#right i've sat on this long enough. instead of procrastinating working on it i procrastinated posting it. lmao

[eyes1nthewoods]

probably not a great thing to say to a guy who's turning into a demon 😬

[rui-xyz]

hii im from wattpad and i want to request :

Rui x reader (reader is afab), fsmut ig ?? both college students nd they both wanted to start a project but ended up.. yk 😭

HIHI WELCOME!! Honestly this ask is my entire rui sequel fic on wattpad (wink wink go read it and the prequel anyone who hasn't)

Anyway enough talking, let's just get into it ;)

⭒Synopsis: ^^

⭒Warnings: NSFW,

⭒Setting: College, so yall are anywhere from 18-22 or so

⭒Notes: AHH IM SO SORRY THIS TOOK FOREVER TO GET OUT

"Alright, we have everything we need! I think..." You gazed over the messy pile of mechanic bits strewn across the floor, your boyfriend sitting in the middle.

"This should be all I need," he smiled up at you from the floor.

"Great! Then, let's get to work!" You hopped over onto your bed, starting to look through the brainstorming notes for just what kind of bot you'd use for this project.

That was over half an hour ago. So far, you had done nothing but add maybe 3 more things to your notes, and ramble endlessly. You suddenly stopped yourself mid-sentence, shaking your head in frustration.

"Noo, Rui, we're on another tangent..."

"Sorry, I knew this time, it just seemed like something you really enjoy talking about."

"Thank you, Sweetheart, but now's not the time to indulge my scatterbrain." You sighed, flopping back on the bed. "I still have no idea what this bot is even gonna do, let alone look like..."

"You have plenty of ideas down, I suppose it's just choosing that's the hard part."

"Are you sure the animated hologram is off the table?"

"That would take several months of research and work. You need this done by the end of the week."

You groaned and sat back up, slipping off your bed and leaning down over Rui's mess to cup his face and nuzzle his nose. "Thank goodness I have my pretty genius boy to help."

He chuckled softly, going along with your affection before standing up to stretch his legs. "I'll have you know, I didn't procrastinate on my homework this time, just to make sure it was done for when you get home."

You cooed, thanking him with a hug as he stepped out of his sea of silvers and metal. "Y'know, maybe a snack will help get us on track?"

"I don't think a snack is going to help you focus better."

"Awe, c'mon, we won't know til we try, right?" As you started walking out from your bedroom to the kitchen, you were tugged back by your shirt before the door closed in front of you.

"I know something that'll help."

"Hmn? And what would that be?"

Suddenly, you felt Rui pick you up and toss you onto your bed, jumping on you immediately after. He held himself up, hovering above you with a smirk on his face.

"If history repeats itself, this'll probably help out," he purred, before leaning down to start kissing and licking up and down your neck. You shuddered slightly.

"W-what in the world makes you think this is the solution?"

"You haven't noticed? You do much better work when you're... we'll say... relieved."

"What evidence is there of that?" You chuckled, resting your hands on his shoulders.

"I've witnessed it a time or two. Now, enough talking. That's what got us here in the first place."

You wanted to inquire some more, but refrained, instead just simply letting your breath shake with every exhale as Rui soaked your neck with growing impatience.

He wasted no time in slipping his hands under your shirt and pulling it up your body. His hands found their way to your sides, gripping and rubbing over your ribs, down to your hips. His mouth left your neck and pressed against yours, tongue slipping past your lips within seconds.

You kicked your legs up over his hips, squeezing his waist between your knees. He carefully pulled his face away from your kiss, smiling down at you darkly.

"Let's get this over with quickly, yeah? We shouldn't take too long when we have work to do."

"Yeah, you're right..."

His hands tugged your shirt all the way off, tossing it aside dismissively and going for your pants. Then his pants came off. Meanwhile, you tugged off his shirt, which he had neglected due to time. His leg pressed up between your legs so you could grind against it as your tongues licked together with hunger.

He felt over your body, squeezing roughly, grabbing at his favorite parts of you and feeling your soft, plush skin under his fingers. Fuck, were you irresistible, even with his eyes closed.

With the softest groan of frustration and impatience, he stuffed his face into your neck and shoved hastily at his all too tight pants. He sighed at the freedom once they were finally off, and paused before he made for his boxers. Rui lifted himself up and gave you a devilish look.

"Is my Darling ready for me?"

You let out a shuddering breath as his hand trailed down your stomach, dipping into your underwear and feeling across your folds. Just how easily his fingers slid told you the answer to his question. His smirk widened.

"Good."

With that, his fingers hooked into the leg holes and started tugging them down your thighs. Once they were off and discarded with all the rest of your clothing, you suddenly felt two of his fingers slide into you embarrassingly easily. You tensed, gasping, but huffed at the amused look on his face.

"I thought you said we shouldn't waste any time?"

"I wouldn't call this a waste. You aren't seriously asking me to just ram into you without a little preparation, are you?" He gave you a pouty look, to which you rolled your eyes and let him continue, stretching you out. Once he pulled his fingers out of you, sucking them clean before they wrapped around your hip, you mentally prepared yourself for what came next.

"Ready?"

"Yeah."

He propped your legs up onto his hips and carefully slid into you. You let out a shaky breath as each inch slid in, filling you up how he always did. He groaned out happily, smiling as his lashes fluttered.

"Mmh, yeah... that's it." Rui sighed as he leaned down, pressing his chest against yours. His arms slipped under your shoulder blades and grabbed your shoulders. He rubbed his cheek against yours and placed a few kisses across it, grinning all the while. "I love you... Want me to start yet?"

You wiggled your hips slightly, listening to his breath hitch. Once you were fairly sure your insides had adjusted, you leaned back and relaxed, then nodded your head.

"Yeah, you can start."

"Okay, Honey," he sighed happily, then pressed his lips to yours. He started to pull back, then thrust back in slowly, breaths uneven. Your own breath was shallow as you kissed him, feeling how gentle and slow his movements were starting out. He continued at that same pace for a while, then pulled away from your lips to catch his breath as his hips began to speed up.

The feeling of his cock brushing against your inner walls and his tip hitting so deep in you gave you a wave of goosebumps, how it usually did. A few soft moans started to leave your lips as your head fell back against the pillows. Your vision was blurry with pleasure, but you could see as Rui looked over your face, his muscles tensing as a moan escaped him. He leaned back down, groaning softly as he shoved his face into the nape of your neck and started to speed up more.

It felt glorious, the pleasure making your brows furrow and eyes roll back. Your hands gripped onto his back, and with every moan of his that sounded next to your ear, you felt your insides grow hotter, until a knot started to form in your stomach. The most you could do was squeal out Rui's name, but in response, he sped up to a pace that had you wailing with pleasure.

You could feel your finale quickly approaching, but it's not like you could muster the ability to warn him, especially when his mouth met yours again and your moans mixed together. As you reached the edge of bliss, all you could manage was a frantic shove to Rui's shoulder, before your back arched and you cried out. He immediately slowed down, now back to focusing on his depth as his orgasm also neared. You clenched around him as you soaked his cock with your release, and those sweet sounds you were making made his cock more solid than stone. Every second his orgasm neared, it felt like you were driving him more and more crazy. He could just barely sense himself getting louder as he kept slamming deep into you, until his pleasure peaked and he let out a long, shuddering moan as he released inside you. You shuddered, yet another wave of goosebumps raising over your body. As his cum gushed into you, he held you tight, squeezing you with euphoria. When the feeling finally subsided, his whole body relaxed, almost going limp above you. He let out a sigh and started catching his breath at about the same pace you were.

The two of you spent a couple moments just basking in the relaxing, post-orgasmic afterglow, before Rui dropped his head back down to your shoulder, shifting slightly to get comfortable.

"Don't fall asleep," you warned with a chuckle.

"I know, I know. We still have work to do."

His words made you pause, before you groaned. "Awe, fuck."

[chibisquirt]

You don't have to answer, but if you wouldn't mind. What are some things you've learned about ADHD from Tumblr that are applicable to you, or others you may now? I've been reading more on it and how it manifests in girls/women and was curious when I read your rb on that post about Grammarly

I don’t mind at all!  Fair warning:  this is gonna be LONG.

I’m going to start by repeating something I mentioned in that post:  I was diagnosed in third grade, which was over two decades ago.  I had my diagnosis halfway through elementary school, much less high school and two rounds of college.  So a lot of the old information about ADHD I learned as a young person, and those things are worth exploring, too.  

Example:  It’s not that I’m not listening, Mrs. Nock, it’s just that if I try to keep my hands still, then the only thing I will retain from the lesson will be keep your hands still and not the things you trying to teach, which are supposedly important! 

(Mrs. Nock was the one who said to me, “I believe you believe you’re paying attention.”  Yes, it’s been fifteen years.  Yes, I’m still mad.  If you can’t have basic respect for your students, don’t teach.)

I figured out half on my own, half because of the counselling that if I had a fidget tool that didn’t require words I would pay better attention than if I tried to sit still.  (I still remember being mocked by my dad for fidgeting well after making that discovery, though.  Apparently diagnoses should only inform compassion when they’re his.)  On the same lines, I also figured out that music in the background wouldn’t work for me if it had words, and television is too distracting for me to use at all.  (I have a friend, though, whose ADHD works the opposite way:  he has difficulty focusing if there isn’t a television in the background.  Yes, both are valid.)

So, the Classics:  

I always had trouble with organization and cleaning, had trouble with schedules and calendars and managing my time.  Those are the things they’ll warn you about, the things they’ll tell you in counselling are natural and normal things for people with ADHD to have trouble with.  Trouble paying attention, sure.  Trouble sitting still.  Procrastination.  Got it.

But if you turn those traits around and re-frame them, they become a new set of symptoms.  Adaptations for these new symptoms are more personal and universally applicable in my life, and therefore, to my mind, more useful.

Take Procrastination.  (No really: please take it.)  That just means “putting it off until tomorrow,” and there are lots of reasons to do it:  “don’t have the tool I need” is one of the biggies, “want to conserve steps” trips me up a lot, “I still have time to get to it” is HUGE for me...  But a lot of times, these are just superficial reasons.  The re-framed symptom is, Trouble making yourself do things you don’t want to do.  

ADHD is an executive function disorder.  That’s a phrase I first learned on Tumblr, by the way; it may have been mentioned by one of my earlier counsellors, but it definitely wasn’t taught.  

This is why soooo many of us have struggled with the perception (including self-perception) that we’re lazy!  But no one tells the kid in the wheelchair he’s just lazy for not playing basketball.  (Okay, they totally do.  People are terrible.  Ignore that, stick to the point.)  I reframe this the way I do because acknowledging this as a symptom, taking the blame out of it, makes it easier to find adaptation.

Now, this is a personal post.  YMMV.  But I have an easier time managing my conduct if, instead of calling myself lazy a procrastinator, I say, “I keep not doing that --> oh it’s because I Don’t Wanna --> how can I con myself into doing it?”  (Strategies include bargaining, making it easier, powering through but then allowing yourself to stop afterwards, just acknowledging that I Don’t Wanna and allowing that to be valid...)  Procrastination is an action, but “executive function disorder” is a disease and “I Don’t Wanna” is its trigger, just as much as an allergy and a clump of ragweed are.  “Procrastination” is a powerful sphynx against which I’m helpless, but “I Don’t Wanna Disease” lets me start cultivating my metaphorical catnip and researching the answers to common riddles.

And while we’re talking about procrastination--and trouble with deadlines, and schedules in general--let’s talk about Time Insensitivity.  Missed deadlines and perpetual lateness (perpetual) are external actions, just like procrastination, and they can have all sorts of explanations.  

(Shoutout to Mrs. Pollack, who looked around a classroom containing thirteen-year-old me, and, knowing full well that I was chronically tardy, declared that “anybody who’s always running late, deep down, they just doesn’t care about anybody else’s time.”  Great job with calling the thirteen-year-old a heartless bitch, Mrs. Pollack!  As you can tell, I definitely forgot it very quickly, and didn’t at all have a self-critical breakdown about it, periodically revisiting the question of my own inherent selfishness for years!!!)

But ignoring the external actions, let’s take a compassionate look inside the head again.  Executive function includes regulation of, and awareness of the passing of, time.  Again: you can’t play the basketball with no legs.  We literally do not realize what time is doing.  Sometimes we do--if we devote enough of our attention to it, which may be a large amount for some, a small amount for others, or a variable amount for the same person.  But our brains literally don’t process it the same way.  

But hold on a minute--let’s go back to that analogy.  Because actually, people with no legs can play basketball!  It’s just that you have to use the adaptation of wheelchairs to do it--and that’s an adaptation for the game and for the players.  

I use alarms.  I’ve recently seen a post about audio memos as alarms.  There are people who just slap clocks everywhere.  When I was forced to work in a kitchen with no clocks, I used the multi-setting timer and set it for like four hours so I would know if I was keeping on schedule.  I also chose a job environment where much of my shift is the same as itself, and rigid punctuality isn’t enforced--that’s adapting my environment, instead of myself.  There’s all kinds of adaptations.  But you have to know you have the condition before you can compensate for it.

Here’s a fun little story:  when I was... oh, eleven?  Twelve?  My Quaker Meeting’s youth group (#7 whitest phrase I’ve ever written) went to the museum together.  One of the stops was in the children’s section, there was a... a pegboard, I think?  With some kind of problem on it.  A puzzle.  Me and a couple others sat down at it, and it took me a while, but eventually I solved it, and I looked up.  

I blinked.  “Where is everybody?” I said.

“They left,” said my mom.  “Half an hour ago.”  

I was stunned.  “Half an hour ago?!  But I couldn’t’ve spent more than ten minutes on this!”

“I promise you, it was half an hour.”

“Why didn’t you call me??  Why didn’t you say my name?”

“We did.  Several times.”

To this day, I will swear myself blind that I never heard a thing.

Hyperfocusing.  They’ll tell you about the problems focusing; oh yes.  They’ll tell you allll about that one.  But they won’t tell you about the flip side of it.  They won’t tell you about the times when the rest of the world falls away, and the only two things in the world are you and whatever problem you’re trying to solve.  

D’y’know what, I bet that’s the reason I test well.  I just realized this now, phrasing it like that, but--I’ve always tested well, even when my actual practical applications of things are mediocre I do well with the classroom testing on it.  I scored a 39 on the MCAT, back when it was out of 45 and not whatever it is now.  (To those with the plain good sense not to want to be doctors:  that’s pretty good.)  And I just bet it’s because, once I get focused on solving the problems, the other problems--nerves, intrusive thoughts, anxiety--just don’t have room to get in.  Hyperfocusing can be a superpower, if you can harness it.  

But it can also blind you to everything else.  And it works in smaller ways, too:  once I think I understand something, it is very difficult for me to perceive information that contradicts that understanding.  I still get the map of the Elflands backwards every time I read The Goblin Emperor, just because I pictured it one way, and every indication in the text that it was the other way just fell on deaf ears.  

And this one leads right into the next, which is Rejection Sensitivity Disorder.  RSD is hyperfocus, but it’s hyperfocus on how everyone must hate you.  It’s delightful!  I’ve been diagnosed with anxiety and depression, as well, and I do have both of those things, but for my money, I think that this one symptom of ADHD--which no doctor has ever even mentioned to me--has hurt me more than both of those conditions combined.  

The last one I’m going to bring up is Auditory Processing Disorder.  Now, I’ve gone and gotten re-diagnosed twice in my life, and the last time was just a few years ago, so they actually used this one in the test.  The psychologist told me about it, she just didn’t use the phrase Auditory Processing Disorder, and she didn’t tell me that it was its own symptom--she just used it for the test.  

What she did was, she gave me two hearing tests, one to test whether or not I could hear, and then the other a list of words that all sounded alike, and I had to mark which one I was hearing.  The second part of that was very long, and very boring, and despite scoring perfectly on the first test, I got several wrong on the second.  I was actually surprised by that; I at no point suspected I had heard any of them wrong.  When she gave me the test, told me this was proof by contradiction, that we were ruling out hearing loss as an alternative explanation for my difficulties.  It was only after the test was done that she explained that the pattern I showed was actually part of the diagnosis of ADHD; that we get bored, and stop really paying attention, and that we don’t even know we’re doing it.

...Okay, but you couldn’t have mentioned the part where I also do that every day in real life, lady?!?!  It’s not just when we’re bored, it’s not just for long processes.  I do this all the time.  I actually tell people now that “I actually have a neurological condition that makes it hard for me to hear; I can tell that you’re speaking, but I can’t tell what you’re saying.”  

This is 100% true.  It is a neurological condition.  

We label this a condition, but as a society, we don’t treat it that way.  Society treats it as yet another excuse.  It’s not.  You’re not lazy, stupid or crazy.  Neither am I.  

I have a condition.  Acknowledging that is the first step of treatment.  Not five thousand sticky notes, not binders or filing systems or even taking all the doors off the cupboards (although I definitely plan to do that one as soon as I possibly can).  Not counselling sessions with so many different people I can’t even name them all, for the love of god please understand that you can’t just fix it with pills.  

(Although mad props to the people who thought Concerta would magically solve me at the age of nine!  Spoiler alert:  it did not do that!  But it did mean that my parents felt comfortable blaming me for all my failures again, so it did at least some of what it was designed for, I guess. :) )   

I have spent the last few years re-understanding my ADHD it as is:  a neurological condition, a disability, and a simple fact of life.  A starting place, instead of yet more proof of my own inherent insufficiency.  And you know what?  When you take the blame and self-hatred out of the diagnosis--when you stop cursing it as the cause of all your problems and start trying to work with it, instead--it gets a lot easier to manage. 

[pocket-void]

Hi Mock!

I wish you a good morning! (It's currently 8:30 am here and I hope you are asleep wherever you are because healthy sleep schedules and all that!) 🌻

I just found out that you write, too, and I've read "A cup of coffee" and honestly, is there something you can't do? Because that was really great! I enjoyed reading it so much!! And I love your Logan in it!

And can I ask: where so you get the motivation to do all this great stuff? Drawing, writing, school? Like, I have like 5 different writing projects screaming at me because I don't work on them and yesterday I outlined yet another fic that I'll probably never write because I just don't have the motivation and - how do you do it? Because I want to write. It's the best thing in the world to me. But I just can't get myself to do it, and when I do, everything I make feels kinda... not good. Ugly, if you will.

So I guess I just want to know what I can do to get myself away from that? Because I really need to write, I'll go insane otherwise O_o

Anyway, have a wonderful day and eat a cookie!! 🌼

Y’all who can format stuff in asks will never cease to bamboozle me. O///o

But hello!! I believe it’s the afternoon where you are now! ^\\\^ (Not to worry, if there’s one thing I try to get enough of it’s sleep!)

Heidhwkfns Yes I write too but it’s incredibly on and off since I’m not as confident with it and it takes much longer than art! >\\\< I 100% want to write more often tho, but my need to accomplish stuff just finds art less time consuming. I’m really glad you like “A Cup of Coffee” because I’m quite happy with how that one turned out! ^\\\^ (And also just genuinely surprised at how many people enjoyed it) So thank you!! ;///;✨💖

So, here’s the thing. I’m just a normal person, just like anybody else! There are days where I have 0 motivation to do anything, and days where I’m way too motivated but still do absolutely nothing anyways lmao- I can’t say that my experience will work for everybody of course, but I can try to explain how I feel or how I work things out when I don’t feel like doing things. u///u

The first step is to forgive myself, because it’s going to be ok. There’s nothing wrong with having an off day, and nothing wrong with not accomplishing anything for now. There should be no guilt involved in not touching something for ages, god knows I’ve got so much in the “maybe later” idea box that I will never get to. But that’s ok! My creations will never blame me for not working on them, so in turn I promised to never blame myself for it either. And if I ever go back to complete one of them, great! But if not, that still doesn’t mean that it was a waste. Everything you make has value, finished or not.

The second is to remember that I love them. I love them a lot. I love creating, I love art, I love writing, and I love the process behind them! What you write and create will never complain if they are “not the best” or “ugly”. Their value comes from how you feel about them. Nobody else’s imput matters. So what if it’s not great? So what if it’s a mess? My terrible crayon drawing from when I was 4? Love it. Still has my whole heart. They’re on my bedroom wall to this day! (Neatly framed and hung, courtesy of my dad) I ask myself why I sat down to do something in the first place, and the answer is always going to be because I love doing it! Everything I make means something to me, no matter how bad or how small. Because at the end of the day, I made something. And it’s all the reason I need to love it.

It doesn’t matter if this doodle looks bad or this draft makes literally no sense because even if it’s not good, I did it. Even if I feel like I’m going nowhere, I know that each creation is a small step in my long long journey of improvement. It might not seem like that sometimes, like everything we do doesn’t really seem like it’s getting better any time soon, but we can never tell unless we keep doing it right? Instead of being upset that I’m not very good now, I decided to try and look forward to how good I eventually will be. I find that prospect exciting! We never know how much we grow until we get there, it’s like a happy surprise! ^\\\^✨And in the meantime, I am allowed to be perfectly happy with what I already can do. How far I’ve already come. Even if other people tell me otherwise, even if it’s true that it’s not very great, who’s to say that I will always be? Not me, that’s for sure.

I am willing to be patient for the sake of what I do, because I am willing to do it for an eternity.

There is no race in doing what I love, because I am the only one on this path. I can see other people on their own paths too! And sometimes they’re faster and have way better stamina than me, but their final destination is ultimately going to be much much different than mine, even if we’re going in a similar direction. So there is no point in trying to match them; I decide to walk at my own pace. It’s much easier for me this way. Take breaks! Drink some water. We’ve all got our places to go. ^\\\^

Third thing about getting things done is, well, getting it done! Do you know how I wrote “A Cup of Coffee”? I pain stakingly stared at it all day with frequent breaks in between, read it a ridiculous amount of times until it didn’t sound like english, and had text to speech read it back to me a couple more times just so I could make sure, because I really really really wanted to finish it. And it probably was kind of messy, hahaha. >\\\<

I’m not suggesting you do what I did btw, because it’s not even how I always write things! My other story “Table for Two” was written under a much different context. For that one, I wrote parts of it on different days. I took walks thinking about how I’d word things, how I’d imagine the scene going, and how I should pace sentences. I actually deleted the entire first paragraph and started over a few times because it didn’t sound right. Then one afternoon I decided that I wanted this story done. So I sat down and did what I could, edited a few things afterwards, and tentatively showed it to a friend. I didn’t edit it much after that, but it was done!

If I learned anything from highschool, it’s that doing something imperfectly is better than not doing it at all. I’m still a pretty picky perfectionist and a terrible procrastinator, and it’s not easy! But I would much prefer something I make to be “messy but complete”, rather than “pretty good so far but not finished”. Personally for me, getting started is the hardest part of doing anything. I have yet to find an easier way to do it, but I know that sometimes I just need to sit down and do what I can to start writing. If a sentence sounds weird, I keep going, because I can come back to it later! But if a sentence doesn’t exist, I can’t fix that without, well, writing it. o///o So I consider that a start!

I definitely understand you when you say that you can’t get yourself to write because I currently kind of can’t either. >\\\< I have outlines that I won’t ever write, I have ideas that I’m not gonna get to, and I’ve got fics that I worry won’t be as good when I write them. But maybe today I’ll sit myself down and just write one sentence. Give it a title, make a document, and stare for a lil bit. Give it a beginning. Because for me, sometimes drawing the starting line somewhere helps. Maybe it can show me what direction I need to go in just a little bit clearer. u///u

At the end of the day, the thing I say all the time is enjoy what you do. It’s just genuinely the most important part of doing anything to me. Yes it can be hard and sometimes we worry about how it’s gonna be, but we still do it don’t we? We come back and try again because we love it. Because we really can’t live without it. So what’s wrong with just...doing it?

That’s how it is to be a creator for me, I suppose. And from one to another, I genuinely wish you the best of luck on your journey!!

After all, there will be no other quite like it. u///u💖✨

[brvdges]

girlfriend | peter parker

Pairing: Peter Parker x Reader

Summary: Y/N's been working up the nerve to tell Peter how she feels so Pietro decides to give her a push — until she sees Peter with Liz Allen.

Warnings: none

A/N: This has been sitting in my drafts for some time, thought I'd post it.

Word Count: 1176

___

Normally on a Saturday, you'd be training with Peter, but tight ass Steve (as you guys called him when it came to training) would be away on a mission. So you thought this would be the perfect day for you two to finally go on a date. However you'd need to build up the guts to ask him first -- you'd been trying all week and had been chickening out each time in fear of failing miserably.

Today was your last chance because tomorrow was Saturday, but you'd been procrastinating all day. So far, it had been a day of applying for summer jobs and eating leftover take out -- staying as far away from Peter as possible. You had managed to schedule a phone interview for the job that you had your heart set on the most within the next hour. Given your unproductive manner towards your goal, it seemed that your friends thought it'd be best to meddle and it wasn't long before Pietro appeared in your room with the intention of annoying you.

Pietro thought it would be funny to take your phone and hide it around the base before your call. With his speed, there was no saying where your phone would eventually end up as you were no match for him. It wasn't even a second after he flashed you that mischievous grin that he took off in search of the perfect place to put your phone.

Because of how much he had on you in the speed department, he could've easily dropped your phone off somewhere and be done with it. Instead he decided to tease you, he'd slow down long enough for you to catch up and when you finally did, he'd zip off again. "Gotta be faster, broască ţestoasă!" he shouted running in the direction of the lounge.

You sighed defeated before moping past your room where you had originally started and down the steps towards the lounge. The closer you got, the more audibly laughing could be heard and it wasn't until you turned the corner that you could see Peter and a girl sitting on the couch together, looking pretty comfy. They were sitting fairly close and Peter whispered something to her that emitted a laugh from her lips. She smiled before saying something back that you didn't quite catch. Your heart sunk as you watched his eyes lit up and him nodding excitedly.

You weren't sure if you wanted to let them have their moment or ruin it. Jealousy sure was ugly, but you couldn't help yourself. You'd had a crush on Peter for the last two years now, ever since you guys met after brief dissolving of the Avengers due to the Sokovia Accords. He was sweet as ever and it didn't take long for you to get a huge crush on him. You were fairly sure he had felt the same, but neither of you had the guts to make the first move. Wanda and Natasha had been encouraging you for months to ask him out

She noticed you first and then Peter. "Y/N! Hey!" he chuckled, "Um, this is uh -- this is Liz." She smiled waving at you politely, you awkwardly waved back. "Uh, hey." Who was she? She had to just be a friend from school, right? She couldn't have been his girlfriend. Peter would've told you if he liked -- not to mention was dating, someone. It couldn't have been that serious if he never mentioned her, right?

You backed out of the room quickly, hurrying back the way you came. Tears were brimming in your eyes as you pushed open the door to your room. Pietro was lazily sprawled across your bed, holding your phone in one hand and the remote to your TV in the other as he flipped through channel after channel. He smirked at you mischievously before he noticed the tears in your eyes and his face suddenly fell.

"Whoa, Y/N, what's wrong?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. The tears began to roll down your face, but you just sniffled and replied, "Nothing, I'm fine." "Y/N, something's wrong. What is it?" You wiped your tears, "P-Peter's got a girlfriend." In a second he was holding you as you cried onto his shirt, "I saw them in the lounge." Before he could get a word out, your phone rang.

"Now if you'll excuse me I have to go take this call." He handed your phone to you before rushing out of your room, shutting the door behind him. You sniffled, plopping down your bed before quickly wiping away your tears and hitting answer on the call.

It was later that night when you finally pulled yourself together enough to come out of your room. You ended up ordering yourself more takeout and had Happy buzz it in, you still had to walk out of your room to get it though. You slowly walked into the kitchen, spotting the big brown bag of food on the counter and then examining its contents. Getting a cup down from the cabinet, you got yourself some water and began to attempt to carry your water, takeout, and phone all at the same time.

"Do you want some help?"

Peter stood cautiously in the doorway, watching your small struggle. "No, I'm fine." you muttered, fixing the bag in your arms. He walked closer, taking the bag from you, "Here, Y/N. I've got it. Can we talk?" You sighed reluctantly before leading the way to your room. He followed behind you quietly and once you were inside, placed the heavy bag of food on your bed. You sat down beside it and opened it up, absolutely eager to get your hands on your food. He stood awkwardly and quietly at the edge of your bed.

"Y/N, I wanted to talk to you about um, earlier." he started, you nodded slowly as you pushed around your lo mein noodles. "That wasn't what you think it was." You squinted at him, "How do you know what I think it was?" You scooped some lo mein into your mouth and chewed waiting for him to continue, "Um, Wanda told me -- Pietro told her." You bit your lip nervously at the memory of you crying into Pietro's shoulder.

"Liz isn't my girlfriend. She's an old friend from school -- she moved a few years ago and was in the state so she came to visit." he clarified as you processed his words. You officially felt like a fool, you immediately had jumped to conclusions about Peter and Liz without any confirmation. "I don't like her, I like you."

You looked up at him, he finally said it. "You like me?" he nodded, sitting down next to you on the bed. "I like you too." He breathed a sigh of relief, "I'm glad that we're on the same page because I've been trying to build up the guts," he smiled, "...to ask you if you wanted to go out with me tomorrow night."

"I'd love to."

[hugee0715]

2018

January

2 weeks into the year I cut my hair, probably like 80% of it. Which I quickly regretted. It just seems like every year starts with me doing something to myself, except this one. This January there'll be no surprise, promise.

I also had to decide what schools and courses I wanted to apply to until the 15th. So being the person that I am, at 23:20 on the 14th I submitted all the forms. Earth science, civil engineering or software engineering? I had another 6 month to find out which path my life would take.

February

This photo was taken at around 6 in the morning when I was on my way to a nearby city to take a language certification exam. I was so nervous because I was going into the C1 level right away, basically blindly with no exam experience whatsoever. I remember arriving and meeting 3 other girls who were there for the exam too. We started chatting and they all said that they took the B1 level previously because their teacher advised them. One has already failed, this was her second time. One was there with a whole book of exercises. They all looked so prepared and for a moment I panicked. If I were to fail that day, I'd have had 40 less points for my university application. And a lost bet with my girlfriend. But I didn't fail neither of those.

I also got my girl into MBTI that month, which quickly became the new astrology of our relationship. ENFP-INTP pairing. Cute, huh?

March

This was the month where I kind of chilled down for a moment. It was totally unjustifiable but I still did, thinking I've got plenty of time still till exams would start. I was going to school, doing some small preparations but nothing major.

April

Now this was the month where I regretted all the laziness back in March. My days were counted and I know that makes it sound like I was about to be executed but that's exactly how I felt.

On top of that, in the middle of the month my mum got hospitalized suddenly. It was supposed to be just a check but they didn't let her leave after it. My days were spent with visiting her instead of going to school. She scared us shitless but slowly she started getting better with each day and by the second week she was already coming home.

May

Oh May. I had graduation right at the beginning of the month and 2 days later my week of exams started. A peaceful image of my table right before maths exam. 20 minutes later it wasn't as peaceful anymore.

School ended for good and we had a monthish time before the second part of it all, which are the oral exams.

June

So many papers, hundreds of pages littered everywhere. Stress, overthinking, contemplating why I even applied for software engineering when I was so sure I'd fail the comsci exam, procrastinating, some self pity and over all panic.

One of the exceptions was this day, my mum's work did a little event. They work with old people, helping handicapped elders. A school building full of people who long left the classrooms, doing all kinds of crafts, little games and even some shooting outside. We sat around painting on glass, doing things we probably haven't done together in like a decade.

29 out of 50 so be careful, sharp shooter right here.

July

The 25th came around and at 20:00 sharp the point limits went live. The website instantly crashed by the tens of thousands of people and my blood was loudly rushing inside my head. Once it finally let me in I was scanning through the names of the different universities, then different faculties and lastly the different courses. Earth science. 290. Less than the previous years. A lot less actually. I got into the place I wanted to so badly. I got in by a ridiculous amount of points.

August

An accidental snapshot of my feet while I am having a mediocre melt down in the middle of a bridge over the Danube. The morning started horrendously, I left my student ID at home but I only realized it on the train. Which meant I couldn't buy discounted tickets but I didn't have enough money for the full price ones. So I called mum who called a friend who has a car that they have to come to the city with my ID within 20 minutes because if I miss the train I'll be late and won't be able to enroll to uni. That got solved last minute when they arrived 4 minutes before the train left, which then arrived to Budapest an hour late, the tram was out of service so I took one of the replacement busses but they only went till the Pest end of Petőfi bridge. Which meant I had to walk over when I was already running late so we could very well say that I was done at this point with life and everything.

September

With this picture we can confirm that I wasn't late for enrollment. This is the place most of my days are spent at. The days leading up to me having to move were filled with a weird type of anxiety. It wasn't the kind I was familiar with, it wasn't as scary. As consuming, as toxic. It was kind of exciting, like the feeling you get before getting on a roller coaster. My girl made it feel like that, the security of having her. If there's one good thing about LDR then it's the fact that I can literally have her anywhere with me and it feels like not much has changed. The calmness that this gave me was beyond understandable. I still had her, so there was no need to panic.

Of course it was still a little challenging, the whole change in our schedules and although it sometimes got a little frustrating, she was understanding and I need to thank her for being my safe spot, for making me so brave when I used to be so scared. Without her I would have never been able to do this and she knows that.

October

This is my view everyday when I go to work and back home. A city of so much magic and beauty and also a city that I can't wait to share with my love.

We had our first anniversary. A whole year of being together. I got off of work just in time before it turned midnight in the Philippines. I had a bag of cookies I made the previous day to show, cute, heart shaped ones. Maybe it wasn't the most ideal way or how I imagined it but the meaning behind it is still the same. A year of loving eachother, slowly changing, slowly realizing who we truly are as a team.

November

I made that! My job's description would most likely be miscellaneous. I stand at the counter, make coffee, help customers, sometimes clean or go to the post office, I'm responsible for the paper bags and cups, but on the weekends, I bake. I spend all my Sundays there quietly doing my job. Cookies, pies and as it was getting closer to Christmas gingerbread as well. I had the most tiring days, one time I spent 12 hours there building 6 of these trees and around another 400 of normal figures. My hands got inflamed by the end of the night because of all the icing I had to squeeze out. But nonetheless this is a good first job. I get to learn around really nice and helpful people. Not even mentioning all the free food I get.

December

A happy girl living a more challenging life than ever but still enjoying it like it's nothing.

Decembers are nice. I think back to all the things that happened this year and how different they were compared to last year. I was whining for 66.66666% of the 2017 post. And for the 2018 one all I can think about are the good good things that happened. None of the bad matters. I had one of the worst and one of the best years of my life after one another. No doubt about that.

So yeah,

2018 was a year that will truly be missed. I loved it. But no need to mourn anything because 2019 will give me even more things to write about at the beggining of 2020. Not to even mention 2021. This is far from the end.

[platinumshawnn]

goodbye home, sweet, home | s. mendes

Summary: Shawn and Eva finally meet face to face for the first time since their split to say their goodbyes to the place they once called home, reflecting on the memories of their time together.

A/N: I've been in a Shawn writing block phase but I found this in my drafts and decided to finish it up and post it while i work on 3 requests and a part for my Jack lowden mini series so!!! Just a note also that I based this a few years ahead to when Shawn is 21/22.

Word count: 1,290

“There's one last box and then it's all good to go. Yeah.” Shawn murmured into the phone as his eyes downcast to the final box that was pressed up against the wall, waiting to be taken away. It had been the last one he wanted to touch, having procrastinated for days about it, unsure if he was entirely ready to let go of the place he once called home.

The time on his phone told him it was just past 3AM, the city outside still buzzing with life as people streamed out of clubs into the streets, drunk and bubbling with conversation; stumbling out of clubs. The noise of nightlife.

It was the fact that this apartment was surrounded by clubs and was right smack dab in middle of everything that almost prevented the move in, but it had only taken him two days to get her to say yes as they sat on her sister's couch. The TV had been on playing some old movie neither of them knew, their attention anywhere but on it as it played as a background sound. He had the pictures pulled up on his phone while she lied across his lap, head tilted so she could see as he scrolled through the images; silent as she squinted, considering his words very carefully and weighing every option they currently had.

"It doesn't even have to be a forever thing, we’re not staying there the rest of our lives, it's just for now. We’re young, right? And then when we get a little older and there's little ones around…” He drifted, using his fingers to mimic the idea of feet running around; reaching up to gently tap her upper lip as she let out a laugh. “we’ll move. This is perfect for now.”

Her eyes lifted to look at him, seeing the hopeful look in his eyes as he waited for a response which earned a sigh and a soft, “Okay, okay, it's perfect. You got me.” She said, defeated, his grin widening in turn.

“You sold the apartment.” Eva piped up from behind him, his head whipping around to find her in the open door that he had intentionally left open to make moving the boxes from apartment-to-truck easier, stood there with her arms folded over her chest and red nosed from the cold, his eyes immediately landing on the ring snug around her fourth finger on her left hand. His eyes lingered there a moment too long while the voice of his realtor on the other end of his phone continued to run down a list of things that he could hardly focus on, his mouth suddenly dry as he muttered a quiet ‘sorry’ into his phone, explaining quickly that he would call back later before he hung up; hardly waiting for a response. He then let out a choked laughing sound before clearing his throat.

“Yeah, it took a while but...it’s official.” He explained. “The new tenants move in next Wednesday, I just have to get them the property paperwork.”

He watched as she smiled slightly, although this one was the type that didn't reach her eyes as she nodded, slowly scanning around the empty room that had once been the living room they had shared for a little over a year. Shawn had no idea what to say, part of him not wanting to disturb her as she seemed to be lost in thought while she gave the room one last look.

“I never understood what drew you to this place.” She confessed quietly. He swallowed and looked around for himself.

With a slow shrug of his shoulders, he answered, “It’s small, comfy, not suffocating but comfy. And the noise I guess. I hate silence, I made a habit looking for places to be where there was noise so I didn't feel lonely. So it didn't feel like it was just me, if that makes any sense.” He tried to explain, inhaling deeply. “I hate being left on my own to think too much.”

“And does it ever work?” She asked, her eyes turning to look at the notches in the doorway to the kitchen, a joke they had started after she had made a comment that it felt like he was still growing even as a grown adult man -- certain he would never stop. She had started it to prove that he was still growing, keeping track of his height and checking every other month. And sure enough he did. She looked back at him. “Being around noise?”

He breathed out a dry laugh, “Sometimes. Not all the time unfortunately. But I still try. Even though I know it hardly works. I still feel alone.”

She let out a soft huff that imitated a laugh, but it seemed strained as she then cleared her throat. “I got your message, I just figured...I’d stop by, pick my stuff up myself instead of burdening you to drop it off.” She explained, waving to the last box still sitting there.

Rather quickly, he shook his head, bending to pick it up, “It’s not a burden, don't- don't even worry. You're never a burden.” He rambled nervously, cursing to himself as the words seemed to come out without even thinking first, coming out wrong. “I mean, doing this for you wouldn't have been a problem -- like…”

“Don't worry, I got you.” She softly assured, the two awkwardly standing there looking at one another in the minute of silence that followed, unsure what else to say. Shawn glanced down at the box that he had written an E on, looking up at her and taking a couple steps forward to hold it out towards the brunette who pushed a lock of hair behind her right ear before she moved forward to meet him.

“Here, should probably...give you this.” He drifted, carefully passing the box off to her, her hands skimming his as she took it, causing him to tense and hold his breath until she backed up, putting space between them once again. He had figured she would take the box and leave immediately but instead, she propped the knee on her knee as she bent her leg slightly, opening the top of the box and glance in, one arm still holding the box while the other hand reached in to push through its contents a bit. When her hand lifted out, she held a necklace that had his old ring around the chain, eyes glancing to the piece of jewelry that she seemed to give too much attention to before holding it out in the palm of her hand.

“You should probably keep this.” She stated quietly. Shawn stood there, hesitating before he reached out to gather it from her hand and looked at it, raising an eyebrow while peeking up at her.

“You sure? You can keep it, it might not fit anymore, my hands I think have grown a bit.” He said, the comment bringing a smile to her angelic face.

“No, it's alright. I don't think I should…” She drifted, picking the box up again and backing up towards the door before she turned, stopping halfway out the door to look at him, “Thanks, Shawn. I'll see you around.”

He nodded, chewing the inside of his cheek as his hands lowered to his sides, necklace still in his hand. “Yeah,” He shortly replied. “I’m sorry.” He quickly added before she was entirely out the door, her mouth opening with a stutter, her expression surprised as she inhaled, sighing the breath out after a moment.

“I'm sorry too.” she quietly stated before leaving, not bothering to even look back again as she left with her box in her arms.

[topicprinter]

Top 7 Lessons I've Learned From Spending $152,010.53 Of My Own Personal Money On Facebook™ Advertising THIS YEAR ALONE!Proof:Ad Account 1: imgur.com/a/jQLCcerAd Account 2: imgur.com/a/KMG14xTSide Note: That may seem like a huge dollar figure to some, but others that's a daily/monthly budget. That said, I'm not bragging or presenting that figure as being HUGE. In fact, last year, I sat next to a guy in Dallas TX who spends $50,000 - $100,000 PER DAY! The rest of those sitting at that same dinner table was spending similar amounts. Okay, onto the lessons!👨‍🏫 LESSON 1: A Compelling Offer - This may sound obvious, but you'll be surprised at how many people (including myself) push an offer that the market doesn't want or need. I don't care how seasoned you are at marketing, at the end of the day you can't polish a turd. In other words, if the offer sucks, it's not going to sell! I've even had zero response to offers I gave away for free!Before you give up on your offer though, make sure that you've done a thorough job at testing (I cover more on testing in Lesson 3 below.) The main thing is to look at how you package your product/service. People must view your offer as having more value than the money their trading for it.To boost the perceived value you may need to test different price points, and/or add extra bonuses offers that complement the offer. In some cases, it may even mean raising the price because people may decide "it's too good to be true" and conclude it's a scam. Believe me, when I say, people hand that word out like it's candy. Either way, make sure your offer is a no-brainer decision for the audience your targeting.Another big mistake is creating an offer that is too broad for any specific audience to target. It's a lot more difficult (and expensive) to sell a generic product or service to a broad audience. Instead, get more strategic by creating your offer around a specific niche.For example: If you sell a workout program it's smart to frame it around mothers who want to lose weight by doing yoga. In Facebook™, you can target moms who also like yoga.Another niche could be future brides who want to lose 10lbs before their wedding. You could target engaged women who like 'Weight Watchers' or other weight-loss programs that they most likely failed at.If you offer a sales guide, you can get more niche by framing it around Realtors.Before creating an offer and kicking off a Facebook™ ad campaign, I'd recommend testing to see if sells or not to your existing email list. If it doesn't sell to people who know, like and trust you then you can bet it won't with ice-cold traffic!The Bottom Line: If your offer is proven to sell and targets a specific niche audience, the bigger your chances for Facebook™ advertising success.👨‍🏫 LESSON 2: Stick To Copy Principles - It's easy to overload your brain with "new and improved" strategies that sell. Truth is, not much has changed since the mid-1900's on Madison Avenue when advertisers were sipping on an Old Fashioned and writing copy. The only difference is the platforms we have to sell on.For example, Photography has the same core lighting/posing principles whether you shoot with film or digital. Again, the difference is the tools we have available.The most effective copy strategies that get people to take action the most is fear. Not saying you should scare the hell out of your audience, but instead teach them.I just paid a guy $150 to do a radon test for a house inspection. I asked him to sell me on why I should do it...his answer? "Because of high levels of radon cause lung cancer." SOLD!Another way is through urgency and scarcity. That's why I ALWAYS include a deadline to register for a webinar or to take advantage of a deal. Humans procrastinate, and until you give them a reason to pull out their credit card right now they'll have already moved onto something different.Whenever I feel like I'm trembling away from copy principles, I'll flip on QVC or HSN and watch how they sell. These shows have been selling products the same way for many decades and haven't changed since. It just works!Another bonus tip is that controversy sells and works well with social media. Dan Kennedy said it best, "If you haven't offended somebody by noon every day, then you're not marketing hard enough." I apply this in most of my Facebook™ ad campaigns and frame it as "us against them".For example, if you sell design work you could talk about how they should fire their designers. Believe me, the designers will show up in your ads ready to throw rocks. "Okay Brandon, I don't want rocks thrown at me!" - It's a good thing because no publicity is bad publicity. And also, because now it becomes a movement for your buyers to prove to their now-enemies that they stand for what they believe. I mean...how do you think Trump won?The Bottom Line: Stop falling for the shiny new techniques for selling, and focus solely on the principles of selling that have worked for many decades and more to come! I could write for days on various copy tricks (like how emojis grab attention). More importantly, before flipping on an ad I recommend learning how the consumer thinks with these two books that are packed-full of copywriting principles: 'Cashvertising' by Drew Eric Whitman and 'Expert Secrets' by Russell Brunson.👨‍🏫 LESSON 3: Always Be Testing - Failing is an important part of success no matter what you do in life, and it's no different when it comes to Facebook™ advertising.I CONSTANTLY fail a ton and often times it leaves me scratching my head and wondering if I'm even cut out to be a marketer in the first place 😂 But...I never give up, and no matter how months pass by I keep pushing forward. To put that in perspective, I've spent almost a year on one campaign that's just now starting to convert. That's worse case scenario but enough tweaking and you can truly turn ideas into long-term businesses. That's why I'm willing to spend that much time; because I know it can result in yearly salaries once it's dialed in.I'm going to break down what's necessary to test, based on my personal experience...Ad Creatives: The image of the ad is what grabs the attention most, and that's why I recommend a thick red border with a baby crying hysterically...just kidding! It's not necessary to be obnoxiously loud. What's more important is to is an ad that resonates with your audience.My personal experience has been keeping the ad creatives real and relevant. Ad creatives that work well are collages, amateur-looking (NOT stock photos), testimonials, hyper-speed videos. Turn images b&w and they may perform better too.Ad creatives constantly burn out, and do so weekly! NEVER be afraid to add new ones. I've made the mistake of getting emotionally attached to an ad image because it WAS performing but fizzled out. I kept trying different audiences and copy and wasted so much money. Now I'm constantly testing new images/videos and always finding new winners. Pretty exciting stuff and a big hurdle I had to overcome.The Landing Page: This goes hand to hand with the ad itself. When someone clicks on your ad, they want to feel confident that the landing page matches what the ad states. Otherwise, it's called 'bait and switch' when they land on your page. If you invited them to a webinar in your ad, it must take them to a webinar registration page. If you offer a product in your ad, it must take them to a sales page for that specific offer. If there's any disconnection (words, imagery...etc.) then this is going to put a huge dent in your conversion rate.I've read many split-testing books and here's what I've personally found to be the most effective on sales pages:a.) The Headline: The headline sets the tone for the entire page. When someone reads the headline they should know exactly know what pain points they have, what your offering, and how your offer will benefit them. You'd be surprised at how many sales pages I've seen that I've reached the bottom of the page and still have no idea what they're offering. So be clear about that!b.) The Price Point: Once I have the headline dialed in, I focus on the price. When I'm sending traffic to an offer I like to keep it under $50 so I try to make sure the value exceeds that cost.I'll split test prices at: $47, $37, $27, and $17. If it doesn't sell at those price points I'll even go down as low as $7.A recent campaign I did just this, and as soon as I did that it started to sell. I'm averaging $9.38 CPA's (cost per action) which means I'm only losing $2.38 per sale which can easily be made up on the backend. I call that a success!Side note: I put a lot of hours into thinking, creating, and marketing this product, but I don't allow emotion to get involved when it comes to reducing the price of my product. I'd rather have a product that sells 10x as much at $7 than not sell at all at $17. All I care is about being profitable so I can scale to the moon.Also when it comes to pricing, don't give them too many options to choose from. Too many choices result in no choice at all.If you're driving an immense amount of traffic then I recommend testing other things, like moving different sections around, button text, button color but personally I haven't seen much of an effect by testing this.The Bottom Line: Test ad creatives, headlines, and price points.👨‍🏫 LESSON 4: Avoid Overlapping - This is more on the tech side of ads, but when advertising you should have an ad that shows to a cold audience ONCE. Then set up a separate ad that retargets those who clicked but didn't' buy.If you neglect this, you run the risk of what's called: Overlapping. This will depend on your audience size, and your daily budget. However, when overlapping occurs you're essentially showing the same ads to the same audience which may cause ad spend to hike because you're competing with yourself. It could also prevent your ads from spending at all.The Bottom line: Avoid overlapping by excluding people who've visited your landing page and people who purchased from your cold traffic.👨‍🏫 LESSON 5: Follow Up (Advertising Is Just The Beginning) - Some advertisers collect leads by giving away freebies like eBooks, cheat sheets...etc. Instead, I choose to send traffic directly to an offer (under $50) or send them to a webinar registration page. The reason is it sets the tone that indeed I have an offer and that I am NOT a charity for freebie-seekers.Once you have a buyer, they're more inclined to buy more. Whether you're profitable, break-even, or in the red with your Facebook™ ad campaign you can scale even more by up-selling, or cross-selling through email marketing.I try to email my buyers every day and it's proven to be profitable. I've also created businesses within my business by partnering with people and selling their product, as well as adding a phone salesman to sell higher priced offers.The Bottom line: View Facebook™ advertising as only the beginning, because the money is in the back-end of your business.👨‍🏫 LESSON 6: Have An End Date - Most advertisers (including me) want to flip an ad on and just let it keep going. That used to work in the earlier days but now it's about scheduling an end date on your ad set because of 2 reasons...1.) It forces Facebook's™ algo to optimize faster and find similar people that resonate with your ad.2.) It adds urgency which gets people to take action!I'll notice with my campaigns 33% of sales will come in the last day during a week long campaign.The Bottom Line: Facebook™ algo optimizes more effectively when you schedule an end date at the ad set level. Also people take action when there's an end date.👨‍🏫 LESSON 7: Mix In Other Ad Platforms - A lot of my Facebook™ advertising success comes from integrating other ad platforms. My 2 favorites are YouTube, and Perfect Audience and use both for retargeting purposes.When someone lands on my sales page and leaves without taking action I'll stock them as they surf the web.Creepy? Absolutely. Profitable? Yes, here's a Y.T.D. screenshot of a YouTube campaign I'm currently running: imgur.com/a/lzQbehdWhen someone visits YouTube after they leave my sales page without buying, a video ad of me teaching/pitching will play before their video (they can skip it of course!)Perfect Audience allows me to put banner ads on websites they visit after they leave without buying.Bottom Line: Retarget your Facebook traffic using other ad platforms.👨‍🏫 BONUS LESSON 8: Get Your Rewards! - If you find yourself spending big on Facebook™, get a business credit card of some sort that will offer cashback or travel rewards.That was a mistake I made all throughout 2017. Now I have the U.S. Bank Edge Select card attached to my ads account which earns me 3 points per $1 spent on Facebook™ advertising. I set it and forget it, and then by the time I remember I have around $2k - $3k in cash rewards that pay for one hell of a vacation :)