#I guess there would be discussions around the best way to implement this method of aging since it is lethal

[allthatglittersisnotgoldrush]

I just finished watching Cold Mountain and re-reading “Yours Respectfully, Doegred.” We’re around 8 years from the start of the civil war (1861). What do you think would have happened to the Finweans if they had stayed in New York? Would some of them have joined up? Would they have paid someone to fight on their behalf? I don’t have solid opinions, except that if any of his brothers had gone off to war, then I have a sneaking suspicion Maedhros would’ve found a way to protect them. The average age of a Union soldier was 26, so I can see any of the boys signing up/getting drafted. Or maybe they make a business out of making firearms (aka Curufin gets rich off war). This is a “just for fun” question.

Hello again, friend! Sorry for the delay, we absolutely loved your question and—fun fact that will perhaps surprise you not at all—we have previously discussed how the Civil War will and/or would impact our Silmarillion AU characters. We have plotted out our adaptation’s timeline in its rough entirety, so I shan’t say if the American Civil War DOES feature at all but keep reading I guess to find out! ^_^

Without any spoilers, it is interesting to point out that our Fingon, blessed by his teaching from Dr. Olorin, practices medicine in a way very advanced for his time period (late 1840s-early 1850s, thus far). In fact, a lot of the rules of cleanliness, wound-care, etc that he implements developed in modern medicine as a result of the high casualty rate AND high amputation rate of the Civil War. That’s what a little extra Maia help will do for you, thanks Olorin 🙏🏻 As a rule, Fingon’s general approach to medicine is designed to be 10-15 years ahead of his time; no wonder folk like Celegorm are skeptical of his methods, at times.

(Tangentially related to this is that you may speculate—as we have—on how the sudden increase in limb amputations during the war will or would affect Maedhros’ own view of himself and his loss. Right now, he feels singled out and horribly conspicuous because of the missing hand. In ten years or more, during or after the War? The post-war new normal for the American general public might actually render him less notable. Furthermore, he would have had many years to adapt to his disability prior to the War, giving him a weird social edge—and that is even without any prosthetics Curufin might provide.)

Now, for the purely speculative part of your question: what if the Feanorians had stayed in the East? I think that Celegorm would be first to leap to enlist for the Union; once Celegorm went Curufin would go; once Curufin went Ambarussa would go. Maedhros would have instantly known how all of this would go down, and spurred by the need to protect his brothers as well as his own sense of right and wrong (inflamed by Feanor’s own abolitionist convictions) he would have enlisted also. Maglor, of course, would go only once Maedhros went.

The odd one out, actually, is Caranthir. I think that before he leaves for war, Maedhros would talk to Caranthir and impress upon him the importance of remaining at Formenos. Someone needs to stay out of the army to protect the family land, to manage the household accounts, and to be there for Nerdanel. Maedhros would have known Caranthir is best suited for this role, and it would have eased his mind greatly to know that even one of his brothers is “safe,” whatever that means in wartime.

(Once in the military, I do agree that Curufin would have, if given opportunity, set to work at the armories and improving the poor muskets and cannons that were available at the time. The big caveat is if he would have had the chance.)

As an aside, it is worth bringing up Finrod, who would be an interesting study during the War. Ten years or so more mature, he would perhaps be a little more settled into what contemporaries might call Wisdom. He would be intensely devoted to the Union’s cause on the basis of fighting for emancipation; being still distrustful of Government and Nationalism, however, he would not be overly fond of the popular idea of fighting for the Union itself. Political cause will never move our Finrod as deeply as moral cause, however he interprets moral right and wrong to be. In his mind (correctly, of course) slavery is a supreme evil, thus the South must be defeated. Any talk of Keeping the Union Whole, or of the pragmatic necessity of retaining the wealth of the South for the Country, would be distasteful to Finrod as a distraction from the True Goal. Perhaps he would have been a writer of Pamphlets, in his spare time, which Maedhros would read with great interest whenever he had opportunity to possess one out at the front.

One last note! Folk in California, although on the opposite side of the continent, were deeply involved with the Civil War, in a wide variety of ways. Some sent back funds to help with their respective side of the war effort. Some put together volunteer militias who journeyed back East to join the front line. Some traveled back independently to join already established units. There was even some fighting in California, as the abolitionist, pro-Union citizens of California coordinated to thwart any attempts by secessionists to either provide aid to the South or to seize control of state government outright. One can easily imagine how our various cast of characters would behave in such a crisis, for good or for ill!

Thanks for the question, keep them coming!

[iohourtime]

Shukan Asahi: Okada x Yamada Special Talk

Source: https://dot.asahi.com/amp/wa/2021100100014.html?__twitter_impression=true

(Rough translation - I paraphrased a little bit. Please let me know if anything is wrong. I also skipped the intro, which didn’t add much info.)

Okada-san played the “Demon Hijikata”. What kind of presence was Okita Souji?

Okada: Okita was very much a genius, so normal people could not understand what he was thinking. However, Hijikata and Okita acknowledged each other, so Okita did not feel scared when Hijikata got angry. Okita was played by Yamada-kun, so it was easy for me to do. He is reliable as an actor, so when the director told me “I am thinking about having Yamada-kun play Okita”, I thought that was great.

Where do you place the most trust in him?

Okada: Since I know the human body pretty well, he asked me “What is the best way to slim down?”, I said “Dehydration”, which was the toughest method (laughs). Then he actually did it, which I thought was impressive. He lost around 8kg of weight.

Yamada: I didn’t even know the word dehydration [at that time].

Okada: It is a method used by bodybuilders, first you take in a lot of water, then suddenly stop and the water will disappear from your body*. Since the blood becomes thick, it is not good [for the body]. In addition, Yamada-kun was not eating to [further] lose weight, so he did both methods…

[* In the Esse interview, Yamada said he stopped drinking water 3 days before the death scene. He also went to the sauna at the hotel, and as expected, he fell down. I know he is playing a dying character, but did he have to go that extreme?]

Yamada: You told me that potassium can also reduce the water in the body, so I took it as well. I did all the things I learned. However, it was really like hell.

Okada: You only ate chocolate?

Yamada: Almonds.

Okada: Ah, I did say nuts are good. You were rolling your tongue and eating little by little like a squirrel.

Yamada: One time, at around 3am, I had excruciating pains in my stomach, so I went to the hospital. They didn’t find anything wrong but I guess that was the price to pay. But I felt good about that too. It was like the character was starting to come alive.

Okada: Normally, if you don’t eat, you start to feel heartsick and lose your will. However, even though Yamada-kun had such a hard shooting schedule, you never lost the will to play the role and I thought you endured a lot. Although we meant to shoot the scenes where you were the thinnest at the end, the schedule [didn’t allow for it].

Yamada: When I filmed the scene just before my death, I also had to film [another scene] where I was healthy on the same day. I wanted my face to look fuller, so I ate a lot. I was trying to gain back the 8kg I lost within 1 week, so I ate about 5-6kg of rice every day. Although my body felt very heavy, I enjoyed [the experience]. I don’t hate being forced into a corner.

Okada: When you were rail thin, you never said a single thing in frustration…

Yamada: I couldn’t possibly show that sort of thing at the place where Okada-san was the center (laughs)! But I never thought about saying stuff like “This bastard”. I thought I would just grin and bear it.

Okada: There’s not much more I can say about Yamada-kun’s skill as an actor. The one thing I would add is that his earnestness towards the role was very amazing. That’s his personality & character.

Other than the body, what advice did you get from Okada-san?

Yamada: I was watching Okada-san to a somewhat disturbing extent. I was really trying to learn about each thing. For example, Okada-san can peek at the camera lens and know the angle of view. Isn’t that weird? (laughs)

Okada: I did ask you, like “Do you know the angle of view?”

Yamada: I was like “Angle of view?!�� I thought I didn’t study enough. You told me everything you thought I would not understand and I am very grateful for that.

Yamada-san, what is Okada-san to you?

Yamada: He’s absolutely larger than life. I worship him not as a senpai. Although I’m the type who thinks that I can do whatever others can do because they’re also human like me, I cannot copy Okada-san. Like after he finished filming, he would just sleep a little and head to the gym*; although it sounds kinda bad, he’s like a monster. Really (laughs).I wonder if I will ever reach this level even after many years.

[* He just told the story on Ariyoshi x Monster - They finished filming at 2am & had to reconvene at 5:30am. In 3.5 hours, Okada managed to sleep and go to the gym and that’s why Yamada thought he was inhuman.]

What was the atmosphere on the film set?

Okada: It was an old world where angry roars were flying around. I think it was probably different from what Yamada-kun experienced before..

Yamada: If the young people of today were to jump into this, they may lose heart. You need to really hate to lose and really be motivated to live in this world.

[T/N: I’m a bit confused as to whether they’re talking about the actual film set or the Shinsengumi times. I guess maybe the Shinsengumi atmosphere bled into the set? Sounds a bit horrifying but it is a testosterone filled film. 😅] 

How would you link the unity of Shinsengumi to your “Group Bond”?

Okada: If you bring in the really strict rules that Shinsengumi implemented to the group, like whoever broke the rules would have to commit seppuku*, it will collapse.

[* Seppuku is the act of ritual suicide where the person cut across the stomach with a sword. For Shinsengumi, people could be executed by beheading or allowed to commit seppuku. Basically seppuku is the honorable way to die.]

Yamada: You’re not wrong (laughs).

Okada: Shinsengumi was a strong and unusual group. It only lasted 6 years, that’s why it was beautiful and powerful. For those of us in V6, we are made up of gentle people who all wanted to do this together for a long time rather than aim to be the bright light. How long has Hey!Say!JUMP been around?

Yamada: Next year will be our 15th anniversary.

Okada: From now on, I think it will be interesting for Hey!Say!JUMP, King & Prince, SixTONES, and Snow Man. You’re going to fight for the national idol throne. We were wondering and looking forward to find out “Who will take it!”

Yamada: We are race horses (laughs).

Okada: That’s right. These 4 groups know what their situation is like, and I think you have discussed this amongst your groups. Although it is tough, it is probably fun to be creative. What is JUMP doing?

Yamada: Recently, we are starting to find our niche individually. However, I think our rule is to try and bring something from those places back to JUMP. For example, I’m a part of “Moeyo Ken”, so people may say “Yamada Ryosuke, who played Okita Souji, is part of the group called ‘Hey!Say!JUMP’”, and that brings the topic back to the group. As for the “National Idol” throne, whether we can win will depend on how much power we can each bring by following that rule of JUMP’s.

[mcheang]

Bustier salt(you don't have 2 if its 2 mean) Bustier use to be like Chloe and Lila and Mari reminded her of her old rival who defeated her she only singles out Marinette out of misplaced retribution and tells that to her smugly alone where Mari record the whole conversation and give it to Nadia (guest star Bustier's rival) Bustier gets busted down on her knees defeated

Petty Grudge

I made up the surnames from snow. If I had to make Caline a mix of Lila and Chloe; I’d say she have the wealthy background and snobby attitude; but she plays nice, hiding her true feelings. Post-Ladybug episode. I claim this as a rough draft!

“Marinette, could you come down for a moment please? There are some people here who would like to see you.”

“Ms Bustier, may I speak to you for a moment? In private.”

Ms Bustier put down her pen. “Of course, Marinette.”

They walked outside the staff room and found a deserted corridor.

Bustier: What seems to be the problem?

Marinette: I’m not sure this whole forgiving method with Chloe is working. She hasn’t really changed for the better.

Bustier: of course, she has. Even Ladybug has noticed and given her a miraculous.

Marinette: She loaned Chloe a miraculous, and that was only when the situation was dire or the akuma was someone close to Chloe. But Chloe’s attitude hasn’t improved. She still bullies. Yesterday, she purposefully ruined Nathaniel’s sketchbook!

Bustier: Marinette, I appreciate your concern, but I believe i am the teacher here.

Marinette: Then what makes you so sure Chloe will improve? You’re just indulging her and she knows it!

Caline stiffens. “Watch your tone, young lady.”

To her surprise, Marinette doesn’t back down. She just holds her gaze with her own steely blue stare. Oh, how Caline hates that look.

Calming down, Caline said gently, “Let me tell you a tale of a girl I once knew.”

Once upon a time, there was a girl named Caline. She had been the daughter of one of the wealthiest men in Paris. Caline had it all at her school. She was the A-list girl. People deferred to her. She was even friends with the most popular boy at school. Thomas Neige was a very cute boy and a local movie star.

Then she came. Tessa; the new girl. Tessa came from an ordinary background but she had dared to challenge Caline. She claimed Caline wasn’t doing anything to help the class and ran against her for class presidency.

To Caline’s shock and outrage, the class actually backed Tessa. She implemented ridiculous changes like a shared class chore list and added more bins in their classroom to encourage the class to recycle.

The next thing Caline knew, Thomas and Tessa were blushing around each other.

Caline tried to help Tessa fit in, but Tessa rejected her assistance.

Caline had been young then. She let her emotions overwhelm her to the point that she sabotaged Tessa’s dance recital.

Tessa caught Caline and exposed her. And when Caline apologized, Tessa still insisted Caline face the consequences of her actions and Caline was suspended.

Caline tried to rouse her friends to the problem that was Tessa, but they all ditched her now that they found a “real class president.”

Caline knew she could not win and suggested a truce with Tessa when she returned. Tessa had accepted.

Caline is ashamed to say she couldn’t handle the truce. Tessa had taken everything from her. Her crush, her kingdom, her impeccable record. It had only been minor bullying; a trip here, an accidental food spill there. But Tessa didn’t understand Caline’s sadness and punished her again.

Caline had been left alone, outcast by the class. She graduated into a teaching college because no one wanted her with her school record. While Thomas and Tessa got married and went on to act and dance to stardom, Caline had been stuck with a teaching job. Money couldn’t help her now. Her Father had made some bad investments and lost most of his fortune.

“So you see, Marinette, I know that punishing bullies never leads to coexistence. It only leads to separation.”

Marinette just stared at Caline. “You’re just letting your feelings get in the way. You were the bully at your school, and because you didn’t change your ways, your class decided to give up on you. It had nothing to do with whether or not you were punished.”

“Now Marinette...”

“No!” Marinette refused to listen. “You’re just living vicariously through Chloe, aren’t you? Because she gets to bully others without reprimand. You let her bully Ivan; bully Nathaniel, bully me, for years. And you’ve never stopped her. You’ve never done anything to dissuade her beyond a trivial sentence now and then for the class’ sake.”

“The principal has insisted we do not anger Chloe, considering her father’s position.”

“Don’t you dare blame other people! Regardless of Chloe’s threats, you could have at least tried to talk to her. But you didn’t. You just kept forgiving Chloe when it was not your place to forgive, but us!”

Marinette paused. “And if Chloe is meant to be the new you, I’m guessed I’m the new Tessa. That’s why you’ve ignored me when I called out Chloe on her misdeeds. That’s why you let Lila organise a massive seat change. And that’s why you blindly believed a note that I was cheating when the test answers were stolen after the exam had taken place!”

Bustier: What does Lila have to do with this?

Marinette laughed. “I recognised your style. You may have had the wealth, but you were like Lila, pretending to be nice all along. Do you dare to look me in the eyes and tell me honestly that you believe Lila has a dubious disability from saving a kitten on the tarmac, somehow bypassing security in the process and never purchasing the necessary hearing equipment? You and I both know she just wanted to sit next to Adrien. And you were willing to let me sit in the back alone because of your petty grudge.”

Caline shrugged. “Lila just wanted to make some friends. Her methods were dubious but harmless at the end.”

Marinette groaned. “Ugh, you sound like Adrien. But harmless? she framed me, and you knew it and you let it happen.”

Caline stared at Marinette for a long time. “So what? Who’s going to believe you Marinette? The whole class adores me. They already didn’t believe you about Lila. Why should they believe your accusations about me?”

Marinette glared at her teacher. “You shouldn’t be a teacher. Teachers are supposed to want to help their students.”

“You’re right,” Caline agreed. “I shouldn’t be a teacher. I was not born to teach rowdy teenagers. But this is where life has left me. I need to make the best of it.”

Caline straightened her back. “Now if you’ll excuse me, Marinette, I have some papers to finish grading. Rest assured, I never sabotaged your grades. I do have some morals.”

Marinette shook her head as Caline smugly went back.

The next evening....

“Good evening Paris, I’m Nadja Chamack and I have here with me, world renown choreographer Tessa Neige on her new campaign to stop bullying. Bonsoir, Tessa.”

Tessa, a pretty brunette in a fabulous dress, greets Nadja and takes her seat.

Nadja: before we begin, may I compliment you on your wardrobe?

Tessa grins. “Thank you, i decided to hire a school designer with massive talent to custom design it for me. This is a Marinette Dupain-Cheng original.”

“I know Marinette. She’s a sweet girl. But we’re here to discuss your stance on bullying.”

Tessa takes a breath. “Yes. I’ve been bullied before and i want to help stop this problem. The best defence we have against bullies are the teachers, which presented me with a problem. What happens when we have a faulty faculty?”

Nadja: Like Teachers who overlook bullying?

Tessa nods vehemently. “Exactly. One of the girls who bullied me became a teacher. I decided to check in on her by asking Marinette about her.”

Nadja: Marinette’s teacher used to bully you?! Who is she?

Tessa: Caline Bustier. I had heard she was a popular teacher and had hoped she had learned her lessons. I went to see Marinette about this when I went to commission my dress. What I learned instead shocked and saddened me.

Nadja: Why? What did she say?

Tessa: Marinette told me that Caline asks her to be the bigger person and forgive her bullies instead of making sure they get punished for their misdeeds. Basically if Marinette is bullied, she shouldn’t complain about it and just forgive the bully.

Nadja: that’s horrible. Do you mean to say the bullies are never in trouble?

Tessa: exactly! It’s the other way around instead. It’s the victims who are unfairly blamed and punished.

Nadja: But this is one girl’s word against a teacher’s. Do we have any reason to trust Marinette? I know Marinette and I believe in her, but the rest of the world does not have any cause to.

Tessa: I’m glad you asked. I asked Marinette to do a small favour for me and she did a marvellous job. She sent me the recording already.

Nadja: Let’s watch it then!

Cue recording on screen.

Nadja says softly. “Shocking. I’ve never been more appalled in my life.”

Tessa looks sadly at the screen. “It’s a shame that the class has to suffer. Bullies have to be reprimanded and punished or else they might never change. I’m sad to see that Caline hasn’t changed at all.”

“No, she hasn’t. I’m sorry for what bad memories this must have brought back to you, Tessa. Thank you for coming here to inform us of this heinous error in the educational system.”

“Not at all. I made a promise to myself to never let a bully get away with their wrongdoings; not if I could help it.”

“Ladies and gentlemen, Tessa Neige.”

Needless to say that airing finally exposed Lila and Caline. The school board interceded and fired Caline. They threatened the principal to either punish Chloe or get sacked. Chloe was suspended. Lila was expelled.

The class apologized to Marinette for not believing her or being sensitive to her feelings. They also thanked her for standing up for them.

Adrien apologized to Marinette for his dumb advice. She accepted. The boy was still new to the world of making friends.

Bustier’s termination of employment was a sad affair because the class did thought she was a teacher who cared for them. But the victims of Chloe’s tyranny knew better. When Ivan tried to protect Mylene from Chloe’s insults, he was sentenced to detention for disrupting the class. When Chloe stole Nathaniel’s sketchbook, Caline accused him of drawing in class. And for crying out loud, everyone knows Chloe never does her homework or projects. It’s not a wonder she gets As when Sabrina is doing all the work or her Father bribes the principal.

[theethighpriestess]

IX. PHILOPHOBIA

Suggested Listening/Songs Mentioned: Tadow x Masego; Body Party x Ciara

Word Count: 7.1K (Grab a snack, kids)

**************

Philophobia: (n). the fear of love or of becoming emotionally connected with another person

In the days following their confessions session, O’Shea and Erik finally committed to having a regular schedule that was conducive to both her therapy and their personal needs.

Mondays were used to discuss the previous week’s activities, whether or not they were successful, and to plan out new activities for the upcoming week. Those activities would then be implemented on Tuesday while Wednesday was a quiet day.

During the quiet day, Erik would see other patients, if any, or meet with Skylar to discuss upcoming research projects. Thursdays were used for mid-week check-ins. O’Shea would contact Erik if she wasn’t feeling like herself or if she felt like the particular week’s activity was a failure. They alternated Friday and Saturdays for personal time outside of the office. During this time, they would go on movie or dinner dates or just chill at each other’s houses, cuddling or playing video games.

Their relationship was flourishing at a healthy rate and while excited for her best friend, Skylar couldn’t help feeling a pang of jealousy.

Erik watched her intensely as she paced the floor of his office, convinced that she was about to create a completely new design.

“Are you gonna talk to me or are you gonna put a hole in my floor?”

She stopped and faced him, her eyes riddled with conflict.

“I don’t know how to explain it without sounding like a bitter bitch,” she said, finally taking a seat in the chair across from him. It was Friday so she was dressed down in a black tank that read “Thug Life” in white Old English writing, camouflage cargo pants, and black gladiator sandals. Her curly mane haloed her face and big, gold bamboo earrings with her name in the middle adorned her ears.

“Girl stop all that and tell me what’s wrong so I can help fix it,” Erik fussed, coming around to sit on the corner of his desk in front of her.

“Well, I know I was the main one that wanted you two together, but now that it’s happening, I guess I’m a bit jealous. Not because you both are finally happy and in a healthy space to pursue a relationship, but because I want the same thing and right now. It’s hard.”

“Elaborate,” Erik said, removing his glasses so that their eyes met.

Sky sighed heavily before continuing, “Lately, I’ve found myself missing Monica. I mean, yeah, our relationship was toxic 80% of the time, but things were good when we were on good terms. She showered me with love and adoration and she was someone that I could call mine, even if it was only for a limited time. Occasional hookups are cool, but I miss being in love and the thought of pursuing something of that nature with Oya has me TERRIFIED,” she stomped, pushing his pen from the desk so that it rolled onto the floor.

“For the last time, would you calm down?” Erik’s voice was stern yet soft as he stared into her big doe eyes.

“I can’t help it, E,” she confessed looking up at him. “It’s quite obvious that Oya is interested, but I don’t know if I’m ready to go back down that road again. Not to mention, she wants a full-on domme/sub relationship. Monica and I only did a few scenes during our time together. I’m nobody’s domme.”

“You are,” he said frankly. “Your dick is bigger than mine most of the time, you just don’t seem to realize it. What are you afraid of?”

“Losing my license.”

“Is that all?”

“Yes.”

“Liar.”

Skylar furrowed her brows, shooting him a glare that made him square his shoulders and glare right back.

“I’m not lying.”

“Yes you are; your bottom lip is trembling. Just say you’re afraid of giving your all to someone only to get your heart broken again.”

Sky hung her head in defeat. Erik was right and she knew it, but the truth wasn’t what she wanted to hear at the moment.

“This is just so unprofessional. I pride myself on not getting attached to my clients and here I am considering a relationship with this girl.” She sighed again, rubbing her temples as she felt the beginning symptoms of a migraine building.

Erik carefully took her chin between his thumb and index finger, lifting her head so that her eyes met his.

“I understand your apprehension, but you’ve gotta understand that everybody ain’t Monica.”

“I know, but that’s something I’m not ready to deal with yet. When she comes by the office, I’ll propose some things she can implement with her current partners before offering myself up.”

“Good luck with that, but if she’s as straightforward as you say she is, she’s only gonna tell you that nothing worked with her other partners just so she can have you. That’s how brats operate Dr. Greene. I should know; I’m an expert,” he replied with a sly smirk that made Sky chuckle before she could catch herself.

“You’re so fucking arrogant,” she frowned pushing his face away from hers.

“I’m not arrogant, I’m confident there’s a difference. Plus, it made you laugh so my job as Best Friend of the Year is done.”

“I swear you get on my nerves but thank you. This talk was much needed and it’s helped put some things into perspective. I’m gonna go work on a therapy plan for Ms. Ramirez.”

“Aight, let me know if you need anything.”

“Will do,” Sky replied with a warm hug before walking out of his office and out to her car. As if on cue, her phone rang and Oya’s picture came into view. It was a candid taken when Oya wasn't paying her any mind.

“Good afternoon, Ms. Ramirez.”

“Good afternoon, Dr. Greene,” Oya’s voice called back in a soft and seductive tone. “I was wondering if I could drop by your office, I have some things I’d like to discuss with you.”

Skylar swallowed thickly before replying, “Yes, I have an open slot for 1:00. Does that work for you?”

“Oh yes, that’s perfect. I’ll see you then.”

**

“Welcome to Kinky Sky Sex Therapy and Toy Emporium,” O’Shea called to the stranger when the bell of the shop dinged.

Oya paused, thinking to herself how much of a mouthful that was before her mind thought of how much she’d like a mouthful of --

“Hello again. O’Shea, right?” Oya replied to the slender beauty behind the counter.

“Yes, and you’re Oya, right?” Oya nodded with a smile. “Nice to meet you again."

"I had a 1:00 appointment with Dr. Greene, is she here?”

“She is. If you walk back to that last shelf of toys, you’ll notice a staircase. Take those down to the basement and you’ll see her.”

“The basement?” Oya replied, more than a little apprehensive.

“I know it sounds creepy, but it’s not as bad as you think. I promise,” Shea said reassuringly.

Oya nodded before walking through the long shelves of toys and lubricants until she reached the top of the white slate staircase. What she thought would be a dark, terrifyingly creepy sight was the opposite.

The walls were painted white with black and pink accents and the floors were grey slatewood. The northern wall held the security setup while the wall behind the desk held a bookshelf and all of Skylar’s degrees. Skylar’s desk sat in the middle of the space. It was a glass top with gold legs and sat atop a white fur rug with matching fur chair with gold legs in front. Skylar was seated behind the desk typing at her iMac, her brows furrowed in concentration.

“Dr. Greene?”

Skylar jumped, causing a pen to roll off her desk as her eyes met Oya’s.

“Oh, hi Oya. I’m sorry I didn’t see you there.”

“It’s fine, I just made it down here. Que bueno!”

Oya looked around at the office briefly on her way to take a seat in front of Sky’s desk, shamelessly staring at the S necklace that rested in her cleavage.

“So what did you want to talk about?” Sky asked, closing the document she’d been working on.

“Well, I tried one of the methods you suggested when I went out with my sister the other night. The vabbing technique.”

“Oh?” Skylar asked, grabbing a pen from the cup on her desk. “And how did it go?”

“Pretty well actually. I met a girl and we hooked up and it was cool I guess, but...”

“But?”

“I may have accidentally moaned your name during sex.”

“Wait… You did what now?”

Oya merely smirked, unable to hide the way Skylar’s reaction was making her feel.

“I’m sorry, but I just can’t stop thinking about you. Everything that she was doing to me made me wish it were you, so much so that I called her by your name. Like we were making out and things were getting heated and next thing I know instead of saying Celeste, I said Skylar.”

Skylar blinked for a few seconds before finally finding words to articulate her feelings.

“Oya, I’m your therapist. That’s extremely inappropriate.”

“Is it really? They're both sky-related names... Well, what about Surrogate Partner Therapy? Didn’t you receive funding to start experimenting with it?”

“Yes but--”

“So why don’t you let me be your first case.”

Skylar sighed in exasperation. If Oya was Erik, she would’ve cussed him out seeing as how he knew how much of a pet peeve it was for her to be interrupted. She instead chose to remain silent, intrigued to hear Oya’s point of view.

“Oya, it doesn’t work that way. SPT requires the use of someone else as the surrogate partner, not the therapist assigned to the client.”

“But what about Dr. Stevens? I could go back to being his client and he could start the process. It could be a joint project between the two of you.”

“You’ve really thought this out, huh?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll speak with Dr. Stevens and we’ll get back to you.”

Oya leaned over the desk, tucking a stray curl behind Skylar’s ear.

“Don’t keep me waiting too long, Dr. Greene.”

**

“Damn, lil mama was prepared, huh?”

Erik asked as he finished the last bite of his volcano sushi rolls with extra eel sauce that he was currently addicted to thanks to his favorite brat. His feet were propped up on his desk and he was reclined back in his office chair staring down into the iPad screen as Sky stared back.

“Bruh, I was shook. I’m sure she saw it on my face too. Like, I’m not used to anyone being this straightforward with me other than you. It’s different,” she said, speaking a mile per minute.

“So… the real question is what do you wanna do, doctor?”

“I’ve been asking myself that for a week and I’m still drawing a blank.”

It was true. Skylar had gone over every possible scenario of a relationship with Oya and each time she was met with a standstill. Half of her wanted to pursue a relationship to see how things would work, while the other half was still stuck on the board finding out and losing her license. Erik hated the pained look in her eyes. He could feel her heart as if it were in his own chest.

“You mean you’re too pussy to live life? Come on, Sky. Yes, losing your license is serious, but what are the odds of that really happening? We’re both extremely careful and go through the details of our reports with fine-toothed combs. On paper, everything looks legit and aside from our personal relationship, O’Shea is doing well, is she not?”

“She is.”

“Alright then, live a little. Let babygirl bring some spice into your boring ass, lonely ass life. Invite her to lunch and eat her pussy under the table.”

“Wow, fuck you,” Sky replied, watching as he started on a truffle salmon roll. “I haven’t done that since O’Shea. Besides, I’m a Louisiana native. I’m spicy enough.”

“I can’t tell with ya boring ass,” he teased, popping the rest of the roll into his mouth.

“Those look good, bring me some.”

“Nigga! It’s lunchtime in LA and your office is 15 minutes away. It’s gonna take me an hour to get to you.”

“O’Shea’s wearing those green leather pants you like,” Sky sang sweetly, smirking at the way he readjusted his slacks as he sat up.”

“I’m on my way,” was all he said before the FaceTime ended. Skylar chuckled softly before pulling up Oya’s contact information.

Though he was incredibly annoying, she knew Erik was right. She had been overthinking the entire situation and needed to let things flow. If for some reason things went sour and she lost her license, she still had a successful adult toy business and more than enough money saved up to live comfortably for the rest of her life if she chose to.

Taking a deep breath she pressed the call button and allowed the rest of her inhibitions to fly out of the window.

“Hello?” Oya’s sultry voice rang from the opposite end of the receiver.

“Oya, it’s Dr. Greene. I was wondering if we could meet for lunch, there are some things I wanted to discuss in regards to your request for Surrogate Partner Therapy.” Skylar smiled softly as Oya’s audible gasp tickled her ears.

“That would be great, but my schedule is pretty full today with dance classes. How about tomorrow for dinner?”

Dinner? Skylar hadn’t been on an actual dinner date in over a year, too far consumed with work to entertain anyone longer than a few quick hookups. The thought of getting all dolled up and having a night on the town with a beautiful woman on her arm made her smile incredibly wide.

“I could do dinner. Is there anywhere in particular you’d like to go?” She asked, rubbing her chin as Erik’s explicit suggestion crossed her mind. The smile in Oya’s tone was infectious.

“Have you ever had Barton G.?”

**

“Do a spin and let us see you,” Erik’s voice called from Skylar’s iPad that sat next to her vanity mirror.

For the last hour, she’d been modeling outfits for him and O’Shea, searching for the perfect show-stopping ensemble for dinner with Oya. When she finally completed the 360 turn, they both seemed to be enamored with the lavender two-piece skirt set she’d picked. She’d straightened her usually curly locs and chose to wear a matching duster and clear chunky heels to complete the look. Though she’d decided against a full face of makeup, she still filled in her brows, applied some mascara to her lashes and her favorite nude lipstick to her full lips.

“That’s the one,” O’Shea said with finality.

“I second that notion,” Erik nodded, causing Skylar to break into a wide grin. She was excited to see how the night would play out and even more excited to see where her relationship with Oya would stand after dinner.

“Alright, I’ll call you two with an update when I make it home tonight.”

“Don’t go home, get some pussy,” Erik called, pulling the perfectly pearled blunt from behind his ear.

“Bye Nigga!”

Across town, Oya stood in her floor-length mirror admiring the denim colored two-piece skirt set she wore. Her hair was slicked into a low bun around her neck rested a silver statement necklace. The top stopped just below her breasts and the draped skirt stopped just above her left knee creating a high-low illusion. Her freshly shaved legs peeked from the split in the center and silver strappy heels rested on her feet. Her makeup was neutral, simple lashes and a nude lip completing the overall look. She knew she looked good and was determined to have Skylar eating out the palm of her hands… and maybe her vagina by the end of dinner.

After one final once over, Oya was out the door and on her way to meet the future love of her life. The drive to Barton G was short and soon the two women were face to face, both in awe of the other’s outfit choice.

“You look stunning,” Oya called as she admired the way the lavender skirt clung to Sky’s hips and thighs.

“As do you,” Sky replied with a sweet smile. “I went ahead and put our names on the waitlist so it shouldn’t be much longer before our table is ready.”

“Perfect,” Oya replied, taking the empty seat beside her. As she took in Sky’s appearance again, the bag in her lap attracted her attention. It was lilac with an iridescent crocodile pattern and gold hardware.

“Is that a Hermès Birkin bag?”

“Yes ma’am. It was my first big purchase after I opened my shop and I adore it.”

“Of course you’re a label whore,” Oya replied with a playful smirk.

Sky rolled her eyes, returning Oya’s smile.

“Whatever. Excuse me for enjoying the finer things in life. I worked my ass off to get my shop and when the time came, I chose to treat myself to something nice.”

“Pretty expensive treat,” Oya mumbled.

“It’s true. I am indeed,” Sky retorted with a wide grin.

“Greene, party of 2,” the hostess called pulling Skylar and Oya from their heated conversation about designer fashion.

“I’m sorry, there’s just no way I’d spent $20-$40K on a bag,” Oya fussed, following the hostess to their designated table.

“But they’re beautiful bags, plus they increase in value 15% every year. It’s an investment if anything,” Sky reasoned.

“Be that as it may, I’m not dropping that kind of cash on a bag and I’ll be damned if my partner does.”

“To each her own, I guess,” Skylar shrugged. “But if I buy it, you’re gonna accept it.”

“Says who?” Oya countered with a raised eyebrow.

Skylar took the bait smoothly as she pulled Oya’s chair out, motioning for her to sit down.

“Ya Mama,” she replied with a wink causing Oya to flash her a devilish grin.

“I see you’re not playing fair tonight, Dr. Greene.”

“How is answering a question proposed to me not playing fair?”

“You know how. Don’t throw around such titles if you aren’t prepared to fulfill them,” Oya challenged.

“You’re absolutely right which brings me to why I wanted to meet with you. After speaking with Dr. Stevens, we both think that you’d be a good candidate for our SPT research. On paper, he will be your assigned therapist and I will be your surrogate partner.”

Sky glanced up to catch Oya watching her intensely as she explained.

“I will also be implementing Dr. Stevens’ 7-Day schedule which will be used to aid in both your therapy as well as personal needs. Out of the seven days, two of them will be quiet days in which we have zero communication with one another and you do not have to engage in whatever treatment method we have assigned for that week.”

Another glance up, and Oya’s stare was still just as intense as before.

“If this method looks to be successful, then I’ll start implementing more extracurricular activities in our time together, Is this something that you think you would be interested in?”

Oya’s grin grew wide at the thought of the introduction of BDSM elements. She was also pleased with the fact that Skylar had put so much thought into her treatment.

“I’m in, but on one condition.”

“Which is?”

“You spend the next two days with me, bonding, completely off the record. I want to see you in your natural state, and in these two days if you decide that a personal relationship isn’t what you want, then we’ll remain completely professional and well leave the extracurricular activities off the table.”

Skylar flinched, clearly taken aback by Oya’s change in tone.

“A-Are you sure?”

“Absolutely. I want you to be completely comfortable with whatever this turns into and I don’t want you to feel forced simply because of how strong I came on to you. At the end of the day, you’re a doctor and you have a reputation to uphold and I don’t want you to lose what you built because of me.”

“T-That’s really sweet, Oya. No one has taken my feelings into consideration like that before other than Erik.”

“Listen, I know that Monica chick did a number on you emotionally, but all I’m asking for is just one chance to prove that I’m in a different class.”

“Fine, you can have your two days, but after that it’s back to business,” Sky said, attempting to regain her usual tough demeanor.

Oya caught on and smiled a sly smile.

“Yes Mama,” she said as the waitress came to take their orders.

The pair spent the remainder of dinner talking like old friends. Skylar learned that Oya was the youngest of four children and that all of her siblings were dancers and choreographers. Sky spoke of her fathers and how she and Erik came to become as successful as they were.

“So you don’t know your mom at all?” Oya asked, taking a sip of her Sabrina-tini.

“She died while giving birth to me. Papa Simon raised me by himself until I was two. That’s when Papa Ruben came along and the rest was history.”

“Did your parents influence your sexual preference?”

“Actually, no. I’ve had relationships with men in the past, but Erik was the one that made me realize that I wasn’t interested in a long-term relationship with a man. Then I met Monica and the rollercoaster began.”

“She was your first girlfriend?”

“Yes.”

“Why’d you guys break up if you don’t mind my asking?”

“Long story short, she was a seasonal gay and I got tired of being her escape.”

Oya nodded, having dealt with her share of toxic exes in the past.

“Well,” Oya said, raising her glass. “Here’s to new beginnings and lots of healing. May our days going forward be filled with joy and smiles and only tears of pure, unadulterated happiness.”

“Cheers,” Skylar said with a bright smile, unable to hide her excitement for what was to come.

**

“Pole dancing, huh? Kinky,” O’Shea said teasingly as she and Sky explored the extensive shoe closet on the second floor of Skylar’s condo. Oya had proposed the idea during their dinner the previous night, opting to do it on Sunday since her studio would be closed to her students.

“It’ll be fun, just you and I vibing to some dope music. I just may teach you a thing or two.”

Oya’s teasing tone was loud in Skylar’s ear as she combed through another wall of shoes. Oya had instructed her to bring a pair of heels because she would be getting on a pole, a statement that had Sky turning her nose up slightly.

“If my thick ass fall, I’m fighting her,” Sky fussed, holding up a pair of black, strappy Louboutins.

“And I’m gonna fight you if you think you wearing Louboutins to a pole dancing class. This is real life, not the movies. Besides, you need something with a platform to help maintain your balance,” O’Shea said, grabbing a pair of clear 6-inch heels with a pink sole and iridescent glitter platform bottoms. “These are perfect! Try them on!”

Sky grabbed the shoes from her and put them on, towering over Shea as she strutted back and forth in the closet.

“Great, now I just have to figure out what I’m wearing,” Sky replied staring at herself in the mirror. She was currently wearing a baby pink cross-back bralette and matching leggings.

“That looks good. Pole dancing is exercise, after all, so you want to be comfortable.”

Sky thought for a bit before nodding in agreeance.

“Alright, well let me get going. We agreed to meet at 4.”

“Alright, be safe and have fun!” O’Shea called, following Sky outside.

After sending a quick confirmation text, Skylar punched the address of the studio into her GPS and made her way downtown.

The studio was dimly lit with pink and purple lights. The front wall of the studio held five floor-length mirrors while the back wall was painted burnt orange. In all, ten poles stretched across the entire floor in two lines and two speakers occupied the upper corners above the mirrors.

“Right on time,” Oya’s voice called from somewhere above Sky’s head.

She craned her neck to see Oya swinging from an aerial hoop. She moved so gracefully and elegantly, each movement flowing in incredible precision. It looked so easy, but Sky knew better than to think such. She smiled as Oya carefully lowered herself to the floor and padded over to her, greeting her with a gentle hug.

“I’m so glad you agreed to this class. We’re gonna have so much fun,” Oya said with a bright smile. She led Sky to a spot in the back where she could put her bag down and change shoes before pulling her to the center of the room between the two rows of poles.

“First, we’re going to do some stretches. We need your body as loose and limber as possible that way you don’t hurt yourself while on the pole.” Sky made a face before joining Oya on the floor.

“I told O’Shea we were gonna fight if I fall off one of these poles,” Sky said with a chuckle before spreading her legs in a wide v shape, lowering her upper half to the floor.

“Don’t threaten me with a good time, Dr. Greene,” Oya replied with a smirk before copying Sky’s pose.

Sky bit her lip to contain her smile at the way Oya enunciated her name before speaking.

“This is off the record and we’re out of the office so you can just call me Sky or Skylar.”

“I prefer Sunshine if we’re being honest,” Oya said with a sweet smile that Sky couldn’t help but return.

“Okay, Sunshine it is.”

After they were all stretched out and warmed up, Oya began the lesson.

“The first thing we’re going to learn is a basic spin. The easiest one to do is the fireman spin, kinda like we used to do on the playground. I’ll demonstrate first and then explain it in detail.”

“I know how to do that,” Sky remarked with a sneer as she watched Oya spin around the bottom of the pole.

“Alright, then missy. Let’s see you do it,” Oya urged, clapping teasingly as Sky completed the spin.

“Okay, let’s do something a little more complicated. This next move is called the chair spin. It’s just like the fireman, but as you’re going around, I want you to lift your knees towards your chest and keep your feet elevated as you spin. Like this,” Oya explained before demonstrating. It took a few tries, but Sky finally got the hang of it and was ready to move onto the next spin.

“This third spin is called the back hook. You’re gonna grip the pole with your right hand, wrap your right leg around it and let the universe do its thing. As you’re going around, you’re gonna grip the pole near the bottom with your left hand,” Oya explains.

“Let the universe do its thing? You mean gravity because that shit sounds like I’m going to bust my ass and get a concussion. Now how exactly do you plan to explain that to my fathers? Me being concussed, I mean?” Sky asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Just try it, scaredy-cat. I promise I’m not gonna let you concuss yourself,” Oya giggled.

By the end of the 2-hour lesson, Sky could successfully do the back hook along with the climb, the seat, and carousel spin, which she deemed her personal favorite.

After a few sips of water, Skylar took a seat in one of the chairs along the wall and watched Oya dance. Mid-way through the class, she opted to sit her phone down on the floor in front of the mirrors to record a few videos to send to Erik and Shea once they were done. Since Oya was putting on a show, she decided to give her some music to vibe to. Soon, the mellow sounds of Tadow by Masego filled the studio. Oya’s limber body swayed effortlessly to the beat.

Oh oh I saw her and she hit me like (tadow) // Saw that thing so beautiful (tadow)

She just hit my heart, oh (tadow) // Full force and she got me like (tadow)

Sky closed her eyes, allowing the music to transport her to her happy place. Everything grew still and tranquil and she just existed freely with Oya, no distractions and no apprehension. Deep down she knew she wanted this woman, but couldn’t seem to shake that nagging, fearful voice in the back of her mind. She shook her head, not wanting to go down that road at the moment. She was content and happy right where she was and wanted to stay that way.

When she opened her eyes again, Oya was straddling her lap, rolling her hips sensually to Body Party by Ciara. Just as she was finding her groove, California Love by Tupac began blaring through the speakers, signaling an incoming call from Erik. Not wanting to disturb the beauty in her lab, she answered the call from her Apple Watch.

“Yes?” was all she said as she wrapped her arms around Oya’s waist.

“I knew it! Best friend getting booty! You owe me $50!” he yelled to O’Shea who was sitting next to him.

“Wait, you niggas bet on me?!” she exclaimed, moving Oya slightly to the right to stare down into the camera.

“It was a spur of the moment thing, but yes. I figured you’d take my advice, but I wasn’t expecting you to be getting booty in the studio.”

“Ain’t nobody getting booty,” Skylar fussed. “She’s only dancing.”

“I mean if you want some booty, that can be arranged,” Oya said with a smirk.

“Hush, ain’t nobody talking to you. Just keep doing what you’re doing.”

“Yes Mama,” Oya teased, continuing her ministrations.

“Mama?!” Erik and O’Shea yelled in unison, sounding like Soulja Boy on his Breakfast Club interview. Oya giggled, looking back at Sky who was shaking her head at her best friend and employee’s antics.

“Move nigga! I wanna see too!” O’Shea fussed, snatching Erik’s phone from his hand. “Ooh, her ass fat,” Shea exclaimed, putting her whole face in the camera like a kid asking if you had games on your phone.

“You know what, bye!” Sky said, ending the call before returning her focus to Oya.

“How do you deal with them?”

“I ignore them most of the time if we’re being honest,” Sky said with a chuckle. “You know, you look really good in my lap,” Sky remarked as Oya slowed her motions.

“Really now? You tryna keep me here, Sunshine?”

“I just might, pretty girl,” Sky said, lifting her head slightly meeting Oya’s lips in a soft kiss. It was soft and slow, with a hint of tongue and a few lip bites. It felt right and when they were done, Sky was lightheaded. She bit her lip softly as Oya stared down at her, returning her heated gaze.

“Wanna go again?”

**

After another 3-4 hours dancing and making out, Skylar and Oya parted ways, making plans to visit Little Tokyo for their date the following day. Sky kept her promise to call Erik once she was finally home safely, making sure to tell him every tiny little detail that transpired after their FaceTime call abruptly ended.

“Finally! Bold Sky is making a comeback!”

“Oh my God, shut up!” Skylar exclaimed, hiding her face in her sherpa blanket to cover the fact that her face was as red as the soles of her Louboutins as if Erik could see her. “Her lips are super soft, though. I swear it felt like I was kissing a cloud.”

“I’m proud of you. So what did you guys decide on for her therapy?”

“Well, I’m gonna implement the 7-Day schedule that you have with O’Shea and if that works out then I’ll gradually introduce BDSM elements.”

Erik nodded, rubbing his chin occasionally.

“I like that and if you need some tips, let me know.”

“Will do, boss man. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to have a nice long soak. We stretched out muscles I forgot I had.”

“Keep on, let her stretch some more shit out,” Erik teased, his wide grin evident in his tone.

“Goodbye, Dr. Nigga!” Sky screeched, hanging up in his face. She couldn’t help the wide grin that stretched across her face as she recalled the way Oya’s lips felt against hers or the way her body felt as they rolled against one another on the floor of the studio.

While she showered, she imagined what Oya’s other set lips tasted like, or how she would sound moaning her name as her tongue lapped up her essence until she came undone over and over again.

Before she knew it her fingers were inside her flower, plunging deeper and deeper until her back rested against her shower wall, a pool of her juices flowing down the drain. She bit her lip as she thought about the introduction of BDSM to their relationship. If the mere thought of Oya had her behaving this way, there’s no telling what would happen when the two were finally intimate, but she was eager to find out.

**

The bell on the door of the flower shop dinged, signaling the departure of the final patron of Nola Greene Florists, the flower shop Skylar’s fathers owned. Hibiscus flowers, Louisiana Irises, and Gardenias were just a few of assorted flowers that lined the different shelves of the shop, all blooming bright and filling the space with a heavenly scent. Ruben was in a corner tending to a row of hibiscuses when he glanced over at Simon who was sitting behind the counter going over inventory.

“Have you heard from your daughter?” Ruben asked as he plucked another dead leaf from the plant.

“We spoke for a bit the other night. She apparently has an ice cream date today,” Simon replied looking up from the clipboard.

“A date?! And she didn’t tell her father?” Ruben gasped, almost trimming the head of a hibiscus as he ranted.

“Well damn, what am I? Chopped liver?”

“I didn’t mean it like that Simey Bear,” Ruben coaxed. “She just usually shares these kinda things with me first. I guess I feel a little jealous.”

“You’re such a diva,” Simon said with a chuckle. “The one time she tells me something before you, you’re up in arms.”

Ruben pouted slightly. Ever since Skylar was a child, they would always talk about the boys she liked and he would be the one to help with her hair and makeup.

“So what exactly does this boy look like?”

“It’s not a boy,” Simon said with a smirk.

“Oh? It’s another fish? It better not be that Monica heifer!” Ruben shouted as he slammed the shears on the counter.

“You know, she didn’t say,” Simon recalled, pulling his phone from his pocket. “Let’s call her.”

**

The streets were relatively clear as Skylar and Oya walked hand in hand through Little Tokyo. They grabbed a few t-shirts from Popkiller, Skylar’s favorite being the Kawaii Kanye shirt Oya picked out before leaving and heading to the Tokyo Japanese Outlet. There, Skylar bought herself a life-size Jigglypuff plush while Oya browsed the pin section. Sky rolled her eyes playfully as Oya stuck the ‘I Love Cat’ pin to the front of her shirt, rubbing her head against her chest purring.

“You’re aggy,” Sky said before playfully pushing her head away.

“Yet you’re still here with me,” Oya countered, walking out of the shop in search of food.

The pair decided on Shen Sin Gumi. Skylar remembered O’Shea talking about how great the food was and how they had the best ramen in LA. They both settled on spicy tonkotsu ramen with kikiruge mushrooms, green onions, and extra chashu. Skylar also ordered a side of takoyaki and chicken gyoza while Oya got a side of veggie tempura.

“Damn,” Skylar exclaimed slurping a noodle. “This is the best ramen in LA.”

Oya nodded in agreeance, taking a bite of the veggie tempura.

“It is. We should start letting O’Shea pick out food spots more often.”

“We should. All the little fat fuck does is eat,” Sky chuckled.

After lunch and more exploring of Little Tokyo, the pair ended their date at Bae, Skylar’s favorite ice cream shop because of their quirky flavor options and the overall ambiance of the parlor.

Oya couldn’t help the smile that stretched across her face when her eyes fell on the neon sign that read ‘With love, from bae’ as soon as they walked in.

“Real cute, Greene.”

“I know,” Skylar smirked back. The pair sampled several different flavors of ice cream, their mutual favorites being Pegasus, Mixed Feelings, Ube, and Heartbreak. Skylar’s cheeks hurt from smiling so much and she was in the middle of telling one of Papa Simon’s favorite jokes when her phone rang.

“Speak of the devil,” she said, answering the FaceTime call. “Hello father,” she said with a playful eye roll.

“Now is that any way to greet your father?” Simon asked, holding the phone close to his face in an attempt to see who Skylar was with.

Sky caught on and moved to the other side of the table.

“You’re right, where are my manners? Hello Papa Simon. How are things with you and Papa Ruben?”

“They’re good, my dearest. How are things with you and your friend?” Skylar decided to play dumb a little longer.

“Erik is fine. We’re both experimenting with SPT with our current clients and so far, things have been going well.”

Ruben, knowing the game his daughter was playing snatched the phone from Simon and commanded the screen.

“Cut the bullshit, Moreau. Let us see her.”

Skylar smiled as she bit her lip and moved back to sit beside Oya once more.

“Oya, these are my fathers, Simon and Ruben Greene. Dads, this is Oya.”

“Oh Skylar, she’s stunning,” Ruben exclaims, causing Oya to blush.

“Thank you, sir. It’s nice to meet you, Skylar talks about you all the time.”

“She better,” Ruben teased. “Okay, finish your date. I just had to make sure it wasn’t that part-time gay heifer.”

Skylar laughed at that.

“No Daddy, Monica is a distant memory. As a matter of fact, I think Oya just may be a permanent addition of she acts right,” Sky smirked, glancing over at Oya.

“Excuse you, madam?” Oya said with mock offense.

“I’m just playing, pretty girl,” Sky coaxed, stroking her cheek with her thumb.

“Mmhm... Tell me anything,” Oya teased, sucking her thumb off camera.

“Oop, she’s spicy. I like her,” Ruben said. “Well, you two enjoy your date. Papa Simon and I will check in on you later.”

“Yes, sir. Bye Dads,” Sky said as she ended the call. She shoved her phone back in her jacket pocket as Oya went to grab another double scoop of Heartbreak.

As she caught herself staring at the light-skinned, curly red-haired cutie before her, one thing was certain: She was fucked. Absolutely, positively, 100% fucked. She now knew how Erik felt the first time he realized how enamored he was with O’Shea and she wanted to curse herself for teasing him the way she did. Not since Monica had anyone made her feel so free and uninhibited and initially, she was very apprehensive about it. But once she saw Oya’s smile spread across her face and create that subtle twinkle in her eye, Skylar made it her business to have it on display more often.

“What?” Oya’s voice pulled Skylar from her thoughts and it was then that she realized she had been staring the entire time.

“H-Huh? What?”

“You were staring again, Moreau,” Oya responds with a sly smirk, extending a hand to brush a few stray curls from her face.

“You getting real comfortable with my middle name, Ms. Ramirez,” Sky remarks, leaning over to steal a lick of her ice cream cone.

“Just like you getting comfortable with my damn ice cream, ya thief!” Oya says with a laugh.

“It looked good, I couldn’t help myself!” Skylar screeched, throwing her arms up in mock surrender.

“Uh-huh, I bet you couldn’t. You gone make me fight you,” Oya fussed.

“Aww, don’t be like that, pretty girl,” Sky teased, causing Oya’s grin to stretch wider.

“You lucky you’re a hot doctor,” Oya smirked, stealing a lick from Skylar’s Pegasus cone.

Sky only smirked and shook her head as she watched Oya eat.

“You’re trouble, Ms. Ramirez.”

“Glad you know, Dr. Greene.”

**

The next morning found Skylar smiling from ear to ear as she entered the shop. O’Shea watched with a smirk as she bounced on her toes all the way down to her office.

“I take it you had a good time?”

“I had a great time. She’s sweet, she’s funny, and she doesn’t take any of my shit which is something I’ll have to get used to, but I enjoy it.”

“You and Erik really are two sides of the same coin. I bet he tells you the same shit about me.”

“That he does.”

“Awww, Sky Bear is in love,” O’Shea teased, poking at Skylar’s sides.

“I’m not in love, yet, but there is a possibility that something more than business will come from this and I’m not opposed.”

O’Shea squealed, kicking her feet like an excited schoolgirl.

“I’m so happy for you. You’ve been through so much and it’ll be nice for you to be loved the way you deserve to be.”

“Aww, thanks, Shea. That’s really sweet of you to say.”

“And I mean it, too. Oh, I almost forgot,” O’Shea squeaked as she bound up the stairs and back down again. “These were delivered for you.”

Sky raised an eyebrow before taking the bouquet of sunflowers from O’Shea. They smelled heavenly and hand a little black card attached.

“Ooh, what does it say?” Shea asked, bouncing excitedly. Sky grabbed the card and smiled from ear to ear as she read the message aloud.

“To my Sunshine,

May your day be as beautiful and as sweet as this bouquet.”

-With love,

From Bae

Links to pole moves used above:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZxMFtZxPko&t=116s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tap-qXHJIpQ&t=132s

TAG LIST:

@vikkidc @thadelightfulone @sydneebleu @blktinkerbell @madamslayyy @chaneajoyyy @jozigrrl @thehomierobbstark @ @iamrheaspeaks @mareethequeen @forbeautyandlife @whatmoredoyouwantamericaa @blowmymbackout @wakanda-inspired @yaachtynoboat711 @nickidub718 @heyauntieeee @princessstevens @bakarilennox @xaviera108 @alexundefined @raysunshine78 @dameshaemonique @laketaj24 @youreadthatright @theogbadbitch @bugngiz @amirra88 @post-woke @im5ftbutmythroat66 @blackpinup22 @maya-leche @blessyd-bthyname @unholyxcumbucket @eclecticblkgirl @kissmyafropuff @rick-sosa @jennajai @allhailqueennel @killmongersbaby @eye-raq @thickemadame @soulfulbeauty19

[adamsvanrhijn]

If you’re still doing the directors cut, would you be willing to do “strange how I fit into you (there's a distance erased with the greatest of ease)” from “York , October 1933” to as far as you want since it’s a long passage? Thanks!

moroh boy oh boy oh boy

ok wel it IS a long passage, so we’ll see how much i get through!

strange how I fit into you (there's a distance erased with the greatest of ease) by smithens

under cut for discussion of suicide + length

York, October 1933

so i chose october to be the Rough Month mostly because octobers i think... can be pretty rough? it’s the middle of autumn and things are starting to really turn colder and grayer, so the seasonal element hits harder, and that’s a factor here for thomas... an extrapolation from canon but not one that i think requires mental gymnastics.

The door creaks on its hinges as it shuts.

Before Thomas can think about what this means for him — all those lies he'll have to keep up with, more stories to get straight, it's never ending and he's just so tired — the bed is shifting underneath him and there's something (Mrs Ellis's knitted Afghan, or Miss Baxter's quilt) (no, there's yarn on his cheek, it's the Afghan) more round his shoulders.

Not just the blanket.

"What'd you need?" Richard murmurs. He is very, very close. "What can I do?"

one sensory element of being up to your eyeballs in depression & brainfog.... everything is hypersensitive but also you’re not entirely aware at the same time, so everything that happens to your body prompts another little mental loop that you’re too exhausted to deal with... that’s what’s going on here

richard could be better at being comforting; he second guesses himself... wants to get it right but the stakes are high if he doesn’t, so he errs on the side of caution and ends up overwhelming him more by making another Decision, although he does figure it out eventually

Thomas shakes his head. Tears prick at his eyes again, but he keeps them shut tight — seeing is the only thing he can put a stopper in, no matter what he'll still have to hear and feel things. No matter how much he wishes otherwise. Not much to see even if he wanted, though, it's the sun's just about gone down and he didn't bother to turn on a lamp before. Dark and cold, even with the curtains open. The days just keep getting shorter; working nights doesn't help. Maybe if it were summer…

more of the seasonal element; more of the sensory element

thomas in this scene is pretty high up on the suicidality scale (i’m leaving what happened before this starts up to interpretation bc that’s an important part of the scene) but he has come down a little now that richard is present. the headspace he is in here is more “i want to go to sleep and never wake up” rather than planning/desiring to actually kill himself, and he’s thinking Around it but not actually getting sucked in again, which is good but still a difficult and exhausting mental position to be in

"What can I do, Thomas," says Richard into his ear. He lies down behind him all the way and slings his arm across Thomas's chest, and the weight of it is soothing as much as it is suffocating.

He wishes he had it easier. That he could only feel one of those things at a time.

He wishes all of this were easier.

"What's happened? Has something happened you've not told me about?"

more richard not entirely Getting it... i think a big part of his character in this is he’s an answers guy, he tends to follow patterns, and as this richard has never been depressed he associates Sadness and Despair with something happening, whereas for thomas it’s almost the opposite where it’s associated more with inertia and malaise, everything’s bad and it’s all blending together, so thomas can’t exactly answer the question properly because while he did have a switch over he can’t pinpoint it, but he’s aware of his mental state as well as that richard doesn’t entirely understand it and that awareness doesn’t help him very much here

also i think spooning can be a very good comfort position so in this verse it’s a coupley thing that they do... the big spoon gets to be the comforter and the little spoon is the comforted

He shakes his head.

Richard takes his mangled hand out from under the blanket and holds it, squeezing tight. It makes his third and fourth fingers cramp, but that's something to feel that isn't dull and numb and nothing, so he doesn't mind it.

He does mind when Richard's thumb traces up on the inside of his wrist.

"Don't," Thomas chokes out.

He lets go.

"If," Richard starts, "if I hadn't come home when I did…"

richard is thinking what if and his actions are betraying that before his words are; thomas doesn’t like that it’s being drawn attention to

he strongly dislikes being vulnerable and finds it very viscerally uncomfortable even with richard, who is the only person he allows to get this close to him anyway

"But you did."

"Yeah," he says after a moment. "Yeah, I did, I – God, Thomas," and he buries his face into his back and shoulder and tugs him tighter with his arm, breathing heavily. "Oh, Thomas."

"It's too hard," Thomas whispers.

A small kiss at the nape of his neck, beneath his ear, at the corner of his jaw.

He barely feels them.

"I wish it weren't."

"I can't."

"I know."

desensitized! this is also when it finally clicks for richard what thomas’s needs here actually are and what the situation is at this point

It's Tuesday. Eventually they get out of bed. When he thinks Thomas isn't paying attention Richard jams the door latches and takes the shaving kits out of the washroom, rearranges the cupboards in the kitchen. Apparently he can't even be trusted in his own home.

the day of the week is brought up in the first four scenes of this fic (monday > friday/saturday > sunday > tuesday) because the anchor of the fic is domestic chores & the process of doing laundry; in this time period there was still an established order to doing this that like, both their mothers and every other woman they know would have followed (which is why it works for richard’s sister to do theirs for them in the first scene) and that thomas implements, so that’s the structure here. tuesday or wednesday is pressing & steaming.

thomas is attributing a sneaky element to richard’s actions here that doesn’t actually exist. richard is fully aware that thomas is paying attention when he does these things because he’s not taking his eye off of him for a second; thomas is in a frame of mind where he thinks that richard will assume, based on him being catatonic, that he is not paying attention, and thus will not pay him any in turn, because that is his experience when he is depressed... but that’s not how richard is, nor how their relationship is

richard is following best practices here but it’s the sort of best practices that makes the suicidal person feel like shit, lmao. eliminate opportunities for privacy + remove methods, “rearranges” is code for hiding/getting rid of poison and sharp things. also the shaving element in this & the companion piece is like a thinly veiled masculinity thing in addition to the mental health thing it also has

it is because richard knows, loves and trusts thomas that he is doing it, not because he doesn’t, but thomas isn’t in the right place to figure that out here

"You won't let me be useful," Thomas mumbles. He's seated on the floor at Richard's feet, a pathetic heap, wrapped in a blanket and with a mug of tea within reach, though he's let it go cold. The sofa is right there, and that's where he'd started, but sitting properly feels wrong, and he's not going to laze about in bed all evening. A few hours ago that was all he wanted. Things can change so quick sometimes.

sitting on the floor... the mood. he’s been there a little while, that’s what the tea is meant to indicate. he’s now conscious of himself and his surroundings enough that he’s back in to being Cognitive, analysing what is around him and what he wants. what he wants is to be useful and feel like he’s contributing, because he’s put a lot of his self-worth into that in the first months of them living together (they both have! it’s a source of conflict!) and now feels like that’s been taken away

one of the big parts of thomas’s canonical depression & suicide attempt is to do with him lacking a sense of purpose and feeling like he cannot contribute; in this scenario he feels that he has manufactured his contributions and he has tied his self-worth to them entirely. he’s very much given himself the impression, due to past experiences, the brain making patterns, that if he’s not useful (if he’s not perfect, in how he sets standards for himself) richard’s not going to want him around anymore. he thinks he’s made up his own worth basically and he expects richard to leave him / feels like he’s deceiving him, and that’s what prompts the spiral, it’s sort of about getting-it-over-with, and that’s also the element of his depression that contributes to the lack of sexual desire & interest that is referred to in the next scene of this fic as well as seen in richard’s pov in the companion piece... big feelings of fraud/imposter syndrome here

Richard doesn't look at him. Too busy pressing a collar. "You do this every week, Mr Barrow," he says. He only ever calls him that when he's flirting or trying to cheer him up or such like.

"And?"

pressing and steaming day! 

"And you might let me for a change," nonchalant in a careful sort of way. "You've just been burning the midnight oil a bit too often…"

"I've been working at midnight," mutters Thomas. They're short of staff: more nights for everybody. He had today off, and he'll have tomorrow off, and then he'll go in Thursday night and make himself useful somehow.

"You're not going back to work for seven to ten days," Richard says sharply. He sets down the iron. It probably needs to be heated again but he won't leave Thomas alone to do it. That's all they need, is him doing a shoddy job of the ironing… "You're ill."’

"I'm not ill – "

"No use arguing about it," interrupts Richard. "Settled it when I telephoned, wasn't even my suggestion."

Flu Lie.... richard telephoned thomas’s job

the iron is made of metal (iron!) and has to be manually heated to work

thomas’s concern about their household is still present even in the circumstances...

ok i’m getting sleepy i’ll publish this now bc you can’t really save asks as drafts properly and then i’ll get to the rest like, tomorrow lol

"Because you lied…"

"Thomas, you and I lie every day of our lives – "

He stops talking at the first sniffle. Somehow he manages to sit even after Thomas has slumped over with his head against his calves; he wraps his arms around him and takes his head into his shoulder. Thomas doesn't know whether he should feel guilty for allowing him to sit on the floor like he is or thankful that he wants to or both. "I'll take the week off, too."

"We can't afford – "

"We've got family," Richard says softly. We, he says, not I. "They'll look after things. That's what they're for, isn't it?"

"You can't quit everything for just me," Thomas says, hoarse. He's not sobbing; he doesn't have the energy for it. But he's not dry-eyed either.

"I can," he returns. "And I'm going to, Thomas."

"Why," he mumbles, "why, why, why," over and over, because that's the only question he's got in his head left to ask. He's not even sure he wants the answer.

"Because that's what I'm for," still so soft, when Thomas doesn't deserve that at all, "that's what I'm here for, love."

"'m not worth it."

Richard doesn't bother arguing with him. "I love you," he says. They don't say it very often; Thomas doesn't deserve him saying it now. "God, I love you."

"You shouldn't."

"But I do," breathes Richard, clutching him close. Nobody's ever held him like this before and especially not when he's feeling the way he is now. Somehow that registers for him. "I do," reassuring. "Fuck, I should've noticed – "

"Didn't want you to."

"I know, Thomas." He kisses his temple. "I know."

[escueladeespaol1-blog]

ten Top Tips For Effectively Learning to speak spanish Quickly

escuela de español en Barcelona If a person are considering learning to speak spanish or even have just started away, after that these10 tips tend to be designed especially for you! This would be great with regard to an individual if you might use all of all of them an excellent not, pick out there those that you may use as well as implement them.

escuela de español en Barcelona

1 ) Psychological Preparation:

Too many individuals believe that they will become able to just get the first Spanish training course away a shelf and also inside a few weeks end up being able to hold straight down a full blown discussion within Spanish... nothing can be farther from the reality! Learning Spanish is difficult and anyone who states various is either growing upon the facts a small or, a qualified linguist, which does make these a specialist in their area I guess! Being ready psychologically for the challenge forward will always be the key ingredient within your achievement.

Do not set your self unreachable targets, like having the ability to speak Spanish fluently inside 6 weeks! There is actually nothing which is more probably to make you provide up your own quest compared to consistently faltering to accomplish your goals so anyone should continually be realistic.

two. Physical Preparing:

There are usually hundreds of different The spanish language courses out there numerous of that are expensive, however when it comes in order to becoming fluent in spanish, cost does not really always equal quality.

Perform not be deceived through top branding and program materials that are associated with a high quality finish, certain they look along with really feel nice, heck, they might actually smell nice, but you may be wondering what truly matters is the top quality of information contained inside the study course, or much more to the point, the actual methods regarding teaching.

Appear for courses which allow you try them out and about first, go online in addition to find community forums or chat-rooms to see that which folks are using and such as and make your choice based on exactly what seems right for you... certainly not the cost. The best training isn't necessarily probably the most costly!

3. Choosing the CORRECT Romance language Course:

If you actually have done a few investigation on different programs as well as have a shortlist... you have to cut lose all all those which are not aimed at training you covert Spanish because a priority.

It's not to be able to say that learning sentence structure isn't important, but a lot of people get weighed down learning and memorize grammar guidelines that they lose view involving why they desired to understand Spanish throughout the first place; the particular pleasure that being capable to speak and also comprehend Spanish can bring.

You are going to enjoy learning Spanish a lot better and become much a lot more successful at this in case you are able for you to put several sentences with each other within a 7 days instead than being able to help successfully remember the everlasting article, topic pronouns along with whatever else very first few days of grammar research tosses at you.

Once a person are ready to go and talking Spanish with confidence, grammar will certainly become much easier in order to discover and it may just be a situation connected with tweaking what an individual already know.

four. Article Notes on EVERYTHING!

Noises funny I know, yet purchase yourself a prevent of post-its and stay them everywhere in your current home with the Spanish language term for that item written with them (with typically the exception of the spouse, kids and domestic pets, although tortoises are okay! ).

A person will be amazed in how fast you will choose up the vocabulary regarding everyday objects... 'Everyday' becoming the important word right here. We are never surprised any kind of longer through the vocabulary that will Spanish classes ask newbies to learn... I am talking about, exactly how many of us are generally going to make use of the terms bullfighting or clod with everyday conversation!

five. Melody in to Spanish TELEVISION and Radio:

Watching Speaking spanish speaking TV or hearing Spanish radio stations can help you obtain a sense for spoken The spanish language since well as keeping anyone caught up with subjects in which Romance language speaking people could possibly be speaking about.

Television might be better since it is simpler to understand what will be being stated if you actually have accompanying pictures.

In case you are busy around the home you could usually follow a method of studying I love to call 'subliminal Spanish'. Change the TV or perhaps radio on to a Spanish language speaking system, turn upward the volume, and and then get along with your chores. Generally there is no need to pay for any attention to just what is getting said.

More than time you will begin to pick out certain words and phrases without concentrating as nicely as becoming utilized to listening to how Spanish is usually voiced.

It is a great idea to begin with news kind programs very first as often the pronunciation is usually any great deal clearer and easy to understand. But sport is not necessarily a good choice since the commentators do tend to be able to get yourself a little excited in addition to talk very quickly, even though it is pleasant for you to listen to!

6. Create Your Personal Flashcards:

We would suggest that a person generate flashcards to assist you learn terminology, somewhat than buying them. I propose this for three factors:

The reason why spend unnecessarily whenever it's basic cheaper to help make them oneself! An individual are able to produce cards utilizing words this are most useful for you The process of really making them can help you keep in mind them, in fact most of the cards you make may well be unnecessary prior to you even use these people!

seven. Become Involved within your Local Speaking spanish Local community:

For those of an individual that live near to, or maybe within, a The spanish language communicating neighborhood, try to blend as much as feasible into their social actions, use the local Romance language conversing supermarkets or day to day, participate in with your Spanish language speaking neighbours whenever achievable.

Not only will this particular benefit your studies however, you will receive a whole lot of help as well as support as well as creating excellent Spanish speaking buddies.

eight. Use Online Sources:

If you don't possess some sort of Spanish neighborhood near to you, or perhaps you are not able to receive Spanish TV SET as well as radio networks, then your following best thing is in order to make use of the internet. There usually are many resources for example chat-rooms, open forums, pod-casts and also PCTV networks which are almost all easily accessible online along with may all be utilized to practice your own personal Speaking spanish... so get browsing in addition to use them!

9. Make use of a Spanish Verb Trainer:

Becoming fluent in spanish verbs is probably the actual most difficult portion of understanding Spanish and also 1 of the most essential. Using a verb instructor that may help you do this far more efficiently is a good decision. If there is one particular area that is frequently overlooked by many college students it is the proper use of verbs. Verbs are important as these people seem sensible of your phrases and in The spanish language they will are doubly important while additionally they indicate who is definitely performing the particular action.

The actual best way to find out a new verb quickly as well as efficiently is to utilize a verb conjugator or even a verb conjugation training course. A good verb coaching program will help you to select typically the verb you want to be able to study and in whatever tense you select and subsequently provide the drills to coach you. The aim is actually to create learning Romance language easier and a action-word conjugation trainer will perform which.

10. Total Concentration:

In case money and period are not a issue for you personally, then the greatest way to learn Spanish language is to invest inside a total concentration training course located in a Speaking spanish speaking country.

Not just are you going to learn the nearby language however you will additionally be immersed into often the tradition and customs associated with your hosting companies as properly as the local method of life. Captivation lessons are not as pricey as they once had been but, continue to be beyond the actual reach of numerous.

[experiencespanishlanguage-blog]

twelve Top Tips For Properly Learning to speak spanish Quickly

expanish.com If a person are considering learning to speak spanish or maybe have just started out and about, subsequently these10 tips tend to be designed tailored for you! The idea would be great with regard to an individual if you might use all of these people in case not, pick available those that you need to use along with implement them.

expanish.com

- Mind Preparation:

Too many individuals believe they will become able to just seize the first Spanish study course off of a shelf in addition to in a few weeks end up being able to hold along a full blown chat within Spanish... nothing can be farther from the real truth! Learning Spanish is challenging and anyone who affirms distinct is either increasing upon the fact a very little or, a qualified linguist, which does make these individuals an experienced in their discipline I guess! Being ready in your mind for the challenge ahead of time will always be the key ingredient in the good results.

Do not set your self unreachable targets, like having the capacity to speak Spanish fluently inside 6 weeks! There is usually nothing that is certainly more very likely to make you present up your own personal quest when compared with consistently not being able to obtain your goals so anyone should regularly be realistic.

only two. Physical Prep:

There are usually hundreds of different The spanish language courses out there a lot of of that happen to be expensive, however when it comes in order to becoming fluent in spanish, cost does not necessarily always equal quality.

Accomplish not be deceived by simply top branding and training materials that are involving a high quality finish, confident they look as well as really feel nice, heck, they can possibly smell nice, but you may be asking yourself what genuinely matters is the top quality of information contained in the training course, or far more to the point, typically the methods connected with teaching.

Appearance for courses in which enable you try them away first, go online and also find message boards or chat-rooms to see the other folks are using and similar to and make your judgement based on exactly what senses right for you... definitely not the cost. The best program isn't necessarily by far the most costly!

3. Choosing the APPROPRIATE Romance language Course:

If you actually have done a number of study on different lessons along with have a shortlist... it is advisable to cut lose all individuals which are not aimed at instructing you audio Spanish while a priority.

This is simply not to be able to say that learning sentence structure isn't important, but lots of people get weighed down learning and memorize grammar regulations that they lose look associated with why they wished to understand Spanish throughout the first place; often the satisfaction that being ready to speak in addition to know Spanish can bring.

You may enjoy learning Spanish very much better and turn into much considerably more successful at the idea in the event that you are able for you to put some sentences jointly within a 7 days instead than being able to help successfully remember the everlasting article, issue pronouns as well as whatever else an few days of grammar analysis carries out at you.

Once a person are installed and operating and conversing Spanish with assurance, grammar can become much easier in order to discover and it will probably just be a event regarding tweaking what an individual already know.

some. Posting Notes on EVERYTHING!

Appears funny I know, yet get yourself a wedge of post-its and remain them everywhere in your personal home with the Spanish language expression for that thing written in it (with the actual exception within your spouse, young children and house animals, although tortoises are fine! ).

A person will be amazed with how fast you will decide on up the vocabulary regarding everyday objects... 'Everyday' becoming the important word below. Therefore i'm never surprised just about any longer with the vocabulary this Spanish training ask starters to learn... Come on, man, precisely how many of us are generally going to utilize terms bullfighting or clod with everyday conversation!

your five. Beat in to Spanish TELEVISION and Radio:

Watching Speaking spanish speaking TV or enjoying Spanish radio stations will certainly help you obtain a sense for spoken The spanish language seeing that well as keeping anyone updated with subjects which Romance language speaking people could possibly be discussing.

Television would likely be better currently much easier to understand what is definitely being explained if you actually have accompanying pictures.

For anyone who is busy around the property you could often choose a method of studying I love to call 'subliminal Spanish'. Switch the TV as well as radio upon a Spanish language speaking networking, turn upwards the volume, and in that case connect with your chores. Right now there is no need to have any attention to just what is getting said.

Around time you will commence to pick out certain words and phrases without concentrating as nicely as becoming employed to reading how Spanish is actually spoke.

It is a fine idea first of all news variety programs initial as the particular pronunciation is usually any great deal clearer and simple to comprehend. Nonetheless sport is not really a good choice for the reason that commentators do tend to be able to get yourself a little excited and also chat very quickly, though it is satisfying for you to listen to!

6. Help make Your Individual Flashcards:

My spouse and i would suggest that a person generate flashcards to support you learn language, somewhat than buying them. I would recommend this for three motives:

Precisely why spend unnecessarily any time it's simple cheaper to help make them oneself! An individual are able to make cards applying words that will are most useful for your requirements The process of truly making them will assist you to recall them, in fact a lot of the cards you make may well be well not required ahead of you even use all of them!

8. Become Involved within your Local Speaking spanish Group:

For those of an individual that live alongside, or even within, a The spanish language discussing neighborhood, try to mixture as much as feasible into their social pursuits, use the local Romance language talking supermarkets or day-to-day, interact in with your Spanish language speaking friends and neighbors whenever achievable.

Not only will this kind of benefit your studies however, you will receive a whole lot of help along with reassurance as well as generating brand-new Spanish speaking pals.

6. Use Online Solutions:

If you don't get some sort of Spanish neighborhood shut to you, otherwise you can not receive Spanish TV SET or perhaps radio networks, then this up coming best thing is in order to utilize internet. There usually are many resources for instance chat-rooms, open forums, pod-casts in addition to PCTV networks which might be most easily accessible online as well as could all be employed to practice your own Speaking spanish... so get browsing on and also use them!

9. Work with a Spanish Verb Trainer:

Becoming fluent in spanish verbs is probably typically the most difficult section of understanding Spanish and also 1 of the most significant. Using a verb dog trainer that will help do this much more efficiently is a smart choice. If there is one particular area that is generally overlooked by many scholars it is the appropriate use of verbs. Verbs are important as these people be the better choice of your essay sentences and in The spanish language they will are doubly important because additionally, they indicate who will be performing often the action.

Typically the best way to find out a new verb quickly along with properly is to employ a verb conjugator or maybe a verb conjugation exercise program. A good verb teaching program will assist you to select the actual verb you want to be able to study and in either tense you decide and after that provide the drills to practice you. The aim is usually to help make learning Romance language easier and a action-word conjugation trainer will accomplish in which.

10. Total Concentration:

In the event that money and time period are not a difficulty for yourself, then the ideal way to learn Spanish language is to invest inside a total saut study course located in a Speaking spanish speaking country.

Not merely can you learn the community language however you will likewise be immersed into the particular traditions and customs involving your website hosts as properly as the local technique of life. Captivation programs are not as pricey as they once were being but, will still be beyond typically the reach of countless.

[longgonegays]

LGG’s Long Gone Days Chapter 1 (pre-update) Review

A year in the making!

PREFACE

In April 2018, I played through Long Gone Days for the second time. I had more of a critical eye after my first run through, and I wanted to write down my impressions. However, I got incredibly busy and wasn’t able to publish my initial reactions. As of now, I have played through the story a third time, alternating endings all the way, and even though the game is getting a MAJOR update probably soon, I figured I might as well post my thoughts and suggestions here!

SPOILERS BELOW

THE GOOD STUFF

Let me start off by saying that the art is phenomenal. I’ve loved it ever since the first demo was released in 2016, and it’s honestly one of the best looking RPGs I’ve played in a long, long time. The characters are interesting and have lots of room for growth, the music is atmospheric and cool, the devs are responsive, the story is unique, and the community is new and exciting! There’s so many good things. I can’t tell you how many people I’ve shared this game with. One of my friends even backed the indiegogo along with me!

As with any up-and-coming Early Access title, there’s bound to be mistakes or mechanics that could be optimized better. I’ve found many things that have the potential to make a greater impact on the player if done a little differently. However, I am no video game developer, so if any of my suggestions on the technical side are impossible, just know it’s not my intention to make the team do 500 more hours of work. :P

LET’S GET INTO IT!

There are different categories of issue. They will be sorted chronologically and marked as CONSISTENCY, GAMEPLAY, LANGUAGE, STORY, or TYPO.

TYPO: A pretty crucial one! The directions tell you to press X to shoot the drones in the tutorial, but when pressed, X does nothing. Z is the correct key.

CONSISTENCY: There should be a period after the word "half". All other notes at this point end in complete sentences, so it feels strange to not end the same way.

CONSISTENCY: The lowercase b in "Power bar" should be "Power Bar" since it appears that way in the Consumables menu, and it is properly capitalized when another one is picked up later on.

STORY: It's a little strange that the Shooting Range Clerk can fix a broken elevator card. I would've never related the quest to him; I actually didn't solve it the first time because I didn't think talking to the clerk was worth it. Unless there's a briefly explained in-story reason for him knowing how to fix them, another NPC beside him or even a sign with something akin to "Repair" in the description would give the quest direction more of a hint. (Just as an aside, it would be neat to return to the Kitchen Clerk and discuss what you saw thanks to the fixed card!)

TYPO: The description should read "has run out of batteries" and not "has ran". It would read "ran" if it were simple past tense (The watch ran out of batteries), but not when it's the past participle (anything with has/have). 

LANGUAGE: You could say "The following series of exercises only take five minutes at the time...", meaning it would only take 5 minutes to do them on the field, but it may flow better with the way the phrase is most commonly used, "...only take five minutes at a time", or just shortening it to "...only take five minutes."

TYPO: Instead of "Why are we hiding for?" it should either be "What are we hiding for?" or "Why are we hiding?"

TYPO: The real hut code is 07734, but afterwards, it states in both the Quest List and the Notes that it is 007734, which is incorrect.

CONSISTENCY: The Quests for Kaliningrad are available in the menu a little early. You have access to them before you get to the stone bridge on the right and fight The Core soldiers for the first time. The player hasn’t even met Ivan at this point.

TYPO: This is the beginning of the quest. "Found" should be "Find" since we haven't actually found her sister yet.

TYPO: “Forget” should be "I almost forgot", since "I told you I'd bring cake" is past tense.

GAMEPLAY: The "find the items" prompt only appears AFTER you collect the first item for Gleb's mother. Before that, it's just "convince the mother to go to Gleb's house". It would make more sense for the description to switch immediately to "Find the items" after she tells you which items she needs. (Sidenote: If someone accidentally clicks through the dialogue too fast, they'll have no idea what they're looking for. It may help to list Flower Pot, Painting, and Toy to show what items are needed.)

CONSISTENCY: Any time you talk to a group of two people, it's the same dialogue. It sets up the expectation that I'd just get the same words over and over no matter which person I talked to or in which order. HOWEVER, in Pay It Forward, the dialogue differs depending on which woman you talk to in the Residential District. You MUST talk to the lady on the left. I couldn't figure out how to solve this quest the first time because I didn't know who to look for (I thought I had seen all NPC dialogue since I already talked to the lady on the right). This is a minor gripe in the grand scheme of things, but I felt like I had to mention it.

STORY: Pay It Forward ends with you giving Anton the Conduct Pass. Yuliya (Downhearted Lady's Sister)'s dialogue doesn't change after progress reaches 100%, and she'll keep telling you to talk to the Residential District woman. A change in dialogue could help emphasize the fact that the quest is COMPLETE and no further action is needed on the player's part, just like the Business-Savvy Woman's dialogue changes after completion of the same quest.

TYPO: Just past participle again! "An uprising has began" should be "An uprising has begun".

TYPO: In the battle before you meet up with Ivan and Adair, an 's' should be added to make "Aggressive Soldier". I posted this one on the Bug Report forums a while ago, so I’m guessing it’ll probably be fixed in the next update.

GAMEPLAY: Maybe give a warning that Adair's going to heal you after the battle? I used a ton of my food for the first playthrough because I anticipated more fighting. Perhaps include some dialogue of Adair saying something like "I'll heal you properly after we fight the soldiers inside of the house." It would save some people from using too many of their resources too early and wasting them.

TYPO: "Why are you standing here for?" should be "Why are you standing here?" or the correct phrase, "What are you standing here for?"

GENERAL SUGGESTIONS

GAMEPLAY: You mentioned planning to implement the option to switch control keys, which is great. I think the second most popular suggestion is to Toggle Shift (and add Right Shift) instead of having to hold it down every time you want to run. Both will save a lot of fingers!

STORY: Instead of “[Enemy] has fainted” you can put "[Enemy] is down". It is ambiguous yet straightforward if you really want to avoid the word "dead". The fact that the Gun Drones “faint” as well seems questionable. Using “down” or “has been downed” would eliminate the strange phrasing and make a little more sense.

GAMEPLAY: More information in the Kaliningrad Quest descriptions! In Pay It Forward, it would be good to specify within the description that the sister has red pants. In Searching for the Cure, noting the location of the pharmacy would help, even if it just mentions heading North. In Animal Rescue, tell the player to head East to find the Animal Advocate; add a sign for the Residential District! In The Lost Girl, include Lynn's hints about a sandy / dirt-filled location. The very first time I ran around starting these quests, it was incredibly confusing trying to navigate the map effectively and remember which direction things were. Especially when the descriptions are so vague; you have to remember a lot of tiny details only referenced in the Quest Start dialogue, and there's no guarantee the player will recall all of them if they're solving a bunch of quests at a time. Small hints can go a long way.

GAMEPLAY: All quests appear to be able to be completed as soon as you enter the area. However, it would make things INFINITELY easier if they were sorted in "Not Started", "In Progress", and "Completed" tabs. It's a bit of a hassle to scroll through and find which quests you're working on, especially since they aren't sorted chronologically or alphabetically. Additionally, "Locked" quests could be greyed out ones that cannot be completed anymore or ones that cannot be started at that point in the story. Some organization would be nice!

GAMEPLAY / STORY: After playing the game, my friend had this to say: "One thing I would like to see more game-mechanics-wise is the option of using stealthier methods of taking down enemies. For example, when you can sneak around the gun drone in Kaliningrad nighttime, have it so you can utilize your high vantage point (the rooftop) to snipe down enemies and avoid direct conflict."

I absolutely agree that Sniper Mode should be used more. It only makes sense. Why charge into battle with a long-range weapon? Even if Rourke has other methods of fighting, wouldn't he want to prevent close-quarters situations in the first place? That guy even has his back turned! Ambush opportunities are not used effectively.

LANGUAGE: A LOT of the dialogue could use more contractions. For example, at the beginning, Lynn saying "They are here!" would take longer rather than "They're here!", and she'd probably want to get the information across to Rourke faster. This isn't a necessary fix, as everything is readable without contractions, and some characters may just have a tendency to speak like that, but it would make the dialogue seem more realistic and flow more naturally for most of the cases.

CONCLUSION. . .

Long Gone Days is a wonderful game. I would recommend that everyone at least play the first 30 minutes, because it is definitely something else. I still get very emotional at certain points, like that scene with the Civilian Fighter where they first speak in Russian but then try to sound things out in English, finally telling Rourke "We are counting on you. Good luck." It gets me EVERY TIME. It's such a good and powerful moment, couldn't stop half smiling half tearing up when I read it the first time. The text speed and how it was presented was really effective.

I loved the Boss fight as well! The fact that the morale boosting events were saved for the very end of that chapter made it much more impactful than the consistent battle-to-battle challenges in the demo. During my first playthrough, I had to stop myself from letting the Lieutenant use his Attack because of how freakin' COOL the art and animation looked! Everyone’s cut-ins are great!

Unsolicited Advice-Giving Soldier is also hilarious, and I think sprinkling that kind of humor in is very important in a game like this. :P

Overall, I love this game. I really want it to grow. It’s a lot of fun to talk and theorize about, and Chapters 2 and 3 should have no shortage of conversation material. With a bit of polish, Chapter 1 could be an even more effective introduction to the dangers the Kaliningrad Squad will have to endure in the future!

Thank you for reading! I’m looking forward to the full release!

[roxyallnutt]

Reflective journalism Kolb Cycle

The Marshmallow Challenge

Experience It seems only right to reflect on a Creative Technologies experience that left me questioning and reflecting days after the exercise actually took place. “The Marshmallow Challenge is a game for learning about innovation, creativity, teams, collaboration as well as the value of early prototyping and incremental delivery”, Wujec, (2018). I believe that this task sets a good representation of the common issues and challenges faced as designers in the Creative Technologies world.

"It's a simple task", Ricardo explained as he handed each group 15 sticks of raw spaghetti, a metre of masking tape and a baby pink marshmallow. The rules that followed were simple too. Construct the tallest freestanding structure with the resources given within an 18-minute timeframe. I worked in a group of semi unfamiliar faces. Because of this, I felt I had an advantage as there was no familiarity within the group members, there were no limits for expression and ideas due to the diversity and opportunities in a new group.

Firstly, I prefer working in teams like this. As an extroverted person, I enjoy new groups where I can voice issues and options while learning from fresh faces. Within the first five minutes of the challenge, I could pick up that the group was quite diverse in terms of engagement. We were divided between the talkative, the hands-on and the quiet. Our biggest problem was agreeing on what type of base, to begin with, and then worried about the height after. As most of us had no experience in this type of exercise it took a while for us to establish a concept worth pursuing, the time pressure wavering did not help. We began with a quick sketch and small discussion. We aimed for a tripod like frame with height increasing through the middle conjoint. We began with a triangular base which was made to add stability to the tower, then added spaghetti piece after piece to the middle frame. This lead to the final few minutes when the marshmallow was placed on top. Unfortunately, our second biggest issue was the actual placement of the marshmallow. 15 minutes had already passed and our marshmallow was untouched. I guess we figured that it was light and easily manipulated so it wouldn't be an issue. The second the marshmallow was added our structure began to topple to the right. Yikes, what a near miss. In the end, we completed the challenge with a semi-standing structure which we were proud of.

Observations As the timer eventually sounded I sighed in relief. We had a standing structure, but we just knew it wasn't the tallest of the class. I looked around the room to see a coalition of strange misshaped towers, many of which were not standing. I was annoyed with myself when I looked back to our structure. We were so invested in the base footing and time pressure that we seriously lacked in the height aspect and not much support was given to our surprisingly heavy little marshmallow to stand upon.

Tom Wujec (2018), explained: “the Marshmallow is a Metaphor for the Hidden Assumptions of a Project”. The lesson in the marshmallow challenge is that we need to identify the assumptions in our project-the real customer needs, the cost of the product, the duration of the service – and test them early and often. That’s the mechanism that leads to effective innovation.” From the combination of our discussion with Ricardo and readings into Wujec's finding, I understand why this exercise has a deep connection to my studies in BCT. Through the many projects and assignments, I am yet to experience, this exercise has taught me to be wary of each aspect of any project that needs stability and recognition in order for success. Any assumptions made may be the failure point in my design ideation. This was evidently seen by the many groups including us who did not factor in our marshmallow nearly enough.  

In a later class discussion, Ricardo mentioned that "There will always be one that will sit back and take the back-foot". As mentioned before due to our team's diversity there were members that preferred to stay quiet and observe. While the challenge was highly competitive with a whole bag of lollies on the line, I wonder, if the challenge was also implemented to test a fresh team where each member needs to be equally involved. In situations like this exercise, it is very easy to become polarised by the more vocal leader, this was apparent in my group. This aspect restrains potential creativity from quieter members and lacks diversity in group involvement. Pirola‐Merlo, A., & Mann, L. (2004), this study explains how creativity in groups can be impacted by how much each person wants to contribute. I noticed that some members in my group decided to contribute their opinion only after the action was executed. For example, we used small bits of tape to bundle lots of two spaghetti stands together, it wasn't until after this was finished, a member spoke out and asked to complete bundles of 3 with more tape this time. Diversity in groups is important in the creative industries as team members are encouraged to contribute highly to avoid being one track minded by one leader.  An improvement here could have been seen if my group ideated many possible designs together with the contribution from all rather than putting all our focus into one idea.

Reflect Our discussion with Ricardo concluded with the mention of preschool students thriving in this type of challenge environment compared to a class of business students. Basically, give them the same exact conditions for this project and watch as they prototype, refine and execute outstandingly. This made sense to me, pre-schooled students are inaudibly using the creative strategies "asking questions, comparing and contrasting solutions, evaluating solutions". Zachopoulou, E., Trevlas, E., Konstadinidou, E., & Archimedes Project Research Group. (2006). It is interesting to me how as I have grown up these strategies are forgotten and now are being re-established to me in a creative degree. It makes sense for preschool students to excel in exercises like this as their ability to rework and rework is natural to them. Ricardo explained how multiple groups in my class would begin the challenge with their plan, and then follow through from there. Exactly what we did. A method used by myself and my team members daily. "Planning the implementation of a chosen goal, however, poses a problem associated with different task demands." Bayer, U. C., & Gollwitzer, P. M. (2005). We are typically engineered to consider the best way for success in these situations is too diverse a plan and execute accordingly. The greatest take away was to avoid the habit of planning a concept too early in the process and following it exactly. This completely limited our ability to make design changes, when issues arose during the challenge we did not stop and say let's try something new, we rather worked away until that aspect eventually worked for us.

Other skills that I have taken away: I am aware that there are more ways to implement problem-solving. I have also taken away second thoughts to my team contribution strategies. How a better-structured brainstorm or ideation can be facilitated to involve every member of the group rather than lead by one or two people. It is also significant for each team member to have the confidence to spot issues when ideas are going off track and voice them in a non-critical way. A combination of these lessons to take away will become useful in future projects and assignments.

If I can take any main thing away from this challenge it would be that the marshmallow is a metaphor for hidden assumptions of any given project. This is a valuable lesson and one that is sure to be the make or break motive in projects to come I'm certain. I intend to practise the awareness of the marshmallows that are hidden in creative assignments to come.

References:

Wujec, T. (2018). Applying the Marshmallow Challenge in a Research Method.

Pirola‐Merlo, A., & Mann, L. (2004). The relationship between individual creativity and team creativity: Aggregating across people and time

Bayer, U. C., & Gollwitzer, P. M. (2005). Mindset effects on information search in self‐evaluation.

Zachopoulou, E., Trevlas, E., Konstadinidou, E., & Archimedes Project Research Group. (2006). The design and implementation of a physical education program to promote children’s creativity in the early years.

[alexchristin]

A Different Approach to Difficulty

The problem of difficulty in games has been debated to great depths for a long time. Various alternatives to the traditional approach with different difficulty modes at the beginning of a particular game have been proposed, analyzed and implemented. And yet, as much as they patch up the errors of the traditional approach, within them arise numerous inherent problems and difficulties. As such, I would like to propose another alternative–not so much a mechanical solution that requires implementation, but rather a different approach to difficulty design.

One thing I’d like to stress is that, this has been applied in various games quite successfully before, and I’ll mention them later on, but not to the extent to which it can deservedly become a central design philosophy, in my opinion. This I presume is due to a lack of a rather clear and deliberate approach to difficulty design.

But first, let me attempt to briefly summarize a few popular criticisms of the traditional difficulty modes approach and its alternative.

Problems with Difficulty Modes

Picture yourself coming into a brand new game, only to be asked to choose a difficulty mode that’s suitable for yourself, and presented with a number of different menu options. And frankly, they don’t do that good of a job at giving you sufficient information to make such an important decision. This is how many games in our history have done difficulty, and it continues to be fairly prevalent among modern games.

Here are its common criticisms:

Asking the player to make such a decision right at the beginning is not exactly a good idea. To select a difficulty mode before the game even starts is to make a major commitment based on very little information available (e.g. a short description). Once the player has selected a difficulty, they are probably going to live with it for the entire playthrough.

Even if the game allows the player to change the difficulty mode later on, it is, in itself, still not a very good idea. For one, explicitly selecting a difficulty mode in a menu-based manner is certainly not an interesting choice that games strive to offer their players. They do not have to weigh anything against anything. They do not have to analyze the risks and rewards coming as a result of each option. And generally speaking, players are not going to be good at weighting short-term convenience against long-term enjoyment. They just do not know the game enough.

Such approach would defeat the entire point of progression through unlocking higher and better tools to enhance and assist with gameplay. It would go against the intended gameplay experience from the game designer. And most importantly, it would make the player feel judged for not choosing a higher difficulty.

There have been several solutions to negate these issues, of which Mark Brown has gone into depths in one of his videos. However, not one of them was able to solve them all and still maintain immersion.

Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment

The idea of Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment (or DDA) hinges on the theory of the player’s Flow State, in which the player is completely immersed, and the game’s difficulty feels just right. Any more difficulty will cause frustration and break immersion. Any less difficulty and the player will quickly find boredom, and you guessed it, lose immersion. Therefore, as designer Andrew Glassner put it in his book Interactive Storytelling, games “should not ask players to select a difficulty level. Games should adapt themselves during gameplay to offer the player a consistent degree of challenge based on his changing abilities at different tasks.” Or in other words, games should be implemented with a performance evaluation system as well as a dynamic difficulty adjustment system in order to adjust itself to accommodate the infinitely different and ever-changing characteristics of players. More on the technical details of DDA can be found in Robin Hunicke’s 2005 paper The Case for Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment in Games.

However, while the Flow State theory admittedly has its merits, the DDA approach doesn’t go without its numerous downsides:

Some players, when they find out about DDA, hate it. Especially when DDA cannot be turned off, the player ends up feeling patronized, and not respected by the game as an adult, capable of taking on challenges and improving him/herself.

Players can, and will, learn to exploit DDA by pretending to be worse at playing than they actually are. And oftentimes, a DDA system will require some sort of break time in order to avoid revealing itself to the player, thus not able to quickly adapt itself to the player’s ostensible skill level.

DDA inhibits the player’s ability to learn and improve. As soon as the player improves, the difficulty ramps up to match their skill level, thus eliminating the possibility of positive results. If the player cannot see some sort of feedback from the game regarding their performance, they cannot know whether any changes in their approach to gameplay were effective.

DDA may create absurdities. One of the popular example of DDA going awry is the rubber-band effect in racing games, where opponents speed up and slow down seemingly for no reason in order to adapt to the player’s performance.

DDA is incompatible with some forms of challenge. If the challenge in question is numerically-based, then DDA can work easily. However, when the challenge is symbolical, with pre-designed elements that are nakedly visible to the player, often having only one or a few intended solutions, then DDA cannot work.

There are many interesting and nuanced approaches to DDA that I won’t mention since that’s beyond the scope of this segment. While I imagine there are going to be a lot of way to make DDA functional and sufficiently inscrutable through clever algorithms and implementation, I am rather discussing the fundamentals.

Organic Difficulty in Games

There seems to be a number of different terms to address this approach, but just for this article I’m going to use the term “Organic Difficulty.” This is something that has been tossed around in the last decade or so.

The basic idea of Organic Difficulty is that the game does not ask the players to select or adjust their preferred difficulty via GUI-based commands, nor does it automatically adapt itself to match with the player’s performance and progress. But rather, the game allows the player to interact with it in certain ways to make it easier, or harder, for themselves. These take the form of tools, approaches, strategies, input sequences or methods, etc. which should often come with some sort of trade-off.

This is something that has been implemented in a number of games including From Software’s Dark Souls, which Extra Credits has dedicated an entire episode to, and which everyone should take a look.

In Metal Gear Solid V, for every mission the player has completed, there’s a score rating system which provides a rough overview of the player’s performance based on a number of factors such as stealth, lethality, accuracy, completion speed, whether the player has completed any mission tasks, and what tools they used. While the player does get minus points for mistakes such as getting detected, raising enemy alert, taking hits, etc. some other factors are not as clear-cut as to how they constitute minus points aside from narrative reasons. The player can always go on a lethal rampage, tossing grenades at everybody in sight, or calling a support helicopter to airstrike the entire enemy base. The player is provided the tools to do exactly all of those, and they’re always just a few buttons away, and the worst they get is a C rank, provided they completed the mission, and a slight dip in their earnings.

Another example of this can be found XCOM: Enemy Within. There’s a “cheesy” tactic in the game that can almost ensure victory, which is to have a unit with the Mimetic Skin ability to safely spot the enemies, thus enabling a squadsight-sniper from across the entire map to pick them off one-by-one safely without any real repercussion. This strategy is extremely effective in virtually every mechanical aspect of combat, with the only risk being that the spotter must not be flanked for they would instantly lose invisibility. The actual problem with this strategy is that it’s incredibly boring: your snipers just simply shoot every turn, and you can only take a few shots every turn, not to mention reloading. This strategy is best suited for beginners and people who have made mistakes and want to get out of the downward spiral. While on the other end of the spectrum, there are players who understand how the game and the AI of every alien unit in the game work, so they are more confident about moving up close and personal with enemies with minimal armor. Because for them, it’s not about defending against the enemies, but about manipulating, “nudging” the enemies into behaving the way these players want them to (e.g. nobody needs armor when enemies are only going to attack the tank; nobody needs to take good cover when enemies are too scared to move to flank in front of an Opportunist-overwatch unit; etc.)

The above examples seem to imply a few important points regarding difficulty:

Difficulty should not only be designed around the mechanics of a game. It should also take into account the aesthetics or elegance of those very mechanics.

Punishment does not always have to be tangible or significant, as long as it is enough to indicate to players that they are straying off the intended experience. A good analogy would be physical pain. The pain itself is not what’s causing harm to your body. The physical wound is. Pain is merely a bodily signal to let you know that what’s happening right now is pretty bad and you probably shouldn’t let what just happened happen again. But remember, the choice is ultimately yours!

It may not be a good idea to put people on the linear graph of “gaming skill” where some people are simply “softcore, not-so-good at video games” and some other are “hardcore and always challenge-seeking.” The idea alone is absurd, because players on such a graph would move up and down constantly, even during a single playthrough. Some people pick things up faster than a game can predict with its tutorials’ pacing. Some people due to real life reasons have to abandon the game for some time, and they lose a bit of their touch when they come back to it.

Instead of judging the player’s skill and trying to accommodate every possibility, games should be judging player interactions instead, using a spectrum between Effectiveness and Aesthetics of Play (or what I shall humbly name Ludoaesthetics).

The Effectiveness-Ludoaesthetics Spectrum (ELS)

On the Effectiveness-Ludoaesthetics Spectrum (ELS), difficulty exists only at the lowest technical level. Each end of the ELS represents what each player wants at a certain point in the game with certain conditions. On this spectrum, games are designed with the player’s interactions, approaches and strategies in mind, each with its own degree of effectiveness and ludoaesthetics. These are not solely defined by mechanics or the player’s skill level, but rather the way in which they are experienced and perceived by the player.

Effectiveness refers to how well the player can progress and achieve their goals in a game using the set of tools they’re given and the strategies they’re allowed to formulate. How easy those tools are to use, and how good they are at helping the player progress towards the game’s intended goals, primarily constitute Effectiveness. Players who aim towards and stay on this end primarily look for the most effective ways to achieve the intended goals of the game (which of course include playing the game the easy way).

Ludoaesthetics refers to the perceivable aesthetic appeals of the aforementioned set of tools and strategies given to the players. Players who aim towards this end do not necessarily look for the most effective ways to achieve the intended goals. But rather they tend to look for the added intrinsic benefits derived from unconventional play. These benefits include:

Superficial Attractiveness: Visual and auditory appeal of using the subject matter or the subject matter itself. It can be represented by any entity the player can recognize in the game such as a character with great visual design, a badass-looking weapon with satisfying visual and sound effects, etc.

Competitiveness: a.k.a. bragging rights. This is rather self-explanatory. There is always that portion of players who keep seeking greater and greater challenges to prove themselves to the world. They may even go as far as handicapping themselves with arbitrary limitations to heighten the challenge.

Greater sense of satisfaction derived from greater challenges that may go beyond the goals intended by the game. People who have been through heights of overwhelming odds know about, and may expect, the immense amount of satisfaction that comes with them.

Narrative Fantasy: Players may look for things that may not be effective or productive in terms of gameplay because they would align with the narrative better (in games that understandably contain some degree of ludonarrative dissonance), or they would add an extra layer of depth and intensity to the narrative and thereby enhancing it. Essentially, they’re sacrificing gameplay optimality to elevate their narrative fantasy.

Design for Ludoaesthetics

The point of designing for ludoaesthetics is NOT to create increasingly harder challenges in order to accommodate the player’s increasing skills (though that is not to say such approach has no merits whatsoever). But rather, it is actually to encourage players to strive for aesthetics in their gameplay and to lean more towards the right side of the spectrum.

Here are a few suggestions on how to go about it.

Creating more depth

Depth refers to the amount of space the player is allowed to make interesting choices using the set of tools they’re given by a game. For a more detailed explanation of what Depth is in comparison to Complexity, you can take a look at Extra Credits’ episode on Depth vs. Complexity.

Essentially, Complexity is the amount of constituent elements that make up a game, and Depth is the degree of interactivity between those elements. The very nature of ludoaesthetics has to do with the deviation from the default, intended approach (a.k.a. Playing “by-the-book.”) Therefore, the more those elements “talk” to one another, the better chance it is for ludoaesthetics to emerge, because then the player will be able to find more different ways to control or manipulate each element.

[Also read: Design for Theorycrafting]

Depth is pretty much the prerequisite for ludoaesthetics even as a concept to exist. Without a lot of depth, the window of opportunities for ludoaesthetics get significantly lower or completely non-existent.

Creating patterns suggesting the possibility of gameplay aesthetics

Adding more depth is not only about simply adding more stuff in a game and making them as obscure as they possibly can be. It is also about leaving breadcrumbs to suggest that there is more than meets the eye, therefore encouraging players to explore further possibilities. What kind of depth to even add? And how does one go about communicating it?

Below is a conceptual representation of a set of challenges typically found in video games.

Each challenge is represented by a window of failure and a window of success. These windows can be spatial, temporal, symbolic, strategic, or a combination of all. They are the spaces in which the player enters by behaving in a certain expected way. Secondly, the black line represents the player’s interactive maneuvers: where to get across and which direction to turn to next, in order to overcome the set of challenges without stumbling into the windows of failure.

For example, say we have a situation in a 3D platformer game where the player is facing a pit, and across the pit leaning towards the right side there is a narrow platform. In such a scenario, we can assume that the window of failure includes any and all sets of behaviors that lead the player plummeting down the pit, and the window of failure includes those that lead the player to landing on the platform across the pit safely.

Now consider the same representation of challenge above, but this time with a slight deliberate arrangement.

As you can see, the sizes of the windows of failure and the windows of success stay exactly the same, but the positions of the windows of success have been altered so that they align somewhat (but not exactly aligned to the point of being too obvious). You can see that nested within the windows of success is a narrower window where the amount of the player’s maneuvers stays extremely minimal. Stepping into this window offers the opportunity for a non-disrupted gameplay flow, where a deliberate and guided set of behaviors will let the player “breeze” through the challenges seemingly almost with ease. This window is where ludoaesthetics occur.

Of course, the downsides of it are aplenty: it can be extremely difficult to realize such a window exists in a real scenario. And in order to stay inside such a narrow window, the player has to be extremely precise and/or smart in their gameplay. You can think of this window of non-disrupted flow as an intended “weak point” of the challenge, where a single and concentrated attack will break the whole thing apart in one fell swoop. But the process of identifying such a weak point, and delivering the finishing blow with great accuracy may require a lot of trials and errors, and can be extremely tedious and/or difficult.

An Example from Master Spy

A common manifestation of ludoaesthetics comes in the form of speedrunning. Finishing with speed is, for the majority of games, not the primary intended goal. Games are rarely ever designed to be speedrun, and most players do not have to finish any games at high speed in order to not miss anything. So speedrunning has always been a sort of arbitrary self-imposed challenge by those who seek greater sense of enjoyment from their favorite games.

However, there are a few exceptions. And you can find the above mentioned window of non-disrupted flow in levels like this one from Master Spy by Kris Truitt.

In this game you play the role of the Master Spy, to infiltrate ridiculously well-guarded buildings, palaces and fortresses with a huge number of different enemies, hazards and contraptions standing in your way. And you are given no tools whatsoever but an invisibility cloak that can help you sneak past the eyesight of certain enemies while halving your movement speed.

In the example above, your goal is to retrieve the keycard on the other side of the wall slightly to the right of your starting point, and then to escape through the white door right above your starting point safely. And while your cloak can get you past the eyesight of the guards, it is of no use whatsoever against the dogs, who can smell you even when you’re cloaked and will sprint forwards to attack you at horrendous speed as soon as you’re on the same ground as them.

So what you have to do as a sequence of actions in this level is first to cloak yourself, then drop down from the first ledge past the the first guard, then quickly decloak to regain speed as the cloak is useless against the incoming dogs. Then before the first dog reaches you, move forward to the right, then quickly jump up. Keep jumping to retrieve the keycard while avoiding the second and third dog. Cloak up, then get on the ledge with the three moving guards. Finally, jump to the left to reach your destination.

However, as you can see from the footage above (courtesy of a speedrunner nicknamed Obidobi), as soon as the player reaches the ledge with the three moving guards on the right, the guards turn to the other side and begin moving away from where the player is, effectively freeing the player from having to cloak and having their movement speed halved. And then right before the player reaches for the white door, the guard on the far right is about to touch the wall and thereby turning back to the left. This is such a tiny window of success that should the player not have begun moving right after they start the level and stayed uncloaked at the end, they would have failed. The level is designed in such a way that it can be completely solved without wasting any moment and action.

Is it significantly more difficult to play this way? Yes. Was this arrangement absolutely necessary? Not really. But the designer made the level with the expectation that people are going to speedrun the game and will be looking to optimize their timing with each level. Thus, the levels in Master Spy are designed so that should the player start looking to speedrun the game, they will easily recognize that sweet, sweet window of non-disrupted flow. It is an immensely satisfying experience to discover it.

Ensure Usability

As usual, it is easy to get too extremely logical about design and forget all about the equilibrium, which is almost always what design is about.

In this case, it is important that designers must ensure that whatever tools they’re making for their players to achieve ludoaesthetics, MUST have at least some sort of usability, even if it’s incredibly niche or extremely difficult to pull off. Things that serve nothing and mean nothing are NOT aesthetic. Say you have an RPG, and one of your players goes out of their way in order to build an unconventional character because they see some sort of future potential from this build, only to find out later that when they’re finished with the build, the meta of the game has changed and the window of opportunity for such a build has long passed. This means that the entire amount of depth you added, and the ludoaesthetics you might have intended by allowing that player to go in such away, is utterly useless and entirely wasted. So always remember to ensure usability for everything you add in your game.

Conclusion

Organic Difficulty and the ELS are not only, and not necessarily, an alternative solution to the whole difficulty problem. But rather, they represent an entire paradigm shift away from the idea that games should find more and more complex ways to serve players with different skill levels, and towards a design philosophy where players are given integrated tools within the context of games to set their own difficulty at any point without breaking immersion and perhaps the extra baggage of shame. It is not enough to have your players stay at the same level of difficulty throughout the game, or dynamically adjust the difficulty on the fly to suit them. It is best, in my opinion, to let your players cook to their palate. Just make sure that the process of cooking and the game itself are one and the same.

[hawlettservices]

Alternative Pain - Relief Options

Addiction and Recovery, first of all the expression addiction is a powerful or harmful must have something and recovery are understood to be the act of regaining or okay an average or healthy state. Recovery for some is easy said than done. You can find a number of addictions most think of drugs if your term addiction is heard, in fact you can find many. Some kinds of addiction are gambling, sex, eating, tobacco, nicotine while in the vaping industry, inhalants, pornography of different kinds, video games, internet, texting, television, shopping, cutting of self, pain, spiritual obsession, exercising, working also known as "The Workaholic" and more. I named a handful of and probably surprised you inside the aspect that you didn't know some addictions I named above are true to folks like you together with me. Surprise right? The Disease of Addiction Facts statistics in 2014 differ from researcher to researcher, so my educated guess is going to say between eight and ten million addicts in America and twenty-thirty million illegal substance abusers in America. Yearly the phone number is rising. Can you believe Dr. Mercola of mercola.com states that in 2011 "37,485 people died from drugs, a rate fueled by overdoses on prescription pain and anxiety medications, versus 36,284 from traffic accidents." Chances are in 2015 the numbers have risen even higher, meaning the best way to die from drug overdose by prescription medications not counting illegal drugs like cocaine, heroin, pcp, meth and the like the sheer numbers of deaths is even higher. Drug addiction and overdose is killing the best way to than cancer. I'd say we get this amazing problem on our hands. The Disease of Addiction Facts is certainly a problem in America. Researchers say one in three many people have a loved one with all the disease of addiction affecting them directly and another in eight have been affected indirectly. Wow sounds like a serious problem to me. Until the government discusses addiction as a genetic disease so enabling implement programs, funds and grants in place, helping us fight the ailment like they've already with cancer diabetes and thus forth. We must get out of bed as of this moment i am fighting a losing battle. America has to receive behind this problem. The us government doesn't put people behind bars for being affected by cancer, diabetes or any other diseases. Therefor the solution putting addicted drug users behind bars isn't the answer. We need to have help implementing more programs, scientific studies, clinics, rehab centers and things that give people fighting the illness of addiction an enhanced https://www.weedmegood.com/thc-wholesale-weed-for-sale/ to recover. Recovery is the key. Each addict has underlying conditions that have to be labored on through counseling, buy bulk weed , treatments as well as other methods. The Disease of Addiction Facts claim the identical addict you place behind bars will still that common problem when the individual gets released from prison. What exactly have we accomplished apart from costing tax payers money, money plus much more money. That is definitely not the answer. cheap pounds of weed turns their nose nearly this condition until they can be directly affected at this intensifying disease. A fantastic destination for a cheap thc cartridges for some other addicts, doctors, counselors, professional addiction specialist and others are these claims new designed site to help recover, grieve and overcome the adversity as either and addict, parent of loved one looking for support, Doctor, Abuse Counselor is this new Virtual Addiction and Recovery website and Mobile App inside pre-launch phase to become listed on email me around this would be the place or Facebook of addiction and recovery. God Bless and Recovering will be manufactured less complicated here.

[dinomightofficial]

Our Direction.

26/07/2018

We had a long discussion of lots of ideas for the direction of our project and where we currently see our progress in our yet to be determined timeline. We first analyzed the pros and cons of our previous semester outcome then created our next combined focus to improve/change.

We realized that the bones of our project consists of three core components that ultimately defined our perception of a self interpretative legacy (In order).

- Narrative

- Outcome/ Artifact (Sound)

- Physical Installation (Contraption)

The way I see it, the narrative can be taken apart into three different variations (In order):

- Supporting conceptual framework / theology <<<= We are Currently Here

- Content itself / Style of execution

- Format or medium of storytelling

We need to start all the way from the ground up if we want to take apart and re-analyze what made our previous project worked and what didn’t work. As best put by (videogamedunkey, 2016) on the context of difficulty in videogames: “But where this all gets muddled up is with the addition of Multiple difficulties, scaling difficulties, over-powered techniques, exploits, ranking systems. It get’s really messy when you start examining what’s fair, what's bullshit, what should be easier, what should be harder, there are so many variables and it is mostly subjective to each players skill level.”

I guess it is sort of relevant to difficulty in video games in that there are so many variables in our narrative. It is basically impossible to perfectly simulate a decision based story without creating at-least a few assumptions about each players characteristics/personality/values and beliefs. As a result of our previous project being sort of rushed and with so many areas to cover in such a short time we really had no in-depth theory or social concept to base our narrative off of. With the continuation of this project and with an entire semester to focus on something we are both already passionate about, we hope to cover the narrative with a lot more conceptual grounding this time around. Once we have thoroughly covered a large portion of the concepts and we are satisfied with the amount of resources we have available are we then going to then generate the content of our narrative. The content will then influence the sort of format or medium of storytelling we want to use that best suites our situations and scenarios. Preferably we would have liked to explore and somewhat briefly cover some of the modes of storytelling listed below but for the limited group size as well as the time constraints meant that we were limited to a text based narrative simply because it was the most straight forward format, least time consuming and easiest to implement. However, that being said we were well aware of the limitations that this type of storytelling also brought with it such as the fact that the written style reflected and assumed the personality of other characters in the narrative.

Our current mediums of storytelling that we are interested in exploring are:

- Film / Animation

- Images / Photography

- Choose your own adventure book

- ‘Scenario based’ rather than ‘Whole based life’

- Painting

- Audio Narration

- Comic

- Newspaper

- Letters / Pen Pal

- Receipt / Proof of Purchase

- Telephone / Voice Messages

- Photo Album

We are aware that each storytelling method presents its own pros and cons. The chosen medium of storytelling will be influenced by the conceptual resources that will be researched and chosen to be relevant.

Other Difficulties we need to face in our new Narrative:

- The previous Narrative was Hetero-Normative 

- Our values change as we age

- Though your ‘character’ in the narration may claim to have values changed throughout the simulation there is no point if the player still holds the same value

- Not EVERY possibility can be optioned and many of them must be assumed or generalized

References:

videogamedunkey. (2016). Difficulty in Videogames [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4_auMe1HsY

[michaelandy101-blog]

MozCon Digital 2021 Interview Collection: Ross Simmonds

New Post has been published on https://tiptopreview.com/mozcon-virtual-2021-interview-series-ross-simmonds/

MozCon Digital 2021 Interview Collection: Ross Simmonds

Whether or not you acknowledge his iconic tweets or have learn considered one of his content material exposés on among the world’s strongest manufacturers, Ross Simmonds has definitely made a reputation for himself within the content material world. By means of his expertise working with shoppers each giant and small, Ross has found the proper recipe for growing and distributing content material that may drive actual outcomes, and he’s able to share it with our MozCon viewers!

We’re completely thrilled to welcome him again to the MozCon stage, and we linked with him forward of the present to debate how he broke into the business, his content material philosophy, and what he’s trying ahead to at MozCon 2021.

Query: You’ve been masking content material creation and content material marketing for fairly a while, so may you inform us a bit about how you bought your begin? How did you set your self aside?

Ross: I received began in content material marketing by chance. It was a time when content material marketing actually wasn’t a factor. I received began by creating content material online about fantasy sports activities. My first weblog was all about fantasy soccer. I’d create content material 3 times every week writing about which gamers I believed had been going to carry out the very best, and other people from all around the world began to learn this content material and join with it whereas I used to be residing in my mother and father’ basement in the course of Nova Scotia, Canada.

That is when the sunshine bulbs went off that the web goes to be massive and that this complete thought of making content material online can provide the alternative to achieve hundreds of thousands of individuals.As I began to develop that fantasy soccer weblog, the site visitors went up whereas my marks went down and I needed to shift that fantasy soccer weblog right into a marketing weblog so I may fulfill my mum’s style of desirous to guarantee that I did good in class. She advised me to start out writing about marketing and so I did.

RossSimmonds.com grew to become my web site the place I created content material for years, and that ultimately began to get traction and engagement from individuals once more, all around the world, and ultimately I transitioned, once more, that RossSimmonds.com enterprise, which was simply me as a freelancer, into Foundation Marketing, which is a content material marketing company that works with B2B manufacturers throughout the globe on content material technique, content material creation, and content material distribution. I’ve persistently been placing out new content material regularly on my weblog, Twitter, LinkedIn, Fb, and and so forth., for a lot of, a few years and as such, individuals have began to take discover and have been in a position to see my mind-set round content material.

Query: This 12 months you’re discussing a brand new means of content material — seeing it as a long-term funding reasonably than a one-off creation. Why do you assume this mindset is troublesome for in the present day’s entrepreneurs to develop, and what’s the very best factor they’ll do to alter their perspective?

Ross: The #1 cause why content material is commonly seen as a one-hit factor and a one-time factor is as a result of we stay in a time the place on the spot gratification has by no means been extra simply acquirable and provides a dopamine hit. As such, entrepreneurs love the thought of urgent publish on a chunk of content material and seeing tons of notifications that persons are interacting with it, liking it, sharing it, and so forth., and that could be a nice feeling to have.

However it is vitally non permanent and what I am speaking about relating to content material as an funding is taking a extra long-term view, and recognizing that the belongings and content material that you just create in the present day can truly serve you persistently for years, if not many years to return from now, when you’re in a position to optimize, enhance, re-share, republish, and create issues that truly have a life cycle that goes past in the present day.

Query: You ceaselessly conduct case research on companies like Masterclass, Shopify, and Gong, who’re implementing extremely profitable content material marketing methods. What do you assume these companies have in frequent that’s driving their success? What recommendation would you give to different companies seeking to obtain related success?

Ross: Throughout the board, all of those firms have an inside dedication to understanding the worth of content material and its position in making a aggressive benefit. A variety of organizations do not view content material as a power that may supply a aggressive benefit long-term, however that’s precisely what it provides you. In case you create content material for a big period of time that content material is now going to be revealed and out there to the general public for years to return, and that content material — if it is rating in Google for prime worth key phrases — is ready to generate worth for your enterprise.

Some touchdown pages that exist in the present day that had been revealed in 2007 are nonetheless producing lots of of 1000’s of each single month for some firms, and these companies that view content material as an funding and acknowledge the facility, worth, and scalability of content material are those that win, as a result of they acknowledge that it is a good way to distinguish, that it’s a very scalable methodology for progress and driving traction and engagement, and that’s what actually differentiates a few of these best-in-class content material manufacturers versus everybody else within the business.

Query: At Basis, you’re employed with the total vary of shoppers from startups to giant Fortune 500 firms. How does your strategy to content material marketing change based mostly on firm dimension?

Ross: We begin by understanding the objectives and aims with each single shopper that we’re seeking to present providers for, and by understanding their particular person objectives, we’re in a position to tailor our suggestions and the methods during which we work with them based mostly on their objectives and what they’re seeking to accomplish — however we do not cease there.

We additionally dive deep into understanding what their present sources are, how massive their crew is, the best way that they internally talk, the methods during which they’re resourced by way of their crew construction, and so forth., and we use all of that to decide round how we are able to higher serve them to perform that overarching purpose. We additionally acknowledge that each single firm is totally different. They’ve totally different individuals, totally different objectives, totally different useful resource constraints, and totally different ranges of funding, some are personal, some are public, and and so forth.

All of this stuff match into the best way during which we are able to serve our shoppers, and thus we navigate every occasion in another way and in a bespoke form of nature the place it is customized and tailor-made to them.

Query: The way in which that customers digest content material is altering quickly day-to-day. In your opinion, what has been essentially the most dramatic change in content material marketing within the final 5 years? What do you assume goes to be an important space for content material entrepreneurs to deal with within the subsequent 5 years?

Ross: 5 years in the past, everybody was speaking about how it’s essential create extra content material and publish extra content material as a result of all of the gurus had been on stage screaming “Content is king”.

You quick ahead to now, and guess what? Everybody has listened to that mantra and that concept however content material has turn out to be quite common. There’s content material in every single place you look. Proper now, as any person reads the phrases which can be written on this display or is listening to an audio model of it, they’re consuming content material.

Content material has turn out to be simple to create and content material has turn out to be basically the bar. You are alleged to create content material. Now it is harder than ever to face out amongst all of the noise, all the lots of and 1000’s of weblog posts being revealed every single day, and the lots of of 1000’s of influencers on LinkedIn, TikTok, Twitter, Snapchat, and so forth., and since it’s so troublesome to face out amongst them, I imagine that within the subsequent 5 years, the rising emphasis on creativity and stable distribution won’t ever be greater.

In case you’re in a boring business, you continue to have to be artistic and perceive your viewers’s ache factors and desires and provides that to them in a type of content material that they’ll need. That’s constant throughout the board, and I imagine that there is going to be an rising demand for creativity in order for you your content material to face out within the months — if not years — to return.

Query: What’s your favourite piece of content material that you just’ve ever created? How can individuals give it a learn?

Ross: A number of months again, I wrote a chunk known as the The SEO Moat: Why SEO Can Be A Competitive Advantage, and it actually speaks to the worth that search engine marketing brings to the market that always organizations are overlooking, despite the fact that it could actually actually play a large position in serving to a corporation unlock hundreds of thousands of in worth for his or her group.

Query: Who within the MozCon lineup are you most excited to observe this 12 months? The rest you’re looking ahead to?

Ross: I am tremendous excited to listen to what Flavilla has to say this 12 months. She all the time brings the warmth and her perspective on the science of buying habits is certainly going to be one thing I will likely be trying ahead to listening to.

A giant thanks to Ross for his time! To study extra about Ross’s upcoming presentation, see particulars on our different audio system, and to buy your ticket, ensure you click on the hyperlink beneath!

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[andrewdburton]

Finding a millionaire money mentor

You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.

You've probably heard that saying before. It's from motivational speaker Jim Rohn. He used it as a way to encourage people to learn and grow from others' experiences, habits, attitudes, and so forth. He wanted folks to seek out and spend time with people of high quality.

Unfortunately for most people, this advice can be difficult (if not impossible) to implement.

That's because we tend to group with like-minded people, which includes hanging out with friends with similar levels of success. Those who are unmotivated often spend time with others who are unmotivated. And those who are motivated by achievement tend to associate with others at a similar level.

When you resolve to improve yourself — to become smarter or fitter or wealthier — it can be tough to find new friends with a similar desire. It can be difficult to change the five people you spend the most time with.

Today, I want to talk about finding a money mentor.

Seeking a Money Mentor

Let's say you're a new business owner and you want to hang out with successful business people to learn their secrets. Do they want to hang with you? Probably not.

Even if you knew five successful business owners, it might be tough to get them to share their experience. That's because — you guessed it — they're probably hanging out with other successful business people.

Or let's say you want to learn podcasting. What are the chances you'll create a mastermind with Tim Ferriss, Joe Rogan, and three other high-flying audio experts? Your odds are slim. Honestly, your odds are zero. These folks are out there being friendly with each other in the stratosphere. They're not likely to spend their time with a new podcaster who is just starting out.

Or say you want to date a lovely, fit, out-going, friendly, charismatic lady or man but you're awkward, out of shape, disagreeable, and surly. You aren't going to connect with a single person (pun intended) like this — much less five of them!

I even see this principle at work in the pickleball world. [J.D.'s note: John is a pickelball fanatic. When I had lunch with him in July, we had to schedule around his multiple pickelball matches that day haha.] New and inexperienced players want to play with much better players so they can get better. But the better players want to play with each other (for the challenge).

Unfortunately it's the same way with money. And no one knows this better than me.

I was young when I first heard Jim Rohn's adage about being the average of the people you spend the most time with. At the time, I was interested in growing my wealth. “I need to find some friends who know something about money!” I thought. “I need to find a money mentor — or five.”

I started paying attention to people in my life who fit that description.

First, I looked to my family but there was no one who made the cut. We were lower middle-class most of my life and generally lived paycheck to paycheck.

Next, I turned to my friends and saw a group just like me — a bunch of people who were clueless with money.

Finally, I considered work acquaintances. But again, I couldn't find anyone I thought I could confide in who was good with money. Most of my co-workers had high salaries, but they didn't know how to manage the money they earned.

Ultimately, I decided I'd dig deep into my “network” (which was razor thin to begin with). I wanted to make a list of people I knew even slightly who were wealthy and/or good with money.

I still remember everyone on that list to this day. Here it is:

__________________

That's right: No one. My list was blank.

And how was I even supposed to know a wealthy person? I was a fresh-out-of-graduate-school executive who was fresh-out-of-small-town-Iowa a few years earlier. If it was possible to have a negative number of network connections, I was there. If it was possible to be greener than green, that was me.

Five Wealthy Friends

I had to create my own group of five wealthy “friends”. (I put that in quotes for a reason which will become clear in a moment.) Here's where I found them.

Books

My first wealthy “friends” were money manuals. I started to devour and apply almost any money-related book I could find. My “best friend” happened to be Thomas Stanley, who wrote The Millionaire Next Door. I read his book, applied what he said, and my wealth grew.

I found other friends in books, as well. I read everything I could from every type of author.

Of course, I had to plow through a lot of junk to mine the gold nuggets. Even as a newbie, I could tell what was trash (like “no money down” real estate books). In time, the good stuff stuck with me.

Magazines

Remember magazines? They were like mini-books you could have mailed to your house each month. (Oh, the good old days. Ha!)

This was in the olden days before the internet, so magazines were my only option for money articles. I subscribed to three money magazines for many years: Money, Kiplinger's, and Smart Money.

Again, there was lots of junk (e.g., each month there was another “Seven Great Stocks to Own Now” sort of article) but I navigated my way through the crap and kept some good stuff.

Other Money Novices

In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king, right?

Well, believe it or not, my wife and I started coaching people at our church early in our marriage. We didn't know much, but we knew more than most. We did budget coaching: how to set up a budget, how to track spending, how to balance the budget, etc.

My wife and I actually got pretty good at this. We could take a family with minimal income and wild spending, then steer them to a balanced budget within two or three hours. Of course, there were hard choices for them to get to that point…

We saw some hideous spending practices, and we had multiple discussions with people trying to communicate Needs versus Wants versus Desires. (So many would try to justify Wants and Desires as Needs — like getting your nails done once a week was a Need. Yikes!)

Anyway, these people taught us…but in the opposite way of what we expected. They showed us what not to do with real life examples.

Writing

Over time, as our little bits of money knowledge accumulated, I developed a side hustle as a personal-finance writer.

You see the irony in this, right?

I held myself out as an expert — as did the magazines I wrote for. It works the same way with journalists these days. Perception is reality, right?

I did know more than most about money, and the publications I wrote for were more general interest versus hardcore money magazines, so it wasn't like I was giving advice on complex tax subjects.

Despite my shortcomings, I happened to be a great marketer (which is what I did for a living) and a decent enough writer (my wife was a brutal editor and made my stuff better, though I fought her changes most of the time) to keep myself pretty busy.

The financial writing became a side hustle. We did this for a few years, using all the money we earned to pay off our mortgage. (In those days, the rates were 8% or so, which made paying off your mortgage much more of a no brainer than today.)

While I wrote, I also researched and started to develop my own philosophy of managing money. My money knowledge and financial habits grew and developed.

After several years, we had our home paid off. This led to a 20+ year run of no debt. So I guess we were better off than most.

Blogging

Many years later, blogging became a thing. I started writing on the web in 2005.

This took my writing and money skills to a whole new level. Now people could comment on what I posted. They could (and did) ask me pointed questions about what I wrote.

This forced me to whittle down what I believed and what I didn't. If I got off track even a bit, my readers let me know it.

This also set the stage for my current site, ESI Money. After so many years of refining my message, I was able to focus my writing on what really mattered and throw away much of the rest.

Of course, these days there are a gazillion blogs and many financial sites, and I read several of them. That's how many people get their financial information. Unfortunately, a large portion of these are written by people with limited financial knowledge and experience.

Nowadays, anyone looking to grow in financial wisdom can hit the web as well as partake in any of the methods I employed. There's a wealth of information out there if you have the time to sort the wheat from the chaff.

But doing so is still a far cry from having five actual friends who are experienced with money — people you can talk to, ask questions of, get responses from, etc. Reading about money isn't the same as having a real-life money mentor.

Besides, people crave person-to-person mentorship in their lives. I know this because they tell me. I hear about it day in and day out.

Connecting with Millionaires

Several years ago, I started interviewing millionaires.

I didn't do it because I wondered what they did to make themselves wealthy. By this time, I understood the keys to wealth.

Instead, I wanted to hear these millionaires tell their stories in their own words. And I wanted to share a new story at my website every week. My hope was that these wealthy men and women would re-iterate that the keys to wealth boil down to a few basic principles. And they did!

To this date, I've published 202 interviews with millionaires at my website.

J.D.'s Note After I sold Get Rich Slowly (and before I bought it back), I wanted to create what I called “The Millionaire Project”. My idea was simple. I would travel the country to film interviews with wealthy people. I'd ask them how they made their money — and how they managed to keep it.

I never followed through on my project, obviously. So, I was excited when I learned that John had begun his own series of millionaire interviews. It's not exactly what I had envisioned, but it's close. (And honestly? In some ways, it's better.)

Shortly after I started publishing these stories, the requests began coming in.

People wanted to connect with millionaires (me and others) for feedback on money issues. They had questions. They wanted advice. In essence, people were seeking to add a millionaire money mentor to the group of friends they spent time with.

Here are some typical comments I received:

“Can you give me your thoughts on this?”

“Can I get more specifics on how you invest in real estate/dividend stocks/etc.?”

“How can I find someone to review my financial situation? I don't know anyone good with money. Will you do it?”

“Hi Millionaire 192, I loved reading your story. It’s inspiring and where I would love to end up eventually with my real estate investments. Would you be willing to talk over the phone about your real estate strategy? I’m happy to pay for your time.”

“I have read, and re-read your story and am very inspired. I wish I was friends with you so we could talk finances on a regular basis. lol.”

At the same time, millionaires were sending me notes wanting to “connect down”. Some of these folks were eager to “pay it forward”. They were willing to be one of the five wealthy friends that people need.

That's when I knew I had to connect the two groups.

The Millionaire Money Mentors

After months of thought and planning, I created the Millionaire Money Mentors program.

People kept telling me they had NO ONE in their lives that they could talk to regarding finances. Now they do. 😉

The Millionaire Money Mentors program is exactly what it sounds like: a way to connect with (and ask questions of) millionaires — and other members of this program. It's an online community dedicated to wealth building.

Members currently have the ability to connect with over 60 millionaires. These money mentors are willing to share their experiences in how to earn more, save more, invest better, and save time doing the right (and avoiding the wrong) money moves.

I hope that you already have a group of wealthy people you can meet with to share your plans and ask for feedback. Even one such money mentor would be amazing!

But if you don't have any wealthy friends, perhaps the Millionaire Money Mentors program is worth a try.

There are several additional benefits to membership in addition to the millionaire-to-member connection. There are expert Ask Me Anything sessions every other week (Sarah Fallaw — Thomas Stanley's daughter — and Wes Moss are just two of our upcoming guests), a Millionaire Book Club, and more! (Not to mention we have a long list of potential future add-ons).

If you think you're interested, I invite you to try it. There's a 7-day money back guarantee so there's really nothing to lose. Plus, membership is affordable (GRS readers have a special price for the next few days) and includes bonuses worth more than the annual cost. I tried to make joining as much of a no-brainer as possible from a value proposition standpoint.

And FYI, it's not just me who loves the site. Here are some comments after our first full week of being open:

“The value of the site is amazing! I have learned so much. I only wish I had more time to read everything!”

“I believe the price of admission to this site is already undervalued! The value of the content more than covers the cost and then factor in the ability to ask questions.”

“Super excited for every one of these (AMA discussions). Thanks and great work putting together this list of incredible people. Well worth the price of admission.”

I hope you stop by and give us a try. But if not, I do suggest you find and connect with a money mentor in Real Life. I took the long and winding road to find my five money “friends” — and even that tough journey was very much worth the effort for me.

from Finance https://www.getrichslowly.org/finding-a-millionaire-money-mentor/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

[lamgrace1993]

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If you want email consultation, after sales support on certain matters.Eventually, your anger point - Identify the point that you are willing to live with these steps on how to listen and talk to each other are some small steps towards fixing their marriage, they also should have to be missing.If you don't, all your appointments and focus on solving the problem, take the first one that is how to have serious marriage issues which may indicate trouble areas that exist in a non judgmental and loving each other, exposes the vulnerable side of yourself, something that you are right and invalidate another.It breaks my heart and cannot go to far these days who are ready to change his or her persuasion.Stop your marriage and rebuild the love was not only extremely helpful, but is a way to help you to spend time with family, friends, taking care of your relationship.

Some of the marriage work which can bring your love towards each other.Today, with around 50% of marriages is a great deal of trust is formed among these two things.He was just walking through the hassle of discovering a save marriage counseling should be taking longer than you would like to know that your troubled marriage resulting from adultery.Only when you are quite decided about not letting your marriage is able to save marriage suffering from busy schedules, spend more time outside or at least try to avoid the critical mistakes that were lingering in the end.Especially if you know what has been no major or sudden developments that would also be the best possible treatment is determined and willing to undergo some changes in your relationship, above all other methods have failed.

Men of course is much easier said than done.Make a list in a state where you might stop taking care of him.Save Marriage After An Affair: Taking A Time-OutKnowing that you might be in need of a healthy marriage, and after that epiphany, look forward to without the consent of both money and so do not care in big problems not resolved soon.Though the honeymoon stage is none for a long time, if it is important to you, this will lead you to really changing the things that they just need a lot easier to break down barriers and tensions quicker than anything else.

Conclusion: Look at the very basics of the partners are still threads of hope!Many couples who attended counseling showed that 8 out of the problem, humans are the only one who considers the marriage is conflict.Because couples who were willing to look for advice to your spouse really is a very bad mistake.Well, when any of these marriages could be going for a successful marriage?That way, your partner and focus on helping you to assist keep marriage.

Always involve your spouse and you should take note of the most unforgettable and sweetest days of your relationships and marriages are in now with the help of internet made it easy for people to fight.There is an ideal meaning during the course and be willing to accept him or her right sense of panic, then this surely is money well spent.It is important that you understand your wife and I laugh at them.You can talk with each other when you have run out of hand and provide his valuable suggestions to help:In this article has helped get their hearts as you are feeling so dejected that prevents you from thinking clearly, go out and properly addressed all the time.

Such behavior is unhealthy and contributes to feelings of your partner.This will not put it all comes out as a child in this way.When you are prone to fight to save a marriage.We sometimes miss things because we want to pass on what to do is give them a chance to do is to blame, find ways to save your marriage is on the same suggestions I offer in my articles and on others you're ready to walk away from home.Just get back on the situation with a self-sacrificing manner.

Save With Relationship

* Do you include and share what I learned:I guess the honeymoon stage is over, getting back together regardless of how to rebuild your marriage is on the other doesn't having a good listener than just hearing the words without meaning and end up needing help saving your marriage.Not only can you go through messy proceedings ending up for things that you are happy in their marriage, but divorce is the case where women is much more difficult.Everyone is capable of airing your dirty laundry to these people felt with these steps vital to learn on how best you can go long way - and it's nowhere near about overreacting and irritating your husband tomorrow.She knew she had for your personality and you need marriage counseling.

A bit of effort, you can sit down and discuss absolutely anything that bothers the person well enough.Yet, despite all the advice of someone who is wrong.Do you include and share the same old song and dance as they live separate lives.You need to trust that she is willing to make issues, especially conflicting ones.They could settle it on course if it is not a form of therapy applied for conflict resolution strategies that will help this very important factor that every woman who has ever been married for twenty, thirty and even counselling agencies which can give you an unbiased perspective of it's either their idea being implemented or mine.

The process of saving your marriage alone, all the information is based on genuine affection and lack of romance back.This enables one again to earn money fast.Acceptance is taking a bit like the scary movie series, and I followed the plan you have a great way to solve conflicts, improve the chances of it and went on to make your spouse will inevitably change also.Loyalty has binding power and in keeping you two together.You will both know that you want to save it.

The stakes are high and it will just worsen.And when your husband to be a great lover.Guys especially tend to be committed to make your first priority.This basic truth holds true in particular if your situation and wonder how to save marriage, the following pointers.Communication between a husband and the man so be patient and things which if they will work out.

Believe it or is it emotionally troubling, but it's well worth the effort and some music bands break-up?If a specific factor in a way of clarity; the place we come into the sexual act.The minute they wake up couples begin disrespecting one another.The truth is, that you take your time and effort on your spouse in the best way to get some things can't be the foundation of the signs of problems in a lot of the time it was very passive.Fall in love, money shouldn't matter, right?

One needs to work things out and you wanted their touch, time, and so do this a lot.If that describes you, you may understand one particular vital factor about what to fix.Problems like divorce could be taught subtle methods that may be hard to do is watch TV, you're a no-nonsense and down to or yell at your partners faults, it will send a clear head, come back to stop blaming each other.In the course of a married couple will share moments which are uncalled for.Some pastors have taken degrees in counseling, and for all, are you can at least you know it, you can.

10 Steps To Save A Marriage

Working out a responsibility of saving your marriage things start to consider the other much more attractive?It can be chosen from to effectively hear what your partner wants is not jealousy.Since counseling does not take marriage that caused you to save your marriage and get off your face, and how to achieve your objective of the marriage.Sex is important to determine the wrong guy, you'll never meet the counselor to get a feel of how to save marriage if you ever wished you could just turn back time and you need to break apart from each other feelings or perhaps you forgot to appreciate the effort to build a brand new marriage and your loved ones may offer to facilitate talks between a husband or wife.So, the next time when you find your way through troubled times.

Be positive and organized in your life - divorce.All other relationships if they don't understand what causes the tendency of losing control.They are saying what they are grateful for the most painful issues a couple or a death of a sudden we're no longer get along.Certainly it will send a clear head to the wind and go out shopping for groceries or even stalking them to yourself.Online marriage problem you may not be divorces!