#i may or may not be supposed to be writing my dissertation right now lol

[ambrosykim]

four years

pairing: ambrose kim x f!button (alex wiseman <3) words, rating: 932, gen, sickfic, fluff summary: inspired by this ask. alex's different approaches to rosy being sick, with a four year time difference. oh how much has changed in those four years... a/n: twc b3 is nearly here and i'm writing a mind blind fanfic, that's the hold rosy's got on me <3 but! lo and behold my second piece of fanfiction !

she's never seen rosy sick before. granted, it's only been a few months since she's been at aeon, but the cold months were in full swing, bringing cold and darkness, that settle in one's chest. (meaning, alex has already had her first round of seasonal cold, which cost her about two weeks of sniffling and more peppermint tea than she remembers ever drinking. though, after enough tea, the cold got the hint that she wasn't gonna give up and finally got lost.)

but now, it seems that rosy is currently battling a bad cold, a fact he does not hide well. she saw him on the corridor, before class, and he was already looking like someone ate the last piece of chocolate he was saving for later. (alex might be projecting her own feelings about nick stealing from her hidden chocolate stash.) he's prowling about aeon as if he's looking for his next murder victim, because that glare indicates at least, what, three people already dead? in any case, alex is not willing to risk getting caught in what would either be actual murder or, god forbid, a stern lecture about everything she's done wrong in the past week. no matter what, it would definitely not end well for her well being, be it physically or mentally.

in class, it isn't any better. here, she can't even escape; asking to go to the restroom is absolutely out of the question – she won't risk talking to him any more than she has to, in case he gets even more irritated. he's pairing them up and giving them tasks with as few actual words as possible, communicating in mostly grunts. these, alex can figure out the fastest, she quickly translates to her classmates and they end up in the formation rosy wanted them to be, without managing to anger him. alex watches him throughout the lesson; while trying to perform well is important, she wants to know how she could help him. if she told him to take a few days off to recover, would he listen to her? probably not. in the end, alex only looks at him wistfully as the class is over and she slowly exits the room, leaving rosy to combat his illness alone.

now, alex is more prepared. not only that, she's also more confident that ambrose might actually listen to her. she couldn't convince him at home, which ended up in him leaving for work in the sorry state he was in, out of – what alex suspect might have been – spite. it's true, maybe trying to restrain him by laying on top of him might not have been the best idea, but when she heard his quiet sniffling (muffled, so as to not let alex know he's sick), what else was she supposed to do? the only thing left to do now, is to actually get ambrose to come home and let alex take care of him.

she knows not to approach him in the corridors of aeon, he would definitely try not to show any weakness, lest one of his students sees them. she decides to ambush ambrose in his office, where she knows she has a better chance of seeing him without his usual mask of indifference.

the moment she opens the door to his office – without knocking of course –, he immediately tries to compose himself in his chair, as if his head wasn't in his hands just moments ago. when he catches sight of alex, he drops his hand back in one hand, while propping his elbow on his table – a pose very unsuited to ambrose, usually.

'i should've known you'd come to check on me,' he murmurs, voice hardly carrying, even in the silence of the room.

alex steps closer to the desk, careful to be as quiet as possible.

'you know i was worried about you,' she finally reaches him, 'and yet you still chose to come to work. i think it would've been weird if i didn't come to check on you.' she stand next to the desk, next to him, and slowly leans on the desk. he silently detaches his head from his hand and looks up at her from where he's sitting.

'so, please, would you finally quit the act and come home? i already know you're super tough,' alex says with a small smile, putting an exaggerated emphasis on "super", as she starts stroking ambrose's hair slowly. she can't help teasing him, even in this state, but she knows not to make him uncomfortable with her excessive jokes, especially now.

as a response, ambrose reaches out the arm not on the table, and cautiously rests it on the side of alex's thigh, trapping alex and making sure she can't get away from the desk, from him, even if she tried. (not that she would want to anyway, but he doesn't need to know that.) (he knows anyway.)

'...fine, i'll go home with you,' he murmurs while slowly moving his head forward, ending up with his forehead against alex's thigh. he makes sure to move slowly enough that alex could still continue caressing her hair, even though her ministrations are starting to leave his usually immaculate hair messy.

'just... let me rest like this for a few minutes,' he was clearly in a bad state if he needed rest just to stand up, so alex hummed in agreement, while continuing stroking his hair with her fingers.

'let me know when you're ready. we'll go home and i'll take care of you for as long as you need me to.'

[beigepillow]

Why do you think there is a lack of analysis on Doumeki? I see so much analysis and dissection on Y (his history, the reason he reacts to things, his relationship with others, etc.), but very few discussions on D himself, which is so interesting to me. I wonder if the lack of analysis on D is because he's such a quiet character, which is why I'm so intrigued by him. IDK, why do you think interest is more focused on Y, at times, more than D?

This is something I have thought about a lot. I apologize if my answer here gets long. A part of it may be due to his personality. I think sometimes people can claim it is because Yashiro is supposed to be the main character but there are plenty of fandoms that have whole dissertations on other characters besides the main character. There are definitely personalities audiences seem to love over others. The traumatized, hedonistic personality is very popular as opposed to the quiet, “hero” type. I think, especially in the beginning, Doumeki seemed more one dimensional and seemed like he only cared about staying by Yashiro’s side so he was more boring for a lack of a better word to us as readers. But it fascinated and still fascinates me how Doumeki thought of himself in terms of his sexual desire and his feelings but it didn’t necessarily align with his actions. Doumeki himself thinks of his love as almost a possessive, stifling thing but I don’t genuinely think his love would hinder Yashiro as a person. Also, the dynamic Yashiro and Doumeki had, with the occasional parallel to Aoi, was very interesting to me. Doumeki’s trauma and pain is overshadowed by what they went through for obvious reasons but Doumeki’s whole life shattered and then he was left to stew in prison for 4 whole years. That is a pretty big deal and acknowledging his pain doesn’t take away from their’s. Another part of it is there seems to be a universal interpretation of Doumeki. Interpreting Doumeki is a lot of guesswork because we never really got much of his thoughts and we get them even less now. I noticed that the interpretation of Doumeki being the typical romantic interest in that he never gets angry at Yashiro and that all he cares about is Yashiro was very common but I think we can all agree at this point it isn’t true. He does have negative emotions towards Yashiro sometimes and that is okay. He cares about others besides Yashiro and that is also okay. In my experience, it is just not that popular to have alternate interpretations of Doumeki. But I always felt Doumeki was neglected as a character and that is why most of my posts tend to be about him. But of course people have a right to write about any character they choose and if they don’t want to really write about Doumeki, they shouldn’t. Fandom is just supposed to be fun and honestly, i do have conflicting feelings when harsh interpretations of Doumeki pop up so I am conflicted on whether I would really want more analysis on Doumeki lol

[siriuslysatorusimping]

Hi hello, so nice to talk to you, Kiko!

This is going to definitely sound weird, but do you have any advice for an ongoing Ao3 writer? Pretty sure I'm not the only one here writing Gojo/OC stories or fluffy one-shots since they're so addicting lol.

But it's strange to be so obsessed with writing with so many ideas and time and energy to write, and then it feels like you're in a bit of a slump when that rush of creativity sort of slows.

You mentioned before that you had most of the story for AL mapped out and written, did it help you to plan ahead more before posting? Or was it more of a, "I didn't worry about it too much because it was fun to write and we're all Gojo simpls" kind of a deal?

Anyhow, would love to know if you'd be alright talking about it. Have a good day~

Hiiiii! It's nice to talk to you, too! 😊

Gojo fluff is addictive and I honestly have been rereading Physical Paradox installments today because I need fluff and motivation 😂

Hmmmm, advice for AO3 writers? Honestly, I feel like I'm a bit under qualified for that because I'd been an anon reader for over ten years until July when I finally created an account so I could post Another Level 😂😂

BUT, I do have a few thoughts. I'll try to keep these as simple as my over-explaining ass can 🫠 (Kiko did not keep it simple. I ranted and this post is hella long, I am so sorry.)

If you haven't already, you can read Another Level on AO3 💕

On writing in general: Write for you.

1) I know I've said this before, but it's true. Write as if no one else will ever see what you're writing to begin with. That's how I started with Another Level. I never intended for anyone else to see it when I first started. On the flip side of this though, don't be afraid of bouncing ideas off others.

It's likely vain of me, but I genuinely enjoy reading my own writing. I try very hard to make sure that what I'm posting is something I enjoy reading. But it makes it so much easier to write if you enjoy reading it, because you're just as excited to read it and see what happens as someone who isn't in your head.

2) I think that something really important for when that creativity slows in one area, don't force yourself to keep going if you don't have to. Hobbies are supposed to be fun, not an obligation or a stressor.

Once the joy fades from a hobby, it's no longer a hobby.

Think of it this way: since May of this year, I've written around 300k words for different fanfics. If we look at that from the perspective of a single-spaced, 12pt font perspective, that is 300 pages. I've written the equivalent of a gosh dang Dissertation. But here's the difference between Another Level and a Dissertation: writing and researching for Another Level was fun. It was something I wanted to do.

(We'll ignore the fact that I didn't have to teach classes and grade papers simultaneously as well. I do and don't miss grad school And honestly, I miss teaching. But academia can kiss my ass.)

3) Write what you want to write, not what others expect you to write. This isn't your job. You aren't being paid for a word count or hours put in, you're doing this for you and for fun. When you let other's expectations drive you instead of your own desire, that happiness is fleeting and it's easy to burnout fast.

4) Follow your inspiration fairies, even if only briefly. You don't have to write out an entire universe, and you don't have to keep what you write. But sometimes you have to get rid of the brainworms to make room for other ideas. I've realized that a few of my Goinko 'au' ideas are literally better just as little headcannons or blurbs and nothing more. And that's okay, because now I got them out of my system.

5) If you want to write and finish a series, only post for that series. I'm learning this the hard way right now with Gokduō and Physical Paradox. It is really hard to focus on one or the other because I feel an odd pressure to get the next parts done for both, which is completely the opposite of what it should be.

The pressure drains my creativity, and I've found myself struggling because I'm too worried about what people will think of it instead of what I want it to be. In all honesty, I had a moment today where I almost decided I don't want to finish Gokudō because I'm not sure where to take it, but I realized I just need some time away from trying to force myself.

6) If you're unhappy with it, don't be afraid to scrap it. Use it as a starting point if you want, but don't get too attached to it if you don't like where it's going. Take a step back and ask if/how it's getting you where you want to go with that work, and if it doesn't help you get there, then it can go.

What was my approach with Another Level? (includes JJK Manga spoilers)

I'll elaborate a bit more on how I had things mapped out before I started posting first. Essentially, when the Gojo/Sukuna fight started in the manga, I just knew Gojo was going to die. In my mind, there was no way Akutami would let him live, and I was in a really bad place mentally and wasn't sure how I'd be able to handle it. And then I was like "wait, that's literally why we have fanfic, I can keep him alive as long as I want."

So, I started Another Level with the intention to keep it to myself and use it as my own comfort fic to prepare myself for Gojo's death. Some behind the scenes info: a version of the dream Rinko had in Split Bluff was the very first thing I wrote for Another Level. Except it originally wasn't a dream, it was going to be their reunion. However, they weren't as close, they were solidly friends with benefits who barely knew each other. Then, I wrote a part where Rinko first meets Yuuji at the Goodwill Event and she was Maki's legal guardian and still a teacher at Kyoto Tech, then I went further back and wrote her asking Gojo to get Maki enrolled at Tokyo Tech, and then I went further back and wrote Make a God Bleed.

As you already know because you've read Another Level, none of those stayed the same because then, as I kept writing, Rinko took on a life of her own. She became so much more than just a random OC that I threw together without thinking. And I have to say that I'm so glad she did because I'm not sure I would have been able to deal with 236 without Rinko. Some people have said Rinko helped them, but she's helped me so much as well. I mean it when I say she's cemented herself as my favorite original character that I've ever written because she has so much depth and heart that I accidentally poured into her. Not to mention that she's helped me meet some really amazing people along the way.

I'm in a bit of a rut now because I was on a marathon of writing for about five or six months. I started writing Another Level in May, and while I wrote the first draft for All That I Am Is Yours probably in June or July, I pretty much completely rewrote it once we actually got there. Between May and now, I've written upwards of 300k words of JJK fanfic, not including the installments or drafts I scrapped completely 🙃

Posting schedule with Another Level:

As someone who is severely ADHD, my hyperfocus was strong with Another Level. I was obsessed. And I was even more obsessed when I realized people were enjoying reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

In all honesty, part of what kept me on a strict uploading schedule with Another Level was a desire for the validation and praise in the comments. While I had a lot written, I uploaded so quickly because I wanted to get that lil rush from seeing the comments.

Kiko is about to do a lil bit of oversharing for ya: I'd just left a job where I'd spent the last six months there with my formerly wonderful boss decided to blame me for every little thing that went wrong, and then she couldn't understand why my performance actually started to drop. I hadn't heard a damn word of positive feedback for anything I did in so long that the comments on Another Level helped pull me out of a very depressive state.

But, it quickly became unhealthy because I started to rely on them to the point where it was all I cared about. All I cared about was seeing comments on the newest Another Level installment, and when there wasn't feedback, I got all in my head about what I'd done wrong and wanted to post the next installment as quickly as possible because maybe that one would do better.

Now, this is not me saying that wanting comments is a bad thing. Feedback is very important, and it's hard to know if people are enjoying something when there's not anything to go on. But it does become a problem if it's the only reason you're writing. I've been very fortunate in that I haven't gotten comments or messages demanding updates because I've seen that others do receive those sometimes. I like to think it's because you guys are just awesome and wonderful people.

I've gotten a bit better about being obsessed with comments because I have this nice lil corner of wonderful people and I feel like I've made a few genuine friends here. (Hi Rai, if you're reading this, I hope you're doing well.)

I know that what I just described for my Another Level posting schedule contradicts what I said in the beginning, but I will say that while my posting schedule was heavily driven by that need for praise, my writing schedule was not. I was writing so much because I was enjoying myself. I was having more fun writing than I had in years. I still am, but I do have to keep reminding myself some of the points I made above otherwise I find myself falling into a rut.

THIS WAS PROBABLY WAY MORE THAN YOU BARGAINED FOR AND I AM SO SORRY 🫠

BUT I HOPE IT MADE SENSE AND THAT IT WASN'T JUST COMPLETELY FUCKING USELESS 😭😭🙃

[gettingbyy]

6/24/2024 - 6/25/2024

this post is for mouse, but you can read it, too, if you want.

a triple shot espresso drink was involved when i started this and it shows.

i was just reading through my older posts - i must be some kind of fortune-telling witch, cos i mentioned the water heater going bad soon in february (which it did, in april) and i worried about void baby and ori's contentious relationship only getting worse, which it did and continues to do. maybe i'm a disaster witch.

since we've talking more regularly i don't have as much for general life updates, but i do have a few things i need to muse on. you can skip this one if you want, it might get a little wild. will send you a name abbreviation guide in discord with the post link. /|\ ^._.^ /|\

i just created a channel for our blog and video links if you're interested. it may not be necessary so let me know your thoughts xD i just figured this way they wouldn't get lost in our general chat. but also you email me video links so... i dunno xD

first,

i discovered i can control my phone's spotify through my work laptop now. i think i was always supposed to be able to do that, but it always broke everything before. this is good.

second,

this one is risky cos he might be reading this but yolo i want to get it out there. i think i told you i blocked C? a little while ago, maybe a month. it's been...like honestly relieving in a lot of ways. i'll tell you more about the history when A and i first got together, and right after we broke up, but suffice to say for more recent times, i got tired of the sex pest-y vibes and unwanted horniness. it was a classic case of manic pixie dream girl, too, and repeated misgendering. the misgendering part is kinda funny cos it started out very "respectful" when i first told him i'm enby, and then slowly over time he stopped checking in and started using wrong pronouns and super gendered language. after the 3rd or 4th she/her i stopped correcting and just got tired. this one has been an interesting look into the human psyche in some ways for me, and toxic ally behaviors. (i hate the word behaviors, it feels so corporate and pseudo-psychological now. i can expand on that if you want. i'd love to research how corporations are using therapy-speak and psychological terms to manipulate their employees, but also that might make me angry. i could write a dissertation on JA alone. ANYWAYS.) i even tried indulging C for awhile when he kept pressuring me to talk about sex, but i think that just emboldened him instead of ameliorating the issue. give an inch, they'll take a mile, as the saying goes. it just got so exhausting to constantly find new ways to say no.

as far as the manic pixie dream girl thing goes, this was really hammered home for me when i sent him a link to a story i was revisiting and reworking/editing. it just became so incredibly obvious that he literally did not care about me as a person other than what he thought/assumed i brought to the table, both in terms of sex and otherise. i'd talked to C before about wanting to start writing again and needing encouragement, feeling like an imposter, etc. but then when i was rereading my story, i found it to be more solid than i originally thought and got inspired to work on it again. i sent him a link to the story and said basically exactly that, and warned it needed more editing. he said he'd look at it "in a bit," and then a full 24+ hours later was like "oh hey i read it btw." his only feedback was "yeah i really like it! it's in dire need of an editing pass but the characters are solid." and i'm like great, thanks....... then four-ish days later he randomly goes "proud of you babe" in the middle of an already weird nonsensical conversation, so i asked what for, and he said "revisiting old works with a critical eye" which was literally the opposite of what i was doing lol. i was actually actively trying not to be too critical so i didn't burn myself out immediately, which i then told him. he never responded. i dunno, it's wild to me that after like 10 or 11 years of knowing each other he still has such a fixed idea of who i am and doesn't update that idea with new information. i'm basically a notepad file in his brain that hasn't been changed since 2013. it feels super manic pixie dream girl because i'm on this pedastal that he's created for me out of his own imagined impressions of/desires for me, and he responds based on that depiction instead of what's actually in front of him. also what makes him think he can use nicknames like that with me? the audacity, honestly.

having had him blocked for a month, i definitely know i made the right choice. talking to someone like that who has such a fixed idea of who you are despite evidence to the contrary really fucks you up in some subtle ways. there were times when i was questioning my communication skills because he had ideas about me so blatantly wrong, or took conversations in such a weird direction from what i was saying. it felt most often like he was talking sideways at me based on the first couple words i would say, instead of actually processing my full sentence(s). like he was just constantly 1000% distracted and couldn't be bothered to put any attention towards interacting with me, unless he was horny. you know when you're trying to talk to someone and they're looking at/doing something on their phone and they're responding with a couple words or like not really responding much at all? it felt like that, except constantly and always.

third,

i think between C and K i've definitely learned that just because someone was in/has been in my life for a long time, it doesn't necessarily mean they're doing any self-reflection or growing as a person. it's like a weird optimistic pitfall where you assume someone is a better person now because they've had so many opportunities to become one, and you used to be good friends with them so surely they've gone in a similar self-improvement journey. i don't know if i told you what went down with K, but he's a massive creep and hasn't improved literally at all since high school. one of the dating apps that's been more successful for me than the rest is no longer a viable option for me because of him. now that i think about it, i'd argue he's worse than he was back then; at least he regretted harassing/being weird towards other K and stopped/apologized. i should've known better all along probably, he aggressively grabbed my boob out of nowhere and without permission when we were waiting in the car after wind symphony in high school. he apologized and claimed he "misinterpreted signals," but it was still weird and uncomfortable and i never looked at him quite the same way again after that. also to be clear there were no signals to misinterpret. it's just wild to me that someone like K can be so shitty after nearly 15 years. another reminder to me that just because a path starts similarly doesn't mean it'll end similarly.

fourth,

this person's initial i'm going to change to S - it's actually D but i don't want to type things like "i've been ruminating on D a lot lately" lmao

i think i mentioned that i've been talking/interacting with S a little lately, through mutual friends/mutual gaming, and it's got me reflecting on 11 years ago and the turmoil he put me through. i was explaining everything that happened to A, she didn't know the full story because she was uncomfortable hearing about past flames when we first got together (also from trauma), and she was pretty floored at what/how/why he did what he did. i'll never forget that one line he used - "i'd like to pass on my genes, and given your family history i agree you probably shouldn't have children." obvi i don't want them anyway, but the eugenics vibes were strong and also that's pretty fucked up, especially considering what my dad was actively going through at the time. (aside: if his only concern is passing on genes, go to a sperm bank you gross fuck.)

a big part of why this is still semi-plaguing me (when i'm reminded of it) is the total lack of closure. i was never able to talk to S about what happened and how it affected me, nor was i able to get his thoughts on the situation. it's a mildly festering scrape i've had since it happened, and i have no idea how to resolve that. therapy, i guess. in the immediate aftermath, there was a month or so where we didn't talk much, then he reached out again and we were talking as constantly/closely as we had been. he was even a big support for me in the late hours of the evening after my mugging when the panic was setting in and i didn't have words to describe it. things didn't really end until sometime that summer - he just sort of stopped talking to me. we went from meaningful and lengthy conversations to one-word answers and pulling teeth for any reaction. i can only assume he had finally found "his people" in seattle and dropped me like i'm in toy story.

the wildest part is that S seems totally detached from it all, like he's forgotten it happened, or it mattered so little to him he may as well have forgotten it. we've hardly spoken in the intervening years (a rarity for me, most everyone else i've kept in touch with for at least a little while after the situationship broke off) and while he definitely still recognizes me as someone he knows (lmao can u imagine if he didn't), he's never made any remark/reference to our """"past""" or tried to talk about/apologize for/allude to it. i mentioned to P off-hand (he doesn't know what happened) that S gives me sociopath vibes sometimes with how disconnected he is from all of us, and P sort of agreed with me. "chaotic neutral" i think was the way he put it. maybe what i'm struggling with the most in fully processing it is that S seems to care so freaking little. even when i tried to talk to him a bit more about what we could maybe check out in the city, he just stopped responding after a couple messages. it's been fully years since he's ever sent me a message first or spoken to me without prompting, and i doubt that's going to change like...ever. i dunno. it's interesting how someone can be so impactful to you but they seem to feel completely the opposite. we didn't ""officially"" date, but damn if we didn't spend a shit-ton of time together and have a pretty big mutual meaning. it's the juxtaposition of knowing that, and seeing it completely unacknowledged and brushed under the rug that really gets to me. it feels akin to gaslighting, in some ways, in the most oblique/indirect way possible; i know it happened, and i know that he knows it happened, but we're just supposed to continue on like it's nothing and we were nothing. i'm not looking for some kind of declaration of lost love or profound regret, but just a little something as a treat would be nice.

Gotye's Somebody That I Used to Know was released in 2011. this situation happened in 2013, and fuck if that song isn't so painfully poignant about this.

fifth,

this will be a short one. i want to take more photos again. i haven't had a roll of film developed for months, and i've barely taken out my new-to-me (and very spendy lol) digital camera. i wish someone here would go with me. i get nervous in the city and being out alone, especially around this time of year (like clockwork, a monthish before and for a couple months after my muggingversary it flares up). i'll go when i really work up the courage, but the photos i make when i do show my anxiety somehow; i don't know how to describe it but you can just feel it. like when i was embroiled in terrible depression and anxiety being at QC and my photos were bleak and my insta was grey and dark and bleak. i'm really excited about our trip, getting to see you and burn through some film rolls and really try out my newish camera. it's gonna be good.

conclusion,

sorry for the incredibly long post lmao love you bbg and miss you can't wait to see you soon i hope you're doing okay today and having a middling to good day <3

[jameigo]

#7 The Aftermath of my day...

10/11/2020

Whilst I strive to keep a relatively organised and tidy desk, today resulted in this... whilst some may perhaps say masterpiece, I think war-zone is far more apt. I do believe though, that it’s okay to embrace a messy desk every once in a while! These things happen and they are slightly beautiful when they do, as you can reorganise after which is a great feeling.

Dissertation Supervisor Meeting Update

Firstly, the aforepromised (is that a word? Who knows, it is now) update regarding my supervisor meeting in the morning. Whilst I did get slated for my proposal writing style (which was far from correctly academic, although I should add it didn’t have to be) he did offer some relevant advice in terms of where I take my research next, and pointers on that level, in expanding my thoughts. If I’m completely honest, I never know where I stand with him, and whilst some advice was contradictory to what we were told in our dissertation module seminars, I believe his heart is in the right place. I am determined not to let it wobble my confidence, and to be fair I am excited to see where my work takes me, even if it’s more than a little daunting. I still think that I will be going to my dissertation course module leader if I ever need an emotional boost or anything clarified, as I have known her for longer and she has a much more personable attitude in terms of helpfulness by always being positive and reassuring. Perhaps I’m over sharing a little, but I think its important to be honest, and these posts are kind of my public diary entries regarding my dissertation. Anyhow, I survived and will get back to it. Ideally we’re supposed to have a draft of some part of the dissertation by the end of November, in some kind of generic timeline, and so I am (loosely) striving towards that. I want a chapter done maybe, as then that will be like a quarter of the thing out of the way.

My day

Whilst starting slow, it gradually got better. I Nigella Lawson’s signed recipe book for my dad’s Christmas present be delivered. I pre-ordered it in February so its nice to finally see it lol. And then to top it off, my Whittards of Chelsea order came. I almost ran out of coffee which would have been nothing short of a catastrophe, and this order contained lots of goodies from hot chocolate to oodles of their limited edition Christmas/Festive coffee; my favourite. The ones on my desk above are mainly for presents, but I have a tonne downstairs in the kitchen. My mum keeps getting increasingly annoyed with me as I have taken over the top of the fridge with my ‘coffee box’ full of various mugs and coffee/hot drink related items but it’s one of my passions and so I am unapologetic about it. Besides we always share the coffee when I make it so she can’t complain too much. If anyone wants me to do more coffee related posts/thoughts then do message me or let me know.

Media

In the evening there was a non-stop (almost) shop of things I watched. Firstly was the Apple event. Oh my gosh, perhaps it’s time to admit I am an Apple fanboy, but I fully had a nerd moment when they were explaining the benefits of the new M1 chip in their updated Macs. Anyway I was an avid watcher as I always am and it was definitely a highlight of my day.

I also watched the Great British Bake Off. The only thing I can say on this, is that thank goodness my favourite person did not go home.

Finally, I watched a Christmas film on Netflix called Christmas with the Coopers. Now, either I’m horribly late to the party with this film, or it is massively under appreciated. It is an early role of Timothée Chalamet, which was a big surprised when I saw him there, but the overall story was what made it special. It was, for me, the perfect balance between humour, with some bits really making me laughing aloud, and a wonderful sincere and sentimental tone that I equally enjoyed. It had some romance, but wasn’t the forefront of the action. It’s definitely being added to my list of ones to watch every year. The best way to describe it would be like a similar style to Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway because of it tracking lots of peoples lives all at once, and then them all meeting together at a family Christmas party/get together. As I say, definitely worth a watch if you haven’t had the chance to see it yet.

And that’s it for this post! Oof I wrote quite a lot so if you’ve got this far I do appalude you! As always, do message about anything if you want to, and stay safe!

[progmanx]

So? Part 2?

Well, now that it’s been released digitally, I can actually answer this question. Thank you for your patience. So, uh, spoilers, if you haven’t read Turf Wars Part 2 yet. I guess.

Short version: It’s just as bad as Part 1 (if not worse), but for slightly different reasons. For mine and @lokgifsandmusings‘s thoughts on Part 1, you can read our several articles about the first installment, as well as our good friend Bo’s take on Part 2 who makes some excellent points on why nothing works. I’m going to do my best not to reiterate the things he’s discussed, as I think his work does a better job of laying out that argument than I could. So go read that first, if you want.

Slightly Longer Version (That’s Shorter Than The Short Version?): Mike (there’s no way Bryan is actually consulting on anything aside from the art; Asami is his baby) clearly neglected to rewatch his own series/re-read his own series bible, and the scope of this negligence goes so far beyond nitpicking it’s baffling. The narrative threads and characterization of our two heroes are jumbled and essentially nonsensical.

Extremely Long Version: Sigh. I would like to preface this by asserting that my opinion of Turf Wars is in no way related to the work I did with RRaU, or Spin the Rails as a whole. Sure, I thought a lot about the world and this relationship, but frankly no conclusion I came to couldn’t also be reached by anyone else who puts in the time. Just because Mike continued the narrative differently doesn’t mean I wouldn’t like it automatically. The fact of the matter is, I really wanted to like this. It just so happens that the method Mike chose is…like, kind of the worst possible amalgamation of bad narrative decisions he could make short of turning full edgelord.

This got extremely long, hence the moniker, so it’s under the cut.

Anyway, my problems and critiques of Turf Wars are that of the product itself, how it chooses to continue the story of the animated series proper.

Now that that’s out of the way: I kind of hate almost everything about it. Yeah, I’m probably gonna lose followers for that. I want queer rep, and I want it badly, but if we can’t even criticize what we get without getting thrown out onto the street, how will it get any better? It’s not all or nothing.

Not even Turf Wars is all or nothing. I still stand by what @lokgifsandmusings and I said in our pieces regarding Part 1: It’s an overall good thing that it exists, and it’s not hurting anyone. However, that does not mean I think it itself is actually anything close to good, narratively speaking.

If I really had to boil down all of my problems with this…since Bo’s argument regarding how these books are overly stuffed with narratives that have no connection to one another aside from the fact that Asami gets kidnapped (we’re gonna dissect that one) and that none of it actually serves any purpose other than treading water for…something is so comprehensive and great. Seriously, read it!

Fact of the matter is, there’s no reason for any of these narratives to exist. It doesn’t push anyone’s character forward, with the exception of Zhu Li, Toguka (who even cares?), possibly Keum, and I guess by default Raiko by making him more of a jerk. None of those characters are the principal cast, meaning that this whole damn thing is, as far as I can see, really weird, overwritten filler.

Filler for what? I have no earthly idea, but if the only thing that changes out of this graphic novel series is that Zhu Li becomes President, then…you could have done that off-screen. Like how Raiko won. Neither Bryan nor Mike know how to write politics (or business, but that’s another conversation) so why not? Saves a lot of time.

Okay, so, there’s one other change that could happen in this “filler arc”. And it’s something that everything so far seems to be pointing to as a resolution. For anything to make sense, Asami has to basically say to Korra, “I’m a liability and will only keep getting in the way, so we either have to keep our relationship a secret or break up.” Probably to get rejected by Korra, or the world, or something. Which is just…terrible and ridiculous, as I’ll outline more in this post/rant/essay/dissertation. It has nothing to do with them being a same-sex couple, which is somehow both not as bad (because that shouldn’t matter) and worse (because of Kya’s infodump in Part 1).

Anyway, on to the biggest issues above all: our two “protagonists”. Well, more like the title character and also that lady she’s banging. Because it’s really hard to see how Korra and Asami are actually relevant to any of the narrative threads in this story aside from the ones they are forcibly pulled into so they can react to things. And this isn’t even accounting for how Mike is somehow able to write literally everyone else just fine except for Korra and Asami! It’s so freaking weird!

Korra, even more than she was in Part 1, has been almost comically back dialed to her Book 1 characterization. At best, it’s Book 2, but that is a stretch. Everything she does it to try and bust some heads, and even goes out of her way to physically assault Raiko’s campaign advisor. This isn’t even accounting the flagrant abuse of the Avatar State in Part 1, or the many other microaggressions that keep popping up.

Book 4 Korra would not do this. That was like—it’s her whole fucking series arc. She doesn’t look for fights! She tries to resolve them before they get bad, and especially with Asami she backs down and tries to diffuse and explain the situation. Like, you know, that time when Asami snapped at her in 4x07 in contrast to how Mako snapped at her also in 4x07?

But it goes deeper than tossing out years of character growth because “lol conflict”. I felt that the interactions between Korra and Asami here read embarrassingly straight. What I mean by that is, it’s how I imagine a straight dude would believe “special” relationships (ie queer, who aren’t) should be written. It’s something that a lot of non-queer writers struggle with, since there’s this false belief that treating those “different” from you as unique or better props them up, when in reality it artificially props them up in a way that is inherently insincere. Mike wants to show us he understands how important this relationship is, and how it’s important to him, but the words he’s choosing have the opposite effect.

It reminds me of the “Magical Negro” trope that originated in Hollywood as an absurd, and then eventually harmful, overcompensation for making sure people knew that they weren’t racist by making every minority character in a given film the perfect wisdom to set the hero on their journey. It’s same basic principle, as Mike is trying to make sure as loudly as possible that we know he’s super supportive of all of this…but the outcome is just plain weird and dangerous, even though his intentions are absolutely good.

Remember that bit in Part 1 where Asami says that the Spirit World is special and unique, like their relationship? Welp. It’s not. It was exceptionally well-written and true-to-life in its queerness but I guess not anymore, huh?

They’re more caricatures of their former selves than they are actual characters in these moments. The purest irony here is that these scenes, the “relationship scenes”, are actually pandering. Like, while the show wasn’t and yet anti-korrasami people kept yelling that it was (it wasn’t; that’s not how animation production works) boom, here we go. Actual pandering. (And yes, this is an entirely subjective opinion, but isn’t that kinda what this ask was for?)

Thirsty Asami, Overprotective Korra; these characterizations not only don’t make sense, but they’re exactly what the fandom has been asking for despite neither of them really fitting at all with previous characterizations. These things are supposed to build off one another, and yet they just go in random directions. Okay, fine, in fairness, Thirsty Asami only doesn’t make sense in the context we see it here, rather than a general sense. She can be horny, but that was the weirdest segue to that sort of tone, and it felt shoehorned in as fanservice. Need proof? Look no further:

I mean, seriously? The final lines of the TV show? That’s…every single fanfic writer has at least considered doing that because of the free sentimentality points due to the emotions attached to that final scene, but good lord that is some blatant not-helpful fanservice that, to me, feels automatically pandering right there.

Because that’s what their relationship reads as in these comics. Fanservice. It’s meaningless fluff that seems as though it’s actively refusing to progress either character in personal and communal growth. It serves no other purpose than to reinforce the idea that Asami is a liability (and that Korra’s feelings are the so super strong for her you guys that she’s overprotective lmao). Which is so beyond absurd a notion to have, according to the show itself, because Korra has been present for almost every doofus Asami has decked:

This is also depicted in the end of Part 1, where Korra chooses to save Asami (who is either drunk or high as balls considering her hilariously inept and counter-canon combat performance) from a rock instead of Tokuga. Which just ties into what happens to Asami at the end of Part 2. Yes, the kidnapping. I already talked about the kidnapping, and lo and behold, I was right. Tokuga kidnaps Asami to get to Korra (how original!), and is weirdly okay with them being in a relationship. Remember that homophobia in this universe that may still exist in the Fire Nation because nobody bothered to clarify that? Welp, apparently it didn’t mean squat because Korra just flat out tells a security guard that she’s dating Asami when they were all like “hey let’s keep this to ourselves for the time being”. Even the supervillains don’t care that queer people exist, I guess?

Which of course leads to this scene:

Okay, no. No, there are…so, so many ways to get out of this scenario. First, that’s not a real knife. It’s a fire made in the shape of a blade. It does have mass, but whatever level of “sharpness” it has can’t really retain shape because it’s FIRE. It’s not ice. Asami could presumably just run through it, suffering some nasty burns, and jump to safety because there are plenty of people there who could catch her. Second, that dude is an old man. Asami has taken down multiple terrorists simultaneously. She could just kick him in the balls with her heel. It’s super easy. Third, Asami has been trained in “self-defense” since her mother was murdered (we’ll circle back to this) by firebenders, the implication being that it was the Agni Kai Triad.

So, Hiroshi, being a hardcore genocidal anti-bender crazy person with a daughter insists that she start learning to defend herself at the age of like 5…what do you think those lessons are? I’ve covered this in my Jings and Other Things post, but frankly it doesn’t take a whole lot of thought to realize that “oh he’d make sure she was trained to fight against benders.” That actually circles back to point two, since hey, remember how firebending works?

Remember when Uncle Iroh was all “firebending comes from the breath, not the muscles”? Which lead to Zhao getting his butt kicked by Zuko? All Asami has to do is knock the wind out of this old geezer and jump. Or break his concentration, because, again, not a real knife. This is something she would absolutely know.

Elbow his stomach, kick him in the balls, bite his knuckles, break his nose with the back of her head, kick out his legs, throw herself backwards—the list goes on. Something so fundamental to the universe, to the point that it was sort of Zuko’s whole thing, rebelling against Sozin’s perverted firebending teachings (DANCING DRAGON FORM) through the previous series, being ignored and seemingly retconned because…Mike forgot? And didn’t do any research on his own work to make sure it remained consistent? Uh, okay.

You don’t need to be an action director to think of any of these, especially if you’ve seen the TV show in question. Also, just as an aside to Korra not being able to locate Asami…she, uh, has spirit GPS? Remember that? Through the vines? Found Wu, and Jinora. Just kind supports my theory that Mike forgot to watch his own show. Since that was like, important to Korra’s healing arc.

Anyway, for Asami’s character as a whole…good lord. I don’t…she’s, again, either drunk or high as balls. I mean how else do you explain her being super chill and okay with working with Zhu Li in the first place? Didn’t her husband steal her company? Something that Zhu Li had to have been complicit in considering she was in prison with him? None of this makes any sense! Asami’s convictions on what is just and what is not are kind of her core (remember the Equalists?), so for them to just be thrown out because plot is a little strange and disconcerting.

I’m not saying she wouldn’t work with Zhu Li for the good of the city; she did the same with Varrick and that rings true to me because it’s not like she spent three years rebuilding the fucking thing. Of course she’d be protective of it! It’s also her home. But all of that pales in comparison to the single most glaring thing that is addressed briefly, in passing, in Part 1, but isn’t even mentioned in Part 2:

I just—Korra got a phenomenal healing arc. Asami is the second half of this couple that they are banking these book sales on, and she’s not given room to grieve? To acknowledge that her father was not only murdered, but sacrificed himself to save her life and how complicated and conflicting those feelings have to be considering he tried to murder her back in Book 1? Yeah, that is a meaty subject matter that can absolutely be tackled by a comic. You just sort of have to actually do it and not sweep it under the rug. But that’s what they do, despite the fact that he’s been dead for, oh, I dunno, like less than a month? Nobody can recover that quickly. No one. Not even the Avatar, and we literally saw that in action.

I get that Kuvira isn’t physically in this, and that the corpse of the massive mecha-giant that could not have possibly been moved via conventional means (it was covered in vines that not even Korra can safely remove, remember?) is randomly missing after Korra and Asami get back from their vacation but I really feel like Raiko’s surrender directly leading to Hiroshi’s death is something that could easily be dug into. Even if it’s not totally rational, because it doesn’t have to be because grief and emotions are not rational.

I mean, I doubt I need to get into the fact that Asami is once again sidelined in a plot that should be about her (the reconstruction effort was literally her thing between Books 3 and 4), since that one is just—it’s there. That’s what it is. Zhu Li gets it because she’s around, I guess? And because Raiko is a terrible President who needed to get ousted anyway (why is he not letting people get their food???), but why wouldn’t whatever theoretical legislature just impeach him while Korra and Asami were on vacation? What purpose does this narrative actually serve since we already don’t like Raiko and would want anyone in that position that isn’t him? Preferably someone who lost in the first round of elections—I’ll stop there. It just unfolds with the slightest tug.

SPEAKING OF DEAD PARENTS (perfect segue) remember when I reminded you that Asami’s mother was murdered by firebenders? After a break-in? When she was five? Wow that must have been pretty traumatizing for her considering it literally radicalized her father into becoming a genocidal maniac. Which, you know, makes it extremely strange that this isn’t brought up or addressed when Jargala and her crew do like, the same thing to Asami.

Wow that’s scary, isn’t it? Possibly PTSD flashback level scary, if Mike had remembered that important aspect of Asami’s history. Yet this is not brought up, and it doesn’t seem to inform Asami’s character at all despite the fact that it should probably be the second thing that comes out of her mouth when she discusses the encounter with Korra.

But wait, it happens again with Tokuga, who just ransacks her place, which just makes it worse. It’d be bad enough not to have Asami explicate this connection the first time around, because she could be bottling her emotions (she does that), and we find out about this later, but to do it twice in the same graphic novel? In quick succession? Yeah, Mike just plum forgot.

I don’t think I need to explain further why being lazy with a canon that you yourself poured your blood, sweat and tears into is not a great look. But that’s what the story Mike wrote is saying.

So, yeah, those are most of my issues with Turf Wars Part 2. Thanks for reading through to the end!

Other random thoughts on how none of this makes sense:

Why does Republic City have Kuvira’s military armaments in a warehouse? Even if the war is somehow over, which it can’t be because that’s not how anything works, it’s still Earth Empire property.

Why do any of those mecha-suits even work after Varrick’s EMP?

Why is Ba Sing Se offering relief efforts when that’s the capital of the country that just invaded the United Republic— seriously they’re still at war you guys you can’t just capture the enemy commander and win

How does Tokuga’s half-spirit form allow him to control spirits? Wouldn’t that make them hate him more?

Why do the triads agree to work under him when all he’s got is a tentacle arm? They could just set him on fire and be done with it

What is the point of Keum, like, at all? Why does he even exist? He got kidnapped at the end of Part 1, but we have no emotional stake in his existence

Why are Mako and Bolin relearning how to value one another’s different skill sets? This is like the fifth time or something

[thepsychicclam]

Could you talk a little about what being a professor/getting your PhD has been like? Do you have to constantly do research and publish, is it hard to find jobs, do they pay enough to relieve the doctoral debt? I know you’ve moved at least once and I wasn’t sure if it was to follow a job, or if it was for personal reasons and then, was finding a new job hard? Did you start teaching while getting your PhD? I’m just fascinated by it and you seem like the best to ask!

Yes! I can share my experience. Everyone’s experience is different, and mine is unique for a few reasons I’ll discuss below. It may also vary from field to field. My PhD is in literature/English, and from what I’ve gathered, your concentration can influence a lot of stuff, too. So, under the cut, I’ll try to share my experience as much as I can! This is VERY LONG, so be warned, nonny! :D

Before I decided to get a PhD, I got a MAT - a master’s in secondary education with a focus on English literature. My BA is in creative writing/english lit. I taught high school for three years, and for a lot of reasons said FUCK THIS NOISE and quit. I lived with my parents and they told me they’d help support me. I ended up with a college teaching job (you can teach adjunct in the states with a masters) and they told me to get a PhD if I wanted to do it full time some day. I love teaching, and I’m good at it. I especially love teaching literature. So, I decided to go get my PhD.

Choosing my specialization was kinda interesting bc I decided to go for medieval literature, which I hadn’t really studied up until that point. I had always done Victorian and Shakespeare/Renaissance, with a bit of dabbling into Native American and postcolonial literature. But I taught Dante’s Inferno to my seniors my last yr at HS and fell in LOVE. So, I thought, “Hey, there aren’t a lot of medievalists. Everyone gets a PhD in Shakespeare/Victorian lit, so I’ll do that. Maybe it’ll make me more marketable.” I have always loved medieval lit, so I figured lets go for it.

My original plan was to do something with romances, so late medieval stuff. I ended up with two professors in the dept, one who focused on Anglo-Saxon/Old English and one who focused on Chaucer/later medieval. I took multiple classes in both, and my second or third semester, I took intro to Old English. I fell in LOVE WITH IT. It was a linguistics course where we learned the Old English language (which is completely different than modern or even middle english) and translated. I was GOOD at it and took to it unlike anyone else in the class. It just made sense. I think probably bc I had a background in Latin and German (I was a German studies minor in undergrad until I realized I couldn’t speak German to save my life :P) and I took like 3 or 4 yrs of Latin in hs. Anyway, I was hooked and switched to Old English. I took a lot of postcolonial literature courses, like Indian lit, lit of SE Asian, and Native American lit courses, and through this I met another professor who I adored. I ended up working with her to do my minor/secondary specialization, which is literature of the indigenous peoples of America (Native American, Chicano lit, etc - mostly Native American). I ALMOST wrote my dissertation with her bc I loved her so much and I love Native American literature so much. However, as a white woman, I didn’t feel that I would make a good postcolonial/Native American scholar, so I stuck with Anglo-Saxon lit.

I used my class papers to start working on my dissertation ideas. I got obsessed with monstrosity and the narrow definition in AS lit, and connected that to ideas of reason, which I also became obsessed with, and ended up writing all my papers about some type of monstrous transformation and how it connects to the reason of the punished. Thus, my dissertation topic was born, which currently has the working title of Transformative Bodies and their Punishments as Social Control in Anglo-Saxon Literature. It’s a terrible title, but right now, at least it states the overall topic lol

My comps, which are the comprehensive exams you have to take, took me a year to read for. Most people take one semester, I took 2. I took mine in the spring and just read for two semesters. Now, to put it into perspective, the English dept standard was 40 primary texts and 20 secondary texts, so 60 texts. Mine was WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY over that. I ended up with over 16,000 pgs of texts to read. Hint: I DID NOT READ THEM ALL. And remember, half of mine were in Middle English, so they took 3 times as long to read, and half were translated OE texts. But I read a lot, read the secondary stuff, and took my comps. Comps were supposed to be 2.5 hrs. The director of graduate studies handed me my comps and said, “You’re the medieval one, right?” And I was like, “...yes...” and he looked at me and said, “You get 4 hrs.” THAT’S HOW FUCKING LONG MY ADVISOR MADE MY COMPS. I HAD TO GET EXTRA TIME. So, 4 hrs I did nothing but type. There were questions on there that were not part of my 16k words, but I answered everything. I wrote 9 fucking thousand words in 4 hrs. I was PUMPED. Then, he gave me just a PASS not PASS PLUS. I’m a straight A student, valedictorian, graduated cum laude and magna cum laude, mortar board, scholarships, etcetc. I WAS PISSED :|||| I MEAN I HAD 4 HRS AND WRITE 9K ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?? It didn’t matter bc I still passed, but it was a pride thing lol

Okay, so that August I moved to Boston. My diss director was PISSED. I was ABD (all but dissertation, ie I had passed my comps), so I was going to work on my dissertation remotely. Many ppl do this. Well, he basically looked at me and said, “Yeah most ppl don’t finish who do this.” I cried for like 2 weeks. Then I got pissed and told myself I WILL FUCKING FINISH THIS IF IT KILLS ME. I regretted not doing the Native American diss with the professor I loved. My dissertation director is a dick. Hands down. I would be finished if I had a better director. I have had no support. Now, I did move to Boston, I procrastinated and took my time and had a lot of anxiety, but he didn’t help me at all. He made it worse. If you’ve followed me for awhile, you know I struggle with depression and anxiety, and at times it’s basically debilitating. So, it increased tenfold with the dissertation process. It took me a year to get my proposal submitted, finalized, and approved. 

I started working on my dissertation, which thankfully I had drafts of chapters from my class papers. As of right now, I have drafted 4 full chapters of average 40 pgs each and am revising. My director takes forever to get back from me, and my comments give me MAJOR anxiety. Part of the dissertation process is being told “yeah this needs work.” It’s like, hey, your ideas are great! You have a good point! But here are 100 ways you suck. Or that’s what it feels like. So, it became a major source of crippling anxiety for me. When I was in therapy, it was like all I talked about. I have to spend a week or two just pumping myself to check my fucking email. I have been trying to make an inface mtg with my advisor for a freaking yr. He blew me off to go to the bar with his friends at a conference we attended last yr (I only know this for a fact bc I SAW HIM AT THE BAR WITH THEM when he texted me and said he had “fallen asleep.”) So, needless to say, that has been a huge struggle and conflict. However, I don’t think that’s normal. lol I’m just cursed.

Right now, I’m trying to learn how to push myself as an academic writer and researcher to the next level. Something I need him to teach me, but still trying to meet face to face! I’ve gotten to the point in my drafts that I need to improve the arguments and research in a few places, but I’m not sure how to break through my wall. I need guidance, you know? Bc I don’t live around the campus, I’m doing this alone. I don’t have a writers group or any friends in the program. I’m pretty alone and isolated, which sucks. It’s also not the norm either, I don’t think. So, I have to push myself and keep myself going and write in a vacuum. I’m the only medievalist in the Eng dept getting a PhD, so there’s not even someone else writing their dissertation in Anglo-Saxon lit or even Middle English. The medieval dept is small.

So, that is my PhD schooling experience. Let’s talk about work and loans. I worked at a different college as an adjunct while doing my classes. I did not do a graduate research or teaching assistant job at the university, which means I paid for my schooling out of pocket/loans. I had someone tell me once, “If you’re paying for your own PhD, you shouldn’t be getting one. If you’re not being paid to get it, you’re not worth anything.” Pretty much, I feel like I was told the entire way I was doing everything wrong. I couldn’t get a GRA/GTA while teaching at the other school. I was an adjunct with a 3 class load, so I made decent, though not much. I lived at home w my folks, so I was okay with money. I was extremely lucky bc of that bc most ppl live on their own and have to work multiple jobs. When I moved to Boston, that’s when I got the 239847239 jobs. (also why I used to write a lot of fic and now I don’t write as much lol real life, man). When I moved to Boston, I taught adjunct, 3 classes. I also did freelance writing and worked at a farm, mainly bc rent was$2000/mth and I didn’t get paid during the summer. When I moved to SC, I also ended up with a 3 class adjunct job, but continued with the freelance writing. I have always been incredibly lucky with getting jobs. I think it’s bc I have a lot of teaching experience (this is my 10th yr teaching) and I have a background in English literature instead of education. I also wasn’t picky where I taught. I wasn’t teaching at Harvard, Boston College, or even something like the University of South Carolina. I taught at a small state school to start with, a community college in Boston, and now another small state school. But all experience is good experience. One thing that will make you marketable is your teaching experience. Everyone I’ve every talked to who hired me was interested in my teaching experience. 

For my career, right now I do a lot of conferences. I am doing 5 this semester, and I have done a ton of them. Graduate conferences, medieval conferences, lit conferences, pedagogy conferences, even library conferences. I give presentations/papers at each of them, bc I don’t see the point of going to a conference if you aren’t going to give a paper. I haven’t done any publishing yet. I have a few ideas for articles, but I’m terrified. It’s very hard to get published, so I haven’t tried yet :/ it is an expectation of all professors/phds to get published. At my current job, where I just got hired full time as an Visiting Assistant Professor, if I get a tenure track position, I have to have at least 1 publication within 5 years. That is a peer reviewed journal article or book. Getting published in English is SO MUCH HARDER than the sciences. I have a friend who works in Atlanta as a research assistant/lab technician/scientist (I’m not sure the title tbh) and she has like 3 publications bc she helped with these studies that they publish online that get published within like a month. My sister has a chapter in an art history essay collection, and it took 2 years to get published!! Academic publishing is the WORST. I’m hoping at least one dissertation chapter gets accepted as an article. I also did a project in my 102 class last semester that I have given multiple conference presentations and teaching workshops about, and I’m starting to work on turning it into an article. I want to be a teaching professor, not a research professor, so I’m trying to focus on the teaching aspect of my career. I just got a Brit Lit class for next semester instead of a sea of composition, so I’m trying to come up with a unique topical angle that I can use on my CV to show my teaching skills. So, part of my job is trying to find ways to increase my CV. Like, I run a panel at a regional literature conference (I kinda lucked into it bc my mentor used to run it, and now I do lol), so that looks good on my CV, too. So, it’s not constant publishing, but you are expected to do SOMETHING, conferences, publication, things like that.

Is it hard to find jobs? I’d say yes. Like I said, I have been incredibly lucky to always have a job. My dissertation director told me last yr after I got my job in SC, “Well, I guess you’re doing something right. I mean, you always seem to find a job.” (thanks asshole for that BACKHANDED COMPLIMENT) I am not picky. Experience is experience, and you’re not going to find your dream job immediately. That sense of entitlement limits you and keeps you from finding a job to start. Right now, I teach 5 fucking composition 101 classes. I was bitching to my sister today about how I was teaching fucking TOPIC SENTENCES and my students don’t get it!!! It sucks!! But, it pays a full time salary, and it gives me experience. Do I want to teach how to write a FUCKING TOPIC SENTENCE?? NO!! I can translate Old English and have studied medieval and early British literature for almost a decade. THAT’S WHAT I WANT TO FOCUS ON. But, I’m not an entitled asshole and realize I have to work my way up. When I finish my PhD, will get the perfect medieval/early British job? NO. I hope to get a job as an early British person somewhere (not my current school, who has no need for a medievalist really), but I know it will take one to two jobs before my dream job. Everyone I know has done 1-3 jobs before their perfect tenure job. Of course, there are always people who have the magic CV or whatever who will get that perfect job right out of grad school. I have no delusions. That’s not gonna be me. I’m an okay researcher and scholar and a damn good teacher. The first part means more than the last part for colleges. I just hope to eventually find somewhere I can teach Medieval lit to undergrads, and maybe do a course on monsters in pop culture.

Money wise, professors make okay but not mega bucks. I make pretty good for my area. But, I grew up poor, so having a full time job is like WHOO. I’ve learned how to live a great life on a lower salary. If money is what you want, this is not the career for you unless you’re teaching business or accounting at an MBA program. However, I go to work at 10 am, I leave some days at 1 and others at 3, I get from May-August and all of December off, and I make a full time yearly salary. So...I chose my profession for the time off. lol That’s exactly why I became a teacher XD I’m in a lot of student debt, but I worked out a payment plan with the student loan ppl and pay my loans every month. I’ll be dead before they’re paid off, but oh well :P 

What other questions did you ask...yes, I worked the entire time teaching while getting my degree. At one point I was working 5 jobs lol but not while taking class, during comps/dissertation stuff. If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask! Like I said, I have a unique circumstance, with a dick dissertation advisor, moving between 3 states and teaching at 3 different places, though I finally have landed a full time college teaching position lol When I finish my dissertation, I will be very happy with my career path. Right now, with it looming over  my head and making me feel like the fucking biggest idiot and stupidest person on the planet, I regret my life decisions XD But really, I don’t bc, you know, I work like 20 hrs a week XDDDDDD

[eruriku]

play-by-play coverage of my lit review thought process

oh my god this is so difficult

i have come THIS close to crying in this starbucks at least 19 times now

i wonder what jerry is actually expecting to get from me it’s almost 7pm and i only have 311 words do you think he’ll be mad if i only send him 1000

i don’t have enough material i don’t know what to do

you know what jerry you’ll just have to take what i can give you i haven’t even started reading for the other 6,000 words i need to write in january ok

[scrolls up and down document looking for a note i made 3 hours ago] fuck this is a mess

i think it makes sense to only send like 1,000 words if it’s gonna be this quality lolololol

how did i ever think i could write about this

i knew i should’ve kept all my writing days to inside my room

writing my lit review at a STARBUCKS?? pls

okay something’s happening

something’s… happening

i have some kind of…… structure

…a semblance…… of……words… are starting to take form

@ mother: i am really not in the mood to play Subservient Daughter tonight

i’m gonna quit LINE so i don’t have to read her texts

iT’S 7:30PM

is it woodblocking or wood blocking

it’s “producing woodblock prints” lmfao ok ~technicalities~

shit ya girl is at 403 and i still have like? 10 things to talk about

am i gonna go over 1,000 words

we’ll have to see … right after the break

jokes i have 1 hour left here before i need to go to shoppers let’S DO THIS!!!!!!!!

disclaimer: @ jerry sorry in advance

by the time i submit this final thing in may i’m going to hate japan and hate film and hate writing and hate people i can’t wait

i can’t believe i just used the word “yaoi” in my dissertation literature review but i bet academia never saw this coming pun so intended

talkin like a weeb but i ain’t weeb enough i mean do i even anime anymore i’m afraid i don’t

JERRY IS ONLINE ON FACEBOOK GET OFF FACEBOOK JERRY YOU’RE MAKING ME NERVOUS

she’s so angry -- who? -- the girl writing this dissertation

LOL 812 WORDS WHAT THE JESUS

i still have so much to write holy lord

if i had this much focus for when i wrote fanfic you guys would be getting so much more fanfic from me on a regular basis

guess i just need to be scared into productivity

like santa’s elves

that’s santa as in North from rise of the guardians that’s right i’m still into it

alright time to be a good human being and feed myself ‘cause i literally have been sitting in this starbucks for a good 7 hours wow woooow

[intermission where i trek out into the -11°C but actually feels like -17°C weather with my little brother’s frappuccino to go]

so i just went through every single film on wikipedia’s list of whitewashed films and guess where 98% of them came from

you don’t even have to answer this

goddamn 1042 words??? goddamn???? what the god?? what the damn?

i feel like i’m ranting?? i sound like i’m ranting. that’s gotta be bad. literature reviews aren’t supposed to sound like rants?

i wonder if jerry will appreciate sarcasm and sardonic tone in an academic piece

probably not

ok i’m deleting that line

okay for realz i shouldn’t be working at home ‘cause i get so easily distracted with my family around good job @ me for going to starbucks to actually get shit done

hello 1336 i’m astounded i’ve bullshat my way to this word count because i have VERY FEW resources

okay kids i am at 1530 i am very ready to just send this to jerry and be done but i know…… i should keep writing……

but also do i really need to

this is half my available word count for my lit review i’m impressed

guys i thought i would only reach like 900 max

fooled myself again

tut tut, o ye of little faith in ye-self

OKAY I KNOW WHAT I’M GONNA DO

LMFAO ok so what i’ve done is edited what i have so far (it went down to 1522 no probssss) and i outlined roughly what the rest will be about ha ha #shortcuts

it’s fine we’ll just talk about it

i almost started celebrating before i realised i still need to actually send it to jerry

y’ALL I SENT IT THROUGH THAT’S OUT OF THE WAY GOD BLESS i’M NOT TOUCHING MY COMPUTER THE WHOLE DAY TOMORROW UNTIL OUR SKYPE MEETING IN THE EVENING

ok im gna make a professional Skype account now lol can’t be answering my professor’s Skype call with an anime or disney character as my profile picture lmao

BYE TUMBLR THANKS FOR BEING MY VENTING WINDOW TODAY

[arnavsinghraizada]

Of ASR, Amygdala Reactivity, and Arousal Response

Thanking @phati-sari​ greatly for tagging me in that ask she got, and giving me the opportunity to finally let this monster see the light of day! 

Below is a diagnostic dissertation (LOL  on a scale of 1- Shivaay Singh Oberoi, how pretentious do I sound right now?) discussing Arnav Singh Raizada’s very obvious PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder), using diagnostic criteria obtained from the DSM-5 (found on page 275)

A note: This, as mentioned in my episode guides (which are currently under construction but can be found here), does not serve as a justification as much as an explanation for his behaviour. 

An apology in advance for the biological/psychological jargon I’m about to throw around here, but just shoot me an ask if you need/want any clarification on anything. 

**This is kind of long so I will be putting it under a cut!

What is PTSD?

PTSD is a stress/trauma related disorder that is derived from either direct or indirect exposure to a traumatic event. This usually occurs in one of the following ways: - Directly experiencing the traumatic event - Witnessing, in person, the event as it occurred to others - Learning that traumatic event(s) occurred to a close family member or friend - Experiencing repeated or extreme exposure to aversive details of the traumatic event(s)  The stressors that are usually related to the development of PTSD include a serious accident, a natural disaster, a criminal assault, military combat, abuse, witnessing traumatic events** (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). 

In order to be diagnosed with PTSD, exposure to a traumatic event is necessary as well as symptoms, that persist for longer than 1 month following the trauma, from all of the following clusters: - Intrusion Symptoms (intrusive thoughts, nightmares, flashbacks, distressing memories) - Dissociative Symptoms  - Avoidance (avoiding thoughts, feelings, physical reminders of the trauma. Also avoiding places or events that trigger distressing recollections) - Negative alternations in mood or cognition (persistent negative views about oneself or the world, distorted cognitions leading to placing blame on oneself or others, frequent negative emotions, unable to feel positive emotions, emotional detachment from others) - Arousal and changes in reactivity** (irritability that leads to physical and verbal aggression, reckless behaviour, hyper-vigilance, heightened physiological reactivity)

All of the above information was verified by the DSM-5 

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing.

What’s Going On? 

There are multiple areas of the brain implicated in a heightened stress response. Within the sensorimotor cortex (responsible for sensory and motor functions), there is increased activation causing jitteriness and hyper-vigilance. Within the parahippocampal gyrus (which functions in memory encoding and retrieval), there is a stronger level of connectivity with the medial prefrontal cortex as well as decreases in its volume.  In the prefrontal cortex (a key emotional regulator as well the part of the brain that is active in “determining your personality,” there is a decrease in grey and white matter density and decreased responsiveness to emotional stimuli, prompting what is often seen as being cold and unresponsive. In the amygdala (which functions in conditioned fear and associative learning), there is an increased responsiveness to traumatic stimuli (Ray, 2015). 

What this leads to is the amplification of the fear response, and impairs its extinction. In layman’s terms this means that, that gut-clenching feeling you get when you’re faced with a spider, or a clown - or whatever you’re afraid of - doesn’t go away for these individuals very easily. 

There are risk factors, that include pre-existing conditions such as anxiety or depression and negative emotions such as anger and hostility**. 

Okay... but what about Arnav?

Now you may be saying, well Amrit that’s fine and dandy and all, but what does this have to do with Arnav Singh Raizada? Excellent question and that was, in fact, the point of this entire post. 

Arnav starts displaying intrusive symptoms as soon as the first episode, all of 2 minutes after he’s introduced. He is frequently shown to suffer from flashbacks, have nightmares, and be easily set off by any reminders of the night of his mother’s suicide.  (Keep in mind that we didn’t know exactly how deep-running Arnav’s trauma was until he revealed that she had committed suicide in front of him in Episode 315. 

So what do we know? 

Fourteen year old Arnav witnessed his parents committing suicide

Was thrown out of his house after the fact

Cared for his sister and took on responsibility of the house 

 At fourteen, all I was doing was eating Popeye’s biscuits and crying over IPKKND .... not that anything has changed

I have too much time on my hands to be writing this post

Going back to symptoms - 

If I were to sit here and list every episode that Arnav showed symptoms in, we would be here a long time. In Episode 315 alone, he shows symptoms (nightmares, flashbacks, distressing thoughts, trouble sleeping, irritability, negative emotions) a grand total of no less than 10 times, I literally lost count at that point. 

Cute? Very much so externally, but also where you see him displaying negative emotional responses, and the beginnings of irritability which leads to the aggressive act of flinging her arms off of him. 

This is all due to changes in his reactivity - this is not how people usually react to their loved one’s attempt at cheering them up. 

Majority of Arnav’s symptoms can be found in the clusters of arousal and reactivity, intrusive symptoms, and negative alterations in mood or cognition. 

Considering that intrusive symptoms are somewhat self-explanatory, everyone can recognize the flashback™️, I will explain the other two clusters. 

Negative Alterations in Mood or Cognition

Persistent negative views about oneself and the world

In Episode 333, Arnav calls himself “a bloody failure,” implying that he is the problem, he is the one who is unable to protect the people he loves from harm. Somehow, all of this ends up resting on his shoulders. 

In Episode too many to count but I’m going to go with Episode 159, Arnav expresses his disdain with the world and with love and wishing for things and basically everything good in the world. 

“yeh duniya itni hi bedard hai. This world is just as heartless as it always was.”  

Distorted cognitions leading to self-blame or blaming others

In Episode 333, Arnav says “uss raat bhi main kuch nahin kar paya. I couldn’t do anything that night either.” This implies that he believes that he feels he could have stopped his mother’s suicide somehow, could have intervened in some way but didn’t manage to do so. Realistically, we know that there was nothing a fourteen year old boy could have done, no way he could have predicted it. 

Frequent negative emotions

See Episodes 1-361 

literally

I - i just can’t sit here and list every temper tantrum he’s ever had 

It is note worthy to see that after expelling Shyam from the house, Arnav’s intrusive symptoms disappeared. More accurately, Arnav’s intrusive symptoms disappeared in Episode 353 when he married Khushi, but his symptoms of aggression and irritability persisted. 

Arousal and changes in reactivity

Irritability that may result in aggression (verbal or physical)

Um... see Episodes 1-398

A bit of a blanket statement, sure, but Arnav’s reactivity is a symptom that rears its ugly head long after Shyam has been ousted once and for all. 

All the way up to Episode 392 we see him getting angry and being verbally aggressive

Though tbh that whole Mrs. India, finding out your wife is competing when she falls on her face in front of you on the runway - lol yeah same Arnie, me too. 

Another thing to note is that Arnav’s physical aggression has all but vanished by this point. From the time him and Khushi entered a legitimate relationship (Episode 314 onwards), Arnav’s episodes of physical aggression are virtually non-existent.

If only antidepressants worked on Tellywood leads the way love does. Although I do still maintain that perhaps alteration of serotonin levels and reducing amygdala reactivity would be slightly more reliable. 

Reckless or self-destructive behaviour

See Episode 190 and the duration of the “hate” part of the “hate-marriage.” 

Reckless to marry your sister-in-law’s sister? Coerce her into marrying you, really? Blackmail, actually. CHECK! Also very morally questionable but hey you do what you gotta do, I suppose. Self-destructive? ALSO MAJOR YES.

A lot of people don’t realize this, but that marriage was just as toxic for Arnav as it was for Khushi. He, originally, was in love with her and willingly and knowingly tied himself to a woman who he believed had used him to get close to his brother-in-law. 

Although, Arnav, if she was a gold-digger, why go for the small fish when she had the great white, aka you, wrapped around her finger?

Think of these things before you go on marriage rampages, would you?

My poor, stupid son

And that is where I shall end this ridiculously long post. If you’re still here, wow thank you, I did not expect that. 

Again, you know where to find me if you have any questions or comments! If you disagree well then just keep those comments to yourself maybe , then that’s fine too!

[cleancutpage]

Meet the Real Estate Tech Founder: David Michonski from Quigler

In our latest real estate tech entrepreneur interview, we’re speaking with David Michonski from Quigler. They are a member of NAR REach’s 2018 class.

Without further ado…

What do you do?

I am the chief cook and dishwasher around here supported by a team of about 12 coders, marketing wizards, web designers, lawyers and all the other needs of a start up company.

What problem does your product/service solve?

Many. First, more than 60% of consumers who are experienced in doing a real estate transaction still say they do not understand the process. We are solving that by inaugurating the second great revolution in the brokerage transaction: total transparency and empowerment of consumers to know everything their agent is supposed to know (and do) in advance. 25 years ago the industry took a deep breath and provided transparency into listing inventory by putting it all on line. But we never gave the consumer process transparency. Quigler does.

Second, every manager of a real estate office knows the biggest and most dreaded complaint of a manager is the call from a consumer that says: “I’ve had my property listed with you for six weeks and I never hear from my agent. Does he still work for you?” Communication, especially in bad markets, is the biggest consumer complaint. Quigler fixes that by providing consumers immediate notifications every time an agent does what they are required by law and code to do. It creates a running record, time stamped and dated so consumers know when their agent did it.

Third, the bar is low in real estate. NAR had to issue the Danger Report that warned of masses of untrained, unskilled, unethical agents flooding the market and lowering the reputation of agents. Quigler solves that for everyone, even a new agent. We have taken the training classroom and installed in the palm of an agent’s hand on their cell phone and taken the required Actions they must do (there is nothing optional in Quigler) and organized them into a series of sequential Steps with specific Actions under each Step. For the first time an experienced agent and a new agent have everything required to be compliant in one place right in the palm of their hand, easily and sequentially organized so that now compliance with what is required can easily become the baseline of performance for an real estate agent. Great agents can build on top of what they are required to do with their experience, testimonials, skills, personality, etc, but at least consumers now know they are getting a baseline of compliance with what MUST be done.

Finally, as part of communication, 70% of the agents who just completed a Survey for us told us that they would pay more to get an automated, pre-populated update letter to send to clients. Given that less than 1% of agents do that now, we have a tremendous service to provide to agents that simultaneously allows them to give consumers better service. That upgrade is coming and in the works right now and will be in Quigler in 6 months. So we are raising the bar by providing a tool for agents to give consumers total transparency into everything the agent is required to do, welcome compliance with the law and code, unheard of instant communication that creates a running record, and unprecedented accountability to consumers during the largest financial transactions of most of their lives that is also one of the most expensive.

What are you most excited about right now?

Well, we have launched and that is pretty exciting after 3 long years of hard daily work. Every day I love reading the emails agents and consumers send me. Consumers love Quigler, but they write to complain that we don’t have any agents yet in their market. So we have offered agents an Early Adopter Founding Agent membership at a big discount so as to populate agents that consumers can find. That is our big challenge right now. Then we look forward to a PR campaign to drive consumers to the site and find agents who want to provide transparency, accountability, communication and compliance. That is our goal right now. Get agents on board and then drive consumers to them in the app.

What’s next for you?

Again, what comes next is what we think is the easy part of Quigler and that is the consumer PR campaign. Already major papers have interviewed me and want to run a story and since real estate is very local, we expect that a large number of local papers and online news services will want to run this great consumer story that goes something like this: “It’s noon. Do you know what you agent is doing for you today?” At a gut level consumers want to know more and want accountability, compliance and communication. It will be fun to see those articles start popping up. We have yet to find a consumer who doesn’t want an agent who can provide these benefits.

What’s a cause you’re passionate about and why?

LOL, way too many. First, my wife, Linda, and I have served for 15 years in various capacities at our church in Greenwich. Linda’s been on the vestry while I have been the Head Usher, on the property committee, the worship commission, the ambassador program, the church choir, etc. So that is a kind of center for our lives.

Second, I am passionate about someday creating the Fresh Start Foundation for people who have had to declare bankruptcy. The idea is to give them a fresh start on life after that ordeal. You see, for 13 years I built one of the fastest growing brokerages in the world that culminated in us reaching $1B in sales in August of 2008. Four weeks later Lehman Brokers hit us like a tsunami out of nowhere in New York City. It was devastating. People walked from deals and our pipeline was cut in half. Business dropped 75% and everyone thought the world was going to end. By May of 2009 we could not hold on any longer and we sold the company to NRT, but I was left with having guaranteed the loans and the leases. It forced me into personal bankruptcy and devastated me and my family.

Both Linda and I promised each other that we would come back and someday create a foundation to help those who through no fault of their own have had to go through that nightmare (70% of them suffered a bankruptcy because of an illness that wiped out their savings). We want to help them emotionally through that and then help them financially with re-establishing credit and then we even want to help finance entrepreneurs in new businesses. That is our goal.

Third, I want to finish my Ph.d. Many years ago I worked on my Ph.d in political philosophy. I graduated my doctoral exams with highest distinction, the first person every to do so in the program and worked on my dissertation, but the Ph.d glut of the late 70’s made it tough to find a job teaching college. So my dissertation sits in our freezer and I want to finish it and hand it in. I called the head of my dissertation committee who is still alive and asked if I could submit it. He paused and said: “Well, David, that was 40 years ago.” “Yes, sir,” I said. “That would give new meaning to handing in a late paper, wouldn’t it?” “Yes, sir.” I said. He said: “Well, hand it in and let’s see what we can do.” It may take me 10 years to do that, but I will.

Thanks to David for sharing his story. If you’d like to connect, find him on LinkedIn here.

We’re constantly looking for great real estate tech entrepreneurs to feature. If that’s you, please read this post — then drop me a line (drew @ geekestatelabs dot com).

The post Meet the Real Estate Tech Founder: David Michonski from Quigler appeared first on GeekEstate Blog.

Meet the Real Estate Tech Founder: David Michonski from Quigler published first on https://greatlivinghomespage.tumblr.com/

[brettseaton]

Meet the Real Estate Tech Founder: David Michonski from Quigler

In our latest real estate tech entrepreneur interview, we’re speaking with David Michonski from Quigler. They are a member of NAR REach’s 2018 class.

Without further ado…

What do you do?

I am the chief cook and dishwasher around here supported by a team of about 12 coders, marketing wizards, web designers, lawyers and all the other needs of a start up company.

What problem does your product/service solve?

Many. First, more than 60% of consumers who are experienced in doing a real estate transaction still say they do not understand the process. We are solving that by inaugurating the second great revolution in the brokerage transaction: total transparency and empowerment of consumers to know everything their agent is supposed to know (and do) in advance. 25 years ago the industry took a deep breath and provided transparency into listing inventory by putting it all on line. But we never gave the consumer process transparency. Quigler does.

Second, every manager of a real estate office knows the biggest and most dreaded complaint of a manager is the call from a consumer that says: “I’ve had my property listed with you for six weeks and I never hear from my agent. Does he still work for you?” Communication, especially in bad markets, is the biggest consumer complaint. Quigler fixes that by providing consumers immediate notifications every time an agent does what they are required by law and code to do. It creates a running record, time stamped and dated so consumers know when their agent did it.

Third, the bar is low in real estate. NAR had to issue the Danger Report that warned of masses of untrained, unskilled, unethical agents flooding the market and lowering the reputation of agents. Quigler solves that for everyone, even a new agent. We have taken the training classroom and installed in the palm of an agent’s hand on their cell phone and taken the required Actions they must do (there is nothing optional in Quigler) and organized them into a series of sequential Steps with specific Actions under each Step. For the first time an experienced agent and a new agent have everything required to be compliant in one place right in the palm of their hand, easily and sequentially organized so that now compliance with what is required can easily become the baseline of performance for an real estate agent. Great agents can build on top of what they are required to do with their experience, testimonials, skills, personality, etc, but at least consumers now know they are getting a baseline of compliance with what MUST be done.

Finally, as part of communication, 70% of the agents who just completed a Survey for us told us that they would pay more to get an automated, pre-populated update letter to send to clients. Given that less than 1% of agents do that now, we have a tremendous service to provide to agents that simultaneously allows them to give consumers better service. That upgrade is coming and in the works right now and will be in Quigler in 6 months. So we are raising the bar by providing a tool for agents to give consumers total transparency into everything the agent is required to do, welcome compliance with the law and code, unheard of instant communication that creates a running record, and unprecedented accountability to consumers during the largest financial transactions of most of their lives that is also one of the most expensive.

What are you most excited about right now?

Well, we have launched and that is pretty exciting after 3 long years of hard daily work. Every day I love reading the emails agents and consumers send me. Consumers love Quigler, but they write to complain that we don’t have any agents yet in their market. So we have offered agents an Early Adopter Founding Agent membership at a big discount so as to populate agents that consumers can find. That is our big challenge right now. Then we look forward to a PR campaign to drive consumers to the site and find agents who want to provide transparency, accountability, communication and compliance. That is our goal right now. Get agents on board and then drive consumers to them in the app.

What’s next for you?

Again, what comes next is what we think is the easy part of Quigler and that is the consumer PR campaign. Already major papers have interviewed me and want to run a story and since real estate is very local, we expect that a large number of local papers and online news services will want to run this great consumer story that goes something like this: “It’s noon. Do you know what you agent is doing for you today?” At a gut level consumers want to know more and want accountability, compliance and communication. It will be fun to see those articles start popping up. We have yet to find a consumer who doesn’t want an agent who can provide these benefits.

What’s a cause you’re passionate about and why?

LOL, way too many. First, my wife, Linda, and I have served for 15 years in various capacities at our church in Greenwich. Linda’s been on the vestry while I have been the Head Usher, on the property committee, the worship commission, the ambassador program, the church choir, etc. So that is a kind of center for our lives.

Second, I am passionate about someday creating the Fresh Start Foundation for people who have had to declare bankruptcy. The idea is to give them a fresh start on life after that ordeal. You see, for 13 years I built one of the fastest growing brokerages in the world that culminated in us reaching $1B in sales in August of 2008. Four weeks later Lehman Brokers hit us like a tsunami out of nowhere in New York City. It was devastating. People walked from deals and our pipeline was cut in half. Business dropped 75% and everyone thought the world was going to end. By May of 2009 we could not hold on any longer and we sold the company to NRT, but I was left with having guaranteed the loans and the leases. It forced me into personal bankruptcy and devastated me and my family.

Both Linda and I promised each other that we would come back and someday create a foundation to help those who through no fault of their own have had to go through that nightmare (70% of them suffered a bankruptcy because of an illness that wiped out their savings). We want to help them emotionally through that and then help them financially with re-establishing credit and then we even want to help finance entrepreneurs in new businesses. That is our goal.

Third, I want to finish my Ph.d. Many years ago I worked on my Ph.d in political philosophy. I graduated my doctoral exams with highest distinction, the first person every to do so in the program and worked on my dissertation, but the Ph.d glut of the late 70’s made it tough to find a job teaching college. So my dissertation sits in our freezer and I want to finish it and hand it in. I called the head of my dissertation committee who is still alive and asked if I could submit it. He paused and said: “Well, David, that was 40 years ago.” “Yes, sir,” I said. “That would give new meaning to handing in a late paper, wouldn’t it?” “Yes, sir.” I said. He said: “Well, hand it in and let’s see what we can do.” It may take me 10 years to do that, but I will.

Thanks to David for sharing his story. If you’d like to connect, find him on LinkedIn here.

We’re constantly looking for great real estate tech entrepreneurs to feature. If that’s you, please read this post — then drop me a line (drew @ geekestatelabs dot com).

The post Meet the Real Estate Tech Founder: David Michonski from Quigler appeared first on GeekEstate Blog.

Meet the Real Estate Tech Founder: David Michonski from Quigler syndicated from https://oicrealestate.wordpress.com/

[theokbrowne]

Meet the Real Estate Tech Founder: David Michonski from Quigler

In our latest real estate tech entrepreneur interview, we’re speaking with David Michonski from Quigler. They are a member of NAR REach’s 2018 class.

Without further ado…

What do you do?

I am the chief cook and dishwasher around here supported by a team of about 12 coders, marketing wizards, web designers, lawyers and all the other needs of a start up company.

What problem does your product/service solve?

Many. First, more than 60% of consumers who are experienced in doing a real estate transaction still say they do not understand the process. We are solving that by inaugurating the second great revolution in the brokerage transaction: total transparency and empowerment of consumers to know everything their agent is supposed to know (and do) in advance. 25 years ago the industry took a deep breath and provided transparency into listing inventory by putting it all on line. But we never gave the consumer process transparency. Quigler does.

Second, every manager of a real estate office knows the biggest and most dreaded complaint of a manager is the call from a consumer that says: “I’ve had my property listed with you for six weeks and I never hear from my agent. Does he still work for you?” Communication, especially in bad markets, is the biggest consumer complaint. Quigler fixes that by providing consumers immediate notifications every time an agent does what they are required by law and code to do. It creates a running record, time stamped and dated so consumers know when their agent did it.

Third, the bar is low in real estate. NAR had to issue the Danger Report that warned of masses of untrained, unskilled, unethical agents flooding the market and lowering the reputation of agents. Quigler solves that for everyone, even a new agent. We have taken the training classroom and installed in the palm of an agent’s hand on their cell phone and taken the required Actions they must do (there is nothing optional in Quigler) and organized them into a series of sequential Steps with specific Actions under each Step. For the first time an experienced agent and a new agent have everything required to be compliant in one place right in the palm of their hand, easily and sequentially organized so that now compliance with what is required can easily become the baseline of performance for an real estate agent. Great agents can build on top of what they are required to do with their experience, testimonials, skills, personality, etc, but at least consumers now know they are getting a baseline of compliance with what MUST be done.

Finally, as part of communication, 70% of the agents who just completed a Survey for us told us that they would pay more to get an automated, pre-populated update letter to send to clients. Given that less than 1% of agents do that now, we have a tremendous service to provide to agents that simultaneously allows them to give consumers better service. That upgrade is coming and in the works right now and will be in Quigler in 6 months. So we are raising the bar by providing a tool for agents to give consumers total transparency into everything the agent is required to do, welcome compliance with the law and code, unheard of instant communication that creates a running record, and unprecedented accountability to consumers during the largest financial transactions of most of their lives that is also one of the most expensive.

What are you most excited about right now?

Well, we have launched and that is pretty exciting after 3 long years of hard daily work. Every day I love reading the emails agents and consumers send me. Consumers love Quigler, but they write to complain that we don’t have any agents yet in their market. So we have offered agents an Early Adopter Founding Agent membership at a big discount so as to populate agents that consumers can find. That is our big challenge right now. Then we look forward to a PR campaign to drive consumers to the site and find agents who want to provide transparency, accountability, communication and compliance. That is our goal right now. Get agents on board and then drive consumers to them in the app.

What’s next for you?

Again, what comes next is what we think is the easy part of Quigler and that is the consumer PR campaign. Already major papers have interviewed me and want to run a story and since real estate is very local, we expect that a large number of local papers and online news services will want to run this great consumer story that goes something like this: “It’s noon. Do you know what you agent is doing for you today?” At a gut level consumers want to know more and want accountability, compliance and communication. It will be fun to see those articles start popping up. We have yet to find a consumer who doesn’t want an agent who can provide these benefits.

What’s a cause you’re passionate about and why?

LOL, way too many. First, my wife, Linda, and I have served for 15 years in various capacities at our church in Greenwich. Linda’s been on the vestry while I have been the Head Usher, on the property committee, the worship commission, the ambassador program, the church choir, etc. So that is a kind of center for our lives.

Second, I am passionate about someday creating the Fresh Start Foundation for people who have had to declare bankruptcy. The idea is to give them a fresh start on life after that ordeal. You see, for 13 years I built one of the fastest growing brokerages in the world that culminated in us reaching $1B in sales in August of 2008. Four weeks later Lehman Brokers hit us like a tsunami out of nowhere in New York City. It was devastating. People walked from deals and our pipeline was cut in half. Business dropped 75% and everyone thought the world was going to end. By May of 2009 we could not hold on any longer and we sold the company to NRT, but I was left with having guaranteed the loans and the leases. It forced me into personal bankruptcy and devastated me and my family.

Both Linda and I promised each other that we would come back and someday create a foundation to help those who through no fault of their own have had to go through that nightmare (70% of them suffered a bankruptcy because of an illness that wiped out their savings). We want to help them emotionally through that and then help them financially with re-establishing credit and then we even want to help finance entrepreneurs in new businesses. That is our goal.

Third, I want to finish my Ph.d. Many years ago I worked on my Ph.d in political philosophy. I graduated my doctoral exams with highest distinction, the first person every to do so in the program and worked on my dissertation, but the Ph.d glut of the late 70’s made it tough to find a job teaching college. So my dissertation sits in our freezer and I want to finish it and hand it in. I called the head of my dissertation committee who is still alive and asked if I could submit it. He paused and said: “Well, David, that was 40 years ago.” “Yes, sir,” I said. “That would give new meaning to handing in a late paper, wouldn’t it?” “Yes, sir.” I said. He said: “Well, hand it in and let’s see what we can do.” It may take me 10 years to do that, but I will.

Thanks to David for sharing his story. If you’d like to connect, find him on LinkedIn here.

We’re constantly looking for great real estate tech entrepreneurs to feature. If that’s you, please read this post — then drop me a line (drew @ geekestatelabs dot com).

The post Meet the Real Estate Tech Founder: David Michonski from Quigler appeared first on GeekEstate Blog.

from theokbrowne digest https://geekestateblog.com/meet-the-real-estate-tech-founder-david-michonski-from-quigler/

[trishgibsontx]

we are slated for magical times (and other updates, + my holiday party)

photo by Jennifer Santaniello

we are. we are slated for magical times. if you have been reading my blog post by post up until this point, it may be clear why. the earth’s energy is changing and hence has rattled and will continue rattling all of the people on it. for many of us, there will be relief in what the rattling is bringing to the surface: truth. for others of us, there will be despair in what the rattling is bringing to the surface: truth.

as I was listening to The Leo King recently, I learned that we have not been in this astrological space since 1284. here is his dissertation on that topic. the fact that our planet has not seen the kind of alignment that we are about to step into since the dark ages makes so much sense to me on many levels. on just a weirdo base human level, it makes sense to me style-wise. I have always been, but way more so as of late, drawn to dark ages and Renaissance styles. clothing, churches, music and art. this, of course, bleeds into the past life topic arena. my sensory memory of other lifetimes during / around the dark ages is high. with all of this in mind, there is a knowing within me at the most rooted level that the current timeline we are about to step into (the one that mimics the alignment around 1284) is representing some of my most powerful, happy and accomplished lifetimes on this planet. and as our experiences of time and space collapse (see the movie Arrival starring Amy Adams for more on this concept), and such is more palpable to me than ever, my purpose/joy/power condense into a linear awareness of what magical times are to come for me/us (those of us in truth). the difference between the “then” timeline with said planetary alignment and the “now” timeline of planetary alignment is simply dimensional in nature (I highly suggest Neil deGrasse Tyson for more on dimensions) as obviously we have left 3d (which is only what we can see touch and hear) and are moving into truth, love and conscious manifestation or 5d (what we may not see touch and hear but what we either intuit or interact with in an unseen realm i.e. internet signals). ok that is all pretty complicated I suppose and not the point of this post, but I had to throw that in there as a means for SOME kind of explanation. for more on that, check out my eBooklets because I go into greater detail in those as to the 3d and 5d variances.

but think about it. we are entering (for this lifetime) completely unchartered territory (and at the very least proven astrologically), coupled with some primal unconscious awareness that we have already “been here” before, long ago, and the OPENNESS around that time period, combined with the fact that we are in the most expansive dimensional 3d<5d (and therefore technological) space ever. HOW EXCITING. this is magic. love is magic. we are entering a love space. not because of the revelation of human detriment and behavior, but because physics. physics reveals all. human detriment and behavior are simply physics and evolutionary driven. 3d = ego and fear. 3d is where our planet was. 5d = love. 5d is where we are going. where our little spaceship is landing. as we all freak out and think the world is turning to shit when really it is NOT turning to shit. rather it is shedding. do some digging on the facts that I am not presenting in this post, if you want to get more excited about it.

as we see old concepts and detriments drop like flies, there is something replacing that void. for all that has been contrived and forced, it is now being replaced with power and sustainability. psychologically, emotionally, spiritually, physically and beyond. interesting things to watch change and “lose power” (p.s. true power never fades) are things like instagram models (honestly, I thought it was a joke the first time I heard that reference “instagram model” OMG. it literally did not register. it will never register for me. no matter how far we advance technologically. because it’s unsustainable. also I was way late to the instagram party. but to think that there are people who live their life via an electronic in pure 3d form and that’s it? with no tangible mission? — I feel very old saying all of this but it is true), fake companies built upon 3d physical appearance and suggestion only while missing actual substance and messaging, unsustainable (aka unkind or unhelpful) ideas, and so forth. we might think that this is all changing or dying (and trust me, it is) because humans are “waking up” — but it is because of our position on this planet in terms of physics. forcing us to expand. into love. into magic. RIGHT AT THIS TIME.

we are starting to crave goodness. at least those of us who are making it to our planet’s next destination physically alive. because the only thing that will support physical life at our upcoming destination point through time and space is goodness. we are starting to become less comparative (i.e. wanting what others have, wanting “fame” for nothing at all, etc). we are starting to become hopeful and craving about life and ways of being that we have never experienced before because they are joyful. it’s going to actually become cool to be kind. lol. but yes, seriously. and the thing with kindness is that it can’t be faked. kindness is typically an inherent quality that one either has or does not have that can either be dulled or fostered. we are fostering it. and it will be hard to tell which came first: the acceptance of kindness (not to be mistaken with weakness) or kindness itself. but I will say kindness itself comes first. not bullshit veiled in kindness which has been everywhere. but actual kindness. because it’s what is sustainable. acceptance and excitement over kindness are the byproducts.

we’ve realized that we are no better than the person standing next to us in terms of our “success”, money, job title, heritage or otherwise. even if we aren’t acting upon that realization, we do realize it. it’s what the compression of social change and upheaval over the past decade has represented. we’ve also realized that not all energies are created equal — and it’s ok. contrast is what keeps us growing and expanding. so if we come from an environment of evil, and we are not that, it is ok because we have expanded as a result. everything is relative. we know ourselves now, and we don’t need to match other energies — while knowing that each is equally entitled to its sovereign experience, with or without us, and for better or for worse.

I say all of this because it represents my streamlined endeavors next year. this is the forecast for those endeavors. and as I have been writing about, I’ve met my tribe already. this group of people could not be any better, and per alignment with Dr. Hawkins’ book power versus force, one light of goodness is worth more than a million lights of the opposite — this is what will make my/our mission possible. somewhat strong in numbers, but strongest in love and truth and hence the power of those qualities. no bots needed for this mission.

next Friday on 12.22, I am doing something that people have been asking me to do for years. and now just happens to be the right time to do it. I will be entertaining a large gathering of my tribe slash holiday party slash coming out party that someone is throwing/hosting for me (and this tribe). I met this person via my work and we will introduce our coming together at a later time. I realize that not all one or two thousand people I’ve worked with over the last decade will be there in person, but they will be there in spirit. some folks don’t live in the city. some folks will be away for the holidays. I also did not send out a mass email blast for this gathering. and I invited a handful of outliers who are not former patients but whom I feel are part of this tribe and the bigger picture. and on account of the fact that the physical space for the party will probably hold 200 max, it’s worked out perfectly! if you have not followed my social media pages regarding this event and want to come, please send me an email (only if we have worked together, please). I want everyone I have worked with to feel included. and there will be more (many more) events to come in 2018. I am currently assembling things like my board of directors, industry champions and many prongs and legs to a business which our human condition is ready to receive — a ministry of sorts, without the church, and with the sustainability to match it. by attraction not promotion. but we will make our presence known. here I go again with my cryptic descriptions. if you’re on board, you get the point and it needs no explaining. I AM SO EXCITED TO SEE YOU ALL.

tomorrow (or tonight, depending on how you want to look at it!), we have a new moon on 12.18.17 at 1:30am EST. on Tuesday, 12.19.17, Saturn moves into my sign of Capricorn (YAHOOOOO!!!) for the next 2.5 years. on Thursday 12.21.17 at 11:28am EST, we have our winter solstice. and on Friday 12.22.17, Mercury leaves retrograde — and my coming out party slash holiday party happens! that’s a lot of stuff this week. for me, this week is a personal turning point and transition into a brand new way of life. this very weekend, I quit the yoga studio that I have been going to for nearly a decade (still 100% a hot yoga fanatic though! just a matter of geographical logistics now). I’ll leave out the details as to why (some of you will laugh because you already know), but this is part of the imminent change ahead. with great change also includes a total shift in meridian lines — this might include or be as simple as the physical way that we travel to work or travel home from work. or it can mean an actual move of residence. but meridian lines must be changed to accompany great change. sometimes things are just supposed to end. if we want to foster or encourage change, we might end something “just because” we want to switch things up. and, it’s like a workout — the body will adapt to a workout to the point where it no longer changes or improves because the meridian lines of said workout are so ingrained. it’s that way with all physical activity, flow, and relationships with people. we might ask ourselves where we are too ingrained, where we might switch things up so as to see clearer opportunities for growth and purpose. and if we don’t like where we are, in any sense, we are not a tree — we can MOVE. I’ve found myself at times like the elephant chained to the tree during its first year of life only to have the chain removed but still acting like the chain is there. it’s important to realize there is no chain anywhere.

for those of you with businesses that you are happy with, and mean something to you on a soul level, but which maybe have not done so well in the past (back when we valued bullshit like fake products and people in the press), know that that is changing and maybe it’s time to give your business another shot. a new look. a new release. because it is YOUR time. it is time for all that is REAL. all that is TRUTH. even if you sell fucking pens but you believe in those pens because they mean something very specific to you that resonates on a sustainable or loving level. go out and sell those pens and I bet you do GREAT now. I know I keep repeating myself, but it is so important that we realize what kind of a time we are stepping into right now — the cusp of magic, because love = magic. if you come from love, if you are love, and if love is your true core spore of origin, I promise that you will not fail now.

The post we are slated for magical times (and other updates, + my holiday party) appeared first on The Medical Intuitive Blog: Healing Elaine™.

from Trisha Gibson http://www.themedicalintuitiveblog.com/2017/12/18/slated-magical-times-updates-holiday-party/