#in retail or sanitation workers or whatever

[doctorwhoisadhd]

see on one hand i COULD totally make trock but the only thing is. im worried about like. would anybody actually listen to it. like thats the difference w/ blaseball, the fan music scene was so excellent and popular that like i knew that if i made stuff and shared it people WOULD 100% listen and have nice things to say. and in general making and sharing ur music does NOT feel that way outside of communities that are really FOR that... and like its one thing to write my own songs for me bc thats not so much a choice as it is a requirement for my mental health in a very human "desire to create art" way. so in this regard its entirely another thing to write fan music... thats me contributing to a space, as opposed to my own "for me" songs that are just my way of processing my own emotions.

[layla-was-here]

I've been watching Superstore and like I've worked retail and everything, in fact, I worked at a big grocery store literally called Superstore, but like even in the sanitized toned down version of what retail work is like in the US in the show, oh my god, is it absolutely awful. Like there are things in the show that are just incidental to the plot that I'm looking at and going how is that even possible.

There's an episode where I guy gets his thumb cut off and they try to hide it because they think it's their fault? WTF.

Like people post on here and Reddit and Lemmy and twitter about how awful retail is and I'm like yes, I've done that I can relate comrade. But now I'm like do I even count. I feel like a poser.

I worked in the Real Canadian Superstore but its in Canada and we were unionized with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union. so like for the thumb thing, We would immediately obviously report it because workman's comp is literally the law in all of Canada. Like our union rep told us to literally report anything worse than a paper cut even if you don't need medical treatment for it (for good reasons that I don't want to explain rn)

And like the shitbag company I worked for loblaws which is just as scummy and shit as Walmart and whatever paid for dental insurance for all of us out of their pocket, no premiums for us because of our union obviously. If I stayed an extra 15 minutes past my shift time because my manager asked me to and I agreed, I would get paid extra for the extra time because obviously wtf why wouldn't I?

Like I was watching the whole strike 3 parter and I was like just so confused why they didn't just form a bloody union. I'm like 100 percent certain UFCW or another union was present wherever the store was. Seriously they never even bothered to explain why they didn't in the show. Like our scumbag store still had paid maternity leave, it'd be insane not to have it wtf. I was so confused.

Why are labour laws so fucking awful in America. I'm like realising that my experience in retail was literally in easy mode. Like I am so sorry for American retail workers that don't have government or union support. How do Americans work like this?

[hag-lad]

Okay I just gotta get this out. I fucking despise employment culture. I know that work is the only way that anything can ever get done, I know that labor is important, I know that it’s only driving me crazy to think of work as optional when every facet of reality is abundantly clear that work is mandatory. I know! And I still can’t fuckin stand it.

I quit my job in December and haven’t even interviewed for another one. I’m 2 months behind on my car payments, drowning in debt, and basically unable to function for how broke and miserable I am. I know that I should just step up and get a goddam job. But there is nothing I can see myself doing. I’ve either done it already and know intimately how much I hate it, or it’s utterly out of left field and I’m abysmally under-qualified. I’ve worked so much in my life, and I’m fucking tired of it. I literally am the bratty millennial stereotype who “doesn’t wanna work these days.” I literally don’t wanna work! I’m in like a protracted toddler-grade tantrum over this shit. I’ve seen too much of the workforce and I can’t stand it anymore.

I am dizzy from this whirlpool of hatred I’ve trapped myself in. I can’t be employed in a field I’m passionate about, because it makes me too crazy. Even “important” jobs that “help people” are all lies and bureaucracy and in-fighting and politics and conflict and questionable ethics and heartbreak and misery and sadness and stress, stress, SO MUCH STRESS. Then artistic or creative jobs are the opposite, where they feel so appallingly frivolous and superficial, I lose my mind spiraling about how much waste goes into the whole thing, the very first-world nature of it all. And then I can’t even take respite in a job that I’m not ultra passionate about, because it’s so time-consuming and monotonous, I feel like I’m wasting my life!

I’ve done so many different types of jobs, way more than most people my age, I feel like I have firsthand knowledge of exactly how ill-fitted I am to work anywhere. I’m a shitty employee, and I have nothing resembling the will to get better! I don’t give a fraction of a fuck about professionalism, I absolutely never show up on time, I use every millisecond of sick pay and frequently take unpaid days off just cuz I hate being at work so much, and no proximity to any of my “dream jobs” has ever even come remotely close to fixing this. I’m habitually tardy, flaky, and my attitude is so bad I’ve made enemies out of wildly different types of people. I can’t seem to get along with anyone, and I don’t fucking want to! This was even the case when I was making $36/hr doing a job that was basically tailor-made to my strengths and interests. If even that can’t get me on a path to enjoying work? I don’t think anything will!!!!!

And I hate, hate, HATE when people suggest jobs at me like I haven’t considered them. I just want to grab them and shake them. I HAVE ALREADY THOUGHT ABOUT IT, WHATEVER IT IS. I have already googled it, looked into how to get into it, considered what it would take, and decided against it. I’ve thought about being a social worker, nurse, plumber, electrician, teacher, therapist, doula, IT guy, car mechanic, bike mechanic, photographer, graphic artist, talent manager, veterinary technician, librarian, general contractor, cosmetologist, mortician, park ranger, HR guy, transcriber, grant writer, student, botanist, gardener, sanitation worker, solar panel tech, retail monkey, babysitter, foster parent, dog walker, AND LIKE TEN THOUSAND OTHER THINGS. Okay?! I’ve already thought about it! I’ve already looked into it! The problem is not lack of ideas. It’s attitude. It always has been attitude.

I’m fuckin 30 years old, man! My brain is harder to fight now than ever before. I feel so deeply, inexorably set in my ways, so fixed and rooted in this way of looking at the world and existing around other humans, it is like a maze with no exit. I can run around and drive myself insane looking for the way out, but I know deep down that I am going to die here. There’s no fuckin way out. There is no “fulfilling career,” there is no “dream job.” There aren’t even jobs where I’ll be able to tolerate the daily grind. There are only prisons with varying levels of brutality. Some are worse than others, but they’re all prisons. I know this is all very privileged and spoiled and whiny. Believe me, I know. And the fact is, my car will get repossessed if I don’t figure this shit out. But I will violently hate wherever I wind up next, that’s a guarantee. Because I hate everything! And I can’t just stop hating. I try all the time, and it just comes back worse every time.

Nobody ever tells you this. Nobody sympathizes with lazy, angry people. We’re the exact type of person that people hate the most. We are not lovable, we are not virtuous, we can’t make the world better. We were put on this earth to suffer, then die as a relief to everyone who had the burden of knowing us. Some people are just shitheads, and that is how I see myself, way more than any career path. Just a fuckin shithead waiting to die! Lmao

[daydreamsinthemoonlight]

currently crying on my bed because people keep hoarding food and supplies while other people can't even afford to buy food and apparently donations to food banks are dropping and there's gonna be people going hungry because of this fucking virus and I just want everyone to to be safe and well fed and happy

[swingsetindecember]

my other post gained traction and a lot of ppl where like, how dare you say not to care about rich ppl stuff in museums. i wrote that post late a night and maybe should have been more articulate? maybe? not really? this is tumblr, and i am not writing a thesis.

so yeah but i have seen that more interest and a lot of exhibits depends on everyday keepsakes. i have seen historians gush about finding letters and journals that answer more than a nice painting or a crown commissioned by a king for his eighth mistress.

museums usually will take a very sterilized snapshot of a time period. like they are funded by ppl who have a specific view on how art or collections should be displayed and what narrative should be told. that's why personal diaries and scrapbooks are way more interesting. or keepsakes of people. not the upper class. but like just everyday people

like just even now, in 30 years will you hear about the front line workers during the pandemic in a museum or will it just be heavily softened to how they were heroes meanwhile ignoring the sacrifices and how their days were and the stress and demands they dealt with? how how little they were compensated? and how it was a job. they needed to work to live

will you hear about the waste management workers, retailer workers, hospitality workers and postal workers from the perspective of their bosses? or them? or will this snap shot of history be that 3 rich guys went to almost space when ppl were dying and losing their homes?

history is very cyclical and you can see that in museum on the sanitized versions of everyday life and the focus of rich upper class but at the end of the day the greatest historical finds are the keepsakes and tools of a farmer, maid or labourer.

like the tablets of everyday ppl complaining about ea-nasir's bad copper. or anne frank's diary. or hegelochus becoming a meme because he messed up a line in the 4th century. or the graffiti of pompeii. the hand painting in caves that depict children on parents' shoulders. or just the new discoveries about the erasure of minorities and women and lgbtqia+ from past historical events that now offer more context and richness to our pasts.

that tells you more than a king who was obsessed about architecture. like all rich dudes get into monument building like in their 40s. like whatever

[publiccollectors]

From the discussion “Towards A Self Sustaining Publishing Model” hosted by Printed Matter.

Some things I have learned in over 30 years of publishing since my teenage days as a zine maker, administrating my project Public Collectors, and from working in the group Temporary Services and our publishing imprint Half Letter Press.

I have just ten minutes to speak. If only one or two things that I share are useful, that’s plenty! It took me decades to understand some of this stuff.

Use every exhibition invitation with a budget to print something. Use the whole budget to print something. Make something in a large enough print run so that you have something to give away and surplus that you can sell. Your publication can be a folded sheet of paper, a booklet, a newspaper, a poster, a book, or anything in between.

Be able to print at least something at home. Buy a cheap laser printer or inkjet printer, find a used copy machine, buy a RISO or some other duplicator, carve something into a potato or a piece of foam and print it. Being able to do at least some of the printing and production at home—even if it’s on a tiny scale—will compel you to print things that you might have convinced yourself not to send out or bring to a professional printer. Hopefully the ability to print impulsively and compulsively will result in good work. Figure out how to keep making things on every scale. Look for cheap used printing equipment on Craigslist. Team up with friends and buy equipment together that you can share. Start a printing collective in your basement.

Ideally your publication should cost 1/5th or 1/6th of the retail price to make. If you sell a $10.00 publication through a store, you are probably only going to make $6.00 or less after the store takes its cut. So ideally your $10.00 book costs $2.00 or less to make. Don’t aim to just break even. Aim to make a profit so you can keep making more publications and pay for your life. Publishing will probably never be your sole income but don’t lose money on purpose. Make things that are priced fairly and look like they justify what they cost to buy. The fact that you didn’t find a more affordable way to print something is not an excuse to sell something that feels cheap and shitty for a ridiculous sum of money. Good cheap printing is easier to find than ever before. Do your homework.

Figure out the cheapest and least wasteful ways to do everything. Ask other publishers where they get their work printed. Look for local printers so you can avoid shipping fees. Ask local printers if you can pay in cash for a discount. Ask printers if there is a cheaper way to do what you want to do by adjusting the size of your paper or the paper stock or some other small shift in form. If you print things yourself, buy the paper that is on sale. Design a publication around the paper that you found for cheap. Discount warehouses sometimes have good paper. Even dollar stores sometimes have good paper. I’ve even bought paper at flea markets. Costco sells an 800 sheet ream of 24 lb paper for $6.99. I use it all the time. It rules. I also recommend getting your jugs of organic olive oil there, but you can’t print with that.

Free printing is good printing. If you have access to free printing, use it. Free printing is like free food at art openings and conference receptions. It is one of those pleasures in life that never gets old. Come up with an idea that is based around the aesthetics of whatever free printing you have access to and make the publication that way. Eat the cheese and bread. Drink the wine. Make the copies at work.

Buy bulk shipping mailers on eBay. Find bubble wrap and other packing materials in the trash. Look out for neighbors who just bought new furniture—it’s usually wrapped in miles of packing material you can use for shipping books. Boycott terrible right wing fuckers like ULINE. Seriously, they give money to everyone horrible. Trump? Check. Ted Cruz? Check. Scott Walker? Check. ROY FUCKING MOORE? CHECK FUCKING CHECK! Tear up their catalogs and use them as packing material to protect your books. Make publications that have a consistent size so you can purchase cardboard mailers in bulk and get a discount on them. Buy packing tape in bulk. Buy everything in bulk. You can store your extra reams of paper under your bed or on top of your kitchen cabinets if necessary. Be like a wacko survivalist prepper, but for office supplies. Go to estate sales and look for the home office in the house. Buy the dead person’s extra tape and staples and rulers and scissors. I’ve been using some random dead person’s staples for years because I bought their staple hoard. Staples aren’t like meat and milk. They don’t expire.

I’m against competition. Try to avoid competing with other artists for resources. If you don’t truly need the money, don’t ask for it. Artists should have a section on their CV where they list grants they could have easily gotten but didn’t apply for because they are privileged enough that they don’t need the money as much as someone else. I almost never apply for anything but the one thing I do apply for and get every year is a part-time faculty development grant from Columbia College Chicago where I teach. It pays adjuncts up to $2,500 a year to fund their projects and seems to be completely non-competitive. My union negotiated to get us more money. I have used that grant to make over a dozen publications. The value of the publications I make and sell with each grant is about three or four times the value of the grant itself. Some years I make more from the grant than I do from the limited number of classes I teach. But I don’t depend on this grant to be a publisher and I’d still be able to make things without it.

Make things in different price ranges so everyone can afford your work, but also so that you can sustain your practice. Make a publication that costs $2.00, that costs $6.00, that costs $20.00, and make something special for the fancy ass institutional libraries that have a lot of money to spare and can buy something that costs $300.00. Likewise, make things in all different size print runs. Is there something you can print 1,000 of that you can keep selling and giving away for years, to enjoy that quantity discount that comes with offset printing a large number of publications?

Collaborate with people and pay them with publications (if they are cool with that) that they can sell on their own. Sometimes this ends up being better pay and more useful than an honorarium, and it helps justify a larger print run. But see what they need—don’t assume. Barter with other publishers and sell each other’s work and let each other keep the money. This helps with distribution. Sometimes it’s easier to sell their work than it is to sell your own. Help others expand the audience for their publications.

Fund your publishing practice by asking your friends who teach to invite you to talk to their college classes about your work. Use those guest speaker fees to print something. I sometimes tell people on social media: If three or four people will invite me to speak to their class, it could fund the entire next issue of X booklet series that you like so much. This has often worked. Also, sometimes their students end up ordering publications. Sometimes lectures about publications generate more income than the publications themselves.

Have an emailing list and write newsletters to announce new publications. Stay in touch with people who like what you do. Expect to spend a ton of time corresponding with people. Have some cheap things and cool ephemera on hand that you can send people for free when they mail order your publications. Reward people who support you directly with something nice that they didn’t expect. People like handwritten notes. It’s okay if they are very short but sign the packing slip and at least write “Thank you!”

Above all, know that publishing is a life journey and not a get rich quick scheme, or even a make very much money scheme. Enjoy the experience of meeting and working with others, trade your publications with other publishers and build up an amazing library of small press, hard to find artist books. Get vaccinated and travel and sleep on each other’s couches. Be generous with your time, knowledge, resources, and work. Tell Jeff Bezos to fuck off by never selling anything you make through Amazon. Find the bookstores that you love and work with them forever. It’s nicer to have deeper relationships with fewer bookstores than surface level interactions with dozens of shops run by people you don’t know.

Think about your publishing family. Bookstore people are your family. People that organize book fairs and zine fests are your publishing family. Other publishers are your family. People who follow your work for years on end are your family. Printers and binderies are your family. The postal workers that know you by name and that you know by name are your family. The person who doesn’t care if you make the free copies at work is your family. Over thirty years later, I’m still in contact with people I exchanged zines with through the mail when I was a teenager. In some cases I still haven’t met them in person. It’s fine! They are my family. Your students are your family—particularly once they graduate or drop out, as long as they continue making books and zines. Your family is your family, particularly if they value and support your publishing practice. And for this reason, this talk is dedicated to my late father Bruce Fischer, who let me use the company copier and postage meter when I was in high school, and to my mom who sat on the floor with me and helped me hand collate and staple my zines.

That’s what I’ve got for now. Stay in touch and with luck, and enough vaccines and masks and hand sanitizer, maybe I’ll see you at a book fair. – Marc Fischer • Thank you to Be Oakley of GenderFail for the invitation to present, to the other presenters Vivian Sming, Yuri Ogita, and Devin Troy Strother, and to the wonderful people at Printed Matter for hosting this! You should be able to find the video archived on Printed Matter’s YouTube Channel.  Presented on April 2, 2021

[srbachchan]

DAY 4414(i)

Jalsa, Mumbai                       Apr 7/8,  2020                   Tue/Wed 8:14 AM

Alright .. tempers cooled a bit though not entirely .. the Tumblr format has again changed and it is off putting .. but what .. an alternative is not available , so one endures .. 

Please find below the social media links for the film, you can retweet this link on twitter on Facebook and can share this link, however since the duration is longer you will have to upload the video natively on IGTV on Instagram.  Attached is a google drive link of the film from where you can download the video and then upload it on IGTV on Instagram.

Twitter- https://twitter.com/SonyTV/status/1247187306764619779 FB- https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=983267872088458

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/tv/B-pQ_7yFW7n/?igshid=i8f5n3jua5au

Google drive link with mp4 for IGTV

SO ... these be the links that were given to me by Sony PR and when displayed at various platforms gave the enthusiasm that was written about in the previous .. yes .. appreciation came in waves upon waves .. known and unknown alike .. connected and unconnected .. all .. from and without too .. pro and anti .. those in support and those in non support .. they that cooperated , and they that distanced themselves from support and the coop .. we are all mere beings .. the universe fills itself with so many .. many of difference and different kind .. when the grains on each leaf .. when the microscopic elements .. of virus shape size and disposition exist in natures creation .. what are humans .. ?

Blessed be all .. they all contributed .. contributed in applause and in reject .. reject is most important .. gives fight a chance .. without it fight would be an imbecile .. unarmed, weak and without prepare .. unpreparedness is a curse .. prepare .. keep ready for use .. it comes in use , anytime without warning .. so eń gardè  .. or whatever the correct French is  .. French , yes the beauty of its rendition .. the sweetest in the world .. next valued be Bengali , the tongue .. the delicacy of its existence, its presence in the many wondrous elements .. 

BUT .. I stray .. 

Yes the completion of the ‘film’ was a task .. a gentle idea shared by Prasoon Pandey, Director of Ad., films and with whom I had worked several times .. with him and his elder Piyush Pandey, head of that Ad., conglomerate O&M .. and when it came across to me , the thought of its extension in the format seen finally gave incentive to bring in greater value to it .. so I thought, I worked , I reacted, I shared , I got approval and then went to each of those stratospheric stars and celebrities with the idea .. calling them several times .. connecting them all .. all over the World all over the places they lived .. and then their agree .. the designing of the Demo by Prasoon .. the passing it on to the respective and in explanation , each one , each location .. convincing them .. and then the wait for their portion to arrive and putting it together .. the creatives all being followed up by the team .. each little protocol to be put in place .. diplomatically .. politically .. egoistically .. to be CORRECT and accepted .. yes .. all .. all done in this wonder world of internet wires and the mobility of the hand phone .. the modern day invention par excellence .. oh , done and covered with suitable time difference delays .. some within the time zone some not .. some really really far away .. but their love and support impeccable .. 

That done the negotiate with what to be done with it .. in times of trial it does not bode well to be seen in frivolous acts .. so consider who we are , how we are , and what we are .. and who they that make us who we are .. the workers and their plight in this locked out premise .. without a daily earning , without their normal existence , without the essentials .. 

We must give back to them .. so .. worked on sponsors TV outlets , personal contribution and arrived successfully .. TV shall be Sony .. sponsor shall be Kalyan Jewellers .. and the distribution shall be pan India , pan workers of all the Industries of film in the nation .. NSEW .. and which is why NSEW in the representation of the artists .. Hindi, Marathi, Malayalam, Kannad, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Punjabi .. pan India in representation .. pan India in language .. pan India in the work force .. just a pan India film .. a film titled ‘FAMILY’ .. for we are one and we are one family .. this film Industry of the country .. !!

NOW .. then .. as the tech readiness readies itself .. the promotion .. 

Promotion promotion .. back to the net and the con calls with concerned and with the GANG GANG .. gang gang .. the title given by the girls in house .. Navya Naveli and Shweta .. who find it amusing our confabulations on these con calls, hence an amusing title .. its accepted .. SO .. yes promo .. the written from the obvious sources ‘reeks of garlic from every pore’  .. it stinks .. and then a suggestion ans endeavour to do it by the self .. done and agreed upon after con calls and net issues with the masters .. no disrespect .. but yaa , it not happening people .. ok .. so do it yourself , fine .. sitting and designing it in the mind and WHAM ! .. got it .. now to shoot it in these conditions .. so Abhishek come on assist me with the camera work .. out in the back yard .. a quick shoot .. and a quick forwarding in sense first to all the concerned and then approval of it to be given final tech touches .. done .. 

So then put it out .. time running ot .. get the tech right .. net mobile and every other communication in use .. and done and out on the required platforms ..

BUT .. within all this, setting up the personal shoot of the film continues with able help again from the children .. re takes and re shoots .. and delivered to the tech team .. they work .. the ideas continue to improve or adjust or remove .. some have come in time others delayed , time running out again the 9Pm slot has been advertised .. 

FINALLY .. on air .. 

BUT .. and there are so many buts .. other works continue .. domestic pre cautionary checks on sanitation and sanitising .. staff reduced , staff homed within, staff looked after in excess .. 

.. and also the monitoring of the personal feeding that continues in various parts of the city .. 2000 packets of food each day .. lunch and dinner .. for the poor and needy .. and the bigger 3000 bags of essentials delivered to take care of 3000 families provisions for a month .. average of 4 per family works to the reach of approx 14,000 .. 

Working then for the FAMILY out reach and devising methodology of the distribution to the mentioned workers .. the data access with the Head of the Employees Nation wide Association .. retailer sought and fixed .. gift coupons and cash to be given out to the approx 100,000 of them, with the sponsor and personal fund collected .. to last them for month .. 

THEN .. back to the desk .. there is urgent need from the Capital on a campaign design and completion within urgent needs .. lat night getting that done .. 

AND .. also in simultaneous work on the poem of hope from Babu ji .. rendering it here .. con calls with recordist there .. music directors in another there .. they be two in respective homes and no studio set ups .. but the ingenious working force and minds successful .. it is after 72 attempts that it looks like going on platforms .. perhaps to day .. perhaps .. apprehensive for that too .. how what where and when .. ahhhh .. just let it be say the girls in the house .. the main girl stuck away from home in Delhi .. attending Parliament when the shut happened .. so she remain where she is .. and Face Time WhatsApp .. ZINDABAD !!

OH dear forgot .. another request for the voice rendition on the conditions we are in .. at it till 4 am .. and now from 6  .. rendered in rough waiting approval .. damn the files have not gone through .. WeTransfer warns .. damnnn .. 

Ok shall try resize and getting the email ID correct .. .. ahhahahahhhgggrr ..

this post is sounding like a brain damaged ‘haemoglobin of the country of the system’ devoured and entirely consumed by the chemical ChSo2 .. sorry that be a College insensitive linguaexpletiva .. !!!! Pardoń .. is the French right .. eh .. who cares .. 

BUT .. I tell you .. in all this mesmerising work schedule .. the imagery of Babuji his words his thoughts his books his voice keep me company in excess .. they bring the water in the eyes .. 

I must leave now .. cannot allow it to drip on the post pages ..

Amitabh Bachchan

[changingroomsalonsaventura]

Announcing the 2021 SALON TODAY 200 Honorees

It goes without saying, 2020 will go down in history as one of the most interesting years, to say the least.

Because of the onslaught of the pandemic, many  beauty hair salons of Aventura closed, usually more than once, owners had no choice but to apply for emergency funding, while enforcing the standards for social distancing and safety.

The Changing Room Salon knew how vital it was to adjust the priorities of its  current business competition which not only displays its successful growth strategies of 2019, but for survival strategies of 2020 as well.

Beauty hair salon services of Aventura have to be willing to do whatever it takes to reacclimate during these times of pandemonium.

This year’s SALON TODAY 200 is dedicated to the heroes of beauty hair salons of Aventura, as well as the other leaders in this industry.

The leaders who were open to this change helped support their team members even when they had to lay them off so they could seek unemployment, and created all kinds of methods for delivering advice and products to clients who were staying at home, while their hair was unruly.

It also emphasizes the good that came from 2020—how beauty hair salon owners of Aventura grew closer with their team members, and the bonds that were created between clients. At this rate, beauty hair salon services of Aventura will be coveted even more so than before.

It’s an indicator of the perseverance and dedication, the creativity, ingenuity and the courage and the resiliency that North American salons, spas and barbershops showcased last year.

SALON TODAY’s landmark salon business competition had also changed this year. Temporarily abandoning its lazer focus on growth, and instead wanting to celebrate the successes of 2019 and the tales of leadership and heroism for 2020.

The Changing Room Salon COVID Guidelines

The Changing Room Salon is closely following the local guidelines to make sure you are safe and healthy. Some changes might only be temporary, others may be permanent, but their dedication to providing extraordinary guest experience will never cease to exist.

Beauty hair salon services of Aventura will be totally revamped for the betterment of patrons and workers.

Guests can only come in with an appointment.

Only guests who have scheduled appointments will be permitted to enter the salon. NO additional family members or friends will be allowed.

If you show up more than 5 minutes late for an appointment, they cannot provide service due to the high demands.

The waiting area is closed. You need to wait outside or in your car until its your turn.

Guests will be welcomed at the entrance.

Upon arrival, guests will need to answer a questionnaire for screening purposes and have your temperature taken with a non-contact thermometer.

If your temperature is above 99 degrees, you won’t be allowed to enter.

They require all guests to wear a protective face covering or mask at ALL times.

Guests are expected to wash their hands or use sanitizer once they use the facilities of aventura beauty salon services

All personal belongings must remain on your lap during the entirety of the aventura beauty salon services.

Maintain 6ft social distancing with the exception of you and your hairdresser.

You have the option to pre-book appointments.

Steps the Changing Room is Taking To Offer Aventura Beauty Salon Services:

Employees will have their temperature taken before starting any work.

Modifications have been made to the space to prioritize social distancing.

All employees are required to wear a protective face mask at all times.

They have temporarily suspended the station for clients, all beverages, cookies, magazines, and testers.

All highly touched surfaces are going to be sanitized often.

Hands will be washed in between service

Our team has been Barbicide certified.

Stylists will sanitize their equipment

Clean capes will be provided for each guest.

More Information About The Changing Room Salon

The Changing Room is adamant that all of its stylists continue their education in order to meet the demands with newer trends.

They will confirm your appointment and make sure the day is going smoothly for your service provider so that you don’t experience unnecessary wait times.

Having plenty of stylist stations means a stylist will always be available to assist you.

Complimentary Wi-Fi.

For the first time that you visit their salon, you will be enrolled in the Style Rewards Program where you can gather points every time you complete a service and buy products. These points can be redeemed for services at a later time.

Their monthly specials are sent by Email for discounts on a variety of services and retail hair care products that are only for their existing clients.

Parking isn’t an issue.

You can purchase E-Gift cards for anyone for anywhere in the world.

Looking Ahead

Hair salons and barbers are recovering at a steady rate. Their efforts, as previously mentioned, are not going unnoticed. You can still resume your normal activities while making safety a priority, simultaneously.

When COVID hit, it caused many of these businesses to reassess what was working and what wasn’t working as well. In business, whenever you encounter lower profit margins, you have to make a decision of how your business will move past this roadblock.

The Changing Room Salon clearly states this: ““Before reopening we analyzed each area of the company, determining what was profitable and what was not. Due to low profit margins, a steady decline of sales and the need for social distancing, we decided to eliminate our nail and spa services. We reopened as The Changing Room 3.0 with clearly defined expectations, better accountability, improved systems, and higher standards all around.”

COVID is not the end all, be all for many of these sectors of business. With the right strategies in place, there are foolproof ways to remedy these sorrows for you, your colleagues, and most importantly, your consumers.

If more businesses comply with these rules and regulations, we will begin to turn a corner in the foreseeable future.

[literalbuzzkill]

Below I'm gonna vent so y'all can ignore that XD

I'm basically making this post as a timestamp/reminder for myself about Covid2020 and what I had to deal with during it (even though it's still a relentlessly ongoing problem, as of Jan2021, yikes)

Below is my personal experience in switching from working everyday as an essential retail worker to now a stay at home unemployed/leave of absense person. Don't feel bad about not reading it, it's long, boring, and I can't really expect anyone to actually be interested because the struggle is real and who wants to be reminded of the grim reality we can't currently escape? XD

[The Start:]

I was still working retail up until a few months ago because most people left. And being short staffed already before covid at my store, things became an even worse unmanageable nightmare because they started to work the remaining staff to death because no one really knew what to do which sucked and everyone was rightfully afraid of what was happening all around them, plus everyone internally was hoping that this would all blow over in a decent amount of time and we could all return to normal and never speak of it again. Considering Covid started around late January/early February in 2019 and today's date (for my future reference) is Jan 4th 2021, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it certainly has not blown over in a decent amount of time like originally hoped for. Oof.

I was a closer but because of covid my job turned into 'every position at the store and everything/anything that you can possibly get done'. All the stuff from morning team, mid shift, and nightshift rolled into one. Cashiering, phone calls, cleaning, ship from store, backroom, covering multiple breaks, and every department on hardlines salesfloor,

(I did everything except for guest services, food service, clothing, and hr)

you name it XD because most people abandoned ship and Yeeted (which I dont blame them for, t'was a big mood) our store did not hire replacements until literally a few months ago. After I left. Nice.

We were not getting paid any extra, having to stay late, running around with an unending unfinishable list, having to deal with rude customers and cranky bosses, full 8+hour shifts having to wear a mask (even in the break room, and sometimes missing breaks all together because of the large work load) Another problem, my job did not supply masks, proper cleaning supplies, gloves etc to us until an unacceptable amount of time had passed since the start of the virus. Now I didn't expect them to be stocked and fully prepared immediately, obviously.

It was also pretty frustrating getting reprimanded by customers when supplies were low everywhere and some things necessary for existing safely could not be bought anywhere due to high demand, which was only natural, but some people actually acted like it was our personal fault for the store for being sold out of things like hand sanitizer, masks, gloves, toilet paper, and even accused us for holding it in the back for ourselves (which wasnt the case, customers are top priority at our store so the workers usually got nothing to take home or buy, even if we had pulled it from the truck or stocked it ourselves.)

Aside from the excessive draining from normal retail where we already suffer from Karen's and the often unpleasant general public, the Rona made the daily grind even more intense, as if we already thought it couldn't get any worse.

Straying away from that for a second, personal lives were now also affected greatly. Added on top of this new fear/caution/lifestyle was not being able to see my fiance or his family for months because they are all at very high risk. (Unfortunately I am too, but I really needed the paycheck so I thought I had to keep working until the inevitable, which was not looked forward to, but as long as I was potentially exposed with my job we all had to be apart unless I decided to quit and risk not having enough money to pay my bills or survive.)

(Side note for context: My fiance and I have been very lucky enough to see eachother almost every day for 4 years. Surprisingly we have not gotten sick of eachother yet and kept up with that regularity. And though we are engaged, we dont live together, but we do only live 15 minutes away so we just drive over to eachother everyday. Anyway, point being that going months without seeing him at all killed me internally hardcore. This was before zoom was popular and we were not about to resort to Skype. His parents are older and closer to me than my own family and were not comfortable with any form of in-person visits so we usually just did phone calls.)

And eventually I gave up,

I made it halfway through this pandemic working everyday, not seeing the only people I considered family, and I couldn't do it anymore. It literally didn't feel human.

Not to mention this did not help whatsoever with my pre-existing problems, bad depression, anxiety, ptsd, Self h, etc... it was all just getting way too out of hand with more stress piling up daily and taking too big a toll on me to the point where I couldn't deal with my regular lifestyle anymore. I needed a break and a change to severely turn myself around.

So a few months ago I finally went on leave of absence and it was the hardest thing for me to do but honestly the best thing I did. Because everything was so uncertain and I worried about how helpful unemployment would be towards my bills, if I'd lose my job for being gone too long due to an open ended leave of absense for the sake of my health/safety, and honestly I loved my job and my coworkers, but many of them had already left so at that point it became easier for me to leave.

I'm currently making more on unemployment than my job was paying my bi-weekly and doing leagues better mentally, emotionally, and physically, than before when I thought I could last the whole time working through covid hoping I wouldn't catch it and probably die because my health is not 100% gucci in the first place. I was too stubborn to quit until I got to a breaking point and then realised that putting my health/life on the line when I'm at risk during a pandemic for literally no reason other than feeling bad for my one really kind boss (who ended up leaving for a better job anyway right after I left)

in my brain the whole time I figured "eh if I die then I die" but there was a major upside to saying "you know what, fuck this" and leaving.

I've gotten to take up hobbies and do things that I've wanted to do for like 10 years, I improved my financial situation, bought my dream car(A 2004Crossfire), got engaged to the love of my life, had more time to read, write, learn, create, help my fiance record his first official music video, support smaller businesses, get back in better physical health, regain stability, and a new respect for life, health, friends, family, acts of kindness, and how easy things used to be before covid and how it was unintentionally taken for granted.

Not gonna lie, at first I was pretty mad that people on unemployment made more than essential workers, but I also knew that it wasn't their fault for their personal situations or reasonings for needing it. The problem was mainly that many Companies/jobs could have done more, treated essential workers better, given more help, compensated financially, offered forms of protectionagaint the virus, or done literally anything extra at all to help employees who were struggling or who stay to continue working there during a terrible pandemic, and some companies/jobs have done good things for their workers in response of the outbreak which is awesome.

Workers should absolutely be compensated for their extra efforts, time, and pleasant attitude in this difficult time, and treated better than they are. Some things should 1000% be different but some things in this world are still a work in progress.

And also, for people with health issues that are at risk but working anyway for whatever reason, there shouldn't be any shame felt for taking care of yourself or by the people who have to go on unemployment, those who can't work, lost their jobs, need help or a break, or just can't do it anymore, because it hits hard when you realise that even though your effort is important and you're doing your best, playing an important role in society, you could also be risking your health/life or even possibly someone you live withs, for a company that will replace you pretty easily if you're suddenly gone.

I worked at my store for 4 years, was extremely hard working and did everything and anything I could to stay as long as I could during this, but I realised that I'd rather not risk myself and be treated how I was.

Ultimately, the sad reality is that covid has some people forgetting that humans (whether working or not) are humans too that can die or fail at any time given the current circumstances. Some situations are unavoidable like a pandemic, but we can do our best with whatever reality we meet, whether it's being essential the whole way through like some are able, and knowing your health well enough to be able to judge what's best for you individually for now.

but regardless making sure you're not taking yourself for granted in the process.

I'm lucky enough to not have gotten covid yet, and I hope it stays that way.

If your job isnt doing what it can for you in this time, dont be too stubborn about staying

Its not worth risking yourself for your job honestly, and I really hope peoples jobs do as much as they can for those they employ.

If you aren't working, do something with your time that you'll remember (safe things obviously) and if you are still working keep up the awesome progress, stay safe, and be blessed. ❤

[geftheshittalkingmongoose]

What's pretty heartbreaking about this whole quarantine thing is that some people are finally waking up to how nightmarish and unnecessary the American capitalist system is but dont realize that we could very easily change it

For example, I work retail. During the early stages of quarantine, we were doing curbside pickup exclusively (our store is now open to the public, but we still do curbside). During those weeks when only us employees were allowed in the store, we were the most productive and happy we have ever been.

We were able to fill and package orders while chatting with one another, having snacks and water as needed, using the bathroom the moment we needed to, and cleaning and sanitizing after ourselves every step of the way. We all felt great, were excited to work, and felt safe because we could trust each other with things like basic hygiene AND mask/glove safety.

No bullshit small talk and fake smiles for strangers and no sweeping up and mopping their messes. No digging around for stuff because lazy customers hadn't tucked product into random spots after deciding they didnt want it. No waiting for sometimes up to an hour or more to pee because so many people expected our attention. We worked hard, worked well, and loved every moment. Customers even pointed out how everything was so efficient, no product being sold was damaged or missing parts, and they were all pleased with our speed and overall energy. Everything was seamless and functioning fantastically.

The second our doors opened to the public again, every day has been more horrific than peak season holiday shopping with the added risk of COVID-19 exposure AND anti-maskers starting fights with strangers and employees sometimes multiple times a day.

Some have said that they missed being able to walk around stores and see everything for themselves, and that's why they'd rather shop in store as opposed to online. Sure, I can understand that, but now the evidence has shown that you're choosing the ease of browsing at the expense of safety, product quality and availability, and individualized attention from us workers.

I honestly want to ask every one of those people: is this worth it? Yes, you can browse the store, but now that any old stranger can come in, we cant guarantee that things are in stock, or that all of the parts are in the box. We cant take the time to answer your questions because so many people refuse to read signs and demand to be walked to a location or refuse to take the time to look for themselves. I, as an individual, cant help you tackle your problems or assist you because thirty other people in this building expect the exact same level of care.

When folks are lined up in cars, in a clear and defined order with a paper that has their exact order receipt on it, we can do exactly what you need in a heartbeat. Check the number, grab your order, and hand it to you.

"I actually need help too!" Have a question? I'll gladly answer it. Need a replacement item? Just hand me what needs replacing and I'll get it right now. Once it's your turn, I can almost guarantee that what might normally takes 30-40min for you can be pared down to 5 or less because I have the knowledge and time to spend with you without interruption. Not your turn yet? While youre waiting (in your car, mind you) you can do whatever you want! Listen to loud music, eat, watch videos on your phone, call up your grandma, basically anything you can do sitting at a desk with your phone or anything else you bring with you! The world is your oyster, and then when it's your turn, you can expect personalized attention from someone whose entire job is facilitating your needs! AND and, because each interaction takes no time at all due to our ease of work and ability to work fast, you're only going to be waiting maybe half as long or less compared to how long youd take if you were physically walking around.

Why the fuck do people think that in-store shopping is better? It's worse and harder for everyone involved and it's a fucking nightmare for us retail employees at the expense of, what, someone wanting to walk around in a Joanne's for an hour? For what?

I dont know... yeah, long ass rant, but its how I feel.

[elprupneerg]

my store has daily goals for how much money we’re supposed to make. we’ve been beating it every day. on saturday, the plan was just under $100,000 and we made fucking $200,000. my location is number one in the state for profits right now. other store managers are calling mine up to ask how she’s doing it. idk if she knows, but the reason is that we’re located in the largest city in the most conservative county in the state. the entire area surrounding us is full of idiot conservatives who refuse to believe that covid-19 is serious and are willing to put retail workers’ lives at stake so that they can repaint their fucking kitchens. (never mind that the reason we’re considered essential is for if someone’s water heater or plumbing or whatever goes on the fritz. the most profitable departments are paint and lumber). a competitor right across the street from us has banned anyone under 16 from the store, and made wearing a mask mandatory (and are selling them for $1 if you don’t have one). so now all those morons are coming to my store because they don’t want to wear masks. price gouging on hand sanitizer and toilet paper wasn’t enough to get them to switch, but concern for people’s health apparently was.

[pepperpatrol]

I’m glad that the dilemma of 90% of the workers you interact with directly every day not having shit like vacations or paid sick leave is finally becoming a problem in the public psyche now but like...

It’s pretty fucking stupid and ridiculous that a plague was necessary. 

McDonald’s employees also didn’t have paid sick leave literally every single cold and flu season prior to this while they made you your hamburgers. The CVS employees that handled your medications also didn’t have paid sick leave, interacting with sick people all the time and you, who is immuno-compromised because you are sick. Your waitresses and waiters and your cooks int he back of the restaurant have been making you food while sick all this time.

Any one of them at any point in time could have had a serious illness that could have killed you before this.

We all already knew this. One person in a retail store gets sick and then every single employee gets it and passes it around for a few months. God only knows how many customers we make sick. It’s just how it works. Once I went to work with a fever so high I literally blacked out the end of my shift. I was at work and then I woke up in my apartment, in my uniform, only half on the bed with all my lights on. You think no one got whatever supercold i happened to have that month?

I’ve been sick since February and my store is understaffed so it still took until two weeks ago to get any time off at all when I actually HAVE sick time at my job. You think I didn’t make any customers sick in that time? Or that co workers coming back and leaving didn’t mean we just kept infecting each other over and over again. And the worst part is, FEBRUARY. Who fucking knows what we have been passing around to each other? I was supposed to be back at work today but it’s finally be shut down for sanitation after, ya know, a second employee came down with covid symptoms. None of us can get tested. But you know, it took them that long after two months of people leaving with things like Pnumonia and shit for weeks at a time to be like “maybe this is bad.” Oh and we’re reopening tomorrow I guess.

You know. To twelve hour shifts. With no PPE or anything.

Things need to fucking change. They’ve needed to change for a long time. Stop saluting the “essential workers” and make things better for us.

[brajeshupadhyay]

Dr. Praeger’s Purely Sensible Foods, a privately held maker of veggie burgers and meat alternatives based in New Jersey, saw the crisis swelling in the New York region in mid-March. Seeking to stay ahead of it, Larry Praeger, a co-founder and the chief executive, took a series of swift actions that prioritized sanitation and social distancing in the company’s factory. In San Francisco, Hint Water was facing its own challenges. Though the company’s automated manufacturing facilities were less vulnerable to disruption, Hint had to figure out what to do with its employees who usually spend their days handing out samples at grocery stores and events. Kara Goldin, the Hint founder and chief executive, redeployed those staff members, and has managed to avoid layoffs. Both Dr. Praeger’s and Hint are now hiring. This conversation, which was condensed and edited for clarity, was part of a series of new live Corner Office calls discussing the crisis. Visit timesevents.nytimes.com to join upcoming calls. DAVID GELLES Kara, when was it that you realized this was going to be something that disrupted your business in pretty fundamental ways, and what steps did you start taking to adjust? KARA GOLDIN On March 13, I flew to San Francisco and stopped in a local store on my way home. I noticed that their supply of Hint had been depleted. While I had heard about hoarding starting and people were really stocking up, I really hadn’t pieced together the effect that that would have on our own brand. At that point, I reached out to our sales team and our supply chain and basically said, “I don’t know what’s going on, but I’ve now stopped into a second store just to see, and it’s a consistent pattern. We’re either very low or out of stock on a bunch of our flavors.” That weekend, we were pretty quick to reach out to our grocery buyers throughout the country and say, “Hey, if we are out of stock and there’s some sort of hiccup in your supply chain, or you guys are inundated with doing a lot of other stuff right now, we’re more than willing to jump in and send trucks in direct to you.” And many of them actually jumped on that, just to be able to stock their shelves. GELLES Larry, right around the same time, you also started to recognize that this was going to have an impact. Your company is based in New Jersey, and you took pretty dramatic action quite early. What did you do to try to stay ahead of this? LARRY PRAEGER Our manufacturing facility is based out of northern New Jersey, and we were having similar discussions about what we needed to do. A priority was really to make sure that we had a safe working environment for all our factory workers, as well as the people that were in the office. So around March 18, we did take a bit of a drastic step and closed down our factory for four days. That was to try to do a heavy sanitizing of the building and the manufacturing facility, but also to give us some time to really come up with a plan so that, when we reopened, we could bring back our factory workers and feel safe about doing it. Now we’re taking temperatures when people enter the facility, we’re providing masks and gloves for all the employees, we’ve increased the cleaning in the factory, we have heavy sanitation in high-touch areas, and we’ve added space in the break and lunchroom spaces, and set up some satellite break and lunchroom spaces. The one thing that we really wanted to instill in the employees was to make sure that they understood that if they weren’t feeling well, they should not come into work, and their job wasn’t in jeopardy. The most important thing, as a first line of defense, was to have them not come to work. If people aren’t coming to work sick, then you have less to worry about in your facility. GELLES Kara, you have manufacturing lines in the United States as well. What changes did you make, if any? GOLDIN We have multiple bottling facilities throughout the U.S., and we were actually very well set up. We pasteurize our product because we’re not using preservatives, and the actual location where it’s being filled is a clean room, so there’s no people in there when it’s going through the process of killing any microbes. So there has not been a dramatic change in the way that we’re filling. GELLES Larry, despite the precautions you took, at least four of your employees have tested positive for the virus, including some who worked inside your factory. What happens when factory workers at a food company test positive for this virus? What steps have you taken to ensure that their illness didn’t become a problem for the business? PRAEGER We’ve had about four or five cases. Those people are quarantining at home for 14 days. And we’ve actually had one person who’s come back since then. They saw a doctor and have a doctor’s note that confirms that they’re OK. GELLES Has this caused any disruptions to your manufacturing? PRAEGER It’s definitely slowed down some of the manufacturing. In addition to the confirmed cases, we probably have another about 12 to 15 cases where people have had symptoms and they’ve stayed home because of that, or because they have no child care. It’s definitely a challenge. We’re definitely not running as efficiently as we used to be. But that’s OK, as long as it’s a safe environment. GELLES Kara, Hint employs a large marketing team that goes to events and in stores to hand out samples. What are they doing in the midst of all this? GOLDIN We have about 200 people in the company, and that same weekend in March, we decided that it probably wasn’t a great idea to have our team handing out sample cups. I don’t know how you can stay six feet apart in that case. So we decided to reallocate those people into sales and other roles, and we haven’t furloughed or laid anybody off. GELLES Larry, did Dr. Praeger’s see a spike in demand as people stocked up? If so, were you able to meet it? PRAEGER Starting in March, we saw a big uptick in purchases at the retail level, supermarket level and club channel level. It was across the board, from veggie burgers to chickenless tenders to products for kids. We’ve seen that come down a little bit in April. But our food service division, which is mostly selling to restaurants and hotels, has seen a huge decline. In March, we saw it head way down, and now we’re seeing probably close to 70 percent decline in comparison to the prior year. GELLES Kara, people haven’t hoarded flavored water in quite the same way they have hoarded toilet paper, but what have you seen on the demand side? GOLDIN The good news for the business was the hoarding, to some extent, in the grocery businesses and really stocking up on Hint. We’ve seen that start to slow in retail stores, but we’ve actually seen it pick up in other areas that we know where people are going into stores, including Instacart. And our direct-to-consumer business, which is DrinkHint.com and Amazon, has gone up a crazy amount. I mean over 100 percent. In times like these, it’s really about convenience and what the customer wants to do. GELLES Larry, you have a complex supply chain, with lots of different ingredients, the need for cold storage and shipping all around the country. What disruptions have you seen to your supply chain, be it on the materials side or on the delivery? PRAEGER We’re seeing costs going up on vegetables because people in the farms are not working as well, or there are a limited amount of people. And the freight prices coming in have been increasing. But the supply chain over all, so far, has been pretty steady. GELLES What advice would you give to someone who’s currently looking for a job? GOLDIN You should work for companies that you’re really passionate about, that you really believe are doing things that you want to be doing every single day. I’ve talked to a few people that I know that, before, were just working for companies that they didn’t necessarily believe in or enjoy, and they got furloughed. Now they’re looking at it as another chance to just go and try and figure things out. So, if that’s you in this situation, try and figure out, “What is the perfect thing that I want to be doing? What company do I want to support to really go and be that company that I want to invest in?” Maybe you started moving up in that company, getting paid too much money, whatever it is, and now this is an opportunity to go and reset a little bit. GELLES When this is over, what’s the biggest change that you’ll be making at your companies? PRAEGER The biggest change will definitely be moving more toward some of this distancing that we’ve done in the factory. It would have been a benefit to really come into the crisis having those kinds of systems set up. GOLDIN We had already set up for direct-to-consumer and Amazon and some of these other services. But as we see consumers’ habits changing, we will be looking at growing those businesses, working closer with an Instacart and just making it faster, quicker and easier for the consumer to get our product. The post How They Keep the Flavored Water and Veggie Burgers Coming appeared first on Sansaar Times.

http://sansaartimes.blogspot.com/2020/05/how-they-keep-flavored-water-and-veggie.html

[rabbitcruiser]

Around Times Square (No. 13)

While Times Square continued to deteriorate throughout the 1960s into the 1980s, large scale redevelopments were being devised by the city. Most of these schemes folded, or some proved unsuccessful. The Marriott Marquis Hotel finally opened in 1985 more than ten years after its initial proposal, promising an infusion of new life and capital in the area. Instead, it had destroyed two theatres and had placed blank concrete sides at street level.            In 1984 the city presented the 42nd Street Development Project, a subsidiary of the New York State Urban Development Corporation (UDC), assigned to "reclaim" the area from clutches of crime and degradation. Being the largest development effort ever undertaken by the State and City of New York, and one of the largest urban renewal programs launched in the US, it covers a 13-acre area directly around the stretch of 42nd Street between 7th and 8th Avenues, commonly known as "the Deuce." The Times Square envisioned in the 1984 plan, consisted of four skyscrapers around the intersection of Broadway and 42nd Street, revitalized theatres and a hotel and shopping mall on 8th avenue. The subsequent designs for the office towers presented by Philip Johnson and John Burgee in 1984 received such an amount of criticism, that the entire plan was set back once again for several years. Furthermore, by the end of the 1980s, the market for office space had collapsed, rendering the proposed towers (for the time being) useless. 

The impatience for urban renewal is reflected in the name of the interim plan that was presented in 1993; the "42nd Street Now!" project will "ensure a rapid vitalization" of the area. UDC hired a creative team consisting of graphic designers, lighting consultants, and architects, amongst which Robert A.M. Stern, to draft a short-term plan that would fit the area and attract investors. The plan focuses on creating a highly varied mix of retail, eating and drinking establishments, tourist attractions and entertainment. The sketches of the soon-to-be 42nd Street depict an strongly enhanced version of itself; old and new architecture juxtaposed, mixed and layered with illuminating signage intensify the collective memory of Times Square. The signage is a very serious part of the design guidelines; reports of the 42nd Street Development Project continually note that the signage is Times Square's major tourist attraction.       The interim plan has proven to be a useful publicity tool. Despite the claim that the renewed 42nd Street will not be "a gentrified theme-park or festival market," it owes much of its support to theme park giant Disney. After several months of negotiations between the city and Walt Disney Inc., the latter announced in early 1994, that it would rehabilitate and reopen the landmark New Amsterdam theatre on 42nd Street. The deal called for the city and state to lend Disney $21 million at 3 percent interest, while Disney itself spent $8 million of its own to renovate the theatre. Politician hailed the announcement, like Governor Mario M. Cuomo, who said "You're going to get rid of the filth." According to other reports, however, this had been Disney's own demand to the city before jumping in on the project in the first place. A new zoning law, going into effect in the fall of 1996, orders the removal of residences, churches, schools and sex related businesses from the area.        Following Disney's agreement and the passing of the zoning law, hesitation towards the project from other leading entertainment companies soon disappeared. In the same year six major hotel chains, including Hilton Hotels, Marriott Corp. and the Walt Disney Co., submitted plans for the proposed hotel at the northeast corner of 42nd Street and 8th Avenue. Along with the proposals by the hotel chains, several other smaller companies, including restaurant concerns and theatre operators, submitted proposals to establish businesses within whatever is built on the site. For the final round of the design competition in february of 1995, designs from Michael Graves, Zaha Hadid and Arquitectonica were submitted, with the latter being approved for construction. In September of 1994, MTV declared its interest in turning three of the theatres on 42nd Street (including the Lyric theatre, the place Robert de Niro in Taxi Driver dragged Cybill Shepherd to see Swedish Marriage Manual), into an MTV Studio Complex, directly across the street from Disney's New Amsterdam. The list of well-known entertainment companies with big plans for Times Square continues: Virgin Records said it would open its largest megastore on Broadway at 45th Street; Sony intends to build a high-tech movie cineplex, seating 6000; Madame Tussaud's will open its first animatronics wax museum outside Europe.            The 42nd Street Development Project owes its success in part to many of the other organizations working to improve the area. In 1992 the Times Square Business Improvement District (the BID) was established by area businesses and community leaders to ensure make the neighborhood clean, safe, and friendly. The BID put its own sanitation workers and public safety officers in the street, and received $1.5 million from the Times Square Public Purpose Fund to improve the sidewalk lighting in the area. The New 42nd Street Inc., originally established as the 42nd Street Entertainment Corporation in 1990, was given direct charge of six of the 42nd Street theatres, which have been by the City and State. Serving as the theatres' landlord, it was assigned to assemble and select a mix of commercial and nonprofit tenants and operators and furthermore promote the block's entertainment and cultural offerings.

Source

[cw-guzman]

Never Enough Time to Write

As a full-time retail employee at work and a part-time writer at home (among other unofficial titles my wife has for me, like: plumber, tech support, health & safety inspector, psychologist, sanitation worker, zookeeper, biologist, chemist, physicist, astrophysicist, etc.) like you, I suffer from a lack of time. Or at least the feeling that I never have enough time. I know we all get the same 24 hours per day (see: astrophysicist), but it just feels like everyone else gets more done with less time than I do, or just has more time in general. They must be immortals, right? 🧛‍♀️

Well, one of the things that really helped me out—when getting down about this struggle—was recently listening to my very first Spotify podcast so far It’s from Amie McNee’s (@inspiredtowrite) Unpublished podcast, titled “Rebelling, Reprogramming and Rebirth with Brooke Solis.” (@brookesolis). In it these two incredible women discussed their thoughts, feelings, and philosophies on art: creating it, living off of it, and the culture surrounding it.

One of the big take-aways from listening to it (a few times) was:

I don't have to work like everyone else. Don't bring the arbitrary 9-5 mindset into your creative pursuits. Figure out how you work best and do that. Socrates didn't have a boss or work schedule. Live life, and literally work around that. Find your personal work-life rhythm.

This was appropriately mind-blowing to me because the way I tend to get away with working—short bursts of creativity and long rest periods—looks a lot like slacking or procrastinating. While long, focused work sessions and short breaks allow me to too-easily get distracted or interrupted (by the several job titles I have at home).

On top of learning how you and I work, I’ve worried about how much work I actually have yet to do. My current work-in-progress (WIP) has nearly 200,000 words of notes alone, including 24,000 words written into the actual plot, dialog, and chapters. Then there’s the 190 notes, in 13 notebooks, containing thousands and sometimes tens of thousands of words each! They include ideas for blog posts, Instagram posts, short stories, comic series’, screenplays, to-do lists, etc. I never thought I would have so much content tucked away and hoarded for a later-date.

My 2012 self would be smacking me upside the head when I then feel overwhelmed with too much content to post:

Are you kidding me (us)!? Now you have too much content to get through? How dare you (me).

Back then (in 2012), and all my life really, I thought I would never have enough creativity to sustain a creative career in anything—drawing, writing, photographing, teaching, speaking, etc.—and so I hoarded it for years (decades, even) in screenshots, quotes, notes, bookmarks, and lists. 🤦♂️

I could write whatever I want to now, and I come up with even more ideas every day/week/month/year. Now I seem to have tipped the scales the other way and went from an overwhelming feeling of lack to overwhelming abundance—because of course I would. 😅

At least I’ve been doing the best I ever have. Living with a sense of purpose, intention, and drive that I always felt I lacked as well (noticing my pattern, yet?) I’m using my time more efficiently, getting more done than ever before. So it'll happen eventually. That’s something I finally believe, now. If I keep working toward my goals, given enough time, I should complete them sooner or later. It’s surprisingly uplifting! 😌

I've also been making friends in the writing community on IG so even that's coming along. I just need to be patient and keep working. It'll all happen eventually. Gotta be available for the opportunities when they come around, and doing nothing won't allow that to happen. If you don’t go for your goals, and making your dreams a reality, you know your chances of accomplishing them are zero. Chasing them instantly gives you a chance when there previously wasn’t any at all.

[tkjunkdrawer]

Was thinking about Juxcubae again. Sometime ago I mentioned something about prostitution being legal in the world of Litch Slush because of the existence of Juxcubae. So, how's it handled?

Basically, there's small hotels that cater specifically to this, known [PUNNILY] as JuxtaPositions. Juxcubae can show up and hang around whenever they need a meal or some money, and take whichever clients request them. There's photos of all the Juxcubae on the premises at the front desk, so clients can take their pick. A receptionist alerts the Juxcubae when they've been requested and sends the client on up to the corresponding room. As ridiculous as it sounds, people can also make appointments to bone with particular Juxcubae, if they want; it's all done through the company. Business is business.

None of the Juxcubae's personal information is available to the general public, and they all go by fake names [Azhrune, for example, goes by "Midnight," which is absolutely cheesy] while at work. They also get to set their own rates, as well as choosing what they are and aren't willing to do. They're well within their right to reject clients, or stop mid-session if they feel uncomfortable or unsafe.

The Juxcubae who work at these places are actually really well-protected. Violence against sex workers is a thing in any reality, sad as that is, but the Juxta buildings are really safe. The rooms all have magic that detects things like fear, distress, panic, and anxiety [things that wouldn't come up in a safe or consensual scenario], and the spell will immediately immobilize whoever is causing said distress, basically freezing their body up like a statue against whatever wall is immediately opposite them, to give the victim room. Said spell then alerts the building's security guards, and they come and handle things as needed.

And of course, there's plenty of, er, "equipment" available. You want it, they've got it on site somewhere. Everything is sanitized after use [and the people who do it do get fairly compensated for having to scrub up other people's bodily fluids], because that shit is important. Anything deemed questionable or potentially unsafe to use further is trashed and replaced. Juxcubae are welcome to bring their own stuff, but the JuxtaPosition provides pretty much anything you'd want or need for whatever filth you're engaging in today.

Up until now, I've only mentioned Juxcubae working at these places, though. Truth is, there's definitely humans who work there, too. Everyone's got their reasons for ending up there, but they're not really treated any differently by than the Juxcubae by the company itself. They're afforded all the same perks and protection than their inhuman coworkers get. No judgement, no questions asked, as long as you follow the rules, you're welcome to earn a living here. While the initial description of these places may sound a bit seedy, they're actually surprisingly positive environments. The Juxcubae understand better than anyone that sometimes, this is the only way you can live.

As for the clientele, there's a good mix of humans and demons that come looking for a good time. Some humans are interested in the novelty of demons and vice-versa. Not always the case, of course, but nobody's judging if it is. Though a Juxcubae will generally have to get it on with a few humans before they're feeling rejuvenated. I have mentioned before than the energy in human souls isn't as "hearty" as demons. Lack of magic.

Besides that, JuxtaPositions are generally well-kept, especially the ones located in bigger cities. The place Azhrune takes his calls at genuinely looks like an upscale hotel both outside and inside, and can easily be mistaken as such until you get to the desk and see the book of photos and the panel of colored lights that indicates which rooms are in use and which are empty; White for vacant, blue for occupied but not working, red for active session, do not disturb. Juxcubae are welcome to lounge in the [very nice and comfortable] rooms while waiting for requests, or they can hang around the lobby if they want. They also get to decide however many clients they want to take or how long they want to be there that day. It's pretty chill considering the debauchery going on in the rooms. Being that Juxcubae have to fuck to live, demons as a whole don't have the same weird stigmas surrounding sex that humans do. This is just another job, and it's not uncommon to see Jux and humans sitting in the lobby reading, chatting, playing g on their phones, and generally just relaxing in their downtime, only to get up and immediately switch into "customer service" mode when somebody wants them. Though, uh, customer service here is obviously different from, like, retail or something.

Demons actually brought the whole system over from their side of the portal, where it was established an astoundingly long time ago and then refined over the centuries to what it is today. I think I talked about that once briefly; basically, since Juxcubae need sex to survive, there had to be an allowance for it. Because "just go engage in your disgusting customs on your side of the portal" went over REALLY POORLY, and the idiot politician who said it was buried in backlash. Those "disgusting customs" are literally what keeps the Juxcubae alive, and now they're here and they need to survive. Telling such a large group to suck it up and die or GTFO so openly was met with outrage not just from a state, or even a country, but an entire dimension of living, intelligent beings whose size and population is on par with that of our own.

If that's how the Juxcubae were going to be treated, then who was next? Dumping waste into the rivers of the water nymphs and telling them to fuck off and go back where they came from if they don't like it? Telling the werewolves that our vets and hospitals will no longer tend to them, too bad if they're fatally injured, they gotta go through the portal to be treated? How far is this kind of discrimination going to go?

"Fuck that," said the demons. "We're taking our ball and going home."

In a unified movement that humanity had never seen the likes of before, every demon and magical being disappeared from our world back to theirs, taking the magic with them.

It didn't last long. Everyone had become so accustomed to living alongside demons and their magic that our world couldn't function normally, because that's how it had developed. There were the little things that were missed: Spell capsules that eased anxiety and soothed pain much more effectively than any pharmaceuticals, condensed spells to banish dust and grime in an instant, herbs from Arcanae that tasted like nothing in our our world that has quickly become staples of many cuisines across the world. Then the biggest issue: Magic and science were two sides of the same coin, so intertwined at this point that it was unfathomable to move forward without magic. It was possible, sure, but there was so much more that we could do with both things together.

Humanity apologized for this catastrophic fuck-up and asked to make amends. Demonkind was like "let the Juxcubae do what they need to do to survive," humanity agreed, and everyone came back. Things clicked back into place like nothing that changed in the first place--except for these new buildings popping up.

And from there, lettings the humans also take part in it legally wasn't too much of a stretch, especially since the demons made it legal for humans on their side of the portal, and if they're doing it, how poorly does it reflect on humanity to not let their own people do it at home? Now they're going over there to do this stuff--and it's safer than walking the streets? Fuck it, we might as well just go with it.

That's the very abridged version of the whole thing. This is the kind of thing they do an entire unit on in history class because the impact was huge. They called it The Great Arcane Absence. While the Arcane Absence itself really only lasted about a week, the tension and arguments leading up to it stretched back a ways; legal prostitution Earthside was something Juxcubae were pushing for for a long time, until things finally boiled over. Which is why the reaction was so extreme.

So, yeah. JuxtaPositions.