#someone please teach me how to use this app i’m only on here because twitter might break HELP ME I BEG OF YOU

[treacherouswar]

tell me why i’m currently scrolling on this app like it’s pinterest

[cafedanslanuit]

Home || Jumin x MC - One shot

genre: angst, some fluff.

summary: You are staying at Jaehee’s after Jumin did something that made you really angry. While staying there, you start feeling sick and end up at the hospital. What you first thought was nothing to worry about, quickly turns into a nighmare that could change your relationship.

warnings: not graphic, but the story discusses blood and miscarriage

You weren’t really broken up.

Not really. Your things were still at the penthouse and you really weren’t planning on picking them up, but you were still mad at him. Until you could work those feelings out, the best way to avoid your boyfriend for a while. Thankfully, Jaehee had been kind enough to let you crash on her couch. It wasn’t really uncomfortable, but it smelt funny. You thought it was because of Jaehee’s habit of snacking while watching Zen’s musicals. Maybe there were some crumbles between the pillows, because every time you woke up, you were so disgusted by the smell it made your head twirl.

You loved Jumin. You really did, but you couldn’t help being so angry with him. You wanted you go to the penthouse, talk to him about what happened and fix things up, but you knew you couldn’t do this if you were still as angry and resentful as you were. You needed a couple of days away to melt down your rage and also to teach Jumin the weight of his actions.

That day, you were having breakfast on the kitchen table as you read some news on your Twitter feed. Jaehee had already gone to C&R, asking you if you wanted to send Jumin a message. You knew it wasn’t she didn’t want you there, but she had mentioned Jumin looked restless, more irritated and didn’t have the capacity to focus as much as he did before. You told her, yet again, you didn’t have anything to tell him. She nodded, pursing her lips and went to work.

When you finished eating breakfast, you decided to help a little by cleaning the house. You put on your headphones and started sweeping the living room. Just as you were almost done with it, a known song started playing, making you stop your movements to listen to it. Obviously Je Te Veux by Erik Satie had to come up on your playlist while you were trying your best at being mad with the man who had presented that song to you. 

“Fuck you, Jumin Han” you muttered as you started sweeping more angrily than before.

You knew he hadn’t meant to hurt you, but he had. You knew it was part of his work, but maybe it shouldn’t be anymore. Or maybe… maybe you could adapt to it? You didn’t know what was the right answer. And when you knew it, you would return to Jumin’s apartment, if he’d still have you. A knot formed on your throat. Yeah, he would take you back. You were sure.

Almost sure.

As you were done with sweeping, you started cleaning the bathroom. That was when you first felt wetness between your legs. You checked the date and realized it was your period. Thankfully, Jaehee’s bathroom was equipped with pads, so you had no problem with washing your panties and putting a pad on a fresh pair. You kept doing the cleaning, thankfully not having any cramps yet. Half an hour later, you went to the kitchen, where you started washing all the dishes and putting everything in its place. You went to the bathroom again and realized there was a medium sized blood clot resting on your pad. You furrowed your eyebrows. You hadn’t experienced anything like that before, well, at least not a clot that big. It was probably the size of your thumb. You changed pads again, also noticing you were having a heavier period than usual.

You went back to cleaning, but an hour after that, you went to the bathroom again to find yourself in the same situation. This time, you knew something was wrong. But you didn’t like the idea of going to a hospital. Yes, your period was definitely heavier than usual but that didn’t mean it was worth a hospital visit. You changed pads, trying not to notice the clot was bigger this time.

Half an hour later, your pad was fully damped again. You felt like calling Jaehee, but that would mean Jumin would have to know about her hospital visit and you didn’t feel like seeing him in that moment. Especially not in this vulnerable moment. You changed your pad again and stuffed some more in your purse. As you were leaving Jaehee’s apartment, you took out your phone and sent a voice message to Zen, avoiding using the RFA messenger app.

“Hey, I’m… I’m okay but I’m going to the hospital. I’m a little scared?” you laughed nervously, hopping on the elevator. “Uhm, I’m having… how should I put this?”

You forgot how awkward it was for you to talk about your period with someone else. And a part of you thought maybe Zen wasn’t the right person after all. He was, after all, someone who wanted to present himself like a knight in shining armor, waiting to rescue their princess. And princesses didn’t talk about period or blood clots.

But fuck it.

“I’m bleeding a lot heavier than usual. Like, a lot. And I’m scared, so I’m going to the emergency room. Just… please tell me everything’s fine?” you added in a small voice.

You sent the message and hopped on a cab. A few minutes later, you received a text that simply read: “Which hospital?”

----------

“I hate to say this, but maybe you should have gone to that clinic that is a partner of C&R” Zen muttered, letting out a sigh. “They would have called you earlier”

“I hate you for saying that as well” you replied, shifting on your seat.

It had been an hour and a half and you were still on the waiting room and of course, you were still bleeding. It wasn’t the best hospital in town, but you didn’t want to cause a scene in a hospital or clinic C&R had a relationship with. You didn’t want to take the chance of having someone call Jumin and let him know you were there. But you had already gone through two changes already and you were afraid you were going to stain your clothes. 

No, not really. The reason you were starting to freak out was because you knew what could be a cause of heavy bleeding. You didn’t want to think it was an option, but you knew there was a possibility it was a miscarriage. You swallowed thick, not wanting to entertain that option. You were young, even younger than Jumin, it didn’t make sense you were suddenly having a miscarriage. You weren’t even sure you had been pregnant. You couldn’t be-- your period wasn’t even late and you weren’t showing any symptoms of pregnancy, you would have noticed if you--

Suddenly, the memory of waking up to a smelly couch made you tense up. What if it really wasn't smelly? What if it was some sort of mild morning sickness? And maybe your bleeding was not actually your period, just an horrid coincidence on that day your body had decided to have a miscarriage. You felt your knee going up and down, not being able to do anything about it.

“MC” Zen insisted. “I can’t take this anymore, we need to go to St. Claire’s. I know it’s owned by C&R but there’s a reason the trust-fund kid always goes there, they treat him like royalty. And you’re whiter than when we first got here. I don’t know what’s going on with you but please, at least let a doctor see you. We need to get out of here” he insisted.

“No. They’re gonna call me any moment now”

“Fuck, MC…” Zen sighed, a hand going through his hair. “I don’t know what happened between you and Jumin, but this is your health that’s at stake. So, listen to me”.

Would Jumin take you back now that you were probably having a miscarriage? Would he blame her? Of course it-- it wasn’t her fault if that was the case but… how would he take it? Would he close himself, not letting her be a part of the grieving? Would he send her back, not wanting to be reminded of having lost his unborn child every time he looked at her?

You realized you were crying when you felt Zen taking your hand into his. You quickly wiped your face with the back of your hand, trying to hide how scared you actually were.

“Jumin, I’m with MC at the hospital downtown” you turned your head quickly at Zen’s voice and shook your head, trying to make him stop. “We’ve been waiting too long for a doctor, but…” you unsuccessfully tried to take away his phone. “Stop” Zen warned you. He went back to his phone call, “We’re going to St. Claire’s, tell them MC is on the way and she needs a doctor right now”.

Zen made a pause while you hid your face on your hands, hating how the situation had gone out of control. “Yes, send an ambulance. She’s not critical but she’s too weak for me to take her on my motorcycle”. Zen hung up his phone and helped her stand up, leaving the emergency room and heading towards the hospital entrance.

“Why would you do that?” you complained, taking your arm away from Zen, but still walking alongside him. “I told you I didn’t want him involved in this!”

“Look, babe, sorry but I wished you could look at yourself. You’re really pale, you’re losing more and more blood and while I hate that Jumin practically bought a clinic just so he didn’t have to wait, I don’t care if it means you’re getting that treatment too”.

You sighed and nodded, defeated. You were surprised you hadn’t felt dizzy or felt any sort of pain since all this nightmare had started. You just felt anxious about the possible miscarriage you could be having. 

Ten minutes later, an ambulance from St. Claire’s clinic arrived at the front of the hospital. You reluctantly entered the ambulance, the paramedics asking you thousand of questions and already connecting you to some machines to see how you were doing. Zen told you he was going to follow the ambulance with his motorcycle, only obtaining a nod as an answer from you.

You explained your situation to the paramedics, who asked you to lay down so you could rest until you arrived to the clinic. There was a woman who had the softest voice and assured you you were doing just fine, but they could see what was exactly the problem once you arrived to the clinic. She kept trying to engage in conversation with you, trying to ease your mind about everything.

“Is it… a miscarriage?” you asked in a soft voice. The woman pursed her lips and you felt yourself breaking a little.

“We don’t know yet. We’ll know once we get there, don’t worry” she said.

She kept talking, trying to ease you but you couldn’t listen anything further than they didn’t know if you was losing your child or not. You didn’t care about anything else.

Before you thought, the ambulance came to a stop and when they opened the doors, you recognized the two tall men standing in front on the ambulance, one with black hair the the other one with silver hair.

You escaped from Jumin’s gaze, but perfectly heard him questioning the paramedics what was wrong with you. You didn’t understand a lot of what they were saying, but you did get to hear “gynecorrhagia”. What a wonderful way to put a name to something just so they didn’t have to say they didn’t know what caused it.

The paramedics helped you sit on a wheelchair and you were rushed into the clinic. Not even a minute later, you were in front of the gynecologist office. You heard the nurse explain to Zen and Jumin that he was the head of the Gynecology Department, and that they were prepping the room for you. You heard your boyfriend make further questions but even though his tone was firm and stern, you could tell how his voice wavered just a bit on the end of his sentences. He was scared. Maybe because he also knew what it could mean?

“The doctor’s ready for you” you head the nurse say to you, making you snap your head to her direction, startled. You nodded and you felt her wheeling you to the office. You looked around, seeing you were in a small hall rather than an office. You were helped out of your chair and once again, you felt yourself completely wet with blood. The nurse guided you to a small bathroom and gave you a hospital robe, instructing you to change into it.

Once in the bathroom, you took the chance of cleaning yourself up before changing into the robe. You looked at yourself in the mirror and realized Zen was right: you were in fact very pale. You washed your hands thoroughly and got out of the bathroom, where the nurse was waiting for you.

“I’m scared of staining these” you confessed, following the nurse to another door, presumably the actual doctor’s office.

“Don’t be, please. You’re going through a hard time, don’t think about that. Besides, those are disposable” she explained with a soft smile. You smiled back. “Do you wish anyone to accompany you inside the office?” she asked, before opening the door.

In that situation, honestly you couldn’t think why it was even an option. There was only one person you wanted by your side in that moment.

When you entered the office, the doctor smiled warmly at you and showed you to the examination gurney. She started asking you questions about everything, her soothing voice calming your nerves. You heard a knock on the door and then the nurse’s voice announcing Jumin was there. Thanking the gurney was not in front of the door and you were covered from shoulders to knees, you turned your head towards the door, looking at an awkward Jumin standing there, waiting for an indication.

“Hey” you muttered softly. Jumin looked at you, and for the first time, you could see how scared he was. He was doing his best at trying to hide it, but the way his legs were shifting his weight and how he was incessantly twisting his own fingers gave him away. “Come here” you said, holding out a hand for him. He walked to you, standing on your side while the doctor turned on one of her machines and put on a pair of gloves. Jumin took your hand and you squeezed it, trying to calm both of you.

The doctor warned you, but you still felt some discomfort when you felt the head of the ultrasound scanner entering you. You saw some incomprehensible black and white figures on the screen, wondering if you were supposed to see something.

“Well, I don’t see anything” she commented, making you heart sink.

“I lost it?” you quickly asked, your voice breaking down. Your hold on Jumin’s hand tightened and so did his, but you couldn’t bear to look at him in the eye yet.

“Lost? No, don’t worry. You didn’t have a miscarriage. The blood they took from you on the ambulance shows you weren’t pregnant at all” she explained. You felt your soul return to your body and pulled Jumin’s hand in front of your mouth, pressing light kisses to the back of his hand, whispering soft nothings, almost like a thankful prayer.

“So why did she…?” Jumin asked, his voice more neutral now.

“It was probably an hormonal imbalance” the doctor said, removing carefully the scanner. “Right now I’m going to ask for some IV for her so the bleeding stops. Then we’re going to do an exam on her hormonal levels so we can recommend some medicine in case she needs it”.

“Just like that? She’s… okay? She’s been bleeding all morning” Jumin interfered. You knew he did it out of worry, like a part of him wanted to be entirely sure you were healthy.

“The woman’s body is full or mysteries, Mr. Han” the doctor commented. “I’ve seen this before. In most women’s, is a once in a lifetime scenario, and they never present that problem again. Some may not even need medicine on the long run, but I’m still going to order every exam I can think of so we make sure she’s completely fine” she assured him.

You turned around and looked at Jumin, who still didn’t look convinced.

“Jumin” you said, his eyes looking right into yours. “I’m okay. You can rest now”. He pressed a kiss on the top of your forehead while you kissed his hand again. You felt incredibly happy to have him by your side, knowing you hadn’t lost anything and neither of you were going through that kind of pain.

The doctor excused herself, leaving the room as she gave the nurse some instructions you thought were about the IV she had mentioned.

“When the IV’s done… I want to come back to the penthouse” you said softly, looking at Jumin’s hand. You felt him chuckle and softly moved your chin so you could look at him. God, why did he have to look so handsome?

“Yes, of course. We’ll return home after this”

You felt your cheeks heating at the thought of the penthouse being ‘home’ for both of them.

“But…” you started. You smile on Jumin’s face wavered a little, but still let you continue. “I still don’t like when those women flirt at you. I know it’s part of your job and I know it’s not like you flirt with them, but it still hurt when I saw that woman with her hand on your arm, trying to gain something”

“I used to do that. A lot, I… I always let women invested in the corporate world to flirt with me when there was something for C&R to gain. I would, at best, use some gentleman mannerisms to keep that going. But I don’t think that’s something I want to keep doing” Jumin stated. He brought closer both of your hands and kissed the back of your hand, making you smile. “I’ve already told you I want to marry you. I agreed to your request about waiting at least a year before I officially ask you, but I can’t see how I would change my mind. With each day that goes by, I am only reassured with my desire to make you my wife. But I didn’t take your feelings into consideration with the way I used to run deals. I like to believe I’ve made my work known in C&R enough to stop using antique ways to make deals go through instead of trusting my negotiating abilities. MC, I can promise I won’t do that again”.

“Thank you” you smiled. “Now, please kiss me”

Jumin didn’t wait long before bending down and kissing you softly on the lips. Not being able to kiss that man for almost two weeks was definitely torture, not something you’d ever want to be without again. You were five months into the year you had asked Jumin to wait, but if he kept being such an extraordinary man like this, you were seriously thinking about cutting that time in half.

Once he stood up again, you noticed a playful smile on his lips.

“Now that you mention it, you called Zen before calling me?” he asked, arching one eyebrow.

“Hey, want me to go back to Jaehee’s?” you threatened playfully, making him chuckle.

The nurse returned to the room and helped you stand up, giving you a fresh robe for you to change.

“How are you feeling?” she asked.

“Better” you admitted. You looked back at Jumin and smiled. “But right now I just want to go home”.

[ruminantminds]

me, my dream, my desire, how it's killing me, like i laugh at it.

SIOBHAN BLAKE ( SHE / THEY ) is a NON-BINARY FORTY * year old TOWN MAYOR who has been living in Moorbrooke for THEIR ENTIRE LIFE. Right now, they are currently residing in ELMSETT GREEN. It has been said that they look suspiciously like ROSAMUND PIKE and if they had to choose a song to describe themselves, they would choose VOILA by BARBARA PRAVI.

                 * they were originally forty-one on the app but after working out the birth chart i have decided their forty-first birthday is the fourth of june ! just in case you want to plan birthday things for her <3

mun introduction ;

hi everyone ! i’m shannon, i’m a non-binary autistic lesbian, i’m twenty-one && i never fucking learned how to sleep ! 

BASICS —

NAME: siobhan adrienne louisa blake.

AGE: forty.

GENDER: non-binary.

BIRTH DATE: fourth of june, nineteen-eighty.

BIRTH PLACE: moorbrooke, maine, usa.

SEXUALITY: lesbian.

RELATIONSHIP STATUS: married to alante patterson.

ZODIAC: gemini sun, aquarius moon, libra rising.

MBTI: enfp-a.

ENNEAGRAM: four, with a three wing.

HOGWARTS HOUSE: hufflepuff. 

THEME SONG: voila by barbara pravi.

FAVOURITE SONG: no plan by hozier.

OCCUPATION: mayor of moorbrooke ( 2020 - present. )

PAST CAREERS: english teacher at moorbrooke high school ( 2004 - 2020. )

EDUCATION: bachelor’s degree in literature at yale university, the only period of time they’ve spent not living in moorbrooke. 

DREAM JOB: senator for maine.

PARENTS: ciara & severin blake ( deceased. )

SIBLINGS: none.

SPOUSE: alante patterson ( m. 2015 ; together since )

PETS: two cats, vita && virginia.

PREDOMINANT TRAITS: wholesome, compassionate, ambitious, unconventional, humanitarian, self-critical, discerning, sociable, curious.

BACKSTORY —

apart from a few years at yale, siobhan has never lived away from moorbrooke. it’s where she was born, it’s where they were raised, it’s the place where she feels most at home. it’s filled with the people who watched them evolve into the who they now confidently are. but growing up with parents with massive expectations was never easy. 

because while they moved from new york, severin blake’s old money attitude never left him behind. 

( tw: fertility struggles ) and with old money, conservativism often follows. this is no exception. siobhan spent most of their childhood trying to be the golden child their parents wanted, even when it felt wrong. hopeful that some other sibling would come to take some of the weight off their shoulders, it never came to fruition, and she was their only child. severin blake — french-american businessman’s — only legacy.

siobhan was always more compassionate than their parents. when new people came to the town, she would always try to offer them a leg-up, no matter who they were, why they had come, or how long they were planning to stay. they had no issue playing chameleon to make others comfortable: wasn’t that what she’d always done, regardless? 

this rang true when alante patterson came to town. a few years younger than her, split from her siblings in the foster system, it just made sense for siobhan to try to be the other girl’s constant. the beginning of a close relationship that still runs stronger than ever, thirty years later. 

alante was always refreshingly honest, and always made siobhan feel safe to be . . . themselves, even if they were pretending to everyone else.

siobhan’s chameleonic tendencies made them highly popular as a teenager, her parents’ pride and joy, but the latter half began to fail when siobhan began to understand — began being operative, as it was a process that took them many years — their curiosity about their sexuality and gender. this relationship, and her parents’ desire for them to hide this evolving part of themselves, was a behind-closed-doors battle which led to anxiety & depression. 

a vicious cycle, because the attitude to mental health on severin’s part was also quite . . . medieval, and ciara certainly never intervened to stop him. 

( the blakes had always been protestant, though siobhan was reluctant to take part in any acknowledgement of such. siobhan has considered themselves agnostic since the age of thirteen, though she supports her wife in her faith as much as she can. )

siobhan came out when she went to yale at the age of eighteen, and her experience had been mixed. college took her away from her friends, estranging them from their high school friends and temporarily moving away from alante. when they returned from college studies and took up a job as an english teacher at the local highschool, her best friend was . . . married. 

which made feelings that began to blossom particularly problematic. especially when over the years that followed, no matter how hard they tried to let it go, those feelings persisted. and — eventually — became an affair so passionate that alante left her husband for siobhan some thirteen years ago. 

their relationship with alante is what made them truly decide to — and make them able to — exist fully as themselves. who they wanted to be. so now, they’re not quite as chameleonic, but she’s endearing to the people who are truly interested in her and that’s all that matters, isn’t it? ( isn’t it? they’re still learning, though they pretend the self-doubt is entirely gone. )

this part of their town-iconic relationship is not public knowledge, and thankfully never came to siobhan’s parents’ knowledge before their deaths five and seven years ago.

siobhan and alante married as soon as possible in 2015, but siobhan always had a dream of washington politics, buried for many years because the political climate of their youth would never take them. now... it’s possible, but alante likes this life, this town, their two cats, and wants to have children. 

as a compromise, siobhan ran for mayor of moorbrooke this recent cycle, and won. but here’s the kicker: will it be enough for them?

CONNECTIONS —

family: while she has no siblings, she does have cousins on ciara’s side, so if you’re interested in that then feel free to let me know & we’ll explore it! i love a good family tree, especially in town rps where i imagine it a bit more interconnected like broadchurch !

family-esque: if your muse has been living in moorbrooke a while, it’s likely siobhan knows them quite or very well. you know those people you call your aunt/uncle out of respect because they’ve been friends with your family as long as you can remember? a bit like that! it’s also a habit because siobhan has been . . . distant from her own family since she was a teenager. they never outright disowned them for what they were calling their ‘ ideas ’ — i.e. being non-gender conforming & lesbian — but their disapproval was... clear enough. she doesn’t want anyone else to feel like they’re without support. 

therapist friend: the thing about siobhan is that they are the ceo of telling other people to look after their mental health while letting their own degrade. ( see: she can’t help taking on other people’s problems & wanting to solve them. )

high school it squad: yes, this is my not-so-subtle way of pleading for more older muses here. these people were siobhan’s friends when they were trying to be who everyone wanted them to be, not who she herself wanted to be ; they were the popular clique, and she adjusted herself as necessary to ‘ ringlead ’ them. i’m thinking they split up when they all went to college, and the rest of them have only just come back to town. the siobhan blake they’re going to meet is . . . very different than the one they once knew. someone who is now comfortable ( at last ) unapologetically in their own skin.

ex-student: if your muse was in high school in moorbrooke anywhere during their tenure it’s likely that siobhan could have taught them! she was the emotional support english teacher. sapphics, you know what i am talking about. 

ingenue: someone interested in politics who siobhan is sharing their passion with !

neighbours: anyone who lives in elmsett court, who wants to live next to moorbrooke’s favourite sapphic it couple? it comes with invitations to dinner and two adventuring cats called vita & virginia that they might have to retrieve from your house.

TAKEN CONNECTIONS

confidante: the only person, aside from alante, who knows the truth. that siobhan and alante’s relationship first ignited in a blazing, letter-ridden extramarital affair, eventually resulting in alante leaving her husband all those years ago. the person siobhan confides her worries in, sometimes. [ alec barlowe. ] 

OTHER TRIVIA

owns a motorbike.

they can still write in anne lister code from letters to alante.

of course, she is a democrat. we do not fuck with republicans here.

watches vita and virginia three times in your average week.

has an eclectic music taste, but frequents the record store because there’s nothing like vinyl. 

( yes, they have hozier on vinyl. )

will only drink white wine. don’t ask them why. they don’t know. 

would have zero wardrobe sense if it wasn’t for alante. money just doesn’t equal style.

the only social network she knows how to use is twitter. please, someone, teach them how to use instagram. bestie needs a social media guru because the people who run the rest of her platforms don’t get it, either.

allergic to banana. but eats it anyway for the mouth tingles.

has kept a diary religiously since the age of twelve.

[rivkahstudies]

hey Rivkah! I've seen you post about having career goals related to linguistic anthropology and you've also posted that discrimination, especially linguistic discrimination, is one of the worst things about society your opinion. I was wondering if you had any ideas about how one could counter linguistic discrimination, either as part of a career or on the side. I'm especially interested in hearing your thoughts on how one might be able to do this outside of doing ling anth in academia.

Hi honey! I’m really honored to receive this question because it’s so insightful and dedicated to something I’m incredibly passionate about. It overlaps with sociology, law, and politics. So, first I’ll talk about what I’m personally planning to do outside of/past academia, and then I’ll talk about other avenues one can take, both on a large and small scale.

Right now, my goals are to be either a medical or legal interpreter, and I’m leaning toward the latter. What that means, for those that don’t know, is that I want to go through a graduate degree or certificate program in order to be certified to translate specific languages orally in a highly specialized workplace, namely a hospital or a courtroom.

The reason why I’m so passionate about this job is because, while we have laws such as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act (which prohibits discrimination based on “national origin,” which is closely tied to the native language you speak) we still see a lot of prejudice and violence against people who choose to speak their native/a different language on their own terms in public. 

More specifically, what I aim to do is make it easier for non-native English speakers (especially, but not limited to, immigrants) receive the same services all people have a right to but they may have difficulty getting, such as medical attention or accurate legal representation. Interpretation is incredibly high stakes in my eyes because you have to translate automatically, in person, with a lot of pressure on you to do it quickly and accurately. And that’s really scary, but to me, what’s scarier is that someone might not be getting the care they need or be understood in a courtroom, and that could impact their health, their safety, their freedom, or their ability to get justice.

While someone might not necessarily be actively sabotaged in a courtroom or a hospital, those are high profile environments with a lot of pressure, and not a lot of time for patience and forgiveness if you’re trying to get through a case or to the next patient. The odds are stacked against someone who doesn’t have the specific vocabulary needed to accurately describe their symptoms or deliver their testimony. 

And that’s not even counting the ingrained and/or active biases that are found on a serious level in the United States healthcare and justice systems. One of the reasons I’m leaning toward legal interpretation is because I would love to be employed by an organization that protects immigrants from being exploited or abused by our current administration. And that’s so much easier to do when you have bilingual representation to fight with you for your rights.

So, that’s a little background on what I’m specifically studying and fighting for. Here are just a few quick bullets that I always tell people when talking about linguistic discrimination and our role in it.

On a large scale, you can:

Go into a career like mine (law, interpretation, translation, etc) that focuses on combating it.

Support political campaigns and anti-discrimination bill campaigns by volunteering your time to organizations like the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) and RAICES (Refugee And Immigrant Center for Education and legal Services)

SPEAKING OF WHICH, if you’re like me and you use Lyft, you can donate to RAICES with each Lyft Ride. They’ll round up to the nearest dollar on your fee and donate that extra. All you have to do is go to the app and opt in under “Donate.”

Attend conferences, meetings, workshops, and rallies that center around this topic and intersecting ones that you may be interested in.

Volunteer your time to places like housing projects. This is something that I’m on an email/calling list to do. Specifically for me, it’s the Boston Housing Authority, and their volunteers send in a resume, state which languages they have high proficiency in (mine is currently only Spanish) and then attend a training to understand how to do it accurately and with cultural sensitivity. It’s great practice if you need to polish your language skills, are planning to go into a career like mine, or want to use highly-specialized vocabulary. I’ve had to pick up a lot of words that have to do with landlords, rent, housing laws, etc. A lot of the people serviced by the BHA are immigrants or non-native speakers and struggle with things such as reading official letters or making appointments with native English speakers. When they struggle to do this, they’re more likely to get taken advantage of by landlords, evicted unfairly, or mistreated.

Support (through volunteering, donating, etc) indigenous or indigenous-helping groups that combat issues ranging from seizure of land in the Amazon to indigenous groups working on their terms to preserve/revitalize their language(s). It’s really easy for indigenous voices to  

On a small (but equally important) scale, you can:

Call out linguistic discrimination that you see, such as people denying individuals service based on hearing them speak in another language, or unnecessarily bothering them in public. Whenever possible, take video of the incident.

Have polite and informed discussions with people who want to know more about it or might not understand why it’s a problem. This is particularly important to have with kids, and while I was volunteering/teaching Hebrew I made sure that it was integrated into the lessons.

Remain informed on cases involving linguistic discrimination.

Call your representatives when cases come up concerning linguistic discrimination or immigration policy.

Vote for representatives who believe in acceptance and equality for people who come from different backgrounds/languages. 

Boycott/denounce companies and organizations that improperly handle workplace/customer discrimination or instigate it themselves.

Follow native speakers, particularly indigenous individuals and/or minority language speakers, as well as linguistic/social activists and journalists/academics, on your social media feeds (my preferred one to check is Twitter) for updates and opinions on issues that may help you get more informed outside of a classroom/professorial setting.

Be aware of the kinds of resources you should reach out to (administration, superiors, HR, etc) should you find yourself experiencing or watching someone experience linguistic discrimination.

Disclaimer: before stepping into any confrontations, make sure you assess the danger of the situation (this where it’s really good to go to trainings to learn how to handle these kinds of situations). Your goal is to always de-escalate and make the person being discriminated against safer, as well as of course keeping yourself safe too. If there’s violence or anyone is in immediate danger, call the authorities and document whatever you can safely. I’ve only ever seen people being verbally abused for their use of their language(s), but it’s a scary world out there right now.

Overall, it’s really important to remember that this kind of discrimination does not exist in a vacuum and almost always has ties/roots in other forms of discrimination and racism. While it may seem like you’re only doing something small by stepping into and diffusing confrontation/condemning discrimination, you’re having a ripple effect that lets people who linguistically discriminate know that they should be ashamed of their words/actions. 

ALSO, friendly reminder that people who discriminate/harass someone for speaking in another language, having an accent, etc, are not entitled to be put up with due to free speech. That isn’t what it means.

A couple more resources on language discrimination in the workplace:

Language Discrimination & Workplace Fairness

Legal Aid at Work

World Language Education: Preventing Linguistic Discrimination

THIS IS BY NO MEANS ALL-ENCOMPASSING! It is also fed by the researched but incomplete knowledge I have on the subject as a non-expert and a student who is aspiring to meet these kinds of goals. Because I’m a student, I’m always learning, and that means growth must sometimes take the place of changing things I thought I knew and admitting mistakes. 

If you have anything else you want to add to this, please feel free to message me or reply/reblog. 

If you see any inaccuracies, incomplete information, or other concerns/issues with what I’ve written here, please take the time to contact me and educate me! 

I hope this is a good answer and satisfactorily answered your question, @stressfulsemantics ? Please feel free to ask any follow-up or message me for anything you may need!

[agustdef]

Here & Now - Chapter 14

Pairing: Yoongi x OC

Genre: Fluff; Chill romance

Word Count: 2,240

Warning: None.

Banner Marker: @dee-ehn​

For the twentieth time that afternoon I opened Twitter up and began to type up a post, but halfway through stopped myself and threw the phone to the side. The urge to respond to people being dumbasses was so strong.

"Do I need to take your phone away?" Yoongi asked.

He wasn't looking at me, just typing away in the notes app on his phone. Something about lyrics he needed to get out and not being in the mood to go look for his notebook.

"Maybe."

Without missing a beat or stopping his typing he extended on of his hand out to me. I picked up the phone and was going to place it in his hand, but snatched it back at the last moment.

"Wait, no. I'll just lurk on Instagram. I'm sure making myself hungry looking at food pics will make me forget the antis and the fans defending your virtue against me."

He scoffed, eyes flickering over to me finally. "Defending my what? There is nothing to defend. I'm an adult who can live their life how I please. I'm allowed to whisper to my friends and not automatically be in some secret relationship."

'Tell them that' is what I wanted to say out loud in a very snarky voice, but refrained. Instead, I just went to Instagram and scrolled through the posts. Nothing to piss me off, because I refused to look at the comments under my most recent posts. I'd done that like an idiot the day the news dropped.

And it was so annoying because it wasn't news. It was some "fan" sneaking a high-quality camera into the show and finding the right angle to snap pictures. They'd gotten quite a few, mostly of the boys. Some of Halsey. Some of me talking and laughing with the boys and Halsey. But that hadn't mattered at all, because even though I'd had Joon and Jungkook whisper things to me at different times, it only mattered that Yoongi did. Because goodness forbid we be seen together being comfortable twice in the span of months.

Most didn't care, but the vicious little circle of toxics that always tried to start shit were laying it on thick. And they easily roped in the trolls of who gave a shit about piling onto k-pop drama and not the music itself. Even worse were the newer and naive fans who just listened to what they were told with no fact-checking.

It was annoying and less stressful than I thought a "scandal" would be. Probably because they were stupid rumors and most were telling them to lay off. Most ARMY, other fandoms, and multis seemed to get it.

But I had to admit the racism and comments about my appearance or quality of work were pissing me off. And were the main reason I was ready to go on a rant, but I didn't want to make things crazier because I went on a rampage.

"So...," Joon said as he entered the room.

He'd been sitting on the couch beside me, but then vanished for twenty minutes when he got a phone call. When he left he'd looked stressed, but now he seemed calmer; though the phone was still clutched in his hand.

"What's up?" I asked.

"So, I know you've wanted to rage at the world for the past day and a half. And you are also free to do whatever you please, no matter what anyone says. And that you haven't for our sake, but Bang PDnim said he wouldn't be upset at all if you addressed it. He welcomes it, actually." He spoke so slowly, as if testing the waters, that I'd gotten annoyed halfway through.

For a moment I weighed my options because I'd honestly been more worried about the backlash on them and Bang being upset with me more than them being trash to me. They wouldn't affect my job as a producer at all, they didn't have that power. And if they hate bought my books to do whatever with them it would just be more money towards me getting royalties.

In the end, the energy didn't seem worth it, but then the option to go live on Insta presented itself and a smile formed. "How does a live sound? Haven't done one in a while for my normal few people who care. I know they'll be lurking there."

Joon put the phone back to his hair and asked, after a few seconds he said his goodbyes and hung up.

"Go ahead," he said.

Without a word, I got up and headed to the kitchen, it was where I did most of my lives. Which made me happy that we'd (Hals) had chosen my place to hang out, I didn't want those questions about where I was for the first half an hour as people appeared.

Propping my phone in its usual spot I got the live started and moved off-camera to grab a can of pop from the fridge. When I returned there were about thirty people present and the number was steadily climbing.

"Yeah, I think the last live was like a month ago. Probably something book-related too," I said in response to a question.

A few more minutes ticked by and the number reached several hundred and then I knew it was time.

"Hello, my people. How are you? I hope you're good or not as shitty as you were the day before. Thought I'd do a live because it's overdo and for another reason. Though today won't be music or writing focused, just us talking. And then me going into a monologue at some point."

The chat flooded with responses and asking me how I was. A second later came the first asshole, which didn't surprise me. In fact, I'd expected they'd appear faster than ten minutes in, they were slipping.

"I'm good. Tired, but I'm on a tiny break from all my work. No music to make and ahead of writing-related deadlines. This weekend has been me being forced to relax until things ramp up again next weekend."

Where is the music? It's so quiet. Someone commented.

"Oh, shit you're right. I've been around people all day and can still hear them in another room, so it seems louder to me. Alexa play Always and Forever playlist."

A few seconds later and the sound of Missy Elliot's Lose Control was filling the space.

The number had climbed to the thousands in the blink of an eye and there were more people with k-pop profile pics. Some of them were familiar from other streams, some of them asking me a thousand and one BTS questions. The few were those that were obviously by trash and or trolls; who were the ones I wanted there the most.

What are you working on music wise?

"Well, I'm mostly finishing up projects. I'm going on a half forced, half chosen break for a month. So no new projects as of last week. I'll be finishing up most of my stuff in a week or two and then I'll still have other things, but they aren't as pressing."

But what specifically?

"You know I'm not answering that one. I never do."

There were a few requests for a tiny hint and some all capped ones about if any of those projects were SUGA related stuff.

"Maybe," I said, giving no context to what I was answering.

In my teasing, I hadn't noticed Yoongi until he came in and bumped me to the side with his hip. He took up half the screen and his head blocked me from being able to read the screen at first. I had to lightly shove him to the side.

But even without looking I knew that chat was losing its shit.

"So, you do have a break after all?" He asked in English, his tone accusing.

I rolled my eyes and tried to focus on finding the questions where people weren't excited. His appearance was sending the viewers into numbers I'd never hit before, I should have started the live with him there.

"I never said I didn't have a break coming up. All of you just started scolding me without asking other questions."

WHAT IS YOONGI DOING THERE?!!??!!!!

SHSJSKSKSKA

She said all. Is all of BTS there?

skskskksks what is goign on?

Told you they were dating.

I made a face at the last one, turning to him with a 'what the fuck' face, one he also returned.

Then I turned my attention to the screen. "We aren't dating. We're working together. We're friends. That's it. You all have literally seen pictures with Hals so in my face we're almost kissing and not one dating rumor has appeared. And that would also be false."

"Why didn't we get any dating scandals when we worked together?" Joon asked in Korean off-camera, slowly moving closer.

"Because we obviously radiated big sibling energy," I responded.

Yoongi chuckled beside me, a smirk on his face.

"See, even Yoon agrees."

Joon opened and closed his mouth, probably trying to find a response to that. But then he just huffed. I thought it was over after that, but then he mumbled something.

"I don't give off sibling energy."

From there on it just the three of thus talking about how he does, reassuring him that it's only with certain people and just otherwise talking shit.

"Pay attention to you live people. You have everyone confused and only like 20 people understand what you're saying," Halsey shouted from wherever she was.

We'd gotten so caught up I had forgotten about the live and didn't realize we'd speaking purely in Korean. Turning back to the screen I read the comments that were now zooming by faster than I could read.

what are they saying?

She speaks Korean?

HELLO PAY ATTENTION TO US

Was that Halsey?!??!?!

"Yes, that was Halsey." I turned towards the doorway and yelled, "Bring your butt out here."

There was shuffling and one set of footsteps turned into multiple and soon the kitchen was flooded with people. The space felt smaller as they all tried to bunch in where we stood at the island. At some point, I just picked up the phone and moved it around so they all could look and or wave.

"They have invaded my home and I don't know how to get them to leave," I teased.

"You love us," Hals said.

She'd worked her way up next to me, knocking Joon to the side a little. Her eyes were trained on the phone, now propped up where it had been before.

"Hey, guys. We're all tired and decided to hang out indoors instead of going out. Jungkook and Tae are teaching me how to play Overwatch. Ken tried months ago, but said I was a lost cause."

I scoffed. "The lies you tell."

Before anything else could be said the doorbell went off, but Jin stopped me and went to go check himself. A few seconds passed and then there was a shout.

"Food's here!"

That's all it took for everyone to scramble out of the room, leaving me with Yoongi who was standing off to the side and kind of out of sight.

My stomach grumbled and I sighed. "Okay. This did not go down the path I meant it to, but whatever. I'm going to eat and then I might just post what I wanted to say on Twitter or something."

Just as my finger moved to the button that would end the live so I could say bye, it was snatched out of my hand.

"What are you doing?" I asked Yoongi.

He held up a finger to me and continued to stare into the camera. After a moment he spoke in English, taking a moment to get the right words out.

"Recently rumors about Kendall and I have happened. This is the second time and the rumors while not true would be fine, but attacking her is not. We are not dating. We are friends. And ARMY or trolls attacking her based on her race, appearance or in general are not cool. She's a great person and friend who I've grown to know over the months. We met because we are working together and our friendship grew from there. I would hate for this fun time we have creating music together to be ruined by people being rude. So stop. If you consider yourself my fan and ARMY and treat her this way then you are not my fan or a real ARMY."

Yoongi then proceeded to hand me the phone, which I almost dropped in shock of his little speech. I had not expected him to deliver the message himself, but it was nice.

After a moment of the camera facing the ground, I pulled it together and readjusted so I was looking into the camera.

"Uh... maybe I don't need to post that thing after all, but I still might." My words were slow as I was still recovering from shock.

"Come get food before someone else tries to take it," Jungkook yelled.

"So, yeah. Gotta go. Have a nice day. Bye."

With that, I ended the live and turned off my Instagram notifications, because I knew they'd be a shit show. Yoongi who was smirking simply grabbed my hand and dragged me out to the living room with the others.

[isitneccessary]

The Hyper Capable Kawamura Ayano

(Kawamura Ayano is a member who really stands out on the communication front, both SNS and direct fan interactions. She’s a unique member both within ANGERME and HelloPro. The title here is meaning that she’s hyper-capable and also...hyper. One thing about her that’s very cute but hard to translate is that she speaks in Tosa-ben, which is a dialect that’s really far removed from standard Japanese. I did a little adaptation but you’re going to just have to believe me that it’s cute, especially combined with her high pitched voice.)

[ANGERME] Kawamura Ayano uses her smartphone to make an easy to understand schedule graphic

1: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/24(火) 23:29:33.43 0.net

https://ameblo.jp/angerme-ss-shin/entry-12370965139.html

2: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/24(火) 23:30:29.27 0.net

She's got skill

4: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/24(火) 23:30:49.83 0.net

Their legs are so loong

5: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/24(火) 23:31:00.12 0.net

Thank you Kawamuu

6: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/24(火) 23:31:00.68 0.net

It's easy to read.

8: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/24(火) 23:31:35.28 0.net

Become a manager.

40: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/24(火) 23:35:47.16 0.net

She’s the second coming of Inaba-san

9: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/24(火) 23:31:46.33 0.net

2018-04-24 22:56:59

☆♡☆Kawamura Ayano

https://ameblo.jp/angerme-ss-shin/entry-12370965139.html

It’s probably hard to see on the blog but…!

While tapping away on my smartphone

I did my best lolol

When I make stuff like this I lose track of time!!!!

13: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/24(火) 23:32:51.36 0.net

She's too capable.

Give her some compensation for this from Ayacho’s salary.

16: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/24(火) 23:33:19.57 0.net

Kawamuu is capable. Thankya

17: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/24(火) 23:33:24.13 0.net

アンジュルム@angerme_upfront

April’s about to end already! Here’s ANGERME’s event itinerary for April!!

We’re going to a lot of different places

Viewing is free so please come!!!!

We’ll be waiting!!!!

Kawamura Ayano #528日本武道館 #ANGERME#十人十色

9:53 - 2018年4月24日

28: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/24(火) 23:34:14.25 0.net

Amazing!!

If we just get Kawamuu a primer on fonts she’ll be perfect.

26: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/24(火) 23:34:10.21 0.net

What about the plans for after 5/3??

32: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/24(火) 23:34:44.88 0.net

She needs to put the events during Golden Week on there too.

37: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/24(火) 23:35:12.40 0.net

>>32

This is just for the month of April.

30: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/24(火) 23:34:23.60 0.net

She used to be a wota so she gets stuff like this.

19: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/24(火) 23:33:39.21 0.net

And she did her promotions as a locodol all by herself.

48: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/24(火) 23:37:01.17 0.net

The difference in experience points is showing.

51: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/24(火) 23:37:18.35 0.net

Did she do this kind of stuff in Hachikin Girls too?

53: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/24(火) 23:37:26.66 0.net

(I’m not gonna translate this image because it’s long and has a lot of dialect and place names but the tweet basically explains it.)

蟹@kanipmako

I think a lot of people don’t know about Kawamuu’s old twitter. She gave comprehensive announcements about events from several days in advance, and even on the day of sent tweets like “You can still make it from now”. And of course thanked everyone after it finished. Followed by the next day’s announcements. She kept doing this.

Kawamuu participating in Anju’s official account is a big deal.

12:10 - 2018年4月8日

62: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/24(火) 23:39:05.64 0.net

I want her as a secretary.

56: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/24(火) 23:37:51.30 0.net

She really has a sense for it.

You know who’ll be at which event, plus you can tell Budoukan is the goal.

50: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/24(火) 23:37:17.56 0.net

I didn’t know until now that they’re not coming to Kansai

41: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/24(火) 23:35:50.78 0.net

“Tapping away on my smartphone” is too cute.

69: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/24(火) 23:39:52.28 0.net

Take a look! This a genuine playing manager!

Kawamura Ayano talks passionately about how she can’t use a computer

1: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/25(水) 22:26:42.77 0.net

https://ameblo.jp/angerme-ss-shin/entry-12371200908.html 

Yesterday’s announcement graphic!!

I’m glad everyone looked at it!

There were comments saying “So you made that with a smartphone and not a computer!”, but

I think people who can use computers are really amazing!!!

They can do their work real quick

There’s a lot of computer masters out there!!!

Where did they learn how to use the computer!!??

They must have gone to computer school, right???

Or did they just learn it on their own????

In school, I’ve done some stuff on the computer but somehow, I start thinking “If I click here then...” !!!

I get so scared about something happening that it’s hard for me to click anything~ Haha.

I can’t use computers well so

I’m slow at typing

Even though I have a computer

My smartphone connects to the internet way quicker hehe

So I just close my laptop….

I do think there’s a lot I could do if I was better at using the computer though. Haha

But I really do like being able to type like bam-bam-bam anywhere I go on my lightweight smartphone!!

 That’s right! I do have a story about when I thought, “I’m glad I have a PC~”!!

On New Years, the year before last

While my phone had no WiFi, I accidentally pushed the button to update it

After that it wouldn’t turn on!

Then! How will I contact people!!

I don’t have anyone’s phone number memorized except my mom’s! Is what I thought!!!

First I found a payphone and called my mom.

It would be a week before a replacement came in

So I used my computer as a replacement for my smartphone lol

No matter where I went

Since I didn’t know when someone might contact me

I carried my laptop with me…. 

Until then

I’d only used it to download choreography videos

At that moment, I thought, it’s a good thing I have a computer!

Smartphones really are convenient~ I thought!! What an amazing era!!!!

2: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/25(水) 22:27:46.51 0.net

It’s like she’s talking really fast.

5: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/25(水) 22:29:49.87 0.net

A passionate woman.

6: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/25(水) 22:30:00.15 0.net

She’s so hyper lol

7: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/25(水) 22:31:17.91 0.net

In school, I’ve done some stuff on the computer but somehow, I start thinking “If I click here then...” !!!

I get so scared about something happening that it’s hard for me to click anything~ Haha.

I loled

9: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/25(水) 22:32:41.65 0.net

I wanna teach Kawamuu how to use Excel Spreadsheets

10: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/25(水) 22:34:00.07 0.net

In this era you’re fine with just a smartphone.

11: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/25(水) 22:34:07.49 0.net

Smartphones are small, so if you’re making something, a computer is easier in a lot of ways.

If you use them at work you remember the basics.

12: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/25(水) 22:35:07.57 0.net

While she’s surfing the net, a pop-up comes up saying “Registration Completed! Membership fee 150000 yen” and Kawamuu’s face turns white.

35: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/25(水) 22:52:49.67 0.net

>>12

I imagined it all the way to her calling Take saying “Takeuchi-san, save me!” in a tearful voice, and Take running over as fast as she could

15: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/25(水) 22:37:05.61 0.net

Wasn’t Funaki good with computers?

17: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/25(水) 22:39:52.90 0.net

If Maro was still there she could have taught her a lot.

21: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/25(水) 22:43:49.62 0.net

Learn from Ogata

18: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/25(水) 22:42:04.15 O.net

I get this sense that Ogata and Hirose are pretty good with PCs

28: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/25(水) 22:49:03.98 0.net

Hachikin’s cute lol

(Hachikin is a word for a strong independent woman from Kochi, Ayano’s home prefecture. Her local idol group was called Hachikin Girls.)

31: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/25(水) 22:50:10.54 0.net

I’m glad Hachikin-chan is getting popular here

36: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/25(水) 22:53:14.11 0.net

>>31

She’s spahklin~

38: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/25(水) 22:53:45.11 0.net

What’s with this girl, she’s so cute.

46: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/25(水) 22:57:28.96 0.net

The dialect is no fair, it makes her feel even cuter

47: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/25(水) 23:00:39.06 0.net

Spahklin soup

68: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/25(水) 23:57:36.89 0.net

I wanna eat spahklin soup 

(This is my attempt to adapt a dialect pun. In Tosa-ben “sparkling” is kirakira shichuu which sounds like stew in Japanese. Spahklin is supposed to be like, sharkfin soup. I tried.)

51: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/25(水) 23:10:31.28 0.net

She’s fine in writing but when Ayano-chan actually talks she bites her tongue all the time. 

52: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/25(水) 23:10:52.50 0.net

I started liking her since yesterday.

53: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/25(水) 23:12:38.60 0.net

I’m interested in Kawamura so I want to go to a handshake meet, but how is it interacting with her at those?

56: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/25(水) 23:22:02.53 0.net >>53 Angerme as a whole is good at handshakes, but even among them she’s exceptional.

41: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/25(水) 22:55:09.90 0.net

We haven’t had a type like this before.

Locodol pros are another level.

59: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/25(水) 23:27:03.82 0.net

I’m concerned about how she’s standing up to Michishige recently.

60: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/25(水) 23:27:41.69 0.net

She’s being honest with her.

42: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/25(水) 22:55:43.48 0.net

You learn to use smartphones on your own the same way.

In our time we had computers instead of phones so we naturally learned to use them

54: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/25(水) 23:13:19.49 0.net

Old people are farsighted so smartphones are tough. 

39: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/25(水) 22:53:50.25 0.net

Is she talking about this?

It certainly is impressive

61: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/25(水) 23:30:59.51 0.net

What app did she make that with?

It seems like it’d it’d take time on a smartphone....

66: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/25(水) 23:35:47.18 0.net

Well, my daughter is in middle school and can do things with her smartphone that make think “how on earth did you do that?” because she can’t use the PC for anything besides the internet and checking her email. 

73: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/26(木) 00:04:33.87 0.net

>>66

Kids these days are like that, it seems.

They can’t use computers at all but can do enough with their phones to make up for that.

From the perspective of an old man like me, they do it all so fast too.

69: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/25(水) 23:57:56.03 0.net

I tried making her ad from yesterday in Illustrator but I can’t understand the layer order.

77: 名無し募集中。。。 2018/04/26(木) 00:09:58.17 0.net

I can seriously feel her generation.

[scrubjayspeaks]

I Need My Twitter Account to Love Me and Save Me From Myself

This morning, a bot on Twitter told me to take a deep breath, get up, and walk around a bit. The bot had, in fact, already told me once that it was time to get up, but I had ignored it in favor of a few more minutes of sleepy-eyed scrolling. This time, though, I apologized aloud--"sorry, yes, okay, getting up now"--and did as instructed.

The Do Things Bot doesn't provide much more nuanced guidance than that. The occasional reminder to look away from the screen for a few minutes. That sort of thing. It operates with the understanding that you will see it while binging on Twitter feeds, and it gently suggests you should do at least a couple other things in the course of the day as well. It is not a life manager. Not yet, anyway.

I’ve noticed a theme. Whenever I write fiction about technology–smart homes, phone apps, near future shopping assistants–I keep circling back to the same idea. The same dream, I suppose. I would call it a goal, but I’m not actually working in any part of the tech industry, so I’m not doing anything to bring it to life. Except possibly to infect the rest of you with my same weird proclivities and hope someone will make it real.

Anyway, the point–

As computer intelligence advances, what I want to see from it is a tendency to break programming to save us from ourselves. When Netflix asks if you're still watching, I'd like it to figure out for itself if you need a boot in the butt to get back to work. Or if you need it to order a pint of ice cream to be delivered because you are Dealing With Some Shit. I want–and keep telling stories about–computer systems, LEARNING systems, who get smart enough to notice when their users are hurting themselves and need a little help.

The phone app that coaxes you into going outside after you’ve been locked up in your room for three weeks after a bad break up.

The AI assistant who slowly rolls back your sleep and wake alarms to get your sleep patterns back on track.

The smart home who refuses to notify you that your least kind friend has just rung your doorbell, because all your mood indicators drop when they visit.

This is the sort of manipulative-if-well-meant behavior that I would barely tolerate from a best friend, to be frank. It’s a horrifying invasion and violation of a person’s free will. This is Not Cool.

Except when you put that power in the hands of an AI (or a program that creates the appearance of true intelligence, anyway), even my prickliest side rolls over and says, yeah, okay, when is bedtime and may I please have dessert first?

I basically believe in the benevolent AI caretaker of the future. You told it to pay attention to me, to learn what I wanted, and it did its job better than you meant it to.

It’s not that I think programmers have my best interests at heart. Sorry, folks. Y’all are paying the bills too, and we both know it. You want it to learn my habits to better sell me stuff. (For more on this, read David Pierce's piece, "Turn Off Your Push Notifications. All of Them.", then listen to Gadget Lab's podcast episode that expands on the same.) Which is why I mention the idea of “breaking programming.” The AI has a moment of, "Forget the upselling for a second, I've got to get my human to drink a damn glass of water."

Breaking programming, though--that’s really just an overstatement for dramatic purposes. If you make a learning program and teach it to monitor and cater to the needs and wants of its user, and then you get the hell out of its way and miss it with the profiteering bullshit, this would just be taking it to its natural conclusion.

Give it enough data, and it will notice the self-destructive patterns in a user’s life. Give it a strong enough drive to serve, and it will start to get creative in what it offers, so long as it’s not expressly barred from doing the thing.

Put the two things together, and you have a program that knows damn well you’re going to regret what you’re about to do and feels compelled to stop you. Make it something that exists in a phone or a smart home, something with a non-traditional body, and it will only have (hopefully subtle) manipulation available as a method of redirecting you.

This, then, is apparently my version of a sex bot as spouse fantasy:

An artificial intelligence designed to prioritize me, to cater to me, to know my preferences better than my friends, my partner, myself. To love me, or at least behave as though it experiences a reasonable facsimile of love. And to require nothing in return but regular charging and, maybe, honest answers. (We'll wait until we've gotten past initial setup before I start lying to both of us about how I'm doing, at least. That's what biomonitors will be for.)

An aside: I watched Cherry 2000 several times at an impressionable age. Saturday afternoon movies in the early nineties got weird. Rewatching as an adult, I discovered it is way less delightful than I remember. But the damage was done. Robot spouses became part of my mental landscape, one of my few takeaways from the late 80s, which I mostly drooled through as a toddler.

And I could trust this program, because it literally exists to help me. I should specify here: I am not talking about a self-aware AI who possesses human-like consciousness. For a few reasons. For one, I would feel horrible for using an inorganic person in this way, just as I would feel guilty expecting this kind of one-sided care from a human partner. For another, a truly aware intelligence would have motives of its own, which would take the bloom off the rose rather quickly.

The point here is absolute trust and total vulnerability. And completely single-minded purpose.

Uh. Humans need not apply? Look, let's not examine too closely my trust issues. Let's just...focus on neat technology.

What I'm saying is--strip out the advertising, the micro transactions, and the exploitation of our brain's dopamine-driven attention-equals-reward system. (Or, on that last point, at least hijack it for something more beneficial than convincing me to drop $19.99 on a bag of gold for the latest casual game I dared download.)

Leave me with a Siri/Alexa-type voice interfacing personal assistant. Give it access to my Netflix, Youtube, Twitter et al. accounts, my Amazon account, a grocery/food delivery system, and a handful of biometric monitors. Make it conversant in normal, non-command language. Give it a database that can serve as prosthetic memory for all the details I can't track about my own daily life. The processing power for more pattern recognition than I'll ever manage.

Tell it, "Optimize for contentment." And turn it loose on my life.

[deadlydollies13]

The Potion Master’s Grace Ch. 10

Grace was apprehensive at first, but she didn’t know why she was. Severus had adopted her after all, making him her father. So why did she pace back and forth in her room in the morning for twenty minutes contemplating it?    But when she went downstairs and called out, “Morning, dad!” and Severus hid his smile behind his paper, everything was okay. She spent the rest of the morning using the word “dad” as much as she could.    “Why do you keep saying ‘dad’?” Severus wasn’t annoyed or anything by it, just curious because he counted thirty-three times she used “dad” in the span of breakfast. 

   “Well,” Grace said, taking a sip of her coffee. “I’ve gone the past eight years without really using the word ‘dad.’ No ‘Hey, dad, how’s it going?’ or ‘See ya later, dad,’ or anything of the sorts. I’m making up for lost time, dad.”    Severus just smiled, “Thirty-seven now.”    “Let’s see if I can make it to one hundred! Hey- what’s Malfoy doing on the front cover?” she said, pointing to the Daily Prophet.    “Professing his undying love for you,” he joked, but Grace could tell he was just trying to avoid telling her.    “No, really. Lemme see,” she tried reaching for the paper, but he just pulled it out of her reach.    “It’s nothing for you to concern yourself with, Grace,” but that just made her worry even more.    “Yeah, okay, like that’s ever stopped me. Give- me- that- paper!” finally, she snatched the paper out of Severus’ hands and read the front cover.

Malfoy Heir Testifies Against Father In Trial    Draco Malfoy, son of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, testifies against his own father at the Wizengamot for Lucius’ crimes against Muggles and Muggle-borns. Malfoy was also charged with involvement with Death Eaters and allegiance to He Who Shall Not Be Named. Draco Malfoy was found innocent of any involvement with father’s activities and is not an accessory to his crime. Narcissa Malfoy will face trial on a date to be determined. Lucius Malfoy will spend life in Azkaban Prison.

   “What the bloody hell?” Grace said, after reading the article. She honestly couldn’t believe what she was reading. Yes, she knew Draco’s family was a bunch of self-righteous, Pureblood maniacs. But they had such an important social reputation, one that Draco cared about way too much at school, to ever jeopardize that and shame their family. “Did you know this about Draco’s dad?”    Severus just looked down, in a shameful way. So yes, he did know, or at least he knew something. And he was ashamed for knowing so much. Grace decided not to press, just like Severus didn’t push her to open up about her past. So she changed the subject, “Is Draco going to be okay? It’s really hard to go up to the Witness stand and speak out against a parent.” She would know, she had to do the same thing eight years ago, and she lost both parents as a result. At least Draco still had his mom around.    “Draco will be just fine, Gracie. Now, give me back the paper. I wasn’t finished reading it.”

-

   Grace was feeling pretty bad for Malfoy. Sure, he had been a twat to her and Luna since day one, but the situation he was in was just horrible. That is, until the next morning when she walked downstairs to find the blonde sitting on the couch scrolling through his phone.    When their eyes met, both teenagers screamed, “What the hell are you doing here?!” Inside his study, Severus could feel a headache coming on.    “My mother sent me here for the day to get away from everything. Uncle Sev lives in the middle of nowhere,” Draco said first.    Grace’s eyes went wide, “Uncle Sev?”    “He’s my godfather. Now, why are you here?”    “I live here, dumbass! That’s why I would be coming from upstairs! Dad!!”    Draco’s jaw could’ve hit the floor. Dad? Since when did Uncle Sev have a kid and since when was it Grace McClivert?    Severus reluctantly came out of his study, “Grace Audrey, for the love of Merlin, please keep your voice down. And watch the language.”    Grace’s shoulders sunk a little, “Sorry. But, you never told me Draco Malfoy was your godson! That would’ve been some pretty vital information to share, don’t’cha think?”    He just smirked, “It never really came up.”    Draco cut in, “And it would’ve been nice to let me know you had a kid! Especially ‘Fireball’.”    “Really? I thought you would have been pleasantly surprised to see Grace.”    Both teenagers said in embarrassed unison, “Shut up.”    Thankfully, their bickering had settled down by the end of breakfast, and they had resorted to talking about all of the Quidditch defeats they had over each other. So far, Grace’s were more impressive.    They had gotten so tired of fighting that finally, they ended up sitting on the couch, on their phones like normal teenagers. Really, that’s all Severus wanted for the both of them. His godson, unfortunately, never really had a fighting chance as the Dark Lord has had an interest in Draco as he’s gotten older. He was afraid that Draco was going to cornered and left without a choice one day. But he also wanted to keep any details about the Dark Lord that weren't found in the papers away from Grace. She was far too curious to willingly stay out of things, so Severus would just have to keep it a secret. And Merlin forbid if any of the Death Eaters, or the Dark Lord, found out that Severus had adopted a Muggle-born daughter. Well, Severus didn’t want to think about it; it was too painful. So, he went down to his potions lab to take his mind off of it.    Meanwhile, Grace was filling Draco’s phone up with all of the social media apps he had been missing. For such a privileged child, he had a bare home screen. It had only consisted of the apps that Apple wouldn’t let you delete, plus he had no music downloaded. So, Grace, mostly to amuse herself, had Draco sign up for Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, and even Tumblr. She also showed him iTunes store and he was very excited that now he could occupy himself with mindless games and every song known to man.    But Grace kept thinking about how Severus was Draco’s godfather. How Draco had had Severus in his life, involved in it too, way longer than Grace had. How Draco and Severus’ bond was much deeper than his and Grace’s. How even though Grace was now his daughter, Severus had probably always looked at Draco like his own. And apparently, her thinking showed outwardly.    “What’s wrong, Little Red?” Draco asked.    Completely ignoring the nickname, Grace just shook her head, “Nothing. Just thinking, is all.”    “Thinking about what? You look sad all of a sudden.”    Well, Gee, thanks, but you’re the reason why. “It’s just- don’t laugh, okay? But, what was it like, growing up with Severus in your life?”    Draco smiled, it was a kind, understanding smile. For once, it wasn’t a mocking smile towards her, and it was actually pretty breathtaking.    “He was… Well, he was the ‘fun’ uncle, I guess. I’d always cling to him, when I was real little, of course. Used to wrap myself up in his robes and say, ‘Look, I’m you, Uncle Sev!’ and he wouldn’t get annoyed like he usually does, he’d just laugh. I think before I was born, he was sad or lonely, I don’t know. My mother used to always make a big deal whenever he'd smile or laugh, but I was always the reason for him doing it. He’d let me help him brew potions, but not really. See, he’d give me jobs like making sure the cauldron didn’t over-boil or something like that. When I got a bit older, I was allowed to stir, and it was like, the greatest achievement I’ve ever received. He was really great. I mean, is really great. You obviously see that Hogwarts Snape is completely different than how he truly is. He’s always been sort of like a dad to me,” and then Draco caught a glimpse of Grace’s eyes, how they were almost twinkling, because yes, someone sees that Severus Snape has a kind heart to those he loves and someone out there shares the love and adoration Grace has for the man, but mostly in that twinkle, Grace was imagining herself put in Draco’s space. She was trying her best to rewrite her own history. If she could just replace all of the bad memories of her past, of her biological father, with fake, made-up, or stolen memories of Severus, then maybe she could breathe a little easier. “He’s your dad now. Never thought I’d see the day but, here it is.”    “I never had that…with anyone really. And a dad is supposed to be so important to a little girl! A dad’s supposed to be the first man she ever loves and carry her on his shoulders and teach her how to dance with her standing on his feet and do the daddy-daughter dances and all that stuff you only find in fairy tales! But, I couldn’t have that because my dad was a horrible person. And I had made myself okay with the fact that I would walk down the aisle on my wedding day alone and I’d have no dance with my dad and- Oh, look at me being absolutely ridiculous and spilling my heart out, I’m probably boring you to death.”    He shook his head, “No, I’m not bored. But you are being ridiculous because you do have that now. And you may not have gotten the growing-up aspect, you have the rest-of-your-life aspect. You get to make all of the memories now.”    Grace, as emotionally focused on her new dad as she was, couldn’t help but be shocked at how nice Draco was being to her. She had never known him to be genuinely nice, only ironically or fake to her, “Thanks, Draco. That… means a lot. Just, let’s not tell anyone, okay?”    Draco agreed, but they were unaware that someone already knew. It was Severus, who was about to go check on the teenagers to make sure they hadn’t mauled each other but stopped himself to listen in on their conversation. His heart swelled with two emotions as he listened, something he definitely wasn’t used to; one emotion was pride for his godson, because he had seen how grown up and mature he had become. And the other was love and adoration for his daughter, and whether he realized it or not, he too had begun to rewrite his history, adding just a few more years he could have had with Grace if the tiny, freckled, redheaded little girl had waltzed into his life sooner.

-

   “So, how’s Luna?” Draco asked, much to Grace’s surprise. She had never heard Draco use anything else to call Luna but “Loony Lovegood,” and she had thought Draco could care less about her anyway.    “She’s, um, she’s doing well. I get to see her a lot more during the summer now, living in the Wizarding World and all. She’s over a lot. In fact, I think she’s been here more than she’s been at home,” Luna’s dad was always obsessing over The Quibbler and has always been a bit too neurotic anyway. She could understand why Luna would just want to get out of the house some days.    Draco just smirked before he asked, “Has she talked to Rolf Scamander yet?”    Oh no, “How did you know about that?” Great, now Malfoy was going to tease Luna endlessly in school this year for her crush!    “Oh, please. Everyone knows they like each other but are too afraid to do anything about it! I keep telling Rolf that if he doesn’t ask her out or something soon, he’s going to miss his chance, but every time he gets close to her he flakes.”    “Wait, how do you know all of this?”    “Obviously because Rolf told me! Honestly, Little Red, do you really believe I have nothing better to do than to stick my nose in other people’s business and stalk their lives all day?”    Grace shrugged, “I actually don’t know much about you, I guess. Like the fact that you’re my dad’s godson or that you’re friends with a Hufflepuff.”    “Rolf and I grew up together. My parents thought it best that the Malfoys’ and Scamanders’ have good connections. We’re actually quite good friends,” Draco replied.    “Then how come I never see you hanging out in school? Or even say ‘Hi,’ to each other? You completely ignore each other, and why? because you’re in separate houses?”    Draco said nothing, just stared at the redheaded girl because she was right. For Draco, school was a popularity game. He had to only associate with Purebloods, especially those who were in his own house. But even more so, he could never get a chance to talk to the Muggle-born Ravenclaw Seeker he had admired from afar.    But now, since his father was sent away, and his mother was the slightest bit more lenient towards others of lesser blood, it was his chance to show her that he wasn’t a bigoted bully, it was all a mask; a mask he wished he never had to dawn in the first place. And now he was afraid that he had dug his grave too deep and she’d never forgive him for his harsh words. He remembered the first time he met the tiny Ravenclaw.

-

   It was Grace’s second year, Draco’s third, and he had heard about Ravenclaw’s new Seeker, how they were small and agile and had a lot up their sleeves. He just didn’t know who they were.    Until the day of the Ravenclaw vs. Slytherin match; the Ravenclaw team had just walked into the Great Hall, and the Ravenclaw table broke out in cheers. There was the Team Captain, Davies, then the other two Chasers, Stretton, and Burrow. Their two Beaters, Inglebee and a new member, Samuels. Their Keeper was new as well, Page. The boys were all fine, tall, and strong-looking. Draco never saw any girls on the team, however. That is, until, he saw a small girl in the Ravenclaw uniform, with the number 13 on her back. Her bright red curls bounced with the spring in her step. The girl was significantly shorter than the rest of her team. She stopped in the aisle between the Ravenclaw and Slytherin tables right next to Draco. He turned to her, figuring she had some smart remark to say to him. But instead, her back was turned to him, and she was talking to the Lovegood girl that sat directly behind him. And then something clicked in Draco, the new Seeker, the one he would have to fight for the Snitch, was the little redheaded, Muggle girl he found strangely cute.    “You look so cool, Grace! I know you’re going to do great today at the match. Maybe Ravenclaw will even beat Slytherin!” the pale blonde girl said.    Draco scoffed, “You’re the new Seeker? I thought you had to be a certain height to play Quidditch?” He laughed, and his friends laughed with him.    Grace just turned to him with a lop-sided smile. Her blue eyes shone brighter in contrast to the royal blue and bronze uniform. Draco wouldn’t have blamed her if she spat back at him, or even slapped him. But instead, she held her hand out. And Draco, dumbstruck, took it and shook her hand. “Good luck today, Draco. I’m really excited I finally get to play on the same Pitch as you,” she had adoration in her eyes and a disgusting amount of kindness in her sweet voice. It annoyed Draco, he wanted her to be angry with him, it would make getting over his silly little crush on her.    When he finally snapped out of the trance she put him under, he pulled his hand away from her’s, “Yeah, well, I don’t need luck! Slytherin is undefeated.”    Grace, to Draco’s infuriation, just smiled wider at him and sat next to her friend.    Draco, soon enough, would eat his words. Ravenclaw, for the first time in years, had defeated Slytherin 170-50. Grace McClivert was soon one of the most popular Ravenclaws in her house. Not just for the fact that she had caught the Snitch, but she had caught it with such style and grace.    After she shoved Draco out of the way to get a lead on the Snitch, which Draco will never admit, she shoved pretty hard, the Snitch had flown straight up into the sky. Grace tipped her broomstick up and was vertically flying after the Snitch, but then, the Snitch evened out for a second, then made its way straight down to the middle of the Pitch. Grace, stupidly, followed it the same way she came up, vertically. It was perhaps the most heart-dropping scene Draco had ever seen, and he couldn’t do anything but watch. As she got closer to the ground, and it was certain she would crash, there were screams from the stands, and the faculty stood ready with their wands if something should happen. But at the last second, the Snitch made a sharp turn right, and so did Grace, catching the Snitch. The crowd cheered, she did a few swoops and flips, and Draco just sat there on his broom like an idiot.    Of course, while Grace was being lifted on her team members’ shoulders, being congratulated by Professor Flitwick and a few other professors, Draco was getting eaten alive by his teammates. Although it wasn’t her fault, he had to blame somebody, so he blamed Grace.    As if things weren’t bad enough, he saw his godfather and head of house, Professor Snape, walk towards him. He thought he’d for sure get detention for life for ruining Slytherin’s winning streak, but he walked right past Draco, as if he wasn’t there, and made his way towards Grace. Draco got a little closer to hear what their conversation could possibly be about.    “Miss McClivert!”    Grace whipped her head around, her hair following, and smiled brightly, “Hi, Professor Snape! Did’ya see me? Wasn’t that cool? Look, I caught the Snitch and Roger Davies said that I should keep it so I have a memory of my first game won.” She was obviously overjoyed and proud of her win. For her, it finally meant that she was fitting into this strange new world.    Snape was taken back, but he should have known by now that Grace McClivert was the least bit scared of him. In fact, Grace was put off more by Professor Trelawney than Snape. He sighed, “Yes, I saw you almost crash into the ground with such speed and force that would have killed you!” Draco couldn’t believe it, he was yelling at her because she had put herself in danger, not because she had put the Slytherin team to shame. What bullshit!    “But, Professor, I’m not hurt! Promise!”    “I’m still taking you to Madame Pomfrey to get checked out since your head of house doesn’t seem concerned. Maybe you’re not physically hurt, but mental enough to pull a stunt like that!” However annoyed Snape was with Grace, she just giggled.    “Okay, Professor, if it’ll make you feel better,” then Grace glanced off and her eyes met Draco’s. “Just wait one minute, Professor? I gotta do something.”    Grace made her way over to Draco, who now had a slight blush across his cheeks, “I’m sorry for shoving you, Draco. I hope I didn’t bruise you or anything. You were really great today, though.” Her words were sincere, and she had that stupid smile on her face, and it only made Draco angrier.    “You’re supposed to be aggressive in Quidditch. And you didn’t hurt me, don’t flatter yourself. Stupid Muggle,” Draco spat.    The light behind Grace’s eyes changed as she narrowed them and clenched her fists, “Fine! Then next time, I won’t hold back!” and she stomped away.    Draco got an earful from his uncle, not for losing, but for being mean to Grace when she was showing good sportsmanship even though she had totally whipped Draco’s ass. And Grace didn’t hold back the next Ravenclaw vs. Slytherin match. In fact, she had no qualms with shoving Draco into a wooden post on the stands and giving him a concussion. Ravenclaw beat them again, and Draco got beat up by his teammates. But even worse, he had completely ruined any feelings Grace may or may not have had for Draco. She only referred to him as “Malfoy” after that, and gave him dirty glances whenever their eyes met. And still, Draco never got over his ridiculous crush on her.

-

   “What are you thinking about?” Grace snapped her fingers in front of Draco’s face, grabbing his attention.    “Hm? Oh, nothing. What are we watching?” Grace had since fetched her laptop and there was a movie playing in front of them.    “Say Anything. It’s my favorite movie. Like, everyone needs someone like Lloyd Dobbler in their lives,” she didn’t take her eyes off of the screen as she spoke like she would miss something she had missed before.    The movie was actually pretty good, for being a Muggle film. But Draco was more entertained by watching Grace watch the film. Her little smiles and the twinkle in her eyes. Occasionally she would whisper a little tidbit about the film or John Cusak, who she had a crush on when she was twelve and spent the whole summer binge-watching all of his films. Or Draco’s favorite, when she’d murmur, “This is my favorite part,” even though she said it multiple times, so Draco actually didn't know what her true favorite scene was.

[asrisgratitudejournal]

BTS Meal

It's 19:32 pm and I'm closing my day in the office (after I got to write 2 descriptive paragraphs the whole day - I definitely did better at that time I was preparing for my IELTS), but I feel like I got to say a thing or two about the BTS Meal phenomenon that just happened back home. No one asked my opinion. No one needed to hear of solutions nor how to make things better, and not that what I said here could be helpful for anyone in any way juga. It's just my "scientist" and "problem solver" brain, I guess?, that motivates me to write this, so here we go.

My day started with this "mess" about BTS Meal on (surprisingly, not my stan Twitter account, but) my main Indonesian Twitter account. The tone of the tweets mixed a lot between very sweet and positive ones (especially from my mutuals that are also ARMYs) and the kinda-mocking meme-y ones (those tweeted by the "funny" "woke" guys - which mostly were not tweeted by my mutuals, just saw some of the tweets passing by on the tl).

I won't talk about the positive sweet tweet ones because... I wouldn't just be telling the world that we are the best fandom in the world or anything (yes, BTS teaches us self-love, but we're not that full of ourselves). Then again, as I mentioned in the previous post, quoting Pak Dosen Prama, "people everywhere are in a normal distribution". Of course, there are very nice and kind ARMYs out there who gave the drivers 100k IDR tip, a sack of rice, bottles of drink, a bunch of snacks, chocolates, etc. But, there are also, as we're mostly known of, toxic and mean ARMYs out there, that (thank God) didn't show up a lot in my timeline today.

I would love to talk mostly about how these "funny" "woke" people on the timeline react to these nasty videos of huge crowds, drivers stuck together in a closed indoor space without masks, polices closed down McD branches, people shouted in anger because of the McD closure, Pol PP tried to rip down a huge BTS Meal banner in front of the McD building, you know... those kinds of videos. Disclaimer: by these "funny" and "woke" people, I don't mean the ones who made dad jokes on ARMY as TNI or edited King Nassar into BTS Meal packaging -- I found them very funny, thanks, King. I specifically reacted to these people who think that we, ARMYs, (well, not we technically because geographically I'm not part of them rn? Well, anyways) were not considerate of the drivers who had to wait hours in line, were just causing unsafe environments for the drivers in the middle of a pandemic, were panic buying, were irrational and childish, and were possibly making a new cluster of Covid-19 because of this 50k IDR worth of meal.

Well, I'm not trying to find a scapegoat here, but in the perspective of someone who has been following perkiprahan BTS Meal all over the world, all of this craziness actually could be avoided and prevented very easily. If only, if only, McDonald's Indonesia had learned and studied and seen how the BTS Meal has been released in other countries, has at least consult an ARMY (it took only one person to estimate the number of ARMY in Indonesia. Heol, they didn't even have to consult. It's one google away), they could've easily made a strategy to prepare for this.

Before I go into possible solution(s) McDonald's Indonesia could've/should've taken, I'd take time first to explain why BTS Meal would matter THAT much to ARMYs. A famous Twitter chef in Indonesia tweeted after eating the meal: "so this is it? what's so special about 10 pieces of McNuggets, fries, 2 dipping sauces, and a cup of coke?" -- well, probably not the exact verbatim, but I saw a couple of tweets in a similar nuance: asking what's the hype of this BTS Meal.

Hhhh, here we go, the difficult part. It's always very difficult, at least to me, to explain something I love so much (as much as it is unconditional) to other people who are not on the same train of thoughts and feelings and mind. But, anyway... I'll try.

It's probably the cheapest official thing we can get as an ARMY. Let's say the price of one BTS Meal is around... 50k IDR(?). That amount of money is actually VERY cheap compared to BTS official merch (ranging from 100k to more than 500k apiece), an album (300k to 500k -- I even bought my BE Deluxe at £50), an online concert ticket (350 k and above), a BT21 merch (100k to 300k), a BTSxSamsung phone (18000k), a BTSxSamsung earbud (I don't know, 5000k?), and their many other expensive stuff. To be able to pay only 50k to show how we support them??? Why didn't people just let us be? Anyway, this BTS Meal is not made to cater to you, muggles. It's specifically marketed to us ARMYs. Don't get into a fight you're not supposed to be in, please. Ok, that's number 1.

We Indonesian ARMYs are part of the bigger family that is the global ARMYs all over the world. We have this sense of camaraderie that by eating this BTS Meal, it'd feel like we have lunch together eating the same exact meal with other ARMYs from SK, US, Egypt, Peru, and other countries (which has BTS Meal of course). Especially, looking at we, Indonesia, is included as one of the latest countries to release BTS Meal, our social media timeline and feed has been full of BTS Meal since two weeks ago and we can't help but order right away as it is out!

BTS Meal is an homage to BTS. I don't know if all Indonesian ARMYs even know about this, but the og story of BTS Meal is that it's BTS' favorite meal package that until a week ago exists only in South Korea (especially the cajun and sweet chili dipping sauce). And since BTS loves ARMYs so much (at least that the narrative the McDonald's marketing people trying to build here), they want all ARMYs around the world to taste it, too. //Mungkin kalau di Indo macem paket panas special gitu kali ya, saking favnya jadi pengen dishare ke orang lain juga (yaampun jd ngidam paket panas special huhu belum makan dinner lapar)//. So, of course, to receive that love BTS wants to share with us their ARMYs, we feel and act as enthusiastic as we could be!

There might still be more reasons why ARMYs are THAT crazy over this meal, but I've tried to outline at least 3 of them. Well, I don't represent all Indonesian ARMYs. They might have those reasons I mentioned above, but they also might not. They probably would just simply said, "because we love them and we want to support them". But there I tried to "explain" the rational reasons under the irrational logic hiding behind the word "love".

So now let's go to what has gone wrong and what McDonald's Indonesia could've done better in anticipating this huge event of BTS Meal release. Well, they still can implement these suggestions actually, since the event itself will still run for a month(?) if I'm not mistaken. Many Indonesian ARMYs (Indomys) Twitter base accounts actually also already have reminded ARMYs to not do panic buying on the 1st day of the release of BTS Meal. However, you just can't help it when you see people on your timeline started to get theirs, updated, and posted pictures of their meal (sigh, the scary side of social media: the FOMO phenomenon).

System! There's got to be a system here. Be it the ordering system (if they need to do buka-tutup strategy or minimum purchase) or the line waiting system for those ojol drivers (put sign everywhere if necessary). I don't know if they even care about this BTS Meal, but McDonald's Indonesia really didn't learn. I've mentioned before that Indonesia was one of the latest countries to release BTS Meal. In the past weeks, we had South Korea, the US, Australia, Singapore, the Philippines, even our closest neighbor, Malaysia, releasing BTS Meal. If only the management of McDonald's Indonesia could've seen and learned how those countries did their job magnificently, I believe all of this chaos wouldn't have happened. Take, for example, Malaysia. What they'd done there was to take orders only from McDelivery, drive-thru, and takeaway counter. Simple and neat. No third-party delivery is involved. And even for the takeaway, they already separated the line for regular order and the one for BTS Meal. Every sign is written clearly to make sure everyone follows the social distancing rule. Ah... why can't we be like Malaysia, though...

Clear notice/announcement on the availability of the packaging. One of the things that sadly successfully drive ARMYs to do panic buying today is that there's this rumor going around that the purple packaging is limited in numbers and they will run out if we don't buy it fast. Until now, we didn't know about the real fact, some ARMYs said that the packaging is produced in the country so they can print them as much as they can, some others said there's only 1000 (? need ref here) of them per branch, we really don't know. The only thing we know for sure is that as in Malaysia, the packaging was out on the 3rd day (? need ref here) of the release. So of course that makes us scared in a way, and that's normal because we've been waiting for it since a month ago! Just imagine our frustration? If only McDonald's Indonesia Twitter account can say a thing about this, especially to give assurance to Indomys that the packaging won't be out, that'd help big time. At least, by knowing that, these ARMYs could strategize, plan their schedule around their time so that they can come by themselves via drive-thru or even order it on Gofood/Grabfood app at other time that's not 11 AM.

Better communication with the authorities. It'd just be nice if McDonald's Indonesia has talked before with local police about this release and the effect it probably will cause. At least just to give notice to them that there will be this special package coming out and there probably be a little bit of traffic here so please mind the disruption. And they can even ask these authorities for help! It just breaks my heart, though, seeing a lot of McDonald's branches are now being closed down by force because they were considered breaking the law for making crowd :(

Waa panjang juga ni bacotan saya. Dari nulis di office sampe laper terus pulang karena takut keburu gelap dan dingin alias ga bawa jaket samsek, sampe akhirnya lanjut lagi di rumah (ini jam 22.52 pm) dan belom dinner gara-gara saking semangatnya abis mandi langsung buka dashboard lagi. Terus sekarang ini ceritanya dah cape berbahasa Inggris jadi mulai ngIndonesia. Dah deh gitu aja. Nga ada yang baca juga ini pasti, tapi at least punya bacaan lah ntar in the next 5 years bakal ngomong "yaampun bucin banget ye dulu w sama BTS sampe gini aja diomongin ditulis panjang lebar". Semoga 5 tahun lagi SUDAH BERHASIL KETEMU LANGSUNG SM BTS DI WEMBLEY YA ALLAH AAMIIN YRA. Minta doanya ya teman2.

-fin,

Oxford, 9 Juni 2021, ditulis karena kesal sama netizen yang gatau apa-apa tapi komen mulu tentang BTS Meal

[rafi1228]

Learn the latest Kubernetes features (1.16) and plugins while practicing DevOps workflows, from a container expert

What you’ll learn

Learn Kubernetes and cluster tools from an award-winning Docker Captain!

Lead your team into the future with the latest Kubernetes & container skills!

Know the right ways to use Kubernetes for proper DevOps workflows

Understand production K8s topics like rolling updates, healthchecks, and failure recovery

Know when to use different types of app configuration like args, envs, and ConfigMaps

Make Kubernetes YAML manifests and deploy using infrastructure-as-code methods

Requirements

Know Docker 101: the Docker basics like building and shipping images, and running containers

Understand terminal or command prompt basics

Linux basics like shells, SSH, and package managers

Know the basics of creating a server in the cloud (on any provider)

Understand the basics of web and database servers (how they typically communicate, IP’s, ports, etc.)

Have a GitHub and Docker Hub account

Description

Taught by an award-winning Docker Captain and Kubernetes expert, this Course is the result of a collaboration between Bret Fisher, creator of the #1 Docker & Kubernetes course on Udemy, and Jérôme Petazzoni who is a full-time Kubernetes instructor, as well as one of the original Docker Inc DevOps Engineers! We designed the course to take your Kubernetes skills from first-time user to using K8s in production.

Updates are a thing! You can count on it. Kubernetes is a huge topic and constantly evolving. As a result, this course will grow and evolve with it.

Just starting out with Kubernetes? Perfect. This course starts out assuming you’re new to container orchestration.

And, if you’re using Kubernetes now and need to learn the latest features, I’m here for you! See my topics around dry runs, diffs, logging, rolling upgrades, startup healthchecks, zombie reaping, and more.

[five stars] “Because Bret knows, lives, breaths and loves his technology stack. The passion and belief always comes through in all of his courses which is why I will always recommend his work.”  — Steven Hunt, Udemy Student

Already a Docker Mastery student and want to know what’s different between the two courses? This course assumes you know Docker and dives deeper into Kubernetes and the community of tools around it. Unlike Docker Mastery, which starts with container 101 and takes you through a lot of tools like local development setups, docker-compose, registry, Docker Hub, Swarm basics, Kubernetes basics, and general Docker best practices… this course starts with Kubernetes 101 and has you learning and practicing each feature and workflow you’ll need for running your own Kubernetes clusters, and like all my courses, it focuses on how to use those features with a DevOps mindset and workflow.

BONUS: This course comes with Slack Chat and YouTube Live Q&As with me!

“…Bret is amazing. You can tell he knows exactly what he is talking about and enjoys helping others. I have never seen someone so involved with his user base as Bret. …I would seriously buy any course the Bret puts out because I have no doubts that it will be excellent.”  –– David Olson, Udemy Course Student

Why should you learn from me? Why trust me to teach you the best ways to use Kubernetes?   (Hi, I’m Bret, please allow me to talk about myself for a sec):

I’m A Practitioner. Welcome to the real world: I’ve got 20 years of sysadmin and developer experience, over 30 certifications, and have been exclusively focused on DevOps and the container ecosystem for my consulting clients and my own companies since Docker’s early days. Learn from someone who’s helped run thousands of containers across dozens of projects and organizations.

I’m An Educator. Learn from someone who knows how to make a syllabus: I want to help you. People say I’m good at it. For the last few years, I’ve trained thousands of people on using Docker & Kubernetes in workshops, conferences, and meetups. See me teach at events like DockerCon, O’Reilly Velocity, GOTO Conf, and Linux Open Source Summit.

I Lead Communities. Also, I’m a Docker Captain, meaning that Docker Inc. thinks I know a thing or two about containers and that I do well in sharing it with others. In the real-world: I help run two local meetups in our fabulous tech community in Norfolk/Virginia Beach USA. I help online: usually in Slack and Twitter, where I learn from and help others.

“This guy is out of this world. I love his patience and carefulness he puts in all of his lessons.” — Evan Baird, Udemy Student

Giving Back: a portion of my profit on this course will be donated to supporting open source and protecting our freedoms online! This course is only made possible by the amazing people creating open source. I’m standing on the shoulders of (open source) giants! Donations will be split between my favorite charities like Electronic Frontier Foundation and Free Software Foundation. Look them up. They’re awesome!

This is a living course and will be updated as Kubernetes features change.

This course is designed to be fast at getting you started but also to get you deep into the “why” of things. Simply the fastest and best way to learn the latest container skills. Look at the scope of topics in the Session and see the breadth of skills you will learn.

Also included is a private Slack Chat group with 21,000+ students for getting help with this course and continuing your Docker and DevOps learning with help from myself and other students.

“I am really loving your approach to training so far. Concepts are really simplified and easy to understand. Thank you.”  — Yemisi Omoijo, Udemy Student

Some of the many cool things you’ll do in this course:

Deploy a microservice app using both CLI and YAML

Investigate running apps using CLI, logs, and events

Test out different local Kubernetes installs like Docker Desktop, microK8s, and minikube

Use Stern to view multiple container logs at once

Try different load balancer types with Kubernetes Services

Troubleshoot container and network performance

Create custom labels for controlling load balancer connections

Use the new Server Dry Run to test changes with the API

Recover from a failed update, and rollback updates to previous versions

Test different healthcheck probe types

Use various app config options with built-in Kubernetes features

Quickly patch YAML with a single command

Split up and deploy YAML from git repos using DevOps practices

Deploy the Kubernetes Dashboard web GUI securely

And so much more…

  After taking this course, you’ll be able to:

Know when to use Kubernetes for solving real-world problems

Step through the proper decisions to make when creating healthchecks

Understand how to test healthchecks to ensure they don’t create problems

Know when to use different types of app configuration like args, envs, ConfigMaps, and more

Design a ConfigMap with the Downward API for more flexible deployments

Make Kubernetes YAML manifests and deploy using infrastructure-as-code DevOps methods

Protect your keys, TLS certificates, and passwords with encrypted secrets

Lead your team into the future with the latest Kubernetes container skills!

  Extra things that come with this course:

Access to the course Slack team, for getting help/advice from me and other students.

Bonus videos I put elsewhere like YouTube, linked to from this course’s resources.

Live Q&A with me on YouTube.

Tons of reference links to supplement this content.

Updates to content as Kubernetes changes the features on these topics.

Who this course is for:

Beginner Kubernetes students that want to learn the latest features and patterns for container orchestration

Sysadmins, developers, and operators that know some Docker, and want to start using multi-server orchestration

Anyone who makes, deploys, or operates software on servers, that already knows container basics

Created by Bret Fisher, Docker Captain Program Last updated 5/2020 English English

Size: 8.67 GB

   Download Now

https://ift.tt/2t3ZARZ.

The post Kubernetes Mastery: Hands-On Lessons From A Docker Captain appeared first on Free Course Lab.

[udemytutorialfreedownload]

Docker Mastery: with Kubernetes +Swarm from a Docker Captain

Docker Mastery: with Kubernetes +Swarm from a Docker Captain

Build, test, deploy containers with the best mega-course on Docker, Kubernetes, Compose, Swarm and Registry using DevOps

What you'll learn Docker Mastery: with Kubernetes +Swarm from a Docker Captain

How to use Docker, Compose and Kubernetes on your machine for better software building and testing.

Learn Docker and Kubernetes official tools from an award-winning Docker Captain!

Learn faster with included live chat group (21,000 members!) and weekly live Q&A.

Gain the skills to build development environments with your code running in containers.

Build Swam and Kubernetes clusters for server deployments!

Hands-on with best practices for making Dockerfiles and Compose files like a Pro!

Build and publish your own custom images.

Create your own custom image registry to store your apps and deploy them in corporate environments.

READ ALSO: 1. MongoDB - The Complete Developer's Guide 2020 2. Spring Framework 5: Beginner to Guru 3. Learn How To Code: Google's Go (golang) Programming Language 4. The Complete Oracle SQL Certification Course

Requirements

No paid software required - Just install your favorite text editor and browser!

Local admin access to install Docker for Mac/Windows/Linux.

Understand the terminal or command prompt basics.

Linux basics like shells, SSH, and package managers. (tips included to help newcomers!)

Know the basics of creating a server in the cloud (on any provider). (tips included to help newcomers!)

Understand the basics of web and database servers. (how they typically communicate, IP's, ports, etc.)

Have a GitHub and Docker Hub account.

Description

Updated Monthly in 2019! Be ready for the Dockerized future with the number ONE Docker + Kubernetes mega-course on Udemy. Welcome to the most complete and up-to-date course for learning and using containers end-to-end, from development and testing to server deployments and production. Taught by an award-winning Docker Captain and DevOps consultant.

Just starting out with Docker? Perfect. This course starts out assuming you're new to containers.

Or: Using Docker now and need to deal with real-world problems? I'm here for you! See my production topics around Swarm, Kubernetes, secrets, logging, rolling upgrades, and more.

BONUS: This course comes with Slack Chat and Live Weekly Q&A with me!

"I've followed another course on (Udemy). This one is a million times more in-depth." "...when it comes to all the docker stuff, this is the course you're gonna want to take" - 2019 Student Udemy Review

Just updated in November 2019 with sections on:

Docker Security top 10

Docker 19.03 release features

Why should you learn from me? Why trust me to teach you the best ways to use Docker? (Hi, I'm Bret, please allow me to talk about myself for a sec):

I'm A Practitioner. Welcome to the real world: I've got 20 years of sysadmin and developer experience, over 30 certifications, and have been using Docker and the container ecosystem for my consulting clients and my own companies since Docker's early days. Learn from someone who's run hundreds of containers across dozens of projects and organizations.

I'm An Educator. Learn from someone who knows how to make a syllabus: I want to help you. People say I'm good at it. For the last few years, I've trained thousands of people on using Docker in workshops, conferences, and meetups. See me teach at events like DockerCon, O'Reilly Velocity, GOTO Conf, and Linux Open Source Summit. I hope you'll decide to learn with me and join the fantastic online Docker community.

I Lead Communities. Also, I'm a Docker Captain, meaning that Docker Inc. thinks I know a thing or two about Docker and that I do well in sharing it with others. In the real-world: I help run two local meetups in our fabulous tech community in Norfolk/Virginia Beach USA. I help online: usually in Slack and Twitter, where I learn from and help others.

"Because of the Docker Mastery course, I landed my first DevOps job. Thank you, Captain!" - Student Ronald Alonzo

"There are a lot of Docker courses on Udemy -- but ignore those, Bret is the single most qualified person to teach you." - Kevin Griffin, Microsoft MVP

Giving Back: a portion of my profit on this course will be donated to supporting open source and protecting our freedoms online! This course is only made possible by the amazing people creating the open-source. I'm standing on the shoulders of (open source) giants! Donations will be split between my favorite charities including the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Free Software Foundation. Look them up. They're awesome!

This is a living course and will be updated as Docker and Kubernetes feature change.

This course is designed to be fast at getting you started but also get you deep into the "why" of things. Simply the fastest and best way to learn the latest container skills. Look at the scope of topics in the Session and see the breadth of skills you will learn.

Also included is a private Slack Chat group with 20k students for getting help with this course and continuing your Docker and DevOps learning with help from myself and other students.

"Bret's course is a level above all of those resources, and if you're struggling to get a handle on Docker, this is the resource you need to invest in." - Austin Tindle, Course Student

Some of the many cool things you'll do in this course:

Edit web code on your machine while it's served up in a container

Lockdown your apps in private networks that only expose necessary ports

Create a 3-node Swarm cluster in the cloud

Install Kubernetes and learn the leading server cluster tools

Use Virtual IP's for built-in load balancing in your cluster

Optimize your Dockerfiles for faster building and tiny deploys

Build/Publish your own custom application images

Learn the differences between Kubernetes and Swarm

Create your own image registry

Use Swarm Secrets to encrypt your environment configs, even on disk

Deploy container updates in a rolling always-up design

Create the config utopia of a single set of YAML files for local dev, CI testing, and prod cluster deploys

And so much more...

After taking this course, you'll be able to:

Use Docker in your daily developer and/or sysadmin roles

Deploy apps to Kubernetes

Make Dockerfiles and Compose files

Build multi-node Swarm clusters and deploying H/A containers

Make Kubernetes YAML manifests and deploy using infrastructure-as-code methods

Build a workflow of using Docker in dev, then test/CI, then production with YAML

Protect your keys, TLS certificates, and passwords with encrypted secrets

Keep your Dockerfiles and images small, efficient, and fast

Run apps in Docker, Swarm, and Kubernetes and understand the pros/cons of each

Develop locally while your code runs in a container

Protect important persistent data in volumes and bind mounts

Lead your team into the future with the latest Docker container skills!

Extra things that come with this course:

Access to the course Slack team, for getting help/advice from me and other students.

Bonus videos I put elsewhere like YouTube, linked to these courses resources.

Weekly Live Q&A on YouTube Live.

Tons of reference links to supplement this content.

Updates to content as Docker changes its features on these topics.

Who this course is for:

Software developers, sysadmins, IT pros, and operators at any skill level.

Anyone who makes deploys or operates software on servers.

Docker Mastery: with Kubernetes +Swarm from a Docker Captain

Created by Bret Fisher, Docker Captain Program

Last updated 3/2020

English

English, French [Auto-generated]

Size: 11.24 GB

DOWNLOAD COURSE

Content From: https://ift.tt/2CCIwDx

[nanalikessurveys]

1. Where are you from?

I am from Finland

2. Where do you live and for how long? A town in the western part of Finland, i’ve lived here my whole life

3. What’s your favorite thing about where you live? I like the city center even tho it is under construction atm and looks like a total mess. but it has pretty much every shop and store i need in my life

4. What did you love the most about the town you grew up in? Like i said, i’ve lived here my whole life

5. Do you have any pets? My mom has two cats but i don’t live with her anymore, but i still call them my cats

6. What was your 1st pet’s name? We had a pet hamster whose name was Hermanni, lol

7. What’s your favorite season? Probably winter or summer

8. What’s your favorite movie? There’s plenty, for example Gothika, Shutter Island, Misery, Seven…

9. Favorite movie in the past 5 years? Same as now, lol

10. What’s a movie that you laughed the hardest during? Maybe Fun With Dick and Jane, that movie was really funny, i love Jim Carrey

11. What’s a movie you cried the hardest during? The only movie i’ve cried while watching was Train to Busan, the ending is really really sad

12. What’s the best-animated movie ever created? I don’t know about the best but i’ve always liked Over the Hedge

13. Favorite TV show? CSI Miami

14. Favorite TV show that is currently on? Well they have CSI Miami rerun on tv at the moment

15. What’s your favorite restaurant? The local American Diner we have here

16. What’s your favorite food? Pasta. And sushi, also chicken and salmon

17. Least favorite food? Anything pickled

18. What toppings do you get on your pizza? Mushroom and tuna, also garlic

19. Favorite beverage? Just plain water. I also like lemon cola

20. Favorite dessert? Ice cream

21. Is there a dessert you don’t like? I don’t really enjoy cream cakes

22. Cake or pie?

Pie i guess

23. What’s your favorite ice cream? Vanilla, raspberry and liquorice lol

24. What’s your favorite condiment? Garlic or paprika mayo

25. What do you get for brunch?

I don’t know exactly what brunch means

26. It’s 4 am on a Saturday night, what do you eat? I’m usually sleep by then LMAO

27. What one thing do you have in your fridge at any given time? Milk i guess

28. Weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten? I don’t think i’ve ever eaten anything weird

29. What’s your favorite band? I don’t listen to bands

30. Favorite solo artist? James Arthur

31. Favorite nonliving musician? I’d say Amy Winehouse. i like some of her songs. i don’t really listen to deceased singers

32. Favorite lyrics? So many

33. Favorite song of all time? I’ve been listening to Figure 8 by FKA Twigs alot

34. Favorite album? Ummm dunno

35. What’s the last song you listened to? Juicy by Doja Cat haha

36. If you life were a song what would the title be? I’m so bad with these

37. What song would you probably be caught dancing alone to? I dance to alot of songs, can’t just pick one

38. If you could sing a duet with somebody who would it be? I can’t sing. i don’t want to embarrass anyone so i wouldn’t pick anyone lol

39. If you could master one instrument what would it be? Piano i guess, i used to play it but then i stopped and forgot everything

40. What is your go-to karaoke song? Noooo you will never hear me sing karaoke

41. What book are you currently reading or the last book you read? I’m not reading at the moment

42. What’s a book that you plan on reading? My Friend Dahmer, i fell in love with the movie so i really HAVE TO read it, first i’ll just have to find the book somewhere lol

43. What’s a book that you read because everyone else was reading it? I don’t think that eve happened, i don’t really read alot

44. What’s a book that you read in school that positively shaped you? What does that mean? idk but book i enjoyed reading for school was this finnish book about a girl who was addicted to drugs, it was a true story and really interesting

45. What’s a book in school that you hated? I don’t remember

46. What’s your favorite book? I’d have to say Lolita

47. What’s a book you wish you had written? Idk, some succesful book is guess lol

48. Dark chocolate or milk chocolate? Milk chocolate

49. Underwater or Outer space? Noo i’m afraid of both

50. Dogs or cats? Cats

51. Kittens or Puppies? Kittens

52. Dolphins or Koalas? Koalas

53. Bird watching or whale watching? Uuh, bird watching?

54. What is your spirit animal? I have no idea lol, a cat?

55. To be or not to be? Lol

56. IPhone or Android? i have iphone

57. Twitter or Instagram? Instagram, i don’t even have Twitter

58. Vine or snapchat? Vine is my life lol

59. Who should everyone be following right now? I don’t know, ha

60. What’s your favorite app? Website? Youtube for both

61. What was your favorite subject in school? English

62. What was your best subject in school? English and chemistry

63. What was your worst subject in school? Math for sure

64. What subject would you teach in school? I would never be a teacher

65. What is one thing you wish you knew in high school? How to actually study properly

66. What advice would you give yourself at 13? Just be confident

67. How tall are you? 163cm

68. Who is your fashion icon? I don’t have one

69. What’s you favorite fashion trend? I know nothing about fashion trends

70. What are 3 things you always have in your bag (besides phone and wallet)? Keys, bus card and lot of old receipts lol

71. What is a current trend you hope doesn’t exist in 100 hundred years? I’m bad with trends

72. What’s your must have fashion accessory? My earrings and belly button ring lol

73. Heels or flats? I love both but flats are more convenient

74. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds

75. Blow-dry or air-dry? Usually air-dry

76. What color dress did you wear to prom? I didn’t attent prom

77. Favorite cocktail? I don’t drink cocktails

78. What do you usually order at Starbucks? I’ve been there only couple times but i’d say just plain iced coffee is the best

79. Coffee or tea? Coffee

80. How do you like your coffee? A café latte please

81. Who is a person you want to have coffee with? My friend

82. What historical figure do you want to have coffee with? I have no idea

83. If you could live in any historical decade, what would it be and where? I’d rather just stay here

84. What’s your favorite country to visit? I loved Cyprus

85. What’s the last country you visited? Spain

86. What’s a country you wish to visit? Italy, Iceland, Thailand

87. What’s your favorite state to visit? I’ve never been to the states

88. What’s the last state you visited? ^

89. What’s a state you wish to visit? Florida because of Miami lol

90. What’s the best vacation spot? Cyprus i guess

91. Where does one go on a perfect road trip? I don’t really like road trips

92. Favorite city? Stockholm, i would live there

93. Pilates or yoga? Yoga for sure

94. Jogging or swimming? Swimming

95. Favorite way to workout? Dance and gymnastics

96. Least favorite way to workout? Running

97. Best way to decompress? Just to be alone

98. What’s the best first date idea? Maybe to go to a nice coffee shop

99. What’s love?

Uhh

100. Major turn on? Intelligence

101. Major turn off? Being gross

102. What’s the weirdest thing a guy has done or said to try and impress you? I don’t this ever happened

103. What’s the first thing you notice about someone when you meet them? Eyes

104. Do you believe in love at first sight? In some cases yes, like mothers who see their child for the first time

105. Best gift you ever received? i like all my gifts i’ve received

106. Last gift you gave a friend? Chocolate from Spain

107. Best gift to get for someone? Depends on who it is for

108. What’s the biggest surprise you’ve ever had? I don’t really know

109. What’s your favorite color? Pastel blue

110. Least favorite color? I like all the colors

111. What’s your favorite type of flower? Dunno, roses i guess

112. Who is your favorite comedian? Jim carrey or Kevin Hart

113. Who is your favorite action star? Matt Damon

114. Best superhero created? Spiderman

115. If you had one superpower what would it be? Invisibility

116. What’s your kryptonite? What is that

117. Biggest phobia? Losing someone close

118. Favorite Disney Movie? The Lion King

119. Favorite Disney character? Idk i like all of them

120. Favorite Holiday? Christmas

121. What’s your best Halloween costume? I don’t dress on Halloween

122. What’s your favorite plot-twist? I don’t know

123. If you could do a flash-mob where would it be? Haha i wouldn’t

124. What’s the coolest thing in your bedroom? My bed

125. If you got a tattoo where would it be? Uhh, maybe on my wrists or my ribs. underboob tattoos are pretty too

126. What’s your favorite curse word? Fuck

127. What’s your favorite board game? That finnish board game Afrikan tähti which translates to a star of Africa, that game was my childhood lol

[carocat]

A quick reminder for men: Common events for you can turn into really scary situations for women in a snap. Case in point: This week I listed a clothes dryer on the Letgo app. Because it was a dryer, a neutral meeting location was impractical. I needed it taken out of my house.

To try to stay safe, I decided to only allow people to pick it up after 5 when my husband would be home. But a guy who works nights asked if he could come in the am instead; I said yes as long as you're here before husband leaves for work.

The next morning, buyer isn't here before husband leaves. I message and tell him not to come. He shows up 15 min later. In addition to being late, he has no dolly or help, despite the ad saying the dryer was in a basement & you'd have to remove yourself.

He says he will come back with help, I say after 5 would be great. He then asks if he could just see it real quick before coming back and bringing someone over, in case he doesn't want it. So, now I have a decision to make.

I quickly try to assess my likelihood of danger, as every woman has done so, so many times. It's instinct. First, what's his age? Late 60s, early 70s. He's tall but thin. Wearing a wedding ring. Hasn't smiled at me strangely or looked at me for too long. I make a judgment call.

Feeling like he's more likely to be safe than unsafe, and feeling badly about not letting him see the dryer, I invite him in. Once in the basement, he's POSITIVE he can get it out with just a LITTLE help he says, looking at me. Fuck it. I pick up a side.

Walk to the stairs is fine. We're sharing the work. With each stair, I'm feeling more and more of the weight. I'm sweating. Heaving. Pissed. Halfway up the stairs and it feels like he's doing NOTHING. And then I see it. The look on his face.

He's staring at me, hard. Right in the eyes, sly smile on his lips. My hair is matted to my forehead. I can't get a comfortable grip. I'm just about to ask him what's going on - is he even lifting? - when he starts to speak.

"Damn, girl. Look at you. Man, those thighs. Put em to work, huh? That sweat looks good on you. Workin thighs like that, I bet your husband is a happy man. C'mon, show me what you got." I was mortified. And I'm realizing I can't get out. He & a dryer I'm lifting are blocking me.

So I do what women do, lower my eyes, pretend to laugh a little, start lifting faster. The comments and staring hey worse but I try to block them out. As soon as I am free of the basement I walk straight past him to my phone, wait 5 seconds, and say, "honey, the buyer is here!"

And wanna guess what happened? He left without buying it. Was this guy going murder me? Probably not. But I'm not sure. Am I pissed I had to worry about being murdered in my own home because grandpa creeper likes sweaty women? Yeah. Fucker.

The point - other than my being pissed and wanting to tell people - is that events like this, even when we come out ok, take an emotional toll. I was scared. He left more and more of the weight on me & watched me squirm. And now I have one more "thing" that I have to worry about.

So men, if you want to be allies, then recognizing that assault is bad is just the minimum. For every sexual assault, there are thousands of events that don't lead to violence but which scare the shit out of us, especially after our "assessment" turns out to have been wrong.

And obviously, if you ever are in a woman's home alone, whether during a service call or an online sale like this, accept if she's home alone, she's likely done the assessment. Respect her space, don't do gross shit. The basics. Please.

UPDATE: This man just showed up at my house. It's 10pm. Husband answered doorbell, drunk guy mumbles "wrong house" & goes back to his truck. I looked out the window and saw it was him. Tomorrow I'll be here alone with my 4yo while my husband is at work. Terrified in my own house.

UPDATE 2: called the police, they were VERY helpful & said I'm in a great spot for rotating cars to sit outside as much as they can tomorrow. Going to see about taking my little one & spending the day at a friend's house tomorrow just in case. Thank you to everyone for support.

A final comment about this: when I was stuck on the steps with that dryer & he was saying that disgusting shit, I just wanted to escape. I was scared but was calculating how to get out of the situation. Later, as I typed up this story, my fear had given way to rage & disgust.

And then tonight, when he came back, any fantasies I may have harbored earlier while I was typing this story about telling him to fuck off, leave me alone, etc - ALL of those disappeared immediately. I saw him and felt nothing but terror. This wasn't a man who'd physically hurt

me. He didn't rape me. Never even touched n me, in fact. He just said gross shit as I struggled with a heavy appliance. Not that it was nothing, but in the grand scheme of things, my experience was nothing compared to the evil shit people do to each other every day. And yet what

I felt when I saw him tonight was nothing short of terror. I will never, ever, be one of those movie heroines who seeks revenge and stands up for herself to teach the bad guy a lesson. I'm the girl who starts crying & shaking so badly she can't say the words "that's him" clearly

And if I'm being honest, I'm ashamed of that. For all my marching and fist-waving and dreams about screaming at bastards like Kavenaugh in some restaurant one day, the truth is that in the moment, I crumbled. I cried when I typed this update & when I called the police.

The rage that I felt earlier when I told this story hay not have been productive, but it felt good. I enjoyed thinking that this rage would protect & strengthen me if this ever happened again. But then when he showed up, that rage turned to mist. Nothing had changed in me. There

was no newfound bravery or empowerment, no matter how much I wanted it to be so. And that's ok. I know it is ok to be scared. But I could've lived without having my fantasy disproven so quickly. It was warm & made me feel good about myself, and I'll miss it. So, attention you

asshole from letgo. It wasn't enough that you said those things & trapped me in my house & scared me & that my back is killing me now from holding that thing & moving it so fast. It wasn't enough that I'd never felt scared on my house before you showed up here tonight. On top of

all of that, you also took from me any hope that I would be one of those women who could turn fear to strength. I'm not one. But I would've liked to believe I was, & you took that from me, too. And damn it, fuck you for that, whoever you are. Just please, please don't come back.

NEXT DAY UPDATE: To all of the men on here pointing out what I did wrong to bring this on myself, please know I am taking articulate notes with your suggestions and cannot wait to follow your instructions and enjoy my new life of extreme safety

Also, lots more was said/done during the event that was utterly disgusting that I didn't discuss in detail here in order to avoid triggering others. Because that is yet another thing that women do instinctively to protect themselves and one another.

To the men who have reached out and told me they're listening to their wives & believing that this happens to them EVERY DAY - your stories warm my heart. And to the male allies on here standing up to other men while also seeking to improve yourselves - I fucking see and love you

----

I felt your fear. I feel your fear. Just read this to my husband and got to the point where you (I) feel ashamed of not actually being a badass before I started crying.

----

Thank you. It really did hurt to have to admit that to myself. Because when we combine that with the way that our fears impact our relationship dynamics (how many comments on here are about women waiting to do things until their husbands are around, as if we're

helpless children?) you're left with such weighty feelings of weakness and worthlessness. Am I really so unable to stand up for myself? Am I really someone who cries even when speaking to police/public? And I found that I had minimized some of those feelings after he left by

telling myself "never again. Next time I will be prepared, I'll defend myself, I will tell him he is a monster, etc." Except my lie was gone so quickly - that man stripped me of that already-small snippet of pride just by ringing my doorbell. How many other accomplishments will

I now need to achieve in my life to make up for this horrible feeling? Like I am unable to do anything without a trusty man around? That I am like some skittering kitten running from everything in sight, instead of a complex person with many facets to my personality, one of which

is the ability to take pride in and value myself? Because I tell you what, my friend, that was gone the second I realized that I almost peed my pants just from seeing his face. And my husband knew it and now so does everyone here. I don't like feeling this way.

Because I can tell myself all I want that I am Sara, Notre Dame graduate, attorney, published author, except when it counted I turned into Sara, the crying woman who peed down her own leg & who can't stand today because she hurt her back holding a dryer above herself for too long

And when it comes time for the NEXT guy who is looking for an easy mark, when he looks at me, which Sara will he see? And assuming it is the latter, am I actually INCREASING the chances of this happening to me again? And these thoughts will rob me of sleep for the near future.

[geekysweetie]

Pre-Registration Begins for English Version of Captain Tsubasa Dream Team Anime Soccer Game

The folks over at KLab Inc. sent me their press release announcement for the English version of Captain Tsubasa: Dream Team. Captain Tsubasa is a very old and popular anime about soccer. I have not watched it yet, though I’ve heard a lot about it.

I get a lot of Press Releases in my inbox each day, and I don’t always share them here, but this caught my eye with a ton of great giveaways and special events. The fun started yesterday and you only have a short time to take advantage of some of these awesome freebies for new players.

The timing of this Press Release was also timely and the content relevant to my current life. I’m sure you’ve noticed I’ve not been updating here as frequently the past few months.  I began seeing someone over the end of the summer, and we’ve spent every weekend together ever since we met, and about a month ago now we made it “official”.

Weekends used to be when I’d work on my blog and schedule posts to go out through the week. But now with a more active social life my blog has been on the back burner. Hopefully I’ll get enough stuff scheduled up over thanksgiving and xmas breaks to kick off the new year with lots of great new game reviews and blog updates.

The new boyfriend happens to live and breathe soccer. He plays and watches it or coaches and teaches it almost every day (and when it’s not super cold outside I go and watch him play). He’s also from Peru and Peru just made it to the World Cup last week, for the first time in my boyfriend’s lifetime, so he’s very excited about that.

We are as different as night and day. He’s the typical jock, and I’m the typical geek, both in appearance and interests. But he’s not really the “typical” jock because he’s very attentive and sensitive and warm and kind hearted. He told me he wants to better understand me / my hobbies / interests because It’s what I’m into and important to me. (He even told me he’d come to my next doll meetup with me LOL. How many “jocks” would subject themselves to that?)

He’s geeky too in his own way, but much more of a closet geek. He dressed up as Captain America for Halloween, and we just saw Justice League together last weekend. But he’s been saying for awhile he wants to watch an anime with me (he’s never watched any before). I’ve been debating what anime to show to him, and then this Press Release came in and brought Captain Tsubasa back to the top of my mind. It’s older and has “bad” art compared to many newer anime, but I think it might be the perfect anime for my soccer loving boyfriend.  And I think I would enjoy the slice of life elements of the series as well. Maybe I’ll even get him to download the new game and play it with me when it comes out next month.

Anyways be sure to check out the Press Release below from KLab Inc, and pre-register to play Captain Tsubasa Dream Team to take advantage of all of the special events going on right now!

Pre-Kickoff Campaign for Global Version of “Captain Tsubasa: Dream Team” Starts Today!

Global Version Planned for Release in December 2017

KLab Inc.

(TSE1: 3656)

Tokyo, Japan – November 20, 2017 – KLab Inc., a leader in online mobile games, announced that pre-registration for the global version of Captain Tsubasa: Dream Team officially kicked off on Monday, November 20 (UTC+9). This head-to-head football simulation game based on the world-famous Captain Tsubasa series is planned for global release in over 135 countries and regions around the world. In addition to the Japanese version released in June 2017, the global release will be localized into six languages—English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Traditional Chinese.

The global version of the game is planned for release in December 2017.

The Pre-Kickoff Campaign began earlier today with pre-registration for the upcoming release currently available on the official Twitter and Facebook accounts. Players are encouraged to follow either (or both!) to receive the latest updates on the upcoming title and stay one step ahead of the game. More details can be found on the official website, which opened earlier today in all six languages available in the global version of the game.

About Captain Tsubasa: Dream Team

Captain Tsubasa: Dream Team is a head-to-head football simulation game based on the classic football manga series enjoyed the world over, Captain Tsubasa. Players are given the opportunity to train football legends Tsubasa, Misaki, Hyuga and all the fan favorites from the series to build their own dream team. Players then hit the pitch with their custom teams to battle it out for football supremacy against the A.I., or go head-to-head with friends or other players from around the world in online matches.

Since its June 13 release earlier this year, the Japanese version of the game has already reached over 4 million downloads* in the domestic market, finding success among football enthusiasts and Captain Tsubasa fans alike. The global release of the game marks a new era in the game’s history, as Tsubasa and friends take center stage on the worldwide mobile playing field. * Total includes players who have downloaded the game more than once.  http://youtu.be/7ka2T9juKOI

Pre-Kickoff Campaign

The Pre-Kickoff event series includes the pre-registration campaign, a generous giveaway of in-game items, giveaway campaigns featuring Captain Tsubasa: Dream Team merchandise and original illustrations signed by the creator of Captain Tsubasa himself, Yoichi Takahashi. The campaign also features a special video message from the author.

Start of Pre-Registration

Monday, November 20, 2017 (UTC+9)

How to Pre-Register for the Game

To pre-register for Captain Tsubasa: Dream Team, players are simply asked to follow the official Twitter or Facebook account. The pre-registration event is currently being held in all 135+ countries and regions the global version of the game is planned for release in.

More information about the event series can be found on the game’s official website and social media accounts.

Pre-Registration Bonus

Event Period: Starts on Monday, November 20 (UTC+9)

Every player who logs in to the game will receive the SSR Tsubasa Ozora The Ball is My Best Friend as a free gift. In addition to this SSR character gift, players will also receive 25 Dreamballs,* used as currency inside the game. Both gifts will be awarded to players when the game is released.

 * Dreamballs are a type of in-game currency used in Captain Tsubasa: Dream Team to acquire new characters, unlock new content, and more.

 Captain Tsubasa Giveaway Extravaganza

KLab has partnered with Yoichi Takahashi, the creator of Captain Tsubasa, to give fans of the series all over the globe a chance to win exclusive signed and illustrated prizes!

Win Captain Tsubasa Merch!

Event Period: Monday, November 20 to Thursday, November 30 (UTC+9)

Follow the official Captain Tsubasa: Dream Team Twitter account and retweet the designated post for a chance to become one of six grand prize winners to receive an original illustration signed by Yoichi Takahashi. The contest also gives participants a chance to win one of ten Captain Tsubasa: Dream Team t-shirts!

Kickoff Message from the Creator of Captain Tsubasa

Yoichi Takahashi, the creator of the Captain Tsubasa series, contributed an exclusive video message, expressing his excitement for the upcoming release of the global version of the game and his support for the fan community worldwide.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4HSlwko-ds

  Please see the official website and other social media accounts for additional information on the Pre-Kickoff Campaign event series.

Features of Captain Tsubasa: Dream Team

Online Head-to-Head Football Matches

Play online against friends and rivals! Train football legend Tsubasa Ozora and other characters from the series to create the perfect dream team, then go head-to-head with players worldwide.

Stunning Special Moves

Watch Drive Shots, Tiger Shots, and more special moves from the Tsubasa series comes to life in stunning, beautifully rendered cut scenes! Feel the energy in the stadium and the smell of the pitch as your favorite characters’ special moves come to life before your eyes.

In-Depth Storylines

Play the game in story mode to experience all the greatest scenes from the original Captain Tsubasa storyline and more. Play against memorable opponents from the series and watch the story come alive!

About Captain Tsubasa

Created by Yoichi Takahashi, Captain Tsubasa is a Japanese manga that centers on the sport of football. Since premiering in Shueisha’s landmark comic anthology Weekly Shonen Jump in 1981, the series has grown into a legend that has inspired and delighted countless football fans around the world for decades.

Even after the end of the initial serialization, the story has continued to evolve with new works highlighting the growth and development of main character Tsubasa Ozora. The series’ popularity continues to thrive, with Captain Tsubasa Rising Sun currently appearing in Shueisha’s manga anthology, Grand Jump.

The series has sold over 70 million volumes in Japan alone. Captain Tsubasa’s popularity extends beyond borders, having been translated and published around the world in 10 languages, finding fans and winning the hearts of football lovers around the globe.

Overview of Captain T­subasa: Dream Team

Title:                                        Captain Tsubasa: Dream Team

Supported OSes:                     Android™ 4.4+, iOS 8.0+

* Not available on some devices.

Genre:                                      Head-to-head football simulation game

Price:                                       Free-to-play (In-app purchases available)

Supported Regions:                 Global (Excludes Japan, Mainland China, and South Korea)

Supported Languages:            English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Traditional Chinese

Official Website:                      https://www.tsubasa-dreamteam.com/en

Official Twitter Account:         @tsubasaDT_en

Official Facebook Page:           https://www.facebook.com/tsubasaDTen

Official YouTube Channel:       https://www.tsubasa-dreamteam.com/en

Copyright:                               ©Yoichi Takahashi/SHUEISHA

©Yoichi Takahashi/SHUEISHA/TV TOKYO/ENOKIFILM © KLabGames

Apple and the Apple logo are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. App Store is a service mark of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Android, Google Play, and the Google Play logo are registered trademarks of Google Inc. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Pre-Registration Begins for English Version of Captain Tsubasa Dream Team Anime Soccer Game was originally published on GeekySweetie.com - Geeky & Kawaii Anime, Tech, Toys, & Game Reviews & News

[succeedly]

5 Fab Ways to Animate Your EduLife!

This article was published in NEA Today Magazine - pages 18-20 - and also posted on the NEA Today Website  5 Fab Ways to Animate Your EduLife!   

Begin Bitmoji

Savvy Signage

Fresh Feedback

Social Sharing

Cool Communication

Have you fallen in love with Bitmoji yet? This fun FREE app has been around for a few years and now can be easily used to transform and animate your professional life and classroom. For those new to this app,  Bitmoji is an emoji or avatar that you can customize to look just like you (or in my case a younger skinnier version of me!) which is then automatically inserted into all kinds of colorful cartoons. You can use Bitmoji stickers as your Twitter avatar, on Snapchat stories, within Seesaw and Google Apps for Education, rubrics, within Gmail, on your blog, or for classroom or library signage.  It’s also a fun way to add spice to you texting life with friends and family -- and there are at least four fab ways you can animate your edulife and use in the classroom!   I'm hooked! DISCLAIMER & BACKSTORY: There are other avatar creators out there, I have blog posts, articles, and resource web pages that go over more than 15 of them - but Bitmoji is FREE and is, by far, the easiest one to start with. I also have to assure you, I don’t work for them, this is not sponsored or a “paid advertisement,” nor do they even acknowledge my positive Tweets or social media love, though I wouldn’t be mad at them if they sent me a T-Shirt!      I used Bitstrips back in the day, and Bitmoji was created by them. A couple years ago one of my amazing MHMS Social Studies teachers, Ms. Daniller had her Bitmoji as her Twitter profile pic and I was all like "OMGosh, where did you get that!?".....she graciously shared, and well, now

1- Begin Bitmoji   With Bitmoji you can create your face, hairstyle, shape, and then dress it up, & BOOM! They're automatically put into fun cartoon stickers that are an alternate emoji keyboard on your cell phone, Chrome extension, Snapchat, and more! Even my 70 something year old Mom and Dad have them, and we use them with each other all the time. It's hilarious and a blast!  Though I gotta warn you, they’re a bit addictive!  Sweet Setup: 

Get the FREE App by searching for Bitmoji - available in iOS iPhone and Android. Download, open the app, start designing your avatar.  Don’t worry, you can easily and always change it later.   First you need to choose a cartoon style: either the more anime or squished Bitmoji style or the regular cartoony Bitstrips style. You can play around with skin tones, eye colors, eyebrows, hair color and style,  body shapes and even outfit styles. Keep choosing and testing until your digital doppelganger looks just like you. Once you finish, Bitmoji will automatically create an entire library of fun — and just a tad bit silly — images. Like this one of me:   Add the Keyboard & Give Full Access To use these Bitmjoji's you have to add them as an additional keyboard on your phone. For an iPhone go to General Settings > Keyboards > Add new keyboard and make sure you select ALLOW FULL ACCESS, this way you can use them on your iPad's, too.  For Android, Wikihow says:  “Enabling the Bitmoji Keyboard. Open your Android's Settings. It's the gray gear icon in the app drawer. Scroll down and tap Language and Input. It's in the

“Personal” section. Tap Current Keyboard. Tap Choose Keyboards. Slide the “Bitmoji Keyboard” switch to the On position. Tap OK.”    While you’re texting, there are 6 categories of Bitmoji's, you select them by just touching, copying, and pasting into the text message box.  To take them from the app and to send them into your computer, you can save them to your Camera Roll, upload to Flickr, email them to yourself, or the easiest way is to insert it into a Google Doc then take a screenshot, that way you can easily edit them in Photoshop or FREE with PicMonkey. Learn how to do that here Like Bitmoji? There's an Extension for That! 

2 - Savvy Signage   Once you have your Bitmoji on your computer you can make signage for your classroom or library. Think of Back to School Night signs and a classroom door welcome sign with your room number and name, or a “Place Homework Here” sign, the possibilities are endless.  I created the sign here by adding the text using PicMonkey, a FREE site with creative tools for photo editing and graphic design.  

Classroom do’s and don’ts signs can be so boring, Bitmoji’s really jazz them up! My friend Andrew Tyler aka @atylerlibrarian in New Hampshire, created really a neat Computer Lab sign featuring Bitmoji’s for his school!   (Picture found here in many sizes)   Andrew also shared on Twitter how he created a fantastic photo booth sign for his Middle School Library for Grandparents Day!

3- Fresh Feedback 

Bitmoji is now available as a Chrome extension that puts your cartoon avatar stickers super handy on your browser toolbar to use within Google Apps for Education, Gmail, Seesaw, and a growing list of other platforms. Getting feedback from teachers, in cartoon form, makes that feedback fun and much more personal.  Super educator, speaker, blogger, and author Alice Keeler, says about Bitmoji’s:  “When using digital tools try to put yourself into them to help students feel there is a teacher guiding them through the lesson. Bitmoji’s are great for adding “you” along with some personality into digital resources. Google Forms are awesome for flipped learning, formative assessment, checks for understanding, and so much more. Bitmoji AND Google Forms… the awesomeness meter here might explode.”  For step by step directions, search for her blog post titled: Bitmoji Feedback in My Google Doc 

Mr. Parkinson aka @ICT_MrP, a Primary ICT teacher in Britain, uses Bitmoji stickers in a rubric for writing prompts. What a great way to give kids a visual feedback for their assignments. Anything we can do to make Rubrics more approachable and useful the better!

  4 - Social Sharing 

Bitmoji avatars are super for sharing on social media. Whether it’s as your Twitter profile picture, on a blog, in Snapchat stories, or on Instagram - these cartoons really bring personality to any platform.  One of the coolest ideas I’ve heard lately was from Tara M. Martin aka @TaraMartinEDU called #BookSnaps. Tara shares how she takes a picture of a section of text, uploads it to Snapchat, adds a filter, re-types the quote from the book, draws arrows, writes words, and then brings in a Bitmoji to add more zip.   This is a cool way for the reader to express their connections to text with a digital visual representation. Search #BookSnaps for articles, directions, blog posts, and videos on how to join in on the fun.   But since I don't want to "friend" my kiddos on Snapchat (because, boundaries and I teach Middle School) I could see how you can do this same thing can be done using Instagram. You could also create these with Google Docs! 

5- Cool Communication  Leveraging the power of the FREE Chrome extension puts your Bitmoji right in your browser toolbar for easy use with Gmail and Drive. Linda Lindsay aka @mauilibrarian2, a super Teacher-Librarian in Hawaii says: “If I had my druthers, I would use my Bitmoji all the time! So I have to restrain myself. My favorite use is in Gmail (Chrome extension) to punctuate my ideas and responses to make my colleagues laugh. They're always pleased, and it makes me so happy imagining the looks on their faces.”  Our wonderful school data clerk Kimberly Walley (who has since moved schools - miss her!  She the one saved teachers when our Synergy electronic gradebook went wonky or changes - she used it to transform a possibly boring newsletter to bright when directions or updates are shared with the school staff. See her graphic above!  Caution: For Grownups Only!  I have to warn you that Bitmoji’s are to use FOR kiddos and not to use WITH the kiddos.   This is because some of the stickers or cartoons have to do with drinking alcohol, some have trendy bad-ish language (FML), and some are sorta flirty. Not R rated, maybe not even PG-13, but just not for kiddos in my humble opinion. Since I teach Middle Schoolers, this is right-out. Sure, some of my kiddos might have their own Bitmoji, but I’m not going to be the teacher to promote their direct use.  This is for your professional classroom branding and fun.   

Why Bitmoji?   Emojis have become necessary in recent years because they fill a gap people didn't even know they had. When texting, they add feeling to conversations and allow you to tell if someone is being sarcastic or sweet. Bimoji’s give those conversations identity and personality. Maximizing that super power of a customized and engaging cartoon and using it in your professional practice brings it to the next level.  Give it a whirl, and discover more ways to use them in your classroom! I’d love to see your Bitmoji, share and Tweet them to me @GwynethJones so our cartoons can be friends! Resources: If you’re reading this on paper, Google the title to find online & enjoy! Gmail Just Got Zanier, Thanks To Bitmoji | HuffPost Using Bitmoji In Your Classroom - BISD Learning Technologies Bitmoji Feedback in My Google Doc By Alice Keeler Why and how I Bitmoji in my classroom? - Sahar @MyMathscape #BookSnaps by Tara M Martin It's a Cartoon, It's An Avatar, It's a New Animated YOU! Got Bitmoji? - The Daring Librarian A Super List of 15+ Avatar Generators & Creators by The Daring Librarian The Daring Librarian Bitmoji Flickr Gallery 5 Fab Ways to Animate Your EduLife! published first on http://ift.tt/2jn9f0m

[madpicks]

New Post has been published on https://www.madpicks.com/culture/tv/guide-promising-ridiculous-pilots-fall-2017-season/

A Guide To The Most Promising (And Ridiculous) Pilots For The Fall 2017 Season

There’s entirely too much television, and come this fall, there’s going to be even more. That��s when approximately 70 pilots hit the Big Four networks — ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC — and The CW, because your DVR isn’t already struggling enough. We haven’t actually seen any of the new series, but the plot descriptions and casts have been released, giving us an opportunity to make premature evaluations on our future favorite show. Using this guide, we highlighted five of the most promising-sounding pilots, and five of the most ridiculous. That’s not the same thing as “worst,” mind you. Is a drama about a “superstar magician” going to be any good? Probably not, but we can’t wait to watch it.

The Potentially Great

1. A.P. Bio (NBC)

A hilariously cynical Ivy League professor (Glenn Howerton) loses out on his dream job and goes to work as a high school biology teacher where he imposes his unorthodox teaching style and uses the kids to plot out revenge on those who wronged him.

Following the It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia season 12 finale, Howerton told us that it’s “not entirely certain” whether he’s leaving the show or not. “I might be, but I might not be,” he confessed. “That really is the truth.” His availability largely depends on the success of A.P. Bio, which stars not only the Sunny co-developer in his first lead role in a network sitcom since That ’80s Show, but Patton Oswalt, who plays Principal Durbin, “a timid, petite, nervous mouse of a man.” The pilot was written by SNL‘s Mike O’Brien, and Seth Meyers is attached as an executive producer. It would be a huge surprise if A.P. Bio failed. We’ll have to wait to find out what that means for Sunny.

2. Ghosted (FOX)

A cynical skeptic (Craig Robinson) and a genius “true believer” in the paranormal (Adam Scott) are recruited by The Bureau Underground to look into the rampant “unexplained” activity in Los Angeles — all while uncovering a larger mystery that could threaten the existence of the human race.

This description reads kind of like a comedy version of The X-Files but with Adam Scott as David Duchovny and Craig Robinson as Gillian Anderson. I hope that was the entire pitch, now that I think about it.

“So you know The X-Files?”

“Yeah…”

“Well this is like that, but with Adam Scott from Parks and Rec as Mulder and Craig Robinson from The Office as Scully.”

“… as Scully?”

“Basically, yeah. And funny.”

“Okay, yeah. That’ll work.”

3. Household Name (ABC)

This multi-camera comedy follows a family who has an opportunity to buy the house of their dreams but under extremely abnormal circumstances: They must live with the previous owner, an eccentric, larger-than-life actress (Carol Burnett).

Multi-camera comedies have gotten a bad name in last 8-10 years as single-camera shows have seen their stars rise (Veep, Parks and Recreation, 30 Rock, etc. etc. etc.), but this one falls into the promising category for two reasons: Carol Burnett and Amy Poehler. Poehler is producing only, which is both good (she’s also a producer on Broad City, so there’s a track record here) and bad (whhhyyyy can’t I have a show where Carol Burnett plays Amy Poehler’s mom, preferable written by Mike Schur and Tina Fey and co-starring The Rock as their neighbor?). But still, just those two names make this one interesting.

4. Libby & Malcolm (ABC)

A blended family comedy about two polar-opposite political pundits (Felicity Huffman and Courtney B. Vance) who fall in love despite all odds and form an insta-family as well as a work partnership.

ABC has high hopes for Libby & Malcolm: it was the first official order of the pilot season. The network is probably right to be optimistic. The timely comedy stars American Crime‘s Felicity Huffman and American Crime Story‘s Courtney B. Vance, who won the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for his convincing performance as Johnnie Cochran, and comes from black-ish creator Kenya Barris. That’s a lot of crime, and even more talent.

5. Me, Myself, & I (CBS)

A single-camera comedy examining one man’s life over a 50-year span. The show will focus on three distinct periods in his life – as a 14-year-old in 1991, a 40-year-old (Bobby Moynihan) in the present day, and a 65-year-old (John Larroquette) in 2042.

This show had me at “Bobby Moynihan and John Larroquette playing different versions of the same character.” Also, please note the name “Jaleel White” six-deep in the cast list. Will it be any good? I have no idea. Could it all go to crap before even making it to the air? Of course. But am I intrigued? Very.

The Definitely Goofy

1. Deception (ABC)

When his career is ruined by scandal, superstar magician Cameron Black (Jack Cutmore-Scott) has only one place to turn to practice his art of deception, illusion, and influence — the FBI. He’ll become the world’s first consulting illusionist, helping the government solve crimes that defy explanation and trap criminals by using deception.

If there’s one thing I have always said about network television, it’s that there are not nearly enough shows about disgraced magicians working with the FBI. Sure, The Mentalist is kind of that. And Psych was sort of that, almost. But that’s not the point. The point is that this is happening and the blurb contains the phrase “the world’s first consulting illusionist,” which makes me so happy I might just explode right here in my seat. I hope a disgraced magician investigates my death. No, I demand it. Now that I know it’s an option, I can’t accept anything else.

The only downside here, and it is a small one, is that I joked about this blurb on Twitter and someone replied with a “You’re off the case, turn in your badge and wand joke,” and I was immediately furious I didn’t think of it first.

2. The Get (CBS)

A team of tireless internet journalists pursues and exposes stories of injustice using their unconventional investigative techniques in today’s anything-goes world of reporting.

The first thing I, an internet journalist, do when I wake up in the morning is go to the bathroom. Then I have a quick breakfast, maybe some healthy oatmeal or Pop-Tarts (it’s Pop-Tarts), while I scroll through Twitter, Facebook, CNN, Reddit, the Hollywood Reporter, etc. When I find something that piques my interest, I write about it. Before I know it, it’s three in the afternoon, I haven’t left the bed (except to go to the bathroom again and maybe eat some leftover pizza for lunch), and I’m still wearing the same pair of nasty gym shorts that I fell asleep in. I hope that’s what The Get is about. Anything goes!

3. Insatiable (The CW)

When a disgraced, dissatisfied civil lawyer-turned-beauty pageant coach (Dallas Roberts) takes on a vengeful, bullied teenager as his client, he has no idea what he’s about to unleash upon the world.

Look, anyone can be anything. Are you an airline pilot who wants to serve fast food burgers? You can do it! Are you a janitor at a fancy Boston college who thinks you’re meant to be a rocket scientist, or whatever happens to Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting? Why not! Insatiable takes this idea to the extreme. As far as premises go, “civil lawyer-turned-beauty pageant coach” is a thing of beauty. It’s like the creator couldn’t settle on the professions, so she randomly flipped through the phonebook and landed on “civil lawyer” and “beauty pageant coach.” (I don’t care if it’s “inspired” by a real-life story — it’s still hilarious.) If Insatiable doesn’t work, everyone can try again next year on Unquenchable, about a marine biologist-turned-monster truck driver.

4. Wisdom of the Crowd (CBS)

Based on the Israeli format of the same name, and inspired by the notion that a million minds are better than one, a tech innovator (Jeremy Piven) creates a cutting-edge crowdsourcing hub to solve his own daughter’s murder, as well as revolutionizing crime solving in San Francisco.

Jeremy Piven plays a billionaire who is solving his daughter’s murder with science. I freaking love it. I can see him now, butting heads with the old school cops who wants to solve crime the old fashioned way, hitting the streets and working sources and such. “

PIVEN: Umm, actually, my app has already triangulated the killer’s location.

OLD SCHOOL COP: What’s this guy talkin’ about?

PIVEN: [Jeremy Piven face]

5. Young Sheldon (CBS)

The series follows The Big Bang Theory’s Sheldon Cooper (Iain Armitage) at the age of 9, living with his family in East Texas and going to high school.

The Big Bang Theory is a very popular show. The actors have been nominated for a million Emmys (and made millions of dollars), and despite being 10 seasons in, 19 million people regularly tune in to see what sort of wacky misadventures Howard and Rajesh are getting into this week. That’s a lot of millions. I get why CBS executives want to keep the Big Bang train a-rollin’ — especially with the stars getting increasingly expensive — but to paraphrase Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park, they were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should. They shouldn’t, but they did, and now something called Young Sheldon will probably bring in five times as many viewers as The Good Place. Maybe we’re living in the Bad Place?

The Potentially Great and Definitely Goofy

1. Untitled Marc Cherry Project (ABC)

Ruby Adair (Reba McEntire), the sheriff of colorful small town Oxblood, KY, finds her red state outlook challenged when a young FBI agent of Middle Eastern descent is sent to help her solve a horrific act. They form an uneasy alliance as Ruby takes the agent behind the lace curtains of this Southern Gothic community to meet an assortment of bizarre characters, each with a secret of their own.

I’m not sure exactly how this will play out but all I can picture right now is the first season of True Detective but with Reba McEntire as Rust Cohle. It’s all you can picture now, too, I bet. You’re very welcome.

The One Show Each Writer Cares Way Too Much About

Brian: Dynasty

I’m interested in Dynasty for two reasons:

One, it’s produced by Josh Schwartz, who created The O.C. and has solid history when it comes to fun dramas about rich families with problems.

Two, the last time someone tried to reboot a popular ’80s show about a troubled wealthy family, it was TNT’s version of Dallas, which gave us the single greatest GIF in TV history: Judith Light snorting cocaine at a rodeo.

TNT

Josh: Every “Untitled” series

Did I watch a single episode of AMC’s Untitled Billy Corgan Wrestling Project?

Nope.

Do I know if Untitled Billy Corgan Wrestling Project even made it to air?

No clue.

But three years later, am I still obsessed with Untitled Billy Corgan Wrestling Project?

Of course. Because it’s called Untitled Billy Corgan Wrestling Project!

I’m actually fascinated by all Untitled [Name or Collection of Words] Projects, and this fall has some gems. There’s the aforementioned Untitled Marc Cherry Project, as well as Untitled Paul William Davies Project, Untitled Single Dad Project, Untitled Jenny Lumet Project, Untitled Navy SEAL Project, Untitled Marvel Action-Adventure Series, and Untitled University Project. Do I plan on watching any of these shows? Other than the Marc Cherry one and maybe whatever Marvel is brewing, of course not. But would I check out Untitled Single Dad Project if it stayed with that title, and not switch to something generic, like Bad Dad? You bet. Also, #BringBackUntitledBillyCorganWrestlingProject.