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mrstaeminlee · 4 years

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Mission Complete Ch. 1

You had two goals in life. One: Complete your squad training without dying. Two: Fuck Levi Ackerman

Pairings: Levi/f!reader

Warnings: Swearing, eventual smut, lmk if I need to add anything~

You really had no idea what the fuck prompted you to join the military. Maybe it was to find some redeeming grace in the eyes of your dying mother, maybe it was because you wanted a life with as much stability as one could muster, maybe it was because you just fucking hated farming.

Whatever it was, you wished to any God that would listen that you would have buried it in the ground along with the countless friends and family members you had lost to the Titans.

The first week of the cadet corps was everything you knew you would hate and more. Between the foul smelling breath of the commandant threatening to make you puke up the bread you had managed to steal, to working your body to the point of sneaking away from one on one combat to puke behind the bushes, after seven days you had almost decided that maybe digging in the dirt for the rest of your miserable life wasn't so bad.

There was only one thing stopping you from making your own walk of shame to the wagon of regret.

Levi Ackerman.

AKA the man you fantasized about every night when you managed to find enough strength to finger yourself below the covers.

He was a couple of inches shorter, true, but you were willing to break your rule of not fucking anyone shorter than you for him.

You had only see him twice in your life by complete chance, the first had been when you happened to be by the gates in time to see the Scouts returning from what was undoubtably another failed mission, and you decided that what the hell, might as well have a look at Humanity's Strongest in the flesh. Granted, it hadn't been his best day; his green cloak was splattered with what could only have been the blood of his comrades as it didn't look as if he had a single scratch on him, but he looked like a god, albeit one that had just gotten his ass kicked out of heaven. His eyes seemed to be sunken in, and even from how far away you were you found yourself shivering from the intensity of his dead gaze. You weren't sure what possessed you to lift your hand as he eyes moved through the crowd, looking for whom, you didn't know, or what possessed him to raise those eyes to you, but you found yourself lost in haunted silver as you gave a soft wave. The way he seemed to look straight through you, not even seeing you even as you stared at each other, was enough to convince you that you needed to do whatever it took to see this man again.

You enlisted the start of the next week.

The second time was completely by chance.

Everyone was desperate for military recruits, and desperate times called for desperate calls to important people to make appearances in front of people that were well, not very important.

Erwin Smith, Dot Pixis, Nile Dawk, Levi Ackerman, Hange Zoe, Rico Brzenska, and even Darius Zackly graced the entrance ceremony of the new Cadets, and you thanked whatever bone in your body made you a teacher's pet because you had a front row seat to the man that had plagued your thoughts every single day in the past week. His appearance was brief and he didn't speak, just stared at the fresh faces, some cocky, some blank, but mostly terrified new recruits, and you could have sworn that you saw a tinge of sadness hidden in the silver, as if he could already foresee the deaths of everyone in front of him. He followed after Erwin immediately after the blond gave his speech about thanking you all for making the decision to serve humanity and you fought the urge to roll your eyes. 'I'm not doing this for humanity, I'm doing this for dick,' you thought as you signed your life away to this shit camp for the next two years.

How one man who was fucking shorter than you managed to convince you to trade the next 728 days, 14 hours, 37 minutes, and 15 seconds of your life for physical and emotional hell was beyond you, and yet here you were, standing proud and slightly hungover from the pre-graduation celebrating you did with Eren, Mikasa, and Armin the night before. They hadn't initially been your first choice in friends, but Armin was nice to you from the start and once you very quickly learned that flirting with Eren in front of Mikasa was not in your best interest, you had decided that they were alright; especially when Eren's Titan form had been revealed. If anyone was going to have to get close enough to keep an eye on Eren, it would be Captain Levi.

The very man you were thinking of walked on the stage along with Nile Dawk, Dot Pixis, and Erwin Smith as the three took turns giving their pitch. You hadn't made the top 10 but were happy for your friends that were, you were content with your place as 13th. In a class of over 500, you still considered it a win, and if your parents were still alive you knew they'd be proud. As the remaining members of the top 10 who had opted to join the elitest MP's went off to talk to Nile and the other scared fucks ran off to sign themselves to the Garrison regiment, you and around a hundred other members stayed where you were and you licked your lips, forcing your heart rate to calm itself. 'Calm down, you can't work your way up to fucking the strongest man in the world if you die of heart attack before-'

"Listen up you little shits."

Oh my God he was speaking you've never heard his voice before it's so fucking-

"Most of you are going to die. Are you prepared for that?"

Ah, so Humanity's Strongest was a sweet talker.

"Erwin is making me come up here and talk, so we're all going to pretend that I'm saying some meaningful bullshit. But here's the truth: If you aren't strong, you will die, and it will be painful. Imagine the thought of seeing your childhood friend's entrails being slurped up like spaghetti by a Titan, while the entire time he's conscious enough to reach his hand out for you, and you are able to do nothing for him because you spent exactly one second hesitating, or you were a moment too late to draw your blades, or react to the threat. If that scares you, then do us all a favor and put down that half assed salute and sell your soul to the Garrison where you'll spend your days fucking the best whores for a discount if you're in uniform and getting drunk on the clock."

After his touching speech you and your now dripping panties decided that you had indeed made the right decision in selling yourself to the Scouts.

One month later

It was moments like these, where you weren't quite trashed but definitely more than tipsy, that you had never been happier to be part of the survey corps. I mean, you were in peak physical shape (you still couldn't believe you had abs. Abs!), you were hot, you were fit, and you knew Sasha Braus, who had managed to steal a few bottles of top shelf liquor from the higher ups.

You were also horny as fuck. It had been over a year since you'd gotten laid, and you were using the dildo you'd bought on your first trip back into town as often as you brushed your teeth (twice a day, you didn't fuck with cavities). You briefly thought about enlisting the help of one of your current drinking buddies but after seeing your choices you decided to leave it to old faithful hidden in your pillowcase. There was Jean, who albeit was pretty hot even with the long face but was so in love with Mikasa it made you want to vomit. Marco, who you were almost one hundred percent sure was gay; Connie, who held the sexual appeal of a pile of horse shit, although he was super nice. Reiner almost looked promising but you knew underneath those stocky muscles was a shitload of emotional baggage you didn't want, and Bertholt was head over heels for Annie of all people. That left Armin and Eren. Eren you already knew was out, while your slut senses told you he'd be a great lay, you weren't quite ready for your life to end at the hands of Mikasa. That left Armin. You tilted your head, staring at him as you sipped on your god forsaken concoction and debated fucking him or not. He wasn't outright sexy, but he'd filled in well during the two years of training and you had seen glimpses of his surprisingly impressive muscles under his white shirt. He might actually do. He'd be shy as hell and you would have to lead everything, not to mention he'd probably cum in less than a minute, but it just might-

“Did you guys know that Captain Levi is a virgin?"

You spit the mix of vodka, rum, and whatever mixer Reiner had put in all over the face of the person you had just considered fucking.

"I'm sorry, what?" You turned your attention to Christa, apologetically handing Armin a napkin and patting his cheek.

Christa blushed at the attention and scooted closer to Ymir, who threw an arm around her shoulders and gave Reiner her customary 'If you even look at her weird, I will gut you' look. "W-Well, recently I started helping out in the infirmary because they've been short handed. You all know, it's that time of year where everyone has to get looked at and they give us that sheet of paper to fill out with all of our personal information to keep track of potential diseases. I was in charge of filing the paperwork the day they brought all of the officers in, and on the paper they ask you how many sexual partners you've had and Captain Levi wrote 0. But you guys, you have to promise not to tell anyone! This is private information, if it somehow gets out that I told you this I'll get into a lot of trouble!"

Ymir chuckled, placing a sloppy kiss at the top of the blonde's head. "Don't worry about a thing sweet cheeks, if any of these miscreants here says a word I'll kill them for ya. But we don't have to worry about that at all, now do we?" She glared at each person in the room, who all looked as if Christa were a ghost, and slowly shook their heads.

Your life was changed.

Captain Levi Ackerman.

The strongest man in the world.

Rumored former thug of the Underground.

The person responsible for killing as many Titans as a hundred soldiers.

The person whose squad every scout dreamed of being on, was a virgin.

You screeched out a laugh before you could help it, the alcohol doing nothing to try and make you quiet yourself as you fell onto your back laughing, cup long forgotten as it rolled across the floor. The person who initiated your drive to join the military in the first place, the person you literally dreamed of fucking, had never gotten his dick wet.

Clearly, you had your work cut out for you.

If you managed to live through the sight of Ymir reaching over to punch you in the face to shut you up.

#lmk if y'all like it plssssss #we're just gonna age everyone up here lol #I've been thirsting after Armin as a 30 yr old college professor who blushes when he sees you in your bra but chokes you out during sex #aot x reader #snk x reader #Levi ackerman #Levi Ackerman x reader #Levi x reader #Levi x reader smut #Levi smut #captain levi

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penrosestudies · 6 years

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unedited, wrote in one sitting so = almost crap PT3 tips

Alright, I'm in form 4 this year so I'm probs not entitled to give advice for SPM but hopefully, I can help with PT3.

THE PROCRASTINATOR'S GUIDE TO PT3 TLDR; PT3 sucks, ace your folios and oral assessments and bust your ass for science and maths.

I'm going to make it in list form, so based on my opinion on the difficulty on getting an A. Easy to hard.

1. FOLIOS Please for your own sake, ace your folios. The is the easiest thing you'll encounter in the whole year. Starting from 2017, (ahem the year I had the exams) the schema for the folios are only getting tougher. So, I'll talk about sejarah first. Sejarah needs to be lengthy, no peribahasa please because it doesn't help, at all.

*Do your research. I cannot stress how important this is. Ask your teacher for their criteria, it's almost the same for every year but sometimes it differs so you have to be informed. For example, in the previous years, presentations were not required for the folios, but since it was an easy A for most students, KPM decided to throw in the presentations. You have to note that invigilators will come over and judge some of the selected student's presentations and the marks allocated would be 10, so don't half-ass it.

secondly, ask your seniors on how they wrote their folios. Research on previous topics and make sure you grasp and comprehend what the topic requires you to write. Here's a vital tip, you can ask your teacher after you finish a topic for comments and on where should you improve. ( it's allowed but if your teacher is an ass then :( )

*Finish your topics on time Don't spend too much time or too little time on the parts. Follow the time your teacher allocates for you. If you manage to mess that up, be prepared to cram out a massive paper 3 like essays that will make you regret your whole month. ( My tablemate and I took it to the last minute to write out out kesan, ikhtibar and some other crap and I'm telling you, it ain't pretty. But I aced it because I wrote the drafts in advance and copied it at school. You're not supposed to know the marks but I got a 95 ;0 )

*FUCK// FHCI You need to follow the FCUK/FUCK rule and the FHCI rule. Which are faktor, usaha, cara/ cabaran and kesan rule and the faktor, huraian, contoh and inferens rule.

It's best that you make each faktor a paragraph.

* follow the format Really. FOLLOW IT. If you're not sure about it, ASK. The format's what giving you the marks esp in the first few pages.

Conclusion- This applies to geography too, but in geo. it's much harder. You have to draw maPS and use very specific keywords. I won't elaborate but you're welcomed to ask.

2. ORAL ASSESSMENT Practice makes perfect. Memorize ungkapan menarik and listen to podcasts when you can. Some final ungkapan like menyusun sepuluh jari and meminta maaf jika tersilap kata dan terkasar bahasa may seem a HASSLE, but it does score some sweet marks.

Also, READ READ READ. The topics for the oral asses. will mostly come from popular essay questions (for BM) and current issues.

3. SCIENCE and MATHS You really have to wade within the syllabus to ace this.

Reread your texts from Form 1. Do a shit load of worksheets and past years. The hard work will pay off. Reading will prove to be useful for science and the worksheets will make your PT3 maths less painful.

For science, revising some concepts out of your syllabus will help. Besides, KBAT questions can be accessed from the net so give that a lookup yeah?

4. LANGUAGES BI Get your marks at the error identification, literature components and information transfer.

Essay's a done deal if you've been procrastinating. If not, just reading constantly and brushing up your vocab will do you a lot of good since the english standard here is extremely low. No offence, Singapore PLSE's writing standards are identical to what SPM marking teacher's want to see.

BM NOVEL NOVEL NOVEL. The most beloved part of the exam, KOMSAS. WHY? because if you understand it, you don't need to memorize it. Persoalan can be used for nilai and tema and pengajaran and etc.

Reading a lot applies to all languages really, so... yeah. Having an arsenal of peribahasa also is very useful.

Tatabahasa is kinda okay, because there will be one sure question concerning bahasa istana so go brush up on that.

I forgot about the rest.

BC ahahHAHAHA I have never received any mark higher than 65 for this damned subject but got an A for PT3. SLAVE FOR BC. PLEASE MEMORIZE YOUR MINGJU LIKE THE BACK OF YOUR HAND There are alot of tips for the pemahaman part but I'll have to explain them in every detail so ask away if curious.

and for the guwen texts..... there are a set of vocabs you have to know, and if you read the question you can get the gist of the story ( super advised) then you can start dissecting the text from there.

5. KHB I choose perdagangan because I wanted to die.

The only way out of this is to STUDY, make notes and charts and flashcards. There's a lot of ground to cover so it's best that you are familiar with your sukatan and your chosen bidang.

#pt3 #studyblr #tips

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bookwyrmling · 7 years

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100 Questions

Tagged by @zombizombi (ty dearie) a while back.

below a cut for length!

1. Coffee or tea? Tea, but never black. 2. Black and white or color? I appreciate all forms of light. 3. Drawings or paintings? That I make? Drawings (not well anymore, please don’t ask). Too look at? Why not both? 4. Dresses or skirts? Dresses. I’m lazy. 5. Books or movies? Books. Definitely books. 6. Pepsi or Coke? Coke...with rum and a slice of lime. No, seriously, I can’t drink soda without alcohol to cut the carbonation down. 7. Chinese or Italian? I’m guessing this is about food? Italian tends to be my ‘easy’ go-to but Chinese just tastes so good. If it’s the language, I don’t know either but may be able to use Spanish to piecemeal meaning out of Italian. 8. Early bird or night owl? Is there a bird for people who just like to sleep all the time? (for real, tho, a night owl trying to be an early bird) 9. Chocolate or vanilla? VANILLA. I’d rather not die. 10. Introvert or extrovert? I’m such an introvert it’s painful. 11. Hugs or kisses? Ask first; depends on the mood. Hugs more acceptable than kisses. 12. Hunting or fishing? I was actually off fishing when I was originally tagged in this! I haven’t hunted before, but I’d be up for learning. 13. Winter or summer? WINTER. *is a hot gay* 14. Spring or fall? Fall is gorgeous and cool and wet and comes right after the horror of summer heat and I love it. 15. Rural or urban? Urban. If I don’t live in the middle of things, I become a hermit. When I live in the middle of things I’m only mostly a hermit. 16. PC or Mac? My first comp was a mac and I learned on macs, but then switched to PC when their price point started dropping and I have no clue how to work a mac anymore. 17. Tan or pale? I am so stupidly white *cries* 18. Cake or pie? Cake, but only if it’s buttercream frosting. None of that whipped crap. 19. Ice cream or yogurt? Ice cream <3 20. Ketchup or mustard? Mustard 21. Sweet pickles or dill pickles? Dill is the only type of pickle that exists. 22. Comedy or mystery? Mystery. 23. Boots or sandals? Sandals, tho barefoot is even better. 24. Silver or gold? Silver. Yellow gold looks a little odd with my skin tone. 25. Pop or Rock? I’ll listen to just about anything *shrugs* 26. Dancing or singing? Both. I was a show choir nerd. 27. Checkers or chess? Checkers. Chess is way too intense. 28. Board games or video games? Board games. 29. Wine or beer? Both have their times. 30. Freckles or dimples? I have both. Which do I prefer? *shrugs* People’s faces look nice with or without either. 31. Honey mustard or BBQ sauce? BBQ sauce 32. Body weight exercises or lifting weights? I don’t have weights. 33. Baseball or basketball? Neither? Baseball is way too slow and basketball just never caught my interest. 34. Crossword puzzles or sudokus? Sudoku. I like numbers. 35. Facial hair or clean shaven? No preference? It doesn’t matter to me. 36. Crushed ice or cubed ice? Crushed 37. Skiing or snowboarding? Sledding 38. Smile or game face? Smile 39. Bracelet or necklace? Necklace 40. Fruit or vegetables? Fruits 41. Sausage or bacon? Turkey bacon 42. Scrambled or fried? Scrambled, unless there’s hashbrowns to mix it with, then fried over-medium 43. Dark chocolate or white chocolate? Chocolate allergy. 44. Tattoos or piercings? Considering a tattoo; piercings all closed up. 45. Antique or brand new? *shrugs* both? 46. Dress up or dress down? Down. Have I mentioned I’m lazy? 47. Cowboys or aliens? How about cowboy aliens? 48. Cats or dogs? Cats. 49. Pancakes or waffles? Waffles. 50. Bond or Bourne? Neither ever really caught my interest. I’d love to see Idris Elba as Bond, tho 51. Sci-Fi or fantasy? Yes. 52. Numbers or letters? Numbers. 53. Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings? They’re both pretty okay. I don’t have much attachment to either. 54. Fair or theme park? Theme park 55. Money or fame? Money makes the world go round the world go round the world go round~ 56. Washing dishes or doing laundry? Dishes. You can technically actually finish dishes. 57. Snakes or sharks? BOTH. 58. Orange juice or apple juice? orange juice frozen <3 59. Sunrise or sunset? Sunrise 60. Slacker or over-achiever? Over-achiever with executive function problems 61. Pen or pencil? Pencil 62. Peanut butter or jelly? Peanut butter 63. Grammys or Oscars? Neither 64. Detailed or abstract? Detailed. Highly detailed. 65. Multiple choice questions or essay questions? multiple choice 66. Adventurous or cautious? cautious adventurer (i’m stealing your answer for this one, zombi) 67. Saver or spender? Saver 68. Glasses or contacts? Glasses 69. Laptop or desktop? Laptop 70. Classic or modern? Classic 71. Personal chef or personal fitness trainer? If I could afford? Fitness trainer. I honestly don’t know where to start. 72. Internet or cell phone? Internet 73. Call or text? Text 74. Curly hair or straight hair? If I braid it and let it dry, it’s curly. If I brush it out while it air dries, it’s straight. This stays until the next time it gets wet no matter what you do. 75. Shower in the morning or shower in the evening? Morning 76. Spicy or mild? Spicy 77. Marvel or DC? Dark Horse 78. Paying a mortgage or paying rent? Rent 79. Sky dive or bungee jump? My feet stay connected to something at all times, tyvm 80. Oreos or Chips Ahoy? Golden Oreos 81. Jello or pudding? Jello 82. Truth or dare? Truth 83. Roller coaster or Ferris wheel? Roller coaster 84. Leather or denim? Denim 85. Stripes or solids? Solids 86. Bagels or muffins? Bagels. Real bagels. 87. Whole wheat or white? I make my own sourdough. 88. Beads or pearls? Pearls 89. Hardwood or carpet? Hardwood. Carpet is disgusting. 90. Bright colors or neutral tones? Neutrals 91. Be older than you are or younger than you are? My age is fine as it is. 92. Raisins or nuts? Nuts 93. Picnic or nice restaurant? Picnic lunch, nice restaurant dinner. 94. Black leather or brown leather? Both. 95. Long hair or short hair? Long. 96. “Ready, aim, fire” or “Ready, fire, aim”? Why would you fire before you’ve aimed? Is this a reference to something? If it is, I don’t get it. 97. Fiction or non-fiction? Fiction 98. Smoking or non-smoking? Non-Smoking 99. Think before you talk or talk before you think? Think first. Always. 100. Asking questions or answering questions? Conversations tend to be best when all parties do an equal amount of both.

tagging: @whiskeytangofrogman, @embyrr922, @solosorca, @voxofthevoid, @moonliel

#about linnea

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jamukachi · 6 years

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How to bleach hair

I’m posting this for future reference...in case I forget how I did it.

What you need

Mixing bowl - you can use any plastic container, but if you’re feeling fancy, buy yourself a mixing bowl.

Hair dye brush - you need this. I cant think of an alternative for this aside from a shoe brush, but you wouldn’t wanna use THAT on your hair...so, just buy one. It’s cheap.

Shower cap - you may already have one, but it’s best to get a disposable shower cap instead. you may need it later if you would want to dye your hair afterwards.

Disposable gloves - bleaching chemicals are stingy af, im not even kidding. you need a pair of good disposable gloves. you dont want any bleaching chems on your skin.

Face mask - bleach smells bad. it’s like accidentally snorting rubbing alcohol through your nostrils. Be warned.

MONEA Highlights - I recommend you get the black one (PRO). It works faster. (If you have long hair, get 2 or more of these)

Oxidizing/Emulsion/Developer solution/lotion/cream - I dont even know what to call this. Anyway, those are the terms. You need it to mix with the bleaching powder (If you have long hair, get 2 or more of these)

Virgin Coconut Oil - as per Google, this lessens the damage (and pain) from bleaching. Optional if you’re hard core.

Steps

0. Apply VCO to your hair (then put the shower cap on...or not if you don’t mind having oil all over your pillow) the night BEFORE your bleaching sesh - Yes. Overnight. Or, if you’re in a hurry, just leave it in 1 to 3 hours before bleaching. No need to rinse.

* If you want to save your scalp but don’t want to apply VCO? Don’t wash your hair for 2 days. Eww? Then, apply VCO before bleaching. Also, STEP ZERO because this is optional.

1. Wear your face mask and disposable gloves - Now is the right time to wear these safety equips. Or you can wear them whenever you want. You do you.

2. Mix the bleaching powder and oxidizing solution in the mixing bowl - simply put, 1 sachet = 2tbsp, and 2tbsp of bleaching powder must be mixed with 60ml or 90ml oxidizing solution (as per instructions).

* I have long hair so used 2 sachets of bleaching powder + 2 bottles of 60ml oxidizing solution (12%)

3. Apply the bleach to your hair - If you have long hair, you should section your hair first so you can apply the bleach easier. Note that the texture is grainy, it’s waaay different from the smooth creamy texture of a hair dye.

* I put a timer on while bleaching. I’ve read this so many times: you shouldn’t leave the bleach on your hair for too long. As for me, I finish bleaching in about 45 mins. I leave the bleach on for about 20 minutes but keep checking every 10.

--- NO MORE DRAWINGS FROM THIS POINT ---

4. Use purple shampoo or any keratin/conditioner after rinsing the bleach out of your hair - Purple shampoo basically hides brassy tones; so this would only be effective for blonde hair. Anyway, just use anything to soften your hair out. You need to hydrate your hair after suffocating it with bleach.

* What I have is a purple keratin. So regardless of it being effective or not with my hair in terms of tones, I still use it cause it softens my hair.

5. Depending on what color you want to achieve, you can either bleach again or apply a hair dye ONLY if your hair is not too damaged - This is optional.

* When I first tried bleaching, I did 2 sessions in 1 day, then dyed my hair afterwards. The second time I bleached, I already achieved a lighter hair color so I didn’t need another session. Also, I believe I didn’t damage my hair as much as salons do, so I still dye my hair after bleaching. And no, my hair is not dry like a synthetic barbie hair. Thanks to VCO.

Maintenance:

Use sulfate-free shampoo. If you don’t have any, mix water with your shampoo. (Most people would recommend for you to skip washing your hair a day or 2. A humid weather will not agree to this; just add water to your shampoo)

Use a conditioner (or keratin) like your life depended on it. Your hair may have a hard time moving on from what you did to it, so you have to make peace with it by helping it recover.

Avoid using heating tools (curling iron, blow dryer, flat iron, etc). I told you, you have to make it up to your hair. If you use heating tools, you're adding damage to it.

Apply hair dye every 2 to 4 weeks. Optional. If you dyed your hair and want to keep that color, you need to re-dye again since it would likely last 2 to 4 weeks only (I usually end up with golden hair).

You’re welcome.

#tutorial #howto #bleach #diy #diy bleach #how to bleach #how to bleach hair

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jamesgeiiger · 6 years

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Financial Samurai 2018 Year In Review: Almost A Fantastic Year

Although 2018 ended on a down note with the stock market selling off, I feel good about how things unfolded. I’ll take the ratio of three good quarters to one bad quarter any year.

Believe it or not, my theme for 2018 was: back to early retirement life. I pushed myself to the point of burnout in 2017. But the funny thing about hard work is that it’s over. I only remember bits and pieces of how difficult 2017 was.

At year-end, it’s easy to forget our accomplishments and our failures. With this post, I’m excited to relive the good and the bad in the following categories: Finances, Family, Health, Business, and Odds & Ends.

This post is like a 4-for-1 special. It needs to be thorough so I can prove to my son his old man wasn’t a deadbeat when he inevitably starts rebelling or when I’m no longer here to defend myself.

2018 Year In Review

Finances – 2.5 Out Of 5 Stars

At the beginning of the year, I predicted we’d see a slowdown in coastal city real estate, a 10-year bond yield under 3%, and a stock market that would have one last hurrah with a 10% return. I was almost three for three with the stock market up ~8% in September. Too bad it gave up all its gains and then a whole lot! At least I got more defensive starting in March.

My net worth is roughly made up of:

30% in stocks/bonds = -3%. After writing Your Risk Tolerance Is An Illusion in the Spring, I reduced my stock allocation in my House Sale Fund to roughly 52% from 70%. As bonds began to outperform stocks coupled with further profit taking, my end allocation is roughly 40% stocks / 60% bonds. Owning a bunch of equity structured notes in my other main fund has helped minimize volatility. But clearly I wasn’t defensive enough and should have taken more profits during the summer.

My House Sale Fund portfolio was up around 13% at one point until I gave all the gains up in the 4th quarter. Right now, it’s holding onto a tenuous 5.4% gain, after the huge rally on Dec 26. Overall, my public investment portfolio is slightly down, which violates my rule of never losing money post retirement. I plan to update this performance daily due to the volatility.

I’m disappointed with my public investment performance. This goes to show that no matter how concerned you are about an asset class or the economy, greed can override logic.

Here’s a good chart that shows how the Vanguard Long-Term Bond Fund has outperformed the S&P 500 since 1999. The next time I start feeling greedy, I need to remind myself that slow and steady wins the race, especially if you’ve already passed the finish line.

6% in cash/CDs = +2.3%. Thanks to rising short-term rates, you can now get around 2% in a money market and 2.5% in a 12-month CD. It’s wonderful to earn something from our risk-free investments now. Cash and short-term CDs have been 10%+ outperformers against the S&P 500. Hopefully, folks will no longer badger me about the risks of underperforming inflation when the real risk is losing absolute dollar value. Unfortunately, I should have had closer to 15% of my net worth in cash and CDs.

30% in real estate = -5%. The online estimates say my real estate holdings have gone up ~6% YoY, but I doubt it now that the stock market has sold off so aggressively from the peak. Online price estimates and public data are always lagging estimates. Prices did continue to go up until about January 2018, but began falling for the remainder of the year. The chart below shows data months before the 4Q2018 stock market correction. Therefore, I’ve manually inputted -5% from +6% for a 11% swing.

Even though my real estate holdings are down, I thankfully feel no stress compared to my stock holdings, which is one of the reasons why I prefer real estate over stocks. One rental property has no mortgage since 2015, my primary residence is providing utility every day by sheltering my family, and my vacation property is generating a positive cash flow. I can’t wait to bring my boy up to Lake Tahoe to touch his first snow in March!

It’s unfortunate that I reinvested $600,000 of the $1,800,000 proceeds from my house sale into the stock market. I should have just stayed super conservative. But I suspect the best I could get now for the house is $2,600,000 today versus the $2,740,000 sale price in 2017. My house was on a busy street next to the busiest street in all of San Francisco. Fringe location properties, even in a good neighborhood, tend to underperform during a market softening.

8% in alternative investments = +5%. My alternative investments in venture debt and real estate crowdfunding seem to be doing well, to the tune of a 11% – 20% IRR. But these figures are probably too aggressive as well, so I’ve assigned a +5% performance instead. REITs and rental property have outperformed all year as rents are stickier than stocks. I remember back in 2009, my rents stayed flat because by the time the lease was over a year later, the recession was over.

25% in my online business = 0% – 150%. My business is the trickiest to value. Revenue and profits are up 20%+ YoY. Therefore, one might conclude that its value should also be up by 20%+. However, valuations have probably compressed since the stock market sell-off. The good thing is that a peer site with about 35% less traffic sold for 2X the value I assigned for my business in my net worth calculations. Therefore, there’s a possibility my site could be worth 2X – 2.5X my assigned value if we normalize for traffic.

From an estate planning perspective, I want my business to be valued as low as possible. It’s the same way you want your house to be valued as low as possible to pay less property tax. To prepare for hard times, I’ve kept my business at 0% growth in my net worth calculation.

Net Worth Growth

Here’s my 2018 net worth progression chart according to Personal Capital. The chart is a little chunky because of cash recognition delays. But overall, it was doing pretty well until the end of the year.

2018 Net Worth = +6.5%

The main reasons why my net worth is up ~6.5% in 2018 are business cash flow and aggressive savings. I continue to save over 70% of my after-tax income. If I didn’t aggressively save, my net worth would have been flat. As my net worth has grown, it’s harder to move the needle as much.

6.5% is OK, but at one point I was up ~11%. Hence, it feels a little disappointing. 10% YoY growth has always been my minimum net worth growth target since graduating from college. Despite the disappointment, I’m glad my net worth didn’t go in reverse.

If you’re feeling bummed out, it helps to look at how far your net worth has come over the past five or 10 years. When I left work in 2012, I was comfortable with what I had. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have left. Having another six years of growth, excluding 2018, has really been a blessing post early retirement.

The key is to not lose all your gains to a bear market.

Related: Recommended Net Worth Allocation By Age Or Work Experience

Family & Fatherhood – 4.7 Stars

I could not have tried harder to be a great stay at home dad. I only have one shot, so I did everything to educate myself about parenthood. I also spent as much time as possible with my son as a stay at home dad.

My greatest moments of joy all year came from seeing my son’s milestones. He started waddling with help at around 11 months and slowly started to walk unassisted at 12 – 13 months. By 18 months he was able to count to 30, say all letters of the alphabet, and identify eight different colors.

His favorite words and phrases at 20 months old are “hot dog, ketchup, yum, yum, yum” “double wide garage door,” “walk with daddy,” “knock knock,” “verde,” “voila,” and “da hai bao (big seal in Mandarin).” He’s also just begun to sing a couple lullabies, one in Japanese and one in French. We try to talk to him in multiple languages as supposedly that helps brain development. He’s hilarious and full of determination. Oh boy is he determined.

When I’m not working on Financial Samurai or managing our investments, I pretend I’m a pre-school teacher and occupational therapist. Because he has a vision issue, I’ve been helping him track objects, work on his depth perception, and hand-eye coordination. So far he can walk up stairs no problem, but he still needs assistance going down stairs.

Now we’re focusing more on his fine motor skills, like drawing, holding a pencil, brushing his teeth, playing piano keys, and using scissors. The duties are never-ending, but it’s been a blessing to care for him every day and watch him grow.

He is a determined boy

My greatest sorrows have also all come from my son. Between 11 – 15 months old he would fall frequently or accidentally bonk his head on something hard or sharp. I felt his pain each time and admonished myself for not doing a better job protecting him.

As a result of his accidents, I ended up padding everywhere around the house and padding every wall and table corner. Interior design be damned! Thank goodness we live in a modest size house. The padding has saved him from injury numerous times, including on Christmas, when he stumbled on a package and hit his head on our coffee leg corner which was padded, hooray!

It turns out that toddlers between 12 – 19 months fall about 17X an hour on average according to one study of 120 toddlers. Only until about age 4 do most toddlers fully master their walking and running skills. That made me feel a little better, but it still made me so sad whenever he hurt himself. Taking him for a walk with a harness has helped tremendously. I’m teaching him to look both ways before crossing the street.

It’s also interesting it takes up to 24 months before a toddler’s fontanel closes. Therefore, we as parents might as well be as diligent as possible in trying to protect his head before his skull gets to full strength. So much about parenthood the first several years is about survival – from preventing suffocation while sleeping to making sure they don’t walk off a ledge.

The better our boy sleeps and the more he is able to communicate his desires, the more rewarding parenthood has become. Because he is so strong-willed, his temper tantrums are also quite a challenge.

One of my concerns is that he will hurt himself during these temper tantrums by banging his head on something hard or arching his back and hurting himself on the floor. Doctors say temper tantrums peak by around 24 months, subside, and then rise again at around 36 months. Here’s where I need to demonstrate maximum patience as a parent for the next 18 months.

Before my son was born, there was never any whining or crying around the house. But once he arrived, I have heard crying and whining every day, multiple times a day for 20 months in a row. Unfortunately, there is no logical reasoning with a young boy, except to use a technique called “caveman speak” while voicing what we think he wants to calm him down. Adjusting to this new scenario has been hard.

It’s also difficult to write, record a podcast, or mentally relax when there is so much noise. Being able to more easily find a quiet space is one of the benefits of upgrading to a larger house. As a result of needing to find quiet time, I often had to wake up between 4am – 5am to get things done. But I’m proud to say I’ve never lost my temper around my boy.

I’ve still got to improve my patience with my wife and not let business stress or stock market stress hurt our relationship. We operate at different paces, and I need to do a better job slowing down. The whole point of financial independence is to be free from money stress to live your best life.

Given my wife is a full-time mom and absolutely does more of the caregiving, the pressure is on me to make sure our finances never go in reverse. As the stock market melted down in 4Q2018, my stress level definitely increased.

Our goal is to both stay full-time parents for at least our son’s first two years of life and ideally try to be full-time parents for five years before he attends kindergarten. Fatherhood is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.

Related: How To Survive The Pressures Of Being A Sole Income Providing Parent

Health & Fitness – 3.2 Stars

I’m the same weight as I was in 2017, which is OK. But I gained 5 lbs in 2017, which was not OK. I need to get down to 162 lbs from 170 lbs. At least I exercised 3X a week on average plus took light walks with my son 5X a week on average. Given my goal is to live until 75, or whenever my son can establish himself and find a life partner, it’s important for me to stay in mental and physical shape.

Luckily, I’ve had no serious injuries or medical mishaps this year. I did catch some flu-like virus that knocked me out for 1.5 days in October, but that was it. We did have our first emergency room visit for my son at 5am because he seemed to have come down with a similar virus I had a month later. We also went to an after-hour care facility for some inflammation. Luckily, things got better after 24 hours.

At 41, I still haven’t sprouted any grey hairs, which is a surprise since I first got several grey hairs at 33, the year before I left my day job. The only reason I can imagine for this phenomenon is that not working a full-time job is less stressful. It’s one thing to say how much better life is after achieving financial independence. It’s another thing for the body to show us.

My most fun physical addition has been joining a softball meetup group that plays every Saturday it doesn’t rain. I must have played over 30 games in 2018. Ah, now I remember sustaining a left knee bone contusion that hurt for six months. My personal highlight was drafting and captaining a 4th of July softball tournament and winning. Curiously, it was one of my most satisfying life moments!

Finally, I found out in December I wasn’t getting bumped down to 4.5 in USTA tennis from 5.0. I did poorly in 5.0 league at the beginning of the year and was hoping to get bumped down after three seasons. When I didn’t, I appealed and got denied.

5.0 level tennis is brutally tough. From an ego perspective, it does feel good to be in the top 1% of all tennis levels. Other players give you respect as you puff out your chest and start thinking you’re the shiznits. But after you start repeatedly getting beaten by players younger than you, it starts to get demoralizing! Therefore, I always try to make fun of myself to others by saying the computers must have malfunctioned to keep me at 5.0.

Business – 4.8 Stars

I could not have tried harder to build Financial Samurai either. Here are some of the accomplishments:

Published three posts a week on average

Published three pages a week on average

Published one newsletter a week on average

Improved my short-form writing skills with the newsletter

Produced over 40 podcasts

Did several podcast interviews on other platforms

Launched the Financial Samurai Forum with 1,300 members thanks to my wife who set everything up over a year

Got mentioned in Business Insider, CNBC, MarketWatch, MSN, Apple News, Forbes, and Yahoo

Updated How To Engineer Your Layoff with a new forward for 2019

Increased overall traffic by 20% YoY, with 50% YoY traffic growth between August 11 – December 27

The 50% YoY traffic surge since August 11 seems like an anomaly. It’s like suddenly turning into a speedboat after being a cruise ship. But traffic has been elevated for almost four months so far, with December being the highest traffic all year. For years, December has always been a quiet month due to the holidays. Perhaps the traffic increase is due to a combination of more production, search algorithm changes by Google, and content syndication.

Overall, I’m just really happy there’s been a correlation with effort and reward. That’s all I’ve ever wanted, hence part of the reason why I left work in 2012. Every year since the birth of Financial Samurai in 2009, Financial Samurai has drastically outperformed the S&P 500 and the San Francisco real estate market. As a result, blogging has surpassed real estate as my favorite asset class to build wealth.

For poops and giggles, here’s another net worth chart if I manually input a business value based on recent comparable sales. The 30% spike is nice, but is also dangerous because it brings a false sense of complacency. It’s best to stay motivated as the economy softens. Just know that creating next level wealth is all about owning growth equity over the long term.

Net worth including market value of business = +30% YoY

Life’s Odds & Ends – 4 Stars

In May, I helped coach my high school boys varsity tennis team to the Northern California Sectional championship. This was the first championship in the school’s entire 40+ year history. This victory was particularly sweet because we had come so close my first year in 2017 only to lose in the finals to a school 3X our size. This was another incredible life moment that had nothing to do with money. I only got paid $3,500 for 3.5 months of work. The relationships I developed with some of the parents were a nice bonus.

My dad came to visit three times and my mom twice. My mother-in-law also visited twice and my father-in-law once. It is always great to see them, and I hope they continue to visit us more often. My dream has always been to have three generations spend as much time together as possible. Unfortunately or fortunately, all our grandparents want to remain independent and live in their respective cities. It’s hard to change the older you get, which is why I’ve been trying so hard to move to Hawaii.

I further strengthened a couple friendships. This is huge because as a stay-at-home dad, it’s often hard to make new friends or deepen friendships. There are simply less social events to attend e.g. happy hour. I love having a good buddy to shoot the shit with. I also developed a new in-person relationship with an FS reader, who also so happens to also be a professional athlete on my favorite team. Pretty neat!

I did some decent home maintenance projects this year: caulked the top of our living room window sill to prevent leaks, varnished all our wood planter boxes, rooted the upstairs sink that was clogging, re-roofed the leaking light well, maintained the yard, and fixed a leaky faucet at my rental. Man, I forgot about all this stuff until my wife reminded me. Thank goodness I sold the other rental.

Finally, we finalized our will and revocable living trust. My wife also led the charge getting us through this cumbersome and complicated process. There were so many documents to gather and questions to ask the estate planning lawyer that she estimates the whole process took her about 40 hours. But after we finally signed all the documents on December 20, I felt a huge sense of relief that I could die knowing that my wife and son wouldn’t have to go through probate court.

2018: 3.8 Out Of 5 Stars

Although I didn’t decide to take it easy per my 2018 goal, I have no regrets staying consistent with Financial Samurai. I don’t think I’ll ever change my work ethic until my body starts breaking down. The joy of writing is so tangible because it is an identifiable product that can be eternally consumed.

It’s been hard to accept no longer making a positive return on my public investments after nine years of up, up, up. I’ve got to do a much better job at not letting financial loss negatively affect my mood and my relationship with my wife. Not taking unnecessary risk will help.

During downturns, I envy those in professions that have nothing to do with the stock market. For example, when I asked my estate planning lawyer about what she thought about the stock market collapse in December, she said she had no idea because she outsources all her financial planning to someone else. What a blessing.

I also have zero regrets being a stay at home dad all year. Yes, the days were long and there were many moments of frustration, but just hearing his squeals of joy made full-time fatherhood worthwhile. All I want to do is squeeze and kiss him 100X a day! I’m so thankful my wife has been an amazing mother and partner all year.

Family and Financial Samurai are my two great loves. Everything else comes in a distant second. There was a point where we thought we’d never have a child. So we say a prayer of thanks every evening. Financial Samurai has been a part of me since the bottom of the last financial crisis in 2009. It’s like an old friend that has stuck with me in the worst of times.

The key is to not let my two loves collide, but to let them be synergistic. My family gives me motivation to write, while Financial Samurai is a creative outlet that helps ensure we remain stay-at-home-parents until we decide otherwise.

There’s always a silver lining to a downturn too.

For Financial Samurai, it’s increased traffic as more people are paying attention to their finances. Book sales on how to negotiate a severance are also increasing as savvy employees are trying to get ahead of the layoff curve. Finally, our passive income has also increased due to higher interests rates and my shift towards higher yielding assets like cash, bonds, and CDs.

For family life, it’s being less tempted to go back to work because the return on effort has declined. When all is in shambles, why bother dealing with a commute, company politics, difficult clients, and a declining company stock price.

I hope if my boy one day reads this article that’ll he’ll be proud of his dad. Although 2018 wasn’t a fantastic year, it was filled with many positive milestones.

I’ll be sharing my 2019 outlook and goals next. In the meantime, I’d love to hear some of your hits and misses for 2018!

Related: The Best Financial Samurai Posts For 2018

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samuelfields · 6 years

Text

Financial Samurai 2018 Year In Review: Almost A Fantastic Year

Although 2018 ended on a down note with the stock market selling off, I feel good about how things unfolded. I’ll take the ratio of three good quarters to one bad quarter any year.

2018 Year In Review

Finances – 3 Out Of 5 Stars

My net worth is roughly made up of:

30% in stocks/bonds = -2%. After writing Your Risk Tolerance Is An Illusion in the Spring, I reduced my stock allocation in my House Sale Fund to roughly 52% from 70%. As bonds began to outperform stocks coupled with further profit taking, my end allocation is roughly 40% stocks / 60% bonds. Owning a bunch of equity structured notes in my other main fund has helped minimize volatility. But clearly I wasn’t defensive enough and should have taken more profits during the summer.

I’m disappointed with my public investment performance. This goes to show that no matter how concerned you are about an asset class or the economy, greed can override logic.

Net Worth Growth

2018 Net Worth = +6.5%

The key is to not lose all your gains to a bear market.

Related: Recommended Net Worth Allocation By Age Or Work Experience

Family & Fatherhood – 4.7 Stars

He is a determined boy

It’s also interesting it takes up to 24 months before a toddler’s fontanel closes. Therefore, we as parents might as well be as diligent as possible in trying to protect his head before his skull gets to full strength. So much about about parenthood the first several years is about survival – from preventing suffocation while sleeping to making sure they don’t walk off a ledge.

The better our boy sleeps and the more he is able to communicate his desires, the more rewarding parenthood has become. Because he is so strong-willed, his temper tantrums are also quite a challenge.

Related: How To Survive The Pressures Of Being A Sole Income Providing Parent

Health & Fitness – 3.2 Stars

At 41, I still haven’t sprouted any grey hairs, which is a surprise since I first got several grey hairs at 33, the year before I left my day job. The only reason I can imagine for this phenomena is that not working a full-time job is less stressful. It’s one thing to say how much better life is after achieving financial independence. It’s another thing for the body to show us.

Business – 4.8 Stars

I could not have tried harder to build Financial Samurai either. Here are some of the accomplishments:

Published three posts a week on average

Published three pages a week on average

Published one newsletter a week on average

Improved my short-form writing skills with the newsletter

Produced over 40 podcasts

Did several podcast interviews on other platforms

Launched the Financial Samurai Forum with 1,300 members thanks to my wife who set everything up over a year

Got mentioned in Business Insider, CNBC, MarketWatch, MSN, Apple News, Forbes, and Yahoo

Updated How To Engineer Your Layoff with a new forward for 2019

Increased overall traffic by 20% YoY, with 50% YoY traffic growth between August 11 – December 27

Net worth including market value of business = +30% YoY

Life’s Odds & Ends – 4 Stars

2018: 3.8 Out Of 5 Stars

Family and Financial Samurai are my two great loves. Everything comes a distant second. There was a point where we thought we’d never have a child. So we say a prayer of thanks every evening. Financial Samurai has been a part of me since the bottom of the last financial crisis in 2009. It’s like an old friend that has stuck with me in the worst of times.

There’s always a silver lining to a downturn too.

I hope if my boy one day reads this article that’ll he’ll be proud of his dad. Although 2018 wasn’t a fantastic year, it was filled with many positive milestones.

I’ll be sharing my 2019 outlook and goals next. In the meantime, I’d love to hear some of your hits and misses for 2018!

Related: The Best Financial Samurai Posts For 2018

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mcjoelcain · 6 years

Text

Financial Samurai 2018 Year In Review: Almost A Fantastic Year

Although 2018 ended on a down note with the stock market selling off, I feel good about how things unfolded. I’ll take the ratio of three good quarters to one bad quarter any year.

2018 Year In Review

Finances – 3 Out Of 5 Stars

My net worth is roughly made up of:

30% in stocks/bonds = -1.5%. After writing Your Risk Tolerance Is An Illusion in the Spring, I reduced my stock allocation in my House Sale Fund to roughly 52% from 70%. As bonds began to outperform stocks coupled with further profit taking, my end allocation is roughly 40% stocks / 60% bonds. Owning a bunch of equity structured notes in my other main fund has helped minimize volatility. But clearly I wasn’t defensive enough and should have taken more profits during the summer.

My House Sale Fund portfolio was up around 13% at one point until I gave all the gains up in the 4th quarter. Right now, it’s holding onto a tenuous 0.6% gain, excluding the huge rally on Dec 26. Overall, my public investment portfolio is slightly down, which violates my rule of never losing money post retirement.

House Sale Fund Portfolio went from +13% to just +0.6%

I’m disappointed with my public investment portfolio performance. This goes to show that no matter how concerned you are about an asset class or the economy, greed can override logic.

Net Worth Growth

2018 Net Worth = +6.5%

The key is to not lose all your gains to a bear market.

Related: Recommended Net Worth Allocation By Age Or Work Experience

Family & Fatherhood – 4.7 Stars

He is a determined boy

It’s also interesting it takes up to 24 months before a toddler’s fontanel closes. Therefore, we as parents might as well be as diligent as possible in trying to protect his head before his skull gets to full strength. So much about about parenthood the first several years is about survival – from preventing suffocation while sleeping to making sure they don’t walk off a ledge.

The better our boy sleeps and the more he is able to communicate his desires, the more rewarding parenthood has become. Because he is so strong-willed, his temper tantrums are also quite a challenge.

Related: How To Survive The Pressures Of Being A Sole Income Providing Parent

Health & Fitness – 3.2 Stars

At 41, I still haven’t sprouted any grey hairs, which is a surprise since I first got several grey hairs at 33, the year before I left my day job. The only reason I can imagine for this phenomena is that not working a full-time job is less stressful. It’s one thing to say how much better life is after achieving financial independence. It’s another thing for the body to show us.

Business – 4.8 Stars

I could not have tried harder to build Financial Samurai either. Here are some of the accomplishments:

Published three posts a week on average

Published three pages a week on average

Published one newsletter a week on average

Improved my short-form writing skills with the newsletter

Produced over 50 podcasts

Did several podcast interviews on other platforms

Launched the Financial Samurai Forum with 1,300 members thanks to my wife who set everything up over a year

Got mentioned in Business Insider, CNBC, MarketWatch, MSN, Apple News, Forbes, and Yahoo

Updated How To Engineer Your Layoff with a new forward

Increased overall traffic by 20% YoY, with 50% YoY traffic growth between August 11 – December 27

Net worth including market value of business = +30% YoY

Life’s Odds & Ends – 4 Stars

2018: 3.8 Out Of 5 Stars

There’s always a silver lining to a downturn too.

I hope if my boy one day reads this article that’ll he’ll be proud of his dad. Although 2018 wasn’t a fantastic year, it was filled with many positive milestones.

I’ll be sharing my 2019 outlook and goals next. In the meantime, I’d love to hear some of your hits and misses for 2018!

Related: The Best Financial Samurai Posts For 2018

https://www.financialsamurai.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Financial-Samurai-2018-year-in-review.m4a

The post Financial Samurai 2018 Year In Review: Almost A Fantastic Year appeared first on Financial Samurai.

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ana-motion-nua-ba1b · 7 years

Text

My full essay, before i had to trim it:

Question 4: ‘Only available in animation’. To what extent does this Paul Wells quote apply to your chosen film? Explain how the medium and materials alter, shape, and define the narrative.

Lotte Reiniger’s stop-motion silhouette film, Aschenputtel, was made in 1922, at the start of her career; which would see her recognised as both the creator and the definitive voice of silhouette animation. In a world where the Cinderella fairy tale has been retold countless times through film, it is Reiniger’s distinctive animation technique that makes Aschenputtel memorable, and which affords it freedom to use a less ‘sanitised’ version of the story. Cinderella as Reiniger tells it could not be so palatably represented through live-action film - or even 2D cel animation - and still be so clear in its depiction of less savoury elements.

The silhouette technique, and the ‘special effects’ Reiniger produces with it, also give the film a sense of timelessness; unlike live-action films of the same era, Reiniger is able to establish a sense of magic operating within the world she creates, instead of having to use early camera tricks that become more obvious to audiences with the passage of time. This lends the narrative a greater sense of immersion and believability that can even be seen by modern viewers.

Aschenputtel is notable, even among its contemporary Cinderella adaptations, for the version of the fairy tale that Reiniger chose to portray. Kaufman (2017) notes that although silent film versions of the story abounded, most adhered to Charles Perrault’s narrative; he suggests Reiniger may have deviated from the norm due to her nationality. Reiniger was German, so Kaufman theorises that she would have felt more at home animating the Grimm Brothers’ Cinderella, eschewing the fairy godmother in favour of birds providing a dress and plucking lentils from the ashes.

This element in itself is arguably a little wilder than Perrault’s story - in the full Grimm version, wishes are granted by a white bird that roosts in a hazel tree over Cinderella’s mother’s grave, which the girl grew by watering it with her own tears (Ashliman, 2001-2006). Such descriptions bring into play a sense of the supernatural - even of witchcraft, as it is implied that Cinderella had a hand in the creation of the magic, and hazel plays a strong role in paganism (Kendall, 2017). In addition, the hazel twig she grew the tree from was the first branch to brush her father’s hat as he traveled home, the specificity of which has ritualistic implications.

Reiniger pays homage to this in her transformation scene (1922, 4:15): Cinderella carries a jug of water to a tree in a graveyard before her wish is granted by the birds that roost there, and although the context is not given, the intent of the reference is clear. (The narration in the film makes a point of changing ‘hazel’ to ‘apple’, which fails to remove the faint aura of more taboo magic, given possible Biblical connotations).

The more violent plot points of Grimm are also preserved, and Reiniger even adds one of her own. Cavalier (2017) draws attention to the scene where a stepsister slices off part of her foot to fit it into the slipper - in the film (Reiniger, 1922, 10:44), blood is even seen dripping from the mutilated foot as the prince escorts her to the palace. The original addition by Reiniger is also noted: “[the] mother is literally ripped apart by the pain of learning that Cinderella has been chosen by the Prince” (Cavalier, 2017). These gruesome scenes are distinctly absent from live-action Cinderellas of the day, including both of George Méliès’ adaptations (1899, 1912) and the version starring Mary Pickford (Kirkwood, 1914) - and, indeed, from the 1950 animated Disney classic.

Such a radically different retelling of Cinderella is possible in no small part thanks to the medium of animation. The blood that drips from the stepsister’s foot is not red, but black, and falls in stylised teardrop shapes. The mangling of the foot, and the stepmother’s death, are shown as cleanly as Reiniger cuts out the Cinderella puppet from paper at the beginning of the film. Though the violence is not shied from, it is presented in an almost figurative manner. Reiniger herself was aware of the unique power of the technique she had invented: “In her view, it was due to animation that representational restrictions in cinema could be surpassed” (Schonfeld, 2006, pg. 174).

Not just any animation, it must be argued, but silhouette animation in particular. Arnheim, quoted by North (2011), claims that Reiniger’s characters maintain a “balance between art and life”, wherein their movement and actions are believable, but not so realistic as to seem uncanny. Here, perhaps, lies the trick - even the cartoons produced by Disney contain too much human detail to allow dripping blood to be so tastefully rendered as it is in Aschenputtel; nor is it likely that with the company’s brand well-established by 1950, Disney would have been comfortable with a narrative wherein the heroine practices something akin to witchcraft. Until very recently, Disney witches have always been clear-cut villains.

Reiniger’s less sanitised content invites the question of which age group it is aimed at. Guerin and Mebold (2016) claim that the way Reiniger tells her stories is better-suited to an adult audience. However, Moritz (1996) describes Reiniger’s attitude towards a “youthful audience” as a desire to challenge them with darker narratives, in contrast to the “bowdlerized and sanitized” (Zipes, quoted in Greenhill and Matrix, 2010) tales that Disney would come to propagate. In the case of Aschenputtel specifically, the film was released a decade and a half before Disney’s Snow White in 1937; even without her “courage” and “avant-garde” attitude (Richter, quoted in Hutchinson, 2016), Reiniger had the freedom, in 1922, to tell which stories she chose, with the wholesome and rigid Disney fairy tale structure not yet hanging over the heads of the public consciousness.

Another aspect that benefits uniquely from Reiniger’s chosen medium is the portrayal of magic within the film. Unlike other renditions of Cinderella, Reiniger’s handling of the magic is quite subtle: the dress is supplied in a fall of leaves from the tree; birds matter-of-factly affix a veil to Cinderella’s hair, and the coach appears in miniature before gradually growing to a proper size (Reiniger, 1922, 4:35). Within seconds, the transformation is complete and Cinderella is off to the ball.

Compare this to either of Méliès’ productions - or even to the 2015 live-action Disney Studios adaptation, directed by Kenneth Branagh. All make much of the transformations that their fairy godmothers enact, utilising the most extravagant special effects available at the time. Zipes (2010) states that a chief concern of Méliès’ work in general was “miraculous transformation”; while Branagh’s adaptation would be remiss not to pay sufficient tribute to its 1950 source material.

However, it can be speculated that even in the case of the 2015 film, Reiniger’s work may stand the test of time most effectively in terms of the believability of its magic - and, subsequently, the degree to which viewers feel immersed in the story. Aschenputtel has already outstripped both of Méliès’ Cendrillons: Kaufmann (2017) identifies Méliès’ repertoire as consisting largely of shot substitutions, and practical effects used in theatre. Though these techniques would have been cutting edge at the time, to a modern viewer the tricks are obvious, and almost jarring; each time the camera jolts as the fairy godmother creates some new wonder, it is clear exactly what went on behind the scenes to craft the effect (Méliès, 1899, 0:18; 1912, 2:42).

It may be argued that such a fate will eventually befall the CGI in Branagh’s Cinderella. Though Gartler (2015) praises its VFX work, critics such as Debruge (2015) hold the view that CG creations on such a scale “never look quite real”, while Konow (2013) states that an excess of CGI means “... the story can lose its reality”. There are now at least two decades of precedent for the quality of CGI in films appearing to lessen over time, as the technology improves and old work is held up to new standards. Allan (2017) states that because CGI is a relatively new technique, it is simply natural that effects will come to be seen as less believable in this way.

Yet Aschenputtel is nearing a century old, and is still described as “timeless” by Cavalier (2017). An explanation for this may lie in the fact that it is purely animated, rather than merging live-action with another medium in the form of visual effects. North (2009) gives this credence in his analysis of Aschenputtel, stating “[a]nimation allows the construction of a completely fabricated fantasy space” - in other words, since anything can be depicted in animation with enough effort, the fantasy elements retain a sense of diegesis no matter what; as opposed to the phenomenon already observable in Méliès’ Cinderellas, wherein the extra effects, though intended to appear as seamless as possible, seem somewhat detached from the narrative to the modern viewer. Another North quote sums this up more poetically: “[t]he power of enchantment… is also the power of an animator.” Animation as a medium is uniquely suited to creating believable fantasy.

Another part of the reason for Aschenputtel’s timelessness may be due to the silhouette animation method’s roots in ancient Indonesian shadow theatre (Kemp, 2014). Marshall (2015) draws parallels between the purposes of shadow puppetry and Reiniger’s films, in their adaptation of the oldest stories in their respective cultures - and shadow theatre, as Marshall explains, has been used for this purpose in southeast Asia for “centuries and centuries”. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that Reiniger’s work seems most likely to last for as long, compared to its fellows, given the endurance of its chief influence.

There is also the fact that Reiniger’s beginnings as an animator lay in special effects (Raganelli, 1999) - the very basis of the technique with which she works relies on the same stop-camera substitution employed by Méliès, with Crafton (1993, pg.9) arguing that stop-camera was the precursor to animation as a whole, not merely in the case of Reiniger’s career progression. Yet while Méliès uses this method at specific points for effect, for Reiniger it is embedded into every frame, and so its use for the transformation scene is only a natural progression. In this lies the key difference between Aschenputtel and its live-action counterparts - every movement, fantastic or mundane, takes place through the exact same base technique, without insertion of extra technology at certain points that risks shattering the illusion of immersion for the audience.

Reiniger’s silhouette technique is all but unique to her, and as a consequence she is able to depict the story of Cinderella in ways that few other versions can - whether due to technological restriction, difficulty maintaining the same level of audience immersion, or a desire to sanitise the narrative. Aschenputtel stands out amongst many, many Cinderella films, throughout the history of cinema, for being different above all else. It was, after all, created in the pioneering days of animation, by a woman who believed in further challenging the only-just-formed norms of filmmaking - and who held no illusion that fairy tales ought to be wholesome and clean.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Allan, D. (2017) Does CGI age worse than practical effects? [Online] Quora. Available at: https://www.quora.com/Does-CGI-age-worse-than-practical-effects/answer/Damien-Allan [Accessed: 17 February 2018]

Ashliman, D. (2006) 21: Cinderella: Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, [Translation] University of Pittsburgh. Available at: https://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm021.html [Accessed: 19 February 2018]

Cavalier (2017) 100 Greatest Animated Shorts/ Cinderella / Lotte Reiniger. [Online] Skwigly: Online Animation Magazine. Available at: http://www.skwigly.co.uk/100-greatest-animated-shorts-cinderella-lotte-reiniger/ [Accessed: 09 February 2018]

Crafton, D. (1993) Before Mickey: The animated film 1898-1928, 2nd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Debruge, P. (2015) Berlin Film Review: Cinderella, Variety [Online]. Available at: http://variety.com/2015/film/festivals/berlin-film-review-disneys-new-live-action-cinderella-1201433243/ [Accessed: 18 February 2018]

Dolan, A. (2011) CGI Shelf-life: How special are today’s special effects? [Online] Best for film. Available at: http://bestforfilm.com/film-blog/cgi-shelf-life-how-special-are-todays-special-effects/ [Accessed: 18 February 2018]

Edwards, G. (2015) “Cinderella” - VFX Q&A [Blog] Cinefex. Available at: http://cinefex.com/blog/cinderella/ [Accessed: 18 February 2018]

Gartler, J. (2015) Patrick Ledda Talks Cinderella. Animation World Network [Online]. Available at: https://www.awn.com/vfxworld/patrick-ledda-talks-cinderella [Accessed: 18 February 2018]

Giardina, C. (2015) How The VFX For ‘Cinderella’ Were Brought To Life, The Hollywood Reporter [Online]. Available at: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/behind-screen/how-vfx-cinderella-were-brought-783645 [Accessed: 18 February 2018]

Guerin, F. and Mebold, A. (2016) Profile: Lotte Reiniger. [Online] Women Film Pioneers Project. Available at: https://wfpp.cdrs.columbia.edu/pioneer/lotte-reiniger/ [Accessed: 09 February 2018]

Hutchinson, P. (2016) Lotte Reiniger: animated film pioneer and standard-bearer for women,The Guardian. [Online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/jun/02/lotte-reiniger-the-pioneer-of-silhouette-animation-google-doodle [Accessed:09 February 2018]

Isaacs, J. (1970) The Art of Lotte Reiniger [Video]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKFg-4pH85I [Accessed: 15 February 2018]

Kaufman, J. (2017) Silent Cinderella [Blog] The Cutting Room Floor. Available at: http://www.jbkaufman.com/cutting-room-floor/silent-cinderella [Accessed: 15 February 2018]

Kemp, P. (2014) Reiniger, Lotte (1899-1981). [Online] screenonline. Available at: http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/528134/ [Accessed: 09 February 2018]

Kendall, P. (2017) Hazel, [Online] Trees for Life. Available at:

https://treesforlife.org.uk/forest/mythology-folklore/hazel2/ [Accessed: 20 February 2018]

Kirkwood, J. (1914) Cinderella [Video]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZVUNEXfZs8 [Accessed: 17 February 2018]

Konow, D. (2013) Practical Effects Masters on the Pros and Cons of CGI, [Online] Tested. Available at: http://www.tested.com/art/makers/459394-practical-effects-masters-pros-and-cons-cgi/ [Accessed: 18 February 2018]

Marshall, C. (2015) The Groundbreaking Silhouette Animations of Lotte Reiniger: Cinderella, Hansel and Gretel, and More. [Online] Open Culture. Available at: http://www.openculture.com/2015/09/the-groundbreaking-silhouette-animations-of-lotte-reiniger.html [Accessed: 09 February 2018]

Méliès, G. (1899) Cendrillon [Video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqpOAtBdgRc [Accessed: 09 February 2018]

Méliès, G. (1912) Cinderella or The Glass Slipper [Video]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdhYVOOTiwM [Accessed: 17 February 2018]

Moritz, W. (1996) Lotte Reiniger. Animation World Network, [Online] Volume 3(1). Available at: https://www.awn.com/mag/issue1.3/articles/moritz1.3.html [Accessed: 09 February 2018]

Moritz, W. (2009) Some Critical Perspectives on Lotte Reiniger. In: M. Furniss, ed., Animation - Art and Industry, 1st ed. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. pp.13-20

North, D. (2009) Lotte Reiniger’s Cinderella (1922) [Blog] Spectacular Attractions. Available at: https://drnorth.wordpress.com/2009/10/20/lotte-reinigers-cinderella-1922/ [Accessed: 09 February 2018]

North, D. (2011) Fragment #35: Rudolf Arnheim on Lotte Reiniger [Blog] Spectacular Attractions. Available at: https://drnorth.wordpress.com/2011/11/13/fragment-35-rudolf-arnheim-on-lotte-reiniger/ [Accessed: 09 February 2018]

Raganelli, K. (1999) Lotte Reiniger: Homage to the Inventor of the Silhouette Film [Video]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1N2UeEsa2qA [Accessed: 16 February 2018]

Reiniger, L. (1922) Aschenputtel [Video]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaq1qcFdlWA&t=32s [Accessed: 07 February 2018]

Schönfeld, C. (2006) Practicing Modernity: Female Creativity in the Weimar Republic. Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann.

Spry, J. (2018) Firsts: George Melies’ Cinderella is the World’s First Fantasy Film, [Online] SyfyWire. Available at: http://www.syfy.com/syfywire/firsts-georges-melies-cinderella-is-the-worlds-first-fantasy-film [Accessed: 11 February 2018]

Zipes, J. (2010) Foreword: Grounding the Spell: The Fairy Tale Film and Transformation; and Greenhill, P. and Matrix, S (2010) Introduction: Envisioning Ambiguity: Fairy Tale Films. In: P. Greenhill and S. Matrix, ed., Fairy Tale Films: Visions of Ambiguity, 1st ed. Logan: Utah State University Press.

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laurahelliottart · 8 years

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Degree Art Gallery Artist Interview with Laura H Elliott BA (Hons)

Date: 14th March 2017

1) Which art movement do you consider most influential on your practice?

The key influence in my work is from abstract expressionism drawing from their energetic art featuring emotional content, spontaneous gestures, and monumental size. The way each artist practiced and chanelled their emotions into each artwork has given me the conviction and has driven my work forward:

Willem de Kooning

Clyfford Still

Helen Frankenthaler

Mark Rothko

The quote below epitomizes why this movement drives my work, inspiring me to constantly channel my life and emotions into each artwork:

“I’m not interested in ‘abstracting’ or taking things out or reducing painting to design, form, line, and color. I paint this way because I can keep putting more things in it – drama, anger, pain, love, a figure, a horse, my ideas about space. Through your eyes it again becomes an emotion or idea.” (Quote by Willem de Kooning)

2) Where do you go and when to make your best art?

My love of the outdoors, especially during the summer, always spurs my creativity. I now have a wonderful, compact or small, home studio where I can create and explore my art freely.

3) How do you describe your ‘creative process’?

My creative process is different in the two mediums I specialise in, which are: mixed media painting and metal clay.

Due to my disability, to work with both my mediums require assistance during the creative processes, but this adds love into every piece I create. Once I pick-up my brush or my piece of clay, all my worries are put aside. Art is truely my therapy.

1. Painting:

This medium is truely an unplanned process. The only aspect that I plan is my colour scheme, I layout my paints and other mediums, to create in a sub-concious manner, using colour and mood to drive my work. Each painting is created in layers, building up colour and tones step-by-step, until I feel I have achieved the background. Then I add details and my signature.

Work in progress

Above: ‘Pink Punk’d Panther’ by Laura H Elliott

Colourcraft Brusho Crystal Colour

Colourcraft Brusho Crystal Colour Test Example

Genuine Gemstone Granules

‘Halcyon Days’

Bubbles by Laura H Elliott BA (Hons)

‘Rising Sun’

It was 2016 when my paintings moved back into a free-flowing, abstract expressionist style featuring a bright colour palette. This highly enjoyable, free, relaxed painting style reflecting how my life has settled and how my emotions eb and flow at this point in my life.

Above: ‘Counterpoint’

Above: ‘Pink Punk’d Panther’ by Laura H Elliott

‘Shedding Punk’d Viper’

‘Pink Popping Candy’

‘Blue Popping Candy’

Above: ‘Counterpoint Study’

2. Metal Clay Designs:

This medium is the complete opposite, due to the nature of clay and the amount of tools required. I plan the basics of my designs in rough sketches and use these ideas as a starting point for each design. It is once I have started to create each piece that I refine the overall design and I can then create instinctually, as I do when I paint. Each design is a strict step-by-step process as below with a minimum of 12 steps for even the smallest metal clay design:

Prepare the clay ready to work with

Apply textures to the clay

Roll the clay (thickness is dependant on type of clay being used) and cut for each element of the design

Build the design

Leave to air dry

Kiln fire the design

Soak in Picklean to remove fire scale

Rinse with bicarb to neutralise Picklean

Start to shine the fired clay with a wire brush

Use an agate burnisher or polisher for bright shine

Mount stones

Ready to be worn

More about my work and my working process on my blog:

https://laurahelliott.wordpress.com

#gallery-0-15 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-15 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 50%; } #gallery-0-15 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-15 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

‘Wave’ feat Yellow Green Sapphire, Fire Opal & Fine 999 Silver Metal Clay

‘Red Fire’ feat Fine 999 Silver Metal Clay & Red Garnet ~ Sold

Sunset feat Citrine and Hessonite Garnet

‘Acorn’ by Laura H Elliott BA (Hons)

‘Happiness’ by Laura H Elliott BA (Hons)

4) Which artist, living or deceased, is the greatest inspiration to you?

My first and most enduring love is the work of master artist Picasso and his cubist artworks, exploring colour, perspective and the transition of three-dimensional objects into a two-dimensional framework.

In addition, I have visited countless exhibitions and have explored a large range of mediums both practically and through academic reading. The artist that I deeply admire is David Hockney, who I think of almost like a kindrid spirit to me. His exploration of perspective in both photography and painting are fascinating and remindes me of the cubist movement in many ways. The way Hockney flips perspective strikes a cord with me as that is something I like to play with in my paintings, along side the inspiration of the abstract expressionist movement.

5) If you weren’t an artist, what would you do?

I worked professionally in the nursing field from the age of 18 until I was 23. I adored the interaction with people, the challenges it brought and helping other people. Saying this, I was artistic as a young child, so the love and imagination has been there my whole life. 6) What do you listen to for inspiration?

When I moved into my late teens and early 20s, I found my paintings where inspired by music. I am a lover of heavy metal, filled with energy and feeling; however, as time passes I enjoy listening to all types of music.

7) Which 3 artists would you collect work by if money was no object?

Picasso – Sculptures

Clyfford Still

Jenny Saville

8) If your dream museum or collection owner came calling, which would it be?

Louvre Museum, Paris, France 9) What is your key piece of advice for artists embarking on a fine art or creative degree today?

Use the summer breaks to create more artworks and read, especially the summer break between the 2nd and 3rd year. That break enables you to start your dissertation and be ahead for the start of the 3rd year. The 3rd year is so busy you need all the time you can get and it will significantly reduce your stress and work load. 10) What is your favorite book of all time (ficton or non fiction)?

I do not have an all time favorite book; however, I am a lover of reading and learning about life stories of people from all backgrounds, around the world.

11) If you could hang or place your artwork in one non traditional art setting, where would that be? With gothic church architecture, because of the contradiction having modern with gothic.

12) What was the biggest lesson your university course or time studying taught you? I was diagnosed in 2003 with Dyspraxia and Dyslexia, which was life changing. These learning difficulties of Dyspraxia and Dyslexia had profoundly impacted on my academic standard and life. I started university with low grades, but as time passed I worked really hard by always attending learning support tuition and reading as much as I could get my hands on. I truly believe that academic study is as important as the practical practice of art. The academic perspective on your course allows you to take a quality skill set into the art world, especially regarding working with spoken language, galleries and paperwork linked to this. I know that through my academic studies my quality of spoken language and organisational skills have significantly improved.

I always say that everyone should use the library as it is full of inspiration, knowledge and facilities to develop your education. Use the library staff and tap into journals as a quick way to understand a subject, especially as they are a few pages maximum. In addition, make the most of resources such as learning support to improve your written work and your support work during modules you study. Mainly….enjoy your course! 13) And finally, if we were to fast forward 10 years, where would we find you? I would still be working with Degree Art Gallery and continue to exhibit in new UK galleries and locations. I am working on a new body of work and high quality limited edition prints.

I would like to have achieved membership to the Royal Society of British Artists.

Buy my work online @ http://www.lhe-art.co.uk

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/laurahelliottart

Twitter @laurahelliott

Pintrest https://www.pinterest.com/lauraelliottart/

Linked In https://uk.linkedin.com/pub/laura-elliott-ba-hons/6b/959/533

#art #britishlandscapes #britain #landscapes #buybritish #laurahelliottart #laurahelliott #lhe #painting #metalclay #gemstones #artgallery #gallery #flux #fluxexhibition #degreeart #degreeartgallery #painting #artlover #artist #artwork #artcollector #contemporaryart #originalart #ownart #rca #contemporaryart #originalart #commissionart #buyart #buyartonline

• Artist Interview: Degree Art Gallery Interview With Laura H Elliott BA (Hons) Degree Art Gallery Artist Interview with Laura H Elliott BA (Hons) Date: 14th March 2017 1) Which art movement do you consider most influential on your practice?

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