#the site lags so much on my phone so i could do 4 before i got frustrated

[champion-of-love]

imagined a stardew valley x eah crossover and remembered that someone had made an amazing stardew valley portrait maker and had to try and make the vision i had in my head

[melrosing]

If you don’t mind me asking what were the symptoms of your dad’s tumor? I hope you and he are doing okay, thinking of you. X

Thank you anon, he’s doing really well out of surgery (the site of incision on his head is a faint line just two weeks on) and has recovered so much of himself ❤️ I am still feeling shit lol but better than before 👍🏻

I don’t mind you asking about the symptoms and to be honest they were very difficult to call so maybe it’s useful info bc all our theories were wrong.

“Dizzy spells” - The earliest sign was August last year when he suddenly felt extremely nauseous, dizzy, and though he could talk and walk it made him feel worse to do so. He could name the prime minister (and if u recall, in UK politics that was a tricky thing to do in summer 2022) and lift his arms, so we ruled out things like strokes, and figured it was some kind of vertigo?? Then the episode concluded and he went back to normal. That one lasted maybe 2 hours, but subsequently it was a steadily increasing number of similar episodes that lasted much shorter periods, i.e. seconds. We suggested he get it checked out but didn’t worry too much bc lots of people get “vertigo”. Anyway turns out these episodes were minor seizures, just with none of the trademarks that we recognised

Posture & Gait: suddenly his posture was awful?? Starting 4 months ago maybe. He was hunched over like a man in his eighties, and even when we tried to get him to stand up straight he physically couldn’t do it. He started dragging his feet a bit and navigating whilst walking suddenly became a conscious effort for him 2-3 months ahead of diagnosis. A week before diagnosis he fell and couldn’t arrange his limbs to get up again

Stamina & Fatigue: his stamina got steadily worse. I went to visit my parents a couple of times this year and we went for walks in the countryside, and vaguely registered that dad was lagging behind a bit. That got more and more noticeable until around July where he would be trudging by the end of a walk, and then a week before we got the diagnosis he could hardly manage 200 steps without intense fatigue. Also for months he was yawning and napping within a few hours of waking up and then all through the day. All the housework he did was done extremely poorly and he often left things in a mess bc he couldn’t find the energy to complete tasks

Voice: dad usually has a very powerful voice, but it was gradually thinning for months till he could barely raise it. He also was less open to conversation, because talking was suddenly an effort

Memory: this was really hard to spot for a long time, but a month or so ago he would occasionally get the day of the week wrong, and start prepping food he’d planned for Sunday on a Saturday. He kept buying milk even though they already had bottles. He wasn’t able to follow the precise nuances of a TV show (though he’d normally have no trouble with this). But long-term memory was absolutely fine, working memory was the problem and then not always

Mood: he wasn’t low exactly, but just kind of absent - and he’s usually very emotive. He didn’t engage with things he enjoys like usual. His friends couldn’t get him to chat for more than five mins on the phone, nothing really made him laugh anymore. When he really started deteriorating we were like ‘can you not understand how worried we are’ and he was just like :\ very dismissive like

Right-sided weakness: a week or so after my parents came back to stay w me I suddenly noticed my dad smiling w one side of his mouth which is not normal for him at all. He retained full control over his face but at that point we clocked there was a distinct right-side weakness and took him to A&E

I’m describing things in this longwinded way because I think it was hard for us to name what we were seeing for a long time, especially when the changes happened so gradually. At some point or another whilst desperately googling his symptoms I did see ‘brain tumour’ pop up but I dismissed it bc:

He had no headaches or indeed any pain at all. He had nausea occasionally but apart from the first episode it was never protracted

His vision was fine

The seizures didn’t look like what I thought seizures were (no twitching or blackouts etc)

The memory issues were not obvious, he’d follow a recipe fine and not miss any steps etc

He wasn’t having any real speech/language difficulties

Mood/personality changes weren’t obvious, he was just more subdued

I think if there had been any fucking results on google telling me what these ‘dizzy spells’ actually were we might have got somewhere a little sooner (for whatever that would’ve been worth), and if I had known how variable the symptoms of a brain tumour can be depending on where the thing is…. etc etc. a lot of things feel painfully obvious in hindsight but they weren’t at the time: GPs and paramedics both were fixated on neuromuscular issues. But yeah tumours present in complex ways, I think (hope) that the reason we found dad’s so hard to define is because it’s actually in a pretty good spot (as these things go) where it wasn’t really affecting his functions till it was the size of a small satsuma. anyway there you go that’s what happened

[lucy-travels]

6 mistakes I’ve already made in New Zealand

6 is a weird number, I know but, I tried to think of 10 and realised that I’ve done pretty well so far, to say that I didn’t really know what I was doing when I came out travelling here in New Zealand.

I’ve only been here for just over a week so I think 6 mistakes is great. But these are tiny things that most people probably wouldn’t even think of so don’t follow in my footsteps and read this post on what NOT to do!

1. Planning my flight to get in at midnight

This was probably the worst of the mistakes I have made throughout this whole post which is why I have placed it first to make sure you don’t do this.

The thing is with getting an international flight into a foreign country isn’t just the fact that you’re going to be knackered in general but it all the things you have to do whilst you’re knackered. For example: after collecting my bag from the conveyor belt and getting through customs I then had to order a taxi. I chose Uber as I thought that this would be the safest way to travel to my hostel. It’s tracked and you can clearly see who’s picking you up. This leads me to another mistake I made. We’ll call this mistake #1.5.

1.5. Cards/ travel cash cards

Make sure your travel cash card or credit card that you were going to use in your new country is attatched to your phone already! Mine wasn’t and I was paying for my taxi ride + all sorts of bananas and breakfast stuff for the next day with my Apple Pay alread set up wth my British bank and god knows how much they charged me for using that!

1. Back to number one

So, as I was saying I was incredibly tired and I got to my first hostel at around 1:30am. I’d never been in a hostel before and I was lugging around my big backpack, along with my carry on. Luckily I let the hostel know that I was going to be late checking in and someone was there at reception helping me check in. But the real problem began with the room as it was pitch black and I didn’t want to wake any of my roomates up with noise that I was making! I had to rustle through my bag to find my toiletries and then had to take everything out so I could find my PJ’s and clothes for the next day as I did not want to have to repeat my actions again in the morning.

Tired and jet-lagged I went into the shared toilet and got myself sorted only having to go back in the room and make my bed. Nightmare. It felt like one thing after another. Trust me when I say that arriving in your hostel at midnight is the worst. I definitely did not make friends that night. I only got about 2/3 hours of sleep that night as I was due to be picked up by a tour bus at 7! I think I’m only just shaking off the bags under my eyes from then.

2. Not checking if I need a Visa

I bet you’re thinking - Lucy this is probably the first thing I would’ve checked, and you’d be right to think that as I did the same. As soon as I booked my flights to New Zealand back in March I did exactly that as I checked all the countries I was planning on flying to including NZ. The government site told me that there was no Visa required for a British citizen to enter the country and so I went on with my travel plans not thinking of that as an issue again.

Fast-forward to October 12th. I’m at the check-in desk at Manchester airport with a huge grin on my face and the lady saw where I was flying to and asked me if I’ve got my Visa. I said no, with confidence, and there becomes my issue. “No problem” she says, “just buy one online now and it might come through today”. MIGHT. You can tell that I massively panicked on the inside and held the tears in, thinking that I wasn’t organised and made a mistake. I mean, I literally wasn’t even a big deal as it only took like 5 mins for the e-mail confirmation to come through but after months of planning you wouldn’t think the last thing to get for the trip wouldn’t be at the 11th hour at the check-in desk.

So, moral of the story is double check EVERYTHING. I don’t care if you got confirmation of your hotel reservation months ago. Check again just in case you got the wrong date or the wrong room. Check to see if you need a Visa the week before you leave for your trip just in case they change the regulations like mine did! October 1st 2019 they changed the regulations... 11 days out. Bloody typical.

3. Not asking for a window seat

I’m the type of passenger who likes their room. I’m an aisle seater because I like to stretch out and go to the toilet without having to ask the person next to me to get up. But in this instance I was on the 2nd leg of my flights and I got an aisle seat, however I knew I wanted to sleep on this flight and it would’ve been much more comfy if I was leaning against the side of the plane. What did actually end up happening is that I fell asleep on the aisle seat and the two guys next to me we’re pretty much bursting for the loo and didn’t want to wake me. Bless them. They pretty much charged passed me as soon as I woke up. I don’t blame them. But also, as I was asleep I was being knocked by all the trolleys and cabin crew down the aisle so I really didn’t get a decent night sleep. If I had just asked to switch I’m sure they would have obliged as I think the aisle is the favourite. 

4. Not bringing enough warm clothing

This is a big one as well! Why did I think going to New Zealand in the Spring time would mean sun all the time. It doesn’t. So far I’ve spent most of my time in my one jumper I brought with me and my leggings. Not once have I worn my shorts as it’s just too bloody cold for that. And I’m in the North island! I can’t imagine how cold it is down South.

I pretty much packed 5 t-shirts and 2 long-sleeved t-shirts (just in case it was cold 🙄) and about 12 vest tops. What an idiot. I’ve already done a load of washing since that’s all I’ve worn. Gloves and hats have also been worn so don’t underestimate a well-known warm (kind of) country being flipping freezing most of the time.

5. Bringing too much cash

It’s always good to bring a load of cash because you never know when you’ll need it. Most places take card these days but a lot of the time there’s the option of paying cash. I found myself using my travel cash card more than anything as it’s obviously the most efficient way for me to pay my accomodation on my phone and activities I was doing. So, I saw my balance going down on my card and I still had a load of cash that I just couldn’t really use for any of the common things I was paying for. So I’m kinda trying to use up my cash so I don’t have loads to carry around with me and to make me feel better about not seeing my bank balance decrease severely each week. Really, I think cash should be used in emergencies. There’s not really a time you’d need unless you were somewhere remote but, it is a good idea to keep hold of some.

6. Not bringing talcum powder to the beach

I think this is a widely know travel tip now but if you don’t know here we go. I was at Hot Water Beach, Hahei a couple days ago and we got the chance to dig a hole in the sand and relax in the hot bath it created from the water. It was such a relaxing experience however, afterward standing up in the cold wind, sand flying everywhere and feeling the sand in your bikini bottoms from the bath it was the most uncomfortable experience as everywhere hurt! Now, if I had talcum powder with me I could’ve covered myself in it which dries up all the moisture on my body, allowing the sand to fall off easy. I had to sit on a bus for 30mins with the sticky sand on my body, itching me. When I could’ve used talc and felt relaxed. Good tip.

Those were my top 6 mistakes I’ve made already in New Zealand and I’m sure there’s loads more to come. I hope this had helped you see the small details of travelling and how to avoid these mistakes. If you’d like to comment or give me a dm I’d love to hear your thoughts on what you want to know whilst I’m out here!

[dacreskars]

It’s Complicated (Part 6)

Trevante Rhodes x Reader

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 7  Part 8 Part 9

“How long are all of you staying?” You ask your dad, Darius and Ty.

“Damn you tryna get rid of us already we ain’t even been in LA 24 hours.” Ty laughs.

“No I was just asking.”

It was the morning after your party and your family came over to your house for breakfast.

“It’s actually perfect that you guys are here. I’m leaving for Paris in a couple of days for work and if y’all don’t mind would you please stay a couple extra days. I’m pretty sure Roman will need the help since he has to work too and I don’t want to keep putting Kayla off on his sister. You don’t have to if it interferes with anything I just thought I’d ask since you were here.”

“Of course you think I’d say no to spending time with my munchkin.” Your dad says.

“Girl you know we gotchu.” Ty added on.

“Also if you want you can stay here so you don’t have to stay in a hotel the whole time.” You say

Everyone was sitting at the table eating their food and talking about last night. Roman’s phone started to ring and he got up from the table to answer it , minute later he came back.

“I have to go pick up Junior from his moms I’ll be back.” He tells you leaving.

When he leaves you continue your conversation about last night and eventually you and Ty start cleaning up, soon Roman comes in with his son. Since he was asleep Roman took him up stairs. Your dad and your brother were on the couch watching tv and Ty sat at the table with Kayla as she was slowly falling asleep. You figured this would be the perfect time to start packing for Paris you go to your room and start picking out clothes.

“What are you doing.” Roman asks entering your closet.

“Packing.”

“I see that but why you don’t leave for a couple of days.”

“Because if I don’t do it now it’s not gonna get done until the day I leave and I really don’t need that stress.”

As you packed Ty, your dad and Darius went back to the hotel. They were gonna stay another night before coming back to your place to stay while you were in Paris.

Your alarm went off waking you, you turn over and see Kayla, Roman and Junior still sleeping. You get out of bed and get ready trying not to wake them up. Dress and ready to go you take your bags and make your way out of the room when you hear Roman’s voice.

“So you just gon leave without saying by or nothing.”

You laugh and walk to him kissing him on the lips.

“Bye baby! I’ll call you when I land and I’ll see you when I get back.”

“Love you.”

“Love you too.” You say walking out.

You struggled down the stairs with your suitcase and bags when your dad appeared and ran to help you. You put your bags by the front door and sat on the stairs with your dad waiting on the car that Ava sent to pick you up.

“Y/N I’m so proud of you and you’ve accomplished so much over the last few years. I know your mother would be proud of you too.” Your dad says grabbing your hand.

“I’m doing this all for her, she wanted wanted me to do what I love and I’m doing exactly that. I have everything I’ve always wanted and more.”

You hear a car honk out front and grab your bags to leave. Your dad followed behind putting everything in the trunk. You hug him before getting in the car and he closes the door. You were the first to make it to the private jet as you waited for Ava and Maya to arrive. 20 minutes go by when you hear “Good Morning Mrs.Rhodes.” Ava steps onto the plane and greets you just as you were about to sit down Trevante comes in. He flashes a smile and says hello and you hesitantly say hi back.

“Where’s Maya I thought she was coming with us?” You questioned.

“Something came up so she’s flying out tomorrow.” Ava responds. “I don’t know about y’all but I’m tired as hell so I’m gonna be in the back.” Ava says walking to the bedroom.

Once she was in the room Trevante sat across from you. Just when he started to speak your phone began to ring and you saw that it was Roman trying to FaceTime you.

“Hey baby!” You answer.

“Hey you haven’t left yet?”

“No we’re getting ready to in a couple of minutes, what’s up?”

“Nothing we just wanted to wish you a safe flight.” He says putting the camera on Kayla and Jr.

As you talked to Roman you could feel Trevante staring at you.

“We’re about to take off I’ll call you when we land. Love you.” You wave and kiss at Kayla before hanging up.

“He seems like a pretty nice dude.” Trevante says.

“Because he is...unlike you.”

“What happened to our truce? I’m just trying to make conversation.”

As much as you wanted to hate him you told yourself that you’ve moved on and you’re over it.

“Fine what do you want to talk about?” You ask.

“I don’t know. Um how have you been? It’s been a while since we’ve actually talked I a lot has happened since you know.”

“Yeah. I’ve been great actually...being a mom changes you a lot my daughter is my whole world ever since I had her I have this love that I’ve never felt before for another person.”

“I can imagine. I’ve always wanted kids but Ava’s not ready for that yet, hopefully it happens soon.”

You and Trevante spent the first two hours of the flight talking until you fell asleep. When you woke up Trevante was gone, you looked at the monitor and saw there was only an hour left until you land.

You check into your hotel room and get settled before calling Roman to tell him you made it. You fell asleep and were suddenly woken up by your phone ringing. It was Ava telling you about the plans for tomorrow and where to meet up in the morning. Setting your alarm you go back to sleep and wake up the next morning to meet Ava.

After spending all day at The Lourve and the Eiffel Tower shooting you go back to your hotel. As you walk to the elevator you see Maya checking in she turns around and you call her name.

“Maya!”

“Y/N hey girl!”

“Are you just getting here?”

“Yeah and I’m jet lagged as fuck. I’m about to go to my room and pass out.”

“Same I’ve been out all day and I’m still on Cali time.”

“Did I miss anything?” Maya asks as you get in the elevator.

“Nah not really. Same shit different country.” You laugh

As the elevator doors open both of you say goodnight and Maya gets out and goes to her room. You go to your room and call Roman but he didn’t answer you look at the time and realized that he was at work so you FaceTime Ty. She answered the phone and you could hear Kayla and Darius in the background. She turns the camera and you can see Darius, Kayla and Jr watching cartoons. You talk to them before you tell Ty to go to another room so you can talk to her. You tell her about Trevante coming to Paris and your conversation on the plane.

“Just don’t do anything stupid Y/N.”

“I won’t I just wish he wasn’t here I mean I don’t have a problem with it it’s just weird even though it shouldn’t and I know I don’t need to be saying this but whenever we do talk it’s like how we use to be.”

“Don’t let him get to you, it’ll be fine.”

“I hope so. Anyways I’m about to go to bed I’m exhausted and I have to be up early.” You say.

You hang up and suddenly felt hungry when you realized after running around all day you hadn’t had a chance to actually eat anything. Changing your clothes you go downstairs to the hotel restaurant when you arrive you’re escorted to a small table. The host gives you a menu to look at and seconds later your waiter arrives asking if you wanted anything to drink while you decide what you want. You asked for a glass of wine and your waiter leaves while you look over the menu. Minutes go by and the waiter appears with your drink and you order something.

Once you were done you go to the bar you spot Trevante on the other side of the bar and hope he doesn’t see you. You order a drink and turn around when you hear your name. Trevante stood in front of you smiling you turn back around and grab your drink.

“Good evening!” He says.

“Hey.”

“You down here alone?”

“Yup. What about you?”

“Yeah.”

“Where’s Ava.” You ask taking a sip of your drink.

“She went to the room.”

“Oh...well have a good night.”

You leave out the restaurant to go outside and Trevante follows.

“Shouldn’t you be upstairs with Ava?” You asked.

“I should but she wants to be alone and you look like you could use the company.”

You hesitate but agree to let him come along with you. As you walk outside the night breeze hits you making you a little relaxed. Not wanting it to be any more awkward than it was you start to talk.

“I don’t mean to sound rude or anything but why are you here.”

“To keep you company.”

“No not that. Why are you here in Paris? You never come on business trips now all of a sudden your tagging along.”

“If you must know Ava and I are having some problems and I thought coming here with her would show her how much I’m committed to our marriage. But I don’t really think it’s working every time we go a moment to ourselves she has to take a call or she wants to be alone.”

“What happened tonight?” You asked as you and Trevante walked down the street.

“We were having dinner and she decided she would rather work than spend some time with me.”

The two of you fall silent and take in the sites around you. Trevante decided to change the subject to talk about you.

“So when are you getting married?”

“Roman and I haven’t set a date yet but I know I want a summer wedding so sometime next year hopefully.”

“Cool. How did you two meet? If you don’t mind me asking.”

“Believe it or not Roman is the guy that stood me up the night we met.” You laugh. “The morning after everything between us ended I ran into him and here we are.”

“Engaged and you have a kid! I’m happy for you Y/N, you might not think that but I really am.” Trevante says as you stop to look at him.

“Thanks.”

You look at your phone to see what time it was. Realizing how late it was getting you and Trevante go back to the hotel. Both of you get into the elevator and you push your floor number and Trevante pushed his.

“Are you going to the party tomorrow?” You asked.

“What party?”

“The magazine is throwing a party at some castle tomorrow night I thought you knew about it.”

“No Ava didn’t say anything. If she wants me to I might be there if not I’ll be here or on a plane back home.”

The elevator stops and you get off waving bye to Trevante as the doors closed and you went to your room.

The next day you sat in Maya’s room helping help choose a dress to wear. After trying on ten different dresses Maya finally picked one. With only a couple hours left until the party you go back to your room, shower and do your hair. As you did your make up Maya showed up to your room dressed and s few minutes you were ready to go and you left for the party.

You and Maya had been at the party for almost two hours before you noticed that you hadn’t seen Ava. You thought maybe she and Trevante stayed at the hotel or went back home so you continued to enjoy the party. As a waiter walked pass with a tray of drinks you grabbed one and as he moved pass the crowd you see Ava. She walks to you and hugs you.

“When did you get here?” You ask.

“A few minutes ago. Couldn’t decide what to wear so it took me a little longer to get here.”

“You look amazing.”

“You too!”

Another waited walks by with a tray of drinks and Ava grabs one. She takes a sip while looking across the room intensely and you look in the direction that she’s looking to see Trevante across the room talking with someone. Ava rolls her eyes and looks back at you, Maya steps between you and Ava and greets her. The three of you talk for a while before you excuse yourself to go to the bathroom. You spent a few minutes looking for the bathroom before you ask someone where it was, they told you upstairs and you made your way up the stairs.

Walking out of the bathroom you bump into someone. As you apologize you notice that it’s Trevante.

“You look nice Y/N!”

“Thank you!”

Trevante puts his hands around your waist and pulls you into the bathroom. Before you could process what was happening he had you on the counter kissing you roughly. His hands were on your thighs and slowly made their way to your back. He put one hand around your neck while the other remained on your back. You were interrupted by someone knocking on the door. Trevante put his hand over you mouth and told the person that the bathroom was occupied. You push Trevante off of you and walk out of the bathroom running down the stairs and leaving the party to go back to the hotel.

Taglist: @kangchalla @yaachtynoboat711 @desireatatyana @alexundefined @lifelover4u @forbeautyandlife @janelledarling @chaneajoyyy @trevantesbrat @mebeingme1234 @missmohnique @leahnicole1219

[gwentoryfics]

okay thank you all for bearing with me this week 💕 i’m going to do a little summary of my adventures & the nct 127 concert after the cut (don’t want to take up too much blog space with this stuff since this is technically a pentagon blog). i should be pretty much back on track on monday, since i’m going to be traveling again this weekend.

if you don’t want to read below the cut: i’ve driven 24+ hrs for the sake of kpop and have 13 more to go, the concert was awesome AND i got offered the job that i’ve wanted.

yes, you read that right 24+ hours of driving. i moved to wisconsin about six months ago, but my best friend still lives in pennsylvania (where i’m from). so yes, i could have gone to the nct concert in chicago, but i drove all the way to pa (13 hours) so that i could take my friend to the concert in new jersey (which was another 4 hour drive). FRIENDSHIP.

she & i got to newark like 30 minutes before the concert started, got to the prudential center like 3 minutes before the concert started, and stood outside for like 10 minutes waiting for the freaking mobile tickets to load on my phone. cricket wireless sucks lmao but lesson learned: always load up your tickets at the hotel BEFORE you get to the venue.

thankfully we didn’t miss anything because they started about 10 minutes after 8pm. we had pretty good seats too, directly across from the stage and not too far back. i think they were technically p3 seats? i don’t remember.

the boys opened with cherry bomb, and each member got a little introductory dance break throughout the song. i don’t remember the rest of the song order, but they had a fantastic set list. there was a portion of the concert that was ballads & more mellow songs, and i nearly cried when they sang “no longer.” it’s not one i listen to very often, but i’ve never witnessed such heartfelt, vulnerable vocals live. it was so powerful and doyoung & taeil just simply amazed me with their talent (the other boys too, of course, but the two of them particularly stood out to me with the raw strength of their live vocals). 

they also premiered three new songs from their upcoming album and i’m so stoked for the new music to come out next month!! “jet lag,” “highway to heaven,” and “superhuman.” it was so cute - after “jet lag,” they paused to talk a little, and haechan said something to the audience to the extent of “that was so nice, didn’t it almost feel like we went on a date together?” and all of the other guys were like SDLKFJINIO STOP IT HAECHAN. 

after two hours, they wrapped up and said “we have just two songs left!” but of course everyone knows there’s going to be an encore. still, i saw people leaving after the boys left the stage, which was crazy to me. because once the boys came back, they premiered “highway to heaven” and “superhuman,” and i think they did some other songs too? WAIT after they did “superhuman” the oldest members went to get changed again while the younger members talked with us about the album. then the younger members changed while the older members did a contest to see who we thought was the coolest member lmao basically the whole encore added an extra 45-50 minutes of content. SO DON’T MISS IT.

anyway, the concert was incredible and nct 127 is so so talented and they all did such a good job with their english, too. they clearly put in a lot of work for this concert and i appreciate their dedication so much. 💕

after the concert my friend and i drove through the sketchiest part of newark to try to go to ihop, but ended up not eating there because it seemed so unsafe lmao probably the most stressful part of the trip.

yesterday after we left our hotel, we made a short trip to NYC even though we tell ourselves every single time that we’re not going to go into the city again. BUT there’s a kpop store and i wanted albums mwahaha (and also i needed more face powder from innisfree). i purchased the new stray kids & the new pentagon albums, and i’ll probably post some photos/videos of genie:us later. i’m so in love with it lol

got back to my house last night, and i have to drive another 3 hours today to get my friend back to her home. then i’m going to spend some quality time with my parents tomorrow, and on sunday my boyfriend, dog, and I are all piling into the car and making the 13 hour drive back to wisconsin. 

WAIT AND I FORGOT THE BIGGEST NEWS

I GOT THE JOB

AHHHHHH

there’s this healthcare software company that i applied to work for back in november. they had a technical writer position open (basically someone who writes documentation, nothing creative). i applied and got rejected after a phone interview. okay, whatever.

end of january, i decide to try applying again. i had added some freelance writing experience to my resume and i hoped that might help my chances. this time i was invited on-site for an interview. i think that happened towards the end of february? they said “we’ll let you know one way or the other in two weeks.”

two weeks passes, then another week, and another week. i kept getting in touch with my hr contact about it and she said over and over “i’m so sorry, we don’t have an answer yet but i’ll let you know as soon as we do.” okay, cool. i’ll be patient.

in the mean time, i took a job doing copy writing for a small marketing company. the healthcare software company finally got back to me at the beginning of april, saying that it’s a no this time. 

then last week, my roommate (my bf and i live with one of our friends) said he’s basically being forced to move to dubai for work, which means he can’t help us out with rent anymore, which means that my copy writing job will no longer be sustainable. i freaked out because now i have less than a month to get something figured out before he moves.

so i emailed my hr rep at the healthcare software company, saying ‘hey you considered me for a quality assurance position too, is there any chance that could work out since the writing position is a no go?’

and she got back to me this past monday saying ‘oh hey we actually just got approval to bring on more writers and we were talking about offering you the job. can i call you to chat about the details?’

UH YES OF COURSE YOU CAN

she offered me the technical writing job that afternoon, and i accepted wednesday morning. i’ll be making more than enough to support me and my bf (who can’t work right now due to a yet-to-be-diagnosed mystery illness - that sounds sassy but i swear it’s not, he’s actually very sick). i can actually afford rent and food for both of us and it’s like a huge weight has been lifted off of my shoulders.

i don’t start until the beginning of june, but i am so so so excited. i can’t believe that i can actually make a living wage doing something with writing. 

this ended up being way longer than i intended, and i don’t expect any of you to actually read this brain dump. i just wanted to share all of the fantastic things that are happening right now 💕

[bts-love-sweat-tears]

Julie’s Love Yourself Concert Diary

Concert Date: September 29, 2018

Written: September 30, 2018

Warnings: I curse more than I should?

Words: 3,330ish-added a few  things at the last minute (phew!)

A/N:

[Update: Tumblr couldn’t upload all my photos that I spent awhile choosing and placing, so I’m going to have to pare it down. Sorry bbs! I opted to cut my personal & merch photos in favor of the boys]

So I have one thousand and one things I should be working on-for school, for work, for my eventual job hunt. But instead I am going to write about last night’s experience while it was still fresh in my mind. I was thinking of doing a song-by-song play-by-play, but you can look up the setlist on Wikipedia, so instead I am going to talk about the things that jumped out at me. WARNING: This is essentially one giant spoiler, so I will try to put a “Read More” cut, though it’s been being weird for me lately. So scroll carefully if you’re going to a later date and don’t want to know. All photos taken on my (now ancient) iPhone 6, so I tried to choose the best ones). Will edit as I see typos I made.

I’m a little nervous since I usually write fiction instead of sharing my personal experience. Anyway, full disclosure that this is just my perspective, and I’m (always) happy to discuss things (civilly) if you disagree with me.  <3  Photos and opinions are mine.- please don’t re-post anywhere else.

The Background/ Pulling a Namjoon and Leaving my Ticket at Home

Even though I was going to the Saturday show, I flew into LaGuardia using frequent flyer miles on Friday morning. I was staying with a friend in Queens, so I went straight to her apartment. I’m a grad student as most of you probably know at this point, so I spent most of Friday working on a paper that was due. I had two friends I met at last year’s concert going to the Friday concert, and they went for merch promptly at 9, but I had just arrived and had a deadline to meet for school.  Around 4:30PM, I decided that I was done for the day and opened Ticketmaster to print my ticket for the next day’s show. When I logged in, I saw the notice that the ticket had been mailed to me. I remembered having seen that when I bought the ticket in May, but in my defense I was jet-lagged and ill on that day. Furthermore, I moved to and from NYC in that time for a summer internship, and SO MUCH HAD HAPPENED. The tickets had been mailed while I was living here and I had never seen them, so somehow it slipped my mind. Obviously I lived too far away, but I didn’t know if I could express overnight them, but I think when I called Ticketmaster, the old ones were deactivated when the guy tried to send me the link.

Anyway, print at home was not an option, so I called Ticketmaster and in a panic explained my situation. They said it happened all the time and offered to send me a link. Luckily I kept the rep on the line, because it turned out that even they couldn’t email a link because of the anti-scalpers/fraud/whatever.

Then the rep said that I could show the credit card, but I had literally cut it up the week prior since the Vendor (e.g. the store that the card was through) had switched their card to a different bank (e.g. Visa to Mastercard), so I seemed shady af, even though I was telling the truth. He said as long as I had a login to a statement showing the transaction (I didn’t, since they had opted to close the account at an institutional level).  So I called my mom frantically, and luckily she is the hyper-organized type who keeps paper copies of everything and sent them to me. Seriously, Mom for the win!  I run to this print shop as it’s closing and print everything out.  I had the Ticketmaster receipt & order #, and two photo ID’s confirming my address. The guy said it should be fine, but I was on the verge of a mental breakdown. This was my one birthday gift and something I had been looking forward to for months. Anyway, my friend and I went out to a local bar near the Halsey (yes, the singer took her name from the station) stop on the L line, and I was super anti-social because I was so upset. I also burst a blood vessel in my eye  (it will heal, no worries) because of too much birthday partying the prior weekend, so I’m sure I was a (sour) sight to behold.

I slept poorly for obvious reasons, and left the apartment around 7AM, and arrived to Prudential center around 8:30ish. There were only a few people outside of will call, but the GA line was already wrapped around the building. I made small talk with people outside of the box office, and one woman told me she had gotten soundcheck both days. Seriously, what kind of karma do I need for that to happen to me? She and her friends had been camping out since Thursday, and they were SUPER organized: while she waited in line, one was at merch, and someone else was holding their GA site. I almost wondered if they were a fansite or something. ARMY are a truly organized bunch (except for me, clearly).

Anyway, after another half hour of pure anxiety, they opened up will call and I was panicking, but they were really helpful and gave me my ticket after I verified the order number, showed my id and confirmed some other personal data. I decided then and there that nothing else mattered and I was just happy to be there and be in.

Waiting in line/Logistics/Staff

I left the box office, and got into the GA line. It was probably around 9:15, and the line had already doubled-back on itself all the way around the building. The woman from earlier told me that her friend had got #1000 and was only 3 rows back, so I still had some hope. Basically, you line up to get your spot in line- though it’s kinda dumb that you have to line up twice, it makes security go faster and guarantees that there isn’t a huge surge/stronger people cutting  in line later.

I wore what I thought were my most comfortable shoes, but after standing on concrete for hours, I don’t think it makes a difference. People were so friendly though-  I never once felt awkward even though I was by myself. The same was true last year- the friends who had gone up for merch on Friday I met while in line at last years’ Wings concert. I chatted with people around me, drank the two bottles of water I had, and looked at my phone. Bring an umbrella for shade and sunscreen though-I didn’t and am rocking a nice farmers burn/tan today.  It wasn’t humid though, and it wasn’t raining, so it could have been so much worse.

Even though there were tons of people, everyone was well-behaved. I didn’t see any altercations, though as the day went on the staff seemed a bit overwhelmed with crowd control.  I didn’t see too many people selling unofficial merch like last year, though I did buy a few necklaces (Joon and Chim, ofc).

After 3.5 hours, I finally got my wristband. They told us to be back by 2pm to line up for real, as they were going to try to open the doors at 3 instead of 3:30 (didn’t end up happening).

Merch

I then ran to merch, but there wasn’t much left. The fans/pickets were selling out as I got in line, and people were basically yelling “NOOOOOOOO” everytime the staff put up a “SOLD OUT” sticker. I bought what I could that was left, including a bracelet, which I’m actually in love with, the eco-tote (super overpriced tbh, $50 for a canvas bag), but the shopper bags were gone and I needed something to carry the box and batteries V3 ARMY Bomb I bought. I had one from last year that I also forgot, but I think the new version was cool because they are synced up with the music so you can change colors and patterns along with everyone else. Overall, it’s EXPEN$$$$IVE, but if anyone’s worth it, it’s Bangtan.

Newark

I was getting super tired after this, so I kinda passed on the photo studio table, big poster, and UNICEF stuff. I tried to go to Starbucks, but even though it was the middle of the day, I didn’t feel that safe, even though it was like 11:45 in the middle of the day. I’m a 27 year old who’s lived in Latin America (which is generally stereotyped for violence), solo traveled around the world, and I’m from the Rust Belt (aka home of true urban decay), but that part of Newark sketched me the heck out. Probably it would have been fine, but I opted for caution, and went to a Dunkin Donuts and empanada place right around the corner. The timing was actually good since we had to get back pretty quickly to line back up.

The second line was where the staff struggled, telling people to back up and get in order, but it seemed like staff were doing different things. Plus, if they wanted people to back up, they should have created room at the back first, before telling the front to basically “back that ass up” on the people behind them.

GA vs. Seated

I can say this- if you are short, you probably want a seat. Or if you have any kind of knee, back, or joint problems- I stood for approximately 14 straight hours on concrete yesterday. I am just under 5”5” but I was probably one of the taller people in the crowd, so I had a pretty good view. Even though they asked people to not take videos or record, you WILL be looking through a sea of cell phones. I could see pretty well, but sometimes when they were on the main stage I had a hard time seeing around other people’s arms.

Last time I had P2 seated, and the view was wonderful. I went to the bathroom, charged my phone, and ate nachos (lol), so it was generally a more chill experience. I was still super close but up a little higher and could see absolutely everything. But last night I was SO close I could see Joon’s dimples irl, and got splashed by both Jungkook and J-Hope when they threw the water bottles.  Probably 100 people think this, but I’m also pretty sure Yoongi  (and maybeeee Jimin) saw me jumping and singing along like crazy since I was one of the taller people. At the very least, Yoongi keep looking in the general direction I was in. Ofc I looked gross af with my messed up eye and crazy hair, but what I loved about the concert is that I was 100% able to forget all the insecurities I carry around with me on a day to day basis and have an AMAZING time.

Of course the whole place is crazy high energy, but I feel like last night was INSANELY high. I’m not sure if it was the overall vibe or if that was the GA influencing my opinion.  It just depends on what kind of experience you want to have. Also, if you are claustrophobic, you should probably pass on GA. The guards kept forcing people to back up, at one point even coming in with a flashlight, and people would surge forward whenever a member came close. But someone said the night before was chill, so maybe it’s just luck of the draw.

The Show

The show was absolutely amazing. They opened with IDOL, which got people hyped from the get-go. Their dancing was ON POINT as always. People were chanting during the intro videos and chatting as it filled in, so it was a great vibe once again- just super happy feeling. The audio visual part was AMAZING, though I’m no pro, and I loved all of the concert outfits, especially Jimin’s super sparkly sweater. Lots of jumping, and lots of screams. I didn’t have earplugs and was fine, but if you’re sensitive to loud sounds I definitely recommend them. ISTG I remembered hearing a mashup of FIRE, but maybe not? Wikipedia seems to think not. But they played a few older ones too, which made me so soft and nostalgic.

More on the members during the concert

Kim Namjoon

Ok, this is so so so biased, let me start with that. If you’ve followed me for any amount of time, you know how much I love this man. Seeing him smiling and happy was amazing. And they had a professional translator for this concert, so I felt like Joon was able to relax a little and enjoy himself instead of worrying about translating for everyone else.  He is just as tall and proportional as everyone says he is.  Everyone talks about how soft he is these days (and I love it), but he has undeniable charisma when he raps. Plus him in sunglasses, ddaeng. Seeing him so close was akin to something spiritual for me (I SAW THE DIMPLES WITH MY OWN EYES), as were people shouting along with him to “Love.” At the end, he commented how we were all sharing the same air, and hearing him think the way (I know at least some of ) us think was so heartwarming.  

Also during some of the videos, there were some NOT AT ALL subtle Minjoon moments.  

Kim Seokjin

The crowd last night ADORED Jin and gave him all the attention he deserves to have all the time. People were chanting his name SO LOUDLY during instrumental breaks in Epiphany. His voice was phenomenal, particularly the high notes. it’s clear how hard he’s worked to make it sound so effortless.  I noticed that people weren’t moving as much during some of his notes and I can only think it’s because we were literally transfixed. It’s well established, but I don’t think this man has any bad angles. Even in the still pictures I took while dancing, he DOESN’T look awkward in any of them. #impossible.

Min Yoongi

Suga was clearly happy about something last night- he was SO cute and happy. Other ARMY on the train back to the city agreed with me. His rapping was fire (duh), but he was really smiley and took out his earpiece a number of times to hear us screaming. “Seesaw” starts with him laying on a couch and I can think of no better way to capture his true soul (lol). He was extra attentive to fans, and  I feel like what Tae mentioned in Burn the Stage, he was trying to memorize ARMY’s faces and live in the moment. I felt bad because there were clearly parts where he wanted us to sing along, but we couldn’t necessarily keep up with his tongue technology :P  But people definitely tried their best.  

Jung Hoseok

Idk what I can say here that’s new. J-Hope is one of the most charismatic members on the stage. And there’s something in the American air that turns him into Jay Hope. Seriously, he’s hard to move your eyes away from. “Just Dance” was the first solo track if I remember correctly and he did not disappoint. His glasses at the end were adorable, and one of the other members called him a “happy grandfather” or something like that.  Seriously, if you’re still sleeping on Hobi, we can’t be friends.  

Park Jimin

Jimin was ethereal as always, and the choreography for Serendipity was…..salacious, to say the least. Like if you thought the “Take Me Down” cover from last year’s Festa was too much, then idk what to tell you. Bring holy water or something. Despite  the free water that fans were providing to others (ARMY are seriously the best) there was a different kind of thirst occurring, if you smell what I’m stepping in. Jimin is pure charisma, like J-Hope. Obviously their styles are totally different, but when they move, you stop whatever you’re doing and watch. Again, I didn’t even see many ARMY bombs moving during Serendipity- I think we were too entranced. I personally thought that he killed his vocals and did great, but he seemed a little tired or like he was working hard at it. Jimin was also the one (at least that I saw from my angle) that got the closest to the fans, crouching down and leaning over the teleprompters/fans/lights/ whatever the black boxes were at the edge of the stage.

Similar to Tae and Yoongi, I saw him looking at fans A LOT during the show. He was exactly how he seems in V Lives and cameras, and I’m fairly certain I would spontaneously combust if I ever ran into him irl (even if I didn’t know who he was)- he just radiates warmth and friendliness. Seriously, if I believed in magic, I feel like he would be able to influence people’s emotions.

Kim Taehyung

So many fic writers have this ultra primal (for lack of a better word?) for Tae, but all I see is a cute sweetheart. Obviously I’ve never seen someone create as much tension with their own arm as he does during Singularity, but when he’s not dancing, I just got a super innocent, cutesy vibe from him. His voice was so smooth last night. I mean, I knew, but now I KNOW.  He actually was shooting hearts at one fan (how lucky they are), and pretended to fall down when they shot him back! They were further back in P2 as well so he really does work hard at paying attention to everyone. He actually called over another member (maybe Yoongi or Jimin? I was too busy trying to remember how to breathe, to see whatever he was seeing).

At the end he whipped a heart out of his beanie (how I pray to god someone got that moment on camera) a la Jin. He just seemed really comfortable in his own skin last night, and I was so grateful for it.  

Jeon Jungkook

I had a hard time seeing most of his Euphoria performance as it was relatively early on and people were taking a shit ton of videos. He also stayed mostly on the main stage, rather than come out to the extension area near where I was. His abs are just as great in person, and the screams were (as is to be expected), absolutely deafening. They’ve talked about it in shows, but his voice is  SO stable. Obviously they stopped at times and don’t use too much backing vocals, but it sounded EXACTLY how it does on the album. He threw something into the crowd  (I think a banner) at the end, and it FLEW so far-back to P2 or further. They’re not kidding when they talk about how strong he is.  

Final thoughts

At first, I was a little exhausted after my emotional trauma of the prior day, and from standing for so long but the minute it started I forgot everything else. I was salty when I couldn’t see that much bc of people recording (esp when they asked us not to), but I understand the specialness of the moment and wanting to have some tangible evidence that you were there. By the time the concert was over, I realized how special GA was, even if it’s more difficult logistically (since I went solo and didn’t have parents or friends to stand in). I still don’t know if it’s hit me that I was like 10 feet away from them, max. It reaffirmed how important they are to me. I didn’t write this to brag, but to hopefully share my perspective and let others live vicariously through my experience. If you want clarification or anything else, write to me!  

[clubdolan]

Baby Dolan #4

“What’s up, guys?! We’re back!” Ethan and Grayson said at the same time. Their video was sponsored, testing foreign candy. Packages sat in front of them with writing they couldn’t understand. They tried a cheese flavored gummy, a sour candy that tasted like watermelon, and Ethan was opening a horrible smelling bag as his phone vibrated in his pocket.

He ignored it, handing a smelly, stick like object to Grayson. “I do not want to even be holding this.” He tried to read the bag, no words looked familiar. “It smells like... fish and dirt.”

“Dirt and spoiled meat.” Grayson guessed, smelling it again. Ethan’s phone vibrated again as they tried it, immediately spitting it out into their buckets. Water, milk, other candy; nothing got rid of the taste.

Grayson’s phone started going off sitting next to him as he dug through the box of candy for their next try. He grabbed out a neon yellow package. seeing bananas on it, “This looks safe.”

Ethan pulled his phone from his pocket, “E, really? Not during filming, now we have to do that again.” Grayson groaned, tossing the package back in the box.

“It won’t stop, yours is going off too.”

1 Missed Call: Val

2 Text Messages: Val

4 Missed Calls: Izzy

2 Missed Calls: Emily

2 Text Messages: Emily

Grayson grabbed his as Ethan looked, “Why is Emily calling me--

“Val! Baby!” Ethan screamed, jumping off the couch and digging for shoes, “Drive me there! Get your keys!”

Grayson was still looking at his phone.

“Izzy said that they’re at the hospital, Val’s--- oh.” He followed Ethan’s lead, grabbing shoes and digging for keys on the counter.

Somehow Grayson drove them there safely, letting Ethan off at the door before taking off into the lot.

He found Emily in the entry way, “She’s upstairs getting tests done, we went to lunch and she went to pee and she came out crying and said there was blood so we rushed her here and they said she might be going into premature labor but we don’t know anything past that.” She grabbed his arm as he tried to go around her, “Don’t, you can’t get in the room now. She’s going to be okay.”

It seemed like they were in the waiting room for hours but it was really twenty minutes before a nurse came out and got them. Ethan went in first, stopping himself as he walked in, trying to prepare for what could be around the corner.

The all white room was full of machines, all hooked up to Val. When she heard the door close she looked up, everything seemed to be washed from her. Her skin seemed white, her hair was pulled back, her face was damp from crying, one hand was covered in IVs and she could barely turn her head towards him.

“I’m so sorry, we were filming and didn’t think it was anything. You’re not due for another month and a half, what’s going on?” He leaned over, pushing her hair from her face. “C’mon babe, talk.”

Trying to hold back tears Val spoke, “I-I-I was going to the bathroom and it-it-there was blood. I just-I told Em and we came here and I got hooked up and blood taken-I-I-I don’t know-they haven’t said anything. It was a lot more than anything normal, like it was a lot-I don’t know-I just-don’t-”

Ethan shushed her, sitting down next to her and hugging her the best he could. “It’s going to be okay.” He mumbled into her messy hair, “You’re both going to be okay.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes and were startled when her doctor came in followed by nurses.

“You’ve gone into pre-mature labor, it wasn’t blood but the fluid from your amniotic sack, it’s filled with the babies fluids as well.”

“She’s not due for--

“We know, that’s why we’re going to monitor everything and take our time. She’s been experiencing small contractions fifteen minutes apart. We’re going to keep an eye on your blood pressure and the babies heart beat. Try to keep yourself comfortable--

“Am I having my baby now?” Val asked, knowing she wasn’t ready at all.

“At least within the next one to two days. Once your amniotic sack has broken you have to give birth.”

She felt nauseous, dizzy, confused, and was imagining the pain she might have to go through. A nurse stayed in the room and continued to explain to them that within twelve hours if contractions didn’t get more intense than they would have to induce her. They said they would bring food when she needed it, that they could have everyone come back in, what visitors needed to do if they showed up...

But Val couldn’t pay attention.

Her parents were 2 hours away in San Diego, Ethan’s parents were across the country. They didn’t have the nursery ready. The baby wouldn’t be ready to come out this early. They hadn’t even bought the necessities for having a baby. Ethan was barely moved into her house; he had been lagging in the moving department.

“I have a meeting tomorrow.” She sat up, interrupting the nurse, “The big meeting with Urban Outfitters.”

“I’m sure they’ll understand.” Ethan said, pushing her to sit back.

“No, it’s huge. I’ve had it planned for months. My site depends on the--

“Valerie, you need to calm down. It’s not good for you or the baby.” The nurse said, typing on the computer next to her. “I’ll let you be for a while, if you need anything, push the button. Would you like me to get your guest?”

“No, I’ll get them in a second. Thank you.” Ethan smiled. “Babe, you’ve got to calm down. I’ll have Emily talk to your manager about the meeting and anything else you have scheduled. Your focus right now, is the baby.” He placed his hand on her stomach, “When you’re calm, the baby is calm.”

“But I--

“I know you’re a control freak, especially about your site. I’ll get your computer and you can make a post about it. Everyone will understand. Make a list of things you want from your house, I’ll go get stuff later--

“You can’t go.”

“Okay, Emily or Izzy will. You’ll have to let them know where it’s all at. I’ve got to call my parents so they can get on a flight as soon as they want--

“My mom. My dad. I have to tell them.”

“We will. Let’s get everyone in here and get something planned. You have to stay calm, you have to keep your blood pressure down, you have to keep her safe for as long as you can.”

“But she’s going to come out too early--I-I-I can’t --

“Val, babe, come on.” He hugged her, knowing that her mind had to be racing at double the speed of his.

-

Plans were made, parents were notified, Grayson was packing stuff for Ethan, Emily was packing stuff for Val, Izzy was helping keep her company while nurses checked on her every so often.

Afternoon went into night, her contractions hadn’t gotten much worse but they were still waiting it out.

valerierose.com

A Quick Update!

I’m currently in the hospital, attached to six different machines, waiting for Baby Dolan to make her appearance.

Yes, I’m a month and a half early! My water broke while I was at lunch & they think due to how small I am that my body went into pre-mature labor.

Since my water has broke there’s no stopping her! Within 24 hours I will hopefully have a baby! (Or I’ll break out of this hospital and Uber to my comfortable bed at home.)

There are scheduled posts that will be coming here on my site as well as Emily & Izzy here to update my other social medias if they need to.

Thank you all for the well wishes, they’re much appreciated!

--Val

Since she had announced it, Ethan put a quick update on his media.

A simple picture of his wrist, a white band on it.

Dolan, Ethan GUEST 1

Gordon, Valerie Rose

Labor/Delivery 59442 - NICU 12

Dr. William S. Hanson

ethandolan: I guess she doesn’t want to wait. #BabyDolan coming soon(er than we thought)!

camerondolan: Last minute flights to LA? Check. Hold on Baby D. We land tomorrow morning! (& I told graysondolan I would be the first one to hold her.)

It was 8am the next morning and Val had only dilated a little bit. Her contractions remained steady as well as the baby’s stats.

Her parents were almost to the hospital, Ethan’s were on a plane; Grayson, Izzy, and Emily had all made themselves at home in the hospital room.

They had waited till the last minute to start her on Pitocin which should begin to heighten her contractions and cause her to dilate more. It was just another IV going into her arm.

By the time her parent’s had arrived her contractions were worse, but she had somehow gotten her body into a comfortable enough position to take a nap and no one dared to wake her.

She had to wake up for a mandatory check up by her doctor, but the good news, “You’re six centimeters dilated.”

A sudden sigh of relief and terror went through Val. Relived that she was finally getting somewhere but also terrified because soon, she would have to go through labor.

Four hours later it seemed like hundreds of people were in their room, but it was all family. Their families talked, ate food, discussed future plans, all while Val bounced on an exercise ball and ate ice chips; pausing every now and then for a painful contraction.

Every mom in the room had given her tips on going through labor, she scrunched up in a ball on the bed while they gave her an epidural, and she silently pleaded with the baby to come out as soon as possible.

With the epidural her pain had calmed down and she had somehow fallen asleep for a few hours.

“Hey babe, wake up, it’s almost time.” Ethan pushed hair from her face and rubbed his fingers on her cheek. “You’ve got to get ready.”

Val woke up majorly confused, gripping Ethan’s hand as he helped her move up in the bed. “Where is everyone?”

“The doctor’s here, they are all waiting, we let you sleep while everything got set up.” She looked around at a room prepared for a baby, multiple nurses, her doctor, a small wheel cart for the baby, and a bright light aimed right at her.

“No one ever sleeps that long this close to birth.” The doctor joked, feeling around, “Just at nine centimeters, time to start.”

Birthing class all came back to her, push through contractions, don’t forget to breathe, listen to the doctor, don’t tear off Ethan’s hand, and most importantly, stay calm.

Val’s legs were propped up and it seemed like the whole world was looking at her down under. Ethan kept whispering in her ear, wiping off her face with a wet cloth, “She’s almost here, Val. You’ve got this.”

She nodded, her breathing started to pick up, she squeezed the handles of the bed, and did as the doctor said, “Push!”

Thirty-some minutes later she felt a relief, the nurses scurried around, Ethan let out a sigh of relief, she felt a weight on her chest and opened her eyes to a baby..

Her baby..

Their baby.

[yuto-mizuguchi]

♡ ONF #YOU_COMPLETE_ME Fuse Support Step-by-step Tutorial  ♡

Hello Fuses! ONF are finally coming back with their 2nd mini album ‘You Complete Me’ on June 7th, so I have decided to make a very detailed tutorial on how you can help make this comeback as successful as possible to thank our boys for being such loving beings and for working so hard to keep Fuses happy (and to show them how much we have missed them duh). It is the time for fuses to do their part and make ONF complete! (see what I did there)

Also don’t kill me I didn’t have time to make a banner for the tutorial

This tutorial will include:

YouTube MV streaming on PC and phone/tablet

digital streaming

voting on music shows

digital downloads and buying physical copies

promoting

If you have any questions, suggestions or complaints, make sure to hit me up on tumblr chat or send me a direct message on @ppangyuto.

Lets’ get started!

1. YouTube MV streaming

YouTube views are important for many music shows and count as a part of digital points for award shows in the end of the year.

Pick a browser you are going to stream the MV with and read the following instructions. Google Chrome is currently the best option for this (you can download it here btw, it is completely safe) but it would be great if you could use more browsers and stream with all of them at the same time. That’s of course if your device allows it.

Do NOT reupload the MV on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook or any other social network or website. Make sure to put the LINK everywhere, especially if you are sharing gifs or snippets. Every view counts. If you see more than 30 seconds of it shared on Twitter (usually) without the person providing the link as well, do not hesitate to politely ask them to delete the tweet and report it as spam if they refuse to do so. Use as many devices as possible.

Streaming guidelines for PC:

Do not skip the ads! WM and ONF do profit from them.

Log in to your YouTube account to like the video and leave a few positive comments. That will count as one view, so after watching for the first time make sure to log out and then continue streaming following the guidelines. If you have more accounts, hit like button on each one of them.

Do not use the Incognito mode, it freezes the views. If you notice that the views have been frozen for a few hours, report it to YouTube as “PLAYBACK ISSUE” and do not panick. It is said: “To make sure that all views are validated, as view count goes higher, YouTube updates less frequently and might occasionally freeze above 300 views to assure quality view count. This is the normal operation in YouTube videos.”

You can open as many windows per browser as your internet connection allows but the videos should not be lagging too much to ensure view counts.

Do not refresh the page. Instead, search manually for the MV and stream only the official one uploaded on ONF’s channel. When you type in ‘ONF’ on YouTube, at the moment the first suggestions are ‘ON/OFF’ and ‘mixnine’ . What we want to do is get Complete MV there.

Your volume should be at least 50%. If you have more tabs opened at the same time, mute your device and not the MV itself to avoid the chaos.

Watch it from the beginning to the end without pausing or fast forwarding.

Clear your cache every 10 minutes and cookies every 1 hour. To avoid this step, just check out the history/cookie/cache cleaning extensions I have listed below.

ENJOY!

[TIP!] You could reply to a lot of positive comments under the MV so people come back to it again. Worth a try! Do not forget to report malicious comments.

[TIP!] If you have an active YouTube channel, put the MV as your featured content (my channel > video manager > channel > featured content).

**You can create playlists, but do not include only Complete MV. If possible, create a playlist in this order: ON/OFF MV - Lights On (Performance ver.) - ON/OFF (Practice ver.) - Complete MV x3.

If you are going to leave your device on overnight to stream even while sleeping or while you are away (recommended), download the following extensions for your browser:

Auto HD For YouTube

Cache Killer

Super Auto Refresh

YouTube HD Plus

Empty Cache Button

ReloadEvery

YouTube High Definition

History Eraser

Super Auto Refresh

This will help you do the following: always stream MV in quality above 720p, refresh (not hit the replay button, this is because you cannot manually search for the MV while sleeping or when you are not there duh) and erase your history and cache. The last extension should be on even while being on you device. Auto Refresh MUST be set at 10 minutes (about 5 minutes for the MV and 5 minutes break: YouTube might validate the views faster like this).

Streaming guidelines for phone/tablet:

Do not skip the ads! WM and ONF do profit from them.

Log in to your YouTube account to like the video and leave a few positive comments VIA BROWSER. Do not use the YouTube app. That will count as one view, so after watching for the first time make sure to log out and then continue streaming following the guidelines. If you have more accounts, hit like button on each one of them.

The volume should be at least 70% so if necessary, use headphones.

Watch it from the beginning to the end without pausing or fast forwarding.

Do not refresh the page after the full stream. Instead, close your browser and then search manually for the MV and stream only the official one uploaded on ONF’s channel .

Clear search history ever 1-2 hours.

ENJOY!

2. Digital streaming

Since I am not familiar with streaming, I have found a few very useful tutorials:

How to create an account

How to purchase a MelOn pass

How to stream and download

How to create an account and get a free pass (PC)

How to create an account and get a free pass (Phone)

Free link compilations

How to stream using free link

How to create an account and get 10 free passes daily in 13 steps: 1 , 2 , 3 , 4

How to create an account

How to get a free pass (1)

How to get a free pass (2)  

[TIP!] Search for streaming pass giveaways on Twitter, there could be some Fuses or other fandoms willing to help us with this comeback. Please do not join such giveaways if the passes are for a specified group that is not ONF, that is just mean.

Streaming reflects on some music show charts.

Show Champion: Naver, Melon, Bugs, Genie

M!Countdown: Mnet, Melon, Genie, Bugs

Inkigayo: Melon, Genie, Bugs

3. Voting on music shows

CRITERIA + VOTING

**Digital Score - Streaming + Downloads **Broadcast Points - Views on show performances

THE SHOW

DIGITAL SCORE - 70%

MV VIEWS - 25%

EXPERTS PREFERENCE - 5%

LIVE SHOW VOTING (SMS)

SHOW CHAMPION

DIGITAL SCORE - 40%

PHYSICAL SALES - 10%

NETIZEN’S PREFERENCE - 15%

EXPERTS PREFERENCE - 15%

MBC MUSIC BROADCAST POINTS - 15%

**Netizen’s preference - Online votes

Voting period: Tuesday 00:00 KST - Sunday 23:59 KST

How to vote? I have made a detailed video tutorial on how to vote on Show Champion a while ago for FY!COSMICGIRLS . Click here.

M!COUNTDOWN

DIGITAL SCORE - 50%

PHYSICAL SALES - 15%

SOCIAL MEDIA SCORE - 15%

POPULARITY SCORE - 10%

BROADCAST POINTS - 10%

LIVE SHOW VOTING (SMS)

**Social Media Score - MV Views **Popularity Vote - Online Voting Points

Voting period: Friday 14:00 KST - Monday 09:00 KST

How to vote? Use your Mnet, Twitter, Facebook and Kakaotalk accounts to vote on MNET’s voting page once a day per account.

MUSIC BANK

DIGITAL SCORE - 65%

PHYSICAL SALES - 5%

BROADCAST POINTS - 20%

EXPERTS PREFERENCE - 10%

SBS INKIGAYO

DIGITAL SCORE - 55%

PHYSICAL SALES - 5%

SNS POINTS - 35%

PRE-VOTING - 5%

**SNS points -MV views

How to vote? Click here for a detailed tutorial by CLCPENTAGON.

Do not reupload the performances and watch them only on music shows’ official YouTube channels as the views count as points. Use the same watching method as for the MV.

If you are able to, watch the performances through their official websites and music sites as well.

The Show

MNET

Naver **All music shows have Naver channels, just type in the program name In the search box. (더쇼 / 쇼챔피언 / 엠카운트다운 / 뮤직뱅크 / 음중 / 인기가요)

4. Digital downloads and buying physical copies

DIGITAL DOWNLOADS

Please only download and stream music from these sites: Melon, Naver, Mnet, Genie, Olleh, Bugs

**Purchasing from iTunes and Spotify does not count to the charts

[TIP!] Mass streaming boosts up ranking, so try to stream together with other Fuses at the same time.

[TIP!] Title track is the one being ranked on the charts, so stream it more frequently than the rest of the album.

Buy ‘You Complete Me’ on iTunes as soon as it comes out.

BUYING PHYSICAL COPIES

‘You Complete Me’ is ONF’s 2nd mini album that comes in one version. More info about the album here.

Only purchase physical copies of the album from sites that count towards Hanteo and Gaon charts: KPopTown, YesAsia, DVDHeaven, KPopMart , Synnara , KTOWN4U.

**Other sites are fine if they contribute to the charts. You have to check this before making the purchase. ** Also check out: To K-Pop Fans outside South Korea - a Guide for an International Order (tutorial by Synnara)

[TIP!] If possible, please pre-order the album because it will help contribute to the first week sales. Pre-orders end on June 7th at 12AM KST.

5. Promoting

Other than sharing the MV, you can also help by doing the following:

1. Leave positive comments and tap hearts on comeback V LIVE. There is a safe software called Nox App Player you can use to tap hearts automatically. I used it for the previous comeback! Here is an updated tutorial.

2. Search for 온앤오프 on Korean news sites:

Naver

Melon

Nate

Bugs

Olleh

Soribada

3. Watch ONF videos on Naver.

4. Retweet wm_on7off and wm_onoff. Use #온앤오프, #COMPLETE and #YOU_COMPLETE_ME hashtags whenever you can.

5. Participate in various support events. Here is a 1st Anniversary Project by ONF STATION.

6. Share the MV with your friends and ask them to support the comeback as well.

7. Donate for support projects by fansites if possible and support fellow Fuses’ edits, fanart etc.

Thank you for reading! Let’s make this comeback successful together  ♡

[flakandforay]

HYYH: the Notes Extended Theory

overall: bighit has decided to drop more of the HYYH: the Notes in lieu of the upcoming bangtan comeback, as part of the Love Yourself series, Love Yourself Tear. and this time, what a surprise that it is not Seokjin’s notes but Jungkook’s, why? 

theory: anyway, this is going to be an extension of my previous theory ( HYYH: the Notes hence you might want to read that before reading this to make more sense ).

anyway, i find it interesting that they dropped Jungkook’s notes this time round. i was kinda expecting them to continue with Seokjin. but this got me thinking, why Jungkook? i mean, throughout the whole HYYH series - there was no explicit pairing of Seokjin and Jungkook. Jungkook was always with Yoongi and Seokjin left alone. Even in the Wings short films, Seokjin’s circle remained untouched while Jungkook’s merged with Namjoon.

so the only rational reason i could think of for bighit dropping Jungkook’s notes was the fact that it was meant to continue from Seokjin’s HYYH: the Notes but in a way, to be a prequel. 

Seokjin 13 June YEAR 22

we were all alone after returning from the sea.

we didn’t contact each other as if we planned it. we could only assume our existence by the graffiti left on the street, the brightly lit gas station and the sounds of the piano in the old building. that was when everything comes back to life. taehyung’s eyes were ablaze, the way they looked at me as if they heard something unbelievable, namjoon’s hand that tried to stop taehyung, i couldn’t take it and threw a punch at taehyung.

we couldn’t find taehyung after he dashed out, not even at the beach or guesthouse after i returned. broken glass cups, bloodstains that began to cling, smashed cookies that reminded me the incidents that happened a few hours before. a picture had fallen. we were laughing and smiling together in the picture with the sea as the background.

today, i just passed by the gas station. there will be a day when we will meet again - the day when we were all laughing just like in that picture. there will be a day when i would be able to gather courage and confront myself. whoever, now is not the time. today, just like that day, the wind was blowing strongly. and in the next moment, just like a warning, my handphone rang. the picture that was hanging on my room mirror shook. hoseok’s name then appeared on my screen.

‘hyung, jungkook got into a car accident that night’

based on the newly translated notes of Jungkook’s, it is as such ( full translations of other notes in this masterlist ):

Jungkook 22 May YEAR 22

I thought my body was floating but in no time, it met the hard ground. For some time, I couldn’t feel anything. My entire body was so heavy that I couldn’t bear it, I couldn’t even lift my eyelids up. I couldn’t swallow or breathe either. As my senses dispersed, my surroundings became dim.

Then, something startled that caused my whole body to jolt spasmodically. In the agony and thirst of wherever the source was, I opened my eyes unknowingly. My vision was strained since it was covered by sand, yet within my view, something glimmered. I thought it was fire but it wasn’t. It was brightly lit yet faint, not moving at all in the air. It gradually took on a definite shape after some time. It was the moon.

The world was upside down as if my head broke. In that world, even the moon was upside down. I tried to cough to catch my breath but nothing moved. Suddenly, a chill came over me. I moved my mouth but no words ever came out. I didn’t close my eyes, but the world gradually became dark in front of me. As my senses became more weak and faded, someone spoke within a distance.

“Living is more painful than dying, but even so, do you want to live?”

so, here Jungkook talks more about his physical conditions etc. i am not too sure of his surroundings, he could possibly be in and out of his consciousness, hence he could easily imagine voices being heard; as if his mind is playing a trick on him. this is especially so since Jungkook has consistently being gotten beaten up by others to the point that he couldn't even care to live, L version. 

Jungkook 11 April YEAR 22

In the end, it turned out just like I wanted. I deliberately ran into the thugs on the street and got beaten up till I was satisfied. I laughed while I was getting beaten up, and they called me a crazy maniac. I leaned against the shutter door and looked at the sky. It was already night. There was nothing in the pitch-black sky. I could only see a clump of grass in the distance. It was on the side of the wind. It was just like me. I felt like I was going to cry so I forced myself to laugh instead.

I closed my eyes and saw my stepfather clear his throat. My stepbrother kicked me and laughed. My stepbrother’s relatives looked elsewhere or began to talk useless things. It was as if I wasn’t there, like my existence didn’t matter. In front of them, my mother was at a loss. I tried to stand up but instead dust rose and I coughed. It hurt as if I had been stabbed at my solar plexus. I went up to the roof of the construction site. The night city stretched out in a terrible colour. I climbed up on the railing with both of my arms stretched out. I had one leg out and I almost lost my balance. I thought I could die with just one step. If I died, it will all end. No one would be sad without me.

see, Jungkook couldn't care much to live, he was treated badly at home already with his own mother failing to protect him; he wanted everything to end. hence all the scenes throughout HYYH Series specifically I Need U to even him being in a hospital in the highlight reel since he survived the car accident. 

moving on, the interesting thing about Jungkook’s notes was the fact of ‘The world was upside down..’. Then again, it is common for those people in serious accidents to not have their senses come back to them quickly since it takes time for them to heal. but this phrase just strikes up a few scenes to me; specifically Young Forever and DNA.

and guess who is the one being upside down? None other than Taehyung himself. 

seriously, and all i thought was that these scenes were as such for aesthetic purposes but i guess bighit has thought it all out. 

also, i find the last line of Jungkook’s notes to be really thought-provoking. 

“Living is more painful than dying, but even so, do you want to live?”

i think this could sum up the whole emotions of Jungkook throughout the series, but i guess not only him but also to the other boys as well, since they've attempted to commit suicide, except for Seokjin who is trying to save them all; but of course seeing in Euphoria ( this theory ); it’s impossible to do so. 

consider thinking about how Jungkook heard a voice that asked that question? i am not too sure if it’s Jungkook’s consciousness or faint memory that asked this or did one of the boys tell him this, but if one of them did, my guess must be Taehyung since he was the one who sparked off the deaths among the boys by taking his own life first. the pain must be overbearing that he took his own life, and in some wicked way, Jungkook might have followed suit after but the pain he experienced being different from Taehyung. 

but in Jungkook’s notes, he was vaguely referring Taehyung to the moon in this case. is that why Taehyung decided to write 네시 ( 4 O’Clock ) that was talking about writing a letter to the moon for BTS 4th Festa?

and take a look at these lyrics:

어느 날 달에게 길고긴 편지를 썼어 너보다 환하진 않지만 작은 촛불을 켰어

=

One day I wrote a long, long letter to the moon It would not be brighter than you But I lighted a small candle

Reference: Genius ©

looking at these lyrics, it seems there is some relation with Jungkook’s notes - specifically about the moon etc.

anyway, moving back to my previous theory, look at the timeline now, including the newly released HYYH: the Notes of Jungkook, based on the previous theory that has yet to included highlight reel dates. 

Seokjin - 13 June YEAR 22,  15 August YEAR 22,  2 March YEAR 19,  11 April YEAR 22

Yoongi - 8 June YEAR 22, 25 June YEAR 20, 7 April YEAR 22

Jungkook - 16 July YEAR 22, 11 April YEAR 22, 25 June YEAR 20, 22 May YEAR 22

Hoseok - 31 May YEAR 22, 15 September YEAR 20, 25 February YEAR 21

Jimin - 3 July YEAR 22, 30 August YEAR 19, 28 September YEAR 20

Namjoon - 30 June YEAR 22, 15 May Year 20, 11 April YEAR 22

Taehyung - 25 June YEAR 22, 29 December YEAR 10, 22 May YEAR 22

now, arranging them in a timeline

29 December YEAR 10 - Taehyung 2 March YEAR 19 - Seokjin 30 August YEAR 19 - Jimin 15 May YEAR 20 - Namjoon 25 June YEAR 20 - Yoongi  25 June YEAR 20 - Jungkook 15 September YEAR 20 - Hoseok 28 September YEAR 20 - Jimin 25 February YEAR 21 - Hoseok 7 April YEAR 22 - Yoongi 11 April YEAR 22 - Seokjin 11 April YEAR 22 - Jungkook 11 April YEAR 22 - Namjoon 22 May YEAR 22 - Taehyung 22 May YEAR 22 31 May YEAR 22 - Hoseok 8 June YEAR 22 - Yoongi 13 June YEAR 22 - Seokjin 25 June YEAR 22 - Taehyung 30 June YEAR 22 - Namjoon 3 July YEAR 22 - Jimin 15 August YEAR 22 - Seokjin

HYYH: the Notes, V Version

Taehyung 22 May YEAR 22

I passed by a pine tree forest as Hyung picked up a phone call and started to lag behind. Nowadays, there were more times like this. He moved far away so that he could pick up the call where others couldn’t eavesdrop. I deliberately slowed down ad hid myself off towards the ocean. Hyung wouldn’t be able to see me when he passed by. “He’s only one year younger than me. No, I don’t really care. Anyway, I’m not going to be the one taking the responsibility, just do whatever is best.”

Something cold slithered down my spine. It felt as if everything in the world crumbled and crashed with a bang. It felt as if I was floating alone in the deep ocean. It was scary and frightening. I was miserable and insignificant. I was angry. I couldn’t contain my anger. I wanted to cause a scene. I wanted to smash something, to hit something, to wreck myself. I was always afraid. That my father’s blood would run in me. I thought that maybe his violence was what I inherited. It seemed that something was stabbing my tight defenses.

the newest addition is that on 22 May YEAR 22, there are 2 incidents happening to Taehyung and Jungkook separately, i am not too sure if these events happened when they were together or separately, but im going to assume that it is separate given the difference in what both notes are trying to say. 

but notice the words of Taehyung and Jungkook for their notes on 22 May YEAR 22 mainly ‘world’ and ‘floating’. the feeling of loneliness seems to be embedded in their notes but from different things. 

but later on 13 June YEAR 22, Seokjin found out from Hoseok that Jungkook has gotten into an accident. so i guess, bighit decided to release these notes as a prequel to Seokjin’s one that’s roughly one month apart.

so what’s happened next?

[Photo Source] Bighit Entertainment  Credits: maxine ☕️ DO NOT REPOST ©

[gta5apkdownloa]

Download Grand Theft Auto V For Windows

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Chris Thursten called the game"the most lovely, grand, and generous" of this series. The first of these weekly drops is Grand Theft Auto V, the 2013 action-adventure game by Rockstar Games, which is free on PC till May 21. Should you require a manual about the best way best to turn on two-factor authentication to your accounts, Epic has one you can follow along with here. You start by making an avatar, altering its looks, sex, clothes, and other things. The open-world facet was stored in position, so you could freely select how you would like to live your online presence. On Wednesday, the business announced another version of its game engine, Unreal Engine 5.

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Line Of Duty Series 6 Episode 3: Buckells, Steve's Painkillers & All Our Questions & Theories

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[sussex-nature-lover]

Tuesday 29th December 2020

My Bird List Again. Parts 3 & 4

♦ outside links are indicated by bold type - none are affiliated to this blog

Guest Photograph - Two Jays out of the window in South London. I’m assured there were four but as is the way, two took off. Photo Credit: Ms NW tE

♦ Faces in Things. Now I’ve circled the Jays I can see a cartoon character with unruly hair. First thought was a cheeky Ostrich’s head, but Crow thinks he can see a cute Badger. Now I can see both.

Brought Forward 24 species

Yesterday I listed the every day birds in our garden and those we can guarantee to see most days, definitely every week, plus the new spots for this year. Next up is 

GARDEN REGULARS:

These are the birds we see frequently but not necessarily every day or this time of year

Song Thrush

If you followed my Blog earlier in the year you’ll recall the calamitous tale of ‘Tracey’ who tried to nest in our porch, firstly on the top of - and with some gentle encouragement, later inside - the open fronted nest box. We called her Tracey after the artist best known for her ‘messy bed’ Sadly the nest came to nothing except a very watchable experience, but we have seen youngsters who if not from Tracy, someone else got it right this year.

Song Thrush are seen here most weeks but we can’t depend on it being so. What I could depend on through early Spring was that one had taken over from the Blackbird and was giving me wakeup calls from the very early hours. It’s annoying to be disturbed so early, but also kind of comforting to have your regulars out there making their presence known.

Wren

Strangely for such a cute little bird I don’t have anything much to say, certainly no personal stories. They’re around, but very low key. I know them best for their upturned tail and unfeasibly loud voice. Sorry no photo, must rectify that, this one’s from the WildlifeTrusts.org site

Stock Dove

Of all the birds I’ve ever seen the Stock Dove is the biggest revelation to me. Until I had my eyes replaced I thought they were plain monotone grey birds. When I could see properly WOW WOW WOW. They have so many tones, they’re so beautiful and the pink, emerald-jade and purple hues are outstanding when they catch the sunshine. This realisation is one of the most incredible sights of my life and both that initial memory and every new viewing always will be.

Collared Dove

One of the above is not a Collared Dove - nope, not buying it even if you have got your best collar on mate

To be fair, I almost put the Stock and Collared Doves in the every day/reliable category, but on balance I don’t think they’re quite there at this time of year. We do see them most days and the charming Collared ones always come in pairs - just like me and Crow.

Green Woodpecker

My ant-eaters. Not seen on the same basis as the Great Spotteds but they live here and breed successfully. Quite stately birds with beautiful plumage I love to see the brief flash of yellow underwing as they whizz through the garden and to hear their laughing ‘yaffle’ 

Similar to GSWs you can tell the sex by the red or plain black colouring. In the Greens it’s on the ‘moustache’ area - see male above with red: females have black. On the GSs it’s plain black heads for females and a red patch at the nape of the neck for males.

Magpie

Comical birds. We seem to have less here than we did. The most I’ve ever seen was a huge flock on the Common in Tunbridge Wells. It’s called the Common but it has the main road going through it and where I saw them was no more than a large patch of grass and trees. The other side is more typical common land, steep and heath-like.

One year we were highly entertained by garden resident DJ (after DJ Spoony) so called as he created a cache of goodies gathered from around the garden much like a Bower Bird decorates its nest. DJ just kept his treasures amongst the leaves at the base of the palm and included a plastic spoon that we used to put out cat food for the hedgehogs...it took us a while to locate.

Common Buzzard

This photo is from the field now known as Babs’ Field directly across the lane from our house. It’s a big field so this is a very long zoom. We saw a huge Buzzard down the lane just yesterday actually. A lot of sightings recently.

Goldfinch

A standing joke in our house - so, so hard for me to capture a picture of them they tormented me and then all of a sudden this Summer they started coming into the garden more and I got photos on fences, verges and wires down the lane too.

Pied Wagtail

Has bred in the porch nest box years ago, had two successful broods. We watched them fledge down on to the log pile. Favourite nestling was The Bunter - guess why? Maybe that was the one who grew up to be The Inspector patrolling the seed and shooing everyone away just because he could.

Grey Wagtail

Usually flies in for a very quick drink and off again, or perches on the corner of the roof by our bedroom briefly.

Sparrowhawk

Nicknamed for both sexes is Sid (Vicious after the punk rock singer)

These two are males. We know their favourite places in the garden. On the fence between us and next door with an eye line to the feeders; on the posts around the decking, perched on a spade or on the bird bath.

Female below.

Total 11

INFREQUENT VISITORS:

Swallow 

All around the local area, once very welcome guests and residents in our front porch.

I also once found one in Ms NW tE’s bedroom and had absolutely no idea how it could’ve got there. This was long before the nesting. I assume it must’ve found a way under the eaves where there’s a fitted wardrobe built in. It wasn’t panicking at all.

Swift 

Sorry no picture, too high overhead. This one below courtesy of the Wildlife Trust site. Along with Swallows and Housemartins a lovely sign of Summer.

Greenfinch

 A very welcome returner this year and they bred, which is brilliant news

Juvenile

Bullfinch 

Sadly not seen any at all this year, which is unusual. Doesn’t mean they haven’t been and we’ve missed them though

Mistle Thrush

We have seen them, but no photos as yet. 

I can’t tell the difference between a Song and Mistle Thrush, I ask for an expert ID. The RSPB says Mistle Thrush are

Medium-sized birds, they’re our largest thrush Chunky and pot-bellied Tawny brown and grey backs with a creamy white speckled front Whiteish cheeks Bold and bullish

and their song is somewhere between Song Thrush and Blackbird. That said we seem to have some Song Thrush here whose songs have evolved (as they do) This might help, although I think in real life it’s less clear cut. I obviously need more practice. 

Jay

The Jay is so shy and has a fairly comical looking face. They live in the woods but we rarely see them in the garden and any photo is snatched very hurriedly, hence the quality of this one. They don’t need to come into the garden though as the woods are full of Oak trees and so their favourite food supply and places to cache it, is right there for them.

Kestrel

Usually seen up at the farm where we saw her a lot with her babies, this mother of two came into our garden in the Summer.

Common Gull

Rather unclear it was very low light inside the kitchen and this was grabbed with my phone. The last few days we have seen hundreds of Gulls: they’ve come inland to the fields due to the inclement weather I guess.

Nightingale 

Definitely heard and confirmed by our neighbour and the local farmer, however, I can’t hand on heart say I’ve spotted them by eye. I think they should be included here though as we more than likely have seen them as well as heard them. I know where they hang out for sure and it’s steps away (see below) The problem for me is that they’re quite insignificant looking if you’re not primed to spot one.

Photo credit Bird Guides on line

9

ONE OFFS IN THE GARDEN:

Mallard

 Two males and a female decided to reside in our garden one summer. We called them Max, Paddy and Holy Mary - a Phoenix Nights reference from the TV series.

Heron 

Occasionally seen overhead, has investigated our garden pond. Not that we’ve got any fish, which is why it probably hasn’t been back. We see them fly by sometimes and definitely up at the ponds. When the one was in our garden I was struck by its size and prehistoric look, of course they look much bigger in a domestic garden than when you see them in a wider setting.

Below is my own photo of a Heron, but at Richmond, not at our pond.

Turtle Dove

2006 was a good year. We had the Ducks and a few sightings of the Dove. I think it stopped by the following year too but can’t be absolutely sure.

Yellowhammer 2014

Just the once on the patio right in front of us, it was quite a surprise.

This is not actually my photo, which is mislaid for now. It’s generic so can’t attribute it.

Woodcock 2019

The Woodcock was a complete shock. I spotted something out of the side window and because of the colouring thought it was a strange female Pheasant, until I saw its bill. Wooaaah! 

5

ONE OFFS IN THE AREA:

Kingfisher down at the bridge

Mixed flock of Geese including White and Grey Lag - in Babs the Buzzard’s field

2

Sub Category just out of interest and not counted

REPORTED BY MY NEIGHBOUR:

Visual of a Cuckoo, which we’ve only heard and not seen for sure. We possibly saw one at the farm, but didn’t confirm for certain.

Goldcrest. I’m jealous

 + 2

REGULARS AT THE FARM:

Little Owl

White Dove

Coot

Moorhen

Canada Goose

Various Ducks such as Grebe, not including Mallard mentioned above

6+

TOTAL = 57+  species spotted at home and 2 others on the one off list seen adjacent to our garden.

Plus Tawny Owl, heard frequently but can’t promise to have a sighting as yet.

Decoration from the Christmas Trees in Standen Courtyard

a lovely hand stitched heart with wild flowers. Let’s hope the Roadside Verges campaign and sensible strimming season grows stronger next year.

Christmas Music of Choice is the Piano Guys

with a very clever Christmas medley and visuals

[scottellen798]

12 Smart Virtual Reality Opportunities For Businesses in 2020

Virtual reality will have a wide and lasting impact on our work, education and home lives. The emergence of commercial VR technologies has led to an increase in innovation, with a wide range of businesses looking for Virtual Reality opportunities in 2020.

A group of successful entrepreneurs make predictions about the future of VR in business and we think these might be the smart VR opportunities that businesses are looking for.

12 members from Young Entrepreneur Council, community of successful young entrepreneurs share their ideas on how “Virtual Reality” technologies will be used by businesses in the next years:

1. Brands Will Use VR to Improve Customer Loyalty

Brands and VR were made for each other. Businesses and brands will engage consumers with story-driven VR experiences that educate and entertain. This will create a new kind of relationship between brands and their audience as they start becoming active participants instead of passive bystanders. The hardest thing to do as a brand is to get your audience to actually feel something. Immersive, interactive VR experiences will get people closer to feeling, which gets people closer to caring.

2. There Will Be Changes in Teleconferencing

Trying to connect everyone by phone and talking to laggy, pixelated faces on a flat screen is probably one of the most hated things in modern business. Virtual reality will change that and allow these sorts of meetings to take on a more personal and natural feel. As the technology progresses hopefully it will be able to incorporate expressions, eye contact and other human elements we currently lack. This will make our telecommuting lives better and our meetings more productive. When fully formed it might even reduce business travel significantly.

3. Virtual Reality Will Improve E-Commerce for Products That Require Fit

Complemented with augmented reality, VR will have a big impact on online shopping. One industry that’s not making as big a breakthrough as others is shopping for things that need to fit well (whether clothes for you or furniture for your place). Being able to “see” those things to determine the fit will remove the handicap for these products and open the floodgates for online shopping that have been lagging. It will be amazing to see how a couch would look in your living room before buying it.

4. There Will Be Changes in the Education Market

From applications for all levels of education, including college and university classes, virtual reality can make learning more enriching and enjoyable as well as address some of the various ways people learn that current curriculums cannot seem to individually address. Companies that can offer educational products that use virtual reality have a real opportunity.

5. There Will Be an Improved Design Process for Products

I think it will further enhance the ability to design products. With virtual reality and simulations, you can do much better user testing without them having to be in the same room and get faster feedback, as well as make much quicker changes. This will decrease the overall cost of production.

6. VR Will Offer the Opportunity to Have an “Anywhere” Experience

VR’s use cases for businesses are only limited by our imagination. A huge application I expect in the near future is in e-commerce. Currently, one of the biggest issues with e-commerce, for both the store and the consumer, is ordering something that doesn’t match your expectations. VR gives us the opportunity to create the “anywhere” experience so that a user can manipulate a product and get a better understanding of what they’re buying. The same can be said of booking hotel rooms, cars, travel and adventure tours. Virtual reality is poised to bring the world to you, just like the internet itself, on a more nuanced level.

7. It Will Offer Improvements in Entertainment Like Movies, Media and Games

Entertainment will be the first industry to get disrupted by VR. Imagine sitting in your living room and watching the Superbowl with VR. VR takes you right in the stadium. It will have a similar impact on movies and gaming. I was at CES recently and I saw that even a one-person VR startup had 10 minute-long queues simply for trying out the demo. The VR economy will easily surpass the app economy in my view.

8. Virtual Reality Will Definitely Advance Real Estate Sales

Nobody is satisfied purchasing a house based on pictures, and some people would rather not go “house hunting” physically. VR could be a great bridge between those who would like to see the property up-close and those who’d prefer a less involved approach. It will assist agents in increasing turnover by making fewer site visits, and might be a more efficient (and secure) way to conduct business in real estate. While it might currently be reserved for apps on smartphones and tourism, VR has the potential to change how we make investments into property. There’s a huge opportunity for a company that will be able to assist realtors in capturing real-time imagery of each property in a manner that is timely and user-friendly.

9. HR Departments Will Become 100 Percent Remote

I think the best aspect of virtual reality is that employees can have more engaging interactions with the HR department, whether it is in the interview process, training, or just a simple meeting. This will be able to happen from anywhere in the world and still feel as though they are sitting across from you. For example, instead of asking an employee a situational question and getting their reply, we could actually put them in a situation in VR and see how they truly react. This will take HR to a whole new level never before experienced.

10. It Will Impact the Health and Fitness Industry

Virtual reality will become a tremendous performance hack for anyone who wants to visualize the future as if it is already here. Athletes and doctors are already using hardware like OculusVR (acquired by Facebook) to visualize all of their goals coming into fruition, including perfect health and performance. People will finally be able to step outside of themselves and hit the winning shot, beat illness, or close the perfect deal.

11. It Will Offer Immersive, On-the-Job Learning Experiences

I’m most excited about the opportunity of virtual reality apps to facilitate learning and relationship building in a business setting. You’ll be able to master public speaking by practicing in front of a virtual audience, you’ll be able to see how business is conducted in Japan by working virtually from that office for a week, and your avatar can get together regularly, face to face, with your boss across the country. The number of skills you’ll be able to acquire and mentors you’ll be able to tap will explode when there are no practical or geographic limits.

12. Geographical Location Will Become Irrelevant

Already we live in a virtual age, where with the usage of Skype, Google Hangouts and other forms of digital media it doesn’t really matter where you are physically located. However, with the advancement of virtual reality, not only will it not matter where you are geographically, but it will actually appear as if you are in the same place even when you are thousands of miles apart.

[rwaggs81]

It’s 8:00 pm here.  I just woke from a nap.  I really needed it. As you may have noticed, my mood on these posts is mostly positive.  Part of me wants to keep it that way.  The other part of me realizes that if I don’t keep this real, there’s no real point in doing it in the first place.  Today was when the homesickness bit me really hard for the first time on this trip.  I know 3 days in seems early, but knowing myself, I expected as much.  I am prone to homesickness.  I am very reliant on routine.  I am rooted.  Part of why I planned this thing the way I did was because of my understanding of my nature. This morning, I parted with my room of the first two nights.  The place was uncommonly quiet and calm for Ho Chi Minh.  Just what I needed, in a way.  The room, however, was quite isolating and a tad depressing, if I stopped to think about it.  I checked this morning if they still had the room available tonight, just in case, but they didn’t...which ultimately is probably a good thing for two reasons. 1.  I need some good sleep to get past the initial jet lag, and I wasn’t getting it there.  I’d sleep really deep for about 4 or 5 hours, and that’s it. 2.  I need to not get frozen in place. Each day here so far, I’ve started with a pretty positive energy.  This morning was no exception.  At 9 am, when I left with my bike all packed up with bags, the air was still somewhat cool, I was in good spirits, and I had the knowledge that I needed to find a new place to stay tonight.  Part of me wants to stay in one of the hostels in the backpacker district, but I think that the back of my mind knows that I’m not feeling that social just yet.  I also wonder if there’s part of me who feels like an imposter in that setting due to my age.  I suspect I’ll find out soon.   The first place I went this morning was the backpacker section of District 1 to look around.  I ended up sitting at a table on the street with an older German fellow named Axel.  He was nice enough, and it was nice to just interact with someone, but uniform to the other days here, the place started wearing me down over the next hour.  The street vendors who constantly approach with the sames wares and the same robotic sales tactics were in full effect....(points to my sunglasses, then to a similar pair on his mobile display)... Him:  “I have same, but real, not fake” Me:  “That’s okay, I only need the one pair.”  This back and forth goes on about 6 times, before he just stands there and stares at me for about 30 seconds, pulls the same routine with the German guy, and finally leaves.  In the course of an hour, this process repeated itself at least 10 times.  Sometimes glasses.  Sometimes a wallet.  Sometimes this unique flint and tinder style lighter, and sometimes fabric wares.  I point to my bike bags to show them that I literally have no room to add to my belongings.  No dice.  Eventually, I just have to go into broken record mode. Them:  “Hello, look...” Me.  “Khong, Cam On!”  over and over until they give up and leave. I think that the charm of the backpacker district is lost on me.  By day, it’s as I described, and by night, it’s something that I may have enjoyed when I was 19 and heading up to dance clubs in Canada.  It drains my energy.   Axel explained to me that he has a “girlfriend” during his visit.  You can see these couples walking around the district.  Older men with younger Vietnamese girls, in a kind of consensual partnership.  Axel gives a pretty good breakdown of how this works.  He approached this girl at a bar and started talking to her.  She gloms on to him, comes to his room, basically acts as an escort.  He buys her nice things, and presumably pays her something when it’s time for him to leave.  He told me that he went briefly to the place where she lives.  8 people living in a small apartment.  Motorscooters stored inside at night.  Everyone sleeping on the floor and still each paying $100 per month in rent.  Each engaged in various hustles to get by (if you don’t have a hustle here, you are FUCKED.) Axel, frankly, seems like a normal guy.  Am I not normal in that I could never, EVER envision myself pursuing an arrangement like this?  I’m uncomfortable even thinking about it.  This place stokes my empathetic nature, but there’s no way to personally assist literally millions of people.  It’s just a way of life to them. When Axel takes his leave, I decide it is time to figure out my room situation.  Turns out that I’m as indecisive about this as I am about where to travel next.  I kinda just ride around aimlessly for awhile.  Then I stop to look at booking sites on my phone.  I finally settle on something a little more expensive than I’d done the previous two nights, realizing that my emotional state is likely being hindered by a lack of sleep and wishing to isolate myself better for a night.  A “western” feeling hotel, which costs relatively less here than back home... I find one.  It says District 1.  I book it, and start navigating to the address.  I didn’t realize how expansive the area that qualifies as District 1 was.  A couple miles of riding, and I’m in what must be the “Japantown” I’ve read about.  This may seem weird, but I’m already in a state of adjusting to one culture, and I’m not super thrilled with being  in that culture’s version of another culture...but whatever.  I navigate to the place, and it even has the address written fully on the gate..but is CLEARLY not the place, or even a hotel.  I log back into Hotels.com.  I’m going to try to cancel the booking and go back towards the area I’m more familiar with.  I must call.  I have very limited actually call minutes.  I get a girl on the phone, explain the situation and am put on hold for 5 minutes.  Ugh.  I can’t do this, so I hang up the phone and just ride around the area for a while, and finally find the place.  Every reference to the place online is the wrong address.  I can’t possibly be the only one who’s run into this issue. Anyway, its big, and western.  They view my sweaty appearance with pretty thinly veiled annoyance, and are probably not thrilled with my bike.  Elderly white tourists pack the downstairs restaurant bar.  I’m a little disgusted with myself for even being there, but I don’t care.  I need sleep and quiet.  I go upstairs to my beautiful room with beautiful view and even more beautiful double headed shower (first things first), and shut the world out.  One call to the on site laundry service, and one quick trip downstairs for a shot of Makers Mark and a surprisingly excellent cheeseburger and downright heavenly mango smoothie (these people do not mess around when it comes to juice and such), and I’m back in my room at 3 pm and ready for a nap. GREAT nap.  Insane dreams.  I feel better.  I feel like I will sleep again tonight well.  I feel resolved that I’m going to head to Cambodia tomorrow or the next day.  I’m going to book myself at a popular hostel there, throw myself in socially and stop taking myself so seriously.  The hostel in question actually runs a pub crawl nightly...which seems a little juvenile, but the price they charge for it goes straight to educating local kids.  They pay their local help a lot more than prevailing wage.  Maybe that will make me feel better about things.  I may head to the coast south of Phnom Penh after that.  I will be a typical white tourist in Siem Reap and see the incredible temples.  I think that I will then head to Bangkok for a bit, and then take the Central Thailand train route to Chiang Mai, with some interesting stops on the way.  First, I’m going to go out here in friggin Japantown and get myself a beer.  These plans are all subject to change. Asia, even when it resembles home, is weird.  It’s actually weirder when it tries to cater to western tastes.  It feels weird in the bones.  It takes adjustment.  That is all. PS.  I’m fine, and safe, and healthy.  I’m just being real, and I feel better for it.  Love you all.

[mbaljeetsingh]

Why You Should Learn Next.js as a React Developer

We can all likely agree on one thing: React is one of the most popular solutions out there for building interactive web applications, both small and large.

And it is used by so many startups and companies that it is a very valuable skill to have these days.

I discovered Next.js a couple of years back, and was intrigued with what it was trying to accomplish.

In this post, I'll describe my personal journey with Next.js. I'll also discuss why I believe that it is the right time to add it to your React stack.

The Early Web

Back in the mid-2000s, when the web was young and growing, developers moved from static only HTML pages to more robust and dynamic solutions.

This gave us the ability to create pages with dynamic content using tech like PHP (mind you, JavaScript was very young and non-performant at this time).

You could have a single profile.php page and it would take care of Alice, Bob, John, Mehul, and all 15,000 registered people on your website – very convenient.

Then came the JavaScript age. People started realizing that there was this language supported for the web which could be used for so much.

You could set up dynamic form submission, background HTTP requests, nice scrolling effects, and even create webpages on the fly.

The rise of JavaScript and libraries like jQuery allowed web developers to create nice interfaces fully customizable with JavaScript.

Soon, every web developer started pushing more and more JavaScript down the network to the client. Sure, technology evolved, mobile phones and PCs became better with more RAM and cores, but JavaScript started evolving faster.

More functionalities, more features, and more frameworks meant a better user experience and the ability to create an app-like feeling on the web.

But this also meant pushing more and more JavaScript down the network on devices that could not keep up with evolving JavaScript limits.

The Web was made for HTML

Old, slow mobile devices started giving up - load times became high, there was more lag, JS engines were less powerful, and there was just so much JavaScript to parse!

With frameworks like React and Angular, you're basically pushing huge JavaScript bundles to clients which first have to download the small HTML pages.

Web developers who moved from the PHP age (server-rendered HTML) to the JavaScript age (client rendered HTML) soon started realizing that they screwed up big time.

React was great for interactivity and high-performance components, but the fact that people starting using these tools to build everything started to create problems for clients.

A simple About Us page, which could be a very simple static HTML/CSS page, was now a page with a whopping JS bundle. The browser first had to download, then parse, then execute, and then change the DOM to display the content.

This was bad for everyone. Clients had higher load times. Browsers had to work hard to run JS (browsers parse and run HTML/CSS very efficiently). And search engines like Google and Bing had a hard time understanding what your page was about, because your source code never contained the real content. It was always embedded somewhere in your JS bundle.

People loved React and similar tools. But they also understood the implications of running too much JS client-side.

On the other hand, they loved how PHP worked, but they didn't like its architecture. So what was the solution?

Server-Side Rendering (SSR) – the best of both worlds

When developers realized that pushing too much React code on the client was a problem, they thought: Hey, is it possible to code in React, but ship HTML documents to clients?

After all, when the React code is done executing, all you really have is an HTML document anyway.

So they did it. Server-Side Rendering (SSR) for React was born.

Now, with SSR, you can write React code, somehow run it on the server (which was more powerful than your typical client device – like a mobile phone), and then send the HTML document to the client.

Win-win for everybody. You, as a developer, get to code in React - the technology you love. And the visitor on your site gets a plain HTML document (with visible content, and a little rehydrated JS), which gets a massive performance boost. Plus, Google loves you now.

Who wouldn't want that?

But it was too difficult

Server-side rendering definitely seemed like the solution to this problem. But the problem? It was too difficult to set up correctly.

Proper caching and cache-busting? Could you possibly create static HTML files for pages that didn't change? How should you build a seamless navigation experience on your website even if you have server-side rendered HTML? How should you ease down the load on your servers, or generate on-demand content?

And on top of all this, how do you set up this whole architecture? Sure, React and the web provides all the APIs for these, but they are quite verbose and usually a one-time setup.

If you're someone who's actually building something valuable, after some time you would want the majority of your time to be spent on the business logic of your application, and not on the underlying logic.

Introducing Next.js

Next.js is a framework born in heaven. It ships with:

Best SEO practices

Caching and Automatic Static Optimization built-in

Fully server-rendered pages

100% React support

Lambda function support (API routes)

Fine tweak your webpack/babel config if needed

And much more!

It abstracts away all those performance and development setups you need with a typical React app and allows you to focus only on what matters – your business logic code.

I had my first experience with Next.js 2 years ago when it was very young.

But Next.js 9.5 was released this year with so many features. And I think it's safe to say that it is one of the most powerful tools available in the web development ecosystem, especially if you're a React developer.

I run codedamn (a platform for developers to learn to code) myself on Next.js. There's a massive performance boost to the site compared to your regular React app.

If you're a React developer in 2020, one of the best skills you can learn is Next.js. Here are some benefits it offers you as a developer:

Definitely an emerging technology – more job opportunities and possibilities

Server rendered pages means better performance – more clients for you

SEO for your websites baked in – search engines love you

All the benefits of having a server in place – API routes, dynamic content fetching, and stale-while-revalidate feature (oh I love this one)

A great technical skill on your résumé

Some Next.js features I'm excited about

Next.js is evolving really fast. They deprecate old functionalities and introduce shiny new things all the time.

As of today, I'm super interested in the framework as a whole, but here are some of my top picks:

#1 Stable Incremental Static Regeneration

Simply speaking, this feature allows you to generate static content dynamically. Wait, what? Let's see a quick example:

Say you have a blog website (like this one) with a lot of articles. When somebody visits /news/[link] (where [link] is anything), you want to serve them the static page as fast as you can.

But it is possible that you don't want to create all static pages at build time because it would take you a lot of time. In a few cases, this isn't possible at all at build time.

Also, sometimes your content might change, like a quick blog edit - so you don't really want a completely static page forever either. So what's the solution?

Using Next.js 9.5+, now you can generate static pages dynamically to the dynamic path and refresh them.

This means that once Next fetches that particular URL, it'll save it as a static page and serve it statically whenever somebody visits the path. At the same time, it'll be open to accepting new paths dynamically.

Not only can you do this, with a revalidate parameter, you can also actually specify that Next.js should update your static pages once every X seconds in the background if there's any change!

#2 Webpack 5 Support

Next.js is heading towards Webpack 5 support too. This is exciting as Webpack 5 brings in some sweet performance and bundle optimizations and drops support for deprecated things in webpack 4, making the core lighter.

That means your Next.js apps will be faster than ever and more robust.

#3 Dropping of getInitialProps

I personally didn't like the concept of having a single function execute on both environments - getInitialProps.

Thankfully, Next.js figured out that there's a much better solution available and they brought in getServerSideProps and getStaticProps as two great methods with good names.

getServerSideProps, as the name suggests, allows you to inject props in your Next.js page from the server itself. And getStaticProps allows Next.js to still create static outputs at build time.

getStaticProps combined with incremental static regeneration is a killer feature in my opinion. You get the many benefits of a dynamic backend without having a dynamic backend.

#4 Persistent Caching for Page Bundles

Next.js now also supports persistent caches for pages that are not changed. Before, when you shipped a new Next.js app, Next.js would throw out the whole app and the user had to download all the CSS/JS again, even if those bundles were unchanged.

In the latest version of Next.js released last week, our friends at Vercel introduced persistent caching which is again an absolutely great thing to have performance-wise.

#5 Out of the box support for Sass Modules and TypeScript

If there's one thing I love more than JavaScript, it is TypeScript. And Sass is sweet too. Most people I know use Sass to power their CSS, and it provides a great developer experience.

Next.js has long offered great support for TypeScript out of the box. But recently they added module based support for Sass as well.

This means that your styles can now be written in Sass, local to your modules, with caching and revalidation - all managed by Next.js internally.

Seems like they really want you to develop the best products focusing only on the business logic.

Learning Next.js [a Course]

I'm creating an exclusive video course on Next.js with best practices, latest framework updates, and super cool things you can do with it. I'm including a bunch of full projects with the framework so you'll get a deep understanding of how to work with this tool.

If you're interested, sign up for early access using this Google form link and I'll make sure to reach out to you when it's out.

Conclusion

I'm going all in on Next.js. The speed with which they're iterating and developing the SSR concept and making it available to so many is just astonishing.

If you signed up using the form link above, expect to hear from me soon with some awesome content for you.

Feel free to hit me up on social media to share what you think: Twitter and Instagram.

[yuto-mizuguchi]

WJSN #Happy_Moment Ujung Support Step-by-step Tutorial 

Hello Ujungs! Since WJSN are releasing their first full album on June, 7th, I have decided to make a very detailed tutorial on how you can help make this comeback as successful as possible to pay back our girls for being extremely loving, caring and for working so hard to keep Ujungs satisfied. It is our moment to make them happy happy!! (see what I did there)

Our main goals for this comeback are:

get WJSN their first win (it is the first full album after all + they did mention this as their New Year resolution)

reach minimally 5+ million views on YouTube

sell more than 50k copies of Happy Moment

This tutorial will include:

YouTube MV streaming

digital streaming

voting on music shows

digital downloads and buying physical copies

promoting

If you have any questions, suggestions or complaints, make sure to hit me up on tumblr chat or send me a direct message on @dawonce.

1. YouTube MV streaming

YouTube views are important for many music shows and count as a part of digital points for award shows in the end of the year.

Pick a browser you are going to stream the MV with and read the following instructions. Google Chrome is currently the best option for this (you can download it here btw, it is completely safe) but it would be great if you could use more browsers and stream with all of them at the same time. That’s of course if your PC/laptop allows it.

Do NOT reupload the MV on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook or any other social network or website. Make sure to put the LINK everywhere, especially if you are sharing screencaps, edits, gifs or snippets. Every view counts. If you see more than 30 seconds of it shared on Twitter (usually) without the person providing the link as well, do not hesitate to politely ask them to delete the tweet and report it as spam if they refuse to do so. Use as many devices as possible.

Streaming guidelines:

Do not skip the ads! WJSN do profit from them.

Log in to your YouTube account to like the video and leave a few positive comments. That will count as one view, so for next steps make sure to log out and then continue streaming. If you have more accounts, hit like button on each one of them.

Do not use the Incognito mode, it freezes the views. If you notice that the views have been frozen for a few hours, report it to YouTube as “PLAYBACK ISSUE” and do not panick. It is said: “To make sure that all views are validated, as view count goes higher, YouTube updates less frequently and might occasionally freeze above 300 views to assure quality view count. This is the normal operation in YouTube videos.”

You can open as many windows per browser as your internet connection allows but the videos should not be lagging too much to ensure view counts.

Do not refresh the page. Instead, search manually for the MV and stream only the official one uploaded on STARSHIP’s channel. When you type in ‘WJSN’ on YouTube, at the moment the first suggestion is ‘Secret’. What we want to do is get Happy MV there.

Your volume should be at least 50%. If you have more tabs opened at the same time, to avoid that chaos mute your device and not the MV itself.

Watch it from the beginning to the end without pausing.

Clear your cache every 10 minutes and cookies every 1 hour. To avoid this step, just check out the history/cookie/cache cleaning extensions I have listed below.

ENJOY!

[TIP!] You could reply to a lot of positive comments under the MV so people come back to it again. Worth a try! ㅋㅋㅋDo not forget to report malicious comments.

[TIP!] If you have an active YouTube channel, put the MV as your featured content (my channel > video manager > channel > featured content).

**You can create playlists, but do not include only Happy MV. If possible, create a playlist in this order: MoMoMo MV - Secret MV - I Wish MV - Happy MV x3.

If you are going to leave your device on overnight to stream even while sleeping or while you are away (recommended), download the following extensions for your browser:

Chrome extensions (Chrome Web Store) :

Auto HD For YouTube

Cache Killer

Super Auto Refresh

Firefox add-ons (Mozilla add-ons) :

YouTube HD Plus

Empty Cache Button

ReloadEvery

Opera extensions (Extensions) :

YouTube High Definition 

History Eraser

Super Auto Refresh

This will help you do the following: always stream MV in quality above 720p (HD in this case, you can use it even while you are there), refresh (not hit the replay button, this is because you cannot manually search for the MV while sleeping or when you are not there duh) and erase your history and cache. The last extension should be on even while being on you device. Auto Refresh MUST be set at 10 minutes (about 5 minutes for the MV and 5 minutes break: YouTube might validate the views faster like this).

Tutorial for streaming your phone/tablet by jzmonsterssaem:

2. Digital streaming

Since I am not familiar with streaming, I have found a few very useful tutorials:

MelOn

How to create an account

How to purchase a MelOn pass

How to stream and download

Genie

How to create an account and get a free pass (PC)

How to create an account and get a free pass (Phone)

Free link compilations

How to stream using free link

How to create an account and get 10 free passes daily in 13 steps: 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 

NAVER

How to create an account

How to get a free pass (1)

How to get a free pass (2)

Streaming reflects on some music show charts.

Show Champion: Naver, Melon, Bugs, Genie

M!Countdown: Mnet, Melon, Genie, Bugs

Inkigayo: Melon, Genie, Bugs

3. Voting on music shows

CRITERIA + VOTING

**Digital Score - Streaming + Downloads **Broadcast Points - Views on show performances

THE SHOW

DIGITAL SCORE - 70%

MV VIEWS - 25%

EXPERTS PREFERENCE - 5%

LIVE SHOW VOTING (SMS)

SHOW CHAMPION

DIGITAL SCORE - 40%

PHYSICAL SALES - 10%

NETIZEN’S PREFERENCE - 15%

EXPERTS PREFERENCE - 15%

MBC MUSIC BROADCAST POINTS - 15%

**Netizen’s preference - Online votes

Voting period: Tuesday 00:00 KST - Sunday 23:59 KST

How to vote? I have made a detailed video tutorial on how to vote on Show Champion a while ago for FY!COSMICGIRLS . Click here.

M!COUNTDOWN

DIGITAL SCORE - 50%

PHYSICAL SALES - 15%

SOCIAL MEDIA SCORE - 15%

POPULARITY SCORE - 10%

BROADCAST POINTS - 10%

LIVE SHOW VOTING (SMS)

**Social Media Score - MV Views **Popularity Vote - Online Voting Points

Voting period: Friday 14:00 KST - Monday 09:00 KST

How to vote? Use your Mnet, Twitter, Facebook and Kakaotalk accounts to vote on MNET’s voting page once a day per account.

MUSIC BANK

DIGITAL SCORE - 65%

PHYSICAL SALES - 5%

BROADCAST POINTS - 20%

EXPERTS PREFERENCE - 10%

SBS INKIGAYO

DIGITAL SCORE - 55%

PHYSICAL SALES - 5%

SNS POINTS - 35%

PRE-VOTING - 5%

**SNS points -MV views

How to vote? Click here for a detailed tutorial by CLCPENTAGON.

Do not reupload the performances and watch them only on music shows’ official YouTube channels as the views count as points. Use the same watching method as for the MV.

If you are able to, watch the performances through their official websites and music sites as well.

The Show

MNET

Naver **All music shows have Naver channels, just type in the program name In the search box. (더쇼 / 쇼챔피언 / 엠카운트다운 / 뮤직뱅크 / 음중 / 인기가요)

4. Digital downloads and buying physical copies

DIGITAL DOWNLOADS

Please only download and stream music from these sites: Melon, Naver, Mnet, Genie, Olleh, Bugs

**All underlined hold the most weight on music charts! **Purchasing from iTunes and Spotify does not count to the charts

[TIP!] Mass streaming boosts up ranking, so try to stream together with other Ujungs at the same time.

[TIP!] Title track is the one being ranked on the charts, so stream it more frequently than the rest of the album.

Buy ‘Happy Moment’ on iTunes as soon as it comes out

BUYING PHYSICAL COPIES

‘Happy Moment’ is WJSN’s first full album that comes in two versions: HAPPY ver. & MOMENT ver. More info about the album here.

Only purchase physical copies of the album from sites that count towards Hanteo and Gaon charts: KPopTown, YesAsia, DVDHeaven, KPopMart , Synnara , KTOWN4U.

**Other sites are fine if they contribute to the charts. You have to check this before making the purchase. ** Also check out: To K-Pop Fans outside South Korea - a Guide for an International Order (tutorial by Synnara)

[TIP!] If possible, please pre-order the album because it will help contribute to the first week sales. Pre-order benefits are a limited balloon and bookmarks. Pre-ordering ends on June 7th.

5. Promoting

Other than sharing the MV, you can also help by doing the following:

1. Apply for WJSN’s album release showcase by leaving a support comment to WJSN under this Starship NAVER blog post. Applications are opened until June 5th and the winner will be announced on the following day at 2PM KST.

3. Leave positive comments and tap hearts on comeback V LIVE. UPDATE: There is apparently a safe software you can use to tap hearts automatically. Here is a tutorial.

2. Search for 우주소녀 on Korean news sites:

Naver

Melon

Nate

Bugs

Olleh

Soribada

3. Watch WJSN videos on Naver

4. Retweet WJSN_cosmic and share posts from their official Facebook fan page. Use #우주소녀 and #HAPPY_MOMENT hashtags whenever you can.

7. Add a Twibbon to your profile pictures on Twitter and Facebook.

Thank you for reading! Let’s make this comeback successful together  ♡

[pogueman]

Samsung's Bixby voice assistant is ambitious, powerful, and half-baked

Can you imagine what it must have been like at Samsung when they came up with Bixby?

Manager: “OK, people. Apple (AAPL) has Siri, Google (GOOG, GOOGL) has its Assistant, Microsoft (MSFT) has Cortana. Amazon (AMZN) has that Alexa thing. We’re the only major player without a voice assistant!”

Underling 1: “But since our phones run Android, they already have Google Assistant built in. It wouldn’t make sense to create a second voice assistant on the same phone, would it?”

Underling 2: “Like that’s ever stopped us before? Samsung Reminders? Samsung Pay? Samsung Notes? HELLO?”

Manager: “Sheila’s right. I’m sick of being called a copycat company! We need to leapfrog the others! Our assistant won’t just tell you the weather and set alarms—ours will perform complete, multistep tasks!”

Second-in-command: “Cool! Yes! Like, ‘Send the last picture I took to my wife!’ Like ‘Take a selfie, apply the black-and-white filter, and post it to Instagram!'”

Manager: “And what’s more, we’ll someday expand this technology across the entire Samsung archipelago! It’ll be in our fridges! And washer-dryers! And cameras!”

Underling 1: “Um, but we have no experience with writing voice assistants. No database of voice samples. No voice-analysis experts.”

Manager: “Hey now, Ms. Doubty-Face. Let’s not stomp on my dreams. We’re going to write this thing, and what’s more, we’re going to have it done in time for the launch of our flagship Galaxy S8 phone!”

Underlings, together: “WHAAAAA—?”

You get the idea. From the beginning, Bixby (as the new voice assistant is bizarrely named) has been overly ambitious and underly polished.

It wasn’t ready in time for the Galaxy S8’s American launch. The phone comes with a dedicated Bixby button on the left edge, but for four months, it did absolutely nothing. (And when people tried to write hacks that assigned that button to do something, Samsung released a patch that blocked them.)

Well, Bixby is finally here. That Galaxy S8 button finally does something. Unfortunately, it’s not often what you want it to do.

After months of delay, Bixby is here.

How Bixby works

You can press the Bixby button as you issue your command, or you can speak hands-free by preceding each command with “Hi Bixby,” much as you can say “Hey Siri” or “OK Google.”

The training setup requires you to utter eight sentences, like “Hi Bixby,” “Hi Bixby, turn on Bluetooth,” “Health is always important,” and so on.

Now, you might assume that this unusually long training session will guarantee unusually good speech recognition. You’d be wrong.

Standard commands

The best way to show you how hit-or-miss Bixby’s performance is? Maybe it’s just to show you what you’d get if you could try it yourself.

Green means, “Bixby worked!” Blue means, “Bixby FAIL!”

Let’s start with the everyday commands, which your Apple or Android phone can already do:

Set an alarm for 7:30 a.m.

Open Settings.

Read my new messages.

What’s the weather? (Bixby: “Hmm, I can’t determine your current location.” The hilarious part is that the phone knows perfectly well my current location—which it displays just above the message saying that it doesn’t!)

You can’t determine the location? How about looking HALF AN INCH HIGHER ON THE SCREEN?

How many new emails do I have? (Bixby: “No problem. I’ve filtered the emails.” What?)

Send an email to Nicki about tomorrow’s lunch. (Bixby creates an outgoing email message, sure enough—but addresses it to “Nicki about tomorrow’s lunch.)

Create a new note called Rainy Day Activities. (It works—but the note is saved on the phone only, in a dedicated Samsung Notes app. The note doesn’t appear on the web or on any other machines, as it would if you used Siri or used Google Assistant.)

Add margarine to my Grocery List note.

Turn on “Do Not Disturb.”

Create an appointment for Friday at noon called “Fishing with Bob.” (Creates the appointment, but the title is only “Fishing.” Bob’s nowhere to be found.)

How many pictures did I take today? (Bixby: “OK! Let’s set up Samsung Health.” What the—??)

Tell me a joke. (Well, half credit. Bixby tells you a joke, but they’re terrible. “Who is Samsung’s favorite supehero? Super AMOLED!”)

Is a wombat a mammal? (Bixby hears, “Is a wombat a memo?” no matter how clearly, slowly, and repeatedly I asked. I already realize that a wombat is not a memo.)

When is the next Indians game? (Bixby displays only a link to the Major League Baseball schedule site, rather than showing the answer, as Siri does.)

Call Sarah.

Send a text to mom saying, “See you at Thanksgiving.”

What is Apple’s stock price? (Bixby displays a paragraph about Apple from Wikipedia—no mention of its stock price.)

What’s a 17% tip on $42? (Bixby displays links to online tip calculators. Siri and Google display the answer.)

Bixby is especially pathetic when it comes to navigation.

What pizza places are nearby? (Bixby: “Looks like there’s a connection problem.”)

Find me an Italian restaurant nearby. (Bixby opens Google Maps—promising!—but then stops, saying, “It looks like we experienced a slight hiccup.”)

Give me directions to JFK airport. (Bixby: “Which one?”)

Give me directions to the Empire State Building. (The “slight hiccup” error message appears after 10 seconds.)

In all cases, Bixby is very, very slow—plenty of videos online show how badly it lags behind Siri or Google Assistant.

It’s also fairly confusing. Most response bubbles include the baffling phrase, “You’re in native context.” And every so often, you’re awarded Bixby XP points for using Bixby. Samsung suggests that if you accumulate enough, you’ll be able to earn valuable prizes. OK, but if you have to bribe your customers to use your app…

Phone-control commands

Bixby may be super-lame at performing the usual voice-assistant commands. But to its credit, it can control your phone in some very literal ways that most other assistants can’t. For example:

Turn on the flashlight. (How great is that!?)

Take a selfie. (Bixby open the Camera app, turns on the front camera, and displays a three-second countdown. It’s terrific.)

Scroll down.

Go to the Home screen.

Open the Quick Settings panel.

Open Display in Settings.

Tap “blue light filter.”

Open the app drawer. (Bixby hears the command correctly, but displays the app store, and opens the keyboard for searching.)

Show me my apps? (Bixby asks, “Which one?” and lists three of them.)

Open the app tray. (Bixby invites you to change the grid-spacing settings for your apps.)

Yes, of course, it’s always faster to use your finger; Bixby does everything slowly. But sometimes, your hands are full, or your brain is full and you can’t remember how to get to something.

Compound commands

Where Bixby is supposed to shine, of course, is performing more elaborate commands that would leave its rivals in the dust.

Set an alarm called “Milk the cows” at 4:30 a.m., Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Crop my most recent photo.

Text my latest photo to mom. (Man, this one is so useful and reliable, it’s almost enough to make me forgive the rest of Bixby’s brokenness. Almost.)

Find the pictures I took today and put them into a folder called Summer Break. (Amazing!)

Open Voice Recorder and start recording.

Open Instagram and post my most recent photo, with the caption ‘Rainy Monday.’”

Open Facebook Messenger and send the message, “I’m running 20 minutes behind” to Christine. (If you have only one Christine in your Facebook contacts, opens the message-composition screen, but doesn’t fill in the message you specified.)

Open Facebook and post my latest photo. (Bixby gives that “slight hiccup” message.)

Bixby works only in apps that have been specially adapted to work with it. That includes 15 of the phone’s built-in apps—Gallery, Contacts, Phone, Settings, Messages, Camera, etc.— plus about 20 ‘Bixby Labs’ apps, which presumably means they’re still under development. They include Facebook (FB), Twitter (TWTR), WhatsApp, Gmail, Google Play Store, and so on.

Bixby not as Billed

It’s incredible that a company as global and deep-pocketed as Samsung would release software as half-baked as Bixby. True, the company has a long history of writing apps that only kind of work (cough *S Translator* cough). But something as important and essential to the phone—and to the company’s future—as Bixby? Come on.

Bixby will improve, of course. And some of the things that do work are so compelling and useful, Apple and Google should be ashamed not to have thought of them. “Turn on the flashlight” and “Text my most recent photo to Robin” are particularly brilliant.

For now, though, be grateful that your Samsung phone also has the “OK Google” assistant on it. You can use that for all the everyday queries that Bixby botches, and use Bixby for the few things it’s really good at. You just have to learn which assistant to trigger when.

As for the name Bixby? No, it’s not named after Bill Bixby, star of the 1978 “The Incredible Hulk” TV show; it’s named for a bridge in California. That turns out to be apropos, because surely not even the managers and underlings at Samsung believe that Bixby is a finished product. If anything, it’s only a temporary bridge—to, we hope, something much better.

More from David Pogue:

Is through-the-air charging a hoax?

Electrify your existing bike in 2 minutes with these ingenious wheels

Marty Cooper, inventor of the cellphone: The next step is implantables 

The David Pogue Review: Windows 10 Creators Update

Now I get it: Bitcoin

David Pogue’s search for the world’s best air-travel app

The little-known iPhone feature that lets blind people see with their fingers

David Pogue, tech columnist for Yahoo Finance, welcomes nontoxic comments in the comments section below. On the web, he’s davidpogue.com. On Twitter, he’s @pogue. On email, he’s poguester@yahoo.com. You can read all his articles here, or you can sign up to get his columns by email.