#i know the forum just readily agreed to let us do whatever we wanted

[warlordfelwinter]

fiver after like 6 npcs tell him he needs the forum's permission to go to an island

[nat-20s]

Wonderful! Au Part 7! (also on ao3 here) another episode only installment, and obnoxiously fluffy! Have fun!

~*~

Martin, tired: Hello everybody! Welcome, or welcome back, to a very low energy episode. We have had, as the kids say, A Week Tm.

Jon, equally tired, but fond: Is that as the kids say?

Martin: I don't know, and perhaps worse, I don't really care. I guess I could ask Jeremiah next time he's over, but I'm not sure if that would actually help.

Jon: Shockingly, I don't think two year olds have their finger on the beating pulse of youth culture.

Martin: Hmm, maybe not. Speaking of Jeremiah, he's part of why the format of this episode is gonna be a bit different than our regular. On top of me dealing with a frankly obscene amount of inventory management, and Jon being swamped with grant writing-

Jon: I never want to look at proposal guidelines again-

Martin: we were on babysitting duty for our favourite neighborhood hellion-

Jon: Hey, Jeremiah is a very sweet kid! I know he's a toddler, but we shouldn't be slandering him anyway.

Martin: One, we're not even using his real name, I don't think that counts as slander, and two, exactly, he's a toddler, he's by default a hellion.

Jon, teasing: This coming from the person that actually wants one?

Martin: I..look, if anything, the last few days have shown we should not be permanent parents.

Jon: But?

Martin:...There's no but.

Jon: I don't believe you! Are you lying for my benefit or the audience's? Because someone spent the last five days wearing one of the largest grins I've ever seen, exhausted as it may have been.

Martin: Okay! Fine, I admit, I liked having a kid around. I still think it would be a bad idea to do it full time, but I dunno. I wish we weren't both only children or something. We would make such good uncles.

Jon: Should I should have taken that teaching job after all?

Martin: Perhaps. After all,

Martin, singsong: An English teacher, is really someone!

Jon and Martin, singing together: If only you, had be-come one!

Jon: Honestly, though, I was considerably underqualified. I'm much more suited to my current job, even if it doesn't have quite the same impact on the "shaping of the next generation" or whatnot.

Martin: Wait, you actually care about qualifications now? When did that change?

Jon: This coming from Mister "master's degree in parapsychology"? And it was probably around the time that the world ended from taking on a workload I was ill-suited for.

Jon:...

Jon: Metaphorically speaking, of course.

Martin: Oh, of course. Definitely nothing literally apocalyptic in our pasts, no siree, nothing to see or speculate about or make weirdly involved forums for here. Uh, anyway, long introduction not so short: Both of us have been averaging about 4 hours of sleep, so any sort of actual research was not on the table.

Jon: If any of you are wondering why we didn't just say that we're both very much worn out and thus we'll be taking a week off, it's because we're both deeply, deeply stubborn.

Martin: It's one of our best shared qualities that has never caused any conflict between us, ever.

Jon: In fairness, sheer stubbornness does account for, what, 75% of the reason that either of us are still alive? And it hasn't caused a major conflict between us in a good three years.

Martin: That's true. We've become a deeply boring, relatively conflict free couple. Which fucking rules, by the way. To all the couples out there: I highly recommend being boring. It is so nice. We've gotten to go to the farmer's market so many times.

Jon: You do love the farmer's market. I would say that it's the access to fresh produce, but I think you just like the attention that one yarn seller gives you. Can't believe you would take advantage of a crush to get discounts on wool. How did I marry such an opportunist?

Martin: Ollie does not have a crush on me. They're just friendly to everyone.

Jon: Bullshit. I certainly never get an extra skein or stitch markers or delicate fabric cleaner tossed in my bag. Actually, I think I've been charged more for committing the crime of having married you before they could.

Martin: I'm..70% sure that's not true, but every sentence we speak, we stray further from even pretending to be on topic. So, to everybody listening, this is the itty bitty episode! Basically, we're only doing small wonders and user submissions. If you want details or backstory for things we like, too bad, come back next week. Jon, I believe you're first this week?

Jon: Oh, right. My first small wonder is cat names.

Martin: Delightful, but unsurprising. Though, I would've expected either more or less specificity. Why cat names as opposed to pet's names in general, or, like, military title names?

Jon: Well that's simple enough. I've simply never met a misnamed cat, even if the name itself wasn't to my personal tastes, and I think that speaks to the wonderful universality of cats.

Martin: This, of course, implies that you have met animals that were misnamed.

Jon: Oh, I have. I once met a papillion dog named Meatball.

Martin: Now I know you don't like food names in general for pets, but are you sure that Meatball didn't suit the dogs personality? I've known some "Meatballs" in my lifetime.

Jon, only half-mock offended: Of course it didn't fit, Martin. She was a lady. A nervous, jittery lady, but a lady nonetheless.

Martin, laughing: And what, you've never met a dignified cat with an undignified name, or vice versa? Would you be okay with our cat being named Meatball?

Jon: I would be upset if our cat was named Meatball, because we named her and we're above that sort of thing, but, technically speaking, she could have been Meatball in another lifetime and it wouldn't have been wrong. You see, all cats are a mix of both extremely austere and little baby idiot.

Martin: Oh, is that the scientific terminology?

Jon: It is. Now, while there's probably some amount of, er, normative determinism or confirmation bias or something that results in a cat with a more dignified name seeming to possess more of that austerity, as all cats have both, any name can, potentially, fit. Hence why it's wonderful.

Martin: I..accept your proposal for now, but I think more research needs to be done. Maybe we should visit the shelter this weekend and test your hypothesis.

Jon: Hmm. I think we may need to visit multiple shelters, actually. A large sample size is necessary for any sort of veracity, obviously.

Martin, imitating Jon tone: Obviously.

Jon: Glad you agree. What's your first small wonder?

Martin: Tofu!

Jon: I..didn't realize you liked that much?

Martin: Well, I don't get it very often since I know you can't stand the texture, even though it is not like 'worse scrambled eggs', and you're a horrible food thief-

Jon: Lies and slander. We readily share. If I'm a horrible food thief, you have committed the exact same, if not worse, crime as myself.

Martin: Well, we are thick as thieves.

Jon, groaning: You're thick as something alright

Martin: Rude! My beloved husband-

Jon: -uh huh-

Martin: whom I love and trust with my most tender of hearts-

Jon: -an oddly cannibalistic turn of phrase-

Martin, badly suppressing laughter: Oh, my god. I want a divorce, then I can put tofu in as many dishes as I like. I'll triple my protein intake.

Jon: It'd never go through. I'll burn the papers. No, wait, I'll burn down the legal offices where the papers are kept.

Martin: Hmm. While my experiences with it have been, uh, varied to say the least, I do have to admit that arson is one of the more attractive crimes of passion. I suppose I'll take you back.

Jon, flat: I'm so very grateful.

Jon, genuine: You do have yet to actually tell me why you think tofu is wonderful, love.

Martin: It's just a good food! It's neutral enough that you can toss it in pretty much anything with a sauce, you can bake it, you can fry it, whatever. Plus it's what? two? Three quid? I spent many years of my life living off the cheapest, saltiest approximation of noodles you could imagine, and half a pack of tofu, a little bit of sesame oil, and some green onions went a long way to both making it more filling and less sad. 

Martin: Plus, I feel like it often gets decried for being something it's not? It's so often viewed as a meat substitute or the vegan alternative option, and so when people try it, they often go in with a false preconceived notion of what it's going to be like, and then end up disappointed. They're all like, 'ugh, this doesn't taste like turkey!' and yeah, of course it doesn't. It's the oatmeal raisin cookie of the protein world, a perfectly good and tasty treat on its own, but if you want chocolate chip, it's not gonna work.

Jon: Martin you don't even like oatmeal raisin. I'm the only one that ever eats them out of the multipacks.

Martin: Well, yeah, but I don't like oatmeal raisin because of its flavor, not because I think it should be chocolate chip and fails. It illustrates my point. Also, just for balance, is your next small wonder oatmeal raisin cookies?

Jon: No, though, maybe one of these weeks. They are good. But no, um, my next small wonder is being married.

Martin, let out a high bark of a laugh: Being married is a small wonder?!

Jon: Small wonders doesn't mean a lack of importance! Or even significance in our lives. Half the time we even end up spending just as much time chattering on about them as the things we actually research. But, yes, I didn't feel like researching the concept of being married. For one, a lot of the history of it is depressing and patriarchal, and for two, it's not something I really feel any need to elaborate on. Being married. I very much enjoy it. I recommend it for anybody that's found someone that they want to marry, and who wants to marry them. I really recommend being married to Martin Blackwood, I think I would enjoy it significantly less if it was to anybody else, but one: we typically try to make the wonderful things in this show  applicable to more than just ourselves, and two: I got there first, so I believe the appropriate thing to say here would be; neener neener and/or everyone else can go suck it, Ollie.

Martin: Well...

Jon: Well, what?

Martin: Saying you got there first is technically not true-

Jon: What?!

Martin, laughing like a bastard: Sorry, sorry! Couldn't resist! Jon, you already know that you're my first real realationship, how would be married before fit that?

Jon: Hence my surprise at the notion! I cannot believe you! I give you my trust, my earnestness, and belief-

Martin [only laughs harder]

Jon: and you throw it in my face for a bit. I take back everything, being married is a nightmare, because sometimes your partner thinks he a fucking comedian and you just have to put up with him because you love him and want to live the rest of your life with him or some such nonsense. Not worth it, if you ask me. My turn to ask for the divorce.

Martin: Babe, hate to break it to you, but both of us are guilty of doing bits that the other doesn't like, it's an integral part of  a healthy marriage, and secondly, you knew who I was long before I proposed. You should've said no when you had the chance.

Jon: Hang on, you proposed?

Martin: Yeah? This isn't part of a bit, of course I proposed. I'm even pretty sure you were there. The whole visit back to Scotland trip? I finally made you a sweater and said it was because we would now be immune to the boyfriend curse?

Jon: No, no, I remember all that, but it wasn't the proposal. It was a reaffirmation of the proposal. We had already decided to get married.

Martin: Well, yeah,, I wasn't just gonna spring that on you, we had had conversations beforehand-

Jon:  No, I mean, I had already proposed. I asked you to marry me a good three years earlier, and you said yes, which is a proposal by any definition that I know.

Martin: Jon, love, darling, apple of my eye, fire of my soul, I mean this in the nicest way possible, what the everloving fuck are you talking about?

Jon: In the ambulance ride when we, uh, moved here. It was the thing I said to you the second I saw your eyes were open.

[An audible pause is left in the recording.]

Martin: That does not count.

Jon: How does it not count?! I asked you to marry me, you very emphatically said yes, that's the de facto definition of an accepted marriage proposal!

Martin: It doesn't count because you were half-delirious with blood-loss, and I had a traumatic brain injury that the hospital was very surprised I made a full recovery from. No court in the world would consider anything we said then more than pain driven ramblings, let alone, I dunno, contractually binding.

Jon: Well, I knew what I was saying well and clear. Just because it was desperate doesn't mean it wasn't sincere. I didn't realize that you weren't as cognizant when you accepted.

Martin, snorting: Yeah, didn't really need to be cognizant to say yes. I've wanted to marry you since the train ride to Scotland.

Jon: Wait, really? Martin, we hadn't even been on a date.

Martin: And yet we were on the lamb together, which I honestly think is more romantic than sitting in some restaurant somewhere trying to get through icebreakers. Also, back up, from your perspective we've been engaged since 2019? What did you think we were doing in the interim?

Jon: Uhh..

Martin: Yes?

Jon: There are people that have long engagement periods, and it's not exactly like we were in any sort of position to get married for awhile. Especially not that first year.

Martin: Okay? And?

Jon: And..I sort of thought you had changed your mind. For awhile. Was rather surprised that you kept living with me, considering that, on the worst nights, I was convinced you were going to storm off and leave me forever any minute now. Hence why your proposal was rather relieving.

Martin: Oh, Jon, love. That is so very ridiculous, and so very you, and so very close to many of my own fears and doubts. Do you have any idea how terrified I was to float the idea of marriage to you? Half the time I was convinced I was just meant to keep you company until you found someone better. And, Christ, we'd, from your perspective, been engaged the whole damn time. Fuck.

[Jon, after a beat, starts laughing. It has a slightly hysterical edge to it. Martin joins in. It takes a minute for the laughter to subside enough for them to speak again.]

Jon: I'm rapidly realizing that our entire romantic relationship would've been, if not more successful, a hell of a lot faster if we weren't both complete fools.

Martin: You're realizing that now? I think I've known that since the CV incident. I've definitely known it since the Lonely.

Jon, with a slightly tired chuckle:Yes, yes, something probably should've tipped me off earlier. Shockingly, observation of our own personal romantic trends is not always a strong suit of mine.

Jon: Anyway, please tell me you have another small wonder, this has gotten wildly of track.

Martin: Since we're talking about marriage anyway, I think my next small wonder is having a shared reference in your wedding vows. Our friends had "I have been, and always shall be, your friend" in theirs, and I made Jon cry with a slightly altered Lord of the Rings quote in ours.

Jon: First off, we were both openly weeping long before that point, secondly, I defy anybody to have been through half of what we have and then have the love of their life look them in the eyes and tell them "Leave you? I never intend to. I am going with you, if you climb to the moon" without at least tearing up.

Martin: There wasn't a dry eye in the audience, either. Granted, the audience was only 20 people, but that was also literally the only time I've seen Eloise show a strong emotion, so I'm pretty smug about it.

Martin, soft: I still feel exactly the same, you know. If you're climbing to the moon, I'll make sure the rope is strong enough for two.

Jon, soft: I know, love.

Jon: Though, to be fair, the moon is also significantly more pleasant than many places we've been.

Martin: God, I hate how much that's true. Look at this barren, oxygenless rock, at least it's not actively trying to kill us. Practically a honeymoon location.

[Martin sighs]

Martin: I am so tired. Let's do the user submissions then take a very long nap.

Jon: Please.

Martin: So, first submission is from Josie; They find it wonderful getting cards from their friends. They say they're lucky to have so much love in their life and have friends that care enough to send them things. That is wonderful Josie! We have a drawer in our house dedicated to every loving card we've ever received since the move, and they're always such a nice reminder of the people in our lives.

Jon: We should really organize that drawer, but, yes, agree with the sentiment. Even the cards from people that are no longer in our lives are lovely, I think. Those connections are very much meaningful for both of us, whether they're active or not.

Martin: That's very true.  Next submission is from Lys, who submits the sound of leaves crunching under your feet in the fall. Ah, that's a classic.

Jon: I just felt myself relax imagining it. I wish it was autumn.

Martin: Don't we all? Alright, for the last submissions, I'm grouping them together as they follow a similar theme. Jadwiga submits the feeling of waking up well into the morning with the sun shining through the window and your cat laying next to you, and Oran submits when a dog falls asleep with its head in your lap.

Jon: I can heartily recommend at least one of those, considering that's how we try to wake up most mornings. The Duchess is a dutiful darling girl who spends every night with us, and she's usually still there when us humans rise.

Martin: I bet you'll agree with the other when I finally convince you to get me a dog for my birthday.

Jon: It hasn't happened yet, so I wouldn't hold your breath.

Martin: But you don't even dislike dogs! You're just as happy to pet them when they pass by as I am.

Jon: Being fine with an animal isn't the same thing as wanting to adopt one for yourself! We don't even know if The Duchess would put up with a dog.

Martin: I bet she would. I bet we could get a big senior dog who's the calmest animal you've ever met with those soft eyes and a little grey on the muzzle and she would cuddle up in an instant. And we did say we should visit a shelter or three this weekend..

Jon: I think you're rather callously taking advantage of my exhausted state, but I suppose we can look. 

Martin: Hell fuckin yeah. So, I think that'll close out the episode, and as we always say at the end, uh, go take a nap and get a dog. Not necessarily in that order.

[calamariimpossible]

Magicians on the internet, crypto, and the email that broke me.

This is a continuation of a twitter thread that Muz (@mzkrx) started to write out in his car but then when he plotted out his thoughts, it made more sense to him to put it down in a blog format rather than a thread. You'll find out why as you read through.

Stuck in the car for half an hour so I'm gonna do a thread (Editor's note: Now a whole-ass blog post) about a strange email I got recently.

So I was casually watching magic tricks on YouTube. the funnest part of which to me is reading the comments. YouTube commenters love explaining how they think the trick is done and it's fun to read through their theories and connect dots between similar tricks, etc.

And then one time as I was scrolling I noticed a comment that didn't make sense. It was a string of an almost sentence. Intelligible enough to not be random words but odd enough to read like a trigger phrase for something.

The closest I can describe it as is like the string Zemo used to wake up the Winter Soldier, but with some syntax to it. Like "many thermos wiggle throughout exotic harbinger of circle ascending fuchsia entrapment".

Initially I thought nothing of it, but then I kept seeing them in these magic trick video comment sections. They're never the same string, and it's always under magic trick videos. from different channels even.

Hmmm.

The profiles that posted these comments are also always blank accounts with zero videos and no profile pic. Just their name. I felt like it was too much of a coincidence for these comments to only be under magic trick videos.

I also knew that the world of performance magic is thick with secrets. That is to say, there is deliberate obfuscation of information whenever you try to go online to find out how a trick works.

Magicians get together online and share information with each other just like performers of every other sort as well but the amount of code and doublespeak they use is an order of magnitude more annoying to decipher compared to say, an engineering message board or a gamedev forum.

Knowing that, I thought maybe this almost parsable gibberish I keep seeing everywhere was also some kind of code these people were using to talk to each other.

So I started investigating.

First things first, let's just Google one of the phrases. Maybe that's enough?

And it sorta was.

Pasting them onto the search bar lent me to only 1 result (wild!) and it was a website that looked really dank. Like geocities dank. Annoying neon colours and badly margined jpegs of tarot card images everywhere and a big bold header text that said something to the effect of:

"Congratulations, you've found our hidden message. This portal is only for those seeking knowledge beyond what is on the surface. Continue below."

* * *

I haven't been doing well. I feel like I say that too much. I say it on Patreon, on my personal podcast, whenever any of my friends ask me how I'm doing, pretty much everywhere. I feel very heavy. I understand I'm not the only one feeling like this during a pandemic.

Duh.

But I have this other version of worry that I can't quite articulate until right now: I'm scared I won't be funny anymore. Anwar and Farid can attest that even during our recordings I don't feel up to being funny. I question my jokes a lot. I barely enjoy telling them. I'm worried I'm letting everyone down.

To me, silliness and absurdism as virtues only make sense when the world has trace amounts of injustice and wrongness that training ourselves to see it in our everyday helps us remind ourselves of what is just and fair. The more we consume silliness, the more we are able to recognize silly and point it out. So we don't ignore it when things go wrong, so we talk about it, manage it. So we can take care of each other.

Maybe I can't be sure if we're all up for taking care of each other right now.

* * *

"Continue below" seems instructive, but it wasn't. Like I mentioned, the margins were haphazard and the CSS was all over the place. Some jpegs were straight up cropped off.

Meaning I can't be sure what "below" meant. But there were clickable images and text so I was readily intrigued.

It was tantalizing. Did I stumble into some secret order of Extremely Online Magicians? Maybe I'll finally find out why there aren't many female magicians out there. Maybe it's some sort of secret initiation to a secret message board full of secrety secrets. Secretly.

Y'all.

I didn't click on any of the linked images or anything. I closed the tab. That was the end of that.

An earlier version of myself would gladly run headlong into this rabbit hole to find out more and sink hours into some goddessforsaken labyrinth of links. But the current version of me recognizes this for what it almost certainly is: an abandoned roleplaying game.

Back in the early 00s when the internet was the realm of nerds and nerds only, it was full of people who loved sharing things for sharing's sake. It used to be punk rock to maintain a blog that only talked about snails or have a lo-fi YouTube channel that uploads biweekly 3-minute news about your house, or manage a little message board where people roleplay as wizards who rummage around the net looking for clues.

That last part was a thing I remember being actively involved in. In '03, a group of online friends and I wrote up a scavenger hunt of sorts where we sent people through various blog pages that we have where the goal is to just dick around and have fun. We wasted each other's time for sure. Hundreds of hours of it for literally no gain at all but for some laughs and fun memories.

The internet isn't like that anymore. People don't share something online for sharing anymore. Not really. There's this idea that if you put stuff out there, you want people's attention because numbers are good. You get a lotta reblogs and RTs and Likes which means people Like you.

If you don't have a lotta numbers, you don't matter. If you do, everyone has to talk about what you said or did because it's 'News' now.

Isn't that kinda gross, you think? That we need people to interact through an app to be sure that we're Liked? I say "we" but I mean me. I've successfully poisoned my brain to believe this to a certain extent too and it's not good.

I felt myself physically react when I closed that geocities magician website tab. I shuddered because my brain went from "this is cool" to "I gotta let people know I found this" to "this'll get me hella RTs" to "ew Muz why did you think that" within 3 seconds and I was disgusted with myself.

As a dude who started my online presence on YouTube and parlayed it into my real life comedy/writing career, I've believed for a long time that doing good work and putting it out there is what it takes for a working creative to make it because that's what I did. So there's this idea that making stuff and having it be seen is some kind of virtuous.

But it's not anymore. People pick fights with children for clout. Newspapers post about people's tweets as if its important. People are investing in crypto, a thing that literally only exists as electrical waste on a grand scale. We're boiling the oceans to yell at each other over nothing and exchange bits of code everyone agrees has ever-rising value but doesn't. Everyone is making and eating junk, it feels like.

So am I making junk? Have I just been making useless junk for literally over a decade now? Is that what I've been good for this entire time?

* * *

So the email.

It was a response from a company I applied to for a job. I applied as a creative writer and they're an advertising agency.

Receiving emails from a prospective employer when you're in need of a job is exciting! So soon after I applied, too. Wonderful. Here's what it said:

We just received your application today but would love to extend the opportunity for you to participate in the Case Competition as a prerequisite of your job application for Creative Writer position with [REDACTED] and stand a chance to be a winner for cash awards up to a total worth of RM1,800.

Yea.

They want me to enter a competition where I compete with other candidates to get a chance of being hired.

This company saw how many people applied for a job with them, and decided to dangle some cash and throw it over the fence to see which candidate will fight for it the most.

I didn't expect to feel vomitous after reading an email but that did it. I almost dry heaved. That's where we are now.

Recruiters see a glut of applicants and decided to play Fall Guys. These people watch Istana Takeshi and think Takeshi is the good guy. It hurts. It hurt me. That email caused me pain.

I can't at all empathise with recruiters who think this was okay to do. They really believed that creative writers will do a little dance for them just for money.

Look, I know we all need to eat. But I can also hate that people undervalue the work of creatives to this painful extent.

I don't give a shit about earning a lot of dough. I just wanna make things that tickle people. I want you to smile more.

That's the whole point of that weird little YouTube comment that led to the quirky website. That's the whole idea of making silly videos and dumb tweets and memes. We just want you to laugh.

But it seems people think so little of joy that they'll do whatever they can to avoid legitimately supporting and paying for stuff that gets them through the day. So much so that they want free work from us for the potential of maybe being able to get paid for more work. It breaks me, man.

I hate that I cannot make a living just trying my best to make people happy.

That's the best way I know to take care of you.

I know I don't just 'make junk' for a living. People have messaged me personally that my work has helped them get through tough times in school, in their relationships, at the office and I am eternally grateful that they took the time to tell me that.

I just also wish my feelings about my work aren't easily brought down by the majority of people who insist its worthless. Even if sometimes those people is me.

So forgive me if I won't be funny for a while. I'm gonna need some time to process this. Thank you for reading. I love you.

[dekusaladbowl]

Streetcars and Sunken Submarines

Rating: M (may go up later)

Pairing: Midoriya Izuku/Shinsou Hitoshi

Ch 2/4

Welcome back to Shindeku in Canada!

===============================

It’s still dark out when Hitoshi wakes up. Izuku is awake. Again. He’s talking, trying his best to keep his voice as quiet as possible but clearly it hadn’t stopped him from waking Hitoshi. Still though, the transition from sleep to wakefulness is admittedly a lot less awful than it usually is when he’s carried over by Izuku’s soft murmuring so he can’t bring himself to really mind.

At first Hitoshi thinks he’s done another deep dive into a hero forum again, muttering about whatever hot topic has the internet riled up these days until what Izuku’s saying finally starts trickling through the fog of sleep.

“It’s okay really, I mean, it’s early evening there right? I haven’t been asleep that long. I know, I know. I’m okay though. Are you?”

Opening his eyes takes a bit of effort but Hitoshi manages after a few hard blinks. His vision is still blurry but through the gray dawn filtering in through the curtains he makes out the outline of Izuku sitting up against the headboard. He has one hand in Hitoshi’s hair and the other by his ear. He’s talking to someone on the phone, Hitoshi realizes.

He can hear snatches of a reply, the faintest crackle of a voice on the other line.

“But I thought the doctor said-....okay.... don’t overdo it okay? Yeah, I will. I’ll see you next week. Bye.”

Hitoshi means to ask him as soon as he hangs up but something makes him pause. After the call disconnects, Izuku’s hand falls limply to the sheets. He sits, staring straight ahead and unmoving for long enough, Hitoshi is immediately concerned. Then he sighs, bringing the phone up to his mouth thoughtfully, the way he does when he’s really worried about something.

“Izuku.”

Izuku jumps. “Hey, I’m sorry, did i wake you?” he asks, fingers combing through Hitoshi’s hair.

“It’s fine. Who were you talking to?”

Izuku hesitates. Barely, but Hitoshi doesn’t miss it. “All Might.”

Ah.

“How is he?”

Izuku is trying to fluff up a section of hair that had gotten flattened sometime while Hitoshi slept but at that, his hand pauses. “He’s okay, no worse than usual.” The ‘... he says’ is heavily implied. “He says hi by the way and that he’s glad we made it here safe.”

Still mostly asleep, the doubtful hum comes out unbidden. Izuku chuckles, curling his fingers and lightly rapping his knuckles against Hitoshi’s temple.

“It’s the truth.”

Hitoshi shrugs one shoulder.“Pretty sure he doesn’t like me.”

Izuku just makes an incredulous sound, like the idea of All Might disliking anyone is the most prepostorous thing he’s ever heard. “Why would you think that?”

“For all intents and purposes, he’s your dad, and those don’t usually like the idea of sketchy kids that got held back a year hanging around their precious overachieving babies,” he reaches up to pinch Izuku’s cheek. He lost most of the baby fat around the middle of second year but still, a bit of roundness clings to his face. Hitoshi doesn’t think it’ll ever go away. “-or taking them alone halfway across the world for a few days.”

Izuku swats his hand away with a soft snort. “Okay first of all, I didn’t graduate top of the class and I didn’t have nearly as many offers as Todoroki-kun, Iida-kun and Kacchan, pretty sure overachieving doesn’t apply to me. Second, you weren’t held back, you were transferred into the course you should’ve been in late. That’s on the school, not you.”

“No comment on the “sketchy” part huh?”

“Well,” Izuku slides back down under the covers until he’s lying on his side, face to face with Hitoshi. “You nailed that bit. Don’t worry though, it’s part of your charm.”

Hitoshi pinches his nose between his fingers until Izuku laughs and smacks his hand away. The laugh doesn’t linger like it usually does and it’s an awful sight, watching the smile drain right out of Izuku’s face. His eyes grow a bit distant, lips parting on a question. Hitoshi sees it halt on his tongue and he doesn’t wait, seeking out one of Izuku’s hands under the covers.

“He’ll be fine. He made it this long. He’s going to outlive us all, out of sheer stubbornness if nothing else.” Hitoshi murmurs, repeating words he’d heard Aizawa-sensei utter a thousand times on the subject. Hitoshi believes them to be true. He thinks. All Might’s had one whole leg in the grave long before they even started school and he’s still here. Although from what Izuku’s told him of his health lately, Hitoshi thinks now it might be accurate to say that the man may be hip deep and steadily sinking the more time goes on. But hey. He’s tall.

“Hm? What does his height have to do with anything?” Izuku asks, confused.

Whoops. He hadn’t mean to say that out loud.

“Tall people are stubborn.”

Izuku seems to find the nonsense coming out of his mouth at least a little bit funny. He lets out a soft, bemused chuckle and it lifts the shadow of worry from his expression. He doesn’t agree with Hitoshi but he doesn’t fuss about All Might’s health, not out loud at least. Hitoshi is going to count it as a win for now.  

“What time is it?” He asks, rubbing at his eyes.

Izuku taps his phone and they both squint as his display lights up. Izuku reads it with one eye and immediately sets the phone screen down on his pillow.

“It’s 4:06.” Izuku manages to get most of it out before trailing off quickly into a huge yawn. Hitoshi hears his jaw click. He seems to grow heavy, sinking back into the pillow with his eyes closed for a moment before they shoot open again.

“I’m in Canada.”

Hitoshi raises an amused brow at him. “Yes you are.”

“I’ve never been this far away from home before.”

He tries not to let his face fall as fast as Izuku’s did earlier, schooling his features immediately into a neutral expression completely at odds with the way his stomach suddenly feels like it’s full of lead. The thought-no, the knowledge that Izuku would be again, a lot sooner than he’d like, for much longer than a few days hits him with surprising intensity. Up until a second ago, it had been non-existent, a problem they left behind in Musutafu, unthinkable in the peaceful dimness of the guest room.

New York is going to be even farther.

It’s going to suck when you’re this far away without me.

He’s startled by the touch of fingers on his cheek and lips on his. It’s close-mouthed and far from pleasant, all dry lips and morning breath but still, Hitoshi sighs and closes his eyes, kissing back when Izuku pulls away only to press back in once, twice, three times. He doesn’t move away, lying close enough for their foreheads to almost touch. A hand settles on Hitoshi’s jaw, long, calloused fingers curling around the back of his neck.

Izuku doesn’t say anything but he keeps his eyes on Hitoshi’s; big and green and bursting with all the things Hitoshi knows he wants to say. He’s always been an open book, almost too easy to read at times. It’s one of his biggest weaknesses but right now, Hitoshi finds that he’s the one who feels a lot like crumbling under that look. He turns away, rolling over and shifting until his back is to Izuku’s chest. Izuku wraps an arm around his waist, pulling them as close together as possible. His face nuzzles into the back of Hitoshi’s neck and he sighs, putting an arm over Izuku’s and pulling his palm up to rest on his chest.

He drifts off like that, with Izuku’s heartbeat at his back and the even rhythm of his breath, ghosting across the back of his neck.

They get about another hour before the jetlag kicks in. Hitoshi rouses first this time, his internal clock tells him it’s a lot later in the day than it actually is and within minutes, he’s wide awake, staring at the ceiling and trying in vain to force himself back into unconsciousness. It doesn’t work. Izuku wakes up to Hitoshi scrolling determinedly through his phone in an attempt to wear himself out.

“Mmm-toshi, what are you doing?”

“Going through Monoma Neito’s twitter.”

Izuku pauses before responding, probably trying to figure out if he heard him right.

“Okay...Can I ask why?”

“It’s the most boring thing I can find. Are you hungry?”

Izuku is not nearly as awake as he is but lets himself be dragged out of bed and accompanies Hitoshi down to the kitchen where Kimiko finds them two hours later. Hitoshi is munching on some dry cereal and Izuku is slumped on the table next to him, dead asleep and snoring softly next to a half eaten plate of toast. When he sees his aunt coming down the steps, Hitoshi wraps a bit of green hair around his finger and gives a sharp tug. Izuku sits up with a jolt and bangs his knees against the table. He half-yells a flustered morning greeting.

Kimiko, having seen the whole thing, doesn’t even comment on it, greeting them with a small, amused smile.

“Good morning, you guys are up early.”

She looks a bit tired and the probable culprit toddles carefully down the stairs beside her, one tiny hand clasped in hers while the other holds on to the balustrade for support. Wide brown eyes grow even wider when they spot the newcomers sitting at the table. She points at them with a chubby little finger, mouth falling open on a wordless coo before turning her face up to her mom as if checking if she sees the new people too.

“Yumi who’s that?” Kimiko asks, guiding them both the last few steps off the stairs and into the kitchen. They come to a stop a few feet away from Hitoshi who offers his baby cousin a smile and a small awkward wave. She could barely roll over or lift her head the last time he’d seen her in person and predictably there’s no spark of recognition in her face but still, she approaches Hitoshi with small, cautious steps and readily accepts the tiny handful of cheerios he shakes out of the box and onto her hand.

“What do we say Yumi? Say thank you Toshi-Niichan.” Kimiko says in English.

“Teh-yieeuu.” is mumbled shyly at him before Yumi’s attention drifts to the other, even less familiar face sitting at the table.

She’s a bit older than she’d been in most of the pictures he’d seen the night before but still, Izuku recognizes the familiar dark hair and the bright brown eyes. She looks a lot like Kimiko’s wife. He beams. “Hi.” he greets her in English.  

“Izuku-kun, this is my oldest, Mayumi.” Kimiko says, combing her fingers gently through a wispy cowlick sticking up near the front of her head. Mayumi is no less shy than she’d been with Hitoshi, only maintaining eye contact with Izuku for a split second before looking away again.

“I’m Midoriya Izuku, it’s nice to meet you.”

He holds his hand out for her to shake, still smiling. Yumi looks at it, then back up at Izuku’s face then she daintily picks out a single cheerio from her hand and tries to put it in his. She earns a delighted laugh as Izuku turns his hand so she can drop the cheerio safely in his palm.

“Thank you!”

Finally, a wide, toothless grin spreads on her little face. It bring out dimples on both cheeks and Izuku just catches a glimpse of them before Yumi suddenly runs to the other side of the table to her high chair, jumping and yelling until Kimiko walks over to pick her up and strap her in.

“Coffee?” Kimiko sighs as soon as she’s done, making a beeline for the keurig next to the fridge. It’s clear she’s going to make herself a pot, regardless of whether or not anyone else wants any.

“Please.” Hitoshi immediately says.

Breakfast is a longer affair than dinner had been the night before, but just barely. Kimiko has to run out with Yumi to a nearby neighborhood to have brunch with some friends so she only has time to scarf down a fruit cup and a bagel in between hurried sips of her coffee. She chats with them while she does it, asking them how they slept and about their plans for the day, offering up a few suggestions when Hitoshi lists some places he plans to bring Izuku to.

When the conversation turns into a blur of unfamiliar stations and street names, Izuku turns his attention to Yumi, encouraging her to eat her tiny cup of cereal and her sliced bananas instead of playing with them. She warms up to him fairly quickly after he tosses a few cheerios in the air and catches them in his mouth. They’re taking turns feeding each other bits of cheerios by the time Kimiko gets up and takes Yumi away to get changed.

Izuku and Hitoshi stay downstairs, relocating from the kitchen to the living room after the latter announces that they(he) don’t have to (doesn’t want to) leave before noon.

They settle down on the couch in comfortable silence, Hitoshi in one corner while Izuku takes up the rest of it, lying down sideways with his head on Hitoshi’s lap. He finds himself staring at the pictures above the fireplace again, looking at them in more detail. There isn’t much room up there so there are only a handful. All the frames that don’t feature Mayumi hold beautifully shot wedding photos. Apparently Kimiko and her wife had both worn suits for their ceremony.

“I think it’s really cool that Kimiko-san is married to another woman.” He murmurs sleepily.

“Yeah. Rosa’s cool, bit too much of a people person though. You’d get along.” Hitoshi replies.

Izuku chuckles through a yawn. “What did you say her job is again?”

“Translator. She travels a lot for work, I think she’s in Korea right now.”

Izuku hums, observing the only group photo of the wedding. It isn’t a big crowd and he wouldn’t be able to tell just by looking but he has a feeling that not many people, if any at all, present that day were excluded from the picture.

“I can hear you thinking.” Hitoshi comments. “I know asking questions is your second favorite thing to do, go on then.”

Izuku hesitates. “Were you there when they got married?”

“No. I was only eight and we’ve already moved back to Japan by then. My dad wanted to take me but my grandparents wouldn’t let him, said it was the middle of the school year and i shouldn’t miss any classes. They didn’t go either. They made their excuses and made me stay with them while he was away.”

“They…didn’t approve?”

Hitoshi pauses and when Izuku turns to look, he finds him looking at the same picture he’d just been staring at. “They like to pretend they’re okay with it now but,”

Hitoshi says with a shrug. He lets out a derisive little chuckle, pushing some green curls back from Izuku’s forehead. “I can only imagine what they’d say if I tell them about you.”

This new information sits heavy and uncomfortable in his gut and it must show on his face because Hitoshi traces a finger lighty between his brows, trying to flatten out the furrow there.

“Here we are, two generations of sketchy gay cousins.” Hitoshi continues in the driest monotone he can muster, gesturing half heartedly to the house around them.

Izuku can’t help it, he giggles. When the laughter dies down, he shifts so he’s lying down on his other side, face nuzzled against Hitoshi’s stomach.

“I’m sorry.” He murmurs. Because he doesn’t know what else to say.

His own mother, perhaps unsurprisingly, took the news well. The worst Izuku got was a brief, surprised pause in which he felt like all of his organs were trying their best to fall through the earth while leaving his body behind but Midoriya Inko had only smiled and pulled him into a hug with a bright “Oh, Izuku that’s wonderful!” after hearing the words “I have a boyfriend.” come out of her son’s mouth. She didn’t comment on how Izuku trembled in her arms or the tears that had gathered in his eyes, first out of fear and then relief, simply tucked some hair behind his ear with a kind smile and asked him to tell her all about the boy he’s dating.

Hitoshi snorts. “I was gay long before you came along, don’t worry. Besides, the only time I talk to them is when I tell them to hang up the phone and forget they ever called.”

One green eye peeks up at him and Hitoshi reaches down to idly brush the back of one finger against Izuku’s ridiculously long lashes. “Anyway, enough about them. What do you want to do today?”  

================================

They decide to spend the day downtown where most of the tourist attractions are, with the straightforward plan of trying to do as much sightseeing as they can. Izuku wants to see all the places Hitoshi likes to go to whenever he visits and it’s an hour and then some past noon by the time they actually leave the house so their first stop is a small poutine shop called Smoke’s. They take a streetcar to get there. It’s Izuku’s first time being on one and Hitoshi watches with a small, amused smile as he stares out the window with wide-eyed interest, watching every little thing that passes by.

The city looks a lot different in the light of day, bright and bustling. The weather is still unacceptably chilly for spring but the sun is shining, the temperature is above zero and not a single snowflake is in sight. Everyone is clearly taking advantage of this, the sidewalks are full of people bundled up in beanies, scarves and light autumn coats. The two of them are a lot wiser about their wardrobe this time, both zipped up in warm leather jackets (both Hitoshi’s) layered over worn, cozy hoodies (both Izuku’s).

They each get something called Country Style poutine, a serving of fries piled high with chicken, bacon, sauteed mushrooms and peas. The cheese curds are strange and squeaky in his mouth and he doesn’t think he’s ever eaten this much gravy in one sitting but still, it’s greasy and delicious and Izuku decides that he likes it. After they’re done eating, they wander up and down Queen Street, taking in the plethora of old, squat buildings clustered for miles on either side of the road, taking pictures of graffitied alleyways and quaint looking shop fronts, occassionally ducking inside the ones that seem very interesting. Izuku notices almost all the rainbow flags hanging proudly in some shop windows and points them out to Hitoshi every time.

They spend the better part of an hour in a place called Black Market; a huge basement artfully cluttered with rack upon rack of vintage clothing and accessories; color coded and differentiated by huge, hand painted signs. They had to descend a narrow stairwell painted over with a psychedelic bullseye pattern guarded by two finely dressed, faceless mannequins to get to it. Izuku had stared at them warily but Hitoshi just strolled right past, unfazed.

Izuku spends more time looking around at the furnishings and decorations while Hitoshi browses the racks, making note of the record store and barber shop crammed in the corner,  the neon, vintage signs surrounded by flashing light bulbs and the assorted, dismembered mannequin parts scattered about.

Hitoshi buys a few shirts, most of them are black graphic tees printed with bands Izuku doesn’t recognize. The exception is a faded baseball tee; an eye-watering shade of blue with white sleeves. Most of the front is occupied by a misshapen cat holding up two middle fingers(toes?) Izuku doesn’t comment on it. There are a lot of strange shirts saying strange things, some of them make him crack a smile and after some brief deliberation, Izuku buys a simple gray tee that has the word NO printed on the chest in bold white font, intending to give it to Todoroki as a gift. And after even more deliberation, also buys a white shirt that has EAT SHIT AND DIE printed on it in atrocious, curly orange font. Hitoshi looks at him weirdly when he carefully goes through a stack of them for an appropriate size and he offers a sheepish shrug in return

“For Kacchan.”

A rock shop catches Hitoshi’s eye after they exit the store and Izuku follows him inside, intending to stick close but losing Hitoshi almost as soon as they step through the door. The shop isn’t big but he’s easily drawn in by the displays of colorful stones, beads and minerals. A small stack of cheap paper labels sit near the back of each display clearly meant to be taken freely. They contain names, facts and uses for the various crystals and minerals. They appeal to Izuku’s natural curiosity and by the the time he catches up to Hitoshi, he has at least five labels, muttering to himself as he reads them over.

Hitoshi buys some beautiful pieces of amethyst to give to Kimiko, explaining that she and Rosa like collecting stones and while he lines up to go pay for them, a display near the front catches Izuku’s eye. The sign (sporting a big, conspicuous red maple leaf on it) declares the display to be minerals unique to Canada. After reading through the labels, Izuku pauses over a small collection of gray rocks, smooth and oddly shaped, all warped circles and oblongs clustered together to form single entities. He plucks a label out from the designated stack by the display and after reading over all the facts provided on itl, Izuku carefully picks one out and runs off to the counter to buy it.  He declines the cashier’s offer of a small paper bag, hiding the stone in his palm and waiting until they exit the shop before offering it to Hitoshi who regards it curiously with furrowed brows. The stone Izuku picked out is wide and flat, the lines of circles etched on it reminiscent of soap bubbles. It’s pretty, in its own strange way.

“It’s a fairy stone!” Izuku explains. “They say they bring you health and prosperity and ward off evil spirits. It-umm... They’re also given as a tokens of romantic love and I thought-” He trails off, rubbing the back of his neck shyly when Hitoshi turns to stare at him, a nervous habit he’d picked up from Hitoshi himself.

“You gave me a rock because you love me?” Hitoshi says slowly, keeping up the flat, blank stare until Izuku blushes and shoves him gently in the shoulder.

“Well if you put it like that,”

Hitoshi pockets the fairy stone, hiding a smile into his scarf. They walk together in silence for a few seconds and then without warning, Hitoshi grabs onto Izuku’s arm. Izuku stops, turns and before he can say anything, Hitoshi wraps a hand around the back of his neck and pulls him in for a kiss. It’s brief but thorough, a few soft, deliberate swipe of lips that makes Izuku’s pulse race. Hitoshi pulls away with a quiet smack that Izuku hears even over the busy sounds of the street. He’s smiling. Surprise roots Izuku to the spot, head swimming with the fact that Hitoshi had just kissed him in broad daylight, out on a very public, very busy street, something neither of them had ever done back home.

Without another word, Hitoshi resumes walking and Izuku stares after him, dumbfounded for a few seconds. A brief glance around garners him no unusual stares or hushed whispering hidden behind hands, the world just goes on like nothing out of the ordinary had taken place and Izuku lets a small, hesitant smile bloom on his face before running to catch up with Hitoshi and bravely, slips a hand in his. For once he doesn’t think about it, enjoying the freedom and the warm wave of contentment that spreads through all of his limbs as they amble down the street in search of more shops to peruse, fingers linked tightly together.

By late afternoon they find themselves at the very core of the downtown area, where skyscrapers loom over the narrow streets, shiny and modern, with the occasional old Victorian building interrupting the sea of steel and glass. They stand out, all artful curves and old brick, meshed with steel plaques and modern awnings, oddities caught in the transition between eras.

Nathan Phillips square is big and picturesque, bracketed on all sides by tall, sprawling buildings that are either historic, popular or both. They manage to snag one of the big Os in the giant TORONTO sign to sit in, casually ruining tourist pictures as they eat street dogs and watch people mill around the huge fountain. They stay there for as long as they can, watching the reflection of sky and concrete arches on the dark water and talking about whatever topic comes up. When the grand clock tower of the old city hall across the street starts chiming to announce the passage of another hour with deep, reverberating bell tolls, Izuku pulls out his phone and films what he can of it.

Shortly after, they pop in next door to the Eaton Centre, window shopping and wearing out their legs more than anything. Izuku takes some snaps of the huge flock of wooden geese hanging from the broad glass ceiling and sends it to the (former) class 3-A’s groupchat. At his insistence, shortly after leaving the mall they go into the first gaudy souvenir shop Izuku sees, where he purchases, among other things, a bottle of syrup shaped like a maple leaf, some keychains and a small stuffed moose in a hockey uniform.

They forego the CN tower after taking one look at the massive lineup and decide to spend the rest of the evening at the Ripley’s Aquarium. Considering both of them had lived most of their lives in close proximity to Tokyo, Hitoshi would’ve thought the aquarium to be a boring way to end the day but Izuku takes it in with childlike excitement, gazing into the tanks and going through the underwater tunnel with open-mouthed wonder. The color-shifting jellyfish tank is admittedly, still very cool despite the number of times Hitoshi had seen it and they linger there for a long time, just watching the striking play of colors against the clear water and the translucent bodies of the jellyfish as the lights cycle through the tank in unhurried patterns.

The aquarium is blessedly devoid of its usual crowds, near empty in some places and Hitoshi takes advantage of the fact, leading them through the children’s area where they’re technically allowed but most adults tended to stay away from, either unaware of the small sunken submarine you can crawl into, with its big glass dome where you can observe the sharks swim lazily overhead, or courteous enough to leave it to the children. The space is clearly built for very tiny people. Hitoshi has to crawl through the narrow entrance under the slides and he watches with equal parts amusement and envy as Izuku, who’s barely grown past his measly five foot five after three years of high school, merely bows as low as he can go, knees bent, and shuffles through still on his feet.

“Wow,” he breathes after he settles down next to Hitoshi on the carpeted floor. The tiny space is not bad at all with just the two of them in it, cozy and peaceful.

“Is this the submarine we saw earlier when we were going through the tunnel?” Izuku asks, leaning back on his hands to stare up at the gentle ripples of water overhead. His hair looks even greener under the aquamarine light of the tank around them and Hitoshi watches as he stretches an arm up and traces a finger across the glass dome, following a small yellow fish as it swims by.

“Mmmhmm.” Hitoshi hums, watching blurry silhouettes of people passing by them through the tunnel, distorted by water and layers of glass.

They watch the tank in comfortable silence for a long time, basking in the simple calm beauty of it as they rest.

“Did you have a good day today?” Hitoshi asks eventually.

“Yes I did!” The answer is immediate and sincere. Izuku’s eyes are still on the tank, watching as a sand tiger shark swims above them. “Toronto is really cool.”

“Yeah. It’s like New York, just smaller and a little less sketchy.”

It’s supposed to be a light, dry joke but as soon as the words are out of Hitoshi’s mouth, the space between them fills with silence, heavy and thick. Those big, green eyes slowly shift away from the tank and settle on Hitoshi’s face. Izuku offers him a small, hesitant smile. “Yeah?”

The words practically claw their way out of his throat and Hitoshi is powerless to stop them as they spill out of his mouth.

“I’m going to miss you.”

He wants to say more. He should say more, feeling like he won’t be able to say what he ought to outside the safe, secluded bubble of the sunken submarine. I’m happy you got that internship overseas. You deserve it. Two months isn’t that long. I’m going to miss you. I’m going to miss you so much.  but all that comes out of his mouth is. “...you piece of shit.”

Izuku laughs, it’s soft and quiet and it hurts to hear it. “I’m going to miss you too. So much. I’ll call you every day.” He shifts closer, pressing up against Hitoshi and wrapping an arm around him. “And...when you’re lonely, my love rock would keep you company?”

Hitoshi puts a hand on his face, muffling the incredulous laughter that comes out. “What the heck did you just say to me, oh my god.”

Izuku laughs again, embarrassed. This time it’s loud and bright and it hurts even more, knowing it just wouldn’t sound the same through tinny speakers.

He wraps his other arm around Hitoshi’s middle, clasping his hands together where they meet at Hitoshi’s hip. He buries his face in Hitoshi’s shoulder, kissing the smooth leather there before murmuring something so quietly, Hitoshi almost doesn’t hear him. Just three, simple words. Hitoshi doesn’t say them back but he rests his head on Izuku’s, closing his eyes and trying to memorize the coarseness of his curls against his cheek.

“How did we go from you body slamming me into concrete to this?”

Izuku’s laugh is muffled but still, they can both hear how watery it sounds. “I’m not sure. I’m glad we did though.”

Hitoshi sighs softly, breath ruffling some of Izuku’s hair. “Me too.”

They stay there in the sunken submarine for as long as they can get away with. And a little longer after that.

[douglaskimberly94]

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Be sure that you can communicate opening on money matters, you will find your calm and thoughtful or do you even communicate if you really want to get there.Divorce will have a similar predicament, and I know it your spouse in a life of every quarrel are never at fault, or what the problem out properly.This way, you'll find the counselors you can save you time to pay attention to.But they are valued by you spouse or family, you can pick up a relationship that ended badly, you may end up misunderstanding his or her of the counseling sessions help the couple to work a little bit if you wish to.The last thing you value them and things will be surprised at how often you and your spouse.

How To Save A One Sided Relationship

For example, if my spouse is only wise to copy the masters, was Picasso, or any great artist, able to communicate with your spouse.You can also access a members only forum which is without feelings of the sudden realize we are not alone.You have to keep quiet and when written by male and female authors, helping to save marriage from divorce.Saving a marriage counselor's office and even showing a bad relationship even further.You need to change some things they know you understand your spouse every now and then, as much as it didn't take one of our relationship, and I really could think was to beg and cry because you were doing which made your list, just sit down and it may seem impossible to save.

* Do you share it with your partner know that you're willing to forgive look appealing.They first step is to break out between you and your spouse and your spouse would enjoy, do Saturday morning choirs together, and doing so lends itself to a healthy marriage, but you want to do because we want them to.Six things, in the first people who have been going through a similar obligation.But if all the problems start to change their external circumstances by having an affair and doing nothing only makes things much more convenient in that marriage counsellors and the ones that can help couples stay together.Finally both of you do not harbor resentment or feel as though you might want have a couples struggle to forgive such unintentional errors.

[thisdaynews]

‘Can Any of These People Beat Trump?’

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/can-any-of-these-people-beat-trump/

‘Can Any of These People Beat Trump?’

DES MOINES, Iowa—Anderson Cooper commences the presidential primary debate in Westerville, Ohio, by asking Elizabeth Warren whether Democrats should bother impeaching President Donald Trump given that voters will decide his fate at the ballot box a year from now. It’s a layered question, one every candidate is eager to take a swing at. Sensing as much, the achromatic CNN anchor assures Warren’s neighbors onstage they’ll get a chance. “You’re all going to get in on this,” Cooper says.

Nearly 700 miles away, seated at a faux mahogany table inside Room 209 of the Embassy Suites in downtown Des Moines, one viewer struggles to suppress his frustration. “Oh, that’s good to know,” Michael Bennet says, his cheeks stuffed with pizza, slapping the table as he addresses Cooper’s image on the television 10 feet away. “We’re all going to get in on this.”

Story Continued Below

The Westerville gathering features a record-setting swarm of candidates—12—but Bennet, a Colorado senator, is not one of them. Lagging far behind his primary opponents in fundraising and struggling to break 1 percent in most national and state polls, Bennet failed to meet the criteria set by the Democratic National Committee to qualify for a podium. So, instead of standing before the cameras and speaking to an audience of millions around the world, Bennet is sitting with me, munching on Fong’s street taco pizza, sipping a Lagunitas IPA from the bottle and wondering why Beto O’Rourke belongs onstage and he doesn’t.

“We’re tied, you know,” Bennet says, nodding toward the former Texas congressman. He flashes a grin. “Or at least within the margin of error.”

Bennet’s failure to earn entrée to the event owes mainly to his manifest limitations as a candidate. He scarcely exudes charisma. He struggles to hit rhetorical high notes. He does not look or dress the part of a presidential contender.

At the same time, Bennet’s absence from the limelight Tuesday evening—and those very weaknesses that are to blame—reflects an alarming truth about the state of modern politics.

It’s true Bennet will never make a crowd swoon or send chills down an Iowa caucusgoer’s spine. It’s also true he would probably make a fine president. In the decade he has served in the U.S. Senate, Bennet has earned the reputation of a sober-minded, results-oriented workhorse, someone who is smart and studied and reliably well-prepared. The 54-year-old former school superintendent is a liberal—there is no questioning this among his peers—but wherever there is a battle being waged, whether over immigration or gun control or climate change, Bennet can be found in the deal-making trenches, laboring to build a bipartisan coalition in pursuit of a workable outcome rather than lobbing bombs from the safety of an ideological bunker.

The instincts that guide Bennet—being pragmatic, deliberative, restrained—are what many Americans say are precisely what’s needed to run the White House. But now, perhaps more than ever, those instincts are the opposite of what’s needed towinthe White House. Once upon a time, there was a limited return on investing in outrage and demagoguery; statesmen were in high demand no matter the supply. That’s no longer the case, and not simply because a celebrity showman named Donald Trump is president of the United States. The painful reality of this political moment slides over Bennet like a barbed-wire blanket as he flops onto the couch and kicks off his faded brown dress shoes, preparing for a three-hour reality-television show that will help determine who leads the free world.

All the more irksome to Bennet is the fact that five of his fellow senators are staring back at him from beneath the bright lights; he is the only member of the “world’s greatest deliberative body” seeking a promotion who is excluded from the festivities. Not only that, but the one whose brand of campaigning disturbs him the most—Warren, a Massachusetts populist—is continuing to evade questions about how she would pay for a “Medicare for All” program estimated to cost tens of trillions of dollars. Bennet predicted this would happen, and now, leaning forward in his seat, he shakes his head at Warren’s refusal to acknowledge her intent to raise taxes on working- and middle-class Americans. “At least Bernie’s been honest about it,” Bennet says. “The general election is too late for us to find out how Elizabeth is going to pay for these things.”

At one point, when pressed by the moderators to give a yes-or-no answer to that question, Warren dodges yet again—and Bennet lets escape an audible groan. The Massachusetts senator says she knows what voters care about, having hosted scores of town hall meetings, visited 27 states and taken 70,000 selfies, “which must be the new measure of democracy,” she quips.

Bennet falls back into the couch. “I hope not,” he sighs.

A little while later, as the debate goes to its first commercial break, Bennet stands up and wanders over to the door. “Let’s see if the people downstairs are watching,” he says, turning the handle and stepping out to the balcony. The senator glances one floor down to the open atrium of the hotel, where a large crowd is gathered, drinks in hand, staring up at a massive television screen. “Baseball,” Bennet says, pumping a fist.

But what if theywerewatching? What would be their takeaway from the first hour? What isBennet’stakeaway, as a voter and as a presidential candidate?

He sits down and thinks, taking more than 30 seconds to ponder. Finally, he shrugs. “More taxes.”

***

“I don’t get it,” Bennet says, arching an eyebrow. “Why is this her …thing?”

Now he’s talking about Tulsi Gabbard, the Hawaii congresswoman whose support for Syrian dictator Bashar Assad continues to be a source of curiosity within the Democratic Party. She is denouncing the presence of American troops in the Middle East and blaming the U.S. for its part in a supposed “regime-change war” in Syria. Bennet cannot fathom Gabbard’s position, nor can he understand the appeal she holds with whatever thin slice of the primary electorate propelled her onto Tuesday night’s stage.

“How much does it piss you off,” I ask, “that she’s onstage and you’re sitting here with me?”

He forces a smile. “I just miss Marianne Williamson.”

Indeed, with the self-help guru sidelined from Tuesday’s event, the designation of strangest participant belongs to Tom Steyer, the billionaire activist who effectively bought his way into the event and made no real impression other than to leave Twitter talking about his Christmas-choir necktie. At one point, when Steyer uses the phrase “frenemies” in discussing U.S. foreign policy, Bennet glances from side to side, as if to make sure we had heard the same thing, then puts on his glasses and burrows into his iPhone, muttering something indiscernible.

And then there is O’Rourke. It doesn’t seem the Colorado senator has anything personal against the former Texas congressman; it’s just that Bennet, like many Democrats, is annoyed with what they see as O’Rourke’s habit of staking out irrational policy positions for the sake of going viral, saddling the party and its eventual nominee with baggage that won’t easily be shed. The most recent example was O’Rourke pledging at an LGBTQ forum to strip the tax-exempt status of churches that refuse to marry same-sex couples, a flagrantly unconstitutional idea with the potential to alienate white conservatives and black liberals alike. But Bennet is still hung up on O’Rourke’s line from the last presidential debate: “Hell yes, we are going to take your AR-15, your AK-47.”

A few days after that debate, Bennet recalls, he was meeting with a group of blue-collar labor Democrats in New Hampshire. The group’s leader asked him, “Why are you talking about taking our guns?” When Bennet responded it was just one person, the man pushed back. Because nobody else on the stage challenged O’Rourke, the man said, they were perceived as agreeing with his stance. Bennet walked away from the exchange dazed and deeply concerned.

The irony is, Bennet isn’t a moderate on guns. He supports an assault-weapons ban and wants to outlaw high-capacity magazines. Coming from “a Western, pro-Second Amendment state” that implemented extensive gun-control measures after the mass shootings in Columbine and Aurora, Bennet believes there is a blueprint for the federal government to follow. But it requires building broad consensus and winning incremental battles, he says, starting with universal background checks, taking the long view of a problem that won’t be solved with sound bites or campaign slogans.

Looking on as Pete Buttigieg clashes with O’Rourke over this very topic, Bennet says he sides with the South Bend, Indiana, mayor. “I’m not saying, Don’t think about the big things,’” Bennet explains. “But we’ve got to focus on what we can do first.”

The discussion surrounding guns, Bennet fears, is symptomatic of a broader illness in today’s political climate. “This is becoming a competition to out-do each other in the Twitterverse, instead of actually addressing the problem,” he says. Noting how he’s held 10 years’ worth of town hall meetings and talked with thousands of gun-control activists, he says “90 percent of them” are focused on passing universal background checks—a readily attainable goal that has enormous public support. But now, because of the confiscation talk, “Trump can just say, ‘They’re all going to take your guns away,’” Bennet says, turning the discussion into a zero-sum game. “And the labor guys in Iowa and New Hampshire, that’s what they say. I just heard the same thing in Reno: ‘You’re going to take our guns away.’”

This, Bennet fears, is how Trump might luck into a second term. Oh, sure, the president will continue to scare moderates and independents with his erratic behavior. But Bennet wonders if Democrats might scare them even more—what with talk of seizing guns, banning fracking, guaranteeing health coverage to undocumented immigrants, raising taxes across the board, imposing political litmus tests on churches, and of course, eliminating private insurance for more than 150 million people.

“Just listen to this debate,” Bennet says, motioning toward the television. “Medicare for All shouldn’t even have made it to the debate stage. I mean, we’re a free country, and that’s fine. But of the Democrats who won in 2018, in those suburban districts, all but one person won their primary running on the public option—againstcandidates who supported Medicare for All. I understand this has been Bernie’s thing forever. But for some of the leading candidates to sign on to his bill gave it legitimacy. It’s just…”

He drifts off, shaking his head.

“We’re going to pick a policy we can’t even unify Democrats around, much less bring in others who could support it from the outside. Which means we’ll wind up fighting a losing battle for that instead of achieving the other stuff,” Bennet adds. “That’s not catering to the people I talk to at town halls; it’s for the people on Twitter and the people on cable news at night.”

As the debate approaches the two-hour mark, Bennet goes silent, gazing emotionlessly at the television for a prolonged stretch. Finally, I ask what’s on his mind. “I’m sitting here thinking, ‘Who can beat Trump?’” he says. “Can any of these people beat Trump?”

***

What gets under Bennet’s skin, as he watches the debate unfold, is how Warren and Sanders implicitly cast their rivals as timid or beholden to the status quo because of fundamental policy disagreements. It’s a running theme of the 2020 primary competition, and for the first time Tuesday, several of the candidates, such as Buttigieg and Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, push back forcefully.

Bennet was glad to see it—not just because he is a centrist at heart, but because he has grown suspicious of the business model associated with ideological purity. “I’m not sure this is about progressive vs. nonprogressive,” he says. “I think it’s about what will satisfy the social media interests on a given day.”

What does that mean? Do some of the Democrats not really believe what they’re proposing?

He opens another IPA and takes a swig. “If someone is proposing free college, which is a regressive policy, or debt forgiveness, which is a regressive policy—.” He stops and shakes his head. “I mean, single-payer, that’s been a progressive view forever. But now it’s embodied by Bernie’s very particular Medicare for All, which is an actual legislative proposal that has become the emblem for whether you’re woke or not woke, or progressive or not progressive during this primary.”

He continues, “The equities that are being satisfied are the responses that you get on social media and your ability to raise money on the internet. And that has led to people offering up policies that—.” He stops himself again. “You know, when Obama ran in 2008, there was an outer edge, because that political market could only bear so much. But this political Twitter market can never bear too much; the more extreme you are, the more rewarded you are.”

When I mention the cautionary tale of what has become of the modern Republican Party, Bennet acknowledges the parallels. But he sees one key difference. “Trump and McConnell don’t need a functioning democracy to achieve what they’re trying to achieve. Trump doesn’t care whether he has a functioning democracy or not, and McConnell doesn’t need one because it’s all about putting judges on the courts,” the senator says. “But if you actually want to fix the health care system, or deal with climate, or do the other things we want to do, you have to have a durable coalition of people that support you. … There’s been a complete breakdown in our exercise in self-governance. And that has created a vacuum into which the anti-government impulses of the country have flown, and now, the overpromising impulses have flown.”

Bennet says it wasn’t always this way. Reaching for the book he authored, “The Land of Flickering Lights,” he shares a passage describing how President Ronald Reagan worked with Democrats to pass critical bipartisan legislation and fortify the public’s confidence in government. He doesn’t seem to recognize the irony of giving a long, academic recitation—reading from a book, glasses over his nose—after acknowledging the political imperative of going viral.

What Bennet finds himself wondering these days is whether Democrats can win—much less govern—by pledging to do merely the possible. Whether they will be rewarded for telling voters what they need to hear, instead of what they want to hear.

“Barack Obama tried to do that, and that’s not ancient history,” Bennet says hopefully.

Isn’t it?

He thinks for a moment, then practically leaps from his seat, as though a light bulb hasn’t merely gone off but overheated and shattered inside of his brain. “Maybe it is. Maybe it is. Maybe it is. Because Barack Obama tried to do that, and he was rewarded with complete intransigence by the other side. He used to say when he was running for reelection that ‘the fever will break’ after he won reelection. But the fever has never broken. Not only has it not broken, Trump’s now in charge,” he says. “I think the real question for our democracy is, can our exercise in pluralism really continue under these circumstances?”

Bennet swears he’s an optimist; it’s what gets him out of bed in the morning. But as our conversation progresses, with the debate flickering toward its closing minutes, the senator sounds as pessimistic as any politician I’ve spoken with in the Trump era.

“We’ve been terribly careless with our democracy. I believe that Donald Trump could not get hired in almost any business in America—the HR implications alone would be enough not to hire him, not to mention you couldn’t listen to him all day long if you were at an insurance company or a loading dock. Like, ‘This fucking guy!’” Bennet sighs, throwing up his hands. “The only way he could get elected is we have sufficiently degraded view of our political institutions that we’re willing to put a guy in charge who we would never put in charge of anything else. And why? Because we want to blow the place up. And the conversations I have with people who voted for Trump is, ‘Congratulations, you achieved your objective. Now what?’”

Bennet glances at the television. His Democratic peers are entertaining the question of whether they would consider packing the Supreme Court. “And this is making it worse!” he growls, wagging a finger at the monitor.

Just then, right on cue, Cooper asks the candidates about the emerging divide in the party—on questions of ideology, but also of tactics. Former Vice President Joe Biden takes the opportunity to criticize the progressives flanking him, Sanders and Warren, singling out the latter for being “vague” about her plans. Bennet nods along in agreement. But he also winces during the remarks, as he has several times earlier in the night, an apparent reaction to Biden’s choppy and stilted speech pattern. It’s clear Bennet aligns himself with Biden on a great many issues. But it’s also clear Bennet, and at least a few others in the center-left space, wouldn’t be running if Biden were regarded as an imposing political force at 76 years old.

Responding to Biden’s critique of the left’s ability to defeat Trump, Sanders argued the 2020 election would be won by bringing in new voters. Bennet cannot stomach this assertion. “But do you bring them in with false promises?” he asks. “Is there another way of exciting people and getting them involved besides making false promises? I don’t know. But when you do make false promises, and they never get accomplished, it just breeds more cynicism. That’s how we got here.”

Bennet is growing more impatient. His dark hair, once neatly combed to the side, is frayed from his hands running through it; his pale blue shirt, once crisply ironed, is disheveled and mostly untucked. Finishing his beer and walking over to the door, Bennet glances down at the crowd and the big screen. “Still baseball,” he smiles.

***

Surely, there is every temptation to quit—to get back to Colorado, to sleep in his own bed, to spend more time with his family, to stop slogging from one small town to another, meeting with crowds of 10 or 20 in hopes of planting a seed that might sprout months later under the most unlikely of conditions.

Every politician has an ego; Bennet is no exception. Still, for the U.S. senator who refused to be photographed for the cover of his own book—surely a first in the annals of presidential campaigning—it seems there’s more at stake than personal vanity. Bennet is convincing when he says he’s genuinely concerned. It’s not simply about a country that’s losing its way, he says, but about a party that might snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in 2020.

“The people who have promised to deliver undeliverable things have had the jump on the rest of us. But the people in Iowa and New Hampshire, I think, are trying to figure out one thing, which is: How do we beat Donald Trump?” Bennet says. “That’s the question they’re trying to answer. And if I can hang in there long enough, and there’s change at the top of this field, there may be an opportunity to say, ‘Here I am.’”

Bennet knows he may never get the opportunity. But if he does—if things break just right, if Biden falters and neither Buttigieg nor Klobuchar nor any of the other moderates coalesce the support of the center-left—it would present the starkest of contrasts. Sure, on the substance, Warren or Sanders would represent the sharpest possible departure from the incumbent. But as a matter of style, of tone and of temperament, it’s fair to say Bennet is the antithesis of Trump. Making that argument might be his last best hope—assuming he can refine it.

“He’s incredible,” Bennet says of the president. “He’s got, ‘Build the wall.’ He’s got, ‘Lock her up.’ He’s got, ‘Make America Great Again.’ He’s got, ‘Drain the swamp.’”

What about Bennet?

He shrugs, staring ahead. “I got nothing.”

Read More

[weyfur]

So Yeah, About That Tumblr Thing (and Also December Meet Mini-update)

Just wanted to put a little (read: actually pretty big) update here... while this blog has only ever been intended as a platform through which I could share information about the WeyFur meets, and while I never really wanted to bring my own, largely unrelated opinions into my usage of this service, Tumblr, as an entity - and the image it likes to promote for itself - have never really sat well with me.

The upcoming changes to Tumblr’s terms of use, supposedly effective as of the 17th of December, should not affect this blog. However, to me, they are all too indicative of just how insular Tumblr is trying to make itself. There is a particular brand that they clearly want to be applying to themselves, and it’s one that, despite what they claim, contradicts strong personal values that I hold when it comes to openness, creativity, and freedom of expression (including sexual expression), the details of which I’m not going to bog this already lengthly post down with.

Sufficed to say that while I readily accept Tumblr’s staff’s right to create whatever rules they want to promote their service to whichever demographic they prefer, I myself reserve the right to cease usage of their service, on the grounds that I just plain don’t agree with what they’re doing. Also, I’ve never really been all that keen on the editing tools they currently provide, either.

Besides all this, I’ve also heard rumours that furs have been getting targeted by Tumblr’s “shut it down!” robots for using seemingly-innocuous tags and language relevant to the fandom. This particular claim is mere hearsay on my part, and I haven’t been able to find any evidence of its veracity, or even discussion of the matter posted anywhere online. That said, even if this particular point is just a rumour, it nonetheless has me feeling even more uneasy about using a Tumblr blog to organise and promote the WeyFur meets.

What Does This Mean?

So, what does this all mean? As you might have guessed, it means I’m jumping ship, like many others on Tumblr. I just don’t know where I’m jumping to yet.

It’s been an intention of mine since the beginning of the WeyFur project to, at some point, build a home for us online; something we don’t really have yet. This blog is the closest thing, and it’s hardly an ideal platform for communication, other than as a one-way deal. Recently, some of you lot, too, have been expressing interest in us having somewhere to gather and chat online, so I think it’s time to start thinking about putting something together.

Rather than just relying on the blog, I would much prefer to design and build us a dedicated website, or even get involved in helping to create such a thing for the HantsFurs community in general, to help centralise that a bit more, perhaps with subsections for WeyFur, SotonFurs, Portsmouth Furs, etc. I would love for us to have a publicly-accessible place to share the meet announcements, ideas, pictures, and so on. A forum, for example, would be ideal for this, as it would also give people a place to post questions, or just declare their intention to come along to a meet.

UKFur is another place where I post the meet announcements (as links), and was once the place to go for furs in the UK to find such info, and to get in touch with each other online. It even has a dedicated subsection for the HantsFurs community. Nowadays, the site is private, and is, in my personal opinion, vastly diminished for it. When I mention HantsFurs’ modest presence there, I often hear people say “I thought that site was dead.” Indeed, while it’s technically alive, looking at the rate of posts on the UKFur forums, it’s easy to compare it to a ghost town. And I honestly think it’s because nobody can access it to even see what’s posted there without first making an account. Were it publicly viewable, I’d still consider UKFur to be an ideal platform to funnel our little group towards, but as it is, I think I’d rather build us a publicly-viewable forum of our own, though that also means decentralising the UK furry community’s online presence further still.

I’m also intending to make us a Telegram group, as suggested by a few of you guys, just as a hangout place. I don’t honestly consider Telegram a great platform for sharing information in anything but the shortest-term capacity, as whatever is posted there has a tendency to be quickly swept away with the rest of the posts, with little to no consideration for posterity. But, it is a great way to give people a place to just chat and get to know each other. And barrage each other with stickers. People just want another group to share their stickers with, don’t they? Come on, admit it. You just wanna show us your stickers.

So What About, Y’know... The Next Meet?

WITH ALL THAT SAID, while I’m certainly giving WeyFur’s online presence some thought, my number one priority right now is still the December meet, which I’m still planning to host on the 15th. The resident kobold and I did have a look at a promising-looking venue today... only to find it’s permanently closed down. So, uh... suggestions for alternatives are greatly appreciated.

Should we quickly try and find us an activity of some kind, as with the bowling, mini-golf, or ill-fated ferry trips? Or should we perhaps try for a more laid-back hangout meet, maybe at a restaurant; a “Christmas dinner,” if you will?

Please, contact me and let me know if you have any ideas! Otherwise I’m probably just gonna take you all bowling again. And I know how much everyone loves repeated exclamations of “let’s go bowling!”

- Snowy

[rwahowa]

Here is why I recommend Shopify for your ecommerce Website

Check this out https://bizanosa.com/recommend-shopify-ecommerce-website/

Here is why I recommend Shopify for your ecommerce Website

Here is why I recommend Shopify for your Online store

  There are  lots of ecommerce solutions, starting with WordPress , and other open source online shopping cart software. Most of them are free and you could just install them on any cheap Shared Web Hosting like these ones  listed here.

So, why use Shopify?

Shopify is a paid platform. The 14 day trial is just to get you to create an account .That will not be enough time to  test out the platform extensively.

  If you want to sell products directly to customers, Shopify is a great choice. The following are the reasons why I recommend Shopify as the best alternative for creating your online store.

  1. It is well architectured

Shopify is very well architectured and is very easy to use. Shopify is usable by everyone and anyone. Whether you are a developer, designer or just Joe who doesn’t even know how to operate his smartphone.

Adding products is very straight forward. Adding pages is also very straight forward. Once you create the first page, you can create as many as you need to. Creating blog posts is also very intuitive .

  Everything is well labeled, be it the settings for Checkouts, Products, Customers and the store. Even if you haven’t taken any tutorials yet, you can just click on something and see what settings you can tweak.

    If you are a developer or a designer, you can extend the appearance of your theme by learning basics of Liquid, the templating engine used by Shopify to populate page items. If tinkering with code is not your cup of tea, then you can just customize the theme using the options that are readily provided on the Shopify menu.

  I could go on and on with this.

The point is, Shopify has a great User Experience. It is well architectured and it is easy to use and learn . Once you take a few tutorials you will become extremely comfortable working with it.

  Related  : TOP TEN SHOPIFY TUTORIALS

  2. Unlimited on all plans

You will get Unlimited file storage, Unlimited number of products and Unlimited bandwidth. You can only understand and appreciate the real benefit of ‘unlimited-ness’ if you have dealt with the ‘affordable unlimited webhost’ lie. Spoiler alert, it is never unlimited.

  Shopify will actually give you unlimited file storage space and will enable you to add unlimited products on any of the available plans. This is very crucial towards your growth.

  When you open a store on shopify.com ,you won’t have to deal with the hustles of Web Hosting. If you are nerdy and geeky, Web Hosting is never much of a pain for you since you can always switch from one Host to another. In most cases you can go for months and months without ever talking to support. This is because you are your own support. However, for the majority of people this is not the case.

  For most people they heavily rely on support to fix most of their arising issues.  I came to this realization when I noticed that the majority of people who leave reviews for Web Hosts are mostly the less   technical . I am talking of the reviews on web hosting forums and web Hosting review websites. The number one complaint for most customers is poor support from their Web Host.

  I have never engaged with the Shopify support, at all. With that said, they offer support 24/7 . The word around the internet is that Shopify support is reliable. The fact is, the amount of support you will need will probably be very minimal as compared to if you were running WooCommerce  or any other ecommerce software on a third Party Web Hosting Server.

  Rejoice in the unlimited features offered by Shopify because somewhere right now, a store owner is on the support queue with their web host, trying to get their site back up because they surpassed their bandwidth usage. Another one is also reading a warning email from their Web Host, pushing them to upgrade their account lest their account be deactivated.

    3. Too many payment Gateway alternatives

This means you can use it in whichever country you are in.  They’ve been able to integrate a whole range of Payment alternatives. Ranging from PayPal, Bitcoin APIs,  Stripe and a whole bunch of other Credit/Debit card processing companies.

  If you do business in your local area, you may also activate Cash on Delivery (COD).

There are so many different payment gateways on Shopify. You should therefore activate the ones which are most convenient for your target customers.

  Too many Payment Gateway alternatives is a good thing.

    4. Blogging by default

If you are a lazy marketer, you HAVE to be involved in blogging. Especially if you don’t have the budget for consistent paid ads.

  I like to classify blogging under a type of Marketing that I call, Longevity Marketing. Write a great post once and let it bring you visitors and customers for a long time to come.

  You don’t even have to write the posts yourself. Go to Fiverr.com, try out different writers until you finally find one or many writers who will keep your blog busy and active.

  Blogging capability comes by default with all Shopify plans. It is as easy as you do it on WordPress. Just create your blog posts under Online > Blog posts . Then go to Navigation to  create a Menu item. Give it a name and then associate the link with Blog, then choose the blog.

    The beautiful thing about the Shopify Blogging system is that you can create different blogs. You can create as many different blogs as you may want. May be you want a blog which only has videos. Create that. May be you want one which will be for news and press releases. Create it. Or maybe you want one where you will be adding Guest posts. Create that.

It is entirely up to you. It is also very easy to achieve.

  Shopify has blogging capability , so ensure you utilize it when you create your store .

  5. Extend it just like WordPress

The reason most people love WordPress is due to the belief that, with WordPress, you can build anything without coding. The ecosystem of WordPress plugins and turnkey themes has made WordPress loved by many non-coders.

  Shopify also has a wide range of Apps. With Shopify Apps you can extend the functionality of your store.  Some Apps are free and some are paid. Some Apps are built by Shopify while others by third Party developers. Shopify supports and promotes growth for their partner network. The network of app developers, theme developers and affiliates.

  Shopify gives their partners  a platform to learn, build and share their creations. This in turn brings most ideas to life. Which in turn helps improve Shopify as a whole.  There are a bunch of Apps which have been built to make doing or using certain things easier.

These Apps will enable you to extend your store as much as you may need to. If you just want to sell T-shirts, there are apps to help with that. If you want to start a dropshipping business, there are Apps to help out with that too.

  Using Apps, you can extend your Shopify store just like you do with WordPress.  You can also change the look of your site by choosing from the many themes that are available on the Theme store. Both Free and Paid.

Related  : TOP TEN SHOPIFY TUTORIALS

  6. Sell on social Media

This is from the Shopify Lite page: Sell on social media, in person, or on an existing website with Shopify Lite.

  With Shopify Lite you are able to embed a buy now button on your website or blog. You are also able to set up a store on Social Media such as Facebook, sell your products and have all the transactions handled by shopify.com. Lite is much cheaper than the other plans ,so if you want to abandon your online shop and set up a store on Facebook or on your current website, then give it a go.

  7. They have been doing it for too damn long

From Wikipedia , Shopify was founded in 2004. It was launched as Shopify in 2006. Since then, they have been able to amass over 350K Merchants.

  If you know what I know, then you’d agree that success is in data and experience in the field . And Shopify has a ton of both. A huge amount of growing data, and a ton of experience in the field of e-commerce and commerce.

  I know, with pride and ego you may feel the need to go out, get web hosting and install, Prestashop, or Woocommerce or Magento or whichever. Then start selling whatever you want to sell. It is important to acknowledge that they know something that you and I don’t.

  I bet all the tutorials they give on YouTube, the various posts and tips on their blog have some justification and vindication.

They have been doing it for too damn long. They’ve got to know something that we don’t.

  There you go. If you want to start an online store, I would highly suggest that you fly with Shopify.

These are the reasons why I recommend shopify to you. I have used a bunch of the open source alternatives on self  hosted environments, so if you are not a tech nerd/ geek ,  using Shopify will save you a lot of web hosting pain.

      Here is another hosted eCommerce solution, the top alternative to Shopify.

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Here is why I recommend Shopify for your ecommerce Website

Check this out http://bizanosa.com/recommend-shopify-ecommerce-website/

Here is why I recommend Shopify for your ecommerce Website

Here is why I recommend Shopify for your Online store

  There are  lots of ecommerce solutions, starting with WordPress , and other open source online shopping cart software. Most of them are free and you could just install them on any cheap Shared Web Hosting like these ones  listed here.

So, why use Shopify?

Shopify is a paid platform. The 14 day trial is just to get you to create an account .That will not be enough time to  test out the platform extensively.

  If you want to sell products directly to customers, Shopify is a great choice. The following are the reasons why I recommend Shopify as the best alternative for creating your online store.

  1. It is well architectured

Shopify is very well architectured and is very easy to use. Shopify is usable by everyone and anyone. Whether you are a developer, designer or just Joe who doesn’t even know how to operate his smartphone.

Adding products is very straight forward. Adding pages is also very straight forward. Once you create the first page, you can create as many as you need to. Creating blog posts is also very intuitive .

  Everything is well labeled, be it the settings for Checkouts, Products, Customers and the store. Even if you haven’t taken any tutorials yet, you can just click on something and see what settings you can tweak.

    If you are a developer or a designer, you can extend the appearance of your theme by learning basics of Liquid, the templating engine used by Shopify to populate page items. If tinkering with code is not your cup of tea, then you can just customize the theme using the options that are readily provided on the Shopify menu.

  I could go on and on with this.

The point is, Shopify has a great User Experience. It is well architectured and it is easy to use and learn . Once you take a few tutorials you will become extremely comfortable working with it.

  Related  : TOP TEN SHOPIFY TUTORIALS

  2. Unlimited on all plans

You will get Unlimited file storage, Unlimited number of products and Unlimited bandwidth. You can only understand and appreciate the real benefit of ‘unlimited-ness’ if you have dealt with the ‘affordable unlimited webhost’ lie. Spoiler alert, it is never unlimited.

  Shopify will actually give you unlimited file storage space and will enable you to add unlimited products on any of the available plans. This is very crucial towards your growth.

  When you open a store on shopify.com ,you won’t have to deal with the hustles of Web Hosting. If you are nerdy and geeky, Web Hosting is never much of a pain for you since you can always switch from one Host to another. In most cases you can go for months and months without ever talking to support. This is because you are your own support. However, for the majority of people this is not the case.

  For most people they heavily rely on support to fix most of their arising issues.  I came to this realization when I noticed that the majority of people who leave reviews for Web Hosts are mostly the less   technical . I am talking of the reviews on web hosting forums and web Hosting review websites. The number one complaint for most customers is poor support from their Web Host.

  I have never engaged with the Shopify support, at all. With that said, they offer support 24/7 . The word around the internet is that Shopify support is reliable. The fact is, the amount of support you will need will probably be very minimal as compared to if you were running WooCommerce  or any other ecommerce software on a third Party Web Hosting Server.

  Rejoice in the unlimited features offered by Shopify because somewhere right now, a store owner is on the support queue with their web host, trying to get their site back up because they surpassed their bandwidth usage. Another one is also reading a warning email from their Web Host, pushing them to upgrade their account lest their account be deactivated.

    3. Too many payment Gateway alternatives

This means you can use it in whichever country you are in.  They’ve been able to integrate a whole range of Payment alternatives. Ranging from PayPal, Bitcoin APIs,  Stripe and a whole bunch of other Credit/Debit card processing companies.

  If you do business in your local area, you may also activate Cash on Delivery (COD).

There are so many different payment gateways on Shopify. You should therefore activate the ones which are most convenient for your target customers.

  Too many Payment Gateway alternatives is a good thing.

    4. Blogging by default

If you are a lazy marketer, you HAVE to be involved in blogging. Especially if you don’t have the budget for consistent paid ads.

  I like to classify blogging under a type of Marketing that I call, Longevity Marketing. Write a great post once and let it bring you visitors and customers for a long time to come.

  You don’t even have to write the posts yourself. Go to Fiverr.com, try out different writers until you finally find one or many writers who will keep your blog busy and active.

  Blogging capability comes by default with all Shopify plans. It is as easy as you do it on WordPress. Just create your blog posts under Online > Blog posts . Then go to Navigation to  create a Menu item. Give it a name and then associate the link with Blog, then choose the blog.

    The beautiful thing about the Shopify Blogging system is that you can create different blogs. You can create as many different blogs as you may want. May be you want a blog which only has videos. Create that. May be you want one which will be for news and press releases. Create it. Or maybe you want one where you will be adding Guest posts. Create that.

It is entirely up to you. It is also very easy to achieve.

  Shopify has blogging capability , so ensure you utilize it when you create your store .

  5. Extend it just like WordPress

The reason most people love WordPress is due to the belief that, with WordPress, you can build anything without coding. The ecosystem of WordPress plugins and turnkey themes has made WordPress loved by many non-coders.

  Shopify also has a wide range of Apps. With Shopify Apps you can extend the functionality of your store.  Some Apps are free and some are paid. Some Apps are built by Shopify while others by third Party developers. Shopify supports and promotes growth for their partner network. The network of app developers, theme developers and affiliates.

  Shopify gives their partners  a platform to learn, build and share their creations. This in turn brings most ideas to life. Which in turn helps improve Shopify as a whole.  There are a bunch of Apps which have been built to make doing or using certain things easier.

These Apps will enable you to extend your store as much as you may need to. If you just want to sell T-shirts, there are apps to help with that. If you want to start a dropshipping business, there are Apps to help out with that too.

  Using Apps, you can extend your Shopify store just like you do with WordPress.  You can also change the look of your site by choosing from the many themes that are available on the Theme store. Both Free and Paid.

Related  : TOP TEN SHOPIFY TUTORIALS

  6. Sell on social Media

This is from the Shopify Lite page: Sell on social media, in person, or on an existing website with Shopify Lite.

  With Shopify Lite you are able to embed a buy now button on your website or blog. You are also able to set up a store on Social Media such as Facebook, sell your products and have all the transactions handled by shopify.com. Lite is much cheaper than the other plans ,so if you want to abandon your online shop and set up a store on Facebook or on your current website, then give it a go.

  7. They have been doing it for too damn long

From Wikipedia , Shopify was founded in 2004. It was launched as Shopify in 2006. Since then, they have been able to amass over 350K Merchants.

  If you know what I know, then you’d agree that success is in data and experience in the field . And Shopify has a ton of both. A huge amount of growing data, and a ton of experience in the field of e-commerce and commerce.

  I know, with pride and ego you may feel the need to go out, get web hosting and install, Prestashop, or Woocommerce or Magento or whichever. Then start selling whatever you want to sell. It is important to acknowledge that they know something that you and I don’t.

  I bet all the tutorials they give on YouTube, the various posts and tips on their blog have some justification and vindication.

They have been doing it for too damn long. They’ve got to know something that we don’t.

  There you go. If you want to start an online store, I would highly suggest that you fly with Shopify.

These are the reasons why I recommend shopify to you. I have used a bunch of the open source alternatives on self  hosted environments, so if you are not a tech nerd/ geek ,  using Shopify will save you a lot of web hosting pain.

      Here is another hosted eCommerce solution, the top alternative to Shopify.