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thefactsofthematter · 3 years

Note

hi bestie <3 you said send in some requests, so i'm suggesting:

javid with, "it's not okay! you're not fine!"?

i hope you have a good day !!!

hi bestie <333 i had so much fun with this, i haven't done a short little fic in ages!! here's a 2.7k javid fic - a college au and a classic (emotional) hurt/comfort type deal, heavy on the comfort ;)

"Wanna come for dinner at my parents' house tonight?"

Davey is laying on Jack's couch after his last class of the day, since Jack's apartment is just off campus, and it's a ridiculously convenient place to go nap after a long day of school. He honestly spends more time here than at his own apartment that he shares with his sister, a short train ride away.

"I'd love to," Jack replies, his gaze still glued to his computer screen, "but I totally forgot I have an art history paper due at midnight, analyzing a painting, and I haven't started. It needs to be ten pages, and I don't even have an outline. I'm gonna sit here and write until my eyeballs fall out."

Davey laughs softly.

"That sucks. Do you at least have some research done?"

Jack turns to him with completely dead eyes.

"Not a single academic source."

Davey glances at the clock. Jack has seven hours to pull this off, which is doable, but... intense. It would've been a lot easier to spread it out over a few afternoons, and it'll be a painful squeeze to get ten comprehensible pages of writing done tonight. Jack can write decently fast, but his spelling and grammar are atrocious, so he'll have to factor in editing time too. Davey is not envious of these circumstances in the slightest.

"Shit. Good luck. That sounds awful, but I'm rooting for you. What's your prof's late assignment policy?"

Jack, entirely beaten down, leans forward to rest his forehead on his keyboard.

"He won't accept them past the due date without a good reason... which I don't have. I'm just an idiot and forgot to put it in my planner— thank god Romeo texted me today to ask if I was done."

Davey pushes himself up and walks over to where Jack is sitting at his little dining table, under the constantly-flickering fluorescent bulb. He wraps his arms around Jack's shoulders and kisses the back of his neck.

"You got this. I'll come back here after dinner and bring you leftovers, okay? My mom's gonna be sad you couldn't make it, so she'll totally pack up a plate for you."

"You don't have to come all the way here," Jack sighs. "Your place is closer to your parents, and this is out of your way— you have work in the morning anyways, so you should go home and go to bed. I'll be fine, I'll probably write faster alone anyways."

Davey kisses him again, this time leaning around to plant one on his cheek.

"If you're sure." Jack's plan is probably the smart move, since Davey's shifts at his stupid coffee shop job start ridiculously early, and coming here would mean staying up with Jack until he finishes, probably distracting him. "In that case, I'll see you tomorrow after work, and I'll bring the food then... keep me posted about the paper, text me when you finish. And make sure you eat something."

Jack turns back to look at him with a strained, stressed attempt at a smile.

"For sure. Go have a nice time with your family, and tell everyone I say hi."

"Aba, you're doing it wrong. You have to use your left arm."

It's getting late in the evening, dinner has been eaten, and Les is trying to coordinate the family to make a TikTok with him. It's not exactly going well.

"My left or your left?"

"It doesn't matter, we have the same left!"

Davey has thankfully been placed in the back row, both because he's tall and lanky, and because he's so uncoordinated that Mom used to make you wear one of those leash backpacks as a kid to keep you from wandering into traffic... which is true, but Davey isn't sure why Les even knows about that. He certainly wasn't around yet when that was the case, so he probably heard it from Sarah.

While Les tries once again to explain how this little dance is supposed to work, Davey's phone starts to buzz in his pocket. It's probably a spam call, but he's not particularly invested in the dance lesson so he pulls it out to check.

Incoming call: cowboy babyy 💖🤠

Davey frowns. Jack never calls him. It's always texts or voice memos, since he's got some kind of weird aversion to talking on the phone. If he's calling, it must be important.

"Hi babe," he says, pressing his phone to his ear and walking off to his old bedroom to get some quiet, while Les shouts at him in the background for not taking this seriously. "How's the homework going?"

Jack is quiet for a second too long as Davey toes the door shut.

"...Not great. I'm really frustrated." He pauses and sniffles a little, sounding almost like he's holding back tears. "I don't know why I called you while you're having a good time with your family, though. I shouldn't be bugging you."

"Hey," Davey breathes, "you're not bugging me at all, sweetheart. Is the paper not going well?"

"I just... I'm so bad at writing, and I don't know what I'm talking about, and I have no idea how I'm gonna get this done in time." His voice is shaking, and it's breaking Davey's heart a little. "I'm being dramatic, though. I just need to keep working on it."

Davey sits down on the edge of what's now a guest bed, his old outer space-themed comforter replaced with something more neutral.

"You're not dramatic, it's okay to be upset. Do you want me to come over and help?"

Jack's breath hitches softly, and it confirms that he's almost definitely crying.

"You don't have to, you're busy with your folks. I'm sorry for calling." He shudders a little as he must try to take a deep breath. "It's okay... I'm fine."

Davey sighs, almost exasperated with Jack's self-sacrificial sense of pride. He'll never ask for anything for himself, not wanting anyone to go out of their way for him, even when he seems to be having a panic attack of sorts.

"It's not okay; you're clearly not fine, Jackie," he replies. "We already ate, and I'm not busy. If you want me to come over, I'll be there... do you?"

Jack is quiet for a moment again, taking a deep, shaky breath.

"Yeah. I do."

Davey nods, though Jack can't see him.

"Okay. I want you to take a little break from writing until I get there, alright? Change into your pyjamas and have a glass of water. Try to relax a little."

"Okay... thanks Davey."

The call ends, and Davey rejoins his family while tucking his phone away in his pocket.

"I have to go." He kisses his mother on the head as he walks by. "Thanks for dinner, Ima."

"Is everything okay?" she asks, catching him gently by the elbow before he can get too far.

"Yeah..." he sighs. "Jack's just having a hard time with homework, I'm gonna go help him out."

His father ruffles his hair and gives him a quick hug.

"You're a good boy, David. Take him those leftovers— your mother's cooking can fix anything."

"For sure. I'll see you guys next weekend, and I'll try to bring Jack along then."

He waves goodbye to Sarah and Les, grabs the dish of food, and then sets off on a speed-walk to the nearest subway station.

Jack is sitting on the couch when he arrives, his knees pulled to his chest, looking very soft and cozy in pyjama pants and one of Davey's old hoodies from some baseball tournament. He's staring into space, and he hardly even moves to acknowledge Davey's presence when he walks in.

"Hey darling." Davey leaves the dish of food on the counter and crouches down in front of Jack to try and catch his eye-line. He carefully takes Jack's hands in his own. "Hanging in there?"

Jack finally looks at him and nods, but as he blinks, more tears slip out and roll down his cheeks.

"I'm only done two pages," he mumbles, practically whispering. "I don't know why it's so hard, but I just can't do it."

"Oh, Jackie..." Davey reaches up to wipe Jack's tears, cupping his face gently with both hands. "Hey, you still have three hours, right?" Jack nods. "That's lots of time. We're gonna figure this out... let's just sit here and calm down a little first. It's gonna be okay."

He climbs up onto the couch to pull Jack into a hug, and the moment he's settled, Jack wraps his arms around him and breaks, sobbing into his shoulder. Davey cards his fingers through his hair and rubs his back; he's never seen Jack this distraught, especially not over homework. There's a good chance the problem runs a lot deeper, and stressing over an assignment was simply the last straw.

"You're alright," Davey continues, since talking is what he does best, even in moments like this. Jack is shaking with the force of his tears, breathing so hard Davey worries he might hyperventilate. "Listen, it's just one assignment, my love... if you get a bad grade, or if we don't finish in time, we can deal with that. We'll hand in whatever we finish tonight, so at least you won't get a zero. Worst case scenario, you retake this class in the spring... even that doesn't sound so bad, does it? I know you could handle it, if that's what happens."

Jack nods a little, but his tears don't stop.

"I'm so tired of being stupid," he hiccups, after a long while. "I keep getting distracted, and I can't word things right, and I spell everything wrong, and- and maybe I should just drop out, because I'm clearly not meant to be doing this."

"Baby..." Davey sighs, giving him a gentle kiss on the temple. "You're so intelligent, Jack. You're almost done your degree— after this term, you've only got one year left, and it's not like you do poorly in your classes, is it? Even when it's something hard for you, like writing, you always do well when you put in the work. What did you get on your sociology paper a couple weeks ago?"

"Ninety percent," Jack mumbles, muffled by the way he's speaking into Davey's shoulder. "But I spent so long on it, and you edited it for me. I'm gonna fail this one. I can't do it in one night, and I can't write papers without your help."

"Well, I'm here to help now, aren't I?" He rests his hand midway through brushing it through Jack's hair and scratches his scalp gently, which makes Jack shiver and laugh quietly through his tears. "Right? And you can write, darling— all I do is fix up the spelling and grammar for you. The ideas and words are all you, just like when you give presentations and knock it out of the park every time. I sure can't do that."

Jack finally looks up at him.

"Yes you can. You get nervous beforehand, but when you do a presentation, it's always really good."

Davey smiles at him, now that they're actually looking at each other.

"It's hard for me, though. Just like writing is for you— but with lots of effort, you're really good at it. See my point?"

Slowly, a small smile spreads across Jack's teary-eyed face, and he nods. Davey feels rather accomplished with this development.

"I guess so." He wipes at his eyes and sighs. "Sorry about this. I'm such a mess."

"No apologies. I don't blame you for getting overwhelmed— you're in a tough spot here." He pulls Jack in for a quick kiss, which they both smile into. "I brought you dinner. Go heat it up when you're ready; I'll look over what you've written so far and see if I can come up with some more ideas to add on. We're gonna work together on it, okay? What painting did you choose?"

"The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew by Caravaggio," Jack sighs, looking almost forlornly at his computer on the table. "I have a lot to say about it, and lots of good stuff in my notes, but I just can't put it into paragraphs and sentences that make sense."

Davey nods, watching Jack as he stands up to go put the leftovers from Davey's family in the microwave.

"Well, I don't know anything about paintings, but if you talk me through it, I can help you put the actual paper together." He pauses as an idea dawns on him. "I'm gonna email your professor and ask about an extension— it might be a shot in the dark, but we should at least try. The worst he can do is say no."

"Sure," Jack replies from the kitchen, his voice still shaky. "He's a total hardass, though. Fingers crossed for a miracle."

Davey sits at the table, opens up Jack's email, and starts a draft.

Hi Professor Diaz,

Apologies for the short notice, but I'm wondering if it would be possible to have an extension on the analysis assignment, even if it's just by a few hours. I unfortunately mixed up some due dates in my planner, and I thought I had an extra week for this assignment; I only realized the mistake today, so I'm currently scrambling to get it done in time.

Would it be at all possible to turn it in a few hours late, just to have a bit more time to finish it up? I would really appreciate any amount of time you're willing to give me.

Thank you in advance for your understanding, Jack Kelly

He shrugs, sends it, and sincerely hopes a little professionalism and a decent (if slightly fabricated to make Jack look less forgetful) excuse will go a long way.

It's quarter to eleven, the paper is now five-and-a-half pages long, and Jack isn't crying anymore. He's in the zone, talking aloud about the painting while Davey helps him get his vague ideas into concrete sentences, and they're on track to have at least seven or eight pages by the time midnight rolls around— it might not get full marks, but it'll be better than nothing.

Jack's computer dings with the sound of a new email while they're taking a two-minute break— something they've interspersed every half hour, since Jack's focus is best in shorter bouts. He's in the middle of walking laps around the apartment to get his energy out and annoy his downstairs neighbours, but he scrambles back to the computer at the noise.

"We got a reply!" he shouts.

Davey is over on the couch, and he watches Jack's face closely as he opens the email. So far, so good... and then he slumps down in his chair in a show of what could either be defeat or relief. Davey can't quite tell, so he jumps up to go read it for himself.

Sure. Email it by 11:59pm tomorrow.

Sent from my iPhone

"Yes!" Davey shouts, grabbing Jack by the shoulders. "I told you it was worth a shot!"

Jack laughs, and then reaches up to pull Davey down for a kiss.

"You're the best, Jacobs. A fucking lifesaver." He rubs at his eyes, and then pushes his computer away, across the table. "I'll deal with this tomorrow. Let's just go to bed— you still have to be up early."

Right. Davey has a dreaded Saturday morning opening shift tomorrow— they open at five, and he has to be there well in advance to get set up, so he's got no chance at getting more than a few hours of sleep. He's going to be dead on his feet in the morning, probably fuck up a few coffee orders, but it'll be worth it to have helped Jack through tonight.

Poor Jack seems completely exhausted— as anyone would be after crying so hard earlier— so collapsing into bed after washing up quickly is an utter relief. Davey, despite being tall and long-limbed, greatly enjoys being the little spoon and Jack is happy to indulge him, so they curl into the familiar position.

"Thank you for everything tonight," Jack whispers, practically into Davey's ear. "I love you so much."

Davey smiles as his eyes fall shut, and he kisses Jack's knuckles softly, where his arm is wrapped around him.

"Any time, darling. I love you too."

#both my current projects are slow burns so an established relationship fic feels good #hope u enjoyed it!!!#javid #jack kelly #davey jacobs #newsies fic #my writing

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ravireyes · 3 years

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BASIC INFORMATION.

Full name: ravi reyes Nickname: vi, vivi !!! Birthdate: february 14th, 1992 Age: 28 Zodiac: aquarius sun, cancer moon, scorpio rising Gender: nonbinary Pronouns: he/him/his Romantic orientation: biromantic Sexual orientation: bisexual Nationality: english Ethnicity: east indian, english Ranking: virtue Affiliation: famine

BACKGROUND.

Birthplace: London, UK Hometown: London, UK Social Class: born middle class, currently too rich to even be a class, probably Educational achievements: a fancy degree in business in a fancy school Father: dhaval barot Mother: elizabeth barot Sibling(s): none Pets: his pride and joy uriel, the meter-long argentine tegu that he got as a gift Previous relationships: carman, briefly in college. one particularly serious relationship with [redacted]. countless meaningless flings and one-night-stands before marcus Arrests: resisting arrest (while drunk) once but it was totally a misunderstanding. three times for sleeping rough, as a minor living on the streets after getting kicked out. has successfully managed to annoy/charm everyone in the station until charges were dropped every time Prison time: none

OCCUPATION & INCOME.

Current occupation: virtue at famine / lifestyle influencer / event planner Dream occupation: living the dream, honestly Past job(s): anything that paid, from 16 to 23. most notorious have been: attendant at every single chain of fast-food restaurant (he collected them), server at a five-star restaurant in which he made mad tips by flirting with rich old people, a failed attempt at a strip club that lasted one week, 100 bucks made by stick-and-poking at a party once, and selling common household items as if they were precious relics to antique shops Spending habits: notorious. he likes being pampered, by himself or others. and he loves fashion too much to simply not buy the latest versace collection. also known to buy a lot of great presents In debt?: no. paid off his uni debt when he married, babey

SKILLS & ABILITIES.

Physical strength: below average / average / above average Speed: below average / average / above average Intelligence: below average / average / above average Accuracy: below average / average / above average Agility: below average / average / above average Stamina: below average / average / above average Teamwork: it depends. if he has to crawl his way to the top, he's probably an absolute angel about it, will suck up to anyone he has to suck up to. gets the job done. nowadays that he's sitting on top, he's a nuisance, but he still does his part Talents: adaptable, sociable, overactive imagination, can tie a cherry stem with his tongue Shortcomings: spoiled nowadays, jealous, easy to anger, can't parallel park to save his life Languages spoken: english, has hindi as a second language but doesn't speak it anymore, enough spanish to call himself fluent even though he might mess up everything's pronouns Drive?: yes (debatable) Jump-start a car?: no Change a flat tyre?: no Ride a bicycle?: yes Swim?: yes Play an instrument?: dabbled in guitar as a kid, so he knows the basics Play chess?: yes, terribly Braid hair?: yes Tie a tie?: yes, but does he ask marcus to do it every time? also yes. Pick a lock?: no Cook?: yes, but he refuses to. still makes a mean grilled cheese, though.

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE AND CHARACTERISTICS.

Faceclaim: avan jogia Eye colour: dark brown Hair colour: black Hair type: wavy Glasses/contacts?: no Dominant hand: right Height: 5'9ft / 1,80m Build: lean by nature and somewhat toned from doing yoga religiously and training with leon, but not muscular Exercise habits: yoga every morning and training with leon, not much otherwise Tattoos: too many to name them all, has his arms covered in various designs, most of his legs, some of his torso; harry styles-esque, not any full sleeves, just a bunch of random small drawings. his favorites are the ones he convinced marcus to stick-and-poke into him: a sun on his arm, a moon on his wrist, and a little peach on his butt! also has a tiny black heart on the side of his finger where his wedding ring sits. plus, any femfam member who wants to have matching tattoos or have stick-and-poked something into him, he would love that, leave your hcs in the notes below Piercings: both ears pierced. used to have both nipples pierced, got bored of the look eventually and took them out a couple of years ago. got an eyebrow piercing once when he was 18 and that lasted a year Marks/scars: a brand new scar over his eyebrow now, thank you liam. a handful of other random scars spread over his body, from his reckless youth, and the years as an Angel Clothing style: chaotic. a lot of expensive brands, more is more, tacky chic. willing to pull more muted looks if he has to. his closet probably has everything from lingerie to full-tailored suits, has a fair amount of skirts and dresses, also partial to a good jumpsuit. so much colour. he'll pull a super masculine look if he can pair it with flashy earrings Jewellery: more! is! more! always wearing multiple necklaces, bracelets, occasional earrings, usually a bunch of rings on his right hand. his left hand always has only his set of wedding band plus engagement ring. Allergies: none Diet: omnivore

PSYCHOLOGY.

MBTI type: esfp - the entertainer Enneagram type: seven - the enthusiast Moral Alignment: chaotic neutral Temperament: sanguine Element: fire Emotional stability: pretty stable nowadays. he's volatile to an extent, always prone to feeling angry or sad at the smallest of things said to him, and lord knows he has a long list of triggers to make that happen, but at the end of the day, he's stable. Introvert or Extrovert?: extrovert Obsession: being the hottest person at the grocery store Phobias: none Drug use: occasionally weed for recreational use, as a treat Alcohol use: usually drinks very lightly at big social events, and stays dead sober if he's working, because he is prone to getting Too Drunk otherwise. he's a fun drunk, but the hangover is not worth it. occasionally will let himself get wasted to celebrate something (last time was at his wedding), if he knows marcus is willing to help him get to bed at the end of the night Prone to violence?: no Prone to crying?: no Believe in love at first sight?: yeah and it's probably all he talks about

MANNERISMS.

Accent: cockney?? turned posh maybe?? Hobbies: caring for uriel, shopping, crafting hilarious tiktoks Habits: yoga, being an early riser, walking around the flat naked (not anymore, now that wren is staying over, rip) Nervous ticks: wrinkling his nose up, putting his hand through his hair, checking his phone Drives/motivations: making marcus and the rest of the family proud, always Fears: losing marcus, being alone again Sense of humour?: sarcasm and chaotic meaningless gen z type of humour, spends too much time on the internet Do they curse often?: just a fair amount. doesn't bring out the fucks mid-sentence unless he's mad, but occasionally drops the infamous c word like it's nothing

FAVOURITES.

Animal: argentine tegu since he got one Beverage: coffee Book: the malady of death by marguerite duras Colour: deep red Food: grilled cheese Flower: peonies Mode of transportation: private jet Scent: marcus and his st. rose's vigilante Sport: tennis (for watching. for participating, it's none) Weather: short shorts weather Vacation destination: paris ranks pretty damn high after his first paris fashion week in 2018, though anywhere in mexico is also a favourite, for how excited marcus looks when they're there

ATTITUDES.

Greatest dream: just vibing like this until he dies, honestly, he is living the dream Greatest fear: finding out that he is, after all, unloveable Most at ease when: alone with marcus Least as ease when: talking to people who don't respect him, having to prove himself Biggest achievement: feeling like he's really a part of the femenias-reyes bunch Biggest regret: giving his parents the time of day when they reached out a couple of years ago, and thinking they had changed

#task ;;#musings ;;#me??? making a task????? damn #take a shot every time marcus' name is mentioned and enjoy the alcohol poisoning #i bullshitted my way through the personality tests and im sorry #drug mention

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marshmallow-phd · 6 years

Text

Charming Instruction

Part of The Untamed - EXO Wolf Universe

Genre: Supernatural, Wolf Au

Pairing: Junmyeon x Reader

Summary: You were just an average, everyday college student desperately trying to graduate. Only one more year stood between you and that celebratory walk. However, due to an oversight by your adviser, it seemed that the one class you never wanted to take was required to take that walk. It wasn’t the subject matter that made you uncomfortable. It was the teacher. Your heart sped up every time you saw him and you didn’t want that distraction in your life, attractive or not. With meeting him now an inevitability, you swore that you would keep your hormones in check. But after your first day of class, a series of hi jinks and weird situations lead you to discovering the secret of your professor and why he seemed to bombard your every thought.

Part: 1 I 2 I 3 I 4 I 5 I 6 I 7 I 8 I 9 I 10 I 11 I 12 I 13 I Final

No, no, no, no, this could not be happening to you.

For the last month, you’d carefully planned this day. It was the first day of your last year of college. You’d picked out the outfit - fully aware that within two weeks you’d throw all cares of your looks and clothes out the window - and meticulously scheduled your day to be able to start off your year right. And you needed this year to go as smoothly as possible. As a senior, these last two semesters were the most important of your life. Three previous years of hard work could go down the drain if you didn’t keep your focus.

Okay, you could still probably graduate, but you wanted all the honors that came with graduating with top grades. And you wanted to make your parents proud. And you needed the good GPA in order to get a good internship or entry job after graduation.

When you’d sat down with your advised a few months previous to go over your schedule for the upcoming school year, you’d been itching with excitement. The classes that awaited you weren’t too difficult, but they would definitely be challenging and require your absolute attention. Which – given your past history – shouldn’t have been a problem.

Until the ultimate bombshell was dropped by your adviser.

You wanted to be an archaeologist. Someday. For now, you were settling for field assistant because you didn’t want to spend any more years sitting in a classroom reading about great finds when you could be a part of them. You didn’t care if your name was just a footnote about the people who were present in the digs, you just wanted to experience the thrill of finding evidence of an ancient civilization.

But to even get that far, you needed to graduate college. To graduate college in your specific field, you needed to check off all required classes. And you thought you had.

One little folklore class, one little elective that you had once been told was only an option and one you didn’t have to take, had snuck by you. When your adviser explained to you that there must have been some misunderstanding and that this class was in fact a required credit in order for you to complete your degree, your stomach had dropped. It was like your worst nightmare coming true. Not quite that dramatic, but close enough.

It wasn’t the subject matter that made you want to avoid the class. Actually, you found it somewhat intriguing considering how myths and old lore helped shaped the old world and influence their everyday lives. As someone who wanted to keep their focus on ancient civilizations, it probably would be a good class to have under your belt.

If only it was taught by someone else.

There was nothing wrong with Professor Kim. Maybe that was the issue. He was too… perfect. From the way he styled his hair to the glasses perched on his nose to the button-downs and slacks he wore for lectures.

It was your sophomore year of college that you first laid eyes on him. He was a brand new professor and the talk of the campus. Every other teacher on campus looked like the average college professor who was typically much older than the student population and usually had the fashion sense of two decades ago. Not to mention, most of them weren’t as fit or well put together. But when you walked out of the library with your two best friends, you realized that all of the gossip about the latest addition to the university staff was more than just talk and he was nothing like the average professor.

He was standing profile from you at over fifty feet away talking to other teachers, but your glasses helped you focus enough to be able to see his face. And your heart nearly leapt out of your chest and ran in his direction at full speed.

You were so enamored by his too-classic looks that you tripped over your own feet and nearly took Gemma down to the ground with you. In your embarrassment, you took off with Gemma and Cam, your two best friends, on your heels, calling out for an explanation. When you finally came to a stop, you huffed out what they wanted to know. Of course, they just laughed at you and your innocence when it came to attraction of the opposite sex.

After your disastrous freshman year relationship of seven months, you’d sworn off relationships and had never even given the thought of dating a chance since, too focused on your career goals to entertain the idea. Besides, you didn’t exactly know how to interact with them anyway. Sure, you’d had guy friends in the past, but that was different. You weren’t attracted to them. Maybe you just weren’t built for it. You were too awkward and didn’t exactly have the “street smarts” to navigate that world.

It was probably for the best. You never really found anyone that gave you butterflies or made you blush, anyway. There had never been a chemical reaction in your body like that ever not even with your fluke of an ex-boyfriend. Until you saw Professor Kim.

And that was exactly why you’d abstained from ever taking his class or stepping anywhere near him. If you saw even one single hair of his head, you’d take off in the opposite direction. The feeling you got in your chest whenever you caught a glimpse of him scared you. Keeping your head in your books and studies until graduation and then going on a dig far away from this place sounded like the perfect plan. And for the past two years, you’d done a bang up job of it.

It seemed fate just really liked to kick you down when you were skipping along happily.

In the end, there was no way around taking the class and you were forced to have your name added onto the list, probably bumping off some poor, unfortunate student who had thrown away the money just to be able to spend time in the presence of Professor Kim on a weekly basis.

You were a planner, though. And every plan had its deviations, right? Now that you were stuck in that lecture hall, you’d simply make sure that you sat all the way in the back where Professor Kim would be nothing but an ant in your vision. Most of the time, you might even be able hide him from your line of sight with your laptop.

In order for this mastery to work, you needed to wake up early enough to get from your apartment right across the street from the university to the classroom to secure your seat in the back. But you also had to make sure that you didn’t arrive too early so that it would only be you and maybe a few other students scattered across the room while Professor Kim wandered around the front getting ready for the first day of class.

You were initially set up for success. The alarm was programmed and on the highest volume your phone would allow. It was plugged in for the night to charge and you’d already picked out your outfit so there would be no time wasted in the morning.

Instead of waking up to your obnoxious alarm, however, you were woken up by a pillow to the face.

You snarled as you sat up in bed, sleep still crusty around your eyelids that refused to open all the way. Gemma was standing in your doorway, leaning against the frame with her arms crossed and one wrist elevated as she stared at the watch.

“Don’t you have class in like twenty minutes?” she snickered.

Still half asleep, you scratched the back of your head. “No. My alarm hasn’t gone off yet.”

“Try again.” Gemma stepped up closer to you and showed you the time.

Shit!

You grabbed your phone and pressed the home button to check what had happened. Then you found the issue. At some point, probably very early in the night, the charger had come out of the plug in the wall and your phone had died. You wanted to cry.

Jumping up out of bed, you were at least thankful for the clothes already laid out. You’d have to skip any other form of grooming and pampering this morning beyond a quick fix of your hair. After grabbing a granola bar and chugging a glass of juice, you ran out the door and prayed that you didn’t forget anything behind and that you still had a good spot to sit in.

When you arrived in the lecture hall, your stomach plummeted to the floor.

All the chairs in the back were taken, mostly by the male students, or those who just really didn’t care about the face of the teacher up front.

Slowly, you took one step down at a time, searching for any empty seat that you could take. Every semester, the World Folklore class was filled to capacity. There was even rumor of a waiting list to take the class. How could one professor be so popular, magazine-level handsome or not?

Finally finding the one empty seat in the entire room, you nearly cried. It was in the third row, right near the middle. What were the odds of that being the one chair that was free?

You scooted past the other students, apologizing on the way. One tiny piece of luck you got, at least, was that you didn’t hit any of the students with your bag. Settling down in the chair, you tried not to look too forlorn as you pulled out your laptop and readied yourself for the period.

Professor Kim wasn’t in the classroom yet, for which you were a little thankful. As you kept your head down on the keyboard in front of you, your glasses kept sliding down your nose and you kept pushing them back up a bit aggressively.

The consistent hum around the hall died out. Looking up, you shrank back in your seat. Now was the time. Just breathe, don’t settle on his face. You could do this. You could keep your mind focused on the material and not the teacher.

Walking up to the middle of the room and leaning up against the desk, Professor Kim smiled brightly.

“Welcome, everyone, to World Folklore. This class is about delving into ancient societies and learning about their stories that shaped their cultures.” As he went on with his lecture, his eyes searched around the room aimlessly, never settling even as the occasional student sat up straighter. “I want you to really get inside your heads and really tear these stories apart. Don’t be intimidated by the course work or the speed at which we go through the different types of stories. Unlike other credits, I want you to have fun and-”

He stopped suddenly, his hand that was keeping him balanced against the desk slipping and making him jerk a bit before stabilizing himself.

And he was looking right at you.

The smile was gone from his face, replaced with shock and awe. You shifted in your seat. Why wouldn't he just look away?

With a shake of his head, he did just that, after several seconds too long.

“I want you to have fun and really explore the possibility of ‘why’.” His earlier enthusiasm was gone, replaced by a slight nervousness. “Why did they create these stories? Why were they so scared of these tales? As we break down the different mythological creatures and their spread over the world, we just might end up answering those questions.”

While that might have been the same speech he gave every semester, you had a feeling that no classroom had ever heard it spoken quite like that.

Professor Kim spent the rest of the hour going over the syllabus and his expectations of the semester. Explaining in few details the different papers that would be written over the next few months, you had a sneaking suspicion that he was avoiding your section of the room. He’d always turning quickly, giving a majority of his attention to the left and right sides of the stadium seating. Somehow, rather than putting you at ease, it made you even more uncomfortable.

Your personal reasoning for wanting to avoid Professor Kim and keep your bubbling hormones in check was logical. Why Professor Kim was acting in a similar manner towards you was the real question. You’d never actually met the guy so there was no way he knew who you were. Right?

The time for the end of class came. From your experience, the professor always stayed behind in case of questions or simply took their time gathering up their things to avoid the sea of exiting students. Professor Kim did no such thing. Leaving behind his papers, he practically ran out the back door.

Murmurs echoed around you and you even felt a few questioning stares thrown your way. It was hard, but you suppressed the whimpers that were tempting your vocal cords and tried to stay invisible as you hurried up the stairs and to your next class for the day.

This was not happening. This was not happening.

Waking up this morning, Junmyeon had been in a good mood. He’d gotten up in time to get ready, picking out a nice tie to match his light blue shirt hanging from his door. The break between semesters had been a bit boring, just keeping an eye on his brothers and making due with what the town had to offer while he waited for the new school year to start.

But now the new semester was here and Junmyeon was going to be back in the classroom where he loved being.

Everything had gone smoothly as he drank his coffee without spilling any on him, made it to the college without terrible traffic and in plenty of time for his first class. The only mishap was running into Yoo Shin, a fellow history professor at the university. Catching up with him had nice, but it made him a few minutes late and Junmyeon couldn’t stand tardiness.

The students hushed as soon as he came in. It happened every year, but it still boosted Junmyeon’s ego a bit with how easily he could quiet the room. Going into the usual speech to loosen his new students up, he sized up the audience, letting his eyes roam around the room.

And then he found you.

Right there in the third row was the person he’d been searching for so long a time. The shock of you appearing in front of him made him lose his train of thought. He couldn’t even remember the rest of his speech.

But you were his student.

Of course he’d be in this situation. Nothing in his life could be easy for him, could it?

Anyone else in the world, he’d be happy to pursue, to finally get to know his mate. He couldn’t exactly start a relationship with his student. It went against his personal standards... and school statues.

Unable to remember to rest of his usual spiel, Junmyeon had to make up the remaining part of his speech on the fly, cringing on the inside. Was he even making any sense? It was the hardest thing to keep his focus on anything but you and that was making it difficult to know what was even leaving his mouth.

So close. You were so close to him, but he had to act like you were just another student, like you weren’t the most precious thing to him on this earth now as the wolf in his chest whined with glee. After waiting so long for his mate to show up, it seemed like a miracle - and like a slap to the face.

A professor and his student. It sounded like a bad drama. He didn’t even know your name. He’d learn it soon, but he wanted to learn it by introducing himself like a normal person, not by the papers and quizzes you’d hand in.

Groaning, Junmyeon tossed his glasses down on the desk and hid his face in his hands.

As soon as class had ended, he’d booked it out of there and headed straight for the sanctuary of his office. It would have been too tempting to stay behind, to try and catch you and talk to you. He wanted to hear your voice. Was it as delicate as you looked? Or was it stronger, sassier, taking anyone who might underestimate you by surprise?

He’d already caught bad attention from the other students given his very obvious reaction to you. Keeping you after class right after that would have started rumors. That was not something Junmyeon needed right now.

Knock, knock, knock.

Junmyeon jumped at the noise, his heart racing in his chest. It didn’t calm down until Sehun poked his head in.

“Hey,” Junmyeon nodded, leaning back in his chair.

Sehun smirked. “It’s day one. You can’t be this stressed out already?”

Junmyeon shook his head. “I’m just needing a second cup of coffee, that’s all.”

The look on Sehun’s face clearly said that he wasn’t buying it, but right now wasn’t the time to talk about it. Junmyeon knew that divulging the latest upset in his life would come with a hail of questions. Ones that he didn’t have answers to yet. So, instead, he’d keep that information to himself. At least until he knew who you were and how to get to know you without crossing any lines.

“Well, I’m not getting you any,” Sehun teased as he shut the office door behind him.

“I wasn’t even going to bother asking,” Junmyeon laughed. Resting his elbows on the desk, he asked, “What are you doing here? Don’t you have class?”

“Not for another hour,” Sehun shrugged, sitting down in the chair across from him. “I was bored, so I figured I’d come bother you since you aren’t busy with grading yet.”

“That’ll start soon, though,” Junmyeon reminded him.

Putting his feet up on the desk, Sehun leaned back in the chair and folded his hands behind his head. “Until then, you’ll have to continue beating the girls off with a stick.”

Junmyeon shoved the feet off. “That joke is old.”

“Still better than yours.”

It was hard, but Junmyeon let that slide. The guys were always making fun of his jokes, calling them weak and overused. But he liked keeping the mood up and that was one of the few ways he knew how.

“So, why aren’t you hanging out with the others instead?” he asked.

Sehun scrunched his face up in an annoyed fashion. “Everyone is hanging out with their mate in between classes. I prefer not to be around that too much.”

“It’s not an infectious disease,” Junmyeon laughed.

“Might as well be,” Sehun grumbled. “With how quickly everyone’s finding their mates, it feels like the pack has been passing around a cold. Not that I care too much, but I’d still prefer not to catch it next.”

Junmyeon sighed and smiled at his youngest brother. “It’s simply the natural order of things for our species. One day, yours will find you and you’ll start singing a different tune.”

Sehun cringed. “Can I be last?”

With a scoff, Junmyeon waved him out of his office. “Just go get ready for class. Or go find Tao, he’s with you on not wanting a mate.”

“Alright, alright, I’ll get out of your hair.” Standing up, he headed for the door. With one hand on the doorknob, he looked over his shoulder and asked, “Hey, hyung?”

“Yeah?”

“If something was going on, you’d tell me, right?” The look on his face was suddenly so innocent and trusting. Junmyeon almost gave in and told him to sit back down.

Junmyeon let one corner of his lip to turn up into a sorrowful smile. “Yeah, of course. If something comes up, I’ll tell you.”

Once Sehun was gone, Junmyeon picked up his glasses and placed them back on to his face. He didn’t necessarily think it was a lie. Eventually, he’d tell Sehun and the rest of the pack about finding his mate. He just needed some time to wrap his head around the situation. After that, he’d say something.

They were so going to give him crap for this.

#exo #exo fanfiction #exo fanfic #exo wolf au #exo wolf!au #exo werewolf au #exo werewolf!au #exo supernatural au #junmyeon x reader #kim junmyeon #suho #Charming Instruction #untamed wolf universe

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trustyourgutblog · 5 years

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❁ Intro. Q&A with S&C ❁

❁ What is your favorite type of movement?

S: I struggled with movement for a long time. Exercise was categorized as a chore in my brain growing up. I had parents who LOVED running, yet running always made me feel like I was dying. I discovered yoga in late high school. Last year, I completely fell in love with a studio that incorporates HIIT, core, and heat to create a dynamic workout. I'm obsessed! It's my therapy, workout, community, and whole heart in one. I also love that yoga is a competition against yourself - constantly bettering your own practice, rather than focused on competition against others.

C: Growing up I was always active and involved in sports like basketball and track. I’ve ALWAYS hated the running aspect, but every now and then I’ll go for a jog outside if it’s nice out. Now that I get to choose my workouts, I enjoy a combination of lifting, yoga, and HIIT workouts. My workout split typically looks like 4 days of lifting and HIIT and 1-2 days of yoga. On rest days, I always start my mornings with a short yoga flow or light stretching. I also enjoy the hot yoga classes that S talked about above! Hot yoga is what brought us together :).

❁ What is your favorite way to de-stress?

S: Oh god. Anything alone. Seriously. I am extroverted until I hit my limit and once I hit that limit it is a hard crash. I recently moved to a really friendly neighborhood and have loved riding my bike to the library, curling up in my hammock, and reading a great book while listening to some instrumental tunes.

C: So many different ways! As a social worker, in order to be effective, I have to be on top of my self-care at all times. Journaling, meditation, yoga, reading, walking, and playing with my dogs and cats are some of my favorite ways to de-stress. I also find that using ear seeds helps when I’m experiencing high levels of stress or anxiety. Stay tuned for more ear seed info. in later blog posts!

❁ What is your favorite self-care strategy?

S: I need to be organized. I like knowing what food I'm going to eat the next day, having everything written out and color-coded in my planner, etc. I do really well when everything is put in its place and prepped for the next day - to a fault. I tend to deal with my high maintenance personality with obsessive organization because it is the type of self-care that directly combats my ADHD brain and keeps me functioning.

C: In addition to the ways that I de-stress above, I find a sense of calm in my weekly routine. At the beginning of the week, I enjoy cooking and meal prepping lunches for work, cleaning, and journaling my goals and intentions for the week. I have a Panda Planner that I like to use to stay organized. I also feel my best when I’m taking care of myself (i.e. focusing on eating well, being active, and maintaining my beauty/skincare routine).

❁ What are your health passions?

S: I have been on and off vegan for 6 years. I decided to start it back up at the beginning of this year, and 99% of the time I follow veganism. That's a HUGE passion of mine. I also recently started cycle syncing and I can't shut up about it!! I'm so excited to see what benefits it will provide. I'm a RYT200 yoga teacher with certifications in trauma-informed, children's, and teen yoga - I'm particularly passionate about incorporating vulnerability and mental health aspects into my practice. Lastly, I struggle with physical health (Endometriosis diagnosis) and mental health (GAD - Generalized Anxiety Disorder & ADD - Attention Deficit Disorder diagnosis), this has been a huge journey for me over the past two years. I am currently at a point where I manage these diagnoses really well naturally and it's important to me.

C: GUT HEALTH, GUT HEALTH, GUT HEALTH! That is what inspired the name for this blog! I find that my gut health impacts my skin, moods, weight, energy level, and my overall well-being. I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease and IBD in 2016 and have been focused on healing myself with a combination of Western Medicine-based medication, nutrition and journaling food sensitivities, vitamin supplements, movement, and strategies to improve my mental health. Don’t get me wrong - I’m very passionate about mental health in general as I’m a practicing therapist, however, I tend to get burnt out on focusing on mental health only as it is often difficult for my consumers to incorporate a holistic approach. I am also passionate about movement and working on my fitness, as Fergie would say. There’s something uplifting about accomplishing a new fitness goal whether it’s increasing my weights in lifting or holding a headstand in yoga (still working on that one lol).

❁ What led you to wholistic wellness?

S: I had parents who made a huge lifestyle change right after my freshman year of high school. As a family, we went vegan cold turkey (or is it cold tofurkey? pls laugh) and my Mom poured her heart and soul into researching natural alternatives. I have had my own battle with balancing traditional medicine with more holistic results. I very strongly believe in wholistic approaches - I'm not against medication by any means, but I believe it's so so important to treat the whole person and that there is no "one size fits all" approach.

C: Growing up, I didn’t think there was anything particularly “unhealthy” about my lifestyle, but reflecting back as an adult, I can definitely say that we were not a household that was focused on optimal nutrition. We drank gallons of milk and Sunny D and ate maybe a serving of canned vegetables per day. We were active, so no one in my family was overweight, but I think my parents were just raising us on foods that they grew up on (that and canning became all the rage in the 90’s). I would say that I became passionate about holistic approaches to my health shortly after I was diagnosed with Crohn’s and was trying to learn to manage my symptoms. I had a lot of inflammation in 2016 and was prescribed a low dosage of steroids until my doctor prescribed immunosuppressants to keep my immune system from attacking my colon. I began focusing on more holistic approaches when I noticed that medication alone wasn’t making me feel 100%. Sure, it stopped my active inflammation, however, I was still struggling with stomach cramping, diarrhea, and chronic fatigue. About 1 year after I was diagnosed, my husband and I moved to a larger area where I had access to more specialized medical providers. My new gastroenterologist (GI) referred me to a nutritionist who helped me to learn to identify my food sensitivities. She also referred me to a behavioral health psychologist who provided me with an outlet for my stress and anxiety. I began to learn that I was holding chronic tension in my stomach whenever I was stressed or anxious about something. That’s when I began to understand the importance of holistic health.

❁ What is your personal social media?

S: @sarahlhively on Instagram

C: @cassandruh_dee on Instagram

❁ What kind of posts can I expect to see on this blog?

S: I'm really excited to talk about managing mental health naturally (particularly anxiety), possible book recommendations, self-care, and healthy meal prepping while on a broke college student’s budget.

C: I look forward to sharing my personal experiences with navigating my chronic health issues, nutrition, FODMAPs, gut health, mental health, the gut-brain connection, fitness/movement, and self-care.

❁ Why social work?

S: It's nice to not have this question followed up by "you know you'd make much more money as _______. Is it too late to change your major?" But for real. I started college as a special education major, quickly realized I'd rather do pretty much anything other than write lesson plans, and switched to being a WGST major. I expected to be able to get a job doing advocacy work with a particular focus on LGBTQ+ & women issues. I soon realized the WGST track is for students who eventually want to do research and social work was more what I was looking for. I never looked back. The multiple directions a social work degree can be taken in, the continually changing cases, the advocacy, vulnerability, and seeking justice for people all capture my heart.

C: I have always been passionate about having a career centered around helping people. I became interested in therapy after having a particularly negative experience with a therapist that my dad sent me to when I was getting caught in the middle of my parent’s divorce and I experienced some trauma. I originally pursued psychology, however, fell into social work when I figured out that there are so many different opportunities available for MSWs. I truly love my job and feel grateful to be compensated (FYI times have changed and not all social workers make next to nothing - thank the universe) for serving the children and families on my caseload

#wellness #holistic #vegan #health #health & fitness #nutrition #self healing #mental health #social work #yoga #movement #guthealth #chronic disease

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anthropologicalhands · 5 years

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ceg fic: sunlight and salutations

title: sunlight and salutations pairing: beth/valencia summary: valencia loves a girl who laughs. notes: this was supposed to be a more structured fic, but then it turned into more of a valencia’s feelings fic instead. Ao3 link

Valencia has always been an early riser. She loves the pale sunlight, the quiet that stretches across the streets of West Covina, after the garbage trucks have trundled past and before the hum of the daily commute starts to build.

Each morning, she wakes before her alarm even has a chance to ring, and heads straight to her yoga room. Before breakfast, before checking her phone. Life is in stasis until she has finished her asanas.

Yoga may have started as a way to keep herself fit, as part of her easy-breezy, effortlessly hot and fit girl image, but Valencia has always liked the practice for herself. It gives her time to unravel the knots in her back and in her mind, before the day properly arrives and she needs to put herself together again.

By the time the sun is fully in the sky, she’s ready to work.

Today, she has a new client. The client’s name is Beth, she lives a couple towns over from West Covina, and the meeting is at Home Base during Heather’s newly-instated happy hour. Valencia gets there early, portfolio in hand, stomach fluttering. Beth is one of the first clients to reach out directly, not just a friend-of-a-friend or another contact within six degrees of separation. And that’s nice, that’s good. She thinks Valencia is a good choice to solve her problem. Valencia is about to become known as a problem-solver, not just a hot girl. Not just a cool girl. She will be a normal-temperature event planner who makes dreams come true and builds up a fanatically loyal clientele.

Valencia is waiting at their table, hands folded, and spots Beth almost as soon as she walks through the door. It helps that Beth breaks into a smile as soon as her eyes settle on Valencia. Valencia immediately likes the look of her.

It doesn’t hurt, though, when Beth laughs—actually laughs—at her jokes and calls her funny.

No one has ever called Valencia funny before.

It becomes a game, to see how quickly she can make Beth laugh.

Beth is bright and wry and pretty much always in a good mood; making her laugh isn’t exactly the most difficult thing in the world but Valencia loves it. She easily becomes one of Valencia’s favorite clients, because she always knows what she’s going to get with Beth’s events, and that’s why her heart always soars when she sees a new message, coming through her inbox or blinking on voicemail or popping up on Facebook or sending restaurant recommendations through OpenTable.

Beth’s smart too, so she catches on quickly to Valencia’s game. She finds other ways to get Valencia’s attention; instead of heading straight for her table, she’ll approach from just outside of Valencia’s line of sight. Her favorite strategy is to sneak up behind Valencia and clap her hands across her shoulders, leaning forward until the wisps of her pale hair are in Valencia’s peripheral vision. Valencia can usually catch the scent of her perfume before she does, and she has gotten accustomed to listening for the familiar clicks of Beth’s shoes, but she lets her do it anyways.

Sure, it’s totally dorky, but her and Beth totally count as friends at this point, so that doesn’t bother Valencia as much as it might have once.

Sometimes in the mornings, stretching up her chin as she arcs her spine through cobra pose, Valencia imagines being an instructor again. Beth is wiry and her energy comes in bursts—more suited for pilates than yoga. But she had said before that she would be open to having Valencia teach her, to show Beth how to stretch out her neck and loosen those knots she gets in her back and shoulders; even with Beth’s easygoing nature, Valencia knows how those minor stresses can add up.

They haven’t made any concrete plans—it’s more of a passing notion than anything else and one that Valencia finds slightly perplexing for its persistence. Valencia is not generally a woman given to impulse. She likes to think things through: to make plans and implement them in a timely manner. It’s a quality that’s gotten her trouble more than once, when she wedded herself so thoroughly to one particular vision of her future that it nearly happened.

But even Valencia is not immune to the occasional drifting thought.

She thinks about how Beth would be more than capable. Perhaps not as flexible, and probably pulling faces as she moves through the stances, but capable, certainly. She would probably laugh as she tries to fold herself into the proper poses, and tease Valencia every time she adjusts Beth’s stance.

“C’mon, teach,” Beth would say, rolling her eyes good-naturedly. “I’m doing it. Don’t worry, I’m not gonna split in two.”

And Valencia would laugh, but would still keep a sharp eye out, because Beth could be the kind of novice who overextends, either by pushing out her lunge too far or losing her balance while bring her hands over her head in tree pose, and Valencia would have to help her keep her center by placing her hands on her waist and—

Hm. The twinge low in her gut and giddy in her head at the image is pleasant, and not unfamiliar, exactly, but it’s been a while since she’s felt it.

Unfortunately, it’s also very distracting. Valencia sticks out her practice through all twelve rounds but finds no release and resolves to take an extra-hot shower to make up for it.

Not all clients are as good as Beth.

It’s been a long day, trying to be patient with a bride-to-be who has champagne taste with an apple cider budget and refuses to take any of Valencia’s recommendations seriously. Valencia can actually feel her body reacting sluggishly, rather than being ready to go at a moment’s notice. Luckily, she is able to go home and freshen up before her last meeting of the day, and as soon as she and Beth are done, she’s driving over to Heather and Rebecca’s murder house for some much-needed gurlgroup4evah time, with gossip and Rebecca’s obscure references and rosé. After the day she’s had, Valencia wants all of it and she wants it now.

Maybe that’s why she doesn’t realize that Beth arrived until she speaks to her directly.

“Wow, Valencia, you look really nice,” she says, and when Valencia jumps in her seat and looks up she catches Beth staring with her head tilted to the side, eyebrows slightly raised. She drops her eyes as soon as Valencia meets them, and Valencia can feel heat rises at the back of her neck, and she adjusts the neckline of her wine-colored blouse.

“Oh?” Valencia clears her throat, embarrassed by having missed her usual cues. “Thank you, but it’s nothing. I’m meeting with the girls after we’re done here, and I just wanted to not look like I went two rounds with Malia-the-Malignant.”

Beth winces sympathetically. “Hard day, huh?”

Valencia shrugs nonchalantly. “Nothing I couldn’t handle.”

“Yeah, I know,” says Beth easily, hanging her purse across the chair’s back before sliding into her seat. “You still look really nice.”

Something about the gentle firmness of Beth’s delivery makes Valencia’s toes curl and her muscles tighten briefly, and suddenly the sluggishness is gone and it feels like there are springs coiled up in every limb and she can bounce around the room like Tigger.

But bouncing around like Tigger would be deeply unprofessional, so she says thank you again and pushes the venue list to the middle of the table for Beth’s approval and pretends to ignore the way the late afternoon light makes Beth’s hair glow.

There is a long stretch of weeks where Beth doesn’t have any new events for Valencia and has been too busy to come into West Covina. It’s not a disaster: while Valencia isn’t exactly swimming in clients she is starting to get booked on a steady basis, and therefore she has other things she can do.

But still. She misses planning for Beth. After all, Beth is one of her best clients. It’s fun planning stuff with Beth. It’s fun talking about things that are not planning stuff with Beth.

Beth is in her head nearly every morning, these days.

So, Valencia makes a decision.

She sends Beth a message: hey, it’s been a while, want to get dinner?

It makes sense, after getting used to spending so much time together, to miss her.

She books one of the nicer restaurants, one that deploys candlelight in a way that Valencia knows is advantageous to her skin. Makes sense to dress up, wear a black-off-the-shoulder top with burgundy slacks and sleek heels.

She fusses outside the restaurant, wanting to appear relaxed, to lean against the concrete wall instead of being surprised on the bench, torn between pretending to fiddle with her phone or to keep looking around expectantly, as if she only just got there. The anticipation is like bubble wrap under her feet—sure, it keeps her buoyant now, but one wrong move and there’s going to be a very embarrassing noise.

She sees Beth’s car pull into the restaurant parking lot, and then Beth herself appears soon after. She’s dressed up as well – her black jeans are a little more casual, but her shirt is turquoise and silken and is both something that Beth would absolutely wear and something Valencia has never seen her wear before.

When she catches sight of Valencia, she smiles again, and Valencia’s whole stomach turns over in response.

“Hope I didn’t overdress,” she says, smiling, approaching Valencia and giving her a hug. Valencia returns it, lost for words.

She finds them later, over dinner, as she decides that maybe she wants a different kind of relationship, and that she wants to make more room for this warmth in her life.

“Good morning, sunshine,” Beth says during their first morning together, awake before Valencia, chin resting on her hand. Valencia fumbles for the alarm clock and groans at the time, before rolling over to poke Beth in retaliation for waking her when the sky is still dark. Beth squirms back in a brief but valiant effort to evade her, only to succumb to her own laughter.

When Beth laughs, her whole face lights up, and it’s impossible to look away, to not be delighted by the fine creases that fan delicately from the corners of her eyes and the way her mouth curves upwards. Each time Valencia sees it, and knows herself to be the cause of it, the world becomes so much warmer and brighter and lighter.

It’s a good way to start the day.

#crazy ex girlfriend #beth x valencia #valencia perez #beth #ellie writes fic #i enjoy their dynamic muchly

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tjkiahgb · 6 years

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Episode Recap: 2.24, “We're on Cloud Ten”

Boy, we’re really getting a lot of Andi and Bex cold opens.

This episode, Andi tries to make Bex coffee, but it’s bad, so Bex uses it to kill a plant. Andi intends to make Bex coffee every morning from now on. If I’m Bex, I’m making a heavy investment in flavored creamer. There’s no coffee so bad it can’t be fixed by dumping half a canister of hazelnut creamer into it.

Over at The Spoon, Buffy and Cyrus eat lunch. Cyrus works in an old planner. Buffy wants to know what it is and Cyrus says it’s a “philo-stax.”

And I’m thinking, “Hmmm, that’s interesting. Never heard of that before. Let me Google that.” And it turns out Google’s never heard about it before either.

I’ve tried like a dozen different spellings, too, in case the closed caption was wrong. (philostacks, filostax, filostacks, file-o-stacks - like a stack of files? Nothing makes sense anymore.) I have no idea what Cyrus is talking about. It seems like he’s invented a word so he doesn’t have to call his notebook a planner.

(Edit: A brilliant anon came through with some knowledge.)

Why is Cyrus using this thing and not a phone, Buffy wonders. It’s a good question which Cyrus never answers.

Amber brings food out to Cyrus and Buffy. She’s warm and fuzzy with Cyrus and surprisingly cold towards Buffy. I really didn’t know those two were in a feud, but, well, there you have it...

Buffy wants to know why Cyrus is being friendly with mean people again. First TJ, now Amber.

Cyrus thinks it’s unhealthy to hold on to such animosity, which is a good point, but then he makes a pun, saying they should call it Amber-mosity, which is awful. How can he be so wise and so foolish at the same time? Thus is the duality of man, I suppose.

Outside of Cloud 10, Bex and Andi hand out pamphlets about the new business. Bex tries out some potential slogans.

Maybe don’t do that. Feel free to pull back and give your slogan some more consideration. You don’t think “Plop Plop, Fizz Fizz. Oh, what a relief it is.” was an improv, do you?

The two head back inside where a potential customer asks them if this is a place to get makeovers and Andi says yes, but in two weeks when they open.

I guess I’m not entirely sure what they’re doing here. You want to promote the business before it opens, fine. Set up on the sidewalk and hand out your free samples and water bottles and pamphlets.

But why are you inviting customers in to walk around a mostly empty store that’s still filled with tools and such?

Why do you want people to see this? Ladders out. Paint rollers everywhere. There are probably loose nails lying around just waiting to get stepped on by someone. Exposed wiring waiting to zap someone.

“Yes, it’s an awful, unfinished mess now -- you know, when we’re making our ever-important first impression on you, the customer -- but just imagine what it’ll be like to get your makeup done here in a couple weeks, when it will probably be much nicer!”

You think this is enticing people? You want people to see your potential paint schemes and your unused wood molding and your... power generator? I don’t know what that is in the bottom left corner, but I will say, I guess it does put me in the mood to come back in a fortnight and get my hair done.

On the plus side...

Oooooh, they got the arches! Just like in the diorama! They look great.

Anyway, enough about interior design.

Celia is in a funk because Ham is on another continent somewhere. Bex wishes for a way to snap her out of it and, as if on cue, Bowie magically appears holding flowers. Bowie and flowers? That’s like catnip for Celia.

Bowie makes Celia feel much better, at least temporarily.

As the sneak preview of Cloud 10 continues, Buffy and Cyrus aggressively make themselves over.

Jonah stops by to ask Andi her feelings on trampolines. She is pro-trampolines.

Cyrus and Buffy walk by in the background and all I can think of is what kind of impression it’s going to make on potential customers out on the sidewalk when two children step out of Cloud 10 looking like they just left a European nightclub.

“What the hell is happening in there?”

Jonah invites Andi on a date to trampoline nirvana.

Bowie asks Celia if she’s heard from Ham and she says he sent her a bowl.

Andi tells Bex that Jonah’s taking her on a date. Bex gets excited that Andi’s moving on to that portion of their relationship. Then she tells Bowie to get him excited, too. Bowie determines that he must be there when Jonah shows up so he can be a stern father figure, you know, as you do.

So later, as promised, when Jonah shows up to pick up Andi, Bowie stares him down menacingly.

Which, it’s great that you want to play father figure dress-up, but you are well aware that this small child in front of you is a little ball of anxiety. You’re the one who desperately tried to help him deal with it! Why are you attempting to make him uncomfortable now?

Thankfully, Andi comes in and pulls Jonah away from this before he can start to panic and they leave.

Bex asks Bowie to stick around and make her lunch. And how could he refuse an offer like that?

Jonah and Andi head to trampoline nirvana and just... trampoline the day away.

They jump into a big foam pit and Jonah asks Andi how she’s so good at the art of the trampoline and Andi says everyone’s good at trampolining. Pfft. Tell that to the kid in my high school who tried to do a backflip and broke his neck and then the ambulance had to come and take him away and he had to graduate in a neck brace. I’m sure he’d love to hear your theories on the ease of trampolining!

Jonah and Andi are having a great time and Andi starts thinking about what they could do for their 2nd date next weekend, but Jonah can’t do next weekend. And the weekend after that? Also a no.

See, Jonah’s going to film Shaz-- er, he’s going to camp. For eight weeks. Starting tomorrow.

Andi needs to process this and she leaves Jonah in the foam pit of shame.

Jonah tells Andi he decided to go to camp a few days ago. He tells her about how he failed to make the Ultimate team but then he heard about this frisbee camp and thinks it can improve his game so he can make the next team.

I’m trying to figure out the timeline again and my brain is starting to leak. I should know better than to go down this road, but... it seems like Summer now? I mean, doesn’t it sort of have to be? Jonah can’t really be leaving in the middle of the school year to go to frisbee camp, right? That can’t be allowed as an excused absence. And frankly, it’s negligent parenting. But Andi was just planning dates only for the coming weekends, like they’re still in school. Also, everyone is sort of dressed like it’s Summer now, too, even though last episode -- which was like, a couple of days ago? -- everyone was dressed like it was very much still Winter (or a brutal cold early Spring). It’s like they live in the Twilight Zone. Time doesn’t exist in this town. This isn’t like trying to narrow it down to specific dates, or even weeks, anymore. I legitimately can’t tell you what month this is even supposed to be. I’m going to let it go, though. One, because it’s hurting my head, and two, because I have bigger complaints.

(Hey, to the anon who asked me why I was angry after the last episode: brace yourself, son. You ain’t seen nothing yet...)

Namely...

FRISBEE CAMP?! EIGHT WEEKS OF FRISBEE CAMP?! Who are the con artists who are putting this on? You can learn everything you need to know about frisbee in an hour and a half! Can you throw a frisbee? Can you run? Do you have enough basic motor function to catch a disc that’s floating softly through the air? Congratulations. You’ve mastered the frisbee. I can’t deal with this. I can’t! Jonah and a bunch of other kids going out into the woods, to a secluded spot by a lake to just throw frisbees at each other and say things like “Gnar gnar catch, brah!” What are you doing in week three? What could you possibly be doing in week three? Setting the frisbees on fire? Blindfolded frisbee catching? By week five, there’s no way you aren’t digging into nonsense metaphysical frisbee concepts, like, “Can one become the frisbee they seek to catch? Let us meditate on this.” There are master’s degree programs that don’t go on for this long. Frisbee camp goes maybe a week. A week! And that’s if you include like, some talent shows or something else to fill the time. But TWO MONTHS?! TWO DAMN MONTHS! I’m dying. And not like, crying laughing face emoji dying. I’m dying. This has broken me and I’m dying. TWO MONTH FRISBEE CAMP IN THE WOODS! Lord help me!

Anyway, Andi hears about Jonah’s frisbee camp plan and says it makes sense.

I politely disagree.

Andi’s mostly just sad about this whole time apart thing.

At Cyrus’s house, Buffy shows up. She thinks she’s there to play a game with Cyrus, like the one they used to play where they made up crazy phobias like Cyrus’s one about puppets. Cyrus says that’s a real thing. I’m with him. You know why they call it ventriloquism? Because it sounds much nicer and more quaint than calling it what it really is: using witchcraft to make inanimate objects speak.

But that’s not really the game they’re playing. The game they’re really playing is “Surprise Amber.”

Bowie and Bex hang out at her place and watch TV. Honestly, who says Bex and Bowie need to get married? They’ve already moved to the “Watch Netflix on the couch all day” portion of their relationship. That’s considered common-law marriage in a lot of places.

Jonah and Andi return home. Or at least to Andi Shack. Andi’s in need of some late night stress crafting. The two are very sad they’re going to be apart. The show seems even sadder about it than they are. This scene is being played like Jonah’s getting shipped out to the Eastern Front.

My dearest Andi.

Morale is low. Some fellow soldiers and I have taken to throwing around a decommissioned land mine and pretending it’s a frisbee just to pass the time. The Winter is bitter cold and the Germans are closing in on our position. I fear this may be my last correspondence for some time. Things at this moment, by my humble estimation, are most certainly not, docious magocious.

Give my fondest regards to the family, and don’t forget to feed Gus. He’s helpless without me

With warmest regards and love,

-Jonah “Weird Yearbook Picture” Beck.

Andi heads into Andi Shack and is scared by Celia, who’s doing well.

Sorry, did I say well? She’s doing... welp. Just... welp.

Celia was feeling lonely in the house without Ham, so she opted instead to sleep in the small, uninsulated shack in her backyard. Celia tells Andi there’s no need to worry, but I don’t know that I would say no need. Celia’s having trouble sleeping since Ham left. Andi feels like she, too, will have trouble sleeping because of Jonah leaving. The two very sweetly console each other over their missing beaus.

At Cyrus’s house, Cyrus completes his transformation into his parents and holds a therapy session between Amber and Buffy. It takes most people 40-something years to become their parents. Cyrus did it by 13. Every teen’s dream!

Also, it’s nighttime now, so he’s kept these two trapped in this room for several hours. That must have been fun.

Cyrus wants to help the two become friends. He first asks Buffy how Amber has wronged her. Buffy talks about what Amber has done to Andi, but Cyrus wants to know how Amber has wronged Buffy, which... Buffy can’t think of anything. Cyrus asks Amber the same, and Amber doesn’t like Buffy because Buffy doesn’t like her. Cyrus feels they are holding on to their dislike of each other and that feeds their dislike of each other. This reasoning is... let’s say, shaky?

But then Cyrus flips out and starts looking for his file-o-stacks to write down something and Buffy and Amber just start roasting him for it and begin to bond. No better way to grow close to someone than coming together to make fun of the person who was trying to help you. Cyrus says pencil and they lose it.

So, maybe Cyrus isn’t a full blown therapist yet.

At Bex’s, Bex has fallen asleep on Bowie’s lap. He tries to sneak out without waking her. He sets her head down on a pillow, and checks to see if she’s really sleeping, then says, “I love you.”

It’s a sweet moment, but also, dude, weren’t you just in another serious relationship like a day ago? Guy moves fast.

Bowie leaves. Well, first he pretends to leave to see if Bex was awake, but she’s too smart to fall for that and doesn’t move even though she’s awake. So then he actually leaves. And I’m not sure he locks the door behind him. Careless.

The next day, Andi tells Bex about her date. She says her relationship is like a Dr. Seuss book. Brightly colored and often nonsensical? Here, I’ve got a Dr. Seuss rhyme for you:

One fish,

two fish,

red fish,

JONAH’S GOING TO FRISBEE CAMP FOR TWO MONTHS! WHAT?!

Andi and Bex talk about things they could do to hang out together. Andi talks about going to Adrenaline City. Bex says they could go tubing or she could marry Bowie. Andi asks if that’s before of after tubing. And Bex asks Andi if she heard her. Andi wants to know if she’s being serious. I’d like to know more about going tubing, though. Please answer if the proposal will be before or after tubing. Please.

Bex confirms she’s going to marry Bowie. Andi freaks out but then asks if Bowie proposed without her there. Bex says no, she’s going to do the proposing this time. Then the two freak out together and do bee-yah bee-yah bee-yah bee-yah bee-yah bee-yah starfish! from like way back in season 1?

I’m amazed they still remembered that choreography.

#Andi Mack #Bex Mack #Cyrus Goodman #Buffy Driscoll #Amber #Celia Mack #Bowie Quinn #Andi #episode recaps

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saadsawss · 4 years

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A Simple Balanced Appproach to Your Diet

We are constantly bombarded with messages about healthy eating, dieting, and keeping fit. Scares about food appear in the media continually: Salmonella, Mad cow disease, dioxins, Escherichia coli, genetically modified foods, cholesterol, saturated fats, … the list goes on.

We are endlessly compelled to listen to what is healthy and unhealthy, and it seems that the advice is constantly changing. The dietary advice offered by doctors a few decades ago would probably be seen as (quite literally) a recipe for disaster today, and perhaps today’s advice will fare no better over time. We have, perhaps, gone too far. It seems to me that we are taking ‘healthy living’ all a bit too seriously. I’m not suggesting that we shouldn’t take care of our health, but to worry about it excessively, to spend too much of our time thinking about it, and to make ourselves miserable in the process is just as unhealthy as not taking any trouble to look after ourselves.

Let’s face it – a lot of people are making big money out of publishing books about health, promoting diets, selling ‘healthy’ foods (low fat, low sugar, low sodium, added omega-3, fortified with vitamins and iron, etc. etc.) Nothing wrong with making money, of course, but it does seem to be a bit of a bandwagon and we’re all too ready to jump right on.

So what are we to do? Stop trying to make sense of all the information that is coming your way If you are trying to make sense of everything the media is telling you about health, you’re going to be wasting a lot of time which, frankly, could be better spent. The (so-called) experts can’t seem to agree on a lot of things, and some of the science is so mysterious and opaque that most people cannot hope to decode it and use it sensibly. I have a degree in Chemistry from Oxford University and, while this does not make me an expert, it does give me a fighting chance of trying to understand the science. But to be honest, I can’t understand much of it. So I see little point in spending my time trying to figure out in any detailed way what’s best for me. Instead, I just try to live by some general rules of thumb which I suspect will make more of a difference in the long run than embracing the latest fad or getting overly worried about the latest scare.

Eat a balanced diet, containing a range of foods. You don’t need to ‘diet’ (in the sense of keeping to a very strict eating regime). Diets require effort and anything that involves maintaining effort is usually going to fizzle out after the first flush of enthusiasm. This, of course, is why diets usually fail. Before you know it, you’ll be back on the cookies, the chocolate bars, the ice cream, and the Coke. And who is to say which diet is best? There are so many, all claiming to be backed up by science, that just choosing one could lead you to have a minor nervous breakdown. So forget about it, and instead, just try to eat a variety of things. Try to eat fruit and vegetables every day. A salad for lunch (or with your lunch) is a good choice. A diet rich in Mediterranean foods is easy to achieve and contains a range of healthy and delicious foods. What you might try to do is put your diet on autopilot. One good idea is to have a food planner – decide in advance what you’re going to have for breakfast, lunch, and dinner on each day of the week, and stick to it. This way, you know you’re getting variety. And do build in some treats – I’m sure the odd chocolate bar and ice cream aren’t going to kill you. Eat less It seems to me that we eat too much. The portions that restaurants offer are usually are too big, but we just get used to them. But I will not overeat – when I am just full, I stop. Take less food, don’t go back for seconds, cook half the amount you usually would. If you get used to eating like this, you could save money too. Incidentally, I don’t think there is anything wrong with snacking – just don’t snack on chocolate bars and chips all the time – what about nuts or dried fruit – sultanas, dates, figs?

The same sort of concept applies to other things – drink less, smokeless. I know it’s not politically correct to say it, but I’m sure that the odd cigarette won’t kill you, so long as it really is just the odd one. The same goes for drinking – it can be dangerous and terribly unhealthy, but moderate drinking won’t do you much harm, and might even help you. Don’t skip breakfast. For me, breakfast is the most difficult meal of the day. I have to get up early to go to work, so the thought of getting up even earlier to make breakfast does not appeal to me at all. Even so, breakfast is really important – when you get up, you haven’t eaten for maybe 12 hours, so if you don’t eat something, your body will start to ‘think’ that food is getting scarce and that it needs to conserve energy. This will lower your metabolic rate and decrease the number of calories you burn.

So with the importance of breakfast in mind, I make my life a bit easier by having a Simple breakfast, usually made up of ‘the four Bs’ – bananas, broccoli (or any green, leafy vegetable), bean sprouts, and berries (or any other fruit). I just throw them in the blender and after a few minutes, I have a rather filling and very nutritious drink. I find that after drinking this, I feel full all morning and often don’t feel like eating lunch until 1 or 2 pm (and for me, breakfast is at 6.30 am). Give it a try! Relax, stop taking it all so seriously Finally, try to keep in mind that food isn’t that important. There are many more important things in life, so keep food and diet in perspective. If you worry about food, then you are making yourself feel bad, and your quality of life has fallen. Why do this to yourself? In the end, life is complex and unpredictable. We’ve all heard about health fanatics and marathon runners who drop dead in middle age, and guys who drink, smoke and party into advanced old age. A healthy diet does stack the odds in your favor, but there is a lot more going on which simply cannot be taken into account. So try to be sensible, be moderate, and stop taking life so seriously.

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businessmarketingnow · 4 years

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What Is Influencer Marketing and How Do You Profit from It?

Some users on social media post about their experiences with a brand and earn money for doing this. Typically, the people who earn the most from these posts are popular influencers. Influencers usually have large social media platforms and are trusted by their fans and followers.

The exciting thing about being influencer is that you don’t need a special degree, ten million followers, or fancy software. You can become an influencer with just a few thousand followers.

You might look at some of the more popular influencers and think it’s tough to reach that status, but actually, it’s not. In fact, it’s a lot easier than you think.

Start by Choosing a Niche

Companies and brands want to work with influencers that have built up a following in a specific niche. This means you don’t want your Instagram or Pinterest profiles to be too varied. It might be tempting to split your focus between your passion for dog grooming, the fitness niche, and your obsession with knitting.

You need to choose one niche that you want to be known for. It’s always best if you enjoy the niche and you have a genuine desire to help people. Whether you want it to or not, your motive will shine through as you’re giving information to your audience. That means you want to focus on a niche that you absolutely love.

As soon as you know your niche, you want to check out who your competition is within the industry. For example, if you want to be known for makeup tutorials, look up the most popular beauty users on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest.

Look at what they’re doing right, what they’re doing wrong, and what topics they haven’t covered yet. Maybe you’ll find an area they’ve overlooked or you’ll discover fresh inspiration for your own page.

When you’re choosing a niche in which to become an influencer, make sure it’s profitable. You can do this by researching whether or not there’s a big enough demand for products within that niche.

Look up what the keywords are for your niche. When you use a keyword tool to check, pay attention to how many searches are being conducted by consumers using those keywords. A simple keyword tool you can use is Google Ads Keyword Planner.

That will tell you what the demand is within that niche. If you find that your keywords show a volume of at least a couple thousand searches a month, then it’s a safe bet that there’s a demand for that niche.

After you find your niche and check on it using keywords, make sure that your focus isn’t too broad.

For example, if your niche is fitness, you want to narrow that down to something specific like “women’s fitness.” That niche is still kind of broad, so you may want to take it a step further and break it down into something like “women’s fitness workouts.”

Usually if you can find influencers making money in your niche, then it’s a solid bet that you can, too. It might take some time as you build your platform but once you do, you’ll be able to profit from your social media profiles for years to come.

Bring Something Unique

Many niches are overrun with similar ideas. You’ll found countless influencers offering the same products and sharing the same ideas. When this happens then the followers can become bored and crave something new.

To stand out in the crowd, you have to stop following trends and focus on creating them. By being the first to try something new, you’re more likely to build a group of followers who are excited to hear from you.

When you’ve chosen your niche, you want your engagement with your audience to keep on topic. You can post off-topic one post out of every ten or so. However, the other nine should always be within your niche. For example, if you follow the keto diet and you want to be an influencer for keto-friendly companies, then most of your posts should be about keto foods. You can still post the occasional selfie with your dog, but make these posts rare.

Focus on being unique. It’s tempting when you’re starting out to imitate other influences in your niche. It makes sense—you want their success so why shouldn’t you copy them exactly?

If you pay attention, you’ll see that the reason most influencers stand out is because they are unique. These influencers succeeded because they had their own style and their own way of engaging with their audience.

You can’t bring someone else’s style to your audience. You need to give them what they can’t get anywhere else—your unique viewpoint. Do that and you’ll build a loyal following and be well on your way to becoming an influencer.

Another way to bring something unique is to be vulnerable. Tell your story, even the parts that are embarrassing or painful. Your followers will connect with your humanity. They want to know that your days are less than perfect, that they’re not the only ones who struggle sometimes. So, don’t be afraid to get real and stay that way.

Let your audience know that you “get it.” Share your story to let them see how much common ground you have. Explain your similar struggles. Empathize with them by connecting with them through your shared feelings. When you do that, your audience will flock to you because they recognize you as someone who’s been “there” and want to do everything possible to help them.

Keep in mind that while you want to be vulnerable, you do want to protect your brand. That means you need to act like a professional on social media. Don’t post about that “wild after party” unless you’re intentionally going for the “party person” vibe on social media.

Pick A Platform

If you try to become an influencer across multiple platforms all at the same time, it’ll slow your growth. It’s hard to become an expert when you’re busy trying to be popular on every social media site.

Instead of splitting your time, concentrate on one social network in particular and build that one up to where you have thousands of followers. You need to be focused on growing your audience in one central place.

Look at which social networks are most popular in your niche. Instagram is a great network for beauty bloggers, fashion icons, and fitness brands. However, if your niche is business and technology, you’ll have more luck on LinkedIn or Facebook.

This doesn’t mean you can’t be on other platforms. It’s smart to go ahead and claim your username on other social networks. However, you need to develop your main platform first before you move on to expanding to other ones.

Think about your ideal audience when trying to choose your platform. If you want to reach an older demographic, then Twitter isn’t the best place to try to build your influence. Instead, look to Facebook or LinkedIn. Younger audiences like teenagers favor Snapchat and Instagram over Facebook.

Picking just one platform to begin your influencer journey is wise because you’re not going to have the time to do several well. Instead, you’ll end up doing a mediocre job across all of them.

Have an Influencer Road Map

You can’t get where you’re going, if you don’t know how to get there. To become an influencer, you need to create a plan to get from point A to B. You’ll need to build a following and consider how you’ll use that following to grow your business.

You must know what needs to take priority. This is one of the main steps in any influencer plan because it involves knowing where to build your audience and how to gain their participation.

When you have a plan, you can grow your reputation and optimize the interactions that you’re having with other users. This allows you to be able to adapt products or collaborations and engage with followers effortlessly.

It’s not only about what you share; but when you share it. You need to do research to see when is the most popular time to post on your chose social media network. These hours are usually the peak hours when you’ll get the most traffic.

Keep in mind that other influencers are posting about the “optimum” time, too. This means there’s a lot of noise for your followers to sift through. Even worse, some social media posts only have a shelf life of sixty seconds before they’re buried in the home feed.

That’s why you want to focus on experimenting with your times and tracking your results. The ideal time to post on your network might be listed as 6am on Monday. However, your own tests might show that you get the most engagement at ten in the morning.

Your influencer plan should also include hashtags you’ll be targeting. You can look up the most successful influencers and the brands in your niche to get some hashtag ideas.

Don’t stop there. You’ll also want to use a tool to help you find social media hashtags that you may have overlooked. One of the best tools for this is the Influencer Marketing Hub’s Hashtag Generator Tool. To use this site, upload the image you plan to post and the software will suggest hashtags that might be a good fit.

You can also try All Hashtag Generator. When you enter your keyword, this website will display several lists of hashtags including the top 30 hashtags for your niche, similar hashtags that you’ll want to use, and other keyword phrases that might be a good match.

Keep in mind that every network is different when it comes to hashtags. You can include as many hashtags as you want on a network like Twitter. However, Instagram encourages their users to limit their hashtags to around twenty per post.

An important precursor of becoming a successful influencer is knowing ahead of time what content you’ll be posting. You can’t simply throw something out there and expect great results. Sure, you might hit on something every now and then that resonates with your audience, but it won’t be consistent.

Try to create an editorial calendar for your content. Ideally, you want to be thinking 4-8 weeks in advance. That means you don’t scramble for content at the last minute, desperately searching for something to post.

To make sure your feed is always filled with fresh content, try using a social media scheduler. You can use a tool like HootSuite or Buffer to prepare your updates in advance then select your daily post schedule.

After you schedule your posts, you only need to check in on your social media profile a few times a day. Spend these moments answering comments and engaging with your community.

Bring Value to the Table

Unless you provide valuable content that your audience wants, you won’t have an audience. People don’t stick around when they’re hungry and you’re not feeding them. They’ll move on to the person who fills them up with whatever they need.

When you create content, the value can be found in the format that best suits the audience. So make sure you spread the format across several mediums. Make that content relevant and make it pop.

You can’t make mediocre content and expect to become an influencer. Your content should sound like you. That means what you bring to the table should be made up of your life experiences, your setbacks, and your triumphs. It doesn’t matter if your content is written or spoken; it needs to flow from you and through you.

Stay on topic when you’re posting to social media. Few things are more annoying than someone who rambles on and on, saying a lot but never really imparting any takeaways.

You need to provide value to your followers if you hope to become an influencer. Sometimes, that value will depend on your niche. For example, if you’re in the beauty niche then providing a detailed tutorial on how to use eyeshadow will be valuable in the eyes of your community.

However, if your niche is golfing, then that eyeshadow tutorial is more than just annoying. It’s useless and likely to anger your followers. They wanted golf tips and advice and you didn’t give them that.

Keep in mind that no matter what your topic, you want to make it fun and enjoyable for your followers. So focus on telling stories. Use examples in your content that depict human interest. Emotion is universal and when you tap into that, you connect with your audience and give them content they’ll remember.

For some topics, it might be helpful to bring facts or studies to your content. Give your audience evidence or research backing up your message. Doing this boosts your brand and makes you look trust-worthy.

Don’t forget that it’s not just your followers watching you. As you grow your platform, brands and companies within your niche may begin to pay attention to your profile. That means you always want to have your information updated and your best content on display. If your content is lackluster and there’s no easy way to contact you, a busy brand manager will look elsewhere for his company’s next influencer.

Be Transparent

Your influencer goals will be to drive traffic, boost sales, build awareness for other brands, and continue to establish yourself as a leader in your niche. It’s not difficult to do these things while still building a loyal following. However, you must always be careful to be transparent.

There are dozens of influencers across social media platforms that are not transparent. Their methods, in some cases, border on fraudulent. They don’t follow the rules of their social media network of choice and they promote any company that’s willing to hire them.

You want to build your following using methods that are authentic. This means that if you work jointly with a brand or you’re promoting someone, you need to be up front about the collaboration, sponsoring, or selling.

Influencer marketing is a good thing but it has a seedy underside where people use or are tempted to use strategies that violate legal guidelines and cross ethical boundaries.

As an influencer who’s transparent the information you’re giving your audience should never be deceptive. Don’t hide your collaboration with a brand or other influencer. By acting like you just happened to find this great service or product, you give the reader the impression that you don’t benefit in any way from mentioning or sharing the info.

Instead, be honest with your followers about how you “found” something, why you trust the person or product, and how you benefit from the business relationship that you have with the brand behind the promotion. This can be as simple as using #sponsored at the end of your post.

If you don’t clearly call an advertisement an ad, then you risk getting into trouble with the social media network. Worse than that, you risk permanently losing the trust of your audience. Once you’ve lost that trust, it can be difficult to rebuild it.

There might be situations where only some of the content you’re talking about is promoted. For example, maybe you’re doing a tutorial on how to bake gluten free cookies.

Most of the recipe uses common household ingredients. However, you’re getting an incentive from the company that makes the almond flour. Even when you only recommend or promote one item, you still need to tell your audience that the company gave you a free bag to try, in exchange for your honest opinion.

It’s important that you’re transparent as an influencer because what you say can affect the buying decisions of your followers. What some influencers and marketers have found effective is to promise to be ethical. For example, you might say, “I’ll never promote a beauty product to you that I wouldn’t recommend to my sister. I promise to only share products that I believe in 100%.”

If you don’t disclose an association with a brand or company, your followers may feel your recommendations were slanted. They may even think that your opinions were “bought” and can’t be trusted in the future.

The most important part about being transparent is showing that you care about your audience. They don’t mind if you bring a product to their attention. What they mind is if it’s not relevant, and you wouldn’t use it frequently yourself. If they feel that you’re only promoting it to make a commission or receive some kind of incentive, you’ve just lost their trust and you’ll see fewer and fewer click-throughs.

Audiences love what’s honest and what’s real. When you practice that, your outreach can’t help but grow.

Engagement Builds Influence

If you’re new to influencer marketing, you’ll start out with no audience, or a very tiny one. However, it won’t stay that way if you engage on your platform. The more you invest in your community, the faster your audience will grow.

Your value doesn’t matter, when you want to become an influencer. What matters is how you value others. That’s the creation of a relationship.

When people reach out to you by leaving a comment, you should always answer the comment. This kind of consistent engagement shows your audience that what they have to say mattered and that you’re acknowledging them.

People will follow you or like a post. When that happens, return the action. Don’t follow people just to build up your numbers and then unfollow them. Your audience might feel like you’re just using them to build your numbers and you’ll lose portions of your audience.

You might run into a common problem when you’re trying to become an influencer. The number of people following you might be big but the amount of comments, likes or other engagement you get isn’t.

What this means is that what you have to say isn’t connecting with your audience. It means that you don’t know your target audience well enough. It means you don’t know what they want or what they’re struggling with.

You must show the audience that you understand and empathize with them. Then you need to come up with a way to help your audience get what they want. For example, if you’re in the body positivity niche, you might want to post daily affirmations that your users can repeat when they start thinking negative thoughts about how they look.

When you have a high engagement rate among your followers, it means your message is being well received. It also means that your influence is going to grow because of the quality of your message. The more your influence grows, the higher your popularity will go.

Remember that most social media networks are using algorithms to determine which content gets the best spot in your home feed. The more engagement your content gets, the more likely it is that the social network will place it high in the feed.

Collaboration is Key

When you want to become an influencer, you have to put yourself out there and collaborate with others. You don’t always need a big following in order to find someone who’s interested in partnering with you. However, you do have to be trust-worthy and be passionate about your niche.

Don’t hold back thinking you need ten thousand followers before you can reach out. Collaboration does offer a lot of benefits to you but it also has perks for the other influencer that you’re partnering with, too.

Collaborating boosts your reach and can result in hundreds of new followers. When you connect with another influencer in your niche, you bring more attention to their brand, too.

In addition, gaining another influencer’s support or endorsement, makes you look popular and in-demand to your audience. Since the influencer, working with you trusts you, their audience will believe in you, too, which improves your authenticity.

Don’t let your collaboration become a one-way street. When you connect with an established influencer, they’re most likely going to have a bigger following. If you want them to agree to a collaboration opportunity, then you need to know how they’ll profit from this partnership.

Have a plan in place ahead of time, before you approach the influencer. Show them what you might have to offer to them in exchange for the collaboration. One small influencer approached a bigger influencer who was busy. She offered to give this influencer’s audience a free copy of her new recipe eBook. The influencer loved the special perk because she needed content for a few days.

You might be tempted to think that the best way to collaborate is by finding the influencers with the biggest audiences. You may also believe that the influencers with the smaller followings won’t be worth your time. However, that’s not always true.

Influencers with only a few thousand followers are known as micro-influencers and these influencers build a high level of trust among their followers. They come across as ordinary people who are talking about products that they use themselves.

The regularly interact with their followers to the point that their audience not only trusts them but feels as if they know them. A micro-influencer may have a higher engagement percentage than an influencer with 100,000 followers. This could mean higher conversion rates.

When you do seek to collaborate with someone else, you want to be sure that you check out the other influencer. You want someone who’s authentic and won’t bring harm to your brand. It could hurt your reputation if you accidentally align with someone who has shady practices or is offensive to audiences.

Tips for Becoming a Successful Influencer

Becoming an influencer can feel hard at first. You might wonder what you’re supposed to do, worry about finding followers, and be totally uncertain about what to say in your posts. Don’t worry. These feelings are totally natural. You will learn a lot about how to be an influencer as time goes on. However, if you’re a newbie, here’s what to do:

Start by filling out your profile. Add your real name, a profile image, and your location. Then craft your biography. You only have 150 characters so you must make them count. When you write your bio, try to think about what keywords someone might type in to find you. For example, you might put “Travel blogger” or “Makeup Artist” or “Beauty Vlogger” in your bio.

Next, focus on developing a theme for your content. Think about your brand and what you want it to represent. In many of Cara Jourdan’s (@CaraJourdan) photos, she’s wearing white, has a soft filter, and features her hair in soft waves. It makes her photos stand out in her followers’ busy feeds.

Even though you may not be earning anything from your social media posts quite yet, go ahead and convert your account into a business one. There are two reasons you want to do. The first is that a business account usually means you can schedule content. This might not seem like a big deal right now but as you grow, you don’t want to be chained to your phone, constantly having to post to your account.

Second, a business account gives you access to in-depth statistics. It’s hard to know how well you’re doing if you aren’t tracking your stats. Every two to three weeks, pause and review your most popular posts. Look at what you did differently with them then see how you can re-create that engagement again.

Conclusion

Becoming an influencer isn’t something that will happen overnight. Expect to spend a few weeks or months building your brand before you can begin to profit from it. In the meantime, focus on supporting your followers.

Build a community with them and look for ways to solve their problems. Focus on being authentic in your interactions. When you’re real, your followers can tell and that will attract them. They’ll begin to trust your recommendations and look to you when it’s time to make purchasing decisions.

As your community grows, don’t be surprised if you catch the eye of a company or brand. Be prepared for this by regularly keeping stats about how many followers you have and what’s working with them

#influencermarketing

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catanddave · 7 years

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Adrift: finding meaning in my college years

By: David Nielsen

“You look at nature. Bird flies somewhere, picks up a seed, shits the seed out, plant grows. Bird's got a job, shit's got a job, seed's got a job. And you've got a job.”

-Maddy the goat lady, Cold Mountain.

I’ve kept a hand-written journal for twelve years. Since I began high school, I’ve spilled my hopes and fears and deepest secrets onto the pages. I keep the mismatched volumes in an old toolbox and guard it with no small degree of fervor. I recently read through a substantial amount of these journals, and discovered something that surprised me, and I think it might resonate with others.

Since I began college, I’ve gone through prolonged periods of deep dissatisfaction. Not depression. There’s nothing paralytic about it. Thumbing through the pages, I see the words “purpose, vision, meaning, direction, belonging, and passion” quite often, and always in the context of not having them. There is a profound sense of longing in these entries that is almost cliché: “The seeking young man.” Many entries read as a confession, like I’m not living up to my own standards. The fear of mediocrity is potent. A sense of guilt is common. In a very real sense, I’ve been in limbo since graduating high school.

These entries surprise me when I revisit them, because I generally think of myself as a happy, well-rounded and driven individual. But my subconscious, revealed in the ink, is hunting, preparing for impending doom, doubting. It’s obvious that I’m running caveman software in 2017. I don’t kill things and eat them often enough. The last thing I want is to return to the Stone Age, but I find it useful to consider the context in which my brain evolved.

If you asked me, “when have you been the most happy in the past seven years?” I could answer: when I completed my undergrad in molecular biology, won awards for my research, got married, built a house, ran marathons, traveled across the country, published my master’s thesis, bought a new car, moved to a new city –I’ve got a damn good life. Certainly I was happiest when I was doing those things, right? But reading through the journals, I discovered something I didn’t expect: the only period of sustained fulfilment I’ve had in the past seven years was when I flipped my Jeep into a creek and started painting houses with my uncle.

I’ve tried to pinpoint the reasons I was so happy during that time, and a few things stand out. First, I almost died in a car accident. While I have no intention of repeating that process, it did have the undeniable effect of “waking me up.” In the weeks after the accident, I had a feeling of aloofness, a sense that things were pretty damn good. Everything I did was an accomplishment. The morning after the accident, just the act of waking up was like, “Hell yeah. Woke up.” It’s hard to be disappointed when you are fighting for your life. There’s no room to mope, no time to wax poetic on the meaning of life, only survival. That sounds “brutish, nasty and short,” but having clear priorities goes a long way for me in terms of fulfilment. Obviously, I don’t want to live in a constant struggle for survival, but I believe that suffering is a prerequisite for gratitude.

I have to have a reason for getting out of bed in the morning. A job. When I was painting houses, life was simple. I didn’t have to make a lot of decisions. I knew exactly what I had to do. If you’ve been clocking in every morning for the past twenty years, you might fantasize about your day off, when you wake up and just follow your nose, doing whatever you want. In my experience, this level of freedom is overrated. There’s a reason people start to decay after retirement, and I promise it’s not just old age. Being on the clock offers a paradoxical type of freedom. When you have no choice, you are free from responsibility. When shit goes south, or time is wasted, it’s not our fault. Blaming others and bitching about how difficult they make things is one of the sweetest things in life. We love to complain about things outside of our control: bosses, politicians, the weather, traffic. Imagine this conversation:

“How’s it going Dave?”

“Fantastic. I slept in till 10 AM before strolling down my private beach, eating perfectly ripe fruit from the trees and lounging in the sun. Then I wrote a poem about waves and took a nap.”

“Fuck you dude.”

No! We want grit. We want problems:

“How’s it going Dave?”

“Well, I spent all day preparing that presentation, only to find that my supervisor rescheduled the meeting without telling me. Then I get home and my wife starts screaming at me for not paying the insurance bill. Then I got a root canal, and that root canal has cancer. And I ran over my cat this morning.”

“Let me buy you a beer.”

I realize that not everyone is like this, and some people really do want to write poems and eat fruit, but personally, I know won’t be able to enjoy those things for very long if I haven’t earned them.

So, what am I doing now? I made it. Yesterday I completed all the requirements for my Master’s degree in evolutionary biology. I have a job interview tomorrow morning at the local university. My college career has been long stretches of frustration punctuated by periods of the most intellectually challenging work I’ve ever done. Most of the time, it was not fulfilling, it was hours and days of soul-sucking hell. Was it worth it? Probably. Could I have spent my time better? Probably. What have I gained? What have I learned? The consequences of my research are practically useless, I didn’t cure cancer or invent a new vaccine: I found out why ferns change the orientation of their fronds during winter. Whee! Who cares?

In summary, I gained two things from college:

1. I can smell bullshit a mile away.

2. Microsoft Excel is my bitch.

The truth is, I had a hard time in college. I usually wanted to quit and join the Navy or live off-grid in a one-room cabin. I don’t know if I ever really had “meaning” in these years. A journal entry from early this year reads, “Maybe there is no meaning, maybe there are just good days and bad days, and the joy of life is just carrying on.”

I’ve rarely been in a position to offer advice, but I benefitted immensely from keeping a journal, and I think most people would find utility in it. Even if you just write a few words on a calendar or planner, it helps. It always frustrates me when I can’t remember things, so journaling is like having a backup copy of life. It throws into stark relief how much I forget. It would be nice if we had a tape of our lives we could just rewind and watch, but the reality is that memory is totally unreliable. We’ve lost years. I don’t know about you, but that scares the shit out of me, and journaling is my way of coping.

For now, I am trying to spend less time thinking about what I ought to be doing, and just do things. I have a bad habit of overthinking, of analyzing every end and getting hung up on the fear of failure. I love to entertain worst-case scenarios, and this is not very useful or healthy. So I am making an effort to roll with it and just follow my gut. You’d think that seven years of studying science would have beat that out of me, but I think our instincts are strong and worth paying attention to. I’ve learned that I have to give myself a break. I’m not a failure if I overcook the pasta or skip a workout. Shit does, in fact, happen.

I don’t know what’s next for Catherine (my wife) and I. We’ll get into something before long. It’s “dog days” of summer in North Carolina right now. The world is lush and green. Today I’m going to run around the city and eat watermelon, enjoy the sunshine and the melancholy drone of the cicadas outside.

-DN, Asheville

#tinyhouselife #growing up #journal

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mikeyd1986 · 6 years

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MIKEY’S PERSONAL BLOG 124, October 2018

On Monday afternoon, Mum and I drove down the Princes Highway and visited the Lady Lavender's Tea Room in Bunyip. It was a beautiful 22 degree Spring day and we thought we should take the opportunity to make the most of it. We’ve driven past this place a few times on our way to other destinations such as Yarragon, Warrigul and Bairnesdale but today was the first time actually going in there. The venue is located on a large acre lot featuring many rows of lavender plants, a water fountain, scrubs, flowers, a gift shop and the tea rooms.

The tea room borrows heavily the interior decoration styles of the 1930’s with gilded floral print furniture, an old fashioned record player and varnished antique bookcases. Mum and I treated ourselves to a serving of Devonshire scones with jam and cream, a club sandwich and a pot of tea. Next we visited the gift shop next door and picked up a few items including an ABBA vinyl record from 1977, lavender spray, bag and pillow case, a plastic lotus flower.

On Monday night, I attended my Men of Doveton - 2018 session at Doveton College. After my absence last week, I was really in two minds about continuing and finishing off this program. I had so many conflicting thoughts going on inside my head (Do I really belong in this group? Do the other guys really care about me? Am I getting anything out of this program? Should I bother finishing it or just drop out now?). I guess you could say that I’ve always tried to finish what I’ve started and I’ve also started some positive lifestyle habits so it hasn’t been a waste of time for me.

I think I’ve also put a lot of internal pressure on myself to quickly form friendships and contribute more during the talks when perhaps I’m just not ready for that. Maybe letting it all sink in is a better idea. The other dilemma is my attendance record. I’ve missed two sessions and now I’m on the borderline of collecting enough stamps in my passport. If I miss one more session, I might as well kiss the graduation ceremony goodbye. So it’s now or never. Two more weeks to go.

In the first half of the session, we had a basketball training session with Brent from Casey Basketball. This is one of the few sports I actually enjoyed back in primary school, even playing it at lunchtimes and after school with some friends. But that certainly doesn’t mean that I found it easy to play. We began by doing some warm-up drills which tested our hand-eye coordination and ball handling skills. Doing dribbles and figure 8’s around your legs was challenging but fun at the same time. http://www.caseybasketball.com.au/

We then participated in a few games which involved learning how to shoot a basketball into the ring, controlling the ball and defending/attacking the ball from others. Whilst my first few attempts were crap, I was amazed to see myself scoring a few points when I focused and really tried hard. And that’s the one compliment I’ll always give myself: I do try fucking hard even if I suck at it. It was admittedly a great moment when people gave me a round of applauds for getting the ball in the ring from the three-point line. https://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/basics/basics.html

In the second half of the session, we had a lady named Sylvia return to present information on the LIFE program which helps with the prevention of type II diabetes. She got us to fill out a questionnaire to determine our level of risk as well as have measurements like blood pressure, weight and waist circumference taken by the nurse. We also had Mo talking about the benefits of physical exercise and doing a stretch demonstration as a group as well as getting us to fill out a weekly exercise planner. https://www.lifeprogram.org.au/

I was doing the best that I could to keep a straight face on throughout all of this. I feel like they tried to pack way too many activities in tonight, which I’m sure was not intentional, but I was struggling a lot. My brain was fried by the end of tonight’ session. I think there was a number of factors at play: lack of sleep and poor quality of sleep, heightened anxiety levels, not eating enough before coming, chronic fatigue, feeling pressured to get the sheets filled out and being too much of a people-pleaser. Plus the talk of type II diabetes was a major trigger and very confronting territory for me considering my grandma had a late diagnosis of it. I pretty much refuse to have the same diagnosis.

I’m still getting to know these guys and the level of trust is just not there for me. I still have a very hard time saying no to people and I feel like within this particular group of men, having a different opinion or disagreeing with someone else will ultimately go against you. It’s probably why I was beginning to feel physically ill and uncomfortable because being a “yes” person and being pressured or manipulated by others isn’t in my true nature. It’s very much an issue of self confidence and not being able to stand up for myself.

I’m all for being encouraging, supportive, positive and helping others but not at the expense of being fake. And that’s not me being negative, that’s me being real. There is also an extreme hesitation to speak up and contribute in this group. Mo does his best to encourage it but I feel like this group is just far too large to feel comfortable enough to open up. The select few that do instant get congratulated. The majority who don’t are left on the sidelines. Like many groups I’ve been a part of in the past, I feel like I’m on the outside looking in, struggling to be noticed and included.

By the time I left tonight, I actually felt relieved to be out of the building and back in my car. I think I just had a lot of pent up energy and releasing it around those guys wouldn’t have gone down well at all. I’m still determined to finish off this program but after that, I think the gate will be shut for me. https://www.caseystadium.ymca.org.au/whats-on/upcoming-events/event/men-of-doveton-free-health-program-2/2018/07/30

On Tuesday morning, Mum and I visited IKEA Springvale. I was still feeling pretty worked up about everything that went down at my Men of Doveton session last night. Not only that, but I felt completely overloaded by so many commitments I had going on including work-related changes, getting my approved NDIS plan, preparing myself for my first appointment with Dr. Ricardo (consulting psychiatrist), wanting to participate in a sleep study for autistic adults, going to the gym and small group training classes, counselling sessions with Ruth, applying for jobs and waiting to hear back from them.

Thankfully going to IKEA was the positive distraction that I needed from everything that’s causing my stress and anxiety in my life. I only go there a couple of times a year but I always appreciate all the changes they make to the showrooms and items that they sell in the store. Of course the layout is still bewildering and sensory-overload with so many things to absorb at once. My favourite part will always be the Market Hall downstairs, particularly the kitchen, bathroom, lighting, wall art, flowers, plants and candle sections.

We spent about 2-3 hours just slowly navigating our way through each section, picking up mostly inexpensive homeware items like cushions, glasses, artificial plants and flowers, a lint roller, plastic bag sealers, Christmas ornaments, a bath mat, an apple-shaped candle holder. My energy levels and fatigue were very much being tested today so we decided to skip parts of it and we had to rest at the restaurant.

I’ve always found most of the food here to be pretty bland and average in quality, though I was really pleased to see that they’ve improved their coffee blend. By the time we got there, the cafeteria was packed with the lunchtime crowd and it got a bit much for me. Luckily we found a quiet area to sit down and have our lunch. Of course being IKEA tradition, we also bought a $1 hotdog each after going through the checkouts.

On Tuesday night, I attended a Yin yoga class with Aaron Petty at Level Up Yoga in Berwick. It’s been a month since I last attended a class here with a lot of other commitments taking up my time. There was also many excuses and lies brought on by my relentless, interfering anxiety (Do I really fit in here? I’m too tired to do yoga. I can’t be bothered driving there). It’s true that I’ve also been rather harsh with myself in some of my previous classes when I couldn’t perform a movement correctly or just wasn’t getting it.

Tonight I managed to let all of my unrealistic expectations and inner critic go. Accepting help from others is often a challenge for me as I used to see it as being incapable or not good enough or weak. Same with making mistakes. I had some trouble getting into the Reclining Butterfly pose with my strap getting all tangled up and not quite in the right position. But instead of beating myself up over it or getting embarrassed like I usually do, I actually laughed at myself and accepted that “Yeah, shit happens!”.

It’s good to see that the sense of community spirit is still alive within this yoga studio. I did have some reservations about coming back to Level Up Yoga but not enough to put me off entirely. A lot of it has to do with my perception of how others view me which of course leads to overthinking. This is still something I’m continuing to work on but it’s nice that other students, even ones that I’ve only just met, make the effort to include me at the studio.

That’s one of the reasons I keep coming back. Another is the fact that Aaron is passionate, committed and genuinely invested in his yoga teachings. He challenges everyone in a beneficial way and never puts anyone down. And that’s the kind of environment that I thrive in, one that is encouraging, supportive and nurturing. Where we all help one another no matter what shit we’re going through. https://www.aaronpetty.com/teaching-schedule/

On Thursday afternoon, Mum and I went out to Cranbourne Park Shopping Centre. You wouldn’t have to be a clinical psychologist to figure out that I haven’t been myself lately. After discovering that my counsellor Ruth had to cancel my appointment this afternoon, my mental health seemed to take a downward turn. Paired with my poor sleeping patterns, I was experiencing severe levels of irritability, poor concentration, lack of focus, low motivation, daytime sleepiness, low energy levels and low mood.

Mum was doing her best to manage my manic mood swings, treating me to coffees, a bacon and egg toastie and carrot cake but these didn’t seem to help me much. I was just spewing up a lot of negative crap like a volcanic eruption. I’ve literally been counting down the days until my first appointment with Dr. Ricardo Peralta and get myself a prescription for medication that will help me. I’m not the easiest person to deal with when I’m feeling depressed and worthless like a lifeless zombie. But Mum has always been on my side, even during the darkest of moments and I’m extremely thankful for that.

On Friday morning, Jen Angee, Mum and I went on a car trip to visit the suburbs of Ashwood and Ashburton. It was a beautiful Spring day with a light breeze and plenty of sunshine. Considering how rough this week has been for me, this was exactly what I needed to feel better about myself: Vitamin D and pleasant childhood memories. Jen gave us a history lesson of her old childhood memories growing up in the Ashburton area off High Street Road and Ashwood off Cleveland Street.

Whilst some building have been torn down, demolished, rebuilt or been renovated on, it was pleasing to see that some of the older commission houses and shops still remain in tact. A mixture of brick veneer, cement render and weatherboard with newly built front fences and modern features, they all have a historic charm to them, surviving for many decades and standing the test of time. http://www.victorianplaces.com.au/ashburton

We decided to have a browse at the nearby Op Shop and have lunch and coffee at the Milk Cloud Cafe. Of course the one thing that has changed is the degree of traffic driving down the main street with a few residents walking their dogs, riding their bikes and rushing across the pedestrian crossings. Meanwhile, the three of us were just taking our time, appreciating the many shops and elements in the streetscape. It really made for a great day out. https://www.weekendnotes.com/melbourne/ashburton/

“When I'm on my feet, I can take the heat. But when I get low I prefer the cold. I can be a hard light to ignite. All my nightmares feel like real life. Wait for the explosion. Only to anticipate. Running in slow motion. I can never get away. Sweet paralysation. No one here to keep me safe. Hyperventilation. I'm about to go insane. Wake me up and keep me conscious.” Broods - Conscious (2016)

“No one can make you change who you are. No one can take one beat from your heart. When you're standing tall. You're unbreakable. No one can make you bend, you won't fold. No one can take your shine, you're all gold. When you're standing tall. You're unbreakable.” Birds of Tokyo - Unbreakable (2018)

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designforsocialimpact · 6 years

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18 - now we are serious because we have a tea kettle, citizen participation, ethics and other design lessons

This week Master of Design for Social Impact students explore power relations in urban planning, run prototype workshops, develop future speculation analysis, and start questioning ethics in design. Oh yea, and we finally got an electric tea kettle.

Thanks to Amy we finally have a kettle in our classroom. It was such a sweet communal gesture that it inspired a little sprucing up. Painted a corner shelf, got a lamp, folded some paper cubbies, cleaned with tea tree oil and voila! Come on in to our classroom in room 102 of the Paris College of Art. The space looks warm, friendly and downright hygge. Just in time too - no sooner said than bam! We're in Week 3 of the spring semester and thick into our studies.

We have this brilliant class Mondays and Fridays called Social and Urban Governance. In class we talking about power relations in urban actions and discuss Shelly Arnstein's A Ladder of Citizen Participation. I think back on a college internship on Capitol Hill with Congressman Serrano (NY-D, Bronx). I remember the work I did as a diplomat abroad. I think about governance theory and the fragmented ways in which government systems actually work. In all, I find myself thinking cynically (because I'm old enough to know better) but hoping fervently (because I'm also young enough to believe in change). I hope this class helps me dream about what design can impact in the urban/government sector.

Research and Methodology class in the afternoon turns into another writing workshops so we can develop our thesis outline. This week my research buddy Rica and I scribble all over our outlines. We are trying to make everything clean and easily understood. Our session dissolves into back-o-the-class laughter. Inevitable. I'm lucky to have Rica as my partner because he cracks up all the time. And for someone like me who takes things WAY too seriously it's one of the best reminders to chill out and enjoy the littles of life.

I bustle home in the metro rush hour to skype John Shneider, the cofounder of a company called 3DFuel. They make biodegradable filament for 3d printing from all kinds of bio-waste including beer, coffee, trash and hemp. https://www.3dfuel.com He's classic hipster in a Fargo warehouse. Kind, quick, eager. I'm nervous and I ask too many questions. He links me to a project where the brown coffee filament they make is actually helping to create prosthetic limbs in matching skin tones for kids. I check out the website. There's a lot of good in this world, eh? http://enablingthefuture.org/lend-a-hand/

Tuesday morning I wake up early with my partner's alarm clock. He's off to work. I'm off to the gym. I pump on the stationary bike, catch up on political comedy skits and see all the hype about the upcoming State of the Union speech back in the U.S.A. Political positions fascinate me as a beautiful and inevitable part of identity and culture. I cannot help wanting to know more - especially since I have so many colleagues and friends who continue to work the political/diplomatic ring.

Home again I set up a series of recipes that I'm testing for my edible packaging concept. I'm extrapolating lessons from raw food cuisine dehydrating to design sealable edible food packaging concepts. Some of my designs are downright wacky (check out this lattice weave of a banana peel plate). But that's part of the experimentation phase. I'm hoping to develop a catalogue of my different designs. But I'm certainly no chemist! Let's just see what happens.

By Tuesday afternoon I am back in 3D Lab class practicing new tricks on Rhino. This semester we have three new classmates from the interior design degree and they are wizard-fast with the software. I feel silly with my rudimentary skills in comparison (last semester I barely worked out how to make a box print properly, see Week 14) but the goal is to just keep learning. Alessandro, who teaches the class (and just agreed to be my thesis advisor!) is hella patient. He reminds me that I can only get better.

Tuesday evening I create a photo shoot in my office/spare room and hang paper craft bits for a scene promoting my prototype creations. I spend a happy couple of hours cutting, glueing, arranging and testing the scene ready for the prototype. (It's still baking in the dehydrator.) I need to make a presentation that appeals to both adults and to children, so I decided that paper craft images could be an easy way to entice people into a whole new colorful and playful world. Plus, I can't help myself. It's so cute! Here’s how it turned out in post-edit. Ooh, and check out the facebook event for my upcoming artist residency at Living Lab: http://bit.ly/2DZhjxW

Wednesday morning I open up the dehydrator and pull out the newest prototypes that have been setting and dehydrating for 24 hours. They look good and I pack them into a box carefully and cross the city of Paris via metro to MakeSense headquarters. Once there Solene gives us an update presentation on the ways in which MakeSense is changing due in part from our class experience with their massive open online course (MOOC). They have fortified their programs for each volunteer level of participation.

More interestingly they are trying to reconcile their blursing (blessing/curse) of being a vague international entity. "MakeSense is....tools? a playground? a social thing? a movement?" They've been able to survive on a whole range of descriptions precisely because MakeSense can be different things for different people. But now they are heading into a rebranding to simplify how they present themselves. Good luck, and go make sense of those things.

"Have you eaten yet?.....Would you like to have lunch with me?" Its time for my mid-week, mid-day workshop testing my prototypes in the PCA gallery (aka student union space.) My workshops do triple duty: 1 - test how the packaging holds food 2 - test how the package gets handled by users 3 - compensate my workshop participants (students love free food) And since very few people know what I'm up to - it's a wonderfully confirming moment to watch their shock and surprise when they open the bag and pull out my packaging. Ta-da! It's confirming for me that there is a place for edible, compostable, biodegradable takeaway packaging in lieu of plastic.

Hanna reminds me later that food waste is also a problem that I exacerbate with my designs. And maybe my design is not circular at all since it doesn't become renewable material. She's absolutely right - I'll have to acknowledge that my packaging wastes food. I'll also have to figure out how to explain that it's not circular design, but it does have a circular mentality. I have to be smarter about my designs and keep trying to do better. Maybe there’s a way to use more food scraps in the design of my prototypes? Hmm...back to the drawing board. In the afternoon I head to the pool at Neuilly-Sur-Seine for a lengthy swim to clear my head. The water is heated and laps in the pool feel effortless. I find in France no matter the pool I go to and no matter the lanes I pick (and they have plaques reading from slow to fast), the entire pool is filled with leisure swimmers paddling around. Fascinating but frustrating. I try to leave a gap for the swimmer ahead of me, forget the workout and just enjoy the swim.

In our second SPROUT workshop session with Maurizio and Laureano Thursday afternoon we test our observant eye for signals. "Look at the next image for 10 seconds, no writing and then tell me what you see." And we learn to pay attention to visual information and to categorize and title each with a concept. We’re not trend-hunting here. We’re future forecasting. It goes beyond the "cool" and into future realities with a subjective point of view. One of the 20 slides shows a 3d printed ear floating in a glass cup of pink liquid. Another shows metallic medical tattoos printed on wrists. Yet another features cars that drive you according to your mental state and not your destination. Each slide makes me wonder what I know about the future. Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore.

In Professional Practices later that night we meet Mathieu Merlet Briand, an artist who frames his work around the digital and technological perception of reality. He shows us his portfolio with marbelized glass created by algorithms of digital material [iceberg] to integrated iron sculptures on the loom [Google Dark Matter]. His generic advice "You will find a solution" sounds vague yet true. Sometimes all those questions we have cannot be answered, you just have to trust yourself to overcome that difficulty when it arises. At home again I watch a documentary called Urbanized (2011) as homework while munching dinner. It showcases the plight of urban planners, politicians, residents, city-dwellers, etc. The documentary highlights 12 different cities and the social impact created or ignored based on planning. I think about all the places I've lived in city-wide project launches. Luanda's marginal construction, London's empty olympic city, Buenos Aires 9 de Julio bus. Design is integral to social impact in city planning. It feels more grounded to finally study practical applications that affect people’s day to day lives in an architectural way. Friday afternoon we skype Thomas Watkin for Social and Urban governance class - this time about "What is public?" We compare our insights on the readings/documentaries and then talk about how to make a project public. How do you design a public space that allows people access? Allows them to be an audience? Allows an environment that fosters sharing? Its part of understanding the conditions laid out by Kevin Lynch in building Image of the City. We look at fun graphs showing walking spaces, architectural spaces, and public transportation studies. I leave just a little bit early for a private meeting in the gallery hallway of PCA's entrance. Her name is Emilie Prattico and she clips her words with a slight British accent but has a very down-to-earth conversational speech style. She's our professor for Designer's Social and Ethical Responsibilities. I pose a question to her about how to design without using necessarily Human Centered Design (HCD). To me, HCD doesn't seem to be proactively supporting environmental needs. She pivots my question and asks why not include environment when considering an optimal human experience? I'm intrigued but not convinced I understand. I see so much displacement of nature in pursuit of human interests that I struggle to make sense of what is ok and what is not. And how do we know that we are doing ok when only hindsight is 20/20? More questions, less answers....sigh.

We climb the stairs and enter the classroom. A quick shuffle of papers (we have about 5 minutes between one class and the next in the evenings.) We spend the first rounds of conversation talking about our program, what we're doing and what were are studying. Emilie works full time and she teaches on the side. She confirms that she is passionate - Friday night/Saturday all-day classes means that all of us will have to be committed too. Considering my question earlier, I feel grateful that we’re finally talking about the ethical issues. When class lets out early Rica invites everyone out to eat at a tiny Italian place around the corner from his place. Pizza? Yes. The music bips in the background, sourdough bread wafting, and we wait impatiently for our orders. We scarf down dinner while talking about Palermo, Italy (Hanna has a new job there potentially), New Zealand (Vaila is considering doing some back-packing), and Berlin, Germany (Rica is intending on going straight back to his company who he desperately misses.) I'll be in Paris for the foreseeable future. But you never know where a project might take you, eh? Saturday morning I head to the gym with my partner. I love lifting weights and he's a great gym partner. Doesn't yell, doesn't compete. Just does his bit and helps me when I ask for it. I love working out together. I shower at the gym and then head right back to PCA where we have a second lecture in Designer's Social and Ethical Responsibility. We go through a slide deck, watch a documentary, talk about theory, watch conference lectures on Youtube, talk some more, and of course, have some tea. Here's the quotes I pulled from our conversation in our ethic class: "theory can be a bummer" "your experience of your values is NOT the same thing as your values" "if you blindly accept then you give up your rights" "now you have tools to analyze very complex problems that arrive" "what you do with the lenses is to focus on different parts of the situation" "we generate reason from rational discourse with each other. Doesn't come from on high, doesn't come from a book. Everyone generates it through dialogue that is honest, equal, respectful..."

Afterwards, I walk into drizzles of rain towards the canals of St. Martin. I'm meeting my partner for noodles at Tien Hiangs. This place is always hopping, but class ended early and we're able to make it before the rush comes through at 20h. A vegan bowl of pho, a gorgeous basket of dumplings and my darling partner to share it with! What more can a girl ask for?

Sunday is studying, reading, writing, etc. I jump through 17 new articles related to composting, recycling, packaging, plastic, etc. I'm drowning in sources but I still cannot get enough to capture all the information I'll need. I'm sending in today my first draft of the thesis. I know it will go through many revisions, but I want it to be as close to finished as possible. This whole month of February is going to squeeze us like a sausage factory. Both Social and Urban Governance and Designer's Social and Ethical Responsibility are front-loaded so that we finish the course requirements March-ish. This would give us time to create our thesis and individual projects afterwards, except that due dates are also front-loaded so that our thesis are due in early April. So right now it feels rushed and hectic, but it will slow down as the weather gets better and as the semester winds down. Just gotta keep on track...which reminds me I feel like going for a run. It would be a nice way to rinse out my mind this Sunday afternoon. A long run always feels good. So I head to the neighborhood athletic track with my partner. We bounce on the rubber path and fall into rhythm of step. Just gotta keep on track and moving forward.

SMarti out.

#smartigraphicdesign #designforsocialimpact #design #socialimpact #paris #pca #graduate student #master

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Will the world shake with more large earthquakes in 2018? Time will tell.

New Post has been published on https://nexcraft.co/will-the-world-shake-with-more-large-earthquakes-in-2018-time-will-tell/

Will the world shake with more large earthquakes in 2018? Time will tell.

Amidst panic over planets that don’t exist and conspiracy theories about the moon landing on Google News this morning, one headline announced a more down-to-Earth sort of doom. “Deadly earthquakes could hit a BILLION people next year because of Earth’s slowing rotation,” warned The Daily Mail.

While Nibiru still doesn’t exist (and the Moon landing definitely happened) the last example was based on actual research published in August in Geophysical Research Letters,where researchers put forward that by looking through the earthquake record, they could predict periods of time where large earthquakes (greater than a magnitude 7.0) might be more likely to occur.

Before we get too far into the research, let’s get a few things straight. No one can predict an individual earthquake with any degree of accuracy. And it’s important to remember that an earthquake’s deadliness isn’t just determined by its magnitude, but also depends on how many people live nearby, whether they have any warning systems, and how stringent their earthquake building codes are. And finally, because we can’t predict exactly where earthquakes will strike, there’s no way to tell exactly how many people will be impacted by large earthquakes next year.

In the August paper, geophysicists Rebecca Bendick and Roger Bilham started looking at the 117-year long record of earthquakes around the world. Like many who came before, they found a random distribution of earthquakes over time. Then they decided to look at different metrics related to those earthquakes.

“What we started with was the idea that maybe earthquakes are more like neurons or batteries, in the sense that they have a certain amount of time required that charges them up and gives them a potential to fail, and after that charging interval, they can fail at any time.” Bendick says.

Then, in a presentation at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America, the authors built on the paper, presenting results that they say show the number of common large-scale earthquakes rising on a roughly 32-year cycle. They started looking for geophysical events that might line up with that pattern, and found a match. The events lined up with a tiny slowing in the Earth’s rotation, which happened about every 32 years (sometimes more, sometimes less). Roughly five years after the slowdown, they saw an uptick in the record of large earthquakes.

“This is kind of a precious and exciting possibility in earthquake science,” Bendick says. “There are no other signals that I know of that lead an earthquake cycle in a way that would be useful for doing forecasting, or understanding in advance how the risk changes over time.”

Bendick notes that they’re not precisely tying individual large earthquakes to changes in the Earth’s rotation, but simply saying that they might be more statistically likely to happen 5-6 years after these millisecond-long slowdowns. A slowdown of that nature happened a few years ago, which means that if their prediction is right, another bunch of large earthquakes should register in the next few years.

Ken Hudnut is a research geophysicist with the USGS who works on earthquake risk programs, and was not involved in the study. “The main thing I came away thinking was real old fashioned scientific ‘lets check this’ kind of thoughts,” Hudnut says, noting that correlation is not the same as causation. In other words, the fact that a slowdown happened to coincide with the uptick in large quakes does not mean the two things are related, much less that one caused the other.

The hope is that if they do turn out to be linked, these activity forecasts might offer some warning for an inherently unpredictable global phenomenon. In the abstract of the presentation, Bilham and Bendick write: “Whatever the mechanism, the 5-6 year advanced warning of increased seismic hazards afforded by the first derivative of the LoD is fortuitous, and has utility in disaster planning.”

Hudnut is skeptical of how much actual utility the advanced notice offers to the disaster planning community. “I work with disaster planners. That’s a lot of what I do,” Hudnut says. “If I’m an emergency planner on a regional or local level in the state of California, what I’m thinking about is how can we can roll trucks. Are we going to open firehouse doors and roll trucks out, yes or no?”

In the event of an earthquake, emergency responders want as much mobility as possible, and that means not having to dig their trucks out of the rubble of crushed buildings, and making sure their staff has a plan in place so that they can start helping their communities as fast as possible. That kind of precise, actionable information is not available in this broad forecast, which doesn’t pinpoint precise times and locations for earthquake activity in the coming year.

“A five year heads-up on global earthquake activity might seem like it’s has utility in disaster planning, and maybe on some level it does. But at the level where I work, it does not,” he adds.

“They’ve put some rather bold claims out about earthquake activity increasing next year, which to me seems like a testable prediction, but in the all the tests of all the earthquake predictions before this, they haven’t tested out. I don’t believe that this will test out either.” Hudnut says.

Bendick says that instead of that kind of granular information, she hopes that their forecast might simply provide an added incentive for communities that already live in earthquake-prone areas to gather their emergency kits, and make plans in case an earthquake does hit.

Both Hudnut and Bendick say that time will tell just how accurate—and useful—the findings might be.

“To me, this is a really fun and exciting and beautiful example of how science works,” Bendick says. “We put out this hypothesis, and two things are going to happen. One is that all of our colleagues are going to try to figure out why we’re wrong. That’s how it’s supposed to work. The other is that it’s a pretty bold forecast. By the end of next year, and certainly by 2020, we’ll have a solid test of the findings.”

Written By Mary Beth Griggs

#Science

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