#strive to break that many laws in 5 minutes or less

[ghostfacetxt]

idk why i haven’t seen people talk about what an ableist movie r/en/fi/eld is. let alone about how it makes fun of partner abuse. but like ok

it goes all in on narcissistic abuse and the whole plot device is “protag goes to an abuse support group” which could be fine or even cool if it didn’t mock the idea of language and methods that support groups use to. i don’t know. support the people who need it. among other things.

like it’s a fun gory spectacle also full of confused police apologia. it’s very “good guy with a gun” energy.

if the cop stuff was the only problem then it could have just been a typical pro-cop movie which isn’t unique for any movie, but the abuse and ableism stuff just tips it over and sullied everything else about the movie

so idk you can have fun watching it if you can get past everything about it. no passive aggressiveness or anything, people clearly enjoy it but idk these issues were so glaring that i was squinting the whole time at the early access showing i got pulled into going to

[c-ptsdrecovery]

1. They behave unethically.

According to clinical psychologist Ryan Howes, Ph.D, “Any signs that therapy is moving from a professional and empathic relationship to a romantic one should be considered a bright red flag.” (He recommended reading this page for more information.)

But unethical behavior isn’t just sexual advances. It also includes “violations of confidentiality or financial wrongdoings” and offensive comments, said Joyce Marter, LCPC, a therapist and owner of the counseling practice Urban Balance. For instance, a friend of Marter’s had an already-pricey therapist who charged his clients while he was on vacation. In graduate school, Marter had an initial consult with a therapist who made a racist remark. She never went back.

2. They ignore confidentiality and emergency protocol.

Therapists should have you complete an intake form to provide information in case of an emergency, said Jeffrey Sumber, M.A., a psychotherapist, author and teacher. Similarly, every therapist should discuss your rights with you, including the times when they are required by law to break confidentiality, Sumber said. (You’ll also need to sign the confidentiality agreement.)

3. They don’t specialize in your issue.

Hibbert, an expert in postpartum mental health, regularly sees the devastating results from lack of expertise. For instance, she’s seen new moms hospitalized for a month because their clinicians believed they were psychotic. In actuality, they had postpartum obsessive-compulsive disorder, which is nonthreatening and treatable with therapy and medication, she said.

Find clinicians who are trained in what you’re struggling with, she said. Some therapists may simply have exposure in a particular disorder, instead of expertise, said Deborah Serani, Psy.D, a clinical psychologist and author of the book Living with Depression.

She suggested asking specific questions about certificates, diplomas and experience. For instance, when you ask “How many clients have you treated with depression?” you don’t want to hear ‘a handful,’ you want to hear ‘dozens or hundreds,’” she said.

Because she doesn’t have training in substance abuse or eating disorders, Serani refers individuals with these issues to colleagues who do. “Good therapists always know the limits of their expertise,” Serani said. Even if you are seeing an expert in the field, don’t be afraid to seek a second opinion, Hibbert added.

4. Their recommendations go against your beliefs.

Hibbert works with members of her church and has heard of clinicians making suggestions that conflict with their beliefs and values. “A good therapist should work within your own value system,” she said.

5. They dodge your questions.

“Therapists don’t answer every question,” said Howes, who also authors the blog “In Therapy.” That’s because the focus is on you. However, they should answer reasonable questions clearly and directly, he said. These questions can be “general get-to-know-you questions to anything pertaining to treatment.”

Howes gave these examples: “Where are you from? What interested you [to] this line of work? Did you have a nice vacation? How long have you been in practice? Do you have experience with my issue? What do you recommend we do to treat this problem? How do you think therapy is going? How do you feel about our relationship?”

6. They over-share.

On the other hand, Howes said, “some therapists share too much about their own life, drawing attention to themselves and potentially pulling you in to take care of them.” He noted that every disclosure a clinician makes should benefit you in some way. (“You’re always welcome to ask how their story helps you,” he added.)

“A good therapist knows boundaries, keeps personal issues tucked away and always strives to make the session treatment productive for their client,” Serani said.

7. You feel worse after your session – regularly.

“This might happen on occasion, even with a therapist that you love, but if it’s happening all the time, then something is not right,” Hibbert said.

8. You feel judged, shamed or emotionally unsafe.

According to Marter, this includes anything a therapist might say or do, such as rolling their eyes. Marter stopped seeing a therapist because of a similar experience.

I saw a therapist for a few months who came highly recommended but seemed to hold a magnifying glass to all of my issues. I felt worse. I talked with her about it and felt even more pathologized. I was confused about whether she was just helping me see my “stuff” and I was being defensive, but made the choice to tell her I needed to end our work together. It turns out, this was the beginning of me setting healthy boundaries for myself and also led to my finding a therapist with whom I feel completely safe and positively regarded, even when we are processing my less than desirable aspects of self.

9. They’re a lousy listener.

While a therapist might not remember minute details, they should remember key facts about you and your concerns. According to Howes:

Not every therapist will remember your dog’s name, where you went to high school, and your favorite breakfast cereal every week. But they should recall your name and what brought you to therapy in the first place. If you feel like you’re constantly replaying your first session to help them help you better, you may want to take your business elsewhere.

10. They disrupt the session.

This includes answering phone calls — unless there’s an emergency — texting or even falling asleep. As Serani said, “A good therapist makes you the only focus.”

11. You just don’t feel “right.”

Howes and Hibbert stressed the importance of trusting your gut. “Sometimes there is no obvious reason — you just don’t feel it’s right,” Hibbert said. According to Howes:

If you feel like something isn’t right in your first phone call or initial session, this may be a bad sign. Some discomfort is a normal part of therapy, just as seeing a personal trainer isn’t always comfortable, but if you feel uncomfortable to the point of dreading or avoiding sessions, you may want to keep looking.

As Duffy said, “you should also feel comfortable in the atmosphere, physically, spiritually and emotionally, that your therapist provides.”

Of course, therapists may make mistakes. They’re only human. Marter shared a story about a friend’s beloved therapist forgetting their appointment. The therapist walked into the waiting room — in her home office — wearing a robe and slippers 15 minutes after their session was supposed to start. The therapist was surprised to see her client, but she was extremely apologetic. “Such human mistakes should be processed directly and can be opportunities for growth,” Marter said.

Finding a good therapist with the expertise you need isn’t easy. But paying attention to these red flags can give you some guidance on when to walk away, and continue looking for a therapist who is right for you.

[mizmahlia]

Get to know me uncomfortably well!

I was tagged by my sis @donaldpiercesbae . Thanks, my dear. I loved your answers!! 

1. What’s your middle name?

It rhymes with ‘bae’.

2. How old are you?

Older than a lot of folks around here, I reckon. (Mid-thirties.)

3. When is your birthday?

January the 26th

4. What’s your zodiac sign?

Aquarius. I’m stubborn, rebellious, and quirky.

5. What’s your favourite colour?

Clover green.

6. What’s your lucky number?

I don’t have one- I’ve never been superstitious in that capacity.

7. Do you have any pets?

I have a cat who’s a bit of an asshole named Oliver, who I love to pieces. And three days from now, I’ll be picking up a puppy. It’ll be almost six months to the day I suddenly lost my Milo.

8. Where are you from?

The United States of Dysfunction

9. How tall are you?

5’6” / 1.68 m

10. What shoe size are you?

I’m an 8.5 / 41-42

11. How many pairs of shoes do you own?

Uh… it’s more than two dozen, but less than three dozen, I think.

12. What was your last dream about?

I don’t remember my dreams, unfortunately.

13. What talents do you have?

Procrastination, I can talk to pretty much anyone, I can play video games longer than is healthy, and I can sorta write.

14. Are you psychic in any way?

Not in the slightest and I am totally okay with that.

15. Favourite song?

None of Your Business by Salt N Pepa, Alone Together by Fall Out Boy, Broken by Lifehouse, Creep by Clint Mansell/Eliot Sumner

16. Favourite movie?

I can’t think of just one at the moment; but if it’s got Batman (or his friends/family) in it, it’s safe to say it’s on my list.

17. Who would be your ideal partner?

Someone I’m comfortable sharing my nerdy hobbies with, who can communicate, and who isn’t content with life as-is. (That means he wants to explore, try new things, strives to be a better person than he was yesterday, etc) To be cheesy, I want a partner in crime.

18. Do you want children?

Yes, but being 35 and having been single for 5+ years, I’m scared I’m running out of time.

19. Do you want a church wedding?

As someone who’s been married (and sadly, is divorced), I’ll be the first to tell you the venue isn’t nearly as important as people like to make you think it is. If I do it again, I’ll probably not do so in a church.

20. Are you religious?

No, but I consider myself a Christian.

21. Have you ever been to the hospital?

I’ve been there as a visitor many times, but as a patient, thankfully I’ve only ever been to the emergency room.

22. Have you ever gotten in trouble with the law?

Nope! But I used to get rides home after cross country practices in the back of my friend’s mom’s police car.

23. Have you met any celebrities?

Yep! Karen Gillan, Richard Speight Jr, Sebastian Roche, Hugh Grant, Johan Santana (MLB pitcher), EJ Henderson (NFL player) 

24. Baths or showers?

I love me a hot bath, but it’s usually a shower.

25. What colour of socks are you wearing?

I’m barefoot whenever possible, like right now.

26. Have you ever been famous?

LOL nope

27. What type of music do you like?

Just about anything!

28. Have you ever been skinny dipping?

Only in my bathtub

30. How many pillows do you sleep with?

One. I have a neck problem, so I have a specific pillow I need to sleep with.

31. What position do you sleep in?

Curled up on my side.

32. How big is your house?

Three bedrooms, two floors, and an awesome living room.

33. What do you typically have for breakfast?

Coffee and a granola or protein bar.

34. Have you ever fired a gun?

Several, and I honestly don’t see how/why it’s fun,.

35. Have you ever tried archery?

Yes, but I’m certainly no Roy Harper.

36. Favourite clean word?

Shenanigans

37. Favourite swear word?

Fuck and all of its derivatives

38. What’s the longest you’ve gone without sleeping?

30 hours, I think? 0/10, do not recommend.

40. Have you ever had a secret admirer?

Nope, and I’m okay with that. I find it a little creepy.

41. Are you a good liar?

Better than I have a right to be, and it bothers me.

42. Are you a good judge of character?

I think so, but then again, based on past experiences, I’m utterly terrible.

43. Can you do any other accents than your own?

I can do the stereotypical Minnesota one, though a lot of us don’t talk that way. But I’m terrible at trying to imitate accents, so no.

44. Do you have a strong accent?

I’ve been told by quite a few people I don’t sound like I’m from Minnesota. Make of that what you will. :)

45. What’s your favourite accent?

Irish, by far. I love that accent so much.

46. What is your personality type?

I don’t have a favorite type, but I generally prefer those who aren’t judgmental, arrogant assholes.

47. What’s your most expensive piece of clothing?

My wedding dress. It’s ludicrous how much they cost, and you wear it once.

48. Can you curl your tongue?

I certainly can!

49. Are you an innie or an outie?

A pierced innie.

50. Left of right handed?

Right-handed

51. Are you scared of spiders?

Is water wet?

52. Favourite food?

Peanut butter

53. Favourite foreign food?

Authentic Italian, not like the crap they call Italian here.

54. Are you a clean or messy person?

I’m somewhere in between. I’m clean, but somewhat disorganized.

55. Most used phrase?

“What the hell?”

56. Most used word?

“Damnit.”

57. How long does it take you to get ready?

Depends on the occasion- for more important things or when I want to go through all my steps, about an hour and fifteen minutes because I have long, thick hair. For class every day, about 15 minutes.

58. Do you have much of an ego?

I seriously hope not, but I’m not the best judge of that.

59. Do you suck or bite lollipops?

Neither because I don’t like lollipops.

60. Do you talk to yourself?

All the freakin’ time.

61. Do you sing to yourself?

In my car every day!

62. Are you a good singer?

Nope, but since I’m the only one who hears it, that’s okay!

63. Biggest fear?

Losing my parents or being alone for the rest of my life.

64. Are you a gossip?

I try not to be because gossip never helps anything or anyone.

65. Best dramatic movie you’ve seen?

L.A. Confidential.

66. Do you like long or short hair?

I like short hair, but I love long hair.  

67. Can you name all 50 states in America?

I should hope so, since I live in the country.

68. Favourite school subject?

A tie between anatomy and microbiology.

69. Extrovert or introvert?

Introvert with some extroverted qualities.

70. Have you ever been scuba diving?

Nope!

71. What makes you nervous?

Dentist appointments, waiting around at the starting line of a race I’ve never run before, flying.

72. Are you scared of the dark?

If it’s somewhere unfamiliar, sort of. Otherwise, no.

73. Do you correct people when they make mistakes?

Depends on the mistake and the person.

74. Are you ticklish?

Everywhere and I absolutely hate it.

75. Have you ever started a rumour?

Not that I know of, no.

76. Have you ever been in a position of authority?

Several times and every time, I’ve hated it. I’m more comfortable as a worker bee, not the queen of the hive.

77. Have you ever drank underage?

LOL yes. My hometown had little to do other than that.

78. Have you ever done drugs?

Nothing that wasn’t prescribed. I’ve never been curious enough to try any.

79. Who was your first real crush?

A boy named Davey (his name is David) when I was a kid. He’s a year younger than me and loved Batman, riding bikes, and wanted to be a Navy fighter pilot. He had these gorgeous blue eyes and almost black hair.

80. How many piercings do you have?

Three, but that will likely increase at some time.

81. Can you roll your R’s?

I should hope so; I studied Spanish for almost a decade.

82. How fast can you type?

According to a typing test I just took: 83 words/minute.

83. How fast can you run?

LOL not fast. Right now, I’d be lucky to break 9:30/mile.

84. What colour is your hair?

Medium brown with some grown-out balayage.

85. What colour are your eyes?

Like about 2% of the population, they’re green.

86. What are you allergic to?

Stupidity.

I recently developed an allergy to something, but I’m still trying to figure out what. I blame a trip to the state of Kansas.

87. Do you keep a journal?

I don’t, but I should. It really helped me work things out when I didn’t want to talk to someone.

88. What do your parents do?

They both still work, though I wish they would/could retire.

89. Do you like your age?

For the most part, yeah. I hated myself in my 20’s, but my 30’s have been so much better.

90. What makes you angry?

Intolerance, rude behavior, the Green Bay Packers, and the New York Yankees.

91. Do you like your own name?

Of course! It’s not a super common name.

92. Have you already thought about baby names? And if so, what are they?

I admit I have, but I’m not gonna share them.

93. Do you want a boy or girl for a child?

I’d like a healthy kid, plain and simple. Gender doesn’t matter.

94. What are your strengths?

I’m stubborn, persistent, and empathetic.

95. What are your weaknesses?

I’m stubborn, persistent, and empathetic.

96. How did you get your name?

A family friend’s first name is Molly and I got my aunt’s middle name.

97. Were your ancestors royalty?

Not that I know of or care.

98. Do you have any scars?

Physical or emotional?

99. Colour of your bedspread?

100. Colour of your room?

Plain ‘ol white.

I tag @rolodexthoughts . :)

[mmoozzee]

Thanks to @lesliealiceinwonderland for Venmoing me $1.00

Q&A beneath the tab

1. What is your middle name? I have two! Robert after my father's best friend and Belew which is my grandmother's maiden name 2. How old are you? 20 3. When is your birthday? April 21st, 1999 4. What is your zodiac sign? Taurus, people tell me this is accurate but I think horoscopes are dumb 5. What is your favorite color? Like a silvery grey. I like certain accent colors at different times, but grey is consistent to me 6. What’s your lucky number? My old dorm room number: 213 7. Do you have any pets? My parents have a cat but I don't really think she counts as mine anymore 8. Where are you from? Orange, Texas, a town I am very proud of despite how much I complain. 9. How tall are you? 6'3" 10. What shoe size are you? An 11.5, but I can fit a Nike 11 11. How many pairs of shoes do you own? Six, consisting of three sandals, two Brooks tennis shoes, my grandfather's oxfords, and a pair Nike gave to me for reasons 12. What was your last dream about? Clothes that I could never wear or afford 13. What talents do you have? I can make friends with almost anyone very quickly. 14. Are you psychic in any way? I'm just gonna guess No 15. Favorite song? Right now? I Got The by Labi Siffre 16. Favorite movie? Either The Martin or The Secret Life of Walter Mitty 17. Who would be your ideal partner? This question deserves its own post, remind me later. 18. Do you want children? I'd probably adopt if I did 19. Do you want a church wedding? I want a small wedding with a few choice friends 20. Are you religious? I am very spiritual but less religious. I am a Christian but have many issues with the Church and the current Christian movement 21. Have you ever been to the hospital? Not as an adult besides check-ups 22. Have you ever got in trouble with the law? Not Yet 23. Have you ever met any celebrities? I once got pushed by Alex Jones 24. Baths or showers? Showers, I don't have the attention span for a bath. 25. What color socks are you wearing? Knee-high black socks, like always. some habits die hard 26. Have you ever been famous? I'm trying. 27. Would you like to be a big celebrity? That's the goal. I'm working on it, but I want to become a person that inspires people to strive to become a better person. 28. What type of music do you like? I have no idea how to tl;dr my music taste. I like what I like, I don't what I don't 29. Have you ever been skinny dipping? No, but it sounds so relaxing 30. How many pillows do you sleep with? Two. One for my head and one between my legs 31. What position do you usually sleep in? On my side with my legs bent because I'm tall 32. How big is your house? I'm in an apartment with two others and a loft 33. What do you typically have for breakfast? Nothing 34. Have you ever fired a gun? Yes, a pump-action twelve gauge is my weapon of choice 35. Have you ever tried archery? Yes, I'm okay at best 36. Favorite clean word? llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch or defenestration 37. Favorite swear word? Fuck. It's definitely the easiest to go to. 38. What’s the longest you’ve ever gone without sleep? Two days? I can't remember. 39. Do you have any scars? Yes. A few accidental, some not so accidental. 40. Have you ever had a secret admirer? If so, I'd like them to come out and say it. 41. Are you a good liar? Depends on how important it is that they believe me. 42. Are you a good judge of character? I'd like to think I am 43. Can you do any other accents other than your own? I'd like to think I can 44. Do you have a strong accent? Only if I'm talking about East Texas, then it hits hard. 45. What is your favorite accent? Whatever David Tennant has. 46. What is your personality type? INTP-t apparently 47. What is your most expensive piece of clothing? My navy suit. that's a 3-figure number. 48. Can you curl your tongue? Yes 49. Are you an innie or an outie? Innie 50. Left or right-handed? Ambisinister 51. Are you scared of spiders? No, they're lovely! I just don't like if they sneak up on me 52. Favorite food? Raising Cane's chicken, not sure if it's really my "favorite" but it is my most eaten meal for this summer 53. Favorite foreign food? Takoyaki 54. Are you a clean or messy person? Messy, my floor is currently covered in clothes. I want to be clean, but ugh 55. Most used phrase? "Fun Fact" followed by a piece of information I find really cool. 56. Most used word? "Nice", it's a useful adjective 57. How long does it take for you to get ready? Depends, to go get food? 10 minutes. To hang out with friends? 30. 58. Do you have much of an ego? Only about being right. I get super ashamed to be wrong about something. 59. Do you suck or bite lollipops? Suck, biting cuts the experience short. 60. Do you talk to yourself? All the time! It's both one of my biggest distractions and ways of focusing. 61. Do you sing to yourself? Sometimes when walking. 62. Are you a good singer? No 63. Biggest Fear? Failure 64. Are you a gossip? I prefer "Information Broker" 65. Best dramatic movie you’ve seen? Interstellar is the most dramatic I remember. Love that film. 66. Do you like long or short hair? On me? I think I can only pull off short, but on others either is great. 67. Can you name all 50 states of America? I think I can name most of their capitals too. 68. Favorite school subject? History 69. Extrovert or Introvert? Introvert with the face of an extrovert. 70. Have you ever been scuba diving? Yes 71. What makes you nervous? Money/Crowds/Authority Figures/My Future 72. Are you scared of the dark? Only in places where I haven't been before 73. Do you correct people when they make mistakes? Only if it would be beneficial. 74. Are you ticklish? Unfortunately 75. Have you ever started a rumor? I'm sure I must have. 76. Have you ever been in a position of authority? Yes, but mostly as a second-in-command 77. Have you ever drank underage? Yes, Jack Daniel's Honey-Whiskey is my favorite, but I don't drink often. 78. Have you ever done drugs? Other than some weird hormonal herbs I got from Asia? No, well weed once but nothing happened so I think I did it wrong. 79. Who was your first real crush? Our resident horse girl, but my first Real crush was this cute guy from colorguard who I occasionally dreamed of sleeping with. 80. How many piercings do you have? Zero. Believe, I'd change that, but my current career path doesn't let me have any fun with my body. Got to look like a cis straight dude in this economy and I loathe the very notion that I don't get to break out of that box without losing political capital in the eyes of strangers that I'd be working for. 81. Can you roll your Rs? Yes 82. How fast can you type? Decently fast 83. How fast can you run? Decently slow, like a 10-11 minutes mile 84. What color is your hair? Brown, not that I want it to stay that way. See: Q80 85. What color are your eyes? Brown with a tint of green 86. What are you allergic to? Nothing I think 87. Do you keep a journal? I should. Life gets better when I write things down. 88. What do your parents do? Father teaches biology and is the energy specialist for the district. Mom is a principal. 89. Do you like your age? I'm ok with being 20, sure beats 90, but I feel like I slept through junior high. Love to try again. 90. What makes you angry? People who litter. The love of money. and Tribalism. 91. Do you like your own name? It's ok. Don't think I would have chosen it, maybe Kyle instead, I'd have to think about that more. I do like my Surname. 92. Have you already thought of baby names, and if so what are they? Not really. Sasha or Alexander perhaps. 93. Do you want a boy or a girl for a child? I just want them to live well and live with ambition. I don't care what their birth certificate says. 94. What are your strengths? Ambition, hard-working, out-of-the-box thinking. 95. What are your weaknesses? I'm nervous, I procrastinate, and I am SUPER distractable 96. How did you get your name? It's biblical 97. Were your ancestors royalty? If they were, I revoke my claim to the throne. This nation doesn't stand for a monarchy, or at least it shouldn't 98. Do you have any scars? Yes. A few accidental, some not so accidental. 99. Color of your bedspread? Black, but I have a green quilt and this wonderful Minecraft fleece 100. Color of your room? Beige, I f#cking hate beige

[acup-o-suga-blog]

Limerence |Min Yoongi |Ch.1 |

Genre: Fluff/Angst/Smut | Vampire!AU High School!AU

*This story is told from Yoongi's perspective unless stated otherwise. Also, this beginning is going to be a bit like Twilight, so forgive me. I'm trash for shit like that*

Winter. Probably the most enjoyable season for me, all though when there is just plain white everywhere, theirs really not too much to enjoy. But I was always taught to enjoy the sweet simple things of life, for they are the real things. But winter is the preferred season for me and my kind, for there's hardly sun, so it's easier to get shit done than having to sneak around during the middle of the night hoping no one notices your abnormally, sharp canines. It's not easy trying to seem normal, although that's all I've really ever wanted. To feel normal, to fit in, and to feel like I belonged. But I don't. Society doesn't accept things like me.

Monsters.

Blood-thirsty monsters.

I'm the kind of being that your parents tell you about before going to bed, the being that really isn't a being, but a ferocious beast that is scavenging for the little ones that misbehave and rebel.  That I, and all the others like me, are dangerous.

But we aren't. Or so I told myself the first while I was transformed. I tried to reassure myself that they were just stories and that I was still considered to be part of society. But after so long, you, or even the most optimistic person, can't fake it any longer. You get tired of hearing the same lie over and over again. That's when you start to shun everyone away, or what's left of the people who cared about you. And then you just start to sit around for decades and decades, just resenting the world and feeling sorry for yourself, that you soon don't realize that decades become centuries. But you're too far gone in grief that you really don't give.

But they helped. My brothers. They found me in my darkest times, stayed by my side even though I was convinced that I didn't need them, but they still stayed. They made everything easier, helped me understand that I wasn't the only one that was being punished. They took me in, helped me feed and learn more about myself and what I was than I ever thought I would.

But that was 200 years ago.

I've dealt with not being normal for longer than I can remember, and I've been alive for over 300 years. In the present day, 2018, my brothers and I are striving to survive and to fit in.

Which brings us to my current predicament.

“I can't believe I'm doing this.” 

“Oh c’mon hyung, I think it’s time we socialize with the rest of society. I mean, we are still apart of this world.” said Jungkook, my youngest brother. “Yeah, don’t you think it would be cool to see the transformation of our generation to now? It’s been over 300 years” continued Jimin. Sighing, I nodded my head and decided to walk with them up the stairs to our high school. 

“Although everything has changed, I really have no desire to go to school,” I stated. It was true. Everything was different, the laws, the monarchy(which we basically don't have anymore), and just the way of living. I haven’t been to school ever, but being around so long, you can read books and teach yourself, so I have a modest understanding of everything up to Grade 11 education, in which I am enrolling, along with my 3 other brothers; Jungkook, the youngest, Taehyung, The second youngest and most irritable, and Jimin, the third youngest but whom I like best and am closest with.

“You have no desire to do anything but sleep, lazy ass” murmured Taehyung. I looked at him and glared while he quickly looked away. I decided to ignore his comment, and just continue on with the admission process. After walking around the front of the school for a bit, we found the main office, which held two middle-aged women sitting at desks quickly typing things into their computers, whom I presumed to the secretaries. I cleared my throat to get their attention, but only got a muted “One second, please”

While waiting for the secretary, I decided to take a good look around the office. It was pretty simple looking. Square and about relatively decent sized, the walls were a muted beige, with posters hung on the walls about school events and what not. The secretaries were sitting at desks at the back, on the walls opposite of each other with a window in the back wall. Infront of us, there was a small ledge that held the P.A system, the sign in/sign outs sheets, and the visitor sign in. Suddenly, a voice brought me out of my thoughts

“Hi there, I'm so sorry for the wait. It's the middle of the year and right before Christmas break, it’s always a little hectic and busy around here.” One of the secretaries said with a smile on her face.

“It's fine.” 

“So, what can I help you boys out with today?” 

Jungkook started to tell the secretary about us being ‘transfer students’ and we were given our class schedules and a map of the school of where we would need to go. Smiling, the secretary welcomed us and sent us off to our classes. Walking out of the office, I took a look at my schedule, reading and reciting my classes for the rest of the school year.

9:00 - 10:35 - ENGLISH

10:45 - 12:15 - SCIENCE

12:15 - 12:55 - LUNCH

1:00 - 1:45 - KOREAN HISTORY

2:00 - 3:30 - LITERATURE

3:45 - 4:45 - MUSIC

I sighed as I read over my time table’s, slightly glad that I had music for an hour at the end of my school day, every day. Music has always been something I was good at and passionate about. I stopped at the end of the main halls where my brothers and I would part our ways to get to our classes.

“Well... I’ll see you guys at the end of the day. This is big, and I’m really proud of all of us.” Jimin said with a smile. Bidding our goodbye’s for the time being, I looked at the school map and maneuvered my way around to the third-floor and finally found my English class, the class I’m probably least excited about. I never liked English, I always thought it was quite pointless as I’ve never left Korea in the past 300 years of my life. Stopping in front of the classroom, I made sure my hood was up and was covering the whole top part of my head. This is another annoyance about being a vampire and going out in public. 

Being in any source of light makes my skin shine. Humans weren’t wrong with their folk tales about vampires not being able to go into the light. It doesn’t burn, but it’s quite uncomfortable and would freak any person out if they saw someone with shining skin. 

Once I was finally in the classroom, I sat down at the table in the back corner of the classroom where there was the least light and set my bag down. After about 5 minutes, students started piling in, and the once silent class grew louder and more lively. I started feeling anxious, not having been around so many humans in one room like this in many years. I tried calming myself down by taking deep breaths, but the teacher had walked in and had started to talk about how we would be reading an English book called “Charlotte’s Web” and something like that. I wasn’t paying much attention before I suddenly felt all eyes on me and heard the teacher calling out to me.

“Excuse me! Are you the new transfer student?” She inquired. I slowly nodded my head and said “yes”.

“Oh, that’s great! Why don’t you introduce yourself to us? Come stand up at the front!” For fucksake. She urged me to come forward and I started to feel very nauseous not really being comfortable around so many people. Timidly, I walked forward to the front of the class and started to introduce myself.

“My name is Min Yoongi. I'm from Daegu and I’m 3- I mean 17 years old.”

“That’s very nice now why don’t you try introducing yourself in English? This is English class after all.” 

This bit-

“H-hi, I am Yoongi.” I mentally groaned as the class started to giggle and murmur about my limited vocabulary and my pronunciation. 

I hate this class already.

---

Finally, after English, I have science, which I have no opinion on. After I make it to the classroom, I make a point to go to the teacher first and introduce myself personally. After we exchanged greetings and names, she directed to my seat which was by a window, which luckily it was cloudy outside today and almost every day in this region of Korea. We're in Gwangdong, which is mostly covered in natural scenery and quite cloudy because of the rivers and the condensation. After getting a brief fill in on what we are learning in science, I was handed a textbook and I began reading through the chapters and answering the questions in my notebook.

"Ah, I'm so sorry I'm late, I slept in this morning. Sorry, Unnie." a sweet voice rang through the mostly silent classroom. Looking up to see who the voice belonged to, my eyes were met with the most curious and innocent doe-eyes I've ever seen.

After staring at each other for a few seconds she smiled and turned to the teacher, bowing her head and handing her a slip, which I presumed to be a late slip. I was suddenly met with the most delicious scent I've ever smelt. My body froze and I had to cover my mouth to keep myself from smelling it anymore, or I would pounce someone.

Throughout my 300+ years of being a vampire, I hadn't always been vegan. I've killed innocent men and women for blood, for I thought that was the only way I could live. It was horrible. I felt guilty and it helped no less in trying to tell myself I wasn't a monster. But when I had met my brothers, they helped me go vegan and helped me to stop feeding on humans. I've been vegan for 150 something years, so I don't have cravings for human blood and flesh, but this scent, it's like it was taunting me, calling me.

And I had to taste it.

[the-legal-duchess]

Reflecting on 2017 and Setting Goals for 2018

2017 was a good year. My husband and I were just talking about how nothing terribly exciting happened- it was just an average, good year for us. I really can't complain about that; generally, our family was healthy and happy and we made a lot of great memories.

Early 2017 started off exciting when we rescued our sweet Annie. This dog reminds me of all that is good in the world. When we adopted her, she was 1.5 years old and had already had a litter of puppies, had been shot in the shoulder with a pelleted shotgun which it healed poorly without medical attention and the pellets are still in her leg encased in a large amount of scar tissue and leaves her with a small limp, and she was found running stray on the streets of Kentucky. After all of that, this dog is still the sweetest and happiest dog I have ever had the privilege of knowing and has a trademark smile for whenever she gets excited. She fits perfectly in with our other two dogs and has meshed into our life like she was always here. We simply cannot imagine our life without her now and we are so thankful we got to adopt this sweet little angel. #adoptdontshop

January also featured me getting reared ended in a hit and run which lead to two weeks of my husband and I share a car and a rather big bill to get my car fixed. Not very fun but I am just thankful I was not injured and the car was fixable thanks to good insurance.

Most of my spring was just busy busy busy with law school. Over spring break I had an emergency root canal which put a little damper on my vacation time. I did finish spring semester strong with a big improvement on my GPA and my first A in law school. Soon after, I found out I made the Moot Court Products Liability team which was a big dream of mine in law school.

I spent my summer interning at my local prosecutor's office and I loved absolutely every minute. I had the opportunity to work on murder cases, write official briefs and memos and attend and assist at several trials. I have officially decided that criminal prosecution is where my career plans lay and I can't wait to continue forward in my career path by interning with a local Judge this coming summer.

At the end of the summer, my hubby and I took a vacation to Maine. Maine is one of my absolute favorite places on earth- my dad grew up there and we have visited almost every year of my life. It is one of few places I can visit over and over again and love it just as much every time. We had a wonderful and relaxing week full of ocean views, mountain hikes and family time. If you are looking for a vacation spot, mid-coast Maine is one of the best.

School started back up in August and I embarked on my busiest semester to date. I started working in Law School admissions as a student ambassador and I absolutely love it. It is the best job as I love helping new law students (hence the whole point of this blog) and I have the best bosses! I enjoyed most of my classes this past semester: I took a Criminal Adjudications class with my favorite professor which I absolutely loved, I took an appellate procedure writing class to prepare for my moot court competition in the spring which was so informative and helpful and I surprised myself by getting through a very challenging commercial paper class despite my lack of natural ability in those type of classes. My grades are trickling in slowly and thus far I have been very pleased and my GPA is rising. In between the craziness of school and life, I did get a chance to go to two amazing concerts: I saw the legend himself, Sir Paul McCartney, and he was just as fantastic as I expected. I also saw my favorite artist of all time, Garth Brooks, and it was the absolute best night.

During the early Fall semester, I competed in my school interscholastic appellate advocacy competition. This was fashioned in the format of Moot Court and involved weekly head to head argument sessions that eliminated one person each time, bracket style. I made it all the way to the final four in my class which involved arguing in front of three federal judges and my entire school. It was a grueling experience on top of all my regular school work and my job but it was such a wonderful opportunity and I grew so much as an advocate through it.

We had a lovely, quiet holiday with family and enjoyed a white Christmas for the first time in years. The snow is still hanging around and I am hoping we can sneak in a ski trip sometime soon.

That brings me to now- winter break. I have been lounging around the house, reading novels, drinking too much hot tea and completing some various little projects and cleaning/organizing around our home. This time to relax, reflect and rejuvenate had given me some time to think toward the new year and all that I want to accomplish. 2018 will bring another semester of law school, my first moot court competition, a new internship, a Carribean cruise in May and I am sure many other adventures. I did sit down to make out a few goals.... we shall see how I do with those.

2018 Goals

1. Make My Health a Priority

I recently purchased a treadmill and I am absolutely determined to get in shape and run a 5K in 2018. I have a Fitbit, I have a jug of lemon water in the fridge and I am ready to get in shape. I am tired of spending my days hunched over a desk and feeling like a bump on a log. I am also starting the Tone It Up 5 day Detox tomorrow (you can still sign up and it' completely free!) and even once that ends, I am vowing to eat healthier and improve my overall wellness in 2018.

As a part of improving my physical wellness, I am working on my mental wellness as well. I have been on a mission to remove as much negativity from my life as possible- cut out toxic friendships and toxic influences. I am trying to make an effort to seek out the positive in every day... something I have always struggled with as I can be a somewhat glass half empty type of person. But I am vowing to try see the glass half full from now on. I am vowing to be a better friend, a better daughter, sister, wife, dog mom and overall better and less negative person.

Also, I am working to make social media a little less toxic. The beauty of social media is the connections and relationships it fosters. The ugly side of social media is that it encoruages comparing yourself to everyone else and only seeing the highlight reel of peoples lives. This can feed into my natural propensity for not seeing the positive so I am trying to delete any negative influences through social media and make a constant effort to see the best out of social media and not compare myself to the highlight reels of seemingly perfect Instagram feeds. I know guilty of this as much as anyone else- as a blogger, I tend to carefully select everything that goes on my blog or social media and it becomes a bit of a highlight reel... I try to strive for transparency and try to keep it real but I, like most, fall into the trap of only showing the best parts of life on social media. In the new year, I am going to try to keep in mind that behind every gorgeous, jealousy-inducing Instagram feed, is a normal person who has struggles and ugly moments just like me... letting that jealousy from comparing myself eat away at me is just silly so I am going to try my hardest to avoid that from now on.

Similarly, this is true in law school as well. It is a competitive environment. It is easy to compare your grades to others, be jealous of someone else internship or job... this is not helpful. In the new year, I am doing all of this for me. The only grades I am trying to be better than is my grades from last semester. The only internship I care about is my own. I am getting this law degree for ME and the accomplishments of everyone else is irrelevant to that goal.

2. Professional Networking

As an aspiring attorney, networking is so key in getting jobs in the future. In fact, both my internships thus far in law school have been the result of pure networking and had nothing to do with my grades or anything else. In the new year, I am setting a goal to increase my legal contacts through networking and start setting myself up for the post-graduation job f my dreams.

3. Be a Better Wife

In the hustle and bustle of life, I have realized I often forget to put my husband first. Remedying this is one of my goals for the new year. I am blessed to be married to a thoughtful, sweet, patient man who goes out of his way to make my life easier and works so hard to support me through law school. My goal is to remember to thank him more often, send a surprise note and cookies in his lunch more often and make at least one evening a week a date night where I turn off everything else spinning around my mind and focus on my husband and my marriage. After all, we are still technically newlyweds LOL.

4. Explore

It is easy to get caught up in the day to day routine and forget to explore. When I was in Europe for study abroad, I explored: I tried new things, stumbled upon crazy adventures and had the time of my life. I am not in a place in life where exploring can be European vacations but it doesn't mean that I have to stop exploring completely. In 2018, I am going to make exploring more of a priority. I am going to explore other places through books, I am going to explore my city on weekends, I am going to explore my limits by pushing myself out of my comfort zone and eat new foods, try new drinks... basically I am going to treat everyday life like it's a European vacation and find the beauty in every day, ordinary things and attack life with the mentality of exploration.

So that's my recap of 2017 and my goals for 2018... I am really looking forward to another great year. Hopefully, I can stick with my goals! I hope everyone has a safe and fun New Year's Eve and a wonderful 2018.

[darkhei-noam]

100 Suggestions for Seekers, Spiritual Activists, and Indigo Children

1. Speak to the homeless.  2. Become sensitive enough that you’re overwhelmed with awe when you come upon old bridges and other long-standing architectural elements.  3. Social media fasts every Friday night through Saturday early evening.  4. Simple gratitude mantra recited every morning – whether you mean it or not.  5. Read Alberto Caeiro’s poetry in the moments closest to sleep – especially in the summer months.  6. Stop using the language of “belief” to describe the encounter with God.  7. Don’t employ hyperbolic cynicism on social media platforms.  8. If you earn more than $135k give away all monies above $135k. 9. Keep a small running list of friends who need to be “thought of” and think about them (even briefly) each day.  10. Annual ritual ablution in any natural (or unnatural) body of water for sake of “washing oneself clean” and to reinforce inner-conviction that no matter what we have done, there is almost certainly the possibility to begin anew.  11. Strive to reach hospitality metrics of 180 people hosted in your home (annually).  12. Seekers who are also heavy drinkers should give up drinking.  13. Visit the site of a tragedy or trauma that affected someone else (not you) and sit there quietly, maybe praying on behalf of all those directly and indirectly impacted by the event.  14. Donate (new) toys to the children of immigrants.  15. Don’t worry about what people will think about you if you pause to offer (audible) praise for the food you are about to eat.  16. Occasional genuflection all the way down to the bare earth. Hold for ten seconds.  17. Always greet passersby with a bright countenance and, if appropriate, greetings.  18. Get to the place where sometimes you can transform doing the dishes into an act of divine service.  19. Don’t shirk your responsibility to take care of the people you’re closest to.  20. Silent retreats are not necessary, but honor any rising feeling that you’ve spoken too much.  21. Study the spiritual autobiographies of seekers.  22. Presume that most changes that’ll take place in your life will come about almost entirely by serendipitous or mysterious means and only very partially as a result of your will or intentionality. 23. Cultivate a recognition that you are not actually you but that what you are is 1) Light 2) Compassion raging to break free 3) God’s breath.  24. Abandon spiritual teachers who suggest they have the answers. Seek spiritual teachers who ask the best questions.  25. Don’t worry as much about growing your own food as you do about whether every child in a 5-mile radius of your home has access to fresh food.  26. Resist popular temptations to wear dark sunglasses inside.  27. While there may be social benefits to some types of gossip, seekers should never speak ill of others behind their backs, and should gently redirect conversation if someone else wants to gossip in this way with them. 28. Unless your criticism of another is absolutely centered in a loving desire for that person to grow, do not offer it. And never feign loving desire.  29. Many friends may come to you seeking advice. Your wisdom will be judged by your capacity to ask open-ended questions that invite friends to answer their own spiritual quandaries.  30. Don’t sleep with a phone close to your bed.  31. It’s OK to hang images of saints and other righteous individuals on your walls as long as you understand that these images only represent the inner-saint-and-righteous-individual within your own self.  32. It’s OK not to be a God person but then you must have another spiritual mechanism that reminds you, “You’re not the center of this universe – It’s not all about you.”  33. If a beggar walks into Starbucks and folks are ignoring him or her, calmly greet this person and without any fanfare buy them a cup of coffee.  34. The study of sacred texts is less about acquiring wisdom as much as it is about communing with Wisdom.  35. Blessing and insight are definitely found within the obstacles of the day-to-day and you should forgive yourself for never finding them there.  36. Once a week, stand before a mirror and take a really good look at yourself.  37. When you hear about a wrongful death as a result of police brutality, write the deceased’s name on a piece of paper and go out into a public space and just hold that name up for an hour.  38. If your heart’s in the right place, religious law can be broken.  39. All pop love songs are allegories about God’s love for each and every individual.  40. Reject the commercialism of the holiday season but recognize giving gifts as a vehicle to get beyond your small self.  41. Restrict your consumption of meat to Sabbaths, holidays, and other occasional celebrations.  42. The body is the palace of the soul – not the prison of the soul.  43. In moments of despair: retreat, forgive, and refocus.  44. It’s OK to be a gentle stoner, but anything that gets shot in your veins is a source of illusion and dead ends.  45. Even solitary mystics will someday seek a community of practice.  46. Walk in cemeteries.  47. Never engage in road rage.  48. Make generous exclamations of delight whenever you eat.  49. Light bonfires at the darkest moment of winter.  50. Ensure that every stranger is greeted.  51. Strong coffee, for vision’s sake.  52. Compulsive desire to perform secret acts of charity.  53. Try and learn the personal story of one new individual every day.  54. Always live in proximity to a wooded or wild area such that if the need arose you could be alone in nature within five minutes.  55. Amulets are OK, but should be worn discretely.  56. If and when the challenges that beset you are many more and much greater than you can handle, take a vacation day, get hydrated, and recite: “I know that sometimes we go bankrupt. I know that sometimes we bottom out. Dear God, accompany me and walk beside me. I possess the inner resources to get through this. And if I don’t, that will be OK too”.  57. Wearing a beard is permitted, but the wearer must often joke about being a seeker with a beard and thus reveal certain self-consciousness and self-doubt.  58. Reverent acknowledgement of very old trees.  59. Carry small printouts of powerful texts in your jacket pockets.  60. Be capable of providing a “thick description” of at least one spiritual tradition that is not your own.  61. Over the course of a spiritual journey, there may be moments in which the God you are familiar with, the God around whom your community is built, will appear to you in an unfamiliar guise and perhaps even in the mask of another people’s God. You should be able to breath through these times, appreciating them for their depth and humor.  62. After the seeker has glimpsed a little of what she seeks, the seeker must transmit and translate these glimpses to others.  63. Pay close attention to the deaths of artists and writers. When a writer or poet dies consider for a moment if you have any of his or her books on your shelf. If you do, take one down and leaf through it for a bit. Carry it with you in your briefcase for the day. 64. Gather some of your closest friends and everyone’s children and take a walk down through the woods on a rainy, but not bitterly cold winter day. Go further than you might think appropriate for the children. The walk should feel as much “ordeal” as “outing”. Someone should have the capacity and gear to make tea. 65. Wear clean clothes and brush your teeth a lot.  66. As you walk through the streets on your way to wherever, keep in mind that you might be called upon at any moment to intervene on behalf of another person’s wellbeing and safety.  67. Pray for the repealing of the 2nd amendment.  68. Recite 100 expressions of gratitude and wonder each day.  69. There is something called mindfulness based meditation and then there is something else called mindlessness based meditation. Both are legitimate paths.  70. Travel to distant lands is a vehicle for self-discovery, but so is therapy and true friendship.  71. Your consciousness is the most recent fruit of a billion year evolutionary process. Do not ever forget that.  72. Elitism is not an aspiration. 73. No need to follow a regimented diet as long as you eat simply and with plenty of deep-seated gratitude.  74. Being weird for God is one of the great delights of this life.  75. Living a happy life is not the goal. Living a meaningful life is the goal. And often the pursuit of meaning is very difficult.  76. It’s OK to yell at drivers to slow down as long as you’re only concerned about the wellbeing of children and not taking it as an opportunity to enjoy belittling another.  77. When trying to attend to the question, “How good do I really need to be?” have the chutzpah to insist, “Really fucking good”.  78. Forgive others for whom the trauma of history has impacted their capacity to accept others without bias, but strive to accept all without bias.  79. Make time to mentor others whether personally or professionally or spiritually.  80. Don’t forget the look of your own handwriting.  81. Do not practice a spirituality that has you despair having been placed in this world.  82. Try to undermine your faith in order to stay spiritually limber and soft.  83. Greetings performed with a kiss to each cheek.  84. Spiritual leadership means being able to remain calm in moments of communal crisis and being able to fall apart in moments of personal crisis.  85. For a seeker, the death of a loved one is an opportunity to gaze behind the curtain that is typically drawn over daily consciousness.  86. Transform sleepless nights into experiences rich with the potential for communion.  87. Take great pleasure at the sight of people doing silly things, like a pack of friends all holding hands and walking through the city.  88. Become concerned if your heart is unmoved by scenes of misfortune that get in your way.  89. Some type of religious costume ought to be worn on occasion.  90. Do whatever you need to do in order to beam light from your navel.  91. Be known for zealously seeking to understand what’s going on inside people before judging them.  92. Every once in a while let in the crushing humility that is induced when contemplating the massive scale of the cosmos and time.  93. Speak to God as if you are speaking to a close friend.  94. Forgive crass humor.  95. Be kind to all animals.  96. Get up on a hill and stare at the sun toward evening.  97. Don’t be rough with children.  98. Don’t own too many shoes.  99. Smile often.  100. Always believe there’s more to seek.

— Rabbi Joshua Bolton

[multiverseforger]

Slapstick was originally junior high school class clown Steve Harmon, from New York City. In a plan to get back at his archrival Winston, Steve dresses as a clown to blend into the crowd at a strange new carnival.

Before Steve could enact his plan, Winston and his date, Heather, were kidnapped by several clowns. Steve picks up a mallet as a weapon and follows them. The group enters the carnival funhouse and enters a portal disguised as a mirror. As it was closing, Steve follows.

At the moment of entry, an energy burst races across Steve's world, alerting the senses of several beings, such as Doctor Strange, Silver Surfer, Spider-Man and Howard the Duck.

His molecules stretch across 3741 dimensions and Steve ends up in the realm of the Scientist Supreme of Dimension X (who resembles Groucho Marx). The scientist helps Steve master his new form, a body composed of living unstable molecules dubbed Electroplasm. This essentially makes him a living cartoon character.[3] The scientist, who had been ousted from his position by the Overlord, theorizes that Steve had come to his new form because he was slightly out of synch when entering the funhouse portal.

Using his new powers and a map the scientist had, Steve freed many captive Earthlings from the evil Clowns from Dimension X and their ruler, the Overlord. It is learned that this is what the scientist had intended all along. The Overlord's plan had been to brainwash Earthlings enough so their belief would be sufficient to give Overlord whatever he desired. The Overlord's plans were foiled when the belief that held up his castle gave way as the humans regained their right minds. The castle crashes. The captured humans run to the portal, followed quickly by the monstrous clowns. Steve destroys the mirror, eradicating the clown's influence on this reality.

Minutes afterward, Steve is found by his best friend, Mike Peterson, who agrees to assist him.[4]

Other enemiesEdit

Steve has other villains to confront: a Punisher copycat called the Overkiller attacks Steve because he thinks he is a mutant (the mutant was Dr. Denton). The two fight in a mall, destroying most of it. Steve ends the fight by literally kissing Overkiller and then walloping him while the man reacts with disgust. Spider-Man assists with the battle.[5] Slapstick also battled the super smart, preteen Dr. Denton and Teddy, and rescued Barbara Halsey.[6] There was also a homeless man, the Neutron Bum, with the power to cause explosions. Despite the gathering of dozens of superheroes willing and planning to fight the man (including Daredevil, Ghost Rider, Speedball, the Fantastic Four, the Avengers and the New Warriors), Slapstick simply neutralizes the situation by getting Neutron Bum what he had been yelling for all along — a cup of coffee — and then blindsiding the man from behind while he's drinking it.[7]

He is a friend of Speedball of the New Warriors and is described as "The hero who doesn't fight crime but rather plays cruel tricks on it."

Later, Slapstick teamed up with the New Warriors to fight Dr. Yesterday, partly because doing so would impress women.[8] It has been established that at some point prior to Justice and Firestar leaving the New Warriors to become Avengers, Slapstick and Ultra Girl are made official members of the Warriors and given communicators, after helping the team stop a Badoon invasion.[9]

Civil WarEdit

During the Civil War storyline, Slapstick helps the surviving members of the New Warriors find Hindsight Lad, the young man and former Warrior responsible for outing the secret identities of past Warriors and allies to the public. LaFroyge was stopped, arrested by the authorities, before Slapstick's identity was made public.[10]

The InitiativeEdit

Slapstick is later seen on the bus of new recruits arriving at Camp Hammond as part of the Initiative training program.[11] He is later seen, with other heroes, confronting Ben Grimm as part of a training mission.

Slapstick and other Camp Hammond members are sent out as crowd control when the Hulk and his Warbound crew leads an attack on New York. He is assigned morale support for the evacuating citizens under command of the Avenger Triathlon. A fellow recruit, Rage leads a rebellion against the crowd support mission in order to go confront the Hulk. Slapstick joins in. His team is swiftly defeated by the Hulk's forces.[12]

The recruits are imprisoned by Hulk's forces in Madison Square Garden and neutralized with power-sapping technology. They are rescued by black ops forces associated with the Camp.[13]

Later it is Slapstick who attacks and almost kills Gauntlet out of loyalty to the New Warriors, in retaliation for Gauntlet's use of the team's name as an insult.[14] He has since tried to admit this to his teammates but is always comically interrupted. He later comes in possession of a device containing the memory and personality of KIA, the villainous clone of Michael Van Patrick, and decides to keep it for further use.[15]

Slapstick and several other former New Warriors have recently been recruited by Justice and apparently deserted from the Initiative, after Justice finds evidence of shady activities within the organization.[9] After helping stop KIA's rampage, this new group officially quits the Initiative, intending to act as a form of independent oversight for the program. As legally registered heroes, they are free to act unless they break the law while doing so. When asked to change to his less conspicuous normal form, Slapstick admits that he has not done so since joining the Initiative, and claims that the mechanism that activates the change no longer works.[16]

He later returned to Camp Hammond with the team, now calling themselves the New Warriors again,[17] and battled Ragnarok, the cyborg clone of Thor.[18] Slapstick is also a noted presence in the multi-hero effort to rebuild New York after the events of World War Hulk.[19]

Fear ItselfEdit

During the Fear Itself storyline, Slapstick appears at a meeting held by Prodigy regarding magical hammers that have crashed into the earth. He later joins forces with other heroes to battle the Worthy.[20]

Mercs for MoneyEdit

When Deadpool founded his Mercs for Money, he employed the services of Slapstick, among numerous other vigilantes, to pose as him in order to extend his reach across the globe.[21] While striving to do good, like his new colleagues, Slapstick has severe emotional problems due to an inability to change back to his human form.[

[antionetterparker]

Ranking the 20 best tips for starting a business in 2019

I’m guessing you landed on this page because you’ve been scheming up ideas for starting a business.

You’re on the right track in life.

Since I’ve built a couple 6-figure businesses in my day, I figured I could drop some intel for y’all.

There’s no better feeling than quitting your day job and building something that’s 100% for you. Coming up with business ideas for your business is the easy part.

The hard part is deciding which ideas are worthwhile, and then actually acting on them.

Although I’m a bit biased towards digital businesses, these tips will work for any type of business.

Let’s go.

30. Elect your LLC as an S-corp

When you file your taxes, you can elect to be taxed as an s-corporation instead of an LLC, even if you are an LLC.

They’re pretty similar, but an s-corp filing looks at you (the owner) as an employee of your business rather than a partner and pays you a salary. The salary you pay yourself is the only part of your earnings subject to Social Security and Medicare taxes, whereas without the s-corp status, you’d be paying that on all your profits. (1)

29. Solve a pain point

If your business idea does one thing, make sure that it fills a market need. Basically, look for a market first before you create a product (too many people do this the other way around).

How do you know if your idea does solve a pain-point in society?

Test it. Spend $100 on Facebook ads and target your product to your audience. Decent sales means you might be on to something.

According to Fortune Magazine, 42% of failed start-ups said that a lack of market need for their product was the reason they failed. [2]

28. Stop chasing shiny objects

Once you pick a business model, commit to it. Dropping your business 3 months in to chase the next hot business model will just lead to failure after failure.

Truth is, you can succeed with nearly any business model. When you’re deep into business model X and not seeing results, it might look like business model Y works better, but chances are your situation would be the same if you had started out with business model Y.

You just have to stick with it for the long term and block out any “grass is greener” thoughts.

27. Set specific short and long-term goals

Long-term goals are the big wins you’re going for, while short-term goals are the day-to-day or week-to-week accomplishments that keep the motivational fire burning.

It’s important that your goals are more specific than “make a lot of money” too. For example, say you want to make $100,000 in revenue this year. Break that down to a daily revenue amount (about $274) and strive to hit that amount each day.

26. Sharpen your sales skills

At its core, business is just selling. Brush up on your sales skills, but also your copywriting skills. Take courses, read books, etc.

Also, if you’re afraid of selling, now’s the time to squash that fear and get over it.

25. Outsource

You should outsource two different kinds of work:

1) Low-value, time-consuming work

2) Work you’re not good at

The former type of work is usually filled by virtual assistants, while the latter might entail functions like accounting, content marketing, or legal stuff.

Websites like Fiverr, PeoplePerHour, and Upwork are good for outsourcing one-time jobs you don’t want to do at a low cost.

24. Start a low-cost business

The second reason start-ups fail? Lack of sufficient capital. Nearly 30% of failed start-ups have cited this as the reason their business went south. [3]

Starting a business with a low budget, or even no budget, is possible, especially nowadays with the internet. Dropshipping, blogging, affiliate marketing, and info products are all great examples.

23. Bootstrap

Bootstrapping is the way of the future. Plenty of today’s biggest companies started out bootstrapping, or completely funding themselves rather than accepting outside funding and venture capital at early stages.

This gives you full control over your business, teaches you to be scrappy in times of hardship, and according to the Harvard Business Review, bootstrapped companies actually attract better talent.

Dell, Facebook, Apple, Coca Cola, eBay, Microsoft, and plenty more were all bootstrapped. [4]

22. Start while you’re still employed

Have a job? Stick with the job, save some emergency cash, and pour your spare time and money into your business until it’s making a steady income. When the timing’s right, jump ship and go into full-time business mode.

Some might actually fare better jumping ship early to get that “I need to succeed” psychological boost (the “back against the wall” method), but don’t do it that way unless you’re fine with the risk.

21. Take consistent action

Reading every business book on earth won’t earn you anything if you don’t take action. Neither will overthinking your business idea for months.

Obvious enough, but many people either say they’ll start a business and never do or give up after the initial rush of starting something new fades.

Don’t give up and quit overthinking. Act. Working on your business consistently every day is what brings results.

20. Don’t fixate on mistakes

Fixating on your mistakes too long can demoralize you into working less on your business.

Instead of wasting your time freaking out about something you did wrong, learn what you can from your mistakes and apply your knowledge moving forward.

After all, failure is a necessary part of success. Just search the internet for “famous failures” and you’ll see.

19. Manage your finances correctly

Mixing your personal and business finances is a big no-no. It makes it hard to keep track of things for taxes, but the law will also determine there’s no legal separation between you and your business by “piercing the corporate veil” and then strip away your LLC protections.

Get separate business checking and savings accounts and perhaps a business credit card for your business revenues and expenses. Unless you’re paying yourself, don’t draw on business funds for personal use.

18. Learn digital skillsets

I know I’ve said I’m digitally-biased, but this is important for all businesses nowadays. It doesn’t matter what kind of business you’re starting: the internet is how you spread the word, even if you’re in the brick-and-mortar game.

According to Forbes, these are the 7 most important digital marketing skills right now: analytics, SEO, HTML, WordPress, video, basic design skills, and SQL. [5]

Remember, you can outsource these… and if you want to take it all on yourself, there are plenty of trainings and software programs out there to help you out.

Learn the basics so you have the digital literacy to build your business.

17. Never stop marketing

Especially in the early stages of your business, you always should be marketing, even if you run a client service business and your client roster is full.

Because if 2 clients suddenly fire you tomorrow, you’ll be left out to dry unless you were looking for more clients.

16. Get good at time management

As an entrepreneur, time management means two things:

1) Focusing on the highest-ROI tasks first (selling, growing the business) and proceeding from there until you reach the lowest-ROI tasks.

2) Actually making time to get each task done throughout the day.

Try something like the Pomodoro technique. You’re “on” for 25 minutes, “off” for 5, rinse and repeat. Take a longer break every 4 Pomodoro sessions. (6)

15. Create multiple streams

I’m a big believer in diversifying and multiplying your income streams.

As a business owner or self-employed entrepreneur, not creating multiple income streams and sales channels is akin to an investor investing all their money in one company. What happens if that one company’s stock plummets? The same thing could happen to your income if you don’t multiply your streams.

Start with one, pour your time and resources into it, but then branch out from there when it’s finally bringing in decent cash — this will help you grow, and it’s the only way to achieve a sense of stability. Trying to build several new streams at the same time will only waste your money and burn you out.

14. Learn to pivot

If something isn’t working, don’t continue to beat a dead horse. Try something new instead.

Starting a new business is all about experimentation. If something isn’t working for you, just drop it and move on.

In the beginning, Dropbox, now a $1 billion tech company, tried again and again to explain their product to people via text, but no one was buying in. So instead, they decided to switch it up and make a funny video, almost as a joke, to describe their product instead.

What happened?

They went from 5,000 wait list sign ups to 75,000… overnight. [7]

13. Start with a minimum viable product

Don’t delay your launch. All you need to get started is an MVP (minimum viable product).

Once you’ve got that out on the market, you can tweak and improve until you’re raking in the cash.

Groupon started out as a group of friends and entrepreneurs who wanted to score discounts by buying things as a group. They made an app that allowed them to coordinate a group of 20 people (yep, just 20) who all wanted to buy the same thing, and then struck a deal with a local business. After realizing the power of group buying, Groupon was born. [8]

12. Start your business in Wyoming

You want to start up in a place that has a history of entrepreneurial success and a large pool of talented employees, but also (and more importantly), a good business tax climate and low costs.

Wyoming hits a home run on all these fronts, especially tax climate: they don’t have a corporate income tax, individual income tax, or gross receipts tax. They also have one of the lowest sales tax rates in the country. [9]

You can also consider Delaware or Puerto Rico (6% flat tax!) if your business is digital and you’re feeling alpha.

11. Don’t be afraid to experiment

Entrepreneurship = experimentation. Drill that into your head.

There’s a really good chance that your original idea to what you’re trying to do will evolve into something completely different, and that’s ok.

In fact, economists from the Harvard Business School published a study asserting that experimentation is not just key to, but in fact IS, entrepreneurship. [10]

10. Get some productivity apps

Todoist for organizing your work and keeping your to-do lists, Evernote for storing ideas or writing things down, Quickbooks for accounting/bookkeeping, etc.

Those aren’t your only options for those functions, so look around if you prefer something else.

Don’t go overboard on productivity apps. At some point, you’ll spend more time managing them than the time you saved using them in the first place.

9. Scout your competition

Know what they’re selling and for how much.

Know their conversion rates and their traffic analytics (Ahrefs, Alexa).

Read what people are saying about them. Read the reviews. Study their social media interactions. Check out news about the company and your industry in general.

What PPC keywords are they bidding on? (Spyfu)

What are they blogging about? If their SEO game is strong, how are they getting their links? (Ahrefs, Majestic)

8. Find a mentor

Get yourself a mentor. Forget originality — there’s nothing wrong with a copycat if they’re living a life you admire.

Do some googling, and find yourself an influencer in your industry. LinkedIn is a great place to do this if your niche is technical or business related, or if you’re more into something creative or visual do some searching on Instagram. Find their blog. Follow them on Twitter.

Read everything they put out, but more importantly, seek ways to serve them and expect nothing in return.

7. Build your network

“Your network is your net worth.” #truth

In the book Neighbor Networks by Ronald Burt, it’s shown that networking with a bunch of different people can boost your cognitive abilities and emotional intelligence.

And of course, networking can land you more clients and customers for your business. You might even meet a future business partner.

Thanks to the internet, networks are everywhere.

Facebook groups, sub-Reddits, and LinkedIn are probably the best places to start.

6. Use crowdfunding

82% of businesses fail to bring in enough cash to sustain themselves. Basically, there’s a good chance you’ll run out of money and flop early on. [11]

It’s not that hard to get funding for your business nowadays if you know a thing or two about PR and digital marketing.

Enter: crowdfunding. Websites like Kickstarter and GoFundMe have made it super easy to raise money for your idea, and you can still call yourself self-funded this way because it doesn’t count as venture capital.

5. Track everything

Remember how I said experimentation is at the core of entrepreneurship?

Well, experiments are about more than just trying a bunch of new stuff. You also have to track the success and failure of each thing you try in order to know what works and what doesn’t.

Test your ideas. Run polls, do A/B testing, track when something is doing well and figure out why. Then scale it.

4. Start a blog

Why do I have this blog?

I could just do my own thing, bring in my money and end it there. So why do I go through the trouble of spending 20+ hours on posts like this?

Because I think it’s important as an entrepreneur and business owner to share the knowledge and expertise you gain along the way.

Starting a blog that helps others offers them value, which is one of the best ways to get people to trust you and come back for more. It builds your cred and reputation, and it’s one of the best marketing tools out there.

Not to mention that constantly pumping out blog content means you’ll start to rank for certain keywords in internet searches.

3. Learn SEO

Imagine a successful business without Google involved.

It’s hard. Without traffic, (which is mostly Google, Facebook or YouTube) you’ve got nothing.

Lack of SEO is a big reason why businesses fail.

What really is search engine optimization??

1) Build out baller, organized content going after keywords….like this post… “how to start a business”, which gets searched 39,000 times per month

2) Get other people to mention or link to your articles

That’s 80% of SEO. Congrats.

2. Build time wealth

There’s a lot of talk nowadays about following your passions, finding your dream job, and turning what you love into a career.

Why not just make a ton of money and build a business that allows you to have time wealth?

Once you have an online business making $10,000 per month, you’ve built a lifestyle that allows you to follow your passions.

You don’t even need to be passionate about your business, although it definitely helps.

1. Help local businesses

Here’s the thing: there’s no more predictable path to building a profitable business than focusing on local services.

Competition isn’t there.

Instead of trying to start your own local business – which would require inventory, start-up capital, a storefront – you can help these businesses by providing them with leads to build their business.

Local lead generation provides more value to local businesses than just about anything else.

What business will tell you, “No thanks, we’re good, not interested in more leads..”

1) Build out websites that go after local niches, like pest control in a big city or a personal injury lawyer

2) Collect leads through email opt-ins or a phone number that you rent so you can listen to the calls

3) Collect money either through a pay-per-lead model or pay-per-sale, depending on what you negotiate with the business owner

Leads are the superpower of the Internet. Few people understand this.

Recap

There’s really been no better time to start a business.

There are some key takeaways when it comes to starting your own business that I want you to remember from this article:

1. Do something digital

Why? Low start-up costs and quick feedback loops, which validates your idea without spending more than $500.

Freedom to work from wherever you want, whenever you want.

2. Do something that can be automated

There’s no sweeter feeling than going to bed at night knowing that the paychecks you’re making will keep rolling in, even in your sleep.

Time is your most precious resource. Figure out which of your business ideas you can automate, and go with those.

3. Do something local

You may have dreams of going global, but start local first. Narrowing your focus and targeting a specific area will give you a huge competitive advantage.

4. Do something scaleable

Being able to reel in passive income is sweet, but it’s a little underwhelming when you’re reeling in $2.03 a month from your Amazon affiliate account.

It’s gotta scale.

—

Whatever you do, the most important advice of all is this: start your business.

Start something, because more than likely, your business will evolve anyway as you work on it daily.

Stop sitting around scrolling through articles.

I wasn’t shy about my #1 recommendation (local lead generation) because I’ve seen it work for many, many people.

I’ll Paypal you $500 if you show me a better business to start than our method.

via https://mlmcompanies.org/ranking-the-20-best-tips-for-starting-a-business-in-2019/

[mlmcompanies]

I’m guessing you landed on this page because you’ve been scheming up ideas for starting a business.

You’re on the right track in life.

Since I’ve built a couple 6-figure businesses in my day, I figured I could drop some intel for y’all.

There’s no better feeling than quitting your day job and building something that’s 100% for you. Coming up with business ideas for your business is the easy part.

The hard part is deciding which ideas are worthwhile, and then actually acting on them.

Although I’m a bit biased towards digital businesses, these tips will work for any type of business.

Let’s go.

30. Elect your LLC as an S-corp

When you file your taxes, you can elect to be taxed as an s-corporation instead of an LLC, even if you are an LLC.

They’re pretty similar, but an s-corp filing looks at you (the owner) as an employee of your business rather than a partner and pays you a salary. The salary you pay yourself is the only part of your earnings subject to Social Security and Medicare taxes, whereas without the s-corp status, you’d be paying that on all your profits. (1)

29. Solve a pain point

If your business idea does one thing, make sure that it fills a market need. Basically, look for a market first before you create a product (too many people do this the other way around).

How do you know if your idea does solve a pain-point in society?

Test it. Spend $100 on Facebook ads and target your product to your audience. Decent sales means you might be on to something.

According to Fortune Magazine, 42% of failed start-ups said that a lack of market need for their product was the reason they failed. [2]

28. Stop chasing shiny objects

Once you pick a business model, commit to it. Dropping your business 3 months in to chase the next hot business model will just lead to failure after failure.

Truth is, you can succeed with nearly any business model. When you’re deep into business model X and not seeing results, it might look like business model Y works better, but chances are your situation would be the same if you had started out with business model Y.

You just have to stick with it for the long term and block out any “grass is greener” thoughts.

27. Set specific short and long-term goals

Long-term goals are the big wins you’re going for, while short-term goals are the day-to-day or week-to-week accomplishments that keep the motivational fire burning.

It’s important that your goals are more specific than “make a lot of money” too. For example, say you want to make $100,000 in revenue this year. Break that down to a daily revenue amount (about $274) and strive to hit that amount each day.

26. Sharpen your sales skills

At its core, business is just selling. Brush up on your sales skills, but also your copywriting skills. Take courses, read books, etc.

Also, if you’re afraid of selling, now’s the time to squash that fear and get over it.

25. Outsource

You should outsource two different kinds of work:

1) Low-value, time-consuming work

2) Work you’re not good at

The former type of work is usually filled by virtual assistants, while the latter might entail functions like accounting, content marketing, or legal stuff.

Websites like Fiverr, PeoplePerHour, and Upwork are good for outsourcing one-time jobs you don’t want to do at a low cost.

24. Start a low-cost business

The second reason start-ups fail? Lack of sufficient capital. Nearly 30% of failed start-ups have cited this as the reason their business went south. [3]

Starting a business with a low budget, or even no budget, is possible, especially nowadays with the internet. Dropshipping, blogging, affiliate marketing, and info products are all great examples.

23. Bootstrap

Bootstrapping is the way of the future. Plenty of today’s biggest companies started out bootstrapping, or completely funding themselves rather than accepting outside funding and venture capital at early stages.

This gives you full control over your business, teaches you to be scrappy in times of hardship, and according to the Harvard Business Review, bootstrapped companies actually attract better talent.

Dell, Facebook, Apple, Coca Cola, eBay, Microsoft, and plenty more were all bootstrapped. [4]

22. Start while you’re still employed

Have a job? Stick with the job, save some emergency cash, and pour your spare time and money into your business until it’s making a steady income. When the timing’s right, jump ship and go into full-time business mode.

Some might actually fare better jumping ship early to get that “I need to succeed” psychological boost (the “back against the wall” method), but don’t do it that way unless you’re fine with the risk.

21. Take consistent action

Reading every business book on earth won’t earn you anything if you don’t take action. Neither will overthinking your business idea for months.

Obvious enough, but many people either say they’ll start a business and never do or give up after the initial rush of starting something new fades.

Don’t give up and quit overthinking. Act. Working on your business consistently every day is what brings results.

20. Don’t fixate on mistakes

Fixating on your mistakes too long can demoralize you into working less on your business.

Instead of wasting your time freaking out about something you did wrong, learn what you can from your mistakes and apply your knowledge moving forward.

After all, failure is a necessary part of success. Just search the internet for “famous failures” and you’ll see.

19. Manage your finances correctly

Mixing your personal and business finances is a big no-no. It makes it hard to keep track of things for taxes, but the law will also determine there’s no legal separation between you and your business by “piercing the corporate veil” and then strip away your LLC protections.

Get separate business checking and savings accounts and perhaps a business credit card for your business revenues and expenses. Unless you’re paying yourself, don’t draw on business funds for personal use.

18. Learn digital skillsets

I know I’ve said I’m digitally-biased, but this is important for all businesses nowadays. It doesn’t matter what kind of business you’re starting: the internet is how you spread the word, even if you’re in the brick-and-mortar game.

According to Forbes, these are the 7 most important digital marketing skills right now: analytics, SEO, HTML, WordPress, video, basic design skills, and SQL. [5]

Remember, you can outsource these… and if you want to take it all on yourself, there are plenty of trainings and software programs out there to help you out.

Learn the basics so you have the digital literacy to build your business.

17. Never stop marketing

Especially in the early stages of your business, you always should be marketing, even if you run a client service business and your client roster is full.

Because if 2 clients suddenly fire you tomorrow, you’ll be left out to dry unless you were looking for more clients.

16. Get good at time management

As an entrepreneur, time management means two things:

1) Focusing on the highest-ROI tasks first (selling, growing the business) and proceeding from there until you reach the lowest-ROI tasks.

2) Actually making time to get each task done throughout the day.

Try something like the Pomodoro technique. You’re “on” for 25 minutes, “off” for 5, rinse and repeat. Take a longer break every 4 Pomodoro sessions. (6)

15. Create multiple streams

I’m a big believer in diversifying and multiplying your income streams.

As a business owner or self-employed entrepreneur, not creating multiple income streams and sales channels is akin to an investor investing all their money in one company. What happens if that one company’s stock plummets? The same thing could happen to your income if you don’t multiply your streams.

Start with one, pour your time and resources into it, but then branch out from there when it’s finally bringing in decent cash — this will help you grow, and it’s the only way to achieve a sense of stability. Trying to build several new streams at the same time will only waste your money and burn you out.

14. Learn to pivot

If something isn’t working, don’t continue to beat a dead horse. Try something new instead.

Starting a new business is all about experimentation. If something isn’t working for you, just drop it and move on.

In the beginning, Dropbox, now a $1 billion tech company, tried again and again to explain their product to people via text, but no one was buying in. So instead, they decided to switch it up and make a funny video, almost as a joke, to describe their product instead.

What happened?

They went from 5,000 wait list sign ups to 75,000… overnight. [7]

13. Start with a minimum viable product

Don’t delay your launch. All you need to get started is an MVP (minimum viable product).

Once you’ve got that out on the market, you can tweak and improve until you’re raking in the cash.

Groupon started out as a group of friends and entrepreneurs who wanted to score discounts by buying things as a group. They made an app that allowed them to coordinate a group of 20 people (yep, just 20) who all wanted to buy the same thing, and then struck a deal with a local business. After realizing the power of group buying, Groupon was born. [8]

12. Start your business in Wyoming

You want to start up in a place that has a history of entrepreneurial success and a large pool of talented employees, but also (and more importantly), a good business tax climate and low costs.

Wyoming hits a home run on all these fronts, especially tax climate: they don’t have a corporate income tax, individual income tax, or gross receipts tax. They also have one of the lowest sales tax rates in the country. [9]

You can also consider Delaware or Puerto Rico (6% flat tax!) if your business is digital and you’re feeling alpha.

11. Don’t be afraid to experiment

Entrepreneurship = experimentation. Drill that into your head.

There’s a really good chance that your original idea to what you’re trying to do will evolve into something completely different, and that’s ok.

In fact, economists from the Harvard Business School published a study asserting that experimentation is not just key to, but in fact IS, entrepreneurship. [10]

10. Get some productivity apps

Todoist for organizing your work and keeping your to-do lists, Evernote for storing ideas or writing things down, Quickbooks for accounting/bookkeeping, etc.

Those aren’t your only options for those functions, so look around if you prefer something else.

Don’t go overboard on productivity apps. At some point, you’ll spend more time managing them than the time you saved using them in the first place.

9. Scout your competition

Know what they’re selling and for how much.

Know their conversion rates and their traffic analytics (Ahrefs, Alexa).

Read what people are saying about them. Read the reviews. Study their social media interactions. Check out news about the company and your industry in general.

What PPC keywords are they bidding on? (Spyfu)

What are they blogging about? If their SEO game is strong, how are they getting their links? (Ahrefs, Majestic)

8. Find a mentor

Get yourself a mentor. Forget originality — there’s nothing wrong with a copycat if they’re living a life you admire.

Do some googling, and find yourself an influencer in your industry. LinkedIn is a great place to do this if your niche is technical or business related, or if you’re more into something creative or visual do some searching on Instagram. Find their blog. Follow them on Twitter.

Read everything they put out, but more importantly, seek ways to serve them and expect nothing in return.

7. Build your network

“Your network is your net worth.” #truth

In the book Neighbor Networks by Ronald Burt, it’s shown that networking with a bunch of different people can boost your cognitive abilities and emotional intelligence.

And of course, networking can land you more clients and customers for your business. You might even meet a future business partner.

Thanks to the internet, networks are everywhere.

Facebook groups, sub-Reddits, and LinkedIn are probably the best places to start.

6. Use crowdfunding

82% of businesses fail to bring in enough cash to sustain themselves. Basically, there’s a good chance you’ll run out of money and flop early on. [11]

It’s not that hard to get funding for your business nowadays if you know a thing or two about PR and digital marketing.

Enter: crowdfunding. Websites like Kickstarter and GoFundMe have made it super easy to raise money for your idea, and you can still call yourself self-funded this way because it doesn’t count as venture capital.

5. Track everything

Remember how I said experimentation is at the core of entrepreneurship?

Well, experiments are about more than just trying a bunch of new stuff. You also have to track the success and failure of each thing you try in order to know what works and what doesn’t.

Test your ideas. Run polls, do A/B testing, track when something is doing well and figure out why. Then scale it.

4. Start a blog

Why do I have this blog?

I could just do my own thing, bring in my money and end it there. So why do I go through the trouble of spending 20+ hours on posts like this?

Because I think it’s important as an entrepreneur and business owner to share the knowledge and expertise you gain along the way.

Starting a blog that helps others offers them value, which is one of the best ways to get people to trust you and come back for more. It builds your cred and reputation, and it’s one of the best marketing tools out there.

Not to mention that constantly pumping out blog content means you’ll start to rank for certain keywords in internet searches.

3. Learn SEO

Imagine a successful business without Google involved.

It’s hard. Without traffic, (which is mostly Google, Facebook or YouTube) you’ve got nothing.

Lack of SEO is a big reason why businesses fail.

What really is search engine optimization??

1) Build out baller, organized content going after keywords….like this post… “how to start a business”, which gets searched 39,000 times per month

2) Get other people to mention or link to your articles

That’s 80% of SEO. Congrats.

2. Build time wealth

There’s a lot of talk nowadays about following your passions, finding your dream job, and turning what you love into a career.

Why not just make a ton of money and build a business that allows you to have time wealth?

Once you have an online business making $10,000 per month, you’ve built a lifestyle that allows you to follow your passions.

You don’t even need to be passionate about your business, although it definitely helps.

1. Help local businesses

Here’s the thing: there’s no more predictable path to building a profitable business than focusing on local services.

Competition isn’t there.

Instead of trying to start your own local business – which would require inventory, start-up capital, a storefront – you can help these businesses by providing them with leads to build their business.

Local lead generation provides more value to local businesses than just about anything else.

What business will tell you, “No thanks, we’re good, not interested in more leads..”

1) Build out websites that go after local niches, like pest control in a big city or a personal injury lawyer

2) Collect leads through email opt-ins or a phone number that you rent so you can listen to the calls

3) Collect money either through a pay-per-lead model or pay-per-sale, depending on what you negotiate with the business owner

Leads are the superpower of the Internet. Few people understand this.

Recap

There’s really been no better time to start a business.

There are some key takeaways when it comes to starting your own business that I want you to remember from this article:

1. Do something digital

Why? Low start-up costs and quick feedback loops, which validates your idea without spending more than $500.

Freedom to work from wherever you want, whenever you want.

2. Do something that can be automated

There’s no sweeter feeling than going to bed at night knowing that the paychecks you’re making will keep rolling in, even in your sleep.

Time is your most precious resource. Figure out which of your business ideas you can automate, and go with those.

3. Do something local

You may have dreams of going global, but start local first. Narrowing your focus and targeting a specific area will give you a huge competitive advantage.

4. Do something scaleable

Being able to reel in passive income is sweet, but it’s a little underwhelming when you’re reeling in $2.03 a month from your Amazon affiliate account.

It’s gotta scale.

—

Whatever you do, the most important advice of all is this: start your business.

Start something, because more than likely, your business will evolve anyway as you work on it daily.

Stop sitting around scrolling through articles.

I wasn’t shy about my #1 recommendation (local lead generation) because I’ve seen it work for many, many people.

I’ll Paypal you $500 if you show me a better business to start than our method.

[seeds-of-purple-watermelon]

Read More 10 questions with Krissy Cela

The following post 10 questions with Krissy Cela is republished from Healthy Food Guide by Ellie Donnell

As a personal trainer, fitness influencer and business owner – as well as owning a mind-blowing 1.7 million followers on Instagram – Krissy Cela certainly knows a thing or two about working hard to get results. We caught up with her to find out how she manages to fit exercise into her jam-packed lifestyle, gaining confidence in the gym as well as what she hopes to achieve as a fitness ‘influencer’.

1.How did you get into fitness?

About five years ago I went through a really bad break up. I felt lethargic, weak and generally unhappy. I knew that I wanted to make a change so I could feel better physically and mentally, and that’s when I found fitness. I signed up to the gym and realised that I could push myself beyond what I thought I was capable of. I not only felt stronger in my body, but mentally strong and empowered too.

2. And how do you train now?

I’ve recently reduced my workouts from five days a week to three. I follow my fitness app, Tone & Sculpt, doing one upper body day, one lower body day and one full body circuit. If I have time to fit in an extra session I love taking on one of the challenges on the app too.

Before I adapted my training schedule, I found myself struggling to fit everything in. I didn’t want to compromise the quality of my work or my workouts so I reduced the quantity of my workouts. Now I can balance my schedule much better and I find I get much more from my workouts too as my body has more time to recover between sessions.

3. You mentioned your fitness app, Tone & Sculpt. Can you tell us a bit about that? 

The Tone & Sculpt app was inspired by every single woman who felt alone in their fitness journey or believed that fitness was about looking a certain way. Everyone’s fitness journey is different so we wanted to create a positive environment that is flexible to you and your needs.

The app is separated into four different ‘phases’ and varies between gym-based and at-home sessions. It also offers a meal plan function with tailored meals meals filled with wholesome and nutritious ingredients. There’s even a water tracking feature to make sure you keep hydrated throughout the day.!

I’m honestly so proud of the community the app has created – real women coming together and supporting each other. It makes all the hard work worthwhile.

4. As an ex-law student, personal trainer and, now, business owner, how do you find the time to fit working out into your busy lifestyle? Do you have any tips for people who think they don’t have time to work out?

Trust me – I know what it’s like to be busy! It can be difficult, even overwhelming, at times trying to fit everything in. Living a healthy lifestyle should be a priority though because the healthier you are, the better you are able to perform.

Find what works for you and your schedule. Whether that’s three days a week at the gym or a 15-minute full body challenge at home in the morning before your shower. You can even make fitness a social event. Instead of catching up with your friends over dinner, why not go to a local workout class?

As for nutrition, when I was a law student I would prepare my meals in advance at home instead of eating out. I found it much cheaper and easier to stay on track. I would also wear my gym clothes to my lectures –that way I was already ready for my workout after class.

5. As a fitness ‘influencer’, what message do you strive to get across to your followers?

I think it is important to remember not to compare yourself to others. So many women will see other women on social media and feel like they need to look a certain way, but that just isn’t the case.

I’m a big believer in personal development but you should always strive to be the best version of yourself, rather than to be like someone else. Fitness is for everybody; no matter what your starting point is, we all started somewhere. Remember this: there is not one other person who is just like you and that’s what makes you so special. Stop trying to be like anyone else and start doing things for you!

6. What does the word ‘healthy’ mean to you?

Healthy to me is about feeling physically and mentally strong. It means understanding how your body works and adapting your habits accordingly, so that you can function at your very best.

For me personally, I have a very busy work life and I’m active too, so I know that my body and brain need nutrient-dense and wholesome foods in order to perform effectively – that’s my priority. I’m also mindful about my environment.  Mental health is so important so I always surround myself with positive people that make me feel good.

7. What does a day of eating look like to you? 

Oats are my go-to in the mornings and they have been for as long as I can remember. They are full of fibre and really keep me full until lunchtime. Plus, they’re absolutely delicious! I will mix it up each morning by either adding in some fresh berries, a scoop of protein powder or even a handful of nuts. That way I know I’m starting my day with all the macro and micronutrients I need to perform at my best.

Deliciously Ella’s bircher muesli

For lunch and dinner I will always have a combination of protein, carbs, fats ( I usually cook with olive oil) and lots of veggies. If you want to start exercising, it’s important to fuel your body with nutritious foods. You wouldn’t try to run a car on empty, so keep that in mind for your body too. Our bodies are the most beautiful machines on the planet so it’s important to give them the fuel they need to function at their best.

8. Have you ever struggled with confidence in the gym? Do you have any tips for other’s who struggle with this?

I joined a gym but didn’t actually step foot inside until nearly three months later. My first thought was “these machines look like big monsters!”. I didn’t have a clue what I was doing and I was so nervous, but I was determined to make a change so I started believing in myself and educating myself. If I didn’t know something I would just ask for help, which I know can seem scary if you are not feeling confident, but remember that everyone starts somewhere so you should never feel embarrassed.

9. What would be your biggest tips for someone wanting to gain a bit of muscle and lose some fat? 

Consistency is key! There are no overnight fixes when it comes to fitness, regardless of what claims the latest fad diet makes. It takes time and consistency to make a real lifestyle change. If you are looking to lose fat and build muscle I would recommend some high intensity interval training. They don’t require any equipment, although you can add some light weights if you want to, and are only 10-20 minutes long so are easy to fit into your day.

10. What’s one piece of advice you’d give your younger self when you first started your fitness journey?

I  would definitely tell my younger self to worry less about how I looked physically and instead focus on how I feel. It’s not about having the perfect booty or the best abs –nobody is perfect – but feeling confident in your own skin is a powerful thing.

When you are feeling good about yourself it shows. For me, living a healthy balanced lifestyle makes me feel amazing, so I would encourage everyone, not just my younger self, to focus on what makes you feel good and to do it for you!

Krissy Cela’s Tone & Sculp app is available from £13.99 at The App Store and via Google Play.

The post 10 questions with Krissy Cela appeared first on Healthy Food Guide.

[technato]

Quantum Computers Strive to Break Out of the Lab

Tech giants and startups alike want to bring quantum computing into the mainstream, but success is uncertain

Photo: Christopher Payne/Esto

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  Photo: Christopher Payne/Esto

Futuristic Computer: Google’s new quantum computers look like props from a sci-fi film. Whether these complex devices will prove truly useful remains to be seen.

Schrödinger’s cat you’ve met—the one that is both alive and dead at the same time. Now say hello to Schrödinger’s scientists, researchers who are in an eerie state of being simultaneously delighted and appalled.

Schrödinger’s famous thought experiment has come to life in a new form because quantum researchers are at the cusp of a long-sought accomplishment: creating a quantum computer that can do something no traditional computer can match. They’ve spent years battling naysayers who insisted that a quantum computer was an unachievable sci-fi fantasy, and now these researchers are finally beginning to indulge in some well-⁠⁠deserved self-congratulation.

But they are simultaneously cringing at a torrent of press accounts that wildly overstate the progress they’ve made. Exhibit A: Time magazine’s quantum-computing feature of 17 February 2014, with the editors declaring on the cover that “the Infinity Machine” is so revolutionary that it “promises to solve some of humanity’s most complex problems.” And since then, many press accounts have been equally hyperbolic.

Graeme Smith, a quantum-computing researcher at the University of Colorado Boulder, explains the conundrum now facing the field. “It used to be that if you were working in this area, you were the optimist telling everyone how great it’s going to be. But then things shifted, and now researchers like me can’t believe the things we’re hearing about how quantum computers will very soon be able to solve every problem blazingly fast. There’s almost a race to the bottom in making claims about what a quantum computer can do.”

Researchers are cringing at press accounts that wildly overstate progress

The reason for the current excitement is that sometime this year, quantum computing is expected to reach an important milestone. Led by a research group at Google with another at IBM giving chase, scientists are expected to demonstrate “quantum supremacy.” That means the system will be able to solve a problem that no existing traditional computer has the memory or processing power to tackle.

But despite the click bait proclaiming “the arrival of quantum computing” that this event will inevitably generate, the accomplishment will be less significant than popular accounts might lead you to believe. For one thing, the algorithm Google is running to demonstrate quantum supremacy doesn’t do anything of practical importance: The problem is designed so that it is just beyond the computational reach of any current conventional computer.

Building quantum computers that can solve the sorts of real-world computing problems people actually care about will require many more years of research. Indeed, engineers working on quantum computing at both Google and IBM say that a quantum “dream machine” capable of solving computing’s most vexing problems might still be decades away.

And even then, virtually no one in the field is expecting quantum computers to replace traditional ones—despite popular accounts about how, with Moore’s Law of conventional computing losing steam, quantum stands ready to take over. All current designs for quantum computers involve pairing them with classical ones, which carry out myriad pre- and postprocessing steps. What’s more, many everyday programming tasks that can now be executed quickly on traditional computers might actually run more slowly on a quantum one, given the hardware and software overhead associated with getting a quantum computer to work in the first place.

“I don’t think anyone expects quantum computers to replace classical ones,” says Stephen Jordan, a quantum researcher who worked for many years at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and recently joined Microsoft Research in Redmond, Wash. Rather, quantum machines are likely to be useful only for a select group of computing jobs that have massive payoffs but that can’t be readily handled by today’s computers.

The idea for a quantum computer is usually traced to a 1981 speech [PDF] by the Nobel Prize–winning physicist Richard Feynman, who speculated about the possibility of using the peculiar properties of subatomic particles to model the behavior of other subatomic particles. But a better starting point is a remarkable 1994 paper [PDF] by Peter Shor, then of AT&T Bell Laboratories and now of MIT, which showed how a quantum computer—assuming one could be built—could quickly find the prime factors of large numbers, thus defeating commonly used public-key encryption systems. Such a computer would have basically broken the Internet.

Many people took notice, especially the U.S. security agencies involved with encryption, which quickly began investing in quantum hardware research. Billions have been spent over the past two decades, mainly by governments. Now that the technology is closer to being commercialized, venture capitalists are getting in on the act as well, a phenomenon very likely correlated with the extent of the current quantum hype.

So how exactly do quantum computers work?

Providing a brief and user-friendly explanation is a forbidding task, which is why Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau became a geek hero in April of 2016 when he did the job about as well as any layperson ever has. In a press conference appearance that quickly went viral, Trudeau explained that with “normal computers…it’s 1 or a 0. They’re binary systems. What quantum states allow for is much more complex information to be encoded into a single bit.”

  Illustration: Carl De Torres/StoryTK/IBM

Cold-Hearted Computing: IBM’s new quantum computers, like those of Google, must be chilled to near absolute zero temperature to function. That cooling is accomplished using a dilution refrigerator, diagrammed above.

If Trudeau had had more time, he might have gone on to say that the main building block of a quantum computer is a “qubit,” which is a quantum object and thus can be in an infinite number of states, ones that are related to the probability of finding it in one of the two states it can assume when it is measured. Anything with quantum properties, like an electron or photon, can serve as a qubit, as long as the computer can isolate and control it.

Once fashioned inside a computer, each qubit is attached to some mechanism capable of transmitting electromagnetic energy to it. To run a particular program, the computer zaps the qubit with a carefully scripted sequence of, say, microwave transmissions, each at a certain frequency and for a certain duration. Those pulses amount to the “instructions” of the quantum program. Each instruction causes the unmeasured state of the qubit to evolve in a specific way.

These pulsing operations are done not just on one qubit but on all the qubits in the system, often with each qubit or group of qubits receiving a different pulsed “instruction.” The qubits in a quantum computer interact through a process known as entanglement, which, in a manner of speaking, links their fates. The important point here is that quantum researchers have figured out how to use these successive changes to the state of the qubits in the computer to perform useful computations.

A Peek Into Five Quantum Computers

Photo: Google

Google

Google is using superconducting quantum processors such as this design with its 22 qubit elements arranged in two rows.

Photo: IBM

IBM

This 16-qubit superconducting processor powers IBM’s publicly available platform for exploring quantum computing.

Photo: Intel

Intel

This past January, Intel announced the fabrication of a 49-qubit superconducting quantum-computing chip, dubbed Tangle Lake.

Photo: Shantanu Debnath

IonQ

In 2016, IonQ demonstrated a working 5-⁠qubit computer using lasers to manipulate ytterbium ions trapped in this device.

Photo: Rigetti

Rigetti

Rigetti, a Berkeley, Calif., startup, has recently begun fabricating 19-qubit superconducting processor chips.

Once the program is finished—thousands or even millions of pulses later—the qubits are measured to reveal the final result of the computation. Doing so causes each qubit to become either a 0 or a 1, the famous wave function collapse of quantum mechanics.

This would be a straightforward piece of engineering were it not for the fact that qubits must be kept isolated from even the most minute amount of outside interference, at least for as long as it takes for the computation to be completed. The difficulty of doing so is the main reason why, until a few years ago, the biggest quantum machines had only one or two dozen qubits and were capable of only the simplest arithmetic.

Because of all the noise that surrounds them, qubits tend to be error prone. To deal with this problem, quantum computers need to have extra qubits standing by as backups. If one qubit goes off-kilter, the system consults with the backups to restore the errant qubit to its proper state.

Such error correction occurs in regular computers too. But the number of required backups is much greater in quantum systems. Engineers estimate that for a reliable quantum computer, every qubit used might need 1,000 or more backups. Because many advanced algorithms require thousands of qubits to begin with, the total number of qubits necessary for a useful quantum machine, including those involved with error correction, could easily run into the millions.

Compare that with Google’s recently announced quantum-computing chip, which contains only 72 qubits. Just how valuable those qubits will prove to be for computation will depend on how error prone they are.

Work on Google’s quantum computer is spearheaded by a team hired en masse in 2014 from the University of California, Santa Barbara. And this past November, IBM announced that it had constructed a 50-qubit quantum computer. The two companies, along with Rigetti Computing, a startup in Berkeley, Calif., and Intel, which recently announced a 49-qubit array, rely on chips specially designed to have quantum properties by virtue of the superconducting circuit loops they contain. These chips must be kept at very low temperatures, necessitating elaborate cooling mechanisms that look like Hollywood sci-fi props and make for closet-size systems.

There is an entirely different quantum hardware architecture in which an actual quantum particle, an ion, is suspended in a system that runs at room temperature. IonQ, a startup in College Park, Md., cofounded by Duke University physicist Jungsang Kim and Christopher Monroe of the University of Maryland, is working to build a machine based on this approach, using ytterbium ions.

Microsoft is pursuing a third strategy, known as topological quantum computing. It holds theoretical promise, but no working hardware has yet been built.

None of those systems bears much resemblance to the quantum-related computer platform that has received the most publicity in recent years, from Canada’s D-Wave Systems. While D-Wave’s machines have been installed at such high-profile companies as Google and Volkswagen, a significant portion of the quantum research community views these devices with skepticism. Those scientists doubt that the D-Wave system will ever be able to do anything a traditional computer can’t, and indeed, they question whether it achieves any quantum speedup at all.

The Google-IBM-Rigetti superconducting strategy appears to be leading the hardware horse race, but it’s unclear yet what form of hardware will ultimately prove the most advantageous, or if all three approaches might end up coexisting. For their part, quantum programmers say they don’t care which design wins, as long as they get their qubits to play with.

One of the many unknowns about quantum computing is how rapidly the machines will be able to offer additional qubits. With traditional computer technology, Moore’s Law long guaranteed a doubling of transistor counts every two years or so. But because of the complex electronics associated with quantum machines, no such predictions are yet possible. Many engineers anticipate that for the intermediate future, we’ll be limited to machines with a relatively small number of qubits, perhaps in the few hundreds. Because bare-bones demonstrations of quantum supremacy probably can’t provide any useful results, and because mature systems are still many years away, engineers are focusing on algorithms that will work with the modestly sized quantum systems expected to be available in the near future.

The emerging consensus: While surprises are always possible, expect progress to be gradual.

“I don’t think anyone who claims that quantum computers will soon be able to solve real-world problems, or that you will be able to make any money with them, is being entirely honest,” says Wim van Dam, a physicist at UC Santa Barbara. “You’re going to need much bigger systems for those to happen. But that doesn’t mean that the field isn’t incredibly exciting right now.”

“I don’t think anyone who claims that quantum computers will soon be able to solve real-world problems…is being entirely honest”

In the two decades since MIT’s Shor developed his factoring algorithm, quantum computing has been closely linked with cryptography. But concern about broken Internet encryption has abated in recent years, partly because the quantum community realized that a Shor-⁠worthy machine is still a long way off and partly because of the rise of “postquantum cryptography” designed to be impervious to any form of quantum attack. Even now, NIST is evaluating various candidates for a postquantum cryptographic infrastructure.

Instead of being preoccupied with encryption, researchers these days tend to focus on using the machines to model atoms and molecules, in the spirit of Feynman’s original insight about quantum computing. Algorithms that simulate physics and chemistry are the most numerous in NIST’s Quantum Algorithm Zoo, and the payoffs could be substantial, researchers say. Imagine, for example, metals that are superconductive at close to room temperature.

Here, too, irrational exuberance should be avoided. Andrew Childs, a physicist and computer scientist at the University of Maryland, predicted that the first generation of quantum computers will be able to tackle only relatively simple physics and chemistry problems. “You can answer questions that people in the condensed-matter physics community would like to have the answer to with a reasonably small number of qubits,” he says. “But understanding high-temperature superconductivity, for example, is going to require many more.”

While researchers warn against excessive optimism about fresh-out-of-the-box quantum computers, they also don’t rule out the prospect of breakthroughs that will allow the machines to do much more with less. The more practice programmers get, the better their algorithms are likely to be, which is why IBM currently has its quantum machines online for researchers to tinker with.

“I could write down on this whiteboard the names of every single quantum algorithm researcher on the planet. And that’s a problem,” declares Chad Rigetti, of the eponymous Berkeley quantum-computing company. “We need more advances in algorithms, and having machines available for tens of thousands of students to learn on will help to catalyze the field.”

For their part, those students seem to relish being present at the dawn of a new era, with all its potential for surprising discoveries. Daniel Freeman, a physics graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley, says the fact that quantum machines are still in their very early days is a feature of the research field, not a bug.

“We’re essentially at the point that classical computing was at 100 years ago,” he says. “We’re not even at vacuum tubes yet. But I think that’s actually very cool.”

This article appears in the April 2018 print issue as “Quantum Computing: Both Here and Not Here.”

Quantum Computers Strive to Break Out of the Lab syndicated from https://jiohowweb.blogspot.com