#pages take 1 day to 4 days to complete depending on how many backgrounds i need to draw usally it takes me about 2

[transformers-synergize]

I like these two panels lol

I'm still working on comic, idk when I will have it done. thinking of releasing future chapters page by page or splitting chapters releasing them smaller parts, but at least with the first chapter I wanna release it in full.

[clare-with-no-i]

20 q's for fic writers

thank you sooo so much for tagging me @kay-elle-cee I unfortunately could not approach this in a completely earnest fashion due to who I am as a person, so everyone please take this slightly ersatz set of answers with all of the love I intend…which is a lot I swear…

AO3 Username: clarewithnoi (pronounced 'clare with no eye')

1. How many works do you have on A03? lol I keep orphaning stories when they annoy me but for now 37 (I think?)

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count? 403,419…what is this word city

3. What fandoms do you write for? Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, others which I have not published lol

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

not the statistics page!!!!!!! john mulaney voice that's the thing I'm sensitive about!!!!!!

one long day (all my love will make you shake) at 1,151 WOW my god I did not realize it had surpassed 1k!!! did I know that? holy shit!

I will carry you, always at 873 ok this is also shocking but I do know that my they-lived AUs tend to be more popular and they're older so they've had time to accumulate hits

foreigner's god at 701 still can't believe this <3

theogony at 682 (!!)

growing pains at 675 another they-lived AU! I really carved out a niche early on

5. Do you respond to comments? don't look at me…I always want to…I swear I just get overwhelmed…put the gun down please…

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? uhhhh jesus idk, probably the derelict art of letting go? I don't write a lot of angst but I guess that one is on the sadder side

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? foreigner's god! or I will carry you always! in one of them I contend with reincarnation and shared grief and second chances at life. in the other one they hook up in the DADA classroom. so it's a toss-up

8. Do you get hate on fics? not really, and given the number of public fights I've had on this account you'd think that people would take their dislike of me to ao3 more often, but everyone's been remarkably charitable in that regard. thanks guys <3

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? only if I can exorcise personal trauma through it. or if it's 2020 and I'm dissociating in my studio apartment.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? no and no one say theogony or I'm turning this bus around

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? yessiree and it was not pleasant!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? yes! a few! the ones with my permission were lovely. the ones without my permission not as much.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? naur…

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? it's like a three-way tie between jily, percabeth, and zelink tbh! but I've mainly read jily fic in the past few years I think. but this answer can change dependent on me developing a new hyperfixation lmao

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? the last time I answered this question I did it as a joke and then I wrote theogony about it so I'm going to choose peace and just plead the fifth here lest I commit to another wip that'll take three years

16. What are your writing strengths? I do a lot of (an excess of) research, I'm good at description, I am funny when I want to be, I've had some really good prose moments if I do say so myself (I do)

17. What are your writing weaknesses? I am structurally a very weak writer, I can't be succinct, I don't have a great literature background so I never really know what I'm in conversation with and have limited points of reference for writing, I am very bad at writing characters who are subtle about their emotions/romantic feelings, I submit to time pressure and rush myself, the list goes on

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? I've always wanted to write a fic in Spanish omgggg

19. First fandom you wrote for? either Zelink or Percabeth when I was like 12 lol.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written? theogony!

tagging @thequibblah yes I know you've been tagged already. cope <3 and @mipwrites go get 'em champ

[kenthenugget]

How Batching Comics Saved My Life

Jesus its been...quite a while since I last posted onto any of my tumblr accounts. Its not that I didn't forget that I had an account here, its just that I've been busy with school and my drawing Crescent Blue. Meaning any free time I have is limited which results in me neglecting like half of my socials. Comics and college has made doing social media difficult. That and I wasn't sure how to handle 2 out of the 3 tumblr blogs I have. But I've thought that I had use this specific blog for text blog posts, along with drawings I'm working on and stuff like that. Most of it will be a lot of writing type stuff like this so this should be fun. Anyways, onto the topic I wanted to talk about.

I've been drawing Crescent Blue for coming on 4 years now. And those 4 years were spent drawing its first Chapter. Its overly long chapter. I have realized the mistake I made back when I was prepping to draw it back in 2019, where 16 year old me who had never drawn a comic at this scale decided to go out adapting the opening chapter draft which was written to be the length of a double length tv show pilot (because that's how wrote scripts back in the day) without realizing the implications of how many pages I would have to draw, and that maybe I should've done more prep work to make sure I wouldn't be working on it well into college. Because I probably would've gotten burnt out with it after being stuck on it for so long. And that would end up happening when 2021 rolled around. Thanks to mental health struggles I faced through out 2020, which lowered my tolerance to drawing comics which I didn't enjoy, I had drawn a total of 28 pages by going into the new year. Feeling ashamed of that pace, I managed to motivate myself and make it a new years goal to devote more time to my comic and get faster in order to complete my first chapter. This manifested in a couple of ways, from illustrating backgrounds in graphite as to avoid inking them and potentially screwing them up, to manning up and move to drawing it digitally as opposed to traditionally (I did not have access to photoshop or a good drawing tablet when I had started so I did what I had always done and use paper, pencils and inking pens/brushes. However, I would get my XP Pen Artist 12 for my 17th birthday 2 months later, and I would be able to use photoshop at home by early 2020). But what I mostly did was focus on drawing pages more, moving onto the next one after finishing the last one without taking a break. Basically muscling my way through with the expectation that I would eventually get faster. This did not work, and here's why.

This one by one approach isnt bad on paper, and there are plenty of artists out there that drawing comics this way and don't have any issues. For me, the issue I found with this process was that it didnt lend itself very well to spend. Not all pages are created equal, taking longer or shorter to complete depending on the complexity of the drawing. In my experience, there were pages that took only a couple of hours to complete, and others that took days to get done, and this isn't factoring in stuff like school. This aspect brings up the problem with me muscling through pages. There are times where I dont want to work on my comic, and often times after I would finish a page, I wouldn't have enough motivation to get to the next one. But in my attempt to not spend years drawing my first chapter, I would force myself to draw pages even when I didn't want to. This results in numerous cases of burnout and art block, which can cripple you and slow you down, defeating the point of muscling through it all. One notable instance of this I can remember happened in February last year.

By July of 2022, I would've been drawing Chapter 1 for 3 years and as my new years resolution, I wanted to get it done by that time. I had made great progress in 2021, catching up to page 75 by the time of new years, and I felt confident in my ability to get it done that year. That hope was shattered when I did what I had done with one of my pages and complete a future page ahead of time. Said page was the last post I made on this blog which I've actually completed a few weeks ago. The numbering for that page is 148 (was probably lower last year as I did end up adding pages during that time thanks to rewrites). And at that time, I had just passed the 80th page mark. It was then that I realized the implications of what I needed to do in order to get Chapter 1 done that year. I would've had to draw more than double the amount of pages I had drawn in 2021, and given the way I was drawing comic pages at the time, I knew deep down that wouldn't be possible. But not wanting to admit it, I tried muscling through the pages I was working on, hoping that if I pushed myself beyond my limit I would miraculously become faster and more efficient. But that didn't happen. The stress caused by my realization and the refusal to accept it caused me to become more and more agitated, which caused me to make errors and not draw as well as I would've wanted. Said agitation also clouded my thoughts and made drawing more and more difficult as soon as I knew it. I had burned myself out.

I think I've done a good job at laying out why this method didn't work for me, and if I was still drawing comics this way, I would not be finishing my first Chapter this year. And at this point, I would like to take a moment to shout out @the-underground-beauty. If it hadn't been for her, I not have found out about batching and I wouldn't have been even close to ending this long ass chapter. I was in a discord call with them and other art friends I knew, and I talking about ways of becoming faster at completing pages. They explained that they batched multiple pages instead of drawing them one by one like I had. Like, you would do the layouts for one page, then you would do the layouts for the next page, same goes for sketching and inking. This makes it so that instead of dumping all of your energy into one page, you're spreading that work into multiple pages and thus, become more efficient. Now you might be wondering how this would be better than my old method. Wouldn't working on multiple pages at the same time instead of going one by one be worse? In my experience, it's the complete opposite.

Along with the upsides I've mentioned above, its also very flexible in regards to inking/coloring. In the past, I found myself getting board with pages and wanting to move onto the next one but couldn't because I had to finish the one I was working on. I don't need to worry about that with batching. I can go in chronological order or skip pages to come back to them latter. This can be very handy when it comes to complex pages that would take a lot of time to complete. If Im not feeling up for it at that moment, I can just skip that one and come back later once I feel ready. It also points out the most time consuming part of drawing comics, sketching. Inking is one thing, but when you're doing a lot more work when doing the sketches. And depending on what the storyboards call for, the sketching process for a given page can take a pretty long time and a lot of energy. But with the batching process, the energy I would've spent finishing said page with inking and shading/coloring can be better spent on other pages. This means that I would need to worry a whole lot when inking as most of the hard work was done prior.

Batching also helps with putting what you're working on into perspective. Throughout most of my time drawing my comic, I found it difficult to view the pages I'm working on as being apart of a much larger story, rather than on a page by page basis. I would spend so much time on them that I would view the page I was working on as being its own separate thing, unrelated to the pages that came before or after. Batching, in a way, solved this issue, because now that Im working on a part all at once instead of going page by page, it helped me view what I'm working on as being pieces of a story, rather than being their own thing. I felt that the pages I was batching had more unity to them than the ones before it. Its difficult for me to describe this feelings, because I would always get it when finishing a part and rereading it. Pages that would take weeks to complete took more a couple of minutes to read, despite the specific pages taking so much time to finish. I haven't had that feeling after adopting batching as my new method of drawing comics, since every page all at once.

But how has it worked in practice? Well to see if batching was effective or not, I decided to batch the remaining six pages of what would by episode 7 on CB's tapas page. I got those done in a week. And 2 months later in May, I began work on pages 95 through 105 and this was the true test to to see if batching could really be effective for an entire part. I got it done with in a month. The after that wasn't as successful, but I mostly contribute it to external factors that had nothing to do with batching. At the start of this year, I decided to ditch the part by part method and go at the remaining 67 pages of Chapter 1 all at once. At the time of writing this, I'm still not finished with this Chapter yet but I don't expect it to be for quite long. I anticipate on wrapping it all up around June of this year. So with all this being said, I think I can conclude that batching comics has been way more effective in terms of speed. Over a 100 pages over the course of one year, way more than I had in the past with the old method. If I hadn't switched up the way I had been drawing comics back in March of last year, I don't think I would've come this far! Now I am aware that batching might not work for other artists, and that's fine. But if you are in a place like I was and want to get pages done quicker, I suggest giving it a try and see if it works for you or not :)

[narsh-poptarts]

15 and/or 27 for the artist asks?

(artist asks)

15. how long does an average piece take you to complete?

oohh that's a tough one, if only for the fact that im very bad with time blindness and also i can't check reliably on my files for how long they've been in existence because i also don't SAVE sometimes until the piece is DONE!!!!!!

Ok. hmm... typical everyday piece (on the more sketchy side) can sometimes take 3-6 hours, depends on how into it I am and how complex it is. hmm i would say bigger pieces (more finished or finalized or more complex) can take a couple days* total to complete? tho stuff for school is usually spread out over like. 3 weeks because i really only ever work on those pieces like. once or twice a week honestly aksjfdh <<;; don't do what i do, do your homework early. i would say average bigger pieces** take a couple days* and smaller pieces really only take a couple hours***!!!

*i draw in 6-8 hour, sometimes 12 hour sessions sometimes because i hyperfixate and am a lunatic <3 hope this helps <33

**BIGGER PIECE like mmmmmaybe a comic?? or like a full illustration with backgrounds and shit??? and/or one that needs a lot of process???? or just im struggling with or something. those take longer

***by "couple" hours i mean blacking out and coming to with 7 hours having past. was i drawing that entire time? fuck no, there was definitely an hour long dinner break in there and another lost hour or two to doing fuck all

DISCLAIMER: IM A BIG FUCKIN LIAR!!!! i apparently just looked it up because what happens when you stream your art is that you have RECEIPTS from when you STARTED a stream

all of this took 4 hours apparently. it's. not very much honestly? like. it is. but like. . .. . ya know what i don't know what im saying. i draw a bit slow, this took 4 hours.

27. For digital artists: how many layers does a typical piece require?

hmm. see. that's a tough one because my drawing program keeps track of layers but also it lies terribly and actually can't count at all. let's see...

sketch (0-4, depends), lines (1-3, depends on what im doin)(sometimes this is the sketch), colors (sometimes one layer, sometimes i split it up, usually 2-5), shading (2-3), highlights/other lighting (3-5), test layers/reference (where i try something out and then scrap it but keep it around because im a lunatic or it's a ref, 2-6)

i just looked at two separate pieces and they were both at 10-13 range, tho im sure i deleted/merged a layer here and there.

more complex pieces can get to the 50+ layer range, tho i think those are mostly cuz i put like. 70 billion comic pages into one file. i think my record is 250+ layers

average around 10-20 tho!!!

[notveryglittery]

birthday prince (2)

summary: roman had no idea it was possible to die from too much love but logan sure is trying. words: 2,000 / ship: logince (logan/roman) author’s note: this is part two of my Giving The Gay Anything He Wants series for roman’s birthday (june 4)! all ships are written implied romantic but i’m not stopping you from interpreting it otherwise. check the end notes on ao3 for credit on these gifts (bc i don’t know where to put them in this post)! i hope you enjoy!!

part 1 (roceit) | part 2 (logince) | part 3 (prinxiety)  part 4 (royality) | part 5 (dlampts) read on ao3

— — —

Roman woke to the smell of bacon. And eggs. And hash browns. … Cinnamon rolls too, maybe? He groaned, rolling over onto his back. Kicking his legs up, he used the following momentum to swing himself into a sitting position. There was a little bit of vertigo at moving so quickly, but this was how he always got himself out of bed since it usually provided him a sudden surge of energy. He squinted, looking towards the door, and trying to decide how badly he actually wanted to get out of bed in order to have breakfast. On the one hand, it all smelled absolutely mouthwatering. On the other hand, he was very warm and comfortable.

Three precise knocks made the decision for him.

"Roman, are you awake?"

At the sound of Logan's voice, a smile lit up Roman's face. "Yes! Come in!"

The scents of all the tempting foods were much stronger now and, as Logan entered carrying a tray in one hand, it became clear as to why. Logan was still wearing an apron and there was a smidge of flour on his forehead. He moved carefully so as not to spill or drop anything. Roman hoped the mug was filled with coffee made with too much cream and sugar. Before he could offer any help, Logan gestured at him to sit back; in the same moment, he flipped the legs of the tray open. Once Roman was settled, Logan set the stand down over his lap. His nose had been right in picking out eggs, bacon, and hash browns. There was a small bowl of fruit (with green grapes, his favorite!) and yes, the coffee was the exact color as he liked it.

"There are cinnamon rolls baking still," Logan said, sitting down on the mattress and reaching forward to brush Roman's hair back from his eyes. His smile was so soft and fond, Roman thought he might melt if it were directed at him for too much longer. "Did you sleep well?"

Catching Logan's hand before he could pull away completely, Roman pressed a kiss to the bottom of his palm. "I did, thank you. So, what's this for, then?"

Logan shook his head, as if he didn't understand the question. "I'm sure you'll figure it out. Eat. I'll return momentarily."

He was up and gone by the time Roman remembered that his birthday was later that week. He laughed a little, burying his face in his hands. The food was delectable, all of it still hot and fresh. Somehow, the coffee was even better than usual; perhaps because it had been made and served by someone he cared for so dearly. He scrolled through social media as he ate, feeling happy and relaxed. It was an exceedingly nice way to start his morning, especially knowing that he had plenty of things to deal with later on.

True to his word, Logan was back in roughly twenty minutes. He had a plate and two glasses of milk. He seemed satisfied that Roman had finished all his food and, with a snap of his fingers, removed the breakfast tray. He left his things on the bedside table and pulled a notebook from thin air. Roman recognized it as one of his many planners. He sat down again, posture slightly stiff, but Roman could tell it was because he was resisting joining Roman in bed. He wondered how he could convince him…

Flipping through the pages, Logan adjusted his glasses before beginning. “As far as I’m aware, the tasks you had scheduled for today were the following: selecting the name and song for Shoutout Sunday, washing the linens, preparing April’s shorts for compiling, and… corralling Remy to ensure Thomas sleeps well tonight.”

Roman snorted at Logan’s choice of words. “That’s all of it. Thank you for breakfast, darling. I’ve got plenty of energy to get started now!”

Logan tutted and held up a hand to stop Roman from getting up any further. “It is taken care of.”

Roman frowned. “... Pardon?”

“Your chores. The last load of laundry is in the dryer now. I’ve spoken with Thomas regarding Sunday’s video. Bargaining with Remy did take some time. However— Are you crying?” Logan’s voice hitched in sudden concern and he reached over to cradle Roman’s cheek in his hand.

Roman sniffled. “It’s okay, Lo. I’m happy… Just a little overwhelmed.” He pressed his own hand against Logan’s and gave him a shaky smile. “Why did you do all of this?”

Logan shifted so that he was better facing Roman. “You deserve to be taken care of. That is a constant, of course. In particular, this is in celebration of your birthday. I am well aware of the shenanigans made for the day itself so I thought I would ‘jump the gun,’ so to speak.”

Roman didn’t want to be dramatic or anything (hah) but he was pretty sure Logan was trying to kill him. “I haven’t the faintest idea how I could begin to thank you.”

“That’s just fine,” Logan reassured him. “I wouldn’t want you to, anyway.”

Roman laughed under his breath and gently moved away from Logan’s hold. He wiped at the tears that lingered on his eyelashes. “Well, it seems I have more free time than I thought I would. Have you got anything else up your sleeves?”

“Seeing as this garment lacks the necessary amount of fabric to do so, no. However, I did have something in mind that I believe you would enjoy participating in?”

“Lead the way, my star.”

After giving Roman some time to freshen up and change, they left his room, snacking on their cinnamon rolls and milk as they walked. It was still early, not yet noon, and Roman appreciated the peaceful atmosphere more than he thought he would. Normally, there would be music playing, or the television on as background noise in the living room, or the kitchen full of clanging utensils. This was pleasant. Having Logan with him made it all the better.

Eventually, Logan paused at the door between his and Patton's rooms. It was decorated with stickers, paint, glitter, buttons — any and all crafts that would fit basically, for that's exactly what was on the other side. Simply called the Crafts room, it was a creative space available for anyone to use however they pleased. Roman most often honed his vocal talents but he knew that Virgil liked to paint murals on the walls. When Logan led the way inside, the room transformed to match his vision. Warm sunlight spilled in from multiple windows. There was a rolling cart filled with every color of paint Roman could ever think of and more. There were a handful of easels, all holding various sizes of canvases. On the table in the center of the room was a stack of paper bound by ribbon, numerous pens, and a platter of snacks. Speakers set up in the corners of the room were already playing music.

"Will this suffice?" Logan asked, breaking Roman out of his daze.

"Suffice… Moonbeam, this is wonderful! And that smell… Is it—?"

"Jasmine to produce feelings of confidence and Eucalyptus to boost creativity."

“Well, they certainly are doing the trick!” Roman exclaimed, skipping fully into the room. He darted for the nearest easel, grabbing the handle on the cart as he did and pulling it over with him. His head was already full of ideas, sprawling landscapes and detailed portraits and, and, and!

The next hour passed in comfortable silence. They did, occasionally, duet along to various Broadway or Disney love songs that came through on their playlist. Sometimes, they dissolved into giggles afterwards, or they’d pause in their work to send each other sappy smiles. Sure, Roman was immensely curious about what Logan was working on, but he knew best what an awful thing it was to be interrupted while spending time with one's muse and motivation. Besides, he wasn't sure he could find a moment to pause in his own projects even if he wanted to. He moved from canvas to canvas smoothly, a new creation springing to mind the second he finished the last. There was an open expanse of night sky, stars dotted in yellow, blue, and red; a portrait of the lovely Valerie, dressed up and imagined as one of Roman's fellow knights; some abstract thing that was only recognizable from upside down and depended on the viewer having seen Parks and Rec at least two and a half times.

Eventually, though, his energy waned, and he set down his paintbrushes to take a break. He dropped a kiss to the top of Logan's head as he stepped by before taking a seat at the table, and reaching for the snacks. He went for a bagel but appreciated the variety of fruits and veggies, too. A few minutes later, Logan looked up from his work. He looked satisfied.

“All done?” Roman asked, interest piqued once more.

“Yes. Thank you for your patience.”

“Oh. Lo, that’s nothing you need to thank me for. This was really nice. Honestly, I didn’t realize how badly I needed it.”

Logan leaned closer, startling Roman when he kissed him quickly on the nose. Logan licked his lips after, smirking. “You had a bit of cream cheese…”

Roman made a sound akin to a tea kettle whistling.

Wasting no time, Logan stood and positioned himself in front of one of the windows. He looked as handsome as ever, silhouetted by the sunlight. He seemed relaxed and confident and Roman quite suddenly began to worry about his well being again.

He squinted at the brightest star in his sky. “... What are you up to?”

Logan cleared his throat. And began to sing.

It felt like the floor gave out underneath Roman. He might as well have no longer been tethered to his body. It was a miracle he stayed present enough to continue listening; he assumed it had something to do with knowing that missing even a millisecond of this would be the biggest regret he could make. Not only was Logan singing, completely of his own volition, he was singing about Roman. Lines about his bravery and his recklessness, his confidence and his ego, his creations and his work ethic. It was balanced, neither too praising nor too harsh. There was mention of how much love he carried, of how he deserved to receive as much as he gave, of how there was magic at his fingertips.

By the time Logan finished, Roman was outright sobbing. It wasn’t fair, how someone he loved so much, so so much, could make something so beautiful and heartfelt for him. How was he ever supposed to return the favor? When Logan pulled him up and out of the chair, he fell easily into his arms and tried to quiet his weeping.

“I would apologize for making you cry but that would be apologizing for the things I said, which I cannot do. I mean every word. My life is better with you in it. You inspire us all to be our very best and that is so admirable. Happy birthday, your highness.”

“Stop, stop,” Roman argued weakly, pouting up at Logan. “You’re killing me. You’re so cruel.”

Logan smiled down at him. He took a handkerchief from his breast pocket and patted Roman’s face dry. “I suppose you’ll do something about it?”

“Yes,” Roman answered vehemently. “Your punishment is to be trapped in a pillow prison. A blanket barricade. Confined by cuddles.”

“Oh no. That final one might be the worst sentence of them all.”

Roman pressed a kiss to Logan’s jawline before firmly grabbing his hands. “I’ll have to stay and make sure you don’t escape, of course.” He began to pull Logan out of the room, cheeks starting to hurt from his wide smile.

“Of course,” Logan agreed, in a tone so gentle, it should have been impossible.

Perhaps Roman kept this thief of his heart wrapped up extra tight and snug in his arms, but that wasn’t really anybody else’s business, now was it?

[rigelmejo]

7/16/2021 - other stuff:

I started translating the simplified print version of Guardian that has additional scenes! I am not sharing it yet, but may in the future at some point. (Notes for future reference: taking a picture in good light with the page flat, depending on if needed upping contrast so its darker/lighter in photos, then opening in OCR in Pleco works pretty well at converting the text to digital so I can make notes and edit and look up words more easily. Also so far 1 page takes 1 hour to translate roughly so keep that in mind ToT).

I am yet again tempted to to a full on Listening Reading Method ‘test run.’ By that I mean: picking a novel, (step 1) reading in english, (step 2) reading in chinese with chinese audio (repeating as needed), (step 3) reading in english with chinese audio (repeating as needed), (step 4) listening to audio only. Yes I’m still debating if I’d do step 3, then step 2 - since I tend to flip which I do first depending on the day. Also debating if I ‘prep’ first by listening only (I could call it step 0). Also still debating if I’d do instead: step 0 listen only, step 1, step 2, step 3, ~step 2 again~, step 4 listen only. Basically I did tiny tests with The Little Prince, and I’ve done 20 chapters of Guardian so far (which did help) but Guardian is so long I end up varying how I do it each day into whatever way gets me TO do it and Guardian is so long it will be months until I know what ‘completing a book’ is like for the process. The original forum creator of L-R Method would do like 3-6 hour books or like 10 hour books. Guardian is... much longer. Also, if I pick a book both harder than The Little Prince (so there’s more vocab to learn) and easier than Guardian (so I can get to a natural listening stage faster) I wonder how much progress I’d make. Right now books I am considering for a ‘test method’ run are: Harry Potter 1 (simply because someone made parallel text with audiobook videos already so it is super convenient to do L-R Method, also the book has  2600 unique characters and 7700 unique words so I would likely reinforce my hanzi knowledge and learn maybe a couple hundred more, and likely increase my vocabulary by several hundred to a couple thousand depending on how much I focus, I’m fairly sure I can blow through it quickly the only limiting factor is like The Little Prince I am not sure if the reading level is low enough that I may not pick up significant amounts of new words compared to how many I pick up from Guardian - https://youtu.be/NLu0JW6VtGM). Sherlock Holmes - The Hound of Baskervilles (the book is 7.5 hours so not nearly as long as Guardian, I could probably L-R Method it in 2 weeks, the novel is written for adults and a mystery genre so genre-words I may find more useful to me while also probably having a bigger vocabulary than The Little Prince,  P74 巴斯克维尔的猎犬 01 audiobook - https://youtu.be/hDKfUjienKA, full playlist of the sherlock audiobooks - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1QFMgv0n_Y&list=PLVyDH2ns1F757P-m8MHckuIFqWapl6y-1, and bilinguis.com has a parallel text which I am checking if it matches the audiobook - http://bilinguis.com/book/baskerville/zh/en/c1/). Bonus, just one day I’d love to test it with Alice in Wonderland in French since bilinguis.com has an audiobook and parallel text - http://bilinguis.com/book/alice/fr/en/c3/. Or Le Francais Par Le Methode Nature, since that also now has audio and text and one day I’d like to finish reading it - https://youtu.be/0uS5WSeH8iM.

Fun fact: I am listening to P74 巴斯克维尔的猎犬 01 (by  知识改变命运 ) in the background right now and the first thing I hear is “qinai watson” my dear watson ok. ok sherlock i see you. ToT. Aside from that I just keep hearing random words I know. If you plan to listen to a chinese sherlock audiobook though - I do recommend this playlist. I’ve found a few sherlock audiobooks and for some the audio is very rough like it was recorded from the radio, whereas this one is fairly clear and the reader speaks very clearly, and has a rhythm to sentences (which for me personally helps me listen easier and parse out words). So if you know some words they are much easier to hear, and if you are looking at the parallel text I linked on bilinguis it is quite easy to follow along. 

I really want to get into the habit of some extensive reading with audiobooks (as in reading while listening) just because it speeds up my reading, and I pick up some words in reading while practicing listening. Its also somewhat doable, whereas just listening I may often get lost unless I know the material well. Last night I read chapter 1 of MoDu while playing the audiobook and following along - obviously I did not read as in depth as if I’d have done L-R Method and looked up all unknown words with pop-up english. But combined listening comprehension and reading comprehension I understood ENOUGH to follow the plot and keep reading, at a faster pace than if I only was extensively reading and at a much better comprehension than if I only listen. (My listening comprehension is a bit better if I’ve read the text beforehand, but that’s sort of artificial since i prepped by reading the text beforehand). Yes, I learn new hanzi better with slower extended reading where I have time to really slow down and look at the new hanzi a lot. But I’d like to aim for quantity of materials read for a while? I’d if simply reading more will help, but a lot of the general advice seems to be the more extensive reading you do where you can follow the main points the more you will improve. And hey, maybe that applies to simply ‘listening a lot more’ too?

A lot of articles I’ve found recently emphasize repeated listening, and I want to try to include that more in how I study. While I might not do it as intensively as some articles suggest, I can definitely continue to do it in Clozemaster and continue playing audiobooks of chapters I’ve read already (so I can follow the audio ok) in my downtime. A LOT of my chinese study lately has not been active, its been mostly just ‘playing audio in the background.’ So since I’m not studying actively much, I might as well try to get in more listening.

I checked out the cdrama Forward Forever recently and opinions: if you understand basic chinese JUST watch it in chinese because wow are the english subs a hot mess ToT. I tried watching with subs and there were so many clear ‘wrong’ portions I just had to turn them off, they were made from google translate though so I’m not super surprised (but Xin Xiao Shi Yi Lang has much more decent auto-generated subs so ToT). I’m not sure if I’ll watch more or not, but I can definitely tell it was adapted from a BL source material with the way the main two guys are immediately set up as characters and then meet. I also want to check out Secret of the Three Kingdoms but I’ve seen like 3 minutes and I already am pretty aware I’ll probably like the show so much that I’ll want to put the english subs on for clarity. Secret of the Three Kingdoms feels Very well made.

If I was gonna try to summarize what my study plan has been this month:  - Listen-Reading Method Guardian (its going fine), with some experiments on the structure of the activity - translate some of Guardian (not really study as I’m pretty familiar w the chapters so just rereading things, mainly its translating practice) - Doing a few random things in japanese: read Guardian in japanese, play japanese video games a little bit, watch japanese-teaching video game example vids a bit (basically more tiny bits of japanese I’d add up to idk under 6 hours? just me glancing at things) - Reading this japanese grammar guide (I’m 1/3 through) - https://sakubi.neocities.org/ - Listen to various chinese audiobooks, with and without text. - Read various chinese chapters, with and without audio. - Listen/Read a bit of French, in Gigafrench (i truly mean a bit like a couple hours), Dracula (just listening) - some Clozemaster japanese, and a tiny bit of Clozemaster chinese (mainly to pick up stuff in japanese, and practice shadowing in both) So - some random chinese stuff reading/listening/L-R Method, some japanese exposure/grammar guide/clozemaster, a tiny bit of French (mainly listening practice). 

[thewedigital]

So you want to start a YouTube channel 

and have no idea where to begin? Well, you have come to the right place! This article is going to give you an insightful overview of all the steps that you need to follow before you set up a YouTube channel as a beginner. The link below will further give you comprehensive lessons on how to start, grow, and monetize a hyper-profitable YouTube channel from scratch, so make sure you check it out. Keep in mind that I may receive a commission when you click the link and make a purchase. However, this does not impact the quality of the content.

Step 1: Choose a topic So let us get started, the first thing you need to do to start is to come up with a topic for your YouTube channel. Some people say come up with a niche. A niche is a product, service, or interest that appeals to a specialized section of the population. That could be in automotive, business, crafts, health, travel, etc. If you are creating a channel because you just want to have fun and you do not care much about how big your audience is, then go for it, but if you are looking to build a business or an audience, then you need to choose a topic or niche that people are looking for. Your YouTube audience should have a demand for what you are offering, so get out there and do your research. You can research keywords on Google or search on YouTube

and find out whether other people are doing what you have in mind. If other people are providing videos on your topic or niche and they have huge audiences, then you know there is a demand. This also means that you are getting into the field of competition. Therefore, you will need to figure out how to shine so that the audience will watch your videos instead of your competitors.

Step 2: Define your audience i now you are probably thinking, “Yeah, but I don’t have an audience yet…” Here is the thing, when you make a video, you are already creating it as though the people you are targeting are watching, and eventually, they will come. This is because they are looking for you, remember you already found a topic that there is a demand for. Let us say you are doing a health and fitness topic, and you want to share workout videos, are you going to target your videos to men or women? (Obviously, men and women work out differently to a degree) are you going to target younger or older people? Asking yourself such questions will help you create quality videos that are full of value and content that match your topic, and eventually, you will start to build your audience.

Step 3: Do a brainstorm To brainstorm in this context means to start writing down all your ideas of the video titles that you would like to make. Do not worry even if they are crazy ideas, try to get a couple of pages full of content for your channel. Ask yourself, “What content do I want to offer to my target audience? What problems are they having, and how am I going to help solve those problems with solutions? Now once you have done that, then pick out the best five or ten topics, and now you have somewhere to start. As you grow, you will find it easier to look at different areas that you could focus on and bring up the quality of your videos. You are not going to have tens of thousands of people watching your videos as you start, but do not worry about that as long as you have content.

Step 4: Choose your equipment Here you might be thinking “Okay I want to make videos but it’s going to cost me a lot of money. I have to go out and get fancy cameras and microphones and all these different things and I know it’s going to be expensive”. It honestly is not that costly! Many people make their videos in the most inexpensive ways possible, and they go viral. In the beginning, do not worry about the mechanics very much as getting some videos made and getting in the habit, so you can start by using your smartphone or laptop. For the microphone, many laptops and phones have a microphone that is good enough, but if you are using the former, it would be wise to experiment with it as some microphones pick up a lot of background noise that may affect the quality of your video. If this happens, you can buy a microphone on Amazon or from a preferred store. For your backdrop or background, it will depend on your content, location, and your audience. You can choose to do it outdoors where there is beautiful scenery, or indoors with different background decorations to keep your audience captivated. As you become more experienced with making videos, you may find the need to invest in better equipment to improve the quality of your videos, for example, a high-resolution camera, a tripod, and lighting.

Step 5: Come up with a schedule Now that you know what you are going to produce and how to do it, it is time to come up with a plan for when to shoot, edit, and upload your videos. Most successful YouTubers recommend that you upload at least two to three times every week. You could also upload every single day as long as it does not compromise on your quality. It is crucial to make sure that you are not focusing on the quantity more than the quality as the latter matters when you are trying to stand out on a very competitive platform like YouTube. Of course, you can batch film your videos, which means that you film five or ten videos once or twice a month to get all of your videos done in a short time. Whichever schedule you choose, you will need consistency with your uploading.

Step6: Create your YouTube channelYouTube makes this easy, especially if you already have a Gmail account. You can log in with your Gmail account on YouTube and then click through their prompts to set up your channel. It is super simple, and they make it very easy even for beginners to create a YouTube channel.

Step7: Create a banner for your YouTube channel Many sites on the internet will help you create a banner for your YouTube channel, for instance, Canva.com. You can choose from a variety of templates on Canva.com, edit to your preference, and download completely free of charge. Then you will need to write a description. Make sure you put a description that lets people know about your channel. These things make your channel look more professional. After someone watches one of your videos they may click on your YouTube channel, and they realize, “Oh! This person is making videos regularly, and they are committed to their work.” That makes them a lot more likely to hit that subscribe button. You can also put fun information in your banner or in your channel description that encourages people to subscribe to your channel

Step8: Film your first video Now here is where the fun begins. It is probably going to be a bit awkward if you have never done it before, but that is what everyone goes through, so do not worry. Many good things can come from having your own YouTube channel, and you have to bite the bullet and film that first video and get it done. Try being creative and enjoy the filming process by experimenting with different backgrounds, locations, expressions, and even having guests on your videos. This will help you have fun and be comfortable with the process and getting it off the ground.

Step 9: Edit the video and create a thumbnail Before you upload your videos, you may want to cut out some parts of the raw footage, or even add text or background music to your videos to make them more appealing to watch. So you will need to put your videos into an editing program to do this. There are some great free options out there like iMovie on Macs or Windows movie maker on Windows computers. There are also plenty of other paid options like Adobe Premiere Pro or Final Cut Pro X. It does not matter much which program you choose when you are first starting as long as you do not do something overly complex. Once you edit the video, you will need to either take a screenshot from the video to use as a thumbnail or use another photograph or design a graphic for yourself. You can use a free program like Canva.com, or you can purchase a program like Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator to create that thumbnail. The main things you want to keep in mind when you are creating the thumbnail is to make it as eye-catching as possible and making it clear what is talked about in the video.

Step 10: Upload your first YouTube video Once you have completed all the above steps, it is time to upload your first YouTube video. There is generally no set time to upload your first video but as a tip, pick a time that is best for you. That time should be consistent so that you can start attracting people to watch your videos around that set time. As a strategy, some people prefer to upload their videos first thing in the morning to give their viewers the most time to watch them during the day.

Step 11: Boost your video Now that you have uploaded your first YouTube video, you need to give your video as much of a boost as you can. Every bit of push that you can give to that video helps. This means that you should watch the video too, hit the like button, leave a comment as yourself asking other people to comment, and share that video with everyone that you can share it with on your social media platforms. Tell your friends and family that you just made your first YouTube video and ask them to possibly help you out by watching your video and hitting that like button. There is a big difference between a YouTube video that has two views and one with fifty views. Although fifty YouTube views are still not that much, it shows that some people have an interest in the video, and the more views it has, the more other people are likely to click on that video and watch it. That is because of something called social proof, which means that we think that if other people are doing something, then it must be a cool thing to do it too

Step 12: Stay consistent When you start a YouTube channel as a beginner, everything is bright, exciting and you will have a lot of inspiration. However, as time goes by and especially when you have put up ten or so videos, but you do not see significant growth yet, you might feel discouraged and possibly want to give up. You have to be a lifelong learner and evaluate your work against what is working out there. That will help you understand where you are likely falling short and motivate you to improve the quality of your videos. There was never a channel that put out good quality videos with eye-catching thumbnails consistently and did not start seeing significant growth within the first six to twelve months. So it is not going to take forever, but you do need to stay consistent, keep uploading videos every single week and keep improving your quality with every video if you want to see that growth .How to start a YouTube channel for beginners

[iamaliberalartsstudent]

Modern Languages' Tips for Creating a Great Work-space at Home

Last week, Georgia Institute of Technology announced that it is closing its campus and converting to a fully remote environment for the rest of the semester. This means teaching all our courses online and advising our master's students remotely as they work independently on their Final Projects.

Students are working on a variety of projects, from documentaries to research papers, from ethnographic research to translation. Right now, they are preparing to defend their projects in a 30-minute presentation at the end of April. A good work-space at home will definitely be important.

So to help them (and myself prepare), I asked some fellow professors to share some strategies for working from home.

1. Get a designated work area.

It's easy to think you can work anywhere, because technically, you can. Writers are notorious for working everywhere but the office: at home, on a couch, in cafes, in train stations, on trains, or even wandering through the park with a voice recorder.

Because writing is so psychological, it's important to have a space that mentally prepares you for work. Try to find a space that you use exclusively for work, so your mind knows to focus when you sit down. And when you leave the space, you can more easily think about other things (For example, experts advise against working in bed, because it can make it more difficult to fall asleep).

2. Limited on space? Create mental boundaries.

I don't have space for a home office in my apartment, so I'm using my dining table. My working setup can be opened and then put away, so I know when I'm working, and when I'm done for the day.

There are many ways to get in the mindset. For me, it's always been putting a cup of coffee or tea to the left of my laptop and having something to write on. For many people, it's doing their morning routine and getting dressed for work. It could be anything: putting in your headphones, saying a catch-phrase, starting a timer, or opening your project folder. Do whatever works for you!

3. Plan out a daily routine.

Starting March 30th, you will have classes online. You may also have other responsibilities, depending on your living and family situation. Plan how you will use your time: When will you be in class? When will you do homework? When will you work on your project? Don't forget to include time to relax and get away from your screen!

NPR suggests: "Get ready for work every morning like you are going to physically go into work. Dress up, do your hair — whatever you'd normally do. This puts you in a professional mindset....If you're the type of person who never takes a break at home, set a timer to take time for lunch, and turn off your work....Try to maintain normal work hours, and shut things down when you would normally leave the office."

If you're working on multiple projects, it helps to work on the same project at the same time every day. For example, if you're juggling your Prospectus and three other courses, you might want to decide that no matter what else happens, you will work on your Prospectus from 6:00 - 7:00 pm every day.

Check out the daily routines of 20 famous writers on Brain Pickings.

4. Make sure you have reliable internet.

With everyone online at the same time, internet speeds could slow down, so make sure you have reliable internet access. Check out https://gatech.service-now.com/continuity for IT support through Georgia Tech.

5. Get ready for video conferencing.

You will probably have meetings and classes via Bluejeans, so take a moment to prep your webcam. You may want to find a private area with a neutral background, where you can have meetings with your professors. Have a good pair of headphones. Test it out with friends to see if there's background noise. Will it still work if your family member is doing a Skype meeting in the next room?

Note that Bluejeans looks different in the app and browser versions, and in the laptop and tablet versions, so try them out and see which one you prefer. Download Bluejeans here: http://bluejeans.gatech.edu/

Remember that Bluejeans Meetings are at gatech.bluejeans.com (reversal of the above URL). Don't forget to hang up when you're done!

6. Set goals, and celebrate your accomplishments!

A three-month project like your Master's Project can feel overwhelming. Break it down into "bite-size," measurable tasks that take 20, 40, 60 minutes to complete.

These might be:

Search the internet for articles on X topic and save them to a folder.

Take notes on a book chapter.

Write an analysis of a scene in a film.

Edit a page you wrote yesterday.

When you've finished a task, Reward yourself! Acknowledge and celebrate the moment: take a 5-minute stretch break, have a snack, watch a video of unlikely animal friendships (don't get sucked in, though; time yourself if you need to).

7. Aim for 4 productive hours per day.

Lelia Glass, Assistant Professor of Linguistics at Georgia Tech, writes:

"Set a timer when you work. Any time you check emails, read Twitter, get coffee, wash your hands, etc, pause the timer. Pause it as often as you want, but keep working until you get to a real hour.

Once you reach your goal, relax, knowing you really put in quality time on your work.  This is how I wrote my dissertation from a couch in San Francisco over the course of nine months or so."

Dr. Glass says she uses this method to "do about 4-5 hours of writing per day." Turns out, the average human brain can only stay deeply focused for a maximum of 4-5 hours per day. So if you've worked for four hours productively, you've done an amazing job!

Creating protected blocks of time, like an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening, can help you prioritize your current top project. And remember, once you've reached your goal, take a break!

8. Take breaks!

Just as important as a designated work area is a designated space for time off. Whether it's your favorite couch, your bed, or the act of closing your email and washing out your coffee cup, it's important to step away and give your mind a break. Dr. Glass suggests going for a run, cooking a healthy meal, and video-chatting with family and friends.

9. Don't worry if you're messy.

The middle of a project is always messy.

We live in messy times.

And if all else fails, remember Einstein's words: "If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?"

Sources:

"The Daily Routines of 20 Famous Writers," Brain Pickings, https://www.brainpickings.org/2012/11/20/daily-routines-writers/

"8 Tips to make working from home work for you" npr.org/2020/03/15/815549926/8-tips-to-make-working-from-home-work-for-you

Managing Large Writing Projects, Inside Higher Ed. insidehighered.com/advice/2009/04/24/managing-large-writing-projects

Special thanks to Lelia Glass and Jinyi Chu for sharing your work-spaces and tips!

By Jenny Strakovsky, Assistant Director of Graduate Studies

[junipershill17]

twelve Things You Should Consider When Acquiring Your First Condo

1) Analysis the Builder:

Not all building contractors are alike. Many create high quality condos and have some sort of track record of success, while others slice corners and build substandard condos. Aside from reviewing the general contractors webpage, one should also carry out an internet search for watchdog studies, lawsuits and discussion boards to get proposed and existing accommodations. One thing to look out with regard to is whether the builder who is project you are interested in, has a background for completing their assignments on time. I had a client who have purchased with a builder (who shall remain nameless in this particular article) that habitually forced back completion dates. Our client was promised typically the keys a little under 36 months after purchasing the unit, plus the builder delayed possession thrice from their original projected conclusion date. After many irritating delays, he final acquired the keys a whole a couple of and a half years after the authentic scheduled completion date. This specific tied his deposit funds up for an a total regarding 5. 5 years. It was almost considered like a 2 . 5 12 months interest free loan on the builder! In retrospect, as a possible investor, he would have loved to invest in another project from 15% deposit, then take other 10% and rescued another 5%, and put that money into one more project, returning him probably double the return, including 2 . 5 less yrs. This is why it pays to research often the builder!

2) Choose the form of condo that meets yourself:

Not all condos are likewise. Some have age constraints, and rules about animals. Other condos are more loved ones friendly in terms of the unit measurements and amenities. Still other folks cater to retiree's. A good way to decide this is have a look at the number of bachelor's, one, two and a few bedroom units in the complete building. You may also contact the house manager for the condominium to be able to verify whether it is a lifestyle condo catering to a certain demographic. People fewer two and several bedroom units will likely not appeal to large families. juniper hill

3) Identify financial status:

If you are a newbies buyer, getting pre-approved to get a mortgage is a must. Contact your loan company to determine your buying ability, and get a firm commitment page from them locking in the level, and approval amount. No-one wants to be left around the closing day without a mortgage loan approval after you already produced the purchase. I have acquired countless past clients that have been given what they thought has been an approval from their bank, exactly where in fact it was nothing more than a new verbal agreement. Some people have gotten credit issues in the past which could warrant a more difficult endorsement process, and possibly at a increased rate. It is always better to understand that you received a formal pre-approval before you fall in love with a home you can not afford.

4) Talk with local real estate agent:

Real estate agent's can give you statistics of which condominiums are appreciating well in Mississauga as well as the most popular unit sorts, and floor plans. This will likely help you to make a direct assessment between different condo properties in order to establish the true associated with the unit you are interested in. Don't merely settle for any real estate agent. Once more, not all real estate agents are the same. Make an effort to work with a local expert that are experts in the type of properties that curiosity you. After all, why can you work with a realtor that markets mainly full sized residences in the suburbs, when you are seeking purchase a condo in the metropolis? It is like going to the dental office for your flu!

5. Carry out your own research:

If you plan to get a home without a real estate agent, you ought to look into the sales of the adjacent area yourself. Again, these kinds of resources will be less obtainable to the general public, but you could have access to the asking rates of similar properties. That does not mean that those prices will be the market values for that certain property, or even necessarily whatever they sell for. Be careful while information gathering. I have experienced a number of past clients reward me after their hunt for educating them on location values, and explaining to these what to look for when they are searching. Why don't get the assistance of a regional expert, when they're providers are free?

6. Find out modification capability:

Although freehold qualities allow the owner to carry out restorations without anyone's consent, condo properties have restrictions on what may be altered for each unit. A standard rule of thumb should be to request composed permission from the property supervision before making any renovations. The house managers consent is always needed to various degrees depending on the residence. Usually renovation work that requires removing a wall or maybe upgrading bathtubs and baths will have limitations on what can easily, and cannot be done. Several require that a detailed reconstruction plan be submitted into the condo board for agreement prior to the renovation taking place. It will always be better to be proactive. An individual wouldn't want to reverse the actual reno back once it is completed! I had a client who all removed all the carpet inside their unit, to replace with wooden. She did this to boost the value of their unit before selling it, only to learn that management had to agree to any floor renovations. The lady tried to then sell the system thinking that hardwood wood raise the value of her unit. That did increase the value of your ex unit, but in failing to utilize and receive consent from your property manager, she was could possibly be renovation restrictions in the developing. It was later found that will she did not use the appropriate sound-proofing underpad beneath the hard wood. The condo corporation regarded that this would hinder the particular enjoyment of the unit owner immediately below hers because of sound. Consequently, she had to split out the hardwood, install fresh underpad, and then replace the wood. This ate into just about all her profit, and your girlfriend investment, and time was certainly not rewarded. The moral in the story is to always check into these renovations with the rental property manager before you begin. It could save you lots of money!

7) Ask for a disclosure statement:

The developer as well as builder of a new terme conseillé is required to have an information report giving details of the building, along with the legal terms under that this condominium will operate. The particular booklet is available immediately after typically the Agreement of Purchase along with Sale is signed. With resale units, this "Condo By Laws and Declarations" booklet is always made available through the 10 day conditional interval when you purchase a unit. It is placed on the status certificate that may be forwarded to your lawyer regarding review. Your lawyer and then has 2 business days and nights to review the certificate, in addition to consult the purchaser together with his/her findings. If almost everything checks out, the buyer may progress with the purchase. If there are usually red flags in the documents, often the purchaser always reserves it is your right walk away within the conditional time.

8. Ask for a site program:

It is important to know if the model that you want to purchase is in the 1st, second or third period of development so that you understand any future construction which could block your existing look at. Of equal significance will be knowing when, and everywhere more development may take place around this building. New improvement adjacent to the building will influence the use and enjoyment of your house due to noise, vibration, unpleasant construction, dust and nasty smells. It is also good practice to master where your unit will be inside proximity to the elevator, rubbish disposal room, and services, as units near these components usually have a stigma installed on them in the resale industry. Besides, who would want to scent the garbage room after a very long day at work.

9) Establish development plans for the associated with area:

Many condos can be purchased under the premise of a very clear view to the Lake, scenery, or green-space. To ensure that the lovely view will be maintained in the long term, an easy trip to the Planning Department will let you ask if any other innovations are planned nearby, and have a look at the architectural pictures. The planners should be able to assist you to understand the types of developments which can be proposed around you. I have got many calls from people that bought privately through the creator units with south landscapes of the lake as an investment property. These investors would hold the unit until they obtain the keys, and the building subscribes as a condominium corporation. At this time, they would try to resell it, only to be shocked which a new condominium just commenced construction in front of they're system, obstructing their perfect to the south view. The investors blunder was being too excited during the buy process, without taking a take a step back and asking the right concerns up front.

10) Review service details:

If the developer provides a swimming pool, it is important to really know what size and whether it is inside or outdoor. The same is true of party rooms, exercise locations, gyms, sports fields, doctor offices and lockers. Find out how huge, how many, and where will have them located.

Again, these 12 considerations can affect both your entertainment, and the resale value of your current condo. It is always better to research before you buy upfront, and then enjoy the returns of your hard work once you have shifted in!

References Apartment

[justrelax8696]

Welcome

Hi, and welcome to the ProVen™ affiliates resource page. I want to personally thank you for becoming an affiliate and I guarantee you are going to love the conversions you get from this offer.

There are a number of different ways that we can lose fat and gain muscle. I'm sure that you already understand that eating the proper foods combined with exercising regularly is absolutely one of the best ways to get rid of unwanted body fat and increase muscular density. The problem for many people is keeping this up for a long time. Many people find it too much effort or simply feel they can not exercise to the point where it would make a significant difference in their life at all. In order to burn fat or build muscle the level of intensity needed is often far more than the average person is willing to put in. If this sounds familiar to you, then more than likely you are suffering from a sluggish metabolism and gaining weight is just something you accept as part of getting older or simply part of life. However there are some things you can do without having to increase the level of exercise you are doing and still give a huge boost to your metabolism. By taking the right supplements you can quickly give your metabolism a regular boost.

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Short answer is YES!

Regardless of whether you’re twenty, forty, or eighty and no matter your weight or background.

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Regardless of whether you’re twenty, forty, or eighty and no matter your weight or background.This is the only supplement that tackles the root cause of obesity by detoxifying your body of foreign pollution that have been disrupting our hormone balance since the 1960s.I like to categorize the results into three stages.

I like to categorize the results into three stages.I like to categorize the results into three stages.

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- Finally, ProVen will help you get rid of that excess body fat and keep it off, our studies show that average weight loss over 3 months was 35 pounds.I'm positive this formula is the secret to a slim and sexy figure for everybody.

- Finally, ProVen will help you get rid of that excess body fat and keep it off, our studies show that average weight loss over 3 months was 35 pounds.I'm positive this formula is the secret to a slim and sexy figure for everybody.Your current situation doesn’t matter. Whether you have ten, fifty, or more than a hundred pounds to lose is irrelevant.

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We performed a study of 62 people all suffering from varying levels of obesity.

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Maximum weight loss was achieved when taking ProVen for at least 3 months but 6 months or longer was best.

From our studies we have determined these general requirements:

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1-10 pounds loss = 1 bottle 11-30 pounds loss = 3 bottles 30 pounds loss or more = 6+ bottles until you reach your target weight.Also, stock is selling out so much faster than we could have a

1-10 pounds loss = 1 bottle 11-30 pounds loss = 3 bottles 30 pounds loss or more = 6+ bottles until you reach your target weight.Also, stock is selling out so much faster than we could have aticipatedso we cannot guarantee there will be any left (or the price hasn't gone up) the next time you come back to this page.

5.How fast will I receive my order? Orders are shipped daily, 7 days a week 365 days a year with either UPS or Fedex. U.S orders are generally received in 1-7 days, international orders can take longer depending on the local post services and cutomclearances but generally they are received in 7-14 business days.

Learn More here:

[justablogjs]

Love Nikki: I wish I'd known when I stared

In Game Clock/Server time In Game Currency Level Types Momo's Tips + Memory Style Types Free Diamonds Facebook Diamonds Stylist Arena Suit Recipe Tracking Deconstruction/Workshop

In Game Clock

At the very bottom left hand corner is a clock, it displays the date and time according to the Love Nikki Server. Any and all times found within the game (such as the Association Co-op or Neighbourhood Tea Party times) refer to this clock. Your local time may be very different, make sure you know how far out the Love Nikki Clock is to yours, because the end of Events are listed in the Server's Time.

In Game Currency

Stamina used to complete levels Gold Coins used to buy certain things, common currency Diamonds Used to buy things, rarer currency, used for Events – the bane of a player's existence, Hoard Them!! Star Coins Used to buy recipes, materials and dyes, rarer currency

The levels in the Mystery house, Dream Weaver, Association and Competition stores all require special currency which can be earned within by doing draws or pulls. (The two “Rooms of Mystery” have daily free draws, while the other four are free every 2 days.

Level Types Maiden Easy levels with no attempt limit, cost 4 stamina to do, You can auto-complete 1 [or up to 10 if you have the stamina and the V-Level for it (I believe it's V4)]

Princess Trickier, 3 free attempts per day, or pay diamonds for more (available extras depend on you 'V Level'), you can auto complete 1 [or up to 3 if you have the stamina and V-Level]

Levels are divided up into Chapters, Maiden Levels must be complete first before the Princess equivalent can be attempted.

Momo's Tips + Memory

After the tutorial stretch of level 1 Momo will start giving tips on how to get passing scores for each level (or S-rank). You can see these even before you start the level by tapping the little diamond-square on the level panel.

If Momo suggests an item in both normal and S-rank tips (especially if you don't have that item) it is likely a special requirement for the level.

Once you're in the level, Momo's tips can be found above the skills Icon at the bottom left of the screen, which is above the 'go fight' arrow icon.

Across from these Icons are the “Search”, “Suit”, “Background”, “remove” and “Memory” Icons

Search can let you see you clothes based on which tag and style they have, or you can search them by name. (By name is fastest when applying Momo's Tips (which will look hideous), but you don't always have to type the full name to find an item, some words appear frequently in item names, other words are much rarer, figuring out how best to search is up to each player.)

Suit lets you automatically apply any complete suit you've accepted the reward for in the achievements book. (If you haven't accepted the reward for completing the suit it won't show up in the list.)

Background just changes the background which has no baring on the final scores but is good fun in Free Dressing or Starry Corridor, while Remove automatically removes all clothing and accessories.

Memory has two options: “Best Score” and “Last Suit”. These are only available after the level has been completed the first time. Best score will automatically dress Nikki in the suit which earned the highest score for that level no matter how long ago it was, while Last Suit will put on the last thing Nikki wore to the scoring even if it failed miserably.

Style types

Gorgeous/Simple, Mature/Cute, Warm/Cool, Elegant/Lively, Sexy/Pure

There are 10 (2 lots of 5) Style Types used on all pieces in Love Nikki, but each suit will only contain 5 of them. The 10 tags can be divided in 2 (As shown above by the / marks) opposing lists, no suit will have two opposing tags (for instance you cannot have a piece that is Both Mature and Cute.) These Styles have ratings C, B, A, S, SS, and are what the Giftys (the little orange maybe bird things) score each level.

In addition there are 44 Style Tags which include things like “Modern China”, “Rock”, “Rain”, “Goddess”, “Gothic” - these are separate from the Style Types above and only appear on a few pieces, there are some levels where these Tags are important for your score and whether you use pieces with the correct tag can affect whether or not your clothes count towards your final score.

Level Tips

After the first several levels in the first stage, an icon labelled “Momo's Tips” will appear

Free Diamonds

Do Your Dailies!!! I cannot stress this enough, always do your dailies, you can earn an easy 53 Diamonds per day doing your dailies.

Dailies can be found on the right hand side of the screen up top, the open book icon labelled quests

- If you are saving for a stamina event you can do your “Complete any 5 quests with S rating” in Maiden and earn back what you've spent in stamina while earning 15 points for your dailies.

Vote in the Competition, every ten votes you do, you can get a prize, just tap the tiny picture of a gift box at the bottom of your screen. Prizes in the box include a few diamonds, or a crystal rose (currency for the competition store), or a couple hundred gold coins, or some stamina.

voting can be time consuming, but it is okay to farm by selecting one side and tapping the vote button slowly until you're out of votes if you're after the free stuff (we've all done it, anyone who's said otherwise is being less than truthful.) You get 30 votes max which recharge slightly faster than stamina, so you can get 60-90+ in a day which is an easy 6-9 prizes

Participate in the competition, this pay out can vary wildly and only comes twice a week when the competition ends, but it is free diamonds so even if you slap on whatever is at the top of your list and damn the theme: do it

Long Term Event: Daily Lucky Draw. The Balloon Icon on the right hand side of the screen about midway down, right hand tab and scroll down. This is a lucky draw event which can give a few diamonds, a couple hundred coins, stamina or star coins.

Long Term Event: Stage Bonus: the first time you complete each (most) stage(s) in the Maiden and Princess levels you will receive a prize containing (two of the four following:) Diamonds, Coins, Stamina or recipes (These recipes are generally used to complete the Stage specific suit and are occasionally needed to pass one of the levels in the stage.)

Achievements: completing certain tasks enough times earns you free diamonds and gold coins and occasionally suit pieces – Achievements are the golden medal between Quest and Event Icon.

Facebooks Diamonds

If you link your Love Nikki account to your Facebook page you can get some free suit pieces during certain events (Like the new wishes during the Frozen event or the Frost Flutters suit during the Miku event.

you can also earn about 15 additional diamonds per day through 'shares'.

You can actually get these without linking you facebook page, In the 'Change' tab of the competition, in both the Free Dressing and Go Home sections you can share for 2 Diamonds a piece, the first time you complete a level per day and win you can share for another 2 diamonds plus about 500 additional gold coins. When you do a level and get and 'F' for the first time each day you will see a 'help' button where the 'share' button normally is and '2 diamonds' under it, it isn't asking you to pay 2 diamonds to receive help, it is a share button like the other and will give you the 2 diamonds plus additional gold coins for subsequent shares.

When you raise your score (typically in a Maiden or Princess level, but Stylist Arena works too) enough to get a higher rank than you previously had (for the first time each day) you can share for a whopping 5 diamonds.

The easiest way to do this is to do a level in the Stylist's Arena, because of the way the rankings there work, just a single win per day should be enough to raise your rank for the Diamonds.

Stylist Arena

During that win you can also share for 3 star coins

Stylist Arena is the bane for many a player for a few reasons.

Reason 1: The Brief – each round has a Theme, but the Theme doesn't actually mean anything, what you're looking for in each Theme description are the words that match the style types

Reason 2: Momo's estimates – Up the top of the screen, each opponent is gauged by Momo and given an estimated score, you can use this to find an opponent you can beat by hitting 'Next' on your opponent's image but Be Warned: Momo's estimate Does Not take Skill usage into account so his estimate can be Under by as much 15,000 points (I personally try to never face an opponent who's score is over 45,000 and prefer to find opponents with scores Under 40,000 because I can't recall my score averages off the top of my head and I find it safer to fight a weaker opponent I can definitely beat than risk losing my streak. There's no penalty, it's just super frustrating, especially when you're trying to complete Arena Streak Achievements.)

"Finish ASAP" will reuse whatever your highest scoring outfit was in previous attempts and complete the battle in even less time than it takes normally, and you don't have to waste those few seconds tapping through rewards or rank up animations, which is awesome if you've forgotten to do your Arena battles until five minutes before the day 'resets'.

Like the Styling competition you get diamonds at the end of the season as well as a small bounty of Star Coins, these are used to buy Recipes, materials and dyes. (You can also get those from an association, but you're better off using the Star coins and saving you Association currency for the evolving outfits whose pieces are available at random when the store refreshes each day.)

Suit Recipe Tracking

Just below your Personal Icon at the top right hand corner is a small Icon called Guide, Selecting one of the three target spaces and select change to select a suit from the achievements tab (you can search by name or by origin type (level evolution/ from the store/ from a recipe etc) once selected the Guide will show you not only how many pieces of clothing you need to make the suit, but any recipes, material or dyes. You can deselect various pieces to show how much you need for a specific piece. When you have enough to construct the clothing piece, the Guide will let you know with a little 'go make' tag across the piece.

Deconstruction/Workshop

In your Workshop is the tab “Decompose”, which lets you turn excess pieces of clothing to coins (gold and Star), materials for customising, and Reconstruction Materials.

There is a small selection option “select extra clothes” near the top right hand corner which will select any clothing/accessory/makeup item which can't be used for a recipe, quest, evolved or customised. The list will always show 1 less in the tally of each item since it only displays duplicates of items, there will always be a piece left in the wardrobe.

If you want to throw in some of the recipe/quest/evolution/customizable clothes, you will have to do that manually. (I would suggest items which are only used in customisation, and leave yourself at least four since there's typically only four colour variations at most.)

There's a key up the top under the “Decomposition” banner to tell you what the symbols mean for the 'useful' clothes.

Spending Real World Money and closing thoughts IF you plan on spending real money on your Love Nikki Account, I would suggest ensuring your account is 100% linked to your Facebook page or you run the risk of losing your account if anything happens and the Devs will not (have never to my knowledge) refund lost-account money.

You do not have to spend real world money if you don't want to.

If you have the money, if spending it on Nikki won't hurt your finances and this is what you want to spend it on, go right ahead.

If you have the money, if spending it on Nikki won't hurt your finances and you don't want to spend it on Nikki, or if you don't have the money to spend, then don't that's fine too.

I spent a year playing before I spent real world money on the game, because until I hit the year mark, I wasn't sure I'd be playing it for very long.

Love Nikki is not Pay to Win, it's not even Pay to Play. Lately the Devs have been making Paying Players bleed for the extra suits and that's not okay, but pay or no pay:

The only way to play Love Nikki wrong is to not have fun.

If you're having fun then it doesn't matter how long it takes you to complete a level or stage or whether or not you do the Events in any percentage.

And yes, sometimes the most fun we have is having a go at Momo or crying theatrically at chapter 15 and then refusing to read any lore afterwards because you're too emotionally scarred to ever allow yourself to become invested again... ahem... moving right along!

Nikki's Info

Nikki's Info is an independent site which is honestly a godsend and if you find yourself struggling to complete a level, or if you want tips on how to do good at Stylist's Arena, I definitely recommend checking it out. I have an account over there, and I keep my wardrobe (manually) updated (the cloud doesn't like me) which means I can see a level and how to get the best out of my wardrobe.

If anyone has anymore tips they'd like to add please do (or if my information is no longer valid because updates or I've misremembered something, please tell me.)

[lizeng]

A Checklist for Interaction Designer in a UX Design Project

After designing for all 3 platforms (Web, iOS and Android) on every project for almost 2 years, I think it’s worth to note down some of the key interaction checklists that usually help me think during a product design project. As a designer who has a visual background, these interaction states help me dive deep into considering all the details of how a user interacts with a digital product. As some of my friends who are considering entering into the UX field, I thought these can be helpful starter tips for them to think about interaction in a design project too. Now let’s take a look, what kind of interaction should a product designer consider in a UX design project?

Default Display

This is how the product or elements would look like before the user interacts with it. As a designer, I usually consider how it looks and the overall layout. But in some conditions, for example, dropdown forms, I have to consider the default selection from the list of options. And that default state matters because it can be the most common options users would choose, or it is a default option based on accurate data (e.g. location, timezone etc).

Hover State

Another important aspect to consider for Desktop based products is definitely hover state. It is not only the visual change (e.g. hover over a button will bring a different color), but also in many ways it reflects the action a user can take. Something worth to think when considering a hover state:

Is there enough visual cues? (Consider highlight in color or shapes)

Would a user understand what actions to take? (Consider tooltip)

Are there any options a user needs to know before clicking? (Consider dropdown menus)

Whenever thinking about hover state, it’s always important to consider Mobile Web Responsive display. Because there is no hover state on mobile, it’s important to show every action the user can take right at the default state. So considering Mobile Web Responsive during hover state can be very helpful for web developers. 

Clicked State

Usually when clicking happens, a user can be taken to any pages or state depending on the need. 

If the interaction still happens on the current page or elements, it’s important to highlight where the user is at or what they can do on the current page. For example, an input bar will be highlighted when a user is at focus mode after clicking to type. The rule of thumb is that a user knows exactly what has just happened after clicking. The worse interaction is that nothing happens after a user clicked, that can cause a lot of frustration.  

If the interaction takes a user somewhere else, like a completely different page, always consider if that fits the expectation of the user. For example, some tricky sites can place a huge download button (as ads) on a video converting website. After I accidentally clicked on it, I came across some irrelevant page which is something I don’t expect at all. So, as a result, I will for sure to close the webpage and consider it a bad experience.

Loading State

This is a state a lot of inexperienced interaction design can often ignore. Especially when the clicking interaction involves bringing in some data to the user right away, a loading state is necessary in case the system cannot load that fast. Some common examples are: any numbers the system is calculating, any URLs the system is trying to recognize, any validation (username and password) the system is trying to go through, any new info entry (uploaded a resume or doc) that takes time to parse, and any list items (a list of comments or blog articles) the page is trying to load, etc.  

Waiting Period

A common sense all designers need to know is that users are impatient. Especially when it comes to waiting for something to happen after an interaction, no one has even 10s. Of course that requires the back end to be fast, at the same time, as designers, we need to consider the waiting state in case the system requires a longer waiting period. 

If the waiting period requires a user to stay on the page without closing, there should be a very obvious countdown, allowing a user to know how long exactly they are going to wait for. If not a timer countdown, at least an estimate with a loading bar. The best is to avoid waiting at all, simply let the system work in the back, and the user doesn’t even have to notice the time it can take.

If the waiting period is not controlled by the system alone, but rather by some outside circumstances, as a designer, we should communicate it clearer to the user right on the page. This happened when I was designing for a notification system on iOS. After the user takes some action, it is not up to iOS to approve certain things, not the App itself. So, I had to design a state to let the user know we are in the waiting period and we will notify them once it’s been approved. This can be true for any other product that involves human interaction (e.g. recruiter checking a resume) or validation from another source that’s not controllable from one end alone.

Error State

Always remember to design for an error state because this is something engineers will be asking all the time. It’s easy for us as designers to consider the perfect experience, but a lot of times, things can go wrong. What will happen when things are going wrong? What if the system cannot recognize certain patterns? As simple as someone entered a wrong password, an error state can also expand to system or data failure. If this doesn’t come natural, always ask the engineer team what can possibly go wrong for a specific interaction. They usually have a much better idea what the different scenarios are, and having a meeting to talk about it also helps.

Scrolling State

This usually involves a list of items on the page that’s long enough to scroll. When considering scrolling state, we often have to think about what stays the same, and what scrolls away. In some cases, the scrolling state can allow some elements to change positions or sizes based on the needs. Whenever the page gets long, consider how a user would see the content at the very bottom, and how the scrolling interaction would affect the way they consume the content. 

Browser Breakpoint

As a visual designer, I always strive to make the best layout on a page. However, designing for a digital product can be very different compared to designing for paper. Different from a fixed size paper, the web browser’s size is dynamic. Here I am not only talking about the different screens and devices (E.g. HD screen, regular web, ipad, iphone etc), I am also talking about how people can change their browser size anytime on one single screen. Whatever I designed has to fit in any size when the browser changes. So, whenever there’s a page full of content that goes across the horizontal view (e.g. tables, calendar, modules), consider different layouts for different sizes of browsers. That requires us as product designers to know what are some key browser breakpoints. Here is a list of what I have been using: 

HD Desktop: 1440px

Desktop: 1309px

Tablet Large Size: 1076px

Tablet Medium Size: 933px

Tablet Small Size: 828px

Phone Large: 620px

Phone Medium: 420px

Phone Small: 375px (or Android 360px) 

Image Cropping

I used to think image is an easy component in design because a lot of the images are standard sizes people take from their phone or camera. However, after designing for a system that involves a lot of images displayed in various areas in different sizes. I started to consider the image and its size, a giant beast in the world of products. 

When it comes to image, there are several things we have to consider as designers. First, no matter what kind of image size or shape the user upload on the website, we have to think about auto cropping. It’s easy to think just fill the image up in the square or circle we designed for the product, but we see many sites have stretched images due to bad design. As designers, we don’t want to distort the image, so cropping is the best option, but how to crop and what are the rules behind it? It’s important to communicate what is the safe area (after cropping) to the users, and we can achieve that through image preview. The safe area helps users understand how the image will be cropped so they can add text or design in that image without getting it cut off. 

Another thing to consider after cropping the image is the ratio display. Especially when designing for products that involve a lot of image display, we cannot just give random height and width numbers to engineers. Because we talked about the browsers size can change, and different platforms can display different sizes of images, it’s important to define some image ratios that engineers can stick to no matter what platform it is. Here are some common ratios that I have used in my design: 21:9, 16:9, 3:2, 1:1. 

Numbers, Time and Date

This is a simple one, whenever designing with numbers, always consider the max number of digits. It’s easy to think of numbers with the common 2-3 digits. But what is the max number we can show on the specific component? How would that affect the element’s design, the visual display and the interaction? Always consider the maximum first and the minimum version comes easy. 

This can also relate to time and date display. I remember this very well when I was designing something that has a creation date on it. Due to limited space, I have to consider fit “Created 3 weeks ago” within a very small area. This element seems simple, but it actually has many cases:

Created 30min ago (Max: 59)

Created 4 hours ago (Max: 24)

Created 5 days ago (Max: 7)

Created 3 weeks ago (Max: 4)

Created 2 months ago (Max: 12)

Created 3 years ago (No Max)

Each unit (min, hours, days, etc) should have a max count, and at that point it turns into the next unit. Also, due to the limited space, the repeated info like “Created” and “ago” can be eliminated. So in the end it looks like 30m, 4h, 5d, 3w, 2m, 3y. This is just a simple example to consider the different variations, always consider what the max number would be in those different cases. 

Max Text State

This is the same as numbers, always consider what’s the max number of lines, or characters that can be displayed as text. Or should there be a limit when it comes to display. If the text runs over the limit, what will happen? 

This could involve in default display mode, or during typing mode, or after typing mode. The common solution is to truncate at a limited line or character, add character count during typing, or display error messages when it’s over the limit.

As a product designer though, always consider the max state for text display, but don’t forget how the regular text display and minimum display when communicating with the engineers. And if there are special cases combined with other element variations, don’t forget to mock them up in the design, so engineers can see it as crystal clear as possible. 

Those are the interaction checklists I would go through myself and I would recommend other beginner product designers to go through whenever they are designing. I summarize it as a learning for myself as get more and more familiar with the interaction world, and I hope it can also bring value to my fellow designer friends who are considering UX design as a career in their next move. 

[gotodigitalguy]

What is a Sales Funnel and How Does it Work?

Hun, You're Speaking Greek To Me... My wife has an extensive computer and I. T. background, and she's fairly attracted to web site design and HTML code. Before she took on the full time job of being mom, and heck, even now, your lady talks computer language that I simply don't understand. It just never clicked with me. I'd always tell her I saw it no clue to what she was talking about when she and another computer tech would get together. Well, today, here I am as an internet marketer, and of course we have lingo that we use that most people have NO CLUE about. There are even a few internet marketers that have no clue as to what certain lingo actually means. I know I didn't when first started off this internet entrepreneur path. I remember reading Mike Dillards "Magnetic Sponsoring" almost two years ago and asking average joe "What the hell is a funded proposal? " And "How do you make a sales funnel? " I had virtually no clue at all what those terms meant. Fast forward 2 years and here I sit now instructing some others on what "Funded Proposal" and "Sales Funnel" actually mean. In reality they are truly simple concepts. Let's tackle gross sales funnel first, because as we get into what a sales funnel is, it becomes apparent what a funded proposal is usually. Sales Funnel - As I Was Taught A sales funnel is typically seen with an attraction marketing system. (I've supplied a diagram here at the bottom of the article since some people are more visual learners). It all starts off with the marketing techniques you're using. That's essentially the opening of the funnel. You have your marketing resources catching people's attention and attracting them into the funnel. They enter the funnel once they fill out the form on your PERSONAL lead capture page. My partner and i say "personal" because no one is going to opt in on your business lead capture page. They want to join a standard, not a business. The lead capture page is the entrance into the funnel - when they click that "Sign In place Now" or "Enter Here" button, they enter a whole new concept in network marketing. The best part is quite possibly qualifying themselves to do it. It is their decision. You've sold them nothing, other than yourself as a leader, some mentor, and as someone that can show them how to get more leads and more cash into their business. At this point when you start marketing properly, there should be a large number of leads pouring into the sale funnel from your social networking sites (Twitter, Youtube, Facebook, etc . ), flag ads, forums, and blogs. The number of leads will be even larger if you're using Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising - nevertheless that's a different topic for a different time. All of these leads have clicked on an ad, seen your lead seize page, and filled out the form. What happens now? Well, they immediately start receiving e-mail messages from your auto-responder enjoy clockwork on auto-pilot. Building Your List You have probably heard over and over, the money is in your list - ones list of contacts and prospects. Or maybe "monetize your list"? Does that sound familiar? If so, your list is simply that leads that have opted into your personal lead capture page. That's it! The more leads that opt in, the bigger your list grows. I only wanted to clarify this because some people still seem confused as to what a "list" actually means. The Auto-Responder What's in the messages? Well there are different things you want to have in there. First off, a greet message greeting your leads into your site and setting the tone of what to expect in the coming days to weeks, weeks, or months (depending on the number and scheduling of your messages). There are several things you can be offering to most people via the auto-responder. Things to help build your rapport with the lead - like links to valuable options, information about you (your background or your story), who you are, and what you're all about. Essentially ways for any lead to learn more about who you are. Of course one other way to get to know your leads, and vice versa, is to actually telephone them. Crazy concept I know! If a lead includes their number on the form, give them a call! It is a great immeasurable way to build that relationship with your lead and for them to get to know you. There are a METRIC TON of entrepreneurs out there that NEVER do this. Imagine how you will stand out from the crowd just because you took 5-10 minutes to help you call a new lead. They'll love you for it! You can also include an initial boot-camp or training camp scenario as a result of messages and video links that include the training information that you may have offered on your lead capture page. This is another smart way to promote you as a leader because you're giving away your valuable information for free. Back to the auto-responders. Now, don't forget, you're not slamming them with your business right off the bat. You introduce them to that later on down the road. You use the auto-responders so that you can simply tell them about you, help build your relationship, and put in your affiliate links to your affiliate web pages that you use to market yourself. That way, when they click on the links that you offer them, and they purchase something from which site, you get a commission from that sale. This can happen many times or just once. This is how you can get paid more and more even when your leads never join you in your primary business! Remember the Funded Proposal I was hinting about? Well this is the best place to introduce it because it ties in with your affiliate links. The Funded Idea The funded proposal is a vital part to your sales funnel. A funded proposal is the process of the providing of an inexpensive but very useful product to cover the costs of your business, then introducing your actual business later on when your leads have gotten to know you. What it does is fund your business long enough with immediate sales so you can advertise more which brings you more leads, meaning you can sponsor more leads into your primary online business. If done correctly, your expenses should equal $0, or you can actually be making a profit. Examples could be sales from the affiliate links you provide in your auto-responder messages. The resources for affiliate commissions are endless. To mention a few there is Mike Dillard's Magnetic Sponsoring course and all of those products, Ann Sieg's Renegade Marketer course, Perry Marshall's Definitive Guide to Google Adwords, list builders, auto-responders, social networks, e-books, etc . The list can really end up endless. The primary reason for a funded proposal is what I've just gone over - the sales of your low-cost products to fund your business. But there are other reasons as well. 1 . When you have someone that purchases products from your affiliate marketing links or buys your e-books, you have an existing customer as well as their contact information. They are a lead! It can be much easier to introduce them to your affiliate links and products later on rather than a "cold" prospect you've not produced a relationship with. This is how the REAL money is made in network marketing! 2 . Because of the help you've already provided by way of your valuable information in the e-books, you've positioned yourself as a leader, not a salesman. You've offered them simple solution, your advice, your help, and a system. 3. The information they've already bought from you via your online links or your written material is educating & training them. If they choose to become a part of your business along with downline, they're already trained. Your work is darn near complete. 4. The biggest problem with anyone joining your network marketing business is that it can take FOREVER before they feel any sort of positive cash flow. The funded proposal eliminates this issue. Your leads and downline get into positive cashflow quickly and this eliminates burnout or dropout, instead, it encourages confidence and momentum. If you use a funded proposal system, it means positive cash flow for you, endless leads for you, and then a monetary source for more advertising, and even more leads. This is the system that the top income earners are using. They may not be selling their biz opportunity upfront. They sell and promote everything BUT their primary business. The financed proposal drops money into their business and attracts more network marketers to them. Attraction Marketing! Back to the Sales Route Up to this point your leads are getting the e-mails from your auto-responder. They are learning valuable information, techniques, strategies, and even what it takes to become successful in this industry. They're also learning some information about you and the leader that you are. But, We one thing I always do is provide more of who I am. More of me so that my leads not to mention prospects get a better idea of who I am. I simply compose one message and add it into my auto-responder to send out to my leads. That message contains all of the links to my social networking sites - your blog, Face Book, Twitter, YouTube, MySpace, Better Networker. com, etc . All of those sites contain videos, photos, options, thoughts, tips, and strategies that I give away for free. This way, whatever I post in those sites, my potential customers can get updates about me instantly. Plus they get to look at what I'm up to at any given point and also realize that I'm just a regular Joe. I'm not doing anything special. I just figured out the method to get this to figure for me, so I teach others how to do it as well. Pay it forward! The leads that have made it this very far into the sales funnel are highly qualified leads. They've gone to my lead capture page, they've received a messages via the auto responder, and I've talked with them personally over the phone. They're attending the training phones or webinars. Some leads I even get to meet locally or at conferences. They've visited my web site, seen my profiles on Twitter or Face Book, and subscribed to my newsletters. I've been building a connection with them all. When a lead has made it this far, they are very qualified! The next step is the end of the sales route - the introduction of my primary business. This is where you hope to drive ALL of your leads to. It do not ever happens because some leads fall out of the funnel along the way. And that's o. k.! Fall out will happen no matter what sales funnel process you're using. But the ones that make it this far are introduced to my primary business. They are introduced because of several different avenues. First is through my auto-responder messages. A message containing the links to my primary internet business lead capture page is sent out and introduces the lead to what I do. Another route is through our blog site or Facebook. I simply send them a message when the timing is right, or they click on my the flag ads, or they are directed there by a message I leave, or they attend a training webinar and are unveiled that way. When I've done a good enough job with providing training for my leads and built this relationship with them, they will join my business because they see what I and my business can bring them. Truly, That's it! A sales funnel explained from top to bottom.

[br0kenphantasy]

Avengers End Game

Where do I begin. *breathes*

I hated the ending. I just. Hated the injustice of it.

Unapologetically, I will say I love Tony Stark. I will defend him with my life. The beauty of his characterization was that despite everything the world has thrown at him - the corruption in SI, the betrayals, the poisoning, the lies - he picked himself back up and tried to make the best of what he could. He was human in the way that he hurt, he was irrational and would lash out, that sometimes things would get so bad it felt like he couldn’t breathe.

He was relatable. Tony Stark told a story of how in spite of your trials and tribulations, you can tide through it. And for him to die... It broke me.

This is not a story of hope.

He had a family. He moved on. He was in his happy ending and he stepped out only to be met with this. And the worst part is that Pepper is right in the worst way possible - the greatest injustice done to Tony Stark is that as much as anyone might loathe him, they have always needed him. He was not appreciated for all he has done and that kills me. They cannot wrest him from his death bed no longer. Yes, he can rest.

But at what cost?

Of saying that being a man like him, having taken so much abuse, the light at the end of the tunnel is death? This is not a story about hope. It is not a fucking triumph. Closing off an arc does not have to necessitate a death. He could have retired. He could have lived happily in the background with Pepper.

And see - personally, I thought Tony would die in the movie even though I fervently wish he didn’t. Infinity War predicted it:

STRANGE: If it comes to saving you, or the kid, or the time stone, I will not hesitate to let either of you die. I can’t, because the universe depends on it.

...

TONY: Why would you do that?

STRANGE [to Tony]: We’re in the end game now.

And then he proceeds to ensure that Tony lives. The fact that only him and Nebula are left on Titan reiterates the fact that Strange is telling him that he is a key piece to ending this. And if you think Tony did not prepare, you are wrong.

The gauntlet manages to hold up the combined powers of the stone in spite of Thanos’ gauntlet having been made by a legendary craftsman. He expands his expertise to quantum physics and that is not a coincidence. Why he is able to tell Lang his stint is a one in a billion chance fluke is because he has ran the numbers. The entirety of the five years, Tony has not idling. He knows its got to do with time because that’s what Strange represents.

That’s what he does. He tries to fix things even if it seems impossible. His mind won’t stop running until he gets it.

And Strange’s bet on Tony is answered. He trusts that he’ll learn from Quill’s rage, Thor’s complacency, or the harms of stalling. He trusts that Tony will do everything in his power to reverse this and make it better.

The final nail in the coffin: when he saw Strange’s signal, he immediately understood what he had to do. One possibility. One snap. One person who could do it before Thanos does.

And he doesn’t hesitate about doing it because that is the strength of his character. That no matter how much the world hates him, he loves the world because that’s where his beloved are. For them, he is willing to do everything, even if the price is himself. See? It falls in line with his character, it’s predictable.

Even at that still moment, where he closes his fingers to snap, I held my breath with tears in my eyes. He was awe-inspiring in his determination, battered and bruised as he was, as he declares for one, final time:

I am Iron Man.

It was glorious even as I burst into tears because I knew he wouldn’t survive this last sacrifice.

But what makes it absolutely maddening is when you compare it Steve.

I cannot believe the absolute injustice they did to his character.

Captain America: The First Avenger (they might need to change that since Carol is technically the first btw) was first conceptualised when Director Joe Johnston wanted to put Steve Rogers in the present day to let him adapt and grow as a character.

Following that, The Winter Soldier and TFA were meant to show how Steve would go through Hell and high waters to save his best buddy Bucky Barnes. It does land in the characterisation that Steve misses the past (as he should) and also the loyalty he has for him, to the point where he would chase after a ghost for the better part of two years.

However, note that it’s slowly eroding what Director Johnston intended. He’s not adapting to the future but clinging to the past. Like, let’s not even talk about Civil War.

In End Game alone, by giving him the ending where he chooses to remain in the past, it is inherently problematic on so many levels.

1. His loyalty to Bucky is now moot.

2.  Attachment to the past? Somehow Peggy, a woman he knew for maximum a year (and this is being generous considering how he constantly had to go out for campaigns), weighs more than Bucky Barnes who was his childhood friend? Like, excuse you???

3. Following item two, you basically rendered Civil War useless. Throw away the fact that you defied 117 countries for your best friend. You somehow seem alright with leaving him alone in the present, thanks Cap.

4. Marrying Peggy Carter despite knowing she had a full life and a happy marriage after you. The children? Naw. Sharon Carter? Remember you kissed her? It really makes him look like he was using her as a replacement and that’s insulting to her.

Point is, all these are incredibly out of character. Steve Rogers, whatever he was, is now a caricature; the height of self-serving interests.

This is not even taking in account of the time travelling. If Steve did nothing to preserve the timeline like Strange, it makes him complicit in the crime. For a measure of how out of character it is, he willingly sacrificed himself and sank a plane and the Tesseract to stop HYDRA. He let SHIELD burn to the ground because of an HYDRA infestation. Him letting HYDRA grow like weeds, let his best friend continue to be HYDRA’s slave makes no sense. It completely tarnishes the fact that Captain America was meant to be a paragon.

Russo Brothers, from the zenith he came from, you brought him down to the grave. You have ruined all the hardwork you’ve put into his trilogy - the significance, the meaning... everything. And I hope you’re satisfied with the blackened legacy you have made for yourself.

To give Steve this “happy ending” with Peggy, something should have long passed against taking away Tony’s chance of happiness in the present is an absolute piss off.

Look. There are things I love about the film.

I was going to list them because they deserve a mention too.

I wanted to talk about the brilliance that was Natasha’s death even though it hurt me so much. How Scarlett Johansson truly portrayed her growth so wonderfully How Natasha, who spent her life trying to make better with her sins, trying so hard to clean the red off her ledger finally did so by bleeding all over the pages.

That in her fall, she goes back to red. A full circle. And she did what she wanted: she managed to save trillions of lives.

I wanted to talk about Clint’s descent, and how the two found salvation in one another. How they gave each other another reason to smile and try again. Their willingness to sacrifice themselves for each other’s happiness and that is one of the best relationship dynamics I’ve seen on screen.

How devastating it must have been for Clint, to see Natasha die from a bird’s eye view because they truly started how they ended: he was supposed to kill her from afar but chose not to, granting her redemption instead. And she found redemption through sacrificing for him, but it causes him to witness the one thing he sought to prevent.

I wanted to talk about Nebula’s growth. The small moments of family dynamics. Pepperony. Tony’s last will - a love letter to his family and the fans. How he did the one thing his father never did for him: he reminded his child that he loved her endlessly. So many moments where it brought tears to my eyes for good reasons.

But I’m exhausted, in numbness, outrage and sadness.

The characters deserved better.

[ithinkthingsaboutstuff]

The good, the bad and the reality (personal)

or the worst 11 weeks of my life.

first off i’ll start by saying this a personal story i don’t normally make these and this is a long one so i will put it under the cut. this is about 11 weeks i had last year, 

 TL;DR: I (21) was bullied and berated by a fully grown women (28) who then tried to have me fail the protect i put together and the tutor took her side. 

I am writing this in retrospect a exactly year after the events. I am doing this to share my experience with you all and to reflect on it as well. I fell that this story may help someone even if that person is just myself.  

now this all happened last year (2018) and i will give you some background into my situation going into these 11 weeks. 

1, i was made redundant so i was unemployed   

2, i could not get any fiances help from the gov because of a law in my country that i a 21 yr adult needed my parents to hand over there tax info which they could not do (due to reasons i will not share here.)

3, I live an hour away from my uni so i need a car which i did have but it got a 30 centimetre crack over the drive side windshield and would cost $600 to fix (it was like that for 8 weeks or so)

4, if i was not living with my parents then i would have been homeless

5, i was and still am a full time student

6, one of my family members i’ll call them T, was having problems so my mother and i ended up looking after there kids a few days a week.

7, My phone got broken two days into semester and i was without one for 6 weeks 

OK 

so at my uni i did a course and basically it was a film production, we had a group and we had to make a film from post-production to complete film

I was the writer and director, I would like to note that the group elected and voted how got what role (there was 4 of us) i was picked to be the writer and director because i had a direction (see what i did there) to take the film. 

the first 2 members of the group where an editor (someone i had seen around before) and a Cinematographer (who was very nice) but they did not care to much about the ‘story’ of the film they just wanted to get into the job and have fun with it and i understood that and was fine with it. 

so i had all the creative control over this production so i was nervous i had never had this much control over anything before but i told my self i would not let that go to my head.    

the whole course was 13 weeks long so the first week was getting in groups so 12 weeks to make the film from post to complete.

now the producer was the women who made me write this, who decide that i was not to be treated like a person for the weeks to follow and has taken up more time in my life then she would ever deserve to. she has tested my resolve as a human being and made me question a lot of things about myself and the things i believe and would still like to.

her name was Luise, normally i would not use her real name but this bitch is not Voldemort and i’m not scared of her and if she by some way finds this then i hope she listens.

Now, the first 2 weeks should have made me pull the plug but retrospect being was it is. in the first to weeks i had made

1, a character list complete with descriptions

2, a story outline 

3, location list 

4, we as a group made a meet up time and what we had to do and complete ect

5, 3 pages of script

i had the chance to see her in another class we had the day before we talked for and i am not kidding 3 hours (not just about the film, and we had 2 mutual friends there)  but i made it a point to sit her down and show her what i had done because at this point in production i was the only one who could and i asked her many times if she had any questions or ideas to add to anything and everything i had done to that point,

the next day when we where in our group she made it look as if she had never seen anything i had shown her like her life depended on it.  this would not have been to bad if she did not go one to say 

‘I thought we were all going to work one the script, not just one person.’

and as the WRITER and director i had to explain to her that well i was going to talk to everyone and get advice and opinions but I was the one who had to make to choices and I was the one who was to be writing the script.

she got more mad and said things like ‘but this is a group, why do we have to do your idea.’

then i explained again, that I was chosen to be the writer and director because i had this script idea that she liked but one week ago. she then throw a bigger fit and i just shrugged and said fine so i put away all the printed (yes printed) work i had done to show everyone away and pulled out a pen and paper and said something like 

‘so what you like to do lets workshop something now and i’ll work on that.’

she then sat there and looked like i had just hit her with a rotting fish and said 

‘I don’t know’

‘ok, what genre would you like to look at?’

‘i don’t know.’

‘ok fine, what kind of story do you want to tell?, action, romance, comedy.’

‘I don’t know.’

‘fine, do you have any ideas you would like to share like a location or scene idea or like dialog beat, anything,’

nothing, she had spent an hour or so (again literally) talking about how she didn’t get any input and then when given the opportunity had nothing to give.

that was the first of many conversations like that.

in the second week, i had finished a 15 page script 2 days before class (which i emailed, so i had written 12 pages in 5 days), on the day I printed out the 15 pages and headed to class. when i walked in i found her sitting at a table and walked over to her and before i had a chance to say hello she said words i have not forgotten and never will

“this is pathetic, I can’t believe you, this is high school grade, disgraceful.”

now i was surprised to say the lest and i took a breath and somehow said calmly (i still don’t know why i was so claim about it?)

‘didn’t like the script?’   

 she looked like a deer and headlights 

‘what script?’

‘the one i sent two days ago.’

she backed down so fast saying, ‘no’ in a small but annoyed voice like it was somehow my fault she didn’t check her emails. so i went into my bag and gave here the complete script she then read. she nothing for the rest of the class.

now i will skip a few weeks but the highlights are these

1, she never came on time (she lived on campus)

2, she was in change of the equipment (cameras, lights, mics ect) she never got the right stuff i asked for e.g i wanted 2 mics so the actors could each have one so we did have to film a shot 4 times.

3, i asked her every week if she needed help collecting or carrying the equipment she said no, but later went on a big fit about how i never helped with anything

4, she did not tell me the Main actor pulled out until the night before the first shooting day.

5, she broke my personal propriety (i have a film clack broad, that my mother bought me when i got into uni for film study's) she did not say sorry or even tell me until i found out myself and called it a ‘cheap peace of shit’  

6, she would try to undercut me in front of everyone when i was doing ‘her job’ (she was not listen to me and when i went to correct the mistake she got mad and got on her high horse about how i made things about me.) 

7, and this was the biggest thing she and i would have weekly meetings and she took that as a opportunely to try and harass me, 

she would say ‘your a bad director, you never give me anything to do, you take my jobs ect.’

when ever i asked her for examples of my horrible mistreatment of her she would replay with and i’m quoting 

“I shouldn’t have to tell you should just know.”

 or when i asked her what she would like me to do or behaviours she would like me to change or what was making her so uncomfortable she said

“All of it, it’s all just unacceptable.” (again quoting)

again no examples, and since i am not a crazy person who is going to change every bit of my personally from the word of a disgruntled women how gave me nothing to work with i asked everyone else working on the production (editor, actors, camera man etc) privately if i was being interpenetrate and surprise surprise no else had a problem (in fact one of my actors said i was the most professional director they had worked with) 

8, and this on came closes to breaking me, she only ever gave me one example of a thing that upset her as she knew it was the one thing i could not defend myself in,  you see i have dyslexia 

therefore sending emails back and forth is a challenge for me and they do tend to come off harsher or blunter then i mean them to be.

so when i explained this she really went to town on it.

‘I don’t care you shouldn’t talk to me like that.’

‘It doesn't matter, your dyslexia doesn't matter your doing it on purpose.’

‘your just rude it’s no excuse’

i ended up having to cut the meets short.

now you must be wondering. why didn’t go to my other team mates? why didn’t i go to the tutor or talk to someone? 

the short answer is i did. 

my other team mates the editor was for lack of a better term apathetic he did not want to get into any ‘drama’ and would really only shrug at the situation.

my Cinematographer unfortunately had his grandmother pass away in the middle of all of this and was grieving for her so for the most part he was out of it. (he still did all his work and i think he had a really good time filming i think it helped his grieving process)   

i did try and talk to my family but as i said,  “T” was having a bit of crisis so most of the emotional energy was going to them.

and i mainly vented to my friends at uni which was nice but they had not advice for me.

now this brings me to the Tutor, 

the authority in this situation in about week 7 of all this nonsense i had sent her an email to talk about problems i was having (again email is hard for me to express myself in)  we were meant to be having a classes check in every week (previously, the class time) but she cancelled 2 or 3 of them by this point (the day of i might add) so i arranged a meeting with them, which they cancelled so i made another meeting for next week, which they cancelled again, you see the pattern.

so on the last day of filming i sent her another email 

one with sentences like ‘At the end of my rope” and ‘can’t take this anymore.’ and ‘has been antagonising me’ and ‘can’t take this behaviour anymore.’

she answered me a week and a half later with basically 

‘sorry it took so long, is the work done? i can meet you next week.’

 so that’s how much they cared.  

it took i think 3 weeks from my first connect with them to finally meet up, but it was too late by then, you see there was finally an incident between me and Luise

now i am not excusing or condoning my behaviour in this but as you can tell it had been a long time coming. 11 weeks, it took 11 weeks for me to break.

as i said we had finished filming but we meet up to see how the editor was going and if we needed re shoots (we did) i went to organise them with Luise and she ignored me. and i don’t mean she looked off into the distance or was distracted she straight up walked away from me like i did not exist, she sat down to get lunch and i don’t remember this part all that well but we ended up walking again and we were next to the car parks and i just remember saying 

“i don’t know what you want from me.”

I then fell to the ground crying and i mean in a ball, hands in my hair crying wailing and shaking, I have no idea how long this went on for but a very nice lady (she was about 60 ish) a stranger to me knelled down and rubbed my back until i was able to stand she and another kind man (a former nurse) helped me up to my feet and Luise was standing there looking at her nails (out of awkwardness as people were staring) after i had taken a few breaths and most people turned there backs and left. I looked to Luise to have acknowledgement as one human being to another and to maybe have some god damn empathy form one person to another. But instead 

She roll her eyes at me and walked away, quickly. 

I am not proud of this next part but i do not regret it. 

I then in all my wisdom screamed the words “are you fucking kidding me.” I then begin to yell and follow her for about 15 mins or so, about everything she had done to me up until that point. until we reached student housing (for the recorded i had no idea where it was until this point)

again my memory on this one is messy but i do remember her saying she never like my script and my ideas and i remember saying ‘I never needed you to like it i just needed you to be an adult and if you had a problem to talk to me,’

and when we got to a big gate that only residents could access she then run in quickly and slammed it behind her and then gave me a very condescending ‘Just clam down’ 

again in all my wisdom i yelled ‘Bitch i will claim this fence”

she looked scared or that lightly jogged out of sight. but i walked it off instead. so after that i called my mum and she calmed me down more. i then emailed the tutor again explaining what just happened including the parts where i was in the wrong (note i stated that i “had a breakdown on the side of the road” in the email)

this was a Friday and she got back to me to meet on the Monday (note that all she said was don’t talk to Luise again and is the film complete, meet me on Monday.) that week end i made a list of this Luise had said what i had said and so on. printed of emails and got ready to just explain everything the good and the bad.

so i got there early with my binder (yes binder) of stuff to go through she then rolled up 15 mins late to her own office, I then went to tell her everything and it when like this 

‘I know you have heard about what happened between be and Luise I want to explain everything that happened.’

she then raised her hand at me to stop and said

‘don’t tell me about it i can’t take sides’

i was confused but she said she had already spoken to Lusie so hearing my side would do something I honesty can’t remember i was to shocked.

she went on to have me explain where the project was at and to not re shoot the scenes and she sent a group email to that effect. 10 mins i had spent weeks trying to talk to this women and she gave me 10 mins of her time and told me that way that, and honesty i was so emotionally tried i just when with it at that point.     

then two day later i got an uni official email for the Tutor and to paraphrase it said that 

1, Luise had come to her earlier told her about what happen

2, she then helped Luise go to the student offences where they where going to put out a official warning against me (she did not go through with it but it is on file)

3, if i where to go near her again there would be trouble and that i would most likely be me failed from the course (my project)

4, the real reason she never had any intention for hearing my side was because as i had already admitted in my emails that i had done what Luise said and the Tutor did not care about the context as she would have to have done an investigation and this was easier for her to do 

5,there was a condescending final line about how ‘groups work is hard, talk to someone who’s not me.’

 6, this was the first time I had ever revised any numbers or info for other people how could have helped me (e.g concealers, student advisers to help me with law and record keeping, the HR department,)   

so I had another melt down after reading this email form someone i tried to reach out to for so long only to stab me in the back and not out of hate or spite but simply because it was easier for her to do so, easier to believe a shallow truth then a harsh reality. 

now to skip a little a head i ended up going to the student HR (that is separate from the uni) and they listened to me and they helped me book a concealer and they got a copy of my new binder, they contacted the head of the teachers HR department at the uni and she talked to the Tutor and there is not official mark on her record but if something like this happens again they can use the binder of stuff i got on my Tutor the emails notes from the meets ect. if something like this happens again. so silver lining I guess.

now with all my ranting a raving you must be wondering what the point of my little confession is, a year later no less.

the truth is i hear a lot of story’s about this sort of thing and there’s always the What i should have done moments and for me that is part of the problem i did everything “right”  I tried to talk it out like adults, I talked about how i felt to people round me, i asked help form when i felt like there was nothing more i could do and i set the record straight from the lies and had evidence to support it, then i searched for professional mental help when that was needed. 

But none of this did anything to change that the women who harassed me emotional and mentally for 11 weeks got off with not even a talking to. nothing after the fact can change those 11 weeks, only how i feel about it..so her i sit a year later and i feel better, I don’t feel it crying all the time now. I don’t get a stabbing pain of fear when i walk around campus anymore and i don’t feel the need to go around the building the tutors office is in anymore. 

To be clear i never hated Luise i still don’t, but to be honest at worst i always found her to be pitiful I mean a grown women in 3rd year uni who could not take responsibility for her own actions and was unable to have even the smallest amount of empathy for a fellow human being is the most pathetic thing i have ever seen (in person anyway)             

she has unintentionally made me come to terms with my own ideals and made me ask myself am i really an optimist or have i never had a reason not to be? I can so far say that yes i am still an optimist. but the reality is life goes on nothing in those 11 weeks made me less of a person despite every effect to make to that feel way in fact maybe one day it may make me a stronger person but i don’t see that happening at the moment. but not to sugarcoat things, I got bitter really bitter and had to shut some doors on ‘T’ i could not deal with their crisis and had to start shutting her out i still had the kids with my mother and i was physically there but i emotionally exited and am only now really trying to emotionally involve my self with them again.

so the point is i have a long way to go, and i am not going to be shy about the bad stuff i have done, because that is counterproductive, pointless and what Luise did. 

so i want to be better then that, I need to be better then that.

thanks for sticking it out here’s a gif

[suitablysublime]

TWEAKING YOUR TUMBLR THEME: A CRASH COURSE

i know css/html and code my own themes. one side effect of this is that every so often i encounter someone—a friend or a friend’s friend, usually—who has installed a new theme and is now struggling to customize or tweak it without knowing how to go about doing that. 

now i’m always happy to help out, but these are always things that take just a few minutes to figure out if you can read the code and, well, give a man a fish or teach a man to fish. you know how it goes. 

so here we go: this is how to fish.

PART ONE: UNDERSTANDING CSS & HTML 

let me lead with this: it is normal to feel confused, overwhelmed, intimidated, stupid, and/or frustrated when working with an unfamiliar coding language. my father has been writing software for forty years, but he will look at what is to me a page of very basic css/html and be completely baffled by it all the same. this is normal. please don’t let it discourage you if you feel this way at first. 

in my opinion, the first step to conquering these feelings is to wrap your brain around the big picture of what these languages do. what do we use them for?

well, all web pages — and thus, all tumblr themes — are written in these two languages. the only thing you need to know for our purposes is this: html holds the content of a web page, and css controls its appearance. 

how does this work? 

a webpage is built of html objects called <div> tags. think of them like bricks: you stack a bunch of <div>s on top of each other and bam! you have a house. but it’s a terrible house, because it’s just a pile of bricks with stuff scribbled on them. 

this is where the css comes in. a <div> tag can have a unique id or belong to a general class, and we use css to style the appearances of our <div>s on a per-id and per-class basis. to return to our housebuilding metaphor, css is our blueprint: it gives order, structural stability, and aesthetic coherence to our messy pile of bricks, and now, bam! we have a house. for real.

PART TWO: THE SYNTAX

coding languages are like human languages in that they have their own unique vocabulary and grammar. to tweak a tumblr theme, you need to have a basic grasp of this syntax so you can understand what you’re looking at.

css manipulates objects called elements. usually, an element is the id or class of a <div>, but an element can correlate to any html tag. the basic anatomy of a css element goes like this:

selector {      property: value; }

and we can translate this into english as “when the element this selector is looking for occurs, it will look the way i have described it here.” 

selectors might look like this: h1 { or #id { or .class {

the distinction between these different types of selectors is not important for our purposes. all you need to know is that the selector corresponds to (or selects) a particular html tag, like: <h1>, <div id = "id">, or <div class="class">.

properties are the visual features of an element, like its height, width, color, and so on, and the value is a statement that describes the desired setting for the property. a property-value statement is called a declaration, and a collection of declarations is called a declaration block. 

you can generally figure out what a declaration is doing by looking at the name of the property, since they’re pretty self explanatory most of the time. for example, font-size: 12px; says that any text contained in this element is going to have its size set such that a character is 12 pixels tall. 

[ sidebar: if you are a Tiny Font person, consider using the knowledge you’ve gained from this tutorial to edit your theme such that the text of all your posts is very small, and then don’t use small text or sub/superscripts in your replies. you’ll get the Tiny Font aesthetic on your blog with perfect consistency, without rendering your posts illegible on the dashboard. ]

PART 3: MAKING YOUR CHANGES

the key to quickly and easily modifying a tumblr theme is to be able to identify the name of the css selector for the element you want to modify. let’s look at my own theme as an example. 

depending on what changes you want to make and how the theme’s creator laid out their code, you may not have to do much work at all to get the selector. 

for example, if you want to do something with your theme’s pagination buttons, it’s a pretty reasonable guess that the css selector will be something like “pagination_next” or “pagination_prev”, and you can go straight to the html editor and do a ctrl+F search for “pagination” to find it. 

but what if the selector isn’t immediately obvious? for the purposes of this example, let’s say i want to change the text of the blog description from red to dark blue (while preserving the red color of other elements in the theme, which precludes simply using tumblr’s in-built color picker.)

i could just scroll through the theme code until i found a selector that looked like the one i wanted, and then change something and update the preview & repeat ad nauseum until i found the right one. but again, depending on how the theme’s creator did their coding, this might be very difficult, frustrating, and time consuming. many prolific tumblr theme creators don’t lay out their code in a particularly human-readable way.

fortunately, there is a much easier way.

step 1:  load your tumblr and right-click somewhere on the page. depending on what browser you use, the exact name of what you’re looking for will vary, but the keyword to look for is “inspect”: 

click this.

(if you are using safari, you need to make sure “show develop menu” is checked in the advanced tab of the preferences window.)

step 2: your screen will now look something like this: 

if the element you want to change is in a popup or tab, open it so it’s visible on the screen.

step 3: the topmost box in the inspector displays all the html of your theme. if you hover over an html tag, the corresponding element will be highlighted in blue.

find the <body> tag. you may need to expand this manually depending on your browser. move your mouse down the line of divs until you find the element you want to modify. 

here, my mouse is hovering over <div id="blg_desc"> in the inspector, and you can see how the blog description is shown in a blue rectangle. (the large orange shape shows the size of the element’s margins.)

this tells me that the css selector for this element is #blg_desc.

step 4: close the inspector and open tumblr’s theme customization interface. go to edit html. ctrl+f to find the css selector: 

now, my goal is to change the text color, so the declaration i’m interested in is color:{color:6};. the {color:6} value is an object tumblr uses to store colors in a theme as an alternative to using rgb or hex codes (like #B61818, which is the shade of red i have stored in {color:6}. these objects correlate to the color picker under theme options: 

thus, if i change the value of color to {color:1}, the text of my blog description will be blue instead of red. i can also write this as color:#0d52c0;. 

(note that the exact shade of red/blue in my description varies a little from line to line; this is because of styling i did within the html itself that makes some lines transparent, and thus lighter because of the pale grey background.)

& if you use pages with custom html, the inspector trick will of course work for them too.

PART FOUR: IN SUMMARY

remember that css/html is not magic. it might feel intimidating, but at the end of the day it’s just a language for translating human thoughts like “i want a small purple square” into instructions a computer can understand, like this: 

#ps {       height: 100px;      width: 100px;      background-color: #8c4c7a; }

and all you need to do to make the changes you want is 1) identify the css selector and 2) understand the properties you’re manipulating. 1) is the difficult part, because everybody lays out their selectors differently—but using the inspector will allow you to instantly identify selectors by sight. and once you have that, 2) is super easy, because properties are standard and intended to be readily legible to humans. 

you may occasionally run into tricky properties, like for example display or position, which do things that are a little more abstract / not immediately obvious. for those cases, refer to the w3schools css dictionary for clear, simple, but still comprehensive explanations for proper usage.