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onceuponamirror · 4 years ago

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ghosts

Faintly, Nancy can hear the waves crashing into the shoreline down the road. A buoy rings against the water. She takes a breath. “So…you don’t regret not leaving?”

“Do you?” He counters, as if knowing she wasn’t just talking about him anymore.

[set between 2x05-2x06] [read on ao3!]

“What’re you thinking about?”

Nancy turns to look over her shoulder, surprised to see Ace standing there, hands in the pockets of his puffer. He has a smile emerging from the corner of his mouth, which broadens slightly after a moment. “You look super serious. Am I interrupting something heavy?”

“What? No,” she says, clearing her thoughts, and echoes his grin. “I just thinking about…ghosts.”

“Ghosts,” Ace repeats, and drops into the seat beside her. She’s sitting on the table, whereas he’s planted on the bench, and yet they’re still at eye-level.

She blows out a breath and shakes her head slightly. “Yeah, ghosts. With everything happening so fast last month, I feel like…I didn’t fully process…” She pauses, and waves her hands for exaggeration, “Ghosts. They’re real.”

He furrows his brow, as if waiting for her to continue, or to finish her thought.

Nancy falls back on her palms, glancing up briefly at the darkened sky. “It’s just—I’m supposed to be this…Hero of Horseshoe Bay, or whatever they want to call me in the papers. I don’t really care about that but—solving mysteries is the only thing I’ve been good at, and…”

Ace passes her a slightly mischievous smile. “Is this about me coming for your title? I’m a ‘Hero’ too.”

She rolls her eyes and bumps his shoulder with her own. “No, it’s…I make logical leaps. That’s all it is. How can you make logical leaps with supernatural stuff?”

“Ah,” Ace says.

“If ghosts are real, what else is? And what won’t I be able to solve because I didn’t think to consider…Bigfoot, or something? I don’t know if I’ll be any good at this when the rules of physics don’t apply.”

“Nancy,” Ace says slowly, “all due respect, but that’s super dumb. You’ve already solved like, three ghosts mysteries by now.” She opens her mouth with mock offense, but he just grins at her, and she’s unable to stop herself from matching it again. “You’re good at this. Dead or undead. Besides—people always say stuff about physics as if it just relates to gravity. It’s a lot more flexible than that.”

She cocks her neck. “What do you mean?”

Ace shrugs. “Like, I went down a Wikipedia rabbit hole one night. A lot of physics is about theorizing about other dimensions and energy, and matter. Like—there’s that rule, that matter can neither be created nor destroyed. I think it’s mostly about decay or whatever, like how when we die we go back to the ground, but maybe there’s another part, like with our soul, that sticks around. Who’s to say that doesn’t encompass ghosts?”

Nancy just stares at him, dumbfounded. When she first met Ace, he’d struck her as a quiet slacker; another fellow high school burnout. It’s almost upsetting how much she’d misjudged him. “How the hell do you know that?”

As if slightly embarrassed, Ace ducks his face down, but she can still see his smile. He shrugs again. “Like I said, I love a good Wikipedia black hole. Which, coincidentally, has a great article on black holes.” They meet each other’s eyes, and Nancy feels something sputter against her chest, suddenly deeply aware of their proximity. She wonders if he feels it too, because he clears his throat. “Anyway, I don’t sleep super well. So it gives me a lot of time to collect increasingly random knowledge.” He taps his temple. “It’s a steel trap of trivia.”

She raises her eyebrows, still taking him in. He never seems to stop surprising her. “How did we not know each other in high school? You would’ve been super helpful on some of my earlier cases, you know.”

“I thought you worked alone then,” he says, somewhat teasingly, but like he’s avoiding her question. After a moment, he sighs. “I knew you, you just didn’t know me. We actually had art together, I think.”

“No way,” she says at once, before she can think on it. “I would’ve noticed you.”

It’s his turn for his eyebrows to jump on his forehead. Her neck flushes hotly, but mercifully, he looks away from her. “Nah. I was barely there. I was kind of a big stoner in high school.”

“I’m shocked,” she says dully, and he laughs. At the sound, her chest tightens again.

“I know. It really plays against type,” he counters, smirking.

She laughs, and a silence falls over them gently. She’s still surprised they had a class together and she didn’t even know him—even if they didn’t run in the same circles, he was still Ace. If she wracks her brain, she has a vague memory of a skinny kid in a backwards baseball cap and an oversized plaid shirt, but it’s hard to reckon that with the long-haired, soft-eyed, much more muscled boy who sits beside her.

When her thoughts finally return to the present, she finds him watching her. She turns slowly to face him, breath catching against her chest. Her eyes dart down to his mouth, and he does the same. Anxiously, she pushes her hair behind her ears, unwilling to let this moment last. This is Ace. Get it together.

“What?” He asks, his tone something low and velvety.

She laces her fingers together and tips her chin up, wistfully watching a faint star. “What are you still doing here?” She asks, and he meets her eye again, confused this time. “I mean, you’re smart. You never wanted to get out of Horseshoe Bay? Go to college?”

Ace leans back on his elbows. “Nah,” he says, but something in his voice betrays his attempt at casualness. “I didn’t have the grades, even if I wanted to.” Nancy purses her lips, not sure she believes him. He shifts uncomfortably, like he can tell. “Pothead,” he adds, impishly. “I took a couple of classes at the community college, but…I dunno, I got bored. I’ve had pretty much every job in town, at this point. Never really held anything down, ‘til now.”

“Yeah?” She asks, breathily.

“Worked on a lobster fishing boat for a summer. That was really hard,” he supplies, and Nancy wonders if that was the cause of his transformation from skinny kid in art class to the surprisingly toned boy beside her. “Worked at the video store, until they went out of business. Worked at the library for a bit. That didn’t work out, for obvious reasons.”

“Obviously,” she echoes, grinning at him. He rolls his eyes playfully.

“Last year I even worked at the yacht club,” he adds, glancing away from her. “That’s where I met Laura Tandy.”

At the mention of his ex, Nancy straightens. She tries not to put too much thought into the strange reaction her body has, deciding instead to dig at the larger thought that still nags. “Do you ever wish you’d gone with her? To Paris, I mean. Had adventures…left Maine?”

“Nance, I’m pretty sure adventure isn’t geography-specific at this point,” he sighs, throwing her a knowing look. There’s a slight thrill at him calling her ‘Nance’, and she tries to push it down. “But no,” he sighs. “My dad…I still think he needs me. He keeps trying to go back to work, as if he doesn’t remember why he left in the first place. Someone has to remind him.”

A soft hum escapes from the back of her throat. Privately, she thinks there’s something loaded there, something buried. A lie to himself, maybe. From her observation, Ace and his father are very much alike, but she doesn’t think he’d want to hear that.

Faintly, Nancy can hear the waves crashing into the shoreline down the road. A buoy rings against the water. She takes a breath. “So…you don’t regret not leaving?”

“Do you?” He counters, as if knowing she wasn’t just talking about him anymore. She levels him with a warning look, but he doesn’t back down, just piques an eyebrow.

“I don’t know,” she says, honestly. “Right now, no.” She bumps him with her shoulder again. “Look at us. A couple of townie burnouts.”

He grins. “Somebody’s gotta do it.”

Another blanket of silence settles between them, but gentle this time. Again, the waves lap against the shore.

“I still can’t believe I didn’t know you,” she says quietly, perhaps not meaning to say it aloud. Somewhere along the way, he became such a fixture. But she supposes that goes for all of her friends—she was so different in high school. She’s not sure she’s someone she would’ve liked now. She realizes Ace is looking at her again. “I just mean, it’s such a small town. Like, I don’t even know your last name,” she adds.

He still hasn’t budged, soft smile and all. “Oh, it’s—”

“Yo! Lazy Drew! Are we gonna Boggle or what?” George’s voice floats across The Claw’s back deck, and they both turn around to see her at the back exit, her hands on her hips, lit warmly from behind. “Ace, you said you were gonna go get her and come right back.”

“My bad,” he says, getting to his feet. He offers her his hand down, even though it’s barely a jump to the ground. She takes it anyway, but it hits her with a shock of static so strong that she drops it like a hot potato. His eyes are anywhere but on her.

“Game night waits for no man,” George says drolly, holding the door open for them.

“Fine, fine,” she mutters, passing through the doorway. She spins around and points at George. “Tonight, we Boggle, but tomorrow—trivia night. Teams.”

“I’m game,” Ace pips up, as George only rolls her eyes and nods as she struts past them, towards the booth where Bess and Nick wait.

“Tomorrow, you’re on my team, Mr. Steel Trap,” Nancy whispers to him, leaning in conspiratorially. His body heat warms against her skin, even through her light sweater.

His smile is soft. “Any time.”

#nace #nancy drew #ace [hardy]#nancy drew cw #drabbles #fics #i am emo for these two #pls validate me and leave me a review #i forgot how thirsty i am for them #ty

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eliteprepsat · 4 years ago

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The concept of having a work-life balance refers to maintaining an equilibrium between one’s career and personal responsibilities. In a world focused just as much on our successes and upward mobility as it is on our mental health, achieving such a work-life balance has been the topic of much discussion in recent years. Companies have even gone to great lengths to create funded initiatives to ensure their employees have the best work-life balance possible. More balanced individuals are more productive employees, after all.

Unfortunately, though, when you’re in high school and college no such initiatives exist. Nonetheless, students share the same experience of competing pressures from both school and life. As a student today, one might even argue that a school-life balance is often more difficult to attain due to increasing demands placed on young people to achieve. But, the same holds true here as in the workplace: More balanced students are more productive students.

With this in mind, below are 8 tips for helping you reach a healthier school-life balance. If you practice these tips now, making them second nature, they will follow you into college and beyond into your career.

1. Set boundaries

With the amount of work that high school course schedules demand of us, it can become easy to give our entire lives over to them. While the hope is that such studiousness will eventually lead to great success, working so hard all of the time can actually be harmful.

Therefore, it’s important to establish boundaries when it comes to our school work.

Boundaries help to ensure that we don’t give all of our time to studying, but that we also leave room for other activities that we enjoy. This “down time” refreshes our bodies and minds, actually allowing us to be more productive when we do return to our school work.

To begin working within boundaries, study diligently throughout the week, but (if possible) take at least one day off from school work per week to do the things you especially enjoy. If you’re not in a position to take an entire day off from school work, try to leave at least a portion of one day free for enjoyable activities. During these designated “times off,” allow yourself the luxury of not even thinking about your school work at all.

On days that you do work, be sure to schedule in breaks. Rather than take work breaks at random, utilize the Pomodoro Method, which is a great approach for ensuring productivity without burnout. In this method, a series of timers are set to track periods of work followed by shorter periods of rest. There are many free Pomodoro Method timers online, but this one is especially handy (and cute!).

2. Focus on time management by establishing priorities and setting goals

You likely won’t be able to finish your entire research project today (at least not well!). But, you can plan to finish the last chapter of your chosen novel today, research the author’s life tomorrow, and begin writing your introductory paragraph the next day.

The point here is that when you procrastinate and then set out to complete an entire task in one sitting, that task is often overwhelming. But when you pace yourself by setting manageable tasks that you can complete incrementally, that same project doesn’t feel so insurmountable.

To help with time management, create a to-do list, placing tasks of highest priority at the top of the list and working your way down to tasks of lowest priority. If you’re a visual person, write these individual tasks out on stickie notes that you can crumple up and throw away once each one has been completed. Physicalizing your accomplishments in this way brings a sense of accomplishment that simply crossing items out on a list does not.

3. Then, reward yourself when you reach your goals

Beyond the implicit reward of simply accomplishing tasks, plan explicit rewards to accompany each of your set goals. Whether it’s with a break, a piece of chocolate, or an episode of your favorite show, treat yourself when you achieve a set goal on your to-do list.

Your goals needn’t be extravagant in every case in order to warrant a reward, either. Have you read 20 pages of your book? Put the finishing touches on your science project? Let the reward match the achievement. Whatever the case, it always helps to have something to look forward to!

4. Practice mindfulness by powering-down

The masses have long praised the idea of multitasking. Yet, we live in a time when this approach to productivity is being questioned. In fact, more recent research points to multitasking’s leading to negative effects, including increased stress and decreased cognitive functioning.

What’s recommended instead of multitasking is that you give your full attention to one task at a time. In other words, what’s recommended is that you practice mindfulness while at work.

In this article, Matt Tenney, author of The Mindfulness Edge, explains four ways that mindfulness improves productivity—including eliminating distractions and producing stronger work—by supporting his claims with evidence from an array of university studies.

One way to practice mindfulness while studying is to “unplug” by taking a break from technology. Reducing internet distractions—such as texting, social media, and even Google—can have real gains on your productivity.

5. Say goodbye to baggage

We are often reminded of the importance of extracurricular activities, especially when it comes to college admissions. Since this is the case, we tend to become involved in many extracurriculars, or we become so deeply invested in the few extracurriculars we’ve chosen that it seems they’ve taken precedence over our school work—and have even taken over our lives!

The important thing to remember is that extracurriculars are beneficial. But, they are only beneficial if they are enhancing and not draining your life.

So, do an inventory. If any of your extracurricular activities seem to be more of a drain on your time and energy than an enhancement to your current happiness and potential future success, drop them from your schedule. Place this saved time and energy into the activities you are benefiting from, and you will likely see an improvement in these areas.

6. Upgrade your study hour

Another way to improve your school-life balance is to simply find a way to enjoy the school part of the equation more. This may seem like wishful thinking; but, if you can think of your studies less as work and more as play, then you are sure to approach this time with more balance.

So, what helps you get through hours of reading or studying for exams? Listening to your favorite music? Having your favorite latte by your side? Working with a big group of your best friends? Taking your work outside to the park or to the beach? Whatever the case may be, do yourself a favor by making study hour more enjoyable for yourself. This way, you will be less hardwired to dread your time spent hitting the books.

And if a place like the park or beach isn’t easily accessible to you, check out our previous article on Creating a Great Study Space.

7. Lean on your support system

When in doubt, don’t be afraid to ask for help—from friends, family, and teachers/other mentors. It can be helpful just to have friends and family who simply understand what you’re going through with the heavy workload of school. A shoulder to lean on and an ear to confide in can go a long way toward relieving stress. And a best buddy or an understanding parent can also be key to getting you out of the house (and out of your head!) after a particularly long and grueling study session.

Teachers/mentors, on the other hand, can provide more “practical” solutions for helping to alleviate the worry from school work. Whether by suggesting additional reading, offering personally-tailored study tips, or pointing you in the direction of helpful tutors like those at Elite, these trusted adults can be a great resource in your search for a better school-life balance.

8. Practice self-care by forgetting “perfection”

As modern students with such big workloads, it can become easy to neglect our own self-care. However, whatever this phrase (“self-care”) means to you—be it physical, mental, or emotional preservation—it’s important to maintain the practice even (and especially!) when a school-life balance seems the most difficult to achieve.

Forms of self-care are as numbered and unique as the people on Earth. You know what works best for you. But one thing is universal: To practice better self-care, try letting go of your belief in “perfection.”

In a time when social media has us constantly comparing ourselves to others, and life goals such as college admissions are increasingly competitive, it makes sense to dot every “i” and cross every t”—just maybe not 9 times.

Reaching for what you deem as “perfection” isn’t always beneficial. This is because reaching “perfection” isn’t always possible. Shoot for your best instead, and you are likely to feel more satisfied and balanced in the end.

Stacy G. is a writer and teacher who has taught composition, literature, and creative writing courses at a number of public and private universities across the U.S. She has also taught SAT, AP English, and Literature SAT Subject Test courses at Elite Prep. She likes poetry, dogs, and poetry about dogs.

#high school #studyblr #study tips #student life #college prep #college

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kaelin-cherise · 6 years ago

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So...

I had the sudden urge to look something up, a nagging. According to my mother, I was "misdiagnosed" as autistic due to a prenatal screening. 18 years later and I find out, there was a one point margin of error that made it impossible to truly tell. (MAYBE BECAUSE I WASNT BORN YET? YATHINKOFTHAT?)

I took an online test to find out that after 18 years, I could actually have ONE WORD to describe my social ineptness, my awkwardness, my weirdness- dont get me wrong, I love it, but seriously, I need like an entire dictionary to describe why I cant make friends.

The further I dived into research and into my past. It made sense. I kept looking at lists of traits, writing down the ones that fit me and I filled up an entire sheet of notebook paper in less than an hour with all these little things that were signs.

It made a lot of sense. People always seemed so weird; I couldnt make people out. I had to lump them into categories in my mind JUST to feel at peace with myself. I fumbled for why I didn't understand certain things, or how people seemed so caught up on things I LITERALLY just heard about as if it happened yesterday. Everyone always seemed so... connected... and I was pushed out of the loop. Or they purposely pushed me out because... they took one look at me and thought I was weird? I don't know?

Okay first, I do, do that thing where someone deadpans when they tell a "joke" and I literally can't tell if they were joking, being serious, being sarcastic, none of the above? And I'm waiting for a sign from someone else to know what they thought- and the person who told me the "joke" tells me to laugh. I've always been like that. A stick in the mud or something.

I liked different things from kids my age- though I mostly blame that on the area I grew up in (wasn't very diverse) but also my family- I was open-minded. I was pretty smart, but I was shy and quiet, and would rather hide from social interaction. Teachers were nice, kids my own age FRIGHTENED me. They were loud. I couldnt understand why they couldn't be quiet, or sit down, or be quiet... it seemed so simple to me? But I could make a friend or two... to survive.

For the longest time I was a huge fan of sonic despite not owning or playing much- if any- of the games. That fandom carried me for YEARS. I can still find most of the old AMVs I used to watch when I was in elementary school (and I watched the same like 7 everyday for hours). Now I'll tell you that special fandom is Cardcaptor Sakura or Sailor Moon. I can talk your ear off for HOURS if you get me started. (Infodumping~)

As I got older, I got stressed. The little things people did got more infuriating, they seemed uncontrollable to literally everyone. Unless it was answering a question, the only thing the entire class would hear out of me would be "be quiet" when it got too loud. As I got older, sounds became louder. I found myself covering my ears when a fire alarm went off. Crashes and bangs scare me more than usual, even if I expect some noise because I dropped it. Light sensitivity has also been a very random occurrence.

But except for meltdowns, I'm extremely high functioning. And that's why it's taken so long to figure it out. Everything in my life had an excuse. I wasn't really raised in a neighborhood so I didn't have kids around my age all the time. And when I interacted with them, I was just "shy." I didn't have any major stims outside of comfort objects (blankets, stuffed animals) that were perfectly acceptable for someone my age. So to most, I was just a highly and sometimes over-emotional kid who just didn't understand social interaction but was good in school. I could hide behind this wall of what I picked up from other kids and media and pretend I understood (Or hide, I like "hide" better). But even a major sign like inappropriate laughter (again, I was just told and figured I was a giggly kid), or burnout/meltdowns I was just thought of as... normal. Weird, but neurotypical.

But I'm not.

So, I told my mom.

And she was cool with it. In fact, most of our family shows a few traits of being autistic.

She added more research to the list of things we need to do (Because College) and manage. Finding major stressors outside of school that could cause meltdowns, listing my traits. I took it upon myself to even get a stim necklace because I have a naughty habit of chewing my lip (better than biting my nails), and I need to get a new fidget cube, because GEARS ARE RELAXING and button clicking is nicer than clicking pens.

I also need to find some sort of forum/chat post for freshman for the college I applied to so I could possibly make friends. Plus finding an upperclassman or someone who wouldn't mind keeping an eye on me while I adjust to being out of my hometown, away from family and friends, who would also keep me out of trouble.

That also means getting an official diagnosis. My mother plans to make an appointment for me soon, so wish me luck.

So, I'm self diagnosed, with research and a test to prove how and why. With an official diagnosis on the way. It's kind of nice to, now, be able to summarize everything with a quick word and few smaller explanations.

I'm autistic.

#autistic experiences #autism #actuallyautistic

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indigodice · 6 years ago

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START AT THE VERY BEGINNING, A VERY GOOD PLACE TO START

i’ll probably edit this gradually out of this being too much to read in one sitting maybe that means this should be more than one post what a mistake i’ve made its time to iron out some kinks in this blogging thing

For us the beginning was probably in high school. On and off games of Traveller and Shadowrun which weren’t overtly terrible, just unmemorable. I can only remember a handful of moments but they largely weren’t tied to a particular narrative. They were very singular drops in an ocean of wasted time. Maybe they were terrible after all. From early on there was a sense that combat was taking up hours while actual role playing was taking up minutes.

The most memorable thing in Shadowrun was the infiltration of a mansion by circulating rumors of a rave and party supplements. The plan had two parts, a coordinated dispatching of the mansion’s guard and relocation of the guards that hadn’t arrived yet. It was a largely successful, noisy, but bloodless smash-and-grab. We had time for another module which the GM then randomly generated using the random generation rules. We tried to replicate this plan with moderate failure, destroying a wyvern’s eggs then turning in look-alikes.

This form of random generation was most of what we did in Shadowrun, and probably the reason the experiences were unmemorable. We gathered to role play, and ended up wargaming. As things go on we have particular problems separating role playing from wargaming and expression becomes narrowed down to mechanics decisions on our character sheets. Compounding this problem is the lack of even binary choice in the narrative. When Mr. Shadowrun says we have a mission, it’s a single mission instead of a selection, so the extent of our choices are constricted within that predetermination. We’re our character sheets. And that means players rebel. Given our not-a-choice my character convinces another character that its suspicious a Mr. Johnson found our HQ so quickly, so we explode our HQ and have to find work elsewhere.

When Mr. Traveller is pushing us through events, we’re only given what he comes up with to work with, the narrative didn’t care about what our characters cared about. Eventually those games wound down as that groups’ GMs disappeared. We met someone willing to GM consistently, only we weren’t aware of his mental instability. And when we became aware of it, most of us recognized we weren’t equipped to handle such a someone. I didn’t share that thought because I was naive, but luckly I went with the group decision to cut him out and maybe we’re the better for it.

I might have brushed that aside, but that mentally unstable GM hosted an AdvancedDND module, Caverns of Chaos, which was meant to be an introductory look at ADND. During which we added players which the GM accepted in word, then rejected through gameplay. The game was a party and everyone was invited. Our complaints of the game moving slowly were responded to by accelerating rewards through a sentient reward room that responded to our whims. As my whim was suspicion it became a curse room. Our complains of the slow momotonous wargaming became an accelerated wargame where they were revealed by a wizard to be the machinations of a mind flayer. Then the wizard to transported us to another place where our skills were arbitrarily needed. Maybe a day had gone by in the game. But outside, months had gone by.

Then a combination of player drama resulted in the GM’s mental instability reaching a breaking point through rather violent expression. And so the group was reformed. Following that we had a few attempts to salvage that now lost campaign. Each player was given a chance to GM to salvage the game, and eventually we decided on restarting, scrapping the old characters for new ones. We picked up a new system called Pathfinder. Before our first moments role playing we’d looked at 3.5 books and heard Pathfinder was supposed to be better supported. So we began.

This worked for a while, as the new GM brought us though the Crypt of the Everflame. We reached the next town after a few months out of game. Crypt of the Everflame was intended to be a few sessions. The GM was experiencing burnout and never told anyone. From a personal standpoint I resent how that was handled, since it resulted in the group meeting, playing maybe an hour of combat, then everyone splitting off to do something else. Sometimes we wouldn’t be informed until arrival that nothing had been prepared, or that the GM wasn’t feeling up to it. Due to circumstances, this GM reached his own breaking point and was going through a kind of personal transformation, and dropped out of the group.

Those that remained tried to continue on. We hosted more one-shots trying to continue from those Pathfinder characters. After reaching the next town SEPIADICE creates one of my most memorable moments. The town had reached a breaking point because one of the partymembers was hellbent on creating mischief. Another decided the problems within the town were because of their systems of governance and took to trying to rally them against their leadership. The de facto town leader didn’t have the strength of his knights that usually kept the peace. We’d been sent here to retrieve them. He’d been trying to maintain the peace with martial law. And so he banished our party fearing more mischief. My character was infuriated that the de facto leader transgressed a rule of hospitality as he’d been on the road because of his own town’s leadership, and so my character confronts this town’s leader. He was steadfast in his decision since we were outsiders to him. We’d gained entrance because of a squire’s word. The fight first in words comes to blows. Another party member supported me with her magic, and the squire comes to the leadership’s aid. At that moment the fighting stops, and we make our escape.

The casters of the group splinter off, while those that remained travel presumably with the squire to retrieve the knights. The game ends and is never picked up again. We have a round of one-shots and eventually we decide we want a consistent game. We vote on the next GM. Notably I voted against SEPIADICE because the other would be GM was the more experienced, and I was hoping for something sustainable. So she wins four to three. It turns out her game has the same problems all the prior GMs had. Eventually SEPIADICE gets his turn to GM and does an adequate job. And I realize where I wanted to build on the other GM’s experience, she didn’t actually have the potential to change. While the muddle of one-shots never became anything particularly memorable. Sometimes we’d make decisions that felt meaningful, but then the one-shot would end and we wouldn’t get to witness the outcome of those decisions.

If SEPIADICE had continued I’m sure his game would have been enjoyable. As a GM he’d produced most of the memorable moments I enjoyed. But he’d become frustrated because I hadn’t managed to leave the headspace of the character I was playing, and consequently decided on playing that character in his setting. Causing two other players to also choose prior characters that had been there with him. So it became a cascade of insolence that I both didn’t see and didn’t dissuade by not seeing it. The difference was that I had asked and they hadn’t, but the result was the same. Old characters with old ties that didn’t fit the requirement he’d set down for character creation.

From the start of pathfinder up until the very end theres this looming question about what makes unable to role play, or why we’re bad as a group. There are answers ranging from “our group is too big” to “we’re probably just bad” to “its the ruleset we’re using.” Actually I’ve cherrypicked the ones I believe. I don’t remember the rest. From beginning to end our groups tended to be too large which muddled other problems. It was hard to role play because everyone needed some time in the spotlight and it was easy for us to get distracted either by the many bored players. Realistically the GMs shouldn’t have used combat as a crutch to stretch the time we were playing. It wasn’t fun. But it didn’t help that we were playing in a game that revolved around combat and the flow around actual role playing was snuffed out both by needing wait for long stretches of time for anything cohesive to happen. Things got gradually better after the Crypt of the Everflame because players started losing interest. But at the core we didn’t as a group understand what made role playing games good.

They certainly had potential, but most of what we did was wargame, and frankly video games were better for that. We couldn’t tap into what made role playing games good. Except for that moment where SEPIADICE banished our party. That was a damn good moment because that was a man with his back against the wall trying to give himself some more space, only he accidently makes things worse. The conflict they had against each other was not something they could resolve, it wasn’t either of their fault, and they both refused to bend. So they fight. And they fight because they refused to bend, and that’s how violence happens in reality. And so much of the violence in our role playing games has that weird circumstance of oh they show up while you’re travelling so you have to fight now. That’s not giving violence any respect. And any expression during that kind of violence falls flat when there’s nothing tangible at stake. Sure you could die, but you’re not really dying if you don’t have any connections to anything. Dying because you have too much pride feels better than the nothing of a random bear encounter. And to be honest SEPIADICE you should have died when you encountered that bear, instead you bit it and it ran away because the GM thought we would run, but adventurers aren’t reasonable people.

So maybe that’s one of our problems with role playing. Adventurers aren’t reasonable people, they encounter unreasonable things, and are expected to act unreasonably to resolve unreasonable things. Oh god there are so many paragraphs now and why is there only personality at the end who the heck is going to read all of this?

#dnd #rpg

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citrusrei · 8 years ago

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Testosterone Boys pt. 2

Reader x F*ckboi!Yoongi SYNOPSIS: An agreement of sorts is reached. GENRE: Angst, Fluff. WORD COUNT: 8.3k PART 2 OF 2

(Second part to Testosterone Boys)

AN: the italics are a flashback lmao, just a quick head’s up! <3

“I’m not playing, asshole. Give them to me.”

Around this time is when people surrounding you guys including, Hoseok, Namjoon, and even Jimin started listening in on your conversation but you didn’t mind an audience. Oh no, you wanted the world to see you knock Kim Taehyung out cold.

“I’m serious, babe. I don’t have your undies. I sure wish I did though, they were fucking adorable.”

“Alright, Tae. Humor me. If you don’t have them. Then who does?” You sighed. Your anger was at the back of your throat now and your fists clenched. You were sure your knuckles were almost white.

Taehyung laughed once again, bringing his fingers to your chin to turn your gaze to his.

“Min. Yoon. Gi.”

"What?" You scoffed, your eyes automatically rolling, "Yoongi doesn't have my underwear. I just talked to him."

"Are you sure? 'Cause, I handed them over to him earlier. Lord knows how badly he wanted those. That pathetic little crush of his. On you! Of all people." He sighed.

His words might have hurt you if you were actually paying attention to them. But no, he lost you at "Pathetic little crush". Yoongi had a crush on you? Min Yoongi? The Min Yoongi who skipped classes, or showed up high, fucking girls left and right Min Yoongi? Could have fooled you.

You felt your face heat up. Of course, he was gorgeous and you'd be lying to yourself if you said you'd never thought of him in that light but he wasn't your type... Was he? Did you even have a type? And if you did, did fuckboy fall into that category?

"Aw, don't tell me. You have a crush on him as well? The good girl falling for the burnout. How 2003 chick flick of you both."

You winced at Taehyung's tone. What happened to the nice, good guy he came off to be? Was that all just a facade? And you didn't have a crush on Yoongi, did you? I mean, yeah, he looked amazing tonight and yeah, a butterfly or two may have fluttered around your chest any time he was near you, but that's not a crush, right? That's just how you felt around Yoongi normally.

You vaguely remembered one of the first times Yoongi spoke to you. You'd known of his reputation because who didn't? Not that it ever mattered to anyways. Honestly, you didn't care if he slept around or smoked pot all day. That was his business and if he treated you with respect, then you'd treat him nicely back. Simple as that.

It was your Sophomore year, nearly two years ago that you met Min Yoongi in your world literature class. Of course, he was failing and of course you were top ranked so it was a no-brainer to the teacher for you to stay after class and tutor him; everyday.

"Min Yoongi, I know you're not a fan of this whole school thing, but you should at least graduate! Then at least you can be a bum but have a diploma!" Yoongi winced, the choice of words she used not settling well with him.

"If you fail this class, you'll have to take it during summer school. I have no choice but to have this student tutor you."

"But, Mrs. Yoo, I-I have um, basketball practice after school everyday! I can't miss that!" He lied. The teacher rolled her eyes before speaking,

"Mr. Min, I know you don't play basketball. With how much you smoke, there's no way your lungs could handle it."

Yoongi sighed, accepting his defeat, "Okay, but can you at least tell me who the student is?"

"She should be here any second, so just take a seat and wait."

It was like he was made out of sighs and eye rolls because that's exactly what he did before taking a seat at the front muttering, "This is so lame."

No more than a few minutes later, a small knock was heard on the door frame accompanied with a "Mrs. Yoo?"

"Ah yes, (Y/N), dear. Come in and sit down. This is your pupil, Min Yoongi. Min Yoongi this is (Y/N) (Y/L/N). Please. Be nice to her."

Your eyes widened when you saw who you were tutoring, all though you had somewhat of an idea who it could be due to your teachers hinting. She clued that it was someone who never really showed up, so he didn't know the coursework. Which meant it was either Yoongi, Hoseok, or Namjoon. However, even despite their absences you still knew how smart Namjoon was due to the fact that you've known him since elementary, English being one of his fortes and Hoseok; well you weren't sure of his knowledge in other classes but a few months back your teacher paired the two of you up for some Shakespeare project and he could quote and reference him beautifully. It was like he'd grown up in that time period, which really impressed you. But with Yoongi, you really had no idea what his intelligence was like. Did he even know what book you were reading in class?

"Okay, go on and take a seat, (Y/N). I have to go make copies of tomorrow's lesson so I'll be back in 15!"

You watched as her petite frame left the classroom before turning back to Yoongi. He was already face first into the desk, clicking his mechanical pencil until the led dropped to the ground.

"If you waste all your lead, what will you write with?" You joked, trying to ease the tension. His cat like eyes darted up to you before returning to his pencil, starting the clicking again.

You sat at the desk next to him, pulling out your notebooks, extra scratch paper and of course the book you were reading currently in class; Fahrenheit 451.

"Okay, so literally the assignment right now is to go and find 5 examples of foreshadowing and write about it. I'll give you one, and then you tell me one, okay?" You said, opening your notes and turning to Yoongi in your chair.

"You know, I've only read like 4 chapters of the book, right?" A sigh escaped your lips, figuring that would be the case.

"Well, you've read more than I thought you did." You laughed and Yoongi quirked an eyebrow.

"Okay, well let's get started then!"

Yoongi ended up knowing a lot more than you thought as it turned out he read more than half the book so the two of you breezed through the assignment no issue. Naturally, you worked through some other assignments he was missing and in the end, bumped his grade up from failing to a solid D.

Even though he gave off that 'cool, idgaf' attitude, you could see right through it. You could just tell that he was happy about the grade, even though he'd never admit to it and if asked, he'd vehemently deny it. You found yourself smiling as his threatened to break past his cool exterior and you decided that tutoring him wouldn't be half as bad as you thought it'd be.

Over the course of the next couple of weeks, the tutoring continued. He'd show up a little after you but was never later than 15 minutes passed the final bell. You thought it was kind of endearing that he was so interested in getting his grade as high as he could with your help. It made you feel important.

He even started coming to class regularly. Of course there were the occasional days he'd miss but you'd say 3-4/5 days a week he'd be there. Of course, he'd sit near you cause he was comfortable with you. You'd always answer questions if he had any, you'd laugh at any joke he said and you'd scold him if he was late or didn't show up. He liked that you were hard on him because no one had ever been that way before. It showed that you cared, in his opinion.

"Hey." Yoongi whispered to you 20 minutes into the midterm exam. You side-eyed him as a way to tell him to not talk to you right now. Clearly you were busy.

"Pssst." He hushed, poking you with the end of his pencil.

"What." You hissed back, loud enough for the teacher to look up and scan the room. You busied yourself back into the test sheet as did Yoongi. Once you were in the clear, you looked back to him who was already looking at you. You felt your cheeks flush at his obvious stares and your eyebrows knitted together.

"What, Min Yoongi?"

"What are you doing after school today?" His question confused you. What did he mean? Of course you were tutoring him. He should know that by now, it had been the same schedule for the past 3 weeks.

"What? I'm tutoring you, stupid." He laughed only slightly, loving how much sass was coming from you today.

"Okay, but what about after? It's a friday night. Have any plans?" His tone was quiet and you weren't sure if it was because he didn't want to get caught talking during a test or if he didn't want to be heard asking you out. Your head turned back to the test as you spoke,

"I think I'm going to a movie with Jimin, why?" You tried to act as nonchalantly as possible. Not wanting Yoongi to know that you were dying to know was he was getting at.

"Jimin? Is that your boyfriend or something?" He scoffed, causing the teacher to shush the both of you. Your face went red in embarrassment and Yoongi snickered at your beet red cheeks.

"So, is he?" He asked again, you taking too long to answer the first time.

"No." You mouthed, finishing up the last couple of questions and setting your pencil to the side of your desk. Yoongi looked at his test and realized he still had more than half left with only 20 mins of class but still deemed this conversation more important.

"Good." He mumbled, almost too quietly for you to hear but still, you did. What was good? That Jimin wasn't your boyfriend or was he confident in his test answers? What was going on with him today?

"Look, there's a party tonight. You should come." He finally said. You stayed quiet weighing your options. Go to a party where Yoongi will be? Or go to a movie with your best friend? While you loved Jimin and wanted to see the movie, you'd never been to a party before. And never had you been asked by someone like Min Yoongi. You decided you could probably talk Jimin into it.

Yoongi hated that you didn't answer him, not that he asked you a question but he was really dying to have you come to this party. Over the past 3 weeks he found himself having a lot more interest in World Literature and it wasn't because of Macbeth. He hated disappointing you, so he'd show up as much as he could. He'd come everyday to your tutor sessions not because you were amazing at tutoring him, but that he loved watching you get so passionate. He loved hearing all of your opinions about heavy subjects, he loved the small banter the two of you shared, he loved the casual talking about one another's day when he first arrived. The "How was your day?" Question you asked everyday was one of the highlights of his day. He didn't know when he first fell for you. Whether it was the first session or the second or the third or the fourteenth, all he knew was that he did.

He put up with teasing from Namjoon and Taehyung about how "serious" he was about his education now when they thought it only about trying to get into your pants. But that wasn't it at all. He genuinely wanted to take you out and get ice cream or go to a movie or just walk somewhere so he could hold your damn hand and maybe kiss you at the end of the night. It almost scared him to think he had fallen for someone this deeply and even to this day he thought he could deny it and maybe even talk himself out of it, but he knows that he'd be lying. He hated how vanilla he became around you. This wasn't who he was, was it? He wasn't the type to do dates, hell, he didn't even do relationships so why the fuck did he want to go steady with you? He was willing to give up his old ways for you. He'd stop fucking around, he'd stop hanging out with such assholes or in the least stop being so impressionable around them. He'd even give up smoking for you. If that didn't show he was serious about you, then he didn't know what was.

After the class was over and somehow Yoongi miraculously finished his exam he turned it in and caught up with you in the hallway. You were waiting for Jimin so you could head to lunch as you always did so it wasn't hard to find you.

"So? Will you come?" Yoongi smiled when he met you. Your heart lurched in your chest, secretly loving all the attention he was giving you today.

"Are you asking me out, Min Yoongi?" Right as the words left your mouth, you wanted to bury yourself where you stood. The heat running up the course of your neck could be felt by other people a mile away, but all Yoongi did was smile wider.

"I mean, maybe I am? Why, does it bother you?" Your eyes widened as you looked up to him and he let out a small laugh, his own heart beating like a drum so loud he was surprised you couldn't hear it.

He was nervous. He'd never really been rejected before and if the girl he was utterly infatuated with denied him, he didn't know how he'd ever live it down.

"No, it doesn't." You boldly said, now causing Yoongi's eyes to widen before his face broke out into a gummy smile that had your stomach in knots and your heart singing.

Yoongi couldn't help it and he didn't care if he was making himself seem like a huge dork. He thought that you'd better get used to it now because he was going to ask you out at the party tonight and if you agreed, you'd never see another side of him. He'd be in a constant state of bliss.

"So, does that mean you'll come?" He pegged on, you giggled a bit and it was music to Yoongi's ears.

"We'll see what I can do." You saw Jimin walking up behind Yoongi so you said a quick 'see ya later' to the dark haired man in front of you, leaving him with a goofy grin plastered to his face that stayed there the remainder of the day.

"So about the movie-" You and Jimin said at the same time.

"You first." He laughed, you laughing along with him.

"No, no. You go ahead."

"Okay. So, I know you wanted to go see that movie tonight but... There's a party." Your eyes lit up and your ears perked at Jimin's words. Maybe you wouldn’t have to beg him after all.

"It's at Namjoon's," He continued, "I think we should go. We're sophomores and haven't been to a house party before! I think it'll be good for us."

"Sure, let's go." You quickly answered, almost too quick that it had Jimin stuttering.

"R-really? You wanna g-go?" He asked, his eyes as wide as saucers.

"Yeah! Why not? I think it'll be fun." Jimin's face lit up as a smile grew on his lips, "You met a girl, didn't you?" You added. Jimin's smile dropped instantly, turning shy and blushy.

"Ah, that's not it, (Y/N)." He whined, but you could see through his lie. You laughed, ruffling Jimin's natural colored hair, "That's okay, I met someone too."

Jimin became serious again. He had a feeling he knew who you were talking about and he really hoped he was wrong. "You aren't talking about Min Yoongi, are you?"

Instantly, you scowled. His intrusive tone struck some sort of chord and you suddenly didn't want to talk about it anymore.

"So what if it is? There's nothing wrong with him."

Jimin sighed, running his fingers through his hair. His gaze ran the course of the hallway before turning to yours, "I never said there was. I've just... I've just heard stuff about him."

Of course. Who hadn't heard anything about Yoongi or his friends? You understood why Jimin was concerned and it's not like it hadn't crossed your mind that maybe the reason Yoongi was all nice and flirty today because he wanted to get into your pants, but over the past few weeks of you spending time with him and getting to know him better, you couldn't see him doing that to you.

"Yeah? Well so have I. But I know him and he wouldn't do that." Jimin sighed again and you could tell he was completely not okay with this but you really didn't care. You could trust Yoongi. Or maybe you were just being naïve.

"Okay, I believe you. Let's have fun tonight. Okay?" He smiled and you mimicked him, fully agreeing to let loose tonight.

Tutoring went by without a hitch. Maybe even better than that considering how smiley and giddy Yoongi was the entire time. It was refreshing and you found yourself thinking that you wouldn't mind it if he kept acting like this.

Soon after, you went home and got ready nearly an hour early before the party even started which meant that you still had two hours to kill before you would go. Jimin had said something about how it would seem "uncool" if you showed up to a party on time so you'd have to be "fashionably late". You wanted to see Yoongi though. Would he be excited to see you? What will you say to him when you see him? Will he like what you're wearing? Questions and self-doubt ran through your mind that had you changing your outfit at least 5 different times and trying to decide if you wanted your hair up or down. Eventually you decided on a casual yet stylish outfit consisting of plain skinny jeans and a fitted black long sleeve shirt with your hair down.

"Hopefully this will be okay. I don't want to seem like I'm trying too hard." You said out loud to yourself, fixing and kinks in your hair and straightening out any wrinkles on your outfit.

"You look hot!" Jimin said from behind you. You could see him behind you in the reflection of your mirror. He styled his hair a bit differently, showcasing his forehead slightly and you could tell he put a lot of effort into his outfit. It was simple like yours but still made him look like a Greek God.

"Damn, Park! If you weren't my best friend, I'd be jumping your bones right now!" You teased. Jimin wrinkled his eyes together in a cute grin as he got shy, mumbling a "Oh, stop it" causing you to smile as well.

Jimin made himself at home atop of your bed as you finished the minor details. Nerves finally starting to get the best of you. Yes, you were nervous before but you were now only minutes away from meeting up with him. Outside of school. Outside of tutoring. He wanted to see you; apparently.

"Maybe we shouldn't go. I'm sure there's still showings of the movie!" You babbled, Jimin rolled his eyes.

"We're going to the party. He asked you, right? He'll be happy to see you." It was almost as though Jimin was reading your mind as he knew all the right things to say. You nodded, agreeing with him that your anxiety was unnecessary. He wanted to see you. He wanted to see you. He wanted to see you.

You replayed the words like a mantra until it stuck in your head. You could do it. It's just a party.

"Dude, you look so on edge, take a hit and chill out." Hoseok said, handing Yoongi the joint.

Yoongi eyeballed the small cig between his fingers, debating on whether or not he should. Of course, he was nervous for you to show up and obviously this would mellow his mood, but he wanted to be sober when he saw you. The party had been going on for an hour and not once did he drink or smoke. There was also no sign of you.

"What are you waiting for someone?" Namjoon smiled, taking a drink from the beer bottle he had just grabbed from a cooler.

"No, I'm just feeling a bit off. That's all." Yoongi said, handing Hoseok the blunt.

"Yeah, you're feeling off because you haven't smoked in who knows how long. What are you? A prude now?" Yoongi side eyed the blonde haired man, who only grinned in return.

"Give me it." Yoongi demanded. Hoseok passed the joint once again and Yoongi took a deep, long puff from it, exhaling the cotton white smoke from his nostrils.

"There, now you can calm down and wait for whoever you're waiting for." Namjoon laughed. Yoongi sighed, glancing at the time on his phone. An hour and a half already. Maybe you weren't coming.

Disappointment and discouragement coursed through his body. He should have known better than to get his hopes up for someone like you. Someone who's way to good to be seen with someone like him. Someone too perfect in every way to ever associate themselves with someone like Yoongi. A burn out. A loser. A fuckboy. He should have known better to think you really cared. The teacher probably offered you some amazing extra credit to help out the dumb kid, failing more than half of his classes and you wouldn't ever pass up that. No, because that's just how you were. And he decided that if you didn't consider him important, then he didn't consider you it either.

"You know what? I'm not waiting for anyone." Yoongi hissed, snatching the beer from Namjoon's hands and downing the remains.

"Whoa, I was drinking that?" He huffed. Namjoon was amused with his friends newfound behavior, however and he wanted to see how far he could push it.

"You want another?" He offered. Yoongi muttered a quick yeah, still finding himself watching the door, just in case you showed up. Not that he cared at this point, however.

Namjoon laughed, handing his friend another drink, "Hey man, I think Nara has been eyeing you for a while. Maybe you should go see what she wants?" Yoongi's heart sank. Was he really going to give up this easily? He gulped down half of the bottle easily, his sight set on the girl.

She looked up from her drink, smirking. Her eyes begging him over. He didn't know if it was the alcohol, or the joint but one way or another he ended up in front of her. Minimal words were spoken before her lips her on his. At first he hesitated, his thoughts completely consumed by you until her hand snaked down to his belt and grabbing on to it firmly. Then, he was lost.

"Jimin, we're so late!" You yelled, walking up the steps into the huge house. People littered the porch and front yard, some song that had to have been popular on the radio playing in the background.

"I'm sorry! You know my car sucks." Jimin said, meeting you at the door. You didn't bother knocking considering the door was already open. It led to the main room that was flooded with people from your school and more than likely people who weren't. Your breath was almost taken away from the sheer amount of people that occupied the room.

Naturally, your eyes scanned the vicinity, looking for the head of hair that you'd grown so used to seeing everyday. But you couldn't find it.

"Jiminnie!" A voice called. You looked behind you to see some red haired girl throw herself at your best friend. It was clearly the girl he'd been excited to see before. His smile lit up as he wrapped his arms around her waist, pecking her lips gently.

"Ah, (Y/N) this is Molly. Molly, (Y/N)." The red head stuck her dainty hand out, a bright smile shown on her face.

"Ah, (Y/N)! I've heard so much about you. It's nice to meet you!" She gushed, her grip on Jimin loosening ever so slightly.

"It's nice to meet you too! You don't go to our school, do you?" She shook her head, "Nope! I go to East End High. On the other side of town." You nodded knowingly, "Oh, I see. Wait, how did you two meet then?" You asked, your eyebrows scrunching together.

"Oh! We met o-" Jimin's hand covered her mouth, cutting off her sentence before she could finish it. He laughed nervously, making any excuse to get you away from them.

"A-AH, I'll tell you about it later! Why don't you go find Yoongi! It has been like two hours since the party started, I bet he's dying to see you!" He croaked.

At the mention of Yoongi, your previous curiosity faltered. Jimin was right, you should go and find him and explain your tardiness.

"O-Okay then! It was nice meeting you, Molly. Stay safe, you kids." You laughed, turning around and walking into the sea of people. He had to be here somewhere.

The living room was held no sign of Min Yoongi and neither did the kitchen nor the backyard. 'Maybe he's not here?' You thought.

The cold air from the night calmed your nerves only momentarily before negative thoughts seeped their way into your brain.

What if he didn't show up because it was all some sick joke? Your heartbeat sped up and sunk simultaneously, your cheeks heating up despite the chill air.

That had to have been it. He was playing some cruel prank on you to make you seem like some idiot who thought he could ever be capable of having normal feelings for someone and boy, did you feel stupid.

Jumping to conclusions, you felt the hot tears brimming in the corners of your eyes, but oh no, you wouldn't give Yoongi the satisfaction of making you cry in front of who knows how many people. So for now, you sucked it up and told yourself that you can cry the moment you entered your bedroom. Jimin would be fine with Molly. You could walk yourself home, it wasn't that far anyways.

"Hey! (Y/N)!" A chirpy voice rang from behind you. You didn't even have to look to know who it was. Seokjin.

"Hello, Jin." You chided, facing the taller boy.

"You here alone?" He asked, straightforward with his words. You nodded, not really paying attention.

"Why?" He pestered. Your face contorted as you looked up at him, debating on whether or not to tell him the truth.

"I was looking for someone. I was invited." His mouth opened as he let out a silent "Ah", nodding his head.

"May I ask who?" You sighed. Boy, was this guy persistant.

"I guess. I was looking for Yoongi. But I don't think he's here, so I'm just going to leave." Seokjin raised his eyebrows at the mention of the troublemaker.

"Ah, Min Yoongi? He's upstairs. I don't know why you'd be looking for him though, he's trouble! I'd stay away if I were you." You blocked the rest of Jin's words out after he slipped that Yoongi was upstairs.

You quickly excused yourself, not bothering to give any excuses. You figured Jin would understand.

Once inside, it took you a second to find your way back to the main living room which held the staircase to upstairs. Was he really up there? What was he doing? Maybe he was nervous too?

Nerves filled your gut again, but not the fluttery kind.

You stepped up the stairs, careful not to bump any party goer even though by the looks of it, they were too far gone to even care. Of course, the house had numerous rooms to choose from and you really didn't want to just barge in on people.

You knocked on a couple doors, most of them were empty surprisingly, that is until you reached the end of the hallway.

"This is so dumb." You whispered to yourself before knocking. You seriously felt idiotic to even be searching for him at this point. You could easily just go wait for him downstairs and he'd show up when he wanted to, if he wanted to. Which you really hoped he did.

Gently, you tapped your knuckles against the white painted door, waiting for anyone to respond from the other side. After a few seconds of nothing, you figured it was empty until a low, guttural groan passed through the door.

You weren't dumb, but for some reason you knocked again. Even though you knew fully just what was happening on the inside.

"G-Go away." The voice groaned. You would have stepped away, really, letting them have their privacy, but instead you grabbed the doorknob. You knew that voice and you sent a silent prayer that it wasn't who you thought it was.

The doorknob twisted easily, and you pushed it open slowly. A sick feeling bubbled in your stomach and you knew you could back out. You didn't need to do this. You didn't even know it was for sure him. What if you were about to walk in on some completely random couple? You could never live that down.

But still, you opened the door. Even though, you wish you never would have.

There he was, as predicted, leaned against the sink, pants around his ankles as some girl kneeled before him.

"Y-Yoongi." You hushed, wanting to disappear from the world right as the name slipped from your lips.

His eyes darted open, irritatedly looking towards the culprit that was distracting him from the head he was receiving. But once he saw who it was, his eyes widened. His mouth parted as if he was trying to speak, trying to cover up what you thought was happening even though it was exactly what it looked like. There was no cover up for this.

Yoongi quickly pushed Nara off of him and pulled his pants up, instantly becoming flaccid as he saw the look on your face.

"(Y/N), this isn't what it looks like." His eyes closed, cursing himself for that being the first thing to come out of his mouth.

You scoffed, the tears from earlier fresh as ever as you backed away from the door and leaving immediately.

You didn't bother to listen to the voice calling for you, begging you to wait, screaming dozens of apologies. You didn't bother finding Jimin to let him know you were leaving and that you'd never go to another high school party again. There was no reason to.

Yoongi caught up with you right as you reached the front door, latching himself onto your wrist, stopping you from going any further.

"Let me go." You sighed, your gaze falling to the floor.

"No," Yoongi sobbed, attempting to catch his breath, "Just talk to me for a minute."

"There's nothing for us to talk about?" You sniffled, wiping away the stray tear that fell and turning to face him, putting on your best poker face.

Yoongi's breath hitched, nearly choking as his heart fluttered and banged against his ribcage. Why did he have to be so fucking stupid? Why couldn't he have waited?

"What happened back there with Nara was nothing. It meant nothing." He repeated, as if he were trying to convince you to give him some sort of chance. But that's not the type of girl you were. He fucked up, and you weren't going to let it slide. You had already made yourself look like an idiot once, and that was not happening again. Not with Min Yoongi.

"Okay? Sorry I walked in on you. You didn't have to stop because of me. I should have listened to you when you said go away." Yoongi's eyebrows knitted together, confused as to why you were talking like this.

"What? No, I shouldn't have done it to begin with! I was fucking stupid and messed everything up."

"Messed what up? Us? There isn't an 'Us', Yoongi. You're free to sleep with whoever you want," Your words were quick and jumbled and you just wanted to leave, "I'll see you Monday. Have a nice time here." You turned to move, but his grip on your wrist stayed put.

"(Y/N), I'm so so-"

"Yoongiiiii, why'd you push me off?" Nara cooed, wrapping her arms around his neck from behind him. Her eyes fell to his hand on your wrist and her eyebrows quirked, "Oh? Am I interrupting something?" She said wryly, a smirk coming to her lips as she pecked her way up Yoongi's jaw. He winced away from her touches, wanting absolutely nothing to do with her.

"No, I was just leaving." You snatched your wrist back, giving a final look to Yoongi before making your way home.

"Good, she's gone. Let's finish what we started upstairs, yeah?"

"No, thanks." Yoongi peeled her off of himself. She was obviously flustered and he knew that she'd more than likely start up some dumb rumor about how he'd went soft on her or how he denied her or whatever. But he didn't care. She could spread all the rumors she wanted.

Yoongi hated himself.

"So, it's true then? You do? I'm going to take your silence as a 'yes'." Taehyung continued.

"Hey, man. Just stop." Hoseok chimed in, standing from the coffee table and putting a hand on his shoulder. Taehyung just shook it off, eyeing you as you stood in thought.

"Shocked, are you? We all know what he did to you those years ago but in his defense, who could deny Nara? You're so plain compared to her." He snarled. This brought you from your head, your eyes locking on to his. What the fuck is his problem? You thought.

"What's going on?" A voice questioned. It was Yoongi's.

Taehyung smirked, "Oh, my little kitten here would like her panties back but- Oh, no! I don't have them! Any idea where they could be?"

Yoongi's face reddened. He knew you'd think of his as some pervert if it came out that he had your underwear hiding in his pocket, and he knew you already thought lowly of him so, he'd lie to the death if he had to.

"No? You're the one who got them, right?" He convinced, hinting to his friend to keep it on the down low. But that wasn't going to happen.

"Are you that baked that you forgot I handed them over to you? Or... maybe it's that you don't want to seem like some creep for keeping your crushes underwear? Hm?" Yoongi squinted up the man grinning down to him. He wanted to knock him out.

"What the fuck is your problem, Tae?"

"Problem? I don't have one. She just needs her panties back. Give them to her."

Yoongi scoffed, “Listen. I already said I don’t have them.” His jaw clenched. He was seconds away from punching him square in the throat. There was a crowd now. Everyone gathered around the scene as if it were a movie unfolding before them. A few even chanted fight in the background.

This was not good. It was just underwear and you didn’t even care at this point who had them, you just wanted them back. Not that you could put them back on though, that’d be disgusting.

“Really? Then what are these?” Taehyung reached towards the pocket of Yoongi’s jacket to be met with nothing. Taehyung sputtered, his words fumbling in his mouth as he checked the other pocket as well, both turning up empty.

“Where are they?” He clenched, his teeth showing.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. I told you. I don’t have them.” Yoongi smirked as he walked away, glancing at you only briefly.

Your heart nearly stopped from the look on Yoongi’s face. Smug as all hell. What was all this mess? Him making your heart beat again after all these years. Taehyung taking your underwear, lying to you. This night was chaotic.

“H-He had them. I-I gave them to him, I have no idea where he’s hi-hiding them.” You were over this. Fuck your underwear.

“Oh, who cares at this point! They’re just underwear. Let’s go, Jimin.” He nodded, still shocked from the events that just took place. Jimin grabbed your arm, escorting you to the door, but you remembered there was still something you wanted to do.

“Ah, wait, wait.” You said, unlatching your arm from Jimin’s and facing the asshole who ruined your night.

“Hey... Taehyung?” You asked sweetly. His gaze turned to you, irritation sketched upon his features.

“Wha-” Before he could even finish his sentence, your fist collided with his jaw. You threw your arm towards that handsome, devious face with as much might as you could muster, never hesitating or resisting in the swing. Your knuckles met his face with a loud smack, even cracking a few of your fingers, sending him flying backwards into the crowd that stood behind him.

He looked up to you, his eyes wide as he clutched the side of his head, a small trickle of blood seeping out of his mouth. He wanted to cuss you out, he wanted to get even but most of all, he wanted to leave. He’d just been knocked down by a girl. A girl that he’d played only an hour before. This was his downfall. The end of Kim Taehyung. People took out their phones, snapping pictures and taking videos, whispering the words that would be on the tongue of the student body for the rest of the year. This was big, and everyone knew it.

“Man, I was hoping to knock you out. Oh well.” You winked, latching arms again with your best friend who stiffled back the urge to burst out laughing.

Even as you were exiting, Taehyung thought of ways to get you back, to do anything to show he was the boss but instead, Namjoon helped him to his feet, holding back laughter of his own. Once on his feet, he scanned the party, letting out a nervous chuckle and booking it to the exit, praying that people would forget this happened entirely. Even though he doubted it.

You said your goodbyes to Jimin, both of you agreeing that you’d had enough fun for the night and made your way to your bedroom. A hot shower beckoned you. You felt grimy from that asshole laying his dirty hands on you.

You gathered all your necessities; including a new pair of undies, and made your way to the bathroom. The steam from the shower quickly fogged up the mirror, relaxing you. Finally, you were in your own home, no distractions, no dumb boys who’d taken your underwear. You were content. You’d knocked Kim Taehyung off his feet today. You considered that a win.

Right as you grabbed the hem of your shirt, the shrill ring of the doorbell could be heard from downstairs. Of course, you thought, of course something would interrupt my celebratory party.

“Coming!” You yelled once the doorbell rang again, turning off the water to the shower.

The doorbell rang once again, an irritated sigh escaping from you as you opened the door, “How can I hel- Oh, you.” Your eyes blinked to the dark haired man before you, an expression of shock etched on his face that matched yours.

“Yeah, me.” He hummed, a small smile playing on his lips in an attempt to settle any tension in the air.

“What do you want?” you grumbled. Why couldn’t you just have the rest of the night to yourself?

“U-Uh, well, can we maybe, um,” He panicked, his words not coming to him.

“Spit it out, Yoongi.”

“Can we talk?” You audibly groaned before shutting the door behind you, stepping out on to your front porch.

“Be quick.” He nodded, swallowing hard as he tried to find all the right things to say.

“So,” he began, “how are you doing?” You looked at him incredulously. Was he seriously asking that right now?

“Fuck,” He hissed, “No, not how are you doing, ugh, I’m so stupid.” This was new. You were definitely not used to this Yoongi. The usually coiled and stable man was now coming undone, and for some reason it made you nervous.

“Just, just calm down, Min. Take a breath.” Your choice of using his last name calmed him. It reminded him of old times. Back when you were close.

His heartbeat rang in his ears. He was done being a baby. He was going to do something he’s been wanting to do for the past 2 years. Something he should have done. With high school being over in just a few weeks, he knew it was now or never.

“(Y/N), about what happened at the party...”

“Oh, no worries. I don’t even care about the underwear anymore. Taehyung can do whatever with them, maybe even use them to hold his ice pack.” You laughed.

“No, not that party, wait- ice pack? What do you mean?” His eyebrows knitted together. His look of confusion sending your heart into over drive. The way his bottom lip stuck out slightly had your mind slipping into thoughts of what it’d feel like against yours.

“Ah, I knocked him out. Well, not really. I wanted to. But, I punched him pretty hard. My hand still hurts.” Another giggle fled from you causing a smile to form on Yoongi.

“What, really?” You nodded, satisfied with yourself.

“Huh,” he hummed to himself, “You’re kind of badass, aren’t you?” His comment had your ego flying, your own smugness finding you as you scoffed.

“Yeah, it seems like I am.” This time Yoongi laughed and it was music to your ears. Boy, you missed him.

“So, is that all?” You asked. Yoongi shook his head frantically, “No, no! I still have stuff to say. Maybe it’ll be for nothing, but I can’t live with myself if I never do this.” Those nervous flutters reentered your stomach; the same ones from that party those years ago. Uh-oh.

You urged him to continue. He took a deep breath, gazing up to your eyes that he loved so much. He felt like a loser. Who in their right mind stays smitten with someone like this for more than two years? Here went nothing.

“I want to explain myself. Not that it will make a difference, I don’t think. But, about the party. From two years ago.” Your heart sped up even more, if that was even possible. Why was he bringing this up?

“Yoongi, it was two years ago. It’s long forgotten and forgiven. Not that you had anything to be sorry for.” He sighed, obviously not satisfied with that.

“I haven’t forgotten. I haven’t forgiven myself. I was an idiot. An idiot who thought you weren’t going to come. An idiot who thought the best way to cope was to fuck it and smoke and drink and fucking kiss Nara which lead to that stupid shit in the bathroom and then you walked in and my whole world came crashing down and I was scared to lose what we had and we lost it. I wanted so much more with you, man, I still fucking do. I know that I fucked up, and I mean big time. I was going to confess that night. I was going to ask you out on a date and had every intention of making you my girlfriend. And I messed it up. I know I can’t change the past, even though I wish I could. But... I really like you. Like, a lot. And now I’m rambling and I’m making myself seem like an even bigger id-”

You didn’t know what came over you. You couldn’t even blame it on the alcohol considering how much you’d sobered up but before you knew it, your lips were on his and it felt right. It felt damn right. The kiss had been long overdue and there was nothing more that you wanted to do than kiss the shit out of him.

Yoongi was shocked at first, but once it settled and he realized what was happening and eased into it immediately.

His hands flung to your neck, almost needily. You giggled through the kiss, seeing a desperate Min Yoongi turns out to be one of your favorite things. However, he took the opportunity to snake his tongue into your mouth, not that you minded. One hand stayed put, practically glued to the your neck as the other one traveled to your waist, pulling you closer to him.

Time seemed to pass in hours, just you and him at 1:00am on your front porch, kissing under the moonlight. It was like a movie, and you didn’t want it to end. But of course, all good things do.

Yoongi was the first to break away, resting his forehead against yours as he tried to regain his breath and composure but you saw through his facade, and a gummy smile broke out. You smiled along with him.

“Let’s do that again sometime.” He whispered, his blown out eyes peered into yours. His dark eyes felt like home and you couldn’t help yourself from pecking him again.

“I meant at another time!” He played, batting your shoulder.

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t help it.” You grinned, your hand finding his and entangling your fingers with him.

The two of you stood there, purely enjoying each other’s presence.

“So, where do we go from here?” He questioned, worry filling his voice. This could very well be a one time thing and maybe the kiss was merely a pity kiss because you felt bad he was confessing after all this time, making him look like a fool.

“Well, how about that date?” You offered. Yoongi’s eyes lit up, and you could have swore you saw tears, but before any could drop, he pulled you flush against his chest. His heartbeat racking against his chest at a speed of at least 100 mph.

“That sounds amazing. Oh, and (Y/N)?” You hummed in response, leaning back to look up into his eyes.

“Do you want your underwear back? I have them.”

AN: Finally out! I hope you all like it ;-; I’m almost tempted to make a follow up scenario to this because I really want to write a smut scene between these two and I just felt that it didn’t fit with where this one was going. So, expect that in the future lol. Leave me some feedback! <3

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mathematicianadda · 6 years ago

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Hi guys I would you all mind giving me some advice on how to tutor my 9-11 year old cousins.

To give a little bit of my background about myself I am an 18 year old community college freshmen who throughout high school obtained straight c's in math. I am taking calculus and decided that I would no longer let math be a weakness of mine and decided to go to the math tutoring center for as much time as I could everyday. I would go fairly often but still failed my first test despite putting in 20 hours, I did not get discouraged, I reminded myself that my class drops the lowest test and that I would simply have to keep putting in more effort, by the second test I had clocked in over 100 hours in the tutoring center and had done long hours of math at home. On the second test I got an 87% (due to missing a simple rate of change derivative problem by substituting when I shouldn't have).

I realized that if I hadn't had the tutoring center at school I would have failed math. Seeing the attitudes of my little cousins towards math reminds me of the unhelpful attitude that I had towards the subject my whole life. They view it as a complicated series of numbers. And one of them actually thinks that it is uncool to like / be good at math and that it is only for nerds, the other 2 simply have never experienced success in the subject and know how to approach

The reason that I was able to learn Calculus fairly well (despite having a very weak base in algebra, geometry, trig etc) is because I hung out with these tutors. The tutors can only get their job if they get an A in the class so I asked all of them for their advice on what I should do and I took all of it. One of them suggested that I read and try to understand the whole book cover to cover which I am doing. Another suggested doing all of the red problems in the book to improve my understanding past the basics, another suggested that I show all of my work thoroughly so that I would never have to fear making mistakes and to check each step constantly. When I first started and wasn't able to get anything right without a tutor next to me, a tutor told me that I would need to struggle through problems and only get help when I had a real question. She told me that math is not a spectator sport and that the only way I was going to learn is by doing it. Every day I would learn some new math concept from a algebra or geometry, precalc or trig that I was unaware of before and I loved the process of learning and the way it was explained. I read this which changed my perception a lot as well

I would try every problem and when I got the problem wrong I would ask the tutor why and they would explain the trigonometry and algebra in ways I have never thought of before and it would make perfect sense. I no longer viewed math as a bunch of formulas and numbers but finally had a solid understanding of what they all meant and was disappointed that I was unable to learn this in high school. I might be wrong or maybe I just wasn't listening or was just lazy but I think that math in high school was not taught nearly as well as in college.

I have three younger cousins that I plan on tutoring. They are all having major problems in school due to math and their home life is pretty bad. I always treat them as best as I can since I know that they are usually treated poorly so I do think that they would enjoy spending time with me even if it is math (to them it is not exciting). My plan is to have them struggle through their math problems and explain why the numbers work the way they do in the most cogent and visual way possible. I plan on having them take frequent breaks to avoid burnout. And will probably have them do 1.5 hours of math each time I see them. I also plan on trying to introduce 1 basic concept from algebra every time, accompanied by very basic problems with that concept in order to familiarize them with the material ahead of time. I will probably checkout an algebra book from my college library to study and teach most basic algebraic concepts in a very tangible way.

I am not sure if this plan will work and I have a few concerns, firstly I feel that if I were to try to explain to them a concept that was not covered in class that they would reject it because it is not the way they learned it. Secondly while I know that these methods work for someone of my age studying calculus, they might not work for a much younger student that is not motivated to try to improve their mathematics. I would have to get them excited about math, which I would not know how to do. Also I feel that some elementary and middle school math teachers would frown upon kids learning more advanced math outside of their class though I may be wrong. I am posting here because I want your opinions on my approach. What would you change or add in order to improve the chances that this works out and that they succeed in math. That they see math not as a bunch of confusing numbers but as something more that they grow to love and understand as they get older.

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themoneybuff-blog · 7 years ago

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Questions About Crowdlending, Prayer, Christmas Trees, Chess, Beans, and More!

Whats inside? Here are the questions answered in todays reader mailbag, boiled down to summaries of five or fewer words. Click on the number to jump straight down to the question. 1. Investing for childs future 2. Crowdlending investments 3. Shorter workweek thoughts? 4. Struggling to improve at work 5. Last minute holiday gifts 6. Praying for financial help? 7. Child care suggestions 8. Christmas tree suggestions 9. Learning chess for cheap 10. Keeping beans fresh 11. 401(k) help 12. I never want to retire I get two or three requests a week from a reader asking to reprint an article Ive written for some purpose. So, heres my policy on that. If you wish to reprint an article of mine for a print publication or an email newsletter, not a website, you have permission to do so provided that you attribute the article to Trent Hamm at The Simple Dollar and include the URL of the site, http://www.thesimpledollar.com/. If you are interested in a reprint on a website, ask me first. Make sure that the article was actually written by Trent first, however, by visiting that article on the website and verifying that Trent was the writer of that specific article. Some portion of articles that appear on the site were written by other writers and youll need to ask them individually for permission. On with the questions. Q1: Investing for childs future I have a young kid (6 years old) and Id like to invest a little bit for him in a set and forget fashion. I realize Im pretty lucky to be living in an expensive place (Seattle, WA) while being able to max out my 401k, my Roth IRA and my wifes IRA. We dont have any loans, pay off out credit card monthly and just have a home mortgage with low interest. I am still able to put a little bit of money regularly on a brokerage account and a 529 for my son (although I dont want to put too much for a few of reasons: I dont know if hell go to college here (expensive) or in France where Im from (cheap), I value community college highly and dont necessarily aim for him to go to ivy league schools and finally I dont believe in taking at my charge all his higher education expense. My only downfall here is that I feel a bit behind on retirement because I moved to the US AT 26 for a temp job that became permanent at 32 and only understood 401k since I was 34. Im been maxing out ever since. I definitely have the saving mentality that we find Europeans! In essence, we live on about 40% off a single about 110k/year (my wife works for a non profit and brings an income that pretty much only pays for her laptop, cell phone, car gas and child care once in a while for us to go on a date). With that in mind, what could be our next smart moves (I feel that is not often addressed for people that are able to to reach all the conventional goals we see out there but dont fit in the high income category where advance money placement and tax schemes can be beneficial). So my questions are two folds: what is the next smart move for us (just keep investing in the Vanguard Total Market Index Fund?) what can I do to invest long term for my son? I was hoping for an IRA but he is not earning income. Is the anything else? Bob First of all, a 529 might still be useful for you even if your child goes to school in France, provided that hes attending a college or university thats eligible for Title IV student aid. There are hundreds of overseas universities and colleges that are, so youll have to research the ones hes considering. If youre not strictly saving for education for your son, however, your best bet is probably what youve already stumbled on gifting your child a certain amount each year below the gift tax exclusion limit ($14,000 a year) and then investing that money in a taxable account in your childs name while again gifting your child enough to pay any taxes on dividend income. This is of course assuming that your child is not earning an income of some kind via modeling or acting or something akin to that. For us, our savings for our childrens future is strictly in the 529 plans. Once they move out and go to school, their 529 plans are our financial support for their education. We hope to have enough in each account to cover in-state tuition for a few years at a state university (like Iowa State U or University of Iowa), though they can make other choices in terms of where to go to school should they wish too. Q2: Crowdlending investments What do you think about crowdlending investments? Carly Crowdlending refers to any program in which individuals can lend money to other individuals or businesses, supplying the capital for the loan and earning a return on that money in the form of the borrowers interest paid on that loan. Typically, many people provide small amounts to make up the capital for that loan for example, someone might want to borrow $10,000 and that loan is made up of 100 people lending $100 each. A number of businesses exist to help facilitate this, such as Lending Club and Prosper. It really comes down to the riskiness of the borrower. Someone with a high rating as a borrower represents pretty little risk and youll almost always get your money back and more. A high risk loan might net you a very nice return, but you have a real risk of losing your balance. In general, I would not invest money I needed going forward in a crowdlending investment. Its a good place to put money that you dont need if youre seeking a nice short term return on it and youre willing to pay a lot of attention and take on some significant risk. Remember, if someone defaults on a crowdlending loan, that means youve probably lost most (if not all) of what youve invested. Q3: Shorter workweek thoughts? What do you think about this article that argues that people 40 and over work better if their workweek is shorter? It matches my own experience. This one? Jenna I frankly agree with it. Speaking from my own experience, I find that the vast majority of my work gets done during three days a week. I tend to have about three days each week when I can really slip into a writing zone, and my work on other days is often just busywork. I think this is honestly true of most information and creative jobs. For every day of really great mental performance, I think people of all ages need at least a day of rest to recharge fully. If you demand mental performance day after day, that performance is going to degrade fairly rapidly and eventually result in burnout. The trick for me is in properly preparing for a three day week and getting it reliably without interruption due to personal or family illness or some other interruption. Part of why I write for a living is the flexibility of it, which means I cant just sit down and lock down three specific days of writing each week. Often, I have to break it up more than that. Q4: Struggling to improve at work I currently work as a bank teller. Went in for a performance review in October and read your advice about asking what I need to do to get a raise or promotion. Boss was great and gave me a list of things to work on. Thing is Im always busy and rarely have the chance to work on a lot of those things. I feel like Im not making progress on any of those things and cant find time for them. Not sure what to do. Bailey The best thing you can do is find opportunities to work on those skills in the course of your regular tasks. Without knowing your regular casts and the things that your boss suggested that you work on, I cant offer specific advice on that. However, there are probably at least some of the elements on that list that you can work on while doing other tasks. If theres new material to learn, do your best to learn it when youre not at work. If there are topics youre supposed to know about, spend time when youre not working learning those things. You should also try to get into a routine of having regular scheduled one-on-ones with your supervisor just to talk over how things are going and build a stronger relationship. If youve not really communicated in any way with your boss in two months, you might want to strengthen that relationship a little. Just ask for a regularly scheduled meeting once every two weeks or once a month and go over the things on that list. This gives you a deadline to push toward a little more effort on those things, and it shows your boss youre consistently trying to work for the brass ring. Q5: Last minute holiday gifts So my mom got sick and asked if I could host family Christmas and I said okay. In the past we did a name drawing for gifts but she also got everyone something small and shes not doing that this year but I want to do it so I am looking for good ideas for last minute small holiday gifts under $5. Amy What kinds of things did she give out? At that price point, Id probably go for consumable items. Get people nice bars of chocolate or a bottle of craft beer or something like that. Youre not going to go fancy at $5, but you can find something the recipient would enjoy. Just make a list of everybody whos attending and try to identify one food or drink item each one of them would like. Theres your shopping list, and thats exactly what I would do in your shoes. Q6: Praying for financial help? I pray and pray for financial help and it never seems to come. We never make ends meet. I try to follow your advice and things always turn out badly. Jaime A simple suggestion: rather than praying for financial help, pray to have the strength and wisdom and focus to make the difficult choices needed to put you and your family on a better financial path. Dont pray for money to be dropped on your lap. Instead, pray that youll have the foresight and wisdom to not spend money on foolish things. Pray that youll feel lower stress and that youll be able to lower the stress of those around you. Pray for the creativity to make your meal budget stretch a little further. Most of us already have the financial answers we need already in our life. We just need someone (or something) to take the scales away from our eyes so that we can see those answers. That change often comes from within, not from money from outside sources. Money drops into our lap more often than we think it does what matters is how we use it. Q7: Child care suggestions Moved to new city and starting school in January. Have a three year old. Thought there would be child care support through school but all slots are full. Program will subsidize child care but everything within subsidy is kind of scary. Suggestions? Danielle I have helped Danielle many times over the last few years. For some background, she was engaged to be married but her soon-to-be husband ghosted her and she cant find him for child support. She moved in with her parents for a brief while, then found an apartment on her own. She applied for a bunch of scholarships to go back to school and then I hadnt heard from her in a while until this question popped up. She has been using many different programs to help give her kid a great life and working her tail off, so I do have some real sympathy for Danielles situation. Danielle, you absolutely need to check and see whether your state has some sort of child care assistance offered through their Department of Human Services. Given your situation, its very likely that youre eligible for some help through such a program, which is available in a lot of states. Another approach you might want to consider is whether or not you have a close friend or relative you trust who could move in with you and provide child care in exchange for free rent. Do you have a sibling or close friend who might be interested in such a situation that youd trust? Those are the two best options I have in mind, other than making sure youre on the waiting list for child care options through your school. This will get somewhat easier when your child reaches school age, as youll both be able to go to school! Q8: Christmas tree suggestions Is a real Christmas tree worth it? We usually only decorate for a few days before Christmas and the twelve days after taking things down on January 6. Used a tiny artificial tree for the last few years and were considering a real one this year. Arne It depends on how you define worth it. Real trees are messier and take more work (because you have to water them) and need to be disposed of after the holidays; artificial trees have none of that. Plus, real trees have to be replaced every year. From a purely financial standpoint, real trees arent worth it. However, real trees have an enormous aesthetic advantage. They smell wonderful. When properly cleaned up, they look better than artificial trees (in my opinion, assuming you dont buy one thats half dead). Is the work and the (eventual) extra cost worth it to you? For some people, it is. For some, it isnt. We had a real tree for a few years when I was growing up and while I appreciated it in my teen years, it wasnt life changing for me. As an adult, I probably would not have a large real tree unless my children were genuinely excited about the concept and brought it up frequently. Q9: Learning chess for cheap My five year old was taught chess by his cousin at Thanksgiving and now he wants to play chess all the time. I can fumble through the moves but he is finding stuff on his tablet about openings and stuff that I have no idea about. I want to get better at chess and also help him find things to help him get better at chess. What tools are cheap/free? Andy It really depends on your goals with this. If youre just wanting to get a bit better and assume that this is a fad thats going to burn out, Id just get an inexpensive chess app for his tablet and for your phone and just play lots of games. Most games have a feature where they suggest good moves and point out bad ones and over a lot of games, you can gradually learn from that. If you really want to start learning openings and stuff, theres almost nothing better you can do than visiting your local library that has a selection of chess books, picking out a few, and then going through them at home. My local library has a couple dozen chess books on the shelves and can reserve hundreds more via interlibrary loan. Take them home and then just try an opening during a game with your kid. Pick one that looks like fun, memorize the first three or four moves of it, and bust it out with your son. Tell him what the opening is and then see whether or not it looks like youre in good shape. I have an eight year old that loves to play chess constantly but really has zero interest in actually learning the game. If your son is into openings, play into that and use it as an opportunity to learn together. Q10: Keeping beans fresh You mentioned cooking beans early in the week and keeping them in the fridge all week to use for meals. How do you keep them fresh and not just turn to mush? Every time I do it they get mushy. Blair First of all, dont cook them quite all the way to completion. I try to aim for beans that are not quite all the way cooked, just done enough so that they wouldnt be annoying in the dish but clearly could use just a bit more cooking. Theyre really firm at this point but definitely edible. I drain them and let them slowly cool down to room temperature. This usually cooks them just a bit more so theyre pretty close to exactly what I want. I drain them and rinse them again so that theyre close to dry, then I put them in a sealed container in the fridge. I aim to use them within four or five days. Most of the time, I add these beans late to something else Im cooking, like a soup. If Im using them in a salad or something, I might cook them just a bit more in some simple fashion, like with a bit of water in the microwave, but Ill usually just toss the beans right into the salad. This works for all kinds of beans. My personal favorite is black beans, which Ill use for pretty much anything I can get away with. Q11: 401(k) help I just signed up for my company 401(k) and there are only a few options available and none of them match up with anything you have ever mentioned. They have names like aggressive growth and moderate and safe. Alex Likely, the options you see are ones that whoever runs your 401(k) have pre-chosen for you and given friendly names that actually make it harder to figure out what they actually include. The first retirement plan I signed up for was very similar in that regard. You can ask the HR representative that deals with the plans whether or not you can pick your own funds, but its likely that you dont have such control, so you probably just have to choose one of these options. The honest truth? In a situation like this, its really hard to pick the best option for you because you dont really know whats going on underneath the options. In your shoes, if I was more than ten years from retirement, Id choose the most aggressive option available. If I was less than ten years, Id choose a moderate option. That is, assuming I couldnt see anything more about the plans than such vague descriptors. Q12: I never want to retire I dont like reading about retirement talk because I never want to retire. I love what I do (nursing) and I want to keep doing it in whatever aspect I can for as long as I can until Im shoved out the door and straight into a retirement home (or a casket). Why should I worry about retirement? Dinah Never retiring is a marvelous idea in theory, but it often doesnt quite pan out that way. Many career paths nudge people out the door when they get to a certain age, regardless of whether those people want to keep working or not, and sometimes health conditions pop up that continue to allow a mostly full life but cut off certain career paths. Another reason to save for retirement is that it opens up the possibility of a second career or a different kind of job later on. You may end up taking on a position that uses your nursing skills in a very positive way but it doesnt pay nearly as much as your current job; a retirement savings plan can help offset that loss in income. You really should save for retirement no matter what career youre in and no matter how much you love it. Its cover all your bases money, because you simply cant predict what the future holds. Got any questions? The best way to ask is to follow me on Facebook and ask questions directly there. Ill attempt to answer them in a future mailbag (which, by way of full disclosure, may also get re-posted on other websites that pick up my blog). However, I do receive many, many questions per week, so I may not necessarily be able to answer yours. https://www.thesimpledollar.com/questions-about-crowdlending-prayer-christmas-trees-chess-beans-and-more/

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eliteprepsat · 5 years ago

Photo

1. SET BOUNDARIES

Therefore, it’s important to establish boundaries when it comes to our school work.

2. FOCUS ON TIME MANAGEMENT BY ESTABLISHING PRIORITIES AND SETTING GOALS

3. THEN, REWARD YOURSELF WHEN YOU REACH YOUR GOALS

4. PRACTICE MINDFULNESS BY POWERING-DOWN

What’s recommended instead of multitasking is that you give your full attention to one task at a time. In other words, what’s recommended is that you practice mindfulness while at work.

5. SAY GOODBYE TO BAGGAGE

The important thing to remember is that extracurriculars are beneficial. But, they are only beneficial if they are enhancing and not draining your life.

6. UPGRADE YOUR STUDY HOUR

And if a place like the park or beach isn’t easily accessible to you, check out our previous article on Creating a Great Study Space.

7. LEAN ON YOUR SUPPORT SYSTEM

8. PRACTICE SELF-CARE BY FORGETTING “PERFECTION”

#studyblr #study tips #high school #productivity #college prep #college

5 notes · View notes

eliteprepsat · 5 years ago

Photo

1. Set boundaries

Therefore, it’s important to establish boundaries when it comes to our school work.

2. Focus on time management by establishing priorities and setting goals

3. Then, reward yourself when you reach your goals

4. Practice mindfulness by powering-down

What’s recommended instead of multitasking is that you give your full attention to one task at a time. In other words, what’s recommended is that you practice mindfulness while at work.

5. Say goodbye to baggage

The important thing to remember is that extracurriculars are beneficial. But, they are only beneficial if they are enhancing and not draining your life.

6. Upgrade your study hour

And if a place like the park or beach isn’t easily accessible to you, check out our previous article on Creating a Great Study Space.

7. Lean on your support system

8. Practice self-care by forgetting “perfection”

#studyblr #student life #study tips

4 notes · View notes