#or my lovely friends will get 3 billion notifications . sorry to those guys

[waroferas]

feel like it deserves its own post but i also regularly get super emo thinking about how the colors all add up to link at the end of four swords. he was broken down into Exaggerated Pieces but in the end it was really him all along. every time they fought he was fighting with himself (including shadow), every time they made up it was him ending an internal argument, it's all him.

[fruitcoops]

Could we maybe get some Remus “I’m more of a ‘facedown on my bed in the dark’ type of guy,” Lupin? If you would want to? It was a line from another of your fics and I really can relate, especially today. It's been a bit of a rough and overwhelming weekend and your writing is always so comforting no matter how many times I reread 💕. You're amazing and I hope you have a lovely day! -🌼

Sure thing, and I’m sorry your weekend was rough! Have some Finn and Loops bonding to make up for it <3 That line is from this fic if anyone is interested

SW credit goes to @lumosinlove!

“Hey.” Someone nudged the sole of Remus’ foot. “Scoot, you’re hogging the mattress.”

Remus groaned, but obliged, shuffling himself over to the far side of the bed without taking his face off the pillow. “I shouldn’t have yelled.”

“Meh.” The bed creaked as Finn flopped down next to him. “You didn’t actually yell, if that makes you feel better. It was more of a snap, and a justified one at that.”

“I am so sick and tired of being interrogated about my fiancé,” he muttered, turning to look at Finn. “They never did that to Pots, right?”

“Nope.”

Remus sighed heavily through his nose. “It’s so fucked up.”

“Yep. Those guys were way out of line.”

“Did you know they didn’t ask me a single question about hockey? Everyone just wanted to know where Sirius is and how I’m doing without him. Like newsflash, asshole, I’m my own human being.” Heat rose in Remus’ neck. “I love him, but that doesn’t mean I’m physically incapable of functioning on my own.”

Finn hummed in agreement, then bumped their shoulders together. “The guys are worried about you.”

“Really?”

“Mhmm. Dumo laid into some of those reporters once the cameras were off, and Talkie was starting to pace before I left.”

Guilt welled in Remus’ stomach and his mouth twisted. “I’m sorry, Harz. Please don’t sacrifice your evening to watch me sulk, your boys are waiting and—”

“Oh, they wanted to come, too,” Finn interrupted with a snort. “I just got here fastest. Have you checked your phone?”

Remus made a face, though it wasn’t likely Finn could see it with all the lights off. Twitter was probably exploding, not to mention everyone mother-henning him to pieces and Sirius dissolving into a puddle of worry when he was supposed to be resting. “Not yet.”

“Do you want me to call Cap?” A warm hand smoothed down the shower-damp cowlick at the back of Remus’ neck and he leaned into it; Finn laughed under his breath. “God, you’re like a cat.”

“I should probably do it, let him know I’m alright,” Remus sighed. “That’s the responsible choice.”

“You’re still pissed, aren’t you?”

“Yeah.”

“Then take a breather. Cool off. I can text him while you nap or read or whatever.”

Something lodged next to Remus’ heart, something soft and wonderful. “Thanks, Harzy.”

Finn shrugged. “Any time. You’re my teammate now, it’s finally my turn to look out for you.”

Remus huffed a laugh and turned on his back to their sides pressed together. “It feels so weird being on a roadie as a player. I keep having stress dreams about unloading all your shit.”

“Really?”

“I called Moody yesterday at 5 am and he told me to fuck off back to sleep.”

Both of them burst out laughing; when he finally got his breath back, Remus leaned over and turned the bedside lamp on. Finn was still snickering, but he could see the worry in his eyes. “You sure you’re alright?” he asked after a moment.

“I just let my temper get away with me.”

“That’s a first.”

“Shut up, Harzy,” he scoffed with a smile.

Finn dragged him into a loose headlock and ruffled his hair, ignoring his half-hearted attempts to squirm away. “Y’know, you’ve gotten a lot mouthier since you left your corner office.”

“I just have less patience for your bullshit now,” he teased, digging his elbow into Finn’s ribs until he let go with a yelp of surprise and smacked the back of Remus’ head in retaliation. “Hey!”

“C’mon, I’m hungry,” he said dramatically, throwing himself over Remus’ legs. “You get to use your big fancy hockey salary to get room service in payment for my moral support.”

“Is this a ploy to make sure I eat?”

“Me? Plotting? Never. I resent the implications of that accusation.” Finn flicked his knee lightly. “But I can order if you want to wash your face or something.”

Remus hesitated, then nodded. “Thanks, man.”

“Can’t leave one of my best friends to sulk in the dark alone, can I?” Finn winked at him as he sat up, and Remus rolled his eyes.

How did I get so lucky? he thought as he rinsed his face and tried to shake off the disaster of an interview. He braced his hands on the edge of the sink and thought of Sirius, home alone and still recovering from a nasty bout of the flu, then pulled his phone out of his back pocket and swiped past a billion notifications before pressing the right contact.

It rang for a moment before connecting. “Hullo?” a sleepy, congested voice asked.

“Hey, lovey,” Remus said, smiling to himself. “Got a second to talk?”

[panharmonium]

next round of in-progress naruto thoughts under the cut!  we started season 12 finally and we’re only like ten episodes into it but i have already experienced the most stressful moment of my life so.  lots to scream about.

[spoiler policy disclaimer first, as always: I am watching naruto for the first time and have only gotten a partway into season 12.  i am trying to avoid spoilers, so please don’t interact with this (tags included, because the notifications now show them to me automatically) with any spoilery commentary, including even general things like “oh i love this show but it gets less good after X point” or “X season is better than Y season” or any general assessments of quality/likability/etc re: future seasons.  Thank you! <3 ]

- the amount of information dumped on us in the first half of this season is SO MUCH!!!!  i don’t remember any of it!  i can’t keep it straight!  we met kushina and did the entire nine-tails attack backstory and all that stuff about the land of eddies and the previous nine-tails jinchuriki (which, UH....yikes), and then a bunch of very confusing information about the sage of the six paths (we still don’t even know what that title MEANS) and some kind of special/complementary creation powers inherent to the senju and uchiha clans that apparently were used to create the tailed beasts from the ten-tails, and then all these references to other things like....madara fighting the first hokage to acquire his powers?  madara giving nagato the rinnegan (...how?)  nagato being an uzumaki??  and then we get dumped into the actual formation of the allied shinobi forces and how they’re organized and that in itself it a lot for me to keep straight........so many characters...i still don’t know half their names....i feel like i need to rewatch the entire first half of this season just to try to absorb all of this information again

- i can’t believe this show actually gave one of the mothers a personality.  shocking.  

- re: above - i liked kushina a lot.  but can i just say, while we’re on the subject, how FUCKED UP her entire story is???????  the hidden leaf administration......imported a child........to make her the nine-tails jinchuriki......a fate in which she had no say.....that’s.........abhorrently fucked up.  i thought we’d reached the limit of “how evil is this administration actually” but i guess not

- relatedly, i still feel like.......weird about minato’s choices?  not really sure where i stand on that one yet.  like...they kind of make us assume up until these episodes that minato HAD to use the reaper death seal and sacrifice his own life in order to stop the nine-tails, but now we know that’s not even the case.  kushina was going to take the nine-tails down with her.  minato didn’t actually have to die, and kushina didn’t want him to.  she didn’t want to make naruto the jinchuriki, and she didn’t want him to grow up without any parents.  and it’s not like her original plan would have been a permanent solution for everyone; minato says the nine-tails will just reemerge someday if they don’t seal it inside someone now, but still.  i dunno.  

it’s not like an EVIL choice.  i get what he’s saying.  i just don’t know how i feel about it.  minato on the whole has just been a character that i haven’t quite figured out how to connect with - i don’t dislike him, and i WANT to like him more than i already do, but even back at the end of the kakashi chronicles his vibe just felt a little weird to me.  a little...detached.  i dunno if i’m just like...wanting him to be something other than what he is, because the show builds him up so much as the ideal?  but then he doesn’t quite match what i envision.  

he’s not BAD in any way.  i just keep wanting him to be...warmer, or something, and maybe that’s just not who he is.

- i was bizarrely fond of young!Killer Bee.  the way he was just such an optimistic kid who never let anything get him down...he’s kinda like naruto in that way.

- and i had a Very strong reaction to that moment where motoi apologizes for trying to kill Bee that one time and Bee’s smiling response is “you know, i don’t remember that happening.”  that was, uh.....you can definitely feel what they’re getting at with that.  

honestly, the second half of this show is doing a lot with radical forgiveness/compassion and that is one of my BIGGEST thematic weaknesses, so i’m prepared to continue getting punched with it.

- KISAME LMAOOOO.  man, i’m gonna miss him.  i guess if you’ve gotta go out, feeding yourself to your own sharks is one way to do it.  

- i loved that flashback to kisame meeting itachi lol.  they have a brief tense moment and then kisame literally is just ‘lets be friends and have some fun’ and he’s not SERIOUS obviously; it’s meant in a ‘let’s just not make waves here so we can get our work done,’ but then it’s hilarious because the two of them literally never argue again.  they’re the only two akatsuki members who actually get along XD

- KONAN OMG.  ;________;  

- how fucking badass do you have to be to pull off that move though.  six hundred billion paper bombs???  six hundred BILLION?????????

- i was EMOTIONALLY COMPROMISED by the sudden jiraiya flashbacks and his little froggy tile system for keeping track of the children, oh my god.  that was...no.

- loved naruto telling the nine-tails “i’m sorry...i won’t do wrong by you...just hang in there for a while longer”.......i loved that.  (see again: radical compassion)

- how DARE they use the reanimation jutsu on asuma.  how DARE THEY.  

- i....really can’t imagine that sasuke is gonna be cool with them using itachi’s dead body like that.  like i know he can’t see that they’re doing it right now, but those bandages have gotta come off at some point, right? 

- definitely Did Not Like kabuto saying that he also reanimated “other shinobi of significance”...that really just leaves the door wiiiiide open and that is a stressful feeling

okay now the main event -

WHEN KABUTO SAID HE WANTED YAMATO FOR HIS EXPERIMENTS I STARTED FULL-ON SCREAMING THREATS AT THE TV (@PADMERRIE WAS THERE SHE CAN CONFIRM)

AND THEN THE VERY NEXT EPISODE KABUTO SWALLOWED HIM AND SLITHERED AWAY AND NOW YAMATO IS CAPTURED AND BEING EXPERIMENTED ON AND/OR USED LIKE A FUCKING...DNA BANK OR CHAKRA RESERVE FOR MADARA’S PLANT ARMY OR SOEMTHING AND IT’S HORRIBLE AND I WANTED TO CRY THE WHOLE TIME

you guys i cannot emphasize enough how upset i am about yamato being trapped in kabuto’s clutches i was clutching a blankie the whole time we were watching and i cannot stop thinking about it even into today; i am just sobbing on the inside

one of this show’s recurring themes is the whole “treating people as if they’re nothing more than weapons/tools to be exploited is bad actually; maybe we should stop doing that” (eg the cultural view of shinobi, the jinchuriki, the hyuga clan’s curse marks, all of orochimaru’s “projects” [kimimaro, taka, etc]), and yamato is another victim of that - we’ve barely gotten any details about his history yet but we do know that he was originally one of orochimaru’s experiments and i just cannot STAND the thought of him being back in the hands of those fucking people.  i cannot stand the thought of him being tortured and stripped down and experimented on.  the idea of him being trapped in this dehumanizing position again is KILLING ME INSIDE.  i need kakashi to break in there and rescue him YESTERDAY.

[cursivebloodlines]

Before I continue I must say: excuse the awful graphic. Lmao. Anyway! I’ve realised that I have never done a Follow Forever or anything like this in my life?? So I decided that now I should hop on the bandwagon and spread some of the love. Not because I’ve reached a follower milestone but so I can give you all a quick thanks for putting up with me really. I know I have never been the best in replying to drafts at a reasonable speed, that I ramble too much and take twenty-odd years to reply to a single message and yet you guys still talk, follow me and want to interact with me and my muses? Honestly, I’m blessed. :’) Just know I love you all and wish you the Happiest of New Years. Alright let’s go --

SOME SPECIAL MENTIONS:

☼ @floires​ ;; Becky, oh Becky. You’re my sister so I guess you have to be on top of this list?? lmao. You don’t realise what an amazing writer you are. Like so good that Tumblr made us both unfollow each other? Like what was that all about? Haha! We have stupid arguments over nothing and over everything but know that I love you regardless of those. We need to write together also! Your muses are the cutest and I could honestly go on forever but I don’t want to make your head bigger than it already is. You’re the best sister anyone could ever ask for or want etc etc and no matter the idiotic things that leave my mouth sometimes, you just so happen to be one of my favourite people on this planet. Ew, I’m getting cheesy now. How gross is that. And one day I will persuade you with my almighty powers to edit a theme because you always end up making the finished product so good and like SHARE YOUR TALENT PLEASE.  ALSO THIS IS RANDOM BUT JUST KNOW YOU CAN SING GREAT. (If you E V E R say you sound like Celine Dion though...I may just start laughing. You know exactly what I’m talking about here.) Never change for anyone or anything and I sincerely hope that 2019 is kind to us because 2018 was the most Evil. And besides, 2018 was so last year lmfao. All my love to you sis. P.S: you smell. xx

☼ @brokenbcys​  ☼  @dreamxcatchcr​ ;; Emma and Dani! I’ve put you both here because I know I’ll end up repeating myself lmao. Where do I start with you both? You’re two of the best friends anyone could ever ask for; both on the internet and in real life. You’ve been there for me for so many years and you know -- I think this year it will be like...9 or 10 years since we’ve been friends? That’s gone so fast! We’ve had many laughs together and honestly I never would have survived the hell that is school if it weren’t for you two. Thanks for putting up with me when I take ten years to reply to a simple message dkjlsdgsd. And I also love how no matter which characters we throw at each other, they all end up being bezzie mates. I have such a good writing chemistry with you two it’s just so easy :’) Our friendship must have been reflected on our characters haha. We’ve been in some hilarious RPs together though -- like the twins one! Our TMR RP (groupc) will always be one of my favourite rps (Not because we ran it pfft) because I’ll always treasure our Glader Trio. One day I will persuade you both to watch all of AOS and not just the first episode hehe. Here’s to many more years of friendship! I love you both sm and I know I can come to you about anything and yeah :-) xx

☼ @wckdfortressx​ ;; Hannah! I know you’re not really on the RP scene anymore but I couldn’t do a Follow Forever without including you! We’ve been friends for goodness knows how long now -- it’s definitely been a good few years. And I love that you love Agents of SHIELD as much as I do :’) AND ULTIMATES IS THIS YEAR!!! So the fact I might finally get the chance to meet you irl is so exciting! You’re a lovely person and you’re always fun to talk to even if I take a billion years to reply to a simple message lmao. I’ve always loved every single one of your characters and I think you’re an amazing writer. And if you ever decide to return to RP know that I’m always willing to throw any and every one of my muses at you. <33 You’re an awesome person and I hope this year treats you well!

☼ @ravenousdiaster​ ;; Your URL popped up before I even typed ‘r’! I think Tumblr knows how much I lav you hehe. :’) I’m so happy that we started writing together! I always get so happy when I see you’ve replied to a thing or tagged me in something. And we can spend ages and ages just headcanoning and it’s beautiful <3 You’re an absolute pleasure to write with and Dougie/Dahlia are precious babies who I love sososooo much. We love putting them through Shit because we are angst fiends ;) but I wouldn’t have it any other way because I’m terrible. I always love when I see I have a message from you and you’re so lovely to talk to OOC as well. Thank you for being you and carry on being your amazing self. I lav youuu. <3

☼ @strawberryxwrites​ ;; You have legit got to be one of the most patient people I know, omg. When I always take a lifetime to reply to a single message or poof randomly in the middle of a conversation, you’re still more than happy to have a chat and??? I am ever so grateful for that. I know I can be a pain in the arse when it comes to reply speeds but I’m so glad to have the chance to write with you :) I love your characters dearly and I love writing our threads as well. I hope you have a fab year in general and just know I enjoy writing with you and talking to you and thanks so much for your awesome self and wanting to write with me.

☼ @valplum​ ;; Every time you reply to our thread or I see you on the dash I am honestly just???? floored by your writing because it’s just beautiful and HOW DO YOU ENGLISH??? Every time I have a notification from you I’m like !!!!!!! I know I’ve had trouble with my muse for Logan recently but know that I love Logan and Bardot so much and I’m also excited to write with your other muses at some point to :) And you’re such a wonderful person to talk to I’m <3 I don’t know how to English so just know I love you okay ♥

☼ @heroxwithxdreams​ ;; remember that time we tried plotting and I ended up completely forgetting to reply to the message? ahh. I’m so happy that the second time around worked out. Because I always did want to reach out because I thought ‘ahh they seem so nice! I’d love to write with them’ and then I got lucky :) You’re so sweet to talk to even if we haven’t spoke for a while but I know that’s because you’ve had a break from Tumblr which I completely understand since I’m technically I’m on a semi hiatus haha! but just know when you’re back I’m ready to love you. <3

☼ @faerietaled​ ;; My motivational fairy! I’m so sorry I tend to forget to reply to my messages ah but you always seem to appear in my messages at just the right time :) Whenever I’m not feeling so great or stuck in a pickle you always reach out and say hey. Honestly you have no idea how much that means to me. <3 The fact you take some time out of your day and listen to my rambles; you’re an awesome bean. I hope this year treats you brilliantly because you deserve nothing less than the best. ♥

THE REST OF THE BEST:

Whether you’ve been following me for months or for hours, whether we’ve written 500 threads together or only one or even not at all yet, whether we’ve spoke to each other or haven’t interacted yet, thank you all for ever giving me a second glance, for being so patient and understanding when I forget to reply to messages or my snail’s pace of reply speeds. You’re all such lovely people and without you my indie rping experience wouldn’t be what it’s like today :) Thanks for lighting up my dashboard with your greatness every day! Keep on doing you and know that if you ever need anything I’m here for you. And if you ever wanna start a new thing then I would be completely down with that!! Happy New Year! xx

☼ @domuslux  ☼  @finalisms  ☼  @heartonanoose ☼ @merryxchaos  ☼  @ferociousrex  ☼  @disapprcve  ☼ @inechoingsilence  ☼  @thefangedman  ☼  @ofbookshelves  ☼  @ofxmuse  ☼  @caringspirit  ☼ @evcrlasting  ☼ @mnemxsyne-writes  ☼ @darkwinterwinds  ☼  @dramaqxeenbitch  ☼  @thexnyctophiliacs  ☼  @the-red-red-rose  ☼  @anatcmies  ☼ @swordsandmagic  ☼  @kingxfmischief  ☼ @pseudonyist  ☼ @poignantisms  ☼  @novusorbus  ☼  @futureofnothing  ☼  @svimmingfools  ☼  @shewritcsx  ☼  @ofstrangevariety  ☼  @lavenderrpages  ☼  @cheapxseats  ☼  @scinglives  ☼  

(If I’ve missed you please do not take offence and know it was not my intention. My brain never remembers to reply to my messages let alone remember everyone for my first follow forever. I don’t love you any less so please don’t think that. )

[jiminandlemonade-blog]

I want to be the one you write your love songs about

Yoongi x Reader

Angst/fluff/ugh I don't know

"8 lattes please", you smiled at the barista at your local coffee shop. Every morning before you visit the Bangtan Dorm, you always call into the coffee shop and surprise the members with a different drink each day. Today was the day of the latte, Yoongi's favourite. Several notifications started pinging through your phone as if all of the members were together and planned to spam your phone with messages. However, you knew you were their coffee fix supplier and with-holding them from caffeine before their comeback? Not a good idea. You knew you weren't just there to supply their caffeine addiction, but also as their friend. Your smile grew wider, going through each member's texts, different emoticons and memes that they had sent you of the others. You knew that one day all of the members would find out that you were playing them all off against each other to send the best memes to use at your disposal when one of them piss you off one day, but for now, it was hilarious and you didn't mind that you might get caught soon. "--miss", you heard from over the counter. "Sorry, what?" You replied. "I asked if you wanted any cakes or side orders with your coffee" questioned the barista. Thinking about it, you had not surprised them with cakes in a while. "A selection please, make sure there's a white chocolate brownie in though please". Once again, Yoongi's favourite.  

Your love for Yoongi has been growing ever since you were introduced to Bangtan. Being in the media industry, you were lucky to meet some incredible people but during your work placement in Korea, you instantly connected with BTS. Every time Yoongi smiled his gummy smile, you felt your heart fall to the pit of your stomach. Yes, all of the members were amazing but there was something about Yoongi that done something to you. To the outside world, he seemed to have this bad boy reputation, when in actual fact, he was just misunderstood. Getting to the end of the texts, you realised Yoongi hadn't contacted you. Not that that was strange, he usually only ever Facetimed at the end of a day but what was strange is when you clicked into your messages and realised you hadn't spoken in a week. Now that was strange. You felt your eyebrows burrow, reeling at the fact that you were aware you hadn't spoken in a week, you just didn't want to think about it. A half edged smile crept on your face as the barista handed you your goods after you had paid. Without hesitating, you slumped into the nearest available chair and put all of the drinks and cakes onto the table, got out your phone and tried facetiming Yoongi. Nothing. Not available. Nada.  

You always knew that you could rely on Jungkook, texting him, you asked whether Yoongi was okay. You sat your phone down next to the coffees whilst having a sip of your own, looking outside onto the streets of Seoul and thinking about how lucky you were to be here. Suddenly, you got distracted when your phone started to buzz. Yoongi. Turning over your phone, you felt your heart race and felt suddenly disheartened that it wasn't Yoongi. Jungkook. As much as you love them all, you couldn't help but feel defeated that Jungkook has the energy to call you back whereas Yoongi didn't. "Y/N", Jungkook laughed down the phone. He continued "where's my coffee? You're late and I'm not stable". "I won't be long Kookie. I was just wondering how Yoongi was?" You questioned. "I know, I got your text. It's kinda too long for me to type so I just thought I'd call you instead.".. Those words made your mind start to play tricks on you. What would be so wrong with Yoongi that you would need a phone call? Is he okay? "Yeah.." You responded with a broken tone. "He's been having some trouble with song writing lately. He's so used to producing around 4 songs a week but this past week he hasn't produced one and he thinks he's failing. He hasn't ate, slept, nothing. I don't think I've seen him leave his studio. I've only seen him leave to shower and even then, I get telecommed to come in and wash and iron his clothes. It's just a stage he's going through but obviously with this being his life, it's so important to him and it's like his life is caving inwards" he rhymed off. You sat there, expressionless, thinking you could have been motivating Yoongi but instead, you didn't contact him thinking he was avoiding you. You knew he didn't see you as anything more than a friend, but even friends can inspire others and that's what you wanted to do. "I'm on my way" you stated, sliding Jungkook's call from your phone. Walking out of the coffee shop door, you decided to add something to your order. "Could I have another white chocolate brownie?" You call to the barista, "I think he's going to need it".

Pulling up to their dorm, your hands were full with all of the items from the coffee shop. You wondered how you even managed to carry them to the car. You had other items you needed to take in with you as you were staying over for the night. "I'll ring Yoongi.. One last time" you thought. Again, nothing. Before you had time to hang up yourself, Jin was already opening the passenger side door to help you. "Thanks Jin, you're a life saver". "No, thank you Y/N, you've brought the caffeine. You're the life saver" he laughed to himself. He paused and you wondered whether he was going to come up with some caffeine joke you've heard a billion times so cut him off before he could even start. "Let's go!".

Everyone was in the kitchen, except from Yoongi and as you walked in, everyone suddenly went quiet. "Well don't stop on my account" you exclaim. "No, it's nothing about you" explained Taehyung, "but we really need your help". The way he said that sounded like a secret mission and you were extremely intrigued. "It's about Yoongi.." Jimin explained. "We've tried to get him out of the slump and nothing is working for us. His only reply is 'I'm doing this for you guys' and then we feel bad for pestering him. He just doesn't see where we are coming from. We were hoping--" Jimin was cut off by you. "You were hoping I would help you right?". Everyone nodded their head in unison. You popped their coffees onto the island in the kitchen and started walking away. "How am I going to get in there?" You thought to yourself. "What if he doesn't want to see me?". You quickly reverted back to what you were doing before you came to the dorm and remembered about the coffees. "I'll take that and that and that and that and that, thank you" you said matter-of-factly whilst picking up yours and Yoongi's coffee and cakes. "Wait, how do you get 3 cakes?" Jin exclaimed furiously. "For one, I bought them and two, these are white chocolate blondies.. If I can't cheer him up. These will". Everyone chuckled but inside your heart was going faster than it ever has before. You were so nervous he would shoot you down and that your kind efforts would go to waste. You didn't even bother knocking on the door. "Yoongi?" You said in hushed tones. Nothing. Namjoon happened to walk past and got something out of his pocket. The master card to all of the doors. He tapped it once against a square tab next to the door and voila, you were in. You saw the back of him, slumped in his chair, tapping a pen against the table. "Yoongi, I.." "Y/N?" He whispered. "-Why are you here?". "I'm your friend. I was bringing you coffee and cake and just wanted to see if you were okay cause you weren't outside with the others-". "They sent you in here for an intervention didn't they?" He slammed, cutting you off. "Yoongi, no that's not how it is. Please don’t start like this. I wanted to see if you were okay." You placed his coffee next to his original cup, the state the cup was in was showing he didn't have caffeine since at least this morning. Taking it away, you washed it in the sink in the genius lab. Opening the windows and curtains, it was like a new room.. In a horrible way. Displays of paper all over the floor with unwanted song lyrics, USB pens with melodies on them. "Yoongi.." You sigh, lying back on the large bean bag chair/bed he has in his work space.  

After minutes of silence, Yoongi started tapping his pen again and you were wondering if this is what helps him with his inspiration, so you stayed quiet. You were looking through some of the lyrics on the floor, you found them mesmerising and some of the things that were wrote down, made your heart melt, your brain go to mush and your mouth to become dry. You really did love this man. You were jealous of the love he was writing about on some of the lyrics. It made you tear up a bit. Sighing back, you finally spoke "You realise that these lyrics are amazing you know?.. You have so much talent. Are you stuck on the melody? I can try-" once more, you were cut off by Yoongi's sharp tongue "Listen Y/N, I don't mean to sound rude but I'm trying to prepare for comeback and you being in here is distracting me.". The words hurt, but it didn't mean that you were going to move. Behind his piano and computer, there is enough space for you to stand so you got up and stood there like a goof, dancing to Run because you and him both know that you can't dance and he thinks that your Run impression is the funniest. Not even that made him laugh. It was if the computer and piano were a barrier, and he couldn't see past it. Once more, a loud sigh exited your mouth. "Yoongi, if you need anything, please let me know. I'm sleeping over tonight if you have remembered so I'll only be in the other room. I don't want to distract you anymore" you said walking away. Opening the door, you hollered back "Hey Yoongs, make sure to eat something.. I got your favourite, white chocolate brownie. Actually, I got you two". You saw his mouth half smile in the reflection of the dark computer screen and knew that at least you've done something right, even if it was giving him a brownie.  

Walking to the living room, everything felt heavy. Your head, your body, your heart.. It was if the weight of Yoongi's troubles were now encompassing you and it felt horrible. Jimin and Jungkook were the only ones left in the sitting room as the others went to record parts of the songs that they had from Namjoon. "What's wrong?" They both said in unison, looking at your ghostly white face. "I'm in love with Yoongi" you let out, followed by a shocked gasp from not only Jimin and Jungkook, but you aswell. "Shit, I didn't mean that" you exclaimed, covering your eyes and turning around. Jimin, being the ever comforting one, got up from his chair and hugged you from behind, bringing his hands to yours and taking them down from your eyes and turning you around to face him. "We know you love him.. We always have" he said, pulling you in for a hug. "So, why did you make me do this?" You asked with a vicious bite. "We thought Yoongi would be more open to talking to you, we didn't use you Y/N, we just thought you could have helped..." Jungkook trailed off. You lifted your head from Jimin's chest to look over his shoulder at Jungkook, "I thought I could have helped too" you sighed. "What exactly was said in there?" Jungkook asked. You went and sat next to Jungkook, Jimin sat next to you on the arm of the chair, squishing you and making you belly laugh from how soft they were being. The seriousness intensified when you told them that he basically told you to get out. You explained everything. "How can he even write about a love when he's never had one?" Jimin explains. "Seriously Jimin, out of everything she's just said.. You pick up on what's on his song lyrics he's never going to show us?" Jungkook asked out of frustration. "I think you need to get back in there" he continued "I think you need to show him that you can't be walked all over. You've went in there and gave him a coffee and his favourite cake, I noticed you didn't get mine might I add, it's a lemon cake, but moving swiftly on.. He needs to realise not to take you for granted and to man up out of this slump. If I'm honest, I'm getting a bit pissed off with it." "Ohh, maknae!" You cackled, never seeing him so serious before. Your laughter was quickly cut off when Jimin was staring at you with his serious eyes "Y/N.. I agree".

You told them both that you needed time to think and would maybe talk to him before going to bed. You 3 started watching a K-Drama. The episode's topic was about unrequited love and this was everything you felt for Yoongi. You felt as though you gave everything and got nothing in return. Well recently that is, in the past, he'd hug you, pay for your coffee, make sure you were comfortable if you ever needed to get changed, would stand outside the bathroom when it had no lock to make sure nobody walked in, went to the store to get your sanitary towels, drove you to the cinema, he even made you an outdoor cinema once on the balcony.. Shit. You needed to tell him. You were only half way through the K-Drama but you got up, tucked the bit of blanket down that covered you in the middle of Jimin and Jungkook and said "I'm going to talk to him". They never faltered, no blinks, no words, nothing. They didn't think you would ever do it. But here you were, marching over to Yoongi's door. "Shit, the key!" You exclaim, as you go to open the door. "Here", said a familiar voice. "I always knew you would tell him eventually".. Namjoon stated. "Wait, what?" You gasped. "One of you were sitting on the intercom the whole time, I heard everything in my studio." He laughed. "Great, now everybody knows apart from the person who should know" you said, keeping your voice down whilst pointing to Yoongi's door. You went to take the key from Namjoon's hand but he pulled back. "Do you think it's wise to tell him now? With the condition he is in at the moment?" Namjoon asked concerned. "I'm not going to tell him?" You said confidently, "I'm merely going to tell him to stop being an arse". "That's my Y/N", Namjoon smiled with a thumbs up, awarding you with the key card.  

Stepping into the room, your head was spinning. What was even going to come out of your mouth? Would you upset him? Would you make him angry? Would you cry and just walk out? Anything was a possibility. "Min Yoongi" "What?" He said in an angry moan. "You need to snap out of this right now. We all love you so much and hate seeing you like this. What is it really that's bothering you? Really, what is it? We just want to help you and friends help each other Min Yoongi. Now tell me, what is wrong with you?!" You rang out in one breath, gasping for air as you finished. You waited a few minutes, tapping your foot on the ground towards the end. Eventually, he turned around.. Looking up at you through a black hoodie, eyes darted and looking lost, mouth shrivelled and a ghostly complexion. "I'm lost Y/N. I have no inspiration". You went over to hug him, only wanting to take him into your grasp but he stopped you, "please don't.." He called. You took two steps back and landed on the bean bag bed you had previously been in. "Okay then.." You thought, not knowing how to take that he had just denied you a hug, something he knows you adore. "Min Yoongi, there's inspiration everywhere--" you cut yourself off looking at the crinkled pieces of paper on the floor. They used to be more crinkled, where Yoongi had scrunched them up and threw them out of anger, but the most beautiful ones you had read, you tried to straighten them out, making them near perfect. Like him. "Think of this girl Yoongi. Or whoever you are writing this about. Surely you get inspiration from them? From Bangtan? Friendships. Us? Where you're from.." You heard yourself repeating yourself.. "the girl you wrote about on these pages" holding them up, trying to meet his gaze. He turned around, slumping himself into the glass table and putting his head between his arms. You walked over to show a bit of affection by rubbing his back, telling him everything would be okay. Tears pricked your eyes through desperation to make him feel better but also, through jealousy of the girl he wrote about. You looked down onto the glass table to where Yoongi was writing some more lyrics. They were beautiful.. You read the last line "I want to be.." And following that were a lot of dots from the pen, obviously where he was struggling to formulate an idea. You eased the paper from under his left arm, not knowing whether he'd want you to take it or not, but he did. You sat back down on the bean bag chair again and looked at the lyrics, eyes sore from trying to hold back tears. My god, you were jealous. You placed the lyric sheet on the table behind you, pressing your hands on the floor to help you get back up and decided to clear the floor from the other lyrics and items lying around. After about 5 minutes you had cleaned the place to the best of your ability and had placed all of his lyrics in a pile, not wanting to lose them. Yoongi was still in a slump.

"Yoongi?" You called again, somewhat feeling like a parrot by calling for him constantly. "Just remember we're always here for you okay." That's when you noticed Yoongi's phone flash in the corner of your eye and you were ever so intrigued about his phone. It was on charge, but not in view of Yoongi. You walked over to it and his home screen was flooded with notifications. Unread notifications. All from BTS members asking if he's okay, friends from back home, some people in the industry and you. He never read any of your messages asking if he was okay. You realised that he may not think you care and you felt you needed to do something about it. "I don't know how many times I have to say this to you Yoongs, but I care for you so much. Look at all of these people who do" taking his phone off charge and placing it infront of his head. "Min Yoongi, God dammit will you just turn around and look at me?" All of your anger coming out in bitter words. You could feel yourself getting upset at the desperation in your voice and wondering how, if he was your friend, he couldn't turn around and look at you. He didn't, he stayed there. He raised his head to look in the monitor to see if you were still there, you were.  You noticed, it was as if he was playing tricks on you. You felt like a part of a game that you didn't want to be a part of anymore. "You know what Yoongi.. HERE" you spat, filling in his lyric sheet that you had taken from him, the one that made you tear up earlier. You folded over the parts that were about some girl and left the last line "I want to be.." And filled it in. "I want to be the one you write your love songs about". "There it is" you cried, placing the lyrics over the top of his phone and running out of the room.  

"Hey, what's wrong?" Jungkook scoffed noticing your red eyes and face and running after you. "Yoongi, what have you done?" You heard Jimin cry as you started to run out of the door. "I can catch you Y/N" Jungkook exclaimed, "please don't be like Yoongi... talk to me". You got to the middle of the street, rain pouring like in an American romance film "I don't want to be like Yoongi!" You cried.. "I want to be with Yoongi!".

Part 1 | Part 2

[giantsfootball0]

College football communication Saturday Tennessee Volunteers Florida Gators

It was Saturday afternoon, and I was in the middle of a perfectly pleasant autumn day. I had the day off from traveling and my family had gathered for the first night game in the history of Wingate University football, lights donated via a generous gift from my stepmother.

We dined on a catered lunch. We strolled through an art gallery dedicated in her honor. I wore khakis. And through it all, my pocket was a’humming with text messages and social media notifications. First, it was only occasionally. Then, the buzzing business picked up steam to the point where it was almost constant.

I knew what time it was without even looking at my watch. It must have been 3:30. You see, that’s when Tennessee and Florida were kicking it off at The Swamp. And while I might now be a crusty old impartial college football writer who officially doesn’t care who wins or loses ballgames, my old college roommates are not subject to such rules. And at what college did we all meet? The University of Tennessee.

Thus, this was the first facetious text from the first college buddy that appeared on my phone on Florida game day.

Ryan McGee/ESPN.com

The remainder of the day was spent riding a digital roller-coaster of emotion, rising, dropping and spinning to the point of inducing nausea. I was not alone for this thrill ride. I experienced it Mystery Science Theater 3000-style, as I do every Saturday, with running commentary from my Big Orange brothers.

This, despite the fact only one of the five former roomies still resides in Tennessee. The rest of us are scattered from the Carolinas to Missouri to the Rocky Mountains. We haven’t attended a game as a group in nearly a decade and a half. Yet, nearly every time our alma mater kicks it off, we experience it together.

Ryan McGee/ESPN.com

And as it is every Saturday, we five are certainly not alone in our not-aloneness. No college football fan is. All around the globe, millions of people are strapped in and riding along with their own personal support groups, everyone joined at the digital hip by the devices in their hip pockets.

For better or for worse, richer or poorer, W or L.

“I’ve been tending bar in this city my entire adult life and the reaction to a big win is still the same, with one exception,” said the gentleman who answered the phone when I called The Gin Mill, a bar on New York’s Upper West Side that serves as Big Apple’s official gathering spot for fans of the Florida Gators. (I didn’t catch his name, sorry. It was a little loud.) It’s one of dozens of watering holes that become the places where alums can gather to quench their thirst of reconnecting with the alma maters in the fall. There are so many, my colleagues at College GameDay have struggled with how to get cameras to them all when the show originates from Times Square this Saturday. “People always go crazy when there’s a great finish. They always do the same thing, raise their arms and scream. But they used to do it longer. Now they all scream for a few seconds and then everyone’s arms drop and it gets kinda quiet for a minute.”

Why is that, Mr. Bartender?

“Everybody’s on their phones texting the people who aren’t here.”

Like my bud Super Dave, wherever he was, who was watching the Tennessee-Florida game just as we all were, wherever we all were. No matter what our location, our feelings about the contest, which was sitting at a sloppy 3-3 score in the second quarter, were the same and they were instantly shared, breaking it all down just as we used to when we sat crammed shoulder-to-shoulder in the Neyland Stadium student section.

Ryan McGee/ESPN.com

“No matter where you are, you’re not isolated, you are all in this together,” explains Dr. Anita Blanchard, associate professor of Psychology and Organization science at UNC Charlotte. “Through this technology, you get to cross boundaries of time and distance. It’s amazing, when you think about it. It’s so great when you want to share something with someone, like a moment or an experience, or yes, a college football game. It’s really a positive, unifying, community experience.”

Blanchard heads up the Virtual Identity, Community and Entitativity (V.I.C.E.) laboratory, dedicated to studying how information and communication technologies affect people, organizations and societies. She speaks of “virtual communities,” feelings of “groupy-ness” and how being brought together through technology affects how people feel about their identities.

“When we’re on the road and Auburn is playing, you know what? We’ve got two Auburn guys on this team and like a hundred Georgia and South Carolina and wherever else,” says Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton, speaking about himself and teammate Cameron Artis-Payne. “So, come Auburn game time he and I are either watching the game together or texting between us and all our old teammates together ��� away from these other guys.”

He smiles and holds up his phone. “We find our people and stick with them.”

Be it Superman or mere mortals, when people go searching for one of those communities, they do just as they would if they were in New York looking for a place to watch their team on TV. They go hunting for a room full of folks wearing familiar logos, just as they would if they were at the actual stadium for the real, live game. But there are only so many seats in those stadiums and so many airplane tickets to get there.

So, that clear majority who aren’t there are still hunting for that familiar feeling on Saturdays.

“When you go to a game, what do you do? You wear your team colors and you sit with the people who are with your team,” says Blanchard. “Why, as a [North] Carolina fan, would I go sit with a bunch a Duke people in Cameron Indoor and watch a bunch of Duke stuff? I’m not going to do that. I don’t want to do that. I want to be around Tar Heels!”

That closeness serves a lot of purposes. It cures loneliness. It builds friendships over football. And it weeds out those who would love to foul up those first two. Most of the time. But the haters — even the one who are friends the other 364 days a year — can still find a way to run the blockade.

For example, a former coworker of mine who, at the end of the third quarter when the score was 6-3 in favor of the Gators buzzed in outside of the comfort of our group text. He’s a Florida alum. And I’m not going to publish his name because I don’t want to give him the publicity. I will, however, publish the text he sent:

Ryan McGee/ESPN.com

I started to forward that photo into the group conversation with my buds, but decided against it. I mean, he hijacked the #GBO (Go Big Orange) hashtag, for heaven’s sake! Sticking with our folks-in-the-bar comparison, allowing him to interrupt our chummy conversation would have been like letting some guy pour a bucket of brew over our heads.

You know, like the people who derive so much sick pleasure from crashing into social media timelines.

“Social media — Twitter, Facebook, whatever — that’s a whole different animal,” Blanchard says. “If you’re texting, then you are selecting the people you’ve decided to hang out with. If you’re out in the wild, where anyone can jump in there just by using what supposed to be a friendly hashtag, that’s no longer what I would call a group. That’s a crowd. Anyone can bump against anyone else or scream whatever they want to in a crowd.”

Oh, and what a crowd it is. According to Twitter’s analytics department, over the course of the 2016-17 season there were more than 27 million college football-specific tweets producing more than 3.8 billion impressions, originating from 10 countries. Sports-wise, in the United States that trailed only the NFL and Major League Baseball. The gap from those top three back to the other sports is enormous.

It should be no surprise that 45 percent of that chatter was produced by 18-to-24 year olds, aka college students. But 36 percent was sent by 25-to-44 year olds, what universities refer to as “young alums,” aka all the people in all those sports bars … not to mention me and my old roomies.

Take last weekend’s other wild game, Texas at USC. A game that the Trojans dominated, squandered, pushed into overtime and then ultimately survived with a field goal kicked by a walk-on freshman in overtime.

“Man, I don’t even really do social media anymore, but during that game USC looked great and it looked bad and then it looked great again,” says former Trojan-turned-TV analyst Matt Leinart, who could be seen live-tweeting throughout the game standing between the Fox Sports desk and the end zone. “It was ‘Darnold is great!’ and then ‘Darnold is too immature!’ and then ‘Fire Clay Helton!’ and then ‘Clay Helton is a genius!’ … and that was just the USC side.”

Then he thought about the team who lost. “I can’t imagine what the Texas side was like.”

“Drama, man,” says Leinart’s counterpart, Vince Young, who was on the Longhorns’ sideline. “You keep up with it for a while, then just turn your phone off. I mean, you turn your Twitter off. Leave the phone on. Let your friends find you. You need them then.”

Good call, VY, especially when a game ends the way that one did and your team is the one that lost.

Which brings us back to earlier that Saturday, and my phone once being blown up by my guys. Only now it came after Florida’s 63-yard dagger of a game-winning pass as time ran out. Final score: Florida 26, Tennessee 20.

“The most positive aspects of this group, community experience isn’t what is the most valuable when you win,” Dr. Blanchard explains. “The real value is when you find yourself on the side where you need some consoling. When you need some support. It’s not just you, isolated and alone. You are feeling validated because your feelings are like everyone else’s.”

Well, almost everyone else’s. That other side — the side that won — let’s not forget that it is experiencing group emotions, too. Those people also spent the day living among their little digital neighborhood of friendlies. And they have no issue going forth and sharing their feelings with others. Not even five hours after the end of the game, to provide the last gasp of our game-day group text message therapy session … er, I mean, conversation.

Ryan McGee/ESPN.comCoach speak

Speaking of phone calls, Adam Rittenberg has spent the week chatting with head and assistant coaches about how they are prepping for opponents this weekend. Here, in their own words, is the best of those conversations.

Todd Grantham has been a first-year defensive coordinator for four teams — the Cleveland Browns, Georgia, Louisville and Mississippi State — but no group has bought into him and his system faster than Mississippi State, which leads the nation in QBR and ranks second in yards per play. Grantham frequently met with the entire defense this spring and identified categories of performance: loafs, physical play, tight coverage, loose coverage, running to the ball, sagging off. “I was up front with them,” Grantham said. “These are habits we’ve got to create and how we have to play. They were eager. You see guys who are coachable and understand that effort and energy are important.”

Oklahoma State’s defense has six takeaways this season and has scored a touchdown in each of its first three games. Coordinator Glenn Spencer is pleased with the defensive scores but wants to average three takeaways per game, which includes fourth-down stops. Last year, Oklahoma State held TCU to six points and twice intercepted Kenny Hill in a 31-6 win. “They weren’t healthy,” Spencer said. “[Kyle] Hicks was banged up, [KaVontae] Turpin was banged up, Kenny wasn’t the same. They’re a healthy team now, so they’re a lot more explosive. They’ve changed. You can tell they’ve got a bigger commitment to running the ball out of different formations.”

Most expected Justin Wilcox to immediately improve one of the nation’s flimsiest defenses at Cal. But few foresaw such a dramatic uptick in Wilcox’s first three games as Bears coach. Cal already has nine takeaways, tied for third nationally, and its points allowed average is down to 22 from 42.6 in 2016. “By far, our best football is in front of us,” Wilcox said. “They’re competing really hard and with toughness, and that’s great to see. We’ve just got to play cleaner. They’ve got a good overall understanding. It’s just details of the assignment and how detailed you can be, whether it’s alignment, eye control, execution of the technique.”

Week 4 stats quiz

The post College football communication Saturday Tennessee Volunteers Florida Gators appeared first on Daily Star Sports.

from https://dailystarsports.com/2017/09/22/college-football-communication-saturday-tennessee-volunteers-florida-gators/ from https://dailystarsports.tumblr.com/post/165640378476

[davidegbert]

25 secret WhatsApp tricks you (probably) didn't know about

Byline

Elissa Loi

25 secret WhatsApp tricks you (probably) didn't know about

There are over a billion WhatsApp users worldwide right now. The bad news? Your mum has already found her new favourite way to spam you. The good news? You can easily avoid her on the down-low, and that’s just one of the messaging service’s many secret tips you probably don’t know about.

From disabling its ‘last seen’ feature to bookmarking messages you don’t want to forget about, there are loads of tricks to make your favourite IM app more useful than ever. You just have to be in the know.

Luckily enough, we’ve scoured every inch of WhatsApp to gather up its most useful features. Read these top tips and you’ll be a pro in no time at all.

We've rounded up some top tips for everyone's favourite instant messaging service

Add to video view

1. Begone, blue ticks of misery

We know how it is. You're at figure skating practice, your phone buzzes, and you glance down briefly before nailing a spectacular triple axel.

Clearly, you've not got time to respond immediately. But at the same time, you don't want the sender to realise that you've already looked at the message, lest they think you're ignoring them when you fail to reply for two more hours. That's the privilege the blue ticks take away.

Recently though, the chat app has realised the error of its ways and silently come up with a workaround. The liberty of message-mulling is ours again.

How: Users can just access Privacy via Settings and disable Read Receipts. There, now it's time to iron out the kinks in your friendships that the blue ticks have caused.

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE

The 35 best things on Netflix right now

2. Figure out your BFFs

What’s the difference between a casual acquaintance and a bezzie mate for life? How often you message them on WhatsApp, of course. If you’re not sure how to divvy up the members of your social circle, then why not check how often you’ve messaged them.

How: Head to Settings > Data and Storage Usage > Storage Usage and you’ll see a list of your most important groups and contacts ranked according to the data you’ve expended on their behalves. Ah, the romance of modern living.

3. See when your messages are read

Think the double-blue ticks are the worst thing to happen to relationships since Tinder? Think again. Here's another way you could annoy your loved ones.

In addition to finding out the exact time your messages are delivered, you can also choose to see the exact time your message was read (assuming you choose to stick with the ticks).

How: Go to any of your WhatsApp chats, tap and hold on any of the messages you’ve sent in that chat, followed by the Info option. For iOS users, you can also drag towards the left to reveal a window which will show the time your message was delivered and subsequently read.

It works for group messages too, with the window listing the time each participant read the message.

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE

Ten-and-a-half weird things you won't believe Apple made

4. Hide your profile pic

Batman. David Bowie. Pepe the Prawn. All people who have built their much-vaunted careers on an air of mystique and otherness. You can bet they’d have their WhatsApp profile pics set to private, instead of treating the world to a bedraggled photo of them and a bottle of Lambrini. So, as the saying goes, always be yourself unless you can be like Batman.

How: Head to Settings > Privacy > Profile Photo > Nobody.

5. Mute group chats

We’re all in at least a few group chats at any one time, created because someone (likely the group admin) was bored. People tend to get overzealous in chats, especially since WhatsApp allows group conversations of up to 50 participants. Who hasn’t woken up to the horror of 100+ unread messages fuelled by a night of boredom?

How: To prevent yourself from being woken up by the constant lighting up of your smartphone screen, you can (a) either flip your phone over and ignore it or (b) mute the offending group chat. Tap on the group chat of your choice, then the name to bring up Group Info where you will find the option to Mute the chat for eight hours to one week or a year. Alternatively, you can exit it altogether.

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE

The 20 best kids TV shows and films on Netflix

6. Get shortcuts to conversations

If there are certain people you chat to more often, it might be a good idea to create a shortcut for them directly on your homescreen, so you don’t have to keep opening and closing WhatsApp.

How: Tap and hold on the chat (group or individual) of your choice and a tab will pop up. Select the Add Conversation Shortcut option and the chat in question will appear as the person's profile photo on your mobile desktop. Unfortunately this only applies for Android users and not iPhone ones. Sorry guys.

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE

The 35 best free apps on iPhone and iPad

7. Find out the truth about where your friend is

We've all been a victim of that “on the way” lie when the person in question is still in bed. To prevent yourself from ever getting duped again, insist that the contact shares their current location with you by tapping on the arrow icon next to the text box and then Share Location. There's also a way of preventing them from manually entering their location...

How: The way the location appears is a clue. If it’s a real GPS-based location, the location share will appear as a dropped pin, but if it’s a location they entered, its address will appear beside the dropped pin. Feel free to call them out on it.

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE

I swapped my Nexus for a cheap Chinese smartphone - and won

8. Go incognito by switching off 'last seen'

WhatApp’s ‘last seen’ feature is a nightmare for anyone with self-esteem issues.

‘Why are they online and not replying to you right now? Do they have someone more important to be talking to? Surely it’s not Joel? That devilish son of a gun.’

If you’d rather your people didn’t think this way of you, there’s an easy ‘get out of jail’ card to be deployed. Just turn off the ‘last seen’ feature altogether, or restrict it to only your contacts.

How: Head to Settings > Privacy > Last Seen > Nobody.

9. Send messages hands-free with Siri

Ugh! Typing is a right faff when you want to use your hands for other stuff such as eating, cooking or fine embroidery. Once again WhatsApp has come to the rescue to this most first-world of problems via compatibility with both Apple’s Siri and Google Assistant. So you can now dictate any missives to your phone instead of punching them in with your digits like a total chump.

How: Shout out ‘Hey Siri’ or ‘OK Google’, then name the contact you want to send a message to and the contents of that message.

10. Send public messages privately

If you’ve got a generic announcement to make - an invite to a weekend BBQ or an intervention about your friend's unhealthy obsession with KFC - and you don’t want to do it on the loudmouth platform that is Facebook, this feature works in pretty much the same way as BCC-ing people in an email.

Your recipients will get the message as if it was a privately composed one, oblivious to the fact that you’ve sent the exact same invite to 342 other people. Sincerity? What's that?

How: On the top-left-hand corner of your WhatsApp Chats window, just below the search bar, you’ll notice a Broadcast Lists. Tap on it for the option to create a new list of contacts you want your message to go out to, and message away like you would normally.

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE

17 of the most entertaining distractions hidden in Google Chrome

11. Stay selectively notified

Not all group chats are created equal, as some are filled with nothing but white noise. And it’s exactly those group chats you want to ignore until you get some downtime to sieve through everything that’s been said. On the flipside, there are the group chats you want to stay on top of, such as the ones deciding dinner plans for the night and so on. Here’s how you can stay selectively notified.

How: Go to the significant group chats, tap on the name to bring up Group Info and then Custom Notifications. There, you can select a custom message alert for the group chats of your choice. All you have to do now is remember which alert tone you assigned to which group chat. This customisation is only applicable for group chats though.

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE

The 30 most anticipated games still to come in 2015

12. Back it up

Worried about losing a year’s worth of messages? You don’t have to. WhatsApp knows how precious your chat history is to you and secures it all for you in the cloud.

How: iPhone users get the option of backing their chat history to iCloud automatically on a daily/weekly/monthly schedule. If it’s only selected chat histories you desire, click on the chat you want, then the user’s name and finally email conversation to yourself.

Android users can go to 'Settings', 'Chats and calls', and select the 'Chat backup' option, which will let you setup an automatic Google Drive backup. The next time you install WhatsApp from fresh on any device, you can simply select the Google Drive backup option at the setup screen, to have all your up-to-date messages injected into your device, straight from the cloud.

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE

Apple's 17 biggest keynote surprises

13. Save your media (and data allowance)

When you’re on a 1GB data plan, every MB counts. You don’t want to be slapped with a hefty bill at the end of the month from sending stupid shareable memes and screenshots of every little thing. There’s a way to make sure that all that heavy-duty image sending won’t eat up what little complimentary data you might have in your plan.

How: Go to Settings, then Chat Settings and then Auto-Download and tweak the settings for how you want your received media to be downloaded. Choose Wi-Fi if you don’t want to overload your data plan. Alternatively, you can trigger downloads manually by switching Auto-Download to Never. You can also save the hassle of having to clean up your camera roll every so often by tweaking Save Incoming Media off.

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE

The 25 best things to watch on Amazon Prime Instant Video

14. Tie the app to your number

If you’re overseas and you get a new data sim, there’s no need to go through the hassle of registering the new number attached to the SIM and faff around adding contacts. Just carry on using WhatsApp with your regular number.

How: When you put your new SIM in and activate WhatsApp, you’ll be prompted by the messaging service to register the new number. But doing so will mess up your contacts list. Just ignore the pop-up or cancel it, and your WhatsApp should work linked to your old number, while using your new data SIM.

[Image credit: Hongkiat.com]

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE

iCheapskate: 35 amazing free games for iPhone and iPad

15. Star messages

When dinner time rolls around, the last thing you want to do is scroll through 352 frivolous messages to find the address of the restaurant you're meeting your friends at. Luckily WhatsApp lets you bookmark certain messages for easy access.

How: Double tap on any message and tap on the star icon to mark it. To find it again, all you have to do is tap on the chat’s name, and tap on Starred Messages to see all the messages you’ve marked out.

To see conversation context, just tap on the arrow next to it and you’ll be brought back to the exact place in the chat. When you’re done with it, just double tap the message, and hit the star icon again to unstar it. It’s only available for iOS users for now, so fandroids, wait your turn.

16. Make calls

WhatsApp is more than just a run-of-the-mill instant messenger. You can use it to make calls too.

How: Make sure you're using the latest version of WhatsApp. You should see a new Calls tab alongside the usual Chats and Contacts. Just send a voice call invite to another WhatsApp user and you'll be chatting away in no time.

17. Instantly add dates to your calendar

It’s easy to forget appointments when you’re a busy bee. You make vague plans for drinks, settle on a date, then promptly forget about it as the conversation rolls on. This handy little shortcut makes sure you commit to an appointment.

How: Just state a date and you get an automatic link to add it to your calendar. It also recognises words like ‘today’, ‘tomorrow’ and days. But it's still best to use specific dates, just in case you get the day wrong. No more excuses for forgetting drink dates anymore, then. At least, not for iOS users. Android users have to wait a little while longer we're afraid.

18. Use Whatsapp on the web

WhatsApp Web is the best creation since...WhatsApp itself. It’s not an entirely new feature (as any smug Android user will tell you), but their gloating days are over, as it's now available on iOS too.

How: To enable inconspicuous chatting on the web while you do your work, all you have to do is go to Settings and tap on WhatsApp Web. Then head to web.whatsapp.com on your computer and scan the QR code that appears using your phone. Commence chatting on the sly without downloading anything. Handy, and also very, very distracting.

19. Save data on calls

Making calls via WhatsApp is a very convenient feature, but it can also consume a lot of data. Thankfully, there's a new option to help those of us with data shortage problems.

How: Pop into Settings then Chats and Calls. Right at the bottom, you’ll find Low Data Usage. Turn that on to decrease the amount of data used during calls made via WhatsApp. We’d still advise using WhatsApp calls sparingly on data if you’re on a limited data plan, but you can still save on calls when connected to Wi-Fi abroad.

20. Locate group chat

You can find old group chats by searching for individual members that were in the chat group, rather than the group name itself. This is useful for when you want to revisit old topics, as chances are you'll remember who was in the chat, more than the hilarious bants-laden group name that seemed so funny at the time.

How: Just tap on any individual chats, and tap their name for more information. From there you’ll be able to see all the groups you have in common with said individual, even if they go way back.

21. Back up everything including video

There was a time when you could only backup images in your chats, but not videos. Now that’s changed.

How: Get into Settings, then Chats and Calls, and pop into Chat Backup. This is the control centre for backing up your wordy memories.

You can choose when you want Auto Backup to happen (but make sure you disable backing up using data within your phone’s settings or there will be hell to pay). You can also choose to include videos in your backup by toggling Include Videos. Would it be greedy of us to ask for voice messages to be included in the next update too?

22. Visual reminders

Have the habit of reading messages then forgetting to reply to them? Now you have no excuse to neglect them as there's a new Mark as unread feature which lets you mark chats with a blue dot so that you can come back to them later.

How: Just swipe any of your chats to the right and the option to Mark as unread will show up. Tap on it and a blue dot will appear on the chat as a visual marker. Once you’re done with it, just swipe the chat to the right to unmark it. Simple.

P.S. Android users can achieve the same thing by long-pressing on a chat.

23. Stop people from accidentally reading your messages

Theoretically, all messages on WhatsApp are private - but not when you leave your phone on the table, and a new message notification pops up. How many times have you unintentionally read someone’s message just because you’ve curiously looked over when their phone screen blinked to life with a new message notification? Admit it, we’ve all done it, and sometimes read something we've regretted.

How: Go to Settings, then Notifications, and disable Show Preview. Now you can gossip in peace, without anyone accidentally reading your conversations by glancing casually at your phone when a notification comes in. Your notification still reveals who has just messaged you, without divulging any of its super secret contents.

24. Reply directly from a popup

Oh, new message! Swipe down the notification bar, tap the message and reply. Sounds simple, right? It is, but there's an even faster way - cut to the chase and reply directly from a notification.

How: Go to Settings, Notifications, then Popup Notification, and choose from four different options. You can change this setting for both individual messages and group messages respectively. Unfortunately, this feature is only available for Android. For now, anyway.

25. Send an attachment

Unlike EPMD’s hip-hop classic, WhatsApp’s ethos is by no means Strictly Business. If you do need to quickly send a document to a colleague, and email isn’t an option, it’s easily done. Just select the file you want from Google Drive, Dropbox or iCloud and WhatsApp will fling it onwards as a pdf.

How: Tap the + symbol > Document > select your cloud storage service of choice and then the file itself. Bosh!

Features

Liked that? Read this...

7 things we love about the Samsung Galaxy S8 - and 3 we don't

Slide to unlock: 28 iPhone tips and tricks to make your life easier

Sponsored Content

Section Collapse

Facebook Instant Article

Source link