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snowy-vee · 10 months ago

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ALL MINE Pt.1 (E.W ff)

oblivious loser bsf! ellie williams x posesive popular bsf!fem reader

n/a: English is not my first language, any misspelling will be corrected later on, also, please feel free to leave a comment and rb!!

Pt.2 Here

Inform yourself about what's happening and how to help! FREE PALESTINE, FREE CONGO.

“Bye, girls!” you waved to the cheer team before getting into Ellie’s car, greeting her with a small ‘hi’ and a kiss on her cheek. “Why weren’t you at cheer practice? I missed you looking at me from the bleachers like a little stalker,” you giggle, grabbing her phone to put music to your liking.

“I don’t look like a stalker... Do I? I don't,” she said quietly, and you laughed again. “Anyway, I was doing a project, and I didn’t notice how late it was until you called me to pick you up.”

She started the car and began to drive home. You were both roommates in an off-campus flat, and since Ellie was the only one with a licence, it was common for her to drive you everywhere and pick you up.

You kept looking for a good playlist while ‘Too Fast’ by Sonder was playing when a notification came in. You blinked twice, thinking you might have seen something wrong, but the message from Dina saying she had a good time was still there.

“Dina was your partner for the project?”

“Yes, why? She is very nice; I wonder why I’ve never spoken to her; she’s got a good vibe.”

“Yeah, but isn’t she kind of a loser? I mean, the only interesting thing about her is that she dated Jesse.” You scoffed. The ugly look she gave you after that was enough to make you stop laughing. “I don’t mean it in a bad way! Just saying that you might not want to hang out with her that much.”

“I am a loser too; shouldn’t I be hanging out with my kind of people?”

“You’re not a loser! You just have different interests than the rest of our friends—"

“Your friends"

"My friends, whatever, you hang out with me; that gives you some status and makes you not a total loser but a partial one.”

Ellie rolled her eyes as she parked the car, grabbed her backpack from the back seat, and got out without opening your door, as she usually does. You opened your mouth a little offended and got out too.

“Els! Come on, don’t get angry. I’ll cook dinner, yeah?” You tried to apologise, but she had already locked herself in her room. You snorted, throwing your bag on your bed and then throwing yourself off too.

You and Ellie had been best friends since middle school. You came in as the new girl and soon caught the attention of many, but Ellie was the only one who made you feel comfortable in every way. You were always together and inseparable until high school, when you decided to become a cheerleader, and that’s when the distinction between you and Ellie began.

Although you tried to make time for her or integrate her into the “Populars” group, it didn’t work out, and it was obvious that it made both parties uncomfortable, so the only times you shared space together were at parties or break time. Ellie had friends, not counting the online ones, but for her, they were more like classmates, so she barely spent time with them.

It doesn’t matter; you were going to sleep and apologise in the morning—that is, until, coming out of the bathroom after taking a good shower and changing into your pyjamas, you heard giggles and voices from Ellie’s room.

Was she laughing with Dina? How was it possible that they were already at the level of making video calls? Was there something else she wasn’t telling you? No, you were best friends; you told each other everything.

“Els, I’m going to make instant ramen; do you want the chicken one or?” You opened the door without knocking first to confirm your suspicions, and yes, it was Dina on the other side of the phone. You could see her face and how her smile slowly faded. “Oh, hi, Dina.”

"Hi,” she said softly. “Well, I’m going to have dinner too; talk to you later, Ellie.”

“Yeah, okay, bye, Dina." Ellie smiled, hanging up. She woke up from her bed and nodded in your direction. “I want chicken ramen; I’ll go shower real quick.”

She was still annoyed with you; you could feel it, so that meant you had to apologise tonight.

Your cooking skills were not the best; it was strange that you touched the stove burners, mostly because Ellie did. Talking about the Queen of Rome, there she was standing in her black pyjama pants and sports bra. She was drying her short hair as she watched you cook.

"Can I help you with something?" She asked, but you refused. You were almost done; you just needed to put the food on the plates. You left the dishes on the table in the living room. "Actually, I was planning to eat in my room today."

"Ellie, please... I'm sorry, I shouldn't talk like that about your friends." You started apologising by grabbing her hand and leading her to the couch. "Forgive me, yes? I hate that we're upset about something so small."

"Ugh, I hate that I can't be mad at you for too long." You squealed with excitement, and before you knew it, you both had finished eating and were now sharing a blanket on the couch while watching a movie. Your head was resting on her shoulder, and although it was a comfortable position, it got on your nerves that Ellie was on her phone, sending messages and giggling from time to time. It was driving you crazy.

You cleared your throat as you got off the couch. "I'm going to sleep; tomorrow will be a busy day," you said.

"But the movie isn't over yet," Ellie protested, looking at you with those beautiful eyes of hers. For a moment, you were about to stay, but Ding! Another notification caused her to divert your attention to her phone again.

"No, I don't want dark circles under my eyes."

"Wait, one thing..."

"What?"

"Tomorrow, where was that party?" you frowned at her question, confused that she's asking about a party.

"Uh... at the same frat house where we went for the Halloween party, why?"

"Yes, but can you send me the address?"

"Yes, but why? You said you didn't want to come, remember?"

"I know, but you're going to drag me anyway, and Dina said she wanted to come, so I won't be alone."

"You're never alone; I'm with you," you replied. Ellie raised an eyebrow as she looked at you. "Most of the time, I'm with you, Ellie!"

"I know! I appreciate it, but... I think I want to get to know Dina more, if you know what I mean." Her cheeks began to redden, and she had a shy smile as she looked at her phone. That made your stomach churn.

You nodded and couldn't help but let out an incredulous chuckle that went unnoticed by her. "I'll send you the location tomorrow, Els."

"Great, you're the best; I love you."

"Me too, get a good night's rest," you said, walking down the hallway to your room. You looked once more at Ellie before entering, still hooked on her phone. You definitely had to get rid of Dina.

You didn't have a problem with sharing other things, but Ellie? No way; she was yours, all yours.

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mostlysignssomeportents · 7 months ago

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AI “art” and uncanniness

TOMORROW (May 14), I'm on a livecast about AI AND ENSHITTIFICATION with TIM O'REILLY; on TOMORROW (May 15), I'm in NORTH HOLLYWOOD for a screening of STEPHANIE KELTON'S FINDING THE MONEY; FRIDAY (May 17), I'm at the INTERNET ARCHIVE in SAN FRANCISCO to keynote the 10th anniversary of the AUTHORS ALLIANCE.

When it comes to AI art (or "art"), it's hard to find a nuanced position that respects creative workers' labor rights, free expression, copyright law's vital exceptions and limitations, and aesthetics.

I am, on balance, opposed to AI art, but there are some important caveats to that position. For starters, I think it's unequivocally wrong – as a matter of law – to say that scraping works and training a model with them infringes copyright. This isn't a moral position (I'll get to that in a second), but rather a technical one.

Break down the steps of training a model and it quickly becomes apparent why it's technically wrong to call this a copyright infringement. First, the act of making transient copies of works – even billions of works – is unequivocally fair use. Unless you think search engines and the Internet Archive shouldn't exist, then you should support scraping at scale:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/17/how-to-think-about-scraping/

And unless you think that Facebook should be allowed to use the law to block projects like Ad Observer, which gathers samples of paid political disinformation, then you should support scraping at scale, even when the site being scraped objects (at least sometimes):

https://pluralistic.net/2021/08/06/get-you-coming-and-going/#potemkin-research-program

After making transient copies of lots of works, the next step in AI training is to subject them to mathematical analysis. Again, this isn't a copyright violation.

Making quantitative observations about works is a longstanding, respected and important tool for criticism, analysis, archiving and new acts of creation. Measuring the steady contraction of the vocabulary in successive Agatha Christie novels turns out to offer a fascinating window into her dementia:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/apr/03/agatha-christie-alzheimers-research

Programmatic analysis of scraped online speech is also critical to the burgeoning formal analyses of the language spoken by minorities, producing a vibrant account of the rigorous grammar of dialects that have long been dismissed as "slang":

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/373950278_Lexicogrammatical_Analysis_on_African-American_Vernacular_English_Spoken_by_African-Amecian_You-Tubers

Since 1988, UCL Survey of English Language has maintained its "International Corpus of English," and scholars have plumbed its depth to draw important conclusions about the wide variety of Englishes spoken around the world, especially in postcolonial English-speaking countries:

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/english-usage/projects/ice.htm

The final step in training a model is publishing the conclusions of the quantitative analysis of the temporarily copied documents as software code. Code itself is a form of expressive speech – and that expressivity is key to the fight for privacy, because the fact that code is speech limits how governments can censor software:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/04/remembering-case-established-code-speech/

Are models infringing? Well, they certainly can be. In some cases, it's clear that models "memorized" some of the data in their training set, making the fair use, transient copy into an infringing, permanent one. That's generally considered to be the result of a programming error, and it could certainly be prevented (say, by comparing the model to the training data and removing any memorizations that appear).

Not every seeming act of memorization is a memorization, though. While specific models vary widely, the amount of data from each training item retained by the model is very small. For example, Midjourney retains about one byte of information from each image in its training data. If we're talking about a typical low-resolution web image of say, 300kb, that would be one three-hundred-thousandth (0.0000033%) of the original image.

Typically in copyright discussions, when one work contains 0.0000033% of another work, we don't even raise the question of fair use. Rather, we dismiss the use as de minimis (short for de minimis non curat lex or "The law does not concern itself with trifles"):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_minimis

Busting someone who takes 0.0000033% of your work for copyright infringement is like swearing out a trespassing complaint against someone because the edge of their shoe touched one blade of grass on your lawn.

But some works or elements of work appear many times online. For example, the Getty Images watermark appears on millions of similar images of people standing on red carpets and runways, so a model that takes even in infinitesimal sample of each one of those works might still end up being able to produce a whole, recognizable Getty Images watermark.

The same is true for wire-service articles or other widely syndicated texts: there might be dozens or even hundreds of copies of these works in training data, resulting in the memorization of long passages from them.

This might be infringing (we're getting into some gnarly, unprecedented territory here), but again, even if it is, it wouldn't be a big hardship for model makers to post-process their models by comparing them to the training set, deleting any inadvertent memorizations. Even if the resulting model had zero memorizations, this would do nothing to alleviate the (legitimate) concerns of creative workers about the creation and use of these models.

So here's the first nuance in the AI art debate: as a technical matter, training a model isn't a copyright infringement. Creative workers who hope that they can use copyright law to prevent AI from changing the creative labor market are likely to be very disappointed in court:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/sarah-silverman-lawsuit-ai-meta-1235669403/

But copyright law isn't a fixed, eternal entity. We write new copyright laws all the time. If current copyright law doesn't prevent the creation of models, what about a future copyright law?

Well, sure, that's a possibility. The first thing to consider is the possible collateral damage of such a law. The legal space for scraping enables a wide range of scholarly, archival, organizational and critical purposes. We'd have to be very careful not to inadvertently ban, say, the scraping of a politician's campaign website, lest we enable liars to run for office and renege on their promises, while they insist that they never made those promises in the first place. We wouldn't want to abolish search engines, or stop creators from scraping their own work off sites that are going away or changing their terms of service.

Now, onto quantitative analysis: counting words and measuring pixels are not activities that you should need permission to perform, with or without a computer, even if the person whose words or pixels you're counting doesn't want you to. You should be able to look as hard as you want at the pixels in Kate Middleton's family photos, or track the rise and fall of the Oxford comma, and you shouldn't need anyone's permission to do so.

Finally, there's publishing the model. There are plenty of published mathematical analyses of large corpuses that are useful and unobjectionable. I love me a good Google n-gram:

https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=fantods%2C+heebie-jeebies&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=en-2019&smoothing=3

And large language models fill all kinds of important niches, like the Human Rights Data Analysis Group's LLM-based work helping the Innocence Project New Orleans' extract data from wrongful conviction case files:

https://hrdag.org/tech-notes/large-language-models-IPNO.html

So that's nuance number two: if we decide to make a new copyright law, we'll need to be very sure that we don't accidentally crush these beneficial activities that don't undermine artistic labor markets.

This brings me to the most important point: passing a new copyright law that requires permission to train an AI won't help creative workers get paid or protect our jobs.

Getty Images pays photographers the least it can get away with. Publishers contracts have transformed by inches into miles-long, ghastly rights grabs that take everything from writers, but still shifts legal risks onto them:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/06/19/reasonable-agreement/

Publishers like the New York Times bitterly oppose their writers' unions:

https://actionnetwork.org/letters/new-york-times-stop-union-busting

These large corporations already control the copyrights to gigantic amounts of training data, and they have means, motive and opportunity to license these works for training a model in order to pay us less, and they are engaged in this activity right now:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/22/technology/apple-ai-news-publishers.html

Big games studios are already acting as though there was a copyright in training data, and requiring their voice actors to begin every recording session with words to the effect of, "I hereby grant permission to train an AI with my voice" and if you don't like it, you can hit the bricks:

https://www.vice.com/en/article/5d37za/voice-actors-sign-away-rights-to-artificial-intelligence

If you're a creative worker hoping to pay your bills, it doesn't matter whether your wages are eroded by a model produced without paying your employer for the right to do so, or whether your employer got to double dip by selling your work to an AI company to train a model, and then used that model to fire you or erode your wages:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/09/ai-monkeys-paw/#bullied-schoolkids

Individual creative workers rarely have any bargaining leverage over the corporations that license our copyrights. That's why copyright's 40-year expansion (in duration, scope, statutory damages) has resulted in larger, more profitable entertainment companies, and lower payments – in real terms and as a share of the income generated by their work – for creative workers.

As Rebecca Giblin and I write in our book Chokepoint Capitalism, giving creative workers more rights to bargain with against giant corporations that control access to our audiences is like giving your bullied schoolkid extra lunch money – it's just a roundabout way of transferring that money to the bullies:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/08/21/what-is-chokepoint-capitalism/

There's an historical precedent for this struggle – the fight over music sampling. 40 years ago, it wasn't clear whether sampling required a copyright license, and early hip-hop artists took samples without permission, the way a horn player might drop a couple bars of a well-known song into a solo.

Many artists were rightfully furious over this. The "heritage acts" (the music industry's euphemism for "Black people") who were most sampled had been given very bad deals and had seen very little of the fortunes generated by their creative labor. Many of them were desperately poor, despite having made millions for their labels. When other musicians started making money off that work, they got mad.

In the decades that followed, the system for sampling changed, partly through court cases and partly through the commercial terms set by the Big Three labels: Sony, Warner and Universal, who control 70% of all music recordings. Today, you generally can't sample without signing up to one of the Big Three (they are reluctant to deal with indies), and that means taking their standard deal, which is very bad, and also signs away your right to control your samples.

So a musician who wants to sample has to sign the bad terms offered by a Big Three label, and then hand $500 out of their advance to one of those Big Three labels for the sample license. That $500 typically doesn't go to another artist – it goes to the label, who share it around their executives and investors. This is a system that makes every artist poorer.

But it gets worse. Putting a price on samples changes the kind of music that can be economically viable. If you wanted to clear all the samples on an album like Public Enemy's "It Takes a Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back," or the Beastie Boys' "Paul's Boutique," you'd have to sell every CD for $150, just to break even:

https://memex.craphound.com/2011/07/08/creative-license-how-the-hell-did-sampling-get-so-screwed-up-and-what-the-hell-do-we-do-about-it/

Sampling licenses don't just make every artist financially worse off, they also prevent the creation of music of the sort that millions of people enjoy. But it gets even worse. Some older, sample-heavy music can't be cleared. Most of De La Soul's catalog wasn't available for 15 years, and even though some of their seminal music came back in March 2022, the band's frontman Trugoy the Dove didn't live to see it – he died in February 2022:

https://www.vulture.com/2023/02/de-la-soul-trugoy-the-dove-dead-at-54.html

This is the third nuance: even if we can craft a model-banning copyright system that doesn't catch a lot of dolphins in its tuna net, it could still make artists poorer off.

Back when sampling started, it wasn't clear whether it would ever be considered artistically important. Early sampling was crude and experimental. Musicians who trained for years to master an instrument were dismissive of the idea that clicking a mouse was "making music." Today, most of us don't question the idea that sampling can produce meaningful art – even musicians who believe in licensing samples.

Having lived through that era, I'm prepared to believe that maybe I'll look back on AI "art" and say, "damn, I can't believe I never thought that could be real art."

But I wouldn't give odds on it.

I don't like AI art. I find it anodyne, boring. As Henry Farrell writes, it's uncanny, and not in a good way:

https://www.programmablemutter.com/p/large-language-models-are-uncanny

Farrell likens the work produced by AIs to the movement of a Ouija board's planchette, something that "seems to have a life of its own, even though its motion is a collective side-effect of the motions of the people whose fingers lightly rest on top of it." This is "spooky-action-at-a-close-up," transforming "collective inputs … into apparently quite specific outputs that are not the intended creation of any conscious mind."

Look, art is irrational in the sense that it speaks to us at some non-rational, or sub-rational level. Caring about the tribulations of imaginary people or being fascinated by pictures of things that don't exist (or that aren't even recognizable) doesn't make any sense. There's a way in which all art is like an optical illusion for our cognition, an imaginary thing that captures us the way a real thing might.

But art is amazing. Making art and experiencing art makes us feel big, numinous, irreducible emotions. Making art keeps me sane. Experiencing art is a precondition for all the joy in my life. Having spent most of my life as a working artist, I've come to the conclusion that the reason for this is that art transmits an approximation of some big, numinous irreducible emotion from an artist's mind to our own. That's it: that's why art is amazing.

AI doesn't have a mind. It doesn't have an intention. The aesthetic choices made by AI aren't choices, they're averages. As Farrell writes, "LLM art sometimes seems to communicate a message, as art does, but it is unclear where that message comes from, or what it means. If it has any meaning at all, it is a meaning that does not stem from organizing intention" (emphasis mine).

Farrell cites Mark Fisher's The Weird and the Eerie, which defines "weird" in easy to understand terms ("that which does not belong") but really grapples with "eerie."

For Fisher, eeriness is "when there is something present where there should be nothing, or is there is nothing present when there should be something." AI art produces the seeming of intention without intending anything. It appears to be an agent, but it has no agency. It's eerie.

Fisher talks about capitalism as eerie. Capital is "conjured out of nothing" but "exerts more influence than any allegedly substantial entity." The "invisible hand" shapes our lives more than any person. The invisible hand is fucking eerie. Capitalism is a system in which insubstantial non-things – corporations – appear to act with intention, often at odds with the intentions of the human beings carrying out those actions.

So will AI art ever be art? I don't know. There's a long tradition of using random or irrational or impersonal inputs as the starting point for human acts of artistic creativity. Think of divination:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/07/31/divination/

Or Brian Eno's Oblique Strategies:

http://stoney.sb.org/eno/oblique.html

I love making my little collages for this blog, though I wouldn't call them important art. Nevertheless, piecing together bits of other peoples' work can make fantastic, important work of historical note:

https://www.johnheartfield.com/John-Heartfield-Exhibition/john-heartfield-art/famous-anti-fascist-art/heartfield-posters-aiz

Even though painstakingly cutting out tiny elements from others' images can be a meditative and educational experience, I don't think that using tiny scissors or the lasso tool is what defines the "art" in collage. If you can automate some of this process, it could still be art.

Here's what I do know. Creating an individual bargainable copyright over training will not improve the material conditions of artists' lives – all it will do is change the relative shares of the value we create, shifting some of that value from tech companies that hate us and want us to starve to entertainment companies that hate us and want us to starve.

As an artist, I'm foursquare against anything that stands in the way of making art. As an artistic worker, I'm entirely committed to things that help workers get a fair share of the money their work creates, feed their families and pay their rent.

I think today's AI art is bad, and I think tomorrow's AI art will probably be bad, but even if you disagree (with either proposition), I hope you'll agree that we should be focused on making sure art is legal to make and that artists get paid for it.

Just because copyright won't fix the creative labor market, it doesn't follow that nothing will. If we're worried about labor issues, we can look to labor law to improve our conditions. That's what the Hollywood writers did, in their groundbreaking 2023 strike:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/01/how-the-writers-guild-sunk-ais-ship/

Now, the writers had an advantage: they are able to engage in "sectoral bargaining," where a union bargains with all the major employers at once. That's illegal in nearly every other kind of labor market. But if we're willing to entertain the possibility of getting a new copyright law passed (that won't make artists better off), why not the possibility of passing a new labor law (that will)? Sure, our bosses won't lobby alongside of us for more labor protection, the way they would for more copyright (think for a moment about what that says about who benefits from copyright versus labor law expansion).

But all workers benefit from expanded labor protection. Rather than going to Congress alongside our bosses from the studios and labels and publishers to demand more copyright, we could go to Congress alongside every kind of worker, from fast-food cashiers to publishing assistants to truck drivers to demand the right to sectoral bargaining. That's a hell of a coalition.

And if we do want to tinker with copyright to change the way training works, let's look at collective licensing, which can't be bargained away, rather than individual rights that can be confiscated at the entrance to our publisher, label or studio's offices. These collective licenses have been a huge success in protecting creative workers:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/26/united-we-stand/

Then there's copyright's wildest wild card: The US Copyright Office has repeatedly stated that works made by AIs aren't eligible for copyright, which is the exclusive purview of works of human authorship. This has been affirmed by courts:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/20/everything-made-by-an-ai-is-in-the-public-domain/

Neither AI companies nor entertainment companies will pay creative workers if they don't have to. But for any company contemplating selling an AI-generated work, the fact that it is born in the public domain presents a substantial hurdle, because anyone else is free to take that work and sell it or give it away.

Whether or not AI "art" will ever be good art isn't what our bosses are thinking about when they pay for AI licenses: rather, they are calculating that they have so much market power that they can sell whatever slop the AI makes, and pay less for the AI license than they would make for a human artist's work. As is the case in every industry, AI can't do an artist's job, but an AI salesman can convince an artist's boss to fire the creative worker and replace them with AI:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/29/pay-no-attention/#to-the-little-man-behind-the-curtain

They don't care if it's slop – they just care about their bottom line. A studio executive who cancels a widely anticipated film prior to its release to get a tax-credit isn't thinking about artistic integrity. They care about one thing: money. The fact that AI works can be freely copied, sold or given away may not mean much to a creative worker who actually makes their own art, but I assure you, it's the only thing that matters to our bosses.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/13/spooky-action-at-a-close-up/#invisible-hand

#pluralistic #ai art #eerie #ai #weird #henry farrell #copyright #copyfight #creative labor markets #what is art #ideomotor response #mark fisher #invisible hand #uncanniness #prompting

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paddockletters · 2 years ago

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I'm sick of it | jude bellingham

request: yes / can you write one about bellingham where they argue all the time and she’s so exhausted about that so she cries and he confort her please? summary: You and Jude are tired of arguing all the time, but he realises he's been a jerk so he tries to sort things out with you. pairing: jude bellingham x reader warnings: angst, fluff words count: 1.4 k author's note: kinda short but i hope you like it! just to let you know again, english is not my first language so pardon me if there are mistakes —feel free to tell me—

The last few weeks have been rough for you, Jude, and indeed for your relationship.

It hasn't been the best because of some small or silly reasons—for you, it’s not that silly, but for Jude, it is—you end up fighting, even over things that aren't worth arguing about.

One of those many arguments was over the fact that he had been hanging out with his friends lately. It wasn’t that it annoyed you at first because, of course, he has every right to do so, but you barely saw him at night when he came home just for dinner or to sleep.

You were upset because he wasn’t able to spend time with you; he was always out.

"Jude, you're never here; you never spend time with me. I don't even know when you're going out," you told him in annoyance. You were tired of the same old thing.

"Damn, you are so needy. I just want some time off..."

"I can't believe it, Jude. I'm not asking you to be with me all the time; I'm just asking us to spend time together like we used to. Watch movies, go out to dinner, but clearly, I don't see that you're interested. That's it. Honestly, I'm sick of it."

“Yeah, and so am I, and I think I want to stay away from you.”

“Oh, so now you don't want me around anymore?”

"Come on, I didn't say that."

"Jude, you just said that. You know I love you. I left my family, I left my friends, I left college to come here with you. You don't know how lonely I feel sometimes. I try to distract myself with online classes, even going out with the girls, but I also want to be with you. I want us to go back to the way we used to be," you said with tears.

"I didn't force you to come here." You couldn't believe what he had said; it hurt you to hear him say that.

"You know what? Forget it. I don't want to argue anymore and say something I didn't mean and might regret," you said as you walked out of your room and into the living room.

This fight led to the silent treatment, which has been the worst thing and a nightmare for both of you because you are both so proud. But certainly, you had reason to be angry after everything Jude said to you. You know that you can't escape conflict and that there is no such thing as a perfect relationship. However, you and Jude were an imperfect couple that fit together perfectly; he treats you great, and you know that from time to time, you might disagree on some things, but it never escalated to a major level. You always fixed it very quickly.

You used to wait a few days to calm down and talk about the problem so that you could try to figure out what the matter was and how you could fix it. Despite the fight, Jude still tucks you in bed when you sleep, and you cook breakfast in the morning for both of you. Maybe you don't show your love with words but with actions.

From Jude's point of view, it had been hard for him to understand that somehow you were right and he was acting selfishly. While he hadn't spoken to you, it was to give you time because he knew you needed it after that big fight. He was also tired of fighting with you, so this time he wanted to fix things, fix what he said, and knew he shouldn't have acted that way. He was sorry because, yes, you had left many things in your country to follow him because he had asked you to. He was sure that he wanted, and in fact, he wants to continue enjoying achievements and defeats with you by his side.

Days after the fight, Jude arrived at your shared flat after training, ready to fix the situation because he didn’t want to lose you. As he walked in, the first thing he did was head to the living room to see if you were there, like you usually are watching a TV show or even a movie. However, you weren't there, which made him frown.

He headed to the small office, thinking maybe you were in an online class, but no, you weren’t there either. He quickly went to the door of your room and heard you sobbing, so he entered the room to find you under the blanket, your body moving because of your crying.

When you heard that he had entered the room, you tried to stop crying, but you were still sobbing a little.

"Baby..." you heard Jude coming closer.

"Hey, are you okay? Please don't cry; I don't like seeing or hearing you cry." Those words, instead of calming you down, made you cry even more.

"Go away," you said between cries, hiding more under the blanket.

"Baby, please, let's talk. I want us to work out whatever it is that's going on with us." You felt the mattress sink next to you.

Jude, seeing that you weren't responding, decided to start talking.

"Well, I apologize for how I have been acting and everything I said because I really understand that I acted like a dick to you when you didn't deserve it after everything you have done for me. I want you to know that I am very grateful to you. I think sometimes a discussion is necessary to understand each other and to make sure that we are communicating well, that we are expressing how we feel, and I didn’t take that into account in our last discussion, and I'm sorry for that.

"I want us to understand each other because that's what it's all about. We are in a relationship where we have to grow and learn. And I know that relationships are not easy, but they need some work on both sides, so I assure you that I will do my best."

By that time, you had stopped crying.

"Jude... I'm sorry too because I know we've been arguing about silly things that I sometimes start, but I'm really hurt by what you said. I want to fix this too. We should have the confidence to say what bothers us or what we disagree with without fighting. Like you said, that's what a relationship is all about: teamwork.

We have to do everything we can so that this argument doesn't happen again, and of course, fix and talk about what's wrong. Just like you, I will also do my part to avoid having fights. I love you, and I missed you, baby," you told him while hugging him and hiding your face in his neck. You immediately smelled his perfume, which calmed you down and gave you peace.

"I love you too," he kissed you on the head, and you felt him smile. "What do you say we go out to dinner tonight at that restaurant you love so much?"

"When we get home, we can watch a movie," you murmured into his neck.

"Or maybe something else to make up, you know," he told you as he smiled cheekily.

"Judeeee." You gave him a little punch in the abdomen.

"Babe, we have to recover lost time because you don't know how much I missed you— not kissing you, not hugging you, not touching you. I think there's no better way to recover lost time than making love," he said to you as he turned you around so he was on top of you and started kissing your neck.

"Jude..." you said as you moaned softly.

"I love you, baby. You really are the best thing that ever happened to me," he said as he looked into your eyes.

"You made me go from emotional to horny. I hate you," you told him as you pouted.

"You know you love me. But well, you better take a shower; we have dinner." With that, you got up to head to the bathroom and felt a playful slap.

"Bellingham, stop or I'll get mad again."

"Don't act like you don't like it. I know you missed it just as much as I missed you and your ass," he said as he laughed, and you closed your bathroom door.

He was impossible, but you loved him like that, and you were happy you could fix things.

#jude bellingham #jude bellingham x you #jude bellingham blurb #jude bellingham fluff #jude bellingham x reader #jude bellingham imagine #jude bellingham oneshot #jude bellingham imagines #jude bellingham blurbs #football blurb #football imagines #football imagine

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thescaryhyperfem · 23 days ago

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New sona. Stupid alien!!!!

Resume:

Name: Xem / Zip / SCP-3214-J

Pronouns: any

From: SCP-321-J (The Awesome Universe)

Gender: alien

Sex: "quem é vc"

Sexuality: No attraction, Yes relationship. (I hope there's a term for this)

Text Transcript:

SCP-3214-J "With the power of PLUR!"

Containment Class: Euclid

Secondary Class: Joke

Risk Class: Caution

Disruption Class: Vlam

Special Containment Procedures:

SCP-3214-J is kept in a bedroom cell in Site-19, as requested by the anomaly. The room must be refilled with 2000s or 'scene' aesthetic related things every month, or the anomaly will start to get less happy over time. The room must be cleaned every day, but nothing in it sha'll be taken from the room besides trash.

Internet access and free roams around the facility are allowed unless unsupervised by a higher up.

Description:

SCP-3214-J is a white, bald and fat humanoid creature with green alien-like antenna on top of it's head. The only faces they make resemble old online memes, such as the troll face. SCP-3214-J seems to take a big interest in old media and memes, and also things that relate to what the anomaly describes as "PLUR" media.

SCP-3214-J is a peaceful creature, as it doesn't show any type of aggression, anger or sadness. who claims to be from SCP-321-J but somehow landed here.

SCP-3214-J's anomalous properties comes in when they physically interact with anybody of any species. The touched person will feel an immediate wave of peace and a calming feeling, and they will forget everything stressful for them for aa certain amount of time, which seems to be controlled by the anomaly.

SCP-3214-J is also able to shoot rainbow lasers out of it's body, causing the shot individual to be stunned, and then happy for a few seconds.

SCP-3214-J is often used as a therapeutic object for other foundation personnel. The anomaly is as helpful as SCP-999 when it comes to free therapy.

SCP-3214-J is capable of speaking every language, including the ones that are no longer spoken and alien speech. The anomaly's accent resembles that of Dr. Gears, but if it was "mixed in a blender".

Addendum 1 (12/11/2015):

SCP-3214-J was found wandering around in Japan, trying to buy candy from a local store. The anomaly was forcefully captured, but people were sad about the foundation's decision.

SCP-3214-J was locked in a cell in Site-##, where multiple tests were made.

Addendum 2 (01/01/2016):

SCP-3214-J breaches containment, releasing multiple rainbow lasers at whoever tries to attack it with a smile on it's face.

SCP-3214-J ran to the O5's council, then begged to be taken to Site-19, while speaking fluent English, shocking the O5.

Addendum 3 (02/01/2016):

SCP-3214-J was relocated to Site-19 at a common cell, where it started to attempt more containment breaches. It was, apparently, trying to get the materials to decorate the wallpapers.

Addendum 4 (12/02/2016):

Its room is decorated. It is happy.

Addendum 5 (13/04/2016):

Tests were made regarding relationships. Any attempts of sexual, romantic or other interactions were met with a big hug, which made people forget what they were doing.

Addendum 5-1:

SCP-3214-J tells the foundation regarding it's orientation. It says, in German, that it doesn't feel attraction but does enjoy relationships of any kind.

Addendum 6 (14/04/2016)

SCP-3214-J starts going by the name of "Xem" and "Zip", and starts using any pronouns.

Addendum 7 (16/04/2024):

haiiiiii intermnet!!?

- Xem, 2024

Addendum 7-1:

Xem was allowed to have internet access.

(the numbers on the image were slightly wrong)

#scp #scp fandom #my art #my ocs #scp sona #scp oc #scp-321-j #scp 321 j #scp 3214 j #official xem tag

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goldtracing · 6 months ago

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APH Russia – Headcanons I

I would like to point out that I originally wrote this before 24.02.2022 and didn’t publish this until now due to current event. Now I have decided just to go ahead these are low-budget anime characters that I’m talking about and f anybody who links this to ongoing geopolitical events

Is surprisingly proficient in German and French. Both were court languages of his at the one or the other point in history, his German also being spread amongst the wider populace and influencing Russian. Speaks both languages with a bit of an accent, yet if he puts enough effort in it, his accent can be nearly untraceable.

As for other languages – he is also fluent in Tatar and Mongolian, although in the later he is far better with speaking and listening than writing. This is also the case with all the other languages spoken in his territory. This is due to his past under the khans. As for English and Chinese – with both he tends to be on the very formal side, with his speech precise and usually devoid of slang and abbreviations. It is because he learned much of those two languages from literature or also scientific reports.

When it comes to Russian he can be very eloquent, having a preference for puns and other plays of words. Can and will criticise others for their grammar, although if he is public and in a formal setting, he would be more tactful and quiet about remarking it.

Has a penchant for literature and opera and plays. Visits the theatre regularly and knows all the ballets by heart. Personally keeps a small notebook where he critiques and rates books and performances. Sometimes he sends them in to a newspaper or an online site.

Writes poety in his free time and sends some of them to his sisters or humans that are close to him at the time. Can also recite all of Pushkin’s poems in his sleep.

Aside from that, he has a love for fairy tales. Not the sanitised, censored versions that Disney and the Grimm brother’s have made so popular, rather the cautionary tales as they were actually intended, The brutal versions where people suffer and suffer and suffer.

Else has written multiple essays and the human condition, often taking characters for classics to elaborate on his points. These are texts that near nobody has seen. Ivan has split them up and hidden them on his various properties.

Has taken formal dance lessons in ballet and the classics. Loves to dance at balls and is surprisingly elegant while doing so for somebody his size. However, he really shies away from dancing tango, salsa and other dances where both partners get really close and even handsy with each other. If at all, he would have to be really close to his dance partner to even contemplate to doing the Latin American dances.

Other than that, he is also good when it comes to folk dances and possess enough stamina to dance dances such as the Barynya for hours. Has the appropriate leg muscles and flexibility.

Surprisingly, (or not) his dancing skills translate into his fighting style. Can go on for hours without taking any enhancements or sleeping, all while remaining smooth and precise in his movements, like they been choreographed and practised time and time again. He can make difficult movement seem easy.

For centuries he favoured combat with a sword. One of his favourite ones was a curved sabre – a kilij – that he stole as a war trophy from Turkey when the latter was the Ottoman empire. Later, he evolved to be a crack shot with the pistole – he got caught up in a lot of duels when they came into fashion. During the WWII, he was part of a tank crew. Due to the tight space of the T-34, he often suffered sore joints and cramps in his muscles. Also developed an especially thick skull during this time, both literally and metaphorically.

Ivan has participated in the making of multiple movies as an advisor. He makes sure that historical films are historically accurate. Seeing that Russia is big on war movies, Ivan has a lot to do.

Additionally, he is quite a patron for the arts. He has multiple oil paintings in his old mansion. Personally, he paints either an impressionist art style or in the vividly coloured art styles that are native to Russia, such as Gzhel, Khokhloma and Zhostovo.

Adding on to that – there is nothing in his homes that is really plain. He has a sense for the aesthetically pleasing and even opulence. The woodwork is carved and whittled, the ceramic adorn with paintings and the metal work ornate. His living surroundings might have been a bit plainer during Soviet times, however I think he would have pulled a few strings that would have allowed him to keep his old possessions.

#aph russia #hws russia #hetalia headcanons #hetalia

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sparkschoolofeducation · 1 year ago

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Are your looking for the right proficiency test? Read this…

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/akashkohli89_english-toefl-ielts-activity-7106681835333562368-Ke1e?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios

View On WordPress

#aaykayclasses #Education #English Language #Englishclasses #EnglishGrammar #Free classes #Happy learning #IELTS #INDIA #jalandhar #new words #Online classes #ONLINECLASSES #PTE #Spoken English #TOEFL #vocabulary #which proficiency to choose for better career?#Youtube classes

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starlitvases · 1 month ago

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I can't tell if it's just me, but it very much feels like the @snowchester-system is pushing harmful stereotypes against Mexicans, those with Mexican heritage, and native Spanish-speakers.

Their story is that WitSec (Witness Protection) moved them to Mexico in order to escape their programmers. They claim to have a DSPM script. I find these claims very hard to believe, but that isn't the point.

They publicly state that since they're located in Mexico, they are attempting to learn Spanish. My issue is not it feels very apparent that they aren't making a genuine effort to learn.

1. They have a Quackity introject. Quackity is a real-life YouTuber that lives in Mexico and speaks Spanish fluently. When scrolling through every single one of their posts (yes, I scrolled to the very beginning), there are only four instances in which Spanish is spoken on their page, which is by their Quackity. In these posts, Quackity is aggressive and frequently curses out who they are speaking to. This pushes the stereotype that only Mexicans speak Spanish as well as the stereotype that Mexicans and Latinos overall are loud, aggressive, and dangerous.

2. When Spanish is spoken, it's very broken, with the exception of one post, which I will get to in #3. In these posts, it's an entirely English sentence with one or two words replaced with Spanish. I feel this is making a mockery of Spanglish, which has a deep cultural influence on Spanish-speaking Latinos. It's often used when certain phrases in a language make more sense to say, when one forgets the respective translation, and can be used to signal to others their heritage and bilingual skills. Some use Spanglish because they may feel vulnerable, which I know is the case for me. Simply replacing a couple words in an entirely English sentence is not how one learns Spanish.

3. In the third instance of the Quackity introject speaking Spanish, it is again used to cuss someone out, reflecting a harmful Latino stereotype mentioned in point #1. This post is entirely in Spanish, but it's clear to me it was written in English, then translated to Spanish using Google Translate.

English Translation using Google Translate: "Fuck off. How did you know that? That is one of the triggers of our program and the protectors have been very busy in the inner world. We don't have anyone capable of coping that won't be activated except me. I'm the only headmate able to speak up front at the moment and there are no alters around to translate for me. It's good that he lives in Mexico. - quackity"

Plugging the English translation back into Google Translate gets virtually the same thing. Nevermind the fact that if someone did indeed post a program trigger for them, they should not have replied to the person and posted it. Now, a program trigger is publicly available, and anyone can use it against them. My point here is that they say, "No one is available to translate for me." English is their first language. They are learning Spanish. They have every ability to respond in English, even though they should not have responded at all. I highly suspect Google Translate was used due to the discrepancies in their statements. Again, this is not how one learns Spanish. You should learn from native Spanish-speakers. There are many free resources online made by native Spanish-speakers that one can use. Google Translate is not the answer.

As someone with Mexican and indigenous heritage to Mexico, someone whose family immigrated from Mexico for better opportunities, and as someone that is actively learning Spanish to connect more with my culture, I find this system's behavior abysmal and abhorrent. I have asked other Latinos, and they agree with my stance on this system's behavior. I want to know what other Mexicans, Latinos, and native Spanish-speakers feel about this system and their pushing of negative Mexican stereotypes.

Snowchester, if you are reading this, I need you to take an internal look into your behavior. Even though you think your page is anonymous, the page is still very much public and is open to public-forum. People can, and likely will, notice this behavior of yours and have their own thoughts about it. They may post about your behavior on other platforms, in which someone may recognise your page (previous friends, teachers, etc.) and call you out, publicly. They may know your name and state that publicly. There is already a post of yours in which someone knew a direct cue for your system. Bad people are out there and you've already seen evidence of that. Even if those people aren't directly connected to your case, they can still find and harm you. Right now, the issue is contained to Tumblr, but that likely won't be for long if you continue the reckless and discriminatory behavior. Please talk to your therapist.

#dissociative identity disorder #did #did osdd #dissociation #osdd #actually dissociative #complex did #ramcoa tw #ramcoa system #ramcoa survivor #ramcoa #programmed system #programming survivor #programmed did #mexicans deserve better #latinos deserve better

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susanhorak · 11 months ago

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youtube

#spoken_english #تعلم #learn_english #تعلم_الانجليزية تعليم اللغة الانجليزية | مقارنه بين المدينه والقرية | country and town الفرق بين المدينة والقرية بالانجليزي هو فرق كبير وشاسع في كل شئ من حيث العمران والتطور او الاقتصاد والتجارة او الكثافة السكانية. وهنا سنتعرف على مفهوم المدينة ومفهوم القرية كما سنتعرف على اهم ما يميز كلا منهما . كل تلك المعلومات ستجدها هنا من خلال الفرق بين المدينة والقرية بالانجليزي

لو عجبك الفيديو اعمل مشاركة من اللينك ده تعليم اللغة الانجليزية | مقارنه بين المدينه والقرية | country and town https://youtu.be/yCTomprhUU4

ليصلك كل جديد اشترك بالقناه http://bit.ly/2HQGd4q

يمكنك الاستفادة من الدروس التالية تعليم اللغة الانجليزية | مقارنه بين المدينه والقرية | country and town https://youtu.be/yCTomprhUU4

كيف اتعلم انجليزي - الصفات بالانجليزي وضدها - what is an adjective https://youtu.be/x7gfkydHh4k

كيف اتعلم انجليزي - رياكشن بالانجليزي - chain reaction https://youtu.be/qvJKA3cewZY

دورات اللغة الانجليزية - عبارات مشاعر بالانجليزي - spirit level https://youtu.be/zEjxoSPSo9k

دورات اللغة الانجليزية - ترجمة محترفة -translate to english https://youtu.be/-rHI9sGiFWQ

دراسة اللغة الانجليزية - اهم كلمات اللغة الانجليزية للمحادثة - how to speak english fluently https://youtu.be/7_a5bf9NTy8

دراسة اللغة الانجليزية - اهم كلمات اللغة الانجليزية فى الفن والازياء - business of fashion https://youtu.be/1fqcblMYboo

#مواقع_تعليم_انجليزي #برامج_تعليم_انجليزي #تعلم_اللغة_الانجليزية #تعلم #spoken_english #english_speaking_course_online #spoken_english_in_telugu #نهي_طلبة , Noha Tolba

#Mrs. Noha Tolba #Noha Tolba #موضوع انجليزي #تعليم اللغة الانجليزية #دورات اللغة الانجليزية #country and town #english courses #english #تعليم انجليزي #spoken #دورات انجليزي #learn english online #مقارنه بين المدينه والقرية #learn english free #دراسة اللغة الانجليزية #تدريب اللغة الانجليزية #كيف اتعلم انجليزي #كلمات انجليزية مترجمة #Youtube

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skzoologist · 1 year ago

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Dal Bae (Stray Kids) Profile

Stage Name: Dal (달) Birth Name: Bae Dal (裵달) English Name: Isaac Bae Position: Dancer, Vocalist, Visual Birthday: December 8, 1998 Zodiac Sign: Sagittarius Height: 191 cm (6’3”) Blood Type: O- MBTI Type: ISFJ Representative Animal: Otter Unit: Dance Racha, Vocal Racha Instagram: @bae8dal Spotify: Stray Kids’ Glacial Prince’s Favorites

Dal Facts:

-He was born in Sejong, South Korea.

-When he was young, he and his family moved to Seoul.

-He is an only child.

-He only ever lived in South Korea, but he has Swedish relatives, who visit regularly.

-He graduated from Apgujeong High School.

-He didn’t start professionally dancing or singing until he was recruited.

-His nickname given by his fans: Glacial Prince; his nicknames given by the members: Icy Prince, The Noodle, Moonlight.

-He said he became an idol because performing felt freeing, and he wanted to make others feel like that too.

-He was a trainee for 4 years.

-He said his charming point is the shape of his eyes while smiling, something the members keep telling him repeatedly.

-He can speak English and Japanese well.

-His hobbies are drawing, playing games, watching anime or reading stories.

-He’s good at drawing, but not so much at painting, something Hyunjin denies.

-He has his drivers license.

-He sometimes helps 3RACHA with the production of songs.

-His favourite season is winter.

-He loves rainy and stormy days.

-He has a beauty mark next to the left side of his lips.

-There is a small, black mole in the iris of his right eye.

-He has flexible joints.

-According to Dance Racha, he is the most flexible of them all, granting him the ability to perform more dangerous dance moves safely.

-He doesn’t have any pets, but loves to play with the other members’, whenever he meets them.

-He was the first to remember Lee Know’s cat's names, all 3 of them.

-He said he has no favourite colour.

-His favourite food is tteokbokki.

-His favourite desserts are walnut cookies.

-Before being recruited, he was learning to become a doctor, but he said he realised that wasn’t his calling.

-His dad being a doctor, he was taught by him to become one as well from an early age, which explains the medical knowledge he shows whenever he’s helping the members or staff members.

-According to Chan, he has the habit of coddling the members, their leader included.

-He can move his eyebrows separately, much like another member, Lee Know.

-He can also roll up his tongue.

-According to Hyunjin, he doesn’t spend a lot of time online, except when looking at art made by fans.

-He said he likes to wear darker coloured clothes, usually on the sophisticated side; but he likes the cooler styled clothes that the company chooses for him to wear too.

-He is often called the secret sibling of Hyunjin, because of their similarities: their visuals, love for art, incredible and unique dance styles amongst other things.

-He loves bad jokes and puns.

-He is soft-spoken, usually quietly looking over the others according to Lee Know.

-According to the others, he sometimes gets overwhelmed by their energy and loudness, needing to take a quick break.

-His anxious habits are tugging on his ears or the base of his hair.

-According to Felix, he is the perfect link between Hyunjin and the Gym Racha in their dorm, because while he does work out regularly, he still enjoys art.

-He regularly gets migraines.

-Things he’d like doing during his vacation: taking a break from all the work and chaos, being alone for a bit

-Things he dislikes doing during his vacation: spending it sick and worrying his members

-According to Chan, he helps everyone out too much sometimes, to the point of over-exhausting himself.

-He admitted that he regularly thinks in all 3 languages he speaks fluently, after the members revealed that sometimes he answers them in a weird mix of those languages.

-He has his members saved in his phone by nicknames, usually involving puns, according to Seungmin.

-He revealed that shortly after he was recruited, he was approached by several other companies, searching for models, actors and idols too.

-He is friends with Yunho from ATEEZ.

-He is also friends with Hueningkai from TXT and his sister, Bahiyyih from Kep1er.

-He can be sometimes spotted with ITZY members, being good friends with Chaeryeong.

-He gets easily flustered, something every member takes advantage of frequently.

-In the old dorm, he used to share a room with I.N and Han.

-According to Han, he likes falling asleep to music, prioritising Ghibli Studio OSTs.

-According to the others, he is the first one to drop everything he’s doing to get to the others, if they are sick or in need of help.

-His role at the dorms is to look out for the members in any way needed.

-If he wasn’t in Stray Kids, he would be a doctor or a voice actor.

-His role models are his mother, father and SUGA.

-His motto: “Trying is not failing”.

#glacial prince #kprofile #stray kids #skz #stray kids oc #skz oc #stray kids 9th member #skz 9th member #request

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princesssascha · 9 months ago

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The best thing to invest in (aka yourself)

I'm sure everyone has thought about their current or future finances many times, and I'm also sure that you'd love to make a lot of money. Sure, you can spend hours searching the internet for the best business idea or the best college majors that you are not even interested in, but how about taking the easy route? A low risk, high reward and easy way to be financially free. Isn't that just a dream?

One of the most recent as well as most popular ways to earn money is investing. Although it can be a great way to earn money, 99% of the time it will only make you a lot of money if you're already rich! But there is one thing that you can invest in that will never fail you, yet no one talks about it. YOURSELF. The most valuable thing in the universe.

Define your goals

Ask yourself: What are your goals? If you want to be a business owner, learn skills that will be helpful in that field, for example marketing, so you can advertise your products, which will increase your revenue. Once you decide what your goal is research what skills are valuable and educate yourself of those topics.

But what if I don't know what I want to do?

That's completely fine! Instead of thinking about a specific niche, think about what you want your life to look like in general. Do you want to earn a lot of money? Google some of the most paying jobs. Do you value creativity in your work field? There are jobs for that too! It's ok if you can't find something that intrigues you. It's a journey and you don't need to find something that you'll do for the rest of your life right away.

Learn about money

Something that you can do regardless of what you want to achieve in life is learning about money! Unfortunately, most people don't know much about it except that it can buy you things. I can assure you that if you spend even just one week learning about this topic, you will know more than 90% of people. Robert Kiyosaki, who wrote the best seller "rich dad poor dad", is a great author that can teach you a lot about finance. I highly recommend all of his books, I'm sure you'll find something that peaks your interest.

Courses & school

Whether you are in school or not, you need to educate yourself! Everything can be monetized. Literally everything. We live in incredible times where if you just have a phone and access to the internet EVERYTHING you could want to learn can be learned online for free. Just go on YouTube and search something along the lines of (topic) 101, (topic) masterguide, etc. the possibilities are endless and I assure you that you will find something. If you don't mind spending money for courses try skillshare to unlock all courses available on their site or Udemy, they often do 80% off sales so you can get their courses for like $5.

Learn languages

I can't stress this enough! This is probably one of the best things you can do for yourself! Learning a new language can open so many doors for you! It can help you get a higher paying job, give you countless new opportunities and help you meet incredible people who speak that language. There are no right or wrong languages to choose, but in case you have no idea what you want, here are some of the most important factors:

Amount of speakers: This will be your main factor if your main goal is to reach as many people as possible, for any reason. This includes languages such as: Spanish, French, English (duh), or if you're up for a challenge: Hindi, Mandarin or Arabic.

Enjoyment: I think this should be important to everyone. You can't learn a language if you don't enjoy it. Try to learn the basics and see if you like how it sounds and how it feels.

Travel/domicile: if you know your dream is to move to a different country, where another language is spoken, it might be a good idea to learn it. Also, if you're interested in some country's culture you might also find it to be a great reason to learn it.

Job opportunities: although, as I mentioned above, pretty much every single language will give you many opportunities, it might vary depending on where you live and what your field of work is, for example if you live in the US, the most beneficial languages for you to learn will be English and Spanish. If you work in a company that works with Japanese companies, then Japanese might be a good choice for you. Of course, the most popular languages will have benefits pretty much anywhere in the world.

Other ways to invest in urself

Honestly, it would be difficult to fit all the resources in this post since that would make it ridiculously long, and I want to include many things so that everyone can find something that they enjoy, so I will make a whole different post about all of this in the future, because of that reason I will briefly go over a few other ways to grow:

Read

Reading is incredible! It has countless health benefits and it is a great way to learn about new things or expand your vocabulary. And no, you don't need to read educational books, although it sure is even more helpful. If you want to learn new words reading any book at all could help. I can say that as someone who grew up constantly reading people are often shocked at my vocabulary (in my native language), even since I was 5 years old, so yes, it works.

Mindful scrolling

Instead of just sitting on your phone all day watching stupid videos, pay attention to what content you're consuming and how long you spend on your phone.

Self care

I'm sure you guys already know that, so treat this as a reminder. Take care of yourself! And remember, looking out together can help you a lot in life. So put that face mask on, buy that new perfume you like and most importantly - prioritize your health!

Now you know exactly what you need to set yourself up for success. No more excuses!

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