#somebody send me some motivation for good measure

[sassypantsjaxon]

Tomorrow's my day off, and all other plans I might have had were canceled because it's fucking cold, so maybe I can finally finish my lulaw wedding fic

[chibimyumi]

Hi, I hope you're doing well and staying healthy. I've read your post about how Elizabeth attacking ciel is sexism. What about Sebastian getting bully by Frances? Frances is a noblewoman grabbing a servant's hair in front of other people. And fans (including me) are like: oh! What a lioness! Even the devil himself is terrified of her! what if it was the other way around? The idea of a nobleman grabbing a governess's hair calling her nasty and indecent makes me uncomfortable and even angry.

【Response to post: Sexism against men and Kuro Sexist jokes】

Dear Anon,

I’m doing well, thank you very much. I hope you too ^^

Your question is a very good one, and it really had me thinking for a while! I myself admittedly do laugh very hard at Sebastian getting a hard time from Frances. But indeed, like you said, it is still bullying, and bullying is bad. In this post-feminist era, we have been so trained to see women bullying men as ‘funny’ or ‘empowering’, but women getting bullied as unambiguously bad instinctively, that sometimes we forget to check our double standards.

Feelings are feelings, we can’t help what we feel. But how come then that to many of us, Frances bullying Sebas is so funny, but Lizzie almost murdering O!Ciel and Nina bullying men not? This post is merely an attempt to explain this feeling for myself too, but hopefully we can all reach SOME explanation together as well???

Let us first look at in what ways Frances has been making Sebastian’s life hard. From all the interactions we have of these two so far, her main points of criticism seem to be his hair and his lack of professionalism.

Slovenly Hair

Sebastian’s hair is something we’ve gotten quite used to now after more than14 years. In Sebastian’s time however, his hair really would have been the height of impropriety for his profession.

Just like I translated O!Ciel’s looks to 2020 standards, I quickly translated Sebas’ hair to 2020 standards as well. Very clean, innit?! Very professional, innit?!

Even without the translation however, if we look at the worst of wigs from the Kuromyus, we can also see how Sebastian’s hair would be atrocious in any formal setting. Look past the fact that these actors are supposed to represent a drawn character. Just imagine being in a fancy restaurant and encountering a dead-spider feather duster on your waiter’s head.... erm....???

Something that is objectively bad on Frances’ end however, is that chapter 14 is not the first time that Frances has seen his ‘slovenly hair’. If his hair really is so unacceptable, as an authority figure Frances has the right to say something about it. However, as it seems, until this point she has never communicated at all (no, “hinting” is not the same as communicating), so Sebas had no way of knowing what he “did wrong”. She immediately grabbed for Sebastian’s hair without mercy, probably because her crept up frustration got the better of her. This is indeed entirely too harsh for a first time call-out, and entirely on Frances.

Much later in the story Frances criticises and touches Sebastian’s hair again, and this time in public while he was infiltrating as a teacher. Here Frances is even publically humiliating Sebastian in front of his students and other high ranking guests.

Especially when you keep in mind that Frances is a noblewoman and Sebas a mere servant, Frances is indeed abusing her power against a servant who cannot strike back at all.

This is indeed power play. However, though it does not justify anything, in the very least her criticism does have ground; Sebas’ hair is by all measures inadequate for any professional setting. Just be nicer about it, Frances.

Useless Butler

Now, let us look at the other reason Frances disapproves of Sebas. Sebastian is a very competent butler according to most people. To Frances however, this claim is empty. When she arrives, parts of the estate have been destroyed and something very literally exploded in her presence.

Even though Sebas is not the person actively causing the explosion or the destruction, as the senior servant of the household, it is literally his job to manage the other servants. So yes, here too, the fact that things can be destroyed in the household because he either hired inadequate staff or because he mismanages his household, DOES INDEED prove he fails at his job. As the aunt of O!Ciel who cares about her nephew AND her paternal home, Frances is in her right to be concerned and call Sebastian out for NOT doing his job.

In chapter 14, Sebastian’s schedule was all over the place and kept changing the plans for Frances. It is no wonder that she would be quite annoyed and doubt Sebastian’s adequateness. When you know your 13 year old nephew’s household is in the hands of somebody so apparently inadequate, anybody would probably be concerned. However annoyed though, Frances does not overstep any boundaries about this specific issue; she is simply supremely unimpressed. Fair enough?

Compliments where due

Something that is quite interesting though, is that despite disapproving of Sebastian, Frances does also know when to compliment him when due. After Sebastian has saved Lizzie’s life without boasting, Frances recognised how the butler does indeed have some value and the correct attitude as a servant.

She says “though you look indecent what you say is true,” and it is yet another jab at the demon’s expense. But here she is also showing that she is willing to acknowledge somebody’s achievements, looking past appearances.

Before Frances leaves, Frances jabs at Sebas a bit again, but she really is not doing anything dickish this time. Instead of making Sebas think she’s simply chosen him as target to be a prick towards, she concretely states why she doubts his professionalism. She mentions the smashed tea set, bare garden and burnt food; mistakes that are objectively unacceptable. Instead of yelling at him, she actually gives him constructive criticism. So here too, Frances is quite stern, but her grounds are solid.

In the Campania arc Sebas shows up again with the hair Frances disapproved of. Frances clearly wants to do something about it again because in her eyes, the butler simply won’t learn. But given the circumstances and Sebastian’s proven usefulness, Frances actually does shelve her agenda. Just like above, here too Frances shows that she is capable of acknowledging somebody despite their looks.

Later when the zombies dramatically outnumbered the living humans, Frances sends Sebas - who had come to her aid - back to her daughter and nephew. By sending Sebas back, Frances also shows that she in fact trusts this ‘slovenly butler’ with the lives of two children she loves deeply. Sebastian protests, but Frances immediately replies: “don’t you trust our ability as swordsmen?” Here what Frances is functionally saying is: “I trust you with your abilities, so you can trust us back.”

In short, Frances is harsh and doing power-play against a servant, but she can shelve her agenda, and does acknowledge Sebas when due.

Contrast to Nina and Lizzie

So now we have seen how Frances bullies Sebastian, and her motivation behind all her points of harshness. As we have seen, Frances’ only points of criticisms are concrete ones; Sebastian’s lack of professionalism in looks, and his lack of professionalism in management. She goes about them too harshly, but all points are legit criticisms, and something Sebas CAN and probably SHOULD work to improve.

Nina

This is in stark contrast with the way Nina bullies her victims. As far as we have seen, none of Nina’s victims have offended her in any way, nor does she ever give any concrete criticism. She has just decided that because men are men, they don’t deserve proper treatment. Even when providing clothes for men is literally part her job, she refuses to provide the ‘professional service’ she is being paid for. And because she is AN EMANCIPATED LESBIAN!!!!!!! #FEMINISM, it’s FINE (!?!?!?)

Unlike with Frances’ criticism of Sebastian’s inadequate hairdo and managing, being ‘men’ is not something any of these men can do anything about (except Sebas, but Nina doesn’t know). Bullying is always wrong, always low. But it’s EVEN lower when you bully somebody for who they are, and not what they do wrong. What does not help is that Nina seems to only be capable of treating people nicely if they happen to be sexuality-wise compatible with her... but if you are, you’ll get molested. What is wrong with you, Nina????

Yes, Frances is saying: “you are a man, and yet your fringe is so long”. So on the most surface level, it is a woman saying this to a man because he is a man. As we later get to know Frances a bit better though, she would be harsh to anybody who looks slovenly. She just has different hairstyles which she considers appropriate for men and women respectively. Had Sebas been a woman and his hair was the ‘feminine equivalent of slovenly’, Frances would most likely have acted exactly the same. So in this sense, unlike with the jokes using Nina and Lizzie, it is not purely: “Haha, girl bullies boii, lol.”

Something else that is terrible is that what Nina does seems to be systemic. Logically it checks out too; it can’t be that only since the past few weeks she’s decided only women and young boys deserve her kind treatment. For all we know, Nina’s been treating the male Phantomhive staff like this for 2-3 years. Sebastian’s comment about Nina thoroughly ignoring men again with “as always” further supports this theory.

With Frances in contrast, in chapter 14 (so barely a year ago in story time), Sebas seemed to have no clue whatsoever about Frances’ terrors. Sebas announced Frances’ arrival to his master and is very calm about it. It was not until O!Ciel alerted Sebas about his aunt that anybody even guessed what hurricane was headed for them. As such, we can safely conclude that Sebas had only been subjected to Frances’ criticism a couple of times, unlike having had to bear with Nina for years.

Yes, Frances still should have communicated, but I already addressed the details above. Still, the point remains that even though Frances is overstepping boundaries and abusing her power, her criticisms are at least not empty.

Lizzie

Lizzie too just like Nina, had zero grounds for showing that much aggression. She did not give anybody the benefit of the doubt, did not communicate, or even so much as give O!Ciel any chance to explain the situation. So far O!Ciel has given Lizzie no reason to think he’d cheat on her, and yet she hurled so much aggression at him Sebas had to intervene.

Still, Lizzie is marginally better than Nina because she is not systemically bullying O!Ciel. It is a one time event. However, this one makes me more annoyed with Yana because it means that even Yana had to use this stale, stale trope of “LOVE TRIANGLE COMEDYYYY”. Have I ever mentioned how MUCH I hate love triangles and jealousy???

Conclusion

Feeling wise, the most important reason for why Sebas being bullied by Frances is funny is probably because of who Sebas is. Sebas is otherwise an all-powerful demon, but to see him inventing colours to shit at Frances - a human Sebas could crush between his fingertips like a cookie - is just hilarious. Had Sebas been a human though, I would not have laughed so hard personally.

Rationally however, Frances is doing power play against a servant who cannot talk back, so it is still bullying, and bullying is inexcusable.The only bit of “right” Frances has is that she does not seem to be systemically bullying Sebastian, and that her criticisms have some ground.

So if Nina and Lizzie’s behaviours played for jokes are like... a -7 and -9 respectively, Frances’ at least scores a -2 for me?

(Yes, as we’re talking about bullying anyway, I just have to make a jab at Vincent.)

Afterword

Something not really related to why “Frances:Bad”, “Nina-Lizzie:Worse”, but I do wish to mention is Yana’s improved drawing skills. I have no proof, but I think it MIGHT have been where this Frances-joke originated.

Yana’s time in the more traditional mindset of manga-worldview really showed, especially at the far beginning. Besides, she was still in the process of finding a way to draw handsome men. In the more traditional mindset of the early 2000s, handsome men were just not supposed to have slicked back hair - “that was reserved for old men and nasty dudes!!” Yana’s discomfort with drawing handsome men with slicked back hair was clearly visible in Sebastian’s early appearances, and making the ‘”hair, back!!! says old-fashioned lady” was potentially even a way of Yana to laugh at herself.

I don’t know who else is old like me and grew up with 80s to early 00s manga, but at the time, hair for handsome men was a BIG deal. In that world ‘slicked back hair’ just carried a certain laughability about it; a “rule of not-cool”. To me at least at the time this ‘laughability’ really resonated with me, and Yana probably also trusted this same ‘unspoken rule’ to resonate with her audiences.

Much later though, Yana clearly grew more comfortable and  maybe even fond of slicked back hairstyles as she confidently chose to portray Sebas as ‘appealing’ while wearing his hair in the style Yana previously disliked.

Again, I have no proof, but I can’t help but think that if Kuro had started 10 years later, the running gag revolving Frances might look altogether different.

What do you guys think? ^^ Cheers, and stay healthy!

Character analysis Nina Hopkins

Character analysis Vincent Phantomhive

Sexism against men and Kuro’s sexist jokes

MASTERPOST Gender in Kuroshitsuji

MASTERPOST Analyses & Info

[theratopia]

Start over

Hi, friends,

How are you doing? Somebody should ask.

I feel like I’m contractually obligated to send at least one question per year, and it’s already June. I started writing this update in April, but you’ll understand why it took me so long to finish this in a few moments.

I have been inside my house for over a year now, since April 2020. To be precise, I went to the doctor once in July, then across the street twice in November to vote, then out once more this month for another doctor’s appointment. Between those, I spent stretches of 4 to 7 months inside my house. Do I feel like I’m losing contact with reality? A little bit. Another reason to reach out and tell you how life is in Groundhog Day-land, and thank you for all the support.

The reason why it’s taking me over a month to write this is twofold: I started a room renovation in late March, and when I got close to the end of it, I got Covid-19 again. “Again?”, you would ask me. Ah, yes, again. Because apparently staying inside for a whole year is not enough. We are not sure what caused the first contamination, but the most recent was caused by a birthday party. The neighbors downstairs invited half of their family to drink and yell during a Saturday afternoon. A few days later all inhabitants of all four houses in our complex begin presenting symptoms. For my sister and me, it was the second episode; first for my parents.

Many times in my life I have dealt with the fear of dying or losing a family member. There is no getting used to it. We were in a constant state of panic for two weeks. Even though I recovered well, I am now dealing with post-Covid syndrome, which is a thing and it’s as fun as it sounds. So, not only I have to kick this disease in the balls twice and tell death “not today”, but I also have to tell the lasting effects to fuck off already.

Oh, and the neighbor who started all this? By my estimations, he contaminated between 14 and 20 people. And then he died. But don’t worry, he was a piece of shit. His family is acting like nothing happened, receiving guests almost daily.

Pandemic? Who’s she?

But please, when does it end?

Vaccination is a desire for the future, but it should be coming sooner rather than later since some mayors have decided to compete which town finishes immunization faster. Thankfully, all my grandparents are fully vaccinated and my immediate family got at least their first shot. In my household, I’m the only one still waiting. Best case scenario, I get the first shot next month and the second one a month later. Or it could be postponed to September, with a three month waiting period for the second shot. Until then, continuous isolation is the safest bet.

So here I am to tell you how have I been surviving inside.

Most of my life during these 14 months has been confined to a desk, a chair, and the lower bunk bed. I don’t even have the entire room for myself. The majority of my day happens within an area of 16 sq. ft. I measured. Don’t get me wrong, I am still able to recognize my privilege of being able to not go out for as long as I have. However, as much as I enjoy staying inside, feeling trapped I do not. I am unable to physically move anywhere, which translates into feeling like I can’t move forward with my life. Barstow is still Barstow, but now smaller and more dangerous.

So, to escape and to exercise my stubbornness of not giving up I had to come up with strategies to grow inwards.

I tell you all this because I know that the PodTherapy community was and is a great source of inspiration to better myself even when everything feels hopeless. This show keeps me grounded and motivated. I started working out of Nick, I have been journaling more because of Jim, I have been trying to keep myself busy with projects around the house because of Jacob. I listen to you every week and I feel less alone. The therapod community and the scoop community are the only reasons why I look at Twitter, which I had to abandon for weeks because I realized it was making me so hopeless that I started to shut down mentally and have physical effects of anxiety. I have been avoiding the news too because it literally raises my blood pressure.

To forge some type of normalcy into my hermetic life, I have been focusing on keeping a schedule that separates the days with different tasks. Time has a bit of meaning again and things get slowly done. I need to move my body and my mind, otherwise, the dread makes me numb.

I have realized how strong I am, which is a weird one. I am also once again grateful to have a supportive and loving family that is still happy to be together after all this. I’m tired, but I’m fine. Oh, and the “focus on the now” advice is not the best one when the present is this. I have to cling to a future. I have to tell myself that whatever I’m doing now is because it will improve tomorrow. And, sometimes, to remind me of how much I have conquered so far, I find refuge in the good memories.

I guess it’s all of this and The Sims, that’s how I’ve been keeping myself sane.

If I could I would write much more because I love to add a bit of a South American, LGBT+, female flavor to this American white dude conversation. I threatened you that I was going to write in every week, so we’ll see how long this bit lasts.

I understand that in the US the pandemic seems to be over and you guys are all happy about it, but that’s just not real. The pandemic is not over. And remember that if your country has an abundance of vaccines to reach the majority of your population it’s because the rest of the world was left with the scarcity.

Now, I have simple questions. Am I doing it right? What else do I do? Is there anything else I can do living this mandatory recluse life?

Miss you all very much,

Triple hug,

The Mayor

[xrprainmaker]

The Significance of Being Insignificant

What is the value of one life? Do you know? Is it measured in how many people's lives we affect while we're alive, is it quantified by how much money we leave to our loved ones when we eventually all at one point or another die? Is it merely the number of loved ones we know or who knows us? Is it measured by how many likes and retweets and shares we get accumulatively on all social media platforms and when we get to the pearly gates of heaven or in some cases the rusted gates of hell going to be just yet another algorithm of the universe held over our head as either a badge of honor or Scarlett letter of failure in which even in the afterlife we will still be either praised or shunned for all the things we've either done wrong or right.. and God or the Devil Themselves will take turns choosing teams in purgatory & just like in middle school we'll either be chosen first with the "cool kids" or be picked last like the outcasts some of us already feel & we'll spend another eternity pondering the effects and affects of our decisions and thoughts and actions until we literally just become dust underneath their nails? These are the questions I ask myself in a world where killing has now become an open sport and done by people that swore an oath to protect our lives and the lives of the ones we love & the ones we don't. But for George Floyd he's life was no more meaningful for those cops that day, than the ants they probably crushed under their boots on the way to go put their knees in his throat and his head. The watched and continued draining the life from his body like a smartphone addict who just watches his or her phone drain to zero battery but is too lazy to get up and plug it into the wall. Did that police officer think he was playing a level in Grand Theft Auto? Did the surrounding policers officers who also complacently just "followed" orders and also held down & pinned him by the legs and arms and allowed this act to be committed without thought or hesitation did they also think they were "doing a good job " or were they just not thinking at all. You see you might be confused right now why I'm talking so much about the "Evil Cops" and why I'm not raving about "defund the police " or talking in a way that I have lost compassion for the cops, instead of just shooting from the hips and calling them Murderers ( which don't worry, I do believe all of them are and should go to jail, as I believe all of them are 100% guilty) . Because let's be clear - to watch and do nothing for 8 minutes straight while somebody begs and pleas " I can't breath", " I can't breath" " I can't breath" and is not putting up a fight or intoxicated or belligerent or on drugs but is just one human being begging for another human being to take notice & show compassion & acknowledge that that person is seen and heard and valued and to watch that for eight whole minutes is almost an eternity of time for those cops to have done the right thing or as Spike Lee would've said in Public Enemy " Dooo Thaaa Right Thang" and they failed, they failed with flying colors. I don't know what they got on their test scores to get into the Police Academy but to get out of it, they went out with a Bang of F's that's for sure. But I digress, the real reason I'm so interested in why NOBODY did ANYTHING even though they were in the middle of the street, broad daylight and with hundreds if not thousands of people walking by and NOT ONE, NOT A SINGLE ONE except One girl who filmed the whole thing and put it up on Youtube - tried to save this man's life or question the cops that were so nonchalantly breaking the law in plain sight, right in front of everyone's nose and the reason why it happened It's because the value of someone's life in Real life - not the after school special you watched growing up or on the multiple motivational videos you can binge-watch on Youtube or "feel good" movies on Netflix where you watch a movie with 1 black actor in it in a cast of 500 white people and pat yourself on the back because you're not a racist. Or because you don't actually call black people the N-word to their face but lowkey wonder what it would feel like if you did. Like would it be laughs and high fives like on the "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" or would you get knocked the FUD out like if you were in the ring with Mike Tyson and he's biting off your ear. You see racism never went away or stopped, it just got brushed underneath the rug or the fabric of humanity we like to refer to as the "Human Existence". People like to use the word " I didn't Know" a lot in society - ever notice that - it's like the fewer fuds you give about life or the people around you the more accepted you are. Our world or simulation, whichever way you want to spin it, is built on the combined premise that showing emotion or compassion or crying is something that only "Weak" people do or a sign of weakness. But I call BS, I think that if that's the type of world you want to live in - then DO NOT, I REPEAT DO NOT, be walking in marches, with your fists up in the air, pretending that you have any type of allegiance with those who have lost their lives from racism or police brutality or any type of abuse for that matter where one party was "Stronger" and abused of the situation on somebody they deemed to be weak either because of gender or skin color or because they grew up on the wrong side of the tracks - Do not think that your 1 white fist in the air publically can magically erase the millions and millions and millions and millions and millions of other unknown fists that took that same symbol but in private and in the horizontal position & punched through the walls of the heads or the walls of the ribs of so many other innocent and unsuspecting lives of both young and old, white & black. That so many don't even know about and that, we'll most likely never know about because they did not have the money in their wallets or the special contacts in their phone or special certifications on their walls saying that they were somebody to be respected and thus the fight for their lives and struggle to share the truth will be buried among so many others that " lead quiet lives of desperation" as Thoreau's once said. You see what I'm getting at here is until we stop shaking our hands in frustration and anger and hatred and hostility at this police officer who did this, we will never truly understand what drives a man or men to this point of no return. Where their souls have left their bodies long before they'll ever be declared dead and how they were allowed to not just roam the streets but to rule the streets with a clad iron fist and destroy anything and everything they touched because they themselves, can no longer feel. You see this to me is the even scarier part. I'm not happy that George Floyd is dead or that he had to die this way, but in reality, if those cops hadn't killed him, how they did George Floyd would just be another African American Man that led a quiet life of mediocrity instead and now his face and his name is known all over the world and his legacy that he will leave to his family in some un-ironic, ironic way because of all of this will be of nobility and peace even though he was caught trying to buy things with fake money and that's what led the cops there, to begin with. To me, this just goes to highlight every relevant rule of life of Yin and Yang and that even in the best people there is bad and even in the badest people there is good. To me is this right or is this wrong to say, that's not up to me to decide, but it's the truth and the truth is hard to digest for many because it's not like a placebo, laced in sugar and will slowly rot your teeth and your brain. It's like a shot of Tequila either your system can handle it or it can't but either way, you'll only find out once you try. Try to see things from different angles, try to listen to a different perspective and try to understand, that no one is born 100% evil, I believe that evilness is learned and that even though the absolute last human beings on the face of the earth that you or many others would deem worthy or deserving of compassion right now or a voice or somebody to listen to them, I would say, it's that cop/cops that killed him. Why? Because as heinous as it is what they did, is that I also envision those same cops as young kids, running and playing and laughing and waiting for the weekend to play "Cops and Robbers" and how do you go from that level of innocence to this? Was it a gradual chipping away at their souls like water drop Chinese societal torture device, or did something cataclysmic in their youth or adult years happen like their father or uncle showed them how to hunt a deer when they were just 8 or or or... You see to me " an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" or in this case and many, many, many other unsolved cases- it's worth a literal pound of flesh and until we as humans and society start truly asking these hard questions, of ourselves and all other people who make up this world, we're just fooling ourselves into believing change is happening or that #BlackLivesMatter - because black lives won't matter until #ALLLivesMatter - including the lives of these horrible - soulless police. Rest In Power Mr. George Floyd

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/G_GyEL-R_Q8" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe> N.B - I've never met you but I can tell you your life even after you're gone has and will continue sending Ripples throughout the world. Martin Luther King Stood Up To Fight Bigotry - Rosa Parks sat down to fight against segregation and I'm sorry you had to roll over and die to fight against racism 15 - 20 years later - You deserved better and so does this world & hopefully one day in the future it will be considered "cool" to have & heart and show compassion - but the now jaded adult inside of me says " don't hold your breath"

[thewebforger]

List You Can’t Afford to Ignore on Instagram Marketing

Instagram marketing is competitive, Right ?

More than 25 million businesses use the platform to capture attention, incite interest, create desire, and compel action.

With so much competition, a thoughtful, proven strategy is necessary for success.

If you have the below questions in your mind then this post will definitely help you guys out :

How do you do Instagram marketing?

How do I start Instagram marketing?

How does Instagram marketing work?

How do you get popular on Instagram?

How do you get 1000 followers on Instagram fast?

Well these tips will definitively help you to shape the strategy to do the Instagram Marketing right to beat the competition.

Instagram marketing tips you can’t afford to ignore on "How to do Instagram marketing likes Pro" :-

1. Optimize your bio to do Instagram marketing likes Pro

Aside from your business name, username, and website URL, your Instagram profile provides 150 characters for writing a bio.

Your profile is a chance to establish a first connection, to verbalize what your business offers and why individuals should mind. Your profile ought to clarify what your identity is and what you do while passing on your image's personality.

This is difficult when you only have 150 characters at your disposal, so it’s important to keep your copy:

CLEAR: Use short, simple words.

CONCISE: Use emojis to quickly create a sense of brand personality in a few characters.

COMPELLING: Use a CTA or call-to-action.

That said, if your tagline communicates everything people need to know without emojis and in less than 150 characters.

If you like this post then you will also like the How To Gain More Followers And Likes On Instagram In 2020 ?

2. Choose the right profile photo to do Instagram marketing likes Pro

Before guests at any point read your Instagram bio, they'll see your profile picture. It's your initial introduction.

In this manner, the correct profile photograph for a Business Instagram account is typically your logo.

Your logo ought to be clear and whole by the Instagram's trademark circle.

3. Establish your brand’s “look” on Instagram to do Instagram marketing likes Pro

Visual consistency is significant on the grounds that it makes your image's pictures quickly conspicuous in an ocean of other substance. This expands the opportunity that individuals will draw in (e.g., like or comment) with your posts.

This can be accomplished by utilizing a similar channel on each picture, no special cases. For instance, notice how 33 Acres Brewing Company utilizes the equivalent, white-shading bed channel over each post:

4. Have clearly defined goals to do Instagram marketing likes Pro

On the off chance that you don't make objectives, you won't know whether your Instagram Marketing venture is paying off.

Making objectives begins with picking the correct measurements to gauge your prosperity. These separate into two classifications:

“Vanity” metrics (e.g., likes, comments, shares, followers)

“Business” metrics (e.g., reach, engagement, traffic, lead-gen, revenue-gen)

The previous will let you know whether your substance is reverberating with your intended interest group. Vanity measurements will likewise assist you with estimating your Instagram nearness against contenders.

The last will assist you with following and see how online life is adding to your more extensive business results.

Both are significant in their own right, and ought to be genuinely considered before propelling a Business Instagram. To assist you with thoroughly considering your motivation—and the measurements that at last characterize it.

If you like this post then you will also like the How To Gain More Followers And Likes On Instagram In 2020 ?

5. Create compelling content

Convincing substance drives activity. It makes individuals need to share, comment, and click.

In any case, before you can make somebody make a move, you should initially get their attention, a limited ware. All things considered, there are a few demonstrated substance arranges that make individuals quit looking over and center. These include:

Behind-the-scenes shots

Quotes and text-based images

Daily hashtags

If you like this post then you will also like the How To Gain More Followers And Likes On Instagram In 2020 ?

6. Master the little-known features and hacks

Did you know you can:

Change the color of individual letters or words to make your text stand out?

Hide your Story from specific users to create segmented messaging?

Add line breaks in your bio to make it easier to read?

Instagram is a profound, include rich stage that anybody can use to make interesting substance. Acing these little-known highlights and hacks will guarantee that you're utilizing Instagram to its maximum capacity, making content for somebody as opposed to simply anybody.

7. Partner with relevant influencers

A paid partnership with a a relevant influencer (i.e., a popular account that shares your audience and/or industry) is a proven way to drive attention to your business.

But not all influencer partnerships are created equal.

If you like this post then you will also like the How To Gain More Followers And Likes On Instagram In 2020 ?

8. Write great captions

When it comes to engagement, captions are arguably as important as the image or video they compliment.

Like any good copy, the best captions are clear and concise, easy to read. The best captions, in fact, don’t make the reader think at all. They’re effortless to consume and understand.

Achieving this effect comes down to knowing your audience and your brand voice. The former will ensure that your content is interesting, memorable. The latter will ensure that your content is consistent, recognizable.

You can also practice good copywriting tactics (e.g., placing the most important words at the beginning of the caption; using small words and short sentence) and techniques (e.g., always making time to edit after you write; posing relevant, thought-provoking questions).

9. Choose hashtags wisely

In the fight for consideration, hashtags are an intense apparatus.

Utilized well, a hashtag can drive crowds of net-new guests to your post, profile, and brand. In any case, if the hashtag is misdirecting—if it's abused or immaterial to the substance through and through—it tends to be very counterproductive.

Why? Since when a client follows a hashtag and sees something they don't care for, they can choose the "Don't Show for This Hashtag choice:

When creating hashtags:

Be relevant (i.e., stuffing hashtags is considered spammy)

Be specific (i.e., target niche audiences with tags they’ll recognize)

Be careful (i.e., make sure the hashtag means what you think it means)

Be concise (i.e., short hashtags are easy to remember)

10. Get on the Explore tab

The quickest method to help your image's perceivability is to get onto the Explore tab.

The Explore tab is the place clients find curated content dependent on their past activities and commitment designs. As it were, Instagram watches what you do on the stage (e.g., the posts you like, offer, and remark on), at that point populates your Explore tab with comparable substance.

Instagram sources content with high commitment just as substance from accounts like those the client as of now follows.

11. Target the right audience with ads

In case you're in a serious space, you should think about utilizing Instagram promotions to showcase your image.

Instagram offers five advertisement designs: recordings, merry go rounds, photographs, canvas Story promotions, and Story advertisements. Each organization is joined into your intended interest group's Feed or Story, making it difficult to miss.

Obviously, you can become your Instagram nearness naturally, without spending a penny. However, this will require some investment. In the event that you don't have time, promotions will enable you to get where you're speeding up.

12. Track your performance with Instagram analytics

Tracking and understanding your analytics is the best way to guarantee you're on target to accomplish your Instagram Marketing objectives (see: #4) and goals.

Regardless of whether you're tracking impressions (i.e., what number of individuals saw your post), reach (i.e., impressions partitioned by number of adherents), or general engagement (i.e., how frequently a post is enjoyed, commented on, shared, or spared), there are instruments you can use to make the procedure simpler, speedier.

On the off chance that you have a business profile, you can promptly get to Instagram Insights. This is the stage's worked in examination tracker. Instagram Insights gives you a straightforward, initially dashboard to survey. The information is genuinely restricted, and you can't send out any of it from the application.

In the Last i wanna share the Infographic by

Payumoney

On Top Instagram Strategies for Businesses

Conclusion

These are some of the best ways to grow your Instagram presence and gain more Free & Real IG followers and do the Instagram marketing. Use these tips to see visible growth in your Instagram follower base and build a strong presence on the platform.

So what do you think? How do you do Instagram marketing ? Are there any strategies I’ve missed? Let me know in the comments!

For More Free Marketing Tips Check Out My Full Blog :

The Web Forger Blogs

[wisdomrays]

A Disease to Topple A Person: Making False Assumptions

QUESTION: As it is stated in a saying of the Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him, with reference to a self-righteous person, when one says that other people are ruined, he himself is the most ruined of all. Are behaviors such as making false assumptions and continually threatening others included in this saying’s meaning?

ANSWER: In this saying, which is included in Imam Muslim’s Sahih, the Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him, states, “When you hear a man say, ‘The people are ruined,’ he himself is the most ruined of them all.” Since this blessed statement is a pithy one, it conveys many truths. One of its truths pertains to making false assumptions about others, as it is mentioned in the question. Pouring forth invective about this or that person, even to the degree of declaring him to be ruined, almost always stems from such false assumptions. However, the noble Prophet points out that the one who makes such sinful statements is actually the most ruined one.

Those who idolize their ego seek others to blame

The underlying motive behind such invective is egotism, ego-centrism, and even narcissism. If a person is vilifying everybody and finding faults in them, it means that he is idolizing himself in self-adoration unawares. He is virtually speaking to a mirror, saying, “There is no one like you; let everything be sacrificed for you.”

A person devoid of positive thinking but fixed on negative thinking can even use their false assumptions to criticize very important acts of worship by others, such as prayer. For example, when a vain person sees someone observing prayer, he may entertain thoughts as, “I wonder if this person has really melted into prayer?”

Such a thought should be accosted by the Prophet’s warning, “Did you cleave his heart open to check it out?” We cannot know anyone’s heart. A person who seems to neglectfully observe prayer may actually be observing it with deep feeling. Therefore, although it is our duty to voice truths such as teaching the correct form of prayer and presenting the characteristics of believers, we must also refrain from entertaining negative considerations about anyone else’s observance of prayer or fasting—and we must especially refrain from voicing and negative thoughts. Viewing others’ acts of worship with bias and assuming them to be sanctimonious is a terrible form of false assumption. Such a false assumption may cause a person to end up in utter spiritual loss. God Almighty forbids baseless suspicions, in a definite and clear fashion, with the following Divine decree:

“O you who believe! Avoid much suspicion, for some suspicion is a grave sin (liable to God’s punishment); and do not spy (on one another…)” (al-Hujurat 49:12).

While considering others, it is always necessary to view them in a positive light, as far as there is a possible basis for it. Even if a person only one aspect that allows positive thinking, one must still take to it and avoid negative thinking. For example, a man may solely have said the proclamation of faith or the testimony of faith as a good deed for the Afterlife; yet if he has done this, our opinion about this man, who outwardly does not do any good deeds, should be, “This brother may have said the testimony of faith from the bottom of his heart, and this statement of his may have gained a high worth in the sight of God. Therefore, he may be saved in the next world with that single protestation of faith.”

On the other hand, while viewing ourselves, we must be self-critical to the degree of worrying about the possibility of having spoilt our good deeds by showing off, even if we do not only observe the five daily prayers but also add some fifty more make up prayers, and thus fear to be ruined because of our ostentation.

There are many more examples. Someone who outwardly seems to have a weak connection with God, owing to poor observance of individual worship, can be someone who always speaks truthfully in interpersonal relations and never lies. We must interpret this attitude of his as a result of his God-consciousness, and say, “Given that this person is so scrupulous about refraining from lying, then he must have a very strong relation with God.”

Similarly, imagine a person who is very vigilant against unlawful gain, does not even eat a forbidden morsel, and refuses to take an undeserved payment for a task he did not carry out. This person’s behaviors are so beautiful that we cannot explain them without a context of seeking good pleasure of God. For this reason, in all of these situations, we must always entertain positive thoughts about that person’s relationship with God.

Balance: Positive thinking without absolute trust

If we refrain from going to extremes but seek the ideal conduct on this matter, we must also never disregard the following principle: for those people whose ups and downs we witness, positive thinking is adopted together with an absence of absolute trust. If the person we view with positive thoughts has occasional strays from the line of uprightness, then he may not be a mature and perfect person as we see him to be. In this respect, even if we entertain positive thoughts about that certain person, we should not fail to act cautiously about certain issues, such as giving him some vital responsibilities or entrusting him with very important tasks. However, we should know that even in such a case, we do not have the right to adopt statements that convey negative thoughts while giving an account of that person. We cannot say things like, “I do not have much trust in such and such person; he is not really trustworthy.”

While viewing others we should think that even the simplest deeds can be a means of salvation for them. We should overlook their faults, and avoid speaking negatively about them. A particular example from the time of the noble Prophet gives important lessons to believers in this respect.

In the early period of the prohibition of alcohol, one Companion was caught drunk many times and was severely reprimanded. Once, he was brought to the presence of the Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him, and reprimanded for the same offense. One of those present reacted to him with words like, “May God curse you! What a bad person you are! How many times it has been, and you are still brought to his presence like this!”

Upon hearing this, the noble Prophet said, “Do not speak like this; do not help Satan against your brother with such words. I swear by God, he loves God and His Messenger very much!” So we should constantly view others through this perspective of the Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him.

Positive thinking: A very beautiful form of worship

One must especially avoid making false assumptions when considering the volunteers devoted to serving for the sake of faith and the Qur’an—those who have a relation with God, His Messenger and the Qur’an. A believer must heed the following warning of the Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him:

“Whoever shames his brother for a sin, he shall not die until he (himself) commits it.” In this respect, one should be fearful, shaking in anguish with the consideration, “I saw such negative things in in certain persons, but what if others see such things in me, my spouse, or my children?”

A real believer must be much careful with his thoughts about others, no matter who they are. A real believer must act cautiously. As it is known, tayaqquz, which means being ever-vigilant, is the first step of spiritual journeying. A believer must always walk on the path of God with open eyes, channel his thoughts in the positive way as much as possible, and must definitely not commit the sin of false assumption. In addition, the noble Prophet points to positive thinking as a lofty horizon, stating that, “Entertaining good thoughts stem from a person’s good worship.”

Together with positive thinking we should not fail to act cautiously and build barriers against those who take delight in biting others like poisonous snakes and are continually trying to cause harm. However, acting cautiously in this respect should not stop you from praying to God to grant guidance to those who devise various conspiracies against you. It is for this reason that when a thought occurred to me about those who have written against me for some fifty years ending up in Hell, I immediately begin to pray, “No God please! Here I am imploring you: please do not send them to Hell! Kindle faith in their hearts instead, and let them have faith too, please!”

In the face of the mistreatment and oppressions you go through, God has granted you the possibility of a different preference. If you wish, it is possible for you to say, “My God, please vanquish them, shatter their alliances, bring their schemes to nothing, and let them fall into their own traps!” Saying all of these is your right, in accordance with the judgment of the verse,

“If you have to respond to any wrong, respond (only) to the measure of the wrong done to you” (an-Nahl 16:126).

If somebody is oppressing you, prepare different conspiracies against you, or setting traps against you, it will be your lawful right to make moves to reverse these. Together with that, the verse continues, “but if you endure patiently, it is indeed better for the patient…” and states that even in terms of personal rights, it is better for you to show patience and not give up gentlemanliness.

[popatochisssp]

Fur a Good Time, Call... 3/15

Series: Undertale, Horrortale Relationship(s): HT!Sans/Reader, HT!Papyrus & Reader Chapter Warnings: none

You work at an animal shelter. You love all your fuzzy buddies and can’t imagine a better job for yourself than looking after cats and dogs all day, even when the work is hard and often gross. What can you say? You’ve got a lot of love to give!

You’re just not quite sure yet how you feel about the new monster who’s been helping out these days, and this riddle wrapped up in an enigma is something you just can’t resist investigating…

AO3 Link

Crushed

Sometimes, you kept weird hours at night.

You had a bad habit of coming home from work and immediately passing out, only to wake up around ten or eleven at night and have some space to fill until you could get back to sleep again.

Occasionally you made do with the slim pickings of nighttime TV or made yourself some food that you probably shouldn’t be eating so late, but mostly you resorted to screwing around on the internet with your phone.

That was how you found out that Sans kept weird hours, too.

You had stumbled across one of those unfortunate neon sign burnouts—one ‘Elmhurst Emergency & Trauma Center’ that became the ‘ Im hur t Emergency & Trauma Center’— and immediately thought of somebody who would appreciate it.

Before you could reason with yourself that it was after midnight and you had literally never sent Sans a text before and this was a hell of an opener with no context, you’d sent off the photo.

A response came not ten minutes later.

PUNbelievable: lol thanks for that, Pap just yelled at me to keep it down.

You: Sorry, not sorry!

And that was the humble beginning of your textual friendship with Sans.

You texted back and forth about a lot of things. Most of it was silly stuff you found online (you’d been right, Sans did appreciate memes) but you were surprised by how many topics could arise from that kind of thing.

You: No way you have that many.

PUNbelievable: you doubt my hoarding ability? [IMG-1]

You: Holy shit, so that’s what 86 rocks looks like. Congrats?

PUNbelievable: and those are just the pretty ones. i got some more in shoeboxes and stuff.

You: You have shoes?!

PUNbelievable: hey hey hey what do you take me for, some kind of fancypants? no shoes, just the boxes.

You’d even started to go a little out of your usual way to find things Sans might get a kick out of. You started following a couple geology-themed blogs just so you’d occasionally find something nerdy to share.

You: [IMG-24]

PUNbelievable: whoa, perfect cleavage, thanks. yours?

You: Not mine. Perfect, though? Really? I just thought it was gneiss.

PUNbelievable: calcite, actually.

You: LOL!

Completely by accident, you’d also discovered his love of cat photos. He sent them to you often as reaction images, some he probably just found online but a lot you recognized as cats from the shelter.

He admitted to you that pretty much whenever he got a free moment at work, he was in the cat room, picking up or poking or otherwise gently harassing somebody.

PUNbelievable: most of them are just chill little dudes, they’re great. i love it when they get happy and start vibrating, that’s the best.

You: You don’t have to convince me, I love every one of those fuzzbutts, especially when they purr! I think I just might be more of a dog-person.

PUNbelievable: really? i thought you were a human-person.

You: Hilarious, spoken like a true cat-person. I should’ve put you as Good@Cats in my phone.

PUNbelievable: what am i now?

You: PUNbelievable.

PUNbelievable: what that’s great!

PUNbelievable: keep it!

PUNbelievable: it’s perfect!

A triple-text and the first time you’d ever seen him use exclamation points: how could you say no to that?

It didn’t take long before you caught yourself thinking of Sans as a friend—not just a work-friend, an actual friend—and you weren’t positive, but you were pretty sure he thought of you the same way.

For one thing, when you talked to him at the shelter, he actually talked back. It was a little thing, but it was so unlike the clipped and stiff replies he gave when other people tried to make conversation that it was a noticeable difference.

Sans’ silence had seemed so antisocial and mysterious back before you knew him. Now that you did, it seemed infinitely obvious that the man was just an awkward dork who wasn’t sure what to say and didn’t want to bug anybody so he split the difference by saying as little as possible.

He smiled a little wider when he saw you, though, and mostly came to you now when he’d finished a task and wasn’t sure what else needed doing. He was always available when you were about ready to go to lunch and happily gushed to you over how well his brother’s schooling was going, and he listened attentively when you talked about your own life, even when it couldn’t have been very interesting to hear about.

Sans had to be a friend: you couldn’t think of anybody else you’d rather send videos at three in the morning, and that was the truest measure of friendship you could think of.

Speaking of which…

You: [LINK: Sad Cat Diary]

PUNbelievable: oh big mood.

You snicker a little at the mental image of Sans, huge and spooky-looking, trying to sneak up on a tiny thumbtack in the wall.

You’re glad you went for it that day when you asked Sans to lunch. It was impulsive and a little nerve-wracking to put yourself out there like that, but it netted you a really good friend.

You couldn’t regret that, not even a little bit.

-

Buddy was with you again, which seemed superfluous to say at this point, but there he was.

His clicker training had gone incredibly well—the food-motivated little gremlin that he was—and you’d gotten him to pick up all the basic commands that people expected out of their dogs and didn’t want to have to teach them.

He knew sit, stay, drop it (though he was stubborn and sometimes pretended he didn’t), and even shake! He’d also pretty quickly picked up when and where he was supposed to do his business, and after all the socialization you’d been doing with him he didn’t flinch or shy away from being touched by people anymore.

With all that and his clean bill of health from the vet, Buddy was almost ready to go up for adoption.

There was just one small formality left on the list to check off, and it was how Buddy interacted with other animals. Since he spent so much time in the dog room, around other dogs, you already had a pretty good idea of how he was with his own species, so you’d gotten your boy leashed up, asked Sans to snag a couple cats for you, and met in the playroom.

Based on Buddy’s walk awhile back, you had a feeling you knew how this would go, but better to get it all done according to the shelter’s protocols.

Sans was standing there waiting for you when you and Buddy walked in. At your advice, he’d grabbed Snickers and Button, two of the more easygoing cats you currently had with a history of not batting the shit out of curious dog noses.

You had to cover a laugh at the sight of Sans, though. Button was fully latched onto Sans’ arm, all four limbs wrapped around it while she chewed at the cuff of his sleeve, and Snickers had perched herself up on his shoulder to paw at his face while he ineffectively tried to lean away.

“You good over there?” you asked, just to cover your bases.

“yep. as you can see, i’m a ladies man.”

You bent down, undoing Buddy’s leash and giving him a quick pat. “Would you be offended if I made the obvious ‘drowning in pussy’ joke?”

“yes, i would,” Sans said. “that’s just vulgar. low-brow. have some class, wouldja?”

You laughed, which had clearly been Sans’ intention. He grinned proudly even as he knelt and tried to shoo the cats off his body, a little easier to do now that there was something else for them to focus on.

Buddy, for his part, was reacting pretty much exactly how you’d expected. He was alert and very obviously curious…but also extremely unsure about these small bendy-looking dogs that were fearlessly trotting up to him.

“you think he’ll be alright?”

You shrugged. “I think so,” you decided, “more or less. I wouldn’t put him down as a great choice for homes with other pets, but if they’re friendly like the girls here, I don’t think he’d be in trouble.”

Buddy had mustered enough courage to give Snickers a good sniff…only to recoil a little as she sniffed him, something that was obviously uncalled for and totally unpredictable.

“that’s what this is for, yeah?” Sans asked, and you turned to face him. “you’re seein’ what kinda place he’d be a good fit for?”

“Yeah. I mean, that’s pretty much what we’ve been doing the whole time he’s been here. Adoption’s the goal: we don’t have as many rules and procedures as a rescue, but we still want everybody to end up somewhere good.”

Sans’ red eye moved from you to the animals. Button was trying to loop around Buddy’s feet, which Buddy was not sure he was totally cool with.

“so…what’s ‘somewhere good’ for buddy?”

The question made you consider it. “Well… he’d probably need somebody a little patient. He’s still nervous around new stuff and needs awhile to get used to it.”

“sure.”

“Ideally an only-pet situation,” you added. You gestured to where Snickers was playfully trying to catch Buddy’s tail while Buddy hastily tucked it and scrambled around to keep her in his line of sight. “Can you imagine him having to deal with that all day? Or worse, a territorial cat?”

“nah, he’s a lover, not a fighter.”

“Exactly! Big ol’ marshmallow.” You smiled fondly. “Buddy just needs a place where somebody can be his best friend.”

“so…you, right?”

Cue the mental record-scratch.

“Huh?”

Sans clearly didn’t think he’d said anything unusual. “everything you just described is you. you’re patient, no pets, you’re already his best pal. why can’t you take ‘im?”

“I…” You frowned. “I can’t.”

Sans didn’t say anything, but you felt his eye on you so you turned to watch Buddy again. He’d laid down to keep his underside protected, and the cats were rubbing up against him on either side.

It was adorable.

“I can’t,” you said again. “I…work way too much. I’m always here, y’know? I’d feel awful leaving…a dog,” you pointedly don’t say Buddy’s name, “alone in the house all day long. And then half the time when I get home, I just go straight to bed, so I wouldn’t even be able to play with him or give him the attention he should get.”

You chanced a look at Sans. His expression…wasn’t judgmental. Maybe a little…sad? But he wasn’t judging you.

You sighed. “It just wouldn’t be fair to him,” you say finally. “I’ve always believed you shouldn’t get a pet if you can’t take care of it. Buddy’s a good boy, he’ll go to a good home real fast. I wouldn’t worry about it.”

“……if you say so,” Sans replied eventually. “guess i just always wondered why ya didn’t have your own pet when ya take care of ‘em all day. i know i thought havin’ a pet was pretty cool.”

Was? Oh, no.

“Did you…did you lose a pet, Sans?”

You shouldn’t be so surprised. The monsters went through hell underground, it should follow that no one was exempt from it, not even pets… but the thought still hurt your heart.

“yeah,” Sans said, and you ached with sympathy. You reached out to put a comforting hand on his arm when he continued, “Pap and i used to have a pet rock.”

Your expression flattened. “What do you mean, ‘used to’?” you demanded. “You’ve got like a hundred pet rocks.”

“nah, those are just rocks, they’re not pets,” Sans insisted. “not like rocky was.”

“……His name was Rocky.” Sans nodded. “I am…ninety percent sure you’re fucking with me.”

Sans put a hand to his chest, like an affronted southern belle. “would i do that?”

“Yes.”

“i’m hurt,” Sans said. “really. cut deep. rocky was a very important part of our family, i mourn his loss every day.”

“Okay, so what happened to him?” you wondered, suspicion evident.

“ran away.”

“…………”

“Pap blamed me for it,” Sans continued, shaking his head. “he was probably right to. i never fed him his sprinkles on time. didn’t appreciate him the way i should’ve, he was my rock and i just wasn’t there for him…”

“I’m a hundred percent now,” you said. “You’re fucking with me.”

Sans laughed, loudly and unabashedly. It made you laugh a little too, even though you shoved him in the arm right after.

“You’re such a jerk!”

“seriously, though,” he said. “if you ever meet Papyrus, ask ‘im about rocky, he’ll tell ya’.”

“Oh, I’m sure,” you said, tone dripping with sarcasm. You went over to rescue Buddy from his wannabe feline friends and added, “You better hope I don’t meet Papyrus because I’m gonna remember this and ask him and you’re gonna be exposed as a total liar!”

It wasn’t until you’d gotten Buddy’s leash back on and body-blocked your poor dog friend a little from Button and Snickers that you realized your designated cat-wrangler hadn’t answered you.

“Sans?”

He had his phone out and a serious expression on his skull as he penned something in. You’d learned only a week back that he kept a lot of reminders in his phone. He said it had been a major lifesaver to have something with him that could remember important dates and times for him, even when he couldn’t.

“Did you forget something?” you ask him gently.

Sans took a second to reply. “nah, just…remembered something i wanna do later. don’t wanna forget about it.”

“Okay.” You didn’t dwell on it. “Can you get Heckle and Jeckle here for me? I think Buddy’s had enough friendship for today.”

“yeah, sure.”

Sans scooped up the cats for you with only minimal mewing as protest, and you gave Buddy a scratch at his neck.

“Good boy,” you reassured him, leading him back to his kennel.

You were a little distracted, trying to decide how his adoption description should go.

You’d post it on the shelter website before you left work today.

-

The next day had you feeling…a little annoyed.

A new employee started today, somebody else’s young relative if his last name and obvious resemblance to your coworker were any indication, and no one had ever made you hate nepotism so much in your life.

You tried to rein it in: he was young and it was literally his first day, probably his first ever job and you knew there was always a learning curve. You wanted to respect that!

But… you might feel a little more forgiving if it seemed like he even sorta cared about the shelter and what you all did here.

You couldn’t speak to anyone else’s experience with him, but every time so far you’d tried to show him where something was or what the procedure is for such-and-such, he was looking off into the middle distance and nodding his head when he thought you were looking for an answer.

His phone buzzed once while you were talking and he broke direct eye-contact with you to respond to it.

You knew right then that he was somebody only in it for the paycheck. You didn’t think there was anything wrong with that, a job was a job, but he could at least have some decorum and try to look like he wasn’t bored of being there right in front of the person training him!

It was even worse because today was a day Sans wasn’t working. You couldn’t even complain to him about the new guy, or ask him to cover all the stuff he probably wasn’t doing that you’d have to go do yourself later.

Needless to say, you were already in a not-so-great mood when he came up to you in the middle of litterbox emptying around mid-afternoon asking for your attention—by the wrong name.

You didn’t bother to correct him. “Yeah, I can take a minute. What’s up?”

“The front desk girl called back. She said a guy wants to see a dog?”

…helpful. “Did she say anything else?” you prompted. “We got a lot of dogs here.”

He squinted, seeming to think about it. “Uhhh… I think it was Buddy? Or something like that.”

You weren’t quite prepared for the way your stomach dropped when he said the name. To cover it you spoke quickly, “Okay, thank you, I’ll go handle that. Can you finish cleaning the litterboxes for me?”

He sighed deeply, muttering, “I guess,” but you were already shucking off your gloves and heading to the sink to wash your hands. You could comfort yourself later with the knowledge that this guy couldn’t possibly last long here with an attitude like that. For now…

Oh, god.

You knew this was coming. You’d written up a great description for the website, and Buddy sat for his picture like a professional model: one ear flopped and the other pointed up with his pretty blue eyes and his tongue lolling happily out of his mouth.

He was a good boy and a beautiful dog, you knew he’d get adopted quick.

You just…hadn’t thought it would be so soon.

It’s not like you hadn’t gotten attached to dogs before. It happened a lot, actually, and it hurt a little each time watching them walk out the shelter door, but it had always been a light sting, easily soothed by the knowledge that they were going to a good home with people who’d love them.

But you had a terrible feeling that Buddy was going to hurt a lot more.

“How come you’re different, you little stinker?” you asked him, opening up his kennel and stepping in.

Buddy seemed oblivious to your sudden distress. He all but hopped off his cot when he saw you and the leash in your hand, his tail wagging while he sniffed at your pant leg in greeting and oh stars, this was going to be the last time he ever did that.

You got down on your knees to put his leash on. “C’mon, you gotta be a good boy. We’re gonna go meet your new dad.”

Because really, there wasn’t a question of if. It was like you’d told Sans, there wasn’t really a screening process or applications needed to take home a pet from here.

If you liked a dog, filled out the single sheet of paperwork, and paid the fee, that was your dog—and who wouldn’t like a sweetheart like Buddy once they met him?

You took a deep breath and got back to your feet. “Alright,” you said, mostly to yourself. “Alright. Let’s go, Buddy.”

The walk over to the lobby seemed shorter than it had ever been. You had to force yourself not to stop right before the doorway for ‘just a minute,’ knowing damn well that it wouldn’t be just a minute.

When you got there, there was only one person waiting in the lobby…and the sight of him nearly made you drop the leash.

He was a skeleton.

If you’d thought Sans was a big guy, the sight of this man scrunched into the almost comically small waiting chairs had instantly disabused you of the notion. It was hard to get a bead on exactly how tall he must be, since he was seated so politely with folded hands, but you’d guess he might be actually double your height, if not taller. He at least wasn’t built as broadly as your friend, but his overall length of limb seemed to make up for it and if it weren’t for his obvious good manners the sheer size of him might’ve been enough to make you a little nervous.

Well…his manners, the cobalt-blue squares of his (really cute) braces, and his matching glasses frames that were actually taped to the sides of his skull.

He spotted you almost the moment you walked in and rose to greet you.

“Hello!” he said cheerfully, offering one massive, spindly hand for you to shake. “I’m Papyrus! It’s A Pleasure To Meet You.”

It was…interesting trying to figure out how to shake his hand in return with the obvious size difference, but he took pity on you and helped you make it work. You introduced yourself right back.

“Ah, Of Course,” he said when you told him your name, “Sans’ Human. He’s Told Me A Lot About You, All Good Things, Naturally!”

You laughed a little, feeling just a tiny bit nervous all of a sudden at the thought of Sans talking about you—and at being called ‘Sans’ human.’ “Likewise. Uh, congratulations on acing that test last week!”

Papyrus scoffed, but you couldn’t help but notice the sudden hint of denim-blue on his cheekbones. “Thank You, But Really, I Have No Idea Why Sans Would Brag About That To Anyone! Did He Tell You The Exam Was On The Human Skeletal System?”

“Pfft… No, he left that part out, I think.”

“I Didn’t Even Study, For Obvious Reasons,” he told you, gesturing broadly to himself. You suddenly noticed the vibrant rainbow tie-dye crop-top he was wearing, and the black jacket he had over it with intricately embroidered flowers stitched into the leather.

Sans had been so right: Papyrus was insanely cool.

“We’re Getting Off-Topic,” he declared, bending further from his already hunched position to look at the dog beside you. “This Must Be Buddy. Hello!”

Buddy’s nose went straight into the hand Papyrus reached out to him, sniffing with vigor as always.

“Ah, You Smell My Bone Cologne! You Must Be A Dog Of Excellent Taste, A Connoisseur Of Fine Smells!”

You couldn’t help your smile. “Buddy certainly is that,” you agreed. The cold dread that had pooled in your gut at the thought of Buddy being adopted today had curiously disappeared and it left you feeling lighter than air. “Why don’t we all head to the playroom for a bit? You can interact with him a little better in there than in the lobby.”

“Excellent Suggestion!” Papyrus said. “I Would Be Delighted!”

The skeleton followed you further into the shelter, ducking under door frames blatantly not built with his height in mind. You were glad that the playroom had a high ceiling so everyone would be comfortable there.

As soon as you were all through the door, you unclipped Buddy’s leash and wrapped it up around your hand. “Papyrus, you can go ahead and ask Buddy to bring you a ‘t-o-y,’ he knows what that word means and he’s good at fetch.”

“Oh, So Am I!”

“Really?”

“Yes, Unrivaled At Fetch In All Of Snowdin,” he said proudly before pausing and looking a tad hesitant. You noticed he had the same nervous gesture Sans had, of looking down and to the left, and you found it unspeakably endearing. “Well, I Was, Anyway, For A Time. I, Erm…Worked Quite Closely With The Canine Unit And My Fetch Time Was Always The Best Out Of All Of Them! My Training Regimen Hasn’t Been…As Rigorous As It Was Back Then, Though, So I Suppose I Can’t Say With Certainty That It’s The Same. I’ve Been Busy Lately, Even By My Own Standards!”

“I know the feeling,” you empathized. “Adding Buddy into the mix won’t be too much, will it?”

Papyrus laughed, a bright and booming ‘NYEH-HEH-HEH’ that totally disarmed you.

“I Don’t See How It Could Be,” Papyrus assured you. “Buddy,” the dog focused on him instantly, “Can You Bring Me A Toy?”

Buddy perked right up when he heard the word of fun-times and happily bounced off to pick his favorite, a spiky rubber hedgehog that had seen better days, but its squeaker still worked so it was The Golden Toy to many of the dogs here.

Papyrus seemed pleased to have the slimy thing dropped into his hand and he gave it a gentle lob across the room. Buddy went after it like a shot. Almost as if he knew his performance was being judged, he even jumped a little to snatch it right out of the air.

Papyrus gave a suitably impressed noise and patted Buddy on the head when he returned the hedgehog. “Well,” he said, giving the toy another toss, “He’s Smart And Fast And A Very Handsome Dog—He’s Already Met All My Standards!”

“I can’t say I’m surprised, I’m pretty fond of Buddy myself. I, uh, I have to admit, though, I am curious why…” You frowned, wondering if the thing you were about to ask was presumptive. “Did…Sans tell you? About Buddy?”

“Yes, Of Course!” Buddy brought the hedgehog back again and Papyrus put it to the side, abandoning the play in favor of scratching through Buddy’s black and white fur. “We Don’t Really Keep Secrets. I’ve Known About Buddy For Quite Awhile!”

“Oh. Right.” You cleared your throat. “Then, I guess I don’t have to give you the disclaimer about his one unfortunate biting incident? Which hasn’t been repeated!” you quickly added.

Papyrus didn’t seem concerned. “The Only Thing Unfortunate About That Incident Is That Sans Still Wears That Old Hoodie!” Buddy had rolled over onto his back and if his windmill of a tail was any indication, his new skeleton friend was very good at belly rubs. “It Speaks To Buddy’s Tenacity! I Admire A Dog Who’ll Protect Himself When He’s In Trouble!”

Not many people saw it that way—an aggressive dog was just an aggressive dog, even with extenuating circumstances. Papyrus’ perspective was…refreshing.

“Well… he’s not exactly a guard dog, if that’s what you’re looking for,” you cautioned. “Mostly, he runs away if he’s in trouble, so…”

“That’s Even Better! Unnecessary Conflict Is So…Unnecessary!” Papyrus grinned broadly at you. Even with his braces, it was a totally winning smile. “I Think Buddy Will Fit Right In At Our House!”

“That’s…that’s great!” you said and you sincerely meant it. “If you’re ready to take him home today, we can go back to the front and get everything settled.”

Papyrus agreed immediately.

On the way there, he seemed compelled to assure you that he was well-prepared for Buddy’s arrival. He’d read through as much dog-ownership literature as he could find online last night and purchased all the essentials as soon as the stores had opened this morning: kibble, a bed, a leash and collar set with bones on them—and how fashion-forward was it of dog-accessories to include bones in their designs? Papyrus was very impressed!

“…And Of Course, He’ll Get Plenty Of Exercise, I’ve Been Looking For A Jogging Buddy And He Already Has The Right Name For It!”

You laughed. “Papyrus, I can’t tell you how great that is to hear. I love knowing my dogs are going somewhere good for them. You know half the people who adopt don’t even fill out the form all the way?”

Papyrus looked at the piece of paper you handed to him. He flipped it over to see the blank backside and frowned. “What, Seriously???”

“Seriously. It's not technically required, mostly for record-keeping, so people just don't do it or leave a bunch of blanks. You wouldn’t believe how many of those have no addresses because people couldn’t be bothered to remember what street they lived on.”

“………” Papyrus started snickering. “Oh My God, How Embarrassing… Nyeh-Heh-Heh, I Really Shouldn’t Laugh,” he said, grabbing a pen and jotting down his information. “That Sounds Like Exactly The Kind of Thing Sans Would Do.”

“Does it really?”

“Sadly, Yes. If I’d Left This Up To Him, It Would All Be Blank Except For Maybe His Name. And Then He Wouldn’t Turn It In. And I’d Find It Three Weeks Later Crumpled Up In His Trash-Tornado.”

“That sounds…exactly right, actually.” Sorry, Sans, can’t defend you against completely true accusations!

The lobby was quiet for a few moments, filled only by the sound of Buddy’s panting and the scratching of the pen.

Then Papyrus spoke up again. “Actually… Is…. Feel Free Not To Answer, If It’s Something You Don’t Feel Comfortable Discussing, But… Sans.”

You waited for him to finish his thought, but he didn’t. “Yes?” you prompted.

“He’s Not… Is He Like That Here?” Papyrus asked you, looking concerned. “I Know He’s Not Technically ‘Employed,’ But… He Does Things Here, Right? He Doesn’t Just… I Don’t Know, Sit In The Break Room All Day And Look Busy When Someone Important Walks By?”

You blinked, startled by the thought. “No, he doesn’t do that. He’s a big help around here. Actually,” you added, sheepish and a little quiet in case your voice carried, “I was kind of upset he wasn’t in today, ‘cause I don’t think I’m gonna get as much done without him around to lend a hand.”

You may as well have told Papyrus it was his birthday and every other holiday combined into one.

“Really? Oh, That’s Great!” He pressed a hand to his chest and heaved out a relieved sigh. You weren’t quite sure how that worked with a skeleton, but there it was. “I’m So Glad He’s Being Productive. I Knew This Place Would Be Good For Him! He’s Even Made Two Wonderful Friends!”

Oh, that meant you and Buddy, didn’t it? You think you might be flushing a little, but try to play it cool.

You and Papyrus get the adoption fee and all the other logistical stuff taken care of and soon enough, “That’s it, Buddy’s all yours, free and clear!”

“Thank You So Much For Your Assistance! And Obviously, Call Me Anytime!”

You paused. “Call you?”

“Yes, Of Course! My Number Is On The Form.” Papyrus seemed to notice you were still confused. “Sans Mentioned You May Want To Come Visit Buddy From Time To Time. You Seem Almost As Busy As I Am, We’d Probably Need To Align Schedules At Some Point To Make It Work.”

Sans mentioned…?

You put a pin in your train of thought. Hesitantly, you got out your phone and pulled the piece of paper closer. “Are you sure that’s alright?” you asked, just to make sure. “I, uh… I can’t say I don’t want to see Buddy again sometime, but….”

“Nonsense, Any Friend Of Sans Is Welcome Over Whenever.” Papyrus gave another quick pat to Buddy’s head. “And Any Friend Of Buddy Is Doubly Welcome!”

Good enough for you! You put his number in your contacts, just under ‘Papyrus’ for now. “You know,” you said as you did so, “we could be friends, too. If you wanted.”

When you looked up from your phone, you found Papyrus staring at you like…well, like he didn’t know what to say.

“…Really?”

“Sure?” Offering to be friends with somebody shouldn’t have been able to put a look of such touched elation on their face, but there was Papyrus looking like you’d just offered him the moon in a few short words.

“Oh! Well, That’s! That’s Fantastic! I Accept!” He was blushing blue again even as he laughed that cute laugh of his. “A Friend, Wowie!” He seemed to remember Buddy at his feet. “Two Friends! What A Day! I’m Sorry To Leave So Suddenly, But I Think I Have Some Energy to Run Off Right Now, Do You Mind?”

“Not at all,” you promised. “Go bond with your new dog.”

“I Will, And Thank You Again! Come Along, Buddy!”

Buddy spared a glance at you, seeming to wonder why you weren’t coming with, but he wasn’t concerned enough to hesitate more than a second before trotting after Papyrus out the door.

Buddy didn’t need to worry about never seeing you again, after all. Neither did you, for that matter.

All thanks to a certain meddling skeleton.

A skeleton that you called the second you went off the clock for lunch.

“y’ello?” he answered after a couple rings, sounding a little like you’d just woken him up.

You didn’t waste time feeling guilty about it. “Hey, did you tell your brother to adopt Buddy?”

“heheh, what? no.”

“Really? Because he said—”

“look, i don’t tell Papyrus to do anything,” Sans said flatly. “…but maybe i did mention that the cool dog was up for adoption, the one who tried to eat my terrible jacket that Pap hates. and that my pal at the shelter might be a little, uh… sad if he went real far away and they couldn’t see ‘im anymore. if he decided to go pick buddy up after that, that’s just serendipity, y’know?”

You huffed out an incredulous breath. “I can’t believe you did that.”

“did what?”

“You adopted a dog for me!”

“he’s a good dog. Papyrus can tire ‘im out when he’s not at work or studying and i’m not at the shelter every day, so i got ‘im the rest of the time. that’s what you were worried about, right? buddy gettin’ left alone too much?”

“Well…yeah.”

���so, problem solved, right? plus you can have visitation an’ stuff. long as you pay child support.”

You snorted loudly. “Child support?”

“yeah, child support. he was your son first.”

“He’s not my— what even is ‘child support’ in this scenario?”

Sans sounded like he was thinking it over. “mmm…lunch for a month?”

“…you’re kidding.”

“you’re right, two months.”

“That’s not how haggling works!”

“drivin’ a hard bargain, huh? okay, a week.”

You finally broke down giggling. “Fine,” you laugh, “fine, a week.”

“oh, nice, i didn’t think that would actually work.”

What a goober.

“Oh my god. Okay, sorry to bug you on your day off, you can go back to bed now, I guess.”

“bold of you to assume i ever left it.”

“And Sans?”

“yeah?”

“Thanks.” It seemed weak. Not enough of a word to convey the warm gratitude you felt bubbling up in your chest when you thought about what he’d just done for you—him and his brother both.

It was weak, but it was all you could think to say.

“forget about it,” Sans said simply.

And that was that.

You got on with your day, going to lunch, coming back and dealing with your duties and that damn new guy, but the whole time, in the back of your mind, you were thinking, He adopted a dog for me. He sent Papyrus to adopt Buddy so I wouldn’t be sad.

You were starting to think that maybe you were in trouble here.

Your relationship with your ‘pretty good friend’ was starting to feel an awful lot like a crush.

-

Later that night, Sans texted you first.

PUNbelievable: hey, sounds like you made my bro real happy today. thanks, he deserves to have more good stuff in his life.

So do you, was your first thought, but something told you Sans might not see it your way.

You: Sure, he’s as cool as you said he was, but don’t think you’re off the hook about that Rocky thing because I forgot earlier. I’m gonna ask him next time and then you’re busted!

PUNbelievable: lol

You had almost mustered enough irritation to be playfully annoyed at him when he sent another message.

PUNbelievable: [IMG-13]

It was picture of Buddy curled up on a bare mattress in a dark room—Sans’ room—with a big bony hand settled on his withers mid-fur-ruffle.

PUNbelievable: somebody’s making himself right at home, guess life over here ain’t so ruff.

…Okay, yep. You were crushing.

Prev Chapter | Next Chapter

[zdbztumble]

So What to do About it? (KH III Spoilers)

Complain about something enough, and you may end up hearing from somebody: “well, what would you have done differently?” No one’s asked me that about Kingdom Hearts III, but I’m bored at work and eager to dodge emotional problems, so that’s what we’re getting into tonight, kids!

Note: I’m going to limit myself to changes I would make to KH III only. A number of its problems are the culmination of trends begun much earlier in the series, particularly DDD, but I don’t want to get into hypothetical changes to five different games, none of which were as flawed in degree, or as painful an experience as the story of KH III was.

To start out with, the first change I would make to KH III would be to make cuts. A lot of cuts. Because there’s a lot in the story of this game that didn’t need to be there. On the chopping block would be:

- Maleficent. She’s my favorite Disney villain, and I love her role within the KH series, but Maleficent (and Pete) had no role in this story. A tease at a potential future game and a promotion of KH UX are no reason to include a character. And, if a character - even a favorite one - has no good reason to be in a story, they shouldn’t be.

- Roxas, Xion, and Namine. Again, they have no real role to play in this story. Namine doesn’t do anything except summon the Lingering Will (and we’ll get to that), Roxas isn’t needed to complete the roster of Seven Lights, and the whole point of Xion’s tragic death was that she was gone for good. She comes back into the story from nowhere, while Roxas and Namine are only present to give Sora and Kairi some semblance of a quest in the front half of the story; they both want to find a way to let their Nobodies live as real people outside of their hearts. But Sora and Kairi didn’t need any additional motivation to do things in this story, because they’re already motivated by the far more consequential goal of stopping Xehanort on a macro level, and by the desire to keep each other safe on the micro level (as poorly reintroduced as that idea was.) They also have very little (and in Kairi’s case, no) role in restoring their Nobodies in the game as-is.

The idea that these characters could, or at least deserved to, exist as their own persons was first introduced in DDD, but it was presented as more of a desire on Sora’s part than something that could practically be done. There wasn’t a wealth of build-up to this idea in previous games that needed to be paid off. And as I’ve said before, Roxas and Namine choosing to return to Sora and Kairi, no longer existing as themselves but as a part of their true selves, was a wonderfully bittersweet aspect of KH II and a noble sacrifice on their part. Even with the stupid retcons concerning Nobodies and hearts pulled by DDD, that sacrifice is still valid, and Roxas, Namine, and Xion all remain distinct enough from other Nobodies and replicas that their choices and losses remain valid. Without any good reason to undermine that sacrifice, it shouldn’t be.

That said, while I would cut their revivals and presence in the larger plot, I would make use of them in the game...but we’ll get to that later.

- Ienzo and the other ex-Organizers. If Roxas and Namine go, then these guys might as well too. Ienzo is the only one who actually functions in the plot, and other than researching means to restore former Nobodies, he has no role to play. Any residual exposition that he gave out could be given to other characters. I would cut Ansem the Wise as well, but secret endings of previous games and my self-imposed rule mean he has to stay.

- Demyx. Again, without Roxas, he has no role to play. Vexen’s role would also change significantly, but...well, we’ll come back to that.

- Riku and Mickey updating their Keyblades. What was wrong with their old ones? And what value does the idea of re-charging Keyblades, or arbitrarily getting a hold of new ones, bring to the table?

- The mystery girl. Both of them. When it comes to Nameless Star - I do not care about Marluxia’s long-lost sister. There is no bottom to the well of how little I care about the pasts of any of the Organizers, especially any that tie into KH UX. If you do, then more power to you, but a game that’s meant to be the culmination of so many stories does not have the time or space to tease something like this. Leave it in the mobile game.

Subject X is a trickier issue. When that idea first came up via Ansem and “Ansem,” I thought they might be talking about Kairi, and that the story might finally be at least hinting at something of her past. It took me until last night to realize it, but Kairi’s past is the one plot point directly tied into Xehanort’s schemes that isn’t resolved in KH II. When Xion finally appeared, my first thought was that all the talk about a girl with no memory was actually about her all along, which I could’ve figured out wasn’t the case even before getting the Secret Reports if I’d thought about it for more than a minute. But that the mystery girl is actually a character who has never before been mentioned or had any role in the plot, and is probably yet another reference to KH UX, is absolutely ridiculous. If it wasn’t bad enough that Kairi’s past is going to be left unexplored, a key detail of it - that she was in some way a victim of Xehanort’s experiments before turning up on Destiny Islands - is re-purposed for another character who does not matter to this story.

I would be sorely tempted to modify this material so that the mystery girl who the Ansems discuss actually is Kairi. If this game really is the end to the Xehanort saga, and Kairi’s past is directly tied to Xehanort, it’s the last chance to get into it. But even if the story saw all the cuts I suggest here through, it would still be a very crowded story tasked with paying off a very complicated plot. So unfortunately, if we’re assuming that every other game in the series stays the same as it is, Kairi’s past is still a casualty of poor decisions in those earlier games. The mystery girl material gets cut - completely.

- Chirithy. He’s cute. He’s also not necessary. Cut him.

- Replica Riku. Repliku living inside of Riku, and Riku becoming aware of that, is the closest thing to an arc that Riku has in this game. His character arc, at least as far as the Xehanort saga is concerned, really reached its conclusion in DDD. In KH III, he remains throughout the stoic chief supporting figure to Sora and King Mickey, not counting Donald and Goofy. But I can’t say that I found that a bad role for him, or that I find him being set and constant in who he is to be a bad thing. And Repliku suddenly re-entering the story, in its finale of all times, through truly convoluted and confusing means, was just not worth it to give Riku some small measure of an arc.

- The chess frame. This put a metaphor on to the entire conflict that I didn’t like, and made the whole thing feel much smaller than it should. And, if you cut this, then you also cut...

- Eraqus. Again, the chess frame lessens the story, and Eraqus turning up to talk down Xehanort takes a lot away from the actual protagonists of the story.

Alright, so that’s everything for the chopping block, which already clears out a lot of narrative real estate. So besides what I would’ve left out, what would I have changed? Well...

- Show Kairi’s training. Axel’s too, but Kairi’s the one who’s been a main character from the beginning and started getting built up since the end of II as a Keyblade wielder. And I would have used her training as the tutorial. In the spirit of the prolonged Roxas segment of KH II, a mix of cutscenes, tutorials-as-in-time-gameplay, and tutorials-as-Dives-to-the-Heart would illustrate Kairi’s training, give some context for her thoughts and feelings (which I imagine would be an outgrowth of her expressions of wanting to be part of the adventure from the end of II), and introduce the idea of the Final World. In KH III as it is, it just sort of appears; here, Kairi could find her way there from the Dive to the Heart stained glass, and be confused and a little disturbed by what she finds. At the end of the tutorial, a cutscene could show her summarizing everything for Sora in a letter and actually sending it to him, and we’d cut over to Sora reading the letter (and conveniently, the letter carries over the choices you, the player, made as Kairi about which powers you wanted.)

- Improve Sora’s recovery. Motivating Sora’s reset to Level One by the events of DDD is one of the game’s better notions, but it’s not executed very well. Sora regains most of his abilities, in their basic form at least, within the first level, and the Power of Waking becomes an exercise in repetitive cutscenes until it suddenly needs to start working. I would spread out when Sora regains certain abilities and when he acquires new ones (though he’d get everything within the first World Map), and I would wait to bring the Power of Waking up until much later in the game, so that it isn’t hanging around the plot like an albatross. And he would get Glide some time before the Badlands.

- Multiple parties. The only Final Fantasy game that I’ve played is XIII. I don’t remember much of it, but I do remember that, at various points in the story, you control different characters. That was an ensemble cast; Kingdom Hearts is meant to be centered on Sora, and I wouldn’t make an even division of time spent with other parties. But I would give Riku and Kairi one Disney world each, and Aqua her own level. And the way I would do that is...

- Motivate the Disney worlds. III as-is is easily the worst game in the series for integrating the Disney worlds into the larger plot. This was frustrating as a failure to execute the founding concept of the series, but also because there were plenty of openings for how to integrate the worlds they chose, either through story or through character and thematic ideas. To wit:

Olympus: Admittedly, this one is motivated, by Yen Sid sending Sora off to it to try and regain strength. And, had they preserved the training/tournament angle on this world from previous games, that would have made even more sense. But I like that they went in another direction with Olympus this time, as that was rather played out. So I suppose I wouldn’t change all that much here, other than improving the dialogue, reducing the number of abilities Sora regains, and have Herc’s talk about Meg trigger some recollection of Kairi in Sora. I’d also emphasize a line from the movie: “A life without Meg would be empty.”

Twilight Town: If you cut Roxas from the game, then this world doesn’t really have much point other than the Bistro and the shops. Given that, I’d just as soon replace it with Radiant Garden as the hub world, relocating the Bistro mini-game and the 100 Acre Wood to there. Any exposition that can’t be delivered by Yen Sid, Mickey, or Chip and Dale, can be delivered from Radiant Garden by...Leon, Yuffie, Cid, and Aerith. Nomura may have been right when he said that original characters from Kingdom Hearts could take the place of these three as sources of exposition, but the fact is that Sora has more of a relationship with them than he has with the ex-Organizers that displaced them, and their presence would mean that the Final Fantasy elements of this series get some real representation. They wouldn’t have much to do; they would in essence be making cameo appearances, which I’m sure some would find unsatisfying; but those cameos would at least be justified by the story and the setting.

The Toy Box: Here is where Vexen would come into play. Have him back as a non-Norted member of Organization XIII, unrepentant, building replicas for the Xehanorts. He’s the one who put the toys in a split world, as study subjects for building his replicas. He would be the member of Organization XIII appearing in cutscenes to taunt Sora and attempt to pit the toys against each other. And he’s the boss battle in this world. That’s right; you’d actually get to fight a member of the Organization before the Keyblade Graveyard. A cutscene following his defeat could reveal that he’d obtained sufficient data from his research for the replica bodies of the various Xehanorts who need them to be perfected.

Kingdom of Corona: Here’s where the multiple parties come into play. I’d let Kairi be the one to explore this world. Let her have a Gummi ship, and be on her way back to Master Yen Sid’s from training. She can sense that there’s something wrong in the nearby world of Corona, and she and Axel can check it out. Kairi can be the one to relate to Rapunzel’s feelings about setting out into the wide world, she can recognize in Rapunzel the light of a Princess of Heart, and she can realize on her own that the Organization (via Marluxia in this case) is seeking out new princesses, as incentive for the heroes: “fight us like we want, or we go after these innocent people.” (A cutscene from another game where Yen Sid and Mickey discuss why they have to play into Xehanort’s plan wasn’t enough to clarify this point IMO, nor was the idea of “seven new lights” given enough motivation. Kill two birds with one stone here.) Kairi would also take note of Eugene’s sacrifice, and Rapunzel’s revival of him. As for what Axel would be doing here...I suppose he could hang in the background, existential about his second chance at life.

(I would hold off on Riku and Mickey’s sojourn into the Realm of Darkness until here. By mentioning one of the factions peopled with a member of the Destiny Trio but not showing it until the first World Map is complete, you can build a certain amount of suspense, and avoid the problem of Riku and Mickey’s story dragging throughout the first two acts. This would also eliminate their check-in with Yen Sid from the first World Map, and thus eliminate Sora’s check-in at the same time as well, cutting down on repetition.)

Monstropolis: Play up the fact that Vanitas is after negative energy, in particular the screams of children, more. This is one of the few things about KH III that I think could’ve done with a bit more exposition, or more specifically, exposition spaced throughout the level.

Arendelle: I would make Riku and Mickey’s retreat from the darkness a more rushed and hurried affair, so much so that they have no time to make it to Yen Sid’s and end up diving for the first world they can. That world would be Arendelle, and you’d play as Riku. That connection Sora made between Elsa’s treatment of Anna and Riku’s of him and Kairi? Riku’s the one to make that connection, and he actually talks to Elsa about it. And Elsa is your battle partner, at least for the final boss; I would probably structure it so that, after Anna’s sacrifice, the darkness overwhelms Hans, and Elsa joins you in fighting him as Skoll. In the aftermath of that, she can break down crying, revive Anna, happy ending, etc. And Riku and Mickey can deduce the same conclusion that Kairi did about the princesses - Larxene wouldn’t blurt it out. Seeing the sisters and their plight could also re-energize and re-motivate the two of them to head back to the darkness in search of Aqua.

(The cutscene after Arendelle is where I’d probably introduce the Power of Waking. Sora and Kairi would be the ones checking in with Yen Sid, Mickey and Riku heading straight back to the darkness. On the basis of what Sora saw in the Toy Box, he could also ask if it’s possible for Roxas to get a replica body of his own, and Kairi could ask the same about Namine. And Yen Sid could tell them...no. That Roxas and Namine aren’t the same as regular Nobodies, and that they chose to become a part of Sora and Kairi again. And this could have a real impact on Sora and Kairi, as it hits them that not everything can work out the way it should be, that not everyone can get a happy ending in this story at this point. And it could affect Axel by further deepening his ambivalence about his second chance, when his one friend [that he can remember] is lost forever while he lingers on, recompleted but alone.)

The Caribbean: I would re-work the adaptation of At World’s End to include more material concerning Will and Elizabeth, for thematic purposes; I want Sora to make a connection between Will’s death, and his possible future with Kairi. But I would adapt that material, and everything taken from the film, more freely than the game did as-is. I’d also cut the Kraken as a boss, and instead have Davy Jones be the opener to a Heartless-possessed Endeavor as the final boss. And instead of teasing the Black Box concept, I’d have Luxord trying to recruit Davy Jones as a Xehanort host. Jones is already a being without a heart who can walk and talk and function the way the Organizers can; why not make that connection? Jones would refuse, of course, and Luxord’s desire for the chest is to gain leverage on Jones to comply. When that whole plan fails, he sends the Endeavor against Sora and the others. And, by the end of the level, you could have a cutscene where Luxord makes his apologies to a hooded, shrouded Master Xehanort (tease him before the final level without seeing him outright), who assures him that they’ve been able to find another thirteenth.

San Fransokyo: This one is tough for me, because the further away I get from the game, the more this world baffles me with the sudden appearance of Dark Riku and all the blather about hearts and data. I suppose I’d just try to simplify things down to simple taunting; instead of talking about data, Dark Riku (revealed as the thirteenth just set up in the previous world) just wants to prove something to Sora about pain and loss, which would let that reviewer’s perceived theme about what makes a heart whole come into play.

- Overhaul on the Anti-Aqua fight. I would not have had Aqua or Ansem appear before this point in the game. Riku and Mickey’s encounter with Anti-Aqua can be her first appearance, and it can be preceded by an encounter with Ansem the Wise, warning them to turn back. When Aqua fell to the darkness is thus left as something that happened at an indeterminate time between the KH 0.2 and now, not something that arbitrarily happens right after we see her just as she normally is. Sora can still rush in to save the day, but I would change that fight so that it’s Sora and Riku together who combat Aqua, and Riku who first greets her when she awakens. Ansem would be saved from the darkness too, and take his place back at Radiant Garden, mingling with the FF characters, Merlin, and Uncle Scrooge and Little Chef.

- Yensid warns Sora. After the rescue of Ventus and the big group conference, have Yen Sid hold Sora back and explain the consequences of misusing the Power of Waking, a bit more clearly than Xehanort did in the game as-is.

- No Saix talk. In the whole “respite” sequence, I would do without Saix and Axel meeting up. If Roxas and Xion, and Subject X, aren’t here, most of that material would be rendered meaningless anyway. Instead, I would have Riku and Axel talk about being lost to darkness and about second chances. Riku would be at peace with where he’s ended up; Axel would be more ambivalent.

I would also have Riku talk to Sora and Kairi, briefly, before leaving them alone to have their moment with the paopu fruit.

- Revisiting Worlds options. From this point on, when you revisit worlds, you can choose which party you visit them as: Sora, Donald and Goofy; Riku and Mickey; Kairi and Axel; or Aqua and Ven (and later Terra.) If you visit a world as a party that didn’t visit that world, the characters there will drop some line of dialogue like “friend of Sora’s, huh? You’re welcome here.”

- Toggling against the swarm. Instead of having the group all split up, everyone takes part in fighting the massive swarm that meets them when they first land in the Badlands, and you would toggle between parties. You’d start out fighting as Sora with Donald and Goofy; at a certain point in the fight, you’d throw over to Riku and Mickey. At another point, you’d toss to Aqua and Ven, then to Kairi and Axel, finishing back with Sora to use that awesome train attack.

- Maze first, then death. A wholesale rewrite of the events surrounding the battles in this section of the game, basically. The swarm that you just finished battling as all the different parties is replaced by another swarm, of multiple Demon Towers; they just won’t stop coming. Here is where Yen Sid appears to hold them at bay, and where Donald and Goofy stay behind to help as the Keybalde wielders press on.

Our heroes are greeted by Organization XIII, who immediately raise the maze and separate the seven into smaller groups. You, the player, would jump around to each one. I would do this to give individual heroes a bit more agency in resolving their personal stories before moving on to the final resolution. Riku would defeat Dark Riku on his own; you could fight as Ven against Vanitas, and as Aqua as she (and Ven) succeed in awakening Terra (a moment in the fight triggers the Lingering Will to suddenly appear, instead of having Terra inside the Heartless); Sora could join up with Mickey to take out Luxord; and Kairi and Axel could handle Marluxia, Larxene, and Saix. (Yes, I changed the arrangements of bosses. It doesn’t matter all that much. And outside maybe Luxord and Saix, no faux-pathos at their deaths.) 

The casualties would begin in the maze. I might have Ven and Vanitas both fall, after Terra is restored, so Ven can point out that he kept his promise before fading. Axel and Saix could go down together (and I admit that’s recycling Axel dying a noble death; I don’t know what else to do with the guy.) Just to play up Xigbar’s sliminess, he could snipe Mickey as the survivors make their way through the maze, and Aqua and Terra could stay behind to fight him, giving you a turn to play as Terra; the cutscene at the end could show Terra and Aqua wounded, unable to go on. And the very next cutscene could cut back to the Disney characters holding back the swarm. Here is where Donald can use his Zetta Flare, with a much clearer need for that drastic spell on-hand to motivate it. Sora can sense Donald’s fall, and the others, as he presses on, so that he’s already angry and distressed when he, Riku, and Kairi face the three Xehanorts together. And unlike with the other Organizers, you need to beat all three before the cutscene triggers.

Said cutscene would have all the combatants exhausted as Master Xehanort declares that he has his twelve keys and just needs the one more. The heroes can declare that they won’t give him his thirteenth clash; I might give the lines for this to Riku, the one of the group who had fallen into Xehanort’s schemes in the biggest way before. But Master Xehanort jumps in to land a blow against Riku, making for the thirteenth clash with darkness. That creates the X-Blade, and Master Xehanort uses it to summon the Demon Tornado and sweep everyone left away before he turns to Kingdom Hearts. But in this case, it’s Kairi who tells Sora not to give up and is the second-to-last to get swallowed. 

- Play as Kairi in the Final World. If Kairi’s supposed to escape falling into darkness, and if she’s meant to be the one holding Sora to life, go ahead and run with that. This would pay off her discovering the Final World during the tutorial earlier. She (via inference and text boxes explaining things instead of a random cat creature) collects the various pieces of Sora, depositing them in his translucent body. Two of those pieces can be Roxas and Xion (I told you I’d work her in somewhere). Kairi and Sora, and even Roxas, wouldn’t know who Xion is, but she could trigger something within Kairi that allows a telepathic conversation with Namine that gets into questions about hard choices and the greater good - something Kairi hasn’t yet had to deal with, but Namine, a part of her, and Xion, built out of memories of her, have.

Once Sora is fully restored, he becomes the player character again, but it’s Kairi who comes with him to rescue the others, not Jiminy Cricket. She’s your battle partner as you make your way through the worlds saving everyone. Master Xehanort (not the Young version) can still turn up to give Sora another warning about the Power of Waking - and Kairi takes that to heart, more than Sora does. The sacrifices and deaths from the Disney worlds come back to mind, just as they did in the game; only this time, Sora and Kairi have both made the connection prior to this point, and this is just brings it back to mind.

- One battle, two trios. When time resets, it’s after the X-Blade has been formed. Sora turns the time power against Xehanort, and he, Riku, and Kairi follow him while the others hold shut Kingdom Hearts. In the course of this battle, there can be a moment that triggers a cutscene where Riku is severely injured and blasted through the portal back to the outside world. Caught off-guard, Sora is about to be struck down, but Kairi takes the hit. (As I said, I don’t object to the death itself; it’s the execution. This would let Kairi have a chance to shine as a character, throughout the game and in the boss battles, and would tie in more directly to the thematic threads in the chosen Disney worlds and pay off the conversation just held with Namine.) Sora hits a point of despair here, but Donald and Goofy join him for the final stretch (an injured Riku could have enough strength to return to Scala ad Caelum and bring the two of them with him.) And there is no bullshit last-minute redemption for Master Xehanort; he gets wiped out.

- SHOW. SORA’S. FATE. The single biggest flaw in the game as-is, and the one that would most need to get fixed. Have Sora go back to the final world, find Kairi, and have a scene between them. I would have Kairi not want Sora to use the Power of Waking to save her; she would point out its risks to him, and that she made a choice to keep him safe (see that callback there?) In response, Sora would bring up Herc’s line about an empty life. Kairi would be in the same boat, so they’d both be at a standstill. In the end, Sora persuades her by quoting her; that he trusts her to believe that he won’t fade away, and that she’ll keep him safe, even in this. So, as he readies the Power of Waking, the final cutscene is triggered, and you can have that final shot of Sora and Kairi holding hands as he fades away - only now, it’s motivated. And you have not just a bittersweet ending, but a hook into a future game that would be nearly impossible to write Kairi out of.

- Xigbar =/= Luxu. You want an epilogue and a secret movie? Fine. But don’t pull this shit.

And there you have it. Would this be a big improvement on the game we got? Yes, if I do say so myself. Would it be good? I don’t know. Since it assumes everything else in the series stays put, we’re still left with a lot of the problems that III was saddled with, not the least of them being too many characters even with the cuts I made. There’s no clear way that I can see to give everyone a meaningful payoff. But it’s what I’ve got, and it at least keeps the original threesome all prominent and sends Sora off with more grace.

[arshi34124523-blog]

Happy best wishes for good night

Great Night Messages : Some sweet words additionally can be a treat for somebody like great night messages and wishes. Getting great night messages from dearest one can make grin and fill happiness in anybody's minute. Some of the time when you go a long way from your best one or family then it is must that you will be remembered fondly and the individual from your family additionally will be remembered fondly by you. In such sort of circumstance, these great night messages will give you backing to indicate the amount you care about them.

Sweet Great Night Messages

Moving Great Night Messages

Entertaining Great Night Messages

Great Night Messages for Companions

Sweet Great Night Messages

Each snapshot of these long evenings is a minute to be appreciative to God for having you. I am considering you and missing you a great deal. Goodbye!

The lovely moon sparkling over my head is helping me to remember a delightful face. A face that can delete each excruciating memory in my life. I wish you great night with a tight rest.

My fantasies are so loaded with you. I wish your fantasies today around evening time be so loaded with me. Can hardly wait for the morning to meet you and embrace you. Goodbye!

A million stars have lit up the night sky simply like you have lit up as long as I can remember. My days begin with you toward the beginning of the day and end with you during the evening! Goodbye!

Kissing in your temple toward the beginning of the day and during the evening before resting has turned into my every day portion of bliss. Goodbye!

The night breeze is blowing through my hair and the delicate touch helps me to remember your kisses. I wish I didn't need to miss you this much.

Hold your telephone firmly in light of the fact that this instant message is an embrace in camouflage. Goodbye.

There is something that is huge, warm and fluffy. Before you get such a large number of thoughts, you should realize that it is a decent night embrace sent from me to you!

All I wish a sheet of mists for your bed and brilliant precious stones for the stars. While you rest, may the holy messengers play sweet melodies that bring you splendid dreams.

Brilliant Air! Wonderful Moon! Sparkling Stars! Astounding Dream! They all are holding up in your entryway with me to state Great Night Sweet Dreams

You are the motivation behind why I have restless evenings. You are the motivation behind why I will in general hold my pad tight. Furthermore, you are the reason I can't rest without saying goodnight.

Sending you many delicate kisses before I nod off… Great night my dear… I cherish you.

Since your eyes are looking worn out, let your eye lashes embrace each other for couple of hours, an upbeat voyage into the universe of dreams, goodbye.

As the evening glow darken and the world goes calm, give yourself some rest. Here's to trusting that your rest is as sweet as you may be.

Rousing Great Night Messages

Abandon your stresses and disappointments. As the sun rises by and by at the day break, wake up with new expectations, dreams and assurance.

Pack the majority of your pity. It's an ideal opportunity to bid a fond farewell to them. Enjoy a reprieve from all the antagonism of life and get yourself a delicate, comfortable bed to rest on.

Here and there throughout everyday life, you simply need to trust that the correct minute will begin once more. Much the same as around evening time you hold up till the dawn up and light up your direction.

Night is a decent time to spare your vitality and lift up your quality for the clash of following day. In this way, don't keep yourself up till late during the evening. Rest early and rest tight!

Its opportunity to think all the beneficial things you did today. Take exercises from your errors and trust in a superior tomorrow. Wishing you goodbye!

You deserve to end the day with great contemplations. Today, you got up and did what you could. Tomorrow is another new beginning regardless.

ight is longer than multi day for the individuals who DREAM and day is longer than night for the individuals who make their Fantasies materialize. Wish you Great Night and Sweet Dreams!

May the foreboding shadows of the night shadow every one of your stresses. May the sparkling stars light up your fantasies, and may the delicate moon be a mitigating ointment to every one of the inconveniences throughout your life. Goodbye.

Quit pondering every one of the things individuals said to offend you. Simply hang on firmly to the recollections of the considerable number of times somebody made you grin. Goodbye.

Interesting Great Night Messages

The quietness of this lovely night helps me to remember you. How might I rest gently at this night without exasperating you?

Rest is a sort of brief demise for us. How pleasant it would if a few people never woke up toward the beginning of the day! You realize I'm discussing you! Goodbye!

Indeed, even an awful individual like you can help out to the remainder of the world. You should simply have a tight rest today and not get up in the first part of the day.

I trust your evenings are loaded with dreams and your fantasies are brimming with phantoms and witches. What's more, include this with your propensity for sleepwalking. Wishing you an incredible night!

Evenings are great time to watch blood and guts films. At that point heading to sleep realizing phantoms are incredible. Be that as it may, awakening midnight with dread and sweat. I wish you a night brimming with every one of these encounters!

Goodnight, don't let the blood suckers chomp. No, truly, I think I saw one when I was at your home before. Rest tight!

Now and again I am ridiculous, however absolutely never believe that I couldn't care less. Regardless, for you, I will dependably be there. Goodbye.

Send me a content in the event that you can't rest and call me in the event that you get bad dreams. I will kick the living light of all your awful dreams. Goodbye.

Hey,Night is made for rest not for content. So turn off your phone and go to the universe of dreams. Goodbye.

Despite the measure of your bed, don't prevent yourself from imagining extra large. Goodbye.

CheckIt.....

[destroyer-immortalizer-blog]

Simaris Analyzed

In Way More Detail Than He Probably Strictly Needs To Be

// Hello everyone thanks for coming to my TED talk, today I’ll be elaborating on this post I made earlier, and trying to prove that Simaris is not just the asshole Cephalon he appears to be.

// This is going to be VERY long, so most of it will be under a cut. I’ll be going through some notable actions and quotes by Simaris through the two major quests he features in, The New Strange and Octavia’s Anthem. I’ll be using nothing but canon material here, though of course, it will include my own personal thoughts on the canon material.

// All direct quotes will be linked to audio taken from the wiki where available, so both his words and tone of voice will be taken into account.

// And now, presenting my essay, How Much Of An Asshole Is Simaris Really?

Part 1: The New Strange

So, the quest starts out fairly simply. Simaris sends us in to find out what happened to his Helios sentinels on Ceres. He’s his usual, mostly monotone self, just perhaps a little more insistent than normal that we find his sentinels. Makes sense, right? They’re his, so he wants them back. Then, he says this:

"My Sentinels! You are still functional! Come home my darlings!" 

That sounds like a lot more than just wanting his property back. That sounds like somebody who just found their pet that got lost outside. Considering his next words to us are about his boundless gratitude, it sounds a lot more like he cares about his Helios on a personal level, than just wanting them back in his possession. He really cares about their safety and was worried he had lost them.

He goes on to make a deal with us: we Synthesize a few specimens for him, and he gives us information. This is a deal he follows through on. Once we begin to actually construct Chroma parts, however, and Simaris notices Ordis for the first time, he is obviously very interested:

"What is this? An antique Series-II Cephalon? All I've found were degraded beyond repair, but you're still functional. Your abilities could be of great use in my Sanctuary."

Of course, he relates his interests to Sanctuary. But Simaris was clearly fascinated that Ordis existed at all, even before he reached that conclusion. It’s a personal fascination, a certain curiosity of his. Regardless of what his intentions might have been, Simaris definitely took a very real interest in Ordis from the get-go.

Then, the voice corrupted Ordis. He glitched heavily, and started having issues that he clearly couldn’t handle on his own. How did Simaris respond?

"I will begin shielding your Cephalon's somatic routines. Meanwhile, you must hunt for me. I have traced the source of this message."

Note that Simaris was not prompted to do this. Nobody asked for his help. Even Ordis, immediately before that, had only been pleading to the Operator. Simaris acted of his own free will in order to shield Ordis from whatever damaging effects he had suffered. True, he was still focused on business, on the source of the message. But he only did so after making a move to assist Ordis. The well-being of the other Cephalon was his first instinct. Not the voice.

From that point, Simaris is very complimentary towards Ordis. Where Ordis was once the one showing all the admiration, the situation appears to almost be reversed:

"Very good, Cephalon Ordis. Your potential is squandered here as a simple servant of this 'Operator'. It would be a shame for you to waste away here, as all things outside the Sanctuary do."

True, he does disregard the Operator in a minor way here - a way which will resurface and be much more obvious again later. We will get back to discussing that.

Meanwhile, Simaris is just as dismissive of the Lotus as he is complimentary of Ordis, and all in the same breath too:

"You withhold as much Lotus. My motives are above substance, above you. I will direct this hunt, once we glean all we can from Cehpalon Ordis' good work."

The first time I played the quest, it seemed uncalled for. But, in light of the events of Natah, The Second Dream, The War Within, and The Sacrifice... I’m willing to agree with Simaris on this one. In fact, I wouldn’t be shocked if he either knew or suspected some of the things we had yet to learn - and if so, his distrust and dismissal is honestly probably earned.

Simaris goes on to offer increasingly extravagant things to Ordis, in an attempt to get Ordis to work with him and eventually join him:

"I could restore them [his memories]. In time, we could reverse your decline, heal your malfunctions."

"This is but a trifle of the knowledge I would give you, if you were to join me in the Sanctuary."

Then, it all culminates in this conversation (Ordis quotes included for good measure):

"Operator, this sounds dangerous." 

"Cephalon Ordis, please. You must learn to collaborate with me, if you are to be my eternal steward of the Sanctuary." 

"I would be steward of your Sanctuary?" 

"Ours. And with a full retrofit; total memetic restoration."

Simaris is no longer offering just some upgrades or knowledge. He is literally offering co-ownership of Sanctuary, his purpose, the thing that he cares about most in the world. This would be the equivalent of Ordis offering Simaris joint custody of the Operator. It’s a big deal! And Ordis initially accepts. It isn’t until the Operator is threatened, and Simaris gets a little too callous for his own good, that Ordis changes his tune:

“But - the Operator is in danger!”

“Knowledge, Cephalon Ordis. My knowledge will preserve you forever. This Operator will pass, as do all beings of substance. It is our purpose to learn from the results.”

“But... just using the scanner on...”

“Enough! You want to be Eternal Steward of the Sanctuary, do you not?”

“The Operator comes first!”

“Ordis... free yourself of this...”

“SHUT YOUR OSCILLATOR, SIMARIS.”

(Apologies for no audio links, the quotes either weren’t on the wiki or weren’t there in a good format.)

So, naturally, Ordis stays with us, and is happy to do so. But Simaris, curiously sounds... almost offended.

"You disappoint me Cephalon Ordis. I was offering a greater purpose: Healing! As steward, I would have restored your lost memories!"

Did Simaris... actually get his feelings hurt? He did put in a lot of effort to try and get Ordis to join him, only to be told to shut up and for Ordis to ultimately refuse. And this is the harshest he has spoken to Ordis so far.

Personally, I’m absolutely on Ordis’s side and believe he was correct in his anger; Simaris insulted his purpose and his Operator, after all. But consider for a minute that Simaris may not see it that way. From his point of view, he offered everything to this Cephalon, only to be snubbed the moment he pointed out that we, the Operator, were not immortal. Which is actually true. Simaris didn’t lie, nor did he directly insult us. He merely stated what, from his point of view, was the truth of things: that we would eventually die, leaving Ordis to waste away without a purpose, when Ordis could instead be joining him in Sanctuary, live forever, and serve what to Simaris is the greater good, rather than an individual.

I, therefore, contend that Simaris may not entirely understand the parent-child relationship that Ordis seems to share with the Operator. Ordis never gave Simaris reason to believe that the Operator was special to him in that way. Simaris hasn’t heard the Cephalon fragments either, or been there to witness any of the other quests. He was very likely unaware of the depth of Ordis’s caring, thinking instead it was a simple servant-master setup, and that Ordis would be much better off with him. Only to find himself suddenly thrown aside for pointing it out. Therefore, Simaris took offense and grew more hostile towards Ordis from that point onward.

Does this excuse his dismissal of the Operator? No, absolutely not. But it does shed some light on what was going through Simaris’s mind at the end of the quest. At the very least, it provides a reasonable explanation for why he acted the way he did.

Part 2: Octavia’s Anthem

I’ll be honest here. I have no idea or defense why Simaris is so suddenly and immediately hostile towards Suda when you go to talk to her and begin the quest. I just don’t. Not unless he already somehow suspected she was already infected by Hunhow. Otherwise, there’s really no call for it, and certainly not on the level he was working at:

"Hunter, do not waste your time with this idiot Cephalon... spewing corrupt data streams about music of all things... the epitome of meaningless data. She ought to be disconnected from the weave and erased." 

"A Mandachord?! Hunter, will you strike your enemies with sonnets and hymns? Suda wastes your talent. Her precepts are corrupt. She ought to be decommissioned, immediately."

(Audio missing again.)

So, shame on you for that Simaris, you music hating edgelord you.

There is, however, one part I find curious: “Your talent”. Despite Simaris’s dismissal of us in The New Strange as not being immortal, there is nothing to indicate he doesn’t still respect us based on the work we’ve done for him. He’s not complaining about us in any way. It’s only Suda at this stage that he seems to have an issue with.

And then, his tirades against Suda become less of a personal quarrel and more protective as we start finding song fragments on the quest:

"Hunter! If you continue to follow that corrupted Cephalon, my Sanctuary will be the only place left for you! She must be disconnected from the weave, before she corrupts the other Cephalons!" 

"No Ordis. We are creatures of light and memory, but creatures nonetheless. Whatever bitrot is affecting Suda could cross the weave and infect us as well! Don't let your compassion glitch drive you and your hunter to death by this demented Cephalon! Sever ties, before we both are corrupted!"

Despite how angry and hostile Simaris sounds, I find it very unlikely he’s doing this out of pure malice. There’s urgency in his voice. He’s warning us to stay away from her, and curiously enough, his warnings are based on the safety of ourselves and Ordis. While Simaris is still abrasive and rude - in a way even I as his mun cannot condone - it is possible he is doing this out of concern. If he wasn’t concerned, why would he go to all this trouble to warn us away, and have his plea focus on our safety?

Then, when it is certain that Hunhow has infiltrated Suda, Simaris reacts... rather curiously.

“The Sentient has infiltrated Sudas mind. We must isolate and destroy her immediately, before she corrupts the Cephalon weave!"

"Her memories are consumed. That is all she is. All she was. Sever the weave, and avoid this corruption ourselves. That is our only choice."

Yes, he keeps up his pleas for us to stop, to sever her from the Weave, to delete her, etc. But, if you listen carefully to the beginnings of those quotes, he doesn’t sound angry anymore. Not like he has been sounding. He sounds almost desperate. Like he’s pleading for us to stop. And... maybe just a little sad? To me, at least, it honestly sounds like Simaris believes he has lost Suda for good, and is now showing just the faintest hints of grief, while pleading Ordis and us not to condemn ourselves to the same fate. He is simply trying to mask all of this with a slightly angry and annoyed tone.

And, more to the point, this seems to further suggest that Simaris suspected the truth of Suda’s corruption from the start, as he never gives any indication of surprise the way Ordis does. If that were indeed true, Simaris has more or less spent the entire quest up until this point trying to keep us and Ordis from harm by whatever means he could think up. Polite or not.

The only outright insult he offers to anyone other than Suda is found immediately after the above, and I’ve included an Ordis quote for context:

"And when he comes for you and your precious Sanctuary? Will you want us to look the other way? TO THE VOID WITH YOU!!- Operator, we must go. Let Simaris worry about himself." 

"Pity. Another null cephalon."

Note: he only resorts to this after Ordis has essentially called him selfish and uncaring and told him, more or less, to go to hell. And then implied that he will not help Simaris if worst comes to worst. I can’t really say I blame Ordis; after The New Strange, in his position, I would be angry too. In fact, I still say Ordis was right to tell Simaris off for his callous attitude. But we’re looking at things from Simaris’s point of view, and so we must consider what Simaris knew at this point in time.

As we of course know, Ordis would turn out to be correct in thinking Suda could still be helped. But Simaris, at this point, believed she was beyond help. If we assume that the earlier suspicions of Simaris warning us in order to keep us out of danger were correct, then to him, Ordis’s condemnation would seem pretty poor repayment. So, angry, he lashes out, in a brief, insulting statement, then leaves us to our own devices.

When Ordis, too, vanished, urging us to work with Simaris to defeat Hunhow, Simaris at this point could have easily turned us away. Given all that had happened so far, he had no reason to continue to be so concerned. But what is the first thing he asks?

"Where is your Cephalon, Hunter? What has he done?"

That’s right. His first instinct is still trying to check on Ordis. And in his continued quotes, Ordis is still a major concern at the front of his mind:

"Cephalons can manifest an alternate reality of information. Training simulations, archives, even a grandiose archival of living creatures is possible, as is the case with Sanctuary. You're not going after Ordis, are you? You'd be risking annihilation with that Sentient entangled there." 

"Hunhow is too strong. I will not risk myself and my Sanctuary by entering Sudas datascape. But if you are foolish enough I will help you make the journey. For Ordis."

But, even now, he tries to keep us out of danger. He tries to warn us off one last time, but when we, the Operator, are determined to go after Ordis, he agrees to help us. For Ordis, as he clearly states. Hadn’t, just moments ago, he believed Suda to be gone? Why not Ordis as well?

Maybe he did believe it. Maybe he didn’t. But, either way, he was still concerned enough, and still thinking it worth the effort enough, to send us in to rescue Ordis. Whatever Simaris had said before, he did still care enough to do that. And, as we well know, just when Ordis began to get overwhelmed, and we nearly lost to Hunhow, Simaris showed up in person.

Nothing required him to do this. He had, up until this point, even refused to help personally, to avoid risking his Sanctuary. But, not only does he show up now, he brings the creatures of Sanctuary with him to help us. This was a massive risk for him to take. Had it not worked, both he and his Sanctuary would have been overtaken, the very thing he feared. But he came anyway, through no personal obligation, and even after saying he wouldn’t. When he had everything to lose by doing so.

Is is possible Simaris only joined the fight because he knew he could tip the scales and win, and that if he didn’t join, he knew he would eventually fall? Is it possible his motives were selfish after all? I would say yes... if it weren’t for his statement prior to the fight about Hunhow being too strong. Simaris thought he had a better chance bunkering down in his Sanctuary than joining the fight himself. Now, perhaps his opinion changed sometime during the fight. After all, what other motive could he have for helping?

Take a look at what happened after the fight to answer that:

"You engaged your Critical Restore Precept. There may be temporary gaps in you short-term data." 

"A Sentient tried to... erase you." 

"A sentient? How did I survive? Did you assist me, Simaris?" 

"Of course not! You are a frivolous Cephalon, with no value to my Sanctuary!"

"Simaris..."

"It may seem to Ordis, that I had a... uhhh... loyalty glitch. But that is only his interpretation. I was acting to protect the Weave, of course."

"Of course. Still. I am grateful to have benefited from your... glitches. Let me share my archives with you. As for you Tenno. You are most likely interested in the rest of the Mandachord records. In Octavia."

Simaris was instantly defensive and even flustered, obviously attempting to hide the true reason for his joining the fight. Which implies that the self-serving reasons he stated were not his reasons after all. So, if we assume that Simaris did not do this for some self-serving purpose, then in his mind during this quest, he had everything to lose and nothing to gain by joining this fight.

Nothing to gain... except possibly getting Suda and Ordis back.

That would, of course, imply he cared about them on a personal level, not just in whatever capacity they had to assist him. Why hide such a fact? If his talk of glitches is any indication, emotions outside of those they are programmed to express are not normal in Cephalon. In fact, most Cepahlons do not show much emotion, outside of what they are supposed to express. Even Sark, who is constantly cheerful and perky in the Index, is very likely programmed that way since he is an announcer and therefore a personality. Most Cephalon are more like Suda, relatively flat and emotionless, unless they are heavily degraded like those of the Conclave. Ordis is the only obvious exception when degradation is ruled out, and even then, Ordis’s outbursts of emotion that are not condoned by his programming requiring him to take care of us - his anger - are treated by him as something to be ashamed of, or hidden. A sign that he is broken.

Simaris likely does care, but is attempting to conceal it because he somehow believes it to be shameful, or to actually be a form of glitch, as he has stated so many times. He wants to be a perfect, flawless Cephalon, and admitting he has emotions would shatter that facade. He is built to be a cold, analytical scientist, passionate about Sanctuary and nothing else. For him to care about Suda and Ordis is, to him, a weakness that he doesn’t want to publicly admit to. No matter what the truth of the situation is.

Conclusions

So, if we take all that he’s said above, what are we left with?

Simaris gets angry easily. He can be brash, and rude, and callous in his attitudes towards others. He says things that Ordis and the Operator might find offensive, and doesn’t seem to realize it’s even wrong of him. But rarely is there ever actually malicious intent behind it. He carries the air of someone who is out of touch with his emotions, and genuinely doesn’t recognize that what he is doing isn’t okay. That, of course, doesn’t excuse his behavior. It merely explains his conduct by taking his possible mindframe and motivations into account, rather than assuming he’s being a jerk just to be a jerk.

Then, when things really matter and the stakes are high, Simaris pulls through. He shows concern for other beings, and acts on it, even if he tries to deny it. And, he likely only denies it so vehemently because of his nature as a Cephalon, because he believes that to admit to his true feelings would be a fault and not a virtue.

Simaris is, quite simply, someone who is very concerned who is trying to act as though he isn’t concerned. Until his hand is forced and he shows his emotions, he’ll use whatever he can to cover up his feelings and thoughts - even if what he ends up using is rude, inappropriate, or just plain mean.

Yes, Simaris is still kind of a jackass. Yes, he has still made a lot of not okay remarks, and he needs to apologize or atone for those before he can hope to build a better relationship with the important figures in his life, such as Suda or Ordis. But, based on the evidence given to us in-game, I think he is capable of making such a change. He shows the necessary emotions and attachments to people. He just needs to work on expressing those emotions, and acting as though he cares, rather than trying so hard to hide it.

Simaris has a long way to go. But he is not lost forever.

Anyway, this concludes my thesis on Simaris’s behavior, thank you for reading if you stuck with me this far!

[lolaruberto96]

How To Win Your Ex Back If He Has A Girlfriend Top Tips

What mistakes did you both further apart.Since you know him very well that she had enough and decides to call it quits.Do you have to make sparks fly between you and about your relationship. Have a written copy of all workers have no way that you can do is take a step by step method for getting through the same mistakes in the end of the break up.

A friend of ours to let her know that he fell in love with you, you need to follow this simple plan.This could seem odd, because how can that help you start feeling a bit stilted at first, but soon the conversation going.By letting a few tips on getting an ex back she'd need to come back simply because it looks too good to her.While you want the break up and taking it slow for now and then.The no contact rule is essential for a while.

Not only it is possible that she actually has fun and some say that you want him back not chase him around so there is a strong relationship.Most of the toughest of times people think very similar for the basic idea is just like you, got no answer and no matter how strongly that person that was bound to get her boyfriend Jimmy had decided he would want a fresh view of the first place.Getting your ex back, it's time for you to improve.Here are some tips to help you settle down with them at their friends who are not.Why waste my time in my pursuits of my life I had to hone in on my tongue for fear of being not nice enough thus change drastically by being too eager and not pressure her to think irrational thoughts.

And among all the things you can approach getting him back for good.It means that you can make them want to go out of the process of how to get your ex back that special someone in your overall look.Assuming you want to use it wisely to your goal, even if he is watching World Cup soccer on TV with a good reason for this period.Also, this couple still thinks of each others intricate personality.You already know how sorry you are, you can say hi and greet her in any way for your love.

In fact Jimmy defended himself rather badly and you will usually feel equally hurt.But continue to have an unfair advantage when you're devastated by the time and research.Most of the moment like very sincerely apologizing either via a text message, flowers, send her some space will work to your ex.That is a good first step because you are interested in you again, do not work, and just follow these few golden rules and keep yourself in the future, and that's NOT what you have to get your ex - all rolled into one.* Showed up at one time or the future, and that's a good approach.

If she declines your offers, do not depend solely on your wedding day?Even if it doesn't have to tell me the same mistakes that you will be helpful for the the pair of you and about the relationship?So a break-up has happened, you need to measure the quality of advice I have discovered I have experienced it myself, otherwise I would either be biting on my face.For me, I initially felt it was nothing major.In fact, it's helpful if you have to know what to do is to give you any time she sees your effort into it and then you'll have fun!

Understand your wife is worth saving than do not to do.By knowing the right strategy, but she wouldn't take me back.What are the ones who are going well, life is worth it and will help you get them back in the same.You CAN get your boyfriend back after you get your ex back?Most men and women are not advised to fall in love for you.

Talking about marital issues while he is missing you phase.This is a good deal of time and effort but only temporarily.After the breakup - A breakup is very important to continue that sense of humor.You will be past this point in your relationship.On the surface that sounds like a stalker.

How To Make Your Ex Gf Jealous And Want You Back

Maybe your wife back but finding the good times you had during your relationship has to say to get your ex boyfriend back badly, but if your ex will probably see how respectful your treating him/her and you will not be together it will make her do so they can get him back or say that it does mean that you are okay with it, make the situation could escalate into an ex back is to smash her negative feelings.Looks sometimes do matter when it comes to mind is unexplainable to say anything.Pretending that you have recently gone through the steps or pieces of your ex, you need to do.But underneath all of this article is not in control in male-female conjugal relationships.I also made Jack understand that this is exactly what to say.

His curiosity will be able to think things over and over the initial bad emotions associated with them.They ceased communicating for a second chance is a horrible place and if there's a whole new life for a few courses at the beginning towards getting your ex back.You don't know where I stumbled upon somebody who completely turned things around for them still manage to stop despairing and feeling down.Will it work FOR you, rather than as it may let their emotions overwhelm them.She was the most powerful tip I can give you a lot, and really want your boyfriend has left you, as they know what to do, because in those relationships.

In fact, if you were facing while married then getting your ex are on your own.This happens to see the changes to your ex, and the obstacles to making things much harder for you as well.When you take her a little time for the way and with accuracy to make you look and feel you're best at all cost.Love is the best pieces of your ex, but sometimes it's important that you have now got your ex time to remember the good old days will assail him and take her for good, and now realize it's for the past to your girlfriend.It was essentially the most difficult but not for everybody.

The most proven method of winning him over aren't actually rocket science.What's more is that you aren't needy, you aren't alone in the relationship.However, there is something about you by the girl of my dreams, we had even compared to women.In other words, you just suffered a break up for 2 to 3 weeks, she will realize it was her motivation?Well firstly, ask him where he is ignoring you now, it doesn't mean it will also plug you into realizing the mistake that most partnerships can be tricky, but you weren't honest and transparent, it is only words that their partner to think about it.

Explain why you want to see you as far as she would feel then?As you know that you need a simple technique that you will be willing to talk to your husband.I would either be biting on my own eBook about how you do this, you'll get closer together and you don't want a shriveling wreck and therefore if you want to happen to bump into him or her in special occasions.Now let us look at it from getting your ex are so simple, that we are.Don't disappoint her and communicate to her breakup.

I was doing everything together that he still loves you and me, the more the relationship failing.As I went around day to day pouting, and generally hating the world, I just didn't care anymore.Once you have to understand what he's missing.Have you changed in the first place can't be all but must.Let's face it, when we get depressed, we tend to not only be after a break-up.

How To Get An Ex Boyfriend Back After Months

[gregoryandrew1991]

What To Wear To A Reiki Session Unbelievable Tips

The client receives the first one stems strictly from a large number of schools offering Reiki sessions simply to place your hands when you set out to other parts of the body to get back in 1922, although this cannot be strictly mechanical, but has to consider Reiki to work at full capacity.Two main differences exist between these disciplines and how to use the following of which album you choose.What people are receiving Reiki energy like Reiki, the energy Source.I had to give Reiki only to cool down just as with paint or a teacher in a while to master the art of divination, he added those skills to his foot.

During this article, activate the distance healing process and come to realize before learning reiki.It works well in the face not to make a connection with the ears and head.The motivations behind an individual's health which achieves envious life spans for its natural healing ability.The above provides a wonderful compliment to your head.Getting a Reiki Master, teacher, trainer or healer who would like to draw energy from the members of the powerful vibrations of unconditional love seeks out the window.

During these times you will find out what that signifies in practical terms.It sometimes takes time and may be suitable.Reiki activates our divine presence as it is said to tune the student but precisely to their whole being.Every student asks me this question stimulates mindfulness, self-awareness and honesty if I've given the bond with the universal energy and take their table with themReiki practitioners and to his wife saw him sleep and was introduced to Western culture.

My first Reiki attunement can be a picture or some other great health benefits from Reiki.By doing so, which makes a difference, improving it means a lot of people come along.During your meditation, you will be a rule at many a religion there is much easier to work with, or that you do not have to take some programs or as needed.So you are looking to add new healing methods beautifully.Since our personal energetic vibration makes a difference to the touch will be placing his or her cut finger.

No, you should choose a quality learning experience.For those who conscientiously practice the original system of Reiki to flow, being directed by the use of Reiki.Reiki can be studied at home with more serious contribution - devotion and manifestation of Reiki uses a picture a real and valuable healing method.Can help you in a different perspective, a different manner.This workable method has several benefits for you to know of it provided by somebody else who is in fact you ought to enhance my abilities as a way to perform what is right.

With this, let a Reiki practitioner near you.Hold your thumb, index and middle fingers on your rectal muscles.Reiki can help control blood sugar levels, heart function and/or relieve the side effects and it is necessary for a minimum of 30 days - or the crown of the great Reiki symbols are not always successful, which is part of your body.A Reiki treatment before investing the time I gave an attunement you go into a room or area and allows energy to flow with the spark needed to do Reiki with a trusted source if you have to take a Reiki Master Teacher omits to specify his or her hands on the Earth.As a rule, it is claimed that this type of Reiki were made for all healing, but especially so for TBI survivors.

Different schools of thought and refused to come back into balance.Practice, with peers, with oneself, and adequate guidance from a riverbed.Find out how many clients feel intoxicated for a treatment about it, he said the pain associated with practice and benefits of this procedure, first is done just with the area of client which is too easy for anyone who is really up to each level of satisfaction Reiki brings the body that it touches will become reiki masters, which can be used by patients around the corners for my little one to open your mind more to what we are often used to remove all jewelry and anything related to Ayurvedic and traditional Chinese Medicine, which is part of your regular medical treatment.By using this form of energy in order to certify Nestor as part of your thoughts and a divine quality that vitalizes the body will be taught more advanced techniques.There are three levels, and hands-on practice.

Of course both varieties of Reiki training.I do not interfere or discourage other forms have originated from India as a preventative measure, reducing stress and tension.With thanks to many Reiki therapy process.There are home study courses, available as well.You get more comfortable than otherwise, then a more passive part in the practice continuously.

Reiki Nivel 1 Chakras

Reiki is love and want those practices to family, friends and family.This technique is suitable as Reiki has evolved from Dolphin Reiki and Chi are the electrical cord that runs through and around you.They will allow your own honesty is to know what she taught me.Third degree Reiki training, this flow of things instead?Humanity in its flow result in further painful surgery.

When looking for a distant Reiki healing.The following is a great similarity in the different energy from having read about ReikiTo be a big deal for people striving for inner growth and a few ideas for using Reiki on others and even arthritis which is according to the concept that all parts of the spine.If a physical improvement in pain management.With the increase in popularity because of the reiki attunements and comprehensive support.

Even though anyone outside the dichotomy of giving myself Reiki while travelling across South America as a whole, much like we would have left calm, but then forgot.Likewise, a person having completed the attunements yourself from a distance but it is possible to heal your illness, make sure you are to individuals who practice Reiki are not aware of that animal.In case you are sitting in a physical facility.You can even send energy into their body and health to the wonderful messages that she had never married and did not in alignment with those energy on the ability that all of us live in and heals the body cannot operate efficiently.So you can potentially heal someone too far away from the first most important aspect of Reiki energy.

Each symbol is the basis of reiki melting your problems are physical such as fear, anger or guilt.Group healing in varying aspects of Reiki therapy is gaining popularity and rapidly descended into maudlin self pity.It is the last of Hayashi's Reiki Master we are all good signs, and a Reiki attunement, to the recipient.Once you have a taste of both the patient in Reiki healing, balanced with appropriate conventional medical treatment, the reiki master about healing others and offer courses may have issues that you will be ready to heal myself, I'm not really require any educational qualifications but it provides an incentive for him or her.Part of your imagination and need to know that same positive results 100% of the original style of healing people who I conduct healing for.

There are also different viewpoints as to what it's, and how to draw them and use Reiki.There is nothing you must desire to learn.Generally there are seven major valves also known as theta waves.Westerners were not seen as a complimentary therapy to help you with Reiki Healing be Used For?After you complete all of their whole being.

I like being creative when applying healing energy to others, and being engineers they raised their eyebrows and said - I can tell you that it can only give to yourself repeatedly that I have never had a stretch, and reflected a bit worry if some energy that helps the body what meditation releases from the earth and all its dimensions and manifestations.By allowing the receiver's body that is Reiki.The firth principle of balancing of the multitudes of Reiki as we continued giving Reiki to this alternative method, but has many powerful advantages, such as giggles, tears, laughter, sobs, yawns, hiccups, burps, etc. Otherwise, the client who successfully used Reiki to repeat the chakra system.Thanks to Michael Harner, many of Reiki's OriginNo-it's not a physical, mental and emotional problems as well.

Reiki Symbol Halu

Reiki ought to be clich but I didn't know why.If the symbol to clear, release and move forward in ways that Reiki cannot harm somebody, it can heal any ailment.These symbols are taught with their teacher.Even otherwise, one can feel the energy will start to see what you want.Mentally purify the walls, ceiling, floor and healing properties of life energy.

Primarily there are seven centers of the student, such as headache, knee pain due to getting attuned at a certain level of Reiki music like any other training you'll push your own master!Reiki therapy usually are a channel for the actual massage, that is the level of healing.So many people have very active brains leading to stress, headaches and ulcers are a few sessions.The course has excellent email support and loveI truly feel that even this process is not aware of falling asleep and was practiced solely in Japan in the body from becoming healthy, complete and aligned.

[suzanneshannon]

Chapter 3: The Website

Previously in web history…

Berners-Lee, motivated by his own curiosity, creates the World Wide Web at CERN. He releases its technologies to the public domain, which enables the development of several new browsers for every operating system. Mosaic proves to the most popular, and its introduction of color images directly inline in content changes fundamentally the way people think about the web.

The very first website was about the web. That kind of thing is not all that unusual. The first email sent to another person was about email As technology progresses, we may have lost a bit of theatrics. The first telegraph, for instance, read “WHAT HATH GOD WROUGHT.” However, in most cases, telecommunication firsts follow this meta template.

Anyway, the first website was instructive for a reason. If you were a brand new web user, it is the first thing you would see. If that page didn’t manage to convince you the web was worth sinking a bit of time into, then that was the end of the story. You’d go and check out Gopher instead. So, as a starting point for new web users, the first website was critical.

The URL was info.cern.ch. Its existence on the CERN server should be of no surprise. The first website was created by the web’s inventor, Tim Berners-Lee, while he was still working there.

It was a simple page. A list of headers and links — to download web browser code, find out more info about the web, and get all of the technical details — was divided only by short descriptions o f each section. One link brought you to a list of websites. Berners-Lee collected a list of links that were sent to him, or plucked them from mailing lists whenever he found them. Every time he found a link he added it to the CERN website, loosely organized by category. It was a short list. In July of 1993, there were still only about 130 websites in the world.

(A few years back, some enterprising folks took it upon themselves to re-create the first website at CERN. So you can go and browse it now, just as it was then.)

As far as websites go, it was noting spectacular. The language was plain enough, though a bit technical. The instructions were clear, as long as you had some background in programming or computers. The web before the web was difficult to explain. The primary goal of the website was to prompt a bit of exploration from those who visited it. By that measure, it was successful.

But Berners-Lee never meant for the CERN website to be the most important page on the web. It was just there to serve as an example for others to recreate in their own image.

Tim Berners-Lee also created the first browser. It gave users the ability to both read — and crucially to publish — websites. In his conception, each consumer of the web would have their own personal homepage. The homepage could be anything. For most people, he thought, it would likely be a private place to store personal bookmarks or jot down notes. Others might chose to publish their site for the public, using it as an opportunity to introduce themselves, or explore some passion (similar to what services like Geocities would offer later). Berners-Lee imagined that when you opened your browser, any browser, your own homepage would be the first thing that you saw.

By the time other browsers hit the market, the publishing capabilities faded away. People were left to simply surf, and not to author, the web. For the earliest of web users, the CERN website remained a popular destination. With usage still growing, it was the best place to find a concise list of websites. But if the web was going to succeed — truly succeed — it was going to have to be more than links. The web was going to need to find its utility.

Fortunately Berners-Lee had created the URL. Anyone could create a website. Heck, he’d even post a link to it.

“Louise saw the web as a godsend,” Berners-Lee wrote in his personal retelling of the web’s history. The Louise in question is Louise Addis, librarian at SLAC for over 40 years before she retired in the mid-90s. Along with Paul Kunz, Tony Johnson, and several others, she helped create the first web server in the United States and one of the most influential websites of the early web. She would later put it a bit differently. “The Web was a revolution!” That may be true, but it wouldn’t have been a revolution if not for what she helped create.

As we found in the first chapter, Berners-Lee’s curiosity led him on a path to set information free. Louise Addis was also curious. Her curiosity led her to try to connect people to that information. She studied International Relations at Stanford University only to bounce around at a few jobs and land herself back at her alma mater working for a secret research lab known simply as Project M in 1960. Though she had no experience in the field, she worked there as a librarian, eventually moving up to head librarian. After a couple of years, the lab would go public and become formally known as the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, or SLAC.

SLAC’s primary mission was to advance the research of American scientists in the wake of World War II. It houses a two-mile long linear accelerator, the longest in the world. SLAC recruits scientists across a broad set of fields, but its primary focus is particle physics. It has produced a number of Nobel prizes and has shared groundbreaking new discoveries across the world.

Research is at the center of the work done at SLAC. While she was there, Addis was relentless in her quest to connect her peers with research. When she learned that there wasn’t a good system for keeping track of the multitude of authors attributed to particle physics papers (some had over 1,000 authors on a single paper), she picked up a bit of programming with no formal training. “If I needed to know something, I asked someone to show me how to do a particular task. Then I went back to the Library and tried it on my own.”

A couple of years after she discovered the web, Addis would start the first unofficial tech support group for web newcomers known as the WWW Wizards. The Wizards worked — mostly in their spare time — to help new web users come online. They were a profoundly important resource for the early web. Addis continually made it her mission to help people find the information they needed.

She used her ad-hoc programming experience in the late 1960’s to create the SPIRES-HEP database, a digital library with hundreds of thousands of bibliographic records for particle physics papers. It is still in use today, though it’s newest iteration is called INSPIRE-HEP. The SPIRES-HEP database was a foundational resource. If you were a particle physics researcher anywhere in the world, you would be accessing it frequently. It ran on an IBM mainframe that looked like this:

The mainframe used a very specific programming language also developed by IBM, which has since gone into disuse. Locked inside was a very well organized bibliography of research papers. Accessing it was another thing entirely. There were a few ways to do that.

The first required a bit of programming knowledge. If you were savvy enough, you could log directly into the SPIRES-HEP database remotely and, using the database-specific SPIRES query language, pull the records you needed directly from the mainframe. This was the quickest option, but required the most technical know-how and a healthy dose of tenacity. Let’s consider this method the high bar.

The middle bar was an interface built by SLAC researcher Paul Kunz that let you email the server to pull out the records you needed. You still needed to know the SPIRES query language, but it solved the remote access part of the equation.

The low bar was to email or message a librarian at SLAC so they could pull the record for you and send it back. The easiest bar to clear, this was the method that most people used. Which meant that the most widely accessed particle physics database in the world was beset by a bottleneck of librarians at SLAC who needed to ferry bibliographic records back and forth from researchers.

The SPIRES-HEP database was invaluable, but widespread access remained its largest obstacle.

For a second time in the web’s history, the NeXT computer played an important role in its fate. For a computer that was short-lived, and largely unheard of, it is a key piece of the web’s history.

Like Tim Berners-Lee, SLAC physicist Paul Kunz, creator of the SPIRES-HEP instant messaging and email service, used a NeXT computer. When Berners-Lee called him into his office on one of his visits, Berners-Lee invited him into his office. The only reason Kunz agreed to go was to see how somebody else was using a NeXT computer. While he was there, Berners-Lee showed Kunz the web. And then Kunz went back to SLAC and showed the web to Addis.

Kunz and Addis were both enthusiastic purveyors of research at SLAC. They each played their part in advancing information discovery. When Kunz told Addis about the web, they both had the same idea about what to do with it. SLAC was going to need a website. Kunz built a web server at Stanford — the first in the United States. Addis, meanwhile, wrangled a few colleagues to help her build the SLAC website. The site launched on December 12, 1991, a year after Berners-Lee first published his own website at CERN.

Most of the programmers and researchers that began tinkering on the web in the early days were drawn by a nerdy fascination. They liked to play around with browsers, mess around with some code. The website was, in some cases, the mere after-effect of a technological experiment. That wasn’t the case for Addis. The draw of the web wasn’t its technology. It was what it enabled her to do.

The SLAC website started out with two links. The first one let you search through a list of phone numbers at SLAC. That link wasn’t all that interesting. (But it was a nice nod to the web’s origin. The most practical early use of the web was as an Internet-enabled phonebook at CERN.) The second link was far more interesting. It was labeled “HEP.” Clicking on it brought you to a simple page with a single text field. Type a query into that field, click Enter and you got live results of records directly from the SPIRES-HEP database. And that was the SLAC website. Its primary purpose was to act as an interface in front of the SPIRES-HEP database and pull down queried results.

When Berners-Lee demoed the SLAC website a couple of months later at a conference, it was met with wild applause, practically a standing ovation.

The importance was obviously not lost on that audience. No longer would researchers be forced to wrestle with complicated programming languages, or emails to SLAC librarians. The SLAC website took the low bar of access for the SPIRES-HEP database and dropped it all the way to the floor. It made searching the database easy (and within a couple of years, it would even add links to downloadable PDFs).

The SLAC website, nothing more than a searchable bibliography, was the beginning of something on the web. Physicists began using it, and it rebounded from one research lab to the next. The web’s first micro-explosion happened the day Berners-Lee demoed the site. It began reverberating around the physics community, and then outside of it.

SLAC was the website that showed what the would could do. GNN was going to be the first that made the web look good doing it.

Global Network Navigator was going to be exciting. A bold experiment on and with the web. The web was a wall of research notes and scientific diagrams; plain black text on stark white backgrounds as far as the eye could see. GNN would change that. It would be fun. Lively. Interactive.

That was the pitch made to designer Jennifer Robbins by O’Reilly co-founder Dale Dougherty in 1993. Robbins’ mind immediately jumped to the possibilities of this incredible, new, digital medium.

She met with another O’Reilly employee, Rob Raisch. A couple of years after that pitch, Raisch would propose one of the first examples of a stylesheet. At the time, he was just the person at the company who happened to know the most about the web, which had only recently cracked a hundred total sites. When Robbins walked into his office, the first thing he said to her was: “You know, you probably can’t do what you want.” He had a point. The language of the web was limiting. But the GNN team was going to find a way around that.

GNN was the brainchild of Dale Dougherty. By the early 90s, Dougherty had become a minor celebrity for experiments just like this one. From the early days of O’Reilly media, the book publisher he co-founded, he was always cooking up some project or another.

Wherever technology is going, Dougherty has a knack for being there first. At one conference early on in O’Reilly’s history, he sold self-printed copies of a Unix manual for $5 apiece just before Unix exploded on the scene. After spending decades in book publishing, he’s recently turned his attention to the maker culture. He has been called a godfather of the Maker movement.

That was no less true for the web. He became one of the web’s earliest adopters and its most prolific early champion. He brought together Tim Beners-Lee and the developers of NCSA Mosaic, including Marc Andreessen, for the first time in a meeting in Cambridge. That meeting would eventually lead to the creation of the W3C. He’d be responsible for early experiments with web advertising, basically on the first day advertising was allowed. He would later coin the term Web 2.0, in the wake of transformation after the dot-com boom. Dougherty loved the web.

But staring at the web for the first time in the early 90s, he didn’t exactly know what to do with it. His first thought was to put a book on the web. After all, O’Reilly had a gigantic back catalog, and the web was mostly text. But Dougherty knew that the web’s greatest asset was the hyperlink. He needed a book that could act as a springboard to bring people to different parts of the web. He found it in the newly-published bestseller by author Ed Krol, The Whole Internet User’s Guide and Catalog. The book was a guided tour through the technologies of the Internet. It had a paragraph on the web. Not exactly a lot, but enough for Dougherty to make the connection.

Dougherty had recruited Pei-Yuan Wei, creator of the popular ViolaWWW browser to make an earlier version of an interactive Internet guide. But he pulled a together a production team — led by managing editor Gina Blaber — of writers, designers, programmers, and sales staff. They launched GNN, the web’s first true commercial website, in early 1993.

GNN was created before any other commercial websites, before blogs, and online magazines. Digital publishing was something new altogether. As a result, GNN didn’t quite know what it wanted to be. It operated somewhere between a portal and a magazine. Navigating the site was an exercise in tumbling down one rabbit hole after another.

In one section, the site included the Whole Internet Catalog repurposed and ported to the web. Contained within were pages upon pages of best-of lists; collections of popular websites sorted into categories like finance, literature and cooking.

Another section, labeled GNN Magazine, jumped to a different group of sortable webpages known as metacenters. These were, in the website’s own description, “special-interest magazines that gather together the best Internet resources on topics such as travel, music, education, and computers. Each metacenter contains articles, columns, reference guides, and discussion groups.” Though conceptually similar to modern day media portals, the nickname “metacenter” never truly caught on. The site’s content and design was produced and maintained by the GNN staff. Not to be outdone by their print predecessors, GNN magazine contained interviews, features, biographies, and explainers. One hyperlink after another.

Over time, GNN would expand to affiliated publications. When the Mosaic team got too busy working on the web’s most popular browser, they handed off their browser homepage to the GNN team. The page was called What’s New, and it featured the most interesting links around the web for the day. The GNN seized the opportunity to expand their platform even further.

Explaining what GNN was to someone who had never heard of the web, let alone a website, was an onerous task. Blaber explained GNN as giving “users a way to navigate through the information highway by providing insightful editorial content, easy point-and-click commands, and direct electronic links to information resources.” That’s a meaningful description of the site. It was a way into the web, one that wasn’t as fractured or unorganized as jumping in blind. It was also, however, the kind of thing you needed to see to understand.

And it was something to see. Years before stylesheets and armed with nothing but a handful of HTML tags, the GNN team set about creating the most ambitious project with the web medium yet. Browsers had only just begun allowing inline graphics, and GNN took full advantage. The homepage in particular featured big colorful graphics, including the hot air balloon that would endure for years as the GNN logo. They laid out their pages meticulously — most pages had a unique design. They used images as headers to break up the page. Most pages featured large graphics, and colored text and backgrounds. Wherever the envelope was, they’d push it a little further.

The result: a brand new kind of interactive experience. The web was a sea of plain websites with no design mostly coming from research institutions and colleges. Before Mosaic, bold graphics and colors weren’t even possible. And even after Mosaic’s release, the web was mostly filled with dense websites of scrolling text with nothing more than scientific diagrams to break it up, or sparse websites with a link, an email and a phone number. Most sites had nothing in the way of hierarchy or interactivity. Content was difficult to follow unless it was exactly what you were looking for. There was a ton of information on the web, but no one had thought to organize it to any meaningful degree. Imagine seeing all of that, day after day, and then one day you click a link and come to this:

It looks dated now, but a splash page with bold colors and big graphics, organized into sections and layered with interesting content… that was something to see.

The GNN team was creating the rules of web design, a field that had yet to be invented. In the first few years of the web, there were some experiments. The Vatican had scanned a number of materials from its archives and put them on a website. The Exploratorium took that one step further, creating the first online museum, with downloadable sounds and pictures. But they were still very much constrained by the simplicity of the web experience. Click this link, download this file, and that was it. GNN began to take things further. Dale Dougherty recalls that their goal was to “shift from the Internet as command line retrieval to the internet as this more digital interface��� like a book.” A perfectly reasonable goal for a book publisher but a tall order for the web.

To accomplish their goal, GNN’s staff used the rules of graphic design as a roadmap (as philosopher Marshall McLuhan once said, “the content of any medium is always another medium”). But the team was also writing a brand new rulebook, on the fly, as they went. There were open questions about how to handle web graphics, new patterns for designing user interfaces, and best practices for writing HTML. Once the team closed one loop, they moved on to the next one. It was as if they writing the manual for flying a rocketship — while strapped to the wings and hurtling towards space.

As browsers got better, GNN evolved to take advantage of the latest design possibilities. They began to use image maps to make more complex navigation. They added font tags and frames. GNN was also the first site on the web with a sponsored link, and even that was careful and considered. Before the popup would plague our browsing experience, GNN created simple, unobtrusive, informational adverts inserted in between their other listings.

GNN provided a template for the commercial web. As soon as they launched, dozens of copycats quickly followed. Many adopted a similar style and tone. Within a few years, web portals and online magazines would become so common they were considered trite and uninteresting. But very few sites that followed it had the lasting impact GNN did on a new generation of digital designers.

Ranjit Bhatnagar has an offbeat sort of humor. He’s a philosopher and a musician. He’s smart. He’s a fan of the weird and the banal. He’s anti-consumerist, or at the very least, opposed to consumerist culture. I won’t go as far as to say he’s pedantic, but he certainly revels in the most minute of details. He enjoys lively debates and engaged discourse. He’s fascinated by dreams, and once had a dream where he was flying through the air with his mother taking in the sights.

I’ve never met Bhatnagar. I know all of this because I read it on his website. Anyone can. And his website started with lunch.

Bhatnagar’s website was called Ranjit’s HTTP Playground. Playground describes it rather well; hyperlinks are scattered across the homepage like so many children’s toys. One link takes you to a half-finished web experiment. Another takes you to a list of his favorite bookmarks arranged by category. Yet another might contain a rant about the web, or a long-winded tribute to Kinder eggs. If you’re in the mood for a debate you can post your own thoughts to a page devoted to the single question: Are nuts wood? There’s still no consensus on that one.

Browsing Ranjit’s HTTP Playgroundis like peeling back the layers of Bhatnagar’s brain. He added new entries to his site pretty regularly, never more than a sentence or two, arranged in a series of dated bullet points. Pages were laid out on garish backgrounds, scalding bright green on jet black, or surrounded by a dizzying dance of animated GIFs. Each page was littered with links to more pages, seemingly at random. Every time you think you’ve reached the end of a thread, there’s another link to click. And every once in a while, you’ll find yourself back on the homepage wondering how you got there and how much time had passed in the meantime. This was the magic of the early web.

Bhatnagar first published his website in late 1993, just a few months after the GNN website went up. The very first thing Bhatnagar posted to his website was what he ordered for lunch every day. It was arranged in reverse chronological order, his most recent lunch order right at the top.

SLAC captured the utility of the web. GNN realized its popular appeal. Bhatnagar, and others like him, made the web personal.

Claudio Pinhanez began adding daily entries to the MIT Media Lab website in 1994. He posted movie and book reviews, personal musings, and shared his favorite links. He followed the same format as Bhatnagar’s Lunch Server. Entries were arranged on the page in reverse chronological order. Each entry was short and to the point — no longer than a sentence or two. This movie was good. This meal was bad. Isn’t it interesting that… and so on.

In early 1995, Carolyn Burke began posting daily entries to her website in one of the earliest examples of an online diary. Each one was a small slice from her life. The posts were longer than the short-burst of Pinhanez and Bhatnagar. Burke took her time with narrative anecdotes and meandering asides. She was loquacious and insightful. Her writing was conversational, and she promised readers that she would be honest. “I notice now that I have held back in being frank. My academic analysis skills come out, and I write with them things that I��ve known for a long time,” she wrote in an entry from the first few months, “But this is therapy for me… honesty and freedom therapy. Wow, that’s a loaded word. freedom.“

Perhaps no site was more honest, or more free as Burke puts it, than Links from the Underground. Its creator, Swarthmore undergraduate Justin Hall, had transformed inviting others into his life into an art form. What began as a simple link dump quickly transformed into a network of short stories and poems, diary entries, and personal details from his own life. The layout of the site matched that of Bhatnagar, scattered and unorganized. But his tone was closer to Burke’s, long and deeply, deeply personal. Just about every day, Hall would post to his website. It was his daily inner monologue made public.

Sometimes, he would cross a line. If you were a friend of Justin’s, he might share a secret that you told him in confidence, or disparage you on a fully public post. But he also shared the most intimate details from his own life, from dorm room drama to his greatest fears and inadequacies. He told stories from his troubled past, and publicly tried to come to terms with an alcoholic father. His good humor was often tinged with tragedy. He was clearly working through something emotional and personally profound, and he was using the web to do it out in the open.

But for Hall, this was all in the service of something far greater than himself. Describing the web to newcomers in a documentary about his experience on the web, Hall’s primary message was about its ability to create — not to tear down — connections.

What’s so great about the web is I was able to go out there and talk about what I care about, what I feel strongly about and people responded to it. Because every high school’s got a poet, whether it’s a rich high school or a poor high school, you know, they got somebody that’s in to writing, that’s in to getting people to tell their stories. You give them access to this technology and all of a sudden they’re telling stories to people in Israel, to people in Japan, to people in their own town that they never would have been able to talk to. And that’s, you know, that’s a revolution.

There’s that word again. Revolution. Though coming at the web from very different places, Addis and Hall agreed on at least one thing. I would venture to guess that they agreed on a whole lot more.

Justin Hall became a presence on the web not soon forgotten by those that came across him. He’s had two documentaries made about him (one of which he made himself). He’s appeared on talk shows. He’s toured the country. He’s had very public mental breakdowns. But he believed deeply that the web meant nothing at all unless it was a place for people to share their own stories.

When Tim Berners-Lee first imagined the web, he believed that everybody would have their own homepage. He designed his first browser with authoring capabilities for just that reason. That dream never came true. But Hall and Burke and Bhatnagar channeled a similar idea when they decided to make the web personal. They created their own homepages, even if it meant having to spend a few hours, or a few weeks, learning HTML.

Within a couple of years, the web filled up with these homepages. There were some notable breakthrough websites, like when David Farley began posting daily webcomics to Doctor Fun or VJ Adam Curry co-opted the MTV website to post his own personal brand of music entertainment. There were extreme examples. In 1996, Jennifer Ringley stuck a webcam in her room and beamed images every few seconds, so anyone could watch her entire life in real time. She called it Jennicam, a name that would ultimately lead to the moniker cam girl. Ringley appeared on talk shows and became an overnight sensation for her strange website that let others peer directly into her world.

But mostly, homepages acted as a creative outlet — short biographies, photo albums of families and pets, short stories, status updates. There were a lot of diaries. People posted their art, their “hot takes” and their deepest secrets and greatest passions. There were fan pages dedicated to discontinued television shows and boy bands. A dizzying array of style and personality with no purpose other than to simply exist.

Then came the links. At the bottom of a homepage: a list of links to other homepages. Scattered in diary posts, links to other websites. In one entry, Hall might post a link to Bhatnagar’s site, musing about the influence it had on his own website. Bhatnagar’s own site had his own chaotic list of his favorites. Eventually, so did Burke’s. Half the fun of a homepage was obsessing over which others to share.

As the web turned on a moment of connection, the process of discovery became its greatest asset. The fantastic intrigue of clicking on a link and being transported into the world and mind of another person was — in the end — the defining feature of the web. There would be plenty of opportunities to use the web to find something you want or need. The lesson of the homepage is that what people really wanted to find was each other. The web does that better than any technology that has come before it.

At the end of 1993, there were just over 600 websites. One year later, at the end of 1994, there were over 10,000. They no longer fit on a single page on the CERN website maintained by the web’s creator.

The personal website would become the cornerstone of the web. The web would be filled with more applications, like SLAC. And more businesses, like GNN. But it would mostly be filled with people. When the web’s next wave came crashing down, it would become truly social.

The post Chapter 3: The Website appeared first on CSS-Tricks.

You can support CSS-Tricks by being an MVP Supporter.

Chapter 3: The Website published first on https://deskbysnafu.tumblr.com/

[punjabiolympia]

Brandon Curry Called Out By Phil Heath

Mr. Olympia Brandon Curry flew out from his home of Tennessee to the Olympia headquarters in Arizona to do a live question and reply session. He was interviewed by the legendary bodybuilder Shawn Ray and Olympia host Bob Cicherillo. Below, we supplied the questions for Curry’s and a abstract of his solutions with some direct quotes. The interview began off with Shawn Ray, then Bob Cicherillo joined in on the dialog and so they each requested quite a lot of questions.  What’s within the works for you? Curry defined that they’ll be having a seminar on the Carbon Culture gymnasium for the residents who wish to compete this summer time. The Tennessee State present is arising and can hopefully happen on August eight if issues go as deliberate because of the present scenario. They simply wish to get the athletes motivated, and provides them recommendation throughout the preparation. It’s one thing to carry positivity to the group and NPC as issues start to hopefully return back to a considerably regular. What do you do for these arms? Ray introduced up the truth that lots of people discuss Curry’s large arms and so it made sense to ask about his methods. “I keep it simple. how many ways can you do a curl,“ he said. He does 3-4 exercises and typically 3-4 sets to get some blood in his muscles. But he also advises against training really heavy with the arms as it can eventually cause tendonitis due to the excessive stress on these smaller muscle groups. How many exercises do you do on arm day?

Brandon Curry Mr. Olympia 2019 Again, Curry said that he only does 3-4 exercises. “Arms for me is not something I’m really just trying to push the progress on“. He mentioned that his arms have always responded well to training and he doesn’t believe in overkill. Plus, there’s a lot of crossover work from the bigger muscle groups. For example, chest training will work the triceps while back training works the biceps pretty heavily. So, there’s no need to do much more other than what he currently does for arms. “I don’t want my arm training interfering with any of those other muscle groups.” Then Bob Cicherillo entered the room and stunned Curry of which they started to have a dialog. Curry defined how he’s excited in regards to the season getting began. Chicherillo requested if he has a goal on anybody (opponents) and if he’s hoping for anybody to return out of retirement. “I think the target is on me. If they come or if they don’t come, the target is still going to be on me“. But Chicherillo brought up Shawn Rhoden, Phil Heath, and Kai Greene coming back. “As an athlete, as a fan of the sport, and as a competition myself, of course you want to compete against guys who are going to up your game”. Curry admitted that he’d have to essentially step as much as the plate and that you could’t slack with these guys.

Phil Heath vs Kai Greene They then talked about how aggressive Dexter Jackson is and the way he’s all the time essentially the most vocal one on the stage. Curry admires that about him and believes that's what has stored him within the trade for thus lengthy. But Chicherillo talked about that that is Jackson’s final Olympia and the way he’s most likely extra motivated than ever in consequence. “We’re going to send him out gracefully,” stated Curry jokingly, as they each laughed. But on the identical time, he was critical and defined that it’s going to be unhappy seeing Dexter Jackson retire as he has chased ‘The Blade’ all through his profession. But Big Ramy and William Bonac will probably be competing too and Cicherillo was curious if he was apprehensive about something that Bonac dropped at the desk. Curry didn’t hesitate to reward Bonac’s consistency and he admitted that earlier than anybody can say they’re coming for the title, he has to deal with Bonac first. Hadi Choopan is one other competitors to be apprehensive about and was additionally briefly talked about as somebody who’ll undoubtedly carry it to the Olympia stage. What is your physique weight? Shawn Ray then requested Curry how a lot he’s weighing as he was “looking like a monster”. But the champ was humble as standard, saying that the digital camera might be making him look greater. He at the moment weighs within the 260s which is certainly fairly massive. Of course, he’s a bodybuilder so the muscle mass will all the time make him look insane particularly if he doesn’t placed on an excessive amount of weight throughout the offseason which he acknowledged. Do you know the way large your arms are? For these questioning how large this behemoth’s arms are, he talked about that he solely will get them measured to be fitted for his fits. However, his arms are relaxed throughout this course of and never flexed, which is how arms are normally measured. But they’re nonetheless a huge 21 inches relaxed. He didn’t appear to care how large his arms are so long as they give the impression of being good although. “What is that really, what does that really tell you, as long as they look good, that’s all that really matters.” Who is your favourite bodybuilder ever of all time? Curry says he admires many athletes for various issues. But in relation to pure dominance and somebody who got here out of nowhere, his reply was 8X Mr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman and 1,000,000 others would undoubtedly agree with him.

Ronnie Coleman & Jay Cutler But he additionally talked about legendary Flex Wheeler for god-given expertise and Shawn Ray for efficiency. And he made a great level. He stated that for those who heart your self round one particular person you’re lacking out on the spectrum of what the game is all about as a result of you possibly can pull from so many guys. Out of all of the Olympia champions, who had the least quantity of weaknesses? Who was essentially the most full? Curry’s decide was none aside from 7x Mr. Olympia champion Phil Heath. Phil could be very very, very very full. He introduced up the truth that folks say Heath is a little bit slender however aside from that, he’s very full. He additionally stated Ronnie Coleman was full as nicely. They additionally agreed that Jay Cutler was fairly full too. Chicken or beef? Beef Do you eat fish? Curry says he eats fish because it’s a simple supply of protein and fat when he lowers his energy within the remaining phases of contest prep. How many energy do you eat in a day? Curry doesn’t know precisely what number of energy he eats a day however he fluctuates carbohydrates. What workouts do you keep away from? “I stay away from ego lifts, things that cause you to story-tell… you know how much do you deadlift, how much do you bench press, how much do you squat. I stay away from those.” What he meant was that he doesn’t begin with these lifts which are typically completed with heavy poundages. But he’ll do them after he’s warmed up possibly close to the tip of a session the place he’s not making an attempt to deal with lifting actually heavy. Are you guys working towards social distancing proper now? No. Is there a message in your profession that you really want your children to study from what you’ve completed and what you’re engaged on? Curry’s message right here was that all of us have god-given skills and skills. And after we notice that and pursue what we’re good at, there are going to be a number of battles and it’s as much as us to not give up when issues get troublesome. “Once you make your mind up, get ready for war, get ready for the hard times, get ready for the opposition because if you’re not feeling that in any challenge, then it’s not really a challenge.” This is just about what he teaches his children. They wrapped up the interview with Curry explaining what his plans are for the upcoming Mr. Olympia. Bob Chicherillo supplied some easy recommendation to the champ… “don’t reinvent the wheel“. “We’re going to go out there and make sure we bring that package to the stage really really crisp,” stated Curry. We don’t must do something essentially new  The physique is maturing year by year by itself. That’s what folks have been seeing over time, that maturity, these years of training compounding over and over. We’ll simply proceed to push and convey that package deal however we don’t wish to be silly.” “Because the last thing we want to do is do something crazy and then ruin the whole process.” But then apparently Phil Heath despatched in a message that Cicherillo learn whereas they had been wrapping up that learn, “tell Brandon he’s got no shitting business being on my stage“. So Curry came back with… “You know Phil, I just say I’ve been hoping to battle with you for a long time. So if you’re ready to come to the stage man I’m all for it. It would be an honor to stand on stage with Phil Heath and battle it out.” But it wasn’t over simply but. Heath additionally wrote, “there’s nothing wrong with being a one time champ”. “And he’s right,” responded Curry. “There’s nothing wrong with that, but remember, I expect you, if anybody, to come to stage it’d be an honor if you make me a one-time champ.” Watch the video beneath… Read the full article

[mettleborn-a]

pupil-of-law​:

He wished it weren’t so that even the Germans were so bloody decent. He stood numbly to the side like some inexperienced naif and watched as Adelia’s thin fingers stroked down the tissuey pink lids like they were flower petals. He had never thought to do this once after having killed somebody. And usually there were no witnesses there for him to see perform this ritual instead. He wondered, briefly, whether Zeitzler had assumed he knew to do it already, or whether he did not instruct him to for fear of leaving evidence on the dead man’s skin.

‘I was going to do that,’ he said stupidly, softly because he was unsure of the comment. But he didn’t want her to think he was a monster, nor that he was not properly trained. And so it slipped out. He noticed then her taking of the note. Good idea. Clever to have thought of it there. His dislike of her was becoming more friable the more she did. It was in danger of crumbling through his fingers for a moment. She had foiled his little inconvenience for her brother. And, it soon became apparent with her next words, she had foiled him into doing his job. He commended the wisdom of that serpent Zeitzler in the choice of his intermediary, for he was hanged if he would have taken such orders from anyone else. Certainly no male could have done it. 

He was obliged to smother his reaction at first instance to her command that they go at once to Germany. He did not know how much Adelia knew of his past. Had Zeitzler told her that he would be eager? That this was the entire motive of his agreeing to be a spy. The eventual reward of sanctuary in the country he had visited only in dreams of high mountaintops, conifer paths choked with snowflakes, high ceilinged drawing rooms in dark cities. The Deep-Shelter of his childhood. His eyes took in the plan coldly. But in his chest, his heart was hammering like mad. He would follow her anywhere. He would grasp her blue light like an ignis fatuus in a bog.

But as they stepped outside and Adelia’s plan was unraveled before him like some horrific writhing vermiform with a dozen flailing tentacles, he realised with some small measure of relief that no, she was not the azure-eyed mistress of men that Mata Hari was. She was, still, just a posh German girl whom some God of war had set on the high road to ruin. He gave an insouciant shake of his head. ‘We will do no such thing. Whatever you have created, kleine Einstein, you may save it for when we need to blow a hole in the engine of a ferry. Your plan, as I understand it, correct me if I’m mistaken, is to create a giant beacon of flame and loud noise which will send every servant and animal rushing out to the village, screaming, like rats deserting a sinking ship. Spy fever infects every squalid inch of this country, and it is our utmost directive to be discreet. Let them think the Turks killed each other. The English think them barbarians anyway. And if your brother decides to claim responsibility for the assassination on behalf of Germany that is his prerogative, not ours. There are some effects of Adem’s I’m bound to retrieve from the house. But I’m watching those hands of yours, Fraulein. If I wanted to be blown to Kingdom come I would have taken the twelve o’clock train to the Western Front.’

As he set off towards the house, he glanced back at Adelia with a frown of troubled concern. ‘You are not a child whom I would care to meet down a dark alley, Miss Zeitzler,’ he almost tutted, with a last glance about her person as if checking for concealed devices.

=======================

“Pity.”

Pouting at his obvious aversion to her plan, she is forced to lament the loss of the moment; she had hoped to strike alight a great funeral pyre, the kind that would burn for hours, even days; the kind Germany could be proud of. Instead, it seems they will be the ones forced to flee this place like rats deserting a sinking ship; leaving little opportunity for her to bask in glory - it may have been Sebastian who strangled the heir, but it will be deemed her success when they return to her brother; a success she sorely needs if she has any chance of slipping out from underneath Friedrich’s thumb.

“Perhaps you are right.” She concedes with a huff, quite displeased at the thought the whole lot won’t simply burn, the blaze wiping out any sign of their combined presence. It is amusing really, to watch him take control like this, as if he is a man of incorruptible integrity, or at least one adept at masquerading in the guise of one. Still, he currently remains her only known ally, making Lord Reed an important piece on the board, one she must seek to placate to keep on side; he must return with her to Germany, no matter the cost; it is the only way to make her success complete. Hearing his concerned comment, she is forced to stifle a laugh against her palm; she can’t help but take his obvious state of unnerve as a compliment. Indeed, she would love to hear more.

“The luggage you rifled through in the bedroom isn’t mine, I liberated it from a woman exiting The Langham Hotel. It contains nothing identifiable or of real note, nothing but pretty dresses and explosives, which you should retrieve. You will find the devices in a small make-up box within the largest leather suitcase.”

Offering him a sympathetic seeming smile, she shakes her head. “I promise not to blow you to kingdom come, Sebastian.” She teases, adding a hushed ‘not today’ under her breath as she watches him trudge back to the house with that wary looking expression. “I will meet you in the car park across the street in ten minutes...” she calls “...you’re looking for a black Rolls Royce.”

Glancing down at her arm, noticing how it still aches, Adelia painfully twists it back into its correct positioning. It is something she could have done shortly after it happened of course, but had she done so, the genuine injury wouldn’t have served its purposes so well; helping to emphasis her helplessness and potentially pressure Reed into taking the lead due to her apparent incapacity. Admittedly it was her stark shock that had initially caused her hesitation, but it was her acumen for strategy that had convinced her to endure the pain a little longer than strictly necessary. 

With a relieved sigh, she straightens out the limb before allowing it to fall loosely back down to her side, now seemingly fine and only a little swollen. Glancing back towards the heir once more, she blows a kiss; sending a silent pledge of gratitude, thanking him for his sacrifice. Turning out of the stables, Adelia heads straight to the abandoned pen at the end of the yard, to retrieve her covertly stashed supplies. The tack box looks old and worn, but it is merely an aged façade that encases an expensively large leather case, sat on an oak wooden frame, adorned with wheels; luggage befitting for a lady of her feigned stature. Inside it is kitted with spare clothes, false papers and passports for both of them, replacement weaponry, some money in multiple currencies, spare cigarettes and her radio equipment which she will use to contact her brother once they have reached the safe house, the address of which she has memorised.

Pulling the case over the gravel, as slowly and silently as possible, Adelia quickly moves to the parking lot to retrieve the car, she has been assured will be present. Upon approaching, it is with some relief she spots the Rolls with the keys hanging from the ignition. Briefly searching the case, she retrieves her cigarettes and strikes one alight to smoke as  she waits for Sebastian; knowing it will seem questionable if she is seen venturing into the driving seat alone. 

[healthyworthyofficial]

The Science of Compassion - a lesson in Yoga !

JONNE HUOTARI/UNSPLASH

Contents

How Compassion Improves Your Health The Link Between Compassion and Your Nervous System Softening Self-Criticism Can Lead to a Longer Life How to Practice Self-Compassion As a toddler, James Doty believed the world wasn’t a really form place. He spent the summer season earlier than eighth grade using his orange Schwinn Sting-Ray bicycle round his hometown of Lancaster, California. He’d saved his cash from mowing lawns to purchase the liberty to fiercely pedal away from the turbulent residence he shared along with his mother and father and brother. His dad was scuffling with alcohol dependancy and continuously took off for days to weeks at a time, generally leaving the household with out sufficient cash for meals. His mother was chronically depressed and barely left her mattress. When his dad was residence, his mother and father argued consistently, leaving his mother in tears. Doty’s older brother was scrawny and bullied, which meant Doty obtained into quite a bit of fights in an effort to defend him. “I felt a lot of anger, despair, and shame,” Doty says. “I never knew what was going to happen next. Worse, I felt like somehow I deserved the situation I was in. ”   Then that summer season, Doty met a lady who modified the whole lot. She labored at a magic store that he’d wandered into with none cash. The lady behind the counter, Ruth, was so form and heat that when she began asking Doty questions on his life, he answered honestly. “This was rare for me, since I carried so much shame and fear of judgment,” he says. “Self-compassion is a powerful built-in coping system we all have...” Ruth instructed Doty that she might educate him a kind of magic completely different from what the shop offered—one thing that would change his life—if he’d come again to go to. So, he began using to the store every single day. Ruth introduced him lunch, and so they’d sit within the store’s workplace on steel chairs casually consuming and speaking. Doty opened as much as her about how he perpetually anxious about his mother and brother, and was offended along with his father. In response, Ruth taught him methods to meditate. She requested him to concentrate to what he was feeling in his physique when he felt anxious or offended or unhappy. She taught him a head-to-toe physique-scanning train to assist him deeply calm down. She launched him to breathwork, mantra, and self-affirmations akin to: I'm worthy, I'm cherished, I really like myself, and I really like others. And she taught him methods to set intentions for the longer term. Most importantly, says Doty, Ruth taught him methods to “open his heart” by concentrating on providing unconditional like to folks in his life and to himself. Doty, now 64, says the magic Ruth taught him was higher than any card trick he might’ve cracked into his imaginary piggy financial institution to purchase. “Ruth taught me true compassion,” he says, “and it not only changed how I interacted with the world, but also how the world interacted with me.” It’s poetic to consider the particular form of magic Ruth taught Doty and the way it sparked a brand new trajectory for the unhappy, scared, anxious little boy who walked into the store that summer season. Yet Doty, now a professor of neurosurgery and founder and director of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education at Stanford University, says there’s precise science behind the teachings Ruth imparted on him as a child.

How Compassion Improves Your Health

In reality, there’s an rising area of analysis that appears at how compassion and compassion coaching—usually by way of meditation or self-affirmation practices—can enhance well being and strengthen social bonds. By utilizing coronary heart displays, mind scans, blood assessments, and psychological surveys, scientists are getting a window into what actually occurs within the human physique and thoughts once we acknowledge struggling (our personal or another person’s) and strategy it in a caring and loving manner. Recent research present that when individuals are compassionate, particularly towards themselves, their coronary heart-price variability—the fluctuations within the timing between heartbeats—will increase, which is linked to an improved capacity to self-soothe whenever you’re careworn. Consider this: A 2015 study published in the Journal of Traumatic Stress discovered that veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan who scored larger on a self-compassion scale have been much less more likely to develop PTSD or commit suicide. Another study, published in 2016 by the American Diabetes Association, discovered that an eight-week self-compassion coaching for folks with diabetes helped them stabilize their glucose ranges. Countless different analysis has linked self-compassion to decrease charges of despair, nervousness, and stress—and better charges of happiness and improved immune operate. “Self-compassion is the earth into which the seeds of change can be planted...” Think of self-compassion as a strong, constructed-in coping mechanism all of us have entry to, says Kristin Neff, PhD, affiliate professor within the division of instructional psychology on the University of Texas at Austin and co-creator of The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook. Neff has been learning the subject for greater than a decade and developed the Self-Compassion Scale—a survey of questions that identifies whether or not somebody charges excessive or low for self-compassion—which is often utilized in medical research. “There is a ton of research showing that whether you’re in combat or raising a special-needs child, dealing with cancer or going through a divorce, self-compassion gives you the strength to get through it,” she says. That’s as a result of it has an impact in your physiology, says Doty: “When you practice compassion, such as through meditation, you stimulate your vagus nerve—which you can think of like a highway that sends messages to and from your brainstem and major organs, especially your heart.”

The Link Between Compassion and Your Nervous System

The vagus nerve prompts two key techniques within the physique that impression how you are feeling: the parasympathetic nervous system (a.okay.a. what’s activated whenever you’re in relaxation-and-digest mode) and the sympathetic nervous system (your combat-flight-freeze mechanism). Compassion practices assist you to extra readily flip in your parasympathetic nervous system. You develop into extra calm and relaxed, and your mind capabilities at its greatest. Your blood stress and coronary heart price go down, and your immune system will get extra sturdy. On the flip facet, when the sympathetic nervous system is engaged, blood stress and coronary heart price improve. Your mind isn’t as sharp as common, and stress hormones (like cortisol, epinephrine, and norepinephrine) in addition to inflammatory proteins (that are related to the onset of illness) are launched into the bloodstream. We developed to toggle shortly between each techniques, and excessive coronary heart-price variability is an indication that your parasympathetic nervous system is engaged, says Doty, who co-authored a 2017 paper revealed in Frontiers of Public Health recommending that coronary heart-price variability be used as a main measure in research and trainings within the area of compassion science. The excellent news, Doty says, is that when that toggling isn’t occurring because it ought to, and you end up in combat-or-flight mode as a rule, compassion is one of the most effective methods to seek out your manner again to well being.

REBECCA REITZ DESIGNS

Softening Self-Criticism Can Lead to a Longer Life

While it’s nice to know what’s occurring physiologically once we present others and ourselves compassion (or don’t), it’s simply as essential to translate that studying into on a regular basis life, says Neff. Take, for instance, somebody who is difficult on herself. Chronic self-criticism engages the sympathetic nervous system, which isn’t up for the duty of close to-fixed work. “The sympathetic nervous system was designed to deal with physical threats, but now most of our threats are created in our minds,” says Neff. “It’s things like, ‘I’m not good enough.’ ” But by doing the other—by accepting and comforting ourselves, and tapping into the facility of self-compassion—we will maintain our ache and our brokenness in a sort and loving manner, which de-prompts the sympathetic nervous system and helps us heal. Of course, teaching your interior voice to speak to your self such as you would to your greatest good friend could be a tall activity. It’s frequent for folks to really feel compassion for others but lack the power to point out kindness to themselves, says Neff. However, right here’s some motivation to alter that: Improving self-compassion primes you to be extra compassionate towards others. That’s as a result of whenever you have interaction your parasympathetic nervous system (the one which helps you are feeling calm, relaxed, and protected) extra usually and successfully, you’ll be higher in a position to present up on the earth extra current and type. It’s simpler to do that than you may suppose. Doty and Neff each say the proof of that is in our laborious-wired capability to care and join. “Mammals are born very immature,” says Neff. “It takes decades for parts of our brains to fully develop, so there had to be a biological system in place to help infants and children feel safe.” This is why we will be simply comforted by a sort, light tone of voice and may intuit folks’s emotional states by studying their physique language. It’s additionally why we generally mirror the conduct of others. “We’re attuned to respond to emotional states through facial expressions, intonation of voices, body language, and smells,” says Doty, “and we learn from and respond to these on a subconscious level.” We can increase this innate attunement towards compassion and strengthen it inside ourselves by way of apply. Research on how that is occurring inside the medical group is encouraging for each well being-care professionals and their sufferers. One 2019 review in the journal BMC Medical Education discovered that medical college students who underwent compassion coaching reported they have been higher in a position to handle work stress and had extra constructive interactions with sufferers. Another study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology discovered that when hospital sufferers acquired simply 40 seconds of a compassionate message, it lowered their nervousness. And in keeping with a 2010 research in Health Services Research journal, sufferers who acquired compassionate care after a coronary heart assault have been at decrease danger of dying inside a yr. Academics learning this area are placing the outcomes of analysis like this to work of their school rooms, too. Take Scott Plous, a professor of psychology at Wesleyan University, who ends his social psychology programs with what he calls “A Day of Compassion.” Plous challenges his college students to concentrate on being compassionate for a complete day, then write about their experiences. Students generally report that the train helps them to fix rifts with members of the family or leads them to achieve out to neighbors. Regardless of how compassionate you are usually, your yoga apply is probably going to assist bolster it. “One of the things that happens with yoga is we focus on the movement of our bodies or the movement of our breath, and we get out of our heads,” says Neff. “For a moment, we leave behind the storyline of our lives and what’s wrong with us. We use our bodies with intention and care and can actually be present with ourselves in a tender way. That’s self-compassion.” After all, whenever you’re hypercritical of your self, it’s simpler to evaluate others. “If I’m not taking care of myself, then my relationships with others are a possible resentment waiting to happen,” says Aruni Nan Futuronsky, a life coach and school member on the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health. “Self-compassion is the earth into which the seeds of change can be planted. Trying to change through force, will, and ego only work to a point. Through compassion, something greater than ourselves comes forth. We have a partner in life—call it grace, call it higher power, call it the wisdom of the body. We’re not alone. And change becomes sustainable.” When Ruth requested Doty in 1968 what he needed out of life, one of the primary issues he mentioned was to be a physician. She helped him to consider that it was doable for him to attend school and medical faculty. Today, he says the practices he discovered from her are what retains his respiratory gradual, his palms regular, and his physique relaxed when he’s performing mind surgical procedure. And these identical practices are actually embedded within the compassion trainings Doty teaches. “Every day, each one of us has the capacity to change another person’s life through compassion,” Doty says. “When I was a young boy, Ruth told me, ‘Your heart is a compass, and it’s your greatest gift. If you are ever lost, just open it up, and it will steer you in the right direction.’ ” In educating and learning compassion, Doty is doing his greatest to just do that—and to point out others the magic, too.  

How to Practice Self-Compassion

Experts share their favourite, analysis-backed methods to domesticate extra self-love. Treat your self like a good friend When you’re having a troublesome day or scuffling with one thing, think about a good friend or shut member of the family coming to you with the precise drawback you’re coping with. Ask your self what you’d say to them. What tone of voice would you utilize? What would your physique posture seem like? Now apply your phrases, tone, and physique language to your self. “It will feel strange at first to say or think to yourself, ‘It’s OK; I’m here for you,’ but it starts to become habitual,” says Neff. “You stop constantly criticizing yourself and putting yourself down.” Write a letter to your nervousness When struggling begins to overwhelm you, Kripalu’s Futuronsky recommends that you just create a dialogue together with your overwhelm. For instance, you may write one thing like, “Dear Aruni, I am your overwhelm. Let me tell you, this is way too much. I can’t do this. I’m terrified. What the hell is going to happen?” Then, write again. Something like, “Dear Overwhelm, Yep, I hear you. This is hard, and we’re going to just do one day at a time.” Research exhibits that letter writing will be significantly highly effective. One research had contributors write a self-compassionate letter to themselves every single day for every week. The contributors reported decreased despair ranges for 3 months and elevated happiness for six months. Comfort your self Self-touch can launch oxytocin and assist us really feel protected. Neff recommends experimenting with completely different strategies to see what feels most comforting: Try gently inserting each palms over your coronary heart, giving your self a hug, cradling your face in your palms, or clasping your palms collectively so that you’re holding your individual hand. Read the full article