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axiekyouraku · 2 years

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“We’ll Make it out of This Alive”

RenDoc

Major character death!

His kingdom was running out of money. He should have known that eventually all the Diamond put into his new empire would slowly fizzle out. Donations were at an all time low, his and Bdubs’s shops were not bringing enough money to sustain all the quests. His kingdom would fall before long if he did not do something.

He knew just mining for more diamonds would only prolong the inevitable but he had to do something. He had held another meeting telling only his most trusted friends the problems he was facing but still none but Tango and Bdubs were willing to help by donating more diamonds.

He had to mine, cave mining was doing almost nothing for him, three hours of constant mining and he only had a half a stack to his name. He had to branch mine no matter how dangerous it was.

He tried at the old coordinates first, creating a complex branch mine but still was coming back with little to no diamonds. He confided in one of his closest friends, Doc. “I don’t know what to do! Man my kingdom- it’s almost back to how it was before I became king I just- I expected people to put more back in and Grian- he’s been making ‘priority quests’ behind my back that only benefited him- he gave someone six Diamond blocks just to put half in his base!” Doc tilted his head “It sounds like he contributed the diamonds no?”

“No! That’s the thing! He fucking- he stole them from my statue!” Doc shook his head. “We’ll that’s not right. What about raising taxes?”

“Already tried. They were voted down. I just- I need to go to the bottom, and mine for diamonds myself. It’s the only way to bring more in. I’ll lower the money people are getting in quests. I have to”

Doc had him by the shoulder. “No. You heard X before. Anything in deepslate is unstable. Just cave mine. It’s slower but safer. Please” Ren shook him off, standing. “Maybe you don’t understand, you have an unlimited amount of wealth- you aren’t a king I am! You don’t have to worry about what I worry about on the daily! I’m just gonna go. Bye Doc.”

He spent the next week at the bottom. Just two feet above the bedrock. It was dangerous, he had uncovered dozens of lava piles and even caught himself right under one, due to falling gravel- leaving him with a hell of a burn he had to spend the rest of the night nursing.

His communicator had been out on silent the whole time he was down there but he decide to check it before he went to sleep.

Bdoubleo100: My king are you AFK?

ZombieCleo: his name is not grey I think he’s active

Bdoubleo100: has anyone seen the king? I’m worried

Grian: nope sorry

Goodtimeswithscar: was he out mining?

Goodtimeswithscar: I’d check with Doc.

*******

Bdoubleo100: my king I’m worried it’s been three days.

Iskall85 tried to swim in lava

TangoTek: lol

Bdoubleo100: GUYS IM SERIOUS

Bdoubleo100: I’m worried!

********

Docm77 whispers to RentheKing: Ren your second in command is losing it. He’s been all over the server looking for you. Even I’m worried. Please just leave me your cords I won’t share them. I’ll just keep them in care of emergencies

Docm77 whispers to RentheKing: Ren I’m worried. It’s been a few hours you’re not responding.

TangoTek: anyone seen Ren? We’re all worried.

Joehills: no I’m sorry

Iskall85: I swore I saw his name tag while I was mining. South of the permitter

Docm77:I’ll go look

Docm77 whispers to RentheKing: Ren. I’m coming to find you

Fuck he hadent realized it had been so many days since he left. He rushed to type back to Doc

RentheKing whispers to Docm77: Fuck man- I hadn’t realized it’s been so long. I’m sorry! Here’s my cords man. I’ve just been mining I’m fine. There’s no need to come. Just tell Bdubs I’m fine. I’m sorry for worrying everyone.

Docm77 whispers to RentheKing: Ren. what the fuck! It’s been a week since anyones seen you! Stop mining right now it’s dangerous! I’m coming to you right now!

Fuck! He did not want to see anyone. All he needed to do was mine. Figuring he only had a limited amount of time before Doc showed up and carried him out of the mine. He had been branch mining for days and it was easy to get lost in the maze like structure. He walked back as far as he could go and began mining again. In need of more diamonds.

It was about an hour later when he realized his communicator was going off again. This time a call- from Doc “What?” He sounded annoyed. “Updated cords on where you are, now Ren! I’m taking you back home- or at least to my home.” Ren begrudgingly gave up his exact location, but kept mining. Ignoring the rumbling noises he was hearing above him.

“Another vein of diamonds!” He exclaimed and began mining them out, “Ren- Rendog! Hurry!” It was Doc. “Dude leave me alone I just found more diamonds!”

“Your branch mine is unstable, you have to leave now!” Doc was at his side now, grabbing Ren around his waist and throwing him over his shoulder. “Wha- put me down you big cyborg!” Wait- “What is that?” Ren asked, his ears twitching trying to hear it better. “Your branch mine is collapsing. I tried to tell you how dangerous this was!”

“Dude it’s fine you’re being dramatic!” He thought he was until he was not. The quiet rumblings began to grow louder and the ground beneath them was even getting louder. Ren was put down behind Doc and he grabbed his hand. “Follow me Ren, you have to run we don’t have much time.” They ran and soon blocks began to fall, lava pools that were above them were exposed and began to pour around them; almost trapping them.

“I’ve already sent word to Scar- and Bdubs! They’re the closest to here-“ Doc yelled as he took a sharp corner, pulling Ren along all the while. “Ren I swear! I told you how dangerous deepslate was!” Ren only hung his head as they ran. A pit of lava opened up above them and trapped them- “Fuck! We’re gonna die here! And for what-?” Ren cried and held his head in his hands. Doc was too preoccupied with lining the area above them with obsidian. “Ren listen to me- focus. Ren!” His head snapped up to look at the other man. “Do you still have your comm?” Ren touched his robes pocket and nodded. “You need to give this exact location to Bdubs. Now-“ he rushed to grab his comm and typed out the message:

RentheKing: Bdubs’s me and Doc need assistance, we’re at -2874 -54 3865 we need immediate help. My branch mine is falling. We don’t have much time.

Bdoubleo100: My king! I am on my way! Please hold on!

Xisumavoid: Ren! I’ve put out several things saying how dangerous deepslate is- what is so important that you’d risk your life?

Ren dropped his comm and slipped against the wall into a sitting position, his hands coming up to his face. “No one understands dude! I never- I just wanted people to clean up after themselves! I wanted the server to look good! I never- I never wanted this title!”He ripped off his crown and threw into one of the lava pools to his left.

“Ren…” Doc whispered and leaned down to his level. “Keep a level head please. It’s not safe to be down here- let alone down here when you’re this upset so just try to breathe. Do you have a water bucket to help with this lava?”

They spent the next hour keeping lava at bay- and only having three pieces of obsidian for protection over their heads. “The obsidian won’t hold out much longer. My comm is dead- yours was destroyed when you dropped it. We’re fucked Ren…” Doc said as he replaced blocks around them, keeping the lava at bay.

“We’ll… if we’re gonna die I might as well fucking say it.” Ren said and stood, standing on his tippy toes to reach the other- wrapping his arms around his neck he pulled him into a kiss. A kiss which Doc happily returned, reaching down he pulled on Rens hair making him gasp so he’d have free reign of his mouth. Doc’s tongue explored the new area, running his tongue over the others teeth as he deepened the kiss. When they pulled away they were panting.

“Was this a bad time to tell you I’m thinking of declaring independence from your kingdom?” Doc asked with a laugh. “Such a bad time dude” Ren returned the laugh and kept his arms around the others neck. “I’m sorry I got you stuck down here with me… it’s all my fault man.” Red hid his face in the others chest. “I would have found you wether you told me where you were or not. I would have turned over every piece of stone looking for you until you were found- and safe.” Ren hummed as the creeper hybrid pulled him into a hug.

They stood like that for a few minuets longer, until the sounds of blocks breaking from the lava could be heard again. “I’m out of blocks Ren! We need to patch that hole now-“ Doc said frantically. “A-all I have are Diamond ore blocks! Nothing else-“ Ren dug around his inventory. “Use them!”

Ren was torn, he needed these diamonds to help stabilize his kingdom. “I-I can’t dude! I need them!” Ren was shoved against the wall as Doc yanked a stack from him and began patching the holes. “You’re faced with death and you’re still worried about your fucking kingdom?” Doc was pissed. “When we get out of here Ren, you’re stepping down-“ Ren opened his mouth to argue. “No! No arguments Ren! This not an option!” The ground rumbled again, this time from above. This was it. They were going to die.

The middle block above them disappeared and Bdubs face popped in. “My king! Hurry! This whole chunk is falling apart!” Ren stopped and pushed Doc towards the rope. “No no- you’re going out first. You and Bdubs are light enough to be pulled together- my cybernetics? I’ll have to go alone, now hurry Rendog.” Before Ren grabbed the rope he turned and kissed Doc. “And I will Doc, I’m stepping down as soon as you’re out of here. I love you- don’t you fucking die on me okay?”

As he and Bdubs were pulled out the rumbling got worse, blocks around them were shaking, some falling into the hole that Bdubs had dug to get to them. “What did you mean by stepping down my King?” Bdubs asked looking down towards Ren. “Nothing. I don’t wanna talk about this right now. Let’s just hurry I want Doc safe.” The rope was dropped back into the hole but no one ever grabbed it, the rumbling seemed to have stopped too.

They deemed it safe enough to dig another tunnel down and looked into the hole Ren and Doc were trapped in. There laid a bloodied Doc under large pieces of obsidian from the ceiling. “Doc!” Ren screamed and tried to enter the hole, stopped by Bdubs. “It’s too late! It’s too dangerous- we have to go back up my king!” The rumbling mocked him as it started again, the ground under their feet shaking. Bdubs tied the end of the rope around rens waist and yanked, a sign for the people at the top to pull. “No! Doc! We need to save him! Doc!” Ren screamed and fought against the rope around his waist. The knot far too technical for him to undo. He and Bdubs were pulled back up to the surface as the whole area around them began to fall into one big sinkhole- at the middle even the bedrock was falling in. A glimpse of green and white falling into the void.

Never to return again.

#hermitshipping #hermitcraft fanfic #rendoc #rendog #rentheking #docm77 #major character death

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dorkpool1701-blog · 8 months

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I've Been Getting Weird Texts

I’ve been getting a lot of random texts lately. I think most of us do. Some telemarketer or political campaign plugs in our numbers to some automailer app and inundates us with spam. Around election season, my phone is bombarded with texts telling me to donate to various politicians. I’m used to it.

These texts, though, these were different.

They started out innocently enough. The first one was sent a few weeks ago, and said, “hey karen it’s bill from the party.” My name isn’t Karen and I didn’t know a Bill, so I figured it was either a wrong number or, more likely, spam. I’d gotten texts like that before, and assumed it was some sort of weird phishing scheme or something. I ignored it, figuring it wasn’t worth the effort to block.

I wonder how different things would be if I did block that number.

Anyway, I went about my life and completely forgot about the text until a couple of days later.

“hey karen it’s bill. we shared that kiss.”

Same number, same guy. I realized that this wasn’t a spam number, but instead a real guy who was given my number at a party, most likely from someone who wasn’t super comfortable giving him her number. Feeling a bit bad for the guy, I decided to put him out of his misery.

“Hey, sorry, this isn’t Karen. Think you got the wrong number.”

A minute, and then:

“stop joking i know it’s u”

“No joke, man. Sorry.”

And that was that. For a bit, at least. A few hours later, while I was making dinner, my phone goes off.

“karen u fucking whore don’t u fucking lie to me”

Well. Someone wasn’t taking the truth very well.

“Dude. This isn’t Karen. Leave me alone.”

“u bitch don’t fucking lie to me”

“Ok, I’m going to block you now.”

And with that, I blocked him.

I continued going about my daily life, the experience just a weird story at this point. I told a few friends and we all agreed that Karen was probably justified in not giving Bill her number. Other than that, I didn’t think much of it.

Then, a few days after I blocked Bill, I got a text from a new number:

“that was rude karen”

Ok, now this was just getting creepy. Do I respond? I thought about it, and decided not to. Don’t give this guy more attention. I blocked his new number, and figured that would be the end of it. A few minutes later, I get a new text from a new number:

“i know ur there karen”

What the fuck? Did this guy buy more than one phone just to text me? What is wrong with this weirdo? Starting to feel a bit creeped out, I blocked the other number too.

Suddenly, my phone was blowing up with a bunch of texts from a bunch of different numbers.

“karen”

“don’t hide from me karen”

“u bitch”

“im gonna find u”

“u cant hide forever”

Just dozens and dozens of texts like that, coming in too quickly for me to block them all. What the fuck is going on? How the fuck is he doing this? Why the fuck is he doing this? As I’m reeling from the texts, my phone rings.

I don’t recognize the number. It could very well be a spam call, calling me about my car’s extended warranty or something. I know deep down it isn’t though. A part of me wanted to pick up the phone, scream at this guy to leave me alone, that I’m not this Karen and that he’s a fucking nutjob. But, for some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to pick up the phone. Some part of my brain was just screaming at me not to, paralyzing me with indecision. Soon enough, the phone stopped ringing. Whoever it was left a voicemail.

Taking a deep breath, I played it.

For the first few seconds, it was just heavy breathing. Then…

“Karen. I miss the way you tasted at the party, Karen.”

And there it ended.

I wasn’t quite sure how to respond. How do you respond to something like that? Call him back? Call the police? Call the local asylum and ask if they’re missing a guy named Bill?

No. I decided not to do any of those things. Instead, I changed my phone number. It was a pain in the ass, but hopefully he wouldn’t be able to figure it out. He’d just keep texting the old number and assume I was ignoring him. Everyone wins.

For a while, it looked like it worked. I didn’t hear anything from Bill. The only random texts I got were just those asking me to donate to some politician. After what happened, it was almost a relief to get those. I started to let myself forget about Bill, and move on with my life.

Until today.

I got a text from a random number.

“found u karen”

Attached was a picture of me, taken through my window.

#spooky story #creepypasta #Karen #writing #just a spooky story i wrote for fun #spooky #spoopy #creepy #scary #stalking

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clansayeed · 4 years

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Bound by Destiny ― Chapter 1: The Job

PAIRING: Kamilah Sayeed x MC (Nadya Al Jamil) RATING: Mature

⥼ MASTERLIST ⥽

⥼ Bound by Destiny ⥽

Nadya Al Jamil (MC) has been struggling from the day she moved to Manhattan, but her new job as assistant to the mysterious CEO of Raines Corp was supposed to turn her luck around. Until she finds herself caught in the middle of a war involving the Council of Vampires who secretly run the city. An evil from the birth of Vampire-kind stirs beneath, feeding on the conflict, and finds Nadya bound to a destiny she never asked for.

Bound by Destiny and the rest of the Oblivion Bound series is an ongoing dramatic retelling project of the Bloodbound series and spin-off, Nightbound. Find out more [HERE].

⥼ Chapter Summary ⥽

She’s never thought about doing clerical work before, but that’s not going to stop her. Nadya begins her new job as secretary for the mysterious Adrian Raines.

[READ IT ON AO3]

As soon as Lily yanks the lipstick from her hand the cab screeches to a jerking halt on the curb. The kind of stop that has the potential to ruin an entire twenty minutes-worth of hasty makeup application.

“Here.” grunts the Cabby, already flicking on his ‘VACANT’ sign and punching the buttons on his dash panel.

“Think you could chill out a little next time on the landing, Speed Racer? Here hon, hold this.” She returns the lipstick to its rightful owner to dig around in her bag for the cab fare.

Nadya sits in a daze; stares at her lipstick like she’s forgotten how to use it until Lily is grabbing hold of her wrist and pulling her out onto the bustling Manhattan sidewalk.

“You okay?” Lily’s hands are warm in the sunlight. They manage to bring her out of her spell. With a one-two-three swipe of her lipstick she brings a beaming smile her roommate’s way.

“Never better. Thanks for the save back there.”

“Thank me with a paycheck. And pizza — you can never go wrong with pizza.”

The main entrance of Raines Corp. faces north, follows the path of the sun so as not to shine in. A strange thing to notice, Nadya thinks, but she can’t help but hope that means she won’t constantly have the sunset glaring in her eyes every evening.

“Final checks!” Lily announces, loud enough to gain the attention of several Wall Street schlubs on their blue-teeth or air-phones or whatever else they use to distract from the tedium.

God, I hope I don’t end up like that at the end of this job… The thought flits through Nadya’s mind briefly before it’s lost in Lily’s vibrancy.

“Phone-wallet-keys?”

“Check.”

“Emergency Listerine strips?”

“Check.”

“Emergency deodorant?”

“Check.”

“Disdain for the bourgeoisie bullshit that allows people to treat secretaries like servants?”

Nadya laughs. “Check!”

“Then my dear,” she squeezes their hands together before letting go with a flourish of wide arms, “there’s nothing more I can do for you. You’re ready to walk into the belly of the Capitalist beast.”

But ‘ready’ though she may be Nadya doesn’t move; just stares at Lily’s encouraging smile like it’ll give her the power to take on the whole world or bring every skyscraper on the block crumbling to their foundations.

Her roommate pushes her ropes of neon-purple dreads over her shoulder and goes in for the hug Nadya didn’t know she even needed; let alone ask for. It’s one she returns warmly — it brings back distant memories of clinging to her mother on the first day of school.

“Seriously, Nadi’, you’ve got this.” whispers Lily into her ear, and Nadya very much has this.

She turns and steels herself—a final mental check to ensure all is secure and well and oh god did I forget my emergency tampon at home no Lily put it in the side pocket thank god so yes, it’s all well—before she strides in through the revolving doors.

“Don’t worry about dinner, honey-bunch! You just earn Momma that cheddar!” She can hear Lily’s faint laughter before the roar of industrialized air conditioning drowns out everything else.

Everything that had happened on the day of her interview had led Nadya to believe he might be a decent boss to work for; one of those kinds of CEOs who had wealth but didn’t flaunt it, or who gave out really epic bonuses come Christmas or the New Year. She figured she’d be seeing a lot of him around — not that he’d be asking her to accompany him to important client dinners or doing that thing in movies where he asks her to order him midnight sushi and it turns out to be enough for two — because what CEO goes out of their way to personally attend the hiring of someone who only has top-tier security clearance because that’s where her desk is?

Boy, was she wrong.

Adrian Raines communicates almost solely by email (or in the more urgent requests, the Raines Corp. interdepartmental instant message app). When he leaves his office he never needs to be accompanied. If not for the heaps of digital filing she’s asked to organize she’d almost forget who she was working for. He’s always polite; signs his emails with ‘thank yous’ and things like ‘I really appreciate all your hard work!’ but the distance takes some getting used to.

“Maybe he’s just antisocial,” Lily suggests over their now-standard lunch break phone call. Nadya can hear the distant tinny noise of digital zombies having their heads blown off on Lil’s livestream. “You know, like one of those reclusive ba-jillionaires in the movies. Or he thinks you smell.”

“I don’t smell!” Nadya argues back — and definitely doesn’t do a smell-check of her armpits sheepishly.

But Lily intends to find the silver lining in everything; one of the things that makes them get along so fabulously. “Think of it this way; sooo many people in your position have to see way too much of their bosses, right? And that burns them out! So you have more time to rake in the dough before you gotta high-tail it from Armaniville.”

“I guess,” she stabs a cold lump of orange chicken absentmindedly, “it’d just be a lot easier if he weren’t so darn nice.”

The next day Adrian sends her a list of things to get from the sub-basement archives; gifts for some client meeting he has in an hour. Nadya takes it on as a DEFCON 5 because each item is a separate ping on the IM server. If it can’t all be in one email it’s gotta be important, right?

All it takes is a requisition form sent below and the whole two dozen paces between her desk, the elevator, and the building delivery desk on the ground floor. She’d go into the conference room and deliver the package herself but while Adrian might appreciate the gesture the same might not be said for other head-honchos. So she leaves it on the corner of her desk for Adrian to grab on his way down.

Just before the lift doors open Adrian turns on his glossy heel. For the first time since her interview he addresses Nadya face-to-face.

“Nadya?”

“Yes, Mister Raines?” They both chuckle. Even with the impersonal disposition of digital communication they’ve found a way to share inside jokes; it took half a dozen messages for Nadya to learn how very serious Adrian was about being addressed by his first name even via email.

She glances up from Nicole’s daily ‘list of chores’ (Lily’s words, not hers, but she doesn’t deny the accuracy) to find Adrian staring at her. Even from across the room there’s a clarity to him. Adrian Raines is attractive; Nadya knows it, the numerous reporters from the tech, business, and gossip magazines Nadya has had to politely turn away all know it, hell even Adrian himself probably knows it — and not in the vain way pretty rich men know they’re pretty, but in a more humble sense.

So yeah, having someone like him stare with that movie-star smolder at someone like her makes it impossible for Nadya not to blush. But he’s her boss, and this gig is too good for all the months of “We promise we’ll have the rent next month please don’t evict us!” back-pay they owe their landlord to risk. And she’s pretty sure trying to romance the boss is a big risk.

She tries again, “Yes, Mister Raines?” because Adrian seems to be in his own little world. One he finally snaps out of.

“I just wanted to make sure you know how much I appreciate everything you’ve done for me since you came on. You’ve definitely been one of my more successful assistants.” That’s Adrian; making sure everyone feels appreciated.

Nadya simply shrugs it off; wouldn’t do her well to get too airheaded so early in the game. “Just doing my job, Mister Raines.”

“Nadya…”

“Just doing my job,” she winks, “Adrian.”

It’s the longest meeting he’s ever had; the text she gets somewhere near dawn thanking her for staying but releasing her fills Nadya with nothing short of relief. Gathering her things, clocking out, swiping her card for the lift; everything is routine now. Even strolling passed the conference room on her way to the front desk.

“Are you sure he’s being truthful about his numbers?”

“We can’t be sure of anything when it comes to Cecil, Adrian. That is why I insisted I go myself. He knows better than to lie to my face.”

“Yet he may still have.”

Stopping in front of the frosted glass isn’t one of her smarter ideas. Not like it stops her. Mostly she’s caught off guard by the seriousness of Adrian’s tone even through the doors. Can’t think of a time when she ever heard him sound like that; almost dark, or angry.

But where Adrian is filled with passion whoever he’s speaking to keeps her cool. Her voice a velvet purr so low Nadya finds herself straining to hear, leaning closer to the door and closer to the danger of discovery.

“I have my associates scouring the city for where they might be originating. You’d think someone might report seeing a corpse or two suddenly going grey and—”

A gruff Indian drawl interrupts her. Even from a distance Nadya feels like that’s a bad move.

“This is New York, Kamilah. Bodies are as rare as pigeons!”

“Then what have you contributed, Lester?” asks Adrian.

Lester grumbles something she doesn’t quite catch, then: “Don’t flash those at me, pup. I’ll speak to my men on the PD and see if they’ve been keeping anything hiding under their little blue belts.”

None of it makes sense. There’s walking in on half a conversation and then there’s whatever Adrian and his associates are discussing. The one thing Nadya is sure of is how much she dislikes the knot forming in her gut while her mind races to try and put some of what she’s hearing together.

There’s a long silence. For a moment she fears she’s been found out and her heart drops out through her stomach. Then she hears Adrian again — this time he sounds tired.

“We have to get this under control. Until we do every victim is our fault; their blood is on our hands.”

If there’s more to his speech she doesn’t stick around to hear it. Finds herself out on the cold Manhattan sidewalk just as the sun starts to haul itself up over the horizon. She doesn’t even remember if she said goodbye to the night guard. Her blood pounds in her ears.

Lily made a valiant effort to stay awake and greet her as evidenced by a full cup of tea gone cold on the island counter. But her roommate is passed out on the couch — Nadya envies that ability to sleep anywhere. The words victim and blood and hands echo in Adrian’s voice around her skull like bouncy-balls while she gets ready for bed.

Adrian acts like nothing is different — and to him it isn’t. But whenever she gets the chance Nadya tries to find some inkling, some shadow hidden behind his megawatt smile and usual charm. If ever given the chance to wander her mind starts coming up with fantastical ideas and scenarios: like seeing him as Christian Bale in American Psycho or getting a late-night text for her to come into work and finding him in the process of wrapping a body up in construction plastic.

Nadya only imagines being the victim of the cruel-yet-classy alter ego of Adrian once. Somehow discovering his secret life as a hitman or deranged killer is more believable than the thought that he would ever harm her.

But it doesn’t stop the hairs on the back of her neck from standing up when the rarity arrives of Adrian leaving at the same time as her. Lots of people are murdered in elevators in the movies.

“So… everything alright?”

Nadya looks to find Adrian’s gaze level and calm and right at her. Oh god, she thinks, he knows!

She fumbles for an answer instead — tries, and fails, to play it cool.

“Peachy keen.”

“Are you sure?” He’s not gonna press the matter if she doesn’t want to talk about it; just another one of the things that makes Adrian Raines possibly the ideal man. But he needs to stop looking like a kicked puppy in order to make it easier for her to lie to him.

So she decides to pick a different truth instead. “Yeah, I’m just not looking forward to the long trip home.”

Adrian’s nose scrunches. “I was under the impression your apartment was one train away.”

“Normally it is. But they shut down the station at my stop a couple nights ago. Some accident on the weekend or something.”

It’s exactly the Adrian thing for him to do when he offers her a ride home in the company car. And it’s the Nadya thing for her to decline, but rather than playfully letting it slide Adrian actually insists. Pipes up what could have been the speech her mom gave her about moving to ‘the Big City’ verbatim; with strangers lurking the streets and the subway never really being as safe as they claim.

“And forgive my selfishness,” he finishes while opening the sleek black Buick door, “but I’d have a pretty hard time finding another secretary with hours as flexible as yours. So let’s get you home safe and sound.”

One complimentary ride home is a favor. Then one turns into two, turns into the whole week, turns into “I know your station opened back up yesterday, Nadya, but if I’m being honest I enjoy the detour and the company,” and by the time Adrian’s car is pulling onto the curb outside her building at sunset—the usual time she sets off—there’s really no opportunity to refuse.

“I went to make you a cup, too, but then I realized I have no idea how you take your coffee — secretaries everywhere have shunned me.” Nadya greets him by way of apology, sliding into the now-familiar front seat with her travel mug in hand. Adrian laughs.

“I appreciate the gesture, but I’m more of a tea person.”

If Adrian is surprised when, same time next day, Nadya slides in with her usual mug and a second with a teabag string dangling over the side, he hides it well.

But while their routine has become more personable and casually affectionate it hasn’t entirely cleared her boss of suspicion. There’s three more meetings he releases her early for. She doesn’t snoop like the first time but definitely catches the same voices in her passing haste to the exit.

Then one ordinary night she spots an error on Adrian’s agenda.

“Did you want me to call the Gallery about getting a refund?” She doesn’t knock before entering — doesn’t really need to at this point. There’s something weirdly intimate about sitting in his car flicking radio stations while he pumps gas and returns with her favorite chocolate peanut-butter cookies. Intimate in that it makes knocking seem unnecessary.

Used to it, Adrian doesn’t look away from his screen. “Refund for what?”

“You bought two tickets to this thing, the ‘Manhattan Gallery’s Dedication to National Geographic Auction’ on Friday next.”

“Uh-huh.”

“And—Jesus—they’re five hundred bucks a piece?”

“Uh-huh.”

“So did you want a refund?”

“Why? I asked yesterday if you had plans then. You said no.”

It takes her a moment before Nadya’s doing her best impression of a fish.

“That second ticket’s mine?”

Now out of his chair Adrian leans against his desk with a smirk that could almost be called cheeky. If she didn’t know him better, that is.

“Well who else would I take?” he asks genuinely.

“I—I mean—well Nicole, for one.”

He waves off his assistant’s name. Odd, Nadya can’t help but think, since they seemed have a close relationship — close enough for her to berate him in front of a stranger on the day they met. Maybe less so in the last months… but still.

“She’s been to dozens of these. I wanted to take someone who might actually appreciate something new.” His falter is only slight. “I mean, of course, if you want to come. I probably shouldn’t have assumed.”

And she does, oh she does, but a nagging voice in the back of her head that sounds not-so-suspiciously like Anne-Marie from HR — who probably didn’t think Nadya could hear her over the gurgle of the downstairs coffee cart when she leaned over to her coworker and whispered a nasty rumor about “Mister Raines and his Secretary of the Night” — has her hesitant to say the least.

She’s taken too long to respond when Adrian’s hands fall on her shoulders. He cranks up the AC so high she had to pull her winter sweaters out of storage in the middle of summer. Even through the wool though she can feel the chill of his palms.

“Nadya? Talk to me.” Kind Adrian; Kind, empathetic, stupidly perceptive Adrian.

It makes her step back; gain some personal—and professional—space between them.

“Mister Raines,” and when did this become her life exactly, “I appreciate the gesture; all the gestures, actually, but…” already she’s hoping Lily kept yesterday’s newspaper with the classifieds, “I’m not… well, I’m not exactly interested in you in that… way.”

Adrian Master-of-the-Unexpected Raines goes bright red. Has Nadya wondering if she should take a picture to sell to the same tabloids that claim to see equally nonexistent things like Bigfoot.

Then he takes a deep breath. “Nadya — er, Miss Al Jamil — if I ever gave you the impression I… what I mean to say is that if you’ve found any of my actions untoward — erm — or, possibly, salacious in nature, I assure you, I—wait no, let me—”

He’s actually fumbling, which is how Nadya realizes he’s taken aback by her statement; how she realizes he was a million miles away from that dangerous place. And did he just say salacious?

To her surprise Adrian actually stops when she holds up a finger.

“Before you, uh, choke on your own tongue,” probably not the best idea to bring up his tongue but you know what they say about hindsight, “just… answer one question, okay?”

He nods.

“Is this an invitation as your date, or as your coworker?”

“Good heav — as my coworker, Nadya!” He practically chokes on his relief. It takes an exhale for Nadya to realize she is, too. Then they’re laughing, separately and awkwardly, and the next thing Nadya knows Adrian is pouring two tumblers of expensive scotch from the little trolley to the side of his desk that she’s never seen him use before. He’s her boss and he’s the one offering it, so he can’t get on her case when she accepts the liquor like the peace offering it is.

Friday night comes around and, as expected, the world ends.

“How can one person own this many dresses and none of them be for freakin’ formal events?!”

“Hey! That Sailor Mars dress was made specifically for a ball!”

“Lily, I’m only gonna say this one more time—” Nadya pokes her head out of her roommate’s tiny closet with what she hopes is a glare that thoroughly conveys her frustration; though the way her large glasses are dangerously ready to fall off the tip of her nose negates that completely, “—I can’t wear Sailor Moon cosplay to the Manhattan Art Gallery!”

Lily huffs and nibbles another spicy cheese puff. “Show me where it says that on the damn dress code…”

In a flurry of barely-clothed despair Nadya rushes back across the hall to her own room. Lily follows — cradles her snack bowl in her arms like one would a precious infant.

“I don’t get why the dress you bought doesn’t work.” Lily plops down next to the last-minute ordered dress and is careful to keep her cheesy mitts off the fabric. “It’s nice! And pink looks good on you, girl.”

Nadya looks the dress over with barely-contained spite. “It’s just… more skin than I thought it would be.” She mimes the shape of the dress’ lack of shoulder-cloth and Lily nods with an understanding “Oooh.”

“It just feels weird to wear something, like, kinda sexy after last week’s weirdness, you know? It’s weird! I think it’s weird, he’ll think it’s weird. It’ll just be…”

“Weird?” supplies Lily, who barely has time to duck the ball of socks thrown her way.

“And I don’t have time to go shopping. Adrian’ll be here in…” she looks to her bedside clock and groans, “an hour… I need more than an hour to fix my life!”

“Don’t we all.” Lily falls down beside the distraught form of her room mate and finger-feeds her a puff as per their agreement on dealing with messy snacks in mess-free zones. She wipes her hands diligently on her junk tee and caresses the apple of Nadya’s cheek with her thumb.

“Hon, just wear it. It’s your first time doing the ‘ritzy rich person’ thing and Adrian’ll totally get that. And if he tries to make it weird just laugh it off in that totally un-sexy way you do and boom—instant boner-killer.”

It’s not the pep-talk that would get the Cordonian Princess Caoimhe through her wedding day jitters, but it’s enough for Nadya; and that’s all that matters. With exaggerated grunts and huffs she hauls herself off the bed and starts to wrangle on the dress.

“I told you what he said, right?”

“You tell me a lot of things, sweetie.”

Nadya turns for Lily to dutifully zip her up. “He said I was ‘too young for him anyway,’ like, what does that even mean?”

“Do you want the Valyrian translation or something?”

“He’s thirty-one. I’m twenty-five! My parents had a bigger age gap than that!”

Lily pats the finished zipper, pulls Nadya to turn around so she can do her other, unsung duty by helping Nadya show off what she was born with.

“I mean maybe — stop fidgeting you have boobs so show them off, Christ — maybe he’s into cougars. Pretty boys usually have some form of Oedipus complex.”

“Mm… I don’t think so. Adrian’s different.”

“How?”

“He just — OW who the heck gives purple nurples these days?! — He just is, okay?! Now take your hands out of my bra Lily Spencer!”

The play-fighting gets put aside for the good of maintaining the integrity of the dress. The hour drags on, half of it spent waiting around for her (suddenly too-long, too-unruly, too-resistant) hair to dry. Nadya is always more likely to throw her hair up in a bun and go no matter the occasion, but this isn’t just any occasion. I’ll be representing Raines Corp, and Adrian by proxy, she reminds herself through every stubborn tug of her brush.

Lily is fiddling with her purse as Nadya finally exits the bathroom in a cloud of hairspray and second thoughts.

“So I packed you two granola bars in case they don’t have anything lactose-intolerant. And there’s some spare cash if you wanna dip out and grab a cab home. Did you grab your flats?”

“I can’t switch shoes in the middle of a thing like this.”

“Pretty sure I read something about it being totally acceptable.”

“Where, in a fanfiction?”

“I mean, it was The Royal Romance so… does that count?”

She turns around as she asks and sucks in audibly. The silence is self-conscious; immediately makes Nadya smooth down her hair with a nervous hand.

“What? Oh no, what’s wrong? Speak, Lily, words!”

She finds herself enveloped in a tight hug instead of an actual response, which is both a comfort and jostles her nerves slightly. “Lil’…”

Her roommate’s words are choked with embellished emotion. “You look like a real adult. I couldn’t be more proud.”

“Oh—bull!” Nadya pushes her off with a laugh — but the compliment does bring a flush to her cheeks. “I look good, though? I’ve still got a bit to change up—”

The sudden, high-pitched buzz of the complex bell interrupts as argument. One, long noise before it goes deathly silent.

Lily’s beaming. “Well that was an awfully adult ring. The kind of ring fancy professionals use!”

“No, no no!” Nadya fumbles for her phone to check the time. “He’s early! He’s here! Why is he here why is he ringing the bell why is — Lily don’t you dare!”

But she’s too late to stop the bouncing, bubbly roommate from rushing to the comm.

“Buzzing you in! Come on u—ah!”

Her greeting turns into a cry of protest as Nadya yanks her backwards.

“What are you doing?!”

“I wanna meet him!”

Nadya gestures wildly around the apartment; she doesn’t need to explain herself. The place isn’t exactly in the best state. But who could blame them — the last thing anyone wants to do when they finish a night shift is clean and Lily… well, it was in a worse state before Nadya moved in. At least now there’s a small garbage can beside the couch for all the empty chip bags.

In the time it takes Adrian to knock on their door, the pair manage to gather up empty snacks into the trash and hide everything else inside the ottoman. Lily’s hair whips at her face as she tries to pin down Nadya for the door.

“Girl—what are you doing?” She uses a little too much force in turning off the running sink and they battle clumsily over a soapy plate before Lily successfully replaces it with a towel. “He’s not staying. You don’t need to wash the plates.”

“I—” She has to right herself, but Lily’s correct, as usual. “I panicked.”

“Uh-huh. Door.”

“What?”

“Door.”

A second knock startles Nadya to action. “C-Coming!”

The doorways of Raines Corp. must be specially-designed to make Adrian look like the average man, Nadya realizes, because there’s a towering, statuesque beauty to the way her boss stands before her. He even manages to make the chipped old paint job from the ‘70s look glamorous.

“Ready to get going?” Adrian asks by way of greeting; slides one of his hands out of his pockets and offers a crooked elbow like he’s escorting her to some fancy ball.

She almost manages to take it without incident. Almost. While she regains her balance from being unceremoniously shoved aside Lily busies herself with shaking Adrian’s hand with firm vigor.

“You must be the boss-man! Lily Spencer — roommate, confidante, and Nadya’s personal Bryan Mills.” The way her smile falters isn’t unfamiliar — Adrian’s furrowed brow has already lost him points in Lily’s book.

“I’m sorry — who?” he asks; only just manages to steal his hand back.

Lily scoffs, yet Nadya can’t remember an instance where someone did understand her right off the bat.

“Bryan Mills?” As though repeating his name will somehow jog Adrian’s nonexistent memory. “You know… ‘I have a very particular set of skills that make me a nightmare for people like you?’”

Before he can flounder too long, though, Nadya mouths the movie title over Lily’s shoulder.

“Oh, right, from Taken.”

Lily brightens considerably. “Oh, good! You’ve seen it!”

“Once, I think. I remember it playing on the plane…”

“So you know what I’ll do to you if my girl doesn’t come ho—”

“And we’re leaving!” Her voice raised and pitched high with panic, Nadya manages to hip-check her way into the hall. “When I get home I’m gonna kick your butt!” she hisses — and punctuates her threat by closing the door harder than necessary.

She really hopes she still has a job by the time she and Adrian make it to the stairwell. There are five, possibly six different apologies ready on the tip of her tongue but they die off with a quick glance. Adrian’s smiling — no — beaming in a way she’s not seen before. It makes him look years younger — less like there’s a burden on his chest. She allows herself a moment of relief, and strains herself not to ruin it.

They could be heading out for another evening at the office with the casual ease between them. How Adrian opens the door and only starts the car when she’s buckled in properly, and the light conversation about a meeting he has next week with the CFO of a recently-acquired company. Nadya fidgets in what she hopes is a subtle way the entire drive downtown — it would be a shame to ruin such polite conversation with questions about which forks to use and who to not make herself look like a fool in front of.

Then (all too soon in Nadya’s opinion) Adrian pulls out of evening traffic to park on the Gallery curb. While he steps out to flag down a valet she allows herself a moment of pure, unrestrained panic while looking out the tinted windows.

A red carpet has been draped out for the occasion; down the Gallery steps to stop on the sidewalk where one couldn’t get through the mob of onlookers, reporters, and photographers if they tried. It looks less like a Gallery exhibition than a Hollywood movie premiere. Makes Nadya aware of every stark flaw — from the slightly loose fit on her dress to the few flyaway hairs she couldn’t wrangle in.

“You absolutely cannot do this,” she scolds — an insult aimed to quiet her racing heart, “this is way beyond you. You’re gonna make a fool out of yourself. Nothing in life has prepared you for a night like this… just like your interview. Got that, huh? So… don’t fall on your face or murder somebody and you’ll be fine. Just fine.”

The passenger door opens and a gust of cool night air sends goosebumps racing through every exposed part of her. Adrian extends his hand.

In a stupor, Nadya blinks and it takes a moment for her to register what he’s doing. “Huh?”

He laughs, takes the initiative, and tucks her clutch in his armpit before pulling her from the car.

“Come on. Wouldn’t want to miss the hors d’oeuvres. You haven’t lived until you’ve had beluga caviar.”

Nadya follows — and readies herself to live.

#bloodbound #bloodbound mc #kamilah sayeed #adrian raines #kamilah x mc #mc: nadya al jamil #; my fics #oblv: bound by destiny #oblv: new chapter #lily spencer #nicole anderson

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seungkwanslowqualityenglish · 6 years

Text

Husband!Vernon

Who: Vernon

Word Count: 1655 words

Warnings: None really.

Request: Yes. “hi!! could u possibly do a husband!vernon scenario. im feeling extra fluffy tonight lol”

I hope you enjoy this, it started as a husband au but then I got sucked into the domestic black hole and it ended up being mostly a father au.

Vernon is young, so for him to get married, he’d have to be like 300% sure they were the right person.

Like he’d want to be 200% sure before he proposed and 300% sure before he was ready to put a ring on it finally.

The wedding was probably highkey planned by his sister and mom, like honestly, he would just want you to be happy and probably give you the reigns over it and they were so excited you passed the control to them.

You know those men that cry when watching their bride walk down the aisle, Vernon is one of those men.

Before the wedding Vernon would probably be like “Baby you’ll probably cry more than I do”, but then plot twist you aren’t crying but he’s crying badly.

He probably starts to mutter “Damn I’m marrying her” and “How did I get such an attractive wife” and “How does she look so beautiful” under his breath, when he sees you, before the tears start.

For a good thirty minutes after the I do’s, he’s just staring into space because it hasn’t hit him he’s married now.

When it hits him he’s married, he’s introducing you to everyone as his wife and Mrs. Chwe.

Like he just introduced you to his sister as Mrs. Chwe and it’s like “Honey I’ve known her for years” but he’s like “Yeah, but not as Mrs. Chwe.”

Your honeymoon is probably to somewhere that you never thought about visiting for your honeymoon, like Thailand or Brazil, like somewhere that isn’t usually the first honeymoon spot that people think of.

Vernon probably planned the honeymoon so expect to do some of the cliche honeymoon things, and some not as cliche things.

Like he’ll take you snorkeling but also hiking, he’ll take you horseback riding but also just like half a movie night in where you are staying.

He probably has to carry you across the threshold, like he feels like it’s not official unless he does.

You 99% believe he’ll manage to slam your head against the doorframe, but surprisingly, he doesn’t.

He probably carries you in and then into the bedroom and drops you on the bed, and then looks at you while raising his brows, but you are just like “Vernon, it’s like three in the afternoon, no.”

But he suffices for cuddling you while watching the tv.

Your first night as a married couple will be hella sweet, like he’ll get your favorite foods and give you a candle light dinner, and you are like “Babe you didn’t have to” and he’s like ‘“You should have told me that before I did it.”

You think he’s joking, but he’s not, he’s serious, had you told him he wouldn’t have done it.

He probably plans this hella romantic evening for your first night as a married couple, but then he knocks a candle over and sets something on fire and you’re like yep, mood ruined and nothing happens.

He’d honestly be such a devoted husband, like you are his ride or die and he is your ride or die.

He’d always be there when you need him, like you are sad and he’s at practice, he’s leaving to come home and cuddle you.

He’d send you little gifts when he’s away from you, to remind you that he loves you.

He probably writes raps about you and how much he loves you.

He could probably make a full album with just songs he’s written about you.

He has his moments of being awkward and shy though, like you’ve been married years and he gets all blushy if he walks in on you changing, and it’s just like “You’ve seen it all before why are you covering your eyes”.

He’d random come home with flowers for you whenever he does something that he knows you’ll be mad about, but since he’s usually not like that, you are like “What did you do” and he’s like “Why did I have to do something maybe I just wanted to get you flowers” and you are like “Hansol” and he’s like “Sorry I accidentally spilled something on your jacket”, but the flowers lessen your anger.

He constantly kisses you, like you’ll be in the middle of a sentence and he’ll kiss you and be like “You looked so adorable I just had to.”

He won’t admit it, but he loves seeing you wearing his clothing, like he loves nothing more.

You two probably adopt a dog or cat or both, and then take the dog for walks daily, and just do cute domestic things.

For the first few years, like first five, children isn’t a discussion you have.

It’s not that either of you are against the idea of children, it’s just you are young and don’t really want to start a family yet.

When you did talk about it, he would respect your wishes 100%.

Like you don’t want children, fine by him, you can adopt another animal or two.

You want a big family, fine by him, he just wants to know when you can start trying.

You want children but don’t want to actually give birth, he’s contacting the adoption agencies and arranging visits.

Honestly he wants whatever you want, you could say you want an alpaca farm and he’s asking you how many alpacas.

If you decide to have children and are pregnant, he’d probably never leave your side.

Even if Seventeen is having a comeback soon, he’s dragging you into the studio and practice room since he doesn’t feel like it’s safe leaving you at home.

He probably spends more time asking you if you are alright than actually doing his work.

Honestly all of Seventeen spends more time asking you if you are alright than doing their work.

The members probably suggest baby names and stuff, and you have to be like “No Mingyu, we aren’t naming the baby BongBong”, “No Jeonghan we aren’t naming it after you”, and “No Seungkwan we won’t let you name the baby”, it happens daily..

The baby will have 12 uncles, which is good, since free babysitters.

When you do have children, whether adopted or yours or even just animals you call your children, he’ll be honestly the best father.

Like he’s always up for bathing them and feeding them, now changing them might take a bit for him to warm up to, but everything else he’s willing to do.

He’ll always offer to go to the store, whether it’s something you are craving at 1 am, or you need more diapers.

He probably has a mandatory thirty minutes of baby and me time daily, where it’s just him and the baby.

During that time he probably softly sings to the baby or raps or plays music he’s working on for it.

Hansol is that father that would have his baby backstage at his concerts wearing those cute little noise blocking headphones, since he wants his baby to see why he’s so passionate about music.

He probably brings the baby on stage at least once a show also, the baby is a month old and has a fandom like let’s be serious.

The baby is the unofficial 14th member of Seventeen, at this point.

He’s into matching outfits, but not with you, but with the baby.

Like he buys matching little jeans and a leather jacket for the baby, and it’s adorable.

He probably has an instagram where he just post cute family pics of you all and baby pics.

Your child is like three months old and probably been offered a modeling contract or something since the baby is so cute.

Hansol says it’s all because no child of his can be ugly, and takes full credit for the baby’s cuteness and it’s like um it takes two to make a child.

I can see Hansol wanting at least two children, so if you have any, it’ll probably be two at the least maybe three.

And Hansol would be the same for all of them, and buy matching outfits for all of them, even the girls, all of them are dressed like their dad, but you are dressed different since he’s not into couple outfits.

Your children are all unofficial members of Seventeen, and honestly Hansol’s jealous since their fandoms are probably bigger than his because who can resist babies.

Hansol is always up for helping with the children, around the house, just really anything.

You could tell him to mow the carpet and he’d probably ask where the mower is but not question why.

He’s a pta dad, because he is highly concerned with the quality of education his children are getting.

If his children were girls, he’d be that father that always volunteers to chaperone the school dances since no boys are going near his daughters.

He also volunteers to chaperone field trips because he’s honestly just a big kid and wanted to go to the museum or zoo also.

He’s known as that dad, the one that always sends tons of snacks and treats for the kids.

Your family is that family, the one that all the other kids in class love and you both don’t mind.

Honestly even the other parents love you both, since they can tell you aren’t only concerned for your own children, but also the others.

Like all the children in your children’s classes are your children now.

He’s also that parent that always jumps to volunteer for fundraising events and all, and volunteers you also.

Like that one time he agreed to cosponsor the bake sale, and then just told you that you needed to make like 30 dozen cookies and 15 pies and they need to be done in 2 days, and it’s like “Really Hansol”.

You two would honestly have just the cutest relationship ever, and he’d be pretty much everything you could ever want.

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patriotsnet · 3 years

Text

Are Republicans Trying To Cut Social Security

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/are-republicans-trying-to-cut-social-security/

Are Republicans Trying To Cut Social Security

The Republican Record On Social Security

Huff Post Reporter: Biden’s documented history of trying to cut social security

1935: Almost all Republicans in Congress oppose the creation of Social Security.

1939: 75 percent of Republicans in Senate try to kill legislation providing Social Security benefits to dependents and survivors as well as retired workers.

1950: 79 percent of House and 89 percent of Senate Republicans vote against disability insurance to defeat it.

1956: 86 percent of Republicans in Senate oppose disability insurance; program approved nonetheless.

1964: Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater and future president Ronald Reagan both suggest that Social Security be made voluntary.

1965: 93 percent of Republicans in House and 62 percent in Senate vote to kill Medicare.

1977: 58 percent of Senate votes against amendment to provide semiannual increases.

1977: 88 percent of Republicans in House and 63 percent in Senate vote against an increase in Social Security payroll tax needed to keep the system solvent.

1981: President Reagan proposes $35 billion in Social Security cuts over the next 5 years. The cuts would have included the elimination of student benefits, lump-sum death benefits, and a retroactive elimination of the $122 minimum benefit for three million recipients.

1981: Reagan administration begins a wholesale review of the Social Security Disability rolls, resulting in over 560,000 eligibility investigations in 1982 360,000 more than the year before. Ultimately, at least 106,000 families were removed from the rolls.

Republicans Aren’t Going To Take Away Social Security

Without beating around the bush, the Republican Party is often associated as being the party of the well-to-do — and the rich typically aren’t reliant in any way on Social Security income. There’s, therefore, been a long-running belief that Republicans would aim to do away with Social Security sometime in the future. This is nothing more than another in a long line of pervasive Social Security myths.

Both Democrat and Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill have an understanding of the importance that Social Security plays in keeping some 22 million people currently receiving benefits above the federal poverty line. Though both parties may have suggested tweaking how revenue is generated for the program, neither party would remove or replace any of the three funding sources: the payroll tax on earned income, the taxation of benefits, and interest income on the program’s asset reserves.

In other words, no Republican is going to advocate scraping Social Security. And even if they did, the idea would have no chance of gaining traction in Congress.

The Average Retired Worker Benefit Could Be Cut By More Than $4300 In Less Than 15 Years

The good news, if there’s a silver lining to pull out of this mess for seniors and future retirees, is that Social Security won’t be bankrupt, even if Congress fails to act. Two of Social Security’s three sources of funding — the 12.4% payroll tax on earned income and the taxation of benefits — are recurring sources of revenue. As long as the American public continues to work, money will be flowing into the Social Security program for disbursement to eligible beneficiaries.

On the other hand, no money left in asset reserves would mean that the existing payout schedule, inclusive of cost-of-living adjustments, would no longer be sustainable. Translation: Benefit cuts would be necessary to maintain Social Security’s solvency for decades to come.

According to the latest Trustees report, the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust would only be able to pay 76% of scheduled benefits once its coffers are cleaned out. Put another way, it means retired workers and survivors could face an across-the-board benefit cut of 24% by 2035.

Now, think about this for a moment. In May 2020, the Social Security Administration published data showing that the average retired worker was bringing home $1,512.63 a month. That’s $18,151.56 a year for the typical retiree. A 24% benefit cut would, in May 2020 dollars, equate to a benefit cut of $4,356 a year. That’s terrifying when you consider that 62% of retired workers rely on their monthly payout to account for at least half of their income.

Don’t Miss: Democrats More Educated Than Republicans

The Average Retired Worker Could Be Taking Home A Lot Less From Social Security In 15 Years

This has been a challenging year in so many respects for the American public. The COVID-19 pandemic has completely changed the way we interact with one another, and its displaced more than 20 million workers. If youre an investor, you were also taken on a wild ride, with the stock market packing about 10 years worth of volatility into a period of four months. And dont even get me started about the murder hornets.

But one of the few solaces working Americans have always been able to take is the idea that, if they earn 40 lifetime work credits, a Social Security benefit will be waiting for them when they retire.

The Social Security program has navigated through 13 recessions prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite some obviously grim outlooks during those previous recessions, youll note that Social Security is still here, and its been paying continuous retired-worker benefits for more than 80 years. This is why its often referred to as Americas most successful social program.

But just because its been a historically successful program doesnt mean its necessarily in great shape to service future generations of retirees.

What You Should Know About The Gop And Social Security

Who’s to blame for this mess? Well, some Americans would point their fingers specifically at Republicans in Congress. While they absolutely do take some of the blame, the inaction by Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill makes them equally culpable in exacerbating Social Security’s problems.

When it comes to Republicans and Social Security, here are the four things you absolutely need to know.

You May Like: Did Trump Really Say Republicans Are Stupid

With A Potential Debt Ceiling Increase Afoot Liberals Brace For Obama To Once Again Push For Social Security Cuts

Paul Ryans Wednesday Wall Street Journalop-ed was perhaps the starkest sign of a striking shift: a government shutdown and debt ceiling showdown pitched by Tea Party members to be about blocking Obamacare is being framed by GOP leaders as a push towards entitlement reform. In Wednesday interviews, leaders of liberal groups commended the presidents consistent insistence on not offering new budget concessions in exchange for reopening the government or averting debt default. But they pledged an all-out effort to defeat Social Security or Medicare cuts if Obama offers them once again after the default threat is delayed. GOP leaders push for a six-week debt ceiling increase suggests that moment could come very soon.

Charles Chamberlain, who directs the Dean campaign offshoot Democracy For America, told Salon that it would be a huge mistake for Obama to once again push the Social Security cut called chained CPI, and the president would face a gigantic amount of opposition from progressives nationwide if he did. Still, said Chamberlain, he put her on the table once before. I dont think hes going to take it off.

Meanwhile, the presidents support appears to have tempered opposition to Social Security cuts within the Democratic Caucus. A work-in-progress whip count from Social Security Works so far counts a dozen Democrats in the Senate and 46 in the House whose statements suggest they would oppose any deal including chained CPI .

They Haven’t Taken A Dime From The Social Security Program That Isn’t Accounted For

Another misconception is that the Republican Party stole money from the Social Security Trust and used it to fund wars. More specifically, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush have come under intense scrutiny for borrowing from Social Security and “not putting the money back.”

However, the truth of the matter is that Congress has been able to “borrow” Social Security’s excess cash for five decades, and it’s happened under every single president over that stretch. In fact, the Social Security Administration is required by law to purchase special-issue bonds and certificates of indebtedness with this excess cash. Please note the emphasis on “required by law” that I’ve added above. The federal government isn’t simply going to sit on this excess cash it borrows from Social Security. It’s spending this cash on various line items, which may be wars and the defense budget, as well as education, healthcare, and pretty much any other expenditure you can think of.

This setup is actually a win-win for both parties. The federal government has a relatively liquid source of borrowing with the Social Security Trust, and the Trust is able to generate significant annual income from the interest it earns on its loans. Last year, $85.1 billion of the $996.6 billion that was generated by the program came from interest income.

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Trump Keeps Proposing Entitlement Cuts And Then Denying That He Did So

In 2015 and 16, Trump differentiated himself from the rest of the Republican presidential hopefuls by campaigning on a vow to not cut entitlements.

Im not going to cut Social Security like every other Republican and Im not going to cut Medicare or Medicaid, Trump told the Daily Signal, a conservative publication affiliated with the Heritage Foundation, in 2015.

As his budget proposals indicate, this promise was an empty one. Trump, however, seems to realize that cutting entitlements is a political loser for him, and as a result has continued to make assertions about preserving them that are at odds with reality.

All Republicans support people with pre-existing conditions, and if they dont, they will after I speak to them. I am in total support. Also, Democrats will destroy your Medicare, and I will keep it healthy and well!

Donald J. Trump

Last month, however, Trump seemed to have a moment of radical honesty when he told CNBC during an interview conducted in Davos that at some point entitlement cuts will be on the table.

CNBC: Will entitlements ever be on your plate ?TRUMP: “At some point they will be”CNBC: But you said you wouldn’t do that in the pastTRUMP: “We also have assets that we never had”

Aaron Rupar

Those comments created a negative stir, so the very next day Trump tried to walk them back.

Democrats are going to destroy your Social Security. I have totally left it alone, as promised, and will save it!

Donald J. Trump

Democrats Have Already Signaled Trumps Budget Is Going Nowhere

Trump Vows To Protect Social Security, Medicare & Medicaid

While Trump tries to have it both ways by proposing entitlement cuts while claiming hes not really doing that, Treasury Department spokesperson Monica Crowley was somewhat more straightforward during a Monday morning appearance on Fox Business.

Asked by host Stuart Varney if she agrees that the new budget hits the safety net, Crowley said the president understands that Washingtons habit of out of control spending without consequence has to be stopped.

Treasury Secretary Assistant Sec. Monica Crowley defends cuts to entitlements in Trumps new 2021 budget proposal: The president also understands that Washingtons habit of out of control spending without consequence has to be stopped.

Aaron Rupar

But for Trump, not all spending is bad. While his budget cuts non-defense spending by 5 percent, he actually slates defense spending for an increase to $740.5 billion for fiscal year 2021.

Budget proposals are just that proposals. And while Trump insists that Republicans are the ones trying to save entitlements from destruction, the irony is that the truth is exactly the opposite: Entitlement cuts are dead on arrival as long as Democrats control a chamber of Congress.

House Budget Committee Chair John Yarmuth alluded to this reality in a statement he released on Sunday blasting Trump for proposing deep cuts to critical programs that help American families.

Don’t Miss: Are There Any Republicans Running For President Other Than Trump

Is The Gop Really Trying To Do Away With Social Security

Social Security is unquestionably the nation’s most important social program, with more than three out of five current retired workers leaning on it to account for at least half of their monthly income. Yet, this crucial program is on shaky ground, with the latest annual report from the Social Security Board of Trustees painting a grim intermediate- and long-term picture for the program.

According to the report, Social Security is facing an inflection point this year. For the first time since 1982, aggregate expenditures, which almost entirely includes benefits, but also takes into account administrative expenses and Railroad Retirement exchange contributions, will exceed revenue generated. Although the net cash outflow is only estimated at $1.7 billion, which is relative peanuts when compared to the $2.89 trillion currently in asset reserves, it’s a conclusive sign that the existing payout schedule isn’t sustainable.

Things begin to get really dicey in 2020 and beyond. Beginning at the turn of the decade, ongoing demographic shifts are expected to cause the net cash outflow to balloon. By 2034, following 16 years of outflows, the $2.89 trillion in excess cash is expected to be completely gone. Should this happen, Social Security would survive, but payouts to then-current and future retirees could be cut by up to 21%. That’s not a pleasant forecast given the noted reliance of seniors on the program.

Meet The New Gop Plan To End Medicare Same As The Old Gop Plan To End Medicare

We here in the Democratic Whip Press shop will give Republicans credit for their transparency. They are not even trying to hide the fact that their Cut, Cap and End Medicare bill would end the programs guarantee.

Republican Study Committee Chairman Jim Jordan said yesterday the plan basically mirrors the budget proposal that the House passed this year.

That would be the same Republican budget proposal that ends the Medicare guarantee and more than doubles heath care costs for seniors, all while preserving tax breaks for the wealthy.

And the Republican Cut, Cap and End Medicare plan is no different.

But dont just take our word for it. According to theCenter on Budget and Policy Priorities, the measure:

stands out as one of the most ideologically extreme pieces of major budget legislation to come before Congress in years, if not decades.

The legislation would inexorably subject Social Security and Medicare to deep reductions.

In addition, the extreme and draconian Republican proposal would reverse decades of precedent that exempt cuts to basic services for the most vulnerable among us. More from the CBPP:

Since the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings law of 1985, all such laws have exempted the core basic assistance programs for the poorest Americans from such across-the-board cuts. Cut, Cap, and Balance, by contrast, specifically subjects all such programs to across-the-board cuts if its spending caps would be exceeded.

Recommended Reading: Did Any Republicans Own Slaves In 1860

Republicans Will Cut Social Security And Medicare After Tax Plan Passes Says Marco Rubio

Update | Florida Senator Marco Rubio admits that the Republican tax cut plan, which benefits corporations and the wealthy, will require cuts to Social Security and Medicare to pay for it.

To address the federal deficit, which will grow by at least $1 trillion if the tax plan passes, Congress will need to cut entitlement programs such as Social Security, Rubio told reporters this week. Advocates for the elderly and the poor have warned that entitlement programs would be on the chopping block, but this is the first time a prominent Republican has backed their claims.

Expect all the guests on the Sunday shows to be Republicans explaining how they now have no choice but to slash Social Security & Medicare because the deficit has suddenly and mysteriously gotten much worse.

Bruce “Snarking and Barking” Bartlett

“You have got to generate economic growth because growth generates revenue,” Rubio said at a Politico conference. “But you also have to bring spending under control. And not discretionary spending. That isn’t the driver of our debt. The driver of our debt is the structure of Social Security and Medicare for future beneficiaries.”

Rubio’s talk of structural change is vague but will likely include changing the rate and age of Social Security and Medicare payouts.

So where does that money come from?

Senate Finance Committee Chair Orrin Hatch said Thursday that “liberal programs” for the poor were wasting Americans’ money.

The Political Outlook For Social Security Reforms

But the Biden administration and its Congressional allies are instead focused on threading the political needle for an ambitious $3.5 trillion infrastructure spending package, while also dealing with the fallout from the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Leading Republican legislators have called for so-called entitlement reform , but that’s a tough sell in the current ;Democratically controlled Congress.

“Does the report mean the timetable argues for real concrete action on Social Security? Probably not. Will it revive the rhetoric that the sky is falling? Sure,” says Robert Blancato, national coordinator of the Elder Justice Coalition advocacy group, president of Matz Blancato and Associates and a 2016 Next Avenue Influencer in Aging.

The issue over how best to restore financial solvency to Social Security isn’t going away. That’s because the program is fundamental to the economic security of retired Americans. Social Security currently pays benefits to 49 million retired workers and dependents of retired workers .

However, the tenor of the longer-term solvency discussion has significantly changed in recent years.

To be sure, a number of leading Republicans still want to cut Social Security retirement benefits to reduce the impending shortfall. Their latest maneuver is what’s known as The TRUST Act, sponsored by Utah Sen. Mitt Romney.

Read Also: Did Any Republicans Vote To Impeach Trump

Democrats Urged To Reject Latest Gop Attempt To Hold Social Security ‘hostage’

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham on Wednesday said he would be willing to vote to raise the federal debt ceiling in exchange for a policy that could result in cuts to Social Security and Medicare, a proposed trade-off that progressive advocacy groups implored Democrats to reject.

“Fortunately, Democrats can protect Social Security and Medicare by raising the debt ceiling in the forthcoming reconciliation package.”Alex Lawson, Social Security Works

With members of Congress staring down an to increase the debt limitthe amount of money the federal government is legally permitted to borrow to meet its financial obligationsGraham toldBloomberg that he could bring himself to vote yes on a debt ceiling hike if Democrats agree to legislation establishing commissions tasked with crafting Social Security and Medicare “reforms.”

But Social Security Works, a progressive advocacy organization, was quick to warn that Graham’s offer is a thinly veiled trap.

“Lindsey Graham and his fellow Republicans will stop at nothing to cut the American people’s earned Social Security and Medicare benefits,” Alex Lawson, executive director of Social Security Works, said in a statement. “Graham has now telegraphed his party’s intention to demand a commission to cut Social Security and Medicare as the price for raising the debt ceiling.”

Social Security Works and other groups warned at the time that the proposal was nothing more than “a plot to gut Social Security behind closed doors.”

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biingbo0ng69 · 4 years

Text

to all the "friends" who use me for emotional support and leave me on read when i need theirs. get bent. this time around "im at work" cuz im not putting up with you this time 🤗

imma use fake names just in case

Layla- THIS NEEDS TO BE TOLD TO YOUR FACE IN A NICE POLITE WAY. BUT I NEED TO VENT FIRST. YOU ARE A HORRIBLE FRIEND. YOU'RE SELF ABSORBED AND ONLY TEXT ME WHEN YOU NEED SOMETHING. I really needed her emotional support and she let me down one too many times... Pain is a competition for L and seems like she can't stop competing. I want to be here for her, but she isnt showing up for me. so im sorry but this is where i ghost her.

Melanie- Oofers girl. I miss the 16 year old who i met junior year of high school. The one where her whole life wasnt getting a girlfriend. I miss having bomb ass friend night outs. When we looked to our future we were excited and genuine. Now, she can't seem to get over anything. She never quite learned that in life bad things dont STOP happening and they never will, but we can getting better with coping and it doesnt mean there isnt good things. one of our mutual friends did us dirty and she will forever associate it with me. I'm sorry it hurt you dude, but I DIDNT DO IT. and i thought we moved past it, but every time we meet up it comes up at least once. or if that specific friend didnt come up she would ASSUME MY current friends were like the one who betrayed us. even tho melanie was friends with her first .... and she wouldnt phrase it like we went through it together, she phrased it like she was the ultimate victim. i did a lot of reassuring her because of that incident and i hyper explained where i was b/c she would assume 😒 the thing that finally made me STOP talking to her was when she brought it up YET AGAIN and said "we dont need another (inserthername) situation because i felt so left out and sad, you two just hurt me" and i felt like finally snapping and saying "well that was a SPECIFIC situation, my other/new friends arent lying sociopaths with the compulsive need to be accepted. that situation HURT me too, i felt like i lost you because I THOUGHT YOU HATED ME AND WHERE BAD MOUTHING ME TO EVERYONE. and even after all that i didnt block you on anything, or approch you on a daily basis to torment you. but you would. and you did. I DONT BRING THAT PETTY ACT UP DO I? and after all this reassurance and bending over backwards to adjust my schedule so we could FINALLY hang out again. only cuz you broke up with your girlfriend. not even that you missed our friendship which HURTS but i dont keep throwing that in your face. and all this effort just for you to pull this shit. way to ruin an evening YET AGAIN. but why am i surprised you've changed and i dont know who you are anymore." It's always backhanded like she needed to lecture me so i didnt do it again. but i didnt do it in the first place. I GOT SCREWED over too thanks for failing to recognize i lost my best friend and maybe needed my other F R I E N D to get through it. but no all we could ever go over was how i need to not do the same to her. now we're older and out of High School all she does is cry, complain, vent, and need a shoulder to cry on. and someone should never feel like they are wrong for being sad but i miss laughing with her too. I was always here for her, but when shit hit the fan in my life she disappeared 😞. She would just say "Sorry dude good luck!" or "Why does it matter that much?" she IS oblivious to anyone else's needs unless she's fucking them. What happened to friends? Cant you have both a relationship and friends? why did she always chose one over the other? when she fought and broke up a dozen and a half times i was there. EVERYTIME. when i broke up with my boyfriend.... and heard really disappointing news she was nowhere to be found. She wanted me to get over it and stop being sad but she was always allowed to be sad and i'd invite her over for a girls weekend where we talked through her being upset and i tried to get her to have fun. but after a while those girls weekends were not fun. ALL WE DID WAS TALK ABOUT HER. and she called the shots. she helped herself to my house, fridge space, dog, my bed, my products, and time. Whenever i needed a girls weekend she gave an excuse or was going through something else the next weekend. You always seem to have the right excuse but after so many times of being bailed on and even ignored, I'm finding it hard to stay objective. I dont think i need to be there for someone who is NEVER there for me. this is why i never called Melanie my best friend. she always seemed hurt by that but she never did anything to prove to me we were BEST friends. This is why i've stopped talking to her too.

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topicprinter · 5 years

Link

I Finally Made Money on Medium - And I'm Super StokedMedium just changed how it pays authors, and that's great for lesser-known writers like me.Note: This is the text of a Medium article I wrote (with pictures) here: https://medium.com/@douglas.life/i-finally-made-money-on-medium-and-im-super-stoked-ebbcde82f84bWhen I started on Medium, I was gung-ho on carving the blocks of my imagination into beautiful sculptures I could rocket through the tubes. It was great. I could write anything I wanted, and even get out all my poetry that I had spent years cleverly disguising as rap lyrics.And I was going to get paid for it? No. Freaking. Way.There was one problem. I didn't.Nothing I was putting up was getting many views, let alone claps. A few of my friends got to read some of my poems, so that was a win, but it wasn't making any money.It figures, I thought. Seemed too good to be true. Was too good to be true.I gave up on making money. I was afraid no one would read my poetry behind a paywall, so I disabled it.---Fast forward to tonight.[Picture of my 2.65 earnings]You have no idea how happy $2.65 made me. I'm still buzzing.So what changed?Medium's new payment systemI know it. I'm not a popular writer. Does that mean my writing is sub-par? Maybe. But probably not. Probably my marketing is. Probably my follower account is less than the number of times I laughed since dinner. I'll keep that.Anyway,Mediums old payment system was based on claps. Claps are easy to come by when you build a follower list. When you are known for something else. When you write about the hot topic. When you have klout.But not when you're a nobody. Not when you're putting you heart and soul into something because it's what you really care about. Not when you don't care what people are searching for, but only what your soul is searching for.But you know what? That makes great content. Content people want to read.Now, medium finally pays people who make things people want to read.Their new model pays by reading time. This is much better in my opinion because it sticks to the core of what writing is about: arranging words people want to absorb with their retinas.Here's the official word, straight from Medium's email:"Here's what's changing:We will calculate earnings based on the reading time of Medium members.We will include reading time from non-members too, once they become members.Your earnings will be updated daily, not weekly.Your story stats will show new metrics to explain your earnings."Improving how we calculate writer earningsIn Medium's Partner Program, writers earn daily through a new model to reward quality writingblog.medium.comSince I want us all to profit here, here are a few tidbits of info I gleaned from my momentary astronomical success.---Things I learned that can help you make $$---Non-member reads mean nothing.My A Brief Introduction to Alien Races article on Aquarius Academy has become hugely popular, but not on this site. Only 2% of our 28k views have come from Medium. Most of the rest came from Google search results. Unfortunately, if the Google referrers aren't members, you won't get squat. Unless they buy a membership, which if they are coming from search traffic, isn't likely.Claps still mean $omethingFrom what I can tell, claps aren't dead. Medium doesn't say it directly, they say:"Instead of paying based on claps as the main signal, we will now reward stories primarily based on reading time…"Primarily means that it isn't the only way you are rewarded. I suspect claps are still worth something, as you can see from this evidence.On November 3, I made $0.71 on 12 minutes read. Pretty good! That's almost exactly what I make on Skillshare, which has been my main source of online income.On November 5, I made 1.94! That was huge for me, someone who has written more than a dozen articles and not seen a cent. The only difference? I got some claps this time. This makes me believe that, unlike some early speculation, claps still make money.Authors can now get paid without KloutKlout-driven money has been the dirty little secret of Medium's old model. Not that there is anything wrong with that, authors that are known for great stuff should be rewarded. But that makes it just a little harder for us guys still on the block after the gun is smoking.While I certainly hope Aquarius Academy has plenty of friends in the future, for now we are pretty underground (or shall I say in Pisces). Anytime people don't know you and don't see a social cue to tell them your word's are important, they probably won't be as motivated to clap for your article.But they will still read. Oh, will they read. Beautiful words pouring through the eyeholes, satisfying the inner cravings like steak to a junk-food eater (Or açaí to a vegan).Now, who cares if I have 20 followers on Twitter, and my last Facebook post got three likes. I have a voice. And, for the first time, my voice pays.---In ConclusionThe cornerstone of writing is now being rewarded. This is the first time in history a writer can be paid in a provable way by the read time of the publisher's subscribers. This is huge for writers; bigger than claps, maybe even bigger than Medium itself.I, for one, am stoked.---All the love,Douglas James ButnerP.S. If you have a Medium, I invite you to follow me, I will follow you back!!Original Article Link: https://medium.com/@douglas.life/i-finally-made-money-on-medium-and-im-super-stoked-ebbcde82f84b

#/r/entrepreneur #reddit

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ecotone99 · 5 years

Text

[HR] Mad's Mad

Madeline seethed. She could hear them five rows back, giggling and whispering like the little shits they were. High school had been hard on Madeline, but college, contrary to her mother’s gentle reassurances, was somehow worse.

At 19, Madeline had moved halfway across the country to find herself a fresh start in a fresh city. Denied entry to the dorms, she had been forced to find accommodation elsewhere. In the last week of August Madeline had moved into a room-share with six other strangers, only three of which were students, and only two of them were remotely close to her in age.

It was a 45-minute bus ride from campus to her little rundown, three-story in the suburbs; a ride in which Madeline had been taking twice daily, Monday to Friday, for the last month and a half.

Mornings weren’t so bad. At 6:35 AM, most of the bus was quiet with that post-sleep, early morning grog that afflicted most of the cities working class. Evenings were completely terrible. Madeline shared most of her classes with at least one member of an insidious, petulant crew of overgrown juveniles that made her life hell. She didn’t know what she’d done to first earn their ire. For a week or two, she’d been mostly invisible in her classes, her nose in her books and her earbuds drowning out the rest of the world.

Sometime in early October, beautiful Britany Carschell had stopped her in the hallway.

“Hey. Madeline, right?”

Madeline had nodded, brows raised, “Cool, so I missed NTEN on Thursday. Lend me your notes, okay? You’re always taking them.”

Surprised by the abruptness, Madeline replied with a jittery, hesitated jumble of, ‘what’ and ‘oh yeah’.

“What was that? Come on, Mads. Be cool,”

“Madeline.”

“What?”

“It’s Madeline. I don’t like ‘Mads’.”

“…O-kay?”

An awkward moment passed, and Madeline cringed openly. Britany watched her, armed crossed and brow raised expectantly.

“Well?”

“Oh, ah yeah. Sure. Just a sec.”

Madeline slipped a red-covered notebook from her binder. Britany grabbed it with a sing-songy: “Thanks, Mads!”, and was gone before Madeline could stammer out another word.

It took two weeks and numerous awkward reminders before one of Britany’s posse finally returned the now crumpled and coffee-stained notebook. The bullying started soon after.

It was subtle at first. Whispers behind her back, giggles as she walked passed, pointed, hinting comments left on the course message board.

Britney and her rotating gang of goons often caught the 5:45 bus after class, same as Madeline.

Sometimes they ignored her. Today they didn’t, and Madeline seethed.

They sat three seats back and they whispered and giggled and chittered away like the little shits they were, and Madeline gripped the edge of her seat in white-knuckled rage.

“Mads mad.” she heard over the din of public transportation, “Ohhh, Mads mad!”

Another wave of giggles, followed by a wet, cold splat just beneath her right ear. She swiped away at her neck instinctively and drew away a blob of paper and saliva.

A spitball. How perfectly juvenile.

It was 6:12 when Madeline fled from the bus, five stops before her usual hop off, her face and neck crimson in shame.

She had stood, turned, and shouted, “What the hell is wrong with you?!”, and the din of the bus had abruptly stopped. Dozens of strangers watched her as her tormentors, grinning and shrugging, responded with silent, feigned confusion.

Cripplingly aware of her new spot at the center of attention, Madeline’s rage broke and she slinked back, her shoulders drawn up to her ears and her eyes hazy with blooming tears.

The bell chimed, the bus stopped, and Madeline stumbled off into the biting, October dark.

She broke as the bus pulled away, and sobbed audibly into the night. There were a few bored pedestrians waiting at the stop, watching her with that general sort of half-concealed curiosity reserved for the strangeness of the city, and Madeline shrunk away further.

Turning on her heel, shoulders slumped and hands shoved into her jackets shallow pockets, Madeline fled down the adjacent street and out into unknown territory. She walked for a good thirty minutes before the sobbing ceased and that cold little ball of post-misery numbness hardened in her chest.

Exhaling away her frustrations, Madeline finally slowed. It was drizzling a cold, sleety October mist, and she shivered a little, before finally taking in her surroundings.

She was on a street like any other city street, surrounded by three and four-story brick and cement buildings, with closed up shop windows at street level, and offices and apartments, and who knows what else up top. Cars passed at the end of a nearby street, three blocks down, but Madeline found herself utterly alone on this particular quiet stretch of road.

Wiping her face on her forearm, Madeline turned back the way she had come and began the trek towards her bus stop. She’d not veered off this road in her near-blind and mindless march, and so guessed she’d only have to backtrack a block or three before finding Communal Drive.

Two lights and one four-way later, Madeline stopped.

’34th and West Henderson,’

Madeline didn’t know that one.

A low black car sped through the intersection a block behind her. She pulled out her phone and typed in her current address. The map loaded, and loaded, but never materialized. She opened a browser, and it loaded and loaded.

Madeline frowned, and put her phone back into her jacket pocket. She walked two more blocks down, before doubling back, scanning each intersection for any sign of the corner of Communal Drive.

’61st and Rosemead Ln’,

’13th and Georgia’,

It took her returning to ’34th’ to notice that the numbers made no sense. She took out her phone again and it loaded and loaded and loaded. The street remained dark and deserted, the storefronts closed and the upper floor windows dim behind thickly drawn blinds.

A light changed two blocks down West Henderson, and a stream of cars passed. Suddenly, overwhelmingly uncomfortable, Madeline darted across the road and half-jogged down the block towards the lively intersection.

It was deserted when she arrived on ‘108st and West Henderson’. 108st. She repeated the number in her head as the last of the distant tail-lights disappeared around some indistinct corner.

Inhale, and exhale, inhale, and exhale. She let the stinging cold fill her lungs, revitalizing her. Her phone, gripped tightly in her left hand, continued to load impotently.

Calm and cold, Madeline took stock of her surroundings. The intersection of 108th and — no. 108st. 108st.

She frowned, eyes on the misspelled road sign.

‘108st and West Hentingson.’

Was it always Hentingson? It must have been. But 108st?

She dropped her gaze to the street and inhaled. Above her, the light on the corner changed from green to yellow to red.

The intersection of…108st and West Hentingson was a perfectly, unremarkably normal street. There was a small Tandori joint on one corner and a 24-hour convenience store on the other. The restaurant was dark, but the convenience store glowed with sterile, phosphorescent salvation.

Madeline crossed the road and tried the door.

It was locked. She peered inside the metal barred, glass-fronted entrance at the deserted store inside. The sign at eye-level read ’24 HR / 7 DAY’ in stark white on black font.

She tried the door again. Still locked. Plastered on the window beside the door was a large poster advertising a calorie-wise sweet-tea drink. A flawless white woman with a wide, laughing smile held the drink in hand.

‘Life's Sweet!’ the advert read, ‘We’re Sweeter!’

Bitterly, Madeline turned her back on the store and prowled further down the street. Life's sweet. Lifes shit. This is shit. her inner monolog raged.

Two streets down a light turned green two and a lone truck puttered passed, crossing the otherwise deserted road. Madeline quickened her pace, passing another laughing, smiling billboard with another laughing, smiling woman, advertising some laughing, smiling piece of shit.

When she made it to ‘212nd and West Henderson’ it was deserted again. There was a newspaper box on the corner beside the light. The front page read, ‘Lifes a Breeze! Smile!’

She blinked. There was no subtext, no cover photo, no ads or articles or bylines. Just those words in clean, crisp newsprint.

Swallowing dryly, Madeline looked back to her phone. She opened the map. It loaded. The browser. Loaded. Nothing materialized. She opened her messages and fired off a text to her sister,

‘hey so dont laugh but im sort of lost’

Message sent

‘i got off the bus at the wrong stop and i no its stupid but i dont no this area’ Message sent

‘dont tell mom and dont think im dumb but can you send me how to get to communal drive from’

She looked up at the street signed and blinked,

‘121nd West Henderson.’

She knew it had been Henderson. She knew it.

Typing the address, Madeline clicked send and pocketed her phone again. The light changed, and Madeline crossed the road. A door in an alcove led to a brightly lit stairwell. A bench boasted another laughing advert with another laughing woman. A car alarm blurted out somewhere the next street over.

Squaring her shoulders, Madeline stormed down West Henderson, towards the next intersection.

212nd and West Henderson. The light changed. She crossed, checked her phone, and texted,

‘u there’

Message sent. Phone pocketed.

The light a block down turned green and two cars passed. Two cars and a trio of pedestrians. Madeline’s breath caught. She took off in a sprint that slowed to a jog when she realized how strange she must look, running towards these strangers.

The trio had crossed and were about to disappear around the corner of a glass-walled insurance office.

“Excuse me!” Madeline called out after them, “Please, hey. Excuse me!”

The trio rounded the corner, and Madeline hustled after them, “Hey, excuse me!”

The street was deserted. Guts twisting, Madeline walked a few steps down 71st Street, then stopped. It looked the same as any other street, except it was deserted in the 6 o’clock rush. The stores were shut up tight, the offices locked for the night, and the apartments dim behind heavy blinds.

Madeline turned back to the corner and waited, her hands at her side and her brow furrowed. She felt stupid; like she wasn’t privy to some joke the rest of the class knew, and she ‘d been left trying to piece together the punchline.

The light changed, and Madeline crossed. There was another newsstand and another billboard ad with another laughing woman.

‘Enjoy your fucking joke,’ Madeline thought, her mouth dry and her teeth clamped tightly shut.

In her left pocket, her phone buzzed and Madeline let out an involuntary, excited little squeak.

Fumbling the phone from her pocket, Madeline swiped the screen and read a little blue message box with a little orange exclamation symbol and the words, “Battery at 7%”

Shutting her eyes tightly, Madeline inhaled, the cool October mist tickling her throat. She reread her messages quickly and then called her sister.

It rang, and rang, and rang, and then went to voicemail.

“Meggy, answer your phone. Or read your texts. Whatever. I just need your help. Please hurry,”

She ended the call and checked the time.

6:17PM. Thrus. Oct 17. 2018.

Another light changed, and another gaggle of chattering, laughing, suit-wearing strangers crossed a block away. This time Madalin ran, legs pumping and eyes wide and scared, down the street towards them.

And just like before, they were gone by the time she arrived.

Gripping her arms, Madeline peered owl-eyed down the empty, quiet street. It was the same as any other city street – lights and doorways, adverts and notices, street signs and mailboxes.

One mailbox at her feet read, ‘Homecoming!’ and nothing more. Madeline released her bruising grip on her arms and fumbled her phone from her pocket, checking the time, but the screen remained dark and dead.

She bit down hard on her lower lip and stared and stared, as the cold night sept deeper down through her clothes and skin and meat.

Above her the light changed, and Madeline looked up. In front of her the newspaper in the box read; “Mads Mad.”

With a guttural, choked yowl, Madeline kicked the glass of the paper box. She felt the impact up her leg and stumbled back. The glass was cracked a little, and a deep, throbbing pain settled itself in her knee.

Sitting down on a cold bench, Madeline started to sob.

“Real fucking funny,” her voice was jittery and breathy and frantic, “Real ha ha fucking funny.”

On the bench behind her, faded and vandalized, a woman posed in front of a ‘FOR SALE’ sign and smiled and laughed. ‘Forever Homes! Forever Patterage Realities!’

She inhaled, she exhaled. She inhaled. The light changed, and Madeline rose to unsteady feet and limped across the street. There was another woman shilling another product on another large poster in another window of another dark and empty shop.

Some kitschy little slogan offered some kitschy little dream, while that woman with her shit-eating grin laughed and laughed and laughed at her.

Three more lights on three more corners, before Madeline finally left West Henderson…Huntington…Herrington…

“Real fucking funny,” she spat and stalked down 11th for two blocks, the cold settling deep into her joints. The sweater under her light autumn coat was cold with sweat and her feet ached from toe to heel.

11th was as unremarkable as the last eighty streets she’d wondered. Signs and ads and windows and dim lights behind thick blinds. Strangers passed at distant corners and disappeared when Madeline, panting and aching and alone, raced to meet them.

Finally, Madalin stopped, her knee screaming and her feet numb. The light was red, the street was empty, and the beautiful, flawless women in the kitschy, ugly ads smiled their shit smiles and laughed their shit laughs.

There were lights on in the apartments on the second and third stories and Madeline craned her neck and peered in for any sign of light. A shadow moved behind a blind, and Madeline screamed,

“Hey! Hello! Help! Please! Somebody!” and some variation of until her throat croaked, raw and aching. When she finally stopped, she fell, panting, to the frosty, muddy sidewalk. She didn’t cry. She didn’t speak. She simply looked up to the dimly lit windows, tracing them with cloudy, tear-welled eyes, down one side of the street to the next intersection, across the road, passed the waiting cars and chattering, indistinct pedestrians, down the length of the opposite street, until at last resting on the road sign marking the intersection above her.

‘Mads gone Mad’ the sign read.

Mads gone mad.

submitted by /u/MySpookySkeleton [link] [comments] via Blogger https://ift.tt/2MzQhAm

#Blogger #Story

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thisdaynews · 5 years

Text

'I was addicted to drugs, now I'm addicted to running'

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/i-was-addicted-to-drugs-now-im-addicted-to-running/

'I was addicted to drugs, now I'm addicted to running'

Think about running. What kind of images does it conjure up? A panting figure in lycra jogging round the block, or even the triumphant finishers at the London Marathon? Is it the aching legs the next day after going on the treadmill for the first time in weeks, or feeling smug when your step counter goes over 10,000 in a day?

For the casual runner, maybe. But for fans of ultra marathons – that’s anything longer than the 26.2-mile (42km) distance of a marathon – it means something more extreme. These endurance runners push their bodies and minds to the limit, often running 100 miles (161km) or further. And it seems it’s a truly global sport with events taking place everywhere from the Sahara Desert – the 150-mile (241km) Marathon des Sables – to the 54-mile (87km) Comrades Marathon in South Africa. And now the spotlight is on the UK, for a 69-mile (111km) run along Hadrian’s Wall in an event called, fittingly, The Wall.

And “hitting the wall” is the phrase runners use when they feel they can’t go any further. But today they seem to be smashing through it in droves – ultramarathons are reportedly growing in popularity, with one man who runs a listings website telling the Guardian he’s seen a 1,000% increase in the number of ultra-long races worldwide. Some in the ultramarathon world attribute this increase to a very millennial cause – ultra competitors posting pictures on social media of their triumphs, which in turn encourage their friends to think they can do it too.

We speak to six ultra marathon runners from the UK and beyond about what motivates them to run such distances – from the woman who literally ran away from a drug addiction and the young entrepreneur who craves solitude, to those running to overcome trauma and break down gender barriers.

‘Ultramarathon running became my meditation’

Before my first marathon, I was so nervous about being able to complete it that I could barely function. Just the thought of it made me feel so stressed. I tried everything I could to calm myself down before the big day, including hypnotherapy. So no one was more surprised than me, when I found an ultramarathon to be the most relaxing thing I’d ever done.

I agreed to run my first ultra last year with one of my best mates. It seemed like a good chance to get out of the city. I quickly discovered it was the most social, relaxed running you can do. Imagine spending 16 hours in the fresh air, with nothing to do but put one foot in front of the other. To me, that’s bliss.

There’s not the same pressure of you against a clock, like in a normal marathon, it’s not the time that’s impressive, it’s the distance. People actually clap as you overtake them. You can be jogging with the same people for hours and comfortably never say a word, it’s a very zen experience (minus the physical pain obviously).

After about an hour, I can feel my mind start to settle and that’s when I start to zone out and slip into a meditative state. Afterwards, I’m so relaxed – you just don’t have the energy to get angry about anything! I am a happier, and less stressed person when I’m running.

‘My body tries to stop me running’

To this day, my body tries to stop me from running. I think it’s a reaction to a trauma I experienced during my first ever ultra marathon. I was in Nepal for the race, and on day two of six, I was attacked by a complete stranger. I didn’t want to finish the race but I was running in memory of my childhood friend who took her own life a few years before. So I finished it.

Sometimes I go to run and my whole body freezes up before I’ve even made it out the front door. The first time, my dog was in her running harness, I had her lead in my hand and was just standing there in my running kit. But I couldn’t move even an inch. It’s happened a few times since then. The first time, I think I was standing there for almost two hours before my dog jumped up and snapped me out of it.

Now, running has become part of my recovery – along with therapy. After the attack, I decided to reclaim running as my own – I run to empower myself, and take back control. I’m not quite ready to face my next ultramarathon yet, but I will be.

‘The solitude helps me cope with life’

When I’m running, I shut off from the stress of the outside world. I’m an introvert by nature and need time with my own thoughts to help me cope with life.

My thinking becomes so clear and uninterrupted when I’m running, getting away from distractions helps me think things through properly, makes me more decisive, and allows me to work on my emotional intelligence – which are really important traits for an entrepreneur. Most of my big business breakthroughs have happened while running!

I find technology so disruptive – it’s possible, via social media, to be connected to people 24 hours a day. It’s too much. The solitude of running gives me my daily dose of empty space – it’s the only true ‘me time’ that I get.

‘I quit my job to study ultras’

I started running long distance six years ago, to get me through a difficult relationship. It gave me the clarity to start doing the things I enjoy in life. Long story short, I quit my job in finance to study the gender stereotypes in running – and my research requires me to go out in the field, which I love!

During a long run you don’t know what’s going to happen and you have to give over control to a certain degree, something that I’m not always good at in the rest of my life. But personally, I’m in a much better place now and am getting married in October.

In March I took part in the Speed Project, a gruelling 360-mile (579km) relay from LA to Las Vegas. The experience of running such a long way is really hard to explain to people, but the biggest thing I’ve learnt from ultras is how resilient I am. There are times when it is really hard and boring and I feel like I’m not making any progress, but there are other times where I feel amazing and like I’m flying!

‘Running helps me feel like women and men are equal in Afghanistan’

Zeinab (left), 24, Kabul

I started running a couple of years ago, when I saw my room-mates were running every other day, early in the morning. I hadn’t been running since I was really small because the town in Afghanistan where I live is very conservative towards women and their activities.

One morning I asked if I could go with them and ran 10km (six miles) non-stop. That was the first time I felt how free it feels to run outdoors – my friends were surprised that I could keep up. That’s when they told me they were training for a 250-mile (402km) ultra marathon in Sri Lanka, I couldn’t believe how cool it was that two Afghan girls were competing in an international race! Now I’ve done the same.

Running helps me feel like there is no difference between the rights of women and men in Afghanistan. I want the men in our society to understand that women taking part in sport is not taboo, and that we can run the same distances as men. I want to push boundaries. My running partner and I even trained every night during Ramadan, running in the evenings after breaking the fast.

‘I was addicted to drugs – now I’m addicted to running’

At 27, I was arrested and spent the night in a prison cell. That was the worst experience of my life and scared me into getting clean.

I fell into a bad crowd in high school and started partying hard. I soon got into a relationship with a guy who was doing methamphetamine and got addicted pretty quickly. Eventually, we got arrested. I was put on a six-month rehab programme where I had to go to a Narcotics Anonymous meeting every day. After six months, I was clean.

Now I’ve been clean for 25 years. I started running because I was searching for something to take the place of drugs. I ran a 10k (six miles) on a whim after seeing a flyer for it and, three months later, I ran my first marathon. Ultras followed soon after.

I’ve run 100, 200 and 300-mile races. When you finally stop running after that long, it feels great. You’ve accomplished something huge and it’s like, ‘Wow!’ I definitely get a kind of high. I’m one of about only a dozen people in the world who has run 100 miles (161km) more than 100 times. You could definitely say that I’m addicted.

If you have been affected by any issues in this article, you can find support here.

This article was first published on 14 June 2019.

#addicted #running

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simonegaleanaus · 6 years

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The 5 Best Free Blogging Platforms in 2019 (100% Unbiased)

So, you’d like to take blogging for a test drive, eh?

See if you like it or not before ponying up the bucks for a complete self-hosted WordPress setup?

You’ve probably heard you can start a blog for free, and indeed you can. The big question is:

What’s the best free blogging platform right now?

And the answer is… it depends on what you’re trying to accomplish.

In this post, we’ll go over all the different free blogging platforms and give you the pros and cons of each, but first, let’s stop to ponder a more fundamental question:

Table of Contents

Do You Even Need a Free Blogging Platform?

No Blogging Platform is Right for Everyone

#1. Medium: Best Platform for Simplicity

#2. WordPress.com: Best Sandbox Platform

#3. LinkedIn: Best Platform for Professionals

#4. Instagram: Best Platform for Visuals

#5. Guest Blogging: Best Platform for Building Your Authority

Making the Switch to Self-Hosted WordPress

What’s the Best Free Blogging Platform for You?

Do You Even Need a Free Blogging Platform?

The truth:

Blogging can be expensive.

If you’re a seasoned blogger who’s been around the block a time or two, who’s already figured out which ideas work and which don’t, it’s easy to chalk up these costs as the price of doing business. Spend money, make money. Wash, rinse, and repeat.

But what if you’re a beginner learning how to start a blog for the first time? What if you’re someone who hasn’t yet figured what works and what doesn’t?

I’ll let you in on a secret…

You can experiment just as well on a free blogging platform as you can on a self-hosted WordPress setup with all the bells and whistles.

Actually, you can experiment better on a free blogging platform since the learning curve isn’t as steep.

Do you really want to experience the inevitable growing pains of blogging while forking over large piles of cash each month?

Free blogging platforms allow you to confirm your blog topic has potential, spy on the competitors in your niche, and test your ideas without spending any of your hard-earned dough.

So which one is best?

Well, that’s the thing:

No Blogging Platform Is Right for Everyone

Different bloggers have different needs, and different blogging platforms are good for different things. Ultimately, “best” will depend on you and your situation.

That said, each of the platforms we’ll discuss do have common traits (besides being free). Let’s briefly look at them before we dive in:

There’s zero maintenance hassle. The burden of maintenance doesn’t fall on you when you use a free blogging platform. No worries about software updates, data backups, or gremlins hacking your server — they’re all handled by someone else.

They’re easy to use. To varying degrees, each platform is friendly to beginners. With limited tech savviness, you could get started today.

Customization is limited. If you’re a micromanager, take a deep breath: you will not have full control or unlimited options when you use a free blogging platform.

That last one can be both a blessing and a curse.

Once you get serious about blogging, the limited customization options of free platforms will likely hold you back. When you’re just starting though, the limitations will help you focus on what’s important: the aforementioned testing of your ideas.

Alright, enough prologue.

Ready to find out which platform is best for you? Let’s go.

#1. Medium: Best Platform for Simplicity

First up is Medium.

Founded by Evan Williams, one of the founders of Twitter, Medium launched in August 2012 to much fanfare, and it’s grown into a behemoth. According to the New York Times, as of May 2017, Medium was up to 60 million unique visitors each month.

That’s considerably less than WordPress, but Google Trends indicates the tide could be turning:

The red line in the graphic above represents the number of worldwide searches for “wordpress” during the past five years. The blue line represents the number of searches for “medium.”

Granted, some of those “Medium” searches could be for the TV show of the same name that starred Patricia Arquette from 2005 through 2011.

Nonetheless, it’s growth is impressive.

How Do You Get Started?

Medium offers multiple ways to register.

Don’t want to remember yet another password for yet another account? No problem. Sign up using one of your social media accounts.

Go to Medium.com and click the “Get Started” button:

Choose Google or Facebook. You’ll then be asked to log into your (Google or Facebook) account. Once you authorize Medium to access your account, it will redirect you back to Medium.

That’s it.

To get to your Medium account in the future, all you have to do is click “Sign In” on the homepage and choose the “Sign in with Google” or “Sign in with Facebook” option.

Or if you already have a Twitter account, it’s even easier. Choose the “Sign In” link instead of the “Get Started” button, and you’ll see the following:

Click the “Sign in with Twitter” button (even though you haven’t yet signed up).

If you haven’t already logged into Twitter, you’ll be asked to log in and then authorize Medium to access your Twitter account.

Click “Ok,” and you’ll be off to the races.

What Do You Get For $0?

A simple, beautiful WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) blogging platform that embraces minimalism.

After you join, click your avatar (the floating head) in the top-right corner of the page and then, select “New story.”

You’ll land on a clean, easy-to-use editor.

Where to insert the title for your post is clearly defined. So, too, is where to begin typing your first sentence.

Every change you make gets automatically saved in the background. And as you type, you begin to see exactly how your finished post will appear to your readers.

That’s the beauty of a WYSIWYG editor.

There’s no guessing, no wondering, and no trial and error. If your post looks good in the editor, it’s going to look good when your post goes live after you click the “Ready to publish?” button.

And speaking of what happens after publishing, there’s something else Medium offers you for the whopping price of zero dollars and zero cents:

The chance to be featured in front of their 60+ million readers.

Write something that wows people and, if it receives enough love from readers (they click a “clap” button to show their approval), it could get featured as one of Medium’s top stories on their app and website…

Or in their “Daily Digest” email…

Such a spotlight would mean lots of new eyeballs on your content.

Who Should Use Medium?

Anyone. Everyone.

Seriously, though it isn’t perfect, you’ll be hard pressed to find a blogging topic or niche that Medium can’t service.

This is especially true if your niche will be self-improvement or entrepreneurship. Medium puts your content, your message, front and center to your readers.

As Evan Williams once put it: “Medium is not about who you are or whom you know, but about what you have to say.”

Best-selling authors. Entrepreneurs. Writers who stepped away for a season, but are making a comeback. Ministers who have a good sense of humor. Yours truly.

All have things to say, and all have found homes on Medium.

Who Should NOT Use Medium?

Microbloggers (you’d be better off using Instagram — more on that later).

Those who don’t plan on using their blog for writing (photographers, podcasters, etc.).

Anyone who likes to color outside the lines.

Medium is all about the written word. Sure, graphics embedded into Medium posts look great, but in the end, it all comes back to the words.

Medium is best for those who love words. It excels at typography. It uses an abundance of white space so that its text has a perfect canvas. It embraces a minimalistic design so that nothing distracts your readers from your precious — yes, I’m going to repeat it — words.

Look at this example screenshot from a post written by Jeff Goins:

Black text on a white background. A simple, easy-to-read font. It’s a perfect arrangement for Jeff’s strong, unique voice.

Medium offers no glitz, glam, or sparkles. And, unlike WordPress.com (which provides a few basic design themes and customization options), Medium is one size fits all.

What you see is what you get.

If you like what you see, great. If you don’t, there’s not a lot you can do about it.

Final Word on Medium

What are the Pros?

Built-in audience of over 60 million readers!

Good for all blog types

Excellent typography — your blog will look professional

More business friendly than WordPress.com

What are the Cons?

Little, if any, customization — your blog will look like every other Medium blog

Conclusion: If the written word is your preferred medium, you’ll do very well with Medium. It’s an easy-to-use platform that puts your words front and center, and it’s the platform we most often recommend to beginner bloggers.

But is it the right choice for everyone?

Let’s look at the other options…

#2. WordPress.com: Best Sandbox Platform

Source: Lorelle on WordPress

Launched in 2005, WordPress.com is a turnkey blogging platform built on the open-source WordPress.org software.

In any given month, over 409 million people will view more than 21 billion pages on WordPress.com’s network of blogs. In September 2018, more than 70 million posts were published and over 52 million blog comments were written.

In short, WordPress is quite popular.

How Do You Get Started?

Signing up for a free account takes only a few minutes.

Go to WordPress.com and click the “Get Started” button to get to Step 1:

You’ll need to enter your email address, a username, and a strong password.

Next, enter a few details about your blog for Step 2:

For Step 3, enter an address for your site:

Once you’ve typed something, you’ll get a list of options. Be sure to select the “Free” one.

Finally, in Step 4 you pick a plan. Again, choose the “Free” option.

What Do You Get For $0?

WordPress.com’s “free for life” plan gives you numerous features, including:

A free WordPress.com subdomain

“Jetpack” essential features

Community support

Dozens of free themes

Let’s look at those features in more detail:

Free Subdomain

A couple of definitions are probably in order…

First, what’s a domain? See the address bar at the top of your browser? What comes after the “https://” is the domain.

In the case of this site, the domain is smartblogger.com. For my site, it’s beabetterblogger.com.

And in the case of WordPress, the domain is wordpress.com.

So what’s a subdomain? If the domain is the parent, the subdomain is the child. Anything between the “https://” and the domain is a subdomain.

Some examples:

alumni.harvard.edu

braves.mlb.com

finance.yahoo.com

That’s what WordPress is offering with its free subdomain.

So, if I wanted to start “Kevin’s Awesome Blog” on WordPress.com, my subdomain might be something like kevinsawesomeblog. Readers would type kevinsawesomeblog.wordpress.com in their browser to view my site.

It’s not a good look if you’re a business (more on that later), but for a sandbox blog where you’re testing your ideas, it’ll do the trick.

Jetpack Essential Features

WordPress.com doesn’t allow third-party plugins (unless you upgrade to their “business” plan). So, if your buddy tells you about this “amazing” WordPress plugin “you’ve got to try,” you’re out of luck until you upgrade to a self-hosted WordPress site.

However, WordPress.com’s free plan does come with many built-in plugins that offer everything from spam protection to contact forms.

For a complete list of the built-in functionality that WordPress.com offers, check out their plugins page.

Community Support

Possibly WordPress.com’s best feature (beyond the price) is its extensive support system and knowledgebase.

You can find virtually anything you need to know about using their free platform in WordPress.com’s Support section. To call their collection of how-to articles merely “extensive” would be an understatement.

And if you have a specific question you need an answer for, they have you covered there too.

Visit the WordPress.com forum, search to see if anyone has had your same question, and browse the answers. Can’t find the solution you need? Post the question yourself.

Free Themes

Whereas Medium prevents you from customizing the look of your blog, WordPress.com gives you options.

With “dozens” (93 at the time of this writing) of free themes from which to choose, WordPress.com offers design flexibility that isn’t available with Medium and the other free platforms.

What we’re saying is…

You get a lot for “free.”

Who Should Use WordPress.com?

WordPress.com is a solid platform for almost every type of blogger.

Do you want to be a self-help blogger? Good news — WordPress.com will meet your needs.

Want to blog on food, pets, or politics? You’re in luck.

Just want to write about life? That’s WordPress.com’s jam, my friend.

Source: The Next Adventure

But WordPress.com is good for more than just blogging. You can also use it for projects and e-commerce stores, which isn’t something the other free platforms can claim.

That gives it an edge over the other options. If you want to blog and do something else with your site, WordPress.com offers flexibility the others do not.

However, it’s not a good fit for everyone…

Who Should NOT Use WordPress.com?

If you want to blog for a business, you should skip WordPress.com and look into Medium or LinkedIn (which we’ll discuss in a moment).

Why?

Because it makes you look like a cheapskate.

Free is wonderful, but using WordPress.com when you’re a business is the equivalent of handing out business cards with the printer’s logo on the back of them.

Doesn’t exactly scream “I’m a professional,” does it?

Also:

If you’re hoping to join a blogging community where your posts have a chance to be discovered by new audiences, you should look elsewhere.

Medium shines a spotlight on the best their members have to offer. If you write something great, it has a chance to be featured and seen by millions.

WordPress.com? Not so much.

Here’s a screenshot of the most-recent “Editors’ Picks” on the official WordPress.com blog:

There might as well be tumbleweeds blowing across the screen.

Final Word on WordPress.com

What are the Pros?

Suitable for a variety of blog types

Solid support articles and forum

More design options than other free platforms

Shorter learning curve if you choose to transition to self-hosted WordPress later

Good for more than just blogs

What are the Cons?

Not ideal for businesses

You can’t install third-party themes and plugins

Lack of community makes it difficult to build an audience from scratch

WordPress advertising and banners may appear next to your content

Conclusion: If you’re a non-business blogger who wants an easy to use platform that gives you some control over customization, WordPress.com is a solid option — especially if you plan to transition to self-hosted WordPress someday.

#3. LinkedIn: Best Platform for Professionals

Source: Darren Rowse

Next up is LinkedIn.

Primarily used for professional networking, LinkedIn also offers a publishing platform. This allows any of its 560 million users (as of September 2018) to write posts that could (potentially) be read by any of the 260 million members who are active in a given month.

(Again, potentially.)

How Do You Get Started?

Go to LinkedIn.com, and you’ll see this window encouraging you to join:

Enter your name, your email, and a strong password. Then click the “Join now” button.

You’ll then be asked to answer a few simple questions:

Your country and zip code

Whether or not you’re a student (if no, you’ll enter your job title and the name of your employer; if yes, you’ll enter the name of your school and other relevant info)

Your reason for joining LinkedIn

It sounds like a lot, but it’s fairly harmless.

Still, if you feel the urge to throw your computer into the dumpster, we won’t blame you.

What Do You Get For $0?

A free-to-use publishing platform that’s focused on professionals and business contacts.

If you’re already a LinkedIn member, publishing your content will be easier than WordPress.com, Medium, or any other blogging platform.

Why?

Because it’s built right into your LinkedIn profile. Click the “Write an article” button and start writing.

Who Should Use LinkedIn?

Anyone who wants to reach professionals and businesses.

After all, that’s what LinkedIn is all about, right? Nurturing business relationships.

Source: Syed Balkhi

Blogging on LinkedIn helps to cultivate those relationships.

When you write an article, LinkedIn will notify your existing connections. If your article is great (and why wouldn’t it be?), they’ll take notice. Write more and more great articles, and they’ll start to see you as an authority.

And, like with Medium, great content on LinkedIn has a chance to get noticed by those outside your list of connections.

If one of LinkedIn’s editors sees your masterpiece and decides to feature it on one of LinkedIn’s numerous channels, your work gets exposed to a giant audience of interested, like-minded professionals.

Tip: Want to increase the chances a LinkedIn editor will see your article? Share it on Twitter and include “tip @LinkedInEditors” in your tweet.

Who Should NOT Use LinkedIn?

This one is pretty straightforward…

If you aren’t a working professional, or you’re not looking to reach working professionals, you’ll be better off choosing one of the other free platforms.

Final Word on LinkedIn

What are the Pros?

Good for professionals and businesses

Clean, simple design

Easy to use — publishing platform is built right into your LinkedIn profile

Built-in audience of like-minded professionals

What are the Cons?

Only good for professionals and businesses

Very few customization options

You can’t schedule posts for future publishing

Conclusion: If you’re looking to write posts that will reach professionals and businesses, LinkedIn is the best free blogging platform available.

#4. Instagram: Best Platform for Visuals

A photo and video-sharing platform that’s owned by Facebook, Instagram is one of the largest social media sites in the world.

As of June 2018, Instagram has 1 billion users worldwide. The previous September, they had 800 million users — a growth of 200 million in only nine months.

Even if you subtract everyone who follows a Kardashian or has posted a photo of themselves impersonating a duck, Instagram offers an audience of well over 75 people.

(Kidding. Mostly.)

How Do You Get Started?

On a personal computer, go to Instagram.com, and you’ll see the following:

Enter your phone number or email address, your name, your desired username, and a strong password. Then click the “Sign up” button.

Or, skip all that and click the “Log in with Facebook” button (assuming you have a Facebook account). If you aren’t already logged in, it will ask you to log into your Facebook account.

You could also do the above using the Instagram app on your mobile device.

What Do You Get For $0?

You get an extremely popular social media platform that’s perfect for microblogging.

What’s microblogging, you ask? Here’s how it works:

You get a great image. Maybe it’s a photo you took on your camera, or perhaps it’s a Creative Commons image that perfectly fits your current shade of melancholy.

You upload the image to Instagram.

And for the caption? You write a short blog post.

Here are a couple examples:

In the above screenshot, Sarah Von Bargen cleverly plugs a course she offers in the midst of a tiny, bite-sized post (accompanied by a photo of assorted beverages).

And in the below screenshot, my friend Jaime Buckley (in true Jaime Buckley style), uses Instagram to publish an eye-catching graphic alongside 107 inspirational words on parenting.

That’s microblogging — and it can be done very, very well using Instagram.

Who Should Use Instagram?

Anyone who focuses on highly-visual topics.

Models…

Photographers…

Yoga instructors…

Professional chefs…

Make-up artists, hair stylists, clothing stores…

The list goes on and on.

If you’re someone who can combine great visuals with short posts that pack a punch, you can have great success using Instagram as a microblogging platform.

Who Should NOT Use Instagram?

If your idea of a great image involves pulling out the iPhone 3G you’ve had since 2008 and snapping a photo, Instagram may not be the platform for you.

If you tend to draft novels when you write, Instagram’s 2,200 character limit when writing captions could prove problematic.

Also, if your target audience tends to shy away from mobile devices for any reason, Instagram might not be the best platform to test your ideas. Instagram started life as a mobile app. Mobile is where it shines, and it’s where most of its users call home.

(So, if you’re planning to start a Wilford Brimley fan club, it’s probably best to skip Instagram.)

Final Word on Instagram

What are the Pros?

Great for visual topics

Ideal platform for microblogging (short posts)

Great if your target audience primarily uses mobile devices

What are the Cons?

Limited to 2,200 characters

Limited to one hyperlink (in your bio)

If your target audience isn’t on mobile, it’s less than ideal

Conclusion: Instagram offers a great microblogging platform geared toward visual topics. However, it is not kind to fans of the great Wilford Brimley.

#5. Guest Blogging: Best Platform for Building Your Authority

Sometimes, the best platform for your work is someone else’s popular blog.

Why? Because it can mean instant credibility.

Once your post publishes on a site like Smart Blogger, Forbes, Lifehacker, or Business Insider; people look at you differently.

Yesterday, you were just you — a talented, attractive writer living in obscurity. But then, after having your work published on a well-known website, you’re now seen as a subject matter expert in your field.

What happened? Guest blogging happened.

How Do You Get Started?

There are two approaches to finding sites where you can contribute guest posts.

The first is easy…

Check to see if the blogs you already like to read (that are relevant to your niche, of course) accept guest post submissions.

Browse their “About” or “Start” pages. Try their “Contact” page. Sometimes, they’ll make it easy and have a “Contribute” or “Write for Us” link in their navigation menu or footer.

The second approach involves utilizing Google’s and Twitter’s search capability.

Here’s how it works:

As you can in the screenshot above, you can query a topic (in this example: “blogging”) along with a search phrase (“write for us”).

Google returned a list of results that contained both of those search terms/phrases.

Click on the results that look promising, browse the sites, and see if they’re a good fit. Not all sites will be worth your time. Skip the ones that aren’t. Bookmark the matches.

Then try some other, similar queries:

“Blogging” + “guest post”

“Blogging” + “contribute”

“Blog tips” + “write for us”

And so on.

Replace “blogging” and “blogging tips” with whatever topics you would like to write about.

Searching for guest blogging opportunities on Twitter follows a similar routine:

Type “guest post”, “guest blog post”, “guest article”, etc. in the search box. Twitter will give you a list of tweets where people used those exact phrases.

Every time someone proudly tweets that a guest post they’ve written has been published on someone’s site, as Meera Kothand does in the above screenshot, it’s saved by Twitter for posterity. And it allows you to go on an archeological hunt find it.

Scroll through the results.

Based on the title of the guest post and the site that published it, you will have a good idea whether or not it’s a match for you. Keep scrolling until you find some possibilities. Click the link in the tweet, browse the site, and bookmark it for later if you think it’s a contender.

What Do You Get For $0?

You get the chance to put your words in front of already-existing, relevant audiences.

Jon wasn’t an unknown when he wrote How to Quit Your Job, Move to Paradise and Get Paid to Change the World as a guest post for Darren Rowse’s ProBlogger in 2011, but he was an unknown to me until I discovered the post a few years later.

Then everything changed.

It didn’t matter that Jon was already well known by most thanks to his former role at Copyblogger; for me, his ProBlogger post was a gateway drug.

Jon went from being an unknown — a riddle, wrapped in an enigma, smothered in secret sauce — to an authority on blogging I had to read.

That’s the power of guest blogging. Every time you put your words in front of newly targeted audiences; you have the chance to gain fans for life.

Who Should Guest Blog?

Anyone who wants to build their credibility and boost their authority.

How can guest blogging do that, you ask? Let’s use me as an example.

Before I wrote my first guest post for Smart Blogger, the only people who viewed me as an authority on blogging were my wife and maybe one of our cats.

My site, Be A Better Blogger, was less than a year old. After reading a post about quitting your job and moving to paradise written by some guy named Jon, launching my own “blog about blogging” sounded like a great idea.

So that’s what I did. I was on unemployment at the time, and I had a lot of free time on my hands.

And I was doing a great job in such a short period.

The only problem?

I had little credibility. Few saw me as an authority on the topics I was writing.

Then I received an email…

Jon’s editor, the talented Glen Long, invited me to write a guest post for Smart Blogger (formerly known as Boost Blog Traffic).

That guest post…

Led to a second opportunity…

Which led to a third…

Which led to the post you’re reading right now.

It led to opportunities like writing for Syed Balkhi over at OptinMonster.

It led to being asked to provide quotes for dozens of blog posts and articles.

It led to flattering, tongue-placed-firmly-in-cheek emails like this one from James Chartrand:

It may not have led to tons of traffic for my website or large crowds chanting my name in the streets, but guest blogging did something that would have taken me considerable time to do on my own:

It legitimized me.

Hey, and speaking of website traffic…

Who Should NOT Guest Blog?

Anyone who wants to build up their own blog.

The reason? It isn’t very efficient.

Brace yourself…

You would better off publishing your masterpiece on your website, even if it isn’t yet popular, rather than on someone else’s — even if their website is very popular.

Please don’t misunderstand: Guest blogging is a great way to gain credibility; however, it isn’t a great way to get traffic to your blog. Not anymore.

Guest blogging may have been a nice traffic source in the past, but those days are long gone.

In his eye-opening article on the topic, Tim Soulo determined guest blogging was a poor return on investment if your goal was to generate traffic to your website.

According to Tim’s survey of over 500 bloggers (which included yours truly):

Guest posts from those in the marketing niche earned their authors an average of only 56 website clicks

85% of the authors received fewer than 100 referrals to their sites

That doesn’t mean you should never guest blog. It just means you need to be clear about your reasons for doing so.

Guest blog for credibility, for boosting your authority, and for building your brand.

Don’t guest blog if you’re hoping for traffic. More often than not, you’ll be disappointed.

Oh, and there’s one more group who shouldn’t guest blog:

Those who want to take shortcuts.

There’s both good and bad when you’re putting your words in front of a large audience. If your post teaches them something new, inspires them, or gives them something juicy to chew on; they’ll remember you for it.

And if it sucks? Yeah, they’ll remember you for that too.

Guest blogging is a great way to build your authority, but it’s also a great way to destroy it.

If you’re not willing to put in the time and do the work, guest blogging isn’t for you.

Final Word on Guest Blogging

What are the Pros?

Write for interested, targeted audiences

Fastest way to build your authority and reputation

What are the Cons?

Fastest way to destroy your authority and reputation

Not an efficient method for getting traffic to your own website

Getting published on quality sites is hard work

Time-consuming — may be hard to fit into busy schedules

Conclusion: Guest blogging is a great way to build your authority and get your content in front of new readers. It’s hard work, but it’s worth it. However, it’s unlikely to generate tangible traffic to your blog.

Making the Switch to Self-Hosted WordPress

Technically, there’s one more free option out there…

The WordPress.org software — the same software used by WordPress.com — is free too. It’s free for any and all to use.

However, just like there’s no such thing as a free puppy (once you factor in food, veterinarian bills, and replacing all your shoes after they’ve become chew toys), WordPress.org’s software isn’t actually free once you add up the other expenses.

See, to use the software, you have to install it on your own web host. That costs money.

Is this something you will want to do eventually? Absolutely. Just not right now. Not when you’re getting started.

So how will you know when you’re ready?

Jon recommends making the switch once you reach a 20% outreach success rate.

What does that mean? Let’s break it down:

Step #1: Register for a Free Blog

Step #2: Follow Jon’s New Method for Starting a Blog

If you haven’t read How to Start a Blog in 2018, do so immediately.

(Well, not immediately. Finish reading this post; leave us a comment; and share it with all your friends, loved ones, and acquaintances. Then, by all means, immediately after saying hi on Twitter, go and read Jon’s excellent tutorial.)

In the post, Jon shows you how to conduct a miniature outreach campaign where you email 10-20 influential bloggers and ask them to share your blog posts.

Once you’ve hit a 20% success rate, you’re ready to make the transition.

Step #3: Switch to Self-Hosted WordPress

Jon’s post also offers guidance for making the switch. When you’re ready to choose a web host, be sure to read WordPress Hosting: A Brutally Honest Guide That’ll Save You Money.

It’ll help you pick the best host for your needs and budget.

What’s the Best Free Blogging Platform for You?

That’s the million dollar question, isn’t it?

You now know why testing your ideas on a free blogging platform when you’re just starting is a good idea. You now know the pros and cons of Medium, WordPress.com, LinkedIn, Instagram, and guest blogging. And, you now know how to get started with each of them.

So which one is it going to be?

If you want my honest opinion, the answer is simple…

The best free blogging platform is whichever one will get you to stop dipping your toes into the water and start diving in head first.

The next blogging masterpiece isn’t going to write itself.

Are you ready?

Then let’s do this thing.

About the Author: Kevin J. Duncan runs Be A Better Blogger, where he uses his very particular set of skills to help people become the best bloggers they can be.

The post The 5 Best Free Blogging Platforms in 2019 (100% Unbiased) appeared first on Smart Blogger.

from SEO and SM Tips https://smartblogger.com/blogging-platforms/

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