#i want to go paperless!!!! they give me too much paper!!!!!!?

[deklo]

still trying to set up my health insurance why is everything so HARDDD

[lovely-low-waster]

It’s important to realize that we don’t all have money to make all the swaps let alone all at once -- not that that’s the right thing to do irregardless. Everyone should feel welcome into transitioning to a low waste lifestyle without feeling obliged to feel like they need lots of money to achieve it. Everyone comes from a different background and it’s important to acknowledge that much of zero waste culture is whitewashed and aesthetics based which perpetrates an unattainable standard. Most these swaps are things that I had been doing a lot of when I was younger when my family didn’t have much extra money. It ensures that everyone can get a start without having to put in any extra investments. 

Hang drying clothes is free, though having a stand or line to hang them on is helpful. I bought a stand, but my grandparents have an indoor clothesline that they DIY out of some thick rope strung up in the basement ceiling where you can hang dry clothes on hangers off the ceiling. They did this with what they had around the house. 

Skipping plastic produce bags is simple, but can take extra time. If you already have some kinds of reusable bag you don’t have to purchase new ones as they do seem pretty common at events as freebies or goodie bags. If you don’t you can request if they have paper bags you can use that can be recycled later. If you truly want to go packaging free you can just put groceries back into the cart and bring them in. This isn’t particularly feasible however and you can’t carry many items at a time; though it works well if you’re only running in and grabbing a few items. You can also repurpose plastic bags you already have from past shopping trips to give them a full life before they’re thrown away as most bags don’t show hardly any wear after a single use. 

Paperless billing is super simple. Most mobile banking apps have a section where you can pick an option for paperless billing, or call the customer service  to opt in. I’ve done this and had it this way for several years now. Additionally you can see if other bills can get automatically billed to you so they don’t have to send the paper bills out. This can extend to receipts as well because if you think about it they are the bills you get for your purchases. You can either opt for no receipt at all or if there’s the option, if you’d like, get a digital receipt emailed to you. 

Mending clothing is a skill everyone one should have regardless. Many people can’t afford to buy sustainable clothing new and sometimes thrifting clothing just needs a little repair. Fast fashion isn't made to last a long time, but learning how to repair them can give them more time before they are no longer useable. You can also extend your skills to upcycle clothing into a whole new garments or something different with sewing skills. Simple hemming, running, and back stitches are easiest to learn and cover nearly everything you’d need. Additionally darning is very good to repair socks or holes that aren't on a seam. 

Especially now with take-out being popular I end up with single use silverware. I try to ask for them not include them but sometimes they still make their way back into my home. I’ll take them with me especially if I’m with small children who might lose the nicer bamboo or steel cutlery I’ve got, or if I’ll be out with friends who don't carry their own reusable silverware. If I can I’ll try and take them back home to keep washing them a few times. 

There’s several things you can repurpose t-shirt for including bags, but rags is my favorite. They don't fray when they wash so they’re especially good for cleaning rags. This is good for those old t-shirts that are too damaged or stained to donate. Just cut them up into whatever size you’d like and get cleaning!

I’m notorious for collecting baggies and rewashing them after I use them. Especially if they’ve been used to store dry goods like small cookies or other treats that really haven't left any mark on the bags. Another thing I do this with since I'm an avid baker is piping bags! The cost for these “single-use” goods really starts to add up so being able to use them several times is very economical. I’d also extend this to plastic take-out containers or plastic tubs food from the store comes in. I like to save these especially around the holidays or for any other upcoming event where I can use them as tupperware to send people home with leftovers. 

I’ve never actually met someone who lines their recycling but it is super easy to skip. I have a two compartment trash can and will leave the recycling bin unlined. There shouldn't be anything dripping or making a mess anyways inside of it so I feel alright skipping it altogether. If it’s too big to put in there and I don’t have time to take it out right away I’ll also just make a small pile on the counter next to the bin and take it out from there. 

Turning off the lights should be a no brainer as I feel like our parents bugged us to do it as kids and for good reason! I’d also extend this to unplugging things that aren’t in constant or regular use. I especially think this is important when you are going on vacation because you know with certainty you won't be using any of the devices at home. 

Lastly is eating less meat. Of course not everyone can or wants to go vegan or vegetarian but opting for practices like meatless Mondays or cutting down from eating three things of meat a day to two will drastically reduce your impact. Cows and other animals where we get red meats have especially large environmental impacts compared to other animals we consume. Meat is also one of the most expensive items at the grocery so it can save you some money to purchase less. It’s also good to try and make your meat go as far as you can my making use of the bones and all the meat. 

Hopefully some of these will inspire you to make these free swaps where you can as they really don’t require any additional effort to make the switch. They’re great too to tell friends who are looking to be more eco friendly and don’t know where to start. Let me know of another free swaps you know of in the comments!

(image source @shopwithgoodintent on Instagram)

[rjhpandapaws]

Technical Difficulties

Ch 1: Blue Screen, Blue Eyes

Daniel was a new accounting intern. Which in and of itself would have been fine and entirely not Silas’s problem; but he wasn’t the best with computers, so Silas found himself called up to accounting once or twice every week. Silas probably would have been more annoyed if Daniel wasn’t so friendly. He made a genuine effort to help and that made it difficult for Silas to be upset with him. Silas was usually pretty swamped when it came to work. He was head of the IT department as well as the lead engineer for the company. He was always working on something be it fixing up a computer, rewriting a program, or developing improvements for the medical equipment that the company was built from; so he was always slightly annoyed when he was called away to fix something else. Despite the size of the company, the IT department was the smallest and usually spread pretty thin. Which again fell back on Silas, he was very particular about the people he hired. It was one of his usual days, he was spreading himself between about three different projects when the main office phone rang. He cursed under his breath and answered it before the third ring, “You got Silas.” “It’s Daniel.” Silas let out a quiet sigh as the intern spoke, of course it was. “The intern terminal blue screened and it’s making a horrible noise that I can’t get to stop.”  Silas nodded, he could faintly hear the computer screaming it’s grievances in the background, “I’ll be up in a few Daniel.” 

He grabbed what the department had lovingly dubbed the Crash Cart and made his way to the elevator. Silas was pretty sure this one wasn’t Daniel’s fault, the intern terminal had been giving them trouble for quite some time. One of the other interns was downloading mp3s that were a little questionable. So if Silas had to blame anything for the computer finally biting the dust it would be that. He pressed the call button and waited. The accounting department was due for some new computers, they had added enough new people that the few extras they had were no longer enough. The ones he had ordered wouldn’t be in until the end of the week. Fixing and or replacing this downed computer was now added to that list and now things were going to take even longer. He was going to be spending a few nights at the office so he wouldn’t fall too far behind, and he probably wasn’t going to hear the end of it from Connor. His twin always lectured him about his health so it wasn’t going to be anything he hadn’t heard before. The elevator chimed and he pushed the cart inside. Josh was still on vacation for another three days, so he was going to be on his own for any repairs that would need to be done. He sighed again and took his glasses off to rub at the bridge of his nose. He liked his job and he really didn’t mind helping people, but there were days when he wished he could say  that IT was down. It would give him more time to work on some of the bigger things, but AME was mostly paperless at this point so unfortunately he couldn’t be that petty.

He played favorites, as any reasonable IT person tended to. His brothers were at the top of his list, Daniel was a close third; Hank hadn’t had any issues yet but he seemed nice enough. Gavin was the problem child in a way, he was always getting food or drinks of some kind in his computer terminal and messing it up. He was annoying, but every office had one. If it were up to him, Gavin would be in filing so that he wouldn’t be anywhere near computers, but it wasn’t up to him so he would just have to deal with it. The elevator chimed for his floor and he pushed the cart out to find Daniel waiting for him. The blonde was wringing his hands as he always did when he thought someone was mad at him. Silas gave him a pleasant smile. “Hey Daniel, wanna take me to the problem child?” He asked and waited for the blonde to lead the way, “I’ll see if can fix it up here without taking it apart, then you’ll be good to go. No worries, okay?” “Alright/” Daniel agreed, “I know I break things a lot of the time so I’m sorry about that.” “I don’t think this one is your fault. You aren’t the only one that uses that terminal.” He amended as they made their way to the bullpen, “You were just unlucky today. Just like with the coffee machine.” Daniel laughed, “Oh god, don’t remind me.” Silas found himself smiling now that Daniel seemed to be in a better mood, “We had a good laugh about it though.”

When they got to the bullpen Silas could hear the digital cry of the computer. It was a sound that he hated, both because of the sound itself and because of what it typically meant. He called it the Death Wail. Hopefully he could fix it without taking it apart, if that wasn’t the case he would have to do temporary repairs and then replace it once the new computers came in. He would just have to add to the order when he got back to the workshop. They got to what was Daniel’s desk for this shift, the intern corner as it was dubbed. The screen was a deep saturated blue with white code text crawling across the screen. This was worse than he had thought. “The writing wasn’t there when I left.” Daniel said with a bit of worry in his voice, “That’s bad isn’t it?” “Yeah, I’m going to have to take it apart and see where the issue is. It’s gonna take me a few days probably.” He reached behind the terminal and unplugged it and began to disconnect it from the monitor, “Is there anything you can do here while the computer is down?” “Paper work I suppose.” Daniel said as Silas moved the computer to the Crash Cart, “I’d have to see if there is anything backed up. If not, then there won’t be anything for the interns to do.” “How would you like to learn a bit about computers?” Silas asked after he had stood up, “If Richard says it’s okay of course.”

Daniel lit up some at that, “That sounds interesting. Maybe I won’t have as many issues then.” “Just talk to Richard, then if you’re able to, come down and join me on floor six.” He pulled the cart away from the desk, “I might have this taken apart by then. So I’ll see you in a bit.” Daniel nodded as Silas headed back toward the elevators. He had his work cut out for him alright. He planned to run a few diagnostics in hopes of not actually having to take the thing apart, but he was sure he would have to anyway. Both the Blue Screen and the Death Wail had him sure this one was toast. He hit the call button and resigned himself to the fact that he wouldn’t be going home for the night. “One day.” He said to the empty hallway, “I just want one day without any computer problems.” The elevator at the far end of the hall chimed open and Richard stepped out of it. He eyed Silas as he passed but neither of them did anything more than wave. Richard would learn about the problem soon enough. Silas made his way to the elevator and hit six. He wouldn’t be getting his smoke break today so he might get a bit testy in a few hours. He was trying to quit either way so maybe this was a blessing in disguise after all. If he helped Daniel get over his computer anxiety he would have one less thing to worry about. One less stressor, one less reason to smoke.

The elevator chimed for his office and he pushed the cart to one of the more clear work tables and started getting things set up. Since he would would be down here for a few hours he decided to play music through the workshop speakers. He got the terminal set up as needed and started running the tests. They would take anywhere from ten minutes to three hours to complete depending on how bad things were. He walked to one of the other work benches and picked up his tablet to continue working on the specs for the new prosthetic arm he wanted to design. He bobbed his head to the music that was playing. He got pulled far enough into his work that he didn’t notice the elevator chime open or Daniel step into the workshop until the blonde was standing on the other side of his tablet. Silas started and set the tablet down after closing the case. “Holy fuck.” Silas gasped, “I was busy. I didn’t hear you come in. Sorry about that.” “Sorry for scaring you.” Daniel looked over toward the testing dock, “What are you working on?” “Product specs. I can’t show them to you unfortunately because it’s private information.” He said conversationally, “I figure I could get more work done while I waited. Your department is all caught up?” “Yesterday’s intern apparently did the last of it so I’m free until the computer is back to normal.” Daniel said as he leaned against the work bench.

Silas glanced at the dock monitor, “We’ve got about a ten minute wait still. Is there anything you want to do to pass the time?” “Talk I guess, there isn’t much else to do.” Daniel said, “Do you like doing all of this? It seems like a lot of work for a group of four.” “It’s definitely a lot of work, but it’s worth it.” Silas shrugged, “As far as liking it, that really depends on the day. The days I’m not able to get anything done, not so much; but the days I’m able to get more research done are pretty nice.” “So you don’t like IT work all that much?” Daniel continued, “Why do you do it then?” “Because I like it.” He said simply, “Its what got me through college. What about you, why accounting?” “I like working with numbers, they are like little puzzles for me to solve. Which is fun.” Daniel smiled again as he spoke, “Its simple most days, but the technology tends to give me trouble and make things difficult.” “Let’s see about fixing that last part.” He turned to face Daniel with a pleasant smile, “On the days you have time, I can teach you about computers. Then maybe you’ll have better luck with them.”  “If you have time.” Daniel said as he straightened up, “You have a lot to do already.” “We can start today with this little problem child.”  Silas said as he moved to the other side of the bench and opened up the terminal and got to work, “You can even come over here to see what I’m doing if you would like.”

Daniel walked to the other side of the work table and Silas spent the next few hours explaining things as he took apart the computer. What each piece was used for and what issues and malfunctions could be caused by something going wrong. Daniel nodded along and listened intently. By doing this he was also able to find the issue sooner than he had thought. He thanked Daniel and walked him through the process of fixing it. The blonde had sat down at the work bench and the next time Silas checked on him he was asleep. He checked the time and found out that it was creeping up on three in the morning. He stopped long enough to go grab one of his lab sweatshirts and draped it over Daniel. He dimmed the lights and got back to work on his tablet to fix the arm specs a little more. Next would be printing a 3D model. He could work on the terminal again when Daniel woke up. “Sleep well Blue Eyes.” He said to the quiet room. He found himself looking forward to computer repairs for the first time in a long while. Who knew someone with such poor luck could be such a refreshing change of pace? Blue screens and blue eyes could turn out to be a good thing after all.

[itsmyblogandillreblogifiwantto]

Happy Birthday Pretty Boy.

A/N: Hi everyone, the fic is literally as the title says, so enjoy! Triggers: Shooting, blood and stabbing references, swearing, drinking, implied sex, nudity.

It’s one week until Spencer’s 30th birthday, and you can’t wait to spoil your boyfriend. He always says he doesn’t want anything as he has everything he needs, but every year you always exceed his expectations. Last year you managed to get him a vintage book collection he’d looked everywhere for, in second-hand bookstores, and asking you to look online. For your 26th birthday this year, Spencer got you some adorable earrings, and a necklace to match. You never ask him for anything, but when he saw those earrings on route to watching a basketball game with Morgan, Hotch and Rossi, he just had to get them for you, even if it did make him 15 minutes late to the game, it was worth it to see the smile on your face.

Last year, you moved in with Spencer and you both couldn’t be happier, despite the horrors that you see working at the FBI. Some days were more challenging than others, such as the time you got stabbed and shot, where you lost a lot of blood but there was also some really good days, such as the time you and Spencer worked on a case and ended up saving a family from an un-sub and the day Spencer and you announced to the team you were dating and after 3 years, you moved in together.

And now… “I don’t know Penelope… I don’t think Spencer likes the idea of a holiday abroad in case anything happens to his Mum and he can’t get there quickly.” You say, sipping your coffee and catching up with her in her lair after a much-needed weekend off, which Hotch insisted you all took. “I know cinnamon bun.” Penelope said, “But she knows me, so I can take the call until you get back and look after her.” She insisted, You nod as J.J comes in, “We got a case,” causing you and Penelope to groan. “Can’t un-subs take fucking annual leave or something?!” You sigh, rubbing your eyes, a little hungover from you and Spencer getting drunk last night and playing strip poker. You don’t suffer from hangovers, you normally just get a minor headache and it’s gone by midday. “Don’t make me hurt you.” J.J laughed, “At least you’re chatty when you’re hungover, and generally nice. Spencer has not given me a statistic on something for the past 10 sentences he spoke to me.” “Well, on average when he’s hungover, it’ll be 15 sentences before he gives you a statistic.” You say working out the odds in your head, which plays to your favour for poker nights. “It’s too bright in here.” Spencer winces at the light as you all enter the conference room. “Here pretty boy.” Morgan says giving him a coffee which Spencer gladly accepts. “Shitting hell Morgan, where’s the sugar in this?!” Spencer says spitting out the coffee, a bit landing on Rossi’s shoes. “Reid.” Hotch says in a stern voice as you hand Spencer an oat bar knowing he needs a form of sugar. “Where are we with the case?” Rossi asks J.J goes through the case as Penelope hands out new tablets to everyone. “We’ve gone paperless?” Spencer asks worried. “Fear not Doctor of the dark ages.” Penelope says handing him a paper file, and you a tablet as well as a paper file as she knows you make more case notes than anyone, even Spencer. Out of the whole team, and the FBI in general you have the best arrest record for an agent under 30 since the FBI was founded in 1908, something you are getting an award for in a month. “Thanks Penelope.” You say and click your pen already starting to make notes. “Wheels up in an hour.” Hotch says once the case has been discussed. “Y/N a word please.” He says to you, as you look confused, as far as you’re aware, you haven’t pissed anyone off recently apart from Morgan when you put salt in his coffee as revenge for him for replacing your coffee with de-caff last week. “Sure. Your office?” You ask “Here is fine.” Hotch says waiting for everyone to leave. “Penelope told me about your plan to take Spencer on holiday and..” Hotch began “Hotch. It’s okay if we can’t go, I haven’t booked anything yet.” You say “I was going to say, take a whole week. Spencer needs the time off, and God knows the 26 year old with the best arrest record in FBI history does.” Hotch said. You nod. “Thank you Hotch.” You smile as Hotch pats your shoulder. “See you on the plane.” He says and goes to get his bag from his office, and you go downstairs to do the same. “What was that about?” Spencer asked adjusting his satchel. “Oh I missed a page out of my last report, so I just need to print it off and hand it in when we get back from Texas.” You say, adjusting the photo of you and Spencer on your desk, it was of when Spencer and you were out with the team and Penelope got the most adorable picture of you two laughing and smiling in each other’s company. “You ready?” You ask Spencer who nods coming to your desk taking your go bag for you and holding your hand. “God you are hungover today pretty boy.” Morgan laughed. “Shut up.” Spencer says through gritted teeth. “How much did you drink?” Rossi asked, a bit hungover himself from a night in with his current wife. “Ooh numbers. My favourite. So, one beer.. Two tequila shots..” You begin adding up the numbers. “So, 4 times over the drink drive limit everywhere in the world.” “I love you.” Is all that Spencer manages to say before he kisses your cheek. You laugh, and hold the door for everyone, hating gender stereotypes. “I love you too pretty boy.”

The team arrives into Texas, Spencer spends most of it asleep in your arms and you book the holiday. “Wake up lover boy. We’re here.” You say, kissing his neck to wake him up like you do every morning. “Y/N, either give me some of that or hurry the fuck up.” Derek laughs. “Come here then.” You say, as Derek looks at you blankly, not expecting you to answer. “I’m up.” Spencer says moving slowly as you all get off the plane and into the car that the Texas police sent for you. “How’s your head Reid?” Hotch asks, smiling getting in the drivers seat. “Fine. Statistics show a hangover lasts between…” Spencer began with a few statistics. “Interesting but next time leave some fun statistics for Y/N.” Emily laughs.  

At the police station, you get settled into the conference room and look at what the Police have so far. All the victims have been rich men, either CEO’s or executives in pharmaceuticals. “Interesting.” You say, looking at the photos. “What’s interesting?” Hotch asks. “A statistic is coming… Now.” Derek said timing it. “A recent study found that left handed men on average are 15% richer than right handed men for those who attended University, or as you folk say, college, and 26% richer if they graduated, so maybe the un-sub attended University, or college, but they didn’t graduate. We should see if the victims were all left handed.” You say. “Is this what you read to help you sleep?” JJ asked “No, I do complex algebra and work out the odds of situations happening to a profile of a person that Spencer gives to me.” You say like it is a completely normal thing as Penelope texts to say she’s sorted your accommodation for your holiday and smile at your phone and put it away again. “And how do you relax?” The chief of the Texas police asks “I’m researching the links between two very old Mathematics theories compared to breakthroughs in the last 10 years for my next PHD in Mathematics.” You shrug. “How old are you?” The chief asks. “I’m 26 as of last month. Can I go to the last two crime scenes now please?” You ask “Sure. I see you brought your own calculator.” The chief says to Rossi and Hotch. “I prefer Dr Y/N Y/S/N.” You say smiling. “Reid, Rossi, go with Y/N.” Hotch says and you all go to the crime scenes. “What was her first PHD in?” The chief asks Spencer. “Psychological and Behavioural Science.” Spencer smiles at you with adoring eyes. “Are they a thing?” The chief asks opening the door of the car for you to get in. “Thanks, and yes. 3 years.” You say as Spencer joins you in the back holding your hand as Rossi gets in the front.

In the car, you go over your theory with Rossi and Spencer who have similar theories to you, and you go back to the police station to deliver a profile.

“And if you have any information please call the tip line on the number below. Thank you.” You say, “We will not be taking questions at this time.” “Agent Y/S/N. Quick question.” One reporter said, as Spencer took over, hating the press ignoring what you and the team just delivered, “If you had listened, it’s Dr Y/S/N, not agent. No questions.” Spencer said as the team went back inside. “You okay Dr Y/N Y/S/N?” He asks softly as you nod. “Yes thank you Dr Reid.” You smile. After a few hours. “Everyone go to the hotel and get some sleep, back in at 9.” Hotch said as you all nod and walk to the hotel down the road. “Spencer, Y/N here’s your key, Derek and Emily to share, J.J with Rossi and myself.” He said, once you all checked in. “See you in the morning guys.” You yawn. Spencer opens the room door and walks in with you. “I’m going for a shower.” You say and start taking your clothes off as Spencer turns away. “Spence, you’ve seen me naked plenty of times. We aren’t children.” You giggle taking off your bra as Spencer turns back as he takes his shirt off. “Sorry, this hotel reminds me of the first time we shared a room before we started dating and had to share a bed.” He laughs putting his hands over your now naked body and keeping his hands on your boobs, squeezing them gently. “You’re an idiot, but I love you.” You say slipping your hands down his boxers and slipping them down before running in the shower. “That’s it!” He exclaims running after you and joining you in the shower. “Oh hello.” You giggle as you start to wash yourself. After your shower, you and Spencer have sex in bed, and cuddle for the rest of the evening. “Morning boo.” Spencer smiles kissing your nose, it’s 7.30AM. “I ordered room service.” “Ooh, can we claim expenses this trip?” You asked. “I don’t know, it’s only coffee and a bagel each.” Spencer shrugged and kissed you all over. “Last night was amazing.” You say, and start to get ready, “Well apart from the case shit, I enjoyed the sex.” Spencer nods in agreement, putting on one pink and one orange sock. “Do you want birthday sex next week pretty boy?” You ask walking over to him, sitting on his lap just wearing your bra and panties. “If we aren’t working.” Spencer smirked, “But I’ll take it even if we are working.” He said “Your wish is my command.” You said and got off his lap, and he pulled you back. “I wish we could have sex tonight.” He winked. “Deal.” You smile and kiss his cheek and go to brush your teeth. At the police station “Coffee Y/N?” Spencer asks offering you a cup which you take with a smile. “Thanks Spence.” You smile, taking it off him and work on the timeline of the last victim. “Guys, we got another victim.” Derek says. After 5 days, you and the team catch the un-sub after you went undercover posing as one of the CEO’s assistants to get more information on how he un-sub knew all of the CEO’s schedules, and it was found out he was going dressed as a cleaner, and then killed his victims when he got access to the floor he needed. He was in the same class as all of his victims and dropped out of University as his Dad went to prison, for drug trafficking and he went downhill from there. “So, what do you have planned for your birthday pretty Ricky?” Derek asked Spencer, as he placed down a card at the table. “I don’t know, Y/N will probably get me a vintage book and she’ll cook me pancakes.” Spencer shrugged. You were reading next to them, but were also working out the statistics of who would win what, depending on what cards they had, which you told Rossi and did a side bet of how long it would take Emily to realise that she has the winning hand if Derek doesn’t pick up an ace on his next card pick, you predicted  30 seconds and Rossi predicted a minute. “What do you have planned then for Dr Reid, Dr Y/S/N?” Emily asked as she placed down a card as Derek picked up a card. “We’re going to have sex and I’m dressing up as a sexy nurse.” You say bluntly, even though you know Spencer knows you are being sarcastic as you hate dressing up for sex. Emily spits out her water realising she has the winning hand, as Derek lets out a quiet groan. “Pay up.” You whisper to Rossi as Emily flashes you her winning hand. Rossi sighs handing you $30., muttering a few swear words in Italian. “You realise I speak fluent Italian?” You smirk at Rossi knowing exactly what he said. “You fuckers LOSE.” Emily said taking her winnings. Back at the FBI the following day You quickly go to Penelope’s lair, and take the plane tickets off her and the accommodation details before summoning Spencer to the conference room where everyone has got him a present. “I thought there wasn’t a case today..” Spencer mumbled “There is. Sorry genius.” J.J said as she and Spencer walked in seeing the banner and presents all for him. “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” You all cheer. Spencer opens all of his presents, thanking everyone and leaving yours until last. “Oh my God, Doctor Who Q&A?! And vintage books galore, a new satchel… You’re the best Y/N.” Spencer said kissing you softly. “And where is that Doctor Who Q&A Spencer?” Penelope asked, knowing Spencer has always wanted to go to England, where you are from. “England?! But Y/N… My Mum…” Spencer said biting his lip at the plane tickets. “As of tomorrow, I’m on speed dial for a week, so I’ll look after her until you can get back.” Penelope smiled as Spencer hugged her. “Thank you, Penelope.” He whispered. “You are welcome boy wonder.” She whispered back as you smile to yourself. “I love you Y/N. I don’t deserve you.” Spencer said putting his arm around your waist. “You deserve everything good in the world Spencer, I love you too.” You smile. “Now go on holiday, and don’t come back for a week. That’s an order.” Hotch said “Yes sir.” You and Spencer say, taking his presents and head to your flat. “I think I may want that birthday sex when we get back to our place.” Spencer said in the lift. “Yes Dr.” You smile squeezing his hand and put your head on his shoulder. - - - - - 

Taglist: @pumpkin-goob, @jpegjade​ , @andiebeaword​ , @hotchsbabygirl​ , @hopebaker​ , @hercleverboy​ , @cupcake525​ , @gubetube​ , @aperrywilliams​ , @cosmic-psychickitty​ , @marleyhotchner​

[fondnesses]

roscoe’s notebook post

A while back I said I was going to write a post about the way I use notebooks for writing projects. This is the first of several posts about Writing Process I’ve been tossing around in my drafts for a little while as a result of conversations with friends, so bear with me.

I. Love. Notebooks. I genuinely would have to deeply overhaul my whole Process of writing anything on the longer side if I were to go paperless; I find physical paper pretty invaluable when I’m outlining, brainstorming, and researching, and I still probably write ¼-⅓ of all my actual content on paper first. (That proportion used to be a lot higher, but I’ve gotten better at being productive on a computer in recent years, which is great.) I’m a very visual person, so notebooks really help me visualize my ideas, story structure, etc. It’s very helpful to be able to use arrows and diagrams and physically strike things through, and the tactility is really soothing to me. If I show people my notebooks or talk about them, I often get a response like “this is so organized”, which is sort of true, but I have to stress that it’s “organization for a disorganized mind”; I can’t misplace ideas or notes if it all goes into the same physical object, vs. electronic notes, which are much more, like “Did I say that in a voice memo? PM it to myself on Discord? Leave it in a desktop sticky note? Write it directly into the Google Doc? Who knows! It’s lost to time!”. It’s very much an ADHD management strategy.

It helps that I’m a very neophyte stationery hobbyist and appreciate any excuse I have to use my pens, but I also will go off at any opportunity about how helpful I find them for writing projects, which is why I decided to just make a post about it. Right now I mostly use them for (fan and original) fiction projects, but I used a notebook for a very similar purpose when I was working on my undergrad thesis, and I have a slightly different but equally necessary-to-me approach to notebooks I use at work.

My typical structure for a notebook that’s devoted to one project only looks like this:

I always leave the first couple pages blank so I can go back and retroactively index bujo-style. I don’t always actually do the index, because sometimes I get too lazy, but I like having those blank pages there to give me the option. I also usually put epigraphs/inspo quotes on the first page.

After that, there’s often (but not always, I’ll talk about it) a couple pages at the start where I’m frantically jotting down loose brainstorming ideas before they've coagulated into a story structure. Just, like, vomiting into the void.

Stemming out of that, I usually write out about like 5-10 pages of outline-style notes in chronological order, laying out all the main story beats and charting out the story trajectory. This will inevitably get revised and rewritten many times, but I find the process of writing these wide-angle synopses really useful for dislodging ideas, making connections re: thematic threads, etc. from my brain.

I’ll devote a couple pages after that to specific things like "sex scene brainstorming", "random scene ideas/minor details that don't have a clear place in the outline right now but I'll turn to for inspo later" [this is what I refer to as “bits” in one of the later photos], "page where I just outline the Motifs And Themes", "research notes", "to-do list", "stuff to check on a second pass", "things to put in the a/n and AO3 tags", etc.--the specifics vary with the story.

Then, I skip ahead to approx. halfway through the notebook and cordon off the rest of the pages to be “free writing” space, AKA writing of actual content rather than planning, with the expectation there will be no internal organization and I’ll transcribe to laptop as I go. Writing on paper feels less binding than typing something on a computer; it’s like a little secret kept with myself, and it doesn’t need to go anywhere or be seen by anyone if I decide I don’t like it. Setting aside pages in the back half of the notebook means that, as more things come up re: planning, I can go back and add those in the rest of the pages that were intentionally left blank. This is how I avoid (for the most part) having the whole thing be a jumbled mess where there’s no separation between the notes and the actual story writing; I learned this the hard way via the first notebook I’ll show you in a second. I’ve recently gotten really into using Muji sticky note tabs to label any pages/sections of particular import that don't want to have to refer back to in the index and would rather just flip to instantly.

I do use notebooks that aren’t specific to any one project, but those are much less organized and less worth sharing.

Before I look at more recent stuff, here are some selections from my notebook for the project that got me into writing longfic, my Golden Kamuy canon divergence AU (with apologies for the bad photos, my phone’s camera is trash). I worked on this from Sept 2018-July 2019. It was a learning experience in a lot of ways, and notebook utilization was one of those. I’ve always used notebooks for keeping track of writing projects, as I said earlier, but before this it was largely without much organization or structure; just total chaos. Having a physical notebook became really important for this project because it was a sprawling multichapter story with rotating POVs and a lot of historical research. I also learned a lot about what not to do with a notebook, personally, or at least things that don’t work so well (for me). This was a college ruled spiral-bound Decomposition Book, for the record.

By the time I bought a notebook for it I already had a (very basic) plot outline in mind, so I wasn’t doing that very initial ground-zero brainstorming in here; I was copying out of my phone’s notes app, basically, and then going from there. 

This is one of the first pages in this notebook; I wanted to visualize the relationship web between the four central characters in the story in terms of how they feel about one another. The two colours correspond to the POV characters (Sugimoto in orange, Ogata in pink), and I used this colour-coding throughout the notebook with highlighters, etc. to keep track of information that was more relevant to one character than the other. Tsurumi and Yuusaku aren’t POV characters, but they’re prominent in the story and their presence impacts the central relationship between Sugimoto and Ogata, and it was helpful to me to map out the emotional ecosystem, as it were.

(There are coffee stains all over this, because I wrote the vast majority of the story in coffee shops because I didn’t want to be around my roommates, lol. This is part of why I never do fiction writing in notebooks that are too nice, I get neurotic about needing to keep them tidy. I can’t use ones that are too shit though, either, so it’s a bit of a narrow window. I’ll talk more about brands and paper quality etc. later.)

As you can see, this is the first page of many I set aside specifically for jotting down different pieces of historical information relevant to my story. It’s about fictional characters who are members of an army division that existed in real life, and both the canon and my fic involve a high level of attention to detail with regards to which divisions were present for which battles, etc., as well as general historical details specific to the Russo-Japanese War setting--what did people eat in the trenches? What did they do to fill time? How did they get through the winter? What did third party observers have to say about the conditions? What were the specs of their weaponry (particularly important because one of the POV characters is a sniper and gun nut)? I did a lot of reading (and watching of antique gun collector Youtube videos... the things I do for love, eh), and it came in handy so many times, because it turns out it’s much easier to write trench warfare slice of life if you have factual details to pull from when you don’t know what to do with a scene! Imagine that!

This is the first of three “grid outlines” I made; this is a way I sometimes like to visualize a story outline all on one page, with the columns representing chapters and the squares within the columns representing sections/scenes within the chapters. As you can see, early on I was hoping to get this done in five or even FOUR chapters (whatmakesyouhaha.mp3), with POV switches happening internally within the chapters. This proved to be unwieldy for many reasons, so I revised the outline:

Here I’d come to terms with the fact this story was going to have a lot more chapters than I’d planned, and I rearranged things so that it would happen in ten, with each chapter belonging to only one POV character. This also needed revising later, and in the end the story looked a bit more like this (though it did in fact end up being twelve chapters, but only because Chapter Ten was like, 12k, and needed to be split in two chunks):

I must have remembered to bring my fineliners to the coffee shop this time, lol, because as you can see it’s properly colour-coded this time. This outline was made when I was already four posted chapters into the fic, which hopefully gives you a sense of the way in which I am sort of a planner and a pantser; I can’t get into a longer project without an outline, but the outline inevitably changes many times throughout writing and I often end up with a finished product that looks pretty different from what I was intending. My creative M.O. as always is Do The Maximum! Amount! Of! Work! Possible!

This is what a “free writing” page looks like, for me. In this notebook I didn’t set aside any specific spaces for free writing so it’s strewn throughout the notebook in a really disorganized way and I was constantly flipping through looking for bits I’d written and forgotten to transcribe, and I decided to be more organized in future as a result of that. If something’s crossed through, that means I transcribed it. As you can see, they’re often small sections, sometimes just a coupled decontextualized sentences. About 3/4 of what I write in a notebook makes it into the story, I’d say; some of it never goes anywhere, and that’s OK. I have less of an issue killing my darlings if they never make it off the paper page.

A very brief, top-down chapter outline, where the goal was not to get too bogged down in details and just to visualize the beats and pin down what they’re trying to accomplish. Chapters for this fic typically ran about 6k, and five or six scenes per chapter was pretty common, so the average scene length was about 1-1.25k words/scene. IDK why I called it storyboarding when I didn’t make drawings. (Margin numbers are to keep track of word count, since I was using a daily word count tracker while writing this.)

This page was, as titled, for keeping track of the various balls in the air when I was about 2/3-3/4 of the way through the story and really feeling the pressure with regards to tying up the various loose ends. This was... a struggle. I hadn’t ever written anything longish (this fic ended up just under 70k) that had an action plot before, let alone a canon divergence scenario where I had to engage with and explain away various canon plot elements so I could maintain the audience’s suspension of disbelief.

Now, I mentioned earlier that I learned various “things not to do” with my notebooks while working on that project. One of those lessons I learned is to be more realistic when assessing how big a project is likely to get, not least because I RAN OUT OF PAGES around the chapter 9-10 mark. In my defense though, that’s because I’d never written anything even half this long! But I know better now, and try not to be in denial. Finishing the notebook early was a way bigger problem than I’d anticipated, and was part of the reason the last few chapters took several grueling months to finish. The issue was that I needed to be able to use a notebook to maintain my workflow--attempting to do it only on a computer was dismal--but it seemed silly to start a notebook of a similar size to the one I’d finished (80pg, approximately B5 dimensions) when there was no way it would need that much space, especially since the reference pages, like the historical notes, didn’t need to be transcribed over. I was also pretty broke at the time and didn’t want to spend money unnecessarily, lol. I tried to get by using a Moleskine Cahier for a month or so because I had one lying around, but it was horrid; it was too small to be used comfortably, it wasn’t spiral-bound so it wouldn’t lay flat, the ghosting is terrible and I hate the way Moleskine paper feels, etc. Eventually I caved and went to Muji and bought a 30ish page A5 with closer to lay-flat binding, and I finished the story in there. I would take a comparative pic for you of the relative notebook sizes and include some of the scene staging diagrams, etc. I put in there, but I can’t find it :(

So I learned that specs really do matter, and it’s okay to be picky if the pickiness is going to make the difference between actually using a notebook or not. Things that are important to me in my notebooks:

Ruling (gotta have ruling, I can suffer through grid but blank or dot is a no-go)

Size (I can’t use anything smaller than at least a medium-large notebook, I find it claustrophobic and get miserly about page space)

Binding (twin ring is my preference because it looks and feels better than a classic spiral but has the same comfort of use with regards to bending the pages back to suit workspace size and laying flat with ease)

Paper quality and colour (I don’t like anything too slippery/smooth or with too much visible ghosting, and I strongly prefer an off-white paper to bleached paper--part of why I don’t use Decomposition Books anymore, the paper is scratchy and it’s too damn bleached!)

Pagecount relative to size of project

Portability (in non-COVID times; anything bigger than a B5 wouldn’t fit in the satchel I used to bring to work at my old job), etc.

But everyone’s taste is different in this respect, and the only way to figure out what works for you is through trial and error, I’m afraid. I also suspect I’m more neurotic and particular about the sensory experience of using a notebook than most people are, but I yam what I yam.

Now to talk about the notebooks for my current projects, where I’ve refined my approach somewhat. I’ve included less photos for these because they’re ongoing WIPs I don’t want to spoil completely, but I’ve tried to include some outline-type stuff to give you an idea.

My big bang fic is in the very ugly twin ring notebook on the right; I got it at a dollar store by my house because I needed something to work in and didn’t want to wait for an online order, but it’s been very serviceable for my needs. The paper isn’t even bad. The bigger notebook (B5) is my Sangcheng fic.

I wanted something with a lot of pages for this, because I knew it was going to be a long story, and for some reason the fact it’s smaller than my usual preference doesn’t bug me (I think it’s an A5?); it just fits this story, somehow. I’m not sure exactly how many sheets are in here but I’d guess about 150.

Because this notebook has upwards of 100 sheets, I made a lot of use of sticky-note tabs to label high-priority pages. The colour coding of these doesn’t mean anything, it was just whichever ones I had at hand at any given moment. These are those tabs from Muji I mentioned, I’m really obsessed with them--the shape makes them so much less obtrusive and more practical than conventional squares/rectangles OR flag shapes, IME.

My big bang story is nonlinear, so, similarly to what I did with colour coding for the two POVs for my GK fic, this story has two main colours corresponding to whether a given section takes place in the “before” or the “after” portions of the timeline, with blue as “after”, yellow as “before”. This is what the most current version of the outline looks like in there:

If you squint, you can see the alphanumeric notes in the top right of each section entry; I gave them each a code like “A3″ or “B5″ corresponding to their position in the story sequence (so, it goes A1, B1, A2, B2, etc., through to B9 and then the epilogue). [Unintentional that this schema overlaps with notebook size labeling and so is kind of confusing in the context of this post.] At first I was just keeping track of the sections via the highlighted titles, but it got confusing because I’d write down “Wedding” or “Yiling” in my notes and then refer to the notes later like “but there are multiple marriages?? and multiple scenes in Yiling??”. Stuff gets struck through with a straight line if it’s been written in a more-or-less complete form and crossed out with a squiggly line if it’s been cut from the outline or made redundant.

As I said earlier, I started out all the initial brainstorming for my Sangcheng fic in its notebook, instead of brainstorming it in someone’s DMs/my notes app/a voice memo/etc. and then transcribing it into the notebook in a somewhat more organized fashion, which is how my stories usually start out. Because of this, the first five-ish pages are basically just stream of consciousness rambling where I was trying to jot down every disconnected thought I had about the story concept. I don’t have photos for that because it’s too spoilerific for later developments in the fic, but I can show you some of the stages the outlines went through, once I was able to corral those initial notes into a story structure:

All the chapters in this fic have their own highlighter colour, so when I started trying to make sense of my initial brainstorm notes I just went through and highlighted stuff in the colour of the chapter it would make the most sense for, and then transcribed things more-or-less in chronological order into the relevant chapter outline. I later ended up rewriting all the chapter outlines AGAIN to refine them and divide them internally by the individual scenes, which makes them a lot more legible and less wall-of-text-y. They look like this now, with about four sheets per chapter:

Because this fic is on the longer side, I have some pages that are just for keeping track of other story elements, like this, where I refer back to whatever the fuck the “themes” are supposed to be whenever I forget what this fic is about:

It’s all about the visionboarding... Anyway, that’s most of what I have to offer, since most of these two notebooks is Forbidden Content.

With regards to brands/supplies, I really like this Kokuyo Campus Wide notebook that I’m writing Sangcheng in, it’s pretty perfect for me. I also like the B5 Muji twin rings, but those only come in 30 sheets, so I wouldn’t use it for anything above a ~20k project. The B5 Maruman Spiral Note 6.5mm ruled/80 sheet is another good one, though I wish it was twin ring instead of spiral. As you can tell, I like Japanese stationery brands because it’s easier to find decent paper quality and minimalist design without shelling out $$ than it is with American/European brands, at least IME. I like Rollbahns too. But honestly, I can usually find pretty serviceable random notebooks that aren’t brand-name from Asian dollar stores; it’s really not something where you need to shell out tons of money.

[let-it-raines]

Not Your (soul)Mate {10/15}

Killian Jones doesn’t like the idea of soulmates. He sees how happy his friends are with theirs, but he still doesn’t like the idea, not when he’s found love and lost it time and time again only to still not know his sign. He has no markings on his skin, no voices in his head, but then one day he meets Emma Swan and everything changes. Because, well, he may not have ink on his skin to tell him who to love, but the very first time that he hears Emma’s voice he knows that she’s the one for him. Then again, that could simply be his desire talking. After all, for every word she speaks, he becomes aroused.

It’s not the worst thing in the world to be incredibly attracted to a beautiful woman, but things aren’t that simple when she doesn’t have any interest in being his soulmate.

He’s screwed. And not in the good way.

Rating: Mature

A/n: Will my posting schedule ever make sense? Probably not. Anyways, thanks for reading, my pals! You guys are the best, and I love love love you all for loving this story and these two crazy people💜

Thank you to @captainsjedi for her love and support and artwork!

Found on AO3: Beginning | Current

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Tag list:  @initiala @snowbellewells @karenfrommisthaven @skyewardolicitycloisdelena91 @scientificapricot @captswanis4vr @a-faekindagirl @emmas-storybook @searchingwardrobes @spartanguard @ultimiflos @jamif @idristardis @dreameronarooftop15 @nikkiemms @resident-of-storybrooke @tiganasummertree @wellhellotragic @bmbbcs4evr @onceuponaprincessworld @jennjenn615 @mayquita @captainsjedi @teamhook @kmomof4 @ekr032-blog-blog @superchocovian @ultraluckycatnd @cs-forlife @andiirivera @qualitycoffeethings @jonirobinson64 @mariakov81 @xellewoods @thejollyroger-writer @galaxyzxstark @cssns

-/-

No part of her understands why their cable bill is mailed to her. They’re a cable company. They provide TV and internet and yet they’ve never heard of paperless online billing. It’s ridiculous. And yet the minute she’s late with her payment she gets an increasingly nasty series of emails that shows they obviously know how to use the internet. And since Storybrooke Cable is the only company that provides internet in a sixty-mile radius, it’s not like they don’t have the funds to set up a website. Hell, she’ll take a class and learn how to program the website for them if she has to.

Well, probably not. That’s all a little dramatic, but she really hates having to go down to the mailboxes in the basement to get her mail so that she can go upstairs and write a check and buy a stamp to mail the payment in. It’s not the biggest deal in the world, but she hates it.

She obviously would not have lasted in a world without internet.

The old stairs creak beneath her, a sound that she’s used to when she’s carrying her laundry downstairs (it’s how she knows when she’s on the unsteady step since usually she can’t see over the full height of her clothes which is what procrastination gets her), and she quickly descends downstairs to the row of mailboxes that rest against the wall in front of the washing machines and dryers that work at least ninety percent of the time.

She and Belle need to move to a nicer place. They can afford it, but then again, if Belle moves, it’ll probably be with Will. It’s a constant thought every time Emma thinks about it, so she never quite works up the courage to bring up moving somewhere else. This place is just fine, they’ve made it their home, and so what if she has to walk to a bit of a creepy place to get her mail to pay her cable bill. It’s not like anyone in this town is actually going to do something to her.

They’d have hell to pay.

The stairs could use a little work, though, maybe a few new light fixtures for the hallways too.

Pulling out her key, she twists it in her box, opening it and grabbing the few envelopes that lay flat against the metal. She closes the box, locking it back up, and as she walks up the stairs, she shuffles through the mail, tripping on a loose board as she sees neat black script inked across the white in the upper left corner.

Killian Jones.

What the hell?

What the hell is he doing sending her a letter? Even though her toe is still stinging from how she jammed it, the pain worse than some of her injuries she’s gotten on the job, she stops in the middle of the staircase and rips the letter open.

Dear Emma Swan,

You’ll have to forgive me because it’s been awhile since I’ve written a letter that’s not an e-mail. I’ve been told by a rather reliable source that it’s a bit old-fashioned to write like this, but I do like a bit of a challenge. So, Swan, I’m sitting at my desk writing you a letter on stationary that Ariel found me and with my very favorite pen. And while I don’t expect you to write back, I have included several stamps to encourage you. You wouldn’t want me to waste money, now would you?

Anyways, I find myself wondering about you because you intrigue me. There are things I’d like to know. For instance, how long have you been a secret nerd watching the History Channel and National Geographic? I, for one, have been a fan for years. It’s fascinating to learn about things that have happened in the past. What other interests do you have? Do you enjoy sports? Read any good books lately? What is your ultimate favorite baked good? Do you like cooking them yourself? Are you one of those people who have a favorite flower? I am partial to sunflowers over roses, preferring the brightness of yellow, but then again, there are yellow roses.

I’m simply but a curious man who enjoys knowing the answers to my questions, and in return, you can feel free to ask me anything you want. I’d even tell you what kind of underwear I wear since you seem to be averse to answering that particular question.

Sincerely,

Killian A. Jones

“Oh my God,” she mumbles, scanning over the words one more time before opening up the envelope to see several stamps with pictures of sailboats on them.

A part of her absolutely cannot believe that he wrote her a freaking letter, but then again, she’s not really shocked. That’s exactly something that he would do just to annoy her, and the fact that he included stamps is really over the top. She’s not going to complain. She needs stamps, but damn, the man is persistent.

But she’s not going to write him back.

Absolutely not.

She folds his letter back up and puts it in the envelope before walking up the rest of the stairs and turning in the stairwell so she can get back to her floor, quickly moving into her apartment to write a check so she can send off the cable bill before she gets to work this morning. Belle is still sleeping, so she tries to stay quiet as she grabs her purse and walks right back out the door, all of her mail in the front pocket of her purse.

All day she ignores the letter that seems to be burning a hole through the leather material of her purse that’s hidden under her desk, but it’s more of an attempt at ignoring it than actually ignoring it, because when David leaves to go question a fight that broke out down by the pier, she grabs a piece of paper out of the printer and starts writing something back.

Damn it. Has she lost control of her limbs?

Jones,

You’re ridiculous. Seriously. I can’t believe you took our texts as a challenge, but then again, it is you. I have no idea why I’m writing you back, but you did say that I could ask you any question I want, and, well, I simply can’t pass up that opportunity.

So tell me, what is the most embarrassing thing to ever happen to you? And spare no detail.

Sincerely,

Emma Swan.

PS: I am a mean ping pong player, and I agree with you about the roses. If you’re looking for a good book recommendation, though, I suggest Belle. She gives me all of mine.

Oh, and bear claws.

And I want to know what the A in your name stands for.

Quickly, she stuffs the paper in an envelope, seals it, writes his address on it, places a stamp in the corner, and puts it in the mailbox outside of the station so that she literally can’t take it back without tampering with federal law. She’ll bend a lot of rules, but she’s not going to break federal law over something as dumb as a letter.

Two days later, she gets a letter back. There’s no formal address this time, and she kind of likes that…not that she likes this.

Really went straight for the kill then, eh Swan? It took me a bit to remember what exactly my most embarrassing memory is, simply because I’m so suave that I don’t have many embarrassing moments.

However, when I was a young lad of twenty-three, I had the night off and left base to go out to a pub with a few of my mates. This was something we did often, something we’d done for our five years together, but on this particular night I indulged in a few too many glasses of rum. My tolerance wasn’t quite what it is now, even if I do wake up feeling like I’ve been hit by a truck now, and while I don’t remember the night but in a few glances (particularly me telling the lasses that I was the Captain when I was not), I do remember waking up in the flat of a woman I didn’t know without my clothes anywhere in sight. Either she stole them, my mates somehow stole them, or something else happened, but my options to get home were either walking in the streets of Birkenhead in the nude or wearing this lass’s mother’s nightgown. It was this billowing, flowery thing, and while I fully believe I can wear anything I want, let’s just say my actual Captain did not take too kindly to me walking back onto base in something that was not approved. I was written up three times for one incident, and I’d just like you to imagine me having to explain why to my superiors why I was wearing a nightgown when I had no idea myself.

I have to say, though, nightgowns are quite comfortable. Lots of air to breathe. It’s likely a good thing that my mates thought it would be funny to buy me a nightgown when I was promoted. It was much more my taste. Silk is wonderful, though I don’t think I ever wore it. I much prefer my briefs.

So, there’s a story of one of the brightest moments of my youth, and while I’m sure you’ll somehow use it to torture me, it’s yours to know.

My middle name is, Andrew, by the way, and the lovely Belle has recommended me to The Guest Book as reading material. It’s rather good. Feel free to borrow my copy if you’d like. Speaking of Belle, I hear Mr. French makes rather delectable bear claws, but he’s in a fierce rivalry with Mrs. Lucas over who makes the best. Personally, I think they’re using pastries as a bit of foreplay, but that’s simply a theory from an observer.

Now, Swan, I’ve metaphorically shown you mine, so you should show me yours.

Have a good week,

Killian Andrew Jones.

Emma doesn’t realize it, but by the time she’s finished reading the letter, she’s got tears streaming down her face, just a few of them, from laughing at the thought of Killian running around in a nightgown. That’s the most ridiculous thing she’s ever heard, but for some reason, she has no issue imagining him walking into base in a flowery nightgown that hits at his knees and shows off all of the hair on his legs with the shoulders being a little tight. It’s ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous, and she’s glad that Belle is still at the library so that she doesn’t ask what in the world Emma is laughing at.

It would be a little hard to explain.

Well, not really, but she doesn’t want to explain. Because her explaining any of this would make her have to explain other things, and since Belle already knows that Killian sent her the basket of baked goods months ago. So it would be too difficult to explain her...having to explain. This is kind of like some sort of bad inception.

But Belle’s not even here, so it definitely doesn’t matter.

While she’s still laughing, she gets up from the table and heads to the kitchen, grabbing a wine glass out of the cabinets and pouring her a glass of the wine that she and Belle didn’t finish drinking last night. If she’s going to spend her time writing letters to Killian, which is a ridiculous concept in and of itself, she should at least have some alcohol in her.

Not enough to make her have to wake up without clothes and have to borrow an ugly nightgown from the mother of the person she’d slept with but some alcohol all the same.

She doesn’t have any paper here, so she has to shuffle through some of the old notebooks Belle keeps on their bookshelves, and takes out a lined page from the back, settling down on the couch with her wine and paper and pin while Drain the Oceans plays on the TV.

Killian Andrew (Asshole) Jones,

I’ve added the “asshole” because I really did think that was your middle name. You did say you would respond to it, but I guess Andrew is okay. Is that a family name? Your father’s maybe? I don’t have a middle name, didn’t even have a last name, only my first, but I’ve always kind of thought it would be something classic since my first name is.

Shit. I just got wine on the paper. Oops.

So you and that rum, huh? You seem to be a fan of it. And also nightgowns. Are you sure you don’t sleep in one of those? Is that why you don’t have a girlfriend? You scare them all away with your nightgown. I imagine it makes easy access to...things, so really, they should like it better than the briefs. It’s just a great mystery that may never be solved.

Granny’s bear claws are better than Mr. French’s hands down, but Mr. French has better pastries overall. Plus, he’s like my dad, so you implying that they have a thing going on is really kind of freaking me out. I bet Granny wears a nightgown, though, which makes my earlier joke about easy access so much creepier.

Some things simply shouldn’t be imagined. But if you’re going to, make sure to tell Ruby to scar her for life.

I haven’t read that book, but if Belle recommends it, it must be good. I’ll have to check it out. I’ve been very into historical romances lately, which isn’t really on par for me, but there’s simply something about Jane Austen, you know?

Thanks for telling me your most embarrassing story. You’re right. I’m totally going to use that against you, and no, I will not tell you my most embarrassing story. It involves karaoke, though, so it’s a good one.

Emma

If she hadn’t had the wine, she probably would have realized that she revealed a bit too much in her letter, but after she seals it that night and sends it off in the morning, still using the sailboat stamps Killian provided, she doesn’t think about it.

Not at all.

What she does think about is the fact that eight days go by without a new letter. She didn’t even realize that she wanted another letter, that she got a weird sense of excitement over them, until she wasn’t receiving one in her mailbox.

Who has she turned into that she’s checking her mailbox daily?

What decade is this?

But her week has gone by as normal, spending her days at work, reveling in the hour break she gets to eat lunch with David or Ariel, and her evenings at home, sometimes with Belle, sometimes not. On Saturday she, Ruby, Belle, Mary Margaret, and Ariel all spent the day at the beach, waking up early enough to beat all of the tourists there, and settled down with blankets and umbrellas with bags full of food and a cooler full of drinks. They didn’t bother moving, not unless to dip into the ocean to cool themselves off or to run up to the pier to use the restroom, and even if her eyes constantly trailed down to the pier to look at the fleet of ships and boats and what not resting outside of the Jones’ office.

And if her eyes kept checking her texts even if most everyone she spoke to was already there, no one had to know. Though she does think that Ruby noticed.

She wasn’t very subtle in her desperation.

But she didn’t see him, not that she wanted to, and she tried to push it all to the back of her mind to enjoy the day as the sun beat down on her skin so that she got the slightest bit of a tan that she hopes stays with her until the fall.

Okay, so she thinks about the lack of a letter a lot.

However, she wasn’t thinking about it when she was driving home from work, but now that she’s standing next to the door of her apartment with Will holding a stack of their mail, it’s all she can think about.

Shit.

Why didn’t it occur to her that she and Belle share a mailbox and that Belle could see one of these letters? How could she have missed that?

“Hey,” she cautiously greets, placing her keys down, the clanging loud in her ears, on the table and stepping further into the room, “I didn’t know you were coming over tonight.”

“Belle and I are going to dinner. Why do you have a letter from Jones?”

“Huh?” she asks, trying to keep her voice steady even though her heart is beating wildly in her chest, the sound louder than it has been in a long time. She can feel it all the way down to her toes. “I have a letter?”

Will raises his eyebrow, obviously not believing her, and as casually as she can, she steps forward and takes the letter from Will, stuffing it away in the back pocket of her jeans.

“So where are you guys going for dinner?” Emma asks to change the subject.

“Eric’s place. He gives me a discount.”

“Ah, yes, because everyone wants discount fish.”

“Oi, it’s not like he’s giving us the old fish.”

“So you think. If you guys die in a few days, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“We’ll be dead, and you’ll be bragging about it.”

“Exactly.” She steps around Will and sits down on the couch, reaching down to unlace her boots and kick them off. “I guess I’ll miss you.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“Emma,” Belle shouts, and Emma leans her head back to look down the hall to see Belle standing in the hallway, “can I borrow those teal heels that you wore last week?”

“Yeah, they’re in my bathroom.”

Belle doesn’t say anything back, but less than a minute she comes into their living room wearing the teal heels and a little black dress, fluffing out her hair over her shoulders while Will grabs his coat off the chair, stepping up to her and kissing her cheek, whispering something that Emma doesn’t pick up on, which is good. It’s private, and she doesn’t need to hear things about their private life.

Her hearing thing has been wonky lately anyways. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t.

“We probably won’t be back until late,” Belle tells her, and Emma reaches her hand up over the couch to let Belle grab onto it. “Do you want me to bring you back anything?”

“Nah, you two go have fun. Don’t do anything that I’ll have to investigate.”

“Well, that just takes all of the fun away.”

After the two of them leave, she leans up on the couch and pulls the later out of her back pocket, hoping that Will forgets about it and doesn’t mention it to Belle, and quickly opens the sealed envelope, her nerves running over every inch of her skin and making her fingers shake the slightest bit as she straightens the creases out of the paper.

Emma,

I apologize for my late reply, but you seem to have caught me at a bad time. I had a client call and request a refurbishment on his seafaring vessel (his words, not mine), and I’ve been consumed with it. I love this job. It’s a way to keep me connected to the ocean, a place where I spent so much of my life, but this is different. And it certainly didn’t help that my wrist decided to act up a bit this week. It’s the weather and all.

Regardless, I do wish you would have told me your most embarrassing story. I feel like it’s a real ice breaker, and I love karaoke....if I’m drunk. But then again, bad things seem to happen when I’m drunk. So wine? That’s your vice? I always took you more as a tequila or whiskey type, but then again, I’m learning that I know very little about you, love. Though, I like that it’s changing a bit, if I may be so bold.

Jane Austen is bloody brilliant, and it’s nice to hear of someone else appreciating her. Mr. Darcy and I have a lot in common, you know? I, too, screw up with strong-willed women and then have to realize the error of my ways to have them allow me back into their lives. Or, at least, I hope. Tell me, if you’re a fan of historical romances, how are you not a fan of letter writing when that is such a core piece of the story? Is it simply that you don’t like modern day letter writing because it, for practical reasons, doesn’t make any sense? We could have had this entire conversation in ten minutes, but it’s taken eight days. Yet, this is a bit more fun, even though talking to you does incite other kinds of fun.

As to my middle name, it’s my mother’s maiden name. My father’s name is Brennan, and the only thing I carry from him is the Jones name, which is likely a good thing. He wasn’t a good man. He was a drunk, and he abandoned us when I was ten. I’m proud to be a Jones because of my brother and my mum, so like you, I suspect that my last name carries a weight that most don’t.  

Anyways, that’s much too much information about me. Tell me, Swan, there’s a Summer Regatta coming up in two weeks. Do you think you’ll be at the festival? I know someone who can get you a free ride on a boat.

Killian.

He’s got a screwed up family too.

That’s what she gets out of all of that. It’s not that he loves the same books that she does, not that he correctly guessed her drinking vices, not that he practically invited her to be his date to the regatta in over Labor Day weekend. It’s the fact that he has a screwed up family, a drunk deadbeat dad and a dead mom. She knew his family life wasn’t great, if only because Elsa never mentions having to take the kids to go see Liam’s parents.

Huh.

She can kind of see it now, can see that he is a bit of an orphan too, and even though he had parents, it breaks her heart. No one should ever have to grow up without having people love them, and she’s thankful that Killian had Liam and their mom. That’s a nice thing for them to have a family, even if it’s not what most people would call complete.

Maybe it’s the wine or maybe it’s the fact that she suddenly understands Killian in a way that she knows only a few people can, but she pulls out her phone and lets her fingers move without thinking about it too much.

Emma: So not a fan of karaoke then? Is your voice that bad?

The three dots pop up almost immediately after she presses send only for them to disappear, only coming back every few seconds. He’s either trying to think of what to say or realized that he’s texting back incredibly fast. It’s nice to know some things never change.

Killian: For someone who is incredibly attracted to my voice, that’s a bold thing for you to suggest.

Emma: Touché.

Emma: So it’s not bad then?

Killian: I’ve been told that it’s actually pretty good, but I find that karaoke does nothing but bring embarrassment unless you’ve been drinking all day.

Emma: Okay, but say you have…what’s your go-to song?

Kilian: Easy. Anything Elton John. He’s so easy to understand.

Emma: You’re kidding, right?

Killian: Nope.

He definitely has to be kidding.

Emma: I figured you’d be more of a Queen or Beatles guy. I’m pretty partial to Queen.

Killian: Well, I could do those too. Or pretty much anything from the eighties. I feel old, but I don’t know a lot of the new songs.

Emma: That’s because you are old.

Killian: Being older than you doesn’t make old. And as you can tell, I’ve retained my youthful glow.

Emma: Sure, we’ll call it that.

She takes another sip of her wine and turns the volume up a bit on the television so that she’s not simply staring at her phone waiting for him to text her back. That’d be pathetic. Then again, she’s sitting at home drinking wine and watching the History Channel while her roommate is out on a date. That could be considered pathetic. Or very, very smart depending on who is asked.

Killian: What are you up to tonight, love?

Emma: Watching Drain the Ocean, though I’ll be honest and say I have no idea what’s going on.

Emma: You?

Killian: The same, actually.

Emma: Creepy.

Killian: Believe it or not, I think we have similar taste in television shows.

Emma: Ugh, I know. I can’t believe I have so much in common with an old man.

Killian: If you keep flattering a man like this, he might get the impression that you like him.

Emma: Never.

Emma: At least we don’t like the same foods. Unless you secretly like junk food.

Killian: I enjoy certain kinds, but I don’t think I have the same propensity for grilled cheese, onion rings, and bear claws like you do.

Emma: I also like poptarts and brownies. Oooh and lots of icing.

Killian: You’re a child.

Emma: Oh, come on. You don’t like icing?

Killian: If there’s cake attached, yeah.

Emma: No, no. You’ve got this all wrong. Straight out of the can.

Killian: You also eat raw cookie dough, don’t you?

Emma: Duh.

Killian: I do like cookies, though. And mostly pastries that involve fruit. It makes it all feel a little healthier.

Emma: You’re in shape. I think you’ve got the healthy thing down.

Killian: I knew you liked staring at my ass.

Emma: I said nothing about your ass.

Killian: Just my general body then? The abs? The biceps? My collarbone? What about my left ankle? You’re into period romances. I bet the left ankle really does it for you.

“Oh my God,” she mutters to herself, putting her glass down on the coffee table and standing from the couch, smiling to herself as she reads the message and walks to the kitchen. He’s such an idiot.

Such an idiot.

And now she really wants something sweet to eat, so she presses up on her toes and gets a can of chocolate icing out of the pantry popping open the top and grabbing a spoon out of the drawer so she can at least be a little civilized about the whole thing. Without putting much thought into it, she holds the spoon full of icing up to her mouth and takes a quick picture, not checking to see what she looks like before sending it to Killian.

Emma: See? This is the way to eat sweets.

The three dots pop up before they disappear just like before, and she doesn’t really have time to think about it before the front door is swinging open and Belle is walking inside, an obviously bright red flush on her pale cheeks.

“I’m engaged,” she squeals, holding her left hand up as she walks into the apartment, a small diamond ring resting there.

“What?” Emma gasps, nearly choking on her icing before she puts the spoon and the container down, running her tongue over her teeth to wipe up all of the excess icing. “You’re engaged?”

“Yes! Will asked at dinner. Oh my gosh. You know, I always swore I wouldn’t be one of those girls, but I did the thing where I put my hands over my mouth when he got down on one knee.”

“Of course you did,” she laughs, reaching forward and wrapping Belle up in a hug, squeezing her as tightly as she can while she sees Will walk into the apartment, bags of takeout in his hands and a smile on his face that tells Emma he’s just as happy as Belle is. Good. They deserve all of the happiness. “I’m so damn happy for you. Both of you.”

“And you’ll be so much happier when you know that I brought you earplugs for tonight,” Will tells her when she hugs him.

“That is so gross.”

“I’m simply trying to be helpful.”

“Babe,” Belle laughs, walking over to the two of them and leaning into Will to press a kiss into his cheek, “stop grossing Emma out and give me five minutes to tell her what happened before we can let her put the earplugs into use.”

“Nope, nope, no,” she refuses, putting her hands in the air, “you guys just go. We’ll talk in the morning.”

“Perfect.”

“Please ignore him.”

“I promise you I’m trying.”

Will and Belle go back to their room, and she takes the opportunity to grab her phone, her icing, and plant herself in front of the television, turning to volume up so that she doesn’t have to risk hearing anything else. Tonight will probably be the night that her weird hearing thing picks up again.

She is so damn happy for the two of them, a bit of a buzz of happiness spreading over her skin, but she can’t help the little voice in her head that wonders what’s next for her if the two of them are getting married.

She hates that she thinks that.

Her phone dings, and she looks down at it, forgetting that she was texting Killian before Belle and Will came home.

How long were they texting for her friends to get engaged during that time? That’s…a lot of time. Did it really all go by that quickly? She didn’t even notice.

Killian: I mean, there’s definitely something sweet in that picture that I’d like to eat.

Emma chuckles under her breath, unable to help herself, especially when accompanying the text is a picture of him holding a banana over half of his face, the scars on his wrist and the chain around his neck visible even in the dimness of his apartment. And damn it. This was not supposed to happen. None of this was supposed to happen.

She likes Killian Jones. 

[peytonains]

The Rosefield Police Department presents: 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔦𝔫𝔱𝔢𝔯𝔯𝔬𝔤𝔞𝔱𝔦𝔬𝔫 𝔬𝔣 𝔭𝔢𝔶𝔱𝔬𝔫 𝔞𝔦𝔫𝔰𝔴𝔬𝔯𝔱𝔥

Though no one knew it, Peyton was no stranger to the interrogation room. As her exposed thighs spread across the cold metal of the folding chair, she winced as the terror of her father’s demise came flooding back. The tears came rushing to her chocolate eyes as she envisioned the last time she saw her father from the stands of a stale, quiet courtroom where handcuffs bound his wrists like boa constrictors. And since that very day, she’d viewed those in authority as nothing more than a species of cold blooded reptile. 

As the door opened, Peyton readjusted the hem of her skirt accordingly. She was taught from a young age it didn’t matter how she felt, it only mattered how she looked. And if her looks were going to plead her innocence, Ms. Ainsworth would certainly be pulling up to the station in louboutin heels. Though she feared authority, she’d be mighty. She’d be fierce. She’d be brave. It was showtime. 

“Miss. Ainsworth, please state your name for the record.” The man in uniform wasted no time, played no games. Something he’d come to know, neither did she. 

“Haven’t you already done that for me?” Peyton quipped back, her hands crossed on the table in front of her.

The officer narrowed his gaze, taking a menacing step towards her. “Full name, age, and occupation please. I will not ask again.”

“Peyton Coralia Ainsworth. Twenty-two years old. I’m an event planner here in Rosefield.” The tension in the room made her submissive, though her body language still very much read confident. Her straightened spine spoke on behalf of her inability to back down, her clenched jaw would only unlatch to speak words that reflected her truth, and her perfectly manicured hands would offer no firm handshakes, no truces or no palms swearing on soiled bibles. In this case, she knew she could trust no one, especially not the police.

“Are you aware that anything you say or do can and will be used against you in a court of law?” The man asked. This was not so much a question as it was a command. He sunk into his seat, adjusting his suit coat as he placed a manilla folder between the two of them. 

“Yes, I’m well aware.” Her reddened lips spoke in a firm voice, one the officer had probably not been expecting. She suspected he’d been in the presence of high school girls, shaking like a leaf in his presence. Their trembling hands shaking the metal table as sadness pulled at their vocal chords like the saddest of violin strings as Nathaniel’s services. Surely their lips quivered as they told their stories but Peyton’s eyes ran dry. 

“How did you know Nathaniel Beauchamp, Miss Ainsworth?”

“Unfortunately, I did not have the pleasure of knowing Nathaniel. We’d only ever met in passing. His family, however, speaks very highly of him. Memorializing him has been a great honor nevertheless.” A politician’s grin painted Peyton’s lips, face barely emoting as she spewed a rehearsed answer and surely he could see that. 

“I understand that’s the story you’re leading everyone to believe, Peyton. But, Nate’s phone records tell a different story.” He opened the folder and rotated the papers in her direction. Although her heart picked up speed in her chest, she refused to show her vulnerability. She wasn’t going to play stupid, or play victim. She’d play a smart and strategic game. “Is that your phone number?”

“Yes.” Peyton admitted, looking over the page. “Nate and I have texted, yes, because as I said we had met in passing. How many acquaintances do you have in your phonebook?”

“You and Nate corresponded text messages late at night in the months leading up to his death. Do you care to tell me that those messages were about?”

“A proper lady doesn’t kiss and tell.” She smirked at the officer, his stoic face did not falter.

“This is not a game, Miss. Ainsworth. A kid died.”

“I never said it was. As you research has probably come to show, Nate was a dog. You can probably use your imagination to figure what Nathaniel was texting me about late at night.” She posed.

“This interrogation is not about leaving things up to the imagination. This is about the facts and you are under oath. Start talking.”

Peyton took a deep breath before speaking again. “I was new in town and Nate and I had seen each other around. I heard about him through the grapevine but avoided him because, well, he was my friend’s ex boyfriend. Cassia Crocetti, you know her, right?” She rested her chin in her palm, elbow prompting itself parallel to the table as she leaned in. “He’d ask me to come over late at night. You know how boys can be. Did I answer? Yes. What girl doesn’t like a little bit of attention? But, did I sleep with him? No, absolutely not.” She affirmed, knowing damn well that their texts were nothing more than him starting their correspondence.

You see, the texts between Peyton and Nate were always vague.

N: You up? 

P: Yes.

N: Come over?

P: Could you be a bit more romantic?

The two’s love affair was pretty paperless. No ‘on my way’ messages or ‘great night’ texts. They moved in silence, they acted in silence. Whatever the police would read in those texts would lead to just that: silence.

“When was the last time you and Nate spoke? What were you two talking about?” The officer asked, a sigh escaping his lips. This investigation must have been a hard one, she thought. The teen had so many enemies, so many angry ex girlfriends, so many people he betrayed. This poor man had to arrive at dead end, after dead end, wondering who was lying and who was telling the truth. She could tell by his body language: the palm against his forehead, the slouching, the sigh... that he was defeated once again.

Peyton leaned in, a bit of cleavage exposing itself as she peered over at the dates scattered across the page. She pointed to the most recent record they had. “June 19th. 11:57pm. He said he wanted to see me and I didn’t answer, as you can see.”

“Why didn’t you answer?” 

“I was with Cassia.” Peyton pursed her lips, crossing her legs beneath the table. “We were busy.”

“Ms. Crocetti said she was in her bed early that morn--”

His words were interrupted by a promiscuous giggle as she wet her lips. “She didn’t say alone, did she?”

“Confidential information.”

“Well, I was in her bed on main street that morning. She teaches dance classes pretty early so we fell asleep.” The lie fell seamlessly off her lips. But in her mouth, on her the tip of her tongue, it tasted like the truth. The investigators were two steps behind as far as Peyton was concerned.  

To tell you the truth, reader, Peyton was with Nate that night. After the party, he showed up at her house, intoxicated with skewed inhibitions. The two had sex and he left shortly after. Was she shocked to discover he was dead a few hours later? Yes, so shocked in fact she swore herself to secrecy, the way her father would have expected her to. The way her family lawyers would have told her to do. The way she needed to.

“Do you know what Nathaniel was doing on a broken road on Cherry Route?”

“No, sir.” Peyton sat back in her chair, arms crossing smugly across her blouse. 

“Do you know anyone who lives near 120 Cherry Route, where the body was found?

“Just his crazy bitch ex-girlfriend.” Peyton said with confidence. Though her and Emma were friends, the girl would never know Peyton threw her under the bus. “Emmaleigh Wood. I’m sure you have her name on file.”

“Do you believe Emma would have any motive to kill Nathaniel?” The officer raised an eyebrow at the redhead.

“They were on and off again. I know she recently found out she was knocked up with his ghost spawn.” Peyton shrugged, giving him just a bit of information, information he had probably already known. The police would draw their own conclusions. Did she think Emma did it? No, the girl had too much love for him. But would someone pull the trigger on her behalf? It was a possibility, anything was. 

“I know you just recently moved here about eight months ago but are you aware that a couple was found dead in the same location as Nathaniel on December 17th of 2019?” 

“I’ve heard the tall tale, yes. Not much happens out here so when something like that happens, the whole scooby gang comes out to speculate.” She ran a hand though her auburn locks.

“Do you think these two cases were related?” He asked, jotting some notes down in his notebook.

“Isn’t it your job to come to that conclusion? If you’re relying on the opinions of others who have no idea what they’re talking about to solve your cases, it’s no wonder why there’s still a killer running through Rosefield.” Peyton rolled her eyes, rising to her feet. The officer mimicked her motion, towering over her. 

“Answer the question, Miss. Ainsworth.”

She swallowed, a chill traveling up her spine. “It’s possible.” She spoke quietly. When they were seated, the playing field seemed level but as his frame dominated hers, she felt powerless. Her demeanor suddenly changed. 

“You’re free to go.” The officer emphasized, taking a few steps back. He must have seen the terror well up in her eyes once more. 

And just like that, Peyton Ainsworth was gone. The only sound in the police station being the unwavering clacking of her graceful heels against the tile floor.

[prorevenge]

Nepotism: Marked for deletion.

TLDR At the end.

My school had a tradition, and I'm not sure if it's odd or not. But, each year we had kind of a mini-valedictorian award, starting in middle school. I was in the gifted program, so several of us had 4.0's, so the award was given to whoever had the highest overall GPA on the 100 point scale. I have always been very competitive by nature, so I set my sights on winning this award in the 7th grade. However, there was a bit of competition: let's call him Todd. Todd had really good grades as well, with the top spot usually bouncing back and forth between the two of us. It was so close that every single quiz, exam, and homework assignment had the potential to dethrone one of us while lifting the other. I had an average of 98.something, as did he.

Todd had a bit of an edge, however. See, Todd's mom was known for being a bully. She would yell, scream, berate, and openly mock any teacher who dared to give Todd a lower grade than me. But that isn't all: Todd's mom was also a teacher at our school. She would openly defy and berate her own colleagues, should they not provide whatever grade she wanted for Todd. Now, usually the school would avoid giving a child a class with their mother, but sometimes this was unavoidable. Naturally, we ended up in a class with his mother as the teacher.

This was a world history class, one which required several papers, tests, etc. By the end of the year, Todd and I had been neck and neck in this class. But, I noticed something: I consistently outperformed Todd (by several points) on any objective learning assessments (fill in the blank tests, multiple choice, etc.) However, somehow Todd consistently outperformed me on written/subjective learning assessments (papers, essays, etc.) Being a young and ignorant kid, I just assumed he was better at writing. That is, until our final assignment rolled around.

All our tests had been taken, all our quizzes and homework assignments graded, all our papers submitted and graded, the semester was functionally complete. I held a fraction of a point over Todd in the class, which put me overall ahead in the valedictorian race. But, mommy dearest couldn't have that. So, with three days left of the year, she assigned a list minute 2 page paper. Short, and simple. I submitted mine, and received a 95. Fair enough. I found out that Todd got a 100, just enough to put him ahead of me in the class, and in the valedictorian race. I was frustrated, so I asked Todd to see his paper repeatedly, desperate to find ways to improve to better my chances the next year. He refused, again and again. Then I remembered: when his mom handed the papers back to us, she never gave one to Todd. He hadn't done the paper, it was purely an assignment contrived to put him ahead.

Now comes the revenge: our school had just transferred to a paperless gradebook system the year before, so this was the second year on it. The principal was determined to make this cost efficient, so after the first trial year he didn't even bother restocking the teachers with physical grade books. That way, he could add the amount saved from physical books to the total amount that the new paperless system was saving the school.

Now, during this time I also worked. I had a family member who owned a small local ISP, and I would help out at every opportunity. I loved computers, and still do. Now, working with this family member equipped me with much more networking knowledge than other kids my age, and even most adults. I decided that with this power came great responsibility: I was going to right this grievous injustice.

So, I started digging. I got on a school PC and started going through the network. Turns out, the school had wanted to save as much money as possible while going paperless. So, they didn't hire a professional technician, consultant, or anything. One of the dads just volunteered, in exchanged for a reduced tuition charge (private school.) So, this system was just a nightmare. There was no dedicated network for sharing grades, there was no password protection on any files, there were no administrative restrictions on any files, nothing. What he did was just "share" a single directory on the headmaster's computer. That directory held the entire gradebook for each and every class of each and every grade: kindergarten through 12th grade. I thought this was too good to be true, surely there was a back up somewhere. So, I went to the school's port switcher, which was just in an unlocked closet. I checked around, expecting to see a server, or a set of drives set to automatically back up whatever is shared on the network. Nada.

Now, I was in a rage. I had gone to the principal several times, pointing out that Todd's mom was abusing her position, she was bullying teachers to give her kid an edge. Her son would even brag about how he could get away with not doing homework in other classes, because mommy would make sure nothing came of it. But, the principal had failed to act. He had declared that each teacher was sovereign in their classrooms, so long as nothing illegal happened he would not intervene. He was a very unprincipled principal. So, I made a decision: to delete the nepotism. I couldn't just change my grades in her class, she monitored my average like a hawk. So, I went nuclear. I went into that subdirectory, and deleted every single file in it. But, the principal had shared his whole users/desktop directory. So, I emptied the recycling. I completely wiped every trace of grading software on that computer, because the idiot didn't even put a password on the computer. So, from the desktop subdirectory I was able to access everything. This was in the very last couple of days of school. There were no hard copies (gradebooks), there were no backups, there was nothing remaining to even prove that the school year ever occurred.

On the final day of school, we get called into an assembly. The principal is visibly disheveled, shaken, and upset. Not even angry, just broken. He announced that the entire year of grades were totally lost. The school didn't know what to do, because there were no hard copies. They couldn't recover the data, because they cheaped out and didn't purchase a backup system. All they could do was reinstall the software. But, on grading software if there is no grade to input, then what does it default to when showing the grades of the students? A 100%. Every single student in that school got valedictorian of their class that year: 100% all around. Heck, even a few kids got enough of a boost from that final year that they got to graduate on time instead of being held back.

Next year, we had a new principal. I was held slightly suspect since everyone knew of my tech background, but nobody could prove anything. Even the PC's in the computer lab didn't have usernames or passwords, so there was no way to link me to anything. That following year, security cameras and passwords were put in the computer lab.

TLDR: Teacher displayed nepotism to get her son ahead, sacrificing me. I rebel, delete the entire grade system, get everyone 100's. You're welcome seniors of 2006, I hope you all enjoyed a nice little boost to your transcripts.

(source) (story by farmathekarma)

[jainarden-blog]

A Little Bit Of Organization Wouldn’t Hurt A Bit

Today is a searching and researching online day for an end to the endless clutter I have lived with FOREVER! I am so ready to clear the decks both physically/mentally and offline/online and get to some #extremeproductivity.

This is going to involve a lot of thinking and a lot of trying out things to streamline it into this no-fluff ecosystem I am dreaming about, even as I am typing this. A big part of this is to go paperless and also to start using my IOS phone a lot more. The below may seem like a lot of places but the object of my game is to have places to put things where I can go back and retrieve them. My mind and life goes so fast a lot of the time that the clutter, even when it is just mental has a tendency to pile up and to overwhelm me. By clearing physical mess (most importantly paper) and mental overflow, I can create the space I need to be the best me. Two big goals are time to do online study and being fit mind and body.

Read on for tools and thoughts about them:

Tumblr - Reasons for Tumblr: braindumps, writing habit, connection my introvert heart desires at times, and ease of use. Tumblr is good just to write or to spend time reading. I find a lot of the people on Tumblr are pretty deep, creative and wildly entertaining. Tumblr is a good place for introverts.

Saved.io - to try and curb the worthless habit of saving fifty trillion bookmarks and adding to them daily without ever really delving into those websites or using them. No extensions for this. You just add saved.io after the http:// or https:// and to make folder (tags/labels) put a name in front of .saved.io. Super easy. Sign up for an account and have an online spot for bookmarking your heart out

Google Keep - I need something to take down my own thoughts in a browser as I am surfing/researching and do not want to make a big deal out of it. There is a Chrome extension or you can right-click to add notes with tags. Braindumps and a place to satisfy data pack-rat urges. Follows the line of thinking that I am using Google for a lot of things and it’s already there anyway.

Google Calendar - I have multiple Google accounts but one where all my emails and appointments go. I synced this as my main calendar on IOS instead of the default calendar. One calendar to rule them all! Same for the one gmail. There is also an extension to add events quickly, along with the right click option.

Feedbro - RSS feed reader - too bad Google did away with theirs. This takes away some bookmarks for favorite sites/blogs and gives me an easy and fast way to know that I am keeping up with things that are important to me. Clicking the extension lets you “Find feeds on this page,” save feeds and also to open up your feedreader. Feeds can be categorized into folders.

LastPass - I have used this for years on my computers. It is the best password keeper as far as I am concerned. AND FREE! Today, I put it on my phone. I cannot say enough about how great this tool is for your information.

Scanbot - app for scanning in documents by taking a pic of them. This will definitely come in handy for those on-the-go document situations. Things like bills, manuals, purchase papers, etc. I have at home will, most of the time, be scanned in using my printer’s scanner.

Bullet Journal (BuJo) - my offline to-do / to-did and short journal things. I have one for me and one for my computer. The one for my computer has already saved me this year when I was trying to figure out what program was conflicting with another. My memory was helped by my documentation on what programs I had downloaded and when. I also document computer problems: what happened and what helped. Everything in one book - I think everyone should have one of these and I am surprised I never thought of it before this year. My personal BuJo is not one of internet proportions. I tried that and failed miserably and lost all site of what the book was supposed to be for to begin with. I ditched the trying to make it pretty and doing weekly/monthly spreads. I am back to the original version that Carroll Ryder set forth with his inspiration and am a thousand times better for it. This is something I can hold in my hands and look back on from time to time to see exactly how my time on earth went.

SimpleNote - I have a Reminder label in this for to-do’s, but I mostly just write to-do’s on the calendar or on a post-it/index card to throw away. I also document to-do/to-did’s in my personal BuJo. No this program is going to be something I use for some time, I do believe. I decided I am going to document work with this, especially conversations. I never remember the specifics in time so this will be my second work brain. Tags will be people (initials, first name, or my nickname for them). I can then go back to specific conversations that I want to refresh myself on and also for people notes such as date of birth, family (kid/husband/wife name), and/or specific things about them. Also, dates of meetings, project dates,etc. This is in its infancy - I have high hopes for this going forward.

AirTable - This website/app has high potential. I really like that it is set up like an Excel spreadsheet. I have projects set up in it for tracking daily spending, pantry inventory, gifts, etc. etc. etc. This is so customizable!!!! In my pantry list, I can add columns to be able to know what my lowest price on an item was - so in essence, a pantry checker with a price book included. I figure the way I use it will grow as I get used to it and find its value.

mySymptoms -  $$ App for tracking your health. This is the one thing I paid for. I can’t wait to get enough stuff in it for a good PDF download. It is customizable to you, just like the AirTable. You can add/delete the things you want to track and there is a big list of them: drinks, food, medications, supplements, mood, symptoms, bowel, energy, sleep, stress, exercise, environment, and other. Some of these can be extra helpful for people who struggle with certain diseases or triggers. This is certainly a make-it-all-about-you app that can show correlations between a factor(s) causing another factor(s). Or even for people who forget when or how long they took medications or supplements. In my new found goal of creating a life that serves my health - this one is a winning part of it. I will be a participant in my healthcare.

Instagram - because, at times, I like to take photos of food and things I see that I like. And because, I hate Facebook. IG also gives me an easy way to change the way the photos look and share back to myself for other uses and ways to share my account online with my online people-ha. Braindump for photos.

Twitter - because it’s fun... and sometimes informative. Twitter is the quick connection to the rest of the world and let’s anyone fit into it. My favorite parts of the twit are hashtag and whatever “new episode” tv show I am watching. It’s fun to join in with whatever other people think of an episode and throw your two cents in too. I never feel like I am sitting at my house alone on Friday & Saturday nights with #livepd. With the added gifs on posts, it can get quite hilarious.

GoodReads - This is hooked up to my Amazon account and my Amazon account is hooked up to my local library account through Overdrive. So... free books. I read every night on my Kindle app (you can read in your browser too). The books are automatically added to my GoodReads account. At this time, I am 8 books ahead on my goal to read 100 books this year. 

Listal - As for movies, the best site I have found is Listal. You can tag, star and make lists for the movies/tv you watch (along with books, products, people, dvds, and games, if you wish). Many members do a Halloween movie list each year.

Pinterest - this place fulfills my yearnings to save a million quotes, presented in a pretty way and is the easiest way to make kick ass vision boards. I have multiple boards for this very thing: HouseVB, ClothesVB, ThingsVB and so on.

This is the big starting out list. I didn’t want to leave anything out because I need to be clear on what I am really using and be consistent on what accounts I use for what services. Pinterest may be a big black hole, but once set up with mostly productive boards, I can relax knowing that they are helping me visualize the things I want while also letting me do something that is fun (even if sometimes just losing time surfing the internet).The same with Twitter and Instagram. They are black holes for time. But this way they are serving a purpose of entertainment and braindumps to clear the way for good space in my life. I will follow up with this as being productive online is both an important topic for me and also a much needed topic discussion. In my research, I wish more people would post about their systems to help the rest of us out :D

[cherry3point14]

CAN’T GET NO SATISFACTION | CHAPTER 1

DESCRIPTION: You are VP of Sales for a company with stores and major distribution links across the country and your executive assistant, and only real friend, is leaving. A temp is brought in to replace her, on probation, for you try him out. Of course, nobody told you that it was a him, or that his name was Dean Winchester, or that you’d want to try him out.

A/N: This is an office AU basically from this post. Yep, it’s all a setup for that joke.

[Dean x Reader. Characters: Dean, Reader, OFC Words: 2,477. Warnings: a couple of bad words that’s it I think. Mostly pining and eventual fluff]

Ao3 link if you prefer. Series Masterlist

Most days you loved your job. You loved the variety of visiting clients all over your corner of the country, you loved the moment you saw them change their minds because of you and you loved inspiring your teams. Some people were made for jobs like this and you were one of them, nothing quite gave you a thrill like making a sale or teaching someone else how to. It’s just, as Vice President of Sales for the east coast, you made pretty big sales.

Of course, the job had its drawbacks. Meetings that tested your ability to stay awake in the face of unending boredom. Reports so dull that you were sure your eyes might bleed. Not to mention the hours. Responsibility for the biggest sales region meant your hours were rarely nine to five. Honestly, Dolly Parton had no idea how good she had it.

It was fine, obviously. You earned more than enough to account for your hours and over the years you’d curated a good team, every one of them dependable and hardworking. You appreciated the hell out of them and you made sure they knew it.

That’s what made it so difficult to watch one of them leave.

You knew you couldn’t keep Maddy forever. You wished you could, obviously, she had been the best assistant you’d ever had. Constantly trying to impress you, she hadn’t needed to try so hard, she was pretty impressive as it was. Always here before you, left after you, never questioned your hours and pretty much made sure your life ran like clockwork. Unfortunately, she was smart as a whip so after two years you couldn’t ignore her potential anymore and a year after that she was moving on.  

“We all know why we’re here,” you held a plastic champagne flute in your manicured hand and looked over at your favorite employee, well, your friend. “Maddy, the traitor, is defecting to the dangerous world of marketing, leaving us and the field teams scrambling. God knows how many of us will end up at the wrong airport without her reminder emails.” You let your bright, office smile melt into something more genuine, “Mads, I couldn’t be more serious when I say I don’t know what I’ll do without you. But I’m so proud of you and I can’t wait to see you bust your way through that new team of yours until we’re working side by side.”

Everyone shares a collective ‘aww’ as you raise your glass in the air and finish with, “go get ‘em Mads!”

After your surrounding team has mumbled her name and taken a drink she finds herself trapped by people offering some personal congratulations and you find yourself leaning against her desk, watching everyone fawn over her. You’re the boss after all, as friendly as your staff might be with you none of them, save Maddy, were actually your friends. You didn’t have time for friends, which might be why her leaving hits you a little harder than you’d thought it would. For the amount of time you were forced together, she’s genuinely become more than an employee.

You linger a few minutes before you slip back inside your office. She was the woman of the hour and she needed to shake every hand and receive every hug. You, however, had a new product pitch that had to be finished before you could even think about leaving for the day.

“Knock, knock. Miss Y/L/N?”

Looking up you see the woman of the hour standing there, a smile on her face and rosy cheeks, you assume from the amount of champagne you’ve seen everyone pour for her.

You lean back and fold your arms over your chest with feigned annoyance on your face, “excuse me, is that how I asked you to address me?”

She laughs at you but doesn’t make any move to come further into your space, she knows not to disturb when you’re trying to work, “so bossy since you stopped being my boss.”

You return your eyes to the screen with a smile. “Stop getting ahead of yourself. You still work for me till Monday. I can’t be expected to brief your replacement. I have absolutely no idea how to run my own life.”

Maddy doesn’t let her own smile waver but her voice turns serious, “you going to have time for one more drink tonight?”

Your sigh alone should be answer enough but you look away from the letters that are turning fuzzy in front of you to apologize properly, “I’m sorry. If this isn’t done tonight then… well, it has to be done tonight. Besides aren’t those lot taking you out?”

She nods having worked for you long enough to understand. “They want to, but I told them my dragon of a boss needs me in early tomorrow to train her newbie. I think they’re planning on ruining me tomorrow night instead.”

“Oh, that’s considerate of them.” You're fine with that, you understand why you're not invited and you're not sure if you'd want to even go. Nobody want's to party with the boss and you don't want to be the person who turns the evening awkward. 

“I thought so too. You need anything else before I head home?” Even with half a bottle of bubbles in her, you can tell the question is genuine. If you asked her to go and photocopy something right this second you knew she would.

You shake your head, “get out of here before I have to fire you. I’m a big girl, I can call my own car,” you wink playfully, “for once.”

His phone rings out its alarm and he groans into his pillow in response. Five fucking AM. He hated five AM and everything it stood for. He hated that his new job required him to see this time in the morning but, it was a considerable jump in pay and an opportunity to get out of being a goddamn temp.

And if there’s one thing he hated more than five AM, it was temping.

He had his morning routine down to a fine art. Shower, coffee, clothes. Always the same order, always out the door in twenty minutes.

What he hadn’t counted on was problems on the F train.

He’s forty-five minutes late when he shows up, including the night guard still sitting at front desk not being able to find his building pass, but his jaw unclenches when he gets to his floor and sees an empty office. Maybe he’s got away with it? Or was the six AM start a joke, to begin with? Hazing the new guy? He’d admittedly thought it pretty fucking ridiculous when he’d heard it.

“Oh my God finally, are you Dean?”

He looks down to realize this tiny woman in front of him appeared from nowhere. She already looks like she’s run half a marathon and shows no intention of stopping considering the piles of product pamphlets in her hands.

“Erm, yeah?”

The pamphlets are shoved into his hands now making the messenger bag hanging loosely from his shoulder drop to the floor. “Good. I’m Maddy and I have one day to show you the ropes. I guess rule number one would be don’t show up nearly an hour late but hopefully, you’re smart enough to know that already.”

He motions to the bright but empty office at the end of the room, “but she’s not…?”

“She’s already in her first meeting genius. So, you’re late meeting her, you’re late for me showing you how she takes her first coffee and you guessed it, you’re late for her first morning run through.”

He cringes in a way that says ‘shit’ without the word needing to be spoken.

“Yep. Now bring those over to my desk, although I suppose it’s yours now, and I’ll try and give you two years of information in the next twenty minutes.”

“I have been an assistant before…” he starts but then he catches what else she said, “why what happens in twenty minutes?”

Maddy smiles wickedly like she’s enjoying this far too much, “oh, that’s when she gets back.”

“I understand the issues you’re dealing with Doug, but my guys have enough to deal with in the upcoming quarter, this is not going to help.” You’re standing outside the meeting room you just exited arguing with your least favorite member of the executive team.

Doug’s smile is tight-lipped and his tone patronizing as ever, “that’s why we have you right? Sell it to them.”

You school your features as you often have to while speaking to the slimy Operations head, also known as the bane of your existence, “sell them a 40% reduction in stock because your Supply Chain team didn’t plan correctly? No problem. And here I was thinking I was here to sell to our clients.”

You spin on your heel and leave, although momentarily satisfied at getting the last word the unavoidable problem plagues you with it’s potential hit to your Q3 targets.

You’re about to storm into your office when you find the glass door being held open for you by a stranger. A handsome, you didn’t see many of those in the office, tall, stranger who keeps his green eyes focused respectfully ahead of him while you slowed to an almost stop in the doorway.

Maddy shouts up from her desk, “that’s Dean, the new me. He finally showed, want to see us in five?”

“Yeah… erm, no.” You remember yourself and the outcome of your first meeting, “Make it fifteen. I need to make a call. Can you get me my breakfast and let Robert know that I need to push lunch until next week?” Although sounding like it, none of it is a question.

You take your eyes off of Dean, who you hadn’t been staring at the entire time you’d been speaking, and head to your desk with a mind to dial your phone fiercely enough to forget your frustrations. Your fingers linger over the keypad as you pick up the headset though. Dean sits back at the desk with Maddy writing down, with a pen and paper you note, every word she’s saying. As much as you spearheaded the paperless office initiative it strikes you as cute that he’s sitting there with his yellow pad and pen, nodding like a bobble head while Maddy talked, you were sure, at a thousand miles per hour.


It’s when the dial tone in your ear disappears and becomes an incessant beep, for you not having dialed, that you think maybe you need to focus. Focus on your job obviously, not on your new assistant, the person working under you, the person it would be incredibly inappropriate for you to have any sorts of feelings towards.

Not that you did. You were just thrown for a second. Nobody had told you that your new assistant was… him.

Y/N liked a coffee every hour from 6am to 11am, which yeah that’s six fucking coffees, after that she switches to iced tea or ice water depending on her mood and it was apparently part of his job to know which one she wanted without her having to ask. Maddy kept promising that she was actually the best boss he could hope for but then these crazy things would slip out of her mouth that made it seem like Maddy might be delusional.

Along with her beverage of choice on the hour, he needed to have a run-down of any calls she’d missed or declined to pick up, and a summary of all her emails for the last hour. That was fine, pretty standard, but then she’d hit him with the sucker punch like the fact that Y/N texts at all hours, seven days a week, so she doesn’t forget anything. And she expects to have summary notes on everything she’d sent the next day.

“You don’t get it. She’s the youngest VP in the company and the youngest woman VP in the industry. She’s a legend. And she’s actually a good person too but she just has quirks. And sometimes those quirks involve you having to bribe an airline to get her a seat on a fully booked flight because the next available flight is her unlucky number.”

“So, she’s crazy?” He finally asks after listening to a couple of stories like this. Don’t get him wrong. He could deal with crazy, he has dealt with crazy before, he just liked to know what he was getting himself in for.

The salary was more than worth a little crazy after all.

Maddy frowns and he thinks maybe he’s offended her. Maybe they have some girl power, sisterhood of traveling pants, feminist thing going on.

“No, she’s not crazy. She’s busy being successful. Successful and still looking out for her team of fifty people including those in the field.” Maddy’s eyes are wide and insistent.

Damn. It’s not a woman thing, it’s a friend thing.

He dips his head in apology, which seems enough for now, but the PDF on her screen, which has been titled ‘So you’re Y/N Y/L/N’s new assistant?’ tells him that he’s not entirely wrong.

It’s forty-nine pages.

He can appreciate that Maddy seems to have a sense of humour with some of the advice she’s written out, and honestly, he’s worked at jobs where they leave you high and dry to figure this stuff out for yourself, so he does appreciate it, but nothing she’s showing him is convincing him of his new bosses sanity.

He can totally understand why she’s loco. He’s not an idiot, clearly, he knows who she is and her reputation. She’s responsible for the +5% growth in the northeast last year while the top eight competing brands had figures in the minus. In one of the hardest years since the recession, she kept things in a plus. He gets that she’s worked hard to get to where she is. So, if he has to make sure that she only ever travels to Washington on Wednesday’s because she likes the alliteration, then so be it.

He just doesn’t get why everyone’s acting like there’s not something wrong with her.

Everyone he’s spoken to, which to be fair is Maddy and only a handful of others, either loves her or at the very least respects her. There’s no complaining about keeping the office at exactly 62 degrees because she runs hot or how she only drinks espresso-based drinks so they don’t have a filter machine on this floor.

That’s the amazing thing. Not her sales figures, or her age or reputation. It’s that nobody seems to hate her.

Although Maddy assures him that if he was asking Doug from Ops or Mark in Finance, he might hear a different story.

Continue to Chapter 2

[tiny-personal-university-thing]

A Realistic Student's Guide to Surviving Finals

With finals rolling around - I'm sure we are all feeling the pressure. Here are just a few tips I hope will help you all during this stressful time in the semester.

Time Block Method ⏰

Find yourself a template online, here's one (x) or lay it out yourself. Block off times you know you will have time to study (you are home from class with no interruptions). You can get creative with it and use colors if you feel so inclined. This can just help you stay focused ahead of time. I'd say to go ahead and make it about a week or two out. It's similar to a 5 day study plan, but obviously will include all classes, time for meals, breaks, extra curricular activities, work, doctor's appointments, final projects, etc. Specify when you want to get things done.

Now, this technique doesn't work for everyone. Sometimes it doesn't even work for me because my schedule can get really crazy, and I just need to play it by ear. You know yourself best.

Pomodoro Technique 🍅

If time blocking one to two weeks in advance is not your style, you may find luck with the Pomodoro Technique.

You'll want to set a timer - perhaps on your phone (and then put your phone out of sight). Set the timer between 15-20 minutes during which you will work uninterrupted on your assignment/studying. Typically, when the timer goes off you will find that one of two things will occur: 1) you can work a couple more minutes and wrap things up or 2) you REALLY needed a break!

I actually love this method because when I sit down to study, I naturally feel a little drained after 20 minutes - so that's a good time to get up and stretch, send a quick text, check my social media real quick, or watch a short YouTube video. Whatever you need to do to decompress. Your prerogative.

Take It Slow 🐢

One chapter at a time. Don't overwhelm yourself by cramming 15 chapters worth of material in one sitting. Your brain is like an athlete - you don't want to overexert.

Create Your Own Study Guides📑

I always loved creating large study guides, complete with color-coded highlighting and diagrams. It's much easier to re-read notes that are written neatly (or even asthetically pleasing). Additionally, I've found that taking the time to highlight key material breaks up the monotony of taking copious amounts of notes.

Change of Scenery 🌻

If you find yourself restless while working in the same place you normally do - change it up. Go to a coffee shop, your school's library, a friend's place, or somewhere on campus. You might find that your motivation is rejuvenated.

Do The Task You are Dreading the Most F I R S T 🐸

Have a nasty, big research paper to write? Hate one subject in particular, and loathe studying it? Do it first. There’s a saying by Mark Twain, it goes something like “if the first thing you do in the morning is eat a live frog, you can go through the rest of the day knowing the worst is behind you.” Your worst task is the frog

Utilize a Study App. 📲

Personally, I love love love Quizlet. It's portable and easily accessible through your phone, laptop or tablet. So any moment you have some spare time you can pull up tried and true old Quizlet and have a little study sesh. Features included on Quizlet such as the "Match," "Test," and "Spell" functions can prove to be useful in a myriad of different classes.

I also hear Forest is great! 

Something similar that I love (because you can get free stuff) is Pocket Points; however, you do need to have your location services on and you will need to be on your campus to obtain points. Again, it just rewards you for staying off of your phone for extended periods of time. I used PocketPoints all the time my freshman year to buy free tanning sessions before the tanning place wised up and realized they were losing a lot of money.

Try Teaching the Material to Another 👩‍🏫👨‍🏫

Your dog. Your mom. Your brother. Your best friend. Your boyfriend (even if he isn't really listening). Your classmate(s). Reiterating the material in your own words helps you retain it better.

If no one is around to listen (or you don't feel like you can bring yourself to make them sit through your tiny lecture) stand in the mirror and pretend like you are giving your own TedTalk over the subject. It works for Sims, doesn't it?

Don't Shy Away From Services Provided by Your Institution 📚

So tutoring centers, writing centers, office hours, peer mentors, etc. These services are typically free to you because you have already paid for them via your tuition. Basically, you won't be paying out of pocket and you might as well get your money's worth! Additionally, perhaps hearing a challenging concept explained to you differently by someone who is not your professor may help you figure it out.

Remember Your Handy Dandy Planner 📒

Planners are life and it is never too late to utilize one, or forge the habit of using one.

I wasn't always a die hard planner gal; however, this semester using my planner religiously has changed my life. You can always go paperless too, perhaps with an Outlook calendar or the calendar on your phone.

Rest 💤

Sleep is C R U C I A L.

Eat 🍴

Three square meals and two snacks. Feed your brain.

Stay Hydrated. 💧

This means water, folks. Man cannot survive on coffee alone.I think Jesus said that.

Don't Neglect Hygiene or Self Care 🛀

Warm showers, long baths (maybe one with bubbles or a bath bombs), a skin care routine, painting your nails, shaving, doing a face mask, washing your hair etc. can all help you decompress when the going gets tough.

Also showering and bathing? Self explanatory.

Take Breaks When You Need To🌙

Again, do not study to the point where you feel like you are about to crack. Let your brain breathe. Let your body breathe. Sit on your balcony for a few minutes. Talk to a friend. De-stress, not distress.

Try Epsom Salt Baths to Relieve Tension 🛁

Epsom salt baths are life changing. Choose your salts based on what you need; they can be both energizing (wake up) and relaxing (so you can fall asleep).

Personally, I like to stay in a hot tub until I break a sweat. While soaking I may pull up a YouTube video to get the ultimate detox effect. With this being said, there may be some of you with health concerns that limit your ability to do something like this. Again, know yourself.

Ask for Help When You Need It ❗

Whether it's regarding material, or you are struggling with depression, anxiety, or stress severe enough to cause you frequent headaches/stomachaches - ask for help. You will probably find dozens of people that will gladly help you however they can- they just had no idea you were struggling.

Take Advantage of Extra Credit Opportunities (aka Become A Point Whore) 🏫

This might give you a little extra cushion if every point matters for you. 

Believe In Yourself and Remember That You Got This. ☀️

You have to believe that you are capable of doing this! You are intelligent enough, you are worthy enough, you are strong enough to do this. 

If you feel like this semester may not go as well as you anticipated, and you need a 465% on the final to get a C in the class - talk to an advisor. Figure out a plan for the worst case scenario so that you are not left scrambling and freaking out after the semester is over.

Be honest with yourself about where you fell short this semester. How can you improve for next semester?

Remember that mistakes happen. We all fail sometimes. Failure is a part of the path to success, yes, but the only time you really fail is when you stop trying. So don't stop trying.

“Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.” -H. Ford

More Specific Posts:

Night Before Your Exam Pt. I

Night Before Your Exam Pt. II

Day of Your Exam

If your final is an essay look here or here 

Other Simple Study Methods

For Dead Day If You Want To Be Productive Without Studying

Academic Probation to the Dean’s List in One Semester is Totally Possible

To Remind You That You Are Not Alone - My {Formerly} Bad Student Story - Read if you struggle with chronic physical health and/or mental health + school

What are your favorite finals tips to study/stay focused/reduce stress? I encourage you all to comment and share what has worked best for you!

Happy studying, realistic students! Save the semester! 🌻☀️

[happyweddingblogs]

Wedding Expenses Checklist

Not only Indian Weddings are elaborate affairs, but also they are pricey affairs. Families spend a lot of money in order to celebrate the big day and entertain wedding guests. No matter how much money you are planning to spend on a wedding, having a budget is imperative. Also, your wedding budget will significantly be affected by the size of your wedding. For instance, if you are planning a big fat wedding, you will need to spend a lot more compared to an intimate wedding ceremony. On average, a middle class or budget Indian wedding cost you around 10 lakhs – 12 lakhs.

In such a scenario, it’s essential to have your wedding cost calculations so that you don’t end up borrowing money from friends, family, and banks. Here in this post, we are sharing with you the wedding expenses checklist. Read this checklist and get ready to plan your wedding in your budget, like a pro.

Read on…….

PRO TIP: Compile a list of finance sources. It will include you, your significant other, both sets of parents, and your family members, relatives and friends.

The Deciding Factors

Below are the deciding factors on which the cost of a wedding in India is based on. Remember that the cost of a wedding in India varies dramatically. No two weddings will cost you the same amount, because of the different variables involved. However, the wedding cost in India varies depending on the factors below:

The size of the wedding

The type of wedding

Number of functions

Venue location

Guest count

Catering

Wedding décor

Number of activities

Wedding attire and makeup

Professional wedding photography

The purpose of this post is to help you understand the different variables involved in an Indian wedding, along with the various costs that you will need to incur while planning a wedding in India. We have tried to cover all the aspects of a traditional Indian wedding along with their costs. Know that the requirements of every religion differ widely, due to which the wedding budget also differs. But this will give you an overall idea about the wedding expenses in India.

The areas where you will need to incur the cost include

Wedding Venue

Wedding Decor

Wedding Food/Catering

Wedding Attire for Bride and Groom

Wedding Photography and Videography

Wedding Invitations

Accommodation

Transportation

Wedding Favors

Miscellaneous expenses

1. Wedding Venue

A wedding venue cost will largely depend on the number of guests you are planning to invite or the size of your wedding. A venue can cost you somewhere around a few thousands to lakhs to even crores. Besides, the location and the city of the venue will also affect your cost. For instance, if you are getting married I a tier-II town, then your venue for 1000-1500 people may cost you anywhere around INR 1,00,000 to INR 3,00,000. However, in the metro cities, like Mumbai, Delhi, etc. the cost may automatically go high. Also, how richly decorated the venue is will again add up to your cost.

PRO TIP: Instead of planning a week-long wedding, you can cut short your wedding functions or perform them within a couple of days. It will save you both time and money. Moreover, your guests will be able to enjoy most of your ceremonies.

2. Wedding Decor

One of the most significant wedding expenses is – wedding décor. Of course, each bride wants to marry in a fairytale style. A typical wedding decoration set up (depending upon the size of the venue) can cost you anywhere between INR 100,000 up to INR 3,00,000. You will get a simple yet elegant venue set up with flowers and other decorative accessories. However, if you are planning to style it up, then cost may go up to as high as INR 30,00,000.

PRO TIP: You don’t need to go extravagant for your wedding décor. Like if you want to spend too much on fresh flowers, then you should know that these flowers will be of no use the next day. Also, seasonal flowers are very costly. Most venues these days are ready to use. You can also opt for the venue that already has a beautiful décor so that you can save money.

3. Wedding Food/Catering

The cost of catering will majorly depend on the caterer you are going to hire for your wedding. Let me tell you that Indian weddings are very much about food. Your guests may forget about your wedding décor, but they will never forget about the food at your wedding. So it is imperative to do enough research before you finalize a particular caterer. Also, the cost will be affected by the number of food items and vegetarian and non-vegetarian food choices. The more food items you add to your menu, the more your cost goes up. On average, a vegetarian plate cost around INR 600 per plate and a non-vegetarian plate costs around INR 1,000 per plate or more.

RELATED: Latest Indian Wedding Food Menu Lists

PRO TIP: You don’t need to spend lavishly on food. Instead, add the most popular dishes in the food menu. You don’t have to compromise on quality, just keep a check on quantity. Also, having a limited number of dishes will help your guests to make easy choices. And yes, food wastage will be minimized by doing so.

4. Wedding Attires for Bride and Grooms

Every bride dreams of a unique look and attire at her wedding. And why not, after all, her wedding is a once in a lifetime event. In India, brides wear Lehenga or Sarees, which can cost her anywhere between INR 25,000 to INR 1, 00, 000 to INR 10,00,000 or even more. More often than not, the cost of Lehenga depends on the intricacy of work done on Lehenga, the material, and the designer. The cost of Lehenga will also vary based on the market you buy it from. For instance, if you buy your wedding lehenga from Chandni Chowk, Delhi, it will be too little compared to the South Delhi Market.

Then, there are other expenses, as well. Like, Mehndi Dress, Cocktail Dress, Reception Dress, Haldi Dress, Sangeet Dress. This may cost you somewhere around INR 100,000. Apart from this, gold jewelry, which is considered necessary in an Indian wedding. If you are buying gold jewelry, for every tola of gold that you wear, INR 40, 000 will increase in your list.

Then there is bridal makeup and Mehndi. You will need to hire professionals for makeup, hairstyle, and mehndi. It may cost you anywhere around INR 25,000 to INR 75,000 (depending upon the reputation of the makeup artist in your town).

Similarly, a groom’s sherwani would cost INR 35,000 to INR 75,000 (averagely priced) along with other accessories, such as jutis, turban, etc.

PRO TIP: Instead of buying a new wedding attire, you can choose to rent one. This way, you can save thousands of bucks. Of course, hardly anybody wears his/her wedding dress once the wedding is over. So far, gold and diamond jewelry are concerned; you can consider wearing your old jewelry at your wedding. Not only will it look classy, but also you will save a lot of money. Or you can choose to wear artificial jewelry at your wedding and buy lighter jewelry to wear post-wedding.

5. Wedding Photography and Videography

Believe it or not, wedding Photography and videography are a vital part of any wedding. Of course, you need to have pictures of your BIG DAY that you can cherish all your life. The cost of wedding photography and videography will depend on the status of the wedding photographer and Videographer. A good photographer may cost you around INR 40, 000 per day, and a videographer may cost you around INR 50, 000 per day. But, if you hire a professional photographer from some other town, then their travel and accommodation cost will also be taken care of by you, which will add to your cost.

PRO TIP: If budget is a constraint, you can opt for a digital album rather than choosing hard copies. Avoiding prints can save you around INR 15,000 -25,000. Or you can opt for a packaged deal of photo and videography as a bundle. It will not only help you get both the facilities from one vendor but also it will help you save money.

6. Wedding Invitations

Indian wedding invitation cards are again very costly. A lot of money is spent on wedding invitations alone. The cost, however, varies based on the number of wedding invites, type of paper, design, and artistry on wedding invites. A wedding invitation card may cost you somewhere around INR 50 – 100 per card. And if you go for a more graphically created content, then the cost may go up by thousands per card.

PRO TIP: Go paperless. You can consider inviting your loved ones and friends via video messages and e-gift cards. Not only will it add a personal touch, but also it will help you save money. Besides, it is the most economical, eco-friendly & fastest way of delivering wedding invites for your big day.

Related: A New and Revolutionary Trend – Digital Invitations for Weddings

7. Accommodation

Indian weddings are considered incomplete if there are no relatives. In India, guests travel from far and wide to attend a wedding. So, for those guests, you will need to make proper arrangements. Of course, accommodation for guests traveling from other cities, states, and countries. On average an accommodation may cost you INR 1,000 per room on a twin or triple sharing basis or more, depending upon your wedding budget. Also, the number of out-of-town guests you are expecting at your wedding will affect your total cost.

PRO TIP: You can consider booking rooms at your wedding venue only. This way, you will be able to save a lot of money.

8. Transportation

If your wedding venue is at a far distance, then you will have to arrange for transportation as well. Also, you will have to arrange for the transportation of your out-of-town guests. More often than not, cars are arranged for marriage ceremonies. The cost of transportation will depend on the number of vehicles, type of cars and number of days you will rent them. On average, the transportation may cost you somewhere between INR 20,000 to INR 1,00,000.

PRO TIP: Book your guests’ accommodation close to your wedding venue, it will save you a lot of money and yes, complaints as well.

9. Wedding Favors

Wedding favors have become an integral part of any wedding. In an Indian wedding system, people prefer to give clothes or silver coins or sweets to wedding guests. The cost of the wedding favor will depend very much on your budget. On average, a wedding favor may cost you around INR 500 to INR 5000 or even more depending on your budget.

PRO TIP: You can consider DIYing your wedding favors. It will help you give a personal touch, and save money on wedding favors. Make sure you give something useful and meaningful to your guests so that they don’t leave it at the table.

10. Miscellaneous expenses

There are a dozen things to take care of when it comes to an Indian wedding. Therefore it is essential to keep a small amount of money aside for miscellaneous expenses. Cost like, last-minute supplies, transportation costs of paying drivers, tips to waiters and caterers, alcohol for a cocktail, etc., can add up to your total wedding cost.

Besides, wedding music for different ceremonies, like wedding sangeet and wedding reception, will again add to your cost.

PRO TIP: Keep track of all the expenses related to the wedding budget. It will help you avoid unnecessary costs. Also, you can ask your wedding vendors for the best deals. Undoubtedly, we Indians are great at negotiating. So, don’t miss to use the skills of negotiation while dealing with your vendors. You might get some additional benefit of a 10-15% cost reduction.

WEDDING EXPENSES BASED ON THE TYPE OF WEDDING

The big fat Indian wedding

The big fat wedding or a grand scale Indian wedding can cost you around INR 50 lac to 80 lac or more. The significant portion of your wedding budget goes to wedding vendors, and the remaining money is spent on personal things, like, wedding attire, makeup, etc. The average price of a Big Fat Indian wedding will be:

Wedding Planner – 5 lac – 7 lac

Venue – 10 lac INR

Photographer & Videographer – 5 lac INR

Tent house & DJ- 5 lac INR

Catering- 20 lac INR

Bridal dress -5 lac INR

Groom’s attire – 3 lac INR

Invitations – 2 lac INR

Transportation – 3 lac INR

Makeup artist- 5 lac INR

Miscellaneous – 5 lac

Medium Scale Indian Wedding

Medium-scale weddings are for the upper medium class families. This is the most popular wedding style in India. This kind of wedding cost around INR 25-35 lac on an average. Here is the average cost breakdown for various vendor services:

Wedding Planner – 1.5 lac – 2 lac

Venue – 2.5 lac INR

Photographer & videographer – 1.5 – 2 lac INR

Tent house & DJ- 3 lac INR

Catering- 8 -10 lac INR

Bridal dress -50k – 1 lac INR

Groom’s attire – 50k – 1 lac INR

Invitations – 50k – 1 lac INR

Transportation – 1.5 – 2 lac INR

Makeup artist- 50k – 75k INR

Miscellaneous – 3 lac

Budget Indian Wedding

Budget Indian weddings may cost you around INR 8 lac to 10 lac. This kind of marriage is for the lower-middle-income class group. Here is the average cost breakdown for various vendor services.

Venue – 50000 INR

Photographer & videographer – 25000 – 35000 INR

Tent house & DJ- 25000 INR

Catering- 2 – 3 lac INR

Bridal dress -25000 INR

Groom’s attire – 20000 INR – 30000 INR

Invitations – 25000 INR

Transportation – 25000 INR

Makeup artist- 20000 INR

Miscellaneous – 1 – 1.5 lac

Besides these types of weddings, there are intimate weddings as well. Intimate weddings are the best option to save a lot of money and effort. Most couples these days are opting for low key celebrations.

Summing it up…..

Weddings in India can range anywhere from a few thousand to a few lac or even more. However, if you will use this wedding expenses checklist for your wedding, you will be able to save a lot of money. As we have given you pro tips with each expense. You can use these pro tips while planning your wedding.

Happy Wedding….

[lovelifelivewise]

Ultimate Guide To Getting Organized And Reducing Stress Forever

Do you feel overwhelmed by lack of organization and don’t know where to start? In this ultimate guide to getting organized and reducing stress forever, you will find helpful tools to guide you in getting organized keeping the stress levels low plus a few surprises!

Understand one thing, there is no right or wrong way to tackle organizing tasks, you just need to start. You can read 100 guides and how-to posts, get 50 different checklists but if you don’t start, those things will not help you! So what should be your main goal? Your main pledge? To Start! "Good order is the foundation of all things." -Edmund Burke Now that the days are longer and warmer, why not get your family involved in sorting out each room. Even as young as 3yo kids can take part, small tasks will keep them happy and involved. Make a deal to share the profits of anything you sell!

Let’s talk decluttering

There is no point trying to get organized if you are surrounded by a cluttered environment. If that is your case, keep reading, I have something for you. "When home feels out of control, no matter what the reason, unsettledness and anxiety can seep in, and then the chaos becomes internal as well as external."-Myquillyn Smith Where to start with decluttering? Start from the top - you have to start somewhere and the top is as good a place as any other!  In general, all guides tell you to start from the top so that dust and rubbish fall down and you do the floor last. Before you get going read the post below and follow it, that is your starting point and your how-to guide. Related Posts: How To Master Spring Clean Preparation The difference between decluttering and organizing

You can see above, the difference is quite simple when decluttering, the objective is to remove excess. When organizing, the focus is on creating order, finding a system. Understanding that difference helps to direct the focus to the right activity.

No one goes to battle without a plan!

Now, this post is not about how to declutter, it is about getting organized and reducing the stress that a cluttered or unorganized environment creates.  Do the exercise below, it will help you decide where to focus your efforts. You can print worksheet here. Identify what is your main cause of stress.Write what three things you can do to improve your situation regarding point 1. Really think about it, if you can't do anything about, just write nothing and move to the next.Repeat steps 1 and 2 for each cause of stress. Get worksheet Learning to let go "The most powerful weapon against stress is our hability to choose one thought over another. Train your mind to see the good in this day."-marcandangel Learning to let go is hard! For some people is a lot harder… Together with self-confidence and selectiveness, letting go gets easier with age - maybe it’s just me looking for benefits of getting older! What I can tell you from experience is, if you suffer from depression, anxiety or both, learning to let go is one of the best tools you can have in your every-day tool kit. Why am I saying this? Well if you have identified all the factors that are stressing you out and you can’t do anything about them (they are all outside your control), then the only thing you can do is to let go. In general, I tend to be quite pragmatic - I know it’s all easier said than done but believe me you can control what and how you think, you just need to practice. Learn this exercise and do it each time until it becomes intuitive.

Start small and create healthy tiny habits

"Repetition of the same thought or pysical action develops into a habit which, repeated frequently enough, becomes an automatic reflex."- Norman Vincent Peale We are all creatures of habit - habits make us feel comfortable and safe. You create a habit by doing the same thing many times until you don’t have to think about it, you do it instinctively. This removes the unknown and creates a feeling of security, you are in control. How you can use this knowledge to help you? Create routinesUse systemsFollow-throughBe consistent When you follow-through and are consistent you create habits and keeping organized becomes part of your day-to-day.

Be Practical and Pragmatic

"Whatever the truth is, I don’t see how it will help me get food on the table."- Suzanne Collins This quote is a great example of practicality! You have identified what is getting you stressed, have identified if you need decluttering or organizing and have thought about what routines and systems you can incorporate in your day-to-day to help you in keeping on top of your organization. What does this mean in practical terms? Get rid of what you don’t needCreate a morning routineHave an evening routine & get one for the kidsSet a system for housework and laundryHave an admin dayFind efficiencies & delegate more

Take action

If you have not decluttered, do it now! Decluttering is a great factor of stress and most people put it off because they think it is hard and don’t know where to start.  If you did not read my guide above, you can read it here. It really does not matter much, where and how you start. You can start with a drawer, a cupboard or a full room. What matters is that you start somewhere and get rid of stuff you don’t need. Create a morning routine If you don’t have a morning routine, set one up. Why is this so important? Having a morning routine sets you up for the rest of the day. It sets your mood, your activity levels and your overall approach. It’s important to get it right. You don’t need to be very strict - this may cause more stress - make a note of 3 to 5 things you enjoy doing in the morning. Want an example? Read about my morning routine here. Main points to consider: Get dressed & do your bed.Have a healthy breakfast.Take a few minutes to meditate or think of three things you are grateful for.Do 10 minutes of light/focused exercise.Put all the washing away and clear surfaces (if you did not do it the night before). Related Posts: 7 Tried And Tested Life & Home Organising Hacks! Have an evening routine & Get One For The Kids An evening routine should take 10 to 15 minutes and will be very beneficial to you and your family. If you have kids, get the kids involved too. By involving the kids, you are teaching them to create healthy habits, you are making them responsible for their things and accountable too. These are all skills/values they will need in life. So, when is the best time to implement this routine? Not just before you go to bed! If you are anything like me, first you dose off on the sofa and by the time you actually go to bed you are half asleep. Kids get less collaborative when they are sleepy too, so the trick is to get that routine done before dinner time. Create Mini Routines - They Make life easier! I have a mini routine when kids arrive from school, where they get their lunch boxes, rinse them and get them in the dishwasher. They also get all the school communication papers out, so I can read them and get their school bags ready for the following day. Then just before dinner, they organize what goes into their lunch box and get that ready in the fridge. They clear clutter they have left behind both downstairs and in their rooms and they get their clothes ready for the next day. What do I do? Not very little after that :-) I check on what they have done, tidy the kitchen surfaces and get the dishwasher to wash overnight. I take out what I’ll need to cook the following day and set the clothes I’ll be wearing if I need. Set a system for housework and laundry Wednesdays and Fridays are my housework days and Friday evening is my planning day. There is no right or wrong way to do this, I use Wednesday and Friday because those days work best for me. You don’t have to completely change what you are already doing, instead, use what you are doing as your starting point, that will make creating the routine much easier. Unless your children are under 5, they should be cleaning their own rooms. If not completely, they should be helping you, so they see what and how you do it. Divide your home into areas and tackle them individually, that makes it a lot easier! Do the same for your laundry, wash whites one day and darks another day. Use checklists to organize your housework and know what needs doing daily, monthly, every other month, bi-annually and annually. Set those tasks on your Google calendar or the calendar you use to get your other commitments.

Have an admin day Twice a month, have an admin day. Or an admin afternoon or an admin evening… even one hour of focused admin will be a great help and will make you feel so much better! Disconnect all distractions before you start and go through all the papers piled up, check that your bills have been paid or pay them, archive any papers that need archiving and check your bank accounts. Complete any other admin tasks needed. Pro Tips: Schedule this time in your calendar, if you schedule 1 hour every other week, soon you will only need 30 minutes. Go paperless, get electronic statements and get receipts directly in your inbox, this is a much more efficient way to store them. Find efficiencies & delegate more

Creating efficiencies it's very much related to the importance you give to each task you perform, for example cleaning the toilet every other day or every two days is very important for me. Having the kitchen tidy every day is the most important. Ironing is not important at all, so I very rarely iron. I wash items hang them neatly to dry and fold them away as soon as they are dry. Look at it this way, the more you delegate, the less there is for you to do :-) I'm not saying that your family should be your slaves but if we all do our share, life becomes easier. We also have more appreciation for the work others put in for us and stop taking it for granted. Sit down with the kids and design a routine that works for you. Add specific times to do things, give them a few options to chose from, they will be more envolved if they have taken part in creating that routine. I find that offering screen or device time as a reward works very well with my kids. Get your partner on the game too. If you usually take the dishes from the table and rinse them, he can put them in the dishwasher! So what is important to you? Where are you spending your time? Make sure you are spending your time with things that are important and not wasting your time with distractions.

Maintaining an organized life & home

Keeping an uncluttered and organized home is all about order. Following through the routines you have set and starting again when you fail. When you have systems in place it's easier to know where to start. If you don't follow through don't put yourself down! Start again and make it better this time. See below my all time favourites for getting organized!

Tell me all about what works for you! Do you have routines? What do you struggle with the most in keeping organized? I love to hear from you, share your strategies below:-) Keep well & safe! Ana xx Read the full article

[brettanomycroft]

Help Triangle Mom Rule the Classroom!

Or, you know, the world. Whichever works.

As many of you guys know, I’ve been teaching middle and high school for the past 5 years. For three of those years, I’ve worked to build a triangle cult teaching English/Language Arts to 8th graders at a middle school with over 1100 kids (we’re the largest school in the district, and they keep cutting our teacher units!) and 76% free and reduced lunch (Title I. Don’t ask about the other 9 Titles. Seriously.).

This year, they’ve decided to move me from my long-time portable into the building like a real person, and this new-to-me room contains 18 computers that I’ve been lead to believe might work. However, I’m looking to make my classroom 1:1 this year, and with classes of upwards to 26 students (and accounting for inevitable tech issues) I am hoping to get more tech! I’ve set up a Donors Choose project, and am requesting support to purchase 10 inexpensive laptops so that my students can create digital portfolios, practice writing and typing skills, and learn how to responsibly navigate the murky depths of the interwebs. I went back and forth about reaching out to tumblr to support my IRL goals, but ultimately decided that this audience of giving, socially-aware people from all over was too important to overlook. 

Click here to go to my Donors Choose page! From now until June 21st, if you make a donation, you can type in LIFTOFF, and DonorsChoose will match your donation up to $50. 

Any and all support in funding my classroom is immensely appreciated - even if it’s a single dollar or a reblog! If giving is not an option right now, I would love if you could please spread the word <3

Donors Choose gave me a hard word limit, so here are some more details below the cut!

Why computers? Don’t you teach English? Like books and stuff?

Yes, which is why having access to technology is so important! Nowadays, English/Language Arts doesn’t just cover reading novels and teaching vocabulary - we’re out to teach our students how to read, analyze, and create all kinds of content, from novels, to blogs, to infographics, to podcasts and (yes) even tweets. With more access to technology, my kids will be able to engage and be challenged think critically about information and media on the internet. 

Additionally, our 8th grade Standardized Testing is all computer based (for better or for worse), but if kids don’t work with computers in the classroom, they end up going into the test facing a completely unrelated set of challenges: they have to work all of the tools and tricks of using the computer and typing in long responses (and no, we don’t have a typing curriculum) as well as taking the actual reading and writing test. 

Finally, with ever-increasing budget cuts (here’s looking to you, Slenderman Rick Scott), teacher access to print-based materials like student novels, text sets, and general copies and supplies, is becoming even more limited if teachers don’t pay for them out of their own pockets. By switching to computers, students can have 24/7 access to the paperless materials they need, saving time, money, and the environment.

Wait, you said you already have computers. And you want more?

Yup. This year, the room I’m moving into has 18 desktop computers. Thing is, the teacher who was in there before me... didn’t really monitor their kids to make sure the computers weren’t getting busted up. And tbh, our school-based tech guy is not always able to help in a quick and efficient manner. With 10 additional computers, I can make sure that each student can have access to a computer at any given time, even if one (or four) decide to act up.

Can’t kids just use their phones?

Yes, and no. This year, I let my students use their phones to supplement when the computer were all occupied... to mixed success. More often than not, I’d run out of computers, and end up with students who wanted to use the computers to complete their work, but didn’t have a phone or mobile data. That time ended up getting used pretty unproductively. I also have a number of students who don’t have consistent access to a computer/the internet at home. I have, and will continue, to provide paper-based alternatives, but they really want to use the technology, and I really want them to learn how to use it efficiently and responsibly.

What sort of things will they use the computers for?

Oh man, so many things. I am hoping to organize most of my lessons and assignments through OneNote. My classroom is a Personalized Learning classroom, meaning that I design a wide array of assignments and learning opportunities to meet my students learning styles, interests, and needs. For example, for one standard or skill, I’ll provide written notes with an accompanying lecture for students who learning aurally or through note-taking, find a video on the same skill for my aural/visual learners, and then provide an interactive tutorial for my kinesthetic learners. I’ll also take a single text and provide variations of it for different reading levels, and create options for alternate assignments. I do this for almost every unit, and being able to quickly stick these assignments and options in a digital binder for my students will be way more efficient for them, and me. I played around with this in some of my classes at the end of the year, and it worked out pretty dang well. 

Typing essays. Simple, I know, but most students don’t get a lot of practice typing on a physical keyboard. Still, at the end of the year, they’re expected to plan and type a 5+ paragraph text-based essay on the computer in about 2 hours. For students who don’t have experience typing and therefore type very slowly, they have to spend more time pecking at the keyboard than organizing their ideas. Seriously, I have students who hit the CAPS LOCK button every time they want to capitalize a word. But by having computer access and typing expectations from the start, all they’ll have to worrk about on test day is the test itself.

Creating a digital portfolio of essays, powerpoints, videos,  and other digital, multi-media content. Reading isn’t just reading an article in a textbook anymore, and writing isn’t just essays. I gotta train these folks up on how to do all sorts of things - creating a coherent, engaging presentation, organizing their ideas through a number of different mediums, and using their creativity for good, not evil. By the end of the year, I’d like them to have a portfolio that they can take with them to high school and beyond, and the kind of digital-era skills they’ll need to stay informed and competitive as they get older. 

If you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me! Thank you so much for your support!

[thumbkenya76-blog]

How to Get Rid of PAPER CLUTTER! Schoolwork, Receipts, Important Documents + More!

Raise your hand if you have papers stacked, shoved, smushed, placed, and filed all around your house! I know I do. Well, rather, I did! Papers are TRICKY because many of them are important, sentimental, or helpful…but gosh golly darn they are sure OBNOXIOUS because they lead to massive amounts of paper clutter throughout your house. A few years ago Bubba and I stopped keeping papers in our house – including schoolwork and art projects – and I canNOT express what a difference it has made in our organizational and clutterbug lives!

When it comes to paper clutter, knowing where to begin is usually the hardest part. Today I've made it simple for you by breaking things up into three categories: schoolwork and art, receipts, and important papers and documents. I'm going to share some great strategies to keep them organized, or better yet, how to get rid of the papers once and for all!

While I have you…this post goes right along with the calendar challenge in my Back to Productivity challenge we are doing this month. It's not too late to jump on-board the challenge if you want to de-clutter and get organized with the rest of us!

Now let's get down to business shall we?

Let's start off with the category I get asked about most often…SCHOOL WORK. Duhn duhn duuuuuuuuuuhn!

This seems to be the top pain point for many of us! It's definitely the one I get asked about most often. “Where do you keep your kids' schoolwork?” “Do you feel bad throwing away art the kids make for you?” “How do you know which to toss and which to keep?” “My fridge looks like a bomb went off on it because my kids bring home so many cute papers I want to keep!” Ugh, I feel you! Here are a few ways to combat the problem:

With so many of my kids in school these days, I have mountains of school projects and artwork that come home on a monthly basis.  As much as I would like to keep every single popsicle stick picture frame, and hand print art project, we would have papers coming out of every nook and cranny! Wanting our school projects and artwork to be as organized as possible, I have a private family Instagram that I use for school artwork, projects, tests, etc.  Basically, I take a photo of the art, or a photo of the child holding up the art, upload it to the Instagram page with the date and age of child, then it automatically prints to Chatbooks, an automatic photo book app I use.

Along with using photo storing apps, we assign each kid their own small plastic box for extra special papers that aren’t great in photo books, like journals or stories that have many pages or can't quite be captured in a single photo. Overall, most of my kids school projects and artwork is photographed and put into a Chatbook; and over an entire school year, I will essentially save about 1-2 projects in the box.

Another idea is to buy a picture frame display box that easily lets you switch out children’s art. You can have your kids choose a piece of art they really love and let them display it for a month in the picture frame display box.  When the month is over, trade the artwork out for another; and make sure to snap a photo, before you toss it out!

There are lots of ways to keep your kids' projects special and displayed, WITHOUT having stacks of them lying around or cluttering up your fridge. In fact, it would arguably be doing them justice to get them out of a stack and into a photo book or in a cute frame on your wall!

Aaaah those pesky, but important, little buggers that are oh so necessary…or are they? For years and years I was terrified to throw away any receipts, which led to piles and piles of scraggly paper messes in every corner of my car, wallet, and junk drawers. Now? I'm all about limiting and even digitizing my receipts as much as possible!  Thanks to the modern world we live in, there are so many different ways you can do this. Here are some of my favorites:

Believe it or not, there are some great apps out there that will allow you to snap a picture and store receipts digitally, so you never have to keep any receipts at all! Though I haven't used them, I have heard good things about AllReceipts, FlexReceipts, and Transaction Tree. For me, I have used Evernote before. Whichever app you choose to use, just make sure to check in advance with any stores you purchase things from to make sure they will accept a digital version of the paper receipt they give you. For more ideas and info on this, check out this “How to Stay Organized and Save Money with Digital Receipts” post.

For stores that DO require physical receipts, I like to keep a small makeup bag in my car.  After I go to a store, I stick the receipts in there (so they aren’t cluttering up my wallet or car), and after the return window has closed, I toss the receipt. Wondering why I leave this in my car?  Well, I figure that if leave my receipt bag in my car, it will always be there if I find the opportunity to do a quick impromptu store run. Plus, if I'm ever in the school pick-up line, fast food line, doctor’s office, or other “waiting” situations these are great opportunities to clean out the “receipt bag”.

Another alternative is to request emailed receipts. When at a store, I always select the “send receipt via email” choice when given the option. Saves trees AND clutter! Win-win!

Another great (and free!) resource that we love is Google Drive.  These days, Google Drive is available almost anywhere. If you have an android device, use the scanner located within Google Drive to scan your receipt and have it automatically uploaded and stored there. This article has more info on how to do this. Otherwise you can take a photo and upload it into Google Drive directly.

Sure, at the end of the day, you will need to keep some paper receipts. Just keep a good filing system for them and remember to regularly toss out the ones that are expired or not useful to you any more.

At the end of the day, as much as I love to digitize things, there are simply important papers that you just need to hold onto. Or, papers that you aren't totally sure if you need, but want to hold onto just in case. You don't have to let these important bad boys clutter up your house! Now days even manuals, instructions, and rebates can be accessed online, which eliminates the need to hold onto papers of the past. Here are several ways to keep these important papers at your fingertips, but stored away in an organized (and minimized) way:

Believe it or not, Bubba and I keep next to no physical documents in our house. We scan them and store them securely online! Even a service as simple as Google Drive works great, but there are also more secure websites and apps as well.

For the docs you MUST hold onto (these could be deeds, passports, birth certificates, etc.) have a designated file drawer in your house that is in a secure place. We even go so far as to keep our precious docs (like the passports and birth certificates) in a plastic bag INSIDE the file cabinet in case of a flood. We also have copies of them in a locked, fireproof safe on a different floor of our house, just in case. To date, we have never needed more than a few files in a single drawer to store all of our important papers though! It's amazing how much we realize we DON'T need to hold onto!

Another simple tip is to sign up for paperless bills and statements from as many companies as possible to cut down on snail mail. Most companies – especially banks, credit unions, insurance companies – offer paperless statements. Take advantage of it!

Dropbox is another great option!  Just scan, or even take a picture of the papers and documents you want digitally stored and then upload them into a folder you specifically created on Dropbox.

Alright alright alright. Now, for those who aren't as gutsy as Bubba and I and like to keep papers around, just give them a home! A place for everything, and everything in it's place is the game here. A good idea is to use binders to organize and store important documents, manuals, and information. I found this idea on Pinterest and it's not only pretty, but pretty smart too.

So there you go!  It can be nerve-wracking, tossing out so many papers that we are used to holding onto. But with the help of modern technology, you can say BUH BYE to all those stacks lying around driving you crazy!

Also, before I leave, did  you now I have my own productivity program? It's true! It launched this Spring and already, thousands of Freebs have been able to completely overhaul their productivity and decrease workload because of it!  It's an online course, so all you need is a screen to make the magic happen. Intrigued? Use the code “AUGUST” for 15% off my productivity program for the entire month of August!

How do you organize your papers?  If you have an organization system that you love, feel free to share it below.  I just love seeing how you Freebs do things in your own homes!

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Source: http://funcheaporfree.com/2018/08/how-to-get-rid-of-paper-clutter-schoolwork-receipts-important-documents-and-more/

[betsyvintage]

My phone broke and then I found a video that reminded me....

When people ask me why I don’t have a ‘real’ job.... watch the video. That would help explain.

I don’t have tv only choice tv so I can watch what I want when I choose (Netflix and amazon prime and iPlayer) not be bombarded with endless adverts.

My mobile phone has now stopped working so I’m buying a basic phone that I can text and phone with - no data needed so I can concentrate on my interactions not squeeze in a look at my phone every 5 minutes to check social media and hit google every time I don’t know the answer to something. It can wait until I get home to have a look on my laptop by which point I will have probably forgotten as it’s normally not that important.

I have managed to sync my calendar as I went completely paperless last year. Scary but I’m so glad I could get to it. Perhaps paper isn’t so bad accept I love trees too much and you can’t recycle diaries due to the glue that holds them together. Decisions..... I’m hoping all of my calendar has been backed up so I’ve not lost any dates.

My Facebook page has been almost impossible to get on to - I have been missing messages and comments. Sorry but I just haven’t been able to get on there recently as the pages manager app doesn’t work. When did I become so reliant on that for work?

I’m getting off iTunes as they keep withdrawing music that I sing with and listen to, without telling me. It’s a shame but I’m no longer going to pay for that.

I may not have a regular job but I love what I do and I wouldn’t sacrifice that for anything. I have in the past and it has been the only regret of my life so far. So let’s make up for it now by sticking by me and trusting me.

I’m a person with high anxiety and find it difficult to pick up the phone to talk so social media has been easy for me to hide behind and has become highly addictive. Time for me to step back and face my anxiety. It’s going to be difficult but it’s got to be worth a try.

I remember as a child not having a mobile phone and not realising what a luxury that actually was. I’m all for communication but I feel I am addicted so I need to stop. There’s nothing wrong with addiction you just have to change it up once in a while and not get addicted to the bad, negative stuff. I used to smoke, I’m an emotional eater, a binge eater. I got rid of the smoking now I’m working on the eating.

Perhaps it would be good to get addicted to working out and health. It’s a place I’ve been before. I was addicted to running before my car crash October 22nd 2016. Maybe I should get there again. I have torn ligaments in my knee though (thats Burlesque for you!) so maybe an operation first which is very frustrating. 14 weeks I’ve been waiting for an 'urgent' appointment to see a consultant for my knee. March 6th it is which is now next week. I’m hoping it’ll be a quick process so I can heal and get on with this now. I’m itching to get fitter. “Go swimming” people say “it’ll be easier on your knee”. I would but I have no money. This is the reality of following your passion and not having a 9-5 job. We can just about eat at the moment. It’ll change I know but it’s hard when you’re in the middle of it.

So - face my anxieties with picking up the phone to answer and to call, try keep my eating in check as much as I can. Get motivated to get healthier, keep pushing about my knee, luxuriate in the freedom that no social media on my phone will give me and get on and sell some clothes missy your bedroom is drowning in unworn delights!! www.facebook.com/betsysboudoir

Simpler, freer and closer to my passions this way - my son and music and me.

https://www.facebook.com/JayShettyIW/videos/1977663155881473/