#how does it manage to find every ML post i have never wanted to look at ever

[lllluka]

well that's the last time i check recommended posts

[gale-gentlepenguin]

ML Fic: Soulmate Survey Part 32

Happy Halloween to everyone! I hope that you enjoy this treat. Sorry this took so long to write out. This one took a few rewrites to get it where I wanted it to be.

Plus, Real life stuff got in the way So hopefully this will be a nice little treat for you all.

(Master Post)

__________________________________________________________________

Marinette watched in horror as she watched her best friend struggle on the floor.

She dashed to her side, and tried to help Alya get that weird mask off her face.

“By all means go right ahead. Its already too late.” Masquerade laughed as she watched Marinette struggle. “Soon enough she will be helping me take you down.”

The designer pushed the words of the psychotic akuma out of her mind. She refused to let her friend get turned into a mindless drone like before.

“It wont come off!” Marinette grunted as she tried so hard to remove it.

Masquerade watched her bracelet, waiting for a change to occur.

Alya’s muffled screams and frantic movements stopped.

“Alya?”

Marinette jumped up as she watched her friend transform, her casual clothes transformed into a familiar black and white costume. The Wi-Fi symbol on her chest. Lady Wifi has returned.

Masquerade’s bracelet gained a new charm, one looking reminiscent of a cell phone.

“And now she is my friend.” The villain stated as she watched Marinette start stepping away from the enslaved akuma.

“Alya… you need to fight it. You can’t let her control you.”

“Sorry Marinette, but Alya is unable to answer.” Masquerade mocked. “But I can take a message for you.”

Lady wifi stood silent, like an inactive robot, awaiting orders from its master. The inner machinations of the mind are not shown with the emotionless white mask covering her face.

Marinette turned her eyes toward the mask themed akuma, anger burning in her pupils.

“Let her go Lila. Let them all go before things get serious. Your plan will fail, Ladybug and Chat noir will arrive and beat the akuma out of you. Then you will have to answer for this too.”

Masquerade’s smile faded when she saw the fierce look. Marinette was not a sniveling mess, she actually looked even more defiant then before!

“Acting all high and mighty. I think I will enjoy turning you into my helpless puppet next.”

Masquerade lifted her hand towards Marinette, waiting to unmask her deepest secrets, and break her down.

“When I get a peek at what is hiding behind all of that fake courage, it will all come crashing down. Now let’s see your greatest secrets.”

Marinette looked around, trying to think of something. If Lila figured out her big secret, it was over. Ladybug would be exposed. She needed a way out, until she noticed something. Masquerade wasn’t doing anything.

“Huh?”

Marinette was perplexed by the akuma simply standing there.

“Ummm... are you going to do it now or...”

“Why can’t I see your secrets? My powers should allow me to see what you’re hiding and allow me to exploit it. It worked on everyone else I used it on, why not you?”

“Maybe I just don’t have any secrets to hide.” Marinette commented, watching with a bit of satisfaction as the akuma’s smug look shift.

Masquerade felt her frustration and anger boil at the comment. Something wasn’t adding up.

“Hawkmoth!” She cried out in rage.

A purple butterfly outline popped out.

“What is it?” The dark voice connected in her head.

“Why can’t I read Marinette’s secrets?” Masquerade angrily questioned.

“What?”

“Her secrets! I was able to zero in on everyone else I’ve used the ability on. Why does it not work on her!? Of all people I want this power to work on!”

Marinette felt both concerned and a bit flattered that she was the one Lila wanted to defeat the most. It was sort of mutual.

“Your power works on anyone I’ve akumatized, regardless of who it is.” The butterfly villain communicated. 

“So… your saying you didn’t akumatize her before? How is that possible?”

“I haven’t gotten to every single person in Paris.”

“You’ve akumatized that stupid pigeon man 26 times! How have you not gotten everyone!?”

“Paris is a big city, even if I akumatized someone every day, I doubt I would have hit 1/10th of the population. Besides, it takes strong negative emotions for me to send out an akuma. And that man seems to just be the easiest target for it. “ Hawkmoth defended himself. “Its not like I WANT to akumatize him every other day.”

“Unbelievable!”

“Just get the miraculous. That is your focus, the girl can wait for later.”

Masquerade’s butterfly outline dispelled as hawkmoth was finished with that conversation.

“Well that sucks. I guess I can just go back to plan A. Having you watch as I turn everyone against you... aren't here. What!”

Masquerade frantically looked around for the teen she had been antagonizing and found that she was no longer in the same spot. In fact, she was no longer in the office!

Marinette had decided to slip away from the akuma while she was having her little tantrum to the evil butterfly man.

“Why didn't you do something!” She shouted at Lady Wifi.

“You did not give me an order.” Lady Wifi answered robotically. 

Masquerade glared at the akuma servant. She would almost think it was rebelling against her.

“Even as a mindless servant you still find a way to ruin things.”

She looked around and noticed the other akuma in the room that was still on the floor.

“Dark Owl get up!”

The owl themed akuma got up from the floor. Removing parts of the broken pot from his costume.

Masquerade snapped her fingers. Catching the attention of Dark Owl and Lady Wifi. 

“Both of you, I want Marinette brought back to me right now! I want to make sure she stays quiet and sees everything we have set up. I don’t need her causing trouble.”

______________________________________________________________________

“…and that is everything.” A young woman said with a mixture of relief and excitement. She had finally finished setting everything up in the school infirmary. She had organized the files, restocked the bandages, changed the sheets on the resting cots, and put her personal decals on the desk. She was starting her first day as the school nurse, and things have been going up.

She put herself back out there and started dating Curtis, the sweet guy she met last week despite what would’ve normally been a deal breaking misunderstanding, she got into the med school program she wanted to get into and will be attending part time, and she managed to get a job at the school she went to when she went to Lycee.

She heard a ding from the front of the nurse’s office just as she was about to sit down.

“First student of the day. I better see what they need.”

She exited the small office area in the infirmary to see a blonde student who was clearly impatient

“What is taking so long!?” The teen shouted.

“Hello there. How can I help you?”

The blonde looked up a bit to see the nurses smile, she rolled her eyes.

“Who the hell are you? Isnt there supposed to be a different woman here?”

“If you are referring to the previous school nurse, she retired officially last week. I am the new school nurse. You can call me Nurse Angela.”

Angela never really liked using her last name, it made her sound old. So, she would be fine with the kids calling by her first name. It also helps with psychology, allowing more for a social dynamic based on mutual respect rather than authority.

“Whatever.”

Angela felt a twinge of frustration at the girl’s dismissal. But she kept her smile.

“And you are?”

The teen smirked.

“Chloé Bourgeous. And before you ask, yes, the daughter of the mayor.”

Angela felt a shiver go down her spine. She remembered from what the previous nurse told her. That Chloé was the mayor’s bratty daughter who would use her father’s influence to get anyone fired if she got angry enough.

‘That at least explains her rude attitude. She is a spoiled Brat.’

Angela was not going to let this bother her. She was going to take it in stride. She would be kind and courteous as she planned to be with any student at the Dupont.

“So, Chloé. What brings you here?”

Chloé walks in.

“My chair broke because someone sabotaged my chair. I ended up bruising my… anyway I need some ice, and anything to numb the pain.”

“My goodness! That sounds terrible. Who would do such a thing?”

“It was probably Marinette, that nasty little rat. Adding insult to injury now that she is dating Adrien.”

Nurse Angela moved to get some ice from the freezer for the bruised bottom of the Mayor’s daughter, listening to the girl vent. She was sure that whoever this Marinette girl was, probably didn’t do it. And if somehow, she did, it was likely because the annoying blonde deserved it. But that was not something Angela felt was worth mentioning. She kept that bit to herself.

“She is probably blackmailing my adrikins with something. There is no way he would be dating her without some sort of reason.”

“Is it possible that maybe he just likes her?” Angela inquired as she presented the bag of ice to Chloé.

Chloé looked at the nurse as if she had just told her that she had 3 eyes and a scorpion tail.

“Adrien liking Marinette?! That is ridiculous, Utterly ridiculous! There is no way that Adrien would…”

Chloé felt her mind flash through moments. Adrien and Marinette about to kiss for that movie, Adrien and Marinette dancing at her party? The photos she found of them running from fans, that kiss at the picnic during heroes’ day. Adrien taking Marinette to that interview instead of her… The stubborn blonde felt as if everything clicked into place.

“Chloé? Is everything okay?” The nurse called out, trying to get the spaced-out teen’s attention.

“He might actually LIKE her!”

Chloé felt her own skin crawl as she made her realization.

Angela didn’t know how to respond to this situation.

“I am going to straighten Adrien out right now! I am not going to let him make such a foolish mistake!”

The nurse could tell this could be bad if the mayor’s daughter was so heated, what if she got this innocent girl expelled? If she stood by and did nothing then her time at the school would be internally marked with the regret of not stopping such a potential disaster.

“Wait, Miss Bourgeois.”

Chloé stopped.

“What is it?”

“I… I just noticed that you’re limping. The injury might be more serious than you think. Let me have a look at it closer before you leave.”

The mayor’s daughter would simply have left without a second thought. But having a limp would make her walk much less dignified and lacking the power she needs to intimidate, but mainly that she would look lame with a limp.

“Alright, just make it quick.”

______________________________________________________________________________

“I don’t get why you felt the need to leave.” The cat kwami rolled his eyes. “If you want to be rebellious Adrien, we could leave the school and head to the movies. Though if we do, you should invite your girlfriend.”

“Plagg, this isn’t about rebellion or future date ideas. Something isn’t right with this whole situation. I just want to sneak a peek in the office, make sure Marinette and Alya get their story out, and then I am headed right back to class. No problem.” Adrien summarized as they kept walking.

Plagg noticed someone headed their way and went to hide in Adrien’s pocket.

Adrien took notice that it was his homeroom teacher. Perhaps he could ask her.

“Hey Ms.Bustier. Can I ask you a quick question?”

The red headed teacher walked past the teen without acknowledging his question. Her eyes focused on what was ahead.

“That’s weird… She would always stop to help a student.”

Adrien could feel that his favorite teacher may have been affected by something sinister.

“Ms.Bustier, can you hear me out for a second?” He asked as he touched her shoulder to try and get her attention.

The mirage of her appearance shifted from the homeroom teacher to the stylized patchwork costume of a familiar akuma enemy.

Adrien was surprised to see the true form of the imposter. The kiss zombie maker, Zombizou.

The akuma turned to show the face mask that hid her face. Her attention was now firmly on the boy, whether he wanted it or not.

Adrien backed away, nervously keeping his eyes on the teacher as he carefully backed up.

“You know, I think I will just ask someone else.”

Adrien took down the next hall running.

______________________________________________________________________

Masquerade reclined in her chair, her frustration was growing as she wondered what was taking those two minions she sent out to capture Marinette so long.

“They shouldn’t be having that much difficulty. She is just one person!”

She heard a ring, and knew her sentimonster was trying to contact her.

“What is it Simulare?”

“The illusion I had on Zombizou was broken. Someone is on to us, and the minion is in pursuit.”

Masquerade felt a headache forming. She didn’t have time for a wild goose chase. She needed to move on to phase two of her plan, making her army of akuma.

“Track down Marinette and this other  person that found out about Zombizou, keep them busy as long as possible. I am going to move on to phase two. Make sure no one is on to us.”

“Understood. I’ll get them back in the office and make sure neither of them escape.”

“Good”

Masquerade ended the call and felt her head ease a bit. The sentimonster she was given was obedient and competent. It was based on her mindset, so it would make sense that it would be capable of handling this problem.

“Now, let’s get that army.”

______________________________________________________________________________

“Give me a break.” Marinette muttered to herself.

She thought she would have time to transform once she escaped the office, but the two akuma were right out of the office before she had time to make sure everything was clear.

In her rush she cut a corner down a hallway and ended up colliding with another person.

“Ouch.” They cry out in unison, both looking to realize who they bumped into. Their faces turned to relief.

“Marinette!” “Adrien!”

The two called out in unison.

“Why are you running?” “Why are you running?”

“An akuma!” “An akuma!”

“An akuma?” “An akuma?”

They both look behind the other to notice the incoming akumas approaching them.

“As cute as this is, we need to go.”

Adrien Grabs Marinette’s Hand and they both head to the open area and try to get to the main entrance.

‘I need to get Adrien somewhere safe, then I can go transform into Ladybug.’ Marinette thought to herself, unaware that Adrien was thinking the same thing.

They make quick movements down hallway, moving up and down staircases to confuse their pursuers. They managed to give them the slip as the controlled akuma seemed to not be able of basic reasoning and quick fake outs and movements.

The two make their way down to what appeared to be the front of the school.

“The entrance!” Marinette called out. “Okay, we split up at the entrance and try to get help. They can’t catch us both.”

The run to the entrance only for them to stop short, colliding with some invisible wall.

It was only after making contact did the front entrance of the school shift back into a wall. The layout of the entire school seemed to shift instantly. The school had been put under an illusion to trick them into thinking they were escaping.

“It’s an illusion. Which means Lila must be involved with that group of akumas.” Adrien exclaimed.

“More like she is the cause. She is the one controlling the akumatized mask wearers. She got the Principal and Alya.”

“Wait, does this mean that Lila’s power is to make akuma!?”

“From what I saw, she can only akumatize people that have been akumatized before using her face masks. You haven’t been akumatized right?” Marinette questioned.

“No, and since she didn't get you, you haven't either right?”

“Yea, though I have had a few close calls.”

“So, if Lila’s power is akumatizing people, what akuma made this illusion on the school?”

“That would be me.” A third voice calls out.

The two turned to look and see a familiar fox themed villain smiling confidently.

“Volpina!”

“Not exactly.”

The Volpina impersonator looked around to see if the other akumatized servents were going to arrive.

“Seems you both are quite clever when it comes to annoying Mistress Masquerade.”

“Masquerade?”

“That’s what Lila’s calling herself.”

“Oh... cause of the masks.”

The villain rolls her eyes, encapsulating the personality of the arrogant volpina that it was pretending to be.

“Masquerade realizes that you two are both quite difficult to snag with mindless servants, so she requested I handle this.”

“No, you won’t.” Marinette grabs Adrien’s Hand and tries to run away only for the Faux Fox to flip in front of them

“Yea, I am not letting you out of my sight. Now be good and come along peacefully.”

Adrien moves in front of Marinette.

“Go, I’ll hold her off.”

“But…”

“Go. I trust you.” Adrien smiles as he looks to her for a moment.

Marinette wanted to stay and fight with him, but she knew that she needed to go and transform. Ladybug will be needed before this blows up.

“I’ll get help.”

Marinette runs away from the two as fast as she can. Adrien making sure to block the way should their foe get any ideas.

“She won’t get far, she will get captured before she even gets a chance.”

Adrien shook his head.

“You would be surprised with how just how amazing Marinette is.”

Marinette rushed out of sight and into the closest bathroom, quickly making sure it was a safe place to transform.

“Coast is clear. Time for Ladybug to step in.”

“Let’s hope we can get to Adrien in time before things get worse.” Tikki commented.

“Don't worry, I trust he’ll be okay. Tikki! Spots on!”

______________________________________________________________________________

“Can you believe it Juleka?” The peppy perfume enthusiast squealed. “Marinette and Adrien are finally an item.”

“Yes, I was there rose.” Juleka commented with an eye roll and a smile.

“I know! I am just so happy for them both.” Rose calms herself a bit. “Though… how will your brother take it?”

The purple haired teen reflected on the comment.

“It will be an adjustment, but I am sure Lulu will be fine once he gets a couple songs out of it.”

“I’ll be sure to be supportive.”

Juleka patted Rose’s head, smiling sweetly at the blonde’s caring attitude. She decided now would be a good time to spring that surprise on her. She was planning on showing her during lunch, but since Ms.Bustier wasn’t in class. Now would be the perfect time to show Rose the earrings she got her.

She casually reached into her bag, sliding her hand into her lunch bag, trying to find the earring box, only to notice it not there. Her hand moved frantically searching.

“Is something wrong?” Rose inquired, a bit of concern on her face.

“No, nothing. Nothing is wrong, just…” Juleka dismissed as she kept searching only to know for certain that her gift was not in there.

“Are you sure?”

“I just need do something really quick.”

She quickly grabbed her phone and calmly while hoping that her brother would see her text.

In her quick movement, she failed to notice the door of the classroom opening.

_______________________________________________________________________

“Psst, Luka. Luka!” A dark-haired teen whispered, trying to get the attention of the teal-tipped hair guitarist that was hiding his sleeping face with an open science book.”

“Hmm?” The tired teen responded with his eyes still closed. He was barely awake. He had been up all night working on that new song that was stuck in his head. He could still hear it playing in his thoughts as he tried to shake himself awake.

“Your phone vibrated, seemed important.”

“Oh, thanks Theo.” He moved his hand to take a look at his phone.

The science teacher was rambling on about molecules or something, clearly unaware of how disinterested everyone in the class was with his boring lecture.

Luka looked through to see a few text messages from his sister.

‘Hey, can you check your lunch to see if there is a jewelry box in there? Rose’s gift is in there.’

‘If you find it, can you swing by around your free period to bring it to me?’

Luka quickly snuck his hand into his backpack and sure enough he felt the small box. He was about to text a response. But stopped when he read the last two texts.

‘Sh*t there is an akuma in the class!’

Luka’s eyes shot open, his sister was in danger. Which also meant his band was also in danger. He needed to get there.

He shot up from his chair. And started making his way to the door.

“Mr.Couffaine, where do you think you’re going?”

“Family emergency.”

The science teacher was about to tell the young boy to wait until his parent calls, but he remembered who is mother was and what she did the last time he held up her kid when Anarke wanted to pick him up early. The teacher proceeded to held back his response.

“Proceed. Just be sure to get the notes from today’s lesson.”

Luka was out the door before the teacher could finish.

______________________________________________________________________

A car speeds down the road, the driver cursing to herself as she tries to move faster.

‘Get in, get Adrien, and get out before everything hits the fan.’

Nathalie mentally repeated to herself. She knows that pushing herself too hard was also dangerous. She couldn't risk feeling weak right now.

The driver slammed the break as she arrived at the school. She needed to hurry. She parked the car and opened the door.

“Lets hope that this akuma hasn't gotten to Adrien yet.”

_______________________________________________________________________

Ms. Bustier’s class had diverted all their attention to the costumed individual in the front of the classroom. The eerie masks that adorned her costume seemed to unsettle everyone.

Juleka put her phone away and joined in on what everyone was staring at

Alix was the one to say what was on everyone’s mind.

“Who the f*** are you?”

The akuma smirked.

“Excellent, a volunteer.”

Raising her hand and pointing towards Alix, her charm bracelet began to glow.

“Interesting, seems that you have quite a soft spot for cute things.”

The class turned to look at Alix with confusion.

Alix kept her cool.

“And? Is there a point?” Alix rolled her eyes, ignoring the akuma’s attempt to get under her skin. It would take more than that to actually do anything to her.

“You pretend you have this ‘Devil may care’ attitude, that you are too cool to care about what people think, but really you are more obsessed with how people perceive you than anyone else in here.”

Alix felt her smirk falter for a second.

“You are really sensitive about your height and anytime someone brings it up you are in a bad mood for the rest of the day. But what really gets to you is your ‘Family’. You hate how your brother is a laughing stock because of his crackpot theories and your greatest fear is that no matter how much you try to be this punk rebel, you will always be cast as ‘The Conspiracy nut’s sister’.”

“Shut up! You don’t know my life!” Alix yelled.

“Not so fun getting exposed, is it?”

The class realized immediately who this mysterious akuma was.

Masquerade smiled as she flung a mask right at the pink haired teen. Causing her to fall down. And struggle to get the mask off, but before anyone could help her. It was too late.

The class could only watch in horror as their classmate transformed into their Akuma persona. Before standing up.

The class tried to make a break for it. They knew full well the dangers of this new akuma.

“Timebreaker, guard the door.”

The akuma skated to the door and everyone jumped back. They knew that touching Timebreaker was not a good idea.

“Lila, this isn’t cool. Let Alix go.” Nino called out.

The Mask akuma shook her head.

“Lila is not a thing anymore. She was unmasked and dismissed. But now I have a new mask, I’m Masquerade. Soon enough, you will all be unmasked and given a new mask that better suits you. Alya knows that very well.”

Nino’s his eyes flared at the statement.

“What did you do to my girl?”

Masquerade pointed her hand at him just as her charm bracelet glowed, now with a rollerblade charm added to it.

“The same thing I am about to do to all of you.”

______________________________________________________________________

Will the rest of the class fall victim to Masquerade’s evil plan? Will Ladybug be able to save Adrien from the Sentimonster? Will Nathalie get to Adrien before its too late? Will I ever update consistently?

Fine out all these questions and more in the next part.

Thank you all for reading the most recent addition to Soulmate Survey.

Please let me know your thoughts on this chapter and if you really liked it. Reblog it. (Sharing is the only way my story actually gets out.) Plus, tagging has been kind of glitchy for me, so until that gets straightened out, I can't tag people for the story at the moment.

[thenovelartist]

Childhood Friends Headcanon -MLQC

I’m sorry to all the people who come to my blog for ML only to get bombarded by posts for MLQC. But I’m enjoying myself.

Premise: What if the boys and MC actually stayed together once they met?

(Note: Minor spoilers for chapters 7-13, particularly surrounding boys backstories.)

Gavin

He’ll never forget that day in the rain meeting MC.

She knew about him—his reputation preceded him—and it was clear she was leery of him.

But with a little time, she came around.

So much so that she was sad that he graduated before her.

He was kinda sad, too, to be honest. He didn’t want to leave her.

But they never lost touch. Made sure to meet up as frequently as they could.

He didn’t attend his high school graduation—he both didn’t care and thought the everyone else would appreciate him not being present—but she did watch him with pride as he graduated his cop training program.

He almost cried over the fact that he actually had someone there to support him. He didn’t have familial support, but that didn’t really matter anymore when he had his own personal cheerleader.

He surprised her by showing up at her high school graduation.

Not really a “Surprise” but she was still wildly excited to see him, nonetheless.

Though they didn’t get to see each other often—Gavin busy with his demanding job and MC busy with college—they were instantly contacting the other when they had a moment of free time.

Gavin totally tried to coordinate his days off with hers.

They were that couple that claimed they were just friends but looked to the world like they were dating while also each wishing they were actually dating but both being too chicken to confess.

But Gavin finally gets the guts one day.

No surprise MC quickly followed up with a confession of her own.

How do you date?

They’d been so close and doing couple-y things for so long. Like, what was even a date compared to what they normally did?

They decided to do something they wouldn’t normally do and have a nice, truly ‘couple-y’ dinner.

Then they chuckled all the way home because that really wasn’t their style.

Still enjoyed it.

Gavin took her home, dropping her off at her door… and totally chickened out of kissing her goodnight.

They try the ���date” thing again. This time, something more casual.

And that time, it did end with a kiss.

Gavin’s little mind went “boom”.

Already positive he’s gonna marry this girl.

Waits a little longer to propose, though. Just to make it seem like he’s not rushing it.

Courthouse wedding a few months later. Her father witnesses.

Then when her father passes shortly after, leaving her with the company, she’s constantly having to ask her coworkers for new copies of documents because she’s not used to signing her new last name quite yet. Especially when everyone still calls her by her maiden name. Or sometimes addresses her like they would her late father. (It’s a change for everyone.)

She’s got it down in a couple of days and likes her new signature better than her old one.

After marriage, Gavin also has a problem of his own. Particularly with the ring on his hand.

It’s his new nervous tick to play with it when he’s stressed on a scouting mission. And when he has to take it off for an undercover one, he’s a mess without it on.

Feels like he’s being unfaithful to the love of his life. MC has had to reassure him many times he’s not but secretly is touched that he feels that way.

These two have disastrous schedules, which is why when they both have time off they can spend together, phones go on silent. Someone can literally come to their house if it’s an emergency.

Kiro

They make it out of the lab together.

Poor kids were terrified out of their mind, each only five. They never let go of each other’s hands during their escape.

And they don’t want to be separated afterwards.

These two kids are each other’s “emotional support person.”

Literally inseparable.

These kids’ guardians bend over backwards to accommodate them. MC has a killer set of puppy dog eyes, but Kiro’s pout is downright impossible to resist.

They end up in the same classes at school.

Play together on the playground at recess and spend lunches together.

They are the “class couple.” And do get teased for it.

They’re told to ignore it, but it still takes a toll on them.

Eventually, Kiro steps out of school to become home-schooled, thanks to his music career.

Oh, these two kids do not know how to handle themselves.

But they are growing up and they can be apart from each other, right?

Right?

Wrong.

They survive not being in class together, but the moment they’re each out of school, they are attached to their phones, texting or calling each other.

Get together to hang out as much as humanly possible.

Kiro has 1000% both snuck off sets to go see MC and snuck MC onto sets to have her around.

MC has also enabled Kiro’s snacking by sneaking him anything he desires.

Usually it’s chips. She’s his chip dealer. Which only leads to the nickname “Miss Chips”.

They were so close that this mutual crush thing was absolutely unavoidable and unsurprising to most people who watched them.

They were fifteen and each exploring their feelings for each other and what dating was like.

And by sixteen, these two were totally making out in closets.

Savin just deals. As long as it doesn’t get out to the public, he’s fine with it. They’re generally discrete, anyway.

Though, the poor guy has had to hunt Kiro’s hiding spot down more than once. Generally, he scopes out the building beforehand so he knows where to find Kiro and MC if the superstar disappears from set.

Kiro would totally get her a promise ring. “I can’t officially propose now, but… I don’t think I’m going to be letting my Miss Chips go anytime in the future.”

She’s in tears.

Kiro’s already planned out proposing to her as soon as they are eighteen and has scoped out the perfect wedding venue.

Though, Savin now has to do everything in his power to keep the whole thing under wraps. He thinks it’s best the public doesn’t know Kiro’s getting married so young. They’ll slowly break it later.

MC travels with him everywhere, attending school online for convenience sake.

But when her dad passes and she has to take over the company, Kiro does his best to settle down more in Loveland to be by her side and support her more.

He fights to film exclusively at her company.

They totally have a closet that they make out in there, too. One MC has the sole key to.

Victor

He doesn’t loose track of her during their escape from that hellhole disguised as a “lab”.

She saves him, and he manages to carry her to safety.

Refuses to be separated from her after that.

Victor soon becomes like her over-protective big brother.

If he’s with her, he’s got his eye on her. And he’s with her a lot.

He’s so soft with her. Yes, there’s name calling on occasion, but he’s always met with a giggle when he calls her ‘dummy.’

He doesn’t really mean it, anyways.

Totally helps her with her homework.

And she always helps him in the kitchen. Rather, she tries and just ends up being the dishwasher after an incident with the fire alarm.

But she’s just happy if pudding is involved.

And though Victor swears he’s not going to make pudding every single night… there’s pudding more nights than not.

She goes to all his graduations; high school and college.

And he’s there supporting her at hers, looking on like the proud big brother his is.

“Good job, dummy.”

He totally teaches her how to write reports and such. Makes her do them and redo them until up to his standards.

“If you can impress me, you’ll win over anyone in the business world.”

Also teaches her all the ins and outs about running a business and how to thrive in the business world.

She’s always ready to take advice he offers.

Everyone in LFG knows that unless Victor actually is in an important meeting, MC is allowed in his office any time.

Has always seen her as his little sister.

Until she takes over her father’s company.

Suddenly, there’s a warmth in his chest as he watches her handle everything with ease.

It no longer feels like he’s watching over his little sister but rather watching a strong, capable woman handle the high-intensity job of running a company with confidence and poise.

… okay, poise was too generous a word. But his point still stood.

Suddenly, he notices she’s actually on his schedule. And their meeting takes place with none of the familiarity that they’ve become accustomed to.

He won’t coddle her as the business owner. She assures him she expects that from him.

And when she leaves his office, Victor finds himself a little bit of a mess.

They slowly lose their brother/sister mentality and grow into business partners that are close enough to have dinner a couple times a week.

“Question,’ he asks her one night. “Can these be considered ‘dates’ or not?”

She drops her fork in surprise.

They date for a several months before Victor proposes. He wouldn’t have proposed so early to anyone else but MC has always been an exception.

They put the wedding together in eight months. It’s a good, large, proper wedding, and they honeymoon out of the country. Because of course they do. Victor wants to give MC the best and only the best.

Total power couple, and Victor takes pride in that.

Lucien

This tree, or their tree, as Lucien likes to refer to it as, holds a very special place in his heart.

It started off as his sanctuary, the spot where he came out to draw.

But then it became the place that he got to bond with the girl who saved him.

After his parents were killed, everything went downhill for him at a rapid pace.

But she…

“It’s going to be okay.”

He still remembers the warmth of her hands when she held his and the tightness of her hugs she engulfed him in.

This girl’s smile lit up his dark world.

She’s the sole reason he escaped the pull of Black Swan.

Being four years apart as they were put a little gap between them growing up.

People looked at them in disdain so often that Lucien constantly lied about her being his sister.

He didn’t like that kind of attention from people, though he also logically knew why they received it.

Though he did his best to act respectfully and appropriately, he couldn’t help but feel all fluttery around MC. Every single time she came around, he had a physical reaction to her proximity.

Did his best to always act the gentleman. The last thing he wanted was to make her uncomfortable.

For now, he focused on his studies, partly because he found them interesting, partly because he wanted to be the kind of man who could provide well for his family.

Because he had his heart set on making one with her.

It was irrational, if he thought of it logically, to be become romantically attached to someone simply because he was emotionally attached to. Yet he could not separate the pull of romantic notions from his emotional relationship to her.

He eventually surrendered his attempts at trying to separate the two and gave up entirely in his quest to understand it.

He was already on his track to a doctorate when she graduated high school. And suddenly, them both being adults made those four years that separated them growing up seem a little less of a hurdle.

That’s when he asked her out.

“I had to wait so long, but I think now’s finally an appropriate time.”

And that’s when she admitted she had feelings for him, too.

It warmed his cold little heart.

They did take things slowly.

But they were already discussing marriage by the time MC had to take over the company when her father suddenly passed.

Honestly, though it was a terrible tragedy, Lucien is glad he finally gets to return the favor of being there for her just as she was there for him all those years ago.

He also decides to hide the ring he’d bought in a drawer, only to open it again when things were stable.

Well… relatively. The life of a media company manager is never fully stable. Mostly, Lucien just got tired of waiting.

He takes her back to their tree to propose.

They get married there, too.

[angelofthequeers]

Hold Me By Both Hands: Chapter 43

Disclaimer: I don’t own ML.

Enjoy this fluff because next chapter is when shit goes down :)

Chapter 42 | Chapter 44 | AO3 link

[7:02 pm] Luka <3

Adrien: so

Adrien: mari and kagami are on their date

Adrien: wanna chat?

Luka: that better not have been a pun

Adrien: :)

Adrien: no but srsly

Adrien: i’m gonna do it

Luka: ???

Adrien: i’m gonna come out

Adrien: and my dad can suck it

Luka: not sure whether i like being a reason for you to stick it to him

Adrien: nah you’re not

Adrien: more like a convenient excuse

Adrien: but like

Adrien: fuck if i gotta be the agreste poster boy then let me be out

Luka: for what it’s worth, i’m proud of you

Adrien: aww you know how to make a cat blush

Luka: you’re going to have so many people looking up to you

Luka: speaking from experience

Adrien: if i gotta be a role model then at least it’s for this

Luka: are you going to talk to marinette and kagami about it first?

Adrien: ofc

Adrien: just let them enjoy their date first lol

Adrien: wonder how they’re going

Luka: well, we haven’t seen any akumas yet, so i’m assuming it’s going well

Adrien: lmao

Adrien: so like uh

Adrien: wanna help me figure out wtf to say in the vid?

Luka: it’d be my pleasure

.

“Nathalie?” Adrien says at dinner two nights later. “Could I speak to Father for five minutes?”

“He’s very busy,” Nathalie says automatically. “If you have a message for him –”

“I know he’s too busy to see me most days. I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.”

Nathalie raises an eyebrow. “Just how important can it be that you would disturb him?”

With a sigh, Adrien beckons her over, then unlocks his phone and taps into the video he’d sweated over all afternoon thanks to his last-minute Chinese cancellation. “I’m going to go ahead and say something no matter what,” he says. “But I want to make sure that it’s not going to “besmirch” the Agreste name or whatever Father says. I promised him I wouldn’t do that if I got to be with Marinette.”

After Adrien presses play, his face appears on the small phone screen, grinning rather nervously.

“Hey, everyone,” video Adrien says, scratching the back of his neck. “So, you’ve all been really great about my relationship with Marinette, and I couldn’t be more thankful. She’s just…amazing. The light of my life. But there’s something else that’s been going on behind the scenes, and I wanted to be honest and upfront with you guys. You all deserve that much.

“I’m just gonna come right out and say this first part. I’m…bi. Bisexual. As in, I don’t just like girls. It’s something I’ve been thinking about for months now, and my amazing princess has been my anchor while I’ve been figuring it out. She’s bi too, you know? And yes, she told me to say that, otherwise I wouldn’t breathe a word.

“A lot of people seem to think that being bi makes you, uh…promiscuous. That you want to jump every person you see. And that couldn’t be further from the truth. If a straight guy can be attracted to other girls and still choose his girlfriend, I can be attracted to other people and still be faithful to my Marinette. Attraction, not actions – and yes, I did come up with that, so feel free to use it.” Video Adrien shoots a finger-gun at the camera.

“But there’s another aspect of both me and Marinette that we’ve spent months wrestling over, and I like to think that us being so open about it with each other is what made our relationship so strong. We’re both polyamorous. We both love more than one person and want to be with that boy and girl, and we do plan on taking a group pic and being totally open about it with you guys to avoid any rumours, although we do ask that you respect our privacy and don’t bombard us with negativity or requests to “join” us.

“And I just wanna be clear: I’m not bi because I’m polyam, and I’m not polyam because I’m bi. You know, the whole promiscuous bi stereotype I mentioned before. Being polyam doesn’t mean I’m open to every single person who asks me out. It just means that having a relationship with multiple people who I’m attracted to feels…right. You know, how most people might be attracted to someone else but feel wrong if they choose to date that person as well as their partner. It’s the opposite for me and Marinette. We’ve both got so much love to give and we don’t feel right being constrained by this expectation that we can only date each other. There’s nothing wrong with monogamy or polyamory, and we’re just asking people to be respectful of us.

“So, um…yeah. That’s it. Thanks for listening, guys. And thanks for being respectful. I figured that if I could help just one person by coming out, this would be worth it, because I know I would’ve killed for someone to look up to and help me figure myself out. Uh, bye!”

The video ends with another finger-gun. Adrien swallows and tries not to shift in his seat as Nathalie regards him silently with her usual impassive face. It’s always impossible to read just what his father’s assistant is thinking, even after years of knowing her.

“I see no problem with the video,” Nathalie finally says. “But I’d refrain from posting it until I show your father and get his approval. Just send it to me and I’ll show him.”

“Right – thanks, Nathalie!”

Surprisingly, Adrien’s father must be in a good mood today, because Nathalie returns to summon Adrien as soon as he’s finished eating. There’s a knot in Adrien’s stomach as he knocks on the door of Gabriel’s atelier and pushes it open as soon as he’s instructed to do so, and he can only pray that he doesn’t throw up right in front of Gabriel, because that’s possibly the fastest way to shoot himself in the foot right now.

“So…” Adrien says. Gabriel holds a hand up, his cold grey eyes piercing Adrien’s very core, unsettling Adrien’s soul and leaving him to direct his willpower into not fidgeting with his ring.

“That was quite the interesting video that Nathalie showed me,” Gabriel finally says. Adrien swallows and wipes his sweaty palms on his jeans.

“Y-Yeah…”

“I can’t help but feel that it’s a little…greedy of you, Adrien. You have Miss Dupain-Cheng, after all.”

Adrien’s fingers twitch with the effort it takes to not clench them into fists. “I’m not greedy for liking more than one person, Father,” he says as evenly as he can manage.

“Well, if Miss Dupain-Cheng has this many…ah, shortcomings –”

“What? You think I want to be with Luka and Kagami as well to – to make up for Marinette’s flaws?” Now Adrien does clench his fists, and he’s pretty sure his set jaw is visibly rigid. “That’s not how polyamory works, Father. I’ve done my research! You think this is something I’d just jump into –”

“Watch your tone,” Gabriel says sharply. “Perhaps your girlfriend has been a negative influence after all. I may have to –”

“No,” Adrien hisses. Gabriel’s eyebrows fly to his hairline.

“No?” he repeats, as though it’s a word he’s never heard in his life. Adrien’s heart starts to race.

“I said no. You’re not taking Marinette away from me, Father. You’re not taking…the best thing that’s happened to me. And you’re not taking the others either. I didn’t come to ask for your permission. I came to compromise with you and let you approve of what I say in the video.”

“I’m not sure I like your attitude, young man. In fact, allowing you to attend school in the first place may have been my biggest error.”

Adrien can’t stop his jaw from dropping. What. The. Hell. Is Gabriel really that much of a control freak that he’d wish that Adrien had never found happiness just to maintain a modicum of control?

“You can withdraw me from school, but you can’t stop me from seeing my friends, Father,” Adrien snaps. His head’s spinning ever so slightly, and there’s a growl starting to rumble in his chest, and is he Adrien right now or Chat Noir? Adrien. He’s Adrien. Otherwise, Gabriel wouldn’t be looking at him like…that. “I’ll sneak out. I’ll always find a way to sneak out. I do fencing and Chinese and modelling to make you happy, because it’s a fair trade for letting me have a life with normal friends and normal school. But if you take away what makes me happy, I’ll take away any bit of control you have over me.”

“You are a child! You do whatever I say! I am your father!” Gabriel slams his palm on his desk. Adrien reflexively flinches, but then a tiny paw is digging into his ribs from inside his shirt, and it’s just grounding enough to stop him from babbling apologies and fleeing the room. He can do this. He can stand his ground. For Marinette and Luka and Kagami. For himself. All that’s necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing…even if he's about two seconds from falling to the floor unable to breathe in sheer panic.

“You’d really prefer that your own son has no happiness in his life just so you can keep controlling him like a puppet?” he says breathlessly. Gabriel visibly reacts, reeling back as though he’d been slapped, and he looks like he’s going to say something for a moment before looking down at his desk and shaking his head.

“Everything I’ve done has been for you, Adrien Agreste,” Gabriel says, his hand rising to clutch at his tie for a split second. His voice is so soft that it’s barely audible, so Adrien can’t quite make out whether there’s any danger in it. “All I’ve ever wanted is to keep you safe. To not lose you like I lost…”

Adrien’s shoulders slump. “You can’t shelter me forever, Father,” he says, forcing himself to imagine Marinette and Kagami and Luka’s voices alternating counting his breaths so that he doesn’t pass out. “I’ll be an adult in a few years and then I can leave, and I’ve still got no idea how to function like a normal person. Normal people don’t have my life. They’re not world-famous and modelling and studying Mandarin and fencing. And if you had your way…I’d never leave. I’d never have any idea how to leave. And I’d…I’d resent you for it.”

Gabriel is silent for such a long time that Adrien absently wonders if he’ll pass out anyway before his father speaks again, because the room is suddenly claustrophobic and hot and closing in on him, despite his controlled breathing.

“I see,” Gabriel eventually says. “If that’s how you really feel…”

Adrien braces himself for the inevitable crackdown for daring to speak his mind.

“…then I will allow you to also date this boy and girl,” Gabriel finishes. Adrien blinks, then blinks again to make sure that he’d heard right, because what? “So long as all of you behave properly and do not besmirch the Agreste name. The same conditions from when I allowed you to date Miss Dupain-Cheng still apply.”

“R-Really?” is all Adrien can say. Gabriel nods.

“I’ll also lessen your obligations on one weekday and one weekend day so that you may spend proper time with your partners,” he says. “In return, you will fully apply yourself to your studies and your extracurricular activities. You will not complain when I ask you to do something. You will let me know when you are going out and where you will be going. If your grades slip or your activities suffer, I will rescind my permission. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes!” Adrien blurts out, not even caring that he’s effectively agreeing to sit down and do as he’s told, because this is the most freedom he’s ever been given by his father! “Yes – thank you, Father! Thank you so much!”

For a nanosecond, there’s a ghost of a smile on Gabriel’s face. But it’s gone so fast that Adrien’s left wondering if his brain is playing tricks on him.

“I must admit, I may have become a little…overprotective after I was akumatised,” Gabriel says. “But unfortunately, you are right. I can’t shelter you forever. Before you go, tell me the people in whom you and Miss Dupain-Cheng are both interested.”

“The girl is Kagami,” Adrien says. “Ms Tsurugi knows. Marinette met her the other day. And the boy…his name’s Luka. Luka Couffaine. He’s…amazing, Father. He’s just as amazing as Marinette and Kagami, but in a totally different way.”

“Hmm.” Gabriel pulls his tablet back towards him. “Goodnight, Adrien.”

“Goodnight, Father,” Adrien replies, recognising a clear dismissal when he sees one. Well, now it’s time to head back to his room, scream into his pillow for a good minute, throw said pillow at Plagg when the little shit makes fun of him, then call Marinette and Luka and Kagami to yell at them for good measure.

.

“I have prior obligations,” Kagami sighs over FaceTime while Adrien and Luka are waiting for Marinette to finish getting ready for their date. “And besides, I had a date with Marinette last night. It’s fair that you both have one without me.”

“Kagami, we’re a quad,” Adrien says. “Why would we have weird arbitrary rules like that? I know we agreed to have different dates but not like that.”

“Exactly,” says a voice from behind Adrien. When he turns and is greeted by the sight of Marinette in a floaty blue sundress with her hair in a loose bun, his brain immediately short-circuits and all he can do is make garbled sounds that in no way resemble words in any language on Earth. A quick glance next to him informs him that Luka is in very much the same state.

“Nice work, Marinette,” Kagami says with twitching lips. “You broke them.”

“Oh, just you wait,” Marinette grins. “Next time, I’ll break you too. Wait, don’t distract me when I’m scolding you! No one’s more important than anyone else in this, Kagami. I told you that the other night.”

“We’re all in this together,” Adrien sings while his brain reboots. Marinette and Luka groan.

“I don’t understand,” Kagami says.

“If you reference that again, you won’t get any cuddles for a week,” Marinette says.

“I’ll put on my kitten eyes,” Adrien shoots back.

“What, the ones that make you look like a constipated whale?” Plagg says from inside Marinette’s purse, where he’s taken to hanging out with Tikki whenever Marinette and Adrien are in the same place. That one makes Marinette, Luka, and Kagami burst out laughing, while Adrien scowls at Marinette’s purse and Tikki can be heard scolding Plagg.

“Thank you for helping to soothe my irrationality,” Kagami says once the laughter’s died down. “I appreciate all of you. But I wasn’t lying when I said that I had prior obligations. Mother wants to test my fencing skills, to see how I’m progressing.”

“Ew.” Marinette wrinkles her nose. “Have fun. We’ll think of you while we’re drinking ice cold lemonade.”

“Thanks,” Kagami deadpans. Then she looks over her shoulder. “I have to go. Enjoy your date and tell me everything about it tonight.”

“Bye, Kagami!” the other three chorus before Kagami’s face disappears from Adrien’s phone screen.

“C’mon, let’s hurry up and get to the park!” Adrien whines, jumping up and tugging on Luka’s arm. “Then I can get sandwiched between two pretty people on a picnic blanket!”

“Really?” Marinette says. “You’re going to make a bread pun?”

“Hey, when the opportunity rises.”

“And just who says you’ll be the one in the middle?” Luka teases. Butterflies erupt in Adrien’s stomach when Luka slings an arm around him, then reaches out to ensnare a pink-faced Marinette and draw her to his other side. “I’m the tallest.”

“But I’m a cat,” Adrien argues. “You’re supposed to use me as a pillow.”

“Oh my god,” Marinette mutters. Luka grins and then, rather than arguing back, he simply dips his head and captures Adrien’s mouth in a sweet little kiss, and Adrien’s brain promptly liquefies and starts to trickle out of his ears.

“You were saying?” Luka says.

“I – no – must – stay strong,” Adrien babbles.

“I’ll be in the freaking middle!” Marinette says. “I’m the girl and the team leader, so there!”

“Ah, but we’re partners, bugaboo,” Adrien manages to fire back.

“And I’m not even part of the team,” Luka adds with a smirk. Marinette rolls her eyes.

“I’ll lie across both of you and you can cuddle each other!” she says, throwing her hands into the air. “How’s that?”

Adrien and Luka exchange grins. “Fine with us,” they chorus. Marinette sighs.

“What did I get myself into?” she says.

[solarheiress]

Oh Miraculous, why do I keep reading “This episode was awful” when you mean something else?

Haha, oh my. Ok so, I work very hard, mentally, and do a lot of thinking to make sure I establish an objective vs subjective view of things. I mean, I don’t always achieve it, but I try to identify when my own personal feelings are involved and when I’m trying to put feelings aside and look at flat information. It’s something I’ve become quite good at (at least, in my subjective opinion).

So, here’s the thing. While not a lot of people will read this, or even care, it just, it kind of makes me laugh, because I write lots of paragraphs about ml, and I read a lot of them too from other people because I like to broaden my understanding and see if there was anything I missed.

(Honestly at this point I’m treating ml almost like one would treat a science, and like, reading academic papers i don’t know it’s just how I approached it it’s kind of funny when you think about it?)

So! When I read a long winded explanation of why a particular episode is awful, I’ll often watch it again, and think the commentary over because what people have to say matters, it really does and I like to hear from others.

BUT!

When you try to chastise an episode for the quality of writing, or for the behaviour of a character within an episode, you need to take a step back. I’ve read many a times ��this episode is awful” when it really means “I think/feel that this episode is awful” and most of the time it’s evident but sometimes....not so much.

Firstly, Quality of writing could be anything from dialogue to the plot itself to character behavior, so, don’t just yell about the writing being crappy, explain what issues you had with it ya know? Or at the very least think about it? Like, what specifically you didn’t like. Especially if you’re trying to monologue, if you can manage to write fifteen paragraphs on ml you could at least go a bit deeper than “it sucked”.

Secondly, and this is going to be the part not a lot of people like, is the awful thing happening in this particular fan base. It sort of happened to voltron, but the most common example is probably Harry Potter. I think it’s called “death of the author” by most people? Basically, the fans go insane. People think that they know better than the creator, who’s story was always their own to tell. These characters and creations, you wouldn’t have them without the author, at all. A ton of people make money of fan works and that’s all well and good but where would you be without the original? Making art for something else? But then you may not have gotten the break you needed. Facts upon facts, Thomas Astruc and his team know adrien and Marinette better than you do. You may have a well formed idea of Marinette and adrien, but you don’t have the entire picture. While it make suck, what they do in canon is.... well... canon. You can write a million AUs and have a dozen headcanons but in the end, it isn’t a manner of opinion? Of who knows the character better. At the end of the day, if your headcanon contradicts canon then your prediction was wrong. There’s nothing wrong with that. If you headcanon Chloe as a lesbian, and it turns out she’s not one, there’s nothing wrong with saying “well, I was wrong, but if I had written this character she would be, and I will write aus about it”. The phrase “correcting canon” is abysmal, and incredibly entitled. It takes a lot of courage to share ones ideas with the world. And a lot of people grapple with miraculous ladybug in a healthy way, they like it sometimes, they don’t others, they have favourite characters, but when you start to think you know the truth better than the creator it’s just.... yikes? In your head, you may have a better story. A more dynamic story. A more interesting story. A more believable story. You can say “this is what I think should have happened”. And maybe people will agree with you. But you don’t know these characters better than the people who made them.

If your claim about why an episode is bad is based on “(blank) was acting out of character” then try and find another reason because the only time out of character applies is in fan works. This is not a character acting out of character, surprisingly this is character development. You may not like it, but it’s a new facet of a character you didn’t fully understand before. And that really is something people need to come to terms with.

(Truthfully I wanted to make one of those hard pill to swallow memes and tag every ml character in it, but I have the editing skills)

And for anyone who was wondering which particular episode struck a nerve with me, while I won’t name the original poster directly (because I don’t really want to start arguments) I did read a very long post about why copycat was a terrible episode, because Adrien would never do that? Well, I mean, he did, and he never apologized, and his jealousy, pettiness, and lack of apologizing have stayed with us this whole time, because it was character development. A big flashing warning sign that this kid isn’t as perfect as you want him to be.

As a disclaimer, someone who wants to rant about their feelings is fine. It’s usually pretty evident from tone that someone is emotionally vomiting all over the place. When you just feel so much you have to talk, good or bad, it kind of sets the “okay I should take this with the understanding that it’s mostly their personal and subjective reaction” atmosphere on its own. I’m talking about when peeps try to make a post that’s hella analytical and talk about evidence and the like. If you’re trying for objective than the basic first step of that is accepting that canon is canon. It doesn’t have to be revered and you don’t have to like it but it is the only information we have on the true nature of the characters, plot lines and myths within whether we like it or not.

Another disclaimer is that miraculous ladybug does have some serious issues, mostly so due to the lack of a concrete order. Additionally, some of the character development they have gone with is not sending a good message. It’s one thing to have a strong female protagonist, but it’s another to have that same female protagonist apologizing all the time for everything, even when she isn’t really involved and/or is really this person who deserves an apology. Especially when the male counterpart apologizes about as often as we see solar eclipses despite some behaviour that is not nice. And truthfully the only reason that’s a problem is that the show is geared towards an easily influencable audience and age group. If it were made for adults it would be less of a problem and more of an interesting character arc (albeit a sort of too long and clumsily handled one).

[lakecountylibrary]

What degree does someone have to have in order to be called a librarian if they don't have the job title librarian? What is a typical day like for library employees of any position?

Good questions! Grab a snack, this got a little long.

What degree do you need to be calleda librarian:

Here at LCPL we require everyone withthe librarian job title to have their MLS (Master of LibraryScience). However, that’s not true of all libraries. Some librariesmay only require an MLS for the higher positions, like directors or admin, so someone with a bachelor’s could certainly be called alibrarian in some cases.

We also have Assistant Librarians.Assistant Librarians may not have an MLS. They might be working towardit, or not, but a bachelor’s degree is sufficient for this position.

We do require Assistant Librarians (andmany other positions) to be working toward their librarycertification, but that’s a state requirement - it may vary state tostate. (Here in Indiana, qualifying for your certification requiresearning a certain number of Library Education Units, which you getby going to classes, watching webinars, or attending training relatedto your job. The number of units you need depends on your position,but the state provides a LOT of opportunities to earn them and it’sgenerally pretty easy to end up with way more than you need.)

TL;DR: it depends on the library! But honestly, to most people, if you work in a library you’re a librarian ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

What is a typical day like forlibrary employees in different positions:

I asked the whole Tumblr team to tossin their two cents since we’ve got people from lots of differentpositions contributing to this blog. Not everyone has gotten back to me yet since we’re all working different schedules, but I didn’t want to leave you hanging. If I hear back from more people, I’ll add on to this post.

As you might expect, librarystaff like words so it got a little long. We’ll add a Read More to save your dash. Here’s what we’ve got:

Chris (Librarian, Branch Head):My#1 tip - learn how to plunge an overflowing toilet without gettingyour shoes wet.

My actual advice -

A typical day is dealing with whateverthe library users throw at you. So, there’s a lot of variety and youhave to like working with people of all types.

Sarah (Programming & CollectionPerformance Librarian):Hmm…be prepared to take whatever isthrown at you on a daily basis. Whether that’s:

 a patron who has nevertouched a computer before being told that they must apply for a jobonline (and they need a library card, e-mail address, resume, and alot of hands-on help for every step) 

a patron with a referencequestion about how to burn up human bodies (no joke, thank goodness Iremembered this patron had a class on criminal forensics but didn’tknow how to phrase a question)

a teen program that you put yourheart and soul into where no one showed up (or the reverse, a teenprogram you put your heart and soul into - and far more people thanyou were able to handle showed up). 

Patience is key.

You’re also often the first place aperson who has just gotten a diagnosis from a doctor, and needsresources on how to manage it, goes. Empathy and understanding isalso key, and a willingness to go the extra mile so that yourpatrons know that they’re getting the most up-to-date and verifiedinformation.

Your library is a place where peoplecan also find connection - young parents looking for support andunderstanding from other parents at storytime, that lonely teen atyour program finally finding another teen with the same enthusiasmfor manga, members of a book club who have kept attending for years -and not just for the books.

You’ve got to plan long-range and beable to handle spur-of-the-moment situations. You will deal withpeople who are the kindest souls and the most reverent readers ofbooks, and the person driving a new Mercedes-Benz who pitches aliteral tantrum over a ten-cent fine. You’ll evaluate databases,choose new materials for the library, plan programs, and connect withcommunity members who can introduce the rest of the community to newideas, music, art, discussion, etc.

You’ll help people find thecorrect legal documents, students find the resources they need,introduce local businesspersons to databases that can revolutionizetheir business plan. You’ll need to adapt to new forms of technology- because your patrons will have questions about it. You’ll also needto be able to smile and give a tactful response when you get thatfamiliar question, “Hasn’t the internet replaced libraries?”

Beth (Librarian, Branch Head):

The library works as a team–allpeople/positions are important. I started as a clerk with my MLS(librarian positions were few due to the recession and hiringfreezes) and I value that experience every day. To the patrons whovisit the library–everyone is a librarian. I think this helps keepany “egos” in check–they value the clerks, tech,paraprofessionals, pages and professionals the same.

As a Librarian/Branch Head, duties runthe gamut. Some days I work the desk with a clerk checking in/outmaterials, pulling items, answering calls, helping at the copymachine. Some days I’m in full program/event mode–planning programsthat people will enjoy and learn from. There are reports to be runand to write. Maintaining the collection is a regular task.

Of course, as a librarian, it is vitalto be there to get people the assistance they need and providevaluable and reliable resources. Some days I get yelled at. Yourealize the differences and similarities in humanity. Some days Ihave to plunge the toilet and wear protective shoe booties.

The only things I “read” onwork time are work-related (and our social media feed). Being amanager requires times where you have to have tough conversations.The times when you get a honest thank you or a great big smile from akid/patron–those make up for the grind of other tasks.

In my opinion, working in a publiclibrary is awesome. BUT–you must want to work with the public or youwill be helping no one. It can be as frustrating as rewarding somedays. There are some weird stories and some inspiring ones as well. Iwouldn’t trade in this experience for anything!

Robin (Technology MarketingSpecialist and friendly neighborhood Tumblr editor, not a librarian): 

Confession:I’m not a “real” librarian at all. My master’s degree is in businessadministration and marketing, but I somehow convinced a library tohire me.

As a “Technology MarketingSpecialist” (basically, I’m the social media manager) most of mycontact with our patrons is through a computer screen - like whatwe’re doing right now! I spend most of my time creating posts for ourvarious social accounts, answering questions that come in throughthose accounts, making sure everyone is playing nice online, andgenerally making sure people know we exist.

I’m in the nifty position of getting towork with every single department in our library, because everysingle aspect of what we do needs promotion! There are a lot ofcommittees and I sit in on a lot of meetings because, well, marketingneeds to know what’s happening. There’s a ton of opportunity forcreativity and outside-the-box thinking, too, which I couldn’t livewithout.

My undergraduate degree was in creativeand professional writing, and I never thought I’d have a job whereI’d have to learn some graphic design, or video editing, or coding(oh yeah, I manage the website, too) but here I am - if you work in alibrary in any position you’ll learn a ridiculous amount of newthings without even trying.

Thanks for reading this far - that’s it for now. We hope it helped and feel free to ask us anything else!

[eclare-draws]

My ML/Enneagram Theory

So I was bored and have a huge interest in the Enneagram personality type test, so I decided to figure out what Adrien and Marinette are on the Enneagram. I was just making points, and it somehow turned into an eight page double spaced essay. I’m realy happy with it and it only took a couple of hours, so here it is to read. It will help with the art I’m posting tomorrow ;)

The Enneagram is a personality test based on a person’s basic fears and desires in life. It is a set of numbers one through nine, each of which represent a specific type of person but are all connected based on how each basic type (the one someone identifies the most with) reacts to stress and growth. The system is largely based on fluctuation, but by analyzing the fears and desires of characters in Miraculous Ladybug, their basic Enneagram type can be quickly identified by the actions they take to change injustices and make sense of the world around them. Here, the discussion will be based on Marinette/Ladybug and Adrien/Chat Noir in various contexts.

In every episode, we see both Marinette as well as Ladybug strive to make the world better based on her beliefs of what is right for the city and her friends (which is typically in-line with what we as a society associate with good and honorable behavior). This attitude and drive is often associated with Enneagram Type One: the Reformer, who wants “to be good, to have integrity, [and] to be balanced.” This analysis of character can be seen in both personas Marinette takes on: the busy schoolgirl and the savior of Paris. Ones are often faulted with “always striving to improve things, but afraid of making a mistake,” which is clearly displayed in “Stoneheart,” where Marinette struggles to cope with the fact that she messed up to the point where she feels she is so incompetent that it would be better for her to give up her miraculous for the sake of Paris. “[Ones] try to maintain high standards, but can slip into being critical and perfectionistic.” Marinette’s sense of perfectionism is clearly seen in her designs and plans. She spends a disproportionate amount of time on tiny details, such as an embroidered signature, that no one else would notice but add depth and meaning to her work. Not only this, but her perfectionism shines when she makes detailed and convoluted plans, whether it is how to use her lucky charm as Ladybug or how she will get together with Adrien (see Operation: Secret Garden in “Gigantitan”).

The audience can often see Marinette trying to improve the lives of others, whether they ask for it or not. She often zeros in on a single problem and tackles it in order to help the world align with how she sees it best. When she is criticized for a mistake or wronged in some way, she reacts dramatically and impatiently. This aligns with the direction of disintegration, where “methodical Ones suddenly become moody and irrational at Four.” When Marinette is wronged, she reacts brashly and “[has] problems with resentment and impatience,” easily showcased in situations dealing with Chloe. All nine Enneagram types are associated with a sin, and Ones are paired with anger. This makes sense with Marinette, because while she tends to be level headed in most situations, she gets mad and defensive whenever something is turned against her or goes against the plan.

“History is full of Ones who have left comfortable lives to do something extraordinary because they felt that something higher was calling them.” Marinette started her career as Paris’ superheroine just as anyone would expect: spilling macarons everywhere while preventing an old man from getting hit by a car he could have easily avoided. Master Fu’s intention with the ladybug miraculous was Marinette’s higher calling. One of the more famous figures often referenced in speaking of the Type One personality is Joan of Arc (Jeanne d’Arc). Not only was Joan of Arc in a similar position as Marinette - a teenage girl destined to save France - but she is also depicted in the show as a past holder of the Ladybug Miraculous (see Befana episode and Thomas Astruc’s art). This revelation could be interesting to anyone, but it also enhances and hones this theory into a definite explanation. Marinette Dupain-Cheng is a Type One on the Enneagram personality test.

But what about her partner, crush, and friend, Adrien Agreste or Chat Noir? Well, it is made clear early on that Chat Noir is what Adrien would be if it were not for his father and the life he is expected to lead for the sake of looking good (pun intended). By analyzing this character in two parts rather than at the same time as previously done with Marinette, he becomes much simpler to understand. Chat Noir’s abilities allow Adrien to leave the fortress that is the Agreste mansion and live his life in a way that helps him grow and thrive, while being locked up puts him in a state of disintegration or stress. By evaluating the character from this point of view, it makes sense that Adrien would be an Enneagram Type Seven: the Enthusiast. 

Sevens want nothing more than “to be satisfied and content—to have their needs fulfilled.” Adrien grew up in a wealthy household and never had to worry about his physical needs being met but he constantly looks for ways to have his emotional needs met because his father refuses to do so and instead feeds into the basic fear of sevens: “Of being deprived and in pain.” Adrien’s worst nightmare is being locked up, as displayed in Sandboy, where bars appear in his room until he’s trapped and isolated. In “Riposte,” Ladybug hides him in a sarcophagus in the Louvre and, after escaping to be Chat Noir, he uses the excuse of, “I hate to be locked up.” While this is not actually why he left, his body language and tone show that he is being genuine in his words and that his clawstrophobia (sorry) is an actual problem. This claustrophobia is not only based in literally being in tight spaces, but also figuratively being trapped. His father over schedules him to the point where he, a young boy, cannot discover who is for himself or what his interests are. Despite the skateboarding ramp and posters in his room, does the audience ever see him even have the slightest interest in skateboarding? Or basketball? Rockclimbing? Piano? Fencing? Chinese? Modeling? While he seems to go along with these and generally find entertainment in them, there is no way to show that he is actually inclined to do these things - he is just expected to, so he does.

Being locked away in his room allowed him proficiency at the activities provided for him, but the only time he is ever depicted as actively enjoying one of these things is when he plays the piano with Plagg in “Puppeteer 2.” Sevens often prefer “to keep themselves excited and occupied, to avoid and discharge pain.” By giving in to the hobbies he is expected to have, he keeps himself busy so that he cannot worry about what he might actually enjoy. His ability to have high performance can also be attributed to the fact that “Sevens are frequently endowed with quick, agile minds, and can be exceptionally fast learners. This is true both of their ability to absorb information (language, facts, and procedures) and their ability to learn new manual skills—they tend to have excellent mind-body coordination, and manual dexterity (typewriting, piano playing, tennis).” While he might not be interested in the activities he participates in, he finds himself great at all of them because of this ability to adapt and learn. Despite this, it is likely that Adrien will struggle to figure out what he wants to pursue because, “Sevens do not feel that they can find what they really want in life.” The only thing he truly knows for himself and his future is that he wants Ladybug to be in it.

The few active decisions the audience sees Adrien make are in line with those associated with Sevens, in that he “[wants] to maintain [his] freedom and happiness, to avoid missing out on worthwhile experiences,” or, in this case, the experiences of a normal teenage boy. He decides he wants to go to school with other people because he deems it important in “Stoneheart”. In “The Gorilla,” he runs  away from home in order to avoid missing out on his mother’s movie. By keeping the black cat miraculous, he makes the choice to continue to have worthwhile experiences and make positive change to better his life. Sevens “do not feel that they know what to do or how to make choices that will be beneficial to themselves and others,” which is shown in “Reflekdoll” when Adrien holds the ladybug miraculous and worries that his choices are not the correct path without the assurance of Lady Noire. Sevens are known for “[keeping] their minds occupied, especially with projects and positive ideas for the future, they can, to some extent, keep anxiety and negative feelings out of conscious awareness.” As Chat Noir is being rejected by Ladybug, he quickly slips into a Marinette-like fantasy of moving to an island, living off fruits, and buying a pet hamster. By creating these plans, which one can only assume he spends much of his free time doing, he avoids the harsh reality of his family and love life.

Sevens are often referred to as being optimistic, which is certainly true of Adrien. Yes, he faces isolation and what is assuredly a deep set of insecurities and pain that a children’s show will not delve into, but he still finds the silver lining of every situation. When he is denied the love of Ladybug in “Glaciator,” he decides “her friendship is the best gift of all.” Even after he spent months trying to save Ladybug as Aspik in “Desperada,” he still decides that he can best help her as Chat Noir and sees the positive that can come out of what must have been a traumatic experience for him. Even in regards to his father, where most people would resent a parent who treats them like Gabriel treats Adrien, Adrien still manages to not only love but also respect his father and his wishes. When Sevens are at their healthiest, they “Assimilate experiences in depth, making them deeply grateful and appreciative for what they have.” When Adrien becomes his alternate persona, Chat Noir, the audience is able to clearly see the vivacity this character has and the beauty he finds in the world. Chat Noir often appreciates the smaller things in his life that others often tend to ignore, as he is unable to participate in life as Adrien Agreste. His separation from the world as his father’s son causes him to usually live in an unhealthy level for Sevens, where “their energy and health is completely spent: become claustrophobic and panic-stricken” which is again illustrated in his greatest fears of being trapped. “Sevens deeply resist feeling trapped or being in situations that continually produce unhappiness,” a statement that can easily be attributed to Adrien as he lives his life as a true Seven on the Enneagram.

It does not need to be stated that Chat Noir and Ladybug make a miraculous team (sorry). Their styles of planning, solving, and fighting are on opposite ends of the spectrum. Chat Noir tends to have a spontaneous take to his fighting, while Ladybug is methodical and calculating. This all makes sense with the analysis of the interactions of Ones and Sevens according to the official Enneagram study. “Enneagram Ones and Sevens have a particular complementary and reciprocal relationship. They are opposites who can either bring something needed to the other person, thereby helping both to achieve new growth.” The black cat and ladybug miraculous are said to be two parts of a whole, the yin and yang of the miraculous. Because of this, the interactions between them make sense to be reciprocal actions towards the same goal. While Ladybug creates, Chat Noir destroys. Their powers work together to create a balance in the world and within their lives. Occasionally, the audience sees examples of when their actions affect the outcome negatively because they are out of sync with the intentions of the other.

Sometimes, Chat Noir’s casual approach and joking attitude will get in the way of Ladybug’s plan, as seen in “Oblivio” and referenced in “Reflekdoll.” This dynamic between the two heroes can again be comprehended through the understanding of the two types, “Ones bring conscientiousness, orderliness, good work habits, methodical attention to detail, and a pleasure in maintaining excellence and high standards. Sevens bring spontaneity, high energy, curiosity, an orientation toward fun and adventure, the desire to try new things, and an ability to not get too hung up with getting everything done perfectly.” This is a perfect summary of their tandem relationship that balances out for a positive outcome. When things do not go to plan, Chat Noir finds a way to help Ladybug and solve the problems that they face most of the time. This spontaneity can sometimes cause issues between them, another common flaw between the two types. “As stress increases, Ones become increasingly critical, judgmental, inflexible, and insistent that things be done only one way, the right way—their way. They inevitably begin to see Sevens as undisciplined and inefficient, self-centered and childish. Ones feel that Sevens are scattered and tend to fool around too much.” In “Relfekdoll,” Ladybug points out these types of behaviors in her partner, going so far as to call his suit a “clown costume.” She also struggles to understand that Chat Noir’s approach to holding the Ladybug miraculous is vastly different from her own, which causes some bickering between them because her brain does not work in a “simple, straightforward [manner].”

As the audience does not see Marinette and Adrien interact in a normal fashion very often, it is harder to see these similarities appear between the two civilians. This is not only because of Marinette’s crush, but also because Adrien tends to guard his emotions to save face and do as expected of him. In “The Gorilla,” the dynamic between them peeks through as the friends have to rely on Adrien’s spontaneous changes of plan while Marinette struggles to follow along because she does not have time to make a cohesive plan. While Marinette can adapt quickly to her missteps around Adrien, she often finds herself floundering when she does not have a plan. Some of the few times she was almost successful in confessing her love can be noted in “Dark Cupid,” “Puppeteer 2,” and “Gigantitan.” In all three of these, she comes up with varying levels of plans in order to make Adrien fall in love with her. In “Dark Cupid,” she writes a love letter but forgets to sign it because she is distracted. “Puppeteer 2” shows her and Tikki devising a plan to play the role of someone who is confident around Adrien, but she had to go and almost kiss him in that situation. In “Gigantitan,” she develops what is easily her most in-depth plan (Operation: Secret Garden), which almost worked until she had to improvise. Her inability to improvise is greatly contrasted by Adrien/Chat Noir’s ability for the trade. He is a quick thinker and finds ways to avoid a negative outcome in the worst situations. When he tries to plan, such as his poem in “Dark Cupid,” it does not work out for him because he is able to do it on the fly with a higher success rate.

While Miraculous Ladybug may be a show intended for children, it is easily enjoyed by older viewers who look at each episode with a keen eye and interested mind. In the observation of interactions, mindsets, and attitudes, the Enneagram types of Paris’ heroes can easily be discovered and analyzed through a clearer lens. By doing so, an audience member can have a better understanding of the characters and make sense of their actions and thought processes without necessarily being able to relate to the characters all the time. By watching Marinette/Ladybug’s ability to plan and desire to do what is right for her city and her friends, one can see that her Enneagram type must be a One - the Reformer. She prefers a methodical approach to life that is filled with clear morals and a call to greatness and she often becomes frustrated when the world does not work the way she expects it to. On the other hand, Adrien/Chat Noir’s ability to see the positive in every situation as he improvises his way through life shows that he must be a Seven - the Enthusiast. Adrien’s family situation often places him in a period of stress or disintegration where he feels trapped and stuck in life because he does not fully understand himself. As the two characters interact with one another, it is made obvious that they are meant to be (whether as a couple or just the strongest duo in Paris) and that they can only improve and hone their partnership as they better understand one another on a deeper level.

(All quotes taken from “Miraculous Ladybug” and The Enneagram Institute.)

[gipsytrips]

Around the world with my baby daughter.

Article for traveling parents.

Finally I got just a little bit of free time and maybe I could write several posts about traveling with my baby daughter. Right now we are in Dominican Republic, Thaissia is sleeping and I’m using this bit of time to share our experiences and how we are managing.

From her very early days Thaissia was already traveling around France, and I did write a couple articles devoted to those trips. When she turned 2.5 months, we left France for Saint Petersburg, Russia and then took a train over to Moscow to visit family. Later when she was almost 5 months, we took off to California. At the age of 8 months we were in Dominican  Republic and we are still here spending the winter and traveling around a bit more seriously.

As for flying in airplanes, Thaissia does it like a grown up. She doesn’t cry, sleeps in my arms, eats, plays with me and sometimes wants me to carry her around the cabin so she can look and smile at people. During the flights we never used any baby gear (like infant airplane seat from amazon) except for sling or baby carrier. Her habits and the ability to fly easy can of course change in the future, she might become more capricious and demanding… For now she is fine and it is great.

Lets talk about everyday life on the go and baby travel gadgets. In France and Russia Thaissia was still a little baby and everything was rather simple – elastic (Je porte mon bebe) or cotton sling wrap– Amazonas brand (and no stroller), foldable travel bed-bag (and no separate crib), car seat, baby bath tub with seat or hammock, medicine and first-aid kit, diaper backpack for long walks (I just adapted my regular day backpack for baby needs), blanket on the floor with some toys hanging over it (baby gym). In Petersburg we also had a baby chaise longue at the balcony. Our most important accessory has always been a sling wrap and starting from the age of 6 months we replaced it with baby carrier Ergobaby 360. This thing is vital and super useful for traveling and everyday life. But not all parents got their backs ready, so train yourselves in advance.

When Thaissia learned how crawl, in the States I had to get her some more baby gear… Besides a couple different baby gyms from Ikea, we got a huge blanket on the floor, that would cover almost the entire room, and later I had to buy a spacious 6-panel baby gate (Summer Infant), which I was using as a gate only in order to separate that part of the room where I didn’t want my little one to crawl to… I purchased all kind of baby safety things, but we only used outlet plug covers and mini night light. We have a bunch of other safety gadgets (like cabinet and toilet seat locks, silicone corner protectors), but because of constant traveling and moving from one house to another, we still didn’t have a chance to try all that stuff out. For our beach days I bought a baby tent, but we used it for only about a month, then my baby didn’t want to lie in one place anymore… Also at home we had a fit ball, a great thing for exercises with your baby!

I breast feed, its healthy, pleasant and comfortable, never have to worry about any bottles or formula. In California I started giving Thaissia additional food, so I got a mini blender (380 ml) that can be USB-charged. We used it for 3 months, while I needed to make puree. Now I just use a fork to mash some food in a plate as my baby got 8 teeth.

Sleeping question. We have been co-sleeping from the very beginning. Whatever people may say, it works for us perfectly. So we never had a separate baby bed. Just the first five months Thaissia was sleeping in a foldable baby bed-bag that was standing next to me in a big bed. When we travelled this bed was easily transformed into a diaper bag. Later when my baby grew out of this magic bed, I got a long braided bumper pillow and used it to delimit her space from mine. When we went traveling I didn’t take this pillow with us of course and now I just use rolled towels to separate us in bed. We can sleep without those towels of course but then Thaissia will take the whole bed leaving me on the edge. Also important (if possible) that bed would be a low one and would stand next to a wall on one side and on the other side its good to have a carpet, a blanket or a small mattress, so in case of falling, there would be something soft on the floor.

Here in Dominican Republic Thaissia learnt to sit and stand up practically all at the same time, and looks like soon she will start walking… Also she really loves bathing in the ocean with me! Maybe soon she will also start swimming? J An inflatable sit up bath tub, that I got specially for this trip, only served us for a short time. Now I can take my baby with me in the shower and she can stand there while I wash us (a bit harder to wash her head though). If she needs just a quick rinse, I can do that in the sink. One of my most needed travel gadgets is the pocket waterproof beach blanket with stakes (its super thin and light). We don’t care about wind or sand anymore! Speaking of two main tropical problems – sun and mosquitoes – yes, you do need all kinds of creams and sprays and have to rent a place with nets on windows or at least a mosquito net over the bed. If there is no shade at all where you are walking, you might want to get a small SPF 50 umbrella and/or a pareo to cover up hand and legs of your little one while you carry him or her around. Fast drying wide brim hat and long sleeve rash guard SPF 50 are also a must, as for baby sun glasses you might not be lucky, because your little one might refuse to wear them.

Food theme is particularly interesting when traveling. In California, where we stayed for 3 months in the same place, and I was routinely making porridges and boiled veggies without salt and oil/butter. Now here in Dominican Republic apart from those homemade breakfast porridges I feed Thaissia whatever I have in my plate for dinner (fish, chicken, beef, bread, veggies and of course lots of different fruit!). Sometimes we are still using hard food feeder, but less and less now. An important question is where to sit your baby at home (on the go) and in the restaurant? At home I still use car seat which I got here for everyday use indoors. Here in the house we are renting we happen to have a good size stable kids chair in the kitchen. She can’t still sit in it all by herself of course, but I was able to secure her in it with baby seat strap that I bought on Amazon for this trip. It’s not going to fit every possible chair, but it’s cheap, takes almost no space in your luggage, so you can purchase a couple different models and experiment. How do we eat out?... However we can, we are very creative… If there is a high chair (which is rare) – that’s great, if there isn’t – fine, we will deal with it… We can make our own “baby chair” from several chairs and pillows, and even better if we can eat on some sofa (we do not promise it will be clean afterwards) or at the worst case scenario I can ask restaurant personnel to hold my baby while I quickly devoir food after a long walk… Sometimes it’s a lot more comfortable to eat while standing at the bar and your baby is attached to you in a carrier…

As for baby play yard while traveling, you can make it from whatever stuff you find around – flipped tables and chairs, boxes, pillows, mattresses, suitcase and other barriers… But you little one might learn how to crawl over all that stuff… It’s perfect if while traveling you can rent a one bedroom or a little house (not just a studio), where besides the bedroom, you will also have a living room and separate kitchen. So when you put your baby to sleep, you can sneak out of the room and just sit on the couch in that nice little living room and… write a story in your blog or crochet a new toy.

Toys… A whole separate topic! I crochet toys, and half of our suitcase is taken by toys – crocheted, wooden, rubber (just not plastic), developmental and just funny… You don’t need lots of toys all at once, you need to change them… So we still had to pack quite a lot of toys with us and change them from time to time.

Clothing… I though we could travel with just minimum of clothing. Not really. I think there has to be a good amount of baby clothing so that you would let you little one to get dirty as much as he or she wants. And you can avoid every day washing.

Of course it’s a thousand times easier to travel in three when Thaissia’s dad comes to visit us some place. Here in Dominican  Republic, when three of us traveled around, I had a real holiday! But the two of us, me and my daughter, we can do just fine as well. Yes, I don’t get much time to relax and have to think one step ahead always. Our regular routine day without flying in airplanes, moving to a new place, without equipping the new house with all the necessary things and a baby zone, without going shopping for food and water, without traveling somewhere on local transport (which can be quite authentic, depending on where in the world we are at the moment), without visiting some nice faraway place, like a secluded beach or a national park, etc, etc., can never be dull and boring by definition. Make breakfast (fruits, porridge), and while Thaissia is still eating wash the dishes (or ants and some other tropical insects would come to feast), take everything needed on the beach or on the walk, not forget to put on sunscreen, put up a beach blanket in a good shady spot, sticking in stakes and taking away all rubbish (or whatever is on the ground) so the baby doesn’t eat it, prevent my little one from eating too much sand, find her a company to play with (she is super social and playing with other kids is essential), give her some water, give her a banana or an avocado or something else, give her water again, ouch she fell dooooown…., fold up the blanket and unfold it again in shade, walk a couple kilometers or more with Thaissia in the carrier and then walk back, bathe with her in the ocean (favourite activity!), laugh, “fly’, play while sitting down, “walk”, sing and dance, take a nap at home for a couple hours (while Thaissia is sleeping, if she is in her deep sleep, I can maybe do some stuff on internet, sweep the floor, make a salad, wash my hair, crochet a toy, buy some airlines tickets… etc), feed my baby many times during the day and change her diaper just as many times, take some photos, have a coffee with something sweet, not forget to have dinner and not let Thaissia eat everything from my plate, wash my baby and take a shower myself, wash beach clothing and hang it to dry, read some books with Thaissia and play with her, finally put her to bed and fall asleep myself (or not.. while she is asleep, make some porridge or chicken for tomorrow, do some stuff at the computer, work on pictures from the camera or crochet)… and so on and so forth in different variations, it’s fun.

Is it easy for me? No, absolutely not. But I’m not complaining and not going to talk about those days when it’s super hard, when I have to solve all kinds of problems, when I don’t know where we are going to stay or when am I finally going to get some sleep, for example. Of course it is not like that when we are traveling, but more so when I’m working and Thaissia has to stay with a babysitter (but this is a whole different story)…

I am indeed very very happy and I do everything possible to make Thaissia smile and surprise her all the time. I love her so much and want to show her the whole world! Even though she is so little and doesn’t understand a lot of things (or she understands them in her own way, not like I do), she enjoys the sun and the warm weather, she loves to splash in the ocean and play in the sand, she is curious to see animals and colourful flowers, she adores new tasty foods and really likes to meet people and smile at them! Thaissia is happy when I am happy, and backwards. My baby absorbs everything that is around her and every day she is more and more curious about the world. Also daily she hears all the five languages that I speak.

Finally I would like to note that before I was traveling with an 11-13 kg backpack, now I also got a big suitcase, BUT my daughter and me don’t really need at least one half of this suitcase, and we can kind of do without the second half as well if we try… But in order to be able to travel this light with a baby you have to train. I promise myself that next time our suitcase will be smaller!

So this was a little introduction guide (with lyrical digressions) about everyday life when traveling and baby gadgets for trips. Attaching some photos from California and Dominican Republic. Next posts will be about actual travels around Dominican  Republic.

01-2019. Las Terrenas, Republica Dominicana.

[kimberlycollins]

NIPPON GA DAI SUKI (JAPAN WE LOVE YOU)

Traveling to an exotic country sounds, well, exotic. And it is. It’s a true adventure in life. It’s also exhausting. And enlightening.

I’ve traveled afar throughout my entire adulthood. All over Europe, The Middle East, Egypt, Central America, Mexico, Eastern Europe, Canada, the Caribbean, Australia… Florida. ;)

I give travel (and my parents, *ehem*) credit for keeping me grounded, humbled and modest, in the sense of “I AM BUT A SPECK ON THIS EARTH” or “MY BELIEF SYSTEM IS NOT EVERYTHING” or “I DON’T KNOW AS MUCH AS I THOUGHT I KNEW” or “I REALLY DON’T KNOW HOW I GOT BEST DRESSED IN HIGH SCHOOL” (read: France ;)).

Travel helps us all to get out of our comfort zone and to see what a tiny place we occupy on this planet. It’s a liberating realization, embracing one’s insignificance in this world. It’s not about being small, because none of us are. It’s more about the world being BIG.

Travel puts your life into perspective; your problems and celebrations do not hold as much weight as they seem. It also shows you how much you have or what you don’t have. It’s a healthy reality check.

That’s why travel is good for you.

I am reminded this after a crazy year. My husband and I have been on tour with our music (The Smoking Flowers) for a lot of 2018, in and out of the country. It’s been a healthy year of these reality checks for sure.

That’s why I am writing this post on my health blog, as this type of health is just as important as the physical.

And so I write.

I write to journal.

I write to inspire (myself, if no one else).

I write to remember.

I write because I am bored today, it’s cold outside and my matcha is steaming, infusing me with memories.

I’m also writing because I miss Japan.

Of all my travels, I think Japan smacked me across the head when I needed it most. It made me feel like I was five years old again. Everything, down to using the toilet, I had to relearn/rethink. Yep, it took 43 years off my life. Now that’s a natural youth serum I can live with.

It also made my brain function differently. Trying to learn a foreign language audibly and visually that has no history in the Latin world is truly a foreign language. I now know how to order water, draft beer, sake and vegetarian ramen in Japanese. Basics. (Although a friendly laugh is usually the response to the veggie ramen inquiry). I now know how to tell a Japanese punk band they did a great job after seeing them open up for us at our show. I learned to say just plain “awesome”, and used it a lot. Japanese is pretty “saikou”, after all.

Japan can feel very futuristic, and Tokyo is like being on a movie set at times. They are the future for most of the civilized world seemingly 10 years ahead of us all, yet still remaining ancient and historic at the same time. Eating sushi or having tea can be presented like it was 400 years ago or like something out of The Jetsons (ala conveyor belt computer sushi restaurants).

But beyond the exotic veil, it was the culture and etiquette that really impressed me and made my head spin.

Below are but a few observations of the plentiful Japanese culture I experienced over my month long visit. And of course, they are my own, so they are neither right nor wrong. Just observations from a somewhat worldly gal who grew up Southern in America:

1. The Japanese have manners like I’ve never seen.

They are unwavering in their politeness. Selfless hospitality is a cornerstone of Japanese culture, and you can feel it in everything down to their quiet nature to their cleanliness to the way they package your purchased goods like a present. And that bow! That Japanese bow. It makes you feel special.

2. They are startling quiet and calm.

Given that Tokyo houses more than 13 million people, the sense of order and calm as everyone goes about their responsibilities with concern for others is remarkable. The Tokyo city streets are shockingly silent. You can hear the air, the machinery hums that run a city and the cars passing, but they don’t honk like NYC. I think I heard two honks the entire time in Tokyo, and that’s not an exaggeration. We drove the interstates a ton on our tour, all over the country... aggressive driving doesn’t seem to exist. Could this be from their Zen culture?

Also, they don’t bump into you trying to get on the subway in a hurry. It’s an orderly line and gentle squeeze to fit everyone on the trains, like a can of sardines without the stink.

I want to throw in another aspect of “calm” here; safety.

Feeling safe, stable, and secure is central to our health and wellbeing. How safe we feel at home and in our neighborhood can influence our social habits and feeling of freedom. When we feel safe, we find it easier to relax, do all the things that comfort us, and focus on the work or study we need to do to help ensure our stability.

I’ve never felt safer anywhere in my life than when in Japan. I never worried about my purse or goods being stolen. Never worried about locking our apartment or car doors. Never got ogled at or hit upon. Wowza.

3. There’s no trash on the streets. And I mean zero. Not even cigarette butts. And it’s not like there are janitors sweeping the streets and alleys. To make this fact more amazing, it’s hard pressed to find trash bins anywhere. So where does a city of millions dispose of their goods while walking/biking about? Their pockets… until they reach home to throw in appropriate bins.

RETRACTION: One time we were walking under an over pass in Tokyo and we saw, gasp, trash. The remarkable thing was that this trash was piled neatly in a small pile, waiting anxiously to be picked up properly.

For an interesting article on Japan and the waste culture check out this article: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/07/why-japanese-dont-litter/

4. They seem to really care about the planet.

And don’t just post about it on social media.

You won’t find paper towels anywhere, sans a few nice restaurants. Water waste is thoughtfully considered in everything they do it seems. Yes, even the toilet fill water after a flush is used as a sink to wash your hands before entering the tank. They line dry their clothes (like most of the world except America). They ride bicycles like it’s Amsterdam on steroids. There are even parking lots just for bikes. This eliminates the need for excess taxis on the streets (i.e. “fossil fuels”). I know this goes on all over the world, but I again, I’m sticking to Japan here.

5. Buddhism and Shintoism.

I have practiced Buddhism since my 20’s and see it as more of a mind set and lifestyle than a religion. So for me, I felt right at home in a country that houses over 77,000 temples (No typo there). Incense permeates the air, especially in Kyoto. Smelled like my house and I couldn’t have been happier about that aspect.

But it’s more than Buddhism. The main Japanese religion is Shintoism. Many Japanese people practice both. The beliefs are very compatible and not contradictory.

6. ROBOTIC TOILETS!

Japan has a magic thing called Toto Toilets. And the toilet culture there is really something to behold. I fell in love with their toilets and never once worried to sit on the public toilet seat. I can simply not go back to our classic Kohler again. Trust me, once you experience a heated seat, self-cleaning, massaging, butt-cleaning, “privacy sound”, hand-washing toilet all in one small package, you’ll never go back. Don’t know how to expand on this in a blog… just “go” try it for your self.

7. 7- Eleven heaven!

Yep, you heard this health advocate correctly. When you are looking for a healthy bite on the road or on the quick, there’s a 7-Eleven on every corner. And it’s not the 7-Eleven we know in this country at all! Made fresh daily veggie sushi, veggie rice “sandwiches”, miso soup, raw veggies, healthy drinks, tea, fairly healthy snacks if you are into the packaged food thing. All for super cheap. I cannot tell you what a lifesaver it was on the road for us when there were practically no healthy options. Also, we decided to add fish into our diet while in Japan, and certainly glad we did. I’ve never had better fish in my life. It really felt healthy. My nails are still shiny like they’ve been shellacked. Win win.

8. VENDING MACHINES!

Super convenient and anonymous, there are vending machines all over Japan (even in remote villages) that can get you most anything you need instantly: from fermented bean drinks to green tea to hot or cold coffee to fully cooked meals to used panties. Yep, the Japanese can get weird.

Ok, so maybe the last three points are less about culture, but I had to throw them in for the “wow” factor.

I could go on and on about Japan… it’s as wide and deep and old and beautiful as it’s countryside beacon Mt. Fuji. But it has its pitfalls too. No culture is perfect. I just prefer to focus on the ideals I look up to, rather than focusing on the negatives. Their negatives are no different than America’s: too much sugar and meat in the diet, it’s a highly misogynistic society, cigarettes, stressful six day work weeks with long hours, those darn plastic bags… But we all know those are WORLD WIDE ISSUES.

Japan, you definitely stole my heart. Thank you to all who came to our shows and to those that showed us your rare style of hospitality. And a huge special thanks to my tour manager, Gus Bennett, who introduced my husband and me to this beautiful country, showed us the ropes and helped us navigate into this great unknown that will certainly be with me forever.

Mata, chikai uchini, aeruto iine.

Photo credit: Marley Parker at ML Parker Media

[anneedmonds]

5 Beauty and Fashion Favourites: August 2021 | AD

My five favourite beauty, fashion and lifestyle products this month include some boots for stomping in, a dress for vamping in and a face cream that moisturises so deeply it’s slightly unnerving. Watch the video below if you fancy listening to me chatting through my favourites or carry on reading for the quiet, work-skive-friendly version.

I kickstart my favourites this month with a really exciting one for me, because I loved this product and brand so much that I’ve actually invested in the company. (Hence the AD disclaimer.) The product is a very high-quality supplement called Heights and it has been specifically formulated to support the brain – braincare, if you will. Now I know that the issue of supplements divides people and so if you’re not a taker then please feel free to scroll on down to just below where there’s a picture of me wearing a dress and looking sultry/dead behind the eyes.

I’m pretty selective about the vitamins/supplements I take and well aware of the noise around the fact that so many of them are – quite frankly – shite, but I’ve also had some noticeable health successes (for want of a better phrase) when I’ve consistently taken certain vitamins and supplements that have been recommended to me.

You could argue that it’s coincidental and obviously it’s anecdotal, because I haven’t been part of any trials or studies, but off the top of my head: my recurring cystitis is massively alleviated when I’m consistently taking D-Mannose, I don’t get my awful mouth ulcers so much when I take Vitamin B12 and making sure I keep up my Vitamin D intake is a priority for me since 2014 when I was tested and shown to be drastically deficient. (All of these were recommended to me by doctors or consultants both privately and through the NHS.)

I think that I’m healthily cynical about the vitamins industry as a whole but feel as though I’ve had enough positive experiences with good quality ones to be open to trying something new. And I loved that the Heights Smart Supplement targeted the brain and the health of the actual organ itself, which wasn’t something I’d thought of before. The capsules (you take two a day, anytime, and they’re fine on an empty stomach) contain all of the Vitamin D I need to take, the Omega 3 Fatty Acids, Vitamin B12 and then a careful selection of highest quality vitamins and minerals that help to support the brain.

Read more about Heights

If you’d like to give them a try then I have a 25% discount code for the monthly plan – use code RUTH25. It works out cheaper the longer the plan you subscribe for, but I did a few months first to see how I got on. Please do let me know what you think if you try them, I find the whole concept so interesting – you can read more about Braincare here.

Get 25% off Height Smart Supplements using RUTH25

Next favourites on my list this month: two fashion items. Stompy boots and vixen dress. I have some events coming up for work and wanted a dress that was noticeable (cue bold print) but not too blousy (enter stage left the long sleeves and high neck). There’s something slightly gothic about this Reiss dress* and I really like the autumnal colours in the print. I would never usually go for a high neck but I think that it works so well with the gathering over the chest and across the back – I think it’s really flattering.

Reiss Bobby Dress, £198

Stompy combat boots aren’t perhaps the natural pairing for a printed maxi dress, but I’ve been experimenting with ways of getting more use out of evening/occasion dresses and going down the “Lily Allen circa 2006” route seems to be quite a successful one. Fancy flouncy dresses with trainers. Pretty maxi dresses with hard boots. There’s a proper blog post coming out imminently, but for now, behold the “Stomper” (aptly named) boots from Russel & Bromley:

They’re so beautifully made. Expensive, but worth every penny in terms of build quality and the fact that somehow they still manage to look quite dainty. Initially I was vexed by the laces up the front, because nobody has time for laces, but they’re actually dummy ones and the boots have zips down the sides. Marvellous.

You can find the Stomper boots online here.

Two beauty products now. The Jo Loves Fragrance Paintbrush in Pink Vetiver has been in the favourites before, more for the scent itself than the scent delivery system, but after a few little nights away here and there I’ve noted that the paintbrush is actually quite a nice way of applying perfume. It seems more luxurious than a rollerball – slightly cooling, and the brushstroke is sensuous – and there’s something a bit more enticing about softly stroking a fragrance on. It’s great for travelling with as it’s lighter and sturdier than a glass bottle and handy if you’re in a crowded train or plane and don’t want to spritz perfume on everyone within a five metre radius.

The Paintbrush is here* online and is £40 for 7ml for the initial packaging. Yikes! That’s £5.70 per ml. However the refill set is £35 for 21ml which is much more purse-friendly at £1.66 per ml. For comparison’s sake, the 100ml fragrance in a bottle is £1.15 per ml. I don’t think that the extra is too horrendous considering how convenient the brush is, especially for travel!

You can find the Jo Loves Pink Vetiver range here*. Pink Vetiver is absolutely gorgeous, by the way. I can highly recommend it as an autumnal fragrance that still has sparks of a summer evening. It’s spicy and slightly exotic with a sort of musky masculinity – pink peppercorn, ginger, vetiver and cardamom. Really quite addictive.

Last on my favourites list but absolutely not least: the new Triple Hyaluronic Acid Deep Moisture Miracle Cream from Beauty Pie (online here*). This cream promises deep hydration and boy does it deliver. It’s not quite so dramatic as the Supreme Cream (renamed Power Elixir Moisturiser, here*) but the lightweight gel cream packs an amazing punch in terms of hydration and the effects are noticeably long-lasting. If you’re after a heavyweight moisturiser with a lightweight texture and no greasy residue then this is your bag – suitable for all skin types, it’s perfect for plumping out those crepey lines of dehydration.

Buy Triple Hyaluronic Acid Deep Moisture Miracle Cream*

If you’re unfamiliar with the Beauty Pie membership system then read my post here; you subscribe to a certain plan and then have a spending allowance. The products are one price for the non-member and another, much lower, price for members. For this cream, the £60 equivalent price (they compare the product to similar luxury products on the market) is brought down to £15.57 for members. Add on membership and postage and you still have a very high-end face cream for significantly less than you’d pay elsewhere.

That’s the idea. It makes more sense once you get your head around it and Beauty Pie’s skincare is so consistently good that it is worth getting your head around it!

If you use the code RUTHSENTME* then you can get an extra £50 spending allowance on sign-up, so make sure you get your bonus if you take the plunge. Some of my most-used favourites are in this post but I would absolutely, unreservedly recommend the new Hot Oil Double Cleansing Balm, here* online.

Shop at Beauty Pie*

That’s my favourites done and dusted for this month – I’m toying with the idea of moving this feature into the middle of the month so that the title still feels relevant and timely. What do you think? I sometimes think that once the month has moved on I don’t want to read anything about the previous one. It’s like going backwards. Let me know your thoughts!

  The post 5 Beauty and Fashion Favourites: August 2021 | AD appeared first on Ruth Crilly.

©2020 " 5 Beauty and Fashion Favourites: August 2021 | AD published first on https://medium.com/@SkinAlley

[360digitmg-dataanalyticscourse]

How To Study Data Science

Here are the 10 finest data science bootcamps that will assist professionals turn out to be a profitable data scientist in 2021. It is critical that a data scientist have the ability to work with unstructured data. Unstructured data is undefined content material that does not match into database tables. Examples include movies, weblog posts, customer reviews, social media posts, video feeds, audio etc.

Career alternatives in data have exponentially grown in the recent few years. Companies are eager to seize data and derive insights from it due to the technological developments we're seeing. Accessibility of the info right now might help to reap a number of advantages organizations from it. Because of this purpose, corporations are not shying away from offering elevated data scientist salaries in India. Companies are throwing big salaries at these having expertise to tackle the positions of Data Analysts, Scientists, Engineers, and so forth. There are more than 2.3 million open jobs asking for analytics skills. This program has been strategically designed to organize college students for the analytics field by constructing a strong theoretical basis and applying it to actual-world business issues.

But Data Science tasks are increasingly typically developed for manufacturing methods, for example, as a microservice in a bigger software program. Data Science is a competitive field, and people are shortly building increasingly abilities and expertise.

You will achieve new expertise to design and maintain huge data ecosystems. To managers and recruiters that you've got the mandatory abilities they need in a data scientist. Hence, it offers an associate-degree and a specialist level which is extra advanced. So, coming to the most trending discussion for aspiring data scientists, that's, the data science certifications which are able to assist them to get hired. Below is the record of finest data science certifications with their cost and expiration. As we all know, the data scientist profession is among the hottest jobs in IT. What’s extra, it’s the most effective job you can get, according to data from Glassdoor.

As an data scientist, you have to know how to create a storyline around the data to make it easy for anyone to know. For instance, presenting a desk of data just isn't as efficient as sharing the insights from those data in a storytelling format. Using storytelling will allow you to properly talk your findings to your employers. Companies searching for a powerful data scientist are on the lookout for someone who can clearly and fluently translate their technical findings to a non-technical group, such as the Marketing or Sales departments. Check out our recent flash survey for more info on communication abilities for quantitative professionals. No doubt you’ve seen this phrase in all places recently, especially as it pertains to data scientists.

The cause for that is that data collection, data cleaning and processing is turning into very common these days as corporations need data to gather market and buyer data. Industries are buzzing about Big Data, and organizations are looking for hires with these in-demand, short-in-supply abilities. Improving your data analytics data right now means extra alternative—and more cash—for you sooner or later.

And which means demand for data scientists and associated positions may also go up. According to Peter Bailis, CEO of Sisu and co-principal investigator of the Stanford DAWN project, the job prospects for would-be data scientists are strong. No matter how you narrow it, data science is still a profitable area with plenty of opportunity, which is why universities proceed to add data science packages to their curriculums. According to data science training, there are more than 830 separate data science packages being provided from about 500 universities all over the world.

Though much of the mathematical heavy lifting is done by computer systems, understanding what makes this potential is crucial. Data scientists are tasked with figuring out what questions to pose, and how to make computers answer them. Therefore, the need for data scientists to have an excellent foundation in math is obvious. Understanding ideas like irrational and rational numbers assist data scientists write environment friendly and correct code. Software runs all the necessary statistical checks these days, however an data scientist nonetheless must possess the statistical sensibility to know which to take a look at to run when and the way to interpret the outcomes. Six Sigma are nice instruments to help data scientists and teams clear up actual world data science problems. The unique objectives, necessities and limitations of each industry outline every step that a data scientist takes.

Want to become a Data Scientist however never thought enterprise data is important? To turn out to be a good Data Scientist, you have to know your industry inside and out. You need to have a solid understanding of what business problems your company is making an attempt to unravel to be able to work in the direction of solving them by leveraging data in new and other ways. You need to be proficient in SQL as a Data Scientist that you can access the data easily in addition to work on it SQL can provide you deep insights into a database relying on your query. It also has concise instructions that can assist you to save lots of time and lessen the quantity of programming you should perform for tough queries.

Having a data science diploma in your resume may assist you to get a job. However, getting one usually takes years and costs tens if not tons of of thousands of dollars. I used it to retailer worth data, and thus realized 10x as much as I would have by just studying syntax. More importantly, should you’re not actively applying what you study, your research received it puts you together to do precise data science work. I can’t fully explain how immensely demotivating it's to be given a huge list of sources with none context. It’s akin to a teacher handing you a stack of textbooks and saying “learn all of those.” I struggled with this strategy when I was in school. If I had started studying data science this fashion, I by no means would have saved going.

None of those tasks could ever, by any stretch of the imagination, be thought-about simple. But the work that data scientists do is important for a business sector that more and more depends on huge data to drive efficiency.

A Masters of data science training is the preferred diploma supplied, it says, whereas about 135 schools supply data science packages on-line. We can’t stress enough how important are Python and R for the data science area in 2020. However, their strengths are their flaws, in terms of huge corporations. Python and R are each open supply frameworks that can be buggy or not well documented, in contrast to properly-established languages corresponding to MATLAB or C. One potential rationalization is that corporations don’t always understand the data scientist position properly.

Regardless of which ideas you choose to pursue, nonetheless, a basic understanding of statistics and statistical thinking is an absolute must-have for skilled data scientists. Python is the programming language to beat within the data science world.

In order to be efficient as a data scientist, people want to be able to perceive the info. Data scientists act as a bridge between complex, uninterpretable raw data and precise folks. Though cleansing, processing and analyzing data are important steps within the data science pipeline, this work is useless without efficient communication. Dave Holtz points out on the 360DigiTMG weblog, that the “data scientist” job title encompasses a wide range of positions, which may demand vastly completely different abilities from candidates.

So study SQL as it'll allow you to in understanding relational databases and add another feather to your cap as a Data Scientist. You shall be doing software improvement, data management, utility testing, and so on. as a Data Scientist. In common, Python and R are essentially the most commonly used languages for this objective. A Data Scientist creates predictive models and performs custom evaluation on the data in accordance with company necessities. This data science course hyderabad  has varied steps together with data extraction, exploration, visualization, and so forth. that require data of varied instruments and abilities. So let’s see the exhausting abilities that a Data Scientist should have to achieve success. Well, in today’s occasions that is someone who's multi-talented, works onerous, and is ready to go the additional mile.

In the long run, although, I suppose studying R is also very helpful since many statistics/ML textbooks use R for examples and workout routines. In truth, both books I talked about firstly use R, and until someone interprets everything to Python and posts it to Github, you gain the full advantage of the book. Created by Andrew Ng, maker of the well-known Stanford Machine Learning course, this is one of the highest rated data science programs on the internet. This course series is for these excited about understanding and dealing with neural networks in Python. Python is used on this data science course hyderabad , and there’s many lectures going by way of the intricacies of the various data science libraries to work through real-world, fascinating problems. This is one of the solely data science programs around that truly touches on each a part of the data science course of. The inclusion of probability and statistics courses makes this series from MIT a very properly-rounded curriculum for with the ability to understand data intuitively.

Holtz’s publication identifies 4 types of data scientist jobs and breaks down which skills are most significant for each. The expertise required of a data scientist may be sliced and diced in different ways.  360DigiTMG – 360DigiTMG hosts data science competitions the place you possibly can follow, hone your expertise with messy, actual world data, and sort out actual business problems. Employers take Kaggle rankings significantly, as they can be seen as related, hands-on project work.

For more information

360DigiTMG - Data Analytics, Data Science Course Training Hyderabad  

Address - 2-56/2/19, 3rd floor,, Vijaya towers, near Meridian school,, Ayyappa Society Rd, Madhapur,, Hyderabad, Telangana 500081

099899 94319

https://g.page/Best-Data-Science

[nanowrimo]

5 NaNo Lessons I’ve Applied to the Rest of My Life

Although our events currently only run during certain months throughout the year, the NaNoWriMo community remains year-round, and the things you learn while writing a novel can be applied to many different situations. Today, participant Anna Fagundes Martino shares some of the most important lessons that writing a novel in a month has taught her:

Every November since 2011, as soon as I post the “NaNoWriMo Participant” banner on my social media outlets, I hear two things from friends and family. One is, “You’re mad to tackle 50k words in a month.” The other is, “I wish I had the drive to do that sort of thing!”

I never said I’m not mad (I am a writer, after all). As for the drive… take the word of this former owner of the Pan-American record for Writing Procrastination: that can be taught. So much so that I applied what I learned in six seasons of November madness into other areas of my life that have nothing to do with fiction writing.

After all, most big deadlines can seem like the elusive 50k in November: an Everest of a situation. Whether you want to do it (e.g. get to dance at the Lindy Hop ball, finish a race for the first or tenth time) or you have to do it (e.g. a school essay, a job presentation), the first and irrational reaction, of course, is to panic and freeze, and then say “Nope, won’t do it. There are better people doing it already.”

That’s where the NaNo mind-frame comes in handy.

1. Break things down into manageable segments.

Like in the beginning of November, we must break down the goal into manageable pieces. Fifty thousand words in a month equals 1,667 words a day. It looks more manageable–and our brains love whatever makes a task look easier. Instead of looking at the big picture, begin with the one phrase. I started to apply that to running: I am not the fastest, nor the one that goes the farthest, but mile by mile, I can finish the race.

2. Track your progress.

Do you remember the cool wallpapers that appear at the beginning of the month, with all the number of words needed for each day, the funny incentives and uplifting quotes? Well, they are not only for November, they are for life: adapt them for the situation at hand. When you start noticing how far you’ve gone, you feel guilty about quitting–and inspired to fill out the rest.

(Extra points if you adjust the “You Should Be Writing!” meme for the project at hand as well. My favorite involves the Tenth Doctor looking rather miffed. It does the trick every time).

3. Remember that there are plotter and pantser situations in real life. 

Some writers are natural-born plotters: they make charts, outlines, character sheets and Pinterest boards covering all the minutiae of their novel. Some are pantsers: there is a story out there in the middle of that chaos; all you need to do is to find it.

There are situations that demand the “plotter” outlook–a school presentation must be thought about carefully, for example. Then there are situations that demand a bit of pantser courage, like grabbing the microphone at the karaoke party when you are shy, but also dying to sing. Adapt accordingly. The one sure way to lose if you don’t try.

4. Celebrate the small achievements. 

Nobody does this better than the NaNo crowd. We celebrate when we reach 10K, 25K, even when we get to write 1K in an awful, no good, “If you need me, I shall be in Australia” sort of day (Phantom of the Opera fans will get the reference). So why not do that with all the other developments in life? Break out the nice china or the fancy lipstick. Find support from like-minded folks. We NaNoNinjas have the online boards and the MLs–if you’re doing something, whatever it is, it’s highly plausible you are not alone. Your community is here to help.

5. Don’t get down on yourself when you’re in a rut.

When in a rut, remember that the first draft of everything is crap. Get it finished, by hook or by crook. Quote the encyclopedia. Do a song and dance. Add aliens to the text if needed–not recommended if you are doing, say, the AP History presentation, but, then again, if Lin-Manuel Miranda got away with a George Washington spouting hip-hop lines… anything can be done if you have enough research and the talent to back it up. And there lies the most important thing that NaNoWriMo taught me: if you can dream it, you can put it to paper.

So get it to paper–even if it’s not fiction. Don’t wait for November or any other special date.

Anna Fagundes Martino is a writer based in São Paulo, Brazil, and an editor at the Dame Blanche publishing house (www.editoradameblanche.tumblr.com/).

Top photo by Flickr user planetlight.

[bettydgunter90]

068: The Seth Williams Origin Story

  If you’ve ever wanted to know the real story behind Seth Williams, this is your chance to hear where it all began, the twists and turns his path has taken, where he’s headed, and some of the lesser-known details of his life.

In this episode, Jaren sits down with Seth for a one-on-one conversation about his life, story, motivations, strengths, weaknesses, and a lot more.

Links and Resources

20 Things I’ve Never Told You by Seth Williams

Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

Dale Carnegie Training

BiggerPockets Podcast 039: Dirt Cheap Land Flipping with Seth Williams

Lifeonaire.com (Steve Cook’s current website)

Jack Bosch’s Land Course

Corbett Barr

Pat Flynn

Share Your Thoughts

Leave a note in the comments section below!

Share this episode on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn (social sharing buttons below!)

Help out the show:

Leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts Your ratings and reviews really help (and I read each one).

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts

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Thanks again for joining me this week. Until next time!

Right-click here and “Save As” to download this episode to your computer.

Episode 68 Transcription

Seth: Hey everybody, what’s up? This is Seth and Jaren of the REtipster podcast and today is going to be another unique podcast episode. If you caught the last episode when I interviewed Jaren and we learned more about his backstory and all things Jaren Barnes. We’re going to flip the script today and Jaren is going to interview me, so I get to really let my ego shine. And before I go any further, I’m just going to turn the table over to Jaren and he can kind of pick this up and start asking me stuff.

Jaren: Yeah man, I’m actually really excited to go long-form with you because I feel like because you just… And again, this is going to sound super weird, but you’re one of the most humble people I know. In your content, you really just focus on delivering the value and you don’t really puff yourself up or don’t make it about you. So, I think that it’s going to be really cool knowing you so well being able to interview you and kind of pull out some of the things that other people who don’t know you as well as I do would be able to in an interview.

Seth: Yeah, man. No, I agree. There is always that sort of because REtipster is a real estate investing brand. I mean every time we do anything, whether it’s a video podcast or blog post, there’s always this element of like, “Okay, people are here to hear about real estate. So, we got to stick to that somehow”. I think that we kind of fund to like do that, but also just get into other stuff. Just like personal life, interesting stuff that might not have anything to do with real estate, but it’s still maybe kind of interesting to people. We’ll see.

Jaren: Yeah. And I feel like a lot of other real estate brands out there, they get into the content because that’s what people go there for. But I’ve heard a fair share of feedback from other podcasts that I’ve been on and other brands that I’ve been aware of where people are like, “Okay, I just like had to fast forward through a lot of stuff to get to what I really want”. And I feel like with us, at least the feedback that I’ve gotten from a lot of people in our audience, they don’t really have to do that. It’s like action-packed from day one. Even with our normal podcast format, we do the interview first and then if people want to hear our banter and our personality shine, it’s at the end of the interview instead of the beginning. So, to kick this thing off, how did you get started in real estate? The question we always ask everybody to start a podcast interview.

Seth: Yeah. So, if anybody out there has not heard the origin story of Seth Williams. So, for me it all started, it was like in my mid college years when I had basically spent the first two to three years of college kind of just being lost, like not really knowing why I was there, what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to make money in life. I wanted to be wealthy in some way, shape or form. But I always thought like, “Well, you got to be a doctor”. Like that’s the only way to do it. I think something deep down in me knew it didn’t have to be that way. I just didn’t know what else to do. And as many other people have gotten into the business world, I discovered that “Rich Dad Poor Dad” book and a lot of other books like that. And it just really opened my eyes and helped me to realize the logical process of how money is made.

And it really has nothing to do with what your degree is or your education or how much of a genius you are. It’s just like simple math really. It’s just spending your life buying things that make money instead of buying things that lose money. There are many, many, like millions of different ways to do this. But when he talked about real estate, it was something I could understand and my grandfather had invested in real estate and bought some triple net properties and that kind of thing and had done pretty well. And I didn’t really know anything about how he did it. I just knew, “Hey, somebody in my family has done this”. So, it’s in my blood maybe that I could do this too.

So, I started spending tons and tons of time doing what I thought I was supposed to do, looking for rental properties or houses to flip because, in my mind, those are the only two ways to make money in real estate. Of course, I knew nothing about direct mail or how to find motivated sellers or land or anything like that. So, I was just looking at my local MLS listings and just struggling so bad to find anything. I mean, I really found nothing to be honest with you.

For a long time, I spent a lot of hours going through foreclosures. I found some, I guess, things that could have been deals, but these were just the nastiest of nasty houses. Kind of like what Jaren was talking about in the previous episode. Just like you can’t believe people actually live in these things. I knew that in order to actually do anything with these, it was going to involve a lot of work and a lot of money financing, stuff like that. Not impossible to do, but it was just sort of out of my element. I didn’t really know what I was doing. There’ll be a high likelihood that I would screw something up and lose money on the first deal or two.

But even then, like in my mind, it’s like, “Well, that’s my only option”. And it wasn’t until around the 2008 era that I’ve found land flipping through a course. And when I first heard the idea of land it was like, “Yeah, that kind of makes sense”. Like, normally I wouldn’t think land, but the fact that you can buy it for almost nothing, well, you can make almost anything work that way as long as it’s something other people actually want to buy. And I got the course, tried it out, it worked. And that alone, I remember the first time I got an accepted offer in the mail, it was just amazing. My mind was blown. I couldn’t believe that something was working after so many years really of trying stuff that failed. So yeah, so it worked. Then I did my 1st deal and 2nd deal and the 3th and 5th and 10th and 20th, and I just kept going from there and the rest was history. So that’s kind of my story in a nutshell.

Jaren: Man, as you’re sharing, I just was thinking back to the first time I got a motivated seller call on land. And I was in the car, I think I was doing some work stuff and I was in the passenger seat and I was on the computer off of my cell phone hotspot. And I picked up the call and it was this guy’s like, “Well, somebody offered me $6,500 a couple of months ago. I didn’t want to take that day but I’ll take it now if you could do $6,500”. And this property, I believe we sold it for like $18,000. I mean I was so nervous on the phone, I sounded so dumb. I was like… And my wife like straight-up holding back her laugh there because I was nervous.

Seth: I know how that is like too.

Jaren: The land business works man. Just like she’s so awesome. So, something that came to mind as you were sharing, did you go to any like local REIA groups? Because I was surprised, maybe it’s because we live in such a different climate now with Bigger Pockets and all the information that’s out there. But it was surprising to hear from me that your first step in trying to find a deal was just looking at them alas and talking to realtors and stuff. Did you even know that there are REIA groups, certain things like that?

Seth: Yeah. It took me actually a few years to know that those were even a thing. So, I guess the answer is no, I didn’t know at the very beginning. But even when I did discover them, I was surprised and disappointed to find that Grand Rapids did not have a REIA that you would normally think of in most cities. What they do have is called The Rental Property Owners Association – RPOA. It’s for rental property owners, like landlords, property managers. That’s it. It’s not meant for like flipping houses and stuff like that. So, it does exist but only in that format for that type of person. And it’s pretty huge, I think. I’ve actually never been to it, but I hear about it all the time. There wasn’t exactly a REIA like you would think a REIA should be in Grand Rapids. Maybe it exists now. I don’t know. I haven’t looked in the past couple of years, but for a long time, it was the RPOA. And I know there are different groups that do meetups and stuff, but that’s not like a REIA. It’s just a private organization putting that together.

Jaren: So how did you, from an educational standpoint, because “Rich Dad Poor Dad” is very pie in the sky-high level, more mindset stuff than anything else. So, what education stuff did you find helpful? Were there books? Because for me, I’m trying to figure out how you went from like “Okay, I’m just like randomly looking at houses on the MLS, trying to find properties to buy and hold, trying properties to flip, that’s not working”. And then you somehow got on the list that you found the land course. So how did that all transpire?

Seth: So back in like, I think it was 2006 or something when I first discovered this, but there was a website called flippinghomes.com. It might still exist, but I haven’t even looked at it in years. So, I don’t know. But anyway, at the time it was run by a guy named Steve Cook. This was sort of like before Bigger Pockets was much of a thing. I think it existed but like nobody knew about it. And Flipping Homes, I think it was like the biggest real estate investing forum on the internet at that point in time. And I was interested in flipping homes. That’s kind of what I wanted to do. I found it super helpful. I bought a couple of courses from Steve Cook. There were awesome. He did a great, great job of explaining really everything you’d ever want to know. Just amazing work, especially for the time when courses were a lot harder to do. Video and stuff was not an easy thing to put together, but he did a really good job of that.

So, anyway, I was like a huge fan and follower of him. I felt through what he taught me like I really probably could have made a run at flipping houses and I probably would have if I hadn’t discovered land. And it was on his list, at one point, he made an announcement about Jack Bosch. I guess Jack Bosch had reached out to him and so he was doing an affiliate promotion for Jack and that was kind of how I found out about Jack. And that was kind of where I got the first introduction to the business and how it worked. At least how Jack’s version of it worked.

Jaren: That’s really interesting. So, do you feel like Steve Cook, you said his name was?

Seth: Yeah.

Jaren: Do you think he was the source of inspiration for you to start something like REtipster? How did you go from just doing deals as a land investor to wanting to start your own online community and your own online blog?

Seth: Yeah. So, Steve Cook, by the way, he does still do stuff online. He now runs the website Lifeonaire. So, lifeonaire.com. That’s kind of like what he’s doing now. I don’t even know how big of a thing a real estate is on that website. But anyway, so that’s what he’s up to now. But he was definitely the first guy I ever discovered that really made it seem doable. He really explained not just high-level concepts but really all the stuff you need to know. And I just remember after his course like I truly felt armed to do something. It wasn’t just vague concepts in my mind. But he was definitely not the inspiration for REtipster. When I discovered, Pat Flynn at smartpassiveincome.com that’s really where the REtipster idea really came into its own. Because I saw what Pat was doing on his website at the time just like putting out incredibly valuable and completely free content that was like worth paying money for, but it was just free.

He was just putting it out there and he actually found ways to make money from that, like monetize it in a big way while all the while it being just a very trustworthy, honest, down to earth real person. And prior to seeing him, I didn’t realize you could do that. Like I thought doing what he did just meant, “Well, you better just have a ton of free time and not hope to make any money”. But when I saw that he could actually monetize it to make it worth his while, it was like, “Man, like I can totally do what he’s doing”. And I also saw a lot of things about his personality that reminded me of me. He sorts of seemed like somewhat of an introvert and like he didn’t just ooze with confidence. He wasn’t cocky. He wasn’t like this, “Look at this bag of cash that I got right here and my Ferrari in the background”. It wasn’t that kind of guy.

He just seemed really normal and down to Earth. And I was like, “Well, if he can do that with his personality and what he knows, I could totally do the same thing for the real estate world”. And there’s sort of this, we’ve talked about this before, Jaren, where there’s sort of like this hunter personality and the farmer personality. And the hunter is one who really enjoys the thrill of the chase. They do really well at sales a lot of times. They really love making huge paychecks, just that kind of thing. Whereas the farmer is more the type of person who doesn’t necessarily enjoy that. They’re content to just plug away for years on end as much time as it takes. And they more value, not the massive paychecks, but just the steady predictable income that’s going to come eventually from that. And I figured out I was much more of the farmer type. And that farmer type I think does really well with something like a blog because blogs do not pay off in the beginning. It takes a long time and a lot of work that nobody sees. And you just have to be okay with that. And I was okay with that and a lot of people can’t do it. For me and my personality, it worked really well with the kinds of things I’m good at.

Jaren: So, I wanted to ask you something that you brought up and then I want to circle back on kind of the origin story of REtipster. But I actually get a lot of feedback from coaching clients at retipster.com and people in our community. They’re shocked that when I say you’re shy and extremely introverted because you’re so dynamic on camera and you do these podcast interviews and you are all over the place. In terms of like people being able to find you on other brands and so on and so forth. How did that happen? Because I mean, I know you’ve shared with me some personal stuff about how you were growing up extremely shy and the effort that you had to put in to be able, as you say in your 20 things about Seth Williams article that you’re introverted, but you know how to turn on “extroversion” if that’s the word. How did you cultivate that? How did you learn those skills?

Seth: I honestly still don’t think I’m there. There’s a lot of times getting interviewed by other people or shooting a video or being on a podcast like I don’t dislike those things, but it requires a lot of heavy lifting and mentally for me. Like it’s not my natural element. I have to really almost kind of like hype myself up a little bit. It’s actually funny. If you watch some of my earlier videos from like the 2015/2016 era as I, unfortunately, do from time to time. It’s kind of painful because I didn’t have the whole enthusiasm thing worked out yet. Like my voice is just very like… Maybe that’s exaggerating, but I still think I can do better at it. But you can just tell I wasn’t on fire about it. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy the subject matter, I didn’t know how to turn on the enthusiasm and the charm and the personality and stuff like that.

I think podcasting has probably helped out with that a lot because when all somebody has an audio feed, that’s all they have to listen to. That enthusiasm is really important. And I kind of realized that early on and I was able to kind of get better at it. It’s also been helpful working with you Jaren because I think you’re really good at that naturally. Just showing enthusiasm. You don’t really have to try it, it’s just there. I think being around that kind of influence has helped me to crank it up a couple of notches. Yeah, so, I guess what I’m saying is it’s not something that’s easy. It takes work and effort, but I kind of think of how I would act if I was around my really good friends, people that I’m really comfortable with. They know who I am and they know my personality. I kind of try to channel that.

It also helps to just think about the importance of the message that I’m trying to get across. Like why is this video worth making? Like what does this person really need to understand that’s going to change their life? And when I think about the importance of that message and what it has the power to do, if I’m able to convey the importance behind it and if I’m able to be engaging enough for a person to actually watch more than 10 seconds of the video, that could go a long way for them. I try to bear all that in mind when I’m making it and I don’t think I’m there yet. I think there’s a lot of improvement I still have to make, but those are kind of the ways that I can get a little better.

Jaren: When you were growing up in maybe your college years or sometime in your past, were there any books? I know some people mentioned Toastmasters or there’s like courses through Stephen Covey and stuff like that, that talk about charisma and learning it and cultivating that as a skill. Have you used any of those resources and did you find them helpful?

Seth: It started with me reading Dale Carnegie’s book, “How to Win Friends and Influence People”. Which man, I love that book. It was an easy read. It was fun to read, it really articulated very well the importance behind charisma and when you talk to people, say their name. People love hearing their own name, that kind of thing. Not to be manipulative, but simply like this makes you a more effective person frankly. If you’re able to do this stuff, you’re a better communicator for it. And Dale Carnegie has all kinds of classes and books. Dale Carnegie is actually dead. This is his organization. The organization has classes in public speaking and sales. I never really did any of that. I did take a class on like the basics of Dale Carnegie, but I’ve not done it for the purpose of selling or anything.

But I think that was extremely impactful. Actually, it’s funny, it didn’t like to make me better overnight. It’s not like I was suddenly good at it, but it just made me aware of “This is why it’s important”. There’s more to life than just living in your own mood right now and just letting your feelings control everywhere you go. If you have a bad day, you can still be a really engaging, expressive person that people like to listen to. So that kind of gave me the awareness, but then actually working on it has taken many years to even get a little bit better. But I think the interesting thing is just knowing as anybody can improve. It’s not like you are stuck where you’re at. And even like Pat Flynn for example. I remember his first many podcast episodes. The guy’s voice sounds notably different then than it does today. He’s really gotten a lot better as a public speaker and podcaster.

Jaren: Yeah. I really appreciate you sharing that because one of the things that inspires me personally the most about getting to work with you and knowing you on a closer basis than a lot of others is how much you’ve worked on charisma and how much you’ve worked at it as a skill because a lot of people just say, “You either have it or you don’t”. And you are proof that you can kind of be born without it but through hard work and grit, you can be anything that you want to be in life. And that’s something when I’m trying to learn a new skill or there’s an aspect of my personality that I don’t like, one of which is like I feel I’m extremely wordy or I can go down rabbit trails quite a bit and get distracted. When I’m communicating, it’s hard for me to stay focused. Taking that as an example when I’m trying to work on that and I’m frustrated because yet again, I was too wordy on a call with a coaching client or whatever, I remind myself, “Calm down. It’s okay. It’s a journey. It’s not a sprint. And look at Seth”. Like Seth, he’s come a long way, even from the videos that I’ve seen of you. The stuff you put out now, it puts everything that I’ve put out to shame.

Seth: That’s not true. Thank you. But you don’t give yourself enough credit.

Jaren: Ah, thanks, man.

Seth: Yeah, it’s something that I’ve actually… It’s so weird. It’s like anything that a person is good at can just as well hurt them. I wish that’s not how it worked in the world, but it’s really true. Like, I don’t think you have any problems with having expression in your voice. Like, I wish I had naturally. So, I don’t know. There’s a downfall to everything, I guess.

Jaren: Yeah, man. Well, hey, I wanted to circle back to the origin story of REtipster because you’re very unique as an entrepreneur because not only did you go from just working a normal job and then learning real estate, you then took your real estate knowledge and then developed a huge brand online. Walk us through some of the processes there. Obviously, you mentioned Pat Flynn inspired you, but where did you find the wherewithal to actually like go buy a domain and start the thing? Because it takes so many skills to do what we do.

Seth: That’s so true. There is a lot of stuff that you just have to do to make all this stuff work. It’s overwhelming sometimes just to think of all the different things. And if I can’t figure it out, I have to then hire somebody and pay them to do it and then manage that person. And it’s a lot sometimes. It can almost drive me nuts. But in terms of the origin story, I kind of knew from day one that I’m not somebody who’s going to say, “You should listen to me because I’ve done 10,000 deals and that’s why I’m worth listening to”. Because that’s just not my store. I think I’ve done more than enough deals to know what I’m talking about and to speak with authority. But I’m not the guy who’s telling you like, “I’m going to thump my chest and say I’m amazing. Look at me”.

I think the difference though is that a lot of people out there who are much better at this than me, they will never be interested in teaching people about that. That’s not what they want to do. Or even if there was what they want to do, maybe they don’t have the skill to figure out how to make videos and edit them and do podcast stuff and all the stuff it takes to run a blog. And it’s kind of interesting in terms of when you think about what makes somebody a good educator. It’s because they’re good enough, they’re expert enough to know what they’re talking about and to really offer up legitimate, helpful, correct guidance and they have the patience to slog through all the stuff that a lot of people wouldn’t have the patience for.

And I think that’s kind of where my story brought me is like I have not like the perfect mix of that, but it’s good enough in terms of I know enough on both ends. But when I think about what is going to make the most impact on the world? Is it the number of deals that I personally have done or is it the number of deals that I help everybody else out there do through what I know and what I can help them understand how to do?

Undoubtedly when I look at the impact that other blogs and YouTube channels and podcasts have had on me, simply because I’m a listener. Just listening in to what they’re doing, I mean there’s no question it’s a bigger impact to help other people get there too. And helping other people earn success does not detract from my success at all. That’s part of why I’ve never had a problem with telling people what works for me and not worrying about competition and all this stuff because more opportunity for the others does not equal less opportunity for me. It just means everybody kind of gets better in the process.

Jaren: I also think it speaks to our mission at REtipster. I think you as just a human being, not to get super spiritual or whatever, but I really feel like you are functioning in almost what you were designed to function in because the way your brain works, I thought I was good at writing blog posts and I thought I was good at creating content before I joined the team at REtipster, but I really understand how to break down the subject matter now. Because you just have this ability to put on glasses of a brand-new user, our brand-new real estate investor and answer all of their questions. And so, I wanted to kind of dig a little bit deeper as to why you decided to start doing REtipster. Obviously, you saw Pat Flynn and you saw the opportunity there. Were you entrepreneurial as a kid? Did you like help tutor kids growing up or anything like that? Was there anything that spoke to the possibility of you doing what you’re doing now?

Seth: I think part of it honestly is that I was always kind of a slow kid in school. Even today, like Jazz, my wife is crazy sometimes where she’ll say something and I have to ask five different clarifying questions to be like, “Okay, who are you talking about? When did this happen? Where?” She just wants to say it and have me understand it. I’m not smart enough like I need a lot of other information to put it all together. So, it’s kind of a liability. I can’t say it’s always a fun thing to have that problem. But as an educator, I think it actually helps a lot because not that I always do this perfectly, but I can just think better in terms of like, “Oh, this also ought to be mentioned. And this too. And this too”. And sometimes that results in videos being way longer than they should be, but still, I want it to be complete. I don’t want people to just be left hanging and they got to go get the rest of the instructions somewhere else. I want to really give them everything they need right here. This is the last thing they’ll ever have to watch on the subject or read or listen to.

And I also sort of realized this when I was in banking. I remember I was blown away at how many people in the banking world, and lawyers and accountants and all this stuff. And this is probably like this everywhere, honestly. But I was amazed at how many very highly paid professional people did not know how to write an email. They just send you a one-word response, like “No” to a very complicated question that I would ask them. Or “Yes”. Not really explaining anything behind what they’re talking about. And it just drove me nuts. And sometimes they would give longer responses, but they were just like rambling going all over the place. Maybe the words didn’t make sense, maybe they weren’t even complete sentences. I’m just like, “Come on man, email is important. This is important communication we’re sending here. I’m going to take action based on what you’re saying. So, give me all the information, don’t make me hunt around for it”. And it just annoyed me.

Whenever I would send emails, I would spend a lot of time on them honestly. I would almost write them like blog posts in a way. Like I would use bullet points and headers and stuff. I remember, with the type of loans that we were doing where I worked SBA 504 loans, they were somewhat convoluted. There were a lot of confusing things about them and the weird ways they could be structured. So, I very clearly layout “You have three options with which to proceed”. Option one, and I would very clearly spell out what that looks like. Option two, same thing. And I remember on a number of occasions people would respond and be like, “Wow, thank you. I actually understand what you’re talking about”.

Nobody was expecting to get a good email. But when I sent it to them, I could see it really made a difference. I think through that and the first few times I tried to write a blog post actually sort of enjoyed the process. I didn’t think I would because blogging never sounded like fun to me until I thought about doing it in the context of real estate investing. But when I really had a mission and a reason to do it and saw the importance of what I can help people understand, it was really, really fun. And to this day, it’s one of the funniest things I get to do when I get to put that kind of stuff together.

Jaren: One of the things that you taught me that I use a lot with our coaching students is what I’ve called “The 24 Month Rule”. It’s this principle that you’ve lived out with REtipster or where you said for the first 18 months of REtipster you just had to grind at it. Every day you were working your banking job and whenever you had a free moment, you were building REtipster. And it took you about 18 months. I round up to two years to 24 months with the rule, but you said to me something that really stuck that you realized with REtipster that things that are worthwhile, you need to commit to you for at least two years before throwing the set and say it doesn’t work. Can you speak a little bit on that and what your process was there? Because I’m sure you had moments where you’re like, “Man, I’m putting in all these hours, it’s not making any money and I have no traffic”. What was that like internally for you?

Seth: Yeah, I mean it was a very similar thing with the land business too when I started that just like during my lunch breaks and every weekend and every night. Thank goodness we didn’t have kids yet. I actually had time to do that kind of stuff. But I remember it was kind of just like not expecting anything amazing to happen but just knowing fundamentally there is something about this that is going to work. This isn’t just rolling the dice. It’s like, if I do this and if these different statistics are correct, this will work at some point. And I think as long as I understood the potential there and also the fact that I actually can do this. I sort of enjoy what it takes to get there. It’s not like it was pulling teeth every day when I was trying to do it. I don’t think I ever would have survived if I hated what I was doing. But just sort of understanding, this is fun and this is what it takes, and I can do this for a good long while before deciding I don’t like this anymore.

And I think in both cases, with the land business, and with REtipster, it was really helpful to have not like massive home run wins early on, but just I saw signs that it was working. Getting my first deal within like the first, I forgot how soon it was, the first month or two after I started trying to do it. Just seeing like, “Hey, there’s something here. I’m not just wasting my time here”. And the same thing with REtipster. I didn’t make any money for like, it was at least a year, year and a half before I made a single penny on anything. But still people would leave comments and people would email me and say like, “Man, I hope you never stopped doing this. This is amazing what you’re doing here”. And just seeing that it was helping somebody, that was enough to show me that there’s something here this is worth doing even if it never pays off monetarily. Like there is a positive effect in somebody’s world because of the actions I’m taking right now. I don’t think that’s enough to keep it going forever. But it was at least enough to keep me going to the next step and the next step. And just getting that kind of encouragement and feedback from people.

Jaren: When did you know you had traction with REtipster?

Seth: There was a point at which I thought about pulling the plug and quitting. I was like, “This is fun and everything, but I’ve got a life to live too. I can’t just do this forever for nothing”. I mean, really undeniably the milestone at which things saw a massive uptick was when I got interviewed on Bigger Pockets episode 39. Man, I feel like that was a gift from God.

I don’t know if REtipster would exist if that hadn’t happened honestly, just because I’m sure it certainly would have grown to where it’s at eventually, but Bigger Pockets just give it a massive boost to get there. And just seeing a lot of people hear what I was saying and reaching out and be like, “Man, that was so awesome. I got to learn more”. That was a huge turning point. Even that it didn’t mean I started making money. It was just this giant wave of new people that discovered me through that. I think it was shortly after that I created the first, shortly before or after that I created the first paid product for $7 that people could pay. And I remember the first time I saw somebody pay $7 and buy it. Like the first day I put it up. It was like, “Whoa, somebody paid me $7 for this”.

Like if I can just do this like several million more times, this can actually get somewhere. So, it is not happening several million times, but still like it was just a “Wow”. Like there’s something here. I’ve actually heard some people say that. If anybody out there wants to build a blog or a podcast or YouTube channel or whatever, there’s a lot of power in putting anything for sale out there for any amount of money, even if it’s a $1 or like a pay what you want kind of thing. Just because when that first transaction comes through, even if it’s like almost nothing, just realizing, “Hey, somebody paid for this”. Like there’s something here. That’s a big light bulb moment for everybody who does that kind of thing.

Jaren: That’s really inspirational. I always love digging into the story of REtipster because it’s a different business model than the traditional real estate investor. I don’t know if you get interviewed a lot on it, but I wanted to take this opportunity to dive deep there. Let’s talk about your primary strategy in real estate for a little bit. I know that it’s land. Our audience knows that your go-to is land. But are you interested in any other type of real estate investing?

Seth: Yeah, absolutely. So, land. For me, land has always been a part-time thing. Like it’s never been the one thing that I’ve totally thrown everything behind and it’s really been my way of generating big paychecks. I used to do seller financing earlier in my career. So, I think seller financing certainly has its place. It can go a long way if you decide to really get behind that in a big way. But, for me, I chose to steer away from that and just do cash deals. And I really use land as a method of making big paychecks. And with those big paychecks, I can then invest them into other things. Or the last big paycheck I made I haven’t put it towards anything yet. And it’s mainly because when I got paid there were just no giant obvious deals in front of me and the market has just been crazy. A sellers’ market in the past couple of years and I’ve kind of been in cash hoarding mode because it’s been so hard to find opportunities, not impossible, but just harder.

I think the ultimate end goal is to buy more with the “buy and hold” real estate where it’s going to be there as long as I’m alive, it’s going to generate income as long as I own it. That’s kind of like, to me anyway, having this farmer mentality, that’s kind of like the holy grail of where I want to be. The question is what is the best type of property to do that with? And originally, I thought it was going to be rental properties. I’m not like sworn off of them or anything. I sold off the ones that I own this past year just because people were paying such crazy amounts for them. And given where we’re at now, I’m glad I did just because there’s a lot of uncertainty in the world right now.

But in terms of what the best vehicle is to do that. I think self-storage has definitely been on my radar for the past year at least. And I’ve looked at a few different facilities and I’m actually right now sort of still in a conversation with somebody about buying theirs, but with all the Covid-19 stuff going on, I’m not sure where that’s going to go. It’s sort of been on hold for a couple of months and we’re supposed to pick it back up in like two days from now. And I’m not sure where they’re going to be at. Self-storage I think is one way to do it. I really liked the triple net lease idea as well. But again, it’s sort of comes down to “Can you get a good enough property in a good enough location at a good enough price?” That’s kind of like the million-dollar question. If you can, then you’re golden.

Jaren: For those in our audience that might not know what a triple net lease is, do you want to explain that?

Seth: Yeah, the triple net lease is where you simply buy a property, whether it’s a commercial building, like what a restaurant would occupy or a strip mall or even a warehouse, something like that. And the triple net lease basically means the tenant that occupies that is paying the property taxes, they’re paying the property insurance, they’re paying everything. So, all of the costs to maintain it and keep it running. Things that normally the property owner would pay in like a residential rental property, that’s all on the tenant. And usually as a result, they’re paying a slightly lower rent amount because they’re covering all that stuff. But the idea is like, I don’t want to say it’s a hundred percent hands-off for the owner but pretty close to it in terms of “I don’t have to mess with that. It’s your thing. It’s just my name is on the title”.

I think I really like that idea. It’s appealing for a lot of reasons, but I think it’s just really key to get a solid location that’s always going to be in demand regardless of where the market is at. And I know somebody, a local investor who has several buildings like that and that’s just an awesome place to be in terms of people always need what you have to offer and it’s always hands-off. It’s just like it’s perfect. So, I would love to get in that kind of position. For me, the one drawback to self-storage has been, at least for the sizes of properties that I would be able to get at this point, the sub-million-dollar range, they’re not management free. There’s not really a turnkey property manager out there that’s willing to manage ones that are that small. And so, basically, I would have to manage them myself in some capacity. Which I think as far as property management goes, that’s probably the easiest type of property to manage because nobody’s living there onsite. But still you have to do stuff. You have to make sure payments are coming in, you get to clean out units and evict people and it’s not hands-free like I would love it to be so. But I think self-storage might be a good stepping stone to where I’m trying to go anyway.

Jaren: Very cool. It seems like you and me have a very similar philosophy on land. I think that seller financing with good systems is a really good route to go. I tell my coaching clients that if your goal is to quit your day job as fast as humanly possible, then seller financing and land is kind of a must. If land is going to be the vehicle that you quit your job with. But because the cash flow is not evergreen and because there’s such a high default rate, I personally shy away from seller financing just because it’s a lot to manage. And I would rather sell for cash, take the cash out of the land business and then park it into some other type of “buy and hold” asset class.

Before I ask our famous three questions, at the end of every interview, I wanted to just ask you, if you weren’t running a real estate business or REtipster, what do you think you’d be doing with your life?

Seth: Yeah man, that’s a good question. I feel like it’s a very rare thing for people to reach their full potential in life. And it’s just very elusive because there’s a lot of things that many of us could be geniuses at, but we’ve never even tried it. So, we’ll never know. And so, as a result, we will kind of just settle for what we’re doing and assume that that’s the best we can do. And I think if I had never started REtipster if I had never done land, if I had never figured out any of that stuff, I would probably be working at like a bank doing work that I could tolerate but not fully enjoy. Yeah, honestly, I think I would probably play the safe route and just do something that I felt was secure. Something where I could have the weekends off and work normal hours and earn like an upper-middle-class income and be like, “Yep, here we go. That’s the American dream right there”.

It’s not that that’s like inherently wrong. It’s just like, it’s not the best I could do for myself. And I guess REtipster and land and what I’m doing in real estate, that may not be the best either. Maybe there’s something even further that I have a calling to do, but I think with the stage that I’m at right now in my life, it’s much better than many other alternatives that I could have done. I’m really thankful to God for him letting this happen because it’s been an amazing ride and I really, really love what I do. I think I was explaining to you one time.

It’s like every morning when I go into my office, it’s sort of like what a child would feel like when they run through the gates of Disney World for the first time, where they’re just like, they’re so excited. There are so many things they want to do. It’s just the coolest thing they have ever seen or experienced. I’m not exaggerating, but that’s really kind of what life is like every day when I get to do this kind of work. Like I love it. I’m on cloud nine.

That’s not to say there are no hard things and hard days and days when I’m exhausted and tired and when I’ve had to edit stuff all day and it’s not fun, but it’s still an amazing thing. Like compared to every other kind of work I’m aware of in the world, it’s awesome. And the cool thing it’s actually like if I were stopped doing REtipster or for some reason stopped doing real estate altogether, it’s introduced me to a lot of other careers I never would have known about like videography or copywriting or social media marketing or design and editing. It’s just kind of cool how running after something you love can reveal a lot of other cool things in the process. Even if the main thing didn’t necessarily end up being your final calling. Like there’s a lot of other cool things you can discover along the way just by chasing after your dream.

Jaren: That’s awesome man. And I feel the same way. I love the opportunity that I have at REtipster where I can meet with people and help them become successful and make videos and teach and just make an impact. And I really feel like there are few better things out there than running a blog or an online community for impact. And that’s my biggest driver, man. I want to make a difference in my life. And I feel like here I’ve been able to make the biggest amount of impact that I’ve ever been able to compare to other jobs.

Seth: Yeah, man. When you think about it, it’s really important to work. I think that’s something that you and I don’t always see because we don’t always see who is getting this stuff and who is using it and who is getting to a place, they couldn’t have otherwise gotten to with it. I feel like most of the time I’m just totally unaware of that. But when I think of other influencers I’ve followed and what their work has done for me, it’s incredible. It’s an amazing thing and it’s really cool that in any way we get to be that for somebody else in any capacity. So, it’s an awesome thing. We’re really fortunate.

Jaren: Yeah, man, we really are. So, to wrap this interview up with our final three. First things first, what is your biggest fear?

Seth: Yeah, there are lots of things I have fear in the world, unfortunately. The first thing that comes to mind is that someone in my family will experience some kind of life-altering trauma or physical harm. I’ve had a lot of really irrational fears, things that like, “Why do you even think about that?” Like these things go through my head all day long. My kids like maiming themselves or getting injured. Just crazy stuff. So that’s a big one. Just that something terrible will happen, which is kind of unfortunate because like living on Earth, terrible stuff happens. Like there’s no way to escape that. Like it’s just part of life as a human. So, it stinks that I’m afraid of something so inevitable.

Aside from that though, there’s also this fear that I’ll have to go back and get a job someday. I don’t know why that would happen, but you never know, especially with the weird stuff happening in the world right now. Lots of crazy stuff has happened and that nobody would ever have guessed. I’ve really enjoyed this life. I really love where my life is at right now. I’ve seen other people in life who have obtained great amounts of wealth and sort of gotten used to the comfort of that life and then they lose it and sort of fall backward and it’s very, very painful. Sometimes I’m afraid of something like that happening. Not necessarily with wealth but just the career that I’ve enjoyed so far.

Jaren: What about that is so scary? Is it that you would feel like a failure or what about having to go back and work another job is such a negative?

Seth: It’s probably a bunch of different things woven into that. I think it would just be a huge kick in the gut. Because whatever I’ve done with REtipster, it sort of worked. I mean it’d not be exactly where I want to be, but you can’t deny. Like it’s gone somewhere. And this idea that what has worked in the past will suddenly stop working. This stuff that I thought I had figured out all of a sudden, “Nope, you actually don’t know what you’re doing anymore. Back to square one”. Like that would really be a very painful thing to go through.

And then having a boss and hours and just dumb rules. And you know how most companies are. Like just lots of inefficiency and the way the herd mentality that a lot of people have. I don’t know, a lot of things like that do not sound like fun to me.

And a lot of people that I knew in banking that were really like very highly paid high up in their organization, I know for a fact they hate their career. They do not enjoy what they do. They just don’t know what else is better. And they kind of get used to a lifestyle or an expensive lifestyle and their job pays them well. And you kind of paint yourself into a corner where you can’t do anything else. Because you’d have to say goodbye to all your nice things then. Heaven forbid, we actually do work we love because we’ve got this horrible job that’s paying us so well. It’s like the golden handcuffs’ thing. Having to go back to a corporate life that it’s just yuck. Like nothing about that sounds fun to me.

Jaren: That makes a lot of sense. What is something you’re most proud of?

Seth: I think my kids is an easy answer, but I feel like that’s more God than me. I am a spiritual, Christian person, so that’s the caveat to this. As he made them, it’s not like I made them. I played a part in that, but like that’s really his creation. I just get to be their earthly father, which is an amazing blessing. But I feel like that’s just God doing his miracle, doing what he does and I just kind of get to be along for the ride. It’s weird to say I’m proud of that when really, I’m just kind of an overseer of them while they’re here. But I feel like they’re both just like really, man, I love them so much. I feel like it’s more than just because I’m their parent. It’s because they’re really good fun people to be around. I can’t wait for them to wake up in the morning so I can just see them and interact with them. I really enjoy being around them. That’s just a really cool thing.

I’m also really proud of REtipster. I think that’s also been God. He’s opened up doors and allowed things to happen. I did a lot of the work, but I think any opportunity comes from him. Whether anybody read the work or not or watch the videos and listen to the podcasts, it’s just been very fulfilling and fun. Just being able to organize ideas and put together information that people can really use and enjoy has been just a really fun thing.

Jaren: What is the most important lesson you’ve learned?

Seth: A really important lesson I’ve learned. I don’t always implement this well, but it’s still knowledge and the lesson that I know about is that I have the power to choose my response in any situation. And that much of what I considered to be a good or bad thing is simply the thoughts that swirl around in my head. There are many things in life that really aren’t good or bad. It’s just what I tell myself and how I choose to process that information and how I choose to react to that. Sometimes I can just fall apart and feel like tragedy has struck. And other times it was like, “Oh, not really. This is an opportunity and now you get to do this instead”. It’s kind of fascinating when you realize you don’t have to be a victim of your thoughts. You can choose your thoughts and you can say “No” to thoughts that are destructive.

But like I said, I know that but that doesn’t mean I’m always good at implementing that. There are lots of times that I still feel like a victim when I shouldn’t. It’s kind of a discipline thing honestly. To realize you can do that and then actually direct your thoughts intentionally. It’s not an easy thing, but it can certainly be done. And when you realize that and actually do it, it can really change your life in a huge way. There are lots of lots of people who’ve gotten really far simply by controlling their thoughts and the way that they responded to the situations and the cards that they were dealt, so to speak.

Jaren: What goes on in between your ears is everything. It’s all attitude.

Seth: Yeah, it’s huge.

Jaren: Well, that’s awesome man. I think for me, unless there’s anything else that you want to say in the interview, I mean, I could always be a tongue in cheek and be like, “So, where can people find you?” But I think that’s a wrap.

Seth: Yeah. If people ever want to learn more just useless facts about me, there is a blog post that I put together and have updated a few times over the years called “20 Things I’ve Never Told You”. I’ll link to that in the show notes for this episode. This is episode 68. So, it’s retipster.com/68 or you can just search for it on REtipster. Just type in “20 Things” and it should pop up. 

Jaren: You know what we should do once this podcast goes live? We should put the podcast on the article.

Seth: Yeah, we should. That’s a good idea. Hey man, you should write a blog post like that too so people can get to know you more.

Jaren: I should.

Seth: Yeah. I got the idea from another blogger named Corbett Barr. He wrote a similar thing. I think his was “33 things I never told you”, but it was just like a bunch of brain dump of like his personal life and interesting tidbits and there are no like lessons so to speak. It’s just, “Hey, you want to get to know me? Here you go”. Yeah. I appreciate everybody who’s ever had any interaction with retipster.com or the YouTube channel or if you’re listening to this podcast episode right now. I appreciate you. It’s the only reason anything like this works is because people out there interact with it and consume it and find value in it. And let me know about it, let us know about it because that’s how we know, “Hey, we’re on the right track”. So yeah, it’s been amazing being able to give and receive from an audience out there in this space and I hope we can keep doing it for a lot of years to come.

And if you guys are listening on your phone, say if you’re not in front of a computer, and if you want to stay up to date with all the stuff we have going on, the new things happening every week, it’s pretty easy. Just take out your phone and text the word “FREE”. F-R-E-E to the number 33777 and you can stay in touch with us that way.

Thanks again everybody for hanging out with us. I hope you guys enjoyed this and if not, I’m sorry. I guess we’ll talk to you about something else in the next episode. I’m so sorry for wasting an hour of your time.

Jaren: On to the next episode.

Seth: Already guys, we’ll see you next time.

The post 068: The Seth Williams Origin Story appeared first on REtipster.

from Real Estate Tips https://retipster.com/068-seth-williams/

[responsivesites]

New Post has been published on Website Design Naples Florida Webmaster

New Post has been published on https://vinbo.com/2020-real-estate-business-planning-essentials/

2020 Real Estate Business Planning Essentials

Did you know that the number reason businesses fail to grow is because they don’t have a plan? If you haven’t given any thought to planning for your business, it’s time to start. Having a business plan that builds and manages a sales pipeline is the best way to generate a steady stream of future business. 

Get your business ready for 2020 by identifying opportunities, setting your goals, choosing strategies for success, and tracking your progress to build a long-term, sustainable growth model. 

The Changes You Need to Make

The first part of the planning process involves auditing your business to see what changes you need to make. Assess your business with a ‘SWOT analysis’ weighing your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It is also helpful to identify the reasons you haven’t been able to hit existing goals. The two biggest reasons agents don’t hit their goals are 1, not enough leads in their pipeline or 2, those leads are going somewhere else to buy/sell a home. 

Next, pick a plan of attack for your business based on your SWOT analysis and assessment of business goals. Focus on lead generation (adding more leads to your pipeline), pipeline management (improving your lead conversion and nurturing) or both. 

Strategies for Success

Investing in your business doesn’t mean focus your approach on one strategy. Incorporate multiple different strategies for business planning that will complement each other and help grow your business.  Identify areas where you’d like to grow or change and use those to define your strategies. After you define your strategies, invest in resources (time or money) which will best serve your goals. 

Lead Generation

If you are focusing on lead generation, adding more new leads to develop in your pipeline should be your primary concern. 75% of business comes from leads that are already in your pipeline, but the only way to grow your business is by adding new people to your pipeline. Lead generation is not a process that you do once a year; it must be year-round.

Lead generation is a constant in real estate and even the most successful agents continue to add new leads into their pipeline because it maintains their success. New leads should be found through a variety of different means. Diversify your approaches to advertising for your business. Plan and budget for each quarter to add the amount of leads that your business needs. Adding leads to your pipeline should not be looked at as an expense because it is the means of which your business will grow.

Consistency is also essential for lead generation because of the drawn-out nature of the real estate sales cycle. Consistency ensures new leads are added to your pipeline all year long therefore eliminating dry spells in lead conversions and your income. Utilize your website to connect and be the center of your lead generation to make the pipeline management easier for you and your leads. 

If you’re having trouble determining the amount of leads you need to add to your pipeline next year use the following recommendation based on transactions per year:

0-1 Transactions: Must add 10 new leads each month

1-2 Transactions: Must add 20 new leads each month

2-3 Transactions: Must add 30 new leads each month

3-4 Transactions: Must add 40 new leads each month

5-6 Transactions Must add 50-80 new leads each month and multiple lead sources

7-8 Transactions: Must add 80 new leads each month and multiple lead sources 

Pipeline Management

If a lack of pipeline management is the reason you are not hitting your business goals, follow effective lead conversion strategies beginning at the planning stage. Understanding the consumer is one problem a lot of agents face because of recent changes in consumer behavior. Today’s consumer is online more than ever. In fact, 90% of buying decisions start online so your #1 goal when engaging leads should be to get them back to your website. Agents far too often spend more time worrying about expenses and closing deals rather than nurturing the relationships that their business is built on which, in turn, will close more deals. 

THE TRUTH: If you’re not managing your relationships, you’re not closing deals. 

Understanding the buyer & seller timelines will help you recognize where a consumer is in their sales cycle. The average consumer shops online for 10 weeks and looks at 10 homes, so you must recognize that even the initial research part of the sales cycle is drawn-out. Avoid asking a consumer how soon they are looking to buy or sell. Instead you can guide them through their sales cycle at their own pace while still consistently providing relevant information to them. Keep in mind that 74% of buyers are choosing the sales and professional company that was the first to add VALUE and INSIGHT into the buying journey.

Knowledge is power when it comes to developing new leads. The more lead insight you have the more relationships you’ll create. Get insight and information to create a compelling event that aligns with the consumer. Use resources like Spokeo, Facebook, and Pipl to search and find details about a lead to better nurture them through your pipeline. Trying to understand the consumer and engage with them online is crucial for lead conversions.

Today’s consumer does not want to meet in person right away or talk on the phone. Roughly 80% of all calls go to voicemail and 90% of first-time voicemails are never returned. Consumers start online and stay online, so create personalized emails and put out social media content with the intent to get them back to your website.

Use the following 6 strategies for new lead management and incorporate them into your business plan:

Create a listing alert for each new lead

Use information from your website not the MLS

Utilize MLS when a lead is deeper in your pipeline.

Send relevant listings via email.

Assign leads to a marketing campaign.

Provide leads with a monthly market report.

Send appropriate community and school information.

Provide relevant real estate information to each lead.

Stop Leads From Going to Your Competition

Lead generation and pipeline management go hand and hand to prevent leads from going to your competition. By continuously adding leads to your pipeline and nurturing them through their consumer journey with consistent and relevant contact, you eliminate the need to go elsewhere for information. When you do a good job of developing a new lead you have a better shot at getting access to their network (some are paid, and some should be free).

Remember the behaviors that you must respond to if you want to keep leads in your pipeline:

Viewed Homes

Saved Homes

Contact Me

Updated Contact Info

Requested Pre-Approval

Zip Code/Neighborhood Change 

Preparing for Next Year

Revisit and reference your goals and ask yourself ‘how will I get where I need to be and when will I accomplish my goals?’. Creating your marketing plan is the next step in business planning. Establish a mission statement that gives your business a reason for existence, points of difference that set your business apart from the rest, and a targeting plan to direct clients in their real estate journey. Ensure that your goals align with your marketing to drive everyone back to your website. 

Calculating your expenses and success are also imperative in business planning. Create a ‘Living Expenses Worksheet’ and calculate annual business expenses to measure, monitor, and adjust your strategies to help you better achieve your goals. In terms of transactions, determine your average commission per transaction to set your income goal. For leads, calculate prospects required per year and break it down to the daily number you need. Remember that achieving your goals and growing your business is a process and your success is dependent on smart business planning for the long-term.

While you plan your business for next year consider diversifying your advertising through more than one lead channel that drives leads back to your website. Traditional marketing, social media, and search engines are all channels to identify leads.

Traditional Marketing: listing syndication, referrals, repeat clients, print marketing, farm marketing, open houses

Social Media: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Nextdoor, YouTube

Search Engines: Google, Bing, Yahoo, SEO, SEM

Try out each of the types of channels for your business and if you don’t like the results then change the process. You and your approach determine success.

How Diverse Solutions Can Help

Don’t have time to do your own advertising and want to focus on other aspects of business planning? Diverse Solutions’ Traffic Workx is a guaranteed way to receive targeted traffic driven to your website. The main purpose of your website is to be a money-maker, and the Diverse Solutions advertising team is dedicated to place active buyers and sellers in your area in front of YOU every month. You can spend more time working with clients instead researching keywords and managing ad campaigns while Diverse Solutions uses targeted trafficking through Google and Bing to create ads catered to your business. 

Traffic Workx

The Diverse Solutions advertising team creates ads for your business that:

Are exclusive to you – ads send consumers directly to your branded website

Target specific areas – ads are for your preferred cities

Guaranteed in quantity – consistent traffic of unique visitors EVERY month

Website Conversions – visitors are driven to the most relevant pages on your website

Traffic Workx provides consumers with instant gratification and engagement by letting your website go to work, delivering . The content on your site will begin engaging the consumer immediate. Traffic Workx also enables the consumer to connect directly with you. When the consumer is directed to your website you can set up your own registration settings to develop the new lead and get them back to your website.   

Next Steps for Success

Arrange time to work with Jordan Torres with our Diverse Solutions team on website content, improving lead generation, and pipeline management.

Call 425-732-4015 today or email Jordan.torress@diversesolutions.com

Add Traffic Workx to help you quickly build a pipeline for next year

Original source: https://www.diversesolutions.com/blog/2019/12/30/2020-real-estate-business-planning-essentials/

[terabitweb]

Original Post from SC Magazine Author: stephenlawton

The future of SIEM is cloudy, literally and figuratively, as companies strive to keep up with potentially billions of events.

It has become an industry cliché to say that SIEM (security information and event management) is dead. Some SIEM vendors love those pronouncements because it drives wavering customers to make purchases before their SIEM systems of choice disappear. But here is food for thought: What if it is not that SIEM is too slow for the modern enterprise, but rather that today’s modern enterprise has become too slow for the SIEM?

Add to that changes in how companies create their homegrown software using DevSecOps (software development security operations), often referred to, correctly or not, simply as DevOps. So, with that in mind, would one still make the argument SIEM is dead or that it is more important than ever before?

One more consideration: The “death” of SIEM might simply come to pass when all the functionality of the technology is simply renamed something else for marketing purposes to differentiate the next-generation SIEM from legacy products. Sometimes “death” is evolution.

The concerns about SIEM, however, do not end with legacy-weighted-down slowness. A SIEM is not designed to work on its own and it never was. Many experts argue that it needs custom-crafted software from each enterprise to supplement the SIEM, along with a healthy dose of machine learning capabilities — two things that a lot of enterprises have not yet bothered to add.

Billions of events

Also, the number of attacks that a SIEM system has to deal with in the 2018 enterprise is massive and overwhelming. Umesh Yerram is the chief data protection officer at AmerisourceBergen, a $150 billion company ranked twelfth on the 2018 Fortune 500 list. He reports that his SIEM generates more than one billion events a week, a thoroughly unmanageable number. Using machine learning software that sits atop the company’s SIEM, Yerram say that the “more than one billion” number is reduced to “less than a thousand” incidents that ML deems worthy of further investigation. That amount, he notes, is a manageable number for the AmerisourceBergen security team to probe.

Sammy Migues, co-founder, BSIMM

Although many have questioned how accurate and precise ML screening is — it typically depends on what the system is programmed to seek — the counter-argument is that there is no viable alternative given the massive number of attacks that are being launched. For better or worse, machine learning is the only option today for whittling down that number materially to something manageable.

This does raise the question of how much IT leaders trust ML and the answer is typically “not that much. But what choice do we have?” he says.

“Having automation making security decisions for you, that is a very hard thing for a lot of large organizations to swallow,” says Sammy Migues, co-founder of BSIMM in Mountain View, Calif. While the company is called BSIMM, the name actually is an acronym for “building security in maturity model.”

Lock-in or replace

Allan Alford, CISO for Mitel, a $1.4 billion telecommunications firm headquartered in Ottawa, agrees. “Yes, [automation] requires more trust in the analytics, but you kind of have to trust it, as you need the fast response capabilities,” he says.

That said, Migues argues, the future will be an IT world filled with far more automation and fewer humans. Security management might have emotional and intellectual qualms about it, but the pragmatics of the growth of attacks — coupled with a serious shortage of appropriately trained and experienced security professionals — will give them little choice, he says.

“The future of SIEM software is tracking every piece of software everywhere, monitoring every connection between every piece of software, helping Ops tell Dev that something is awry, and enabling Sec to make decisions about its small piece of the software pie and react at that cadence,” Migues says.

“Some 90 percent of this will be with bots — no humans in the loop. Without good SIEM-like software, there is no real DevSecOps. Forward thinking DevOps shops are finding ways to fuse the configuration of their orchestration and other continuous delivery tools with intentional tagging and synthesis of SIEM alerts before humans receive them,” he continues. “And, because this information is drawn from delivery and production logs, it reflects actual design rather than the best intentions scrawled on a whiteboard.”

Allan Alford, CISO, Mitel

Migues also points out an organizational structure issue can create a SIEM problem. Any technology deeply embedded in the typical Fortune 1000 company — and it is hard to describe a SIEM implementation as anything other than deeply embedded — can take a long time to replace given the massive number of systems it touches and the potential disruption from a major change. That is a form of proprietary lock-in: It is far easier for IT to take update after update and even upgrade after upgrade than to go through the bidding and purchase paperwork — and delays — of purchasing a different SIEM system from a different company.

The idea of doing a major overhaul — a complete rip-and-replace — can strike fear into even the stoutest CISO. Sometimes, however, the stars align and such a major overhaul is appropriate.

Michael Simmons, CISO for $21 billion Southwest Airlines in Dallas, is a bit ambivalent about the SIEM future. “SIEMs still have a place today, but that may dwindle over time,” Simmons says. “They’re not easy to manage. Can they adapt and can their technology capabilities morph [into the future] easily? Will there be disruptive new players who come” and brand their SIEM-efforts something other than SIEM? This concerns Simmons.

The topic of SIEM is close to Simmons’ thinking as his airline just replaced its SIEM with a SIEM that was entirely cloud-based SIEM leveraging infrastructure as a service.

Normally a full replacement of a SIEM would be unthinkable for a system that is integrated into so many parts of a network, but Simmons says it just so happened that an earlier security and IT effort to integrate the prior SIEM never quite worked right. “We never got it effectively implemented so I had a much cleaner rip-and-replace,” Simmons says.

The reason why Simmons did such a radical upgrade is clear. “The magnitude of (security event) numbers is what was forcing the conversation, a rapidly changing and evolving threat landscape,” Simmons says.

Pricing, as always, is another consideration — not necessarily the price itself, but rather the mechanism by which the price is determined.

Alford says that, of the many SIEM products he has worked with — he has held CISO or related security titles with several companies — he has seen only three, distinct SIEM pricing approaches. He identifies them as: the raw size of data gathered and the log size, the IP addresses to be monitored, and the number of sensors and aggregators/processors purchased/deployed.

“Regarding the pricing model question, I don’t really think pricing models per se determine higher or lower cost. It’s been my experience that [sensors and processors are] cheaper overall, but I think that’s because the companies using that model are deliberately pricing under the guys who still do [log size]. So it’s not the model per se,” Alford says.

Regarding the log size and IP addresses options, he says “the migration of applications to Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and the rigorous purging of legacy systems mean a theoretical reduction in cost of ownership. However, business growth and acquisitions outweigh this. Note that more users equals more traffic equals more logs, even if the total IP address count goes down.

“In reality,” he continues, “regardless of model, you are going up, not down, on usage of your SIEM year over year. And the SOC (security operations center) manager wants more feeds anyway, as the more data points he gets, the more accurate he is.”

Feeding the beast

In general, Alford sees the SIEM battle as being a race against changing threat vectors, network environment changes and matching software capabilities with enterprise needs and wants. And he is not seeing IT typically winning that race. “We’re fighting an uphill battle. The [increasing number of] feeds into the SOC [means that IT is] fighting a signal-to-noise ratio” battle, with signal meaning real security events and noise referring to false positives.

“We’ve hit a plateau and are making no further progress,” Alford says. “If you don’t have UEBA (user and entity behavior analytics) and ML, some shops just hit the wall.”

Alford’s top SIEM concern is that too many companies treat SIEMs as though they were standalone, shrink-wrapped software with no need for customized code while being focused on the user’s specific situations and needs. That is an untenable move.

“You still have to have the care and feeding of your SIEM. Somebody on your team must be dedicated to constantly tweaking your SIEM, training and teaching it and feeding it,” Alford says. “The idea that a SIEM out of the box is sufficient is ludicrous. A SIEM is nothing more than an aggregator and an incomplete aggregator at that. SIEM without automation is incomplete. You have to fine tune what to ignore and what to look for.”

Dennis Chow, director of penetration testing, KPMG

Migues opines that “As we get smarter, we develop different expectations of technology. Soon, the organization’s expectations will have exceeded its grasp. SIEM is in the troth of disillusionment. What we needed and what we wanted could not be met.”

Dennis Chow, the director of penetration testing at KPMG, agrees with Alford. “Everyone keeps claiming SIEM is ‘dead.’ It really isn’t. It’s just evolving. All the new buzzwords like orchestration, IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem), UBA (user behavioral analytics) and threat intelligence were always supposed to be part of what a true SIEM was. What we saw was first generation vendors doing a [release to manufacturing] and realistically releasing what I deem a half-baked product. The same is true for most of these orchestration and ‘threat intelligence’ tools. SIEM is going to be more of this loose term in the future, like AI is today,” Chow says.

“I’m former military and have had opportunities to observe how three-letter agencies deal with cyberintelligence-related needs,” he continues. “SIEM was supposed to have solid use-case correlation and be complete enough to automate response actions. To be honest, I don’t really call anything a SIEM unless it can also integrate ML functions, post-alert/script execution, and also be able to communicate in standard protocols to other security program components/pieces.”

But Chow is not quite finished. “Don’t forget to include common SSH and SSL termination to decrypt which is mostly encrypted traffic now. If you aren’t decrypting traffic, you’re missing out on so much. To much of the industry’s dismay, first [generation] SIEM is also failing because of a gross lack of talent to properly deploy, tune, and extend their existing tools.”

Customization Challenge

AmerisourceBergen’s Yerram says that customization is desirable, but, depending on the SIEM being used, is not always do-able. “The product are sometimes limited in how much customization you can do,” Yerram says.

Either way, customization takes resources, both for staffing levels and configuring the SIEM. For example, let us assume a SIEM saw a security incident and confirmed, to a limited extent, that it appears to be real, meaningful and dangerous. Once all that happens, it is critical for someone or something to alert all of the key players right away. Has someone alerted the VPN team, the Windows team, or a threat hunter? While appropriate staffing levels are essential simply to support basic SIEM maintenance, the company needs to ensure that it balances funding for maintenance and management with that of improving with providing the requisite staff for all the necessary security teams.

Alford recalls that the earliest days of SIEM marketing suggested that companies could purchase a SIEM and replace some tier-one analysts, a claim that some EUBA vendors are making today. The claims were not true in the past nor are they accurate today, Alford says.

Like everything in IT and security, the cloud is changing many of the rules and the realities. As more data gets poured into the cloud, the type of cloud structure becomes critical, especially for SIEM security issues, Alford says.

Mitch Thomas, CSO, Encompass Health

“The more you offload to the cloud, the more you offload everything to the cloud, including security awareness,” Alford says. SaaS is especially problematic. With SaaS, “you’re handing over a good bit of trust. What you’re going to be able to monitor are the ins and outs. You’ll have no visibility inside,” Alford says, adding that it is essential to structure cloud deals that allow for users to have full visibility — and even better control — over all elements of the cloud infrastructure.

Mitch Thomas, CSO for Birmingham, Ala-based Encompass Health, a $3.9 billion healthcare company, agrees that SIEM should automate the analysts’ works. “SIEM platforms should automate the work of tier one analysts to allow teams to focus on the tier two and tier three work of threat hunting, incident response, closing the OODA loop faster, which also helps with the skills shortage problem,” he opines. (The OODA loop — observe, orient, decide, and act — was developed by the US military for combat operations processes.)

KPMG’s Chow also expresses concerns about the cloud and security. “Cloud testing is a pain…. There’s so much complexity and you have to test all of these components,” Chow says, adding that CISOs must deal with “all of this stuff that is proprietary to that cloud.”

Chow agrees with Alford that an agreement, including architectural access and control, is critical. “You need to have an architectural use case of the cloud to know what you’re doing. The cloud has limitations on how you manage it. You don’t have the rights like you do with on-prem.”

Trillions of lines of code

Still, cloud is not going to be easy to avoid. Swapnil Deshmukh, the security evangelist leading DevSecOps at Visa in Foster City, Calif., says that because of the nature of the Visa network and the fact that it transfers money around the planet, it gets attacked continually. He estimates that the Visa SIEM sees 115 million events per second “and those are staggering numbers. We have an explosion of data.”

(Due to the payments nature of its business, Deshmukh notes, Visa defines events much more broadly than many other companies. For Visa, an event is any transaction anywhere in the world. That is because it must analyze every transaction to see if there are any red flags. Others view an event as a security event and each event already reflects some pattern deviation worthy of further exploration.)

That explosion of events is especially true for a company like Visa that is so heavily regulated, Deshmukh says. “You need to store this data somewhere, which adds to the hardware costs” so that necessitates employing the cloud, he says. “With these trillions of lines of code, how do you identify if there is any personally identifiable data?” he asks. That forces an awful lot of data sanitization.

“These events are growing exponentially, due to programmable infrastructure and hyperconnected workplace and user can now access sensitive information from mobile phone, from software-defined WANs or even on various cloud offerings,” Deshmukh says. “This explosion of event logging is causing scalability issue for many SIEM storage. In near future, SIEM must solve the scalability problem.

“Currently, organizations with deeper pockets are solving this problem by adding expensive infrastructure to SIEM storage or leveraging cloud storage options such as Amazon S3 buckets or Google cloud storage,” he continues. “As these events are sensitive in nature, organizations storing information on cloud might have to jump additional hops of managing keys that tokenize these events. From budgeting standpoint, adding storage to support SIEM may add huge overhead and in many cases it can be a deal breaker for organizations with limited budget.”

The cost of SIEM support is not limited only to small or mid-size businesses with shallow pockets. Thompson says that his team is also seeing “an exponential growth of data collection and I can’t keep pace with that from a cost standpoint.”

Responding to every SIEM alert can be daunting if filters to weed out false positives are not in place. “Every alarm, every indicator is some kind of event. How can you manage all of that?” Thomas says rhetorically.

Although some enterprises have worked with AI’s machine learning, such as AmerisourceBergen, Deshmukh says Visa hasn’t and he blames the extensive use of proprietary code used by many SIEM vendors, including the one that Visa uses. “The vendors have it in a proprietary format. Because of that, we can’t create our own models, due to the vendor’s lock-in. The proprietary format makes ML nonviable right now. That’s the reason why the adoption of machine learning in SIEM is not there yet,” Deshmukh says.

Unstructured data

Another SIEM concern that several experts touched on were challenges inherent in scanning unstructured data such as images and video.

Deshmukh says Visa does not look currently at unstructured data because, in his view, Visa’s SIEM “can’t make any sense of it” giving it “very limited visibility” into a place where cyberthieves can try and hide malware. But he expects that to change in the next few years. “In the future, we expect new techniques to convert unstructured data into structured. At this point in time, we don’t have those techniques.”

Migues agrees and he adds that even email can be baffling for analytics. “Understanding context from unstructured data is really, really hard,” Migues says. A big part of the problem is that, with unstructured data, so many enterprises, as well as vendors, use different terminology and structure to achieve similar results. “Different companies use different words, different ways,” he says.

Swapnil Deshmukh, security evangelist, Visa

For example, an email might include the words “Employee Salaries. Do Not Release” but it “doesn’t necessarily mean that it really has employee salaries,” Migues says.

Ray McKenzie, the founder and managing director for Red Beach Advisors, agrees that unstructured data is a problem, but argues that some vendors have addressed it quietly — too quietly.

“SIEMs are behind the curve, for the most part, in terms of dealing with unstructured data. You always have to add packages or add content. The SIEMs don’t recognize it upfront” and out-of-the-box, McKenzie says. “Vendors and CISOs are not talking about the unstructured data problem. Threats are a much easier discussion.”

But McKenzie maintains that he knows of some unspecified SIEM vendors who have mastered the unstructured data problem, but they are not marketing that fact. “Unstructured data is still a problem. The people who have solutions to the problem haven’t promoted it. There are platforms that can (handle unstructured data) today.”

AmerisourceBergan’s Yerram disagrees with McKenzie, at least as it impacts the major SIEM players. “No, the leading products out there — as identified [by the major analyst firms] — cannot handle unstructured data,” Yerram says.

Yerram has other practical concerns about SIEM usage. “Correlating the information and triaging takes a long time right now. I want one single pane of glass,” Yerram says, referring to one screen to handle all needed activity, rather than “having to go to multiple different consoles” so that his team can have “integration with multiple different intelligence sources. I don’t believe that a lot of the traditional SIEM devices do that. It doesn’t happen in a single screen.”

Ray McKenzie, founder and managing director, Red Beach Advisors

Yerram offered an example of the SIEM detecting suspicious activity on an IP address. “To look up who owns that address, I have to go to multiple different sources [on different screens] to collect that information,” Yerram says.

Machine learning analysis can be used to recommend actions by the security staff or the ML can be instructed to take specific actions automatically when it encounters certain conditions. Yerram says his team does a little ML automation, but they are being cautious.

ML automation “is a good idea once you teach the system the right things” to justify an automatic reaction, Yerram says. “Our automation is limited right now. We are still taking our time to make sure that we are getting it right. There can be significant impact on the brand [due to the automatic ML action] causing an outage of some fashion. It comes down to what you teach and what the comfort level is.”

So what is the future of SIEM? That can be difficult to determine, short of assuming increased integration with AI and machine learning. As noted, the next generation of SIEM might distinguish itself by not even using the term “SIEM.” Whatever the future of SIEM will be, it is a given that it will still be big, complex, embedded into every corner of the network, and more than likely, still expensive. What it likely will not be is plug-and-play.

The post SIEMple evolution: The future for a cloud-based SIEM appeared first on SC Media.

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Go to Source Author: stephenlawton SIEMple evolution: The future for a cloud-based SIEM Original Post from SC Magazine Author: stephenlawton The future of SIEM is cloudy, literally and figuratively, as companies strive to keep up with potentially billions of events.

[timclymer]

Exercise Is King – Again

Exercise is King

Like most mature adults, I am on high blood pressure medication. Which I find really irritating. SO I have been looking for ways to reduce my blood pressure enough to not need the chemical medications I am taking.

As always, research beckoned, where I found so many offers that I almost got lost in the research instead of what I really intended to do.

1. I hate to admit it, but the first thing that came up was, to lose weight, taking particular note of your waist measurements, (under 40 for for men, 35 in for women), so assuming there are others out there like me, I am passing some of them on to you.

The following is from the staff at The Mayo Clinic

“Blood pressure often increases as weight increases. Being overweight also can cause disrupted breathing while you sleep (sleep apnea), which further raises your blood pressure.

Weight loss is one of the most effective lifestyle changes for controlling blood pressure. Losing just 10 pounds (4.5 kilograms) can help reduce your blood pressure.

Besides shedding pounds, you generally should also keep an eye on your waistline. Carrying too much weight around your waist can put you at greater risk of high blood pressure. ”

2. Then, exercise: – Just 30 mins most days of the week (I try to manage 5), can have an acute impact and can lower your blood pressure by as much as 4 to 9 ml mercury (mm Hg). I am so up for that! Best options – walking, jogging, cycling, swimming or dancing, or even strength training.

I think most of us can manage a walk or two and for me, if it’s not an option, then I work out on some floor exercises at home. For weights I use a couple of bottles of water and sit on the edge of the sofa for leg workouts.

3. Keep to a healthy diet. It is recommended that you Be a smart shopper. Read food labels when you shop and stick to your healthy-eating plan when you’re dining out, too. It’s not always easy, but the benefits are huge.

Try to eat fewer processed foods. Only a small amount of sodium occurs naturally in foods. Most sodium is added during processing. Checking the labels will show just how much sodium (salt) and sugars of various kinds are added during the processing. These are added as much to increase the shelf life of a product, which does not appeal to me in the slightest.

These days I’ve started freezing my own vegetables, which I found so much less complicated and difficult than I thought. So now I have a freezer full of frozen vegetables that contain no sugar, salt which I admittedly added to the water. But, I only blanched the veggies and used the same water for any that do not add a strong flavor to the water. So my salt use is kept to a minimum.

I then checked out some foods etc that can help with lower blood pressure. Now I’ve never gone in much for flavored teas, except green and Earl Gray, but on the research front I came across the following.

Hibiscus tea contains phytochemicals that play a role in reducing blood pressure, Soy contains Isoflavones which can also help reduce the systolic blood pressure reading (the one on top). They also help in the production of nitric oxide enzymes, which help in the relaxation of blood vessels, reducing blood pressure.

4. Quit smoking

5. Work on reducing your stress levels.

6. Every cell in the body has a receptor for Vitamin D so work on absorbing, or taking Vitamin D. This can be found first and foremost in the sun’s rays. It needs to be noted that if you live more than 35% up or down from the equator, this can lead to very little being absorbed as the sun’s rays are weaker. Although, exposing arms and legs to the sun for 5-45 minutes between the hours of 10am – 3pm, is usually enough to meed the daily requirements for most skin types.

It can be found in oily fish, fish liver oil and egg yolks, among others. Every cell in our bodies have a receptor for Vitamin D. It’s deficiency is also linked to type 1 Diabetes, MS, high blood pressure and thyroid problems.

Thanks to Authority Nutrition at Healthline.

Overweight people can also need higher amounts of the vitamin.

Do not forget alcohol –

Usually more than one drink a day for women and for men older than age 65, or more than two a day for men age 65 and younger. One drink equals 12 ounces of beer, five ounces of wine or 1.5 ounces of 80-proof liquor.

Drinking more than moderate amounts of alcohol can actually raise blood pressure by several points. It can also reduce the effectiveness of blood pressure medicines.

Sadly (for me), Caffeine is also bad for blood pressure levels. But then, having reduced my intake has been quite good really, so can not complain.

Generally, Overall –

Blood pressure needs to be less than 120/80

To avoid high cholesterol – Keep numbers to less than

100 mg for LDL (bad) cholesterol.

60 mg + for HDL (good) cholesterol.

If overweight, or to prevent becoming overweight, watch waist measurements stay under 40 in – men, 35 in – women.

Exercise regularly

Eat less than 7% of calories in saturated fat.

Eat less than 200 mg of dietary cholesterol foods.

So, if we want to avoid, or reverse our dependency on chemicals, following a diet plan that can actually help, is a no brainer really, is not it?

A final note, Statins are collectively responsible for making recipients tired and suffering from memory loss. Another reason for being able to avoid having to take such medications I think.

This research is an amazing way of finding and, where possible, avoiding the common situations many of us encounter when we reach adulthood, for some, this does not just mean when we are past the age of 55.

Source by Hilary Green

from Home Solutions Forev https://homesolutionsforev.com/exercise-is-king-again/ via Home Solutions on WordPress from Home Solutions FOREV https://homesolutionsforev.tumblr.com/post/184533636115 via Tim Clymer on Wordpress