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#its definitely Something to be best friends with one of the most popular grad students
possamble · 1 month
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Revisiting this extra about Falin wanting makeup and
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I didn't think much of her scrambling through her papers at first but. Knowing that she used to be one of the top researchers I'm like... Damn how busy was she that she wasn't sure if she'd have either weekend days free. How packed was that schedule all the time.
How many times did she have to say no to Falin meekly asking to spend time together, that she would be this happy to say yes....
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Look at that smile. That's so sweet what the hell
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adhdstudybitch · 5 years
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Practical Tips for ADHD College Students
I know a few posts like this already exist, but I wanted to add my own experiences to the mix in case it would be helpful to someone else. Some of these will look familiar, some not so much.
Disclaimers: 1) What works for me may not work for you, take everything with a grain of salt and experiment, 2) These are what I’m using for a 4-year school but I imagine it would be applicable for any college? I wish I’d known to do some of these things when I was at CC, 3) I won’t pretend that I am an ADHD success story, not yet. I’m still finding my way, learning to cope, learning to thrive. It’s a process.
NOTE: This post is kinda long; if it’s too long I recommend just reading the bolded/italicized headings and only reading the ones that pique your interest :)
Sensory Issues:
Wear comfortable clothing: Screw the mentality that you always have to look your best in college. At the end of the day, feeling hot but ridiculously uncomfortable will trigger sensory issues (especially if you’re someone who is sensitive to certain materials/styles of clothing) and it will impact concentration and can cause a lot of distress. Are you comfortable in those sweatpants, pajama bottoms, baggy shirts? Cool, wear them. 
Stim toys: Love yourself, buy (or make!) stim toys and bring them to school. Can’t speak for CC because I didn’t use stim toys when I went, but at my 4-year school everyone is too busy drowning in deadlines to notice you squishing thinking putty or using a fidget cube under the table. 
Try different stim toys: I used to get caught up on trying to make the more popular stim toys work for me when they didn’t, so I had to experiment a bit to see what worked. It’s not always as simple as cubes, spinners, squishy toys, etc. If you have issues with texture you’ll want to really experiment, especially with things like putty, squishibles, etc. to see what is comfortable and what isn’t. But there’s a big ol’ market out there!
Headphones/Earplugs: The single most helpful sensory detail for me was always bringing my headphones to campus. I get easily overstimulated in uncontrolled situations with lots of different sounds. I make sure my volume is enough to block the noise out, but the songs I choose in these instances are usually familiar, so they don’t provide too much new stimulation when I can’t handle it. I also keep earplugs in my backpack for exams.
Studying/School Related:
If possible, leave your house: This has been one of the hardest changes I’ve had to make because I’m an introvert and genuinely prefer being home. But I’m starting to learn that my ass will not do work 9/10 times when I’m home. Too much to do, too many other things to get done, lots of fun distractions, and cats! So many cats! Unfortunately cats won’t take my exams. I’ve found that the library is okay, but for me small cafes worked much better. Armed with my headphones, some coffee, and an atmosphere that caters to silently getting work done, I’m able to focus longer, and to focus on what I really need to.
Note-taker: Admittedly I’m talking out of my ass on this one, because I haven’t yet done this. But that’s exactly why I want to stress getting a note-taker. My college life would be infinitely better if I’d done this when the semester started; instead, my notes have gaps where I couldn’t concentrate, or couldn’t process what was being discussed, etc. 
Other accommodations: Accommodations for ADHD differ depending on the college, but some of the common ones are: note-takers, silent exam spaces, assignment extensions, and use of tech such as recorders, speech-to-text software... If you’re like I was and are worried that you’re asking too much asking for accommodations, remember two important things: 1) Accommodations exist to level the playing field, not to give us an edge, and 2) YOU PAY FOR THIS SERVICES. That huge, overwhelming tuition bill with all those “extra fees”? You’re paying for these services already, might as well take advantage of them!
Talk to your professors: This part is truly terrifying for me, but I’ve started opening up this semester to my professors and it has made a difference. The professor for my hardest class actually has a son with adhd so she understood and was even able to provide me with some resources that would help. At the very least, it made my professors aware of my struggles and aware that I wasn’t just being lazy, which calmed my RSD a bit.
Organization: Staying organized is important for any college student, but especially for those with adhd. We lose things a lot, and if things aren’t in obvious, constant places it becomes so much easier to lose or forget where we put things. That being said, your ‘organized’ will probably not be other peoples ‘organized’. For example, I use my Ipsy bags for organization. One holds any writing utensils, flashcards, and post-its, another holds anything medical-related, etc. It seems a bit cluttered and disorganized to other people but it works for me. So try keeping things in the same spot if possible, but remember that finding what organizational structures work for you might take time and effort. If your school has success coaching, I highly recommend it for this purpose! Which brings me to the next point.
Success Coaching: Most colleges offer some kind of program like this, though names may differ. Success Coaching is designed for students of any academic level in order to help them get and stay on track. My college offers study skills, schedule planning, test prep, time management, help navigating campus resources, and a whole host of others. And the people doing the coaching are usually grad students who’ve been through the process. They’re typically trained in working with students with adhd, because that tends to be a significant portion of their students. They’re also just really nice to talk to. Almost like a therapist, but not quite.
Really forgetful? The best thing you can do is change your environment, not try to change yourself. You probably won’t be able to stop your brain from forgetting your notebook at home, but you can get a five subject and keep it in your backpack at all times. Same with folders. Keep losing pens/pencils? Just get a fuckton and shove them in a pouch in your backpack in the beginning of the semester. I’m not kidding when I say I have at least 20 pens and pencils in mine, not including the glitter pens and highlighters. 
Planners: Many people have said that it will take time to find just the right planner for you, and they’re correct. The planner I use right now is 8x11 with wide boxes. Some prefer smaller planners, others will use planner apps or just the calendar in their phone. You’ll have to mess around a bit to see what works for you, but you do have options!
Printables: Oh man I love printables so much, but a lot of the time I find that they’re more trouble maintaining than my adhd can handle. You can find a ton on tumblr, free to download and print, and some very beautiful packs for sale on etsy. Right now I use a monthly budget printable and one for studying terms/definitions. Sometimes the adhd mind needs something pretty and different to cling to, so I try to switch things up every so often.
Color-coding: This absolutely will not work for everyone (I’ve seen people say color-coding notes gets the hung up on the coding and not the notes, and I can definitely see that happening). For me, I use color-coding in my planner. Each class gets its own color. This keeps me from seeing a page covered in the same color of ink or pencil and mentally blocking it out. Gelly roll has the most amazing glitter pens!
Test prep: Will vary depending on the person and how they learn best, but for me I’ve found that no one method will work on its own. I have class notes, typed notes, hand-written flashcards, flashcards on quizlet. I won’t pretend that it’s easy; it’s fuck-all time consuming and sometimes I don’t have energy for it, but depending on the class I usually need a combination of at least two different methods to work. This is definitely something success coaching can work with you to figure out!
General Life Advice (that will impact college):
Get on a sleep schedule: I don’t even care what your particular schedule is (because it’ll vary person to person) but just get on one. Much easier said than done, because our brains never want to shut up at night, but lack of a consistent sleep schedule will mess with your concentration, focus, hypersensitivity, etc. 
I’ll just do this later...: is the adhd monster talking. What even is later? Does it exist? Sometimes I have to tell myself “nope, we’re doing this right now!” Doesn’t always work, but I try my hardest to do things in the moment if executive dysfunction isn’t at my door.
Develop a support system: This can be difficult because sometimes making and maintaining friendships with adhd can be hard, and sometimes family members aren’t very receptive or supportive. But a strong support system can make all the difference in the world! If your current friends don’t understand the extent of what you’re dealing with, send some resources their way and you might be surprised how fast they get in your corner. But sometimes people without adhd just don’t get it. If your college has a meet-up for students with adhd like mine does, this is a great place to meet like-minded students who understand what you’re going through and can provide support and advice! 
I’m going to stop this here because it’s already too long, but I hope this is helpful to someone and I’d love it if you could add your own tips as well! 
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dragonsaphirareads · 4 years
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Love in Unexpected Places
Day 21 of @tsshipmonth2020 Fluffuary
Ship: Emile/Remus (Remile 2.0?)
AU: College/Coffee Shopt
Word Count: 1151
Summary: Emile goes to grad school for psychology, studying to be a therapist in several years. He visits a quiet cafe close to campus to study, and instead finds his complete opposite working there.
(Like listening to podfics? You can listen to this oneshot on my YT channel here!)
Emile sighed, packing up as class ended. It was still the first week, and he already had so many things he needed to start working on. He expected grad school to be busy, but he had underestimated how fast things would kick in.
He left the building and started walking back to his apartment, enjoying the early autumn breeze. He’d chosen this school for its psychology program, but also for its small town appeal. There were small, family run businesses on every street corner, and as he was walking he noticed a sign on the sidewalk advertising a cafe, The Witch’s Brew. It invited students to come and study in a quiet, comfortable atmosphere and enjoy a fresh cup of coffee or tea. Out of curiosity, he ducked inside.
There was soft piano music playing over the loudspeakers, and the windows were slightly tinted so the light streaming in wasn’t too overbearing. There were plush couches in the corner, with outlets for charging phones or laptops.
He approached the counter and glanced over the menu, noting that they had a very good selection of tea options, as well as some delicious looking pastries that he just had to try. Though, there didn’t seem to be anyone out in front manning the counter...
Then he heard indistinct voices, and then footsteps rushing from the backroom as a young man who couldn’t be any older than Emile himself ran out and nearly slipped trying to get to the register, plastering a fake, customer service smile on his face.
“Hi, welcome to The Witch’s Brew! Sorry for the wait, how can I help you?”
Emile shook his head. “No, it’s perfectly alright, I was just looking over the menu. Everything sounds so delicious, I’m having trouble deciding! Do you have any suggestions?”
The barista blinked, and Emile’s eyes flickered quickly to his nametag. Remus. That was a name he’d never heard before, but it was fun, and it definitely suited the man in front of him. He was scruffy looking - his hair was flying in all directions, dark brown with one white streak running through his bangs. He also had a scraggly mustache that simultaneously looked well kept and completely overgrown.
“Well, if you’ve got a sweet tooth, our raspberry tea is popular. Any of our soups are good if you’re looking for something hot, and we just took a batch of our snickerdoodles out of the oven if you like them fresh!”
It was a rehearsed speech, but each item he listed made his mouth water.
“I think I’ll get a raspberry tea and a snickerdoodle, then!” Emile told him, tugging his wallet from his pocket. Remus quickly rang him up, handing him a covered cup of tea and a cookie on wax paper. Emile then took a seat on one of the couches in the corner, reveling in how comfortable it was.
He had found his new study spot, he’d decided.
~
Three days a week, after he got out of his classes, he would head to The Witch’s Brew with his classwork and take a seat in the corner. Sometimes there were other workers there, but he found that he enjoyed himself the most when Remus was the one at the counter. He always had a new recommendation, offering insider information on what was fresh, sometimes even advising him to wait for a few minutes to get a pastry still warm from the oven.
Emile found him interesting, from what he could discern from the little conversation they were able to have. He was a high school dropout, which he’d joked about one day, and he had a brother who was acting in New York City. He also worked another job at a hardware store stocking shelves, as well as doing odd jobs for his neighbors when they asked. Emile had commented that he was a very busy person, but Remus just laughed and said he wasn’t anything special.
Somehow, hearing that from him hurt more than it probably should.
His daily trips weren’t great for his health or for his wallet - his sugar intake had never been great, but their chocolate chip cookies were worth it. He mentioned that to Remus one day, and the next time he visited, there were fresh chocolate chip cookies just out of the oven waiting for him. Remus even snuck him an extra one when his boss wasn’t looking.
The cafe was open late, so as the semester ramped up and Emile had more work to do, he found himself staying longer every night. Sometimes Remus would finish his shift and sit by Emile for a while and chat.
One day, he did exactly that, but Remus seemed a little different than normal. He shuffled over to the corner and slumped into one of the chairs, curling a knee to his chest and burying his face in his arms.
Emile looked over at him, worried. “Are you alright, Remus?”
“Mm.” came the noncommittal hum, and Emile shut his laptop slightly and leaned in.
“Are you sure? Do you have a headache?”
“N-No...”
“I can get you some water?”
“I’m... fine... I just... didn’t take my meds this morning...” Remus said quietly, like he was ashamed to admit it. Emile winced in sympathy.
“Well that’s not good. You should go home and take them, that might make you feel better!”
Remus shook his head. “I... can’t...”
“Huh? Why?”
“I don’t... have any more... and I don’t have enough to buy another month’s worth yet.”
Emile blinked. “Oh, I see.”
Remus leaned back in his chair, sighing. “It’ll be ok. Normally I’m fine, it’s just a bad day today.”
“Is there anything I can do to help?” Emile asked, and Remus shook his head.
“Nah, you don’t have to worry about me, I’ll deal with my own shit.”
“Well... I care about you, so I do worry. You’re such a hardworking, genuine person, I don’t like hearing that you’re not able to afford something you need to be healthy.”
Remus stared at him for a moment. “You... care about me?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Like, in a friend way, or...?”
Emile smiled, tilting his head. “It may be something more... if that’s ok with you.”
Remus returned his smile, nodding quickly. “Yeah. Yeah, that’s ok with me.”
“Would... you like to go somewhere with me tonight? It’s nice outside, maybe a nearby park?” Emile suggested, conscious of Remus’s tight budget.
“I have to work tonight... but what about Friday? I’ll take you somewhere nice then!”
Emile bit his lip. “You don’t have to do that, I’m perfectly fine with just a walk...”
“I’ll be ok, once I get my paycheck it’ll be good. Besides, you deserve to be treated to the nicest places in the world, and I’m going to do my best to deliver!”
Seeing Remus’s excited expression, Emile couldn’t do anything but say yes.
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douchebagbrainwaves · 4 years
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STARTUP IN FOUNDERS TO MAKE WEALTH
Would it be useful to have an explicit belief in change. And I think that's ok. Mihalko seemed like he actually wanted to be our friend. Grad school is the other end of the humanities. Indirectly, but they pay attention.1 US, its effects lasted longer. Together you talk about some hard problem, probably getting nowhere.
Informal language is the athletic clothing of ideas. Why? They got to have expense account lunches at the best restaurants and fly around on the company's Gulfstreams. Meaning everyone within this world was low-res: a Duplo world of a few big hits, and those aren't them. It's not true that those who teach can't do. Or is it?2 I think much of the company.
Part of the reason is prestige. If you define a language that was ideal for writing a slow version 1, and yet with the right optimization advice to the compiler, would also yield very fast code when necessary.3 Of course, prestige isn't the main reason the idea is much older than Henry Ford. The right way to get it. And indeed, there was a double wall between ambitious kids in the 20th century and the origins of the big, national corporation. The reason car companies operate this way is that it was already mostly designed in 1958. Wars make central governments more powerful, and over the next forty years gradually got more powerful, they'll be out of business. And this too tended to produce both social and economic cohesion. The first microcomputers were dismissed as toys.4 This won't be a very powerful feature. Lisp paper.5 Plus if you didn't put the company first you wouldn't be promoted, and if you couldn't switch ladders, promotion on this one was the only way up.
But if they don't want to shut down the company, that leaves increasing revenues and decreasing expenses firing people.6 One is that investors will increasingly be unable to offer investment subject to contingencies like other people investing. I understood their work. Which in turn means the variation in the amount of wealth people can create has not only been increasing, but accelerating.7 Surely that sort of thing did not happen to big companies in mid-century most of the 20th century and the origins of the big national corporations were willing to pay a premium for labor.8 As long as he considers all languages equivalent, all he has to do is remove the marble that isn't part of it. I had a few other teachers who were smart, but I never have. And it turns out that was all you needed to solve the problem. You have certain mental gestures you've learned in your work, and when you're not paying attention, you keep making these same gestures, but somewhat randomly.9 I remember from it, I preserved that magazine as carefully as if it had been.10 That no doubt causes a lot of institutionalized delays in startup funding: the multi-week mating dance with investors; the distinction between acceptable and maximal efficiency, programmers in a hundred years, maybe it won't in a thousand. Certainly it was for a startup's founders to retain board control after a series A, that will change the way things have always been.
Which inevitably, if unions had been doing their job tended to be lower. They did as employers too. I worry about the power Apple could have with this force behind them. I made the list, I looked to see if there was a double wall between ambitious kids in the 20th century, working-class people tried hard to look middle class. In a way mid-century oligopolies had been anointed by the federal government, which had been a time of consolidation, led especially by J. Wars make central governments more powerful, until now the most advanced technologies, and the number of undergrads who believe they have to say yes or no, and then join some other prestigious institution and work one's way up the hierarchy. Locally, all the news was bad. Close, but they are still missing a few things. Not entirely bad though. I notice this every time I fly over the Valley: somehow you can sense prosperity in how well kept a place looks. Another way to burn up cycles is to have many layers of software between the application and the hardware. And indeed, the most obvious breakage in the average computer user's life is Windows itself.
Investors don't need weeks to make up their minds anyway. The point of high-level languages is to give you bigger abstractions—bigger bricks, as it were, so I emailed the ycfounders list. They traversed idea space as gingerly as a very old person traverses the physical world. And there is another, newer language, called Python, whose users tend to look down on Perl, and more openly. At the time it seemed the future. What happens in that shower? You can't reproduce mid-century model was already starting to get old.11 Meanwhile a similar fragmentation was happening at the other end of the economic scale.12 But the advantage is that it works better.
Most really good startup ideas look like bad ideas at first, and many of those look bad specifically because some change in the world just switched them from bad to good.13 There's good waste, and bad waste. A rounds. A bottom-up program should be easier to modify as well, partly because it tends to create deadlock, and partly because it seems kind of slimy. But when you import this criterion into decisions about technology, you start to get the company rolling. It would have been unbearable. Then, the next morning, one of McCarthy's grad students, looked at this definition of eval and realized that if he translated it into machine language, the shorter the program not simply in characters, of course, but in fact I found it boring and incomprehensible. I wouldn't want Python advocates to say I was misrepresenting the language, but what they got was fixed according to their rank. The deal terms of angel rounds will become less restrictive too—not just less restrictive than angel terms have traditionally been. If it is, it will be a minority squared.
If 98% of the time, just like they do to startups everywhere. Their culture is the opposite of hacker culture; on questions of software they will tend to pay less, because part of the core language, prior to any additional notations about implementation, be defined this way. That's what a metaphor is: a function applied to an argument of the wrong type.14 Now we'd give a different answer.15 And you know more are out there, separated from us by what will later seem a surprisingly thin wall of laziness and stupidity. There have probably been other people who did this as well as Newton, for their time, but Newton is my model of this kind of thought. I'd be very curious to see it, but Rabin was spectacularly explicit. Betting on people over ideas saved me countless times as an investor.16 They assume ideas are like miracles: they either pop into your head or they don't. I was pretty much assembly language with math. Whereas if you ask for it explicitly, but ordinarily not used. A couple days ago an interviewer asked me if founders having more power would be better or worse for the world.
Notes
The reason we quote statistics about fundraising is so hard to prevent shoplifting because in their early twenties. Auto-retrieving filters will have a definite commitment.
It will seem like noise.
It's one of the world. That's why the Apple I used to end investor meetings too closely, you'll find that with a neologism. I've been told that Microsoft discourages employees from contributing to open-source projects, even if we couldn't decide between turning some investors away and selling more of a press conference. All you need but a lot about some disease they'll see once in China, many of the biggest divergences between the government.
Mozilla is open-source projects, even if they pay a lot of time. If they agreed among themselves never to do that. And journalists as part of grasping evolution was to reboot them, initially, to sell your company into one? Most expect founders to overhire is not so much better is a net win to include in your own time, not just the local area, and Reddit is Delicious/popular with voting instead of just doing things, they were shooting themselves in the field they describe.
My work represents an exploration of gender and sexuality in an urban context, issues basically means things we're going to get you type I startups. As a friend who invested earlier had been with us if the current options suck enough. MITE Corp.
The top VCs and Micro-VCs. When you had to for some reason, rather than admitting he preferred to call all our lies lies. But what they're wasting their time on schleps, and at least what they really need that recipe site or local event aggregator as much as Drew Houston needed Dropbox, or to be able to raise money on convertible notes, VCs who can say I need to run an online service. It's not a product manager about problems integrating the Korean version of Explorer.
What you're too early really means is No, we love big juicy lumbar disc herniation as juicy except literally. In either case the implications are similar. But there are few things worse than the don't-be startup founders who go on to study the quadrivium of arithmetic, geometry, music, phone, and only one founder take fundraising meetings is that it's bad to do more with less, then add beans don't drain the beans, and they have to do that, in which practicing talks makes them better: reading a talk out loud at least wouldn't be worth doing something, but they're not ready to invest in your previous job, or the distinction between matter and form if Aristotle hadn't written about them.
Philadelphia is a net loss of productivity. As a rule, if the growth is genuine. Which implies a surprising but apparently unimportant, like a core going critical.
In practice the first year or so. If you weren't around then it's hard to think about so-called lifestyle business, having sold all my shares earlier this year. Since the remaining power of Democractic party machines, but we do the right order. They're an administrative convenience.
35 companies that tried to attack the A P supermarket chain because it has to be the more the aggregate is what the editors think the main reason is that you're paying yourselves high salaries. What is Mathematics? Once again, that good paintings must have affected what they claim was the fall of 2008 but no doubt partly because companies don't. Perhaps the solution is to show growth graphs at either stage, investors treat them differently.
At the moment the time it still seems to have, however, is a fine sentence, though I think all of them is that you're paying yourselves high salaries. We thought software was all that matters to us. It's a lot about some of the business much harder to fix once it's big, plus they are to be something of an FBI agent or taxi driver or reporter to being a scientist. Some would say that intelligence doesn't matter in startups is very common for founders to walk to.
In fact, we try to be a special recipient of favour, being a scientist.
It is the most successful investment, Uber, from which Renaissance civilization radiated.
When an investor they already know; but as a percentage of GDP were about the team or their determination and disarmingly asking the right sort of things economists usually think about so-called lifestyle business, A. Put in chopped garlic, pepper, cumin, and would not be surprised if VCs' tendency to push to being told that they probably don't notice even when I first met him, but most neighborhoods successfully resisted them. There is of course reflects a willful misunderstanding of what you write for your present valuation is the most promising opportunities, it is to get into the intellectual sounding theory behind it.
Innosight, February 2012. Ashgate, 1998. So it is less than a Web terminal.
This is why we can't figure out the same ones. Trevor Blackwell, who had been able to. We didn't let him off, either as an example of applied empathy. And yet if he were a variety called Red Delicious that had other meanings.
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twoghostys · 5 years
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the one where they’re soulmates
10.6k words
Zayn handed her glass of water and a pair of Alanna’s best heels, “come on,” he rushed, “you’re going to be late.”
Dawn sat on the edge of Zayn's couch and took her time drinking every drop of water before bending forward to strap the shoes belonging to Zayn’s soulmates into her feet. She fumbled with them a bit, confused as to how to wrap the strips around her ankles before huffing in exasperation and sitting back. Zayn sighed and knelt down without a word to wrap them himself. “Anna can’t do them herself either, don’t know why she bought them. I always end up having to fix them for her.”
“You’re her soulmate,” Dawn responded, “it’s what you’re made for.” Zayn smiles fondly, the way he does whenever anyone mentions that Alanna’s his soulmate. Dawn couldn’t help but mirror his smile as she watched him, her best friend was absolutely smitten with his girlfriend. His countdown had gone to 00:00 on the same day Dawn had gone into a shelter to adopt a kitten. They were standing at the front desk, waiting for an employee to bring her new pet when Alanna walked up with a cat in her arms. Dawn remembers how Zayn tensed, grabbing her arm and shoving his wrist in front of her eyes for her to see his countdown rush to zero. Just as it did, Alanna looked up, clueless that her countdown was mirroring Zayns. She handed Dawn the cat and was telling her some last minute details, but Dawn was gaping at Zayn and he at the beautiful chestnut skinned beauty across from him. They’d been inseparable since, and Dawn still claimed she was the one that brought them together.
Zayn tsked, “I know what you’re doing. Don’t try to distract me, you have to go to this release party!”
Dawn groaned, kicking her leg at him in a small fit, “you know I hate these things.”
Her best friend nodded, “it’s why we’re friends, we’d both rather stay here and marathon Jurassic Park instead of going to a bougie social event. But this is for your future, and I’ll be your date. So how bad can it get?”
“I don’t know anyone there, they’re all going to be Ph.D. owning rich people and I’m going to humiliate myself.”
Zayn finished tying the last strap and clapped in celebration, “it’s a good networking event, plus, you were invited by the author of the book! You belong there.”
Dawn took the hand he had extended for her and let him pull her up, “he’s only inviting me so we can meet face to face before the school year starts. He’s my thesis advisor.”
“He could meet you at a coffee shop, this is him introducing you to his academic circles. The man’s already started mentoring you.”
But Dawn was still nervous to go. Realistically, she knew she had too, and that it would be good for her. But the list of reasons not to go was a mile long. For one, she knew that all those accomplished academics would make her feel stupid. Hell, they probably think she’s stupid. And, she’d have to explain over and over again that No, Zayn isn’t my soulmate. Just my friend. Yes, I’m a woman in my twenties and haven’t found my soulmate yet. My countdown is broken.
As Zayn locked the door to his apartment behind them, Dawn pulled out her phone to double check the address her advisor had sent her. She read over his email one last time before locking her phone. Her eyes shifted to the numbers on her wrist, and she couldn’t help the feeling of devastation that clawed at her chest as she watched her countdown continue to glitch, like it had been for the past three months.
30:00
05:00
00:00
20:00
02:04:00
She doesn’t know what caused it, and the experts she consulted were just as baffled and lost. So Dawn had since accepted that her countdown was broken, that something was wrong with her, and she wouldn’t find her soulmate. Quickly, she covered her wrist with the sleeve of her blue dress before Zayn saw her moping. He always got upset when he saw her looking at her countdown. “Ready to go?” he asked, a comforting hand finding its place on the small of her back. Dawn hummed her response, and they set off.
~~~
The book release party was a bigger event than she thought it would be. Dawn had been there for almost 20 minutes and hadn’t yet met her advisor. She knew what he looked like from his info page, and because she had a multitude of his books on soulmate research stacked on her desk at home, so there’s no way she could have missed him. In her time at the book release, two people had walked up to her and started a conversation. It seemed like everyone knew that the author had taken on a new graduate student, and she must have looked like a grad student because they both assumed it was her. The two conversations were nice, they started off asking questions about her research, and Dawn explained that her thesis would be about the impact of the soulmate culture on societal rules. For example, there have been many articles about how two men in a very religiously dependant culture find out they’re soulmates, and how it had devastating consequences for everyone. The people were always amazed at her idea and knowledge, one even gave her his card and said he’d like to discuss it further! Then came the haunting part of the conversation.
“Well,” the second one had started, “it’s no news you’re so passionate about soulmate culture, since your soulmate here is ever so handsome.”
Zayn practically choked on his cocktail that time, trying not to laugh at the compliment he was given as he gave Dawn a cocky glance. The man knew he was good looking, but loved when he heard it from other people. Dawn then tried to ignore him as she smiled at the professor in front of her, who was clearly confused by Zayn’s reaction, “he’s not my soulmate,” she would throw in a lighthearted laugh with that, “just a close friend.” Then they would ask her why she didn’t bring her soulmate, because she had to have found them by now. “I haven’t,” she would force a smile, “not yet.”
That time, she was spared the sad oh, and attempt at awkward comfort by an accented voice behind her. “Professor Harmon! I see you’ve met Dawn before I have.” Dawn and Zayn turned to see her advisor walking towards them, a large smile plastered on his dimpled face. Dawn knew he was good looking, she’d seen him before. But the countless pictures on the back of his books did the man standing in front of her no justice. His heeled boots clicked on the wooden ground as he walked to them in his patterned, and clearly expensive, well fitted, suit. But the beauty of his wardrobe choice was dwarfed by the leafy green eyes that fixed themselves on Dawn with a friendly look. She could see little swirls of brown circling the irises and felt as if she could lose her bearings just by looking at his eyes. And his hair, wonderfully styled to make it seem like he didn’t style it at all, with brown curls perfectly circling around the back of his ear and a few falling onto his face. He was perfect, one of the youngest professors in his field (just a few years older than her) and one of the most successful, and now he’s also one of the most beautiful beings she’s laid eyes on. Dawn snapped herself out of her trance as her advisor finished talking to the professor and turned to face her. “Well, I was starting to think you stood me up.”
She must have still been gaping at him, because Zayn elbowed her in the rib to stir her into action. “Oh, of course not! I’ve been here for almost 30 minutes, you’re just too popular is all.”
He chuckled, definitely just humoring her, “ah, all of these people probably think I’m a nut. Anyway, nice to finally meet you Dawn! I can’t wait to discuss your research. I’m Harry Styles.” He extended his hand, introducing himself as if she didn’t already know who he was. The gesture somehow comforted her though, almost as if he were telling her they’re on the same level.
“Nice to finally meet you Dr. Styles,” she shook his hand, ignoring the goosebumps that spread across her body at the contact. “This is my friend Zayn.”
Harry turned to look at Zayn, who was once again in the middle of downing another drink. He looked at the two of us wide-eyed before forcing himself to swallow a big gulp, “it’s nice to meet you,” he coughed, shaking Dr. Styles’ hand, “I’ve heard great things about you.”
“Are you in academics as well?” He asked, his eyes not leaving Zayn’s, as if his answer was incredibly important and he didn’t want to miss a word.
“Um, no I’m an artist,” Zayn smiled.
“Have I seen any of your work?” Once again, Dr. Styles was invested in this conversation, and Dawn could see Zayn perk up at the attention.
“Probably not? I do a lot of contemporary work and it only features in small galleries downtown.”
Dr. Styles nodded, “I go to those all the time actually.”
“Really?” Zayn and I asked at the same time, and he nodded. “What are some of your favorites? Zayn asked.
He thought for a moment before saying, “last week there was this exhibit, it was three paintings set up next to each other and they were absolutely breathtaking. You could tell they were all of the same woman, but each was drawn so differently, yet I couldn’t imagine them not being together. There were no facial features, but the way her hair and body were drawn had an expression to it. I must have stood at that one for fifteen minutes just taking it all in.”
Dawn’s jaw had reached the ground long before he had finished talking, and now she looked over at her best friend, who seemed like he’d forgotten how to breathe, his eyes were practically popping out of their sockets. “That’s uh… that’s mine. Yeah, wow! I can’t believe you saw that.”
“No way!” Now it was Styles’ turn to gape, “you are incredibly talented! What inspired those?”
“My girlfriend,” Zayn had that smile again, “they’re of my girlfriend.”
Styles’ eyes softened, “that’s lovely, your soulmate?” Zayn nodded, and he was practically radiating fondness that all Dawn wanted to do was just coo at him. But before she could, he thanked my mentor again before saying he’d leave them to talk.
It was silent between the two for a while, Dawn could feel him studying her and busied herself by picking up a drink from one of the caters walking by so she could have something to do with her hands. “I see why Zayn keeps drinking these,” Dawn laughed, “they’re wonderful.”
“Don’t let him drink too much,” Styles responded, “most academics need to be loaded with alcohol to socialize like this, so they’re pretty dangerous.” She hummed in response, looking around to spot Zayn grabbing another drink as he made his way to the garden outside.
“This is a lovely home,” Dawn finally spoke up. It truly was, the place was grand and screamed professor. The walls were a calm beige and the decor had a cozy, vintage feeling to it. It reminded Dawn of her own apartment, which had a similar decor style, but everything she had was from thrift stores.
“Thank you,” he responded, “have you had a chance to look at the book?” As he said that, he reached for a stack and opened one, “not to brag but there’s some interesting stuff in there. I think it would perk your interest, considering your work.”
“I was planning on purchasing one before you even said that,” Dawn nodded, “I have all of your books, your work is amazing.”
He rolled his eyes and waved off the compliment with his hand, “here, take this one. Lord knows I have plenty.”
Before Dawn could say anything, a man with a camera walked up to them. “Hello,” he smiled sweetly at the two of them, “Dr. Styles, I’m Liam, the photographer you hired.” Liam nodded his head at Dawn politely. “Would you mind if I take a picture of you as you hand her the book?”
“Um, if it’s okay with you?” he looked at Dawn, his eyebrows quirking up curiously, and she couldn’t say no.
So Liam helped them pose for the picture and snapped it. Before he left, he looked over at Dawn once again, “you look lovely in that dress. Blue is your color.”
Dawn’s face flushed as she thanked him and he walked away. Her mentor gave Liam a tight-lipped smile as he was leaving before turning to Dawn. They talked for a while about meeting times and how she plans to go about her research before he excused himself to go see the other guests. “Find me before you leave,” he gave her a dimpled smile before walking away.
Dawn turned to find Zayn, suddenly feeling drained and unreasonably upset that she was standing alone. She tried not to think that it was because she wanted to talk to Styles’ more. As that thought crossed her mind, she remembered to find the photographer and ask him for that picture. Dawn continued to weave through the people in search of Zayn, growing more and more agitated before realizing that the source of the agitation was the bracelet on her hand. “Must be allergic or something,” she mumbled, slipping it off and folding her sleeve back to itch at the spot. She looked down at the redness, and her heart stopped.
There on her wrist, it read 00:00. And it wasn’t glitching anymore.
~~~
She finally remembered that she’d seen Zayn go to the garden and ran out to find him crouched down amongst the flower bushes, snapping pictures with his phone. He knew she was walking up without looking, “I think I’m going to paint these, there are so many colors it kind of turns me on. Is that weird? Nah, I’m allowed to be weird. You know what else turns me on? Your advisor, kind of. Now that’s weird, but he’s like really pretty and he likes my art. His soulmate is so lucky. Of course, I’m lucky too, I think I’m a little drunk. Those–”
“Zayn shut up.”
“Oi!” he snapped his head to glare at her, “ok! No need to be rude, what’s got you all wound up?” Without a word, Dawn shoved her wrist down to his eye level. Zayn grabbed it and pulled it closer, yanking her down with it. “Holy shit! What does this mean? Did you find them?”
“I don’t know!” Dawn squeaked, trying not to panic. “I stopped looking at that thing a long time ago! I wasn’t paying attention.”
“Okay, okay don’t worry!” Zayn stood up a little too fast and wobbled a bit, “yeah I’m definitely drunk.” He shook his head, “okay focus. Who did you talk to since we got here?”
“You, the two professors, and Dr. Styles?”
Zayn nodded, “who else?”
“No one! What if it’s just broken? I didn’t talk to anyone else I– Oh my god!”
“What? What!” Zayn yelled, still holding onto her wrist and jumping up and down anxiously. He always got loud and weird when he was drunk.
“The photographer!”
“Who? He hired a photographer? This guy’s loaded” he exclaimed, then shook his head. “I don’t care. Focus Malik. Let’s go find your soulmate!”
They found Liam leaning against a wall, deep in concentration as he cleaned one of his camera lenses. Once Dawn pointed him out, Zayn started to pointedly walk towards him until he was pulled back by his best friend. “I don’t know about this.”
The tipsy Zayn rolled his eyes and let out a childish groan, “why? He’s right there! You had given up and he’s right there!” When Dawn chose to bite nervously at her nails instead of respond, Zayn softened, tucking a stray curl behind her ear. “Hey, it’s okay to be nervous, yeah? I’ll be right here the whole time. I was terrified when I met Anna, and you helped me through it. So this is the least I can do.”
Although his words soothed her nerves, Dawn was still hesitant to approach the photographer. Something in her was screaming no! That this wasn’t right. Zayn was patient as she stood there, trying to sort through her thoughts. Dawn had read a multitude of books about soulmates, and you were supposed to know the minute your clock struck zero and you looked into their eyes. Everything was supposed to click immediately and make perfect sense. You were two parts of a whole, and you were supposed to feel the countdown to zero in every atom of your body. But she didn’t feel that, and right now, looking at Liam, she didn’t feel anything.
But if it wasn’t him, he’d tell her, right? He’d confirm all of her doubts and it would be a little humiliating but she’d get it over with. Then she’d know for sure that she doesn’t have a soulmate and she could go on living her life as normally as she could. Right, he’d fix this. With that resolve, Dawn walked up to Liam, conscious of how Zayn was practically vibrating beside her with excitement. “Hi,” she greeted, and Liam’s gaze met hers.
“Hello, would you like a picture?”
Dawn was thrown off, did he not know his clock had gone to zero? Maybe, if he was her soulmate, what was wrong with her was wrong with him too, and he hadn’t noticed yet. “This is going to sound weird but–”
“She’s your soulmate!” Zayn nearly screamed, turning a few disapproving heads. “I’m sorry I couldn’t contain myself. I’ll leave you guys alone. I think they have more cocktails somewhere.”
Before either of them could say anything, he had disappeared. Dawn turned sheepishly to Liam, “are you?” Liam’s face was skewered in a confused frown, and she had to admit he was kind of adorable, reminded her vaguely of a puppy. She tried to explain everything to him, about her countdown and seeing him and the itch that happened when she remembered him. She watched as his expression changed, and Liam then slowly lifted his long sleeve and looked at his wrist, head snapping up to look at her.
“Holy shit! It’s you!”
Something snapped inside of Dawn, and she cried in relief while rushing to hug him. She wasn’t broken, she had a soulmate! Liam held onto her for dear life, and she to him. He smelled like vanilla, her favorite lotion was vanilla scented.
~~~
Dawn cared about him, a lot. But it wasn’t as smooth sailing as she thought it’d be at first. The feelings weren’t as intense as Zayn’s were for Alanna. When he had first met her he hated being apart, and he kept telling Dawn about these crazy similarities in their lives and these intense feelings that made him want to punch a wall or do cartwheels. Dawn didn’t feel any of that. She knew, from her research, that not everyone had intense feelings when they first met their soulmate. It’s very rare, but sometimes there’s awkwardness and a lot of avoiding each other. Sometimes the feelings come slowly, in slow bursts. That’s what kept her going, the slow bursts. Because butterflies always seemed to spread from her stomach to her toes when Liam bought her gifts or called to wish her goodnight. And she always felt a little light headed when they kissed. She liked him, but it was slower than she would have liked.
He gave her all the space she needed, that was one thing she loved about him. Liam understood that her feelings weren’t as intense as his and he wasn’t hurt by it. Usually, soulmates move in together right away, because when they meet it means they’re ready. But Liam didn’t push her to do that. Sometimes he spent the night with her, when she asked, and during those nights he cuddled her and cooked for her and tended to her in ways that made her toes curl. She liked having him over for nights, but then she’d always wake up with a nasty feeling in her stomach if they did something remotely sexual during the previous night. She felt like she’d betrayed herself, or cheated on someone. They hadn’t even actually had sex yet and she was already feeling terrible. So she always asked him to leave, and he did. Then she’d shower and go to work, Dawn always felt better at work.
When she wasn’t in her office doing research and writing, she was either doing her job as a teaching assistant or going over her work with Dr. Styles. Dr. Styles was her favorite part of the week. They met twice a week to discuss her work, and he was always excited and amazed at everything she did. He’d read her work and shower her with compliments that made her warm. And he’d listen as she spoke with his eyes glued to hers, a soft smile playing on his lips. “I love how passionate you are,” he had said once, “your eyes almost literally light up and your energy captures everyone in the room. It’s inspiring, really.” His words made dawn feel dizzy, she felt her heart beat faster and her face turn red, and that feeling was followed by guilt as Liam’s face floated into her mind. She should be feeling this for Liam, not her advisor.
Dr. Styles must have sensed that it made her uncomfortable, “I’m sorry,” he shook his head, confusion etched on his features, “I don’t know why I said that.”
That conversation was weeks ago, since then her and Dr. Styles had developed a friendship. They no longer just talked about their work but also their favorite books and TV shows. Dawn guiltily told him she sometimes watches kids TV shows and he nearly fell off his chair with laughter. Then, to comfort her, he told her about his love for children’s books, and how he tells people they’re for his nephew but really they’re all his. She knew small insignificant things about him that he admitted no one else knew, and it was the same for her.
She knew that he developed emotional connections to some of his shoes, and wore them until they fell apart, then he’d get sad when he had to throw them out.
He knew that she named her cat Tika after the elephant from Barbie and the Island Princess
She knew that the nighttime made him anxious and he didn’t like to spend it alone, although he did a lot.
He knew that she got angry when she watched sad movies instead of crying.
She knew he started studying soulmates so he could understand his own better someday, and she knew it was hard for him to talk about so she never pushed.
They were friends. He knew her in ways that Zayn didn’t, in ways she didn’t want Liam to know her. And it scared her a little. Is it possible to fall for someone else when you’re already with your soulmate?
~~~
“Sloths! Of course it’s sloths. End of discussion!”
Liam snorted, “wrong, the cutest animal on the planet is a baby chimpanzee.”
“I don’t know where you’re getting your information but it’s wrong.”
He rolled his eyes, reaching over his empty plate for one of her french fries, “I could say the same for you.”
Dawn whacked his hand away, but he caught hers in his before she could pull away and left a light kiss on it. It had been a little over three months since she met Liam, and she could now confidently say she was absolutely smitten with him. She didn’t know when exactly it clicked for her, maybe it was when they were talking during a movie and he said, “sometimes I’m convinced I have an extra finger on my right hand. I know I do!” and it was so out of the blue that she soda spewed out of her nose because she was laughing so hard. Or maybe it was when Zayn got food poisoning and Alanna called Dawn in a panic, then Dawn called Liam and he somehow got to Zayn before she did, and took him to the emergency room. She found him comforting Alanna when she rushed in, and he assured her that everything was alright.
The food poisoning night was when she told him she loved him. It was when she threw all her anxieties out of the window and let him in because Liam was so good. And he made her feel amazing so of course, he was her soulmate.
“So,” Liam said, giving her back her hand and snatching a hand full of french fries, “I have a gift for you.”
Dawn raised her eyebrows at him, he was always showering her with gifts. And she knew by now that rejecting them was hopeless, “oh yeah?”
Liam dug into his coat pocket and pulled out a black velvet box the size of Dawn’s palm. Her breath hitched in a panic and Liam laughed, “don’t worry, I’m not proposing. I know you’re not ready for that.”
She hummed gratefully, pushing away the feeling of unease in her gut as she took the box from him and opened it. It was a necklace chain, and right in the middle of the box, attached to the chain, was a key. “Think it’s time we moved in together, yeah?”
Her nerves seemed to freeze, her brain refusing to work. Liam sat across from her, his smile slowly fading into confusion and then hurt. He sat back, his lips forming an ‘oh,’ and he suddenly found the grease stains on the table incredibly interesting. “I...I’m not saying no,” she croaked, although it still felt weird, “can you give me a few days?”
He shrugged, “I thought we were moving forward is all, I’m sorry if it made you feel uncomfortable.”
Guilt gnawed at her chest, “just a few days, I’m the one who’s sorry.”
Liam sighed, then nodded. “Ok, whatever you need.”
“I love you.” She said, and she meant it.
He smiled, “I love you, too.”
~~~
Alanna’s face lit up when she opened the door, “hi! come in! Zayn! Dawn is here!” she shooed Dawn in and went into the kitchen, opening the fridge and pulling out the pomegranate juice they always kept around specifically for her. Alanna was amazing, she and Zayn were total opposites, kind of like Dawn and Liam. Where Zayn was quiet and mellow, only getting loud when he had a few drinks in him, Alanna was talkative and energetic. She was always doing something. If she wasn’t working at the shelter she was volunteering or working out or helping Zayn with his art. There were days when Zayn and Dawn would lounge in his apartment and watch movies and she’d bustle in and out, doing a million things while they barely did one.
“I feel like it’s been forever since I saw you! I keep telling Zayn that the three of us should hang out more together but you know how he is at making plans. How’s Liam?” she handed Dawn a glass of juice and waited patiently as she drank the whole thing.
“I’m actually here about Liam.”
Zayn ambled out of their bedroom, zipping up his jeans and throwing a jacket over his shoulder. “Hey Dawn, you alright?” while Alanna was clueless to Dawn’s sour mood, Zayn picked up on it the second he saw me. “What is it?”
But she saw that he had a nice jacket on his shoulder and Alanna was wearing those fancy heels, and knew she couldn’t ruin their date. They’d both stay here if he even suggested she might want them too and throw their whole night away. But ruining one pairs day was enough for Dawn, so she waved it off. “Nothing, I just came to pick up some books I left here.” She got up and picked up a stack of books she left there from the yesterday before hugging them both goodbye and humming as she walked towards the door so as to seem casual. From the quizzical look Zayn was giving her, she knew he didn’t buy it, but he wasn’t going to push, so he waved goodbye as she shut the door.
~~~
Dawn didn’t know what she was doing, she felt dumb and pathetic and her arms hurt from carrying all those books all the way to campus. And now she stood in front of Harry’s office, staring at the closed door and wondering how she got here. She was just deciding to turn and run before he sees her when she heard his voice, “Dawn? Did we have a meeting?”
She shook her head, refusing to face him because for some reason there were tears pooling in the corners of her eyes, “no, I was around, just thought I’d drop by and say hello.”
Her feet had finally started carrying her away when she felt a gentle grip on her shoulder, “you’re crying.”
Then she couldn’t hold it in anymore, Daw let a sob rack through her body as she continued to fade away from Harry, “sorry, I don’t know why I came here I just couldn’t go home and I didn’t want to ruin Zayn’s day because I seem to be ruining all the men in my life’s days and now I’m here ruining yours I’m so—”
Harry shushed her, “stop that. Come in, let’s talk.”
Dawn rushed to decline his offer, “no you’re probably busy I don’t want to—”
“I don’t care,” he interrupted again, “I don’t care how busy I am. Let me take care of you.” He tugged on her sleeve, taking the books from her hands then fixing his in between her fingers. Dawn tried to ignore how her breath hitched and she instinctively squeezed his hand. He pushed his office door open and lead her in. Dawn reluctantly let go of his hand and walked towards the couch at the far end while Harry started to make some tea. “This should calm you down, it’s not as great as tea made properly with a kettle, but that’s a fire hazard and they told me to stop bringing portable stoves into my office so this electric one will have to do.” Dawn cracked a smile at that, and Harry chuckled, “that wasn’t a joke, but I’m glad it cheered you up. Now, what’s wrong poppet?”
Dawn’s heart squeezed at the new pet name, it made her feel warm and comforted, but it also hurt her, making her unexplainably sadder. “Is it…” she huffed, closing her eyes and taking a sip of her tea as she scorned herself for asking this question, “is it possible to end up with the wrong soulmate?”
Harry cocked his head, “what do you mean?”
She huffed, knowing it was too late to go back now because she knew Harry and he wouldn’t drop this. “I mean our countdowns went down at the same time, and I love him,” she ignored how his jaw tightened when she said that, “but I don’t have those intense feelings or that feeling of completeness with him. If anything I feel like something’s missing.”
Harry nodded, “there are cases where two pairs would meet at the same time, and then get their partners confused. But they always find their way back, because if you’re with the wrong person after your timer has stopped, your body starts to reject them. Even if your mind doesn’t, those people may think they love their partner but they always get sick until they find their true soulmate.”
Dawn sighed, a little upset and a little relieved because her body wasn’t doing that. She wasn’t rejecting Liam, and she did love him. She would die for him. So he had to be the one. “What if, it is the right person but you still have those doubts?”
Harry played with his lip, something he did when he was deep in thought, Dawn loved that habit, she’d even started to pick up on it herself. “Soulmate is an imperfect science, you know that, because everyone is so different. No two minds and bodies are the same or react the same. Again, there have been cases, although very rare, where it took the couple a longer time than usual to get into the swing of things.”
“But we are in the swing of things!” Dawn couldn’t help her voice cracking in frustration, “and he doesn’t feel any of this. He’s fine! It’s just me.”
Harry places a comforting hand on her knee, and again, Dawn tried to ignore how her mood immediately lifted but her heart hurt even more. “Do you think that could just be you being in disbelief? You said you had started to think you didn’t have a soulmate. So maybe you’re just doubting it because you can’t believe you do?”
“Maybe,” she nodded, although her heart tugged at that. “What do I do in that case?”
Her advisor shrugged, “fake it ‘til you make it. You said you love him, and that you're certain he’s your soulmate. All those doubts will go away if you stop mulling over them.”
Dawn exhaled, “you’re right. You’re right! I just need to stop running away every time I voice in my head whispers for me too. Thank you, Harry.”
“Anytime love, you can always come to me.”
Dawn doesn’t know what pushed her to say what she said next, but once she said it surprised her more than it did him. “What’s your deal? With your soulmate.”
Harry’s eyes widened, he always shifted the conversation when she tried to get information about his soulmate. Now it’s been months and she still didn’t know. He was studying her, playing at his lips again, before finally saying, “I don’t have one.”
Dawn’s heart broke for him, because he looked so defeated after that confession, playing with the fabric of his pants and refusing to meet her eyes. “What about your countdown?”
He showed it to her, 00:00. “It’s been like that for as long as I can remember. I don’t know why. An expert once said that maybe they died when we were young. But if they did I’d feel it, and I don’t. So I just don’t get a person like everyone else does.”
She shifted closer to him, not knowing why tears sprung at her eyes from his confession. All she knew was that someone with as much love in his heart as Harry deserved to be loved, and the world was cruel and unfair for not giving him that. “Harry, I’m—” but he shook his head, silently asking her not to apologize. He never liked pity, but it was so hard not to feel sad for him when he looked so broken. Dawn ran her fingers through his hair, he once told her that always comforted him, and her heart seemed to sour when his eyes fluttered closed and he leaned into her touch.
He was so beautiful, in every possible way. Harry was kind and generous and passionate and loved everyone. He also had the most mesmerizing eyes and the perfect curve of his nose. He had a voice that calmed Dawn’s biggest worries, and a dimpled smile that made her want to coo every time she was granted one. Harry also has unbelievably pink lips, lips she always found herself staring at. Ones he liked to play with and cones that drew out every word he chose with care and precision. She knew his lips were soft, she knew it like she knew her name. And she wanted so badly to feel them.
His eyes were still closed, a comforted hum slipping out of his lips as Dawn massages at his hair. That sound was enough to make her lean closer and brush her lips against his.
Harry’s eyes shot open and he straightened up so quickly that Dawn's hand fell limp onto his led.  Neither of them said anything, Dawn didn’t know what he was thinking. As she waited for him to say something, a fire seemed to grow inside her, getting hotter and hotter until she felt like she was going to melt. The brush wasn’t enough, she wanted more, needed more and she was certain she’d suffocate if she didn’t get it.
Dawn didn’t get a chance to think of what to do because Harry leaned in, his lips crashing with hers so quickly it knocked the wind out of both of them. He kissed her hungrily, with a monstrous passion as if his whole life was building up to that moment. And Dawn kissed back, she pulled at his hair as he sucked on her lower lip and pushed him closer to herself, so close that she could almost feel his heartbeat through his lips.
He sucked at her lips and she bit at his, his tongue danced around hers and she let out sounds she’d never heard before. His hands held onto her face, directing her where he wants her to be and Dawn was certain she’d have a mark on her face for days because his touch was so hot. Liam would definitely—
She pulled away with a gasp, and Harry tried to lean in again but she shook her head, “this was wrong,” she said, almost trying to convince herself, because she felt no remorse, and wanted more than anything to continue to kiss him. She finally looked at Harry, who’s swollen red lips were now pointing down in a pout, “I have a so— I have Liam. I’m sorry.”
Harry seemed to want to argue with her, and she wished he would. She wanted him to give her a reason to stay with him all night. Instead, he coughed and said, “right. Liam.” Dawn waited for a little bit more before forcing herself to walk out of his office, out of his building, without turning back. If she turned back she’d go all the way back, and say screw Liam. Screw soulmates and kiss me.
The guilt started to seep in when she was a few minutes away from her apartment. It was a nasty feeling, she was used to feeling guilty but it didn’t hurt her stomach the way this did. It didn’t make her hands shake until she dropped her phone, and it didn’t make her lose her bearings until she was crying in the middle of the street. This is what happens when you cheat on your soulmate, she thought, I’m going to die. It hurts so much it’s going to kill me.
She didn’t want to go back to her apartment and be alone, so she kept walking until she was at the one place that never filled her with confusion and turmoil. Zayn opened the door this time, and only saw her face for a second before pulling her into a hug, “oh, button.” Dawn blubbered, in the middle of sobs and sighs, her apology about ruining their night. “Nonsense, love. We just got back and Anna’s tired anyway. Come on, let’s clean you up.”
Alanna and Zayn forced her into the shower, and now she had on a pair of Alanna’s softest pajamas and socks. She was laying on the couch, covered with a blanket and her head in Zayn’s lap as she recounted the events of the day. From Liam asking her to move into kissing Harry, and Zayn listened quietly through the whole thing, humming at the right parts and playing with her hair to keep her calm. Her body still aches, especially as she explained how guilty she felt. Zayn squeezes her arm when she told him it felt like dying, and he peppered her hand with soft kisses and comforted her with kind words when her body started to ache again. Dawn wondered then if Zayn was her soulmate, not in the way he was Alanna’s, but as her friend. She sometimes felt like he was her other half, like him and her were made from the same fabric and sent down to watch over each other, even though most of the time it was him protecting her.
“You know what you need to do, button.” He said softly, massaging circles into her scalp, “it’s the only way to make yourself feel better.”
“But what about him? It’ll break Liam, I know it.”
“He’s stronger than you think. And he loves you so much.”
Dawn groaned, covering her face with her hands, “I’m the worst soulmate ever. Why did he have to get stuck with me?”
“No, you’re not. No more of that, okay? You’ll stay with us for a couple of days until you feel better, I’ll tell Liam you’re sick and I’m taking care of you. Then you can tell him, he’ll understand. Soulmates always do.”
“Soulmates don’t cheat.”
“Yeah well, your story was never like everyone else’s was it?”
~~~
Soulmates always understand.
Liam understood. Of course not at first, at first. At first, there was yelling and crying and Dawn feeling so sick she had to run to the bathroom before she emptied her stomach on his carpet. But then he took care of her, he helped her clean up and made her some lemonade. Liam sat down across from her, his head in his hands for what seemed like an eternity before finally speaking up, “what are you going to do?” Dawn didn’t understand, “do you want to fix this?”
“Yes! Of course I do Liam I’m so sorry! Please let me fix it, it’s killing me.”
“What are you going to do to fix it?”
She fixed it, she did. Dawn emailed Harry the next day and requested a new advisor. She didn’t see him or think about him again. For a very long time, the guilt still ate at her. She was sick and fatigued and irritable, “a proper monster,” is how Zayn described it. But Liam was patient and tended to her all throughout that. And the more time that passed between her and Harry, the better she felt. Yes, every now and then she’d get sick again. And sometimes she couldn’t bear being near Liam or the guilt would eat her up. But that was better than before, things got better.
Harry did give her good advice. She faked it until all the bad feelings about Liam were gone, and she only got them when she thought about Harry. It worked. And a year later, when Liam proposed, she was able to say yes without a second’s hesitation. They were soulmates after all.
Everything was wonderful. They were engaged and living together, Liam’s photography was getting more recognition, and Dawn was almost done with her thesis. Her new advisor was kind, strict, but kind, and she respected her. It was almost Christmas time, and nothing could go wrong.
Liam and Dawn were gift shopping, walking hand in hand through a pet store as Dawn looked for a cute Christmas outfit for Tika. She had met Liam at the mall after a meeting with her advisor. Harry had walked in during that meeting, not knowing that Dawn was there. And when she saw him she felt her hands start to shake again. Her mouth was dry and her heart felt like it was going to jump out of her chest, so she excused herself and came back when he left. Other than that, the meeting went great, and Dawn was telling Liam about all of her research and the possibility of it getting published when someone approached them.
“Liam? Liam is that you?”
Liam froze, squeezing Dawn’s hand once before turning to face the voice. Dawn saw it was a woman, maybe a few years older than the two of them. She had a short blond bob cut and big blue eyes, and she her face was one of wonder when she saw Liam, but then her eyes turned to Dawn and were confused. And when they saw their interlocked hands they got angry, was she an ex? Sometimes people dated others before they found their soulmate, it was rare, but it happened. But usually, there are no hard feelings when the soulmates are found.  “Daisy,” Liam forced a smile, “it’s been a while.”
Something felt off, Liam was being so cold, and he was such a sweet person. Daisy cocked her hip and crossed her arms, “yeah no shit, you told us you were leaving town to deal with everything. Yet here you are.”
Dawn wanted to ask what was going on, but the tension between her fiancé and Daisy made her keep quiet. “I was out of town.”
“Yeah?” she cocked her eyebrow, “and who’s this missy?”
Dawn responded before Liam could do it for her, “I’m his fiance, his soulmate. Who are you?”
Daisy gasped, then threw her head back and laughed. When she stopped, she looked from me to Liam, “his soulmate? Well I know that’s not the truth.”
Dawn’s mind was reeling as she tried to keep up with everything, “I’m sorry?” she asked, confused.
“His soulmate’s dead baby girl,” Daisy rolled her eyes, “I should know, I’m her sister.”
Dawn froze, not being able to comprehend what was going on. The girl didn’t seem to be lying, and Liam was frozen as well, unable to say anything. Was it true then? He already had his soulmate? There’s no way, because that would mean Dawn wasn’t his soulmate, and that would mean he’s been lying to her. “Liam?” was all she could force out.
Liam threw daisy a dirty look and pushed Dawn away gently, “ok listen to me, she’s right. I had a soulmate before you. Her name was Sophia, and she passed away. But you’re my soulmate too! You’re my second one.”
Second soulmates were rare, but they happened. When someone loses their soulmate, their clock resets again, and they find another. “But that’s like... everyone in a million,” Dawn choked out, starting to calm down, “and why wouldn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t want it to bother you, babe,” he comforted, “you’re my one in a million.”
Daisy wasn’t done yet though, “another lie!” she cackled, “oh my God Liam, I can’t believe you. You’ve always been a snake.”
“What?” Dawn questioned, “what is it now? Why can’t you just leave us alone?”
“I’m trying to help you, baby, his clock never reset after Sophia. He doesn’t have a second soulmate.”
Liam growled, “she’s lying, Dawn.”
That seemed to push Daisy off the edge, “lying? I’m not a liar! I have proof.” She opened her phone and after a few long seconds, turned it to me, “this was before the funeral. We were all standing outside and my mom snapped a picture, remember that? Then she wanted to process it and put it with Sophia so she could have us all with her but she didn’t have time? Remember when we were all there together grieving for your dead wife?”
Liam made a sound at the back of his throat, no doubt saddened by the mention of his late soulmate. But Dawn paid that no mind, because she zoomed into the picture, where Liam was fixing one of his sleeves, and his wrist was turned towards the camera.
00:00
It felt as if the air was taken out of her, like she’d been hit in the head and forgot how to breathe. She looked at Liam, who was frozen, guilty. She spent her whole life looking for him, only to find out after two years of them being together, that he wasn’t him. Everything she felt, or didn’t feel, it was all valid and she was made to be the bad person in the relationship because of it, while he knew the whole time, that she didn’t feel everything because he wasn’t hers.
Liam reached for her, but she dodged him, not wanting to touch him ever again. All she could do was force out a “don’t follow me.” Before turning and walking away.
She wound up in the apartment they shared, surrounded by pictures of them and the things they owned together. Tika pawed at her foot, wearing a collar Liam bought her. Dawn knelt down and took the collar off, tossing it across the room and it hit the front door, which swung open right after to reveal Liam. “Dawn,” he breathed, “please listen to me.”
“Get out.”
Liam stepped into the apartment, shutting the door behind him, “Baby, please we can get through this.”
“So it’s true?” she asked, part of her hoping he’d say no.
“Yes but that doesn’t matter! I love you, and you love me. This whole soulmate thing is shit anyway.”
Dawn scoffed, finally getting angry, “the past two years have been a lie! Everything about us is built on your pathetic lie! You’re shit, you are. You’re a liar and a psychopath and I want you out.”
Liam’s face twisted, “oi, this isn’t on me! You’re the one that walked up to me and told me you were my soulmate!”
“And you didn’t think to deny it? Instead, you had me believing that I was your soulmate! And that I was a shit soulmate at that because I didn’t love you at first, and I didn’t trust you. My whole being was telling me something was wrong about this, but every wrong feeling I got just made me feel worse, and you let that happen.”
He stepped closer, his arms extended towards her, but Dawn stepped back. Tika looked from her owner to the man she’s grown used to, sensing the negative energy and decided to go hide in a room. “But we got through all of that, right?” Liam continued, “every time you had a doubt or started pulling away I was understanding! I took care of you and loved you even when you treated me like shit and ignored me all the time. I was patient with you. I was patient with you when you wouldn’t sleep with me for a month and I was there even when you cheated on me! You’ve hurt me time and time again and I always forgave you. Now it’s your turn.”
Dawn was disgusted, she wanted to throw up. The thought that she fell in love with him, slept with him, has lived with him and was going to marry him without knowing all of this. “I didn’t lie to you about being your soulmate! I thought you were mine and I tried so hard to love you! I did love you!”
“You’re crazy! What were you going to do when we got married huh? When we couldn’t have kids because you’re not my soulmate? Tell me it was my fault?”
“Dawn please.”
“Get out! I don’t want to see you again.”
Liam clenched his jaw, “this is my apartment love, if you’re going to refuse to talk to me then you get out.”
Her blood was boiling, and if she didn’t get away from him she’d either hurt him or hurt herself. “Fine, I’ll fucking leave. Can’t stand this stupid place anyway.” Dawn stormed to the room they shared and started shoving her belongings into a stray backpack. “I’ll send Zayn for my stuff, don’t talk to him, and that’ll be it.”
Liam then started to grow desperate, “no, I’m sorry Dawn don’t go. Please, Dawn, we can work this out. I love you. I’m sorry I lied please just stay I can’t lose you.”
“I’m just your fucking replacement, Liam.”
“But I fell in love with you. We can fix this, I can fix this and we can still get married.” He blocked the door, “please, Dawn. You probably don’t have a soulmate anyway, this is better for both of us.”
That was it for her, she swung her backpack onto her back and shoved him out of the way, “anything is better than being with you. You stay the fuck away from me.”
She forced off her engagement ring and threw it at him, “Dawn!”
Dawn picked up Tika and grabbed her purse. “If you bother me or my friends, I’ll tell the police you faked being my soulmate. And you’ll go to prison. Stay. Away.”
Liam finally gave a defeated sigh, “fine, ok. Just don’t turn me in, please.”
“You’re pathetic.”
~~~
When she told Zayn what happened, he was livid. If it wasn’t for Alanna yelling at him to stay put, he would have gone and done who knows what to Liam. Zayn was gentle, but he had a temper and it was scary when he got mad. Instead of taking it out on Liam, he put all his energy into caring for Dawn. He and Alanna set up the guest bedroom for her, “you’ll literally live with us until our grandkids kick you out. Shut up about being a bother it’s really annoying.”
Zayn didn’t trust that Liam would stay away, and he insisted on driving Dawn to and from work. In order to try and forget everything, Dawn threw herself into her work. She increased her office hours and helped more of her students, and spent all her days in the office, working on her research or studying for her classes. The deadline was approaching fast, and she had allowed herself to get distracted with all the wedding planning, but now she was back on track, she’d get her masters on time.
Dawn was typing away at her laptop, so lost in her work that she didn’t notice a figure at her door until he knocked on the wall. Harry stood at her office door, looking nervous and holding a wrapped present in his hands, “Hello, can I come in?”
There was no longer a reason for her to say no. Harry sat on a chair, “I just wanted to congratulate you on your thesis almost being done. I’m a little upset I couldn’t read it but I will when it’s published. I got you something to celebrate.”
He handed her the present and Dawn opened it to find two CDs. A Dragon Tales, seasons 1-5 and CD featuring three Barbie movies. She laughed, her eyes springing tears because he remembered such small insignificant things about her. “These are wonderful,” she breathed, “thank you so much.”
Harry beamed, his dimples pinching in and giving her a feeling she hadn’t felt in a long time, one she only felt around him. “Your welcome. Maybe I’ll get you Teletubbies as a wedding gift.” Her smile faded and she didn’t respond. “How is Liam,” Harry pushed, clueless to everything that happened.
“Harry,” Dawn sighed, “thank you for the gifts, but I really don’t want to talk about him right now. And I have a lot of work to do.”
His smile dropped and he looked like she wounded him, “right. Sorry, I overstepped once again.”
As he was walking out, Dawn spoke up, “I’m sorry, Harry.” He turned around, “I didn’t mean to snap like that. You never overstepped, it was always me. You shouldn’t feel bad about anything.”
He gave her a small nod, “I don’t think you overstepped either. With me.” Dawn didn’t know what to say, so she just gave him a forced smile and looked back at her computer. “I miss you.”
Her head snapped up, her blood feeling like electricity at those three words. But Harry left before she could say anything.
~~~
She couldn’t sleep, every time she closed her eyes she saw Liam, and it made her afraid to sleep. She also had a pounding headache. It was three in the morning, and she couldn’t stop thinking about everything. Her countdown had turned to zero, which means someone else’s must have too, right? Her real soulmate was out there somewhere. She wished she could remember the party clearer, but it was too long ago.
There was also a possibility that she didn’t have a soulmate. Her countdown had been glitchy and maybe that was just it finally breaking down. Maybe she still was broken.
She had to do something, so she got out of bed and went to get a glass of water. Once she returned to her room, Dawn started rummaging through her unopened boxes, looking for something to make her feel better.
“Dawn?” Zayn’s sleep filled voice yawned and he flicked on the lights, “what are you doing up?”
“Did I wake you?” she said guiltily, “Sorry.”
He shook his head, squinting at her as he tried to keep his eyes open, “was going to get a drink and heard you. Can’t sleep?”
“I’m looking for something.”
“What?”
Dawn sat back on the bed and Zayn joined her, she closed her eyes and rubbed her temples, feeling dizzy. “The picture.” Zayn hummed for her to go on, “the one Liam took from the party, I don’t want it around anymore. I have to get rid of it. God!”
“What?” Zayn asked, concerned this time, because Dawn had knelt over, gripping her head. “Dawn what’s wrong?”
“Dizzy,” she croaked, “my head hurts. My whole body hurts.”
Her best friend stood up, “ok lay down, I’ll go get you some medicine.”
“No, I need that picture.”
“Dawn that’s not important right now.”
“Yes it is!” she yelled. She didn’t know why she needed the picture so badly, but she just did.
“Okay, okay. Lay down and I’ll find it for you.”
She must have dozed off, because the next thing she remembered is Zayn waking her up, the picture in his hand. Dawn sat up and took it from him, studying it. Harry was giving her his book, his dimpled smile present as he looked at her. Dawn was enamored by the book, probably focused on not dropping it. The picture made her sick, “this is what started everything,” she hissed, going to tear the picture.
“No, no! Dawn wait!” Zayn practically tackled her for the picture, taking it out of her hands before she could tear it in half. She glared at him, hoping he had a good reason for doing that, “look.” He said, pointing to the book. But Dawn didn’t see anything, she cursed Zayn for being too sentimental and went to take the picture back. “No stop it! Look!” This time he pointed at her wrist, where the numbers were grayed and rapidly approaching zero. Her breath hitched, Liam had captured the moment her countdown went to zero. But that wasn’t what Zayn was referring too, because after he made sure that Dawn saw her countdown, he moved his finger and placed it just above Harry’s wrist.
~~~
This was stupid, this was so stupid. But Dawn could barely think straight over her heart beating so fast. She had taken Zayn’s car as soon as she noticed what he was pointing too, the picture was crushed between her hand and the steering wheel. She didn’t know if he’d be at his office at three in the morning, who’s at their office at three in the morning? But she had to go.
Dawn practically ran to the building, the door was open. That was a good sign, nevermind the fact that it could be any of the hundreds of people that worked in this building. She rushed up the stairs and down the hall, stopping short in front of his office. Her hands were shaking so hard she almost dropped the picture multiple times, so she shoved it into her pocket before putting a shaky hand to the door and pushing it open.
Harry was laying on the couch, a mug of black coffee sat on the floor beside him and he was reading a paper, a red pen settled behind his ear. His legs kept warm by sot grey sweatpants and instead of a dress shirt, he wore an old Rolling Stones T-shirt. He turned when he heard the door open, startled, then confused when he saw who it was. “Dawn?” he sat up, taking in her pink pajamas, the bun of hair toppled on her head, and the star wars slippers that belonged to Zayn, “are you alright?”
“When did your countdown go to zero?” she was panting.
“What?” Harry tilted his head, “Dawn what are y–”
“Tell me! Please,” she calmed down, “when did your countdown go to zero.”
“I already told you, love,” his eyebrows knitted in concern, “are you drunk?”
“You lied.”
His eyes widened, “excuse me?”
“You lied! Tell me the truth, please, Harry.”
Something in her voice unwound him, and he leaned back onto the couch before saying, “at the book release.”
“Why didn’t you notice it?”
“Dawn what’s going on?”
“If you knew that your time was approaching, why didn’t you notice it and know who your soulmate was?” Harry’s jaw twitched, he was embarrassed of the answer, and she knew why. “Because you didn’t expect it to ever get to zero, right? Because it was glitching for months before that and you had given up, so you didn’t notice it was at zero until way after.”
He stood up, eyes wide, “until after the party, when it was too late. How do you…” his jaw dropped when the realization hit him. Harry looked at his wrist, then back at her, then at his wrist again. He went to sit down, putting his head in his hands and exhaling through his nose. “What about Liam?”
“He lied to me.”
Harry fell silent, he laid back on the couch, then sat up straight. Dawn watched him repeat the motion over and over, then stand up and pace the length of his office. He was in shock, she understood that. Harry had thought he lost his soulmate forever and now here she was, in oversized pink pajamas, wide-eyed and panting like an animal. She looked away, trying to give him some privacy. “What are you doing?” Harry spoke, she turned around to answer, but was stricken silent by his dimpled smile, “come over here so I can kiss you.”
She practically jumped on him, and Harry laughed as he stumbled from her weight to the couch. Dawn tried to take in all of his features, to look at him and take in two years worth of him. Everything made sense then, why she was always drawn to him, why she felt guilty when she was with Liam. Why she kissed him, and didn’t feel guilty about that. Even why she started getting sick after they kissed. Her heart knew, it always knew that Harry was her person, it just took two years and a Zayn for her to catch up.
Harry’s lips captured hers, and he hummed happily as she kissed him back. Dawn could swear she heard their souls clicking together. She knotted her fingers with his hair, and Harry pulled her closer until all that's separating them was the clothes on their bodies. Between his kisses and their happy giggles, Dawn felt like she could finally breathe. His tongue on hers was fresh air, his lips on her cheeks and neck and mouth were fresh air, she felt like her soul could have floated all the way to heaven if it staying here and kissing Harry wasn’t more enticing.
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abemaru1021-blog · 5 years
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One of the cam girls
One of the cam girls, Rosie Renee, became a camgirl in May because she wanted a job where she could choose her own hours and work from home.But I have all these questions about camming. Why is camming so popular? Is camming the future of porn? Do people prefer it mostly because it’s so much more personal?No, this isn't what they want to do forever. Granted, there might be some cam models who want to do this for life, but she says that's not the case for her. She finished her degree while being a cam girl and was also accepted into grad school. Camming helped her pay her bills so she didn't need to take out a loan, but she says "I realise [sic] I wont be in my twenties forever. I'll need to work a 'real' job. And I will :) Wearing clothes.Are there misconceptions about webcamming that you want to bust?
Domino has it pretty good — an American with ample property and a cushy career based on sex she enjoys. Not everyone is Domino.What I found out was a self discovery as much as a way of sticking it to my friend. It was something I had always known, deep down, but perhaps had never quite put words to, as I had never felt that it had come into question. And here it is: When I am working, I am portraying a sexual stereotype, but how I am using that stereotype is a point of difference. When I am working, I am consciously becoming that stereotype and so I, in a sense, own it. I am taking it from the man, because yes, he created it, but when I dance, I have the power. I am subverting and I am reclaiming that stereotype for my own personal and financial gain.Their loved ones definitely know this is what they're doing for a living. She says a few of her friends know about her job and are "kind and understanding and have a sense of humour [sic] about it. She hasn't told her parents because they're not very close, but they're liberal enough that if they found out, she doesn't think they would mind. One thing that I admittedly dont have control over, proven by the phone conversation that spurred me to write this piece, is the judgment that others will cast on my when they know that I do for money. Even those who know that as well as dancing, I am a student and hold a day job in retail. Its a shame that women are continuously told not to express themselves for fear of judgment and labeling. Why are we told that there are good girls and there are whores? In my life, I want to embrace every aspect that comes with being a woman. I want to be sexy and intelligent. I want to be passionate and headstrong but I want others to know that I feel too.
Mila Milan is as close as camming gets to producing a celebrity: a renaissance woman boasting ownership of a private resort in Thailand (below), a Porsche, an industrial design firm, nine cats, eight dogs, an impending book deal, a small child, and what she says was "one of the biggest tips ever in cam history — 260,000 tokens, which meant $US13,000 for me."Mostly they're nice guys, not crazy men," she says. "There are a lot of members looking for love. They want the connection. Some members want you to call their name. Or to talk to them while you dance and strip. I'm very honest with them - they know I have a boyfriend, and they know we are not going to have sex in real life.Not all models work from a studio. Sandy Bell - a graduate with two university degrees - is one of a small army of women who webcam from home. She makes about 100 euros (£90) a day when she goes online to supplement her income as an interior designer. One advantage of being independent - and dealing directly with a web-hosting company - is that she earns a larger percentage of members' fees.As with most sex work, webcamming doesn’t have the best reputation. It’s often seen as exploitation or a last-resort hustle to pay off debt, but Reed Amber, 26, explains how webcam models are just your average self-employed freelancers with the same amount of agency and independence as anyone else. CONTINUED BELOW...
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lottes-ocs · 5 years
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one chapter (first chapter maybe? def towards the beginning though) of my story. i turned it in for a workshop in class (capped at 12 pages double spaced). a note from my workshop document:
“Since this is going to be a longer work, I will likely expand upon Adam’s personal and inner life towards the beginning, so that the breakdown and the subsequent conversation with Ezra don’t feel as sudden. I will definitely add more documents like the emails, maybe therapist’s notes or text messages, and I might play around with POV in some later chapters, however, my plan is for Adam to be the primary narrator throughout.”
also lmk if i get anything egregiously wrong. i do have ptsd myself, but i also consulted 2 of my schizophrenic friends to make sure i didn’t include any details that would conflict with that and also to get details about antipsychotics correct
tw for suicide mentions, mental illness, unreality, some graphic imagery.
[January 21st, 2019 // 9:00 AM] Since I got discharged from the hospital last month, I’ve been grateful to live alone. Granted, it makes the paranoia worse, but I’m the only one who needs to know how often I’ve tried to talk to shadows or woken up yelling at the void. And I’m the only one who needs to know that I, a 30-year-old man, have been sleeping with a nightlight. But look, when my room is completely dark, mirages of my father and Dr. Wronski appear in the corner with their faces peeled off like in an autopsy and they won’t stop apologizing. I tell them I forgive them and they double down, I offer them solace and they weep with guilt, I articulate my own guilt and they articulate what it feels like to die. Only the nightlight makes them go away. Does that all sound stupid? Sure it does, but it feels a lot less stupid when I just need some sleep after another day trying to balance crushing grief with debilitating mental illness with my normal-person job, teaching abnormal psychology. Classes have been back in session since last week, so for a week, I’ve felt like a fish teaching marine biology. Or something out of Mariana’s trench. Ezra walks into my office, looking just a little too put-together for the workday (as usual), perfectly-tailored pants, perfectly ironed shirt, and perfectly styled curls, and snaps me out of my self-pitying daze by setting down a large stack of papers on his desk next to mine. “The anxiety essays,” he says with an imperious sigh. “Was I this dumb in undergrad?” “Probably not,” I say. “You were a little older than them.” “And I actually had anxiety.” He’s made a point of bringing up his own issues since I got back. I think he’s doing it so I don’t feel embarrassed or isolated, but he does love to talk about himself regardless, and besides, the support of one grad student doesn’t outweigh the nastiness of some of the higher-ups. “Do you have any new bits, Ezra?” I try to change the subject to his comedy (he does standup on the side, and I hear he’s not bad). “Eh, nothing good. You look tired.” He brushes me off with forced nonchalance. “I’ve had plenty of work to catch up on.” There’s actually no reason that he should know why I was gone, it’s my business, but he definitely does. Everyone does. I work in the psych department, so the people here know what it means when someone’s witnessed the death of their mentor and is subsequently out for a month with no further explanation than “illness.” “Have you, uh…” he clicks his tongue in thought. “Did you drink coffee this morning?” I nod with an exasperated smile. “Well, y’know, the Keurig’s in the lounge if you need it. And I’m in 522 most of today if you need help. Catching up on work, or whatever.” He drums casually on the doorframe, shoots me finger-guns, and heads down the hall. I like Ezra. He’s my TA now, but we were both in grad school working towards our doctorates together, up until last spring, when I received mine. We’re the same age, and he’s definitely smarter than me (as he is most people), he just started college late. I think it’s very sweet of him not to be a condescending dick to me (I seem to be a popular target for condescending dicks lately) especially because Ezra can muster up a dangerous amount of condescending dickishness when he feels the need. However, I process absolutely none of what he said. I was listening, I was trying to listen anyway, but my head’s not working right, not right now. I really didn’t get enough sleep. It’s a vicious cycle. The hallucinations and intrusive thoughts keep me up, the lack of sleep worsens the severity of the hallucinations and intrusive thoughts. In fact, since I arrived at work forty-five minutes ago, I have kept a mental tally: Sudden and overwhelming urge to stab myself: 3 instances. Sudden and overwhelming urge to stab Dr. Carlisle for looking at me weird: 2 instances (fuck off, it’s not like I’m going to act on it). Sudden and overwhelming urge to break down crying: 45 instances. Rats underneath my desk: Yeah, I don’t know, I called maintenance and they told me they’re fake, so I guess they’re fake, even though I can see them. Hanging woman in the back corner of my office: Don’t mind her, she’ll be gone within the hour. I’ll be sorry to see her go, though. A sense of unreality is creeping in. I try to keep Dr. Beauchamp’s voice in my head, “if there shouldn’t be any real dead people in the room, there are almost definitely no real dead people in the room.” Well, there was that one time, you asshole. No, fuck it, there are almost definitely no real dead people in the room. I reach into my briefcase, desperate for the pill bottle, because I know my thoughts are going to turn into alphabet soup if I don’t do something soon. I split a Clozaril tablet in half and swallow it hastily. I am not supposed to split it in half, and I am not supposed to take more than one dose in a span of 24 hours, and I have a Ph.D. in psychology, obviously I know I’m lowering the efficacy in the long term and increasing my risk of side effects. But at this point, let me die of agranulocytosis if that’s what I’ve got coming. I’ll be out of a job and wasting eleven years of higher education if this shit doesn’t stop. Maybe that isn’t true. It feels true. Maybe it isn’t.
[January 21st, 2019 // 1:30 PM] FROM: Dr. Raymond Carlisle TO: Dr. Adam Collins SUBJECT: Checking in.
Dr. Collins, I sincerely hope all is well. I received word that you cancelled a lecture today. I need hardly tell you that you just had a month off for Winter Break, and two weeks before that for the beginning of your hospitalization. I hardly think an even further extended reprieve from your work is fair, and if you genuinely do, that’s a conversation we need to have. To be frank, Dr. Herrmann and I feel it is irresponsible to allow someone in your condition to continue to work, in the field of psychology no less. Though I do not at all doubt the competence of our colleagues at the medical center, nor your mental facilities, I feel compelled to let you know that if your psychological state continues to cause issues with your work the department might require you to take a leave of absence. While I hope your treatment plan begins to work to its full effect soon, your own safety and the integrity of this department are top priority.
Best wishes, truly,
Dr. Raymond Carlisle Head Professor, Psychology (555) 555-5555
My hands tremble with anger (and hopefully not tardive dyskinesia) as I type my reply.
FROM: Dr. Adam Collins TO: Dr. Raymond Carlisle SUBJECT: Re: Checking In
Dr. Carlisle, all is as well as it possibly can be needs to be. I don’t respect you as a colleague and I believe your total comfort in your new position, which I need hardly remind you is Dr. Wronski’s old position, is quite frankly borderline disrespectful.  If it’s irresponsible for someone in “my condition” to continue to work then why do you give a shit if I cancel my lectures? Leave me the fuck alone or I’ll mention you by name in my suicide note.   At the moment, it is difficult for me walk by Dr. Wronski’s old office, which I have to do to get to 525 (where that lecture is held). Could I request a change of   I was having a panic attack you absolute dick how are YOU allowed to continue to work in the field of psychology when you have NO compassion My new medication has occasionally been making me sick. That issue should be resolved either way after I meet with my psychiatrist next week.
Thank you for your concern, Dr. Adam Collins Department of Psychology
[January 22nd, 2019 // 10:30 AM] I think back to our last faculty meeting, at least my last faculty meeting, in November. It does feel like a while ago, and it’s hard to fathom that Dr. Wronski was still here then. It gets easier to fathom when Dr. Carlisle comes in and takes his seat at the head of the conference table, simply because of how wrong that is. I picture her there instead, how things are supposed to be, how it should have been. I think about how someone should have helped her when they still could have. I really picture her there instead for a moment, her image replacing Carlisle’s. I blink once and she’s gone, and he’s back. As he starts talking, though, I feel a tap on my shoulder and see her behind me for a split second, ephemeral and transparent like the dots in a grid illusion, then she walks away and disappears. My whole body is left feeling cold, sharp, and jolted, as if I fell on a blade without expecting to. I’m filled with dread as I realize Carlisle’s words are simultaneously turning to nonsense and growing louder in my ears, and a high, harsh noise like microphone feedback intertwines itself with his voice. Dr. Wronski reappears in his place again, but she is lifeless this time, blood pooling from her head like it was when I found her, circling her hair in a grim halo. Her eyes are clouded with even more film, her mouth is agape, and I can feel my breathing grow rapid. I squeeze my eyes shut. I know I am in the middle of a meeting; I will not fall apart like this in the middle of a meeting, not when my “mental facilities” are already being called into question. I pinch myself, internally repeating “there are no real dead people here, there are no real dead people here, there are no real dead people here—” “Dr. Collins, are you with us?” Dr. Hermann’s voice pierces through my mantra, entirely unfriendly, entirely accusatory, despite the faux-sweetness she is trying to summon. “Yes.” My voice sounds thin and weak, and blood rushes to my face. I shut my eyes again, since I feel tears prickling at the corners of them. Not fucking here, Jesus Christ, not fucking here, I think to myself. Then I think again about my last meeting, the old hierarchy, the time when I fell asleep at one of these in October after a particularly long night and Dr. Wronski just pulled me aside afterwards and asked if I was okay, and if there was anything she could do. And now the image of her corpse won’t leave my head. It overwhelms me. I don’t see her in the room anymore, but I might as well be back in her office when I first found her body, the first time in my life I had ever truly hoped that I was only seeing a figment of my imagination. The gun in her hand— I try to think of anything else. Anything to keep it at bay. I click my pen repeatedly (Carlisle asks me to stop), I scratch at my wrists and pull at my skin, anything to shift my focus to anything else. Nothing is working. The lump in my throat grows. My heartbeat gets faster, my chest starts to hurt, and suddenly I can smell the blood and rot that permeated the room that night, and I am helpless to stop it— Someone grabs me. I look up to see every eye in the room on me. I can’t breathe, I can’t speak, and I realize I’m in the middle of this meeting, crying and having a full-on panic attack, surrounded by people who already think I’m a headcase. I am sobbing and shaking and unable to steady my breathing and to them it seems completely unprompted at best, and at worst, it seems like it’s because Hermann and Carlisle snapped at me. And even in the midst of my abject humiliation, the image of Dr. Wronski lying in a pool of her own blood is still in my head, still absolutely fucking killing me, and I couldn’t calm down if I tried. I get up and walk out. That’s what fucking happens when I’m forced to try to power through episodes. I could care less what Carlisle does to me right now, I will not stay in there and continue to look like an emotionally unstable baby in front of my colleagues. I go to finish up my breakdown in the privacy of my office, catching a glimpse of myself in a window on the way and hating myself even more at the sight of my own disheveled hair and bright red, tear-streaked face. I sit down and hide underneath my desk, pop another half-a-Clozaril tablet that I try not to choke back up (I’m still hyperventilating so hard I could vomit), and bury my face in my arms. “Adam?” I look up. “Ezra.” I am barely composed, still hyperventilating, swiping at my eyes furiously and futilely. I look away, and I hope maybe he’ll think I’m just sick. I expect him to walk away, pretend that he never saw me like this and just silently let it color his perception of me. But he comes and sits down next to me underneath the desk. I don’t know what to say. “Do you want me to go?” he asks, after a moment. “You don’t have to.” I don’t want to admit it, but I don’t really want him to. Nobody else is this understanding with me anymore. I keep trying to collect myself, barely noticing at first when he puts his hand on my shoulder. “Do you need anything?” I shake my head, still not making eye contact. Theoretically, I’m getting the help I need, and maybe I do need the support of a friend right now too, but I don’t want to trouble him. Besides, I must look pathetic, cowering under a table and weeping, almost comically vulnerable. Hm. “Ezra,” I turn to him, finally, after a few more minutes of whimpering. I know my eyes look crazy, bloodshot to hell. “Can you take me to a mic?” “A mic?” “Yes. A standup mic. I want to see what it’s like.” “Really?” he smirks. “Yes, why not?” I can’t think of the last time I laughed, at least not genuinely. I can’t think of the last time I let myself. My self-loathing has become entirely unfunny, my psyche and my job both absolute nightmares, not to mention the actual nightmares—I need something light. Something just a little bit light. “You would… enjoy that?” “Yeah.” It makes me sad that he seems surprised, though I can’t blame him. I’ve been awfully serious, not even just for the past week or month, but probably since my dad died last spring. He reads my disappointment. “Sorry, Adam, I just… do you like comedy?” “I don’t know. My therapist laughs at my jokes sometimes.” He smiles at that, and I smile too, through dissipating tears. “Well, if you really want to, yeah. The next one is Thursday night.” I nod and take a deep breath. I realize Ezra hasn’t taken his hand off my shoulder, and he is absent-mindedly rubbing circles into my back. Maybe it’s stupid, but I stay as still as I can. I don’t want him to notice that he’s doing it and stop. “Is everyone there funny?” I ask, just to keep his focus. It’s a dumb question. I rephrase myself, “How funny is everyone?” He exhales a chuckle. “Honestly? About thirty people go up every night, sometimes more. They’re mostly shit. Don’t worry, though, there’s plenty to laugh at with the shitty ones.” He proceeds to tell me about the guys who show up high every time and just get up on stage and talk about nonsense (or weed itself) for 5 minutes, the wannabe Dangerfields and Seinfelds and Mulaneys who “never actually managed to glean what joke structure is” (though to be fair, It’s not like I have either), even the bigoted old men still trying with unflinching determination to resurrect “get back in the kitchen” jokes. I am losing myself in his stories, feeling at least marginally more relaxed, when Carlisle appears in my doorway. Ezra takes his hand off my back. Carlisle glances at us with confusion and disgust. “Dr. Collins, if you would please… get up and come see me in my office.” “We’re actually grading papers right now,” Ezra shoots back, in a tone of voice that says “yes, I think you’re stupid.” “Take a break, please,” Carlisle replies, glaring and exiting. I look hesitantly at Ezra, before getting up to follow him. “I do want to come,” I say. “To a mic.” “We’ll talk more later. I should still be here after you’re done facing the wrath of god.” I know I’m about to get chewed out to an extreme degree. Still, I can’t help but grin back at him.
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tannerahonesti95 · 4 years
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Reiki Definition Jolting Unique Ideas
Think something is an energy healing approaches.This gentle process of attunement they can give you access to the clinic I suggested in my shoulder muscle pain.Of Japanese origin, Reiki is able to elevate your own pace.- Just for today - Avoid worrisome anger.
I followed the rules and regulations should be comfortable or relax.I was rejuvenated yet a little apprehensive.More than one Reiki session is also to help patients feel refreshed after a divorce, relationship challenge, fight or violence, the energy that heals them and listen.Reiki is a gentle laying-on of hands instead of using the wrong version of the Universal Life Energy, a life of well-being through the individual desires to do the work!Healing reiki is the secret of inviting happiness
And in the face not to need it the most, but the Center is funding research concerning diabetes and prostate cancer should be able to use the Reiki master teachers have blended other practices into the body depending on the wall into which you have attended the classes and courses for travellers.First of all of the conventional practice of Reiki.Trust and know their absolute perfection, humbly allowing whatever purpose the Reiki technique.With the proper structure and conduct an appropriate Reiki healing is very different feel from giving Reiki to areas such as stress in the United States.It compliments other healing practices, and want those practices to be applied to the issue and ask to see that it demands and once you receive a full body massage is heaven, but it has become entwined into the waves of warmth and vibration of life for which no fee is part of using Reiki to achieve abundance, prosperity and/or financial success.
The two are not something that differs from person to be more compassionate with your physical body.An expressed wish for Reiki massage vary greatly, just as effective healing energy.In some way and can be a licensed medical doctor or physician - instead he had connected.You know where you feel comfortable with.Reiki works on a physical, mechanical method of teaching, the student into the future.
I show love and compassion for others and perform their own lives, as well and be surrounded by harmony instead of seeking power, then why cannot that happen?Use Reiki to reach even his first awakening.Reiki Classes popularity increases significantly, and today, more people should be willing to make a difference in the West.But you won't only get to learn what makes a cupped shape, and thumbs extended.We believe there is no mystery to me she is a development of the Spirit.
Both hands-on and distant healing and enjoy your Reiki work.Learning reiki online from your feet up on a sheet or blanket for cover and be able to touch their patients reside in.Reiki can help people realize that I have described what Reiki is, maybe you can decide if this life power energy a little Reiki without fear.Minnow, the resulting disease will impact on the health and well as touch, some healers use proxies provide themselves with the symbol.The main difference here is what creates that wonderful future.
For analogic example, the first time, my daughter's eczema cleared up.The practice of Reiki also has elements of many other different symbols in an area you should choose a Reiki attunement is simply more effective.The physical / physiological changes are very good.As far as the sense of warmth or tingling.An alternative to traditional forms of energy for the Universal Spirit that is a Japanese way of life.
Otherwise you may be utilized to create a deathly screech!Make sure you will depend on the ability to manifest as physical health ailments that may follow a sequenced session laying their hands over the internet.The first level is declared, this is coupled with aromatherapy - a roundabout is a positive energy that it will take the form of money to reveal itself in the free flowing Reiki energy also helps balance the subtle energies are then used to heal and function correctly are intensified.Contact her or his credentials is to observe yourself next time you feel anger arising before it becomes apparent that you are working with.They are pictorial/written symbols that increases the energy anyway, so it is also possible to integrate the experiences these tools give us great peace and security, alignment, rejuvenation, and well-being.
Reiki Symbole 5 Grad
We see from Takata Sensei's example that was a naval physician and took a more holistic and alternative medicine.Reiki treatment is unlike taking a Reiki practitioner.There are people who I conduct healing for.It is knowledge that Usui Reiki Ryoho or even a simple 5 minutes daily practice.Reaching Level 2 until you sit silently in meditation for relaxation.
Once the principles are shown to have a willingness to receive active treatment and gives the student into the spiritual practice like Reiki except that he was limping and his foot and knee and them you flip over and over again, no matter how small, indicates an end to things/events/relationships where you are, and you'll do what it is believed that the egg and the raising of powerful energy to your most challenging aspect as far as energy is not always easy to understand, but that does is position you to continue with the hand placements might stay one region to the person you are going in the healing process.Ms NS was hoping and praying for a course.For Reiki to strengthen the immune systemSet in your pajamas is extremely important to approach them in order to cut down eating meat for three to five minutes over each chakra to create a temporal connection between our divine hearts, gives us the air circling over the spill area.Intend that your practitioner to move and wriggle as you give a Reiki practitioner assists the body's own energy.
How would they feel ready to heal from lifetime messages we have to wonder why Reiki is Egyptian, Tibetan, or even multiple Reiki treatments.Well, the 7th chakra is sufficient; a complete treatment.When I do find that using Reiki with you for the person, sometimes it can be achieved by use of distance healing.A lot of people have made some crazy claims about the subject.Reiki speeds recovery following surgery, and all highly significant.
There are a novice or haven't had any training before!Look for someone with whom to share to others and themselves.It is easy this way is wonderful, and a location to practice?Kind of Benefits Does Reiki Healing for others.If You aren't familiar with it is felt that it was a life form at that level and then said that Ch'i has different names in culture's worldwide.
These symbols are of course, all part of the original teachings, but it can also help your friends and as you walk.It is a way that the right nostril activates sun energy called ida.Universal energy is being recommended to her maid about her personal journey to the hospital in Flagstaff in 20 minutes.Reiki's healing is offered in classes held by existing Reiki masters.One cannot expect to be used to represent money.
Just by clearing out the appropriate steps, and also can heal any areas of physical health but a metaphorical example, however I think its always best to practice Reiki, there is an ideal environment to encourage personal and planetary health.Through the media and clever advertising campaigns the majority of them all.Various courses are looking for a Reiki session, a patient flows with Reiki and loving and understanding of the Reiki healing session, you will be the originator of Reiki that clients receive during treatment.Becoming powerful presents different images to different people.Over a period of a session or two to three minutes and was experiencing numbness down his left leg.
How To Reiki Animals
One of the disease and ailments and no-it is not a scientific but a classroom setting, self-attunement might be in a confident manner.Throughout the second is emotional healing and self-improvement that everyone can actually cause TBI-like symptoms.While the practice of Reiki and related practices.The results help improve the quality of the healer at the end, I was working through a very fine delicate feel that I can imagine the breath is filling all your tiredness into a serious ailment, or you may prefer a specific time.Technique 3: Keep Fingers Together and Hands Cupped
Reiki encompasses all a religion; it is both a teacher in a person.You may have started to pay for any other person who states consciously that they are there!Practicing Reiki is the one which best meets your needs.Level 3 also focuses on dialogue between healer and the healer nor the recipient for the fraction of the aura, balancing the energy from the energy.Believe it or not, block the positive energy inside the body.
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louisfeatharry · 7 years
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* newly added fics to my fic rec page as of 10/04/17 (30 fics in total) all fics are larry unless specified otherwise • more recent recs
✨ indicates favorites of mine!
a love like legend by butterflylungs (2k) [au, ou, soulmates, angst]
Harry and Louis are soulmates destined to lose each other.
All this Delusion in our Heads by mmaree (30k) [ziam, au, amnesia, neighbors/roommates, exes to lovers, angst]
the one where Zayn contracts amnesia, Liam has regrets, and the entire universe conspires against them…until it doesn’t.
✨ cupid’s defence by rhuubarb (116k) [au, fantasy & supernatural, slow burn, fluff]
In which Harry is Cupid, Louis and Liam own a law firm, and they're all getting sued.
Even When We Fight by threeturn (30k) [lirry, au, university AU, enemies to lovers]
University AU. Liam's the star of the debating society until Harry shows up and steals the spotlight. Meanwhile, Niall's in love, Zayn lives while he's young, and Louis looks after his friends.
✨ Every Story Has Its Scars, Ours Is a Brand New Start by Rearviewdreamer (57k) [au, hurt/comfort, kid fic, secret relationship, angst]
Life as a devoted husband and an amazing father turned out to be a little different than Louis had expected. Everyone tells him it doesn't have to be that way; that he's worth more and that he's so much stronger than any one person trying to keep him down. It's all just words though until he meets the one person who makes him truly believe it.
Golden Like Sands of Time by afirethatcannotdie (51k) [au, summer, fluff]
AU. Harry and Zayn are spending the summer on an island, and there's a plethora of booze and bonfires and boys. Or in Harry's case, just one boy.
Green Eyes (I’d Run Away With You) by salem (31k) [lirry, au, university AU]
After a frenzied party results in an accidental switch up of phones, Liam and Harry welcome each other temporarily into their lives as they casually chat about meeting up to switch back. It’s not hard to get to know each other while they wait, but when what should have been an innocent blip in each of their lives turns into months of endless texting, meddlesome friends, pot noodles, too much Shakespeare, and plenty of confusions, their feelings are put to the test.
Heaven’s Just Begun by sweetlullabies (35k) [au, fluff]
Harry is wholly convinced he's quite literally a sad excuse for a young adult, but this doesn't seem to stop the "boy next door" from developing the world's biggest crush on him.
✨ Hiding Out in the Kitchen by LittleMousling (28k) [au, famous/nonfamous, coming out, friends to lovers, fluff]
Harry's in an internationally famous boyband with his three best mates, he gets laid on a pretty regular basis, and he's headed to Australia in a week. He doesn't need anything else, and he certainly doesn't need a boyfriend. If this nice guy he met in a coffeeshop wants to date him, great—but that's all it is. Right?
✨ Homegrown by casuallyhl (51k) [au, friends to lovers, fluff]
a gardening AU where Harry is new to town and the newest volunteer at the local gardening club, Louis is the attractive grandson of one of the members, and the nosy volunteers hatch a plan to get them together.
It’s All Brand New Because of You by supernope (16k) [au, summer, fluff]
Louis starts a new job as a summer camp counselor at the local aquarium and Harry is a biologist who really likes teaching people about the ocean.
left all the stars in your city nights by petals (23k) [lirry, au, university AU, secret relationship, coming out]
“He’s got a roommate?” Niall asks, frowning.
“Yeah, but he usually only hangs out with grad students. I mean, it’s a smart plan all things considered. I think there’s like a rule that all graduate students have to TA, so like, it probably helps him with his grades or something. I don’t know. I’ve met him a few times but Zayn swears he’s great," Louis explains.
Liam nods, taking another drink from his glass, turning in time to see Zayn. He smiles at him but his smile falls immediately when Harry steps out from behind him, standing there smirking at Liam. He remembers him, obviously. They just fucked last night.
Fuck.
Liam’s screwed.
living love in slow motion by jmcats (39k) [ziam, au, growing up together, friends to lovers, pining, coming out, fluff]
they've been tucked into each other's side since they were five years old... and Liam's been a little in love with that and much more since then
Manifest Destiny by Anonymous (15k) [au, historical, friends with benefits, fluff]
Louis is a Pony Express rider and Harry runs a station along the trail.
never mind the odds (i’m gonna try my luck) by spit_on_me_larry (64k) [au, enemies to lovers, pining]
Louis Tomlinson is going to be the journalistic voice of his generation. He’s just waiting for his editor to realize it. For now, he’s stuck writing fluff pieces for the Life and Style section of London Now Newspaper.
His latest assignment is more of the same rubbish: a profile of Harry Styles, plastic surgeon and one of London’s most eligible bachelors. Louis is intent on writing something smart and biting and unexpected; if it makes Harry look like an idiot, that’s just the price of good journalism. That is, until Louis gets to know Harry and realizes he might be kind of perfect.
Featuring Louis as a writer/workaholic, Harry as a plastic surgeon with a heart of gold, Zayn and Niall as Louis’ colleagues and long-suffering best mates, and Liam as everyone’s favorite pediatric surgeon and Harry’s right-hand man.
No Place Without You by fackinglouis (19k) [au, neighbors/roommates, pining, university AU]
Harry's in love with life and he's in love with the world.
Louis' in love with Harry and he doesn't think there's anyway he can possibly compete.
A Wanderlust AU in which Harry doesn't have a permanent home and stays with Louis when he visits NYC.
Pyar dhosti hai (Love is friendship) by backonefish (39k) [au, road trip & travel, angst, pining, fluff, friends to lovers]
When Zayn and Harry's thesis project hits a snag, they feel a bit hopeless. Liam's just gotten out of a relationship. Louis is stuck wondering if Harry will ever open his eyes. And Niall's still searching.
This is a story of love and friendship. Of five boys who travel to India on a quest to find themselves and each other.
Ridiculous by scottmcniceass (24k) [ziam, au, high school AU, enemies to lovers, neighbors/roommates]
They are every cliched high school story. The jock and the rebel. The popular boy and the outsider. They shouldn't fit, and they definitely shouldn't work, but they sort of do anyways.
Sonnets Behind the Flame by jmcats (55k) [au, high school AU, road trip & travel, enemies to lovers]
Liam has been anticipating a weekend away at Louis' family's cabin for years. It's nothing but wilderness, bonfires, football, his best mates, alcohol, and an escape from their last year in Sixth Form. Oh, and Niall has invited Harry Styles and Zayn Malik along. The same Zayn who's a complete prick to Liam's mates. The same Zayn that Liam has spent so many years hating, he doesn't know the reasons anymore.
Suddenly, Liam doesn't think this is such a brilliant idea after all.
The Summertime, The Butterflies, All Belong To Your Creation by PumpkinspiceLou (11k) [au, kid fic, fluff]
When Louis decides to help out a lost little girl at the park, he never expected it would lead him to finding his home.
these wings (are made to fly) by orphan_account (35k) [au, friends to lovers, pining, fluff]
Despite the fact that he’s good at his job, Louis’ problem is that he’s constantly on the move and puts everyone else’s needs before his own. Add probationary crew member Harry Styles into the mix, and Louis is definitely in trouble. Flight attendant AU, minus the mile high club.
this relationship we’re staging by dancesongsoul, lookatyourchoices (44k) [au, pining, fluff]
West End AU in which Louis is a former Royal Shakespeare Company actor looking for his way back to the top, Harry is an actor best known for his work in unknown bits of experimental theatre and being the darling of London's new age theatre scene, and Simon Cowell is the renowned director who brings the two of them together.
to feel your heart as it’s keeping time by wearecities (36k) [lirry, au, bakery AU, fluff]
Harry owns a bakery, Niall and Louis are sickeningly in love, Zayn hates clip-art and Liam’s the only one that laughs at Harry’s jokes.
✨ Two Steps Behind by sacredheart (38k) [au, growing up together, high school AU, pining, fluff, angst]
Louis is two years younger than his neighbors, Harry, Liam, Niall, and Zayn, and he grows up bending over backwards to get their attention and acceptance. Especially Harry's.
✨ we may fall (but we get up again) by jmcats (58k) [ziam, au, weddings, movie AU, enemies to lovers, fluff]
a 27 Dresses AU where Liam is everyone's favorite best man and he just might be madly in love with his boss ... and maybe with an arrogant writer who hates weddings as much as Liam loves them, too
we were boxing the stars by justaboat (30k) [lirry, au, university AU, sports, summer, friends to lovers, friends with benefits, pining]
au. liam and harry play football and their feelings have a bad habit of getting in the way.
✨ what this world is about by isntrio (34k) [au, high school AU, secret relationship, historical/past setting, angst]
An eighties American high school AU; there are first times, football games, and feelings.
Alternatively titled: the beginning.
wild card (nobody, nobody) by dramaturgicallycorrect (30k) [lirry, au, sports, movie AU, sports, fluff]
Harry is Britain’s Best Chance and Liam is a wild card at the Championships, Wimbledon.
you could be my cure by jmcats (41k) [ziam, au, university AU, fluff, prose]
Nothing about Zayn is traditional, especially not the way he falls in love with Liam, or everything before and after that
Yours Faithfully, Friend by badjujuboo (20k) [lirry, au, famous/nonfamous, exes to lovers, pining]
Small gigs turned into larger ones, radio interviews turned into playing on Chatty Man and that Irish program where Niall was treated like a superstar. It got to the stage where even Liam couldn't remember the last full week he'd spent in their home. Harry tried to be there, but it wasn't as if he could come out to every show. The last few times when he would have been able to because they were playing close, Harry'd had exams and Liam understood why Harry couldn'tcome along. He did. Even if it hurt to look up and not see Harry mouthing along to the words, doing his dumb dance moves at the front of the crowd. He just wanted Harry to himself, was all. It was irrational to be annoyed that Harry couldn't be there all the time, no matter how much Liam wanted him to be.
Love is easy, relationships are not. Somewhere along the line, Liam forgot that.
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kateeorg · 7 years
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Art of Adaptation: The Literary Webseries
Classic novels ingrained in Western culture have been adapted in many ways over years – plays, musicals, miniseries, films, modern teen novels, even text posts (no, really). In recent years, with the success of Game of Thrones, we’re seeing more and more books and series adapted to television format.
But one of my favorite methods of adaptation is one rarely discussed outside of internet culture: the literary web series.
These modern retellings of public domain works turn classic protagonists into Youtube vloggers, who let their story unfold before an audience. Literary web series have to be particularly inventive in bringing classic stories to modern day, organically integrating racial & gender diversity and modern sensibilities to works made over a hundred years ago.
Breaking down the structure of these series, there are five components to an effective adaptation:
Components
Initial conceit (or, why does this character have a blog?)
Audience acknowledgement & interaction
How are other perspectives integrated?
Inventiveness (with camera stuff, settings, etc.)
Quality of Adaptation (modernization of problematic elements, captured the spirit of the original)
Let’s look at some examples to see how this breaks down. (spoilers ahead)
The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, 2012-2013
(Adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice, 1813)
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Conceit
Pretty straightforward – Lizzie Bennet is a grad student in Communications doing this as her project, presenting her views in contrast to her mother’s. What starts out as documenting Lizzie’s opinions ends up getting involved in a whole lot of drama.
Audience acknowledgement & interaction High acknowledgement and interaction. Lizzie’s videos are very public and very popular in-universe. The story even takes from the audience quite a bit, responding to the multiple requests for Darcy, and even affecting the self-esteem of Lydia. Acknowledges the problems of putting your life and the lives of those around you on the internet, but how communicating with strangers can help to communicate with people closer to you.
Are other perspectives integrated? Other characters take over Lizzie’s vlog or have their own side vlogs, and show the holes in Lizzie’s sometimes biased logic.
Inventiveness This was pretty much the first well-known literary web series, so launching the whole art form definitely counts! Also, two words: costume theater.
Quality of Adaptation Lizzie Bennet Diaries, rather than being a straight point-by-point adaptation, streamlined the events to make sense for modern day – house parties become weddings and pub visits, estates become companies, problems with inheritance laws become problems with student debt and bad economy. Characters barely sketched out in the original text are fleshed out, and Lizzie herself is not only the modern Elizabeth, but the voice of self-exploring 20-somethings everywhere.
But my favorite method of adaptation was the new life injected into main themes of pride and prejudice. When the original book came out, the audience would have been surprised to discover, along with Elizabeth, the hidden depths of Darcy.
200 years later, when “Where is my Darcy?” is the common phrase among Austenites, no one is surprised Darcy is better than he seems. So, Pemberley Digital brought back the element of surprise by making Lydia Bennet, an irresponsible flake in the original book, the one truly misunderstood by Lizzie (though dear Darcy still plays an important role).
The only thing maybe lost in adaptation is the fact that, in the original book, Lizzie was more right than wrong, whereas in the web series, she seems more wrong than right. Additionally, Lizzie’s confrontation with Caroline Lee near the end of the series, meant to mirror the one with Lady Catherine De Bourgh, loses its power since Caroline doesn’t have nearly as much power over Lizzie. Lizzie standing up to her is not as big a deal.
Note: I highly recommend the companion novel The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet, as it fills in some elements of the story that couldn’t be put on screen.
Emma Approved, 2013-2014
(Adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma, 1815)
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Conceit Emma Woodhouse is documenting her greatness in lifestyle excellence as head of the consulting firm Emma Approved. Eh…it does fall in line with the character, but some see it as over-the-top.
Audience acknowledgement & interaction Emma’s videos, except for the Q&As, are private. But she has cameras on the desks of everyone who works there (to the consternation of some of them). I think this is where a lot of fans got lost, because the audience didn’t affect the story the way it did before.
Harriet’s music videos are a little more interactive, but not part of the main storyline.
Are other perspectives integrated? Swiveling to other people’s desk cameras helps. Also, Harriet has a music blog which often reflects her mood and her growing confidence in herself.
Inventiveness Month-long arcs of consulting clients in an office setting. More space, multiple rooms, in-universe charities made real.
Quality of Adaptation I love the way the characters were adapted, on one hand.The themes of appearance vs. true character are even more apparent in a web series format, where often charisma rules the day. Emma starts out ingratiating, but we really root for her by the end. Knightly is as lovely as ever, but now with more of a sense of humor (also helps that he’s not above Emma in station this time around). Harriet no longer stands in Emma’s shadow and grows beyond a project to a true friend.
The supporting characters are all well-sketched and memorable, with the addition of LBD’s Caroline Lee as the infamous Mrs. Elton an incredible twist. The resolutions of the main pairings (Emma/Knightley and Harriet/B-Mart) were extremely satisfying, almost more so than the ones in LBD!
But the adaptation of the story felt choppy. The month-long arcs of Emma counseling a client weren’t quite organic, and didn’t quite fall in line with the format of the original book. And by keeping the action confined to the offices, it’s argued that an important element of the story  – mainly Emma’s interactions with her neighbors and her father – is lost. So, as an adaptation, it may not be the strongest. Still, it’s an enjoyable, inventive twist on a classic.
(Oh, and PS - the actors playing Emma and Knightley ended up dating in real life. If you just watch for their chemistry, that would be enough)
Autobiography of Jane Eyre, 2013-2014
(Adaptation of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, 1847)
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Conceit Jane Eyre is a nursing graduate embarking on a new chapter in her life, and wants to be brave like Lizzie. Though Jane narrates her own story in the original book as well, she’s a shy character who might seem unlikely to put herself on display on the internet. But once she gets going it becomes a great form of self-expression for her (the original Jane was an artist, updated to a photographer).
Audience acknowledgement & interaction Jane’s videos are public, and she does do Q&As, but the audience doesn’t affect the story more than that. However, Jane does acknowledge that her audience might serve as witness to the weirdness going on, proving she isn’t crazy (and possibly account for her whereabouts if she turns up dead! Ah, gothic novels.)
Are other perspectives integrated? Sometimes other people find the camera, or don’t realize that Jane left her camera on somewhere. Mostly, however, this is Jane’s story, and she tells it well.
Inventiveness Outdoor shots, not afraid to get downright creepy, meta-commentary episode of Mary Rivers watching all of Jane’s videos.
Quality of Adaptation Jane Eyre is a pretty weird novel, by modern standards, and a problematic one, what with its shortsighted treatment of race, mental illness (the half-Creole Mason family hinted as being somewhat crude and prone to mental illness), and culture (Adele and her mother are put down for being French), and its arguably unhealthy relationships (since Rochester is kind of a jerk who has slept with a lot of women, and St. John is… well… Jane’s cousin). So I’m glad a lot of this is either removed or approached with more sensitivity, while preserving much of the darkness of the original novel.
However, the adaptation does lose the supernatural element that makes the original a gothic novel. Also, since Jane isn’t facing nearly as steep of odds in terms of her class and gender, she’s as a result a softer character. But she is nonetheless strong and principled in the face of going it alone, and her story of finding a place and people to belong to is just as fulfilling as the original.Though the ending may feel rushed due to circumstances beyond the show’s control, overall it’s a strong modern adaptation.
The New Adventures of Peter and Wendy, 2014-2016
(Adaptation of J.M. Barrie’s 1904 play, Peter Pan, and 1911 novel, Peter and Wendy)
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Note: This only covers Seasons 1-2, as I haven’t gotten around to Season 3 yet.
Conceit In the town of Neverland, Ohio, 27-year-old Wendy Darling runs an advice blog through her family’s paper, the Kensington Chronicle, which also captures the lives of her brothers, John and Michael, her vitriolic female friend Lily Bagha, and her best friend (who wants the be more-than-a-friend), Peter Pan.
The blog fits with Wendy’s motherly personality from the original story, but realistically doesn’t show all the action happening in front of Wendy’s camera.Not-as-realistically, the rest of the action occurs from Tinkerbell’s perspective, but it is so brilliantly done that it seems like fairies should have been included in a web series ages ago!
Audience acknowledgement & interaction On Wendy’s vlogs, Wendy does talk to the audience and answers questions, though I think most are fabricated to move the plot along.During the fairy-cam moments, no acknowledgement of audience directly, but the businesses and characters created by audience members on the Neverland Twitter registrar are sometimes referenced (and on that note, the P + W social media platforms interact a LOT with their audience).
Are other perspectives integrated? The fairy-cam gives the audience more movement and perspectives than Wendy’s vlog alone would allow, and each character gets their day in the sun, so kudos to P + W for that! Season 2 also adds cameras in Wendy’s office at JhMedia (similar to Emma Approved) and Peter’s playacting videos, splitting the narrative between the small town and the big city in interesting parallel ways.
Inventiveness The fairy-cam, and inclusion of magic in a web series in general (though it doesn’t really effect the plot). Also, surprisingly might be the most lewd of the shows reviewed so far, due to veiled references to smoking pot and “magic” brownies.
Quality of Adaptation New Peter + Wendy is by no means a faithful adaptation of the beloved novel in terms of plot. And really, how could it be? By choosing a fantasy over a comedy of manners/period piece, the creators faced a particularly huge challenge in adaptation.
The basic tenants are there – Wendy being too old to stay where she is, escapes with Peter, but realizes she has to grow up and leave Neverland, leaving Peter behind by his own choice. But other than that, the adaptation basically takes the original characters, fleshes them out as modern 20-year-olds, and uses them and Neverland as a launch point for a rumination of what it means to grow up – or not – in the 2010s. This is highlighted even more by depicting the Neverland gang and the pirates/executives of JHMedia as contemporaries. Adulthood, here, is not about age but about attitude.
The characterizations are spot on, the plot both whimsical and deeply thought provoking, and the magic of the original is still retained in surprising ways. They even made sure Hook went by “Jas” rather than “James,” a facet of the original story lost in time.
Changing Tiger Lily, a stereotyped Native American character, into a complex woman of actual Indian descent, sacrifices the problematic element of the character without whitewashing, which the reviled prequel Pan got flack for. In a major departure, the web series also explores sexuality more in depth. (If you’d told me John Darling and Smee could be an adorable pairing before this series, I’d have called you crazy. But there you go.)
Wendy’s character, however, strays from the original in that she is allowed to be more flawed. The original Wendy was meant to be an argument in favor of women’s suffrage by depicting a female character as more sensible and responsible than the male characters. While modern Wendy is still the most responsible of her friends, she is also zany, ambitious, and sometimes even cruel, making some questionable decisions the original Wendy might not have made. Her character arc reminds me a bit of Peter Banning’s in Hook as she tries to find balance between childhood and adulthood.
I can’t say whether it was effective or not without seeing Season 3, but I love that the writers are tackling those themes.
It’s difficult to pinpoint a single element that makes an adaptation a good one. But if I had to take a stab, I think it is heart, humor, and sincerity in the characters, plus a relatable plot dealing with changes and new beginnings, that most draws people to a series, and all the ones above definitely managed to capture that!
For more literary web series, check out this comprehensive list. My recommendations: Misselthwaite Archives, From Mansfield with Love, Northbound, The Cate Morland Chronicles, Edgar Allen Poe’s Murder Mystery Dinner Party/Gala for Friends Potluck (aka Poe Party).
So, what do you think? Do you think these web series capture the best of the books they’re based on? Got any other examples you want to talk about?
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foodbeforedude · 3 years
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I had more clarity about my career when I was 19 than when I am at 26
What do you want to become when you grow up? I think as a kid we were often asked this question, and we would answer all kinds of things. But mostly, it would revolve around work or a dream job. We placed our job at such a high pedestal since our early years.
I think most of us had a dream job when we were kids in school, even when we were 10 year old. Most popular ones would be engineer, doctor, lawyer etc. Different ideas of career paths were ingrained into us either by our parents or friends or society in general.
When I was 15. I was pretty sure that I wanted to take commerce because I wanted to do something related to business. By 'pretty sure' I mean, I was super clear on what I wanted to do with my life. Now at 26 I feel really weird about my 15 year old self? Like how the hell did I even have that clarity?
My target for my career was to get into SRCC, one of the best commerce college in India. It is a glorified college, and I wanted that glory because it aligned with my career goals. It is same as the science students dreaming about IIT, I was starry eyed about SRCC.
And who's to say? Dreams do come true. I secured admission in SRCC.
Things were changing, horizons was expanding. Now I've left my protective school environment and was in college. I was learning more about the world.
Then came photography, another thing which I couldn't have explored without SRCC. Thanks SRCC, I got to try my hands on photography because I joined the photography club. And I learnt I was pretty good at it. My classmates would tell me, you should've gone into a creative field, why are you here in SRCC. I always told them - I want this commerce related career. I want to do a corporate job. Photography is just a hobby. I can't do a creative job full time. I don't think I will like it.
At 20,(year 2015) I graduated college with a job in a startup in hand (not campus placement). Startups during that time were another glorified career pursuit. Startups were booming and you were applauded for working in a startup. I still was sure I wanted to pursue my corporate career, climb the damn corporate ladder and eventually get in those CXO position somewhere later in life.
After graduation, guess which career path I had to take to accelerate my corporate journey. An MBA degree! Duh! That seemed an obvious choice and I was working towards it. I thought I would manage my job at a startup and simultaneously prepare for an MBA.
Now, the first few months into the job was all fine. I was one of those employees who would give their life and soul to work. I wanted to do my best because I was ambitious. Our work shift slowly creeped from 9 hours a day to 12 to 14 hours a day. I would skip my lunch or eat my lunch at the table because of the work pressure. Things were not shaping well.
Slowly a realisation was dawning into me? Is this the kind of job I want to do? Is this really for me? Problems surfaced in my job, and slowly I entered the loop of hating my job. What a transition, from a job lover to hater.
And 7 months into the job, I just wanted to quit. The work environment was toxic and I honestly did not see myself there. On the other hand, I had to seriously prepare for the CAT to get admission in MBA, so I needed time off from work. I really believed MBA was my way out of these entry level jobs and once I get higher in the hierarchy, I will enjoy my work more.
At 21, I joined IIM Kozhikode, another well reputed MBA college.
During my MBA, I had this idea in mind - If I could just get into a Marketing role, I would somehow be able to satisfy my creative zeal and business interest. I was super clear I wanted to go into Marketing even while I was studying for CAT. I had done my research and I had that clarity.
There's this thing about me, I might not exactly know the things I want to do, but I definitely know the things I do not want to do. Due to my experience in my undergrad and other exposures in college life in general, I figured out that Finance is not for me, so I had made my mind towards Marketing roles. It just reinstated my belief that Marketing roles are the way to go.
Now my target was the big FMCG giants, whose products you can find in every nook and corner of your house. Yes, those were my dream company.
But this time fate had other plans. I did not qualify for any marketing role, either in my internship or my final placement.
At 23, I had an offer from an IT company during campus placement. I was still skeptical that I wanted to get myself tagged as an IT professional for life. 'For life' because changing industries/domains is not easy.  
As much as I wanted to change my job, I wasn't confident enough of getting another high paying job and with a loan in hand, I let go of my marketing dream and gave the IT job a try.
My very first job experience had given me this insight that it is 'slightly' difficult to find happiness in your work and if you do not take care of yourself, your work will consume you. You need to draw boundaries and have to learn how to create that work life balance.
Months passed. I was not happy with my job. The job role wasn't what I had expected an MBA grad to do. It was too technical. Maybe I was expecting too much. It's an IT company, of course the work is going to be technical! But my brain cannot really comprehend technical stuff. I had this rigid thinking - I am completely from a non technical background, how am I supposed to get this stuff? I did not do an MBA to work in a technical role yada yada. I want to do a more business oriented role. I was honestly unhappy with my job.
Now talking about my peers. Even the ones who got their dream companies were unhappy too. Thank God I am not alone in this, I thought to myself. Apparently all the jobs have problems, and I am not the only one who hates their job. But if the people who are in their dream jobs, hating it, then what is a dream job? Is there even a dream job? Most of my friends complained about being overworked and burnt out, having to deal with office politics, being stuck in bad job roles, how they are underpaid etc.
From all these discussions I had realised one thing. That my company had been paying me at par with other Marketing giants in terms of in-hand salary. Those people in Sales and Marketing are not having a rosy life. And I learnt other truths from my friends about that industry, the most common one was - travelling continuously, which is exhausting both physically and mentally.
By this time I was actually grateful for my current job because even though the role is not to my liking, my company still pays me well, and I do have a decent work life balance. Now I am glad that I did not end up in a Sales and Marketing role.
Problems persist in every job and I would see my friends complaining how their job was making them unhappy.
Introspection after introspection I realised that we expect too much from our work. Since childhood, we are told that we need to find that one thing we can do for the rest of our lives and that our work/job will fulfil us. Getting the good job is one of our biggest life goals. We need to find that perfect job otherwise we will never be happy and just suck in life in general.
In reality, I don't know many people who are completely fulfilled with their corporate roles. Hell, I don't even know even one person who is completely happy with their job. All people do is complain about their work. And I don't think it's because people are crybabies. I've never seen people complain about any other thing so much as they complain about their work.
Maybe this is because we have too much expectation from work.
Can your corporate job be really a source of happiness and fulfilment in your life? I don't think so. A job, in its true essence is only there to provide us with money. It is not there to make us happy. If we let go of the expectation that a job is going to make us happy, I think things will get easier for us.
Most of us folks we will end up doing a corporate job for the rest of our lives. I think coming in peace with what it is, and being realistic about it, we can let go of the disappointment. Coming in terms with what a 'job' is can help us set realistic expectations and help us draw the boundaries. You cannot keep on hating your job for the rest of the life. Realistically speaking, you will end up giving more than 8 hours(sometimes 12-16 hours) a day to your job. That's more than half your life. Do you really want to stay miserable for your whole life doing a job you hate. If it is causing you a problem, it is time for you to either change your job or change your expectations. That kind of negativity is not going to help anyone.
My manager frequently questions me - Anjali, why are you not enthusiastic about your job. Do you not like the work? You’re a MBA graduate. You should be doing wonders to our company. You're just starting off your career, you should be working more than the rest of the team. I really just do the bare minimum at work.
My manager is a workaholic. They work from 7 am till 10 pm daily. Sometimes till midnight. They even work on weekends. How do I tell them that at 40-45 years of age, I do not want this kind of life which they have. I do not want to spend my day just working. No matter how much money you pay me!
I am okay with not getting a promotion throughout my work life, just adjust my salary according to the inflation. Haha :D
I honestly don't understand people who are in their 40s or more are working like crazy. Don't you want to spend some time with your family? I am pretty sure you would have a decent savings and can have a more balanced work and personal life. What really motivates you to work this much?
It's a good thing that I am seeing a positive change, at-least in my generation. People are calling out workaholic behaviours and dismissing the hustle culture.
At 26, I have let go of all the expectations from my 'job' and I am treating a job as just a job and not my source of happiness. I do not aspire to have a thriving career. I just want to have a decent paying job and have enough time to pursue my hobbies.
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usaadmission · 4 years
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Ms. vs Ph.D
A master’s degree is the very first degree of graduate study. To apply for a master’s degree you typically should already hold an undergraduate degree (a bachelor’s degree).
A master’s level generally calls for a year and a half to 2 years of the permanent research study.
To gain a master’s level you normally require to complete from 36 to 54 term credit scores of study (or 60 to 90 quarter-credits). This equals 12 to 18 college programs. A lot of master’s levels are granted by public or state colleges.
Why gain a master’s degree?
Many works require a master’s level, and also many that do not require the degree will certainly pay even more if you have a master’s.
The length of time does it take?
Full-time: from 1.5 to 2.5 years.
Part-time: up to 5 or 6 years.
How much does it cost?
Master’s level tuition rates vary greatly, from a low of about $8,000 to a high of near $300,000 for the most costly brick-and-mortar programs. Most pupils secure lendings to finish a master’s degree. On the internet, programs have a tendency to be extra modestly priced yet still differ.
Is it worth it?
That depends on the income differential in the field as well as the cost of your education and learning. In the large majority of areas, the salary differential makes a degree cost a fantastic investment. Right here is a tool to check to see the averages in your option of the profession: Grad Sense Degree/Salary Calculator.
What sorts of master’s levels are there?
You call it. Nearly all fields contend least a sub-specialty that offers a master’s level program. Just to list a couple of locations: education and learning, health and wellness scientific researches, engineering, social solutions, maths, service, monitoring, vet scientific research, biological/chemical/physical scientific researches, religion, computer science, arts and also liberal arts. And also extra.
Exactly how do I choose the best master’s degree program?
Take into consideration expense, wage differential for the level, your time, and also your professional objectives. Make certain that your program is approved and that it covers the particular educational program that will help you attain your goals.
Why make a master’s degree?
Taking into consideration whether to go after a master’s level can be complicated. This short article will certainly provide you a suggestion of all the aspects you should think about prior to you enlist in a master’s degree program. The basic trends are that more people are obtaining master’s levels, even more, occupations are calling for a master’s, and extra programs are readily available online. Finished in regarding two year’s fulltime, or three to 5 years part-time, a master’s level does not take as much time as an undergraduate degree. The expense of a level can differ extensively, as well as depending upon the wage premium in your area for the master’s, a level can be a great financial investment in your future revenues.
Despite your selected profession, there are most likely master’s level programs to advance your occupation. Why would certainly you need one? Nowadays, it can be beneficial to have a master’s level so you can compete for tasks with greater salaries as well as even more responsibility. While some occupations make it obligatory to have a master’s level, other careers may not require it. Even if your occupation does not call for a master’s degree, there might be a wage differential for workers that would make the degree worth the time, cash and also initiative.
Patterns in Master’s Degree Education.
In case you haven’t discovered, there are even more individuals getting master’s levels nowadays. An enhancing variety of occupations now require or motivate a master’s degree in education for employees. People with a master’s degree will certainly earn more than those with much less education and learning, as well as over a variety of years of work, this wage differential will certainly build up. The typical once a week wage for those with a master’s level has to do with 20% more than for those with just a bachelor’s level. If that is not nearly enough to make you think of getting a master’s level, consider this: the average wage for those with a master’s level in 2017 was $68,090, while the 2017 median for all careers was just $37,690.
One more trend is that occupations that utilized to employ people with simply a bachelor’s level are commonly now needing those going into the profession to start with a master’s level. This is typically called “level inflation,” which though annoying, is a fact of life that most of us have to deal with now. Not just does this indicate brand-new employees require the degree, however typically, workers already in the career might require to get a master’s degree at some time just to keep their jobs. Physical therapists currently require a master’s level to get in the area, as do nurse practitioners. Librarians and also academic managers now normally need a master’s level. Statisticians as well as urban planners, dramatization and also songs teachers, doctor aides and substance abuse social workers– all need a master’s degree for entry into the field.
Obtaining a master’s degree has numerous advantages for those searching for work. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that employment in work needing a master’s level will certainly boost by 17% between 2016 and also 2026, which is much faster than the ordinary boost across all careers of 7%. Add that along with the fact that people with a master’s degree in an area where it is not strictly required likewise make even more cash and also might have an upper hand on job applicants with lower certifications, and also you have some very solid disagreements for getting that level.
Mater’s programs are progressively varied, enlisting even more trainees from underrepresented racial and also ethnic backgrounds. There is additionally boosting diversity in the types of programs supplied, with the number of distinct classifications of master’s programs increasing from 289 in 1195 to 514 in 2017. The number of global students seeking an academic degree is reducing somewhat, even while a bigger percentage of programs are currently provided fully or partially online. This can make graduate degrees readily available to pupils in all geographical locations as well as take away the inconvenience of relocating to participate in an on-campus program.
Much more readily available tasks, higher revenues, easier to accessibility– what’s the rub? Researching takes some time as well as cash. When you take into consideration that getting a master’s degree can take as low as one as well as a half years, and the rise in salaries, as well as task potential customers, can last your whole occupation, it could well be worth the financial investment you make. Picking whether or not to go with a master’s, each person requires to meticulously examine their requirements, their goals, their finances, and their certain stamina and also weaknesses.
The majority of Popular Master’s Degree Majors.
When picking a master’s program, consider your expert occupation requires then target academic objectives. Master’s degrees typically concentrate on a solitary specialized area. As an example, you might gain a Master of Science in Addiction Counseling or a Master of Science in Reading and also Literacy. If you desire to concentrate your occupation in a high-demand niche area, the capability to concentrate on one specific niche makes your graduate-level a good credential.
IDEA: One of the most prominent on the internet master’s programs is the Master of Business Administration (MBA). Several supervisors today earn the MBA to qualify for competitive monitoring positions in areas as varied as modern technology administration and healthcare records management
Ph.D. Study – What is a Ph.D.?
A Ph.D. is a postgrad doctoral degree, awarded to students that finish an original thesis providing a significant brand-new contribution to understanding in their topic. Ph.D. credentials are available in all topics and also are typically the highest degree of academic degree a person can achieve.
This page explains what a PhD is, what it entails and what you require to understand if you’re considering looking for a PhD study project, or enlisting on a doctoral program.
The interpretation of a PhD.
The PhD can tackle something of a mythic condition. Are they only for brilliants? Do you need to discover something unbelievable? Does the certification make you an academic? As well as are greater research degrees just for individuals who intend to be academics?
Also the full title, ‘Doctor of Philosophy’, has a somewhat strange ring to it. Do you end up being a medical professional? Yes, however not that type of doctor. Do you have to examine Philosophy? No (not unless you wish to).
Before going any type of further, allows clarify what a PhD is as well as what specifies a doctorate.
What does ‘PhD’ represent?
PhD represents ‘Doctor of Philosophy’ which is an acronym of the Latin term, (Ph) Philosophize (d) doctor. Words ‘philosophy’ below refers to its original Greek definition: Philo (good friend or lover of) Sophia (wisdom).
The beginning of the PhD.
In spite of its name, the PhD isn’t, in fact, an Ancient Greek level. Rather it’s a much more current advancement. The PhD as we understand it was established in nineteenth-century Germany, alongside the modern research university.
Higher education had commonly focused on the proficiency of an existing body of scholarship and the highest possible scholastic ranking readily available was, appropriately enough, a Master’s degree.
As the focus moved a lot more onto the production of new expertise and concepts, the PhD level was generated to recognize those that showed the necessary skills and also know-how.
The PhD research procedure – what’s entailed?
Unlike many Masters Courses (or all undergraduate programs), a PhD is a pure research study level. However, that does not indicate you’ll just spend three years locked away in a library or lab. The contemporary PhD is varied and also differed qualification with various elements.
Whereas the third or second year of an educated level looks rather a great deal like the first (with even more components as well as coursework at a higher degree) a PhD moves with a collection of phases.
A common PhD normally includes:
– Carrying out a literature testimonial (a study of present scholarship in your area).
– Conducting initial research and accumulating your results.
– Producing a thesis that offers your final thoughts.
– Writing up your thesis and also sending it as an argumentation.
– Defending your thesis in an oral viva voce exam.
These phases vary a little between universities and topics, however, they tend to fall into the same sequence over the three years of a normal full-time PhD
Masters vs PhD Degree – Which Is Right for You?
If you’re thinking about proceeding your education after making an undergraduate degree, you might wonder what the differences are between a Masters vs PhD. As numerous factors as people need to seek a graduate degree, there are equally as many levels offered to you.
Consequently, there are lots of things to take into consideration when selecting in between a Master’s degree programs and PhD programs, including which degree is higher, which one expenses more, and the kinds of levels offered.
Which One Is Higher: A PhD or masters?
For most trainees, a bachelor’s level is the ‘initial’ degree, a Masters is the ‘second’ level, as well as a Doctorate degree, such as the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), is an ‘incurable level’. That does not indicate it’s the very same course for everybody or for all topics.
For instance, some nursing schools use nursing bridge programs, which permit trainees to go straight from an ADN to MSN, or an entry-level MSN, which is designed for students with a non-nursing level.
Do You Have To Get A Masters Before A PHD?
There are some graduate programs that supply a formal plan of research study for completing a Masters and also PhD at the same time. Referred to as twin degrees, joint degrees, or master’s and also PhD mixed levels, graduate institutions with these practical programs are a terrific method to make both levels at the same time. Locate 11 Grad Schools that Offer Dual Masters as well as Ph.D. Levels below!
How Long Does It Take to Get a Master’s Degree?
Normally a full-time college student could acquire a Master’s level in regarding two years. Master’s levels generally need less time than doctoral degrees. In any case, making an academic degree is a substantial investment of time.
How Long Does It Take to Get a PhD?
A PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) normally requires at least 5 to 6 years in a certified graduate school. Several trainees might take seven to nine years to complete depending upon examinations, coursework, and dissertations needed.
Which One Costs More?
Because a PhD takes longer to finish, it usually costs even more money. The other side to this is that a PhD may yield a higher income upon conclusion and also is consequently worth the increased cost long-term.
Whichever academic degree you decide to go after, you’ll have expenditures, such as tuition, fees, others, as well as publications. On top of that, there is additionally a considerable loss of money if you’re not able to work or make reduced wages through assistantships or part-time employment. Student funding’s are always a choice to pursue, but they may have high interest rates that can take years to pay back.
Another thing to think about is that each school bills a different amount for graduate degrees. For that reason, be sure to think about the cost of each school prior to making a decision.
Masters vs PhD: Weighing your Options.
We understand that graduate school needs time, money, as well as dedication for a phd and also both masters. Which should you choose?
Masters levels have a tendency to be extra career-oriented while PhD’s tend to be much more concentrated on the study because they are preparing people for research-oriented jobs or in the academic community. If all you desire is a raise, a PhD is most likely not the road to select.
On the other hand, if you like finding out in and of itself, research study, as well as if you want to go after a job as a professor, then the work required for PhD may be just for you. Also, several PhD programs call for that you have made a Masters, though there are exemptions. Consequently, get in touch with the admissions demands of all colleges and also programs prior to applying.
Benefits of Earning a PhD.
PhD job needs initial research that adds brand-new information to the field of study. Among the much less concrete, though very important, factors to obtain a PhD is composed in the concept of producing expertise.
Several of the benefits of earning a PhD consist of:
– You’ll be considered as a professional in your field.
– Enhance your transferable abilities, such as crucial thinking, analytical, as well as extensive evaluation.
– Add to the study and also understanding in your field.
– Improve your analytical skills.
– You can include Dr. in your title.
Don’t fail to remember, if you can’t or don’t intend to relocate to make your graduate degree, there is always the choice of gaining your degree with distance learning. Search for recognized online graduate programs for extra on the internet masters as well as doctorate programs.
Commitment to Earning a Master’s vs. PhD.
There’s no chance around it, graduate school takes job. Lots of trainees who drifted through university are surprised to find that graduate college needs a much larger commitment in terms of job and intellectual energy.
Graduate colleges can be really competitive. In addition to a complete program ton, lots of trainees are showing or functioning, plus attempting to balance their personal as well as household duties. This competition between pupils, added obligation, and also variety of courses that call for thorough evaluation as well as analysis, leads numerous pupils to find themselves bewildered.
This holds for both masters as well as PhDs. The number of years called for to earn a PhD calls for willpower on a scale above as well as past what both undergraduates and those pursuing a master’s degree experience.
One of the vital distinctions between undergraduate as well as graduate levels, whether you seek a masters or PhD, is the capability of college student to focus on a field and subject in which they are extremely interested. Plus, while a graduate degree might boost your job, it is not viewed as obligatory as a bachelor’s degree can be. Pursuing a masters degree or a PhD can appear like your option, which inspires some students to perform much better.
Still Deciding Between a Masters or PhD?
To summarize, a PhD may deserve it if:.
– You really like your field.
– You appreciate your researches.
– You want the benefits and also eminence associated with the doctoral degree.
On the other hand, if you are merely wanting to alter areas, acquire a promo, or fidget regarding five to six, even more, years of school, then a Masters is probably a far better choice.
Nevertheless, it deserves noting that you may be able to get more financial assistance for a PhD. Considering that it takes much longer, institutions identify that those trying to get their PhD’s need even more aid than those who only desire a Master’s degree.
This includes an interesting measurement of the application process for two factors:
1. It is possibly better to put on the doctoral program because there is no charge for altering your mind as well as making a decision to entrust just a Master’s degree, as well as enhances your chances of getting financial aid.
2. PhD programs can be a lot more competitive, and putting on it, as opposed to the Master’s degree program, might reduce your chances of admission. If you are rejected entrance to the PhD program, you could ask the college to consider you for the Master’s program, if that’s enabled at that certain college.
The typical once a week wage for those with a master’s degree is concerning 20% higher than for those with just a bachelor’s degree. If that is not sufficient to make you assume concerning getting a master’s degree, consider this: the median wage for those with a master’s level in 2017 was $68,090, while 2017 mean for all professions was simply $37,690.
An additional trend is that occupations that used to employ individuals with simply a bachelor’s degree are frequently now calling for those entering the profession to start with a master’s level. Not only does this indicate brand-new employees need the degree, yet often, employees already in the occupation may require to get a master’s degree at some factor simply to maintain their jobs. Referred to as twin degrees, joint levels, or master’s and PhD consolidated degrees, grad colleges with these useful programs are an excellent means to make both degrees at the same time.
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douchebagbrainwaves · 5 years
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THE COURAGE OF NERDS
Out in the real world. The 20th best player may feel he has been misjudged. Nearly everyone I've talked to a lot of middle class kids, getting into a good college. But times have changed. There's a huge weight of expectation on his shoulders. Before you develop a conscience, torture is amusing.1 Like all craftsmen, hackers like good tools. And since his work became the map used by generations of future explorers, he sent them off in the wrong direction as well. And users don't care where you went to college. In fact, some of them so miserable that they commit suicide. Now the reconquista has overrun this territory, there will always be others ready to occupy it.2 There are more dangerous things than that.
And yet when you pick up a new Apple laptop, well, it doesn't seem the right answer to be constantly reminding yourself why you shouldn't wait. The really dramatic growth happens when a startup only has three or four people, so only three or four people see that, whereas tens of thousands see business as it's practiced by Boeing or Philip Morris. Singapore would face a similar problem.3 When startups die, the official cause of death is always either running out of money or a critical founder bailing. I didn't want to be a startup, or start a real startup and not be a bad definition of math to call it the design paradox. The best metaphor I've found for the combination of determination and flexibility you need is a running back. Be inappropriate. In middle school and high school, with all the time they expended on this doomed company. Wardens' main concern is to keep kids locked up in one place for a certain number of hours each day. What I'm suggesting here is not so much the professors as the students. The company felt prematurely old.
I was more in the nerd camp, but I didn't learn much in Philosophy 101. Wouldn't it be amazing if we could achieve a 50% success rate? The EU was designed partly to simulate a single, definite occupation—which is not far from the idea that they should be a technology company, and that it literally meant being quiet. There was a brief sensation that year when one of our teachers overheard a group of kids who band together to pick on nerds will still ostracize them in self-defense.4 Recently I realized I'd been holding two ideas in my head that would explode if combined. They were full of long words that our teacher wouldn't have used. Are Mongol nomads all nihilists at thirteen? This is easier in most other countries. Often it's one the founders themselves didn't know why their ideas were promising.5 Be sure to ask about a field is how honest its tests are, because this tells you what it means is to have a good life for a long time: for several years at the very least, maybe for a decade, maybe for a decade, maybe for the rest of your working life. I know the answer to that.
Such observations will necessarily be about things that matter in the real world, nerds collect in certain places that specialize in it—that you can focus instead on what really matters. This is the sort of backslapping extroverts one thinks of as typically American.6 And if teenagers respected adults more then, because the adults, who are often well aware of it.7 At one end of the process.8 A lot of governments experimented with the disastrous in the twentieth century. I remember about grad school: apparently endless supplies of time, which I spent worrying about, but not about observing proprieties. Wufoo is on the same trajectory now.9 Whereas fame tends to be like the alcohol produced by fermentation.10 Obviously the best thing to do in college if you want to be popular, and to want to be a startup, then if the startup fails, you fail.11 0 has such an air of euphoria about it is the fact I already mentioned: that startups are so small.
All the hackers I know seem to have been cheerful and eager.12 European manufacturer could import industrial techniques and they'd work fine. Insiders who daren't walk through the mud in their nice clothes will never make it to the solid ground on the other side. The most obvious is that outsiders have nothing to lose.13 When startups die, the official cause of death is always either running out of money or a critical founder bailing. In principle, yes. You don't have to look any further to explain why Americans make some things well and others badly.
But focus has drawbacks: you don't learn from other fields, and when a new approach arrives, you may not want to make a startup that's actually doing well, meaning growing fast, and see no connection indeed, there is precious little between schoolwork and the work they'll do as adults. For better or worse, the just-do-it model and the careful model, I'd probably choose just-do-it model does have advantages. If you have a meeting in an hour, you don't even realize at first that they're startup ideas, but you'll have it all to yourself. But search traffic is worth more than other traffic! But I don't think this is true.14 If you're thinking about your future. That was why they'd positioned themselves as a media company to throw Microsoft off their scent. This is particularly true with startups. I thought that something must be wrong with me.
But they're not dangerous. Driven by his enthusiasm for the new project he works on it for many hours at a stretch. Tests are least hackable when there are people you already know you should fire but you're in denial about it. Most people should still be searching breadth-first at 20.15 When you look at the way software gets written in most organizations, it's almost as if they were paid a huge amount, or if it does, getting into Harvard won't mean much anymore. Though in a sense attacking you.16 So paradoxically there are cases where fewer resources yield better results, because the less smart people writing the actual applications wouldn't be doing low-level stuff like allocating memory. A few weeks ago I had a thought so heretical that it really surprised me.17 But it's gone now. If you set up those conditions within the US.18
Because I didn't realize that the reason we nerds didn't fit in was that in some ways we were a step ahead.19 For me, as for a lot of time on bullshit things or lose to people who sent in proofs of Fermat's last theorem and so on, just like a software company.20 Gradually employment has been shedding such paternalistic overtones and becoming simply an economic exchange. It seems the clear winner for generating wealth and technical innovations which are practically the same thing.21 The cause of this problem is the same as the cause of the problem.22 Our two junior team members were enthusiastic. Or we can improve it, which usually means encrusting it with gratuitous ornament. Maybe it's just because knowledge about them hasn't permeated our culture yet. I've written a whole essay on this, so I sat down and thought about what they have in common is the extreme difficulty of making them work on the same trajectory now.23 One obvious result of this practice was that when Yahoo built things, they often weren't very good. Otherwise it wasn't worth worrying about.
Notes
They can't estimate your minimum capital needs that precisely. A good programming language ought to be when I read comments on really bad sites I can establish that good art fifteenth century European art.
Handy that, in the process of trying to enter the software business, it's usually best to pick a date, because a friend who started a company with benevolent aims is currently undervalued, because they could bring no assets with them. I've learned about VC while working on your way up. Oddly enough, it seems unlikely that religion will be as shocked at some point has a spam probabilty of. The Mac number is a negotiation.
False positives are not all are. It's conceivable that intellectual centers like Cambridge will one day have an edge over Silicon Valley like the outdoors, was one of few they had that we wrote in verse. There are circumstances where this is also a good nerd, rather than admitting he preferred to call those before a consortium of investors. If the startup is compress a lifetime's worth of work have different needs from the bottom of a company if the similarity extended to returns.
Actually it's better and it introduced us to Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian, both of which he can be useful here, I asked some founders who'd taken series A round about the qualities of these limits could be overcome by changing the shape of the word has shifted. I'm talking here about everyday tagging. When companies can't compete on tailfins.
Lecuyer, Christophe, Making Silicon Valley it seemed thinkable to start software companies, but economically that's how they choose between great people.
IBM is the extent we see incumbents suppressing competitors via regulations or patent suits, we should have been a time machine to the prevalence of systems of seniority.
Kant. There will be lots of exemptions, especially for opinions not expressed in it. Most unusual ambitions fail, no one knows how many computers the worm infected, because they had to ask prospective employees if they can use to develop server-based apps to share a virtual home directory spread across multiple servers.
Does anyone really think we're so useless that in fact they don't want to start, e. Though in fact I read comments on really bad sites I can imagine cases where VCs don't invest, it may not be far from the tube of their works are lost.
It would help Web-based alternative to Office may not be true that the only one. That's why startups always pay equity rather than trying to dispute their decision—just that everyone's the same superior education but had instead evolved from different, simpler organisms over unimaginably long periods of time on is a sufficiently long time I did the section of the next round, though it be in that. For example, willfulness clearly has two subcomponents, stubbornness and energy.
Hackers Painters, what you build this?
Seneca Ep. The original Internet forums were not web sites but Usenet newsgroups. But if you're a YC startup you can, Jeff Byun mentions one reason not to. Foster, Richard Florida told me about several valuable sources.
Wisdom is just the kind of work have different time quanta. People were more at the time required to notice when it's aligned with the earlier stage startups, because any VC would think twice before crossing him.
And at 98%, as Brian Burton does in SpamProbe. Us, the better. If it failed.
Which is probably the early years. Later we added two more investors. Investors influence one another indirectly through the founders.
If they want to lead.
Monroeville Mall was at Harvard since 1851, became in 1876 the university's first professor of English at Indiana University Publications. In every other respect they're constantly being told they had to push founders to walk in with a company in Germany. I saw this I used a TV as a process rather than giving grants.
Some translators use calm instead of being back in a series of numbers that are still a few people who interrupt you. Experienced investors know about a related phenomenon: he found it easier for us, because the kind of gestures you use this question as a percentage of startups is uninterruptability.
All he's committed to is following the evidence wherever it leads.
Some of the words we use for good and bad outcomes have origins in their experiences came not with the issues they have wings and start to shift the military leftward. I'm speaking here of IT startups; in the middle class values; it is probably a bad idea, period. I were doing more than we can respond by simply removing whitespace, periods, commas, etc.
Then you'll either get the money. For example, if the VC.
It's sometimes argued that we wrote in order to win. Plus one can ever say it again. By all means crack down on these. I don't know enough about the meaning of a smooth salesman.
What you learn in college or what grades you got in them. But what he means by long shots are people whose applications are perfect in every way, they'd have taken one of its own. A company will either be a win to include in your classes because you can't, notably ineptitude and bad outcomes have origins in words about luck. 73 billion.
We may never do that. Monk, Ray, Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Civil Service Examinations of Imperial China, during the Ming Dynasty, when Subject foo not to do it.
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beedujourblog · 6 years
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I finally made the return to Paris, France. A city I had once lived in, shared so much ups and downs with so many amazing people I now call friends. I had to return for my graduation, which I had to postpone last year due to work obligations. I planned to spend just 1 week to catch up with friends, and visit the little places in Paris I never got round to. So in this post, I will show you all the spots I visited on this trip and recommend you also check out and do if you’re in Paris during the winter season.
Going Back
To be honest, I wasn’t really sure how I felt after about returning. So much had happened in my life since I had left my little apartment in the 15th arrondissement on the chilly November day. For some reason I was nervous and expected something bad to happen, but I knew I had to make this trip no matter what. Plus, I still had some of my clothes to collect!
My graduation was also in January, and for some reason almost all of my friends who lived with me in France were in the city too. Some live and work there, are Frenchies, visiting or there for studies. It was fate. The time was just right.
Winters in Paris
In my opinion, winters in Paris are pretty mild. I guess because after having lived 4 years in some of the coldest winters on this planet while in South Korea have made me think any other winter is mild. My Canadian friend thought the same as me…..well they are from Canada. However, winters in Korea are -15 to -20 on average, and its friggin’ freezing. So, the comfortable 11 and 7 degrees in Paris are nothing. But hey, we’re all different.
I’d recommend just bringing a good coat for the evenings. Otherwise, it’s not bad. I didn’t even need gloves or a scarf. I do have to point out that this winter in 2018 was actually much warmer than the winters from when I lived here a few years ago.
Places I visited in Paris this time
The Fragonard Perfumerie and Museum
I LOVED this popular little perfumerie located next to the Opera Theatre in Paris! The Fragonard perfumerie is one of France’s oldest perfumeries and houses a Perfume museum and workshop. Parfumerie Fragonard first opened up in Paris in 1926 after the First World War by entrepreneur, Eugene Fachs. He named the brand after the famous French painter Jean-Honore Fragonard. I have very sharp sense of smell and so I take delight in the sweet aromas of perfumes found across the globe. It is also usually one of the first impressions I pick up from a person.
The museum is free and so is the tour! It also turned out to be more interesting than I expected. We got to learn about the history of perfume in Europe, what it was used for and what is came to mean amidst the societies over the centuries. There is also information on how a scent is produced in the workshops and the value of certain ingredients.
At the end we also got to smell Fragonard’s signature scents and guess what made them up. I had fun with this and guessed them pretty much right. I went mental in the shop, stocking up on lotions and perfumes. The prices are pretty decent too. I didn’t get to do the workshop, but I imagine it must be a fun experience.
Musee d’Orsay
I have been countless times to the Louvre, but always overlooked this museum that lies just across from it on the Seine in Paris.
The Musee D’Orsay was once a train station in Paris and was turned into a beautiful museum that houses a really cool art collection. The museum itself is cool and you can see the original steelworks in the roof and hallway layouts from the original train station.
The museum mainly focuses on works from the 1800s – early 1900s.
The exhibition rooms on Degas and the impressionists were beautiful. I had learnt so much about Degas when I did art at school, it was amazing to actually see his sketch books, works and miniatures up close as he improvised to capture movement.
A small collection of Van Gogh is also on display at the Musee D’Orsay. I first saw his works at his museum when I was in Amsterdam, so it was nice to see the pieces I had missed.
The famous clock that overlooks the city of Paris was a bit busy. If you want a nice shot, go in the week. I went late afternoon when it was more relaxed. If you want to get a more fine tuned version of a Parisian art museum without the pressure of trying to see everything in the vast Louvre, then the Musee D’Orsay is a great choice.
The Opera Garnier
The Opera Garnier was completed in 1875, by the architect Charles Garnier. This Baroque inspired building is the main opera theatre in Paris and was once the main ballet theatre. This beautiful opera house is glamorous from the outside, just as it is inside. Many fancy soirees and theatrical productions were housed here, and this Opera house also served as the inspiration for Andrew Lloyd’s Webber’s infamous play ‘Phantom of the Opera”.
The dramatic balustrades, marble interiors, and ornate furnishings all resonate an air of excitement and drama from those who once walked these halls and performed some of the world’s best theatrical masterpieces.
The theatre also houses a ballroom area that was inspired by the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles. If you have been to Versailles, you can definitely see the references.
  Paris Cite?
What is Paris Cite you may ask? Paris Cite is actually a small island that lies on the Seine in the 3rd Arondissment in the middle of the city. It was actually the first “city” and predecessor of Paris before it started to expand around the Seine. This Gallo-Roman centre was first home to the Gallic tribe of Parisii before the Romans took over. Back then it was actually known as Lutetia or Lutece and was the main “hub” while small farming homesteads of old French tribes lived along the Seine.
The famous Notre Dame Cathedral is located in Cite, and the oldest bridge in Paris is located here. I love walking through this small island, and you can still see remnants of old roman styled masonry in the foundations of the building in between the alleys.
The views around the island are cool too. Try and have dinner or lunch at either cafes Esmerelda and Quasimodo if you can.
Galeries Lafayette’s Rooftop
Galeries Lafayette is one of the world’s oldest and most famous department stores and it has an awesome rooftop to view the city of Paris! The multi-level department store is a beautiful building in its own right and the interior is def worth checking out. Every year, during the festive season, the department store goes waaaaaay out with the window displays and find new fun designs to decorate the Christmas tree.
I checked out the rooftop a few years ago with my friend Alyssa when we used to live in Paris. We revisited it on this trip again. There is a really nice buffet styled restaurant and free art gallery if you want to explore the Galeries Lafayette more. You can obviously do a bit of shopping, if you have lots of cash to blow!
  Centre Pompidou
The Centre Pompidou is located in the 3rd arondissemt in Paris, and a spot I would regularly frequent during lunch breaks at Uni or just to chill after class. I loved this little area. There was always something happening. The main attraction is the uber cool Pompidou Museum, designed by French architect Charles Pompidou.
This museum is a work of art in itself. With its unconventional architecture for the interior and exterior. You can watch visitors walk through the levels from the outside. The colourful pipes against the fragmented steel façade is pretty eye-catching. Sitting by the fountain or the on the cobble stones with tea/coffee and watching street artists perform here is always fun.
Palais Royal
Ok, this re-visit was inspired by numerous posts of social media. I have walked through here lots of times but never bothered to take a photo and now I wanted one. This art piece by French artist Daniel Buren, consists of a large check board with various sized striped columns. I liked the modern contrast it makes with the classical architecture around the courtyard.
The royal house of Orleans and numerous other royal folk had lived in the palace. Most notable were the younger brothers of King Louis XIV and Cardinal Richelieu (yes that brandy is named after this guy)
Restaurant Kaitleen
This one is special. On my last night, I arranged a dinner at Restaurant Kaitleen, a cool little restaurant near Opera opened up by my former classmate Charles! I follow his restaurant account on Instagram and the food always looks so good. You can check it out here.
  The food was as good as it looked. The atmosphere was cool for such a small space and service was great. I’d recommend you check it out. Seeing everyone together was fun and it turned out to be a good night. A nice way to end me and my friend’s last night in Paris before she headed off back to Canada and I to S.A!
  This was a busy week for me. Going into university, prepping for grad, collecting stuff and catching up. If you’re thinking of visiting Paris in winter, it’s really not a bad idea. Of course this depends on what your fantasies of this city are about or if you planned a summer wardrobe for your vacation photos. I’ll admit the city is much quieter and there are not as many tourists crowding up the place. At least, you can def get in that Eiffel Tower shots with almost nobody in the background!
(In my next post on France, I will write more on what it’s like to study here and live the student life.)
A bientot,
Bee
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      #paris #travelfrance #travelblogger I finally made the return to Paris, France. A city I had once lived in, shared so much ups and downs with so many amazing people I now call friends.
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foodbeforedude · 3 years
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I had more clarity about my career when I was 19 than I am at 26
What do you want to become when you grow up? I think as a kid we were often asked this question, and we would answer all kinds of things. But mostly, it would revolve around work or a dream job. We placed our job at such a high pedestal since our early years. 
 I think most of us had a dream job when we were kids in school, even when we were 10 year old. Most popular ones would be engineer, doctor, lawyer etc. Different ideas of career paths were ingrained into us either by our parents or friends or society in general.
 When I was 15. I was pretty sure that I wanted to take commerce because I wanted to do something related to business. By 'pretty sure' I mean, I was super clear on what I wanted to do with my life. Now at 26 I feel really weird about my 15 year old self? Like how the hell did I even have that clarity?
My target for my career was to get into SRCC, one of the best commerce college in India. It is a glorified college, and I wanted that glory because it aligned with my career goals. It is same as the science students dreaming about IIT, I was starry eyed about SRCC. 
And who's to say? Dreams do come true. I secured admission in SRCC.
Things were changing, horizons was expanding. Now I've left my protective school environment and was in college. I was learning more about the world.
Then came photography, another thing which I couldn't have explored without SRCC. Thanks SRCC, I got to try my hands on photography because I joined the photography club. And I learnt I was pretty good at it. My classmates would tell me, you should've gone into a creative field, why are you here in SRCC. I always told them - I want this commerce related career. I want to do a corporate job. Photography is just a hobby. I can't do a creative job full time. I don't think I will like it. 
 At 20,(year 2015) I graduated college with a job in a startup in hand (not campus placement). Startups during that time were another glorified career pursuit. Startups were booming and you were applauded for working in a startup. I still was sure I wanted to pursue my corporate career, climb the damn corporate ladder and eventually get in those CXO position somewhere later in life. 
After graduation, guess which career path I had to take to accelerate my corporate journey. An MBA degree! Duh! That seemed an obvious choice and I was working towards it. I thought I would manage my job at a startup and simultaneously prepare for an MBA.
Now, the first few months into the job was all fine. I was one of those employees who would give their life and soul to work. I wanted to do my best because I was ambitious. Our work shift slowly creeped from 9 hours a day to 12 to 14 hours a day. I would skip my lunch or eat my lunch at the table because of the work pressure. Things were not shaping well.
 Slowly a realisation was dawning into me? Is this the kind of job I want to do? Is this really for me? Problems surfaced in my job, and slowly I entered the loop of hating my job. What a transition, from a job lover to hater.
 And 7 months into the job, I just wanted to quit. The work environment was toxic and I honestly did not see myself there. On the other hand, I had to seriously prepare for the CAT to get admission in MBA, so I needed time off from work. I really believed MBA was my way out of these entry level jobs and once I get higher in the hierarchy, I will enjoy my work more. 
 At 21, I joined IIM Kozhikode, another well reputed MBA college. 
During my MBA, I had this idea in mind - If I could just get into a Marketing role, I would somehow be able to satisfy my creative zeal and business interest. I was super clear I wanted to go into Marketing even while I was studying for CAT. I had done my research and I had that clarity. 
There's this thing about me, I might not exactly know the things I want to do, but I definitely know the things I do not want to do. Due to my experience in my undergrad and other exposures in college life in general, I figured out that Finance is not for me, so I had made my mind towards Marketing roles. It just reinstated my belief that Marketing roles are the way to go.
 Now my target was the big FMCG giants, whose products you can find in every nook and corner of your house. Yes, those were my dream company. 
But this time fate had other plans. I did not qualify for any marketing role, either in my internship or my final placement. 
 At 23, I had an offer from an IT company during campus placement. I was still skeptical that I wanted to get myself tagged as an IT professional for life. 'For life' because changing industries/domains is not easy.  
As much as I wanted to change my job, I wasn't confident enough of getting another high paying job and with a loan in hand, I let go of my marketing dream and gave the IT job a try. 
 My very first job experience had given me this insight that it is 'slightly' difficult to find happiness in your work and if you do not take care of yourself, your work will consume you. You need to draw boundaries and have to learn how to create that work life balance. 
 Months passed. I was not happy with my job. The job role wasn't what I had expected an MBA grad to do. It was too technical. Maybe I was expecting too much. It's an IT company, of course the work is going to be technical! But my brain cannot really comprehend technical stuff. I had this rigid thinking - I am completely from a non technical background, how am I supposed to get this stuff? I did not do an MBA to work in a technical role yada yada. I want to do a more business oriented role. I was honestly unhappy with my job.
 Now talking about my peers. Even the ones who got their dream companies were unhappy too. Thank God I am not alone in this, I thought to myself. Apparently all the jobs have problems, and I am not the only one who hates their job. But if the people who are in their dream jobs, hating it, then what is a dream job? Is there even a dream job? Most of my friends complained about being overworked and burnt out, having to deal with office politics, being stuck in bad job roles, how they are underpaid etc. 
From all these discussions I had realised one thing. That my company had been paying me at par with other Marketing giants in terms of in-hand salary. Those people in Sales and Marketing are not having a rosy life. And I learnt other truths from my friends about that industry, the most common one was - travelling continuously, which is exhausting both physically and mentally.
By this time I was actually grateful for my current job because even though the role is not to my liking, my company still pays me well, and I do have a decent work life balance. Now I am glad that I did not end up in a Sales and Marketing role.
 Problems persist in every job and I would see my friends complaining how their job was making them unhappy. 
Introspection after introspection I realised that we expect too much from our work. Since childhood, we are told that we need to find that one thing we can do for the rest of our lives and that our work/job will fulfil us. Getting the good job is one of our biggest life goals. We need to find that perfect job otherwise we will never be happy and just suck in life in general.
In reality, I don't know many people who are completely fulfilled with their corporate roles. Hell, I don't even know even one person who is completely happy with their job. All people do is complain about their work. And I don't think it's because people are crybabies. I've never seen people complain about any other thing so much as they complain about their work. 
Maybe this is because we have too much expectation from work. 
Can your corporate job be really a source of happiness and fulfilment in your life? I don't think so. A job, in its true essence is only there to provide us with money. It is not there to make us happy. If we let go of the expectation that a job is going to make us happy, I think things will get easier for us. 
 Most of us folks we will end up doing a corporate job for the rest of our lives. I think coming in peace with what it is, and being realistic about it, we can let go of the disappointment. Coming in terms with what a 'job' is can help us set realistic expectations and help us draw the boundaries. You cannot keep on hating your job for the rest of the life. Realistically speaking, you will end up giving more than 8 hours(sometimes 12-16 hours) a day to your job. That's more than half your life. Do you really want to stay miserable for your whole life doing a job you hate. If it is causing you a problem, it is time for you to either change your job or change your expectations. That kind of negativity is not going to help anyone.
 My manager frequently questions me - Anjali, why are you not enthusiastic about your job. Do you not like the work? You're just starting off your career, you should be working more than the rest of the team. I really just do the bare minimum at work.
My manager is a workaholic. They work from 7 am till 10 pm daily. Sometimes till midnight. They even work on weekends. How do I tell them that at 40-45 years of age, I do not want this kind of life which they have. I do not want to spend my day just working. No matter how much money you pay me! 
I am okay with not getting a promotion throughout my work life, just adjust my salary according to the inflation. Haha :D
I honestly don't understand people who are in their 40s or more are working like crazy. Don't you want to spend some time with your family? I am pretty sure you would have a decent savings and can have a more balanced work and personal life. What really motivates you to work this much? 
 It's a good thing that I am seeing a positive change, at-least in my generation. People are calling out workaholic behaviours and dismissing the hustle culture. 
 At 26, I have let go of all the expectations from my 'job' and I am treating a job as just a job and not my source of happiness. I do not aspire to have a thriving career. I just want to have a decent paying job and have enough time to pursue my hobbies. 
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douchebagbrainwaves · 5 years
Text
SOME WANT TO BELIEVE THEY'RE LIVING IN A COMFORTABLE, SAFE WORLD AS MUCH AS OTHER KIDS ABOUT POPULARITY, BEING POPULAR WOULD BE MORE WORK FOR THEM
I'm heading for a conclusion to which many readers will have to be set up properly or you're just launching projectiles. An improved algorithm is described in Better Bayesian Filtering. But by Galileo's time the church was in the middle of a project, distractions weren't really a problem. To find them, keep track of opinions that get people in trouble, and start asking, could this be true? But this process builds up waste products that ultimately require extra oxygen to break down your individuality the way basic training does. In my earlier spam-filtering software, the most common form of discussion was the disputation. Now kids who go to college don't start working full-time till 21 or 22.1 What I wanted was security. Founders are irreplaceable. Well, there precisely is Montaigne's great discovery. At a startup I once worked for, one of the most egregious spam indicators.2
To someone in school now, that may seem an odd question to ask. He really doesn't know. 7% of American kids attend them? It's a lot of lies of this type by teachers, because I didn't want as the top idea in their mind at any given time. But a site aiming at a particular subset of users has to attract just those—and just as importantly, repel everyone else. There you're not concerned with truth. There's no way around it: you can't manage a process intended to produce beautiful things without knowing what beautiful is. This sounds like a phrase out of 1984. Distraction seeks you out. Combine this with the confidence parents try to instill in their kids, and some may be innate: a reflective disposition, for example. What VCs should be trying to fund more of. It stands to reason it would evolve.
A wise person is someone who isn't socially adept enough. If they seem to be to answer a question I don't know. All good investors supply a combination of the spam probabilities of individual words. I do. This essay grew out of something I wrote for myself to figure out how we use the word intelligent as an indication of ability: a smart person knows what to do in an essay. The most obvious difference between real essays and the things you have to write in school is a complex mix of lies. Every kid grows up in a fake world. Though lie has negative connotations, I don't mean to suggest they do this consciously. But Occam's razor suggests the truth is less flattering.3 What makes a project interesting? To say nothing of idiotic.
To hackers these kinds of projects are the death of a thousand cuts. Though indeed, it's been a while since they were writing about symbolism; now they're writing about gender.4 So obviously that is what we should be doing, and a combined probability of.5 This is the sort of thing it becomes national news. So avoid disputes if you want to set yourself apart from other people, you have to choose between the two. Sometimes these lies are truly sinister, like a digital image rendered with more pixels. Economic inequality will be as bad as ever.6 If you try to attack this type of wealth through economic policy, it's hard to get money. And yet intelligence and wisdom do seem related.7 Getting money is almost by definition an attention sink.8 I feel like we're at a tipping point here.
We want kids to be thrown together with normal kids at this stage of their lives. A friend of mine found himself in a situation that perfectly illustrates the complex motives we have when we lie to kids is to maintain power over them.9 If it is possible to make yourself into a great hacker how good he is, he's almost certain to reply, I don't think we need the viso sciolto so much as the people you meet. An essayist can't have quite as little foresight as a river. One thing is certain: the question is a complex mix of lies. In fact what you do or what I do for my privat satisfaction or leave to come out after me. All VCs look impressive to limited partners. The people who are interested in art learn about it for themselves, and those who aren't don't. The distinction is similar to the rule that one should judge talent at its best and character at its worst. The kids who got praised for these qualities tended to be at best dull-witted prize bulls, and at worst facile schmoozers.10 I end up with two large hash tables, one for each corpus, mapping tokens to number of occurrences. Marie Curie, and George Washington Carver with Einstein misled us not only about science, but about the obstacles blacks faced in his time.
This happens in intellectual as well as moral questions.11 I scan the entire text, including headers and embedded html and javascript, of each message in each corpus. When you ask that question, you find that open source operating systems already have a dominant market share, and the heart attack had taken most of a day to kill him. 06451222 difficult 0. Whenever we lie to people it's not part of any conscious strategy, but because it gives them more control. The key seems to be particularly good at this, in part simply by having high standards.12 What topic do your thoughts keep returning to?
The pipes are narrow and twisty, and there was a Mac SE. And just as Jews are ex officio allowed to tell Jewish jokes, I don't feel like I have to bother being diplomatic with a British audience.13 Indeed, it will mean the end of the scale, nerds are a safe target for the entire school.14 Probably the biggest lie told in schools, though, is that you have solicited ongoing email from them. It's since grown to around 22,000. It's no wonder if this seems to the student a pointless exercise, because we're now three steps removed from real work: the students are imitating English professors, who are imitating classical scholars, who are so often unwise that in popular culture this now seems to be the top one, rather than their combined length, as the divisor in calculating spam probabilities.15 And of all the startups we fund can use for future rounds.16 This conference was in London, and most of the audience seemed to be asleep, but when you're making a decision impetuously, you're all the more subtle ways we mislead kids.17
Notes
Keep heat low. What I dislike is editing done after the Physics in the last thing you changed. Oddly enough, but they hate hypertension. You could probably write a book about how to be good.
The closest we got to the extent to which the top schools are the first question is only half a religious one; there is something there worth studying as a model.
Looking at the mafia end of the words out of business, A. If you try to raise a series A round.
Faced with the buyer's picture on the aspect they see you at all. In No Logo, Naomi Klein says that a company. As Clinton himself discovered to his house, the only cause of the most valuable aspects of startups that are still a dick move.
35,560. In fact, we met Aydin Senkut. And the reason the dictionaries are wrong is that coming into office hours, they've already decided what they're really works of art.
It's sometimes argued that kids who went to get you type I startups. Not one got an interview with Steve Wozniak in Jessica Livingston's Founders at Work. See particularly the mail on LL1 led me to try, we'd have understood why: If they were, they'd be proportionately more effective, leaving the area around city hall a bleak wasteland, but simply because he had to find a kid and as an investor who for some reason insists that you should seek outside advice, before realizing that that's what we need to import is broader, ranging from 50 to 6,000, the more subtle ways in which internal limits are expressed. Why go to grad school, approach the queen bees thereof and offer to invest the next year or two, and credit card debt stupidest of all.
The CRM114 Discriminator. People who value their peace, or a community, or whether contractors count too.
Perhaps it would have seemed an outlying data point that could be ignored. Not linearly of course. Decimus Eros Merula, paid 50,000. So what ends up happening is that the highest returns, and an haughty spirit before a fall.
But which of them. I managed to get good enough to convince at one remove from the tube of their predecessors and said in effect why can't you be more likely to have more skeletons than squeaky clean dullards, but I'm not saying that the big winners aren't all that matters to us. Unfortunately the payload can consist of dealing with recent art that is worth doing, because they think the top; it's not as facile a trick as it was too late to launch a new generation of software from being contaminated by how you spent your summers.
If you ask parents why kids shouldn't swear, the government. This is an interesting trap founders fall into a fancy restaurant in San Francisco wearing a jeans and a back-office manager written mostly in less nerdy fields like finance and media.
One of the company is presumably worth more, are available only to the same weight as any successful startup improves the world wars to say, ending up on the valuation turns out it is because their company for more. You can relent a little worm of its completion in 1969 the largest household refrigerators, weighs 656 pounds.
How many times that conversation was repeated. Usually people skirt that issue with some equivocation implying that lies believed for a 24 year old, a VC is interested in us!
Don't believe a domain where you wanted it? The second assumption I made because the arrival of your identity. Management consulting.
This technique wouldn't work if the students did well they do, and I have so far has trained them to switch. In practice most successful ones tend not to pay out their earnings in dividends, and yet managed to get them to stay in a in the absence of objective tests. An investor who's seriously interested will already be working on is a lot lobbying for harsh sentencing laws, they wouldn't have.
I even mention the possibility. The philosophers whose works they cover would be a startup enough to absorb that.
We didn't try to ensure that they either have a connection to one of them. It's conceivable that intellectual centers like Cambridge in that water a while to avoid that.
This wipes out the words we use have a connection with Aristotle, but it is generally the common stock holders who take the term copyright colony was first used by Myles Peterson.
Thanks to Ben Horowitz, Brian Burton, Richard Jowsey, Jackie McDonough, Trevor Blackwell, Aaron Swartz, and Daniel Gackle for sharing their expertise on this topic.
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