#seriously there are processes important to the health of your computer that run when you turn it off or on

[townofcrosshollow]

Shocked how many people think you can just turn on a computer and leave it on for weeks or months or years and never turn it off and it'll be fine. Computers need their sleep, and sleep mode does not count

[jsms01]

My 10 Hacks for Maximum Productivity

“How do you stay on track?” “How do you stay focused and productive?” “How do you get so much done?” These are questions I get asked regularly — from friends, my team members, people at the gym, and clients. While I love to be spontaneous and flexible, when it comes to productivity, the name of the game for me is routine and having a plan. For me, it all boils down to 10 simple steps. And it WORKS. Ok, you may be wondering… why is this weight loss guru talking about productivity? Well, when you think about it, they are actually quite similar! When I’m asked, “How do you help people lose weight and keep it off?” the answer is, “I developed a specific methodology.” It’s not luck, or a shot in the dark, or a mystery. The secret here is that there is no secret. There’s a science. A process. Weight loss and productivity have many parallels. That’s why I thought you’d love to learn about my proven 10-step productivity system… because it will help you in your own life (and likely in your weight loss, too). My 10 hacks for maximum productivity: 1. A Morning Routine with 3 M’s Perhaps the most important element of a productive day is your morning routine. For years, I heard this from many experts, but didn’t take it seriously. Here’s what my days used to look like: Within 5 minutes of waking, I would jump on my computer and start working. “Seize the day!” I’d say, as I sat in that same spot from 6am until my body started to doze off around 11 at night. I THOUGHT that this is what being productive meant. Work. Work. Work. But the truth was… I was not being productive or proactive; I was being reactive. My mind was never clear. I was constantly jumping from one thing to another. My brain was pretty much in crisis mode, alway looking for what had to be done next. Because of this, even though I was doing a lot, I never actually felt accomplished. I always felt like I was a step behind, trying to keep up, playing catch up. It was like playing a game of whack-a-mole all day long! Starting my day in this headspace was detrimental to the quality of my work, my health, and the quality of my life. Then I FINALLY realized that… The brain is at its highest operating power in the morning… and I was giving all of that energy to everyone else’s tasks! That’s when I started taking control of my mornings with a clear routine. So now this is what I do. The recipe for my morning routine essentially has 3 ingredients, what I call the 3 M’s of the morning: Mindset, Movement and Mojo. Mindset: I start the morning with a time for meditation, prayer and journaling — anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes. The key is to get me to a state of peace and gratitude so that everything that flows out of me, comes from a grounded place. A place of peace. Without this step, I fall into old frazzled habits. Movement: I typically do my “Morning Metabolism Hack” which is a quick run to the coffee shop (more on that in this post), or it might be five minutes of body movement exercises (like push-ups, jumping jacks, and squats), or a few minutes flowing through my favorite yoga poses (like downward facing dog and cobra pose). Mojo: I find my mojo once I have my PFC-balanced breakfast, supplements and coffee! Breakfast is usually a smoothie because I can make this really fast, and I don’t usually feel like eating a big meal when I wake up, AND I can jam-pack it with tons of supplements and nutrition that fuel my body and brain for the day—like Glutapowder Redefined, Multipowder Redefined and Fruits & Greens Redefined. Mornings don’t have to be rough. I now enjoy my mornings more than ever. This short routine generates momentum, and makes me feel like I’ve already won the day! 2. I make my bed. This one is simple. Right when I wake up, I make my bed. It gives me a sense of accomplishment right away, which has a ripple effect on the rest of my day. There may actually be scientific reasons for how this works, but for me personally, I notice that when I make my bed it sets me up for a day of accomplishing things. And because I work from home, for me to be able to focus, my space needs to be tidy. So this is an easy win-win to kick off the day. 3. I declutter. On the regular. And I think this goes beyond the simple fact that I normally work from home and like a clean space. I think decluttering my space also declutters my brain. So, I’ve been working really hard at leading more of a minimalist lifestyle, getting rid of clutter and extra stuff, and the more I move toward that, the more freedom I find. Full disclosure: This has been something that’s been super challenging for me. I was raised to be very resourceful (we got our clothing from garage sales, never threw anything out, and didn’t waste anything). This is probably why it’s been hard for me to get rid of stuff. I’ve realized that having extra, unnecessary, unused things occupies energy and space in my mind. Abiding by the rule “If it’s not beautiful, you don’t love it, or haven’t used it in a year, it goes” makes it super simple. It also means less stuff to take care of, and less decisions to make. That’s why, for instance, when I speak, you’ll see me wearing the same blue dress just about every time. When I’m preparing for a big speech, the last thing I want to do is waste precious brain space and mental energy trying on dresses or rummaging through my closet. I feel great in the blue one, so that’s the one I rock. Just about every time. 4. I put limits on social media. I have an urge to check my phone right when I wake up, but I’ve made a huge effort to put this to a halt, and instead go into the first M of my morning routine (mindset). I don’t want the first things to enter my brain to be other people’s lives or what’s happening in the world. So, I save my brain space for my own tasks and projects, and I set aside time later in the day to check and post on social media. I also schedule some of my posts so that some days I can take a social media hiatus (you’ll notice my posts aren’t always in the evenings). 5. I plan my day. By deciding what’s most important, organizing and preparing for the day, you can easily make your way through the day knowing what to focus on. At the end of every day (or after my last work task of the day), I regroup, cross off everything I did, and organize my priorities for the next day by creating a “Tomorrow List.” Then the next morning, I revisit this list to plan out my day. Planning your day allows you to proactively choose where to focus. As I’m planning, I make note of the projects I need to work on, and I write out a to-do list on paper so I can cross out items as I get them done. This gives me a great sense of accomplishment! During this planning time, I also make sure to schedule in a workout if it’s a day where my body feels up for it (read this post for more on my workouts). I have my calendar set so that no calls are scheduled before 10am, because the morning is my most productive time, and I want it dedicated to my own projects and program development—not someone else’s (it’s okay to be selfish with your time!). This entire planning process takes less than 5 minutes (some at the end of the day and some at the start of the next day). 6. Do the dreaded thing first. Have you heard the term “eat the frog”? It comes from Brian Tracy, author of “Eat the Frog,” and he bases his morning philosophy off of a quote from Mark Twain: “If the first thing you do each morning is to eat a live frog, you can go through the day with the satisfaction of knowing that that is probably the worst thing that is going to happen to you all day long.” The “frog” he refers to is your most important task—the one you’re dreading the most because it’s so huge and important. (You know what I’m talking about. Ever had that task sit at the top of your to-do list for days… maybe even weeks? And you find that it never seems to get done!? I sure have.) Creating the habit to do your biggest task first can give you a huge boost of accomplishment first thing, AND it gets it done! Putting off tough tasks until the end of the day makes it so much harder because we have a much lower brain capacity. Get it out of the way and move on! I’ve referred to brain capacity a couple of times already in this post, so let me expand on it now: It’s all about managing your energy. Just like it’s important to manage your time, you need to manage your energy. We (ideally after a good night’s sleep!) start with our energy up, and it drains gradually throughout the day. Think of the brain like a muscle: just like any other muscle it gets fatigued the more you use it. So, as the day goes on, it wears out, until you let it rest and recover for a night. Then, when you wake up after a restful night, it is refreshed, sharp and ready to use again! My biggest downfall (maybe yours too?) is giving away my energy to help other people get their work done (email, calls, etc). That’s why, when I plan my day, I aim to tackle one of my biggest projects first thing. When you start with a big task (“frog)”, it’s easier to do it, and then the rest of your day looks pretty awesome by comparison. It’s most productive to get an hour or more of work done on one of your frogs that takes a lot of focus, will and determination to complete before “the rest of the world” gets into your day. 7. I stay ahead of my inbox. And, I also limit my time in there. I’ve notice that it’s so easy to get wrapped up in an overflowing inbox. Before I know it, hours have passed! So, I try to limit my time to 15 minutes in there in the morning. Because I have a team of many people, I do need to check my inbox in the morning to give direction, and answer quick questions so things can get done. My solution is to set a timer to hold me accountable to my 15 minute limit. A key hack I learned from a friend that has been a total game changer for me is to keep my inbox to ZERO (another thing that makes me feel accomplished!!!). I created an Action folder, so anything that will take me longer than 2 minutes to respond to, or that I can’t delegate to someone else, is moved there. This makes it easy for me to spend 15-20 minutes in my inbox and get through everything. Then I block out time on my schedule later to get through the Action folder emails. 8. I use blue light blocking goggles. There are all sorts of apps to block out blue light to promote restful sleep (blue light has a negative effect on your sleep), but the most effective option is these sexy goggles. They help to filter out the blue light emitted by screens as the day goes on. I find it helpful to wear these nerdy blue light blocking goggles to help me wind down and prep for sleeping. Also, the iPhone has a built in “Night Shift” option (look in your settings). 9. Power Hours. Power hours are dedicated time to focus on a specific task or project, and get it done. My friend Stacie told me about these. I do these throughout the day, but also if I have a free evening or on a weekend or vacation if I just want to crank out some work really quick and move on, I’ll set my Be Focused PRO app for 60 minutes, turn on Brain FM and crank it out. 10. I delegate. This concept has been key to not only help me be more productive with my time, but also (and perhaps most importantly), has allowed me to live a more balanced life (and practice what I preach!). By giving certain tasks away to my team members, I can use my energy for projects that demand more of my attention, and not spend time on ones that don’t. Often I am asked, “How do you do it all?” And the answer is, I DON’T. While the brand “Redefined Weight Loss” may appear to be just me, that’s not even close to the truth. We have an amazing team of full time staff members from our operations manager to customer support to dietitians to graphic design, IT, and finance. It took me too long to learn the importance of delegating but once I began reaping the benefits, it became one of my most favorite things to do. 🙂 Since brain capacity is NOT an unlimited resource, delegating allows me to use mine for what matters most. This can apply to anything in life. Find the tasks that aren’t important for you to do, and practicing giving some of those away! Click here to download my free 1-page PDF that I used to develop my morning routine!

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[wisdomrays]

TAFAKKUR: Part 427

THE IMPORTANCE OF BREAST-FEEDING

MOTHERS SHALL SUCKLE CHILDREN FOR TWO WHOLE YEARS, FOR THOSE WHO DESIRE TO COMPLETE THE SUCKLING. IT IS FOR THE FATHER TO PROVIDE FOR THEM AND CLOTHE THEM HONOURABLY. NO SOUL IS CHARGED SAVE TO ITS CAPACITY: NO WOMAN SHOULD SUFFER BECAUSE OF HER CHILD, NOR ANY MAN BECAUSE OF HIS. THE SAME RESPONSIBILITIES ARE INCUMBENT ON THE HEIR. BUT IF (THE COUPLE) DECIDE BY MUTUAL CONSENT TO WEAN (THE CHILD), THERE IS NO BLAME ON THEM. AND IF YOU DESIRE TO SEEK NURSING FOR YOUR CHILDREN (BY HIRING A FOSTER MOTHER), THERE IS NO BLAME ON YOU PROVIDED YOU PAY HER FAIRLY. FEAR GOD, AND KNOW THAT GOD SEES EVERYTHING YOU DO (QUR’AN, 2.205)

Breast-feeding is extremely important for the mother’s own health, as well as that of her baby. The propaganda in the sixties and seventies of some materialistic physicians in cahoots with baby-food manufacturers tried to throw doubt on the value of breast-feeding and to present it, especially in ‘Third World’ countries, as something second-best, unsophisticated. More recently, however, the scientific community has been forced to recognize the irreplaceable value of the mother’s milk, compared to any artificial product, and the World Health Organisation has banned all negative propaganda directed against it.

In what follows, I shall try to answer, from a scientific standpoint, these three questions:

1) What does mother’s milk impart to the baby?

2)What should be the frequency and duration of nursing?

3) What effect does nursing have on the mother?

1- THE NATURE OF MOTHER’S MILK

For nourishment human beings need the three basic foods, and phosphorous and vitamins. All of these substances, namely proteins, sugar, fats, phosphorous and vitamins, are present in the mother’s milk. The special worth of breast milk, however, lies rather in the fact that it contains these substances in very subtly tuned proportions, and the most important secret of its composition is that fatty molecules are dispersed within it in very fine, small particles.

The mother’s own breast milk is prepared more richly than the table of a tycoon. To begin with, the entire vitamin requirement of the baby is present in it for the first six months. Properly informed science can only be amused at the sight of over-anxious parents rushing about with a fruit press in their hands in an effort to provide baby with Vitamin C.

Secondly, there are antibodies in the mother’s milk during the first six months that protect the baby against all infectious diseases. There are even antibodies protecting against measles in the milk of a mother who has never contracted measles, an inexplicable fact in biological terms. This can only be a divine indication of the value God places on the well being of His creatures.

Certain atheistic scientists have put forward an absurd claim that breast milk is deficient in iron. It has been established in recent years, however, that in adults blood is produced in the bone marrow, whereas in babies it is produced in the liver. Iron is stored in the baby’s liver even while it is in the mother’s womb. Attempts to compensate for this supposed deficiency by medicines containing iron may condemn babies to a lifetime of enteritis.

It is a biological imperative that the baby be nursed on breast milk during the first six months, since the liver, normally the centre of digestive activities, is largely occupied with blood production in babies. Furthermore, the baby uses nutrition for the purposes of growth and development rather than energy. For this reason, it is next to impossible to select and balance the required food types and vitamins. We know that there are more than 50 vitamins in addition to the handful known to medicine. The growth and development of the baby is, through the perfect balance of breast milk, brought under perfect control by Divine Omnipotence. To attempt to imitate this divinely managed blessing with imperfect human imitations of it is both arrogant and ridiculous.

2- INTERVALS AND DURATION OF BREAST FEEDING

Another burden atheists have put on breast-feeding is the rule of feeding every four hours, which they have invented by analogy with the normal period of digestion. Recent research has shown that milk is completely digested in 45 minutes. When this period is over, the secretion of milk in the mother’s mummeries increases by a telepathic reflex, and the baby normally begins to cry due to hunger. All these events constitute a biological computer system, and if the feeding periods do not correspond, the baby’s stomach is filled with acid, seriously disrupting its digestive system. It has even been conjectured that this may contribute to ulcers in later life.

Regarding the duration of breast-feeding, modem medicine has imposed a wholly arbitrary period, namely nine months. But the basic logic of suckling is based on two facts:

a) The liver is heavily loaded because it is producing blood, and hence there is a need for milk. It takes about two full years for the liver to recede into the background as regards blood production. For this reason, breast-feeding should last two years.

b) The most important phase of development, the period when basic biological materials are required, is again two years. Medical science definitely recognizes that the first two years of development of the baby are the most significant phase.

Another miracle of the Qur’an’s wisdom is that it specified this period, although, before Islam, the practice in the societies in the Middle East was to breast-feed for four to five years.

A final point in regard to the length of the breast-feeding period: Research on childhood mental disorders has shown that an infant needs to be breast-fed for about two years for mental health to be robust. A study done on a global scale revealed that no child in Indonesia and the Philippines suffered mental problems, and the research committee found that this was due to the sense of security and tenderness imparted to the baby during two years of breast- feeding in those countries.

3-THE BENEFITS FOR THE MOTHER

a) The healthy functioning of the mammary glands:

Health statistics gathered world-wide have shown that cancer of the breast occurs seldom in mothers who breast-feed their infants for one or two-years. Mothers who do not do so, on the other hand, run the greatest risk of contracting this disease. If only for this reason, a one or two-year nursing period should be commended as a cancer preventive.

b) Biological regeneration occurring in the mother’s body during nursing:

The liver functions at full capacity in a mother who breast- feeds. All the chemical problems of the mother’s body come under scrutiny in this way. Further, since all the required substances have to be mixed into the maternal blood, the mother’s cells compensate for their deficiencies during nursing. Again, since the pituitary gland is in full control during nursing, the general hormone processes all function properly, and hence the psychological makeup of the mother is vastly improved. This harmony in the hormone balance of nursing mothers and the period of calm it imposes on the psychological structure is a priceless gift. You may have noted that despite being physically tired, nursing mothers are never ill-tempered. The reason for this is the harmonization of glandular secretions during breast-feeding.

Again thanks to this hormonal balance, the womb and ovaries of the nursing mother are also afforded a period of rest. Although this period is not equal to the nursing period, a repose of two to six months is a very valuable rest in terms of the mother’s sex organs. In the meantime, simple disorders of the womb and ovaries are also cured. Two years is, again, the ideal duration of the nursing period for these benefits to fully manifest themselves.

In sum, the disparagement of mother’s milk and of breast feeding generally by proponents of an atheistic modern medicine must rank as one of the most shameful stains on the history of medicine. Biologically and psychologically, the health of both mother and baby is greatly improved by breast feeding for, ideally, up to two years. Independent scientific studies have confirmed that this is so. We should not be surprised that they have done so. For who would know better what is best for the well-being of mankind than the One who created us.

[honestgrins]

Falls Inn || Klaroline

Inspired by Schitt's Creek: The Mikaelsons were swindled out of their fortune, and they are forced to leave New York and their entire lives behind when the only asset remaining to their name was a town bought as a gift. While the town was kind enough to put them up in the local motel, the receptionist isn't all that thrilled to put up with them.

.

They stared up at the faded sign, all a bit too dumbfounded to speak. 

Leave it to Rebekah to find her words first. "No. Absolutely not."

"It looks filthy," Kol grimaced, clutching a garment bag to his chest. "My clothes aren't safe here, 'Lijah."

Pressing a tired hand to his mouth, Klaus looked to their eldest brother. "Explain this to me again," he said, his expression already defeated. "Your conniving snake of a wife embezzles all of our money and destroys our business, leaving us to bankruptcy while she gallivants off...somewhere-"

"Dubai," Rebekah added venomously, "with my boyfriend. He won't even call me back."

With a nod, he continued. "Right, so, we have nothing left to our family name but a town you bought-"

Kol's shoulders nearly blocked his ears, they rose so high. "Who buys a town?"

"I bought the rights to the land the town sits on," Elijah sighed, having already gone through the details of their last remaining asset with his too dramatic family several times. "The waterfalls are said to be beautiful, and I wanted Katerina to- It doesn't matter." Clearing his throat, he gave his siblings a serious look. "This is all we have left, and the mayor was gracious enough to coordinate our stay at this...lovely inn until we get back on our feet. It's an opportunity to recover and set a new path forward."

Again, Rebekah was the one to say what they were all thinking. "No."

But Klaus tried to rally; Elijah had been through quite the embarrassment, and the stiff upper lip was like to crumble at any moment. If they stood any chance of getting out of this hellhole of a town, it lay with him. "Okay, let's just check in, shall we?" Grabbing his first suitcase and portfolio case, he was the first through the door, where a pretty blonde staffing the reception desk typed away. "Mikaelson, four rooms."

The woman glanced up for a moment, frowning, only to focus back on the computer screen in front of her. "If you'll give me a moment," she said, her voice saccharine despite a stony expression.

Barely holding it together himself, however, Klaus tapped his foot. He noted the arch of her brow at that, but she still didn't budge. "I believe we have a reservation," he urged.

Sighing, she stood from her seat and met his annoyed gaze with a perfectly serene smile that felt eminently fake. She was beautiful, though, and Klaus had a sudden desire to paint her. "Welcome to Mystic Falls and the Falls Inn. My name is Caroline. How may I help you today?"

"We have a reservation," he repeated, his annoyance returned tenfold. "Mikaelson, four rooms."

Her smile somehow grew even brighter, which he assumed meant she was thinking of murder. Why else would someone so bright live here? "Right, the Mikaelsons. I'm sorry to tell you that Mayor Lockwood only blocked two rooms for your indefinite stay, something to do with the allowable rate of compensation given your...situation."

He could feel his entire face flush red. Nearly about to rage at her insolence, he was interrupted by the cacophony of his siblings entering the modest foyer. 

"What do you mean, two rooms?" Kol asked in that indignant way of his. "Surely, you mean suites."

"I mean rooms." Again with that saccharine smile - Klaus wouldn't be surprised if she had fangs beneath that peachy lipstick. She opened a drawer, pulling out two pairs of keys. "The arrangements are up to you, of course, and please feel free to visit reception if you run into any issues."

Elijah offered his hand for the keys, a pained grin on his face. "Thank you..." He checked her nameplate on the desk before looking back up. "Caroline."

Finally, her smile softened to a more genuine thing, if a bit tinged with pity. "You're welcome. I think the Lockwoods were planning to take you out to dinner tonight, show you around the town."

"Yes," he confirmed with a worried glance to the others. "So he mentioned. It's been a long day of travel for us, we'll just get settled in."

"Of course. Your rooms are up the stairs and at the far end of the hall. It's the most privacy I could get you."

"Much appreciated, Caroline." Nodding to Kol, he began to usher them out. "Let's go."

But Kol and Rebekah lingered among the eight bags they had between them. "Is the bellhop on break?" she asked snidely.

"I am going to need them to be very careful with the red cases," Kol added. "They are very important to my health during this nightmare."

Caroline grinned, like she couldn't believe they were real. At times, Klaus was inclined to wonder as well. "Hair products?" she asked.

Scoffing, Kol placed a loving hand over the smallest of them. "No, darling," he said as though it was obvious. "Skincare."

Her eyebrows raised, impressed. "Fair enough. No bellhop, though. Call it your workout for the day. That's my nice way of warning you we also don't have a gym."

Twin groans sounded, but both of them appeared to be offended by the family resemblance. Rebekah was the first to run away from the moment, quick to follow Elijah carrying just one case. Meanwhile, Kol carefully stacked his belongings until they were surely a moving hazard once stairs were involved.

Left behind with the rest of it, Klaus latched onto the moment of peace. He glanced over to Caroline, who had already turned back to her computer. "Tired of us already, love?"

"Are you kidding? You guys are the most interesting thing that's happened to Mystic Falls all year," she replied, not that she bothered to look away from her screen. "I just get the feeling I'm going to be seeing you all a lot. Want to pace myself."

"I'm not sure what you mean," he flirted, hoping his time here would be short but satisfying. He leaned against the counter, admiring the tilt of her petty grin - the most real he'd seen from her so far. "Are you so hands on with all your guests?"

She snorted, an inelegant but altogether charming answer. Even better, she swung her chair to face him again and pinned him with a wide-eyed innocence. "When's the last time you did your own laundry?"

His jaw fell slightly, thrown at the question. Caroline seemed to take that as a victory. "I thought so. Mayor Lockwood specifically asked me to make sure your transition went as smoothly as possible, and I'm prepared for any number of...informational lapses. Seriously, I have a list of solutions ready for a number of probable issues."

"That's..." Trailing off, Klaus nodded. With the way she smiled at him, he knew the game was lost. "We've led a privileged life, there's nothing wrong with that," he finally said.

"No," she agreed automatically. "But my freshman roommate at Whitmore was a mess of a trust fund baby. The first time she poured too much detergent in the washing machine, she threw the clothes away and bought a whole new wardrobe. I don't think she did laundry the rest of the year because it was easier to just buy new clothes. Money can change your perspective, and that's all I meant."

She was so blunt, it was refreshing. "Very well. While I trust we can figure out whatever issues arise-"

"The Internet is the great dumb question resource," Caroline grinned.

"-I look forward to having your assistance on hand," he finished, trying not to laugh. "Thank you for your help."

Her gaze was calculating, but that only charmed him further. "You're welcome..."

Blinking, he realized they'd never officially introduced themselves. "Apologies. I'm Klaus."

"The artist. Cool." At his questioning glance, she shrugged. "Like I said, you guys are the most interesting thing to happen to this place. We googled. Hard."

Chuckling, he finally picked up his suitcase and made his way to the stairs. But he turned back when he processed exactly what she said. "We?"

Her amused smile turned predatory. "Welcome to Mystic Falls, Klaus. You get used to it."

[unfolded73]

Husbands: Two Years In (5/5) - schitt’s creek ff

Here it is, the final chapter!  There's nothing I can say that can get across how touched I've been by the comments on this fic. The number of people who have shared things about their own struggles with mental health -- I'm not worthy of it. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

While I'm including this fic as part of the "Labels" series, the preceding fics are not required reading. Previous fics in this series: Boyfriends; “I Love You”, Partners, Fiancés

Warning: This fic deals with depression as one of its major topics.

Rated Explicit, this chapter 4718 words. (ao3)

Thanks to @high-seas-swan for cheerleading and B13_MaybeThisTime for many valuable comments (and also cheerleading).

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 5: Winter

“So how was your week?” Jessica asked.

Patrick always felt like he should plan before therapy what he was going to talk about, but he never remembered to do that.

“It was a little crazy. The holidays at the store always are, although it’s very lucrative. The money we make in December will carry us through at least half of the upcoming year,” he said, pinching the webbing on one hand between his thumb and forefinger of the other.

“And did you feel more equipped to handle that? The busy store, and all your responsibilities around that? Especially with Christmas a few days away?”

Patrick shrugged, feeling obstinate. “I don’t know.”

Jessica let a silence settle, waiting for him to talk. Patrick hated this part; it made him feel like he was failing at therapy when he didn’t know how to fill that silence. What the right answer was. He crossed his arms and leaned back against the sofa cushions, calling her bluff.

Finally, she relented and spoke, and Patrick felt like he’d won a round of whatever game they were playing. “You’ve never said much in here about your sexual orientation other than to talk about your husband and to say that things with your family are good. Was it always that way?”

Patrick tried not to roll his eyes. He knew this would be coming eventually. He’d been avoiding the subject of Rachel or his coming out process because he knew it would be something Jessica would fixate on. “I’m not depressed because of being gay, or… or anything to do with that. I love being gay.”

She smiled genuinely. “I’m glad. But humor me.”

“My parents always accepted me,” he said quickly, but that felt like a lie even though it was technically true.

“How old were you when you came out?” Jessica asked.

Patrick let out a frustrated sigh, seeing no way to avoid the truth now. “I was… I was in denial about being gay for a long time.” Might as well get it all out, he thought. “When I was twenty-nine I broke off an engagement to my high school sweetheart — who was a woman — and moved away from my hometown. Pretty soon after that, I realized I was gay.”

“That must’ve been hard,” Jessica said.

“Yeah, but once I got through it and… and got together with David, I’d never been happier.”

He couldn’t help but see the smile she gave him in response to that as patronizing. “New love can flood the body with so many good chemicals that it swamps out all of the bad ones.”

Patrick narrowed his eyes. “Are you saying I wasn’t happy?”

“No, I’m saying that the way you’ve framed things in some of our past sessions — that you were depressed before you moved here, and then you weren’t, and now for some reason you’re depressed again… that may not be the right way to frame it. Do you think perhaps it puts a lot of pressure on David as the source of your happiness?”

“I don’t put pressure on David,” Patrick protested.

“Is it possible that you put pressure on yourself, then? When it comes to your relationship with David and its importance in your life?” Jessica asked.

Patrick huffed and didn’t answer. Now she was contradicting herself from one sentence to the next.

“When did you come out to your family?” she asked.

“That isn’t why I’m depressed either,” he said.

Jessica sighed like he was finally challenging her constant state of serene acceptance. “Untangling the web of depression isn’t straightforward. It might be helpful to pull on different threads and see what they’re connected to. Okay?”

Patrick supposed that made sense. “Okay.” Then after another pause, he admitted, “It took me a while to come out to my parents.”

“Why is that?”

He stared at Jessica’s bookshelf for several seconds, his eyes running over the titles without reading them. “I worried that my parents wouldn’t be okay with it. They didn’t talk about gay people when I was a kid, really. Or when they did, they made it sound like a sad thing that we needed to tolerate because it wasn’t a choice. You know, that brand of ‘tolerance’ that is just that and nothing more.”

She shot him a sympathetic look. “It’s understandable why you were hesitant to come out to them.”

“But they were great about it. It wasn’t long after coming out to them that I asked David to marry me, and they were great. They love him, and all my worries were unfounded,” he said, trying to figure out why tears were threatening to spill over.

Jessica took a few seconds to rearrange herself, setting her ever-present portfolio aside and leaning forward on with her elbows on her knees. “I understand that, looked at a certain way, you’ve had a purely positive experience with coming into your sexuality. You had David, who from what you’ve said before is a very loving person. And based on what you’ve told me, you live in an accepting community. And then your parents stepped up and were there for you when you asked them to be. That’s all wonderful, and not to be discounted. But it doesn’t change the fact that for all of your formative years, when maybe on some subconscious level you did know that you were gay, or at least different in some fundamental way, you didn’t feel like your parents or the community you were living in would accept you. That kind of experience leaves a mark, even though everything turned out fine.”

She smirked, leaning backwards again. “Or not. Perhaps your serotonin is low due to simple physiology and I’m completely off the mark.”

Patrick felt strangely reassured by this honesty, this admission that she knew that she didn’t know everything. “So I need medication, then?”

“Maybe,” she said. “Medication might help. Or cognitive behavior therapy could help you. Or both together.”

His reassurance quickly dissolved, leaving Patrick wanting to scream at his therapist, fix me, goddammit! Instead he said, “That all sounds very nebulous.”

She grinned. “From what I know about you so far, I bet that’s driving you crazy, and I’m sorry about that. Can you bear with me for a little while, though? Work through the process?”

He sighed. “I’ll try.”

~*~

Patrick drove past the empty storefront on Elmdale’s main street as he was leaving his therapy appointment. He’d noticed every week that the ‘for lease’ sign was still in the window. After the second time he saw it, he’d texted Ray to ask if that was the space he’d mentioned to David. David hadn’t said anything about the second Rose Apothecary location in a while, but it didn’t take a genius to guess that he was still thinking about it, and probably wondering when Patrick would be ready to seriously entertain the idea again.

On impulse, he pulled into one of the parking spaces that lined the street and got out of the car, walking over to the empty storefront. The windows were covered in paper, but he could see enough through the gaps to make out that it had a scuffed up hardwood floor. It would need to be refinished, he thought, but it looked like it was in pretty good shape.

The smell of coffee attracted Patrick’s attention, and he looked over to see that there was a coffee shop next door. Grind House, the sign that hung under the awning said. Curious, Patrick went over and opened the door.

The barista looked up and waved. It being around two in the afternoon on a weekday, the place was mostly empty other than two people at a table in the corner who were huddled over laptop computers. The shop was decorated tastefully for Christmas, and he thought David would approve of the warmth and coziness of the space.

“Hey, what can I get you?” the barista — Taylor, her name tag read — asked him with a smile. Tattoos snaked out from under the sleeves of her t-shirt, black ink against dark brown skin.

“A small earl grey tea?” he asked.

“Sure thing. Is that it? We’ve got a few pastries left.”

His eyes strayed over to the pastry case. “Yeah, could I get a couple of those butter tarts to go? My husband is a real connoisseur.”

Taylor grinned at him. “Smart man.”

“Hey, what do you know about the empty space next door? Do you know if there’s been any interest in it?”

“Oh man, I’m still bummed about that. It used to be a comic book shop. I was afraid to go in there for the longest time — comic stores aren’t necessarily the most welcoming places to black queer women, you know? But the old guy that ran it was super nice. I remember he made a point of telling me when Ta-Nahisi Coates started writing Captain America.”

“What happened to the store?”

She shrugged. “Amazon drove him out of business, I guess. That’ll be $9.25,” she said ringing up his tea and butter tarts. As Patrick put his debit card in the reader, she added, “Why do you ask?”

“Oh.” He scratched his cheek. “My husband and I run a store in Schitt’s Creek. Rose Apothecary?”

“Holy shit, really? A friend gave me some of your lotion for my birthday. It’s great.”

Patrick swelled with pride. “Thanks. Anyway, we’re considering opening a second location in Elmdale.”

Taylor smirked, handing him his tea and a box with the tarts. “Sorry, I can’t allow you to have a store right next door to my coffee shop. I’ll spend all my profits there.”

Laughing, Patrick accepted his purchases. “Oh, well. Guess we’ll have to look for another place, then. Although David would return the favor, I’m sure.”

“What’s your name?” Taylor asked.

“It’s Patrick Brewer,” he said, setting the tea down again to shake her hand.

“Nice to meet you, Patrick. I’m Taylor. And I hope you guys get the space.”

“I… do too,” he said, surprised to find that he meant it.

The store was bustling when he got back to Schitt’s Creek, and David and Bethany were both busy with customers. Patrick put the box of butter tarts in the back room and went to work restocking Christmas decorations. Given how many decorations they sold every holiday season, Patrick had to assume that by now every Christmas tree in Elm County was fully outfitted in David Rose’s aesthetic.

As soon as David finished with the customers he was helping, Patrick went over and put a hand on his shoulder. “I got you something for your afternoon break,” he said. “There’s a white box on the table in the back.”

David’s eyes lit up, and he hurried into the back before he could be waylaid by another harried holiday shopper.

They didn’t have a chance to exchange any more conversation until Bethany finally flipped the sign on the door to Closed and locked up. Patrick felt dead on his feet, but he had to admit that the thought of all the money in the cash register made him feel pretty good. Bethany went to work cleaning the windows while David leaned against the center table.

“Oh my god, Patrick, where did you get those butter tarts? Those are the best ones I’ve had in years.”

Patrick walked over and put his arms around his husband, pulling him into a hug. “A little coffee shop in downtown Elmdale that happens to be next to an empty store that I believe Ray mentioned to you a couple of months ago.”

David pulled out of the hug, his eyes darting back and forth as he studied Patrick’s expression. “It’s still vacant?”

Nodding, Patrick leaned up and kissed David’s cheek. “We should call Ray after Christmas and go take a look at it.”

“Are you sure?”

Patrick shrugged. “No, I’m scared as hell. Among other things, I’m afraid I’m going to miss having days like this with you, working together in our store. But I want to go look.”

David kissed his lips gently. “Okay.”

~*~

Stevie stood shivering on their back porch, bundled up in her hat and puffy parka. “It’s way too cold for this,” she said.

Patrick exhaled pot smoke in a crystalline cloud of breath and handled the joint back to her. “Our families are getting here tomorrow and I don’t want the house to smell like weed.” He giggled. “It doesn’t match David’s holiday aesthetic.”

His phone chimed, and he took it out to look at it, expecting a complaint from David. Instead the text was from his cousin. There were no words, just a picture of Justin pressed cheek to cheek with another boy.

Patrick: Who’s this?

Justin 🌈: his name is Jonah

Patrick: Very cute. And closer to your age, I hope?

Justin 🌈: 🙄 you sound like my mom he’s 18

Patrick: Good. Merry Christmas, Justin.

Justin 🌈: thanks you too

Then a text arrived from David, just as Patrick expected. She’s got even more luggage than last year.

Patrick laughed. Maybe it’s a lot of presents for you, he texted back.

David: You give my sister entirely too much credit.

Patrick: See you soon.

“Why are you suddenly so fucking popular?” Stevie groused, her teeth chattering, handing him the joint back as he put away his phone.

“Sounds like Alexis’s flight got in on time,” he said. “And my cousin Justin has a new… boyfriend, I guess?” He took another hit.

“I can’t stand this anymore; I’m going inside,” Stevie said, taking the half-smoked joint from him and carefully extinguishing it, then putting it in a crumpled sandwich bag that she produced from her coat pocket. Patrick followed her back into the house. “Is this the cousin that you rescued a while ago?”

“How many gay cousins do you think I have?” he asked, pulling his coat off.

“I mean, statistically? Given how many cousins you have? More than one.” She flopped down on the sofa and stretched out on her back. “So are you liking your therapist any better?”

Patrick dropped into the overstuffed chair across from her. “I don’t know. As I predicted, she’s starting to fixate on my sexual orientation and…” He gestured airily in a very David way. “All that.”

Stevie turned her head and regarded him balefully. “The fact that you were in denial about being gay until you were thirty? And didn’t come out to your parents until you were ready to ask David to marry you? Is that what ‘all that’ is?”

“Fuck off,” Patrick grumbled.

“I’m just saying, there’s probably some stuff to unpack there.”

“Stevie, I’m completely comfortable with being gay,” he said.

“Didn’t say you weren’t. It’s not about you being gay, but maybe it’s about how you get so wrapped up in your obligations to other people that you lose track of yourself. Or that you’re so obsessed with not disappointing the people you care about that you have a hard time being truthful about who you are or what you need.”

Patrick blinked. “Wow. Maybe you should be my therapist.”

Stevie laughed. “The problem is, I need to be high to have these deep insights.”

They settled into comfortable silence for a few minutes. Finally Patrick admitted, “I don’t like the way it makes me feel cracked open.”

“What does?” Stevie asked, her mind clearly having wandered.

“Therapy.”

“Oh. Yeah, I don’t think I could deal with that either,” Stevie said.

“It’s like… you know how if you pick up a big rock in moist soil, there’ll be all these bugs underneath it?”

“Ew,” Stevie said in a perfect imitation of David, and the two of them burst into gales of laughter for a while. When Stevie finally got control of herself, she said, “Sorry, what about the bugs?”

He wiped away tears from his cheeks. “It was a metaphor for my brain. I’ve got a lifetime of practice not moving those rocks. I don’t know if I want to know what’s underneath them.”

“Yeah, I get that.” She stretched her toes out, brushing them against the arm of the sofa. “You know you’ll be okay though, right?”

Patrick felt a swell of love for Stevie and he would have hugged her, but it would probably be weird. Also he was comfortable in his chair. Maybe he’d hug her later.

When David arrived from retrieving Alexis at the airport, Patrick put his coat back on to help with the luggage. David opened a bottle of wine and turned the lamps in the living room off, leaving only the light from the Christmas tree to illuminate the four of them as they settled in to talk.

They told Alexis about the new location in Elmdale that they were considering leasing, and she made some marketing suggestions that were good enough that David went and retrieved his journal from the bedroom so that he could make some notes.

“One thing I’ve seen businesses do to get market penetration is sponsor relevant conferences,” Alexis said. “Like, professional association meetings. Then they get their business name and logo printed on everything for the conference — tote bags, lanyards, USB sticks, all that stuff.” Her free hand that wasn’t holding her wine glass flopped around to indicate all of the stuff.

“We don’t really have general store conferences,” Patrick said, bemused.

Alexis rolled her eyes. “But it works for other events too. Summer festivals, parades, whatever.”

“Elm Valley has a pumpkin festival every year,” Stevie said.

Patrick was starting to have a germ of an idea related to what Alexis had said. He sipped his wine and filed it away to mull over later, when he was sober.

Tomorrow, Johnny and Moira and his own parents would arrive and things would take a turn for the chaotic, but for right now, Patrick could enjoy the warmth of David’s hand on his shoulder as his husband bantered happily with his sister and his best friend. Leaning into the crook of David’s arm, Patrick smiled and tried to soak up all of the love in the room, an inoculation against the darkness that might lurk around the next bend in the road.

“Merry Christmas, sweetheart,” David murmured against his spine later in their bed. Their kisses had been drowsy and a little bit drunk as they decided that sex was happening tonight in spite of their houseguests. Alexis was in the guest bedroom and Stevie had zonked out on the living room sofa, David tucking an afghan around her shoulders before he and Patrick went to bed themselves.

“It’s not Christmas yet,” Patrick said with a chuckle, writhing, pressed against the sheets as David worked him up and up.

“I know it’s not technically Christmas, but tonight was so nice,” David murmured into Patrick’s shoulder, words alternating with kisses. “It filled me with holiday spirit.”

Patrick tried not to laugh, he really did, but it was a losing battle. He made an attempt to smother his giggles into his pillow.

“If you say something about me filling you with the holiday spirit, it’s over between us.” The things he was doing to Patrick with his fingers belied that statement.

Laughing again, Patrick pushed his hips back against David’s hand, and then his laughter turned into a moan, and then neither of them said anything coherent for a long time.

~*~

The first town council meeting of the new year came on a grey January afternoon, the threat of snow on the horizon. Everyone was subdued and low energy, even Roland, and Patrick felt drowsy, struggling a little bit to pay attention and type at the same time that they discussed several budgetary issues. A lot of the topics were the same every meeting, with tiny, incremental changes almost too small to detect. Or worse, they were recurring issues that indicated no progress had been made at all.

When they got to the bottom of the agenda, Ronnie asked if there was any new business, and Patrick almost didn’t say anything. The idea that had occurred to him during the holidays had seemed strong on a happier day. Today, he wasn’t sure he had the energy to argue for it. But then he thought about the things Ronnie had said to him about queer activism, and he thought about Taylor and her coffee shop, and he opened his mouth.

“Have we ever considered having something in Schitt’s Creek for Pride?” he asked.

Ronnie raised her eyebrows. “What, like a parade?”

“No offense, but it might be kind of a sad little parade,” Roland said.

“No, not a parade. Like, a street festival. Tents with food and other vendors and LGBT educational booths. Opportunities for people to find out about meetings in the area. Maybe a stage with speeches and musical performances. And we don’t have to limit it to only Schitt’s Creek. I looked into it a little, and even Elmdale doesn’t have anything like it. We could draw vendors and patrons from all over Elm County.”

Ronnie crossed her arms. “Sounds like a way to line your own pockets. I assume Rose Apothecary would be one of the vendors?”

Patrick met her gaze. “I’m sure the rest of council could be counted on to keep us on a level playing field with everyone else. Come on, Ronnie. Can you honestly say it wouldn’t be a good thing for the community? And a good way to bring money into the town?”

She tilted her head in acquiescence. “Put together a formal proposal and we can vote on it at the next meeting.”

“I’m going to vote ‘yes,’” Bob stage-whispered to Patrick.

“Thanks, Bob.”

After the meeting had adjourned, Patrick went over to Ronnie. “I thought later this month I’d go to that Thornbridge LGBTQIA+ meeting you told me about. See what they’re doing and make some connections. Ask if they’d be interested in helping out with our Pride festival.”

Ronnie stared at him for a second. “Your festival idea hasn’t been approved yet,” she said.

“Assuming it’s approved,” he said, unable to keep himself from grinning. “Would you like to go with me?”

“You want me to spend hours in a car with you, driving to Thornbridge. Really.”

“Come on, Ronnie. Someday you and I are going to have to bury the hatchet for good.” He put on his most guileless expression, the one that caused David to accuse him of weaponizing his eyes. “Why not in service to the queer community, of which we are both pillars?”

She almost, for a split second, looked like she was going to crack a smile. Instead she sighed. “Fine. Let me know when it is. I’ll see if I’m available.”

~*~

They celebrated signing the lease for the new store with pizza at David’s favorite spot in Elmdale. There were paper hearts colored by children in the front window, and it reminded Patrick that he only had a few days to find a suitably tacky gift for David for Valentine’s Day. It wasn’t worth it if he couldn’t get David to threaten to divorce him on this, David’s most hated of holidays.

While they waited for their pizza, Patrick reached across the red and white checkered tablecloth and took David’s hand. “Thank you,” he said.

David had been fiddling with his phone, but at the sound of Patrick’s voice, he set it face-down on the table and gave Patrick his full attention. “What for?”

“For being there for me so many times this past year. For… for putting up with me at my worst.”

A crooked smile threatened to erupt on David’s face. “Patrick, you know your worst is still pretty good, right?”

“I hope you’re not still grading me on a Sebastien Raine curve, David.”

David rolled his eyes at that. “No, I’m just saying that maybe you don’t have the most objective perspective on what being married to you is like.” His eyes softened. “I’m as happy being your husband today as I was the first day. Okay?”

Patrick swallowed around a surprising lump in his throat. “Okay.”

“You’re nervous about the new store,” David surmised.

“I am, but it’s the right decision,” Patrick said with confidence.

“I’m nervous too,” David said. “Don’t mistake my outward confidence for anything other than a thin veneer over all of my anxieties.”

That statement automatically put Patrick into reassurance mode. “The marketing ideas from Alexis are going to be helpful. The customer base in Elmdale is huge and has more disposable income compared to what we’re used to at home. I’ve run some numbers, and I think the revenue from this location may outstrip our Schitt’s Creek location in a matter of months.”

David grimaced. “Well, that somehow makes me feel irrationally protective of our first store. It doesn’t deserve to be the under-achiever.”

Squeezing David’s hand, Patrick said, “Never. I fell in love with you there, and there’s nowhere in the world more important to me than that store.”

“We can make new memories at the new store,” David said softly.

Patrick knew, realistically, that he and David probably wouldn’t be spending that much time together at the new store after they got it open. They’d have to split time between the two locations, and there would be even more work to do out on the road, expanding their vendor base to support the increased demand.

David seemed to read his thoughts. “And when we spend our days apart, it will make being at home together in the evenings that much more precious.”

“Yeah,” Patrick managed to say, his voice raw. He averted his eyes from David’s piercing gaze, staring out the window between the gaps in the paper hearts. “Can you… can you talk to me more about that?”

David smiled and rubbed his hands together. “Well, imagine a day when I’m at the store here in Elmdale, and you’re at the store back at home.”

“Are you at the one in Elmdale because of Taylor’s pastries?”

“Shhh,” David said, reaching out with a finger like he was going to put it over Patrick’s lips. “I leave the store a little early, letting one of our trusted employees close up, and I bring home some wine and cheese from the store. Maybe some of Heather’s new triple cream.” He closed his eyes like he was having an erotic fantasy about Heather Warner’s cheese.

“Wine and cheese that you pay for,” Patrick said.

“Naturally. Oh, and fresh berries. It’s summer, and there are berries in season. So I set everything up on the kitchen table, just in time for you to arrive home from the other store. And we drink wine and eat cheese and we tell each other all about our days. The sun is setting, and the light is all golden,” David said.

“I like this story,” Patrick replied. “Then what happens?”

“Eventually we move to the sofa. Maybe watch some TV or listen to some music. We put our feet up and finish our wine and you remember something funny that you saw on the internet and you tell me about it. And then when we get tired, we go to bed.”

“What happens then?” Patrick asked as their server set their pizza in front of them and David grabbed a slice.

David’s mouth twisted into a crooked smile and he waggled his eyebrows. “The rest of the story is very interesting, but you’ll have to wait to get home to hear that part.”

“Hmm, okay.” Patrick reached for his own slice of pizza.

“Hey,” David said, drawing Patrick back to looking at him. “I love you. I can’t wait to see what the next year brings for us.”

Patrick smiled. He felt bolstered, lifted up by David’s support and for once, he allowed himself to feel good about it. “Me either, David.”

[brennamokare]

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[wisdomrays]

TAFAKKUR: Part 108

The Importance of Breast-Feeding

Mothers shall suckle children for two whole years, for those who desire to complete the suckling. It is for the father to provide for them and clothe them honourably. No soul is charged save to its capacity: no woman should suffer because of her child, nor any man because of his. The same responsibilities are incumbent on the heir. But if (the couple) decide by mutual consent to wean (the child), there is no blame on them. And if you desire to seek nursing for your children (by hiring a foster mother), there is no blame on you provided you pay her fairly. Fear God, and know that God sees everything you do (Qur’an, 2.205).

Breast-feeding is extremely important for the mother’s own health, as well as that of her baby. The propaganda in the sixties and seventies of some materialistic physicians in cahoots with baby-food manufacturers tried to throw doubt on the value of breast-feeding and to present it, especially in ‘Third World’ countries, as something second-best, unsophisticated. More recently, however, the scientific community has been forced to recognize the irreplaceable value of the mother’s milk, compared to any artificial product, and the World Health Organisation has banned all negative propaganda directed against it.

In what follows, I shall try to answer, from a scientific standpoint, these three questions:

1) What does mother’s milk impart to the baby?

2)What should be the frequency and duration of nursing?

3) What effect does nursing have on the mother?

1- The nature of mother’s milk

For nourishment human beings need the three basic foods, and phosphorous and vitamins. All of these substances, namely proteins, sugar, fats, phosphorous and vitamins, are present in the mother’s milk. The special worth of breast milk, however, lies rather in the fact that it contains these substances in very subtly tuned proportions, and the most important secret of its composition is that fatty molecules are dispersed within it in very fine, small particles.

The mother’s own breast milk is prepared more richly than the table of a tycoon. To begin with, the entire vitamin requirement of the baby is present in it for the first six months. Properly informed science can only be amused at the sight of over-anxious parents rushing about with a fruit press in their hands in an effort to provide baby with Vitamin C.

Secondly, there are antibodies in the mother’s milk during the first six months that protect the baby against all infectious diseases. There are even antibodies protecting against measles in the milk of a mother who has never contracted measles, an inexplicable fact in biological terms. This can only be a divine indication of the value God places on the well being of His creatures.

Certain atheistic scientists have put forward an absurd claim that breast milk is deficient in iron. It has been established in recent years, however, that in adults blood is produced in the bone marrow, whereas in babies it is produced in the liver. Iron is stored in the baby’s liver even while it is in the mother’s womb. Attempts to compensate for this supposed deficiency by medicines containing iron may condemn babies to a lifetime of enteritis.

It is a biological imperative that the baby be nursed on breast milk during the first six months, since the liver, normally the centre of digestive activities, is largely occupied with blood production in babies. Furthermore, the baby uses nutrition for the purposes of growth and development rather than energy. For this reason, it is next to impossible to select and balance the required food types and vitamins. We know that there are more than 50 vitamins in addition to the handful known to medicine. The growth and development of the baby is, through the perfect balance of breast milk, brought under perfect control by Divine Omnipotence. To attempt to imitate this divinely managed blessing with imperfect human imitations of it is both arrogant and ridiculous.

2- Intervals and duration of breast feeding

Another burden atheists have put on breast-feeding is the rule of feeding every four hours, which they have invented by analogy with the normal period of digestion. Recent research has shown that milk is completely digested in 45 minutes. When this period is over, the secretion of milk in the mother’s mummeries increases by a telepathic reflex, and the baby normally begins to cry due to hunger. All these events constitute a biological computer system, and if the feeding periods do not correspond, the baby’s stomach is filled with acid, seriously disrupting its digestive system. It has even been conjectured that this may contribute to ulcers in later life.

Regarding the duration of breast-feeding, modem medicine has imposed a wholly arbitrary period, namely nine months. But the basic logic of suckling is based on two facts:

a) The liver is heavily loaded because it is producing blood, and hence there is a need for milk. It takes about two full years for the liver to recede into the background as regards blood production. For this reason, breast-feeding should last two years.

b) The most important phase of development, the period when basic biological materials are required, is again two years. Medical science definitely recognizes that the first two years of development of the baby are the most significant phase.

Another miracle of the Qur’an’s wisdom is that it specified this period, although, before Islam, the practice in the societies in the Middle East was to breast-feed for four to five years.

A final point in regard to the length of the breast-feeding period: Research on childhood mental disorders has shown that an infant needs to be breast-fed for about two years for mental health to be robust. A study done on a global scale revealed that no child in Indonesia and the Philippines suffered mental problems, and the research committee found that this was due to the sense of security and tenderness imparted to the baby during two years of breast- feeding in those countries.

3-The benefits for the mother

a) The healthy functioning of the mammary glands:

Health statistics gathered world-wide have shown that cancer of the breast occurs seldom in mothers who breast-feed their infants for one or two-years. Mothers who do not do so, on the other hand, run the greatest risk of contracting this disease. If only for this reason, a one or two-year nursing period should be commended as a cancer preventive.

b) Biological regeneration occurring in the mother’s body during nursing:

The liver functions at full capacity in a mother who breast- feeds. All the chemical problems of the mother’s body come under scrutiny in this way. Further, since all the required substances have to be mixed into the maternal blood, the mother’s cells compensate for their deficiencies during nursing. Again, since the pituitary gland is in full control during nursing, the general hormone processes all function properly, and hence the psychological makeup of the mother is vastly improved. This harmony in the hormone balance of nursing mothers and the period of calm it imposes on the psychological structure is a priceless gift. You may have noted that despite being physically tired, nursing mothers are never ill-tempered. The reason for this is the harmonization of glandular secretions during breast-feeding.

Again thanks to this hormonal balance, the womb and ovaries of the nursing mother are also afforded a period of rest. Although this period is not equal to the nursing period, a repose of two to six months is a very valuable rest in terms of the mother’s sex organs. In the meantime, simple disorders of the womb and ovaries are also cured. Two years is, again, the ideal duration of the nursing period for these benefits to fully manifest themselves.

In sum, the disparagement of mother’s milk and of breast feeding generally by proponents of an atheistic modern medicine must rank as one of the most shameful stains on the history of medicine. Biologically and psychologically, the health of both mother and baby is greatly improved by breast feeding for, ideally, up to two years. Independent scientific studies have confirmed that this is so. We should not be surprised that they have done so. For who would know better what is best for the well-being of mankind than the One who created us?

[happinessandbeyond]

Questioning and Reflections on Educating Gen Z and Gen Alpha: Changing systems, Structures and Interactions.

Who are the Gen Z?

Gen Z are those individuals who are born between 1995 and 2012.

Who are the Gen Alpha?

Gen Alpha are those individuals who are born between 2012 and 2025.

This article does not cater only to the privileged, to those who can afford schooling and to those without disabilities. I’m going to consciously try and cover how and why our system needs to change for the present generations in the schooling system and the next set of them.

A global pandemic was enough to provoke me into thinking what we really need to start changing in the way we deliver information and how we do it.

Our present system consists of educational boards for the so called normal functioning child. For those children with sensory impairments, specially-abled, gifted, and intellectually challenged, our educational and service providers have a set of activities, fundraising campaigns, trainings and vocational opportunities which only help in functioning to a certain extent so as to make one independent. Have we really invested resources to enable inclusivity into understanding what a person with a certain challenge could be going through in a global crises, has there been a deeper understanding and research as to what a person with emotional and physical challenge needs in order to fight a battle such as this. What does it mean to be self sufficient and independent then?

The “real” question everyone asks ‘what are we preparing our children for?’

And the “real” answer that is often given is “We are preparing them for life”. While we are in a middle of a crises our education system caters only to a handful of people who go into becoming experts in scientific research and solution finding. While we ace in being heavily populated we are definitely falling far behind in providing opportunities for the masses in order to help the masses in turn.

While we constantly emphasize on the fact that children are the future, then how come none of the children are finding any meaning in the system of our education? What future can they possibly even dream of when opportunities are only for some and not others?

The two generations after the millennial’s are the one’s that we need to focus on, in order to save lives and add meaning and not just prepare them for life.

The RTE Act, the rule of having a special needs child in a mainstream school is not what we should be proud of, we can only be proud when inclusion is achieved as an unsaid law and prepares children into inculcating basic qualities and values such as helping, empathic understanding which can then be utilized in a progressive manner where children are encouraged to think and reflect critically. By this I mean using some useful core values and applying the knowledge base towards a healthy and meaningful lifestyle.

Our present structure consists of teacher-student, facilitator-student, guide-student and so on. The role of the “knowledge” provider remains in a position of someone who is experienced and in a place to educate. When a structure based on hierarchy and power exists there is a passive killer that is constantly being built within the psyche of the child which is DOUBT.

As adults most of us have ideas and novel plans on bringing about change in our own ways, but why is it that only a small percentage of us can actually execute it? It’s mostly because we are dependent on an authority for approval and validation on whether it’s right or wrong. But then the reality lies in the fact that risks are involved either way, then why not follow our instincts? And this self doubt mostly occurs because the system in which we are taught and raised makes one doubt themselves FIRST even before standing up to speak and express. Although I do want to emphasize that there is a thin line between thinking twice and expressing, which should also be role modeled at a very young age.

Research in child psychology has shown and proved that children at the age of three onwards have the capacity to absorb any information that is exposed to them repeatedly or instructed. In my work with children of that age group I have observed firsthand, the levels intelligence and their capability to reason and resolve conflicts with their own age groups and even with adults given the freedom to express and listen. If we do have such a wonderful opportunity, then why not expose children to an environment that is real, authentic and free of self-doubt.

The brain of a gen z and a gen alpha child is much more hyper stimulated due to the changing lifestyles of adults and exposure to increased levels of screen time radiation. Where our educational structure and interaction is based on books and exams the ever evolving brain thirsts for something more meaningful. When there is no rationale and logic behind some of the most relevant questions that children constantly ponder over and ask, a bigger passive killer is built within the psyche of the child which is loss of interest. It can arguably be said that children are curious by nature, I do not disagree, but what does concern me and should concern all of us is that they begin to get curious about things that don’t hold any meaning and purpose.

Here I give you some of the questions that children between the age of 6-13 have asked me.

 ·    Why do we need exams?

·    What is the point of carrying so many books every day?

·    Why do we have such limited classed of PE?

·    Why don’t we have an option to exercise choice in how we want to learn and study?

·  Why should we study so much and some of us have to sit at home after marriage?

Honestly I wish I’d told them that it’s all a money making racket and a business idea to run schools, and that no one really cares about what they do or who they become after a given point. But again I’m one of the passive culprit who was also put into the system from the age of 3.

Although to most things I told them that I do not have a definite answer and that I’m still in the process of figuring it out.

In our ways of interaction with children of the gen z and the gen alpha, (I mean all children irrespective of any medical or psychological condition) our education system and training facilities have a long way to go in their ways of interaction which can only start by not repairing the roots but by growing new roots.

Soon after the pandemic hit every country, some of the schools in India were converted into hospitals and shelter for those who need to be quarantined, some institutions have gone out of their way to help students and provide classes online, then again the online classes in India only caters to a handful of them and here again, we do need to question if that’s what education means and if that’s what is important as opposed to providing mental health and physical health services for every child.

I posed this question to a few children in the present schooling system and here’s what they had to say.

 Question:

 How do you think your education system could have prepared you to battle a global pandemic?

Washing our hands , putting our elbows front while sneezing and all other safety precautions should not only be told when such pandemic arrives it should be mainly put in education curriculum because if we learn this from childhood then itself we can apply it strictly when such pandemic arrives.

It should be taught each and every citizen of the country should strictly follow the rules put up by the respected country (during lock down some people were unnecessarily out without any reason)

Education system should also be prepared for online classes before itself so that studies will not be disturbed.

Education system should bring awareness in the schools of rural areas to help them build up their immune system.

Lasya – 8th grade (Bangalore-India)

______________________________________________________________

Our education system should have some practical experiments in the lab showing the importance of washing hands and being hygienic, and the explanation of it and the consequences and result could have made us aware of all the diseases. The education system should have seminars regarding self hygiene, and how these viruses spread and become a global pandemic affecting people. They should have at least had soaps in the washrooms so that children have some impact on cleanliness. Though there are some chapters in the children’s books but not much importance is being given to hygiene. Our system should teach children basics about viruses and bacteria. The higher grade students know much about it and they are aware of things and it has helped them to stay safe.

 Aina- 10th grade (Bangalore-India)

 ______________________________________________________________

 I think the education system should have emphasized how viruses and illnesses spread and how important it is to stay home and take precautions against it. I feel like there are people in my school and community who do not understand the seriousness of the coronavirus pandemic and think it’s ok to keep going out unnecessarily.

We should have been taught about previous outbreaks in the past and how we as students can help slow/stop the spread of viruses.

As for what my school and education system has done as an effect of the coronavirus, I think they are doing the best they can. Our school district quickly implemented an online learning system for us so that we can still hopefully graduate on time. Although many school events got cancelled, the teachers, principal and counsellors at my school often offer support for students during this time. Many of my teachers and even the school principal are very understanding.

Our school district even gave away the districts laptops to students who don’t have their computers at home and offer WIFI hotspots. There are a lot of things that are unknown at this time such as whether or not my class will even have a graduation and whether or not we will ever go back to school again, but I certainly feel that my school has done the best they can despite the circumstances.

However, we should have been educated on what to do and how not to panic during a pandemic, which my school is also trying to do through online classes.

Prarthana 12th grade (USA-Texas)

______________________________________________________________

[viralartic]

9 Things That Happen To Your Body When You Eat Avocados Every Day

They say an apple each day keeps the doctor away. But what are you alleged to throw at him once you run out of apples?

In all seriousness, what we eat features a major impact on our overall health. And eating certain foods every day can cause you to happier and healthier than ever before.

Avocados are one of these foods. additionally, to tasting great, avocados provide a variety of awesome health benefits once you eat them each day! Here are nine things that happen to your body once you eat avocados a day.

Avocados may help slow signs of aging

One of the primary big avocado benefits is additionally one among the foremost important: avocados provide anti-aging effects for your body.

How does one hamper aging, exactly? It all starts with ensuring your body gets the nutrients it needs, including essential fatty acids. These EFAs protect your cells and your skin, helping you look a touch younger every day.

Ultimately, avocado is like salmon: it helps your skin glow.

Avocados may help reduce stress

One thing we all have in common is stress. regardless of who you're or where you reside, the likelihood is that that you’re trying to find easy ways to scale back stress.

Fortunately, one of the advantages of avocado is that it reduces stress. Why is that? Simple: avocados provide the magnesium your body must reduce stress and sleep better. And this creates a cycle where recuperating sleep reduces your stress even further!

If you’ve been handling tons of stress, it's going to be time to find out the way to make an avocado toast!

Avocados may assist you to reduce

Speaking of that dish, ever wonder why avocado toast is so popular among millennials? One reason is that, like coffee, it helps people lose weight!

In theory, losing weight may be a matter of mathematics: we just got to eat fewer calories and burn more calories through exercise and activity. But it gets difficult because certain foods cause you to feel fuller than other foods.

Due to the essential nutrients and healthy fats in avocado, you are feeling fuller for extended after eating. And while avocado calories are often on the high side, you'll dine in moderation and not feel the necessity to snack afterward.

Avocados may help fight depression

Depression is one of the worst things in the world. It can leave an individual feeling helpless and miserable from day today. However, eating avocados may assist you to fight back against depression.

Why is “fighting depression” one among the avocado health benefits? The healthy fats in avocado help fight depression. and that they also help prevent later mental decline which could cause depression (or simply make it worse).

Additionally, avocado provides magnesium to assist you sleep and potassium to spice up brain function. With regular avocado consumption, you’ll feel better, think better, and sleep better, all of which help fight depression.

Avocados may help your muscles get over workouts

Working out is pretty tricky. you would like to seek out exercises that challenge your body and strain the proper muscles. But you furthermore may get to eat the proper recovery meals to assist your muscles and joints heal after an intense workout.

That’s why more people are turning to avocado recipes after they compute. Avocado provides the potassium, healthy fats, and amino acids your muscles got to recover. Add some avocado oil to your recipes and you’ll be able to compute again before you recognize it!

Avocados may lower your risk of a heart condition

In some ways, your heart is the most vital organ in your body. If you’re not careful, things like heart conditions and heart attacks can permanently change the standard of your life.

Avocados, like romaine lettuce, are great for your heart thanks to the ingredients we mentioned earlier. Healthy fats help to scale back your chances of strokes, heart attacks, and various other heart diseases. and therefore the potassium helps keep your heart strong and your arteries clear.

Avocados may assist you to grow stronger nails

Few things are quite as annoying as a cracked nail. But have you ever asked yourself why your nails crack so often? the likelihood is that that you simply don’t get enough biotin in your diet.

Those with a biotin deficiency often experience weak and brittle nails. However, avocado naturally provides the biotin you would like to form your nails healthy and powerful. As another bonus, avocado also provides iron to further strengthen your nails.

Avocados may assist you to grow strong, shiny hair

Regular avocado consumption provides quite strong nails. It also can provide stronger and shinier hair!

If you’re wondering why it all comes back to biotin. even as a biotin deficiency can cause weak and brittle nails, it also results in hair damage and loss.

Once again, avocado provides a number of the biotin that your body needs. If you’re really worried about hair health, though, you'll want to urge biotin supplements so that your body gets a minimum of 30 micrograms per day.

Avocados may aid digestion

Whether you’re trying to reduce or not, everybody strives for a healthy gastrointestinal system. Unfortunately, many of the packaged and processed foods we eat every day are seriously disrupting our digestion.

The good news is that avocado can help put your digestion back on target. it's enough nutrients and fiber to market regular digestion, and therefore the low levels of fructose make avocado less likely to offer you gas.

Also, the potassium in avocado helps improve digestion. And consuming avocado can assist you to fight inflammation caused by other foods like meat. Between fighting inflammation and boosting digestion, avocado has what it takes to urge your body back on target.

[rachelroams]

I HAD COVID-19. THIS WAS MY EXPERIENCE.

Important note: my story is just one story. There are many people experiencing coronavirus, and each one of those narratives is valuable.

And, while each of our stories may provide a window into an individual experience, together—as compiled by experts—those stories allow for vetted, reliable data.

Please look to the tried-and-tested knowledge from medical professionals as you navigate this health crisis.

And remember: I’m just a regular person who had an experience and wanted to invite you into the fold.

***

THE BEGINNING

That photo was shot four days before my symptoms began. It was March 10th, and I was on assignment in South Carolina. I had just wrapped a public speaking engagement in NYC. The U.S. was still figuring out how seriously to take the Covid-19 threat, so storefronts, mass transit, and most of the world as we knew it was still open for business.

By March 12th, as I traveled home to the West Coast, Trump had announced a travel ban on flights from Europe, and things were starting to get serious in the States. I made a plan to self-quarantine for 14 days so that any potential germs I might have brought back from NYC didn’t get passed on to others.

THE ONSET

On March 14th, I noticed I had a light headache and muscle aches. I attributed them to post-travel fatigue and went on with my day. Within a few days, however, my body aches grew notably worse, I was constantly exhausted, and I was starting to have trouble sleeping.

By the 18th, my body was in full decline, and the pile-on of symptoms got scary fast. I had the symptoms that most of the news stories list—fever, aches, cough—plus a whole bunch more. (A full list of symptoms is in the next section.)

Between March 18-25, I fell into the void that is Covid-19. I ran a 102-degree fever for seven days. I had chills. Shivering. Fever dreams that looped, and looped, and looped again. Body aches severe enough that extra-strength acetaminophen did nothing lessen them.

One day somewhere in the middle of that time frame, a cough came on so strong and fast that I had to avoid talking, sitting up, or even moving. Those actions agitated the coughing to an extreme. My body became fatigued enough that I eventually couldn’t stand, walk, or even sit up for longer than a minute or two at a time. I wanted to sleep constantly, but never got past 4-5 hours without waking up in need of more pain or cough medication.

THE SYMPTOMS  

Here’s the full list of symptoms I experienced. They’re not all pretty, but they were all present.

Fever Cough Body aches Headaches Exhaustion Chills Night sweats Fever dreams Diarrhea Loss of appetite Clammy skin Red ring around eyes Loss of sense of smell Inability to sit up, stand, or walk Sensation that joints weren’t connected Sensation that knee caps were going to slide off my legs

(Yes, those last two are strange. Yes, they were part of my experience.)

THE TEST

My symptoms were notable enough that on March 19th, my husband called Urgent Care and asked what they would advise we do. After an interview about my condition and travel history, nursing staff said we should come in that afternoon.

At the staff’s instruction, my husband Todd put on a mask and gloves, and entered the hospital to register me as a patient. I was asked to stay in the car so that I didn’t come into contact with more people than necessary. After Todd returned to the car, a nurse called my cell phone and interviewed me about my symptoms and recent travel history. Based on my answers, we were waved through to the drive-through testing tent.

Nurses in gowns, face shields, masks and gloves approached the car and asked me to remove my mask. They took my temperature, listened to my lungs, confirmed my symptoms, and called a doctor to the tent. While the doctor ran through my list of my symptoms, triple-checking what we had described to the nursing staff, he inquired about my travel history. When I listed New York, he paused, turned away from us, and yelled, “We’re gonna need a Covid test here! This one’s been to New York.”

First, I was given a conventional flu test, and informed that it would be processed within the next few hours. If it came back positive, the hospital would assume I had the flu. If it came back negative, they would assume it was coronavirus and ship my Covid test out for processing.

The Covid-19 test was… uncomfortable. To test a person, medical staff inserts a 6-inch swab deep into the nasal cavity until it reaches the nasopharynx/upper throat, rotating it several times over the course of 10-15 seconds to gather a sufficient sample, and sometimes repeating the procedure with a new swab in the second nasal cavity. Normally fairly stoic, I had to be reminded to breathe during this process, wiping tears away as the doctor dipped my swab into a sealed pouch and passed it to the nurse.

The image below shows the handout I received following my test.

THE RESULTS

Within a few hours of our drive-through experience, we received a call from Urgent Care informing us that my flu test had come back negative. Next, they would be sending out my Covid-19 for processing. We were told that we would have to wait 5-10 days for results. The national average for results turnaround was five days at the time of testing (March 19).

In the meantime, we were instructed to stay home and treat the symptoms ourselves. The only exception would be if I started experiencing extreme shortness of breath (as per the nurses: “[feeling like I had run a marathon while sitting still, or feeling like I was suffocating]”), at which point we were to return to the hospital seeking intensive care. Barring that, we were to continue self-quarantine until both my husband and I were symptom-free for at least 72 hours. (Thankfully, Todd never developed symptoms.)

Over the next two weeks, we had a series of follow-up calls with nursing staff. On March 25th, I was told my test had been sent from Oregon to a North Carolina LabCorp facility, where it was “in process.” At that point, I was informed it would be closer to 12 days before I would receive results due to an inundation of tests needing processing at East Coast facilities.

Over the next couple calls, however, it became clear something strange was happening. On call two, my test was no longer showing “in process” in the lab records, but it was also not marked “complete,” which is the next stage. On call three, the nurse said my test notes now read “future,” indicating the swab had not begun processing, even though we were nearly two weeks past my test date.

THE MISSING TEST

On April 1st, 13 days after testing, the test was suddenly, inexplicably, not in the system. It was not listed in North Carolina. It was not listed in Oregon. It was not listed anywhere.

That day, I received a call from the Head of Nursing at Urgent Care. He informed me that I would not be receiving my Covid-19 test results… ever. He conferred, “[The staff here feels confident you had Covid-19, based your on symptoms and recent travel history. That’s why we gave you a Covid test. Unfortunately, there’s no way for us to confirm your positive results, because we don’t know where your swab went. We can no longer located it in any lab’s computer system.]” He continued, “[Unfortunately, this has happened a number of times now, with a number of different patients. Swabs have gone missing, and we don’t know why. At this point, I can say with confidence that we will never find those tests.]”

Somehow, between my Covid-19 test on March 19 and the swab’s transit to a LabCorp facility, my test disappeared, along with a number of others. In a nation with an already-limited number of tests, an unknown number of them are now afloat, unprocessed, and uncalculated in the national totals.

THE HEREAFTER

Regardless of official results, I believe I can safely say I’m on the mend from coronavirus. It has been exactly four weeks since the onset of symptoms, and I’m feeling mostly human again. While I still need to sleep 10-12 hours a day as my body repairs (my husband says I’m “sleeping like a college student”), I’m finally able to walk farther than the distance between the living room and bathroom. In fact, I made it beyond the mailbox this week. All things considered, that’s a victory.

As I take each day as it comes, I’m thankful to the body I normally take for granted. The partner who supplied me with Gatorade, prepared me miso, and noted my temperature three times a day for two weeks. The community of friends and family who sent love notes, funny gifs, and encouragement as I faced the fire.

As I place my trust in the healing process, I’m grateful for the opportunity to reflect on life’s small pleasures. Who knew it could be so exciting to watch a daffodil bloom? To note a Cooper’s Hawk outside the window? To get a good night’s rest, play a board game, or walk the whole length of the driveway? Who even remembered, in this wildly busy world, what a gift it is to simply listen to the breeze?

As I look forward, I send gratitude to the people deemed essential workers, whose employment at hospitals, grocery stores, restaurants, and more, requires them to show up at the front lines daily to keep our society fed and functioning.

As I acknowledge the vast unknowing that all that of us face, I encourage everyone (yes—even YOU!) to stay home if you’re not an essential worker. To get to know not only the inside of whatever building you’re calling home, but also the inside of your mind, your heart, and the wide expanse of space that is Not Knowing. To ask yourself what you feel today—every day a new day for asking—and grant permission to yourself to experience whatever natural, beautiful, and challenging feelings this whirlwind may ask of you.

THE AMA (“ASK ME ANYTHING”)

Do you have questions about my experience? Please let me know in the comments below. I’ll do my best to provide an answer.

I’ve had friends ask what supplies to keep on hand in case they get sick, what mindset I adopted during the healing process, what shows I was watching on Netflix when I was down for the count… whatever you’re wondering, let me know.

Thank you, as always, for sharing this journey with me.

You are appreciated,

Rachel

[kylenesusan]

What’s that like: Routine eye exam

I had an idea for a project that I’m going to work on writing. I’m going to call them “What’s that like?”  – it’ll be a description of things that I’ve done that range from the really mundane to the more complex. I got the idea after telling my grandmother and aunt what it’s like to go to the airport and take a flight because they have never, ever flown anywhere and they have no idea what that’s like. And I think that’s something that’s more common that maybe expected, because I ran into the same thing another time, where someone was asking about what something else was like, I think it was a sleep study, because they had one scheduled and didn’t know what to expect and were really anxious about getting ready for it. And I thought, you know, that’s potentially something that could be really interesting to write about, while also possibly being helpful to someone who’s trying to prepare for an experience – either young adults who are doing something on their own for the first time or people who experience some sort of difficulty, like anxiety or a physical handicap, or any number of other people.

To get this started, I’m going to write about going to a route eye exam. And I’m going to put it under a fold because, oh baby, this got long.

First, a disclaimer: 

The information in this post is from the standpoint of a Caucasian cisgender (meaning I identify with the gender I was assigned at birth) woman aged late 30s / early 40s with no children (childfree by choice) living in the southeast region of the United States of America. It is not intended to be used for legal advice of any kind. Other people’s experiences may be vastly different from my own. This is not intended to include all possible experiences in this situation, nor is it intended to exclude any other possible experiences in this situation. This information is presented only as an example of my own experiences. Your experience may be different from my own.

Okay. A little background – I am nearsighted and I don’t even know how long I’ve been going in for eye exams. I think I’ve been wearing contacts since I was 13, when Mom said I was old enough for that responsibility. I was wearing glasses a least a few years before that. My prescription isn’t that severe, but it’s serious enough that I need corrective lenses in order to drive. I wear soft contacts most of the time, but I have glasses and prescription sunglasses for when my contacts aren’t agreeing with my eyes, typically in the spring when my allergies are flaring up.

Justin and I are covered by insurance through my work that covers most of the yearly eye exams and a certain dollar amount to put toward glasses frames, glasses lenses, and contact lenses.

So the framing of this experience is someone who has a slight visual impairment and is covered by pretty decent insurance. I don’t know what it’s like to go to the doctor while having perfect vision or without insurance.

There are a couple terms that you might run into during this process that I’ll go over first because they sound very similar: Optometrist, ophthalmologist, and optician. (Reference: Healthline.com.) Optometrists are most likely the person who will be the doctor at your routine eye appointment. Ophthalmologist is who you would see if you needed surgery. And an optician is someone who works for the eye doctor helping the patients with glasses and stuff – not everybody there will be one, but the person fitting your glasses should be.

Eye doctor appointments should be scheduled ahead of time – there might be some that accept walk-in patients, but my recommendation is to set up an appointment with the office ahead of time. If you have insurance, follow the information from your provider to make sure that the doctor you would like to see is actually covered by your insurance – with my insurance, I can look up local doctor’s offices through the insurance website to check or I can call the insurance and ask someone over the phone to look it up. My eye coverage is separate from my medical coverage, so when contacting my insurance about eye care, I have to contact a different provider than I do for most of my other stuff. Make sure you know who you need to talk with about your eye care insurance coverage, if you have it. And be aware that some providers are specific about the location where the doctor is working – so a doctor could be covered by insurance at one location but that exact same doctor could be considered “out of network” at another location, which will mean that your insurance coverage will be very different. It’s a stupid insurance thing, so make sure to check ahead of time.

I don’t have any advice about finding a good eye doctor other than looking at reviews and asking around to see if anyone has any recommendations about who to go see. What I can say is that if you get to the end of the exam and really didn’t like the doctor or the people working there, you don’t have to go back there again. Just find a different doctor next time and try again. Don’t feel obligated to go back to someone you didn’t like.

Okay, so you’ve found an eye doctor and set up an appointment. You’ve checked with your insurance to make sure that you’re covered to see this doctor at this exact location. And now you’re ready to go to the appointment.

If you have corrective eyewear, you should wear/bring that to your appointment. (Also, I’m not sure why you’d be reading this post because how did you get that without having an eye exam?!)

There is going to be paperwork to fill out – you might get this ahead of time if the doctor’s office sends it or they might send you to their website to find it or you might have to do it when you get their office. You should plan to get there with some extra time before your appointment to give time to complete it. The paperwork will ask about your personal information like your name, address, age, etc. It will also ask for your insurance information. They will probably want a copy of your state ID and your insurance card for their records – they’ll make a scan/photocopy at the office so make sure to have these two cards with you when you get to the office. The paperwork might also include questions about family medical history and payment information and HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) release forms. (If you’re not familiar with HIPAA, your health information provided to doctors is protected by law and if you have anyone who you would like the doctor to talk with about your information, the doctor’s office needs a signed form that says that they’re allowed to release that information. More information about HIPAA here. As a side note, please don’t share private health information with groups who are not covered by the HIPAA laws, like something in Ye Olde Book of Faces. They are not required to keep your information private.)

At future appointments, you won’t have as much paperwork to complete. You’ll need to review that the previous information is still accurate and provide updates, but it won’t take so long.

At the office where I got my exam, I kept my paperwork with me instead of handing it back to the person working at the desk. A different person then called me back to a room for pre-exam tests and ask about my current medications and current eyewear. There are a variety of different tests that this person will do and I don’t actually know what all of them are testing. Most of them require not wearing my contacts, so she provided a space for me to wash my hands and remove those. One of the tests was a handheld item (she held it) that puffed little bursts of air into my eyes and made my eyes water a lot. (I think that’s the glaucoma test and this is a whole lot better than the old one where I had to put my face into a thing and wait for the puff to make me jump.) There was another one where I looked into a machine to look at a picture of long road to a balloon that went in and out of focus. Another machine showed a green dot that then flashed bright white light, like a camera flash, first in one eye and then the other. (That one also made my eyes water. I don’t like bright lights.) She had me look at a book and tell her what number was written in all the dots. (I do know that this is a colorblindness test.  Here’s an example.) And then she had me put on 3D glasses and tell her which of the 4 dots in the diamond was standing forward of the others.

She also dilated my pupils by putting in eye drops that would have that effect. She had me look up at the ceiling and she put the drops into my eyes and then told me to blink until it stopped stinging. If you have trouble with your blink reflex being seriously strong, like Justin, then this is tricky – he tends to blink before the drops hit his eye. I think the work-around is to put the drops on the side of his nose where they run into his eye from the side. They do this dilation in order to get a really good look at the inside of your eye to look for a whole bunch of potential problems. It’s annoying, but it’s for your own good. And I do mean it’s annoying. Everything was so bright and I couldn’t focus on anything closer than arm’s length, so reading my phone or a book or a computer screen was completely out of the question. And the drops keep my eyes dilated for several hours – something like 4 to 6 hours. I was able to read before they completely got back to normal, but things were bright and sometimes one pupil was a different size than the other and I looked like I was having a stroke. I definitely would not plan to go back to work or do anything important for the rest of the afternoon.

If you get your eyes dilated, make sure to have sunglasses for the trip home. And it might be helpful to have someone else with you who can see to help with the payments and stuff at the end of the appointment. Justin seems to be able to see better than I am after getting this done, so maybe some people handle this better than others.

The first time coming to this doctor’s office, the person doing these pre-exam tasks also checked the prescription on my glasses so the doctor would have that information. They use a clever little machine that tells them that information, but I have no idea how it works.

After doing these tests, we walked to the exam room. The exam room will have a chair with a stand next to it and it might look intimidating. There are so many tools and machines that are used in eye exams that I haven’t seen anywhere else. It’s okay; you don’t have to know what they do or how they work because you won’t be expected to touch them. And they should always warn you before they use anything.

I was asked to sit in the chair and with a spoon-shaped paddle over one eye, read the letters on the eye chart shown on the wall ahead of me, and then swap and read the letters with the other eye covered. This is just a sort of baseline that was part of the pre-exam testing and once she was satisfied that I could read with both eyes, she excused herself from the room and told me the doctor would be in with me shortly.

I wonder what they do if they find out the person coming in for the eye exam can’t identify letters… Can’t illiterate people get eye exams? Hrm….

Anyway, after a short wait, during which I read the informational posters on the wall and admired my doctor’s wedding photos, she came in and we started the actual exam. She asked if I was experiencing any problems with my eyes or if I had any questions, and since I was good and just needed to get more contacts for the year, we started looking at the eye charts.

Because I wear corrective lenses and she already knows what that prescription is, she had me look at the eye chart on the wall through the big butterfly shaped thing that she placed in front of my face. This has lots of lenses and things so she can swap things around to see which lenses look more clear to me. So, she’ll set it up, and then, with one eye blocked and only looking with the other eye, ask if I like one set of lenses better than the second option. And then, based on the answer that I give, do I like this one better than the next one? And how about this other one? And what’s she’s doing is trying a lot of different lenses to see which of them are the ones that I should use to see. Sometimes the difference between the two options is really easy to say which one is better, but not always. Sometimes, it’s hard to really know – like they’re the same focus, but maybe one is a little smaller? Just be open to say what you’re seeing to the doctor and let them know. They want you to go home with the best possible vision that they can provide and that’s going to depend on your answers to these questions.

As this process was going on, flipping between different lenses, she was asking me to read smaller and smaller letters off the eye chart on the wall ahead of me. And when she got to a point where she was satisfied, she asked me to look one more time, with both eyes open, and make sure that I could still see clearly with both eyes.

My prescription changed very slightly this year, but not a concerning amount. She asked if the contacts I’ve been wearing are still working for me and how frequently I swap them with new ones (to check that I’m disposing of them in the right amount of time – I’m supposed to use new contact lenses every 2 weeks). And then she brought me a new pair to try on to make sure that the prescription would work. She had a sink in the corner where I could wash my hands again before putting them in, and then had me sit on the chair again and, this time without the butterfly-looking thing, read the eye chart to make sure I could still see it, which I could see just fine.

After that, she did a close-up eye exam. And this is why you need to feel comfortable with your eye doctor because they are going to seriously invade your space at this point. She had me put my chin on a little stand so she could look at my eye with a lens that lets her see inside my eye. She asked me to look at her ear and then up and down while she held the lens in front of one eye and then the other. There’s a bright white light stripe on the lens that made my eyes water, but she’s good and quick at this and it didn’t take her very long to check both eyes.

She’s looking for damage to the eye and different diseases that show up in there. She’s also looking to make sure that the contact lenses I’ve just put in are fitting my eyes nicely.

Once she was happy that my eyes are nice and healthy and that my contacts were going to work and updated my information in the computer, she asked if I had any questions or anything else I wanted to ask, and then walked me out to the front of the office, where she thanked me and told the optician what I would be ordering.

Since I’m an established patient at this office, they already know what I use for my contacts, but if I was new, I would have discussed with the doctor the different types of contacts available and the different length of use that are available. I use 2-week contacts, but I have used longer ones and there are options for ones that swap out daily. This length is good for me and I like this brand, so I’m not changing right now. But that is a conversation that would be held with the doctor before putting in the new contacts.

If I was in the market for new glasses, this in the point in the appointment when I’d be looking at the different options for that. There are a lot of frames on the walls of the office that they have available for sale. These are just samples to try on and see if you like how they fit your face. They should have a little price sticker on them, and with our insurance, we get a frame allowance every 2 years up to a certain amount. Anything over that amount comes out of our own pockets.

After trying on a bunch of frames and deciding which pair you’d like, the optician will help select the lenses to put into those frames. There are a lot of options for this, too. If your prescription is really bad (meaning you can’t see for squat) then your lenses might be really thick normally, but you can chose an option that makes them significantly thinner. You can get tinting, anti-glare (I really recommend this option if you work at a computer a lot), anti-scratch, and a bunch of other things, I’m sure. I don’t wear my glasses enough to know what’s available for this. Be aware that each option will increase the amount you pay for your lenses, and our insurance again has a cap of how much they will pay for these. So, you might have to decide to pay out of your own pocket or not choose all the bells and whistles that you’d like.

Also of note for insurance, if I recall correctly, my insurance will either pay for glasses or contacts, but not both. So be aware that you might face limitations there as well.

Once you’ve selected frames and the options for your lenses, they will need to take some measurements of your face to make sure that your glasses will fit your face correctly. And then they will order your glasses. (There might be places where you can walk out that same day with glasses, but I have no idea.) Once your glasses arrive, they will call you in to make sure that they got everything right and the glasses fit and the lenses are right. They can make some tweaks to the fit before sending you home with your new glasses, so let them know if they don’t feel right.

Some offices have better frames selections than others and some frames that you got from one location might not be able to get lenses fit at a different location. The glasses Justin got from the eye doctor in Bluffton couldn’t get lenses fit correctly by the eye doctor here in Savannah. Also, there are a lot of options to buy glasses from online companies, which isn’t something I have experience with yet, but I think Justin’s planning to do that in the near future. He just had to request a copy of his prescription to take home when he left his appointment.

And I think that covers it! Please let me know what you think!

[scifigeneration]

Hackers seek ransoms from Baltimore and communities across the US

by Richard Forno

Many of Baltimore’s city services are crippled by a cyberattack. The Conversation from City of Baltimore and Love Silhouette/Shutterstock.com, CC BY-SA

The people of Baltimore are beginning their fifth week under an electronic siege that has prevented residents from obtaining building permits and business licenses – and even buying or selling homes. A year after hackers disrupted the city’s emergency services dispatch system, city workers throughout the city are unable to, among other things, use their government email accounts or conduct routine city business.

In this attack, a type of malicious software called ransomware has encrypted key files, rendering them unusable until the city pays the unknown attackers 13 bitcoin, or about US$76,280. But even if the city were to pay up, there is no guarantee that its files would all be recovered; many ransomware attacks end with the data lost, whether the ransom is paid or not.

Similar attacks in recent years have crippled the United Kingdom’s National Health Service, shipping giant Maersk and local, county and state governments across the U.S. and Canada.

These types of attacks are becoming more frequent and gaining more media attention. Speaking as a career cybersecurity professional, the technical aspects of incidents like this are but one part of a much bigger picture. Every user of technology must consider not only threats and vulnerabilities, but also operational processes, potential points of failure and how they use technology on a daily basis. Thinking ahead, and taking protective steps, can help reduce the effects of cybersecurity incidents on both individuals and organizations.

Understanding cyberattack tools

Software designed to attack other computers is nothing new. Nations, private companies, individual researchers and criminals continue developing these types of programs, for a wide range of purposes, including digital warfare and intelligence gathering, as well as extortion by ransomware.

Many malware efforts begin as a normal and crucial function of cybersecurity: identifying software and hardware vulnerabilities that could be exploited by an attacker. Security researchers then work to close that vulnerability. By contrast, malware developers, criminal or otherwise, will figure out how to get through that opening undetected, to explore and potentially wreak havoc in a target’s systems.

Sometimes a single weakness is enough to give an intruder the access they want. But other times attackers will use multiple vulnerabilities in combination to infiltrate a system, take control, steal data and modify or delete information – while trying to hide any evidence of their activity from security programs and personnel. The challenge is so great that artificial intelligence and machine learning systems are now also being incorporated to help with cybersecurity activities.

There’s some question about the role the federal government may have played in this situation, because one of the hacking tools the attackers reportedly used in Baltimore was developed by the U.S. National Security Agency, which the NSA has denied. However, hacking tools stolen from the NSA in 2017 by the hacker group Shadow Brokers were used to launch similar attacks within months of those tools being posted on the internet. Certainly, those tools should never have been stolen from the NSA – and should have been better protected.

But my views are more complicated than that: As a citizen, I recognize the NSA’s mandate to research and develop advanced tools to protect the country and fulfill its national security mission. However, like many cybersecurity professionals, I remain conflicted: When the government discovers a new technology vulnerability but doesn’t tell the maker of the affected hardware or software until after it’s used to cause havoc or disclosed by a leak, everyone is at risk.

Baltimore’s situation

The estimated $18 million cost of recovery in Baltimore is money the city likely doesn’t have readily available. Recent research by some of my colleagues at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, shows that many state and local governments remain woefully underprepared and underfunded to adequately, let alone proactively, deal with cybersecurity’s many challenges.

It is concerning that the ransomware attack in Baltimore exploited a vulnerability that has been publicly known about – with an available fix – for over two years. NSA had developed an exploit (code-named EternalBlue) for this discovered security weakness but didn’t alert Microsoft about this critical security vulnerability until early 2017 – and only after the Shadow Brokers had stolen the NSA’s tool to attack it. Soon after, Microsoft issued a software security update to fix this key flaw in its Windows operating system.

Admittedly, it can be very complex to manage software updates for a large organization. But given the media coverage at the time about the unauthorized disclosure of many NSA hacking tools and the vulnerabilities they targeted, it’s unclear why Baltimore’s information technology staff didn’t ensure the city’s computers received that particular security update immediately. And while it’s not necessarily fair to blame the NSA for the Baltimore incident, it is entirely fair to say that the knowledge and techniques behind the tools of digital warfare are out in the world; we must learn to live with them and adapt accordingly.

Compounding problems

In a global society where people, companies and governments are increasingly dependent on computers, digital weaknesses have the power to seriously disrupt or destroy everyday actions and functions.

Even trying to develop workarounds when a crisis hits can be challenging. Baltimore city employees who were blocked from using the city’s email system tried to set up free Gmail accounts to at least get some work done. But they were initially blocked by Google’s automated security systems, which identified them as potentially fraudulent.

Making matters worse, when Baltimore’s online services went down, parts of the city’s municipal phone system couldn’t handle the resulting increase in calls attempting to compensate. This underscores the need to not only focus on technology products themselves but also the policies, procedures and capabilities needed to ensure individuals and/or organizations can remain at least minimally functional when under duress, whether by cyberattack, technology failures or acts of nature.

Protecting yourself, and your livelihood

The first step to fighting a ransomware attack is to regularly back up your data – which also provides protection against hardware failures, theft and other problems. To deal with ransomware, though, it’s particularly important to keep a few versions of your backups over time – don’t just rewrite the same files on a backup drive over and over.

That’s because when you get hit, you’ll want to determine when you were infected and restore files from a backup made before that time. Otherwise, you’ll just be recovering infected data, and not actually fixing your problem. Yes, you might lose some data, but not everything – and presumably only your most recent work, which you’ll probably remember and recreate easily enough.

And of course, following some of cybersecurity’s best practices – even just the basics – can help prevent, or at least minimize, the possibility of ransomware crippling you or your organization. Doing things like running current antivirus software, keeping all software updated, using strong passwords and multifactor authentication, and not blindly trusting random devices or email attachments you encounter are just some of the steps everyone should take to be a good digital citizen.

It’s also worth making plans to work around potential failures that might befall your email provider, internet service provider and power company, not to mention the software we rely on. Whether they’re attacked or simply fail, their absence can disrupt your life.

In this way, ransomware incidents serve as an important reminder that cybersecurity is not just limited to protecting digital bits and bytes in cyberspace. Rather, it should force everyone to think broadly and holistically about their relationship with technology and the processes that govern its role and use in our lives. And, it should make people consider how they might function without parts of it at both work and home, because it’s a matter of when, not if, problems will occur.

About The Author:

Richard Forno is a Senior Lecturer of Cybersecurity & Internet Researcher at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.

[trans-shuichisaihara]

the third chapter of Empathy without Sympathy is up! I’m excited to get into The Good Stuff

read on ao3

---------------

With a grand total of four hours of sleep to fuel him, Kaito made his way to the cafeteria in a daze. Only to realize that, since the morning announcement hadn’t played yet, it was still locked up. As he groaned and gave the door a weak punch in frustration, one of his classmates appeared in his peripheral.

“You’re here pretty early, Momota-kun,” Shirogane greeted, “Did you have trouble sleeping too?” She sighed. “I woke up and just couldn’t get back to sleep.”

“I’m pretty sure Shuichi’s the only one that sleeps until the morning announcement,” he joked in response, turning towards her and leaning against the door as casually as he could.

“Ah, but it’s plain to see he’s your everyday night owl. If it weren’t for the announcement, who knows when we’d see him.”

“Yeah, true.” He scratched the back of his head. “Geez, you know he told me he normally doesn’t eat breakfast? How’s he supposed to get stronger if he’s skipping the most important meal of the day?”

“Oh, well...” She glanced away. “I honestly don’t eat breakfast much either. Well, didn’t, before this. There’s usually just so much else on my mind that before I know it, it’s lunchtime.”

They made some light talk as they waited for the cafeteria to open. The conversation helped pull his mind from drifting into tired, worried thoughts, so he was thankful that he’d left his room early. Being outside and active did wonders for his mental health, unsurprisingly.

Barely a minute after the disgust-invoking announcement played, he saw Harumaki exit the dorms. Shirogane followed his gaze, turning to watch her approach with him. “Good morning, Harukawa-san. Did you sleep well?”

She paused once she stepped onto the deck. “Well enough.” Her eyes flickered to Kaito, but she said nothing further, even when he also greeted her.

“So, I was thinking,” Shirogane said, continuing her abandoned train of thought, “Now that my research lab is open, it would be fun to get everyone together and cosplay. You know, as a, um, bonding-stress relief sort of activity?”

Kaito wasn’t interested in cosplay, but who was he to turn down bonding time with the group when they so desperately needed to stand together. “Sure, that sounds fine. Harumaki?”

“No thanks, I’ll pass.” She pushed past them into the cafeteria, leaving the two of them to sigh.

“Don’t worry, Momota-kun, I’ll make sure she comes.” Her eyes burned with a fiery passion. “This cosplay party won’t be ignored; I won’t allow it.”

To anyone else, her determination might’ve been a bit scary. But not to Kaito. Definitely not. “Alright, but don’t hurt yourself,” he laughed, trying to cover up the worry that was flooding him as he watched his sidekick’s back. “Let me talk to her first though; maybe I can convince her.”

She agreed, waiting outside to greet the others while Kaito entered and approached Harumaki, who was dumping rice into the rice cooker.

“Hey, Harumaki, you doin’ alright?” When she didn’t respond, he sighed. “Shuichi told me what happened while I was in the bathroom.” He paused. “You... You’re not sick or anything, right?” He hoped the answer was no, but asking was the only way to find out.

“I’m fine,” she curtly stated, “Saihara overreacted, and I decided to leave since I was done and I didn’t want to deal with any drama.”

He frowned. “But you didn't answer your door-”

“Did I have to?” She cut him off, very clearly annoyed. “It was nighttime. I wanted to go to bed. That was it.”

He wanted to keep pushing, but Kiibo entering stopped him. “Ah, good morning Momota-kun, Harukawa-san!” He glanced around the room. “Have you seen Iruma-san? I’ve seen everyone but her so far.”

“Nah, not yet. She’s probably in her lab or somethin’,” he responded. When Kiibo turned away, he looked back to Harumaki, mumbling, “Let’s talk later, then.”

She huffed but didn’t disagree.

Surprisingly, Shuichi wasn’t the last to arrive for breakfast for once. He entered with Yumeno, having a rather slow paced conversation as he rubbed sleep out of his eyes. Ouma darted in a minute after them, closely followed by Shirogane and Gonta, who’d been standing in the doorway chatting before he cut in front of them. At which point, a concerned Kiibo left to find Iruma, the only one not there.

When he returned with her, loud and giddy in a clearly sleep deprived way, Ouma wasted no time abandoning his meal to start shit with his two favorite targets.

“Hey, you’re finally back from your morning quickie! What’s it like, having a threesome with a computer and a robot?”

“I dunno, what’s it like jerkin’ off your morning wood into the toilet bowl?” Iruma was quick to retort. As Kiibo stammered at her language and lack of proper objection to Ouma’s question, he shared an exasperated look with the rest of the group.

Their banter continued with no sign of acknowledging the looks, gradually escalating in vulgarity until a heavy pound caused the entire room to flinch. “Please, don’t fight!” Gonta shouted, his palms flat on the table from having slammed them down, “Gonta doesn’t understand, but friends shouldn’t fight!”

Iruma shrunk, while Ouma merely blinked. Kaito took it upon himself to step in. “Hey, calm down, they’re just messin’ with each other, not fighting.”

“Huh? Not fighting?” His face twisted in confusion and distress. “But...”

“Geez Gonta, you’re as wrong as always.” Ouma turned his barbed words towards him. “I mean, even if we were fighting, it wouldn’t matter since we’re not friends.”

“Y-Yeah, that’s right,” Iruma stuttered out, “I mean, why, why would a gorgeous genius like me need idiots like you all as friends.”

“That’s right!” Ouma spread his arms out, gesturing to the rest of them. “After all, ‘friends’ implies trust, and this fun Killing Game is all about betrayal! There’s no trust to be found here!” He giggled gleefully, and Kaito clenched his fists in frustration at his antics. “Way to go, Iruma-chan, you finally said something worthwhile. Maybe now you won’t have to resort to whoring yourself out to get some respect.”

Predictably, she quivered and let out a breathy moan at his taunt. That, however, was closely followed by Harumaki’s chopsticks clattering to the floor as she jerked out of her seat, murder in her eyes as she looked to Ouma. A small pit of fear surfaced in Kaito’s chest at the sight.

“If you don’t shut up, I’ll make you. Permanently.”

“Ooo, how scary! Momota-chan, you should really keep your guard dog on a leash. We’ll be in a lot of trouble if she becomes the next blackened.” He nonchalantly flicked some dirt out from underneath his fingernails. “Well, maybe I should say ‘when’ instead. I mean, she is a murderer already.”

Kaito rose from his seat and moved to her side. “Harumaki won’t kill anyone. Especially not over you actin’ like a shithead.” In fact, the fact that Ouma would even think that she would was starting to make his blood boil.

“Oh? But what about the motive?” Ouma challenged.

“What about it?”

“Don’t you think that could make her kill?”

He hesitated for only a moment. “Of course not! Besides, it’s clear that there is no motive.” He pointedly ignored the silent “for now” that could be tacked onto the end of his sentence.

Ouma smirked. “But there is. In fact, I already know what it is.”

“You do?” Shuichi chimed in, “What is it?”

“I’m not telling,” he sang, “Even if it is Saihara-chan asking. After all, if I’m the only one that knows, that means I have complete control over the motive. And...” His smirk grew even more condescending. “Complete control over everyone here.”

His declaration to the group was met with a growing fear of the unknown. Some of them shared uncertain looks with each other. Kaito kept his eyes on Ouma, skin crawling as he tried to figure out if it was a lie or not.

Harumaki was the first to recover. “So, is that a threat?” She shifted, as if ready to jump across the table and lunge for him at any time. In response, Ouma’s gaze briefly flickered between her, the rest of the group, and the exits, not so subtly leaning towards the interior door.

“Maybe, maybe not.” He folded his arms behind his head. “Why, are you afraid, Harukawa-chan?” He didn’t wait for her response to try to leave the cafeteria.

Kaito frowned and moved to cut him off, standing between him and the door. “Seriously, what’s your problem?! You’re being particularly nasty and I don’t like it.”

He grinned. “I’m just trying to have fun! This game isn’t fun unless there’s drama and suspense, right? That’s why Monokuma didn’t tell us what the motive was, so the suspense of figuring it out would put us on edge.” He sniffed. “How could I be so cruel and take that mystery away from you all?” As quick as the pretend sadness came, it was gone, his face returning to its normal smile. “Well, I mean, it’s mostly that it’s more interesting watching you all run around with no idea, but still.”

“Bull-fucking-shit!” Iruma shouted, sweating buckets as she gripped Kiibo’s shoulders, keeping him in-between her and Ouma, “What are you gonna do with the motive if not use it to get one of us killed!”

Harumaki glared. “Is that your plan? To become the next blackened?”

“Or manipulate one of us to, perhaps..?” Shirogane quietly added.

Ouma tapped his finger against his cheek for a long moment. “Both of those are very good ideas. Since my objection is to win the game, obviously I’ll need to do whatever it takes. That’s just the kind of game that is.”

A blind fury descended upon his mind and before Kaito could process his words, he was already moving, his fist connecting with the side of Ouma’s face, knocking him back.

He immediately regretted it. But he pushed it down, instead choosing to yell, “That’s enough! I don’t know what your deal is, Ouma, but you need to cut it out!” Shuichi ran to his side to attempt to pacify him, but Kaito shrugged him off. The blood in his chest was ready to blow from the anger flooding him, too strong to ignore. “Either you calm down off of whatever weird, fucked up direction your mind’s goin’ in, or I’ll beat some sense into you!”

Ouma didn’t respond. His shoulders shook, but he hid his expression in his long bangs and downward tilted face.

Kiibo ran to his side along with Gonta to help Shuichi pull him back towards the table. He resisted, but with his deteriorating strength and Gonta’s, well, Gonta-ness, it was a futile effort. And the second he was out of the way, Ouma slinked out, the door only opening enough to let him slip through.

The sigh of relief that passed through the group once he was gone made Kaito’s stomach churn. Oh. Fuck. He’d fucked up. He stared down at his now throbbing hand, slowly stretching it. Guilt slowly replaced the waning anger and frustration that had built up. “Dammit,” he hissed, clenching his fist again.

Breakfast was finished with an awkward tension hovering over them. Iruma muttered under her breath while Gonta squirmed in his seat, giving the rest of the group worried looks. Shuichi looked like he wanted to say something to either him or Harumaki - or both - but refrained.

Finally, the silence was broken. “Um, Gonta wants to say something, if that’s okay...”

Kaito held back a tired sigh. Damn, he needed a nap. “Yeah, sure, go ahead big guy.”

“Yeah big dick, you tell ‘em,” Iruma barked as she dumped her barely-eaten meal and scurried out the door. Kiibo gasped and ran after her, shouting about how she needed to eat properly.

“A-Ah, wait!” Gonta shouted after them, before slumping. “Gonta wanted everyone to hear, but everyone’s fighting...”

“It’s okay, you can still tell us,” Shuichi comforted, “We can tell the others later for you, if you want.”

“That’s right,” Harumaki agreed, before immediately leaving. Kaito sputtered at his sidekick’s uncooperativeness; he’d have to address that later!

“Uh, well... Gonta, Gonta is going to fight Monokuma and Exisals!” He declared.

“Huh?” Shirogane’s expression quickly changed to worry. “Gonta-kun, no! You’ll get hurt, or worse!”

“She’s right,” Kaito agreed, “I know how you feel, but throwing yourself into danger isn’t gonna help us.”

Gonta’s face twisted as he looked down. “But...”

Yumeno sighed loudly. “Geez, all this drama is exhausting. This sort of environment is bad for my new positive lifestyle.” She pushed herself out of her chair, pointing at him. “Gonta! You will carry me to the dojo, where I will reveal your true purpose to you! A purpose full of positivity, or something...” She trailed off, clearly having used up all of her energy in one go.

Thankfully, he was as easily distracted as always. At least they could trust that Yumeno wouldn’t manipulate him like Ouma would, Kaito mused as he watched him pick her up and follow her demands.

As the door slowly swung shut behind Gonta, Shuichi coughed awkwardly. “Um, I suppose I should be going too. She asked me to come to the dojo as well.”

“Incorporating some daytime training into your regime, huh Shuichi?” He shot his sidekick a thumbs up. “Keep up the good work!”

“Ah, I will.” Shuichi smiled fondly, waving a farewell to him and Shirogane as he quickly followed after Gonta and Yumeno.

Once he was out of sight, Kaito stood from his seat, stretching. “Well, I think I’m gonna head back to my room for a bit. See you at lunch?”

“Of course.” She nodded, then paused for a moment. “Oh, if you wouldn’t mind, would you help me with something afterwards?”

[amitsood]

1 . What Is GST Suvidha Center?

GST Suvidha Centers is a franchise in which the franchise owners have approved permission from the government body to provide all the GST, Financial, Banking, Loan, Insurance, Employment, Education, Health,G2C and travel assistance in their locality at low rates. It creates business opportunities for people who want to have a standard life by creating a stable earning source.

If you want to learn more about GST Suvidha Centers, check the website of GST Suvidha Centers.

2. Why Do We recommend GST Suvidha Center as a profitable business?

Every Business has its own low and high time depending on the business’ season but let us tell you that the number of service GST Suvidha Centers’ franchise owners have is offered by none and can never go out of season.

There were once only 100 services to offer but in the current date Franchise owners have more than 250 services in which request for most of them comes any time of the month. Either its GST Registration, Digital Life Certificate, ITR filing, Loan, Insurance or any of the service. It is because of GST Suvidha Centers that franchise owners are currently having high connectivity, easy process and a vast number of client supports.

The reason why we are highly recommending GST Suvidha Kendra is also because it keeps on adding different services and techniques to create more chances of earning.

3. Amount of Earning Opportunities?

The Question is in which Amount and what kind of Opportunity is GST Suvidha Centers creating for its franchise members…so…

As with the simple calculations, the minimum average earning of a franchise owner would be touching the price of Rs.35,000–50,000 per month with simple services.

As if a franchise owner gets a minimum one customer per day for the least costing service i.e. GST Registration so the total amount of customers at the end of the month would be 30. Every Customer is charged Rs.1,000 for the GST Registration which makes the amount Rs.30,000, so the GST Franchise owner already made 30,000 in its first month with the least cost service and there will be zero commission that they have to give to the company for the service. Now GST Registration is a onetime process but GST Return Filing and Accounting are monthly processes.

If the client has taken the service of GST Registration they would surely appear for GST Return Filing and Accounting which is mandatory, And the costing would be 500+ 1500= Rs.2000 per customer. At the End of the month, the franchise owner’s earning reaches 60,000 in which 50% would be handed to the company as part of the commission.

As per the calculations now the franchise owner has the earning of 60000 at the end of the second month with just 2–3 service. Now the earning rate increases with other 250+ services of finance, banking, loan, insurance, travel, and other GST Services and G2C services.

4. How does GST Suvidha Centers Quality to be best?

A company is only trusted with its Clients Words and it comes after a promising service. In GST Suvidha Kendra there are multiple sectors in which support is provided, information is delivered and contact is maintained.

At first, the company provides its franchise owners vouchers and gift cards that help them to recover the money that they invested in the franchise.

Second, the Support- Franchise owners get CRM Software, Training, App Facility Softcopy of Official and Business Documents with Backend support and Relationship Manager.

Third, the way of information delivery- Franchise owners have more than 250 services to deliver which we understand is not possible to know about so Company provides an information kit online in which details of every service are present in the form of pdfs and company also provide informative videos from time to time, sends notifications for services and most important always work in developing better ways for service.

5. What is the easiest Procedure for opening a GST Franchise?

An interested person has to visit the GST Suvidha Centers’ official website and fill the form available at the end of the page. He/she would be contacted by our sales executive for the confirmation and after all the important verification processes he/she would be assigned a franchise and then he/she can start the business.

6. How to run A Successful GST Suvidha Centers?

To run, a successful GST Suvidha Centers Franchise, owners must take the training session seriously that franchise training experts provide when one purchases the center. After that, franchise owners have to continuously check the updates provided by the company and work accordingly.

7. Is it Safe to Invest in GST Suvidha Center?

In the world of business, fake promises are so common but GST Suvidha Centers wants its franchise owners to know that this is a very assuring business idea but demands your attention towards the profession.

Every kind of support is covered by us whether it’s the service delivery or information delivery. GST Suvidha Center provides notification, technical support, great backend support, and fast delivery support, All-time toll-free support and also creates an easy connection medium between the client and company. Our Tax Experts provide the best Solution that they gained by working in the field for years so trust us, youCan Trust Us.

8. How will the franchise work?

The working process for the franchise is very easy.

When clients approach the franchise for any service. Franchise owner just has to upload all the requested documents on the CRM Portal and the rest is handled by the Backend Support team.

For any queries about anything, Franchise owners can contact directly to their RM and due to the support of GST Suvidha Center App facility it is now easy to communicate any time and this has also created a “PORTABLE BUSINESS” opportunity as now services are present at Doorstep.

9. How to buy the franchise?

When you visit the GST Suvidha Center Website, fill the form for the franchise opening request. Within a few days, you will be contacted by our sales executive and they will brief you about the franchise and the working module. Once the briefing session gets over you would be requested documents for verification and after the verification and payment process are done. A welcome call will be given and then softcopy or cash amount would be deposited for banner and business card in the account. Now with the authorized license one has the permission to provide the services. A relationship manager would be assigned to provide Training on how to use the CRM Portal and from time to time other upgraded services would be provided.

10. What will be the cost of GST Franchise?

For purchasing a GST Suvidha Centers Franchise an amount of Rs.25000+ 18% GST has to be paid to the company with proper documents.

11. Who to contact when finding difficulty in any service?

Your Assigned Relationship Manager.

12. Benefits for purchasing GST Suvidha Center?

A gift voucher for the net worth of Rs. 15,000+ 10,000.

Authorized license

CRM Software.

App Facility for the franchise and its clients.

Designed Softcopy for business id, banner and business card.

Relationship manager

Backend Support.

toll-free facility

13. Eligibility and Requirements for purchasing a GST Suvidha Center?

It does not require that one should have proper GST o business knowledge. We provide systematic training for that.

A place to operate the business.

The candidate must at least completed 12th.

An Android phone/computer, printer, scanner and internet connection.

For More Information Visit us at

https://www.gstsuvidhacenters.com/blog/how-to-gst-suvidha-center-a-high-profitable-franchise-business-in-2020/ Contact us at https://www.gstsuvidhacenters.com/contact-us/ Call us now 18008435500 Email us at connect@gstsuvidhacenters.com

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