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yikesharringrove · 4 years

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tagged by: @lostnoise ty 💕

1. do you prefer writing with a black pen or a blue pen? I write almost entirely in this one specific brand of purple pen (I’ve found it helps with ye olde dyslexia) but black is the second best option. I also have a collection of gel pens, so I like those too.

2. would you prefer to live in the country or in the city? City. But like, a smaller city is okay.

3. if you could learn a new skill, what would it be? Um, like any skill? I have none? I want to learn ASL, though.

4. do you drink your tea/coffee with sugar? When I drink coffee (which is almost never) I put a lil in.

5. what was your favorite book as a child? The Gaspard and Lisa series.

6. do you prefer baths or showers? I’m the fucking worst bc when I shower, I’ll just like, lay down in the tub for a while. So technically shower.

7. if you could be a mythical creature, which one would you be? It’s be cool to be a fairy.

8. paper or electronic books? I’m not a huge reader, so I have a LOT of audiobooks lol. I mean, I love paper books, but I also love on electric books how I can change the font size and color and stuff.

9. what is your favorite item of clothing? My banana skirt, or I have a collection of vintage band shirts from my parents, that are pretty cool.

10. do you like your name? would you like to change it? My legal name is Abigail and I fucking hate it, but I don’t want to go through the rigor of leagally changing it when everyone jsut calls me Abbi anyway 🤷‍♀️

11. who is a mentor to you? One of my professors. She’s an AMAZING woman, and she’s so wonderful. She and a few other women spoke out against one of their old bosses that sexually assaulted several of them, and they managed to get him fired and kicked off the board of a newspaper he was on. She was the first person I opened up to about my own experiencees after that.

12. would you like to be famous? if so, what for? I think it’d be cool to be really recognizable by a certain group, so like be famous for a niche thing where those fans would recognize you, but not EVERYONE in the world would recognize you. I’d like to be an actor or a musician I think.

13. are you a restless sleeper? oh yee

14. do you consider yourself to be a romantic person? Depends. I can be, but I also don’t really care about romantic things in general.

15. which element best represents you? um, idk. Fire, maybe?

16. who do you want to be closer to? my friends that live three states away.

17. do you miss someone at the moment? my friends that live three states away.

18. tell us about an early childhood memory. My earliest memory is of driving in the car listening to DMX with my mom, which describes her pretty well.

19. what is the strangest thing you have eaten? I’ll put really anythign in my maw. I’ve been lucky to travel a lot and I’ll try anything, so I’ve eaten sheep liver, and bull testicle, and pig brain, and cricket.

20. what are you most thankful for? The opportunities in life I’ve had.

21. do you like spicy food? oh yeah

22. have you ever met someone famous? Yeah, I have some good stories lol

23. do you keep a diary or journal? I try to. It’s helpful for me to write things out, I’m just bad at actually doing it daily. I’ve been keeping one for the past few weeks pretty well though, since there’s been a lot on my mind.

24. do you prefer to use pen or pencil? I fucking hate writing in pencil.

25. what is your star sign? taurus/aries

26. do you like your cereal crunchy or soggy? Crunchy!!!! I only pour a lil cereal in at a time so that it doesn’t get soggy

27. what would you want your legacy to be? That I was kind.

28. do you like reading? What was the last book you read? I’m not a big reader, so again, audiobooks. I just finished Always Look on the Bright Side of Life: A Sortabiography By Eric Idle of Monty Python and I really liked it.

29. how do you show someone you love them? my love leanguage is giving/recieving gifts, so I give a lot of stuff. Like jsut little things, like nice post it notes, or like, by them a coffee or smthn

30. do you like ice in your drinks? depends

31. what are you afraid of? amounting to nothing, that everyone hates me, being a failure, letting my family down. To name a few

32. what is your favorite scent? I realy like floral scents, or good food cooking, or like, pine.

33. do you address older people by their name or surname? If I don’t know them well, it’s title and surname, but I have a lot of middle aged adult friends, so they’re first names always.

34. if money was not a factor, how would you live your life? I’d travel the world.

35. do you prefer swimming in pools or the ocean? I’ve only been in the ocean a few times and I’ve only swam in it twice, but that was to snorkel and my sister and I swam with leopard sharks and it was amazing, but it’s easier to swim in a pool lol

36. what would you do if you found $50 in the ground? If I saw the someone dropped it, I’d give it back, but if not, mine.

37. have you ever seen a shooting star? did you make a wish? I’ve seen a lot and I wish on all of them.

38. what is one thing you would want to teach your children? To love, to be soft and kind and giving, but to understand when to be hard and put yourself first.

39. if you had to have a tattoo, what would it be and where would you get it? I have a lot of plans. The first one I get is gonna match with my sister, in memory of a friend of ours.

40. what can you hear now? I’m listening to some music

41. where do you feel the safest? In my room in my apartment. I’m subleasing to a friend rn bc I had to move back in with my parents for quarantine :/

42. what is one thing you want to overcome/conquer? My deeply ingrained feelings of not being good enough.

43. if you could travel back to any era, what would it be? I would like to live in the late 60s-early 70s for a bit. See good artists when they were up and coming, go to Woodstock.

44. what is your most used emoji? 🥺

45. describe yourself using one word. cold

46. what do you regret the most? Moving back home, tbh.

47. last movie you saw? I watched Gremlins. I went to the drive in the other day with my sister and we saw The Goonies and Gremlins.

#yikes talks #this was a long one oh whoa

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kooala · 4 years

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50 questions tag

so I was tagged by the lovely @jinniestan , @bitoftaewithsugaandkookie and @sugasugakookies to do the 50 questions tag! Thank you so much guys 💖

LESGED DIS BREAD

1. What colours is your hairbrush?

I have a black and wood one

2. name a food you never eat:

never had any innards like cow stomach or stuff like that

3. are you typically too warm or too cold?

always warm, even warm hands in winter

4. what were you doing 45 minutes ago?

watched iconic kpop moments at MAMA haha

5. what’s your favorite candy bar?

Not a massive candy person but I LOVE Kinder chocolate, my fellow Germans will know what the hype is about 😌🔥

6. Have you ever been at a professional sports game?

yes I’ve watched a Yankee vs. RedSox game and I’ve been to a Patriots one

7. What was the last thing you said out loud?

Singing along and I yelled “IT’S THE LOVE SHOT!”

8. Favourite ice cream?

Mint chocolate chip

9. what was the last thing you had to drink?:

Woootah

10. Do you like your wallet?

Yes I bought myself a smal Chanel one after graduating 😊

11. What was the last thing you ate?

Sour gummies. breakfast is the most important meal of the day kids!

12. Did you buy clothes last weekend?

Nope

13. What was the last sporting event you watched?

bruh... soccer some time during the world cup? hahaha

14. what is your favorite flavor of popcorn?

Don’t like popcorn but buttered or sweet - def not caramel or salted! D:

15. who’s the last person you sent a text to?

@cultleaderyoongi

16. Ever go camping?

I’m the festival queen here so yes, 100%!

17. Do you take vitamins?

When I feel like getting a cold in winter, yes

18. do you go to church every sunday?

Just on occasions like Christmas or Easter etc.

19. do you have a tan?

I don’t tan easily, takes a lot for me to get a tan. I just get freckles on my nose

20. do you prefer chinese or pizza?

I mean I eat more pizza.. if that answers the question

21. do you drink soda through a straw?

Nah

22. what color socks do you usually wear?

Always black

23. do you ever drive above the speed limit?

😌😌😌 I can’t confirm or deny this haha

24. what terrifies you?

not being liked or loved

25. look to your left, what do you see?

my phone

26. what chore do you hate the most?

dishes because I don’t have a dishwasher

27. what do you think of when you hear an Australian accent?

G’DAY MATE, LET’S THROW SOME SHRIMP ON THE BARBIE

28. what’s your favorite soda?

In Germany we have a thing called MezzoMix which is Fanta and Coke mixed? heavenly if you haven’t tried it but I raaaarely drink soda. Last time I had Mezzo I was like.. 13 XD

29. do you go in fast food places or just hit the drive thru?

Go in

30. What is your favourite number?

I don’t have one

31. Who was the last person you talked to?

My mooma

32. favorite cut of beef?

Unless it’s attached to a dude, I don’t want it 😂😂

33. last song you listened?

EXO - 엑소 '전야 (The Eve)

34. Last book you read?

I listen to a lot of audiobooks at work so: Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King

35. can you say the alphabet backwards?

Is that a thing...?

36. favorite day of the week?

I really don’t care

37. how do you like your coffee?

With milk

38. Favourite pair of shoes?

living in the old school vans, black and white

39. time you normally get up?

I work so 7:20

40. sunrise or sunsets?

Sunrise

41. how many blankets on your bed?

One, in summer I only use the duvet cover not even a blanket

42. describe your kitchen plates?

They look like those handmade imperfect ones, really like that look

43. describe your kitchen at the moment?

a mess 🤡

44. do you have a favorite alcoholic drink?

Vodka atm, with some sort of mixer. usually a Mexican lemonade called Paloma

45. do you play cards?

Nah

46. what color is your car?

White

47. can you change a tire?

48. your favorite state/province/country/city etc.?

Don’t think there is one place because all places are unique and wonderful if you just look for the beauty.

49. favorite job you’ve had?

Definitely being an AuPair

50. how did you get your biggest scar?

my ex boyfriend accidentally crashed the bike we both were riding 😂

this was fun! I tag @cultleaderyoongi @bangtan-madi @sweetpeajeon @hiemmel @eslebt @kimsouthjoon @hosnack @hobsgguk and hope they haven’t been tagged yet. no pressure if you don’t wanna do it (:

anyone else who wants to do it, please feel free to do so! consider yourself tagged by me 💖✨

#kooala personal #kooala tag

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acid-eater · 5 years

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LOGH 100 Question Meme

Under the cut bc this is huge

1) How did you get into LOGH?

It was back in 98 when I used to “work” with some friends fansubbing anime in a home studio. One day one of my friends, who used to go to japan a lot because his family was living there as dekasegi, brought some episodes of logh (half of the 1st season) telling us that we should start subbing it because it was “the best space opera ever to exist”. We found the script on the internet and watched it. It was awesome, but we never subbed it because we were too lazy.

2) What did you watch/read from LOGH? I haven’t watched Golden Wings

3) Which one did you get started with? the first of the 110 episodes

4) What do you plan to watch/read from LOGH in the future? hmm nothing I guess

5) What books do you own from LOGH? Yoshiki Tanaka‘s novels

6)What video support do you own from LOGH? 720p and old 480p

7)What LOGH videogames do you own? Physical copy none, but I have all pc88 and pc98 games (only to take screenshots because I can’t play them in japanese haha)

8)What’s your favorite LOGH videogame? n/a

9)What goods from LOGH do you own (toys, clothes, etc.) this is everything logh related I own

(thanks to my favorite girls hisohiso and karisomeotome)

10)If you could wish for a LOGH good that doesn’t exist yet, what would that be? idk, an audiobook, maybe?

11)Do you own LOGH models? Nope

12)Did you ever thought “OH MY GOD I AM A LOGH FREAK”? Nope

13)Did you ever sang a LOGH song in a karaoke? No, I’ve never been to a karaoke x_x

14)What is your favorite season of the show? 2

15)And your less favorite? Maybe 1? x_x Idk...

16)What is your favorite episode and/or movie? episode 54

17)Favorite scene or event? Reinhard and Yang Wenli meeting

18)Favorite battle? Vermillion! (see? 2nd season is the best) but also Shiva

19)Less favorite scene or event? 3 terrible scenes involving: kircheis, yang wenli and reuenthal

20)Favorite song? I love Hikaru no Hashi wo Koete and Sea of the Stars

21)Favorite sountrack? Mahler’s Symphony No 2, “Resurrection”. Mostly because of episode 98 ;____;

22)Favorite quote? “Information is a living organism - with a short lifespan.” Yang the Wenli on Spiral Labyrinth and “The people have democratic principles on their lips, but cannot spare the effort to safeguard them! The collapse of a government is the sin of its rulers and leaders. The collapse of democratic rule is the sin of every citizen.” Bucock - The man, the legend

23)Who would you have sided with if you had a choice? The solitary and hopeless struggle of Jessica Edwards

24)Where would you live? In Heinessenpolis

25)What job/function would you have had? an irrelevant one

26)Which character is the most alike to you? I have NO idea

27)Which character would you like to be like? Ugh... Bucock, maybe.

28)Who is your favorite character? Miracle Yang

29)Which character were you impressed by the most? Reuenthal

30)Your OTP…? Mitts & Reuenthal

31)…and NOTP? all the hetero u_u

32)Who is the perfect, ideal couple? Reinhardo-sama and Kircheis

33)Less favorite character? Every fuckin Phezzani (except for Boris Konev)

34)Who is the sassiest man in the galaxy? Dusty or Schenkopp

35)Who is the smartest character? Oberstein

36)And the sexiest? Reuenthal

37)Who has the best strategy? Yang Wenli

38)Who has the best strategy from the opposite side? Reinhard

39)Who has the worst strategy? Braunschweig is really incompetent

40)Who is the most evil? The whole Terraist Church and of course the Phezzani behind it

41)Who is the most honest? Kircheis and Mittermeyer

42)Which character can’t be ignored yet not your favorite one? Cazellnu

43)WHO IS GALAXY’S GREATEST HERO? maybe kesler, maybe mitts

44)Favorite ship (as in spaceship not your OTP again)? Barbarossa

45)Favorite planet? Heinessen

46)Who are, gradually, the five best officers from the Alliance? Bucock, Yang, Julian, Schenkopp, Dusty

47)And from the Empire? Reuenthal, Muller, Kessler,Mitts, Oberstein

48)Who would you like to have as your subordinate? Julian

49)Who would you like to have as your superior? Yang or Bucock or Merkatz

50)Who would you hate to have as your superior? Reinhard u_u

WOW!! Halfway through, here’s a cookie!!

51)Who would you hate to have as your subordinate? Poplan

52)Who would you like to have as your opponent? Reinhard

53)Who would you hate to have as your opponent? Yang

54)If you could befriend a character, who would that be? Mittermeyer

55)Which character would you have a talk with? Mittermeyer

56)If you could be one of the characters for one day, who would it be and when? One of Cazellnu daughters

57)Which character could you fall in love with? Reuenthal

58)Which character do you want to treat badly? Reuenthal lol

59)Which character would you have liked to live? Kircheis (end of the anime) and Yang

60)Which character do you wish to see dead (earlier)? Rubinsky

61)What death affected you the most? 3: kircheis, yang and reuenthal

62)What death did you celebrate? Rubinsky

63)What death is the most heroical? Bucock

64)What death is the silliest? Andrew Fork

65)Who is right of Yang and Reinhard? Yang

66)Between the Trunicht Government and the Goldenbaum Government, which would you choose? Revolution!!!!

67)If you were in Yang’s position, how would you have reacted to the Greenhill Coup d’Etat? The NSMC was a mistake and it would obviously destroy itself, Yang did well in putting that guy (I forgot his name) to talk publicly denouncing that the coup was supported by the Empire, but he took so long to actually attack them somehow.

68)Who used the best technique to destroy the Artemis necklackle, Kircheis or Yang? Yang

69) Would you have killed Reinhard in Vermillion if you were in Yang’s position? Without a doubt

70)Who would you have sided with in Merkatz place? He did the right thing, I would do the same.

71)If it were you instead of Yang, would you have sided with Reinhard after the battle of Vermillion? No. Impossible.

72)Do you prefer Oberstein or Bittenfeld? Tough one... Bittenfeld, probably

73)Were you sad about Oberstein’s death? More than I expected tbh

74)If you could choose to marry either Frederica or Hilda, who would it be? Frederica, for sure.

75)Who do you think Julian slept with? Mashengo (my otp)

76)In your humble opinion, how many times did Reinhard and Hilda did “the thing”? lol just once and she probably didn't even cum

77)Do you think Reinhard was poisoned? Some questions are better left unanswered

78)Do you prefer the books, the anime or the manga (or the remake :B)? Anime

79)Do you like Golden Wings/Ougon no Tsubasa? haven’t seen

79)Do you wish the OVA looked like GW/OnT? Noooo

80)Do you like other works from Yoshiki Tanaka? I don’t know any other

81)Do you like other works from Noboru Ishiguro? Of course! Especially Macross, Megazone and Yamato.

82)Who is your favorite seiyuu? I don’t have one.

83)Who would you like to see in your own language dubcast? huh no one

84)Who is your favorite classical music composer from the soundtrack? Gustav Mahler

85)If there was a LOGH live action movie, who would you like to see in the cast? Please, no.

86)Do you have friends you can share your love for LOGH with? YES!

87)Are you a LOGH proselyte and try to get new people into it? All the time (it never works tho)

88)What is the message from LOGH you will remember? obviously “In every time, in every place, the deeds of men remain the same.”

89)What did you like in LOGH? A LOT of things. I liked the writing, the fact that the story is thought and presented as if it were historical data, is really believable most of the time. I like the characters, aesthetically speaking, their design are so varied and unique I could pretty much imagine how they would look like as real people. On a psychological level as well, their variety and depth is amazing and I mention this show as an example on how the best stories are those where both the plot and the characters are awesome.

90)What did you hate in LOGH? That it had to end

91)What do you think of democracy as depicted in LOGH? Democracy is not something that should be taken for granted and LOGH has the best way to remind us about it.

92)What do you think of autocracy as depicted in LOGH? Obviously depicted in a positive way but doesn’t neglect to highlight the limits of this system as well, with Reinhard’s statement that Alec should not reign were he unfitting for the task and him agreeing to give the Empire a constitution.

93)Did LOGH changed your views about politics or history? Not really, it just reassured things I’ve already known and presented they

94)How did you feel after finishing episode 110? Ewige Wiederkunft

95)How would you describe LOGH in few words? A modern definition of an Epic.

96)What do you expect from LOGH in the future? Nothing

97)Do you casually read LOGH fanfiction? No

98)Do you casually write LOGH fanficition? Nope

99)Do you casually draw LOGH-related art? No D:

100)Any last words?

Because I said too many NOs in the last questions.

Congratulations! You did it! A true galactic hero!

Don’t forget to tag your post with #logh100questions so I we can read your answers (and send you the official Galactic Hero Medal (made of fine Swiss chocolate ;D)

[Translated from the original french meme from this forum:http://www.cosmic-era.com/forum/][Some questions were replaced because of reasons]

BLANK MEME here

#logh100questions #logh #personal shit #this has been on my drafts for years and I even had to update some answers

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lettercollectors · 5 years

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2018 reading stats

So I finally analyzed my reading stats from last year and thought I’d share the results with you in case you were interested. 2018 was the first year I tracked my reading not only through Goodreads but also in my bullet journal and separate reading journal (maybe a bit excessive but I was trying out different things to see what I would actually keep up with). I really liked seeing how many books I read in a specific genre or how many times I actually gave books 5 stars. I will definitely keep doing it for this year as well. I think it’ll be even more interesting to see how some of these stats change over the years. Thanks to these stats I also managed to set myself some reading goals for this new year for the first time. I usually only have the Goodreads challenge I try to complete every year, but this year I want to set myself some more specific goals. If you’re interested in those I can write a separate post about that, just let me know!

I read a total of 169 books or 61,567 pages in 2018.

my strongest month was April with 20 books, my weakest was December with 8

I listened to 53 audiobooks, which makes up 31% of all my reading, way more than I expected. If you had told me 3 years ago that a third of all my reading would consist of audiobooks I would never have believed it.

I read 52% adult books, 36% young adult, and 12% new adult

out of all the books I read 90% were written by women and only 10% by men (in absolute numbers I actually read only 4 male authors lol Rick Riordan, Stephen Fry, Neil Gaiman and Jay Kristoff, special shout out to those 4)

going by genre: I read 37% romance novels (is anybody surprised this is my most read genre?), 25% paranormal/urban fantasy, 15% (high) fantasy, 7% mythology, 6% historical fiction, 3% science fiction, 2% both mystery/crime and non-fiction, 1% in both humor and poetry

I gave 43 of all my books a 5-star rating (25%), 75 4 stars (44%), 45 3 stars (27%), 4 2 stars (2%). I never gave a 1-star rating, but I read 2 books that I didn’t rate at all. My average rating was an even 4.0 stars, which seems pretty high to me

and lastly, I reread 24 books, which makes up 14% of all the books I read. 145 books were new reads (86%).

This were all the different things I tracked in 2018. If you made it to the end of this post, first of all thanks! Second of all, are you surprised by any of these numbers? Do you track your own reading, and if yes, what exactly?

#I made actual charts for these numbers but I thought putting them in this post would be a bit overkill haha #reading stats #books #booklr #maike #our post

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mattkeepsrambling · 3 years

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2020 Year In Review

What a supremely dull year. I cannot believe how little happened this year. I got into this whole mask-wearing craze that many people seem to have gotten into (except for those who are REALLY against it.) I'm so happy that all the schools decided that teaching in the building was pointless and could just as easily be done online. Things are so much easier now. The election went off without a hitch or any controversy whatsoever, and I am glad that the outgoing President was gracious and we got another peaceful transition of power. I saw so many movies this year. I stopped going to the theater, though. It was just too dark, the screen was too big and the seats too comfortable. I love being at home and being surrounded by all those distractions. I don't know how 2021 could top 2020.

Best of 2020.

In all seriousness, this year was the worst. Once the world shut down in March, I decided to make the most of it and started cataloging my media consumption (minus video games). It is something I am going to keep doing. I stopped collecting movie tickets a few years ago, and this seems like the next step. I have really enjoyed seeing all that I have consumed. The final tally is 308 movies, 58 television shows/specials, 29 audiobooks, and 43 books/graphic novels since March 18, 2020. As December went on, I had to make sure that I was finished with books, tv shows, and audiobooks before Jan. 1-you will see why when I share my spreadsheet for 2021. Here are the best that I read/watched/listened to this year with all that media. And not all of these things are new for 2020 (most are, though).

Best Movie: Host

A lot of the movies I watched this year were horror movies. You can say that I have been trying to make up for lost time. I subscribed to Shudder recently. It is a streaming service that specializes in horror and thriller movies. I subscribed to the service initially for "Host."

This movie was made during the pandemic, over a Zoom meeting. It is about five friends who do a seance and the spirit they contact. The fact that it is Zoom figures heavily into the movie; it is 57 minutes long, about the length of the free Zoom meeting.

This movie is terrific and damn scary. I have watched very few movies that have genuinely scared me. I have realized what it is that makes a good horror movie: tension. It is all over this movie. This movie uses the general concept of the Zoom meeting so well to build up tension. It doesn't have the benefit of a huge budget and the best cameras. The scenes take place on a computer screen in average rooms. That elevates sudden sounds, slight movements and makes use of darkness.

Honorable Mentions: "Soul," "Promising Young Women," "It Follows," "Hereditary," "Midsommor," "Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Always."

Best TV Show: Ted Lasso

Whenever I talk to other people about AppleTV+, I always mention two things. One is that at $5 a month, you don't even notice the cost. The other is that "Ted Lasso" is worth the price of a subscription.

As I have previously mentioned, the show is about an American football coach being hired to coach English football. This show is based on a one-joke series commercial for NBC Sports. Ted Lasso knows nothing about coaching football.

The commercials boil down to "look how this guy doesn't know anything about England." This should not work as a show. Years ago, ABC aired a TV show based on the Geico commercials' cavemen, and it was terrible. I should know; I watched the pilot and reviewed it for the Buffalo State Record.

"Ted Lasso" works because it is more than the commercials. Yes, they do have a lot of "fish out of water" humor, and you laugh at Ted as he navigates a new sport in a new country, but it is more than that. "Scrubs" creator Bill Lawernce is one of the people behind this show, and it shows. This show can be hilarious and then take a somber turn in no time. "Scrubs" is well known for that.

The other thing that "Ted Lasso" has going for it is boundless optimism. It is baked into the character of Ted Lasso. When the show starts, the fans hate him, the players hate him, and management tries to sabotage him at every turn. Yet, he remains committed to his job and making this team successful. He and his wife go through one of the most amicable divorces ever put on screen. It can be a little much at times, but then that divorce happens. We see Lasso, played amazingly by Jason Sudikus, lose that relentlessly positive exterior.

Those cracks show, and he becomes a much more fleshed out and complicated character. The show has been renewed for two more seasons already, and Lawernce recently said that the creative team had planned three seasons. I love this show, but I think that only three seasons will be a good thing. It means that we will get fully fleshed out arcs, and there is only a certain amount of story that the creators have to tell.

Honorable Mentions: "Fleabag Season 2," "The Clone Wars Season 7," "Harley Quinn Season 2," A Teacher," "Doom Patrol Season 2," "The Flight Attendant Season 1," "The Mandalorian Season 2."

Best Audiobook: Sapiens

This book, published in 2011, has been on my to-read list for a while. Years ago, a friend of mine told me I would like it. In its most basic synopsis, "Sapiens" is a look at how humans evolved. It looks at how we developed societies, religions, governments, and other things that made us the dominant species on the planet.

This book is fascinating. It looks at various social constructs that humanity developed and how that shapes who we have become. Most of the time, I can multitask while listening to audiobooks. I will do the dishes, replay video games, write, lesson plan, clean, or do laundry when an audiobook is playing. This is one I had to give my full attention. There were so many tidbits of information that are just riveting. I was always blown away by what I heard. Despite the topic's denseness (it is 15 hours and 17 minutes long), the audiobook was easy to listen to. It is one that I will be revisiting in the future.

Honorable Mentions: "Ahsoka," "The Graveyard Book," "Crazy is my Superpower."

Best Book: Harleen

I have been a fan of "Batman The Animated Series" forever. One of the most famous things to come out of the series that debuted in 1992 was Harley Quinn character. She started as a sidekick of The Joker. Fans loved her so much that she was given a more prominent role and one of the best backstories of anyone in Batman's rogue's gallery.

Last year DC, under their Black Label brand, released "Harleen," which presented how she went from Dr. Harleen Quinzell, the brilliant psychologist, to Harley Quinn, psychotic on-again/off-again paramour of The Joker. DC Black Label is used for a more mature mini-series, and this is a story that benefits from the freedom allowed.

The basic plot is that Dr. Quinzell gets a job at Arkham Asylum to study the criminals there for her research into their minds and develop a possible cure. Through her interviews with The Joker, she starts to develop feelings for him. The telling focuses on her background and ends with her fully committing to Joker and a life of crime.

The art by Stjepan Sejic (who also wrote it) is gorgeous. On my second read-through, I took more time to appreciate the art. I bought the issues as they came out on Comixology and read them on my iPad and loved the story and how Sejic chose to tell it. I read them on the way to and from work. With only about 10 minutes on the train, the story was my focus. When I bought the hardcover collected edition, I took my time. It is a beautiful book, and I am glad to have it in my collection.

Honorable Mentions: "One Day," "The Amber Spyglass," "High Hopes," "The Deepest Well," I Wish My Teacher Knew," "Horrorstor."

**Authors Note: I wrote most of the above before I watched "Soul" on Christmas. I have a lot to say about it, and it might have taken the top spot from "Host" (I don't think I could have picked two more different movies to take that top spot). I will have a full review out after at least one more viewing.**

These are the links for my 202 Watch List and my 2021 Spreadsheet.

Media Consumed 2020

Media Consumed 2021

If you have been following my ramblings for the last few years, you know that I don't make New Year's resolutions. I heard the idea of picking a word and working toward that word all year.

This year that word is positivity.

It is really easy to dwell on negative thoughts. In the society we live in now, there is an emphasis put on negativity. It is everywhere, and I hate it. Stop reading right now and think about the best and worst thing that has happened to you. If you are like me, the worst thing comes to mind first. Even though my job is the best thing to happen to me, and it happened in the last two years, my firing from the JCC in September of 2015 hits harder and comes faster. It took me years to get over that and years more to let go of the anger I felt.

There are many reasons why negative thoughts come easier, and I have linked to a few articles I like on the topic below. This year particularly, I have been more prone to rumination on past pain and failures. 2021 is the year I actively try to change that. When I feel a negative thought coming on, I will stop and change my line of thinking.

One concrete example I can give involves my former place of employment. I live very close to the JCC. I walk by it all the time, and I can effortlessly start down the negativity rabbit hole. I am not doing that anymore. I will redirect to the good things that happened there. I am doing that with other places I have negative associations with as well. I want to focus on the positive, think positive thoughts, take positive actions, do things for myself and others that help perpetuate the positive.

I want to weed out negativity in my life whenever I can. Even something as simple as doing the dishes every night before bed (which I started six months ago) is a step in the positive direction. I know this is going to be tough. I despise teaching virtually, and it is what I will be doing for the rest of this school year. But, as much as I hate it, I need to focus on the good moments and less on the bad ones. I will have to stop calling everyone I see outside without a mask a "maskhole" in my head and assuming they are a right-wing MAGA hat-wearing idiot (as I said, it's going to be hard). There is too much negativity in the world right now, and I don't want to contribute to that.

Why Do Negative Thoughts Come to Mind

Is Dwelling on Negative Thoughts Hurting You?

Why Do We Dwell on The Past?

Why Do We Keep Dwelling on Our Mistakes?

The past few years, I have tried to have my word of the year relate to my writing. This year it was a little harder. It was not as straight forward as it has in the past. The choice of positivity was made because there have been so many awful things happening this year that I felt I needed to change my mindset. In regards to my writing, I am keeping it simple: Write something every single day. This heart doc I know motivated me to make this a goal.

I want to write more and find out where "Escape" will end up. I have an idea notebook I will bring with me to jot down inspiration whenever it hits. I am blocking out time every day to write, either something I will post here or just something for me.

Thanks for sticking with me 2,000 words. I hope you all had a great holiday season, and I wish you well in 2021.

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blueagia · 7 years

Text

tagged by @greyjoysails and @theongreyking and @motherofkittens94

Rules: answer these 85 statements and tag 20 people

THE LAST 1. drink: tea 2. phone call: probably my dad 3. text message: husband 4. song you listened to: hmmm “nymphetamine” 5. time you cried: last sunday while watching episode 11 of “bojack horseman” those who have seen, know. 6. dated someone twice: yes 7. kissed someone and regretted it: once 8. been cheated on: nope 9. lost someone special: been lucky. or woefully deficient at forming personal connections 10. been depressed: bojack speaks for my soul 11. gotten drunk and thrown up: twice. both times, into the sea. 3 FAVOURITE COLOURS 12. ocean color 13. sunset color 14. deep night color IN THE LAST YEAR HAVE YOU 15. made new friends: i think so??? 16. fallen out of love: never 17. laughed until you cried: god yes 18. found out someone was talking about you: n

19. met someone who changed you: as much as possible at my age 20. found out who your friends are: i already knew 21. kissed someone on your facebook list: technically yes GENERAL 22. how many of your facebook friends do you know in real life: i barely use it rn probably not 23. do you have any pets: whiny calico cat named Sneaky Penny. goldfish Bully. 24. do you want to change your name: i used to but i made peace with it 25. what did you do for your last birthday: almost certainly got drunk. probably on a yacht. 26. what time did you wake up: 7:45 pm last night 27. what were you doing at midnight last night: working and listening to audiobooks 28. name something you can’t wait for: TWOW release date lol 29. when was the last time you saw your mom: last weekend 31. what are you listening to right now: aquarium gurglings 32. have you ever talked to a person named tom: maybe but it would have been very long ago 33. something that is getting on your nerves: nazis everywhere 34. most visited website: this hellsite 35. hair colour: greyblue and pinkpurple. naturally an indecisive reddish brownish blonde 36. long or short hair: medium 37. do you have a crush on someone: that phase is long past 38. what do you like about yourself: my hair looks pretty rad and there is a lot of it 39. want any piercings: nah 40. blood type: O+ 41. nickname: -------- 42. relationship status: happily married 43. zodiac: gemini 44. pronouns: she/her 45. favourite tv show: bojack is me and i am bojack. GoT you have upset me and i am not speaking to you 46. tattoos: nah 47. right or left handed: right handed 48. surgery: i have had a BC implant in my arm for 4 years when they replaced it last year they had a hard time yanking the old one out and it looked really painful I watched but couldn’t feel a thing. 49. piercing: ears 50. sport: I suck at sports but i used to enjoy tae kwon do. still a decent swimmer when i get the chance 51. vacation: I wanna go to italy and japan and tahiti and key west but will probably just stay home 52. pair of trainers: ? no? MORE GENERAL 53. eating: strawberries and ice cream 54. drinking: brandy 55. im about to: take a nap

56. waiting for: george rr martin to finish writing his damn books 57. want: sane, competent leadership in my garbage country. A direwolf. Theon Greyjoy to get the love he deserves. 58. get married: it’s a pretty nice deal 59. career: rich annoying aunt from a p.g. wodehouse novel

WHICH IS BETTER 60. hugs or kisses: depends on the person rly <<<<

61. lips or eyes: lips first 62. shorter or taller: don’t matter much 63. older or younger: older. i don’t like to be the oldest in the room, i’m not a wise grandma. 64. nice arms or nice stomach: stomach 65. hook up or relationship: i regret not hooking up before in a relationship but i am not consitutionally suited for hookups 66. troublemaker or hesitant: this is a dumb question <<<<<<<<<<<< HAVE YOU EVER 67. kissed a stranger: no 68. drank hard liquor: god yes 69. lost glasses/contact lenses: no thank god 70. turned someone down: yep 71. sex on the first date: no 72. broken someone’s heart: nah 73. had your heart broken: def not 74. been arrested: no 75. cried when someone died: yes 76. fallen for a friend: nope DO YOU BELIEVE IN 77. yourself: hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah 78. miracles: no 79. love at first sight: no i needed a couple hours of conversation to confirm 80. santa claus: no 81. kiss on the first date: nah 82. angels: nah OTHER 83. current best friends name: nick 84. eye colour: gray 85. favorite movie: lots but fury road sticks out

i’m not tagging b/c... i lost track of who i’ve seen do this meme lol. if you want to do it and say i tagged you go for it.

#ask meme

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zephfair · 7 years

Text

I was tagged by the wonderful and truly delightful @delightfulnightmarecupcake

Cut because this is long.

Rules: Answer these 92 statements and tag 20 people.

THE LAST:

1. Drink: Water

2. Phone call: My aunt

3. Text message: I don’t regularly text so the last one is from my physical therapist 6 weeks ago

4. Song you listened to: Even If by Mercy Me (also one of my new favorite songs)

5. Time you cried: I teared up pretty good the other night listening to the end of The Secret Garden audiobook. Like, weeping hysterically? Last year this time about my mom.

HAVE YOU:

6. Dated someone twice: Yes

7. Kissed someone and regretted it: Yes

8. Been cheated on: Yes

9. Lost someone special: Yes

10. Been depressed: Yes

11. Gotten drunk and thrown up: No

LIST 3 FAVORITE COLORS:

12. Purple

13. Pink

14. Gray

IN THE LAST YEAR HAVE YOU:

15. Made new friends: Yes (online)

16. Fallen out of love: No

17. Laughed until you cried: Yes on Tumblr

18. Found out someone was talking about you: Yes also on Tumblr

19. Met someone who changed you: Yes kinda

20. Found out who your friends are: Yes

21. Kissed someone on your Facebook list: No

GENERAL:

22. How many of your Facebook friends do you know in real life: I don’t use Facebook

23. Do you have any pets: No

24. Do you want to change your name: Yes

25. What did you do for your last Birthday: I honestly don’t remember

26. What time did you wake up: 11 am

27. What were you doing at midnight last night: Reading and watching a movie (the book sucked but the movie was good)

28. Name something you can’t wait for: A partner

29. When was the last time you saw your mom: This afternoon

30. What is one thing you wish you could change in your life: I want a partner/spouse/someone to love and share this crazy life with.

31. What are you listening right now: TV local nightly news

32. Have you ever talked to a person named Tom: Yes

33. Something that is getting on your nerves: My body and its ridiculous and stupid health woes

34. Most visited Website: Tumblr (unfortunately) and Gmail

LOST QUESTIONS. (I JUST PUT IN RANDOM INFO ABOUT ME)

35. Mole/s: So so many

36. Mark/s: Scars? Too many to detail

37. Childhood dream: I told the crowd at kindergarten graduation that I wanted to be a jockey and I was serious until about fifth grade

38. Haircolor: Very pale lilac

39. Long or short hair: Shoulder-length

40. Do you have a crush on someone: No

41. What do you like about yourself: My sense of humor

42. Piercings: Just my ear lobes right now

43. Bloodtype: I have no idea

44. Nickname: Hey, you

45. Relationship status: Very Sadly Single

46. Zodiac: Scorpio

47. Pronouns: She/her

48. Favorite TV Show: Eh, nothing airing right now

49. Tattoos: None

50. Right or left hand: Right-handed to write, left for most other things

51. Surgery: Chronologically--two surgeries on a broken elbow as a kid, tonsils removed a year later, wisdom teeth out, gallbladder removed

52. Hair dyed in different color: Auburn for about 10 years then golden blonde then pastel pink then maroon then dark purple then bright purple then (in the past seven months) bleached white, pastel pink, hotter pink, pastel pink again, accidentally silver, silver-purple and now pastel lilac

53. Sport: American football and real football

55. Vacation: I haven’t even left this state in more than 10 years. I’ve never had a real vacation as an adult.

56. Pair of trainers: five or six (most are really old)

MORE GENERAL:

57. Eating: anything I’m not allergic to

58. Drinking: Tea or Cherry Coke

59. I’m about to: Shower and go to bed

61. Waiting for: Someone to love me

62. Want: Good health, a job I love and a healthy relationship

63. Get married: Yeah, I’m traditional and I want to lock that down.

64. Career: I still dabble in my chosen career field but I don’t want to do it again full-time so I need to look for something else. I’m also way too old to pursue my childhood dream of being a jockey so I don’t know what I want to do lol.

WHICH IS BETTER:

65. Hugs or kisses: Hugs until I get to know you well

66. Lips or eyes: Eyes

67. Shorter or taller: Taller

68. Older or younger: At the risk of sounding like a dirty old lady, I find myself still noticing guys who are younger than I am.

70. Nice arms or nice stomach: Nice stomach

71. Sensitive or loud: Sensitive but loud at the right times

72. Hook up or relationship: Relationship

73. Troublemaker or hesitant: Troublemaker in the right ways

HAVE YOU EVER:

74. Kissed a stranger: Yes

75. Drank hard liquor: Yes

76. Lost glasses/contact lenses: Disposable contact lenses, yes, those little buggers can fly anywhere

77. Turned someone down: Yes

78. Sex in the first date: No

79. Broken someone’s heart: Yes and I felt terrible about it

80. Had your heart broken: Yes, stomped into pieces

81. Been arrested: No

82. Cried when someone died: Yes

83. Fallen for a friend: Yes

DO YOU BELIEVE IN:

84. Yourself: No

85. Miracles: Yes

86. Love at first sight: Attraction yes. Lust yes. Love no.

87. Santa Claus: No

88. Kiss on the first date: Yes possibly

89. Angels: Yes

OTHER:

90. Current best friends name: I have no friends irl because I’m a hermit and also annoying

91. Eyecolor: Brown

92. Favorite movie: Right now The Losers

I tag any of my followers who want to do this, just please @ me so I can learn more about you!

#meme #personal

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queerofcups · 7 years

Note

for the ask meme: 1, 5, 32, 43, 44

the ask meme in question

1. How were you introduced to Dan & Phil? Did you watch one before the other?

Mm, one of my besties inadvertently got me into Troye Sivan, which got me (back) into Tyler Oakley briefly, which led to me watching his collab with Dan, and I just sort’ve followed that collab down the rabbit hole. I’m 80% sure I’d seen them around youtube before then, but that was the first time I’d really watched either of their stuff.

The night I fully gave myself over to fandom, I was rewatching TATINOF and realized that they had a production company. This turned into my going on a info hunt (i was also stoned. this is the only reason i noticed the pre-credits.) and within the hour I’d found IDB, where I lurked for months before I finally made an account.

5. Favorite Dan and Phil Games game(s)?

Y’all have heard me say this before but the Minecraft video is such a good video. I love it for a couple reasons. Partly because I just love Minecraft byt because they’re just so, so bad at it. Like DnP are sometimes bad at games, but they usually pick them up pretty quickly? But minecraft is really not a very intuitive game and if you don’t bother doing research, you’re really up shit’s creek. They just seem to be befuddled by all of it and its great.

32. What is you preferred way to engage in phandom?

I mean my *most* preferred way is chatting 1 on 1 with people I’ve gotten close with. You can pretty much assume if something’s going on I’m splitting my time between posting and chatting over tumblr chat. Probably shittalking too, tbh (its how i bond, srynotsry).

I do like IDB, but the main post moves too fast for me sometimes, so I primarily lurk. I follow a few folks on Twitter, but I don’t generally engage because my private twitter is private but not fannish? It’s weird.

43. Have you read TABINOF and/or DAPGO?

Mhm! I own TABINOF in book form and audiobook and DAPGO as a physical and e-book. I used them both as references for Because We Are Fools

44. Do you watch their liveshows/streams?

Ish? I very rarely watch Phil’s whole show, I’ll usually use someone’s timestamps from IDB and just skip to those bits. Sometimes I’ll watch Danno’s liveshow, but usually if I just happen to be online anyway. The thing about liveshows is that they’re such a particular thing and a really strange example of the fourth wall being dead and us having access to them largely unscripted (though way less casual than they used to be) and…we collectively don’t use that access? Like obvi they come in with an agenda to push whatever project they’ve been working on since the last liveshow, but there’s definitely space to ask them actually interesting shit about like idk, their video set up, or what video games their into or how they feel about video games, questions that can be dug into a bit more but instead we ask them to say hi to groupchats (i don’t understand this trend at all, but i’m old). And maybe I’m romanticizing things and people in that horrid big chat box are asking interesting things and they’re being overwritten by COME TO [insert country here]!!!!! idk.

#ask me a thing #Anonymous

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dopingertr-blog · 4 years

Text

eBay SEO: Techniques to Increase Visibility and Sales

Do I need SEO for eBay, or how to? Will optimizing my listings help me sell more? Will I have advantages over my competitors? If you ask yourself these questions, you surely want to increase visibility and sales volume by optimizing the adverts. Let’s see in detail how SEO on eBay works.

Table of Contents

Why SEO for eBay Is Better

Techniques for Optimizing eBay Listings for Search Engines

FAQs for eBay SEO

SEO Conclusions for eBay

Titles

Subheadings

Categories

Categories play a critical role in positioning on eBay and in the logic of e-commerce. They must be clear, but above all, consistent for potential customers.

Select the category most relevant to the product on sale and consider adding a second category if you believe that your product is related to multiple categories.

Product Identifiers

Product identifiers, required for many categories, will increase your visibility on eBay and Google search results. The most common product identifiers are:

UPC (Universal Product Code): 12-digit codes used to identify products. When you enter a UPC for an advertisement using the product details; specify the entire number shown at the bottom of the barcode, including the smaller numbers on the left and right.

EAN (European Article Numbering): 12-digit numeric strings used to identify products. You can find the EAN code on the packaging or the product cover. When entering an EAN code for an advertisement using product details, be sure to specify the whole number at the bottom of the barcode.

ISBN-EAN (International Standard Book Number – European Article Numbering): we use this 13-digit number to identify books internationally. This number is also used for other publications similar to books, such as audiobooks. The ISBN-EAN code is located on the product cover.

ISBN (International Standard Book Number): is a 10 or 13 digit number used to identify books and similar products, such as audiobooks. You can find the ISBN on the product cover. It is generally preceded by the letters ISBN and is divided into four parts. When entering the ISBN for an advertisement using product details, be sure to specify all parts.

VIN (Vehicle Identification Number); is a unique serial number that is used by the automotive industry to identify a specific vehicle, motorcycle, or moped.

Photos

Before buying a product, many users search for images online, and for this reason, the photos of the advertisement must always be in high resolution if you want to increase sales.

You can also like this post: What Is Google Pirate and How It Works?

Furthermore, it is preferable to choose the “copy your photos from a Web address” option to take the images directly from your e-commerce. You can rename with SEO friendly names and fill in the alt attribute to optimize them in the best way and favor their visibility on Google Images.

Product Specifications

The addition of product specifications allows buyers to find your listings by providing additional product information.

They are essential to clarify the initial doubts to potential buyers, who could seek quick information on the product to buy.

At the same time, they play an important role in SEO, because they are very much considered by eBay to establish the positioning and visibility of the advertisements.

Product Descriptions

What should be in the description of an eBay listing?

You can also like this post: SEO WordPress: The 2020 Definitive Guide

Description: you must describe the product thoroughly and exhaustively, and the textual content must be original and not copied from other sites.

Photo: the description must present further images inside it with a correctly filled alt attribute.

Product correlation: on eBay, at the end of the listing, there are related products, but usually, they are from other stores. It is preferable to correlate the products by inserting other products from your store inside each listing. This technique helps to keep the possible customer in your shop for longer, with the possibility of purchasing, but also to optimize internal linking. (a very important SEO factor that is not exploited very much on eBay).

Contact information: many still use Skype, but if you are a professional seller, you can enter your mobile number and WhatsApp to give fast information.

External links: even if the outgoing links that lead to the sale of products externally to their platform are expressly prohibited on eBay (as soon as they know they close the listing), it is possible to insert external links to information content. It is advisable to use this possibility to your advantage.

What shouldn’t be in the description of an eBay listing? The entire part relating to shipments, the right of withdrawal, etc. must never be included as an integral part of the description. There is a reason why eBay has put blocks where you can write various information, if you are afraid that your buyers will not read your rules, you can add a notice to read these contents further down.

eBay Shop Profile

The shop profile is interesting for both advertising and increasing conversions. Use it to tell about you, your company and your products. This is all additional information that can help you get a better ranking on eBay, and not exploiting it would be a real shame.

Seller Feedback

eBay Feedback is the evaluation system that allows the buyer to evaluate their experience with the seller. There are three types of evaluation that a buyer can leave behind:

Positive Feedback

Neutral Feedback

Negative Feedback

Positive feedback is a clear positive evaluation: the sale took place in the best way, there were no hitches with the courier, the goods arrived intact, the shipping times were respected, the products were those described.

Neutral feedback is obtained when the shipment has arrived late, or the product does not fully reflect the characteristics described (for example, when the color looks different in the photo).

Negative feedback occurs when the product has not arrived at the customer. The seller is willing to pay compensation but not to return costs and, in other cases, where the buyer is not satisfied with the seller.

Fortunately, some tools allow the seller to send a review request to the buyer for feedback, which is often accepted.

Once the feedback has been entered, the buyer must bring the following parameters to the court:

Description: was the object really as described?

Communication: was the seller quick and concise in giving you the answers before the purchase?

Shipping times: were those promised by the seller?

Costs of shipping: were the fees honest or exaggerated? Shipping costs are not judged if the shipping is free, a maximum score of 5 stars is given directly.

Feedback is among the most important ranking parameters that eBay evaluates to determine the placement of the advertisements.

User Engagement

Engagement is the most important factor for visibility on Cassini. Engagement means how long potential customers spend on your listings and how many of them make offers.

You can also like this post: How Amazon Started? - The Story Behind

High involvement of potential buyers will improve the placement of your listings. Several aspects have been shown to increase user engagement; the ones I consider most important for SEO on eBay are:

High-quality photographs;

Well-written product description;

Free delivery;

Free returns;

By creating more interesting advertisements, you will increase the time users spend on eBay. And it will increase the visibility of your advertisements and the sale of your products.

FAQs for eBay SEO

Why should I open an eBay shop?

Since it is one of the most popular and most used virtual marketplaces globally, opening a store on eBay will increase your chances of reaching new and broad target audiences. The fact that millions of people visit this platform and trust to shop on this platform will answer why you should have a store on eBay.

How to open an eBay shop?

To open a store on eBay, you need to open a user account. In addition to opening a store with a user account, you can also open a brand page by clicking the “Open Business Account” link. When opening a brand page, you need to choose an e-mail address that you use correctly and continuously. You can open your store when you complete the steps by selecting the ideal one among the appropriate payment methods for you.

Is it possible to sell without opening a store on eBay?

You need to open a user or business account to sell on eBay. When you open a user account directly, you cannot use promotion, sales tools, and analysis tools. You need a business account for these features.

SEO Conclusions for eBay

These are the main points to improve SEO for eBay. It is important to spend time researching, planning the strategy, and evaluating all the factors we have discussed. So that you can improve visibility and increase your adverts’ sales.

You can also like this post: HTTPS: Differences With HTTP & SEO Importance

Often sellers complain that eBay has removed the adverts for no reason but, after analyzing; they often violate the guidelines to be respected to sell on the platform.

Also, as with any SEO campaign, the optimization on eBay must be reviewed and updated regularly. Because user behavior, trends, and search engine algorithms continuously change.

https://www.dopinger.com/blog/what-is-ebay-seo/

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blschaos3000-blog · 4 years

Text

It is 1:43 pm hot/summer/torando sirens

Welcome to “8 Questions with…..”

I met our next guest,writer and author Darnell Cureton around two years ago at a blogging party. A blogging party is hosted by a person and you are encouraged to come by and read other blogs and share your own. I popped on Darnell’s blog and and was blown away with his writing talent. I hit the “Follow”button and during the course of the weeks after doing so,I started reading Darnell’s writing and commenting. Soon we started commenting and supporting each other’s work. Its always a joy to see a good friend achieve a hard earned goal and I was some happy to find out that Darnell’s work was being published in a magazine which is no mean feat. I have many very talented writer friends who have yet to achieve that so this should tell you just how good of a writer Darnell really is. His latest short story “Life Changes” is one of the most unnerving mix of sci-fi/horror I have read in a good long time and I highly recommend it. Darnell has a interesting series on his blog called “Diary of a Bad Writer” in which you can get a idea of what a working writer goes through in sharping a new story,character or just sitting down and WRITING. This series has encouraged me when I find myself sitting and unfocused,I find myself re-reading Darnell’s tips and ideas on how to just start WRITING. I really hope you enjoy meeting one of the kindest and most talented artists I know….as I ask my friend Darnell Cureton his 8 Questions……

Please introduce yourself and tell us about your current WIP.

Hello everyone. My name is Darnell Cureton. I’m a blogger and writing coach. My blog features writing encouragement in a post I call the diary of a bad writer. It’s a play on words that I use to get readers to stop by. I provide writing tips and talk about personal experiences with writing in a three to five line format. I also write fiction. My stories are about 1,500 to 3,500 words long. That’s works out to something like a 10-minute to 25-minute story to read in various genres. My latest story is called “LIFE CHANGE.” It’s part science fiction, part fantasy, about a woman on a date. She is so paranoid about someone putting something in her drink that she doesn’t see what the real threat is. I had fun writing it and I encourage all to read it. It has a nice twist at the end.

How have you been handling the pandemic? What have you been doing to stay active?

I am considered essential personnel on two jobs so I’ve been steadily working through the pandemic. It has taken a toll on me as I have to gear up daily with personal protective equipment including gloves, masks, hand sanitizers, and disinfecting surface wipes. Covid-19 has affected my writing as well. I have ideas for short stories but getting them on paper is slow. It’s not writer’s block. It’s more like losing the desire to write because of the depressing current events happening worldwide. I’ve discovered this is happening to other authors in our community so I’m not alone. To continue actively writing, I pen a paragraph or two to take the pressure off creating, then stop to do something else. After a couple of days, I’ll resume with fresh eyes and write a little more. Since I’m out and about, I listen to audiobooks throughout the day and stream movies like everyone else. I keep in touch with family and friends using video and text. It’s the new way.

What was growing up in the Cureton house like? What are three of your favorite moments growing up?

Growing up in the Cureton household was for me… pretty much vanilla. My parents were old school, meaning they handled family matters between themselves. Seldom did they raise their voices at each other or me. When times were hard, I never knew. I always had 3 meals a day and a stable roof over my head. By age 10 I had my own room, a huge tube black and white tv, and a 3 tier electric Ho scale race car track in my room that my dad set up on a table made just for it. I walked a half-mile to school and back home… alone. There was no need for protection in numbers. I could stay out on Saturday all day without checking in. Nobody thought twice about where I was or what I was doing. It was a different world back then. For me, it was all vanilla and no drama. Favorite moments were:

(1) When I got to choose the movie we would go out to see as a family. I, of course, would pick a horror flick with Christopher Lee doing his Dracula thing. Another time I remember asking to see Night Of The Living Dead…and they took me! Scared the hell out of me but they gave me the victory of seeing it.

(2) My dad buying me a red Schwinn 5 speed bicycle. It had a skinny front wheel and a fat rear one that resembled a dragster. I was the only kid on the block with one.

(3) I had asthma as a child so when I asked for a pet the answer was always no. To my surprise, one day I came home from school and there was a pup staring at me when I walked in the door. It was a mixed breed German Shepherd and Great Dane. That dog grew bigger than me and provided me with some of the happiest moments of my life.

When did you get the writing bug? Who encouraged you to start writing and how did they do so?

I got the writing bug by accident. A friend of mine was performing standup comedy at a local club. I wanted to support him so I show up wearing a dress shirt, pants, tie, and polished shoes. I stood out like a sore thumb! All around me were a sea of twenty something’s dressed casual in denim shirts, jeans, and Timberland boots. It didn’t help when a comedian (not my friend) saw me and called me pops! I was 25 years behind the bar scene! The experience was laughable, so I got the idea to post it on Face Book. I later decided I wanted to provide details, so I created an account on WattPad, the writing platform used to create your own stories. Well, I wrote about the experience and posted it there. Only friends I told about it read it. It was bad writing, but I’ve been hooked ever since. I told a childhood friend of mine that I wanted to write, and he’s been supporting me along with the WordPress community since that day.

What do you enjoy most about the writing process? Can you walk us through what your routine is when you write? How many hours a week do you write?

I like dialogue. Giving my characters a conversation that sounds real makes the story come to life. The main thing is to get the idea or the scene down on paper. It’s okay at this point to have typos, too many – he said… then she said… or using the word LIKE 4 times in 1 sentence. Once I get the idea on paper, I can go back and clean up the mistakes and dialogue. How much time I write varies. Covid-19 changed much of my writing habits. In general I write when an idea is fresh in my mind. I pen those thoughts as soon as I can. Sometimes inspiration comes at a time when I should be doing something else. When that happens I get out my phone recorder and I dictate the idea or scene so I don’t forget when I get back to writing. I’ve learned from experience to write down the idea or voice record it because 2 hours later I won’t remember a damn thing about that scene or idea.

Tell us about your blog. When did you start it and how has it helped you in your writing?

I started my blog back in 2014. It was called “Writing Block,” but I didn’t do much with it. In fact, I only had two postings that year and two followers. Sometime in 2018, I decided to add content and post 3 or 4 times a month. I didn’t think “Writing Block” had enough content so I also blogged about favorite movies, books, and TV shows. That stuff was mostly filler. With experience under my belt, I’ve learned how to dedicate the entire blog to writing original fiction and providing writing encouragement. With that dedication, came the blog name “Fictionista.” The website helps me with my writing by keeping me focused on writing. The diary postings are for me as well as other writers. I follow my own advice and project the message – “just keep writing.”

What is it like telling folks you are a published author? How do you handle it when you get a rejection letter from a story you sent in?

Telling people that you are an author is a wonderful feeling. It means that you have written something that a company wants to share with the world. When my first short story was published, I did a happy dance that would make NFL players envious! Rejection letters have the opposite effect. They can make you angry, depressed, and withdrawn. They can make you stop writing altogether. The thing to keep in mind is a rejection means the publisher doesn’t want to use what you wrote. It doesn’t mean that the work is bad. I received my first rejection letter in January. I plan on sharing it and the story I wrote with readers to show them that sometimes a publisher may not “get” what you wrote, but it doesn’t mean the work is bad. The story and rejection letter will be posted for Halloween since the story has an All Hallow’s Eve – LGBTQ theme.

What are the three most critical elements in writing fiction?

There are a few things but I will focus on three.

First is the PLOT. To keep a reader interested and turning the page they should know what they are reading. If it’s a crime story, establish what the crime is and who is trying to solve it in the first chapter so the reader can identify with the protagonist. Who wants to read a story in which you don’t know why someone is risking their life to save someone you don’t know?

The second is CHARACTERS – The people in your story should be believable types that could live next door to you. The neighbor with the bad tattoo, the obnoxious 10-year old that curses and calls the parents by their first names, or the young blond that goes jogging at night in a bad neighborhood with a colt 45 in a granny pack. Id love to read about any of those people.

Third – DIALOGUE – Conversation between characters should sound real. If my protagonist is defending a homeless person against three aggressors, would he say “hey, homeless people matter guys,” or “the first one touching him losses an arm!” Dialogue matters my friend.

Who are your three favorite writers and what makes them special?

That’s hard to answer but I can tell you who I’m thinking about today. Let’s start with Octavia Butler. She was recognized as the first black woman to write compelling science fiction stories. Her novels mix science fiction with historical fiction and African American themes. If you’ve never read her work, I recommend her novel “Kindred.” It involves time travel and human rights. The next favorite is Stephen King. What I like about him is he can write in various genres, and do it quite well. I’ve read his horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, and science fiction. I’m doing the same with flash fiction. My stories have different genres. I think that gives you the experience to make the best story. Three favorite King stories are “The Mist,” “Carrie,” and Geralds Game.” Last, Michael Connelly. I choose Michael because of the fictional character he created called Harry Bosch. Bosch is a well seasoned Los Angeles homicide detective that is hard working. He has made plenty of enemies and has a teenage daughter that he cares much for. The genre is a crime drama, with police procedurals built-in. Michael Connelly has written 21 novels (to date) with the Bosch character. The first novel with Bosch was “The Black Echo.” Connelly has written Bosch so well that it has become a popular series on Amazon Prime Video. The actor Titus Welliver was cast perfectly as the silvered haired detective that people love and hate. I hope to be able one day to write a character that people know very well, like Bosch, or Batman.

Which three bloggers are your favorites and what do you like about their writing?

Well, you support and encourage me to write and that’s worth a mention, but since you are interviewing me, you are disqualified today, but there is always a next time! I’ll start with Chris Hall. She is a published author that supports and encourages other writers by reading and commenting on their work. She dabbles in different genres including adult fiction. My favorite is fantasy flash fiction on her website. I become immersed in the world she creates and the characters. She can be found at Lunasonline.wordpress.com. In between writing, I visit a blog that I find helpful in managing a healthy lifestyle. Caz, who suffers from a chronic illness, reminds us that our struggles may be invisible, but we are not. I’ve found the information on her website to be useful to everyone. A tip about natural ways to find peace and tranquility comes at a time when the world is stressing us out more than ever. Do you know what mask to use during the coronavirus pandemic? Caz covers that in a post describing various mask types and where to buy them. I look forward to her Frugal Fridays for things on the cheap that I may need. Spare a minute and take a look around her site at Invisiblyme.com. When I return to writing, I follow author Sam Kirk’s blog. He is very good at creating stories using writing prompts. A recent story written by Sam used the second point of view. It generated a lot of comments. Sam took the feedback about the story and improved it with minor editing. Authors doing this show writers to embrace helpful criticism. It will make you and your work stronger. In addition to the creative writing, Sam writes a news related opinion piece that is based on current events. It is written in a way to generate comments. He also has thought-provoking topics in the hashtag category. Find Sam at dailyflabbergast.wordpress.com.

What do you like doing for fun when you’re not writing or avoiding the Covid-19?

I love to grill meats outdoors. In our backyard, I start with burgers and hotdogs then work my way into chicken and pork ribs. My dad taught me to grill them with low heat and high smoke. I finish cooking the meat inside using steam for tenderizing, seasoning for flavor. When tender, I add BBQ sauce hot enough to make the devil ask for water. Homemade potato salad goes on the side. I do this in the summer and winter. I’m a true BBQ carnivore!

The cheetah and I are flying over to listen to you read from your latest flash fiction but we are a day early and now you are stuck playing tour guide. What are we doing?

Well, its summer so I’d invite you over for…guess what? BBQ Chicken and Ribs with homemade potato salad. After we eat, I’d take you on tour to the Prudential Center, home of the New Jersey Devils. If there is no game, we’d get a drink. Most likely a Gray Goose Bump, the drink I made up in my story “Life Change.” Not far from there is the Little Theatre, a landmark adult film movie theater that opened in 1928 and closed in 2018. It’s a piece of history along with Newark Symphony Hall, a very old performing arts center that was the pride of Newark. It had status like The Apollo Theater in New York City. A ten-minute ride will bring us to the Newark Museum, the largest in the state. We’d check out a treasure chest of Buddhist exhibits, science rooms, and planetarium. The Buddha stuff might bore the cheetah, so I figured we’d head over to the City With Out Walls on Crawford street. It has cutting edge artwork created by young contemporary artists living in the city.

My feet are tired so I’m calling it a day, but everyone can find me at:

DarnellCureton.com

Twitter.com/DarnellCureton

Instagram.com/DarnellCureton

I like to thank Darnell for taking the time to sit down and doing this interview with me. In this most uncertain time,it is comforting to know that creative souls like Darnell are still making art for us all. I encourage you to follow his blog,Twitter and InstaGram to keep in the know of what Darnell is creating next.

This is part two of a special series of 8 Questions that I’m doing,please click here to meet Stacey Bryan as she is also pretty important to me and my blog.

If you’re new to the 8 Questions with series…….you can catch up by clicking here and reading over 110 different interviews.

8 Questions with…………..writer Darnell Cureton It is 1:43 pm hot/summer/torando sirens Welcome to "8 Questions with....." I met our next guest,writer and author Darnell Cureton around two years ago at a blogging party.

#8 Questions With #author #BBQ master #cooking #Covid-19 #family #Friendship #interviews #Newark New Jersey #publsihed works #Supportive #Writing

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torreygazette · 4 years

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Joy in the Journey

Thomas Boston was part of the group of ministers called “The Marrow Men” who sought to return Scottish Presbyterians back to the free offer of the gospel. It was this movement that eventually led to our own Presbyterian denomination. In 1751, Rev. Boston preached a series of sermons on the single verse, Ecclesiastes 7:13 “Consider the work of God: who can make straight what He has made crooked?” These sermons were published in 1752 as the booklet “The Crook in the Lot.” It is a relatively short read (the audiobook is only 4 hours total length) and I commend it to you in its entirety. For our purposes today, I will be drawing several lessons from Rev. Boston’s book because this is where the rubber meets the road as we consider joy in our journey.

Paul wraps up his epistle of joy with a brief mention of his own struggles.

“I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” - Philippians 4:10-13 ESV

This may be one of the most overused understatements in all of scripture. When Paul says that he has learned to be content in every circumstance, he understates the circumstances in which he has learned that lesson. In 2 Corinthians, we learn more details of Paul’s being “abundance and need” as he says here.

“Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.” - 2 Corinthians 11:24-27 ESV

That’s quite a list of “all things” Paul can do through Christ, isn’t it? It is within this context that he tells the Philippians to “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again, rejoice.” How can we rejoice, how can we face all things through Christ when the Lord has made our journey crooked?

Everyone’s Journey is Crooked

“Consider the works of God: who can make straight, what He has made crooked?” Ecclesiastes 7:23

So let us consider the works of God together. Thomas Boston makes this as one of the first points in his first sermon:

“Everybody’s lot in this world has some crook in it. Complainers are apt to make odious comparisons: they look about, and taking a distant view of the condition of others, can discern nothing in it but what is straight, and just to one’s wish; so they pronounce their neighbor’s lot wholly straight. But that is a false verdict; there is no perfection here; no lot out of heaven without a crook.”

Look around at your sisters in Christ. Consider that the Lord has also given them a crooked journey. Within this room, there are many struggles. This has never been more clear to me than when we lost our first child to miscarriage. Friends all over the US and Canada sent me condolences, and so many of them had suffered this particular crook. I had not known until I found myself in their ranks. Within this room, many have suffered pregnancy loss, stillbirth and/or infertility. Many have, or currently, suffer chronic illness, or pain. A number here suffer from depression, anxiety, and other mental and emotional burdens. Some are struggling with unwanted singleness, widowhood, and divorce, while others find their marriages are their crook. Some have been or are currently victims of violence within your homes. Some have been assaulted. Some of you are dealing with aging and infirm parents and others with wayward children. Some of you are facing financial burdens, addiction, unemployment. The list goes on.

Sisters, we need to understand that there is no such thing as a straight path. If you are looking to the life of another and thinking that surely you would love a path as straight as hers, believe me when I tell you, her path may be crooked in different ways, but it is still crooked. If you are looking to the life of another thinking less of her for the crook in her lot, consider that it is the Lord who works in her, and has appointed this for her. Who can make straight, what the Lord has made crooked? Not you.

Thomas Boston points us to the first cause of every crook. “Sin so bowed the hearts and minds of men, that they became crooked in respect, of the holy law; and God justly so bowed their lot, that it became crooked too. And this crook in our lot inseparably follows our sinful condition, till, dropping this body of sin and death, we get within heaven’s gates.” Now let us not fall into the trap of Jesus’ disciples in asking “Who sinned, this man or his parents, that this man is blind?” It is absolutely true that all the suffering and pain in this life comes first because of sin in this world, but Boston divides the crooks into 2 categories: pure sinless crooks, and impure sinful crooks. Sinless crooks are sufferings that arise because of the general corruption of the world to sin. Sinful crooks are sufferings that arise because of direct sinful acts done by another against us or done by us.

This is the first step in finding joy in our crooked journey. In which category does your crook belong? Consider my first example: pregnancy loss. Genesis 3 makes it very clear that everything related to reproduction has been broken as a result of sin. All the various pain and suffering surrounding pregnancy and childbirth come about because this world has been shattered by sin. We grieve these things, but we carry no condemnation or shame for them. Similarly, if the crook in your lot is because of another’s sin against you, we grieve that sin and call it sin. We seek justice for that sin. But you have no condemnation or shame. In both of these cases, the pain and grief is the real crook of our lot. We suffer the results of the sin, and it makes our journey in this life crooked, but we have no cause for shame in them. Too often we carry false guilt and false shame for the crooked things in our life that are there not because of our sin, but, as Jesus told His disciples, “that the works of God might be displayed.” (John 9:3)

Now there are crooks in our lot that come about because of our own sin. At the beginning of Philippians 4, Paul identifies two women who have been faithful. He says they have been co-laborers with him in the gospel. They have, however, come into a mutual crook in their lot. They have disagreed, and Paul begs them to agree in the Lord. They have ceased to have the mind of Christ, and Paul is telling them both to repent of their pride and agree, not with each other, but in the Lord. When the crook in your lot is because of your sin there is no cause to despair. Remember two things. First, you cannot make this crooked thing straight, even if you are the one who has made it crooked. You cannot fix it. You can—in fact, you must—repent. Turn back to Christ. You have his mind in you. You have his power at work within you to will and to work. Don’t hate the crook. Don’t try to turn from the crook. Instead, repent of the sin that caused it. Turn to Christ.

Contentment in Our Crooked Journey

But in all of this, our crooks remain. How can we face our crooks, walk our crooked journey, while still being able to rejoice in the Lord always? How, in the midst of the brokenness can we do what Paul calls us to do. “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.” Philippians 4:8-9 ESV

When we consider that the Lord is the one who has made our way crooked, and we cannot make it straight, there can be a temptation to turn to fatalism. We can throw up our hands and say “Oh well. I guess the Lord wills it. What can I do?” This is not at all what scripture calls us to. Our union with Christ gives us the power to work for His good pleasure! Contentment is not the same thing as passive resignation.

In his beautiful book The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, Jeremiah Burroughs says:

“But a gracious heart, being enlarged to be capable of God, and enjoying somewhat of him, can be filled by nothing in the world; it must only be God himself. . . .

All outward peace is not enough; I must have the peace of God. But suppose you have the peace of God. Will that not quiet you? No, I must have the God of peace; as the peace of God so the God of peace. That is, I must enjoy that God who gives me the peace; I must have the Cause as well as the effect. I must see from whence my peace comes, and enjoy the Fountain of my peace, as well as the stream of my peace. And so in other mercies: have I health from God? I must have the God of my health to be my portion, or else I am not satisfied. It is not life, but the God of my life; it is not riches, but the God of those riches, that I must have, the God of my preservation, as well as my preservation.

A gracious heart is not satisfied without this: to have the God of the mercy, as well as the mercy.” (pg 43, 44)

It is so easy to keep our eyes always on crookedness in our journey, looking for the straightening, seek the solution, or the healing, or the justice for the problem. Instead, we must have our eye to Christ himself. We must be satisfied in Christ. Like Jonathan said on Friday night, our joy can only be Jesus.

This is illustrated so well in the familiar story of Mary and Martha. In Luke, when Martha comes to Jesus asking that her sister help with the serving, Jesus answers her: “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:41-42 NASB) Jesus said Mary, in seeking Him, had chosen the good part.

Often when our family is watching a movie I am called away for some purpose or another. As I complete my task, I hear my children calling to me “Mama! Come quick! You’re going to miss the good part!” Martha’s mind was filled with the everyday tasks of her life that she missed the good part. Just as Jesus promised he wouldn't take it from Mary so she could serve tables, He will not take the good part from you. Jesus is the good part. Your crook is there to turn your face so you will not miss the good part.

Grace in our Crooked Journey

In 2 Corinthians, Paul gives us a little more insight into what it meant that he could “do all things through Christ.” In chapter 11 he outlines all of his physical sufferings, but in chapter 12 he tells us of a bigger crook in his lot. “So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” - 2 Corinthians 12:7-9 ESV

Paul tells us directly that the Lord had made something crooked in his life for his humility, but Paul still felt free to ask the Lord to relieve it. Do you earnestly ask the Lord to relieve your crook? So you should! The Lord delights in the prayers of his people. You cannot make it straight, but He can. We begged the Lord for children for ten years. His grace was sufficient for us, but he also gave us the means to straighten that crook, and we took them. Do you have biblical means to remove a crook in your life? Use them! Doctors, therapists, medicine, the police, and the justice system, to name a few, are common graces from God to deliver us from these things. Both times Jonathan was unemployed we earnestly prayed, and he applied for every job listing for which he was not disqualified.

In either case, with a lot that is straightened, or one that the Lord leaves crooked, His grace is sufficient for us. For too long that promise sounded like an empty platitude. I had no idea of the depth of Christ’s grace. Ephesians 4 tells us how grace is sufficient for us.

“But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. – (Eph 4:7 ESV)

and then

“He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,. . . we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” - Ephesians 4:11-13,15-16 ESV

Grace is given to us primarily through the church. There is a reason we call certain elements of our corporate worship service “means of grace.” Ephesians tells us that grace is given to us through the church for the purpose of unity in the faith, and maturity. We are being built together, in love. Sisters, Christ’s grace is sufficient for your crooked journey because he has not called you to walk that crooked path alone. His grace is poured out to you in the preached word and the sacraments every Lord’s Day. Together, each of us with our own crook to our own lot, we are being built together in love into Christ.

What is the crook or crooks in your lot, sisters? Consider the work of God: who can make straight, what He has made crooked. He has made it crooked for His glory, to turn your face to Him. Shall we rejoice, even in this crooked journey? Yes! His grace is sufficient. In fact, it is abundant. It is poured out to you through his fullness, the Church.

Photo by Drew Mills

#Joy #Philippians

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escapingreality51 · 5 years

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sanityiscracked replied to your post: I have read 43 books this year and I’m pretty...

You beat me by a long shot. I think I’ve read like 10 and 4 of those were audio books.

I’ve listened to audiobooks as well, I think about 4?

10 books is great!! I would love to hear what your favourites are and stuff if you want to have a chat about them :) audiobooks are reading too and reading something and enjoying reading is the most important thing so

#sanityiscracked #amelia replies #about books

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itswomanswork · 6 years

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11 Ways to Monetize a Podcast – Plus My Actual Results

How do podcasts make money?

Producing a show takes real work, and if you want to keep your show running, you’ve got to find a way to make it work for you too.

The truth is most shows don’t make any money at all — and it took years before my podcast, The Side Hustle Show, could reasonably be considered a business on its own.

Monetize a Podcast: 11 Real Ways to Make Money From Your Show

Since I launched the show in 2013, I’ve tried a bunch of different monetization strategies. I’ll share my experience and results with those below.

Today, the show brings in over $1000 an episode on average, which is awesome! But it also took a long time to get there.

Now in fairness, I’ve heard from other podcasters that don’t care about monetization at all. They do their shows for other benefits, such as:

Building relationships.

Building authority.

A creative outlet.

And it’s true — a podcast can certainly do all that and more.

But let’s talk dollars and cents. Here are some real ways podcast hosts can make money from their work.

1. Referral Sponsorships

Early on, I experimented with some “affiliate sponsorships” on The Side Hustle Show.

This is a great way for podcasters to get started because you don’t need to have any minimum number of listeners to begin. All you need is a product or service that you like and can recommend to your listeners with an affiliate or referral link.

For example, you might have heard me say, “This episode is brought to you by Ting … visit sidehustlenation.com/ting to claim your free $25 sign-up credit…,” that’s what I mean by a referral sponsorship.

The story goes I’d never even heard of Ting, but heard them advertised on Entrepreneur on Fire. I checked them out and signed up through John’s link — cutting my cell phone bill in half and saving over $800 a year.

Living proof that podcast advertising works!

How Referral Sponsorships Work

This strategy generated few hundred dollars in revenue for the show – nothing amazing but not too bad either. These are companies I tested with:

Ting – New customers get a $25 credit and so do I.

Airbnb – New customers get a $25 account credit and so do I.

Website Magazine – New customers get a free subscription to the magazine and I earn $2 per sign-up.

Aubible.com – New customers get a free audiobook and I earn $10-25 per sign-up.

And these were my results:

Ting – $175 (woohoo for free cell phone service!)

Airbnb – $25 (I only earn my $25 AFTER someone completes their first stay, so I have several more potential $25 credits pending.)

Website Magazine – $182

Audible.com – $0.

So yeah, $382. I’ll chalk that up in the “better than nothing” category.

Benefits of Referral Sponsorships

One cool thing is that since these links are still “live” and active, they have the potential to continue earning for months or even years down the road as more people download back-episodes of the show.

In contrast, traditional sponsorships (see below) will earn you a flat fee without that upside potential.

This referral sponsorship strategy is the exact method that Scott Oldford used monetize his Executive Minute podcast right from the start (much more effectively than me, I might add), and probably what I would do from the very beginning if I was starting over.

I think it gives the perception that the show is perhaps bigger or more established than it really is, which can help build credibility and authority. Listeners might think, oh wow, this guy already has a sponsor, he must be legit!

At least that’s what I might think. Am I way off-base on that assumption?

Risks of Referral Sponsorships

The biggest risk in referral sponsorships is the company discontinues their referral program.

This is exactly what happened with Website Magazine. It’s frustrating because I have several episodes promoting them that are no longer earning anything.

2. Traditional Sponsorships

These are sold on a CPM, or cost-per-thousand basis, and generally priced as follows:

$18 per 1000 downloads for a 15-second “pre-roll” mention at the beginning of your show.

$25 per 1000 downloads for a 60-second “mid-roll” mention during the middle of your show.

A weekly show with 1000 listeners could generate $43 an episode, or $172 per month.

(But of course you’re free to negotiate whatever rate you can!)

As the number of listeners scales up, or the frequency of episodes increases, or your comfort level in including multiple ad spots softens, you can see how these numbers can become quite significant in a hurry.

If your weekly show has 5000 listeners, you’re up to $860 per month, or a little over $10,000 a year from just one sponsorship spot at the beginning of your show and another one in the middle.

Not a bad side hustle, right?

The same audience for a daily show would yield over $50k a year.

I had the opportunity to chat with Mr. Podcast Sponsorship himself, John Lee Dumas, in 2013 and he explained how it all works and how you can begin seeking out sponsors for your show.

My Experience with Traditional Sponsorships

Beginning in 2016, several companies began reaching out to see if they could sponsor The Side Hustle Show.

At that time, new episodes were reaching 5,000-10,000 downloads.

The first ad deal I did was with Teachable, the online course-hosting platform, and we did a 4-episode run for $1000.

After almost 3 years of producing the show every week, it was really cool to earn that kind of cash directly!

Today the show reaches over 20,000 listeners a week and typically earns $800-1200 per episode from traditional sponsorships. I currently have 2 sponsors per show and have 2 ad breaks: one a couple minutes in, and one a few minutes before the end of the show.

How to Find Sponsors for Your Show

In addition to the companies that reach out directly, I have several different sources feeding me advertising deals.

Those include:

AdvertiseCast – A really cool podcast advertising marketplace where you can create you own listings. (Here’s my listing.)

Libsyn – My podcast host occasionally sends me deals.

True Native Media – A podcast advertising broker.

Adopter Media – A podcast advertising broker.

Ad Results Media – Kind of a pain to work with and super slow to pay, but can bring in bigger advertisers.

These companies take a commission from every ad they book on your show, ranging from 20-50%.

There are also companies like Midroll that can act as a liaison between you and advertising partners. However, I believe you may be able to negotiate better rates and find more relevant sponsors by reaching out directly.

For instance, if you hear a company sponsoring another podcast, you know they are at least open to the discussion.

Otherwise, it doesn’t hurt to ask!

3. Sell Your Own Products

Selling my own products is another podcast monetization angle I’ve done over the years.

On several shows I’ve invited listeners to check out my Kindle Launch Plan course on Udemy or to order my book, Buy Buttons.

Make it an Easy Call to Action

I think it’s a good idea to register product-specific domain names that are easy for people to remember and type in. I use GoDaddy for all my domain registrations, and Bluehost to redirect them wherever they need to go.

For example, for the Udemy course, I registered the vanity domain KindleLaunchCourse.com, and redirected that to the Udemy landing page, with a built-in special offer for podcast listeners.

In 2016, 14 people signed up through that link, earning me $350. (Pricing has changed since then.)

For the book, I used another vanity domain, BuyButtonsBook.com, which redirects to Amazon.

This is also super handy when you’re a guest on other shows; you’ve got an easy-to-say URL to mention.

Unfortunately I can’t track which purchases come directly from the podcast, but I’m sure it’s a number greater than zero.

4. Sell Your Own Services

The first service I ever sold on Side Hustle Nation was a private mastermind group with me for $97 a month.

It’s hard to say how many mastermind members came through as a result of the podcast, but my guess is I would have been hard-pressed to generate any applications without building that trust over time through the show.

In 2015, the last full-year I hosted the masterminds, they earned $5200.

Coaching and Consulting

On the “public coaching” series I did on the show, I invited listeners to reach out if they were interested in coaching services themselves.

That was a $3100 income stream in 2015.

I think it worked because listeners could get a sense for my style and methodology for free, and then pay if they wanted the one-on-one attention.

5. Sell Your Guests’ Products as an Affiliate

In a couple instances, my guests have a product or course they’re selling, and after them spending 30-45 minutes dropping some useful value, I have no problem with them inviting listeners to check it out if they want to learn more about the topic.

I don’t always have an affiliate link for these types of offers, but I’ve found it’s most effective when the guest creates a special offer for Side Hustle Show listeners, as Sean Marshall did with his “Clone My Business” Udemy course.

On top of delivering an awesome episode, Sean offered Side Hustle Nation 70% off his Udemy course, and 46 people took advantage of that, earning me $619.50 in affiliate revenue.

Another is example is Greg Mercer from Jungle Scout. Greg has delivered 2 awesome interviews on The Side Hustle Show, and then made a discount deal for his Amazon product research software.

As a Jungle Scout affiliate, I’ve typically earn over $300 a month in commissions — largely as a result of those two episodes.

Pitfalls to Avoid

Of course, the risk in pushing this strategy too far is your show becomes a thinly veiled pitch-fest with everyone just looking for a new audience to sell to.

Be sure to disclose your affiliate relationship if you have one.

6. Sell Your Guests’ Services as an Affiliate

Several of my guests haven’t had any product to sell, but did have a service business the audience found compelling.

One example that comes to mind is Gabe Arnold of Copywriter Today. Gabe came on the show to share how he’d built his content writing business from zero to $20k a month.

At the end of the show, he offered listeners a special deal on the service if they were interested.

After the show aired, it generated a couple dozen new customers and earned me a few hundred dollars in affiliate commissions.

7. Listener Donations

One fascinating way to monetize your show is from your listeners themselves.

Joshua Sheats from Radical Personal Finance is an awesome example of this. Joshua set up a pledge page on Patreon.com, and now has over 250 backers contributing a total of more than $1500 per month at press time.

He puts out a killer show almost every day and asks his fans to consider a monthly donation to support the cause.

How to Accept Donations

Patreon takes a 5% fee on top of any credit card payment processing fees. According their site, “We’re happy if a creator sees around $0.90 of every dollar!”

Theoretically you could accomplish the same thing with fewer fees by hosting the donation campaign yourself, although their platform looks really nice and has some fun social proof elements.

It’s essentially a pay-what-you-want pricing model. The content will still be available for free, but if you find value in it, there’s at least an avenue to collect on that goodwill.

Jen Briney of The Congressional Dish earns several thousand dollars a month from her show, which is entirely listener-supported. She accepts donations via Patreon, PayPal, Zelle, Venmo, and even paper checks in the mail!

I’ve yet to try this myself (it seems weird for a business show to ask for money, right?), though listeners have voluntarily PayPal’d me a few dollars or sent Amazon gift cards my way. Pretty sweet!

8. Re-Purpose Your Content

So far all of these podcast monetization strategies have relied on at least some listeners tuning in.

This content re-purposing strategy can earn you money even if no one ever listens to your show.

How it works is you take the information from your episodes and turn it into other products like books or courses.

For example, The Side Hustle Path series on Amazon is almost entirely derived from podcast content. And despite the first book being free to download in digital form, over 400 people have ordered the paperback version, earning me over $1100 in the last 3 years.

Related: Permafree on Amazon: How and Why to Give Your Book Away, Plus My Results

Portions of Buy Buttons were also sourced The Side Hustle Show interviews, and that book earned around $18,000 in its first year.

9. Syndicate Your Show to YouTube

Not all podcasters are fans of this strategy, but I syndicate my episodes to YouTube.

(I use a tool called TunestoTube.com to get this done.)

I joke I have the world’s worst YouTube channel because there are very few actual videos — my “videos” are mostly just placeholder images and the mp3 podcast episodes.

And while most episodes don’t get a ton of traction on YouTube, some have tens of thousands of views.

Because it’s such a quick and easy process, even just a handful of incremental listeners would be worthwhile. It’s another search engine and another channel for people to potentially discover (and hopefully fall in love with) my content.

You never know where you’ll find your next biggest fan!

I monetize my YouTube channel with the built-in advertising service and have earned an extra $1000 in the last 12 months.

10. Charge Your Guests

Actually charging your interviewees is an interesting — if controversial — podcast monetization strategy. I’ve never attempted this and have a hard time imagining doing it in the future.

However, my friend Joe Pardo charges guests on The Business Podcast $500-3000 per episode — and explains why here.

I suppose if you’ve built the exact audience your guest needs to reach, it could be a small price to pay to spend 45 minutes in their earbuds.

Still, to do this and not have your show come across as a feature-length ad seems like it would be a challenge. Plus there are probably some disclosures you’d want to be upfront with your audience about.

11. Paywall Old Episodes

Finally, some shows keep their recent episodes free but charge for archive content.

Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History is an example. His most recent work is available to download free, but older episodes cost $1.99 each on his website.

(He also sells bundles of episodes and accepts listener donations.)

Monetization is Nice, but Remember: Listeners First

Every podcaster needs a way to support their show, but the most successful ones have found ways to do so that still respect the listener.

After all, the audience is what makes your show viable. It’s not about you; it’s not about your guest; it’s about the listener and what they can gain from investing their valuable time with you.

My Podcast Monetization Totals

I wish I could give you the clear-cut answer as to how much The Side Hustle Show makes each week.

Right now, my money-makers are:

Traditional sponsorships ($800-1200 per episode)

Affiliate partnerships with guests ($0-1500 per episode)

YouTube ($0-25 per episode)

Email list growth (50-1000+ new subscribers per show; which leads to revenue down the road)

If I had to guess, I’d say each show I produce is worth an average of $1500-2000 to my business. There are also production costs of around $100 a week, not counting my time.

And to be sure, it’s taken several years to get here, but it’s incredibly exciting to have built a revenue engine like that from the ground up. I’m completely serious when I say starting a podcast has been a life-changing experience.

Your Turn

If you have a show, how do you (or how do you plan to) monetize it?

As a podcast listener, which of the above monetization angles do you prefer?

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amazonseller · 7 years

Text

Amazon's Ebook, Print, And Audio Sales Author Earnings

Join David Gassner for an in-depth discussion in this video Checking your usage Amazon statistics, part of Android App Development: Distributing Android Apps (2015). The Grand Tour's first episode, which saw Clarkson, Hammond and May head to a desert in California to entertain a crowd in their traveling tent and test drive three hybrid hypercars, became available to stream on Friday. It seems like all of these factors - pricing, friction, audiobooks, localism, and traditional physical advantages - are combining to restrict the ebook market for respectable books and to shift them to Amazon for less respectable genres. So I redid all of the photos in the .jpg format to decrease the overall file size as well as speed up the site.

And it focused on selling the basics, such as T-shirts, leggings, and jeans - things people felt comfortable buying online and replenishing regularly. Only one in 10 renters (13 percent) is leaving their home state, but among those interstate movers are many from the Silent Generation (24 percent). Jane speaks regularly at conferences and industry events such as BookExpo America, Digital Book World, and the AWP Conference, and has served on panels with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Creative Work Fund.

Four out of 10 homeowners (43 percent) have refinanced their home at least once, with those planning to sell or currently selling (57 percent) and residents in the West (53 percent) among the most likely. Therefore, for the survey on ‘ICT usage and e-commerce in enterprises', respondents were asked to state whether they received orders via a website or apps (web sales) or in a format that allowed automated processing (EDI-type sales) using Electronic Data Interchange or Extensible Markup Language (XML) format for example.Using ACX-reported daily sales for dozens of Audible audiobooks and their corresponding Amazon ranking histories, we did the same thing for downloadable audiobooks.

It was also shown that in emerging markets, smartphone and tablet penetration is fast increasing and contributing significantly to online shopping growth. In this book, he describes his work and that of others and presents some techniques that may help all of us make better decisions. Most notably, statistics are a major part of the selection and deployment of players. It helped me wrap my head around the topic, worrying was easy to follow and gave good examples. Just explaining what marketplace management software is can be a big challenge (incidentally, one that has been addressed in great detail by Matthew Ogborne recently).

For one reader may make the text big to see better, resulting in more page reads to finish the book. Gender, age, level of education and employment situation all affect e-commerce activity (Figure 3). For men, the share of online shoppers among internet users was slightly higher than for women (67 % and 65 %, respectively), while individuals aged 25-34 are more active e-shoppers (75 % of internet users) than other age groups. In services news, Amazon Web Services announced last week a new enterprise client. LoveFilm had cost £5.99 a month so, added to the £49 for Amazon Prime, the combined cost would have been roughly £120 annually.

Ask why” as many times as you can before they hang up. Act like my four-year-old son, Crosby, who seems to make it a game to ask why” as many times as he can before daddy snaps. However, print book sales have grown largely because Amazon sold more print books. That is exactly what it is. I hope that your posting here will get read by lots of people at Amazon that is treated like you were (or worse?) and that it will open their eyes. Of course, the question is whether Amazon can sustain any loss-leader approach long term in Australia. If Amazon Prime didn't offer the free shipping, I probably wouldn't bother, but that's a huge plus. The report includes a discussion of the key online vendors operating in this market.

Because the previous survey focused on all online marketplace sellers, not just Amazon sellers, I don't recommend extensive comparisons against this year's results. Here you can discover the best Statistics in Amazon Best Sellers, and find the top 100 most popular Amazon Statistics. Handmade at Amazon is an online marketplace where invited artisans can sell their handmade products. Great topic for another day (if you are interested to read more about this topic make a comment below).

VoiceLabs, for one, predicts at least one or more of the voice-enabled device platforms will enable direct communication in 2017 Whether, in Amazon's case, the communications capabilities in Chime can be leveraged in Echos is yet to be seen — though it does seem like a natural extension of some of the technologies at play. And you've gone over and beyond the call of duty in my opinion here and I am frankly surprised that Amazon manages to operate if they treat their employees like this. Amazon can ship them around the world, and Amazon can deliver them to customers.

Growing demand for personalized and custom-made goods, new technologies and increasing numbers of self-employed workers in the developed economies have fostered the growth of online craft marketplaces over the past decade. In first two years I never saw this kind of Amazon fact there were many posts praising about amazon's internal culture. Developers and businesses with Windows Server applications can take advantage of 750 hours of Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) Micro Instance usage per month, at no charge for a one-year period. Backed by the world's largest Internet incubator, Rocket Internet, this online marketplace has been successful in generating a substantial amount of traffic on all its domains worldwide. Over 70% of Amazon's revenue comes from sales of items from its inventory (product sales), so its handmade marketplace is not the company's major source of income.

Furthermore, if you're good at what you do and work hard, it's not at all difficult to make a living as a writer. The swatter ‘‘was very brazen in his activity”, Young says, ‘‘very meanspirited and destructive”. Young thought the best strategy was to persuade Canada to make the arrest, given that there was little chance of extradition. PS. I'm a full-time writer who writes because I can't imagine anything that's more fun-I love to spin a good yarn, and I love to read one. Despite the risks of marketplace selling, the alternative - having your own web store - is easy to get started but very difficult to make successful. Choose an AMI in the classic instance wizard: I chose the Basic 32-bit Amazon Linux AMI. With all the data Amazon already has on digital spending trends, competing merchants might be reluctant to give up more data to the online retail giant.

#sellerprime seller prime amazon fba ecommerce seller seller analytics intelligence product product research product ideas competitor sellers

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skillwiththequill · 7 years

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answer all 150. do it. i fuckin dare ya

....

.......

This took me over an hour. I hope you’re happy.

1. Who was the last person you held hands with? Probably my niece, Eliza. She is turning 2 soon and is HECKIN ADORABLE.

2. Are you outgoing or shy? Depends on the situation. If I am comfortable then I am outgoing, if I am stressed or uncertain I am shy.

3. Who are you looking forward to seeing? Solomon, the boy I like

4. Are you easy to get along with? Maybe? I dunno. I can be pleasant, but sometimes I don’t give a crap whether people like me or not and I’m just unabashedly myself.

5. If you were drunk would the person you like take care of you? I think both the people I like would take care of me. One would do it better than the other, but they are both really nice people. I feel like the one who would take care of me better would probably insist on a serious conversation afterwards though, because we are LDS and drinking isn’t really a thing we are allowed to do. Yeah...

6. What kind of people are you attracted to? People who care about things a lot. People who are snarky. People who listen to me. People who like to make me smile.

7. Do you think you’ll be in a relationship two months from now? And ruin my almost 22 year streak? Not a chance, bruh.

8. Who from the opposite gender is on your mind? Definitely not a boy named Solomon. Actually I have been thinking about my brother a lot lately, he is going through some stuff right now. That isn’t a fun crush-type response though. Sorry.

9. Does talking about sex make you uncomfortable? Not nearly as much as it used to. It depends on the people I’m with obviously, but I feel less weird about it than I used to.

10. Who was the last person you had a deep conversation with? Marissa.

11. What does the most recent text that you sent say?” Kk. Let us know when you get home, okay?”

12. What are your 5 favorite songs right now? The World is Wide Enough, Emma Dear (by a friend, you won’t know it), Breathe... I dunno. I don’t listen to a lot of music.

13. Do you like it when people play with your hair? Lots. Right now it is all split endy though, which makes me feel super self conscious because split endy hair insta-tangled.

14. Do you believe in luck and miracles? Yes?

15. What good thing happened this summer? I got to spend a month with my niece and the polar bear at the zoo liked her a lot.

16. Would you kiss the last person you kissed again? ....never been kissed. Sorry to disappoint

17. Do you think there is life on other planets? Given the vastness of the universe, probably. Intelligent life? Given the vastness of the universe......probably?

18. Do you still talk to your first crush? Not really. I should Facebook message him actually, I heard he just started at my school

19. Do you like bubble baths? Yeah. Gotta have a book or an audiobook though. I can’t handle being alone with my thoughts that long.

20. Do you like your neighbors? I have a downstairs neighbor I like a lot and there is a girl in my building that I absolutely ADORE. In general though, I don’t know my neighbors.

21. What are you bad habits? When I feel insecure my knee-jerk reactions are usually pretty manipulatory. I don’t like that about myself.

22. Where would you like to travel? Top 3 are New Zealand, Germany, and London.

23. Do you have trust issues? yeah

24. Favorite part of your daily routine? My favorite parts of the day are when I’m cooking. I don’t really have a fave routine though.

25. What part of your body are you most uncomfortable with? The part that I’m uncomfortable with that affects my daily life is my upper arms. They don’t look good and I can’t wear a few shirts because they either show too much of them or the sleeve gets super stretched and gross looking. Overall least favorite part is probably my tummy though.

26. What do you do when you wake up? Go back to sleep or read stuff on my phone.

27. Do you wish your skin was lighter or darker? Not really. I like my skin tone. I am a little paler than I usually like right now because I don’t go outside anymore, but it isn’t something I would wish to instantly happen.

28. Who are you most comfortable around? Marissa. Maybe Bethany.

29. Have any of your ex’s told you they regret breaking up? Never had a relationship, can’t exactly have an ex.

30. Do you ever want to get married? Yeah.

31. Is your hair long enough for a pony tail? Yup.

32. Which celebrities would you have a threesome with? I don’t think I would feel comfortable with a threesome or no strings attatched sex, so I am gonna pass on this one.

33. Spell your name with your chin. azlkytszsxza wedastghgewrfsdtyoln

34. Do you play sports? What sports? Naw.

35. Would you rather live without TV or music? I reject the premise of this question. TV is a very specific mode of entertainment and music is super broad. Does “music” mean listening to an audio file or does it mean I can’t sing or play the piano or go to a concert? As it is, the two options are not in the same category and I refuse to play along with this insanity.

36. Have you ever liked someone and never told them? yyuuuuuuup.

37. What do you say during awkward silences? CAW

38. Describe your dream girl/guy? Cares a lot about people and things. Snarky. Likes to make me smile and entertains my bad jokes. Holds me. Sorry y’all, I can’t give a physical description really.

39. What are your favorite stores to shop in? bookstores. grocery stores.

40. What do you want to do after high school? um. Go to college. Already there, bruh. If we translate this to college, I’d say work in DC and then become Toby Ziegler.

41. Do you believe everyone deserves a second chance? I think they should be offered a second chance, but that second chance may not look the way they expect. They deserve an opportunity, but they have to earn trust.

42. If your being extremely quiet what does it mean? I’m in my head and I probably shouldn’t be there. It means you should give me a way to get out of whatever situation I am in and take me to a private place and ask if I am okay.

43. Do you smile at strangers? Sometimes. Usually it is the White People smile/grimace/nod thing.

44. Trip to outer space or bottom of the ocean? Where in outer space? If I get to go to another planet, I pick that. If I am just gonna chill in emptiness that is cool and all, but I would probably prefer DEEP bottom of the ocean. More to see.

45. What makes you get out of bed in the morning? work. Class. books. friends.

46. What are you paranoid about? nobody likes me and they all just tolerate me because they pity me and I don’t have any actual friends.

47. Have you ever been high? I’ve been in a plane, does that count? One time at the dentist I got pretty loopy from nitrous.

48. Have you ever been drunk? no

49. Have you done anything recently that you hope nobody finds out about? yes

50. What was the colour of the last hoodie you wore? maroon

51. Ever wished you were someone else? frequently

52. One thing you wish you could change about yourself? do I have to pick one thing? If I can’t get a whole new me, I wish I could cut down a lot on the self doubt.

53. Favourite makeup brand? I don’t wear makeup really.

54. Favourite store? half-price books. Or Winco.

55. Favourite blog? I’m going to change this question to favorite twitter and answer LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA’S

56. Favourite colour? Yellow

57. Favourite food? depends on what I am craving. Rught now probably asparagus.

58. Last thing you ate? lefotver lasagna and a side salad

59. First thing you ate this morning? ...a bit of leftover lasagna while I was toasting oats for a quick granola to put on my yogurt.

60. Ever won a competition? For what? yeah a lot. Singing, speaking, debate, and Academic Decathlon in general. Plus random crap like indexing competitions and a lord of the rings trivia competition.

61. Been suspended/expelled? For what? heh. heh. I started a doctor who club in my high school without permission and put up a couple posters at which point I got in-school suspension for graffiti.

62. Been arrested? For what? no, Got pulled over one time because the inspection on my dad’s car was overdue and I was driving it to work.

63. Ever been in love? ...not reciprocated romantic love.

64. Tell us the story of your first kiss? I’ll let you know

65. Are you hungry right now? naw, had some leftover lasagna.

66. Do you like your tumblr friends more than your real friends? some of them more than some of them. I have about 5 favorite people in the world and 2 of them are tumblr friends.

67. Facebook or Twitter? ugh. I don’t actually use twitter, I go to a few specific feeds and read those. So probably facebook, even though I hate facebook.

68. Twitter or Tumblr? Tujmblr

69. Are you watching tv right now? no, I am answering questions. When I finish I will probably continue watching Speechless.

70. Names of your bestfriends? okay so does this have to be reciprocated best friend-ships? Because a lot of people are more important to me than I am to them and I don’t know if they count.

71. Craving something? What? I want some water right now.

72. What colour are your towels? light green. Close to that teal-y shade that everyone and their mom loves right now.

72. How many pillows do you sleep with?1. Sometimes 2.

73. Do you sleep with stuffed animals? Yeah, a teddy bear named Jamison.

74. How many stuffed animals do you think you have? 2. Back home I have a stuffed kitten named Silver. My older brothers used to torture her to make me cry.

75. Favourite animal? if dead pets count, my cat Pantouf. If not, a lynx

76. What colour is your underwear? beige

77. Chocolate or Vanilla? Chocolate

78. Favourite ice cream flavour? depends on the selection. I like me some burnt almond fudge though.

79. What colour shirt are you wearing? Black, with a dark grey sweater over it.

80. What colour pants? medium dark jeans

81. Favourite tv show? the show I am watching right now is Orange is the New Black. My favorite TV show is The West Wing still.

82. Favourite movie? I dunno. I like the prestige. Right now I want to watch Finding Dory.

83. Mean Girls or Mean Girls 2? haven’t seen the second

84. Mean Girls or 21 Jump Street? haven’t seen 21 Jump Street

85. Favourite character from Mean Girls? idk, it has been a while. The gay guy.

86. Favourite character from Finding Nemo? The Starfish

87. First person you talked to today? I woke up for 20 seconds to say bye to my roommate, but I went back to sleep. So probably my coworker who called to ask how to fix a printer.

88. Last person you talked to today? Angie, my downstairs neighbor.

89. Name a person you hate? Trump

90. Name a person you love? Marissa

91. Is there anyone you want to punch in the face right now? yes

92. In a fight with someone? never been in a physical fight that was not for training in Tae Kwon Do

93. How many sweatpants do you have? 1 pair of sweatpants and 1 pair of yoga pants.

94. How many sweaters/hoodies do you have? 3 hoodies, 3 sweaters. Only 1 sweater that I wear over other things though.

95. Last movie you watched? I Am Not a Serial Killer. Y’all should watch it, it is on Netflix.

96. Favourite actress? Kate McKinnon

97. Favourite actor? I guess probably still David Tennant, though I haven’t watched anything with him in it for months.

98. Do you tan a lot? I mean, I tan easily. I don’t ever go somewhere with the purpose of tanning though. It just happens when I am at the beach or I am walking or whatever.

99. Have any pets? none at school, 2 cats and a dog at home.

100. How are you feeling? thirsty

101. Do you type fast? eh. Not really. Faster than I used to, but most people under the age of 40 can probably blow me out of the water.

102. Do you regret anything from your past? yeah

103. Can you spell well? yeah

104. Do you miss anyone from your past? a lot

105. Ever been to a bonfire party? I grew up by the beach. All the time.

106. Ever broken someone’s heart? I doubt it.

107. Have you ever been on a horse? yes. One time it didn’t end well, the second time it was fine.

108. What should you be doing? I should probably go to the bathroom. Idk, it is Friday before a 3 day weekend. I don’t have a lot pressing on me rn.

109. Is something irritating you right now? fearmongering about GMOs

110. Have you ever liked someone so much it hurt? yup

111. Do you have trust issues? wasn’t this already a question? IT TOTALLY WAS. #3.

112. Who was the last person you cried in front of? Probably my roommate Makenna. Last semester was rough.

113. What was your childhood nickname? My mother came up with a lot of inane nicknames for me. I’ll share “Wyssie”

114. Have you ever been out of your province/state? yup, lots. I am outside it now.

115. Do you play the Wii? When I am home.

116. Are you listening to music right now? I can half hear the music my roommate is playing in her room.

117. Do you like chicken noodle soup? It aight.

118. Do you like Chinese food? Depends on where it is from and whether there is congealed pig blood in it.

119. Favourite book? The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

120. Are you afraid of the dark? Not really.

121. Are you mean? I don’t try to be. I probably come off that way dometimes though. Or rather, I come off as insensitive/self-centered sometimes. I wish I could stop that.

122. Is cheating ever okay? no.

123. Can you keep white shoes clean? I’ve never legitimately tried and I don’t see myself trying.

124. Do you believe in love at first sight? no

125. Do you believe in true love? yeah

126. Are you currently bored? no

127. What makes you happy? people. Being not me.

128. Would you change your name? my name is fine.

129. What your zodiac sign? Aquarius

130. Do you like subway? I worked there for 2 years and I still like it. Except for the cold cut combo. Don’t get the cold cut combo, it is disgusting.

131. Your bestfriend of the opposite sex likes you, what do you do? Think about it a lot and potentially go out on a date with them. Idk. I don’t currently have a male best friend.

132. Who’s the last person you had a deep conversation with? okay this one is a repeat too. What is with this noise.

133. Favourite lyrics right now? teach me how to say goodbye

134. Can you count to one million? why? I mean I theorhetically can, I doubt I would have the patience though.

135. Dumbest lie you ever told? I bet I told some idiotic ones when I was little. Don’t remember them.

136. Do you sleep with your doors open or closed? yes. Usually closed, but I don’t care if they are open.

137. How tall are you? 5′7″

138. Curly or Straight hair? wavy

139. Brunette or Blonde? Brunette

140. Summer or Winter? Late Fall

141. Night or Day? night

142. Favourite month? December

143. Are you a vegetarian? no

144. Dark, milk or white chocolate? dark

145. Tea or Coffee? tea made from things that are not tea leaves.

146. Was today a good day? it was aight.

147. Mars or Snickers? never had a mars bar

148. What’s your favourite quote? The stigma will last as long as our silence.

149. Do you believe in ghosts? I think I believe in spirits, but I don’t believe they come visit us

150. Get the closest book next to you, open it to page 42, what’s the first line on that page? There’s nothing rich folks love more/than going downtown and slummin’ it with the poor (hamilton: the revolution)

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