Also check out Movement 2017, where you can find lots of local organizations that need financial and volunteer support, and see if there are ways for you to get involved and support these efforts in your own backyard.

13. Share this video of Sen. Elizabeth Warren reading the 1986 letter written by Coretta Scott King opposing Sessions for a position as a federal judge.

Ya know, the one most GOP senators dont want you to hear. King penned a powerful piece in 1986 specifying why Sessions controversial record suppressing the rights of black voters in Alabama should disqualify him from a federal judgeship. Warren tried to read the letter aloud before the Senate but was silenced by the GOP-controlled chamber.

Do her a favor watch and share the video below:

During the debate on whether to make Jeff Sessions the next Attorney General, I tried to read a letter from Coretta Scott King on the floor of the Senate. The letter, from 30 years ago, urged the Senate to reject the nomination of Jeff Sessions to a federal judgeship. The Republicans took away my right to read this letter on the floor – so I’m right outside, reading it now.

Posted by U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren on Tuesday, February 7, 2017

14. Learn about gerrymandering with this super-fun video from “Adam Ruins Everything” so you know what’s at stake in 2018 … and 2020.

Show this video about gerrymandering to anyone who says gerrywhatnow? when you bring up the way voting districts can be redrawn to create party majorities. Sessions will probably be doing everything he can to protect this process.

By the time her movie ends, Ms. DuVernay has delivered a stirring treatise on the prison industrial complex through a nexus of racism, capitalism, policies and politics. It sounds exhausting, but its electrifying. Manohla Dargis’ review of “13th” in The New York Times

16. Make sure your bank isn’t investing in private prisons, and divest from it if you can.

Several large U.S. banks namely Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, BNP Paribas, SunTrust, and U.S. Bancorp help finance debt by CoreCivic and The GEO, two major private-prison companies. In other words, your bank may be helping keep highly unethical private prisons which rely on an increasing supply of inmates to make their money thriving. Divest from the banks that support this practice, and spread the word.

17. Support survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence.

Sessions isnt exactly known for being a champion for women and survivors of sexual violence. In 1994, he voted against the Violence Against Women Act a fact that wasnt lost on Sen. Patrick Leahy, who pressed Sessions on his “no” vote earlier this month.

There are a lot of ways to support local women’s shelters doing vital work in protecting and advocating for survivors, whether it be volunteering your time with them or donating to shelters in your area. Also, take the time to get to know orgs fighting to create better policies on college campuses, like Know Your IX and SurvJustice.

We are. We’re not going anywhere. http://bit.ly/2oCnY99

End Rape on Campus (@endrapeoncampus) February 7, 2017

18. Help pay off the often steep legal fees for those searching for justice.

Funded Justice, an online crowdsourcing platform, allows people to raise money from friends, family, and strangers to help pay their legal fees. Unfortunately, while justice is blind, our justice system isnt; if you have the money to pay for the best lawyers and legal resources, youre more likely to get the results you want. This means low-income defendants arent given a fair shake. (For more on this, check out the documentary “Gideon’s Army.”) Funded Justice helps level the playing field.

19. Follow writers who are speaking out about our broken systems.

Read Ijeoma Oluos open letter to white people who want to help. Read Rewires list of grassroots legal all-stars fighting for justice. Expand your mind and check out our list of 23 incredible black women activists. Seek out new writers every single day.

We’ve got a long road ahead of us. It’s important to stay sane, stay healthy, and stay informed.

There’s probably going to be a lot of depressing news being thrown at you for the foreseeable future. Don’t block it all out; that’s how they win. They want you to feel overwhelmed. Don’t give them the satisfaction.

You wont know what these organizations are doing if they arent in your feed, your email inbox, or your mailbox. Take the time to go back through this article and Like the Facebook pages of the orgs that resonate with you. It’ll only take five minutes out of your day. It’ll help you keep up to date with what we’re up against.

And just to say it: If you do feel overwhelmed, take a break from Facebook when you need to. We’re all gonna need one occasionally. That’s normal.

When that break is over, get back to helping make sure we all live in a more equitable world someday in the future. And make sure to continue to share important information with your community. Share, donate, volunteer, and support folks who are doing the hard work on the ground.

Read more: http://u.pw/2oCcTFk

from Jeff Sessions just became the U.S. attorney general. Here’s what to do next.

[tragicbooks]

Jeff Sessions just became the U.S. attorney general. Here's what to do next.

Do something with the emotions you are feeling right now.

<br>

On Feb. 8, 2017, Sen. Jeff Sessions was confirmed as our nation's next attorney general in a final vote of 52-47. The Republican from Alabama abstained from voting for himself, and one Democrat voted for him.

Despite resistance and pushback from many organizations — including an open letter from 1,424 law professors from 180 universities in 49 states asking to reject Sessions on the grounds that "it is unacceptable for someone with Senator Sessions’ record to lead the Department of Justice," testimony from civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis (D-Georgia), a different hearing 30 years ago when a bipartisan group of eight Democrats and two Republicans voted to reject his appointment to the federal bench due in part to a black lawyer testifying that Sessions called him "boy," evidence of his ongoing relationship with problematic organizations (*cough* white supremacists *cough*) — Sessions was voted into office.

Presumably, for the next four years, he will be President Donald Trump's chief law enforcement officer, overseeing how the laws are interpreted around immigration, elections, the War on Drugs, you name it.

It means the next few years could be challenging, to say the least.

Here are 19 real things you can do right now to make sure our justice system is working for everyone.

1. First of all: Don’t freak out. Don’t panic. Don’t give up hope.

We've lived through a lot in our short time on this planet. The world didn’t end when Bush was in charge. Obama didn’t burn civil rights to the ground either or take away everyone's guns. You’re still here. And there are ways to push back. Heck, some judges are already helping with that.

2. Maybe you’ve already donated to the ACLU. But there are other organizations that need your support too.

The ACLU has already raised six times what they normally do online in a year. Which is awesome.

Thanks to overwhelming support, we broke online records https://t.co/0AxVLgXlzP https://t.co/Ma0dxRwA26

— ACLU National (@ACLU) January 31, 2017

But there are so many other organizations doing important work too, and they aren't getting the same attention the ACLU has garnered in recent weeks. So, if you can swing it, help out organizations like the Center for Constitutional Rights, the National Lawyers Guild, and ProPublica that are also doing important work and could use the money too.

3. Support organizations led by people of color who are fighting for justice and equality on the ground.

Organizations like Black Youth Project 100 are creating the next generation of black leaders. There are a lot of brilliant and talented people of color out there doing super-smart things to help make our country more equitable with a focus on racial justice. But fighting for equality and justice isn’t something that tends to be a huge moneymaker, so many people do it with little or no compensation.

Fortunately, The Safety Pin Box recently came onto the scene. It's an amazing business with two important goals: 1. to turn white allyship into meaningful action toward racial justice and 2. more importantly, to fund black women who are doing hard work to change things for the better. The majority of proceeds from their monthly subscriptions are gifted to black female organizers who are doing said work. Their work will be key with Sessions in charge. Like their Facebook page if you want to learn more. And then subscribe. (If you need to know why you should subscribe, read this.)

4. Be ready for the midterm elections in 2018.

Take a few minutes right now to set a calendar reminder to vote so you can let the candidates who did (or didn't) vote for Sessions and who are up for re-election in 2018 know exactly how you feel about that. We’re still dealing with election fatigue from a tumultuous 2016, but midterms really are just around the corner. Stay informed and get involved. And make sure you vote.

Remember, Sessions has a history of prosecuting people who help others vote, as Evelyn Turner experienced firsthand.

Which brings us to…

5. Support organizations that help protect people’s voting rights.

Sessions has a history of being a little aggressive about opposing voter rights. In 2013, he called the gutting of the Voting Rights Act "good news … for the South." The GOP has already started to take steps to eliminate the election commission that helps states protect the vote.

So check out organizations that report about and protect the vote, like Let America Vote, Color of Change, and the Voting Rights Institute.

6. Do you know what Black Lives Matter REALLY represents? Maybe it's time to refresh your memory.

One of the criticisms often lobbied at any activist movement — but especially at the Black Lives Matter movement, unjustifiably — is that there is no clear set of goals. That all changed when Patrisse Cullors, Opal Tometi, Alicia Garza — who founded Black Lives Matter — and their allies rolled out their guiding principles document, a comprehensive guide to fighting for racial justice in America. Their website has policy agendas, actions you can take, and ways to get involved on a national and local level.

Another organization, Campaign Zero, also has a platform specifically addressing how to reform police departments, offering solutions that will make life better for all involved. If you are a white person looking to get involved, you might also want to check out Showing Up for Racial Justice, which has local chapters across the country.

7. Support organizations that are acting as watchdogs of the Justice Department.

Speaking of policing and crime, Sessions has a history of being a hardliner who prefers harsh sentences for even nonviolent crimes. The Brennan Center for Justice has been keeping track of his long record of filling prisons instead of rehabilitating offenders. Sessions has been very hesitant to let the federal government help reform city and state police departments. He’s blocked common-sense sentencing reforms that even Republicans wanted to implement. And he’s a fan of private prisons.

We wouldn’t know that without checking out organizations like the Brennan Center. So Like them on Facebook, and, if you can, donate to help protect folks.

8. Take some time to learn about the Innocence Project and the Equal Justice Initiative.

About 1 in 25 people sentenced to death in the United States ultimately would be exonerated for a false conviction (if time on death row were unlimited). The Innocence Project is on the front lines of death penalty reform, helping to get innocent people who are wrongly convicted off of death row.

Then, for those who actually did commit crimes in a system that is fundamentally broken, the Equal Justice Initiative is there to call out bonkers things like the fact that taxpayers spend $182 billion a year on mass incarceration or that there are 10,000 children stuck in adult prisons as we speak.

Learn more about them the easy way. Like the Innocence Project and Equal Justice Initiative on Facebook.

9. Learn about hate groups, since Trump no longer is interested in what they do.

A recent survey of law enforcement agencies discovered that law enforcement is far more worried about right-wing extremism and terrorism hurting Americans than the threat of Islamic terrorism.

Since the Trump administration decided not to track terrorism by right-wing or white extremist groups, make sure you’re following the Southern Poverty Law Center. They keep track of hate groups in America.

10. Consider running for office locally. Yes, you. You can do it.

As they say, all politics is local. In many ways, what’s happening on Main Streets across America is just as consequential as what’s happening in Washington. Start attending your local city council meetings, and — better yet — run for office on the promise to uphold civil rights and social justice in every way you know how.

🚨 GOOD NEWS! 🚨 Since Nov 8, more than 4,000 women have contacted @emilyslist bc they want to run for office someday. https://t.co/hCUJKdkZJY

— ann friedman (@annfriedman) February 8, 2017

11. Support groups that fight for immigrant rights.

A lot of immigration groups will be under attack in the Trump White House. We know this because Trump has already picked a fight with the entire judicial branch of government over his poorly thought-out Muslim ban.

Check out Informed Immigrant for resources. The National Immigration Law Center is on the front lines of the Muslim ban in assisting immigrants with legal advice. The Black Alliance for Just Immigration is helping fight for the rights of black immigrants. Mijente is on the ground, confronting immigrant abuse by government at the source.

12. National organizations get a lot of attention, but did you know many of them have local branches that need help too?

There are lots of smaller groups doing great work protecting and ensuring progress on social justice at the state and local levels (the ACLU has local affiliates, for starters). Ask around. Do some digging.

Also check out Movement 2017, where you can find lots of local organizations that need financial and volunteer support, and see if there are ways for you to get involved and support these efforts in your own backyard.

13. Share this video of Sen. Elizabeth Warren reading the 1986 letter written by Coretta Scott King opposing Sessions for a position as a federal judge.

Ya know, the one most GOP senators don’t want you to hear. King penned a powerful piece in 1986 specifying why Sessions’ controversial record suppressing the rights of black voters in Alabama should disqualify him from a federal judgeship. Warren tried to read the letter aloud before the Senate but was silenced by the GOP-controlled chamber.

Do her a favor — watch and share the video below:

During the debate on whether to make Jeff Sessions the next Attorney General, I tried to read a letter from Coretta Scott King on the floor of the Senate. The letter, from 30 years ago, urged the Senate to reject the nomination of Jeff Sessions to a federal judgeship. The Republicans took away my right to read this letter on the floor - so I'm right outside, reading it now.

Posted by U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren on Tuesday, February 7, 2017

14. Learn about gerrymandering with this super-fun video from "Adam Ruins Everything" so you know what's at stake in 2018 ... and 2020.

Show this video about gerrymandering to anyone who says “gerrywhatnow?” when you bring up the way voting districts can be redrawn to create party majorities. Sessions will probably be doing everything he can to protect this process.

15. Watch the documentary "13th" on Netflix (or read "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness," the book that inspired the film).

This Oscar-nominated documentary was directed by Ava DuVernay ("Selma") and currently boasts a 97% fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes. Its title comes from the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which states: "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States."

If you want to better understand the way America’s modern system of mass incarceration is rooted in slavery and racism, "13th" is an eye-opening trip through history.

“By the time her movie ends, Ms. DuVernay has delivered a stirring treatise on the prison industrial complex through a nexus of racism, capitalism, policies and politics. It sounds exhausting, but it’s electrifying.” — Manohla Dargis' review of "13th" in The New York Times

16. Make sure your bank isn't investing in private prisons, and divest from it if you can.

Several large U.S. banks — namely Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, BNP Paribas, SunTrust, and U.S. Bancorp — help finance debt by CoreCivic and The GEO, two major private-prison companies. In other words, your bank may be helping keep highly unethical private prisons — which rely on an increasing supply of inmates to make their money — thriving. Divest from the banks that support this practice, and spread the word.

17. Support survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence.

Sessions isn’t exactly known for being a champion for women and survivors of sexual violence. In 1994, he voted against the Violence Against Women Act — a fact that wasn’t lost on Sen. Patrick Leahy, who pressed Sessions on his "no" vote earlier this month.

There are a lot of ways to support local women's shelters doing vital work in protecting and advocating for survivors, whether it be volunteering your time with them or donating to shelters in your area. Also, take the time to get to know orgs fighting to create better policies on college campuses, like Know Your IX and SurvJustice.

We are. We're not going anywhere. https://t.co/KDpCudptCw

— End Rape on Campus (@endrapeoncampus) February 7, 2017

18. Help pay off the often steep legal fees for those searching for justice.

Funded Justice, an online crowdsourcing platform, allows people to raise money from friends, family, and strangers to help pay their legal fees. Unfortunately, while justice is blind, our justice system isn’t; if you have the money to pay for the best lawyers and legal resources, you’re more likely to get the results you want. This means low-income defendants aren’t given a fair shake. (For more on this, check out the documentary "Gideon's Army.") Funded Justice helps level the playing field.

19. Follow writers who are speaking out about our broken systems.

Read Ijeoma Oluo’s open letter to white people who want to help. Read Rewire’s list of grassroots legal all-stars fighting for justice. Expand your mind and check out our list of 23 incredible black women activists. Seek out new writers every single day.

We've got a long road ahead of us. It's important to stay sane, stay healthy, and stay informed.

There's probably going to be a lot of depressing news being thrown at you for the foreseeable future. Don't block it all out; that's how they win. They want you to feel overwhelmed. Don't give them the satisfaction.

You won’t know what these organizations are doing if they aren’t in your feed, your email inbox, or your mailbox. Take the time to go back through this article and Like the Facebook pages of the orgs that resonate with you. It'll only take five minutes out of your day. It'll help you keep up to date with what we're up against.

And just to say it: If you do feel overwhelmed, take a break from Facebook when you need to. We're all gonna need one occasionally. That's normal.

When that break is over, get back to helping make sure we all live in a more equitable world someday in the future. And make sure to continue to share important information with your community. Share, donate, volunteer, and support folks who are doing the hard work on the ground.

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