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seminalstudy · 5 years

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Hi everyone! I’m currently in the process of transferring to a new university and one of the biggest parts of that has been planning out and scheduling which classes to take my first semester, in hopes that I can graduate at the same time as people my age :’) As someone who’s planned how to graduate in three years not once but twice now, I figured I could share my experience and/or advice with anyone looking to maximize their college academics!

1. Establish a timeline: Ask yourself how many years you’re giving yourself to complete your degree as this will help you figure out how heavy your course loads will have to be to graduate at your expected time (this could be anywhere from 2 years to 5 or more). At my first college, I planned to graduate in three years in order to save money and because the school had easier academics, so I was confident I could handle the extra work. My new plan to graduate in three years is so I can graduate with other students my age, set your goal!

2. Now that you’ve established a broad timeline, it’s time to start looking at potential majors/minors and career tracks: Hopefully, this is something you’ve started looking at before applying to college, but don’t worry - it’s not too late! As someone going into college with the knowledge that I’d be taking out max loans each year, I tried to figure out what I wanted to do early on so I could maximize my credits ie take as many required classes as possible and not ‘waste’ credits on classes that wouldn’t really contribute to my degree (ofc I ended up changing my mind 3/4 of the way thru the year but that’s life). I narrowed my options down to 3 or 4 majors and managed to eliminate 2 of them pretty early on.

3. With at least one track in mind, research all the requirements to earn a degree in that area: Universities often have “general education requirements” regardless of your major, so you take classes in multiple disciplines and broaden your perspective. Course catalogs/general bulletins/college websites are where you can find info about your gen-eds and major-specific required courses. It’s really helpful to map this out by hand or in a spreadsheet program (I did it both by hand and with Excel to stay uber-organized). This is also where you can narrow down the majors you’re interested in by looking at the required courses and course descriptions. I considered a Data Analytics major early on, but after seeing how much coding was required (not a strong suit or interest for me) I could comfortably eliminate it.

4. Reach out to your advisor/navigator/registrar to clarify any questions: If you’re confused by any of the requirements for your major/gen-eds, talk to someone at the university. I feel bad for the numerous advisors I’ve had because I pestered them with questions so I could have a complete understanding of everything - it really helps in the scheduling process and I’ve never had a staff or faculty member be irritated by the questions - they love to help (plus it shows initiative and starts forming connections which is A+). Seriously, reach out if you’re confused, don’t just sit in the dark!

5. Map out required courses and pre-requisites: This is where Excel or Google Sheets can be your best friend - they make it really easy to keep track of what needs to be taken when. Some courses require a certain academic standing (sophomore, junior, senior) for you to take them, others require you to take several classes before you can register for it. Certain progressions of classes can really limit what your schedule looks like, so this step is incredibly important (and somewhat time-consuming).

6. Generate a slightly less vague timeline: Based on pre-requisites and required class standings, begin to assign classes to fall and spring semesters. Let’s say you have to complete a senior capstone in order to graduate, and you can only take it senior year, write it into the timeline. Maybe you need to take Math123 and Math124 for your major, but Math124 requires you to complete Math123 first. Place 123 into a semester and 124 in the semester following that. This doesn’t have to be exact, but it’s good to be aware of what your future schedule will look like, and what classes you need to take sooner rather than later (this is also time-consuming because you’ll find numerous variations in potential schedules).

7. Determine the courseload you’ll need to take: Some people luck out and have lots of AP/IB or like credits that will transfer into real college credit, helping to eliminate the number of classes you have to take (I was not such a person). You’ll generally receive a credit evaluation during the summer before the first semester so you can plan accordingly. Most advisors recommend taking 15-17 credits, but if you need to take more so you can graduate faster or less so you’re not overwhelmed, do what you need. I ended up taking the max credits allowed then over that, but that’s only because I was pushing so hard to graduate faster. This kind of ties into the last step, but you also need to evaluate your personal strengths and weaknesses.

8. Determine the courses that will maximize your first semester: Fun fact, your major requirements can often double-dip and count for your general education requirements too! Look at the pre-reqs for your higher-level classes and try to choose those that will open up the most classes, see which of your major required classes could count for gen-eds, such as humanities or science courses. If you’re between a few majors, look for classes that a required for them. For me, I was between a Business Administration or Sustainable Business major, so many of the requirements were the same. I took classes that could count for both, but if I wanted to go one way or the other, I wouldn’t be screwed over.

9. Try to balance the courses you NEED to take with those you WANT to take: I’m a humanities kind of gal (science has not been mon ami in the past) but both of my colleges require science and math classes. So, when I have to take a math and science course simultaneously, I try to add in some of the subjects I’m stronger in (history, english, etc) so that my GPA wouldn’t die. If you’re fortunate enough that affording college isn’t a concern, I’d personally say take as many courses that interest you as possible, but when financing a higher level education is more of an issue, complete your requirements but leave some space to explore your interests.

10. With a handful of courses in mind, look at actually scheduling your classes: With online registration, you can generally look at which classes are full, what times are available, etc. Are you really, definitely, for sure a morning person who can handle that 8am? Do you need a definite break for lunch? Will you be more productive in the mornings or evenings? Are there multiple profs for the class and does one have better ratings than the other? (ratemyprofessor.com is a lifesaver) Is there enough time outside of class to study/do extracurriculars/have a social life? Sometimes you’ll really need to take a class and it’ll be at some ungodly hour, but sometimes you gotta suck it up. Try not to overload one day with classes and make sure there’s enough time between classes to get to your next class, especially if your school has a large campus. This part is really based on personal preference, so enjoy it!

11. Give yourself time to do all of this: Especially for a first-year college student, there’s a lot already happening, and the opportunities are endless. It takes a lot of time to thoroughly research. This is a big process if you really care about being organized, and it can set you up for great success in college! All of these steps are really tied together but you’ll need more than one day (I took several weeks lol) to plan out a college career.

12. It gets easier: After doing this for just two semesters, I was much more comfortable making these big choices. For my new university, I managed to accomplish this in only a few days, but I was already familiar with the major I’m pursuing and how to lay everything out. For those of you continuing in college, consider mapping our the rest of your time if you haven’t already, and keep track of the courses you’ve taken and still need to take! This way, you won’t be thrown any loops when graduation comes.

Disclaimer: This advice is based purely off my own U.S. college experience which is undoubtedly very different from others! Ultimately, pursuing a higher-level education is your own personal journey, and do what you need to do to find success, this is just me trying to help out others!

If you have any questions about any of this, want to talk scheduling with me, or see my schedule planning notes and spreadsheets, just message me, I’m always willing to talk and even more willing to make friends!

-B

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redwoodrroad · 4 years

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arkus’s birthday and some background info on him

SO ive been very busy with work these past two weeks AND sick with several things SO NOW TO MAKE UP FOR MISSING ARKUS’S BIRTHDAY (WHICH WAS ON JANUARY 3RD), im gonna talk about his research

here he is hard at work in his favorite part of the Priory: the ~secret~ library

everything else is under the cut because there’s a lot of science babble, but i do hope it’s fun to read if youre into science as much as i am. i also included some sylvari-centric stuff at the end because it’s specific to arkus

so simply put: Arkus’s concentration is on a mixture among anthropology (not just human-centered either), archaeology, and geology. separately, these sciences are completely different and require different skill sets, mindsets, tools, and research tactics, but these sciences also intersect in many ways and tell a fuller and more comprehensive story when put together. consider a nomadic culture that subsists on farming and animal products: they make clear boundaries in the land between where you sleep, where you eat, where you grow the food, where you cook the food, where you prepare animal parts either for consumption in one area or the creation of materials or clothing, ETC, my point is that this group needs a specific type of landscape to settle--that type of landscape needs to be sheltered enough from weathering and predators while also close to a water source, and the land itself must contain the right nutrients to grow crops; furthermore, the general landscape must be well-liked by large animals that are high enough in quantity that the group can sustain themselves on these animals and not risk endangering the population. the geology of the earth itself, the makeup of the land, is vastly important to this culture because it deigns where they can live and how they can survive in that area

of course, when they move away, they leave behind an imprint in the land itself--these cultures are not the type to necessarily bury their dead for fear of leaving them behind, but that’s also an extrapolation on my part so i cant definitively say that, but theyre also not necessarily the type to waste or throw away animal parts--so this group might not necessarily leave the obvious archeological choice of bones behind, but bones are not the only types of fossils that exist, and they certainly arent the main focus of archaeologists on digs: archeologists are looking for everything in an area--remains of encampments, clothing, pottery, tools, etc. these are the things a nomadic group might leave behind if theyre broken or unusable or perhaps if a disaster struck, and great swaths of belongings had to be left behind. lots of things are left behind when a group like this moves away--furthermore, evidence of a large group living in a place for what we can assume is several years to decades can almost always be found in each of those locations for a culture that is nomadic. archaeologists look for that evidence, and it’s the sort of thing they can follow like a map to see the direction in which this group moved

of course, the culture of that group itself is very important and just as fascinating as the prior fields of research: consider whether this group in my example might have a hierarchy--are elders the leaders of the group? is there a matriarch or a patriarch? how are children raised, and are they raised in a manner that separates them by gender, combined with the types of work or activities these genders are expected to perform? i read about a culture where the women did the foraging and held baskets at all times, and the men did the hunting and held bows and arrows at all times, but before this makes you mad and think that this culture might have been very strict on their gender conforming, the only gender “marker” in this society was that of the baskets or the bows. regardless of sex or gender at birth--concepts this culture had no definition of beyond the gendered tasks--if you wanted to hold a basket, you are a woman; if you wanted to hold a bow, you are a man. and you’re held to that standard until you decide you want to change that. there are also cultures ive read about where food is very closely linked with the cycle of life--there are some foods you eat when you are young, there are some foods you eat when someone is pregnant, and there are items to eat when someone dies, and everything has a very specific meaning assigned to it along with when and how those items are consumed.

all of these fields coalesce in different ways, and my passion for it is also Arkus’s. i imagine he goes out several times a year to conduct field research--something that is also very particular, and no two people do field research the same way, especially when it comes to soft sciences. i will also say that Arkus’s preferred style of research is one that has a little bit of discourse in the science community, and that is that he lets himself get involved with the culture.

in the soft science world, there are two pretty big styles: Positivism and Antipositivism (also called Interpretivism but ive definitely heard it called naturalism too). positivism is clean-cut--it’s objective and empirical scientific Fact. we’re talking quantitative data analysis, objective reasoning and observation (observation ONLY), and a clear separation between Scientist and Subject.

antipositivism is the opposite--it’s not all data points and “objective” observation because to observe a culture without being part of it is not objective at all. you’re not learning about the culture if youre just watching it; you’re watching this culture from an outsider’s perspective, and from an outsider’s perspective with a completely different cultural background in mind, you will not understand the significance to any cultural action in front of you. in this way, the scientist is not separating themselves from the “subject(s);” rather, the outsider is interacting with and empathizing with the insiders. it’s a completely different mindset and one that yields results that almost cannot be measured on data points or spreadsheets.

(if you cant tell, i am an antipositivist lol)

Arkus is an antipositivist: he finds positivist thinking to be too clinical and perhaps inappropriate for his research purposes. that said, he goes out and locates groups like the vague culture i described above, and he learns about them through empathic interaction and openness. he doesnt always publish his work, but he does always ask his participants if they would like to be participants, and if not, then he helps them if they would like the interaction or leaves if they would prefer he not stick around. and that’s okay too! what he does publish is always very lengthy and involves detailed diagrams of rock formations, tools, structures, the landscape, etc, and if he’s in a position to do a dig, he may take samples of the landscape back to the Priory for further testing, especially when it comes to carbon dating or whatever the tyrian equivalent might be (the lifeforms are PROBABLY carbon based on tyria but you never know lol). at this point in the story, Arkus has been doing research for several years now--i haven’t decided when he becomes an archon, but it’s certainly his biggest career goal overall. i think it’s probably tough though because archons typically oversee really dangerous magics and sciences, so one of these days, Arkus will find a way to present his work as especially useful for that specific realm of study

i also think that with arkus’s background in a culture that is largely mysterious to other cultures is also part of why arkus has his passion for his work. to learn and discover things about culture while being simultaneously respectful and open to differences is very important to arkus, and it’s something that his culture has a particular closeness with given their history with--for EXAMPLE--the asura. no tea no shade but arkus isnt trying to be that type of way--but they also changed and got better over time; now arkus just has beef with the inquest because their research style and scientific process is the exact opposite of how arkus wants to be

i should also say--and i havent really seen really problematic evidence of this in the game--that research organizations such as the durmand priory have a tendency to be sorta...... grabby with their research. like there’s a big scientific attitude towards discovery in the modern world where the scientist(s) who discovered something feel Entitled to that discovery. it’s very western and ethnocentric, and it’s Bad. western scientists discovering x y z historic item that is important to an overseas culture’s history does not belong in a western museum or lab, i dont make the rules! unfortunately, the western scientists make the rules so like thems the brakes but let the record show i hate that

arkus is very aware of this scientific tendency to want to hold on to discoveries and sort of keep them close--safe even, in priory custody--but he also recognizes that it’s wrong to do that, so he specifically finds ways to work around that so the culture in mind gets to keep their history. sharing history and culture is really good and healthy for all cultures, but ONLY if that sharing isn’t forced or pressured onto the culture in question. arkus lives by that rule!

anyway, this was obviously just a way for me to gush about science under the guise of my character’s belated birthday, but i hope it was informative! i had fun with it ;u; and i’ll start drawing my characters again too dhfgadjfhg soon i hope

thank you for reading!

#guild wars 2 #sylvari #redwoods words #arkus tag

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nadziejastar · 4 years

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Did you finish reading that KH3: A Conclusion without a story article? If so, what did you think of it?

I loved reading it. It was a fantastic take on KH3. There was pretty much nothing that I disagreed with.

By the time you leave Olympus, Sora hasn’t learnt how to restore his powers; and the frustrating part is that he never explicitly does.

I completely agreed with this. Sora’s journey in KH3 should have been about learning the power of waking. But even in the scene where he finally does learn it, there’s no real reason why. He didn’t seem to learn anything on his journey.

Even the villains are given no progress – a subplot about Pete and Maleficent looking for a mysterious black box goes nowhere, and Organisation XIII (the primary antagonists) only put in a brief appearance, spouting their usual brand of vaguely ominous dialogue. To compound these issues, the protagonists are ultimately left not knowing where to go or what to do next. Only two hours into the game, and the plot has no sense of momentum or direction.

Yep. The black box thing annoyed me so much. The Organization was also a huge letdown. We don’t get to learn the real reason why Marluxia, Larxene, Demyx, and Luxord joined until KH4!? Something went very, VERY wrong in the Dark Seeker Saga for that to happen.

By comparison, Kingdom Hearts II’s opening was significantly slower paced – to the point that it was a detriment to some players. However, so much more was achieved in a similar space of time; II’s initial hours establish the game’s tone and major themes, as well as introduce a large cast of brand new characters (while simultaneously reintroducing old ones in new contexts).

Yep. I liked KH2′s opening, slow as it was. The prologue of KH2 felt like it had more plot than almost all of KH3.

And this is one of the core problems with Kingdom Hearts III; even if you look past a threadbare narrative for Sora and company while they adventure through the self-contained Disney worlds, there is nothing going on outside of that either. In Kingdom Hearts II, both Riku and Mickey were operating behind the scenes, aiding Sora from the shadows and setting key events in motion. In III, however, these same characters spend most of their time expositing plot points and passively waiting for the big battle at the end of the game – and that can be said for almost all of our heroes.

I also agree. This problem would have been mitigated if every character got their own time to shine using the power of waking. Riku and Mickey could have had a subplot together, showing how Riku got his new Keyblade. They should have saved each other from the darkness.

If there’s a job to do, it’s up to Sora to do it. With a couple of key exceptions, every character apart from Sora, Donald, and Goofy is presented as almost comically useless – yet our protagonist remains the butt of every joke.

Yep. Everyone other than Sora was useless. Aqua needed to save Ven, but all she did was get knocked out in the battle with Vanitas. Ven needed to save Terra, but he didn’t really do anything. Sora did all the work. Lea needed to save Isa, but he did nothing in his fight. He got shoved to the side while Roxas and Xion took over. Kairi saving Sora should have gotten more focus.

The villains reveal that the only way Sora can release Roxas is by giving into the darkness, and sacrificing his own heart. Self-sacrifice is nothing new for Sora (he did the same thing in Kingdom Hearts I to save his love interest Kairi), but this had the potential to be an interesting plot point, as it gives him a selfless reason to be tempted by, and potentially give into, the darkness. But it’s never brought up again.

Yep. Early scenes in KH3 make it seem like the game did originally have an actual plot at one point. Xigbar was luring Sora into a trap, so he’d fall to darkness. But it’s never brought up again, LOL. It’s crazy.

In fact, ‘saving Roxas’ is scarcely discussed until the end of the game (King Mickey telling Sora to “let the rest of us worry about Roxas and Naminé for now”, essentially dropping the subject after only the second Disney world). Ultimately, Roxas’ heart just leaves Sora’s body of its own volition in the final act, making the player’s time here, once again, feel largely pointless.

And yes, saving Roxas was handled very badly. This is because, IMO, saving Roxas and saving Ventus was supposed to be one and the same. There shouldn’t have been a separate “saving Roxas” subplot.

In interviews, Nomura discussed the struggle of dealing with so many characters – even citing the cast size as one of the main reasons that Final Fantasy cameos were omitted[2]. The real problem, though, is that nothing is done to mitigate this challenge.

Yes, exactly. And treating Roxas and Ventus as separate characters only exacerbated this problem.

Upon leaving Twilight Town, the player finally begins their true journey – travelling to various worlds based on Disney properties and beating back the forces of darkness. But there’s no real set up for this; no distinct reason *why* we’re visiting these worlds.

Mm-hm. I think the issue was that we were supposed to learn more about Ansem the Wise’s data in KH0.5. That was supposed to give Sora a quest in KH3: search for the “Key to Return Hearts”. Once that game got cancelled, Nomura had no idea how to write KH3′s story any longer.

So around 3-4 hours into Kingdom Hearts III, the story still lacks a clear sense of direction and purpose, and hasn’t yet established any clear themes or deeper meaning.

Yeah, it’s sad because there was an underlying theme in the Disney worlds: the power of love and its ability to restore what was lost.

Kingdom Hearts III cleverly tries to frame its story through the lens of a chess match between two Keyblade Masters, Eraqus and Xehanort, when they were young. The game even opens on this scene, highlighting its importance. But chess has rules; logic; a clear sense of direction. Kingdom Hearts III’s narrative is akin to two people who don’t know how to play chess. They understand that they have to defeat their opponent’s king, but the rules of how to move their pieces, how to actually reach that coveted checkmate, are completely unknown to them. The characters in this game feel like pieces on a chess board with no rules; aimlessly moving back and forth across a limited space, until both players finally decide enough is enough and agree to bring their match to an end.

LOL. Yep. The fact that Xehanort had “reserve members” showed he had no idea what he was doing.

Stick to your guns – don’t be afraid to explore a good idea, or to develop the plot outside of your main protagonist. When so many previously proactive characters are in play, the story shouldn’t feel so static, or entirely dependent on the protagonist’s actions. The way your protagonist reacts to events and changing circumstances is just as important as the ones they play an active role in creating.

That’s why I liked the spin-offs. KH3 suffered from forcing you into only Sora’s perspective. Even Nomura said that the Keyblade Graveyard should have had everyone fighting their own battles.

Simply put, the Disney worlds in Kingdom Hearts III have no tangible impact on the game’s core narrative.

Sad, but true.

“In the end, although I had a hand in it as well, the flow of the dialogue and the stories of each world were largely handled by the level design team.” While I very much appreciate this standpoint of ‘gameplay first’, as well as the act of involving multiple teams in the execution of the story, these statements do prove my point. Set-pieces and events are one thing, but if there was a specific story to tell – with outlined themes to be explored, character conflicts to evolve, and goals to be achieved; all developed evenly throughout the entire game (Disney worlds included) - you would imagine the scenario would be built around balancing those narrative elements with the individual tales of each level.

Very interesting. The story in the Disney worlds was largely decided by the level design team? Wow.

Despite major villains such as Young Xehanort, Vanitas, and Marluxia making multiple appearances in their respective worlds, they generally just spout off trite exposition and then either disappear or summon a boss fight. Some villains don’t even know why they’re there, while others introduce plot points (such as the Black Box or the new Princesses of Heart) that are never utilised or expanded upon. As the game features at least thirteen main antagonists, these early appearances should have been integral in establishing their personalities, motivations, and the threat they pose to the player (as well as our heroes). In execution, though, they seem like little more than after-thoughts that offer hints of personality, but never go beyond the superficial – and certainly contribute nothing to the main narrative. This, I believe, is because Kingdom Hearts III doesn’t have a story to tell, but was instead content with treading water until its grand conclusion.

Yep. I had no idea why Marluxia, Larxene, and Luxord were running around in the worlds. Why are they back? Other characters, like Saix, were given flimsy “motivation”. All in all, the organization members were supposed to be vessels by the time you fight them in the KG. Hollowed out containers for Xehanort’s heart. Victims of mind control who you are supposed to have pity for. But they never felt like it.

Kingdom Hearts III’s meandering and vapid progression during ‘the Disney loop’ supports my argument that the game lacks a complete narrative and was merely concerned with reaching its final act. I believe this is most evident by the way in which the player is made to jump from world to world without any direction or purpose. Consequently, the majority of Kingdom Hearts III feels content to aimlessly ‘go through the motions’, setting a repetitive, humdrum pace and ultimately lacking the sense of narrative depth and genuine value that is integral to a great RPG.

Yeah, I believe there was–at one point–an actual plot for KH3. But after BBSV2 was cancelled, a huge portion of KH3′s plot was pretty much scrapped along with it and rewritten.

Everyone’s heard of the three-act structure; a model that forms the foundation of popular culture’s favourite stories. Act 1 features the setup and exposition; an ‘inciting incident’ to get the narrative moving. Act 2 is the confrontation; a midpoint which challenges the protagonist, pushing them to their limits. And finally, Act 3 is the resolution; concluding the plot, along with any character arcs introduced in the previous acts. While this structure doesn’t necessarily need to be adhered to, I believe it possesses something that Kingdom Hearts III sorely lacked – a midpoint.

Yep. KH3 had no mid-point. Scala ad Caelum could have worked as the mid-point. And it could have been another hub world like Radiant Garden. KH3 probably originally had this, but it was scrapped.

This is especially a shame, as Aqua’s fall into darkness – resulting in a twisted form that externalises all of her loneliest thoughts – is one of the most dramatically compelling aspects of the game. And that’s despite lasting for all of 10 minutes (a decade of solitude and suffering are seemingly erased by a few whacks from Sora’s Keyblade).

This is true for all of the characters that needed to be saved. Nobody really used the power of waking on anyone. It’s was just whack, whack, okay you’re saved.

And this is ultimately the problem with the lack of a true Act 2 – the characters aren’t explored or challenged when they need to be. The narrative refuses to escalate until its final act, at which point it feels like going from zero to sixty in a matter of moments. But during the heat of battle – at such a late stage, and with so many heroes and villains in play (more than twenty) – it’s hard to develop your characters in a way that feels natural. Kingdom Hearts III’s solution is bizarre soliloquies that are completely disconnected from the events around them. Is Sora in the middle of a boss fight with three villains? Well, the other two will disappear while you spend several minutes casually chatting with the third. And while this is partly due to the challenge of giving such a large cast an appropriate send-off, it’s also a direct consequence of the lack of time given to exploring characters and their relationships in the previous 20-25 hours of playtime.

So true. So many characters who had so much development over the series. That’s why they needed another game before KH3. It was probably too much to ask for KH3 to be the epic conclusion as well as dive into everyone’s backstory.

On that note, having some sort of hub – a place, like Traverse Town or Hollow Bastion in the first two Kingdom Hearts games, that the player regularly returns to – can be an effective way to centre your story. It provides a home base, and a recurring cast of characters that can be revisited at any time. This kind of location helps players to feel a deeper and more personal attachment to your world.

Yeah, the game would have been so much better if you could visit RG and interact with the plot-important NPCs.

Put in Kingdom Hearts terms, we might say that the body and soul are here; it’s just missing its heart.

I’ve had the exact same thought.

This essay began with the assertion that Kingdom Hearts III is a conclusion in search of a story; a game without a tale of its own to tell. So far, we’ve examined the material impact; the effect this has on the game’s pacing, its sense of player progression, engagement, and character development. So in this topic, I want to consider the conceptual side of things; the motivations that drive our heroes and villains, the purpose of the events that take place, and finally the meaning intended to be conveyed by the story. Put simply, does the narrative of Kingdom Hearts III have something to say?

Sadly, no. I can tell it was supposed to, though. KH3′s story was supposed to be about the power of love. It was really that simple.

By the time of Kingdom Hearts III, Riku has overcome all of these challenges and been granted the title of Keyblade Master, so it was important to present him as a more mature, capable character, having regained his confidence and developed a clear identity. But ultimately, he just feels bland and stoic in this game. He has no new narrative arc, relatively few interactions with Sora, predominantly serves as a mouthpiece for exposition, and is more devoid of a distinct personality than ever. And for a game which serves as a conclusion to the story so far, it’s essential that our core group of characters, such as Riku and Kairi, reach a satisfying crescendo. The narrative should organically involve them in significant ways, and the challenges they face should provide natural opportunities for growth and exploration.

Sad, since Riku seemed like he did originally have a narrative arc. He got a new Keyblade! But the way he got it was laughably random and meaningless and contributed nothing to his overall growth or development.

As much as I’ve tried to understand it, I cannot summarise Master Xehanort’s motivation in that same, concise way. His initial speech in Kingdom Hearts III implies idle curiosity; he speculates that “If ruin brings about creation, what, then, would another Keyblade War bring?” followed by statements that he wants to re-enact the conflict and simply see what happens. He also wonders if they will “…be found worthy of the precious light the legend speaks of”, implying that his goal is to test humanity; or at least the current generation of Keyblade wielders. But that’s a pretty flimsy motivation, and it’s lacking any context or logic.

Yep. Xehanort was supposed to have another game to explore his motivations. When you get rid of that, his character just doesn’t work anymore.

And it’s not just the heroes that have this problem. During their death scenes, several of the Organisation’s members (Luxord, Marluxia, Larxene, Xigbar, Xion, Saix, and Ansem) either encourage Sora or imply that they didn’t care about the outcome; or didn’t even want to battle in the first place. Some have their reasons, but if even one of them had chosen not to fight, Xehanort’s re-enactment could have failed. Much like I described earlier, it doesn’t feel satisfying to overcome a foe who didn’t want to fight, and a war with the potential to destroy the universe should be motivated by much more powerful convictions.

I don’t disagree. But I honestly think this is because none of these characters actually wanted to fight in the Keyblade War. They were supposed to be possessed puppets. Mind-controlled vessels with no will of their own.

Let’s use Saix as an example. What makes a more engaging battle? In canon, Saix had flimsy motivations to be fighting, anyways. He wanted to atone so he was acting as a double agent in order to procure some Replicas. And he wanted look for Subject X. That’s why he joined Xehanort. That’s all the reason he had to fight.

Compare that to a potential backstory with him as a vessel, lacking free will. Isa was a human test subject who was possessed as a teen. His best friend Lea has to fight him unwillingly. Saix is berserk and nearly kills Lea without even being aware of it. But all Lea wants is to save his best friend. I know which one I find more engaging.

Ever since that first game, I’ve been trying to identify what it is that unified these two styles of storytelling – the Disney fairytale with the SquareSoft RPG. And in writing this essay, I finally realised; the secret ingredient, the unifying thread that both franchises had in common, was love. Romance is at the core of almost every classic Disney film, and every Final Fantasy from IV to X was in some way a love story. Seemingly the developers of the original Kingdom Hearts realised this too.

I’m pretty neutral about the Sora/Kairi romance. I mainly wanted Kairi to not feel like a damsel-in-distress yet again. And KH3 definitely screwed that up.

In a way, my problem was the same as that of Kingdom Hearts III’s story. We both spent so much time looking to the horizon, imagining what the future may hold, that we missed out on what was already right in front of us. I will always love and support this series, and its creativity and charm will no doubt continue to inspire my own stories for the rest of my life. But despite not being the conclusion I hoped for, Kingdom Hearts III has freed me from my own obsession with the series’ future. I no longer feel like I’m waiting for something that may never come. Of course, I hope the series gets its story back on track, and rises to new heights greater than ever before! But it turns out that I already got my ending in 2006; and now that I’ve finally realised that, I can finally, honestly say that, as a Kingdom Hearts fan, I am satisfied.

It’s sad that KH2’s ending felt more satisfying. Because KH3 should have been even better than KH2′s ending. KH2 had a happy ending. But in KH3, everyone was there on the beach. Terra, Aqua, and Ven were saved. In KH2, Axel was dead. He had a sad ending. But in KH3, he was human again and even had his childhood best friend back, too. Even Hayner, Pence, and Olette were there. Sora should have been there, too. By all accounts, I should have liked KH3′s ending the best out of any game. But they ruined it with the horrible character development and the cheap cliffhanger.

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riichardwilson · 4 years

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How search data can inform larger online business decisions

As an SEO Company I’m constantly utilizing keyword search volume data to help make more informed decisions about clients’ online presence. But the reality is, this data has way more use cases than anyone gives it credit for. The role of a decision maker in any online business requires the ability to gather (or be presented with), understand, and forecast with all types of data. Simple yet effective methods for identifying trends in online searches can ensure you’re getting your product or services in front of the right people at the right time. This is particularly useful if you sell a variety of seasonal products online. But the same process can be leveraged for single-focus businesses, as well. This data can then trickle down to a variety of team members, from SEO Company and Paid Search Account Managers, to merchandisers and content strategists. How you ask? Let’s look at some use cases:

As a Paid Search Manager, I want to utilize trend data to help inform when to ramp up ad spend on certain product categories.

As an SEO Company strategist, I know it can take months to see the impacts of my work. So, knowing when my customers are searching most frequently will help me to prioritize my focus leading into peak season.

As an ecommerce merchandiser, I want to understand how interest in our products have shifted over time. I want to be able to identify new trends gaining popularity so I can make more informed buying decisions.

As a content strategist, I want to ensure we are providing our customers the most appropriate user experience based on peak search times for our products. How and when should the site be updated to speak to these seasonal trends?

And most importantly, as a business owner/key stakeholder:

I want to be able to challenge my own assumptions (LOL) about my customers’ needs

I want to know if my products are still in demand

I want to know if there is a segment where I could expand my business

I want to know if there are tangential lines of business that have some growth opportunity

I could continue, but the point I’m trying to drive home is decision makers in their respective silos are generally unaware of the true value in the data Google really shares. And thus, it’s your job to collect and disperse this knowledge across your organization. Break down those silos, friends.

So, you’re ready to make a name for yourself in your organization. Great. The best part is, it’s super easy to collect this data and analyze. I’m going to show you how to do it.

The tools

I’ll be leveraging a few different tools to capture the data I’m looking for. Specifically:

SEMRush for keyword research

Google Keyword Planner to pull the historical keyword volume data

Microsoft Excel to bring all that sweet, sweet data to life

Now, you could make the argument that Keyword Planner is unnecessary, as SEMrush provides keyword trend data. However, the data is limited (past year only) and it’s formatted and exported in a rather complicated way that I’m not a huge fan of. Google Keyword Planner has its own which I’ll address a little later on. Remember, we’re using this data directionally, not as the end all be all.

The steps

First off, we need to start pulling together a list of relevant keywords for your brand. Depending on the size of your site and the products/services you offer, this could be a very large list, or a very small list. If I’m looking at an enterprise size ecommerce site, I like to approach this in bite size pieces rather than tackling the entire site at the same time. Focus on your priority categories and go from there. Remember, we’re trying to make our list comprehensive because we want to get the most out of our data. For this task I rely heavily on SEMrush’s Keyword Magic Tool. The tool makes it super easy to insert a “head term” and get back a ton of useful and related keywords.

As I mentioned previously, you want to conduct your keyword research in a way that’s relevant to your site’s taxonomy. Segmenting this data now will make your life a lot easier later when you’re trying to identify trends based on categories. Fortunately, the Keyword Magic Tool makes it easy to segment keywords by specific word groupings, and they’ll neatly categorize these for you in your export.

Note: if you don’t have access to SEMrush, there are a ton of free keyword tools out there to help you do keyword research. Greenlane has a list of some here. Your site’s own query data from Google Search Console can help you start developing your keyword list. Once you’ve conducted your in-depth keyword research, you’ll want to head over to Google Keyword Planner. Within this tool you’ll have the ability to upload your keyword list and export historical search volume metrics.

On the historical metrics tab, you can adjust your settings to include specific countries of interest, as well as languages. Most importantly, you’ll want to adjust your timeframe to include a longer period of time, since you know, we’re looking at trends.

Next you’ll hit Export and select the Download Option “Plan historical metrics (.csv). This will ensure the data you receive is trended by month, which is exactly what you want!

Remember when I said that Google Keyword Planner has it’s own inefficiencies? Here’s a few things to keep in mind:

When reviewing Historical Metrics, Keyword Planner likes to consolidate similar keywords (example: wedding dress and wedding dresses). So you might find that your lengthy keyword list just got cut in half. That’s okay – you can either utilize what you have or try to build out your list further.

Keyword Planner also likes to modify keywords. So a keyword in your original list might have been modified by the tool (example: “women’s shoes” might be changed to “shoes for women”).

When you export you’ll get a bunch of data you don’t care about, so you’ll have to clean the sheet up a bit. I typically only leave the Keyword and the Keyword Volume Trend columns intact.

Next, you’re going to combine your SEMrush sheet and your Google Keyword Planner export into a single Excel file. On your Keyword Planner tab you’re going to add a Group column and add a VLOOKUP so that you call pull the keyword grouping over from your SEMrush sheet. This way all your keywords are categorized based on the groupings that align with your site categories. If you don’t know how to do a VLOOKUP, look it up because it will change your life. Once everything is combined, your master sheet will look like this:

Let’s bring all that beautiful data to life. We’re going to do this through Conditional Formatting in Excel. There are a couple of steps to get the trend visualized.

Step 1: Highlight a single row of one year’s data. In the example below, that’s January 2017 – December 2017. Then go to Conditional Formatting < Color Scales < Green – Yellow – Red Color Scale. This will make the smallest number in the range red, the largest number green, and anything in between a blend.

Step 2: Once you have this done, you’ll have to apply the formatting to each row of data within the same year. Highlight your range and click Format Painter. Then apply that Conditional Formatting to each row within the same year. Tip: once you have a few rows completed, you can bulk Format a larger section, so you don’t have to go row by row. See below on how to do it:

Step 3: Implement the same conditional formatting for each year within your Excel so that you see the high and low values for each year individually.

VOILA! Your search volume trend chart is complete. Really makes you want some Fruit Stripe gum, doesn’t it? Now you can review the data by category to answer some of those pressing questions you might have:

Are your seasonal assumptions about your business valid? Have those search trends changed over time?

Has a category gained/lost interest over time? Does this data help to validate some of the increases/decreases in your KPIs?

Do seasonal trends start to ramp up sooner than expected? How can you leverage different marketing agency channels to prime customers for peak seasonality?

Is your business even impacted by seasonality online?

There is a bounty of useful data available to help you make better decisions about your online marketing agency. These trend charts are just one small step towards my efficient marketing agency.

Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.

About The Author

Sebastian has been involved in SEO Company since 2011 after graduating with a BA in marketing agency and International Business. He knows his way around the technical side of SEO Company, on-site content ideation, and promotional outreach campaigns. And he has experience working with pharma and e-commerce brands, from small to enterprise-level businesses. Sebastian loves the push to be agile and quick thinking in order to succeed in SEO Company. This approach should also help him reach his ultimate goal of being a Survivor contestant (five tryouts and counting).

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

source http://www.scpie.org/how-search-data-can-inform-larger-online-business-decisions/ source https://scpie.tumblr.com/post/625683453025959936

0 notes

scpie · 4 years

Text

How search data can inform larger online business decisions

As a Paid Search Manager, I want to utilize trend data to help inform when to ramp up ad spend on certain product categories.

And most importantly, as a business owner/key stakeholder:

I want to be able to challenge my own assumptions (LOL) about my customers’ needs

I want to know if my products are still in demand

I want to know if there is a segment where I could expand my business

I want to know if there are tangential lines of business that have some growth opportunity

So, you’re ready to make a name for yourself in your organization. Great. The best part is, it’s super easy to collect this data and analyze. I’m going to show you how to do it.

The tools

I’ll be leveraging a few different tools to capture the data I’m looking for. Specifically:

SEMRush for keyword research

Google Keyword Planner to pull the historical keyword volume data

Microsoft Excel to bring all that sweet, sweet data to life

The steps

Next you’ll hit Export and select the Download Option “Plan historical metrics (.csv). This will ensure the data you receive is trended by month, which is exactly what you want!

Remember when I said that Google Keyword Planner has it’s own inefficiencies? Here’s a few things to keep in mind:

Keyword Planner also likes to modify keywords. So a keyword in your original list might have been modified by the tool (example: “women’s shoes” might be changed to “shoes for women”).

When you export you’ll get a bunch of data you don’t care about, so you’ll have to clean the sheet up a bit. I typically only leave the Keyword and the Keyword Volume Trend columns intact.

Let’s bring all that beautiful data to life. We’re going to do this through Conditional Formatting in Excel. There are a couple of steps to get the trend visualized.

Step 3: Implement the same conditional formatting for each year within your Excel so that you see the high and low values for each year individually.

Are your seasonal assumptions about your business valid? Have those search trends changed over time?

Has a category gained/lost interest over time? Does this data help to validate some of the increases/decreases in your KPIs?

Do seasonal trends start to ramp up sooner than expected? How can you leverage different marketing agency channels to prime customers for peak seasonality?

Is your business even impacted by seasonality online?

There is a bounty of useful data available to help you make better decisions about your online marketing agency. These trend charts are just one small step towards my efficient marketing agency.

Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.

About The Author

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

source http://www.scpie.org/how-search-data-can-inform-larger-online-business-decisions/

0 notes

laurelkrugerr · 4 years

Text

How search data can inform larger online business decisions

As a Paid Search Manager, I want to utilize trend data to help inform when to ramp up ad spend on certain product categories.

And most importantly, as a business owner/key stakeholder:

I want to be able to challenge my own assumptions (LOL) about my customers’ needs

I want to know if my products are still in demand

I want to know if there is a segment where I could expand my business

I want to know if there are tangential lines of business that have some growth opportunity

So, you’re ready to make a name for yourself in your organization. Great. The best part is, it’s super easy to collect this data and analyze. I’m going to show you how to do it.

The tools

I’ll be leveraging a few different tools to capture the data I’m looking for. Specifically:

SEMRush for keyword research

Google Keyword Planner to pull the historical keyword volume data

Microsoft Excel to bring all that sweet, sweet data to life

The steps

Next you’ll hit Export and select the Download Option “Plan historical metrics (.csv). This will ensure the data you receive is trended by month, which is exactly what you want!

Remember when I said that Google Keyword Planner has it’s own inefficiencies? Here’s a few things to keep in mind:

Keyword Planner also likes to modify keywords. So a keyword in your original list might have been modified by the tool (example: “women’s shoes” might be changed to “shoes for women”).

When you export you’ll get a bunch of data you don’t care about, so you’ll have to clean the sheet up a bit. I typically only leave the Keyword and the Keyword Volume Trend columns intact.

Let’s bring all that beautiful data to life. We’re going to do this through Conditional Formatting in Excel. There are a couple of steps to get the trend visualized.

Step 3: Implement the same conditional formatting for each year within your Excel so that you see the high and low values for each year individually.

Are your seasonal assumptions about your business valid? Have those search trends changed over time?

Has a category gained/lost interest over time? Does this data help to validate some of the increases/decreases in your KPIs?

Do seasonal trends start to ramp up sooner than expected? How can you leverage different marketing agency channels to prime customers for peak seasonality?

Is your business even impacted by seasonality online?

There is a bounty of useful data available to help you make better decisions about your online marketing agency. These trend charts are just one small step towards my efficient marketing agency.

Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.

About The Author

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

source http://www.scpie.org/how-search-data-can-inform-larger-online-business-decisions/ source https://scpie1.blogspot.com/2020/08/how-search-data-can-inform-larger.html

0 notes

countlessstorieswithoutend · 7 years

Text

Alright, I have a lot of thoughts on the first episode of Vrains, like, a ton, so get ready.

We start with our first look at virtual reality...interesting. A representation of countless pockets of data verging into a cohesive whole. It's aesthetically pleasing, even if it could be more stimulating. Revolver is the first character we see, denoting his importance. He's a symbol of power and anger. His monster circles around a pillar, presumably representative of a server. That's one thing that's interesting about cyber space, everything we see therein is symbolic of something else. We see anthropomorphic programs, determined to help, but sealed. Right from the start this is interesting. They are artificial lifeforms that look over Link Vrains, and they seem to be sapient...you could explore the nature of artificial life, creatures that are created purely to serve a purpose. Then Ignis appears, and he's just...great, right from the start. "Your savior has arrived!" "Lol, too bad you got yourself trapped." He's so nonchalant and boastful, it's really entertaining. He also says that being hated has its perks, which...what does he mean by that? Is he used to being hated? And if so, what advantage does that give him? Is it how he avoided being sealed? The trap for the AI reminds me of a Fullmetal Alchemist transmutation circle...though there are definite differences in design. Ignis has this great little smirk, and it's even built into his face, I love it. His first action is to save the network, even at cost to himself. He's a good guy. Also very powerful. He saves the target of their attack by hiding it within himself...making it so no one can get their hands on it. The programs say he won't be able to return that way...for some reason. Because it makes him an outlaw? Then, surprisingly, they brutally slaughter Ignis, if he weren't a program that would be so gory. Notably, despite acting human, programs aren't flesh and blood like humans. Suggesting they're something less...or more. You must wonder why exactly Ignis was helping out, since he seems to be some sort of rogue program. Because this is where he lives? Because he thinks it's his job? Altruism? Lulz? maybe some combination of the above. So we skip to five years later. Interesting. So after five years the knights are still unsuccessful. What's the significance of the timeskip? We get a scene of...someone, or something, surveying many different areas with some sort of digital apparatus. We don't know what it means yet. We get introduced to our hero fighting evil, he's confident, and the music is great. Notably, he attacks with "Link Slayer." In other words, a severer of bonds. An odd monster for the hero to have. Is it foreshadowing? Notably, the monster also attacks with an item of hope. Things are just starting off, but already the technology in this series is pretty cool. We see self repairing areas, manipulation of space, teleportation... The opening is nice, typical showcase, it looks promising. The thing I like most is how it starts in reality, then around the halfway point the lines blur and we get introduced to virtual reality. I hope that's a theme that gets followed up on. Despite the heavy focus on virtual reality, the ending shot of the opening is something natural and optimistic. We get out first hint of Yusaku's past as he dreams in the aftermath of class. I presume he's sleep deprived from all his fighting with the knights. You can tell Naoki is something of a bumbler, just from the way he holds himself. He points out Yusaku must not have many friends, which, dude, rude. But I kinda like that touch, because it gives him some personality. He's tactless but still trying to reach out to a stranger, as well as putting on an air of confidence. Yusaku so deadpan...he doesn't give a fuck. The guy's clearly proud of his new duel disk, which apparently doesn't need cards because it's all virtual reality. Wow, cool development, Vrains has invented Dueling Network. I wonder if Yusaku's unusual duel disk will be a hint about his identity to others...it's cool that they're going for something new. We get these shots that suggest that they're being watched. But who is doing the watching? It can't just be a dramatic flourish, right? It has a real big brother feel. "I have a program that helps me in duels." That's nothing to brag about kid. The scene has good exposition, it's natural. Sol Technology is in charge of the new duel disks. They who control the duels, control the world. The guy says that Link Vrains is only for the elite, which makes me wonder. Is SOL Technology really elitist, only allowing the most qualified into their system so as to curate their output? Yusaku agrees with him that it's not so easy to go to Vrains, but later in the conversation he says the fact that Naoki hasn't gone to Vrains yet means he doesn't have much faith in his skill, and we see virtual reality spectators later on, so...not sure what to make of this. It's kinda confusing. Is spectating allowed but not participation without special permission? Or is it actually really easy to get into Vrains and it's just being blown out of proportion here? He can just access the class's projector with his duel disk? That's some real high tech. I want to see more applications of this high tech...they've already shown us several. Oh my god. Language is regulated by AIs...like, that's just so hilarious. It tells you a lot about SOL technology. They've built their company's image so completely around decorum and class that their userbase isn't allowed to say "fuck." Maybe that's why the Knights want to destroy the network, they can't deal with how stiflingly restrictive it is. You know, this kid seems like a bit player, but I wouldn't mind seeing more of him. Charisma Duelists are namedropped, and I'm immediately interested... I like how Playmaker has his own fanclub, but Yusaku wants nothing to do with it. He's just interested in defeating the knights of Hanoi, he doesn't like standing out (though if he doesn't like standing out he's really doing a poor job of not standing out. Maybe he secretly wants attention?). He has a cool, disaffected personality. I wonder if this classmate is gonna have greater significance. I wouldn't mind if he did. So, does dueling a Knight of Hanoi somehow facilitate their arrest? I mean, i'm kinda assuming that, because everything in Yugioh is solved by dueling and otherwise dueling them would be kinda pointless, but what's the mechanism for it? Also, what incentive does a Knight of Hanoi have for dueling Playmaker? Will it make him go away somehow? The episode is unhelpfully vague, though I will cut it some slack because it's just one episode in. On the one hand, I'm kinda happy that we're getting right into PLOT, but at the same time I remember looking forward to potential slice of life regarding Charisma Duelists and Yusaku coming out of his shell. I imagine we'll still get some of that, but it's gonna be far more plot heavy than initially assumed. I like how Yusaku casually asks if Naoki has any evidence on Playmaker, only for those doubts to be assuaged. He's really good at not giving stuff away, but I imagine the pressure of maintaining a secret identity must get to him. Yusaku shows his analytical chops, pointing out Naoki's flaws and virtues. It shows that he's kinda blunt and has a hard exterior, but also has a good heart. It also rather illustrates Naoki's personality. We keep getting shots of something surveying the surroundings, and I wonder what it could be. It can't be the Knights of Hanoi or Sol Technology, because if so they'd have already figured Yusaku out. Though if it were Sol Technology, that'd really bump up their big brother cred. Is anyone else surprised by how deep Yusaku's voice is? We get a shot of Ignis in VR, being found by some drones. I gotta say, this shot is really confusing because the VR world looks just like a regular city, so at first it's kinda hard to tell where the AI even is. For some reason the way the life form retreats looks funny to me. Bishop too wears a mask of anonymity. Both to save his true identity for a later reveal, and because masks are power in Vrains. Though seriously, making an alias and avatar based on a chess piece is kinda weird. I guess he's just trying to look sophisticated. Notably, they say SOL Technology is the leading group in the network, meaning they aren't the only one. The Cyverse creates Data material, whatever that is. Something to generate new digital landscapes? The scene is expository, but it delivers some good tidbits in the process. SOL Technology is interested in staying on top, but also in maintaining order. They've been on the decline, and are convinced that capturing the program is for the best, positioning them as potential antagonists. I wonder what Ignis' motive was. Like, he hid the Cyverse to prevent it from being destroyed, but now no one is using it. So what was even the use of saving it? People in this setting don't see AIs as people, although they clearly have sapience. I wonder if that's going to be a point of conflict, gradually awakening to the personhood of non-human life, and fighting to protect them. I like how we're dropped right into a power struggle between three parties. Notably, there are many shades of gray here. The Knights of Hanoi seem devious but probably have some sort of goal that they think is noble, given the name "knights." SOL Technology is interested in profit but also thinks it's doing what's right by returning what was stolen from them. And Yusaku seems heroic, but as we'll soon see, Anti-Hero seems more appropriate. He'll take the program for himself even if it means hiding it from its rightful owner, he hacks to make a difference, and he threatens to erase the AI to maneuver himself into an advantageous position against the knights of Hanoi. SOL Technology has a platform in the middle of nowhere in its building, taking up who knows how much space. Those eccentric businessmen. I think it's notable that Yusaku is only able to hide his presence through his hacking skills. Without them he'd be doomed. You can't fight against the powers that be in Vrains by playing by the rules. You have to subvert them. Which makes sense. In a virtual reality, those with admin powers are absolute. We get introduced to Shoichi, and already we get a good idea of their friendship. Shoichi brings up speed dueling to Yusaku, presumably out of a desire to try to cheer him up after he lost his interest in dueling. He feels responsible for getting Yusaku involved, but Yusaku doesn't hold it against him; he's doing this of his own free will. They work together as equal partners. Notably Shoichi is working class. Right from the start that tells us a lot about him. He's a guy who's had to struggle to survive, a guy who knows the meaning of hard work, an underdog. All likeable traits. It's interesting that Yusaku is motivated by a vendetta, adding yet more to his anti-hero cred. It's pretty dark for a Yugioh protag. We get a nice bit of humour, and Yusaku being pushy, but it's urgent, and Shoichi is too reliable to turn him down, he's happy to work alongside him. They also have their hacking station set up in a hot dog stand. That's just...priceless. Yusaku shows his smarts, creating a plan to capture the AI. I hope he remains consistently smart throughout the series. Though frankly the very fact that he's hacking without being caught by SOL Technology shows he's impressive. "It can be done, if we work together." There's that typical Yugioh protagonist friendship speech, Yusaku knows all about kizuna. Though fittingly for Yusaku, this speech is relatively subdued. It seems SOL Technology basically runs the city, not just VR. Are they contracted with the government or something? We get introduced to charisma duelists, and it's nice. Blue Angel clearly loves the adoring crowd, I like her already. Oh look, a generic announcer guy. He'll never measure up to 5D's announcer guy. Man, how must Go and Blue Angel's opponents feel, to not even get their names dropped? The plot is pretty well put together, it feels fairly real. So Ignis is running from SOL. So he clearly doesn't work for them...but what is he then? He still helped SOL. I guess it'll come to light later. They could break through the firewall because of the weakened power from the scan. So wait, normally they couldn't do that? Why do I get the feeling that these firewalls are gonna be next to useless in this series. He gets a feeling while searching for the AI while the knights make their move. Wonder what it means. Oh my god that woman got roasted. Though I've gotta say, this scene was initially really confusing, because according to Shima's words regular people shouldn't be in Vrains, yet here they are. This is further compounded by the fact that the monster seems to do damage even in the area Yusaku is in, despite clearly not being part of virtual reality, which leads you to wonder if they can materialize into reality or something, or if Yusaku is already in virtual reality. It's really confusing. best I can figure, spectators are allowed in Vrains, and virtual reality somehow has some sort of effect on actual reality. Took me my second watchthrough to puzzle that out, because it was not EXPLAINED. Still, that is a pretty great moment, because it shows how ruthless the Knights of Hanoi are. They mean business, they'll do whatever it takes to achieve their goals (not that the guy seems to have a good reason to be attacking people, he kinda seems like a colossal dick). Though at the same time, I have to ask. What happens to people who get attacked in VR? Do they die in real life? Or do their accounts just get deleted? I need to know. The episode is less than forthcoming. "Link Vrains Might Collapse!" What, seriously? Just how fragile is your network? One guy crashing random virtual reality buildings is enough to bring the entire thing to its knees? How has this place not been destroyed by now? Stupid. The monster has a sense of real power to it, but I gotta ask, why only send one guy? Do they not have a lot of guys? The opening suggests otherwise. Yusaku is out in the open, does no one see him? "I'm just a lil'old passing through AI!" Look at him humble himself to try to get out of this. Man that's cute. Yusaku really has a rough start with Ignis, on account of not seeing him as a person. Yusaku gets his own transformation sequence, neat. Yusaku saves Blue Angel, showing his innate heroism, but I have to ask, is there any reason why she couldn't defend herself? Yusaku was able to duel off the Knights of Hanoi before, so what was stopping her from preventing his rampage? Was she just scared? Yusaku sets it up so they have to beat him to get the program. Of course. It always comes back to dueling. Was it impossible to stack the deck more in your favor Yusaku? Revolver seems pleasantly surprised, perhaps happy to see a worthy challenger? The knight of Hanoi seems confident, but...doesn't he look a lot like the knight we saw Yusaku fighting at the start of the episode? What's up with that? And for that matter, isn't he using Revolver's monster? Is revolver letting him borrow it? That could be interesting. Yusaku has snark. So AIs are secular beings. Ignis is stuck between a rock and a hard place, but his natural altruism kicks in, coupled with deciding that Playmaker is better than the Knights of Hanoi. He helps Yusaku out. So this is how speed duels are introduced. I'll withhold judgment on them for now, the setup seems kinda cool. The ending is nice, not much to say about it though. A nice glimpse of things to come. By the way, isn't it kinda odd that the ending song in this purely technological world is "believe in magic?" And a bit of hope at the end. Yusaku already knows how to speed duel. My first impression is that this is effort to make Yusaku super special awesome, but maybe it's more than that. maybe it's tied into his missing past? All told, real solid first episode. My only real issue is the several important questions that were left unanswered. So, thoughts?

#Yugioh Vrains #Vrains episode 1 #Yusaku Fujiki #Playmaker #Aoi Zaizen #Blue Angel #Go Onizuka #Knights of Hanoi #Revolver #Ignis #SOL Technology

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isumon012 · 7 years

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Knowing ways to get fit frequently becomes confusing, complicated and eventually frustrating for a lot of. However I stay firm within my thought that it doesn't need to be the impossible challenge many now find so that it is. So exactly how should we strip it lower, simplify the procedure which help you flourish in making yours a Fit Existence?

I've identified 9 effective steps to inform you ways to get fit and live your better existence. Allow me to first say and obtain the idea taken care of that getting fit isn't about achieving a ripped, cover model body. It's about being functionally fit and powerful, lean, toned, with healthy cardio capacity and overall physical health.

So, here's the fundamentals of ways to get fit.

# 1: The Best Attitude

Don't even consider ways to get fit if you're not willing to have a look at the attitude about fitness, about your and yourself existence.

I do not state that to become nasty or contrary. If your attitude isn't right relating to this effort your failure is sealed. On the other hand, in case your attitude is positive and affirming your success is for certain.

If you wish to understand how to get fit, start with the language that roll past your lips, the messages that enter your ears, the data that permeates the mind using your eyes. Put around you affirming company, compatible, supporting buddies and community. And when is not positive, eliminate it. You need to speak and receive positivity. Want to know more about Show And Go Training? Visit our website.

Number Two: An Energetic Lifestyle

The next phase in ways to get fit would be to live active. I am not speaking in regards to a fitness program. I am speaking about being mixed up in fundamental, daily, normal things of existence. Walking in the stairs instead of taking the escalator. Travelling the neighbourhood on Saturday mid-day or perhaps in the nights with your family. Going fishing. Just don't start working, spend time at a desk, clarify, then sit while watching TV all evening before you go to bed and doing the work once again the following day.

I understand you're tired. However I also realize that the greater active you're the more energy you'll have, the greater you'll feel and also the more vibrant your existence is going to be. Consider getting up, get going within the normal, ordinary every single day things of existence and reap great rewards.

# 3: Consume a Fitness Plan

Living active is a superb start while you learn to get fit. However a professional, focused fitness plan really brings it home. It does not need to be complicated. Remember, you are not training to become a cover model in Sports Highlighted. You're simply training for any vibrant, active, healthy, functional, strong body which works for you every single day.

3-five days per week, 30-an hour each day is how you can get fit for existence. From the couple of Tabata circuits to some cardio, bodyweight or weight training routine, just enter there and make it. You'll feel infinitely better whenever you do and all of your existence is going to be a lot more alive!

# 4: Mix things up!

After you have established a life-style of activity, mix things up. Too frequently people discover something they like or can perform and merely carry on doing it over and again and again until they hit a plateau of frustration and stagnation.

In finding ways to get fit for existence, understanding how to vary things is vital. Avoid exactly the same program, same routine, same number of sets and reps day in and day trip. The body will adjust and shortly it'll just be you studying the motions without any new results. For more information on Mi40x, visit our website today and know more.

Add in something totally new, something you haven't done before watching your results accelerate.

Number 5: Journal It!

I would recommend this constantly and many frequently am met with, "I haven't got here we are at a diaryInch. Make time. The fact is that when you are within the habit it requires almost no time whatsoever. Why? Do not know journal essential.

It informs you where you have been. It informs you ways to get fit by demonstrating your pros and cons similar to a compass. You'll need this informative guide and that i promise you when you establish this habit, you'll question the reason why you ever opposed.

Number 6: Fuel The Body

You need to eat. Not only anything though. Your food intake counts.

You might have managed to get a long time eating anything you desired... fast, processed, refined, convenience based foods. And you'll have felt little ill effect. However you looked within the mirror. You compensated a vacation to the doctors office for an exam and also the lights came on. It's begun doing you. Although at this point you know this, you've still got not a clue what's been done internally to break the body.

Now you'd like to learn ways to get fit and obtain your health back. There's a saying, "you can't out work a poor diet." You are able to work you butt off within the gym whatever you like however if you simply eat crap, you won't achieve your objectives. If health along with a fit, strong body are the goal then it's time to learn to eat, real, top quality, nature made, authentic food and you have to eat it 5-7 occasions each day.

Number 7: Hydrate

I'm prepared to bet that many individuals studying this today are dehydrated. This has turned into a chronic symptom in society and it is effects are immense.

Out of your organs for your skin as well as your brain, you'll need water. Not coffee, tea or soda. And also you cannot argue that they're produced from water and count it. LOL You have to be consuming pure, clean, obvious water everyday towards the tune of just one gallon each day for optimal health. Water is how you can get fit. Hydrate the body and individuals muscles as well as that weight loss will respond for.

Number 8: Keep your House Stocked

When last have you clean your kitchen cupboards? Turn it into a date and get it done as soon as possible. Eliminate anything produced in a factory. Remove all of the refined, junk foods and stock it rich in quality clean foods.

This really is crucial. If you do not ensure that it stays nearby, you're much less inclined to download it today. In the end, we're the best convenience driven society so don't allow it to be easy to eat poorly. Rather, make real food your convenience.

Number 9: Rest

I'd wager a bet that couple of individuals, me incorporated, get enough quality sleep. Observe that word... quality. Which means 8 hrs of uninterrupted sleep. Difficult to get is not it? It might be, and that i certainly comprehend it but fight for this. This can be last around the ways to get fit list but allow me to guarantee it's not least.

Insufficient quality sleep increases your waist line, increases craving, and increases stress and stress on the body. It taxes the whole system and sabotages your objectives.

So fight for sleep. Turn lower or switch off the lights an hour or so before going to sleep. Step from the computer. Reduce the seem. Relax. Unload the mind by looking into making a listing after which crawl set for an excellent rest.

You've now learned ways to get fit. Are you currently ready to get it done? No excuses, simply do it. Should you go ahead and take action, I'll provide you with All of the tools for achievement. Are you currently in?

We explore the weather of authentic living. Which means body, spirit and mind residing in the perfect provision of nutrition living fit and powerful through fitness living in keeping with each individually unique passion and purpose.

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mineofilms · 7 years

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Followers

I have come to the realization of the 936 friends, um, cough, “Followers,” I have on FB that a great many of you, do nothing but bring negativity to my day. Some just outright piss me off. Yeah, I know.

An opinion shouldn’t piss me off if I am fully grounded in my beliefs, and I am. As most of you are allowed to have your own beliefs. I have to question some, many of you, on them. That how did we become friends in the first place?

If you are that far out in right/left/ field or noman's land? Do you believe everything you read, hear from other people? Do you not do your own research to find out if something is factual or not or are you, just, a “Follower???"

I Do Not Know; usually, I would just say, yeah, sure you do, right? But it is clear, from some things that get posted and commented on that the perception of your opinion is, wait for it… LAZY AF…

Seriously. Rehashed Gurged Stuff About Politics, Religion, Sex, Dating, Parenting. I am just, wow... WTF? I value friendship. I value family. I value love, true love. Not the BS we are compatible thing, that is garbage.

I value in #Truth and #TruthEqualsTruth #LoveThySelf but when I question something someone says, and they get all huffy puffy butthurt by it right out of the gates. That just shows you do not feel very confident in those concepts. So why say them to begin with? I Do Not Know, whatever.

Some of you I have no choice but to unfollow. You make it too easy. I cannot deal with your religious call to arms. Giving a “Pretend Friend for Grownups” all the credit, when in fact it was you that make shit happen.

Your Nonsensical Political views on the reg. Posting about making money from home. I just can’t see this any longer as something I want to look at on my timeline. I am not sold, not even close.

Since I have control to do something about it. I shall. I can no longer go back and forth with lack of reasoning, lacking research, lack of creative thinking. No, inside the box thought just Copy/Past/Share that is what most understand. Even fewer don’t even read the article and I am very concerned about how many will read this whole blog from beginning to end, yes, this is a blog. For now, I will just make this a post, but it’s going on my blog…

SHALL WE BEGIN…

My Facebook is mine. If you don’t share in my love for the Gym, my supplement line, my thoughts in general and/or support my potential as a professional writer or get my sense of humor. Go, leave now. It’s fine. I am good with this. FB is no longer ONLY about keeping up with friends/family. It’s now used for many things from business to dating to family/friends to discussions.

This isn’t MySpace. People choose to be here, people choose to open their lives to people, but are terrified to have real-human-connections, in most settings here. The ignoring of messenger also stops… If I take time to write you a PM and you don’t respond, like ever, it’s likely I will either unfollow or remove you from my friend's list.

I will not have full-blown conversations on someone’s wall. That is like sitting at a table with 10 people and you are talking to one person and yet, 3 people keep butting into the conversation. Just because one has the ability to comment/respond, sometimes one should just mind their own goddamn business. Just saying.

Now… Everyone’s story is worth telling. The problem is the person in question believes the lies of the reality they live in that is mostly created by them to begin with. If you trust in the lies and form an opinion based on those lies and that opinion is now put into the facto category of your reality. You will no longer go back and look at those concepts and challenge them to be real or not.

You will assume that data is correct. You made the choice that the lie is real. Many times without looking deep to find out if said lie has any merit. You now live in a reality-based on false perceptions because you choose to trust that lie rather than digging ever deeper to find the real truth behind the lie. A great lie always has some truth to it.

A person’s self-image is based on perceptions they have about their reality. Their reality is formed by them and them alone. However, that reality is based on things you assume are factual. If the factual stuff is not fact but merely a lie. You can see how this will destroy a person’s self-worth, self-image. It can take a person minutes to make that choice and years to undo. It’s no one’s fault. We are taught at a young age to trust and such.

People do not need help. The whole-damned-human-race-requires-help. The book I am writing really opens the doors on these issues and ways to solve them. I just tell it in a fictional, science-fictional way.

The evidence is there, it’s clear as day. Humanity has lost itself spiritually. We are so heavily dependent on technology now that deep human seeded connections are lost. They are harder to form than ever before in human written history. This isn’t excluded to mother and child or father and child or lovers. It’s my generation that fully adopted this way of thinking and have now passed it onto our children and their children.

I saw a video on dating and I was amazed at how many people are afraid of confrontation. How men are afraid to physically ask a woman out and how women respond as well. In almost all cases the guy was turned down and the woman acted COI AF about it.

Like, she respected the man less for putting his confidence out there to ask in the first place. She should be showing something heartfelt even if she isn’t interested, especially if she isn’t interested.

It was a social experiment to show how people communicate with each other in the dating scene. In almost all cases people only talk about such things via text, email or social media.

How in the hell are you supposeed to talk about feelings and getting serious when you cannot see the person, interact with them or read their responses to your words? Guys are mostly to blame here. So fragile we have become mentally, emotionally. Just being built, big, strong-looking, money, no longer cuts it.

I have never been one to chase girls too heavily. Especially, in the last year or two. If we are talking and you want to be with me, or explore options. You better speak the FK up. Waiting a week to hear back will not cut it.

Dating friends of mine and then showing interest in me is a good way for me to not care for very long. If you have a lot of kids that need constant attention. Not sure what to say. I don’t wanna be #3 or #4 on the list of who needs attention.

I need a woman that is strong and understands we are a team and it needs to be built together, not when you have time to put into it. Same goes for me. I am busy AF on purpose, for reasons that should be obvious to most. Sell me your reasons I should change anything and then we’ll talk. So far I am not very impressed in the woman’s ability to do that.

People judge me; give me dirty looks all the time. The gym, my church, my fortress of solitude, my haven. I behave/act/train like I am literally the only one there, working. To me, as soon as the preworkout kicks in and the headphones of metal come on. I am completely blind to what is happening around me.

Between sets, I will talk a little. I see women all the time in there and they see me looking all “Pure Evil,” no smile, disdain for humanity in my eyes, but I will take the headphones off, make eye contact and smile. I will introduce myself. Stay upbeat. The goal isn’t seeking a date, but just showing I am human too. I care. I have feelings.

When it’s time to focus and work, it’s time to focus and work. I tell them this. Give them some insight about why I train this way. That I am actually an inspiring writer; and now I will see the same girl(s) and she will always smile, instead of that look of judgment and fear that I might be some crazed out Alpha Dick high on steroids. Not the case.

High, sure, but not on roids, lol. My preworkout does mess with me a little, ha. I expose myself to people all the time. I wouldn’t say I am vulnerable because I made the conscious choice to do this. It was not an accident. There was intention behind it. Molds, yeah that is another topic altogether but I think I will stop here. "Truth = Truth, TRUTH...

At the center of your being, you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want." ~Lao Tzu

#mineofilms #mineobuilds #getafterit #selftruth #DoOrDoNotThereIsNoTry #followers #thenoisyalive #monster #ThurSlay #instagood #unlimitedpower #selflove #alifterslife #thegreatchange #superfocus #FutureNYtimesBestSeller #outsidethebox #notyetdiscovered #becausegreatnesscalls #makeyourownreality #pushthelimits #the8thkind #MineoHitTheNailOnTheHead #Blogger #TornadoGates #onespointofveiw #TBT #superposition #hyperfocus #InTylerWeTrust

Followers By David-Angelo Mineo 3/16/2016 1,572 Words

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