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caker-baker · 3 years

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Of Convenience

The protagonist was sometimes asked if they were married. They would always say no. There was no point in the whole truth.

To be fair, they were young, in college, and both them and their spouse figured being married would make things just a bit easier with money.

So, marriage. Totally platonic marriage between two broke best friends that was meant to last only through the end of their schooling.

Then their spouse disappeared, and stayed disappeared for ten years.

Legally, the protagonist wasn’t even married anymore, they never lied when they said they weren’t married. How could someone be married to a presumed dead person?

Sometimes they felt guilty. All the mourning for their best friend had been done with, and they weren’t by any means in love with them in the traditional way one would love their spouse, but it never stopped the protagonist from feeling bad.

Bad about moving on with their life. Bad about this date.

But it had been ten years, and the protagonist reasoned their best friend, wherever they were, would be happy for them.

It was supposed to be at a nice place, this date. A traditionally formal restaurant, one with valets. The protagonist enjoyed that. They didn’t always have the time for nice outings.

It was also relatively public, a little ways away from the heart of the city, close enough to home in case things took a turn for the worse.

But that was just a what if. Their friend gave this blind date a glowing review.

The bad feeling still ate away at the protagonist. Not for their possibly dead spouse, but for the lack of knowing. They didn’t know this person, and sure, the goal was to get to know them, but there was no basis for anything.

Regardless, it was going to be a nice night out with a nice meal in their nice clothes. All thoughts the protagonist had to remind themselves of as they watched the valet take their car away.

The door closed behind them, and the protagonist jumped.

Online, the place looked lively, warm. This was empty, abandoned of all people.

The tables and chairs and lights were all there. Lovely centerpieces of flowers and candles decorated empty spaces. No chatter filled the room, no host stood at the front, and most notably, no date.

It was all under a second the protagonist was able to observe these factors, and took less than three to turn and push on the door that wouldn’t budge.

“It locks electronically.”

For the second time that night, the protagonist jumped.

“How wonderfully modern.” They said, not taking their hand off the door.

“Wonderfully.” The faceless voice agreed. “Wouldn’t you like to sit?”

“Actually, I think I was just about to leave.”

“What about your date?”

The protagonist turned, and nearly screamed.

They thought they could deal with a regular person in this irregular situation. However, dealing with a villain was much, much different.

“Funny enough,” the protagonist managed “I’m beginning to think they stood me up.”

“Oh?” The villain grinned, sitting slowly at one of the tables. “What makes you so sure?”

“It’s been a few minutes since the agreed upon time.”

This was wrong. Talking with a villain while waiting for help.

What help? No alarms were triggered. There’s no sign of a villain being here at all. No hero would have any clue of potential danger.

“Still.” The villain moved their eyes to the chair opposite them. “You should sit.”

At this point, the protagonist was only conscious through fear and adrenaline, so, they moved to the chair, and sat.

“Now, forgive me if I’m wrong, but aren’t you married?” The villain said, leaning forward to rest their chin in their hand.

“I-” Two more people came out then, trays in hand, and all the protagonist could do was watch as they set them down, and left wordlessly. “I- what?”

“Well,” the villain started again, lifting the lid to their tray. “I could have sworn you had a spouse. Yet here you are, waiting for a,” they sucked air in through their teeth, a harsh sign of disapproval. “date.”

“What an unlucky bastard my spouse is, huh?” The protagonist felt dizzy.

“Oh, surely.” The villain’s eyes looked as if they darkened. “I’m glad, at least, corporate life hasn’t knocked the humor out of you.”

What?

“No, just all my free time.”

“Still free enough to try for a date.” The villain looked at them with a matter of fact stare, something the protagonist had been on the receiving end of before.

It was a stare their best friend, their spouse had mastered.

It was the same stare the villain was giving them now.

It was the same eye color the protagonist used to know well.

It was…

Oh.

“There they are.” The villain - or rather, their presumed dead best friend, their spouse - looked amused, and leaned back in the chair. “I knew you were smarter than that.”

“But you-”

Oh, God.

“You vanished.” The protagonist whispered.

“And you never even looked for me.”

“Looked for you?” The protagonist repeated in disbelief.

“I’m only teasing, love. I didn’t leave a single trace. No one could have found me.”

The protagonist stood. “And now you’re a villain.”

“Mm. I prefer goal-oriented entrepreneur.”

“You’re a villain!”

“If you insist. You are really going to let the foie gras go to waste if you don’t eat.”

“You’ve been alive this whole time! You’re perfectly fine!” The protagonist sat again, lowering their voice. “We had a funeral for you. We mourned you. The police could only assume you died.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, love. I didn’t realize my disappearance would upset you so.”

The protagonist slammed their hands on the table. “You were my best friend! We got married.”

“I know, I was there.” The villain held up their hand, the old, cheap ring still on their finger. “Bringing me back to my point. Why go on a date?”

For a brief moment, the protagonist had to wonder if they were the crazy one for not seeing the villain’s side of things.

“Why was I trying to go on a date ten years after you left?” They spoke slowly, still trying to decipher if there was something strange about it.

“We both know it wasn’t just the one date. Maybe the first one in a while, but-”

“Have you been watching me?”

“No more than I need to. You’re my spouse, Protagonist.”

“It was a marriage of convenience. Neither of us really ever…and legally, no, we aren’t married. You can’t be married to a dead person.”

The villain let out a single scoff. “You’re not dead, and I’m still very much married to you.”

“That’s not-”

“Point being, Protagonist, I got tired of watching these people come in and out of your life.”

“And you get to do the exact same thing, is that it?”

“Absolutely not.” The villain scowled. “What kind of a person do you take me for anyways?”

“The kind who disappears for ten years without a call or even a postcard!”

The villain at least had the decency to look slightly embarrassed. “Touché.”

The protagonist’s tone turned less angry, and more serious. “I’ve seen you online. The news.”

“Ah.” The villain let a look of annoyance pass over their face. “Most people have, love.”

“What makes you think I wouldn’t go running to the closest person I could find to tell them about you? I know your identity now. There’s someone to find and blame for the things you’ve done.”

“I do have your car.”

Stupid valets.

“And, really, love. Do you know me? My civilian self has dropped off the face of the earth.”

The protagonist felt a chill up their spine, but the villain was just getting started.

“You also seem to be forgetting I’m the one who kept on eye on you. I know you. For better or for worse, I know you. How it’s only six blocks to home, how you visit your parents and sister every other month. She’s sixteen now, right? How you meet up with my parents every anniversary of my disappearance, and how you manage to avoid telling everyone who asks that you are indeed committed to someone.”

“What do you want?” The protagonist spat.

“Other than your company?” The villain tapped a finger to their lips in faux thought. “Now that you mention it, that cushy corporate job of yours has a hold on some valuable assets of mine. And believe me, love, it’s honestly something they wouldn’t want to get too deep in.”

“You’ve been watching me this entire time just to threaten me? Because of my job?”

“Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, love. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not threatening you. I adore your family, and I would never hurt you. You know that right?”

“Do I?”

“Mm.” The villain tilted their head to the side. “Tell you what, love. You don’t even have to do any of the corporate espionage. You just have to give me your boss’ number. I can go from there.”

The protagonist found themselves shaking.“Why are you doing this?”

“I couldn’t think of a better reason to stay in your life than to bring a little chaos.”

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smutfanfictionlover-blog · 4 years

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HIDDEN SECRET- THE BOYZ SANGYEON SMUT FANFIC CHAPTER I. FIRST MEETING

NOTE: FOR CHAPTERS WITH “R” MEANS RATED/HAVE SMUT SCENES

CHAPTERS: 2 / 3 / 4-R / 5-R / 6-R / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10-R / 11-FINAL-R

Y/N- insert your name while reading the whole fan fiction

Y/N is an ordinary woman and a receptionist in a hotel and there is a famous personal trainer named Lee Sangyeon who trains various people and regularly helping his clients who are really health conscious and wants always a fit body and he also a cover model of THE BOYZ ARENA magazine and Y/N is really a huge fan of him to the point she also buys the magazine issues where he is covered on. She is also dying to see him in person but she doesn’t have any opportunity to meet him because of her schedule work as a receptionist and she also wants him to be his personal trainer because ever since she was a fan of him, she wants to become healthier and fit but Y/N knows that it’s expensive having Sangyeon as a personal trainer since he is famous and also he has many clients who wants help from him and she doesn’t have that much money to spend to him. Y/N has a best friend and a co-employee named Park Jinhee who just supports her for being fan of Sangyeon. There are other co-employees who are friends with Y/N and they are Younghoon and Jacob who are also receptionists and their front office manager, Kevin. Sometimes, Y/N secretly brings THE BOYZ ARENA magazine in her working area because there are times where no guests so much coming in and she have the opportunity to read the interview of Sangyeon in the magazine but she can’t help to read it while they are at work. Like one day, there are many guests who are coming and Y/N keeps reading the magazine then someone saw her that didn’t accommodate some guests.

“Y/N do you mind focus first on work, not on Sangyeon? We have many guests.” Kevin said.

“Oh! Sorry Kevin! I will get back to work now.” Y/N said and went back to accommodate the guests and there is one guest that Y/N noticed because he wears all black-outfit including his mask then she was the one who accommodate him and then while Y/N is getting a form he saw the magazine that she is reading and he smirks.

“It seems she’s a fan and she reads the interview too.” the man thought. Then when Y/N came back to him, the man read her name tag “Kim Y/N” and when Y/N also asks him to fill-out a form...

“I hope you understand that I will not write my full name, because I am a private person. Can I just put my last name on it for now?” the man said.

“Ok! I understand!” Y/N said. Then the man filled-up the form and she handed him the key card and before he is going to the room.

“I will call you later to tell you my name Ms. Y/N.” the man said.

“Ok! Have a nice day and I hope you enjoy your stay for 4 days here Mr. Lee.” Y/N said and smiled at him. Then he went to his hotel room and while he proceeds to the hotel room...

“Y/N who is that man? It’s like he is disguising or something like we see in the Korean dramas.” Younghoon said.

“I don’t know but he just wrote his name as Mr. Lee because he told me he is a private person.” Y/N said.

“Oh! I see! Well, we should just don’t mind him it looks like he will not do something bad in the hotel.” Younghoon said.

“You’re right Younghoon! Since we have many guests now. We should get back to work and Kevin will scold us.” Y/N said and they went back to work. When the man reached his hotel room.

“I should tell Hyunjae and Juyeon to come here.” the man said to himself.

Then he called the front office desk and someone answered it...

THE CONVERSATION...

Jacob: Good afternoon, How may I help you?

The man: May I speak with Ms. Kim Y/N? I will tell something and tell her that I am Mr. Lee that a while ago, she was the one who accommodated me.

Jacob: Ok! Wait for a while Mr. Lee. I will let you speak to her.

While the man is waiting in the call...

“Y/N! Mr. Lee wants to speak with you and he told me that you are the one who accommodated him. He didn’t tell me what is it about.” Jacob said.

“Ok! Leave the call to me now Jacob, you can go back to work.” Y/N said. Then she holds the telephone and...

Y/N: Good afternoon Mr. Lee! What is your concern?

The man: You want to know me, right?

Y/N: Yes, Mr. Lee. Are you going to tell me now your full name?

The man: I think I would like you to go to my hotel room and tell about it here so that no one will hear your conversation with me. Is that alright?

Y/N: Ok Mr. Lee if you want to. I will go there in a minute. Just wait for me there.

The man: Ok! See you Ms. Y/N.

END OF CONVERSATION.

After their conversation when Y/N was about go to the hotel room...

“Y/N where are you going?” Kevin asked.

“I will go to a hotel room and the guest will tell something to me.” Y/N said.

“Are you sure about that Y/N? That guest can tell it over the phone and also, it’s dangerous for you because he is alone in the room. I am really just worried about you.” Kevin said.

“Don’t worry Kevin, I will be safe and I will be very careful ok?” Y/N said.

“Ok! Just be quick ok? Then tell us what did he tell you.” Kevin said.

“Ok! I will tell you everything when I come back here.” Y/N said and Kevin nodded and she went to the hotel room and when she reached the room, she pressed the doorbell and before the man opens the door, he peeks first who is outside and he saw that it was Y/N and he opened the door.

“Come in Ms. Y/N!” the man said to her and she went in the hotel room and sat down in a sofa.

“Aren’t you going to tell me now who are you?” Y/N asked and he removed his black cap and mask and Y/N was shocked because it was...

“Good afternoon Ms. Y/N and I am Lee Sangyeon you can just call me Sangyeon no need to call me Mr. Lee.” Sangyeon said and smiled at her.

“OMO! Am I really seeing him right now in front of me?” Y/N thought and covers her mouth because she is shocked and he laughed at her.

“Ms. Y/N I can read your mind you are not dreaming ok? I also saw that you are reading THE BOYZ Arena magazine where I am covered on and it seems you are also reading my interviews. I bet you are my fan, am I right?” Sangyeon asked.

“Yes! I am a huge fan of you. You can just call me Y/N and I didn’t expect that I will see you like this Sangyeon.” Y/N said and looks at him and he smiles at him.

“My gosh! He is really handsome and hot in person!” Y/N thought.

“I am just really a private person Y/N that’s why my clothes a while ago are like a mysterious guy and I don’t want any people to know where I am except from my friends Hyunjae and Juyeon who are also personal trainers too.” Sangyeon said

“Now I understand Sangyeon! Thanks for telling me everything.” Y/N said and smiled back to him.

“I have a favor to ask you Y/N.” Sangyeon said and looked at her.

“What is that Sangyeon?” Y/N asked.

“You can tell your other co-employees that I am here because it seems you really need the full information, right? *Y/N nodded* but every request I have, you should be the only one who will accommodate me because you are the one whom I can trust you here right now in the hotel.” Sangyeon said.

“I understand Sangyeon, since you will just stay here for 4 days and I will tell my manager about your decision.” Y/N said.

“Ok Good! I think I am not wrong to choose you right? Since you are also my fan.” Sangyeon said.

“Don’t worry Sangyeon, you can really trust me!” Y/N said and smiled at him.

“Ok! Good! I bet you are really busy right now too.” Sangyeon said.

“Yes, you’re right! I really have to go back to work now. Thanks for trusting me Sangyeon and see you whenever you have requests. Have a nice day!” Y/N said.

“Ok see you Y/N! Thanks again!” Sangyeon said and he waved goodbye to her and she waved back and while she is in the elevator going back to the front office desk.

“My gosh! I can’t really believe that I saw Sangyeon closely and he even wanted me to accommodate his request! This is dream come true for me!” Y/N thought and smiled at herself and when she reached the ground floor, she noticed that there are less guests now at this time then when she came back in the front office desk...

“Y/N where did you go?” Jinhee asked.

“A guest just talked to me in the hotel room. By the way where is Kevin? I will talk to him while we are not that busy now.” Y/N said.

“Kevin is inside his office.” Jinhee said and Y/N knocked on the door of his office and Kevin let her in.

“It seems your private conversation with the guest is kind a long huh? So, what did he tell you?“ Kevin said.

“You will not believe it Kevin who is the guest I talked to awhile ago.” Y/N said.

“Why? Who is it? Tell me Y/N.” Kevin said.

“It’s my favorite personal trainer, Lee Sangyeon! My gosh! I didn’t expect that I will meet him this way!” Y/N said.

“Wow! You are really lucky Y/N! So, what does he need?” Kevin asked.

“He told me that it’s OK to tell our other co-employees that he is staying here for 4 days but I will be the one who will accommodate his whatever request he has.” Y/N said.

“Is that he really wants Y/N?” Kevin asked.

“Yes! Also, he told me that I am the one whom he trust now in the hotel.” Y/N said and smiled at him.

“OK! I now understand Y/N, after our shift we will have a little meeting about Sangyeon’s decision.” Kevin said.

“Ok thanks Kevin! I have to go back to work now.” Y/N said and she went back to work. While in Sangyeon’s room, he called Hyunjae and Juyeon.

THEIR CONVERSATIONS...

Sangyeon: Good evening Hyunjae!

Hyunjae: Hey! Sangyeon! Where are you now?

Sangyeon: I am staying at a hotel now. You can go here now with Juyeon but if you will tell the front desk my name, just tell them Mr. Lee and there will be one front desk employee knows me that I am staying here and her name is Kim Y/N.

Hyunjae: Oh! Ok! Don’t worry we will remember that Sangyeon. Thanks for the information.

Sangyeon: Good! See you later Hyunjae!

Hyunjae: Ne! I will tell Juyeon too! Bye! See you later!

END OF CONVERSATION.

Then after Hyunjae was called by Sangyeon, he also told Juyeon they will visit Sangyeon in his hotel room and have some conversation when they get there and Juyeon agreed to visit him in his hotel room. Then as they reached the hotel, they approached the front desk and that time it was Y/N who will accommodate them then Hyunjae and Juyeon looks at her name tag and has name of “Kim Y/N”

“Good evening, How may I help you?” Y/N asked Hyunjae and Juyeon.

“We will visit Mr. Lee can you tell him that we are now here in the ground floor?” Juyeon said.

“May I know your names?” Y/N asked.

“Tell him that it’s Hyunjae and Juyeon and we are his friends Ms. Y/N.” Hyunjae said.

“Oh ok! I get it now! Please wait for a while Hyunjae and Juyeon.” Y/N said and smiled at them and they smiled back to her. Then Y/N called Sangyeon.

THEIR CONVERSATION...

Y/N: Good evening Sangyeon! Your friends are here, Hyunjae and Juyeon.

Sangyeon; Oh! That’s good! Tell them to go here in my hotel room.

Y/N: Ok! I will tell them Sangyeon.

END OF CONVERSATION.

“I already told Mr. Lee and you can go now to his hotel room 510.” Y/N said and smiled at them.

“Ok! Thanks Ms. Y/N! We will get going.” Juyeon said and smiled back and they went in the elevator.

“My gosh! Sangyeon’s friends are also hot and handsome like him!” Y/N thought.

“Hey! Y/N who are those guests? They are handsome huh!” Jinhee said.

“Their names are Hyunjae and Juyeon. They will just visit a guest here.” Y/N said. As time goes by, their shift ended and then Kevin announced that they will have a quick meeting in his office and they all went in his office.

“This meeting will be just quick, because today we have a special guest here in the hotel.” Kevin said.

“Who is it Kevin?” Younghoon asked.

“It’s Mr. Lee Sangyeon, the famous personal trainer is staying here in our hotel.” Kevin said and the others were shocked.

“I know most of you are shocked but there is one employee already met him few minutes ago.” Kevin said.

“ What? Who is it?” Jacob asked and Kevin didn’t answer and Y/N got a go signal from him to tell them.

“It’s me! Honestly, I was really confused why he wants to talk to me inside his hotel room a few minutes ago. But then he revealed himself to me and of course, I am shocked because all of you know that I am a huge fan of him.” Y/N said.

“OMO! You are lucky Y/N! But what did he tell you?” Jinhee said.

“he told me that while he is staying for 4 days here in the hotel, I will be the one who will accommodate his simple requests because he also told me that I am now the one whom he trusted here in the hotel.” Y/N said.

“Wow! You are a very lucky fan Y/N! It means every time he will call in our front desk, we will tell you that Mr. Lee needs something?” Younghoon asked.

“Yes! But if there are other things that I can’t accommodate I can tell him about it. So, that he can understand it. Also, he told me not to disclose to others that he is here and he wants privacy” Y/N said.

“Ok! We understand Y/N. Thanks informing us.” Jacob said.

“Does it mean you all agreed to Sangyeon’s decision?” Kevin asked them.

“Yup! We all agree to his decision and we will never tell about him that he is staying here.” Jinhee said and the others agreed to.

“Ok! It seems that we are all clear now. Our meeting is finished you can go home now.” Kevin said and they went out Kevin’s office.

“Kevin, I will just call Sangyeon to inform that his decision is approved.” Y/N said.

“Ok go ahead Y/N!” Kevin said. Then Y/N called Sangyeon.

IN SANGYEON’S HOTEL ROOM...

Someone is calling him over the telephone on his room.

“Guys, I will just answer the call just continue to eat dinner.” Sangyeon said.

“Sure Sangyeon! Go ahead!” Hyunjae said and they continued to eat their food for dinner.

THEIR CONVERSATION...

Y/N: Good evening Sangyeon! This is Y/N from the front desk.

Sangyeon: Oh! Ok! What do you want to talk about?

Y/N: We had a meeting a few minutes ago and I told them about your decision and they all agreed to it.

Sangyeon: Ok! That’s good Y/N! Just tell me also what are the things that you can and you cannot accommodate ok?

Y/N: Yup! Don’t worry, I will tell you if you already start to have requests while you are staying here.

Sangyeon: Ok! Thank you so much Y/N! I will really trust you!

Y/N: Yes you can really trust me! I will go home now because our shift ended. Good night Sangyeon!

Sangyeon: Good night and take care Y/N!

END OF CONVERSATION.

After their conversation, Y/N went home with Jinhee because they are housemates in the apartment.

“Who called you Sangyeon?” Juyeon asked.

“it’s Y/N the front desk employee who accommodated you in the ground floor.” Sangyeon said.

“Why did he call you? Is there a problem?” Hyunjae asked.

“There is no problem, she told me that my decision was approved in their office.” Sangyeon said.

“huh? What decision are you talking about?” Juyeon asked.

“Since I don’t want to be revealed that I am here, I decided to trust Y/N and she will be the only one who will accommodate my requests while staying here” Sangyeon said.

“But why? Is she your fan, Sangyeon?” Hyunjae asked.

“Yup! She told me that she is a huge fan of me and when I check-in the hotel, I saw her reading THE BOYZ ARENA magazine where I am covered on and she also reads my interview.” Sangyeon said and smiled at them.

“Wow! You had a fan service for her huh?” Juyeon said.

“Yup! Also, I bet she will do a good job while I am staying here.” Sangyeon said.

“But Sangyeon tell me, the reason why you stay here is that because of your issue?” Hyunjae asked and he sighed.

“Hyunjae it’s just that I don’t want to be followed by the media because of that sexual harassment issue I have and that woman who used to be my client was just getting a revenge from me because I don’t want to date her and she just made up the issue so, that I will be convinced to date her. I bet one day will she will be the one who will end in jail not me.” Sangyeon said.

“What an aggressive woman she is! She just really made a fuss about you. Don’t worry Sangyeon, your name will be cleared.” Hyunjae said.

“Yup! I will believe that the truth will be revealed.” Sangyeon said then as time goes by, it was time for Hyunjae and Juyeon to go home because it’s getting late.

“Sangyeon we have to go home! You can tell us if you want to stay with us if you will check out in the hotel ok? because many reporters are waiting in front of your house.” Juyeon said.

“Ok! Thanks, Hyunjae and Juyeon I will just stay here for 4 days and then I will contact one of you.” Sangyeon said.

“Ok! We will expect that Sangyeon! We should get going! Be safe here!” Hyunjae said and smiled at him.

“Thanks! Good night and drive safely the two of you!” Sangyeon said and smiled back at them and they left Sangyeon’s hotel room. After Hyunjae and Juyeon left, Sangyeon went to sleep to forget his issue.

WHILE IN Y/N AND JINHEE’S PLACE...

Jinhee is just scrolling in her phone while Y/N is doing something in the bedroom and then suddenly Jinhee saw an article about Sangyeon’s issue and…

“Y/N look at this, I don’t know if this is true or not.” Jinhee said and showed the article to Y/N and as she saw Sangyeon’s sexual harassment issue, she was shocked at first but…

“I will not believe in this issue of Sangyeon, I really think that someone just messed up him since he is also famous.” Y/N said.

“You’re right! I also believe that Sangyeon will never do that to someone.” Jinhee said.

“I think I should talk to Sangyeon tomorrow if I will go to his hotel room and I will try to comfort him.” Y/N said.

“You really should do that to him Y/N.” Jinhee said and Y/N nodded. After they talked about Sangyeon’s issue, they went to sleep because they have work tomorrow.

I HOPE YOU LIKE MY FIRST CHAPTER FOR THE LONG SMUT FANFIC FOR SANGYEON :)

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queerchoicesblog · 4 years

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New York, At Last (SC Titanic, Zetta x Adele Series)

So, folks, here’s the new chapter of the series. Thank you so much for your support, hope you enjoy it!

Little disclaimer-favor: especially since the tags don’t seem to be working anymore, if you do enjoy it, please consider supporting the author & sharing this. A little gesture that means a lot!

Word Count: 3000+

Zetta x Adele Tag: @storyscaped @storyscapefanficarchive @marmolady @animus-and-anima @hayley-carter19 @escako @everlastingchoices @indescribablechoices @ahrielstuff @bornonawdnsday @nazario-sayeed @h-doodles @adele-serda @marlcasters @brightpinkpeppercorn @michelleconnoly @charliejane-blog @ghost-of-yuri @choicesgremlin @lanzhansguqin @orange-elephants

Zetta x Adele Series Tag: @eternal-langdon @nydeiri

➡️ Ch. 1, Ch. 2/1, Ch. 2/2, Ch. 3, Ch. 4, Ch. 5, Ch. 6, Ch. 7, Ch. 8/1, Ch. 8/2, Ch. 9, Ch. 10/1, Ch. 10/2, Ch. 11/1, Ch. 11/2, Ch. 12, Ch. 13

____________________________________

A thick fog rises and surrenders our ship as we sail towards New York. It lingers there, night and day, as if it's escorting us to our destination. We can hardly see the ocean anymore, we acknowledge its presence by the murmur of the waves, the breathing of the cold water beneath us. The captain must have given order to be careful because we proceed at low speed, "like in a funeral march" I find myself noting one day. I refrain myself from saying that out loud though. We are asked to stay below deck as much as possible as storms are announced. We sail through troubled waters: some of us get sick, others are too shattered to even register the rolling of the ship. The morale on board has crashed since our first day here. Both the crew and the passengers of the Carpathia have offered us help, sympathy and support. Some gave us their coats or whatever clothing item could keep us warm after we lost everything. They didn't ask for anything in return. Others helped searching for missing people: now a list of names is pinned in one of the halls. People check it regularly with a mix of hope and dread: hope to see their friend or loved one again, dread to spot a black cross by the name so dear to them. If someone cannot be found here on the ship is declared perished in the sinking. Unofficially, obviously, the mourning ones can still try and search them when we reach shore but most surrender under the weight of those tiny scribbles. Those black crosses are not just a quick sign on paper, they pierce through their aching hearts.

As our rescue journey is coming to an end, we are all mourning. The lucky ones who were reunited with their families and friends keep a low profile in respect of all those who lost their loved ones. Their grief is overwhelming, you can sense it, even breathe it in the grim silence that fill the night. Poor souls... I feel almost guilty when on our last day on board I accidentally bump into two familiar faces. I was looking for a steward when I collided with...Lawrence. Felix is right behind him. My heart skips a beat as I call out their names. Lawrence smiles at me and I am so relieved that we met again. We hug each other and I inhale the faint perfume of his eau de cologne. They survived, they survived... I repeat those words in my head as I pull Felix in for an embrace too. They both survived: I don't even start imagining what sort of pain would have tortured one of them if the other didn't make it. They wouldn't have allowed it: if there had been no way to save both of them, they would have gone down with the ship together. I know it, I saw it in their eyes when we parted on the deck. They told me how they stayed until there was no time left. Many of those who are here now owe them their lives: they kept directing women and children and even some men to the boats before jumping on the very last lifeboat at the very last minute. I couldn't be more proud of these two unaware heroes I am honoured to call friends. They are going to visit the little boy they rescued and his brother: the woman they entrusted them to is still taking care of them. Others passengers are helping too. No one has understood what language they speak or where they're from, where their parents are but at least they're safe. "That's all that matters now", Felix notes and I agree. If only the world could see what shining beauty my friends hold... Before parting, they ask me about me: could I find a spot on a boat fast? Did I succeed in speaking some sense into the thick skull of that officer? Is James with me? I share my last moments on the ship with them and when I am still in the middle of my answer, Lawrence reaches for my hand and gives it a squeeze. "Did you find Miss Carrem? Is...is she here?" he asks, concern written all over his face. Felix is grimacing too. Their expression relaxes only when I assure them that yes, we were reunited on the deck and she's now resting with her sister. Lawrence's face color up again as he lets out a deep sigh of relief. "We were so worried, Zetta! When we spotted her on the deck we immediately directed her to the lifeboats and to you...but we weren't sure if you two could find each other in the midst of all that chaos or get on a boat" he explains. "Yes, we pictured the worst...we're so relieved, Miss Zetta, so incredibly relived" Felix continues, smiling. I wonder what I did good in my life to have men like them on my side. Their affection and empathy soothe my troubled soul and make me wish to never part from them. I should invite them more often when we reach shore, yes we should see each other more often...things can change and will change now that we'll be all in New York. I ask them if they want to see Adele: I can wake her, I'm sure she will be more than happy to see them. They assure me it's fine and beg me not wake her. They will visit later maybe but for now they're just happy "she's here safe and sound". "And that you are together again" Lawrence adds with a tired smile. The soft warmth in his voice tells me what I already know: he knows, they know. How could they not? But my secret is safe with them and I am grateful to them for the genuine care they showed to Adele. And well, me. I hug them both one more time then we part ways. I hope to see them very soon. I must invite them over once our lives will slowly go back to a new normal. Maybe this tragedy will make us closer. When I finally find a steward, I am informed that we are approaching shore. "We'll be in New York tonight, ma'am" he announces with an encouraging smile as if to say that our troubles are over. I go back to my group and share the news. Adele and Hileni are still sleeping, only Teo, Jaime and Sabine greet my announcement with a nod but keeps quiet. I know what's going on in their heads, their thoughts are my thoughts: it feels so weird to hear these words after all we've been through. It almost doesn't feel right when so many of us are not here. Even when the news spread among the other survivors I hear no cheer, only sighs: could it be relief or grief, it's hard to tell. Maybe both. A silent question echo in the room: now what? Sabine shakes her head and gives a grim laugh. "I thought I would have been buried in work today, instead..." She looks down at her empty hands: my little Napoleon so efficient and fond of schedules must feel lost now. No scrupulous packing to do, no checking if our belongings are properly gathered or something is missing. She takes her job very seriously and - I realise it now- her job is her life. "Consider this a free day" It's Matteo speaking, he sounds absentminded but then he turns towards Sabine and meets her gaze. "Allow yourself to be the one being served, for once" he adds. He tries to smirk, one of his signature smirk I saw on his face so very often, but it doesn't quite reach his eyes. He looks tired and troubled just like us. As if on cue, a waitress approaches us and asks if we would like a cup of coffee. I see Sabine barely refraining herself from reaching out to help her: it feels almost unnatural to her being on the other side. The waitress is a young girl, I wonder if she's even twenty. She's chatty: she comments how nice coming home must feel after a journey like ours. She has relatives in New York but never visited the city properly although "it is truly gorgeous, isn't it?". She asks us if it's our final destination and wishes all the very best. She parts from us with an encouraging smile: she will come back later to bring coffee to Adele and Hileni when they wake up. It's evening when we enter the bay and proceed towards the pier, escorted by a scout cruiser. We move to one of the decks only to find it crammed with other survivors. We have to fight our way through the crowd once again to get a spot near the railing. We are all to see with our own eyes if our journey has truly come to an end. If we're truly safe. The lights of New York flicker in the distance despite the heavy rain. Now I know it's over, all the horrors and fears are finally over. A lump forms in my throat at the sight of my city, my home but I shake it off. I reach for Hileni's hand and guide her upwards, pointing her the sea of lights on the shore. "There, sweetheart, look! See those lights? It's America" Three long blasts of the ship horns frame my words. The young girl squeezes her eyes to see better; after a moment, a tiny smile crosses her lips and relief washes over me. "It's...shiny!" she notes. "Shiny is definitely one word for it" I agree, smiling at her naive awe. For a moment, I am reminded of myself, my young self when I first saw the city that eventually became my home. I wager I was around the same age of Hileni. And just like her, that sight filled me with a mix of wonder, adrenaline and vague hope. "Adal, come here, come see! It's New York!" she says, turning and calling for her sister. Adele is right behind. Hearing her name, she immediately approaches us. "So, this is it?" she asks, placing her hands on Hileni's shoulders and pressing a quick kiss on top of her head. "So unimpressed, huh, Adele?" I tease her but when our eyes meet a soft smile is on my lips. "I promise it gets better, give it time" Without thinking twice, I wrap my arm around her waist and move a bit closer. "Welcome to New York" I add and for some reason I feel my eyes welling with tears. My love keeps quiet but a weak smile draws on her face. She rests her head on my shoulder and we both look into the distance, towards our new lives to come. There is a grim irony in how bittersweet the end of our journey is. We were supposed to make a glorious arrival, a triumphant march towards America on the "Queen of the Sea" but there is nothing of that fantasy now. The Titanic sleeps at the bottom of the ocean with many poor souls, too many poor souls and we're proceeding towards our initial destination sombrely in a cold rainy New York night. The fog hasn't lifted completely so we must look like a ghost ship. A ghost ship approaching in the mist filled with us, ghosts among ghosts. The darkness around us is lit up only by the city lights at the horizon and the flashlights of cameras of a bunch of photographers on a tug boat following us to the pier. It goes without saying that the Titanic tragedy will be the talk of the town for weeks, months maybe...but I wish those vultures could have refrained themselves until we reach shore. We proceed in front of them in mournful silence, indifferent to the flashlights hitting our faces. When we finally dock and the vibration of the engines beneath our feet subsides, we all stand in disbelief. It's over, it's truly over now. We're in America. The Carpathia passengers are disembarked first: the Captain is afraid the scene will become tumultuous as we survivors, the main attraction for the press, will appear. His concerns are well founded judging by the loud buzz coming from beneath us. When it's our turn to go I take a deep breath and give one last grateful look to the crew waving us goodbye and whispering good wishes as we pass by. Heavy raindrops run down my face as I walk down the gangway but I hardly notice. As my feet touch land I shiver: I'm home yet...I feel like in a dream. I hold Adele's hand tight and we move cautiously forward into the crowd. I look around and all I see is a multitude of lost souls and flashlights. I don't hear what the men of the press are shouting, what the land officers are shouting back: all around their voices blend together and I can't distinguish who is saying what in this dissonant choir. "Let them pass, give them space for Christ's sake!" "What can you tell us about the sinking?" "A few words for the Tribune, please!" "Blankets, warm blankets, let me give you blanket, Sir" "How many people died?". I keep walking under the rain, following Sabine and Hileni proceeding arm in arm ahead of us. I think back at all those we left behind, like Charlie, my love's poor brave friend, and Mr. Andrews, defeated by his sense of guilt yet fighting till the end. All those desperate people screaming in the icy waters before surrendering to their grim fate. I think back of the upset young woman who was searching for her beloved Henry: I wonder where she is now and I pray a kind soul is taking care of her. We stop to let the medical personnel pass. They're holding a stretcher with a man buried under a pile of wool blankets. There are bandages around his head and his eyes don't seem to register what's happening around him. Another follows with a woman begging through tears the midwife holding her hand to call her husband. I shake away those thoughts before they can pierce my soul and I let my eyes wander through the crowd as we proceed. James is not far and so is Matteo. A few months ago I was standing on a pier just like this one, maybe this one waiting to start my journey. I was so relieved back then to get a break, to run away for a while...to see James again. So curious to see the "Ship of Dreams" everyone was talking about on my return trip. It all feels so hollow and distant now as if it happened in another life. Or maybe it's just me...I feel changed. I turn to Adele. My love looks like a stranded and forlorn Robin Crusoe setting foot on a foreign land: she keeps walking but she's lost, almost afraid of these new chaotic surroundings. She looks so fragile and different from the bold girl who stepped into my suite not so long ago. I feel like I could break her now if I hugged her too tight. I give her hand an encouraging squeeze and it seems to make her snap out of her misery. "Madam, the officers need to get the passengers names before letting everyone go, we asked around" Sabine's voice ground me. She and Hileni are looking at me, both getting soaked with rain. I'm grateful to my ever efficient little Napoleon for taking charge of the situation. "There are so many of us" Adele's sister notes grimly and she's right. No matter how few of us survived the sinking, the pier is packed and the press pushing in is of little help. "It will take hours to clear the pier" I sigh. That's when I notice Hileni trying and failing to hide a shiver. I am eternally thankful to the fan giving me one of her wintry coats on board as tonight New York is getting colder and colder and the rain keeps wetting our clothes, making it harder to fight the chill. I must reward my generous fan, I got her name and address I think... Adele's hand adjusts into mine and it's as cold as ice. She still has her blue jacket on and a thin blanket completely soaked around her shoulders. "You're cold" I wince. She tries to avoid my gaze, dismissing my concerns. She's just fine, she assures me but I know her well enough to detect a lie when I hear it. Even a white lie. "You too, poor thing" I add, addressing Hileni who wraps her blanket a bit tighter around her in full response. Maybe she wants to say she's fine too but I anticipate her. "No, no, we'll do something about it. We have to wait for a while here, huh? No sense in freezing us all in the meantime" I turn towards Sabine and add, with renewed resolution: "They're passing around warm blankets, right? You two stay here, Sabine and I will get some then we'll see what to do next" My little Napoleon gives me a firm nod and addresses some comforting words to Hileni, adjusting her blanket. "You don't have to, we're fine..." Adele voice is low and somber even if she's doing her best to conceal how shattered she feels inside. Her soft yet unconvincing smile makes my heart ache. She'll be good again when we'll be away from this chaos...it will take some time maybe, but she will be fine, truly fine again. I hate the idea of parting from her side but I'll be damned if I won't take care of her and her sister. Please allow me to, my sweet love. I cup her face and caress her damp cheek. She instinctively leans to the touch as if a little warmth was all she needed. "I won't hear it, love. Stay here, I'll be back before you know it" I whisper, a tender smile on my lips. Before taking my leave, I press a quick kiss on her forehead. Then I venture with Sabine through the messy crowd. With one last look above my shoulder I see the Carrem sisters holding hands and sharing a weak smile. Surprisingly, finding stewards with blankets is tougher thanI first thought. People are gathering and looking for other passengers and missing ones, indisciplined photographers pushing their way in to get a shot of the misery of the survivors. As we fight our way through and keep searching, I try to come up with a plan. "Once we sort all this bureaucracy out, we'll find a way to get out of here" I reason out loud with Sabine. I barely hear her answer. "I'm sure your fiancée Mr King is right here waiting for you, Madam-" "Adele and her sister can stay in the blue and green rooms...they should be comfortable there, what do you think?" My mind is racing as I scan the crowd. "The blue and the green rooms sound perfect, Madam. I'll have them ready in no time whe-" "Oh no need to, Sabine! I'm sure they're already in excellent state if I know you" We stop as an officer kindly asks if he could get our names. He smiles when I say mine. "Who wouldn't know your name, Miss Serda? It's good to see you here, safe and sound" A fan, obviously. After Sabine drops hers and he checks both on a list, we ask him where we can find blankets or coats for our friends. Apparently, we're not far from his colleague! We speed up following his directions and I think I can see a man handing out wool plaids to shivering passengers. "This way, Sabine, I see him!" I cheer. Then, out of the blue, a familiar voice calls my name. "Zetta!" I stop and turn towards the sound to see... "R-Richard?" I...completely forgot about him. I don't know how but I forgot about him. It only makes sense he would be here, I would have been to even if... I- I just erased such thought. He pushes his way through the crowd and runs towards me. He's crying, it's not just rain wetting his face. He pulls me into a tight embrace and bury his head in the crook of my neck. I feel awful for forgetting about him when he starts sobbing like a child, unafraid to show his feelings, his vulnerability. I hug him back and whispers words that I hope will make him stop crying and feel a bit better. No need to cry, I'm here. I'm here, Richard. It seems to work as he loosens up his arms and face me. It's the first time I see his face in months and vice versa he mine. I wonder what he sees. His hair are soaked, dark circles loom under his eyes and his lower lip still trembles a little as he cups my face and bring our forehead together. "I was so scared when I heard the news, Zetta, so scared..." his voice is shaky as he speaks. "I-I pictured the worst, I couldn't sleep, I-" "Oh Richard..." I wince. "I tried to get in touch with the Carpathia, to send Marconigrams, I only wanted to know if you survived but the communication lines were overcrowded-" I brush away a strand of wet hair from his face. "It's fine, darling, I'm here, I'm alive, we-" "You don't know how happy and relived I am that you are, Zetta! I don't know what I would have done if you weren't on this ship, if you died that night...I truly don't know-" He embraces me again just when flash powder ignites around us. Journalists. I don't even have to wait for their shoutings to know it's the greedy press. "Zetta, Zetta!" "A word for the press!" "Would you make a statement about the tragedy?" "How is it to be back?" "Is it true that the Titanic collided with an iceberg?" No, I can't do this. I don't want to. I hear Richard groaning like a wounded animal before turning towards them. "Please, leave her be, she's just arrived-" he says but his plea goes unanswered. Journalists are a famelic species and awfully stubborn. "Oh c'mon, you have no decency? Go away, I beg you" Richard rises a hand towards the cameras to protect us from the flashlights. His voice now betrays hints of anger but he's so broken that his words sound more like a prayer. I doubt this will work, knowing those vultures. He reaches for my hand and turns towards me, leaning close to be heard over the shoutings. "Come with me, lets get you out of here. James and his valet are with John, follow me" He pulls my hand gently but I freeze. I freeze as my mind race towards Adele. Adele waiting for me on the pier with Hileni. Adele to whom I promised to be back 'before she knows it'. "What?" It's all I can manage to say. My breath catches in my throat. Richard must think I couldn't hear what he says. He repeats his words and pulls my hand again. I don't move. "No, no I-I can't, I must go back, my...my friends are wait-" I mutter but I'm cut short by those vultures again. A flashlight blinds me: the vivid light hurt my tired eyes to the point I can't see for a moment, I cover my eyes and I'm momentarily surrounded by darkness only. I hear Richard shouting back at the journalist, he's angry and exasperated now. Then he wraps an arm around my waist and guides me away, shielding me with his body from the cameras. "This way, Zetta, Mademoiselle Sabine...." My feet move against my will. I don't wanna leave the pier yet I'm too exhausted to resist. I try though but my attempt is weak and can nothing against Richard's desperate determination to take us away from this mournful chaos. When I finally gets my vision back, I'm standing in front of two cars. John, Richard's right hand, is right there, holding an umbrella for Teo and James. He tips his hat respectfully and say words I don't listen but that I presume are some kind of welcome back, so glad to see you here or things like that. My eyes fall on my travel companions: Matteo displays a dignified yet somber demeanour -I wouldn't expect nothing less from him- and winces at me as I meet his gaze while Jaime...the expression on his face is completely numb. He's distant, somewhere far away from this pier and awfully quiet, the quietest I've ever seen him. Richard encourages us all to go before the journalists are back and guides me and Sabine towards a car, Teo and my nephew will ride in John's one. He opens the door and help my little Napoleon in then me. I throw one last look to the pier before taking my seat but I can't distinguish a single face. The sky is getting darker and the crowd is slow to disperse. I stretch my neck but it's useless...I can't see my love even if I know she's there somewhere out of view. Richard hurries in after me and hastily gestures at the driver to start the engine as the lights of the cameras approach fast. When the car cautiously moves towards the boulevard, he takes my hand into his and rises it to his lips. "It will all be alright, my love, I promise you. I'll take care of you..." I register the kiss on the back of my hand but I can barely hear him. I'm not here. I am sitting here in this car disappearing into the night but I'm not here, not truly. My mind is empty. All I can think of is Adele. My Adele waiting in vain for me in the rain. My Adele...

#titanic storyscape #zetta serda #adele carrem #zetta x adele #zetta x adele series

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rimeforge · 5 years

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Combat Follower Meme

Selection Line: “Not my first choice but alright.”

Class: Frost Death Knight

Weapons: Swords, primary dual wielding but can use two-handed as a last resort. Has one (1) dagger in his possession for emergencies, (has been enchanted with a rune of razorice for a small boost to frost damage).

AI Behavior: If battle begins out of range, he wil use Death’s Reach to pull the enemy to him. First hit immediately applies frost fever to target as well as casts Remorseless Winter. Will use Sindragosa’s Fury once he reaches full runic power. If PC reaches below 50% health, he will taunt the enemy.

Battle Lines:

“Oh, we’re starting? Okay, this is fine.” ”Bash'a no falor talah!” “Elor bindel felallan morin'aminor!“ - if enemy is killed. “Now back to our regularly scheduled broadcast.” “ I’m too old and too dead for this shit.”

Cooldowns:

” Feeling a bit chilly?” -Using Remorseless Winter ” Ice, Ice Baby!” - Chains of Ice “ This frost bites!” -Sindragosa’s Fury “ Razorice, I choose you!” - Empower Rune Blade “ Excuse me, the position of annoying talking corpse has already been filled and I do not like competition.” -Raise Ally.

Exiting Battle:

“ See you on the other side, snowflake.” ” Well that happened. “ ” There’s good news and bad news. Good news is, we survived. Bad news is, our team didn’t.” -If PC is only surviving member of a party. “That’s it? A ghoul could have put up more of a fight!” -If battle lasts under 2 minutes. ” Razuvious never prepared me for this. “ -If battle proceeds past 5 minutes. KO’d:

“ Ah... The final one..” ” Eternity never seemed so sweet.. “ ” Itillan... It’s been too long..” “ Please, spare my cats.”

Resurrected:

“ Put me back! Put me back!” “ Ah shit, here we go again.” “ Sidney..? “ “It was...so cold... Oh wait, that’s normal.” “ Thanks for the dirt nap, buddy. “

Tagged by: @spectrisconsarcio

Tagging: steal it ya filthy animal

#gathering storm. ll character study.#basically how many references can i shove into one character

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dancingbeyondcancer · 5 years

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Chapter 09 - Dancing Beyond Cancer - What's Up Doc

Chapter 9 -------- What’s up Doc?

Danielle was constantly reconnecting with friends as her health began to improve. One friend had recommended that we meet with one of their mutual friends who was a Naturopathic Doctor (ND) in town. Danielle and I agreed that since we couldn’t get in touch with Doc as regularly that it might be best to have a back-up doctor. We decided to set up a consultation with her friend. Danielle was very familiar with the new doctor since she had worked as a front desk secretary for her and Doc some years prior.

I was very impressed at the first consultation with our new ND. She was incredibly professional and on top of that highly knowledgeable. I would say that she was not an expert on treating cancer, but she had hands-on experience treating it with alternative methods. We talked while she took Danielle’s vitals. We discussed the treatments that we had already started.

We told her that we were using the hyperbaric oxygen treatment to help with healing from the surgery. We also had used an alpha-lipoic acid supplement. There wasn’t much that we were doing that she had any problems with except the oxygen chamber. She wasn’t sure if the increased oxygen would also increase the growth of cancer. She supported it to help with healing from the surgery but didn’t recommend it for further treatment.

She had a couple of other options she wanted to present to us. The first was a light therapy device. We had investigated another device in town because of the data that has shown these light therapy devices can shrink cancer tumors and even rid the body of cancer completely. However, the device also uses additional Electromagnetic Fields during the treatment, which means Danielle wouldn’t use it. It isn’t that she couldn’t use it, but her phobia of EMF treatment made it not worth trying. The ND explained her light therapy was just light and no other frequencies. Danielle was on board for adding this treatment as soon as possible.

She also told us about a new IV treatment derived from a turmeric extract. It was called curcumin, and there was a doctor in Phoenix who was using it extensively to treat Cancer. She had a patient that had used it, and it put his stage 4 cancer into remission. She even told us that he was a McDonald’s diet type of guy, so she was very optimistic about Danielle’s situation. I learned turmeric was showing incredible anti-cancer properties, but now they were creating a more concentrated extract administered through an IV.

The big issue with this treatment was that insurance wouldn’t cover it. Each IV was also going to run between three hundred to six hundred dollars per treatment. Depending on the concentrations, it was going to be more or less expensive. Danielle would also have to run the IV once or twice a week. The price tag was daunting. I would have to start making far more money to pay for it myself.

The next item that she provided us with was a list of things that we should avoid. The list was extensive; it told us to avoid soy, gluten, and other refined sugars. The biggest thing that caught my attention was that memory foam mattresses, according to her, could be cancerous. I was a little bothered because the mattress I was planning on bringing up from storage was a memory foam mattress. So now we were left with a single mattress as our only solution.

Igniting the start of a crazy struggle to find a mattress solution. It wasn’t something that fit into the budget in the immediate future, so I just put it on the back burner. I was still sleeping fine on the single mattress with Danielle. A solution we didn’t need to focus on now.

The solution we decided on was starting the curcumin treatment as soon as possible. The additional research I had done showed that it was not harmful to the body, but it was highly anti-cancerous. It was a more natural form of chemo without all the crazy side effects. Danielle was confident it was the treatment for her. I just wished her family showed the same support. The price was our primary concern. I certainly couldn’t pay all the bills and pay for treatment. Danielle’s insurance didn’t cover any treatment that wasn’t chemotherapy or radiation. Additionally, we weren’t receiving any financial support from either of our family’s, but that wouldn’t stop us.

The first step we decided to proceed with was to have a chemo port installed. I know it sounds a bit strange, but it was necessary for Danielle. We had initially declined this after her surgery because our goals were different. Now a port was the best option. Danielle had trouble with people being able to find her veins, so if we had a port, running IV’s could be far easier to administer.

The insurance would only cover the port installation for chemotherapy. So it was decided that when we visited the surgeon, we would set up an appointment to have a port installed. Danielle decided to tell the Doctor that she was going to do Chemotherapy. It was all working out, but we still weren’t sure how we were going to cover six hundred to twelve hundred dollars a week in IV’s.

The ND also told us many other things to avoid, including stress to give Danielle the best chance for recovery. The plan included a modification to her diet and some chemicals to avoid. After going over everything, the ND also decided that the water could have been a huge culprit and that tap water could potentially be very harmful. The ND also informed us that the unmonitored estrogen doses that her other doctor was giving her might have been a huge contributor to the development of her Ovarian Cancer.

Now, this is where one of the first big arguments happened that put some serious stress on our relationship. Mostly due to my ignorance and expecting an answer about what caused Danielle’s cancer. We still had to meet back with the Surgeon for a check-up on the surgery. I was fully expecting to hear back from the surgeon that they had figured out what might have caused cancer to develop. I wanted answers from someone who promised me answers.

Danielle discussed her entire medical history with her doctor friend. She went on to explain her extensive use of IV’s for vitamins and estrogen. The ND explained Danielle should have been monitoring her estrogen levels during that time. Danielle confirmed the doctor never tested her levels. Leading Danielle to conclude, that a doubling of her estrogen doses six months prior was a contributing factor to her cancer. A possible cause was not quite the answer I wanted.

Nothing could convince Danielle differently. The doctor who gave her years of IV’s was at fault. It broke her to learn that her friend didn’t run the proper tests, tests which were required. The years of trust vanished in an instant. Danielle did nothing but vent about how angry she was at the situation she was in, and that it apparently could have been avoided. I couldn’t have understood the level of betrayal that Danielle felt. She became upset that I didn’t take her side completely on the matter.

Our arguments were explosive and never ended well. There was no doubt in Danielle’s mind, and I couldn’t accept that. I still wasn’t sure and didn’t want to be blaming someone if there was another cause. I didn’t want to jump to conclusions. I wanted answers, I wanted proof, and the surgeon was the man to give me those answers.

Danielle was not looking forward to the meeting like I was. Leading up to the doctor's appointment, Danielle showed increased health problems, especially through the night. I could easily tell when she was stressed about something because her pain would intensify, she would have more digestive issues, and on top of that would end up sleeping far less. I always tried to provide positive reassurance. I constantly wanted to show her the love she deserved, especially during times when it was so important I do so.

This trip required a lot of support for Danielle on my part, she not only wasn’t looking forward to the 4 hours we would spend in the car, but she didn’t enjoy going to the Doctor’s. Every time we go to a Doctor’s, they must tell us that Danielle is going to Die if she doesn’t do Chemo or Radiation. Even our Naturopathic Doctor had to tell us “by law” that Danielle was going to die without doing treatments that are approved by the American Medical Association. I can’t imagine the fear that comes with confronting people who repeatedly reminded her she was going to die.

This trip to Phoenix was a little tense, but we both managed to make the journey without any serious issues. Danielle’s comfort level was way down, her pain was constantly increasing, and we were less than halfway through our journey. We met at the doctor's offices instead of the Hospital. I hadn’t realized that we were going to a different location about 20 minutes further down the road. Meaning we had to take an extra bathroom stop, setting us a little behind schedule.

We arrived at the offices to find accommodations far nicer than we were expecting. The office had a much nicer atmosphere than the huge cold hospital. It put Danielle a bit at ease to not have to walk through the long hallways. I was thankful that they had tea and snacks in the waiting room. We welcomed anything that put us both more at ease. I was rife with anticipation, but Danielle was anxious and terrified.

The surgery to get the port scared Danielle the most. However, the surgeon sold us on having him perform the surgery. When I say he sold us, I mean he sold us on using him to install the port. Danielle and I decided there wasn’t another surgeon in the country that we would have used. We already witnessed his work once, and Danielle was satisfied with his current remarks. After his inspection of the area, he operated on, and he expressed healing was progressing well and that she should expect a full recovery within a month. A huge relief to us since we hadn’t “officially” consummated the marriage yet. Thankfully we didn’t wait till the wedding.

The Surgeon knew his stuff about Surgery. However, I would be disappointed with his answers about my wife’s cancer and potential treatment options. Danielle and I both inquired about the less harmful options that he had mentioned, but again, we were told that those options weren’t available for us — telling us that the abdominal port that he already installed was a new type of chemotherapy. The same new treatment that we had already had aggressively pushed on us. At the time, I didn’t think it was best to start treatment until her body had fully healed. Now it was different.

Danielle was mostly healed, and in a place to honestly look at the options. So we asked more questions about the abdominal port chemo bath, which was set up to put chemo right into the location of where he removed the Cancer. It seems like an effective possibility except that he finally informed us that some people end up only doing one to three treatments because it is so intense. I could tell right away my wife was scared, pissed, and mad that they would attempt to put something so toxic in her without disclosing this huge truth.

Danielle told him that she would pass on that treatment option but would proceed with a more traditional approach. We would have the port installed in Phoenix by this incredible surgeon, and she said she would receive treatment in Sedona at the local oncologist. We made appointments to get the port installed, and we also set up a consultation with the local oncologist.

When the Surgeon finally decided to go over the tests they had run on the Cancer, I was thrilled, well initially thrilled. I was hoping to find the answers we were looking for, but instead, I was completely disappointed. Not only did they have no answer to the cause of her cancer but that they weren’t even going to investigate further. The DNA test had turned back a negative so there was no answer that the Medical Establishment would or could provide. I was pissed off. I had held out blame in hopes of any additional information.

I felt horrible at my stance towards the cause of my wife’s cancer. I was truly sorry for any strife I caused between us. I was expecting answers, and the only answer we had was basic malpractice. It did bring some peace between us, but it did create mutual anger towards the doctor who administered the estrogen IV’s. Truthfully this is the first time I officially felt let down by the Medical Establishment. I wanted to know what caused my wife’s cancer or cancer in general, but the truth is that the entire Medical Industry didn’t care. I was so angry.

Despite our issues, we scheduled our appointment back to Phoenix. The rides were rough for Danielle. The hour and forty minutes between Sedona and the Hospital was very strenuous on her fragile body. The 03’ Mustang wasn’t the easiest car to get into or out of after surgery. However, the ride was smooth enough not to cause much more discomfort.

I stayed strong through these trips because I knew my wife needed me to be. With all the energy I could muster, I made sure that she had someone present for this new operation. Undergoing surgery struck fear into Danielle. I knew she didn’t look forward to the side effects of the Anesthesia or the meds that the hospital would provide. It is difficult when the side effects can be worse than the original diagnosis. Prescription Medications were one of the most harmful substances that my wife consumed while sick. The problems forced Danielle to use them as little as possible.

Installing the port was the smoothest adventure so far. Danielle was stressed about the surgery while also relieved that she would be able to start treatment. It also meant that drawing blood would be easier. Since Danielle suffered from very thin veins, she always had nurses that needed help finding her veins. So often I felt like they used her like a pin cushion before consenting to additional help. On several instances, we had to have an ultrasound machine to find her veins.

I had to leave the room whenever they would draw blood or insert an IV. I would get so light-headed around needles that I would nearly pass out. It was the same my whole life with piercings or even worse injuries. I don’t think I could ever be a doctor because of those issues. One time I did pass out during my blood draw. The nurse was surprised but continued the procedure since I passed out sitting up. I thanked her and spent the next hour recovering. My wife was nothing like me when it came to IV’s or needles.

After another routine week of recovery time, we were scheduled to talk to the Oncologist. I was a little more excited about this meeting because I figured an Oncologist would have all the answers. We needed to have all the answers so that anyone who questioned us could see we did the fact-finding ourselves. I didn’t see any way to stop her family without all the answers. Danielle was willing to do anything to gain her family’s support. It was crucial to me that we find a way to stop the stresses caused by the lack of support.

Danielle even canceled the initial appointment because she didn’t want to be pressured to do the chemotherapy. I supported her decision, but I guess that wasn’t enough. The pressure from her family caused her to set up the appointment secretly. I didn’t mind either way as I wanted to answer more of my questions.

Several days before the appointment at the oncologists, I could tell she was getting nervous again. Talking about it would cause her to stress; she would constantly question if she should even go. I would constantly tell her that we were going to get more answers, and answers we desperately needed to bring some peace between her and her family. I didn’t tell my family any details about the treatment we choose, mostly because I didn’t want to deal with their opinions. I knew my family knew nothing about cancer treatment. If I’m going to find some answers, I will get the answers from the professional or expert.

The trip to the Oncologist was not the same experience for me as it was for Danielle. I wasn’t scared to hear what she had to say. I fully intended her to answer all the questions I had about chemo. I was genuinely a bit excited to see into the lion's den. I thought it was going to be a very informative visit, no matter the outcome. After an hour wait to see the Doctor, I was in for a huge disappointment.

The doctor came in as most do and ran through the usual patient checkup and went through her records. We again discussed all of Danielle’s previous illnesses. We even discussed that Danielle had lost over a pint of blood and had chosen to decline a blood transfusion, meaning she rebuilt all her blood naturally. It was not something most people walk away from, but after surviving several life-threatening illnesses, it wasn’t unusual for Danielle to survive the impossible. We all joked about her past medical history, and that led to our concern with using such strong chemotherapy.

We were hoping for a new solution. The Surgeon had told us that there were new, less harmful chemotherapies now becoming available, and we asked her if that was an option. She said that the only one that she recommended in our case was the strongest and potentially most dangerous treatment option. The problem is they didn’t let us choose, and they only offered one treatment. It felt like there was no consideration for my wife’s personal medical history.

The medical establishment could only provide one option. There was not going to be another alternative. Danielle was upset to learn there were no other choices because we were expecting to hear about a safer version of Chemo. As Danielle put it, we were facing the Cadillac of Chemotherapies. The frustration came with the lack of other options and a complete lack of support for alternative options. I anticipated that would be the answer we would receive. What I didn’t anticipate is how the doctor would respond to my other questions.

I think my first trigger was when the Doctor asked if Danielle was eating enough. I proceeded to tell the Doctor exactly what she was eating daily. When I finished, I asked if that was enough? She responded, “I don’t know. I’m not a dietician.” I couldn’t believe that diet was not a primary concern for cancer patients. My research showed how helpful diet was in maintaining proper health. So why wouldn’t a cancer doctor be educated on the topic?

It was game time for me, and the gloves were coming off. I started asking serious questions about what we could expect from the chemotherapy the doctors recommended. Such as what potential health problems could we be facing? The doctor was not interested in disclosing the side effects and avoided the question completely. She decided it was best to print out the medical disclosure. I was somewhat satisfied knowing I would have the information I wanted. It still upset me that she wouldn’t discuss that with us.

To skirt the issue, our oncologist said something I still can’t believe. The doctor proceeded to tell us that chemotherapy was derived from the bark of the Pacific Yew tree. The doctor explained the medical industry created a synthetic version that works exactly the same, to protect the tree. As if to inspire a positive response from us. I said, “If there is a more natural version, then why can’t we try that instead?” She didn’t have an answer.

I don’t even remember the questions I asked next, but I can clearly remember my reaction to her response. I was expecting an experienced professional to provide me with answers. Instead, she looked up my remaining questions on WebMD. I was beyond upset at the apparent incompetence that showed. I couldn’t believe that the doctor had to look up answers online. Considering I could answer further questions this way, I decided to stop my questioning. I was in utter disbelief. I lost all remaining faith in our for-profit cancer treatment centers during this visit.

After learning that the doctor didn’t think diet was important to cancer treatment, I was appalled to find buckets of candy throughout the cancer ward. They were feeding high fructose corn syrup in copious amounts to patients who have cancer. Considering cancer thrives on sugar, and even more on refined sugar, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Doc and our ND had confirmed this fact. It was a huge reality check for me.

The whole show was about money, not health. I realized that the cancer industry doesn’t care about the health of people, near as much as they like being able to provide expensive treatments to patients. Our doctor would have made over one hundred and fifty thousand dollars for the treatment she wanted to give us. A treatment that she was required by law to recommend. A law that utterly violates any sense of medical freedom. It made me think, but it also made me mad. My anger toward the Cancer Industry continued to grow, and it looks like it was not going to stop growing either.

Danielle was not satisfied with the answers that the doctor provided, and she declined to move forward with any further treatment. This choice was a surprise to the doctor, and she proceeded to tell us just like all the other doctors, that we faced a high probability of death if we didn’t proceed with her recommendations. Sadly considering our circumstances, I felt the same way if we did try the chemo. Danielle didn’t want to face a potentially more destructive foe if the solutions were going to cause worse side effects. Again the solutions were nothing more than putting band aids on problems as they arose. It didn’t fill us with a bit of confidence.

Danielle asked one more question before we ended our appointment. She was concerned about monitoring her cancer markers and was hoping to reschedule another appointment. The doctor's response threw both of us a curve ball. We were informed that the doctor was very busy with training students, had many patients, and also, we were not pursuing treatment. Due to these reasons, we would only be scheduled for another appointment six months from that date. Danielle felt this was unacceptable. The doctor did not concede, leaving us both confused and angry.

After another terrible experience in a hospital for both Danielle and I, we knew there was no way that we would ever do chemo to fight her cancer. Not only did the sheets she provided show that there was a possibility of death, but it also showed serious side effects that Danielle, still, was not going to sign up for. We weren’t going to do something that felt so wrong. It didn’t matter that some parents, her mom, and sister were pressuring her to try Chemo. I had no problem standing my ground on the topic, and neither did Danielle. After this appointment, she made it excessively clear that she was done talking about chemotherapy. I could see that the decision was not a solution for us.

Danielle and I didn’t need to find any more answers from the mainstream medical industry. We knew what we were going to do. While I probably would not choose the same options my wife chose, I undoubtedly supported her decision. We poured through mountains of information to reinforce our belief in making the best choice. The experience helped my knowledge grow exponentially. Talking to professionals and receiving insights taught me more than any of the hundreds of medical articles that I previously read. I learned how we were going to treat my wife’s cancer. I had to support her decisions.

I knew that my wife was going to do it her way. It wasn’t about me or my way, and it had to be all about her situation. I had to put my ego aside and support my wife in her decisions, even if I didn’t completely agree. I could offer my input but had to allow her to use it or not. It wasn’t easy for me, but it was something that I learned to do in even the most stressful of circumstances. We all need to learn the skill of supporting people in their journey without putting our projections and desires on them too.

It was becoming more difficult to face the fact that the medical industry was never going to support our decision. Made even more frustrating that by law, doctors and nurses had to tell Danielle she was going to Die. I hoped that was it for Mainstream doctors, who constantly reminded Danielle of her demise, and the uncertain future she faced. Danielle faced all the additional trauma because we needed to convince her family that her decision was the right one. Danielle so desperately wanted the full support of her family in her decision.

I find it imperative to unify in support of a treatment option, and we cannot be divided. The division leads to doubt, and doubt can be the real killer. I find it criminal not to support treatments, especially in a world that scientifically recognizes the placebo or nocebo effect. Which states that treatments work or fail based on belief. All medications must beat the placebo effect to become available to the public. Sugar pills have been proven to cure more times than any pharmaceutical company would ever care to admit. So why does a law exist that creates a nocebo effect?

Despite the stress of the adventure, we walked away more resolute in our undertaking. There was no doubt in my mind that Danielle was making the right decision. However, despite both of us going through the same experience, Danielle did not walk away, completely satisfied. If I had known, I might have made changes then and there. It was at this point that Danielle needed to believe in her treatment. There weren’t enough people in her life that were showing her the support she wanted. Something needed to push us in the right direction, but I didn’t know what.

Then probably the second biggest miracle possible happened. The friend she had reached out to and that put us in touch with the ND showed up and offered to pay for the treatment. She also wrote my wife a check to pay for other medical expenses too. It was a huge relief to me since I only started getting paid at my new job. It took all the pressure of making sure we could afford treatment, off my shoulders. It would have killed me if we weren’t able to do treatment because we didn’t have enough money. Now we had more than enough to proceed with all treatment regimens.

Danielle’s friend truly showed her support in making sure Danielle would have the best chance to return to full health. Danielle even turned away an extra check she was going to write to me, but we both agreed that was excessive. I’ve always worked hard and earned what I needed or wanted, so bailouts have always made me feel uncomfortable. We welcomed the assistance and were incredibly grateful.

Please feel Free to share or re-post this chapter. Stay tuned next Monday for Chapter 6 of Dancing Beyond Cancer If you would like to finish the story NOW you can purchase the full book at...

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greeneadrian94 · 4 years

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What I Do For Increase My Height Astounding Tips

If you want to fully relax all your muscles and bones.For example, a reaction to food, can't be avoided at all costs, the media and popular culture has tagged being tall meant that you will have to actually limit our growth.If you supply your body cells regenerate during sleep.You can maximize that 20% factor in how to change what they tell you what NOT to do:

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The fifth factor is our right and maintain yourself healthy and taller new you.Human body is carrying as well as choosing a special hormone called HGH the natural way?You don't even use a little bit questionable.However, ensuring that you can reach high to pick up a thing about this height enhancing e-book.What you can get orange juice with added calcium.

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What Can Help You Grow Taller During Puberty

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#What I Do For Increase My Height Astounding Tips #Can We Grow Taller After 21

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jessicakehoe · 4 years

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10 Workout Classes You Can Live-Stream From Your Living Room

By now, we’re settling into our new normal—staying at home, minimizing all social contact, venturing out as seldom as possible for essential errands only. We’re finding ways to entertain ourselves and also figuring out how to stay fit and active during this prolonged lockdown. Fitness studios and services around the world have pivoted to offer more at-home experiences, which you can read about here. But if what you miss is the communal experience of working out in a group and getting real-time motivation from an instructor, these live-streamed workouts are for you.

MISFITSTUDIO With MISFITSTUDIO’s IRL locations in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver temporarily closed, they’ve pivoted to online. In addition to daily classes streamed on Instagram Live that combine elements of movement, yoga and Pilates, the studio is also offering over 45 different online classes live via Zoom. Each class is $18 (+ HST) and sign-up closes 25 minutes before class time.

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this week let’s move shift our vibration wake & warm the body a collective untangling everywhere & anywhere few more spots left sign up & you’ll receive your 🔗 to class 15 min before we begin available for 2 week intros, drop ins, class pack holders, @classpass’ers & auto renew members a variety of time slots to werk with those on different time zones or those werking late come one come all let’s d a n c e and we’ll keep sharing the IG live classes as an accessible movement option for everybody schedule is posted in our IG highlights 🦅 📷: @erinleydon #misfithome #virtualconnection #movementismedicine #bemoved

A post shared by misfitstudio ™ (@misfitstudio) on Mar 29, 2020 at 7:45am PDT

Formation Studio Formation Studio closed its doors two weeks ago but you can still experience its dance-based fitness routine virtually. Weekly IG Live classes include a 40-minute Power class, which offers music-driven strength and conditioning and a 30-minute Freedom class, which promises nonstop movement aka a digital dance party. Keep an eye out for other online options, to be announced on their social channels soon.

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Hello Form-Nation! Welcome to those of you who are new to this community. We are so happy to have you along with us as we navigate this strange time together. More than ever before, Formation is a place where you can turn off all that is going on around you, turn up your own voice and power, and get down with a community who is cheering you on, even when it’s from our own individual living rooms. Over the last week we’ve felt such incredible love and connection from you despite the physical distance and we want nothing more than to keep supporting you. We’ll continue to provide weekly IG Live classes and we’ll also have other online options available soon. Slide through for the schedule and share it with your friends. Join our digital dance parties and take what you need for the time you are with us. We are here to give you that reset, that mental shift and that physical relief. You got this. And we’ve got you. 🖤💯✊🏽 – #FormationStudio #FormNation #WeGotYou #igers #NoExperienceNecessary #TheSweatLife #live #Vancouver #VancouverBC

A post shared by Formation Studio (@formationstudio_) on Mar 22, 2020 at 7:11pm PDT

Sweat & Tonic To keep their community going during these unprecedented times, Toronto gym Sweat & Tonic has launched Sweat Live, an online space for group classes and personalized coaching via Zoom (for $12/class), and is also offering a slate of free classes daily on Instagram Live. These IG Live classes cover everything from prenatal yoga to sound healing to full body HIIT. In addition, the studio is launching a new service on April 3 called Sweat On Demand, which offers an all-access pass to the studio’s digital library of fitness classes like yoga, HIIT, boxing, and Pilates. The on-demand service starts with a 7-day free trial, following which the fee is $15/month.

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You demanded more…😉 In this preview of Sweat On Demand, we’re working the lower body with @roriyogi, @magzfit, and @dustinpym. Set the tone for the week by grabbing your booty band, crushing this workout, and feeling that burn. You’ll wonder how just 3 rounds of high intensity exercises can get your 🍑 feeling on 🔥⁣Save this post and let us know how you like it! ⁣ Sign up for our newsletter on our site to stay updated on the launch of Sweat On Demand, our paid subscription-based online fitness classes. Stay in, work out: with Sweat On Demand, you’ll get unlimited access to our virtual workouts, from yoga to HIIT to Pilates, without ever having to leave your home.

A post shared by Sweat and Tonic (@sweatandtonic) on Mar 30, 2020 at 6:40pm PDT

Women’s Health Since self-isolation became a reality for millions around the world, Women’s Health magazine has been inviting trainers to take over their Instagram feed daily with live-streamed workouts. The schedule for this week includes cardio boxing, a full body circuit, abs and core-focused workouts and a Dance HIIT class. All classes are 30 minutes or less and require minimal to no equipment. Don’t fret if you can’t tune in at the appointed time; all workouts are saved for 24 hours on their page.

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It's time for another week of live workouts with some amazing trainers!⚡️⚡️⚡️ Don't worry if you can't join us at these times—all workouts will be saved for 24 hours (more details in the "Live Workouts" highlight on our page!). Tag someone and get a virtual workout party going 💪

A post shared by Women's Health (@womenshealthmag) on Mar 29, 2020 at 3:16pm PDT

Tracy Anderson Personal trainer to the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow and Alessandra Ambrosio, Tracy Anderson may have temporarily shuttered her studios but her famed workouts are continuing online. “[Our] mission during this time is to keep innovating ways to stay connected with all of you and help you stay balanced and clear,” they shared on Instagram, announcing the launch of a new series of virtual live classes. The first class launched on March 29th, with the next ones lined up for Saturday, April 4th and Sunday, April 5th at 11am EST. Classes will be presented via Zoom, and in order to view the live stream, participants need to sign up at https://bit.ly/TracyLIVE at least one hour prior to the start of the class. In addition, Anderson will continue to stream beginner, intermediate and advanced level classes via her Online Studio, a weekly workout subscription program.

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@tracyandersonmethod's mission during this time is to keep innovating ways to stay connected with all of you and help you stay balanced and clear. Launching on Sunday, March 29th at 11 am EST, she'll be teaching a series of virtual live classes and invites you to join her from wherever you are!⁠ ⁠ Live classes will then continue to be offered on Saturday, April 4th at 11 am EST and Sunday, April 5th at 11 am EST. More live classes will be added to the schedule soon. Stay tuned for details. ⁠ ⁠ Classes will be presented using Zoom, an app that is easily downloaded via your App Store or web browser. To live stream classes, sign up at https://bit.ly/TracyLIVE. Then download the Zoom app. All participants must sign up at least one hour prior to the start of the live class, and will receive a personal login via email beforehand. The content in these virtual live classes will involve equipment that simulates what our studio members and clients regularly use. To start, you'll need a chair and a broomstick without the broom, in addition to your regular TA workout equipment including a mat, hand weights, and leg weights.⁠ ⁠ We hope you'll use these new live experiences as an added opportunity to connect with Tracy. To note: Tracy's live classes are not designed to replace the strategic programming in the Online Studio. She will continue to stream beginner, intermediate and advanced level classes in the Online Studio, while adding the weekend live classes to her routine. We are so excited to work out with everyone in this new way starting Sunday!

A post shared by Tracy Anderson Online Studio (@tracyandersononlinestudio) on Mar 27, 2020 at 7:30am PDT

ClassPass In lieu of IRL workouts, ClassPass is offering live and on-demand workouts from top studios around the world that you can do right from your living room. Live-streamed class offerings range from yoga to strength training to HIIT, with 100% of class proceeds going straight to the studios until June 1. Participants can purchase these classes using their credits, even if their account is paused. On-demand workouts are another option, offering unlimited access to over 2,000 free video and audio workouts from top studios via the ClassPass app.

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To help keep our members active at home and support our partners around the world, we’re launching livestream classes! You can purchase these classes using your credits, even if your account is paused. Partners will receive 100% of the proceeds from these purchases for the next two months.

A post shared by ClassPass (@classpass) on Mar 25, 2020 at 1:13pm PDT

Lululemon Over the next few weeks, Canadian athletic apparel brand Lululemon promises to deliver “daily content from our community and ambassadors to help you live #thesweatlife wherever you are.” This includes live sessions of yoga and guided meditation on Instagram, guides to do-anywhere workouts and at-home training, as well as self-care tips and tricks.

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Those sweat-dripping, feel-good endorphins don’t have to stop just because we’re distancing ourselves. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be delivering daily content from our community and ambassadors to help you live #thesweatlife wherever you are. Head to our Stories to get today’s roundup of at-home practices and choose what works for you. Be kind, get sweaty and let us know what you’d like to see from us. Tomorrow’s IG Live yoga class starts at 6pm PST. Grab your mat and join global ambassador @allymaz for a 20 minute restorative practice.

A post shared by lululemon (@lululemon) on Mar 16, 2020 at 5:16pm PDT

P.Volve The online fitness studio is offering 30 days of free streaming to all new members via the code ONEPVOLVE, giving them access to hundreds of workouts through the P.volve online streaming platform. They’re also offering free live workouts on Instagram Live and YouTube three times a day (8am EST, 1pm EST and 6pm EST). Classes are 15 to 20 minutes in duration and range from Morning Stretch to Sweat and Burn to Lengthen and Tone.

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Tune in tomorrow—and every day this week. See you there 👋

A post shared by Fitness Evolved. (@pvolve) on Mar 15, 2020 at 4:50pm PDT

Barry’s Bootcamp After closing all locations across the US and Canada earlier this month, the fitness studio has now shifted to hosting regular sweat sessions on IG Live. Each day, trainers from various Barry’s studios across North America head over to Instagram to take viewers through a variety of workouts, from full body workouts to resistance training with bands. You can find all the Barry’s At Home workout videos saved under their IGTV section on the platform.

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We miss our fit fam! Now, more than ever, it’s important to band together, support one another, keep our bodies moving, and stay connected. Tune in live @barrys twice tomorrow: once at 9am PDT as Barry’s CEO, Joey Gonzalez, and again at 12pm PDT as VP of Curriculum, Chris Hudson, lead us through 20 minute total body workouts. Bodyweight only. No equipment needed. 9am: Joey Gonzalez 12pm: Chris Hudson

A post shared by Barry's (@barrys) on Mar 16, 2020 at 7:47pm PDT

Extension Room For barre and ballet-inspired workouts, head to Extension Room’s Instagram, where they are live-streaming their most popular classes. Get your cardio workout in with the Allegro Ballet Bootcamp, work your core with the Développé Ballet Sculpt class, or if you’re new to the workout style inspired by professional ballerinas, start out with Barre 101.

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TUNE IN ON OUR INSTAGRAM AND Jennifer Nichols FACEBOOK LIVE FEEDS! ________ *Please help us keep our business alive by donating on either Shopify (link in bio), through your MindBody account or via e-transfer to ‘[email protected]’* ________ #livestreamclasses #extensionroom #extensionmethod #balletfitness #balletconditioning #toronto #covidtogether #stayhome

A post shared by ExtensionRoom/ExtensionMethod (@extensionroom) on Mar 30, 2020 at 7:56pm PDT

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topicprinter · 5 years

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Hi Everyone! Julian here from Founder Stories (founderstories.io) - here's one of our latest interviews with ZenMaid's founder - Amar Ghose on how he and 2 Co-founders started a 40k+ / mo SaaS business.Interview: Hello! Who are you and what business did you start?Hi, my name is Amar Ghose. I’m the CEO/co-founder of ZenMaid. Our software makes it easy for growing maid services to manage their cleaners, clients, and schedules in one easy to use software.While we might have started off slow (both my co-founder and I worked full time for over 2 years after starting ZenMaid) we now make more than half a million dollars a year helping maid service owners to achieve the freedom in their lives and businesses that we have (I’m currently writing this from Canggu in Indonesia!)how-we-validated-and-grew-a-saas-for-maid-services-to-500k-year What's your backstory and how did you come up with the idea? I’ve always been quite entrepreneurial. I started as a kid selling candy to my middle school friends actually. Despite that I hadn’t been able to create a real business that really stuck until ZenMaid.In 2012 I came across a post on Reddit. A guy was starting his own maid service and documenting the entire thing. By chance a friend of mine saw the same post and started working on the technical side of the business (building a website and etc). My friend quickly realized that he didn’t want to deal with the people side of the business however. He tagged me in to help with operations and sales/marketing. From there I was quite quickly made an equal partner as he had yet to launch.Don’t fall into the classic trap of spending months building or working on something, only to find out when you launch that no one is interested.At the time I was doing sales for a tech startup so closing business by phone was my jam. From there I quickly learned basic man management skills to work with our cleaners.Fast forward 1 year and I was no longer living locally. I’d moved closer to home (the SF Bay Area) for a much better day job. I was 400 miles away from our maid service and that caused tension with my partner. Ultimately I gave up my portion of the maid service (which shut down shortly thereafter).It was at this point that another friend approached me about what became ZenMaid. He felt he could build a better management platform than the one he’d seen me using. And he was confident that I could sell and market the software given my skill set and industry knowledge.Hence ZenMaid was born (initially named MaidDesk though I doubt that’s ever been mentioned anywhere publicly before now :-) )While working full time (myself at a startup, my co-founder on his PhD at Stanford University) we began simultaneously working on the product and getting in contact with as many maid service owners and offices as we could.Take us through the process of building the product. My co-founder Arun was familiar with the coding language Python but decided after reviewing some of the existing libraries that Ruby on Rails was the right way for us to proceed.… so he taught himself Ruby in ~8 days and got to work. I’m still baffled by this looking back on it.Due to my full time work schedule I made calls between 5 am and 8 am on weekdays before going into work and all day on Saturdays.It took almost 6 months to get a working prototype due to Arun’s PhD program at Stanford (he worked from 11 pm to 3 am most nights on ZenMaid). I spent that entire time calling maid service owners and offices. Due to my work schedule (1.5 hour commute to SF each day) I made calls between 5 am and 8 am on weekdays before going into work and all day on Saturdays.We made the decision to focus our efforts on an easy to use calendar that specifically focused on truly recurring services (something that’s unique to maid services and housekeeping companies) and on automated communications around the appointments.To this day that is still our bread and butter, though we’ve added many features and benefits since.A lot of people have asked about our startup costs but we didn’t really have any due to our combined skill sets. The only expense we took on was once the product was live was ~$100-$200 per month for Google AdWords so we could get consistent traffic to our website and app.Describe the process of launching the business.We didn’t do much of a launch for ZenMaid as we didn’t have an audience to announce to. We paid for a press release service that didn’t do much but I did reach out to everyone I had been talking to when the software was ready. Our first customer came onboard for $1000 for life, paid over 4 months (we have given a few other maid service owners lifetime access for a set price but we quickly moved to a more traditional SaaS model priced monthly which now starts at $49)We already had a landing page at this point as I was treating the business/product as if we were ready at least 3 months prior to the software being launched. I believe we initially used a tool called LaunchRock and then moved to WordPress with a theme quite quickly.Launch numbers (this was fun to look up in Stripe) :We brought on our first customer on September 9, 2013 and ended that year with 5 customers (though 13 had tried and paid us for at least a month) so clearly there wasn’t much of a launch eventSince launch, what has worked to attract and retain customers? ZenMaid has always relied heavily on paid advertising (Google, Capterra, LinkedIn, Facebook) for a constant flow of leads however we quickly branched out from there to do content marketing which helped with SEO and a variety of other things.We actually stumbled on this by accident when I took the keywords I had researched for my maid service and I shared them in a Google Spreadsheet which we hid behind an email gate. This was our very first lead magnet and to this day it still gets us more leads than anything else :-)From there we built an extensive email marketing funnel that’s almost all quality content. Our goal is to never be forgotten by our leads because when they’re ready for our software, they’ll let us know. Essentially any maid service owner that signs up for our email list will receive high quality, implementable content for their businesses for almost two years, each email having a small, unobtrusive link at the bottom to learn more about the software. If they click this link they’ll get a couple more targeted emails. I set this up following Ryan Deiss’ The Machine course a few years ago.Two quick examples of awesome content we’ve done would be The Ultimate Hiring Panel, where we interview 3 industry experts on their hiring best practices, and “Steal This Cancellation Policy for Your Maid Service”, which is exactly what it sounds like: 3 example cancellation policies that can be copy pasta’d into a maid service whether they use ZenMaid or not.More recently we’ve added in extensive Facebook retargeting campaigns, also focused on quality content, that we use to nurture the leads we get from other channels.And finally, what we’re best known for in the industry, is our Facebook group, the ZenMaid Mastermind. We built the first widely joined community (some existed before us but were quite dead, and many have appeared since we did it) and at the 2015 industry event we were the talk of the town.More people knew us from that community than for our software though that’s changed since. It’s still where we get lots of leads, content ideas, and feedback on our software!Building the Facebook groupThe Facebook group actually happened by accident - I had a crazy idea that we could start a membership site and do it on Facebook so I launched a $19 per month subscription to our email list.Two months later and after signing up a whole 3 (THREE) members, I realized it wasn’t the time or place (in hindsight this failure was 100% on me and had nothing to do with timing or anything other than my lack of experience)We refunded the money of the members who had joined but left the group up on Facebook. Over time I started inviting people to join if they added me as a friend and were part of the industry.Fast forward a year and we had 50 members who were starting to chat regularly when an awesomely epic thread appeared. I sent an email to our list letting them know they might be interested and 50 members turned into 200 overnight. We haven’t looked back since.What was the thread? You know how they say Sex sells…One of the cleaning clients caught the team lead and a cleaner having sex in her bathroom while they were supposed to be cleaning. To make matters worse the 3rd cleaner on the team in question was the WIFE of the team lead (yes, you’re reading that right)Epic, hilarious, and very beneficial to our business.Since that time we’ve built up the group with great content and discussion as well as making it a safe place for owners to let loose and rant (my approach was to make this a place online that maid service owners could get the help they need but also relax with a glass of wine at the end of a long day and chat with their friends)These days we do regular Facebook Lives and feature many of the industry’s leading experts :-)And all of this has led to speaking engagements for myself and partnerships with almost every big name consultant in the industry. It helps a lot when we have a bigger audience than they do so at some point there was a snowball effect where most influencers chase us rather than the other way around.For example, we have a virtual summit coming up this year and, where most organizers have to chase speakers, we had 25 confirmed presenters within 24 hours of making contact with the first one.How are you doing today and what does the future look like?We recently passed the half million dollar yearly mark and will be breaking the million dollar a year barrier in late-2020.That will actually happen much sooner if we can accomplish the 3 primary goals I have in mind for ZenMaid going forward - two of which I consider to be “holy grails”1 - To extend our lead as industry leaders.It sounds weird to me to answer that but after 6 years of hard work and focus the truth is ZenMaid is now the gold standard in the house cleaning industry for software.We have some very good competition but none are focused on our industry specifically which gives us a lot of advantages that we’ve piled up over the years (for example, we now employ 4 current or former maid service owners which puts our support heads and shoulders above other software who serve our audience)2 - Negative net churn.We recently changed our pricing to grow every month with our customers as they are more successful. That change has lowered our churn significantly but we do still lose money each month from our current customers. By the end of 2019 I’d like us to actually make more from our existing customers even if we continue to lose ~5% of them each month.Software folk will recognize this as the SaaS holy grail, and we think it’s possible for ZenMaid :-)3 - Paid marketing that pays for itself (I’m not sure what the right term is for this - any readers want to let me know in the comments?)Inspired by Russel Brunson who actually makes money advertising ClickFunnels before people convert to paying software users … With our current lead costs my goal is to get a $97 or $197 info product that’s part of our email automations so that we can advertise the software and immediately recoup our advertising spend.If we can achieve #1 and #2 simultaneously the sky's the limit for ZenMaid, particularly as a bootstrapped company. It’s the holy grail of marketing in my opinion.Through starting the business, have you learned anything particularly helpful or advantageous? Test test test would be lesson #1 as we essentially lit our business on fire overnight about 2 years back. We had the best intentions and it absolutely turned out for the best but we burnt a lot of bridges and lost almost 30% of our revenue because we didn’t do enough testing prior to releasing a massive update on our software.Lesson #2 would be something I learned from Tim Ferriss which is “treat everyone like they can put you on the front page of the New York Times”.A lot of our best partnerships and relationships have come because I simply cared more about the actual people than our competition a few months or even years before either we could help them or they could help us. We’ve had multiple customers sign up who currently pay us thousands of dollars a month who knew me 6 years ago when the company was starting but we weren’t sophisticated enough for their businesses.On a similar note I’ve gone out of my way to help up and coming consultants, some of which became quite big years after and now refer us business left and right. And most consultants in the industry know they can approach me for tech or marketing advice if they want it. I’ll even fix problems for them (usually paying money out of my own pocket to do so) if I know it’s considerably easier for me or my team to do than for them.Lesson #3 would be to simply Not Quit. Everything in our business these days sounds like flowers and sunshine (and profits) but I can point to at least 20 situations where other entrepreneurs would have thrown in the towel. The reason we’re in business and successful today was that we never gave up when things got challenging. It’s easy to run a business when things go well, it’s what happens when the sh*t hits the fan that actually defines you and your success.What platform/tools do you use for your business?We use a lot of software as a software company so here are our daily ones:Slack - for chatting when an email is unnecessary. Group discussions and etc. I’ve seen people mention this can be a big distraction but with a remote team it’s absolutely vital to everything we doActiveCampaign - Email marketing and automation, we’re known in the industry for our email marketing and current email leads will receive messages for approximately 2 years after registering so this one’s important fo’ shoIntercom - I hate their pricing with a passion as it changes every month but they’ve done a great job of infiltrating every part of our customer process. We use them for support but also as a sort of customer dashboard (easier for us to find users with over X employees using intercom than anywhere else, for example)What have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources? I listen to a ton of books these days (Audible on 3x speed) so there’s a lot to pick from but here are a couple that I think helped me a lot as I got started:The Four Hour Work Week - the lifestyle dream was always my why after reading this bookJobs by Walter Isaacson - this book completely shifted how I approached building the ZenMaid product and taking pride in many of the little details in our business I previously thought were unimportantThe Fish That Ate The Whale - Best entrepreneur [true] story I’ve ever read - everything about this man’s life is epicThe Foundation - a online course to help folks like me start software businesses. We went through this after picking up our first 5 customers and came out the other side with over 30Straight Line Persuasion - a sales course by Jordan Belfort, who everyone knows from the Wolf of Wall Street. I was already in sales and this course took my sales game to a new level. Shortly after listening to it we had our first +$200 MRR day which at the time was absolutely massive for usAdvice for other entrepreneurs who want to get started or are just starting out?The main advice I would give to both starting entrepreneurs and even experienced one is to focus on FEEDBACK LOOPS, and increase the speed at which you go through them.A feedback loop is essentially asking yourself “How can I figure out if I’m on the right track as quickly as possible?” For ZenMaid we’ll run article headlines and outlines by our audience before we create content. We’ll do quick mockups of new features and share them first with our team, then with our champion user group on Facebook to find whether we’re on the right track to solve the problems we intend to. This has been absolutely invaluable.For a new entrepreneur, don’t fall into the classic trap of spending months building or working on something, only to find out when you launch that no one is interested. This is why I spent so much time calling maid service owners while we were developing the software and getting as much input from them as I possibly could. And this was despite the fact we “knew” what we were building.Are you looking to hire for certain positions right now?We try to keep our dev team lean and fast moving but on the non-tech side I’m always on the lookout for two types of people - entrepreneurial marketers and maid service owners.Most of the ZenMaid team members work part time for us and have their own businesses I’m happy to help them build. Anyone who can help me to get more leads, or convert more maid service owners into active users, is going to have my attention.For quite a few of our entrepreneurial team members their other business is an actual maid service in which they use ZenMaid. I can’t dogfood my own software anymore since exiting my maid service. But the next best thing is hiring our customers or potential customers to help with customer service, marketing, account management, and more.Where can we go to learn more?Your website: theamaricandream.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/godblessamarica Instagram: https://instagram.com/TheAmaricanDream/ If you have any questions or comments, drop a comment below!Amar Ghose, Founder of ZenMaid‍

#/r/smallbusiness #reddit

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marcosplavsczyk · 7 years

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Eighty-two percent of the enterprises expect the number of databases to increase over the next twelve months. An increase in data volumes can have negative effects on the performance of databases. Think about the storage requirement and backup strategy to meet the Recovery Time Objective and the Recovery Point Objective. RPO and RTO are two of the most important parameters of a disaster recovery or data protection plan.

Database backup overview

Let us take a look at some of the most common ways to back up the SQL Server database, and some of the best and most feasible solutions for data protection and disaster recovery scenarios.

Let us focus on handling huge volumes of data using various techniques and/or methodologies. Some of us may have questions on how to decide the best-suited backup strategies for our environments; on automating and managing SQL Server database backup; on whether we should automate the database backup process using T-SQL, SSIS, or PowerShell or some other tool or technique; what the data recovery and protection plans available are; whether the SQL engine provides the required capabilities to schedule a job and run it across multiple servers; whether customization options are available; whether we have a robust method to perform backup activity.

Let find out the answers to those questions. I’m sure you’ll not be disappointed!

Getting started

A database administrator must make sure that all databases are backed up across environments. Understanding the importance of database backup is critical. Setting the right recovery objective is vital, and hence, we need to consider the backup options carefully. Configuring the retention period is another area to ensure integrity of the data.

Backing up data regularly is always a good strategy on the one hand, and on the other, we must regularly test the backup copies to ensure that they’re tested and validated for smooth working of the systems, and to prevent any sort of corruption or, under extreme conditions, a disaster. The well-tested SQL Server database backup script that we’re going to discuss provides an essential safeguard for protecting the (critical) data stored in the SQL Server databases. Backups are also very important to preserve modifications to the data on regular basis.

With a well-configured SQL Server database backup, one can recover data from many failures such as:

Hardware failures

User-generated accidents

Catastrophic disasters

Let us now look at the various options and methodologies which can be used to initiate a database backup.

There are different ways to back-up a database:

SSMS – Backups can be performed manually using SQL Server Management Studio

SQL Agent Job – Using a T-SQL script for backup

Using Maintenance Plan – SSIS Packages

SMO (SQL Server Management Objects) – PowerShell Scripts

Using ApexSQL Backup

This article talks about the use SQL Server Management Objects (SMO) and its advantages in making life easier. SMO is a complete library of programmatically accessed objects that enable an application to manage a running instance of Microsoft SQL Server Services. PowerShell is used to create this SQL Server databases backup script using the SMO classes. The script backs up specific or all databases of an instance to the backup location, or a local/remote/network share, and manages the backup files as per the retention period set.

Let’s look at how other DBAs in the industry are tackling massive data growth, what their most important goals are, and strategy to backup SQL Server databases automatically. Let us also look at some of the third party tools for backup management.

The first three options are very well discussed in the How to backup multiple SQL Server databases automatically article. Now that the first three points are already covered, let’s look at the use of the PowerShell SMO options with ApexSQL Backup. We’ll learn about how we can increase the database performance and eliminate downtime to give users the best experience possible using ApexSQL Backup. Today’s challenge is to give customers the most visually appealing and contextually rich insights possible in a user-friendly interface. ApexSQL has all the rich features and has the intelligence to manage and deploy a SQL backup plan to many SQL instances. A good way to start this process is to test the feasibility by downloading the free trial version of the tool.

Initial preparation

The goal of many organizations is to manage the backup of SQL Server databases automatically. We’ll go through the necessary steps to create the PowerShell SQL Server database backup script shortly. We can list any number of SQL servers and databases using the script. We can also create multiple jobs to initiate backup on multiple servers.

Pre-requisites

Enable XP_CMDSHELL

EXEC sp_configure 'show advanced options', 1; GO -- To update the currently configured value for advanced options. RECONFIGURE; GO -- To enable the feature. EXEC sp_configure 'xp_cmdshell', 1; GO -- To update the currently configured value for this feature. RECONFIGURE; GO

Before you proceed, set the execution policy on PowerShell

Load the necessary modules if they’re not loaded automatically

Add full rights on file share or local or remote location where you’d like the backups stored

Add default permissions to BACKUP DATABASE and BACKUP LOG to members of the sysadmin fixed server role and the db_owner and db_backupoperator fixed database roles

The following code section details

Handling multiple SQL Server databases automatically

Managing local or remote database backups

Email notification upon completion of every successful backup

Setting the retention period

Scheduling automated jobs

Constructing the PowerShell script

Let us walk through the script, step-by-step, along with looking at the details of the setup and configuration of the script. The complete script can be found in Appendix (A)

Step 1: Declare the variable, and load the SMO library

Step 2: Define the email functionality

Step 3: Looping through databases

Step 4: Initiate Database backup and Email body preparation

Step 5: Manage database backup file

Let’s now go about using this script to back up the database by scheduling an SQL Job. Using Object Explorer, expand the SQL Server Agent. Right-click on Jobs. Select New job.

In the General tab of the window that pops up, enter the name, owner and the description for the job. Let’s call this SQLBackupCentralizedJob.

In the Steps tab, click on New to configure the job.

In the General tab,

Mention the step name as SQLBackup,

Set the job type to Transact-SQL script (T-SQL)

Select the master database in the Database box.

Paste the following script that will be used for this job in the Command box. Click OK.

master..xp_cmdshell 'PowerShell.exe F:\PowerSQL\MSSQLBackup.ps1'

Click OK.

We have now successfully created the job.

Right-click on SQLBackup_CentralizedJob and run it.

We can check the backup folder for the backup files; it would tell us the progress, like so:

Invoke_SQLDBBackup -SQLServer HQDBT01 -BackupDirectory f:\SQLBackup -dbList "SQLShack_Demo,ApexSQLBAckup" -rentention 3 -Mail Yes Invoke_SQLDBBackup -SQLServer HQDBSP18 -BackupDirectory f:\PowerSQL -dbList "SafetyDB,rtc,rtcab1" -rentention 3 -Mail Yes

Verify the email

Back up multiple SQL databases with ApexSQL Backup

ApexSQL Backup is a third-party software solution that can be used to define and/or manage the backup/restore processes and perform various maintenance operations. The tool is capable of performing the backup of SQL Server databases automatically.

The backup of multiple SQL databases can be configured in a few simple steps:

Step 1: Register the server

Select Home tab

Click Add button

Enter the SQL Server

Select authentication type

Click Ok

Step 2: The Backup Configuration Wizard

Now you should see all the databases that are available on that server. Click on the Backup button on the Home ribbon tab to configure the jobs.

The main tab of the backup wizard is for backup settings and defining the backup configuration. This section has three options

Backup

Select the SQL Server from the drop-down list; you can select the server you’d like to configure the backup for

In the Databases, browse and select the intended databases for backup

Click OK

Next, set the backup type, defining the backup location and its standards

Select the type of the database backup

To have a better experience, set the Job name and the Job description. It’s usually a good practice to do so.

Click on the Add Destination button, and set backup the destination path, or configure custom naming rules.

Browse for the destination path in the Folder text box.

In the Filename box, configure the format of the backup filename by clicking on the corresponding tags—you can select from the seven available tags. Each of those can be included in the backup filename. Check the summary and click OK if everything is configured as required. You can click on ApexSQL defaults to reset the configuration.

Click OK

Now, let us schedule the backup job using the Schedule wizard. This wizard is invoked using the overflow (…) button.

In the wizard, set the frequency, daily frequency and activity schedule of database backup as desired. Check the summary at the bottom of the page to confirm that the configuration is done as required. Click OK to save changes in the Schedule Wizard.

Click OK.

The Advanced tab

We can add various media, verification, compression and encryption options along with encryption settings in the Advanced tab of the wizard.

Set the retention period in the cleanup tab to clean-up the database backup files

Click OK.

Notification

Use the notification tab to set the type of alerts you would like an email notification sent for.

Use Options tab to select the notification events

Click the Add button to add recipient details

Click OK to commit.

After the configuration is complete, click OK to confirm the same. This would create backup jobs for the databases. We performed one configuration, but it created jobs for each of the databases we selected. It couldn’t get any easier! Of course, you can make individual modifications to create exceptions.

Select the Schedules view in main application form to check the jobs we created. Just like selecting the databases, you can check the box on the header to select all the schedules we created. Right-click on any of the schedules to bring up the context menu. Select Run now. The corresponding jobs will be executed immediately, irrespective of the schedule settings—this is like a force-run.

The result column shows the final status of the database backup jobs—the status of each of the jobs that have the schedule information in the central repository. If you’d like to perform an action on any one job, you can select the relevant checkbox and click on the action, such as Run now, or Disable.

The activities tab, the central dashboard to view the job activities performed through ApexSQL Backup.

The message column gives user-friendly information, which is helpful in troubleshooting the backup jobs. The initial two failures as seen below are due to the fact that the database was offline. It was later fixed, and the job completed successfully in the third attempt.

The History tab shows the backup history for the database selected from the Server pane on the left.

Let us now check for the backup files that got created in the folder we specified as the backup path. We can easily recognize the backup files by their custom filenames. The creation date and time are also available. Notice the file names marked in red.

Also, here’s the summary email notification (Success and Failure)

Wrapping Up

In an environment that relies on a SQL Server backup database script, or a managed native backup methodology, one could try using PowerShell scripts using SMO. We also saw how to backup SQL Server databases automatically using scripts. PowerShell scripts are mostly sequential in nature, unless they are enhanced in order to run parallel processes. However, the latter takes significant effort to define and configure. ApexSQL Backup makes managing these processes much simpler because of its built-in options to handle these tasks in a more efficient manner.

References

How to backup multiple SQL Server databases automatically

Using the Set-ExecutionPolicy Cmdlet

Using PowerShell and SMO to list Databases (and other stuff)

Send-MailMessage

Appendix (A)

Function Get-SQLDBBackup { param ( [Parameter (Mandatory=$true,Position=0)][String]$SQLServer, [Parameter(Mandatory=$true,Position=1)][String]$BackupDirectory, [Parameter(Mandatory=$true,Position=2)][String]$dbList, [Parameter(Mandatory=$true,Position=3)][int]$retention, [Parameter(Mandatory=$true,Position=3)][String]$Mail) #loading SMO library [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("Microsoft.SqlServer.SMO") | Out-Null [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("Microsoft.SqlServer.SmoExtended") | Out-Null [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("Microsoft.SqlServer.ConnectionInfo") | Out-Null [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("Microsoft.SqlServer.SmoEnum") | Out-Null # Setting the backup data in yyyyMMdd_HHmmss that is 20170619_130939 $BackupDate = get-date -format yyyyMMdd_HHmmss Function sendEmail { param($from,$to,$subject,$smtpServer) [string]$recipients="$to" $body = New-Object System.Net.Mail.MailMessage $from, $recipients, $subject, $body $smtpServer = $smtpServer $smtp = new-object Net.Mail.SmtpClient($smtpServer) $smtp.Send($body) } #Define the SMO class library $Server = new-object ("Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.Server") $SQLServer #Iterating the SQL Server databases of a given instance foreach ($Database in $Server.databases) { # Teh foreach($db in $DbList.split(",")) { if($Database.Name -eq $db) { $DatabaseName = $Database.Name $DatabaseBackup = new-object ("Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.Backup") $DatabaseBackup.Action = "Database" $DatabaseBackup.Database = $DatabaseName #Set the directory for backup location $BackupFileName=$BackupDirectory + "\" + $DatabaseName + "_" + $BackupDate + ".BAK" #write-host $BackupFileName $DatabaseBackup.Devices.AddDevice($BackupFileName, "File") try { Write-Progress -Activity "Please wait! Backing up SQL databases... " -Status "Processing:" -CurrentOperation "Currently processing: $DatabaseName" $DatabaseBackup.SqlBackup($Server) $body=@" Notification that a $DatabaseName is backed up! successfully with date and time stamp $BackupDate "@ } catch { $body=@" Notification that a $DatabaseName is backed failed! with an error message $_.Exception.Message "@ } write-host $status if ($Mail ='Yes') { sendEmail -To "[email protected]" -Subject " $SQLServer -> $DatabaseName Backup Status" ` -From "[email protected]" -Body $body ` -smtpServer "hqmail.abc.com" } # Preparing the UNC path for the database backup file handling # fetching the drive letter. First argument is that starting position in the string, and the second is the length of the substring, starting at that position. $drive=$BackupFileName.substring(0,1) $len=$BackupDirectory.length #write-host $len #Selecting the string portion of a directory that is fetching the string starting from the character posittion $path=$BackupDirectory.substring(3,$len-3) #write-host \\$SQLServer\$drive$\$path # Listing the files which is older than 3 minutes in this caseon a server. It can be local or remote location $file=get-ChildItem \\$SQLServer\$drive$\$path -recurse -Filter $DatabaseName*.bak | Select-object LastWriteTime,directoryname,name |where-object {$_.LastWriteTime -lt [System.DateTime]::Now.Addminutes(-$rentention)} #Iterating each file and remove the file with remove-item cmdlet foreach($f in $file) { $filename=$f.directoryname+'\'+$f.name write-host 'File deleted' $filename remove-item $filename -Force } #$DatabaseBackup | select LogicalName, Type, Size, PhysicalName | Format-Table -AutoSize } } } } Get-SQLDBBackup -SQLServer HQDBT01 -BackupDirectory f:\SQLBackup -dbList "SQLShack_Demo,ApexSQLBackup" -rentention 3 -Mail Yes Get-SQLDBBackup -SQLServer HQDBSP18 -BackupDirectory f:\PowerSQL -dbList "SafetyDB,rtc,rtcab1" -rentention 3 -Mail Yes

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itsworn · 7 years

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How to Start Your Own YouTube Motorsports Channel

Quick tips for starting your own YouTube channel focused on motorsports…and how you can make money from it.

Besides having the best job in the world—How else would you describe getting to spend your days in the engine and chassis shops of some of the smartest people in racing and getting them to share what they know?—one of my hobbies is making videos for YouTube.

My YouTube channel (www.YouTube.com/TheHorsepowerMonster) started almost by accident. I started shooting video at different race tracks and simply wanted a place to put them to show my friends. Before long I was using the channel to document interesting engine builds that didn’t suit Circle Track’s editorial coverage and whatever else that interested me in the world of horsepower and motorsports.

Somehow, despite numerous mistakes along the way, The Horsepower Monster YouTube channel has developed a following of twenty-thousand subscribers and, through YouTube’s revenue sharing program, brings in enough money each month to treat my wife to dinner, or, more realistically, buy a few car parts.

Recently, my editors asked me to share a few things I’ve learned about building a YouTube channel, and that’s really not a bad idea. YouTube is a great option for racers and teams looking to do a better job of marketing themselves for sponsors and to their fans. YouTube is free to use, you control your message and everyone is familiar with it.

So, here’s a few tips for starting and setting up your own YouTube channel. Much of what I’m sharing here was learned the hard way. Also, my channel is by no means a media powerhouse like Motor Trend’s massive channel (or any untold number of teenage girls’ making makeup tutorials or whatever it is they do), but maybe there are a few tips here that can help you.

Just Get Started – A little hesitant because you’ve never shot or edited video before? That’s probably true for just about everybody on YouTube. Want to see the first video I ever made? You can’t, because I’ve deleted it. But despite its cringe-worthy quality it did help me get started. If you do a little research on videos already up on the website, you will see that quality varies wildly. People don’t watch online videos expecting to find the next Lucas or Spielberg, they just want to watch videos on the topic they are interested in. So get out there, start putting up videos, and make an effort to make each video you put out better than the last.

Equipment – I admit I’m a bit of a gear fanatic. I’d already been a professional photographer for years, so when I got into video I went out and invested in new gear. But honestly, camera gear should be one of the last things you worry about. And I’m living proof. Despite all the money I’ve spent on video equipment, the most-watched video on my channel was shot with my stinking cell phone. (https://youtu.be/XWs5OeVHYso) I was at the PRI trade show when Street Outlaws’ Big Chief unveiled his new race car, the Crowmod, and the only thing I has one me was the phone in my pocket. The success of that video obviously comes from hitting on a subject many people were searching for and has nothing to do with the quality of equipment used to film it.

Editing Software – Learning to use video editing software can be a bit intimidating. But just like video gear, don’t feel like you have to dive right into the deep end. There is good quality video editing software that’s absolutely free, no matter whether you are an Apple guy (iMovie) or prefer Windows (Windows Movie Maker, among others). Before you spend money on any editing software, try out one of the free systems just to get a little experience under your belt. Then you will know what you like and what you don’t before you decide on a software package with more horsepower.

Settle on Your Topic – You can’t be all things to all people—so don’t even bother trying. Find a topic that interests you and stick with it. Don’t worry about trying to produce videos on topics that are the most popular at the moment. If the subject doesn’t interest you, your quality will suffer, and people can always tell if you are just trying to mine for views. There are enough people watching online videos every day on practically every topic. I love oddball engine builds and documenting my own project builds (https://youtu.be/W6b6YQ6Rn7c) and apparently, some other people out there do, too. So find a topic and stick with it, and put your family vacation videos on a separate channel.

Go Ahead and Monetize – YouTube is owned by Google, and the two companies make it very easy to earn money on your videos with ads placed around your work. If you allow YouTube to do it, the company will place ads around your video and share a portion of the proceeds with you. Here’s a link to walk you through the process: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/72857?hl=en Only the most popular YouTubers with millions of views on every video make really significant money, but every little bit helps, right? It is important to note that most advertisers only want their ads associated with videos that won’t offend anyone, so family friendly videos usually seem to do draw more ads than the more mature stuff.

Don’t Steal – Your intellectual property is valuable, and thankfully, YouTube takes copyright violations very seriously. So while the good news is you can be confident other people won’t be ripping off your videos, you must also be careful not to accidentally violate anyone else’s copyrights. For example, a common mistake many new YouTubers make is to put a popular song on their video as background music. YouTube’s algorithms will catch that right away. Instead, pay a couple bucks for some royalty free music that you can use legally. Just do a Google search for “royalty free music” and it will give you hundreds of options. There’s even free royalty free music out there if you look hard enough. Good music can help set the tone of a video, so put the effort in to find just the right track. https://youtu.be/JMqRxjsq01E

Be Regular – This is certainly something I don’t do, but all the most successful YouTubers will tell you that a key to success is providing your fans a steady diet of videos. This means you’ve got to put up new videos on a regular schedule. That requires dedication, and you have to make your channel a priority. Of course, if you don’t it’s not the end of the world. I consider my channel a hobby, so I put up new videos whenever I get around to it. And lately, I haven’t gotten around to it very much. How regular you are with your channel is up to you, but just be aware that regularly posting videos will help you be more successful.

Keep Your Eyes Open – Every video you produce doesn’t have to be a major production. Sometimes quick, simple and fun videos can be quite popular—especially if you see something that’s a bit unusual. When we built a Honda to take LeMons racing for Circle Track a few years ago we splurged to have a local pinstriper decorate our car. While he was working I put a camera on a tripod and let it run while I went and did something else. We took the best clips, sped them up and came up with a time-lapse video of the car we called “Poor Man’s Derrike Cope” getting lettered. It turned out to be a fun video with very little effort on my part. https://youtu.be/caswtTWP48s

Don’t Put Up with Idiots – The problem with putting anything online is that it tends to draw the haters and idiots. A strength of YouTube is the online community that will comment on your videos. They start conversations and bring others to your videos. But that doesn’t mean you have to put up with idiots. YouTube has a delete option with every comment. If something comes to your video with a legit complaint or question, it deserves to stay. But some “experts” like to criticize people, and the hard work they’ve invested to create a video, in order to make themselves feel better. If they don’t contribute anything and only bring negativity, save yourself the heartburn and simply delete ‘em. Believe me, the legit viewers don’t want to see their crappy comments either.

Get Help – Don’t forget that the videos you produce may help others promote themselves, too, and they can help you draw more eyeballs. Do you shoot videos at your local track? Let them know. Let the race promoter know he or she is welcome to embed the video on their social media. The track gets good-looking media to help promote themselves, and you get more people viewing your work. Win/win. If you document and engine build let any parts manufacturers you mention by name know that they are in your video. Most larger companies have people that monitor any company mentions on social media, so all you’ve got to do it tag them when you post your video on Facebook.

Be Unusual – Race fans already know what a race looks like from the stands, why not take them into the car with you? After all, everybody dreams of being a race car driver. Now you can show them what it’s really like. Advancing technology have made high-quality, small action cameras affordable these days, and it’s amazing some of the shots you can get with them. Invest in a GoPro or similar camera and see what new and unique shots you can get at your next race. https://youtu.be/Ynu01zKFq_0

So there you go. That’s just a few lessons I learned making videos. Now get out there, get busy making great racing videos, and make sure you let us know when you do.

The post How to Start Your Own YouTube Motorsports Channel appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

from Hot Rod Network http://www.hotrod.com/articles/start-youtube-motorsports-channel/ via IFTTT

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archiebwoollard · 8 years

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9 Incredible PPC Hacks For Australian Businesses (Part 1)

Australian PPC advertisers have difficulty regularly staying afloat in an industry that is consistently changing, as Google modifies their platform several times a year. However, it is possible to cut through all the noise, speed up your learning curve, and go directly to the center of an impactful and effective PPC marketing strategy.

Just about everyone is making use of pay-per-click advertising, but not all of those people are utilizing it correctly. Using the following hacks, you’ll substantially advance your PPC campaigns.

PPC Hack 1 – Reduce spending and enhance your Quality Score

As consumers we are always comparison shopping. We search, browse a site that interests us, and then conduct another search until we’re satisfied with our selections. For instance, if purchasing a luxury house we may search for “luxury home builders Sydney”, and after clicking some of the results that turn up, perform another search with similar keywords.

During this process, sometimes a PPC ad for the website will appear again in the paid search results for their next searches. This has a negative impact on the advertiser for two reasons:

The ad may not get clicked because the user has already found and clicked on the link to the same web page earlier. As such, the advertiser will see an increase in impressions without any extra clicks. This will result in a reduced CTR (click-through rate) and may produce a diminished Quality Score. Low-Quality Scores may lead to higher rates per click for the advertiser.

If the user has forgotten about the website they already clicked and then proceeds to click the PPC ad, the cost of the click will negatively impact the advertiser’s CPC (cost-per-conversions) and conversation rate.

Either way, this is not an ideal scenario for any PPC advertiser!

To resolve this issue, RLSAs (Remarketing Lists for Search Ads) can help filter out users who have sent you a message on your inquiry form.

You can learn more about it if you’re a PPC remarketing beginner here. http://www.digitaladvertisingworks.com/services/remarketing

To get this solution up and running:

Keep your Privacy Policy updated by adding the information about your use of remarketing cookies. https://support.google.com/adwords/answer/2549063?hl=en-GB

If you haven’t already, ensure your remarketing tag is activated in Google Analytics.

Develop your RLSA list of users who have visited the ‘Thank You’ page upon completing your website’s inquiry form.

Establish the duration of your RLSA list to a length of your preference so this audience won’t be exposed to your ads. Keep in mind that RLSA lists require a minimum of 1,000 members to operate (you only need 100 with conventional display remarketing). With that, ensure your list duration is lengthy enough that you can list 1,000 members.

Add this list as an excluded audience (negative audience) to the ad group or campaign that you want regulated clicks of:

PPC Hack 2 – Utilize bid multipliers

Rather than attempting to purchase as many clicks as you can, manually select the ones best for your company instead.

Bid multipliers let you achieve this by attributing clicks of value at specified times, which is sometimes referred to as dayparting. For instance, ad clicks during the workday in Sydney are worth more to the to the advertiser in the following picture. They have employees in the office at those times to answer email and phone inquiries. Since they are a B2B organization, users searching for their keywords are more inclined to be ready to make a purchase during office hours.

What we’ve done here is created a schedule so the bids for keywords in the optimal times are higher, for Sydney restaurants, this would probably look completely different. They might place a higher value on clicks in the evening or on the weekend.

This is a great feature for local marketers, as well. You can place a higher bid value for the 5-kilometre radius around your Sydney business, for example, or for users in different states (NSW, QLD and VIC etc.) depending on what your data tells you about the value of those conversions.

Additionally, bid multipliers let you modify your bids according to the platform the searcher is using. You may learn that clicks from smartphones are worth more to your company – perhaps users are more encouraged when they’re conducting a mobile search, or they’re more inclined to take action when given the “click-to-call” option.

Suggestion: Be selective and refrain from purchasing everything. The bid modifiers allow you to bid higher on clicks that effect your company.

PPC Hack 3 – Take advantage of extended ad headlines

You can now use extended ad headlines to produce ads with lengthy headlines to get a leg up on the competition.

Experiment with lengthy headlines without removing your current ads to ensure that they’re worthwhile prior to replacing your existing ads.

To modify your headline, use a keyword-focused headline as well as one that elicits emotion. For instance, if you perform a search for “Sydney holidays”, you’ll see that most of the ads revolve around pricing, yet not many catch your eye with descriptive language, such as ‘Discounts – Up to 80%’:

PPC Hack 4 – Create powerful ads that stimulate emotion

Most advertisers don’t spend too much time crafting the wording of their ads. Studies show that most ads come across as lackluster to many users.

You can see how identical the above ads are. They lack enthusiasm, look too similar, and aren’t getting very many clicks.

In contrast, check out this ad below, which gets at least 6 times the amount of clicks the above gets, on average:

Stay tuned for Part Two …..

The post 9 Incredible PPC Hacks For Australian Businesses (Part 1) appeared first on daWorks.

from daWorks http://www.digitaladvertisingworks.com/ppc-hacks-to-help-australian-businesses/

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