#addressing challenges

[hsmagazine254]

Unlocking Success: Focusing on Your Clients' Pain Points to Improve Your Business and Retain Clients

Understanding Your Clients’ Pain Points In the dynamic world of business, success lies not only in attracting new clients, but also in retaining them for the long haul. Understanding your clients’ pain points and addressing their needs effectively can be the key to building strong relationships and fostering customer loyalty. By focusing on solving the specific challenges your clients face, you…

[waitingtobebroken]

You know that reddit post going around about the woman who chased her ex out of her house by pretending it's haunted?

And you know how I said I'm taking a break from writing for a bit?

Yeah, so... I lied 😳😳 I have been working on this for my Ineffable Meet-Cute series instead😳

[sunshine-in-a-bottle]

Its kind of insane how people react to Dreamwastaken has become the litmus test for me.

A video essayist makes a snide comment about him that's easily disproven with basic research and suddenly all of their information is now suspect because they couldn't even be trusted to do that much.

A tumblr post makes fun of him for being assaulted and now everyone associated with that post has to be blocked because they're not allies anymore if they only want the 'correct' and 'good' queer people to be safe.

People who claim to be kind will laugh at the trackers people have placed on his car and ignore the FBI agents who had been assigned to protect him because its just some guy, surely the death threats and the doxxing and the harm wished on his family is okay. Its not like he's done anything to 'deserve' being safe in his own home.

(and I could go on and on about what good things he has done, disprove every awful thing that's ever been said about him and anything he's ever been accused of, but that's not what people care about. They don't want another human being with all the complicated nuances that entails, they want to feel like they're punching up at an evil, and whats more evil than someone 'cringe?')

[enfer-rouge]

DON'T CRY BECAUSE IT'S OVER, SMILE AND WAIL AND THROW UP BECAUSE IT HAPPENED <3

(thank you so much Wanan, for real :') )

[percyandthepen]

guys if i ever got cast in/ever worked for the outsiders musical in any capacity just know i would post “i’m inside” and then probably delete my account

[butchvamp]

also it is really funny even with the chantry basically removed from the game it still gets handled with more care and respect than any of the other religions, the fact that you get so many options to comfort the andrastians when it's revealed their maker may not be real, and you can even pray at the temple later with the viper after minrathous is attacked... every character is just assumed andrastian, and if they're not it's always used against them in some way (dalish elves are repeatedly punished in these games simply for being dalish and are depicted as being foolish for wanting to connect with their gods and culture instead of assimilating and "moving on from the past") it's always amused me in that way even when trying to be critical of the chantry, the writers still manage to always grant it and the andrastians so much grace because of their real world bias (white + culturally christian) and the obvious real world inspiration for andrastianism. even with it's absence in veilguard it's still There in more subtle and even insidious ways given that all blame is placed on the evanuris instead.

[theclownghoul]

I still really love Act l of Arcane Season 2 and I was so hopeful with how everything was set up and I still think everything is the first Act was good, approaching Season 1 level.

However now that we have the whole season I’ve seen a lot more people start to interrogate the writing, specifically of Cait and Vi.

I was first to defend the way things were done in act l but now that we have the rest of the story it puts many of the choices in a different light and it’s definitely worth criticism.

It remains me a lot of how I feel about Wasteland, the scene of Ekko talking Jinx down. The scene itself is great, stunning and really shows the care both of them have for each other despite all they’ve been through. Ekko not giving up on her because he sees her value where she sees a curse. It’s interesting to see that at her lowest she doesn’t bother to hide that she cares deeply about him. It’s good (though objectively should have been longer) and in isolation I appreciate it.

Retroactively it leaves a sour taste in my mouth. After the ending and Jinx “sacrifice” (that’s set to the same song) I feel like the writers really didn’t care about Jinx coming back from rock bottom with her supports (not seeing anything in between doesn’t help this). She dies and it’s framed the same way as all of her previous attempts and now it’s framed as good. It poisons the scene with Ekko the same as Vi’s later writing poisons her decisions in Act l. Because we now know they don’t care and were not going to be responsible with what they were depicting.

That scene also seems to be unnaturally beautiful, combined with the glorification of Jinx’s sacrifice it’s sickening. They wanted a spectacle and that was what they chose to debut the Z -Drive….

Even the good parts have to be called into question after the later decisions.

[nordsea-horizons]

🌲my visit to the dream of this beautiful island by bois crossing on youtube🏕️

[star-felled]

purelily kills me not bc any of the perfectly valid reasons but bc i figured out all the intricacies of their relationship back in 2021. "i realized our paths dont align" and im over here crying as if i didnt know this since the tower of sweet chaos release. the illusion of having new content for your favorite character (it's actually just confirmation of your autistic psychoanalyzing)

[ahecen]

it's so frusturating for rick to write about percy like he's incapable of using his brain without annabeth's help. there are dozens of examples of him coming up with plans and succeeding, but are we forgetting ttc? the book where annabeth was absent for 90% of it and had percy coming up with plans on his own? alright then.

[virgil-upinthestars]

"the founding fathers would be horrified at the state of our country!" yes, I agree. alexander hamilton would've pulled a gun on the senate floor and shot trump

[maybe-boys-do-love]

great men academy is the trans* fairytale i've been desperately craving. Love is literally out with lanterns looking for herself.

[itspileofgoodthings]

also it just means soooooo much more when it’s personal. It HAS to be personal. the lady at the grocery store seeing your pain/sadness and being kind for 30 seconds means infinitely more than an Instagram influencer telling you that she “loves you sis”

[wanderingoff]

Challengers Fic Recs!

I've completely fallen down the Challengers fic rabbit hole since I saw the movie a second time in June, and I'm surprised I haven't seen any Challengers rec lists floating around! I've read what feels like half the tag at this point, so I decided, hey, I guess that one's on me. I've been really impressed by the overall quality of what I've been reading, so these really feel like the creme de la creme and I hope even if you haven't read Challengers fic before, you give some of them a shot! (I will say, I'm not sure this is the best fandom to read without having seen the film, but the movie is SO good, just watch it and then come back) (Also, I don't read Reader inset fic which seems really popular in the fandom, so no shade to any of those authors, just not my bag!)

I wrote these little summaries cuz this post was so long! Without further ado, in order of length so I didn't have to obsess over that too:

let it once be me by wastelandbaby - 4444 words, M, Post-canon, Throuple, Getting together. Summary: An immediate post-match threesome can't fix what's wrong with them. Tashi and Patrick are texting and Art's crippling insecurity won't let him see what's directly in front of his face. Art POV. Rec: This fic is so short and un-sweet; I want to say it speedruns the beats that make so many throuple getting together fics work except it doesn't feel rushed in the slightest, and the ending is completely unique and honestly took my breath away.

open heart / open container by comosum - 5106 words, M, Post-Canon, Getting together Summary: The throuple is getting together, but Art and Patrick have to have a conversation first. Art POV. Rec: A large portion of this is one conversation and the dialogue fucking slaps. It does an unusually good job of having Art and Patrick directly/explicitly address each other's queerness before initiating sex, managing to thread the needle of "he would not fucking say that" and "it's actually not totally unrealisitic for these guys to be moderately self-aware at least of themselves."

give it a hand, offer it a soul by thcscus - 6493 words, T, Post-Canon, Established Throuple Patrick is playing his best for Art and Tashi. Patrick gets injured. Patrick doesn't know if it's the tennis that's over, or everything. Mixed POV. Rec: In the Exquisite Agony fandom, this is possibly the most Exquisitely Agonizing fic I've read. It's horrific. It's shocking how short it is compared to the rest of this list, but within the first 400 words my heart was in my fucking throat and it didn't come down for the remainder.

a romantic fool by spqr - 10300 words, E, Canon-compliant, Established Throuple. Lily is Patrick's. Art loves her for it. Art POV. Rec: Hands down, the fic that inspired this list and one of my gateway drugs into Challengers fic. I want everyone to read it.

this monstrous fire by kithmet - 10672 words, E, Post-Canon Throuple Getting together. An immediate post-match threesome can fix what's wrong with them. Along with some eavesdropping. Art POV. Bonus: kithmet made an incredible Challengers playlist not specifically for this fic, open relationship Rec: This is the closest thing to a fix-it on this list (it's very far from a fix-it), and I think convincing me these three could possibly figure their shit out in the short timeline of this fic is incredibly impressive character work.

neverland by ameliepoulain - 14079 words, E, Post-Canon, Art/Patrick, Getting together. Patrick quits tennis and moves on. Art quits tennis and does not. Patrick POV. (The second part of the series, second star to the right, is Art POV, pre-throuple, and essential.)(Bonus! Comes with playlist!*) Rec: Of all the fic on this list, I think this one takes the biggest swing on its set-up and for me that completely pays off. The two parts of the series also do an incredible job of demonstrating how opaque these people are to each other and do SUCH a good job of differentiating voices/experiences).

wishbone by a__peach__tree - 18375 words, E, Post-Canon, Throuple, Getting together. An immediate post-match threesome can't fix what's wrong with them. Patrick buys a ticket to the US Open, and waits, and tries to get his life together. Patrick POV. Comes with playlist*! Rec: This author does the most convincing Patrick-trying-his-hardest I've read; the action becomes so interior over the course of the fic and the tension ramps up so high I caught myself talking to the characters out loud, literally begging them to do the right thing.

american doubles by sticky valentine - 19166 words, E, Post-Canon, Throuple, Getting Together. An immediate post-match threesome won't fix what's wrong with them. Art invites Patrick to follow them to Cincinatti. Tashi thinks she knows what's going on. Tashi POV. Rec: I'm SO glad I found this fic before sending this post to press because we need Tashi POV and I think this does a great job of drawing back the curtain on her machinations and leaning into how human, fallible, and confused she is.

make it all look painless by sundaymournin - 20277 words, M, During-canon slight AU Or, this author outright rejects that these three had the self-control to actually stay away from one another. Art POV. Rec: Another true Exquisite Agony fic; it interlaces with canon beautifully and addresses Art's obvious anxiety more directly than anything else on this list, along with his self-loathing. This is the fic that takes the "none of them can stop hurting each other or themselves" to it's logical extreme without like, actual extreme behavior that would break character or make canon events impossible.

Bonus AU: it's getting better by spqr - 9025 words, T, No injury AU Let Art and Patrick be shlubs! Reckon with painful truth of a life in service to a single, unloving dream! Let Tashi find her way back to them anyway! Tashi POV. Rec: For me, the appeal of Challengers is how well crafted the movie is, so I've shied away from the handful of AUs. But a) ALL of spqr's Challengers fics are shockingly good, and b) out of all the fic on this list, this is the one I can most easily hear the dialogue in the actual voices of these characters & their actors, which is a high compliment from someone who does not have a very concrete imagination.

*I made these Spotify playlists based off text lists of songs in the author's notes of these fics.

[cyanide-latte]

Brain bees are back today :[