#all my other shows release at like 2am for me already let me have doctor who at least!!!

[letthebookbegin]

really not vibin with this choice to release new doctor who episodes at a time more convenient for usamericans to watch but less convenient for gmt timezones

#all my other shows release at like 2am for me already let me have doctor who at least!!! #it's also sad thinking of how i used to watch as a kid and it would come out like 6:30/7pmish? perfect timing for me to watch before bedtime #and obviously now i can stay up until midnight on a weekend & it's not a big deal but this generation of kids watching won't be able to & #will have to watch the next day #just. the world already caters enough to americans i get they want the big disney+ bucks but doctor is FINE on a budget in fact it's great #but yeah bigger things are happening & i'll live it's just a bit annoying 🥲 #dw #tv #*

[petersasteria]

Pride And Joy - Peter Parker

Parker || Main || Taglist

Stark!Peter x Reader - both aged up Requested? Nah. 3,621 words W: curse words, a bit of smut (omg and it's a no for minors), cheating, pregnancy, virginity loss, just Peter being a rich kid that's all, character death

* * * *

“It’s literally a big deal, Peter! You know this award means so much to me and you didn’t even attend the opening!” Gwen yelled in anger. Peter was supposed to be Gwen’s plus one at an awarding ceremony for doctors. She won the AMA Foundation Award for Health Education and it meant so much to her. It was understandable that she was royally pissed at Peter.

Peter scoffed as he sat down on the couch with his feet on top of the coffee table. The small table next to the couch had his scotch on top of it. The glass had droplets of water running down it because of condensation. Peter grabbed the glass and took a sip from it as Gwen, his long time girlfriend, kept yelling at him. Peter kept making faces as Gwen yelled. She finally took notice of this and shouted, “Are you even listening, Peter?! God! You’re so out of touch lately! I don’t even talk to you anymore!”

“Oh, shut up, Gwen!” Peter rolled his eyes. “You’re a pain in the ass, you know that?!” Peter stood up from the couch and walked to the door.

“Where are you going?? We’re not done here, Peter! I’m still talking to you!”

Peter turned his head to look at her and said, “Yeah? Well, I’m done talking to you! Without me, you wouldn’t even have your award and you wouldn’t even attend medical school because you couldn’t afford it! Let’s not forget that I paid for your tuition fee and for everything else related to your studies. You don’t see me bragging about it, now do you?!”

Gwen shook her head as tears streamed down her face, “You’re such an asshole.”

“I’ve been called worse by better.” Peter said sassily before leaving the house. The door shook as he slammed it, making Gwen jump back in surprise. She retreated to hers and Peter’s shared bedroom and cried herself to sleep.

Meanwhile, Peter went to his favorite bar and drank the night away there. That’s where he met you. You were the new singer in the club and it was your first night on the job. It wasn’t your ideal job, but it pays the bills. Besides, you were thankful that you got a decent voice. Otherwise, you’d be waitressing and you didn’t have the patience to deal with people in general.

Peter loved your voice. It made him sober despite drinking copious amounts of alcohol. He just sat there and listened and hummed along to the songs he knew. When it was your break, he approached you.

You and the band were talking, getting to know each other when Peter tapped your shoulder. You turned around and smiled at him. Plus, he was cute. “Hi!” You greeted.

“Hey.” He smirked. “You’re a really good singer. I’m Peter.” He offered his hand for you to shake and you gladly took it. “I know. You’re, like, everywhere.” You giggled. “I’m Y/N.”

“Nice to meet you, Y/N.” Peter said before carefully letting go of your hand. He smiled to himself as he thought of your name rolling off on his tongue. It sounded right.

“Would you like to grab a drink with me?” Peter asked politely. “I’d love to get to know you.”

“I’d love to, but I’m about to sing in a minute.” You said. “But my shift ends in an hour, if you’re still up by then.”

“I’ll wait.” Peter winked as he walked to a new table, closer to where you were performing. He called for a waiter and ordered a drink as he watched you get ready.

You took a sip of water and turned on your mic. You slightly leaned forward and spoke through it, “Hi, everybody! I’m now back for my second set. This next song is for the people who recently got cheated on by their man-”

A man shouted “GO OFF, SIS” somewhere in the back and it made you chuckle. Your chuckle was music to Peter’s ears. He has never heard an angel chuckling before, but he was convinced that it sounded like yours.

“Anyway, this song is called ‘Irreplaceable’ by Beyonce.” You smiled before turning to your bandmates and nodding at them to start playing.

You sang a few more songs and before you knew it, your shift was over. “That’s my last song for tonight. My name is Y/N and you can catch me here every night from 9PM to 2AM. Thank you and have a good night!” You said before turning off your mic and thanking your bandmates. You walked towards Peter and asked, “Is this seat taken?”

He grinned and shook his head. You sat down in front of him and said, “It’s been a long time since I last drank.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. I can’t really handle it well and I do crazy shit. That’s why I moved here. I want to start fresh and all that.” You told him before calling your new friend, Amy, to order your drink. Amy’s a waitress and she’s really kind to you. She showed you how things went and everything.

Amy walked towards you and you told her, “You know my favorite drink already.” Amy grinned and said, “You got it, Y/N/N.” She left and immediately got you your drink.

You and Peter stayed there until 5AM just talking and laughing and drinking. It wasn’t until you looked at your watch that you noticed the time. “Oh, shit. It’s already 5AM.” You giggled before downing the last drop of your drink. “I have to leave and get some sleep.”

“I’ll take you home.” Peter offered, downing his last drink as well.

“You don’t have to do that. I live just around the corner.” You smiled at him. “Thank you, though.”

“Nonsense! It’s my day off, anyway. I’d also be really happy to know that you’re safe.” Peter said and you shrugged. “Alright.”

You went to the back and grabbed your bag as Peter waited for you outside the front of the bar. You finally walked out and Peter grinned at you. You two walked together and true enough, your apartment was really near. He offered to walk you upstairs and you allowed him to.

When you got there, you stood in front of your door and said, “Well, this is me. Thanks for walking me home.”

“No problem.” Peter smiled. You looked at each other for a while and Peter couldn’t help himself. He leaned forward and kissed you. You were in shock for a second, but you immediately kissed back. His arms wrapped around your waist and your arms were around his neck. It was getting heated and you decided to pull away for air.

“Oh my god. I’m so sor-”

“Don’t apologize.” Peter panted. “Don’t be sorry. We both know we want it. Why should we stop?”

You looked at him before quickly turning around to unlock your door. You and Peter quickly went inside and you locked the door as soon as you got in. He took your hand in his and pulled you towards him to kiss you once more.

You pulled away and said, “Wait, not here.” You brought him to your room and he pushed you on your bed as he got on top of you and leaned in to kiss you. Before you knew it, yours and his clothes were on the floor and as he lined himself in your entranced, you stopped him.

“I’ve never done this before.” You blurted out.

“What?” Peter said.

“I’ve never… done it… before.” You said and you were embarrassed that you had to tell him that. In fact, you wished you kept your mouth shut. He looked at you and shrugged, “That’s okay. I’ll be gentle, I swear.”

He smiled at you softly before pecking your lips sweetly and lining himself in your entrance again. You relaxed a bit as he slowly entered you. It hurt a bit and once he was fully in, he lets you adjust to him before slowly thrusting. Once you got used to it, you begged him to go faster until you felt something forming in you.

“I think I’m gonna-” You moaned.

“Just let it out.” Peter grunted. You did as you were told and Peter released in you too. He rode out your highs and pulled out before laying next to you. Both of you were gasping for air and you didn’t say anything for a while.

“Oh my god.” You said as soon as you caught your breath. “I can’t believe I lost my virginity to a Stark.”

“You’re welcome.” Peter said with a smirk.

Your little rendezvous with Peter happened every day since you met. It always happened at your small apartment and you felt sorry for your neighbors who got to hear you moaning through the thin walls. Peter didn’t care, though. He loved hearing you. He’s got you wrapped around his finger and you didn’t even notice that. You were innocent and fresh and he loved it.

He still went home and he still went on a few dates with Gwen, his long time girlfriend. Peter knew what he was doing and he knew it was wrong, but there was something about you that he really liked that he couldn’t put his finger on. He never told you about Gwen and he never told Gwen about you. It was meant to be that way until everything changed.

You were pregnant.

After all the wild sex that you and Peter did, you realized that he never wore protection. You quickly texted Peter about it and Peter quickly went to see you.

“What the fuck?!” Peter said as soon as you opened the door. You rolled your eyes and allowed him to come in before closing it.

“Yes. I’m pregnant and you’re the father.”

“I can’t be the father.” Peter shook his head.

“Well, too bad. You’re the father of this baby that I’m carrying. Besides, how can anyone else be the father? You’re the only man I’ve been sexual with. Why are you so upset?” You told him with a frown and somehow seeing you frown made Peter sad. He walked up to you and gave you a hug which you gladly returned.

“We’ll get through this.” Peter said even though he knew he was screwed. What would his father, Tony Stark, say? Tony would be disappointed, that’s for sure. He’d be yelled at.

A month later, Gwen found out. She saw Peter’s phone laying around which made her roll her eyes. She grabbed it and when she did, the screen lit up as a notification came in. Gwen knew that she wasn’t supposed to look, but her guts told her otherwise. She looked at it and gasped.

It was a text from you saying that the baby is okay and that you were excited to become a mom and that you already loved the baby.

Peter got out of the shower with only a towel wrapped around his waist. He saw Gwen holding his phone and said, “What are you doing with my phone?”

“Who’s Y/N?” Gwen asked with a frown and a disappointed look on her face. “And why is she telling you all about her pregnancy? I would believe you if you told me that she’s just a friend, but she has a heart emoji next to her contact name. Who is she, Pete?”

“I cheated on you.” Peter said. It was so straightforward. He didn’t give Gwen a time to react as he just kept talking about what happened since the night of their argument. He told Gwen about how you two met, where you worked, where you lived, everything. After all, he could give Gwen was honesty. He didn’t have a reason to lie when everything’s out there.

“We’re done, Peter.” Gwen said as she tried not to cry. Peter nodded in understanding. “Peter, I love you and I always will, but that kid needs a father and I don’t want to get in the way of that. The kid is more important now.”

Gwen looked at the man she loved more than anything in the world and smiled sadly, “It wasn’t working out anymore, anyway. I wish you nothing but good luck and happiness. Since this is your house, I’ll move out. Don’t worry about me.”

Gwen walked up to him and kissed his cheek before grabbing a bag to pack her things. Peter gave Gwen a few days to move out before asking you to come live with him. You didn’t want to leave your apartment, but you figured the baby needed a decent home.

Once you moved in, Peter came clean to you about Gwen and everything. It hurt to know that you were just a side chick, but you knew it wasn’t your fault. He never told you in the beginning. Because of this, you decided not to agree to be his girlfriend when he asked.

“But why? We’re having a baby together.” Peter asked with furrowed eyebrows.

“I just- I can’t, alright?” You frowned. “I’m still so upset to find out that I’m the side chick. Just give me some time to get over it.”

After that, you were surprised that Peter still welcomed you to stay. You were always taken care of and Peter made sure that the maids made sure you were comfortable whenever he’s at work. He pampered you and he spoiled the unborn baby inside of you as well. He bought a crib, a baby monitor and all things that a baby needs.

“Peter, I’m not even close to my due date yet.” You chuckled. At this point, you were already two months pregnant. Peter smiled and said, “I don’t mind. It’s better to be early because knowing me, I forget things.”

Time passed by quickly and it wasn’t long until you were seven months pregnant. A few months back, you and Peter found out that you were having a boy and that excited both of you. Now, it’s like you’re the only one who’s excited. You noticed that Peter wasn’t happy anymore.

One night when he came home from work, you confronted him about his behavior. “Peter, are you okay? You seem really sad lately.” You said softly.

Peter stared at the wall and heavily sighed, “I made a mistake, Y/N. I’m so sorry that I have to do this to you.” The fact that he can’t even look at you says everything. You knew that what he was about to say, will ruin you. You felt it.

“I think I still love Gwen.” Peter mumbled. “What happened to us was a mistake and I’m so sorry that I gave you false hope of becoming a family. I’m really sorry.” He felt so bad. He genuinely did. It wasn’t some sick joke and he cried. You cried too, but you refused to let Peter see your tears. Instead, you sat next to him and patted his back as he sobbed with his head in his hands.

“I’m sorry, Y/N.” He cried. “I’m so fucking sorry.”

You hugged him and rubbed his back with your palm in a circular motion. “Shh, it’s okay. It’s fine, Peter. We all make mistakes.” You said, your voice trembling. You gulped and held your composure. You didn’t want to cry because you knew it would make him feel even more bad. You didn’t want that.

“It’s okay, Peter. Really, it’s fine.” You said sadly. You couldn’t help it, though. Your tears streamed down your face as you silently cried while you held Peter in your arms. “We’ll be okay.”

You quickly wiped your tears before letting go of Peter. He looked at you straight in the eyes and opened his mouth to apologize. You brought your index finger to his mouth and shook your head.

“Don’t.” You said. “I’ll move out.” You got up and started packing your things. Peter left the room because he couldn’t take it. You were an innocent person who got dragged into this mess and you didn’t deserve it. He hated hurting you, but what’s done is done.

You packed what you can and exited the room that you and Peter shared. You dragged your suitcase downstairs and Peter cringed as he heard every step you took. Peter got up from the couch when he saw you reaching for the door.

“Y/N, please promise me something.” Peter pleaded. You looked in the eyes that you’ve grown to love. You nodded and said, “Anything.”

“Promise me that you’ll give me updates about the baby. Send me pictures and videos and just tell me everything about him, okay? I want to feel close to him somehow. If Gwen takes me back, I know she won’t allow me to see you and him.” Peter explained.

“Of course. Anything for you, Pete.” You gave him a small smile before leaving.

That was the last time Peter saw you. Surprisingly, Gwen took him back and he was right; Gwen didn’t want him to see you or the kid despite what she said before about not wanting the kid to grow up without a father. In Gwen’s thoughts, Peter went back to her for a reason and that reason is to be with her. Therefore, Peter should start fresh and pretend everything related to you never happened.

You never texted Peter for a while and that scared him. You promised to update him and not getting any texts from you sent shivers down his spine.

Two months later, you texted him again. It was midnight and Peter was still awake. He was working on his laptop when he got your message. He quickly looked at it and it was a picture of you in the hospital bed with a baby in your arms; his son.

Your text read: Meet Maxim. He’s healthy and he’s fine.

Peter was so happy that he finally heard from you again. He was extremely happy. He was sad that he had no trace of you in his house because the day after you left, Peter sent yours and all the baby’s things to your apartment. It left nothing behind.

Knowing he couldn’t be physically present, Peter sent you a bouquet of flowers and a note that said: ‘Congratulations, darling. Like his name, Maxim is the greatest little boy I’ve ever seen.’

This turned into a tradition for years. Every year, Peter would send gifts for Maxim on his birthday and it would make him happy. Maxim loved his father despite not meeting him yet. He saw pictures of Peter, though. He kept his favorites in his room.

Peter and Gwen got married and even though that happened, he longed to see your updates. It felt wrong, but he just wanted to know you were okay.

One day texts from you just stopped. Peter became paranoid not knowing about yours and Maxim’s condition. He was extremely sad when a week passed by and he still hasn’t heard from you.

“Dad, can you just calm down? I’m trying here, alright!” Peter raised his voice as he spoke to Tony through the phone. “I’ll handle the M.I.T scholarships, dad. You know that I’ll handle it. What makes you think that you can’t trust me?”

“Well, you cheated on Gwen and I lost my trust in you too.” Tony sassed.

“For god’s sake, that was like eight years ago! Get over it!” Peter hissed. “Anyway, I-”

Peter got cut off upon hearing a knock on the door. “Linda, can you get that please?” He shouted from the kitchen before continuing his talk with Tony. The person behind the door knocked again and Peter sighed.

“Dad, hold on a sec.” Peter grumbled. “Linda! Can you get the door, please?!” He stayed quiet for a while and waited for Linda’s footsteps, but they never came. Peter shook his head and spoke to Tony again.

“I’ll just open the door. Linda’s probably watching TV in the maid’s quarters. She likes the volume super loud.”

“Jesus, kid. Just fire her.” Tony said and Peter imagined his father rolling his eyes and disappointingly shaking his head.

“Linda needs the job. Anyway, I’ll get the door.” Peter said as he heard knocking again. He puts his phone on the countertop. He quickly jogged to the front door and opened it.

“Hi, dad.”

Peter wanted to faint. He looked around and you were nowhere in sight. “M-Maxim?”

“That’s me!” Maxim grinned. The 8-year-old boy had the features of Peter and it was so obvious that Peter’s his father. Peter stared at him for a long time and Maxim cleared his throat, “May I come in?”

Peter could only nod as he opened the door wider for Maxim. He closed the door and quickly went to the kitchen. He grabbed his phone and said, “Dad, I’ll call you back.”

“Why? What ha-”

Peter hung up the phone and turned his attention to his son who was standing behind him. “Was that grandpa?” Maxim asked with an innocent look on his face.

“Yeah.” Peter smiled softly. “Where’s your mom?”

Maxim frowned, “She’s dead.”

Peter’s heart stopped. Maxim told him about how you met your demise and Peter couldn’t function anymore. The mother of his child was now dead and he didn’t even get to say goodbye. It broke him and his heart broke even more for his son because he was motherless at the tender age of eight. He looked at his precious son with sad eyes as Maxim explained everything.

Peter hugged him tightly and swore to himself that he’d protect Maxim at all cost. He just couldn’t believe that you were gone.

* * * *

Part 2? Bc there will be whether you like it or not.

𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐏𝐄𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐊𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓: @blueleatherbag @cocoamoonmalfoy @thatforgottenangel @parkerpeter24 @slutforsr @givebuckyhisplumsnow @buckys-little-hoe @runawayolives @chewymoustachio @just-here-to-escape-from-reality @yourstrulyamour @beverlythrillz @pearce14 @juliediggory @yaya4302 @alexx-stancati @rumplebutterbaby @dummiesshort @spideyspeaches @quxxnxfhxll @marvelsimps @angelsgrxzer @dreamy-clousds @bora-world @hunnybunimdun @supred12 @more-like-reyna @caitsymichelle13

𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐋 𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓: @holland-styles @trustfundparker @calltothewild @felicityparkers @hufflepuffprincess24 @tommysparker @justasmisunderstoodasloki @quaksonhehe @call-me-baby-gir1 @itstaskeen @theonly1outof-a-billion @lost-in-the-stars03 @justafangirlduh @piscesparker @speedymaximoff @miraclesoflove @lexirv @blairscott @getbywithasmile @pqrkerr @lavender-writer @blackbat2020 @hoodpankow @bi-lmg

#peter parker #peter parker x reader #peter parker x y/n #peter parker one shots #peter parker angst #stark!peter parker #stark!peter #in-a-lot-of-fandoms-tbh

[strangest-loser]

Twilight Rewrite

Fire in my Blood ~ Jasper Hale x OC ~ Book One: Chapter Two

Chapter One

There weren't very many rules in the Swan household, and they weren't just set by Charlie, his main rule: Alessia couldn't have boys over in her bedroom, if Jacob, Quill and Embry were coming over they had to stay in the living room or the kitchen, but it was very rare that they hung out at her home anyway, they spent most of their time on the reserve.

Alessia's main rule: if Charlie got caught up at work or an emergency happened past 8pm he had to let her know he was safe so she didn't worry herself into a heart attack. That rule was established after one night when Alessia was 15 and Charlie had an animal attack emergency and didn't get home till 2am. Alessia didn't know where he was and when he came home he found her in the corner of the kitchen having a panic attack and ended up making herself sick. He never forgot that rule.

But the rule that was established by the both of them and arguably the most important rule of all: if the song was released after 1990 ... It couldn't be played in the car ever!

~' Rhiannon rings like a bell through the night and Wouldn't you love to love her?

Takes to the sky like a bird in flight and

Who will be her lover? '~

"you did not just say that to me!", came Alessia's outraged voice overlapping the velvety vocals of Stevie Nicks coming from the cruisers radio, Fleetwood Mac's 'Rhiannon' playing through the car as Alessia debated her father, "what you just said is absolute blasphemy, take it back!".

"I won't take it back, I meant what I said, 'don't stop' is the superior Fleetwood Mac song!". Came Charlie's retort as he pulled off the highway towards the airport.

"okay first of all, 'don't stop' isn't superior, the layout, 'Landslide' is their best, then 'Rhiannon', then 'Gypsy', then maybe 'don't stop'." Alessia said, leaving no room for Charlie to argue as he just gave her a look that said `we will finish this later.`

They pulled into the parking lot of William R Fairchild International Airport in Port Angeles just in time for the song to end and Alessia reached forward to change the CD. Fleetwood Mac was swapped out for The Foundations as the opening of 'Build me up Buttercup' flowed into her ears. A laugh was pulled out of Charlie as he and his daughter sang along while looking for a parking spot.

Leaning against the car as she watched her dad walk into the building to get to Bella's gate, Alessia let her nerves begin to creep back into her mind. Would Bella still be kind? Would she like her room? Would their relationship ever go back to the way it was when they were younger? Did Alessia even want that? Shaking those thoughts out of her head she felt an itching sensation in the back of her head, like someone was watching her. She looked behind her to the tree line and let her eyes focus. There was nothing there, maybe she was imagining it.

Her attention was brought back to her father walking back to the car with a suitcase in his hand and with a brunette following behind him. Alessia took this time to really look at her sister.

Bella looked like she was a little bit shorter than her. Her hair was around collarbone length while Alessia's was long, reaching the middle of her back when it was down, Bella's held a wavy curl in it while Alessia's was poker straight, the only similarity they shared was the colour, like chocolate. Bella wore comfy jeans and a shirt, a contrast to the blue and gold that was Alessia's cheerleading uniform. And funnily enough Alessia's skin held a richer tone than Bella's own pale skin, but not much.

Their eyes met and Alessia offered a soft smile to the girl she hadn't seen in four years. Her smile was returned but it didn't really reach Bella's eyes. This would take some time.

Pulling into the driveway concluded probably one of the most awkward car rides of Alessia's life. As soon as the engine cut out Alessia sprung out of the passenger seat and raced to unlock the door. After setting her keys down on the kitchen table she turned to see her father and Bella walk through the front door. "Want me to get started on dinner dad?" She asked already moving to the fridge. " I was thinking we should have a diner night tonight Al".

Alessia's mouth watered at the thought of her favourite desert at the diner, Cora's famous apple crisp with ice cream, after the weird day she had today, nothing sounded better than something familiar. "Sounds like a plan" she replies following them up the stairs to stand in the doorway of Bella's room "I tried not to decorate in here too much because I didn't know what you liked" Alessia explained looking around the room she had prepared for Bella. "No it's great, thanks Alessia" came the younger girls reply.

"ok well I'll be in my room if you need anything, dad, call me when we're leaving for food". Alessia took her leave and walked into the safehaven that was her bedroom. She adored her room. Her double bed had a homemade quilt that Leah and her grandmother had made for her 16th birthday and a bunch of pillows on top of a white bedspread. The walls were lined with photos of her friends going back through the years up until the most recent which stood on her dresser in a frame. It was taken two weeks ago in front of Emmet's jeep, Alessia and Alice were sitting on the hood laughing at each other while Emmet was staring at Rosalie with pure devotion written on his features and Jasper stood next to Alice, Edward had taken the picture. Her ceiling was covered in fairy lights and those glow in the dark stars that she put up when she was 8 which still helped her sleep at night (her most kept secret) and her desk housed her homework and her printer, next to her desk sat her bay window with a window seat that held more pillows and another blanket. The last thing that stood in her room was her bookshelf that held half fiction books and half historical books, all of which were well loved, with dog-eared and yellowed pages (her copy of 'Pride and Prejudice' was falling apart and stained with tea but she still managed to read it countless times).

Setting her backpack on her desk chair she walked over to her dresser and picked up the picture, observing it once more. It was the coldest day of February and everyone was wrapped up in coats and hats. Alice was holding Alessia's gloves hostage above her head and trying not to fall off the hood of the jeep. Rosalie was wearing her signature necklace and a pretty ring on her index finger and seemed to be engrossed in whatever Emmet was telling her. And Jasper... Alessia stopped in her tracks as she looked at the picture, Jasper was looking at her... How had she never noticed that before.

Her confusion was interrupted by a car pulling into her driveway, she set the framed picture back before walking over to the window and looking out only to see a very familiar black car pull up. An excited smile spread on her face like wildfire as she booked it out of her room and down the stairs, opening the door and running to jump on Jacob Black. "You didn't tell me you were coming! I would have planned something dastardly" she said while giggling as her best friend spun her around before setting her down and giving her his meanest look. "Absolutely not, you have gotten me grounded way too many times and it's never worth it" he said pulling her into a loving headlock while she whined and tried to escape. Once he let her go Alessia whipped her head around and her mischievous face caused Jacob so smile in a similar way. "Want to see what kind of trouble we can get into?" She asked poking him in the stomach, "oh god, we're going to die aren't we?", His response prompted a punch in the shoulder. "It's a Tuesday, I know how to restrain myself" Alessia replied like Jacob had just offended her greatly. The voice of Billy Black then came from over her shoulder, "you absolutely do not!".

Alessia zoned out as she felt that itching feeling coming from the woods again, looking out into the trees she still couldn't see anything out there, this was starting to freak her out. Her mind focused back in on her dad telling Bella that the old orange truck in front of them was her welcome home gift. This sparked a sickly feeling in Alessia's stomach, Alessia had been working her ass off doing odd shifts at the diner and even occasionally assisting Doctor Cullen at the hospital when he had patients but he needed his office sorted through and cleared up, all to save up for a car that she has needed for the past 3 years, and her sister shows up and just gets one handed to her.

Alessia stops her own train of thought there and banishes the jealousy in her mind. Jealousy was an ugly emotion that she hated seeing and hated feeling even more. Charlie hadn't seen Bella since she was 13, it made sense that he would want to spoil her.

The diner was reletively full for a Tuesday evening but it wasn't overcrowded, the atmosphere was nice, and Alessia thought that was why she liked it so much. It really felt like a friendly family restaurant. The dinner went by without much conversation other than sporadic conversations between Alessia and her dad about work and school.

"I normally get a ride to school Bella so you just need to worry about driving yourself there" Alessia said with a smile after finishing her lemonade. The conversation drew to a close when Cora came out from the kitchen with a tray of dessert, two berry cobblers and one apple crisp.

"Al, sweetheart, I've got a shift for you tomorrow evening if you are up for it, Sarah is attending a wedding" Cora told her with a kind smile. Alessia nodded through a mouthful of sweet, warm apple and Cora laughed walking away to put her name on the schedule. Bella's eyes looked up from her plate to meet her sisters, "you work here?"

"sometimes, I just do the odd shift because I don't want to get a proper job till after school, but I've gotta buy a car. Sometimes I work down at the hospital too which should help me with getting into medschool". The only thing that Alessia loved more than apple crisp was helping people.

After that eventful day drew to a close Alessia was finishing up some history homework when she thought back to her class today and how weird it was, she couldn't recall anything from the lesson but her conversation with jasper was playing on repeat in her head. He had never really spoken to her in the entire year and a bit that they were in the same class and group, but today not only did he have a full conversation with Alessia, he had started it. She thought back to the photograph on her dresser and how Jasper's eyes were very clearly trained on her face as she laughed with his sister.

This whole situation was very strange indeed.

Watching as Bella pulled into the parking lot the next morning, Alessia bid Alice goodbye and started walking towards the orange pickup parked in front of Tyler's van. "Hey Bells", Bella turned at the sound of her older sister's voice and a look of relief crossed her face at the familiar face approaching her. "I have no idea where I'm going, can you take me to the office, I have paperwork to finish", came the younger's quiet voice. Alessia shot her a small smile, she could imagine that this was nerve-wracking for Bella. She linked arms with her sister and started walking towards the building at the top of the lot.

Their quiet talking let them have time to catch up, Bella told Alessia about life in Phoenix and informed her sister that she brought her a tiny cactus that matched her own. By the time they reached the office doors they were laughing like they did when they were younger and their bond felt just a little bit stronger. "You know I missed you Bells" Alessia's voice grew softer as she looked towards the floor, for a confident girl she was never the best at eye contact when expressing her emotions. She was just about to panic at the silence that met her words until she felt her arms wrap around her waist in a tight hug, "I missed you too".

And so the next few days carried in like that, Alessia would get in the car with Rosalie, Alice and occasionally Edward, she would sit with them for lunch (catching her baby sister not-so-subtly stare at Edward, and watching him stare back), and Jasper sat next to her in every history class that week. It wasn't until Friday that things got strange.

"Honestly Bella don't worry about Edward he is so dramatic", rang out from Alessia sitting on the hood of the truck while trying to read 'Interview with a Vampire' for the millionth time in her life. Hearing Bella grumble under her breath is what made her jump off the hood and stand beside her. Their back and forth banter had Alessia standing at the bed of the truck with her back to the lot. She didn't notice it until it was too late.

Tyler's tires screeched against the ice that littered the ground and his car spun out of control. Alessia didn't comprehend what was happening until she felt a force push her out of the way making her fall and knock her lights out when her head hit the ground.

Waking up in the hospital was only something Alessia was known for once which meant that waking up with a splitting headache with Dr Cullens extremely handsome face looking down on her was thoroughly confusing for the poor girl. “did I fall asleep during my shift?”, her slurred words made the man in front of her laugh lightly before writing something on his clipboard. “No Alessia, there was an accident at the school, a van crashed into the side of Bella’s truck and you fell over and hit your head on the bed of the truck on your way down, you have concussion, everyone else is just fine”. The throbbing in her head grew worse at the words ‘hit your head’ and Alessia began to fight against the blanket that the nurse beside her was trying to wrap around her. 

“Carlisle you are gonna have to walk me through that again, my ears feel like cotton” the brunette muttered at the man as he shined a tiny light into her eyes. She was still fighting against the nurses blanket which prompted Carlisle to dismiss the nurse entirely. 

“Why do people keep trying to put this blanket on me ?”

“Because you’re in shock”

“That doesn’t mean I need a blanket. It means I need booze”.

The laugh that rang through the room didn’t come from Carlisle that time but from the opening door as the rest of the Cullen bunch came through the doors of her room. Esme, someone that Alessia considered a mother, came to her bedside and hugged the girl before Alice climbed into the bed with her and began petting her head. The rhythmic movements of the girls cool hand felt heavenly to Alessia’s poor throbbing head and she completely checked out of the conversation happening around her to lean into the younger girls touch. “you guys can afford so much expensive stuff but you cant afford blood circulation” she joked which prompted Rosalie to hit her shoulder lightly “Alessia, you are so loopy right now”. 

Her eyes drifted towards the door where a lone figure stood, Jasper’s shoulders were stiff and he looked like he would rather be anywhere else but there at that moment. This caused Alessia to deflate slightly but she quickly snapped herself out of that mentally, it didn’t have to mean anything about her.

Maybe the guy just didn’t like hospitals.

#twilight x reader #jasper hale x reader #twilight rewrite #twilight #rosalie twilight #Alessia Swan OC #bella swan #fire in my blood #original character #rosalie hale #jasper hale #alice cullen #edward cullen

[thesilverstaganddoe]

The Beginning: Psychology and the Law (Killing Eve Fic) Chapter 7

AO3 Link Chapter [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

Chapter 7: I Don’t Need Your Help

Eve had stewed after her fight with Oksana. She’d felt sick; her stomach felt twisted and nauseous and it wasn’t because of alcohol. She’d started a glass of wine when she’d gotten home and then ultimately threw it into the sink. It had shattered, splashing droplets of red up onto Eve’s white shirt. She’d ignored it, let it stain. The glass shards stayed in the sink for three days.

She wasn’t sure why she was mad. Logically, she knew Oksana hadn’t done anything wrong, there was nothing to be mad about and that was probably the reason she felt sick. She knew she shouldn’t have lashed out. But she was angry, really angry. For whatever reason.

For a little while, she thought maybe she was angry at herself, mad at herself for failing and taking second place to Oksana. But she wasn’t, she really wasn’t. In spite of it all, she was proud of herself. She’d succeeded, exceptionally well, at a new job, in a new field and she was proud of that.

She was proud of Oksana, too.

That made her feel worse.

She was happy they had succeeded together.

That was even worse.

Oksana didn’t text her, not that Eve expected her to. She’d deserved the lecture and she knew it. Oksana also deserved an apology, she knew that as well. But she couldn’t quite bring herself to extend the white flag. She was still mad, even if she knew Oksana didn’t deserve it and she didn’t know what to say. She didn’t know if she could maintain a conversation in which she remained calm.

Still, the sick feeling in her stomach remained and on the Sunday after the fight she swallowed her pride and sent a text.

I’m sorry.

Oksana didn’t respond and Eve continued the sleepless pattern she’d been in for the past several days.

Being on break from school was rough, Eve’s life lacked the distraction of preparing for class and the time consumption of giving daily lectures. And it forced her to realize how much of her free time had been taken up by Oksana.

In the very early hours of Tuesday morning, Eve’s phone rang. She had been fading in and out of sleep and rolled over in bed, blinking the traces of it from her eyes. The phone showed 2am, barely even Tuesday. It was an unknown number and she almost didn’t answer it but she was already awake and there was no way she was going back to sleep so she might as well take the distraction.

“Hello?”

A brisk female voice answered, “Eve Polastri?” There was a fair bit of noise in the background, other voices and hard to identify sounds.

“Yes?”

“This is Dr. Yang. I have an Oksana Astankova here in the A&E, you’re listed as the emergency contact.”

Eve froze and sat bolt right. Any last traces of sleep were gone from her head in an instant and her heart was immediately pounding.

“What? What happened? Is she alright?”

“She’s fine. She was in a small motorcycle accident but she doesn’t have any major injuries, just a minor concussion. We’ll probably be releasing her within a few hours, but would only do so if there was someone who could watch over her at home.”

Eve was reeling.

“She asked for me? You said she listed me as an emergency contact?”

“Well, no. You were listed on some paperwork for a prior visit. She’s sleeping, at the moment. Is there a problem?”

Eve was scrambling out of bed, searching for pants. “No, no, not at all. I’ll come right away. What hospital?”

“Barnet.”

“Okay. Thirty minutes.”

——--

When Eve arrived at the hospital, she found Oksana in a curtained bay at the back of the A&E. She looked unconscious, but the doctor on the phone had said she was just sleeping and Eve prayed that was the case. She didn’t look too bad, as it turned out. Eve had imagined far worse in her panicked drive over. She couldn’t fail to notice the helmet sitting on a chair beside the bed, on top of a folded leather jacket. There were scuff marks across the front visor and Eve’s eyes traced over Oksana’s smooth skin, trying not to imagine what she’d look like if she hadn’t been wearing it.

She didn’t know what to do. She settled in the other chair by the bed and thought about reaching out to take Oksana’s hand. That seemed to be what people did in hospitals, not that Eve had ever been in one to know for herself. But Oksana had an IV and Eve didn’t want to hurt her and Oksana probably wouldn’t have liked that anyway.

Fortunately, before Eve could struggle with the decision any longer, Oksana’s eyes opened and settled on Eve. She groaned. “Why are you here?”

Eve raised her eyebrows. “Well, I’m your emergency contact. Apparently.”

Oksana closed her eyes again and leaned her head back into the pillow. “Right. I forgot about that.” She sounded exhausted.

Eve didn’t know what to say any more than she knew what to do. “Are...are you okay?”

Oksana gave her a fairly demeaning look. “Well, I fell off my motorcycle turning through an intersection and sort of crashed into asphalt with the entire side of my body and a little bit of my head. But, yeah, I’m totally great. Let’s go out clubbing.”

“Okasna, I’m really asking. What did the doctor say?”

She sighed. “I really am pretty much fine. I have a concussion, but it’s not that bad. I landed on my side, so my hip is pretty banged up. I’ll probably have a nice bruise. But I didn’t break anything.”

“I’m really glad. I was worried.”

Oksana’s eyes drifted closed once more and Eve almost thought she’d fallen back asleep until she spoke again. “You don’t have to be here, Eve.”

“I want to be.”

Oksana looked at her then, her eyes black. “I thought you were pissed at me.” She spat the words at Eve, but she looked genuinely...hurt. And pale as she was, IV in her hand, dressed in a hospital gown, with faint bruises starting to appear across her cheekbones, despite the helmet, Oksana wasn’t like her usual self. She seemed smaller, tired, the tiniest bit defeated.

“I’m not. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything I said.”

“Yeah, you said. I got your text.”

“I meant it.”

“Then why did you say those things?”

“I wish I could give you an answer. I guess I was in a foul mood. I really don’t know.”

Oksana rolled her eyes. “That’s a terrible answer, Eve Polastri.”

Eve felt like shit. “I know.”

But she really didn’t have a better one.

——--

Nurses came and went and Oksana lay in the bed, eyes closed. Eve wasn’t sure if she was sleeping or not, but either way she clearly didn’t want to talk. Eve watched her, watched her breathe, listened to the quiet beeping of the monitor at her bedside, and felt sick.

Oksana did open her eyes at one point, rolled her head to the side and stared at Eve. She said nothing, just stared. Eve couldn’t read her expression. Anger? Fatigue? Annoyance? Frustration? Something else?

She finally had to break the silence. “Why were you out riding around so late?” It had been bothering her.

“I guess I was in a foul mood,” Oksana said sarcastically, mocking Eve’s earlier words.

Eve didn’t push it. Oksana turned her head back to the ceiling and closed her eyes again.

Eventually the doctor came in, ran a neurological check, and looked some things over in Oksana’s chart. She nodded, seeming pleased.

“You seem to be doing well. I’m fine with releasing you, but as I said, you do need to be observed for at least the next twenty-four hours.” She looked at Eve. “You’re able to do that?”

“Yes,” Eve said, instantly. “Absolutely.”

She looked at Oksana. She was glaring at the ceiling, but didn’t make any sort of argument.

The requisite paperwork took forever and by the time they made it outside the light of the sun had started to appear over the tops of the nearby buildings. The nurse attending to Oksana insisted that hospital policy required her to be brought to the curb in a wheelchair. She protested, but only for so long, and eventually sank into the chair. Eve could tell she was in pain, not that she would ever admit it.

After they were in Eve’s car, Oksana said, “Drop me off at my place. You can go home.”

“I told that doctor I’d watch over you.”

“I don’t need your help.”

“Well, you have it anyway.”

“Why are you bothering?”

“Because...because I care, Oksana!” Eve hadn’t meant to raise her voice, but she was getting frustrated again. Maybe she’d never stopped being frustrated. Oksana turned to look out the window so Eve couldn’t see her face. “You must know that, you put me as your emergency contact.” There was silence between them and Eve kept glancing over at Oksana’s stiff body, frozen except for her hand clenching and unclenching in her lap. Eve softened her voice. “Why did you put me down?”

Oksana’s voice was barely a whisper when she finally answered. “Because I thought you were my friend. I don’t have a lot of friends, Eve.”

That hit Eve hard in the chest. “Oksana...I am your friend.” She reached out and touched Oksana on the arm, but Oksana flinched so she pulled away. “Please, let me stay tonight.”

Oksana’s fist clenched and unclenched.

“Okay.”

——-

When they pulled into the parking garage of Oksana’s building, Oksana immediately got out over the car. Eve ran over to try and help her, but Oksana shrugged her off. She hobbled on her bad hip, but eventually made it to the elevator and slammed her palm down on the button. She looked like crap, but Eve let her be. She clearly didn’t want Eve’s help and Eve figured she was pressing her luck just by being there.

Oksana sank into the couch when they got into the apartment and Eve busied herself with organizing the paperwork on the counter, finding a glass of water, and fishing Oksana’s pain meds out of her purse. She was setting the glass and bottle on the table in front of Oksana when she suddenly realized something.

“Wait, where’s your bike?”

“Uh, I think a tow company came for it. Just because I was going to the hospital, I don’t think it was banged up all that bad. I don’t really remember though I was kind of out of it in the ambulance. There’s a card or something in those papers they gave me when I left.” Oksana rubbed a hand across her face.

“I can call them in the morning and find out. Or I guess later today, it’s already morning.”

“You don’t have to do that, Eve.”

“I want to.”

Oksana exhaled sharply through her nose but she didn’t argue further.

“Here,” Eve said, reaching for the bottle of pain meds, “take these. The stuff they gave you at the A&E will wear off soon and you’ll probably be in a world of pain, especially the hip you landed on.”

“I’m fine.”

“I really think-”

“I’m fine, Eve.” Oksana snapped.

Eve bit her tongue and set the bottle back on the table.

“Okay.”

“I’m going to bed.” Oksana struggled to her feet.

“Do you need-”

“I. Don’t. Need. Your. Help.”

Oksana made her way to her bedroom and closed the door with what was probably her best attempt at a slam.

——--

Eve settled into the couch and had just drifted off to sleep when Oksana’s voice broke through her consciousness to wake her.

“Eve!”

Eve blinked a few times.

“Eve!” Oksana called louder, plaintively.

Eve scrambled to her feet, tripping over the blanket that was wrapped around them, and hurried in to the bedroom.

“What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

Oksana was curled in the fetal position on her good side, face buried in her pillow, gripping the pillowcase with white knuckles. She lifted her head when she heard Eve come in and her face was pale and scrunched up in pain.

“I...can you...can I have those pain meds after all?”

“Yeah, yes, of course. One second.”

Eve hurried out of the room, found the bottle and a glass of water and brought them back into Oksana who had buried her face in the pillow again.

“Oksana?” She nodded her head, face still buried. “Here. It looks like you take one now, another in half an hour if it doesn’t help.”

Oksana rolled over and held out her hand. “Give me the bottle.”

“Okay…” Eve handed it over. Oksana opened it, poured out four pills and swallowed them dry. “Oksana!” Eve exclaimed. “That’s too many!”

Oksana shook her head, tossed the bottle onto the bed, and rolled back to the side. She mumbled into the pillow, “It’s fine. I have a high tolerance. They won’t work if I take less.”

Eve sputtered. “They could make you sick. You already have a concussion, you could be too sleepy-”

“I’ll be fine, Eve.”

Eve wanted to keep arguing but Oksana sounded so worn out and really, it was already done, there was no point.

“Okay, but I’m staying here. I want to be sure you keep breathing.”

Oksana peered up at her from the pillow. “You’re a worry wart, you know that?”

“I don’t care, I’m staying here.”

Oksana sighed. “Okay, Eve. Whatever you say.”

She closed her eyes again, but Eve could tell she wasn’t relaxed, was still in pain. Her fingers still clenched the pillow and her face was still tight, her lips pinched together. Eve pulled a chair over to the bed and settled in. She must have watched Oksana for a while, because in time she started to relax. Her fingers slipped from the pillow, her breathing slowed, her features softened.

She looked beautiful. A very different kind of beautiful than Eve had ever seen her before, but beautiful all the same.

It really seemed like she had fallen asleep again, but then, without opening her eyes, she spoke, a goofy sort of smile on her face.

“Eve? Are you still here?”

“Yes.” Eve leaned in closer to her. “Are you okay?”

Oksana’s dopey smile grew wider. “I’m great.” She drew the last word out long and slow.

Eve felt a sense of relief settle over her. “I take in the pain meds are kicking in.”

“Yes.” She opened her eyes and looked Eve over. Even in the dark, her eyes were bright. “Thank you for staying.”

“Of course.”

“I’m glad you did. Even though I was mad at you. And I still kind of am. But you’re not being a dick anymore so I guess it’s better.”

Eve’s stomach flipped again. She looked down at her hands, twisting her fingers together. “I really am sorry.”

“I know. I don’t forgive you, but I think I will. You can make it up to me.”

Eve met Okasana’s gaze and it was soft. She clearly meant what she said, she didn’t forgive Eve, but she didn’t look angry. Eve attempted a smile.

“I’ll do my best.”

“And if you ever figure yourself out, please explain your outburst to me. Your explanation was not very helpful and I would like to understand. But I believe that you don’t really understand yourself. You should work on that.”

Eve nodded. “I’ll do my best.”

Oksana grinned. “Good. I would like you to make me pancakes when I wake up.”

“I...don’t think you want me to do that. I’m pretty terrible at cooking.”

“Fine, then you will go get them for me. The place around the corner makes coconut ones. I want lots of extra whipped cream.”

Eve couldn’t help but smile for real. “Of course. I’ll have them waiting.”

Oksana wrapped her arms around the pillow and snuggled in. Eve watched her until she was certainly asleep and her breathing was deep and even. She brushed a strand of hair off Oksana’s face, cursed herself, and left to find the pancakes.

#killing eve fic #killing eve #villanelle #Eve Polastri #oksana #oksana astankova #eve x oksana #eve x Villanelle #killing eve au #killing eve university au #killing eve teacher au #my posts #my fics

[snowpatrolfanclubbrazil]

By Paul Mcnamee

Chasing Cars was the UK's most widely played song of the Noughties. But after global success, Snow Patrol have been quiet for seven years. Frontman Gary Lightbody was drawn into the 'dirt darkness' by drink and depression but now, he tells Paul McNamee, he's found his way home.

Gary Lightbody's moment came two years ago in a gym in Santa Monica. The Snow Patrol frontman has long had a reputation of indulging his appetites. But even he was going at in on a bigger scale, with a fierce, Valhallan vigour. The band's last tour had finished in late 2012.an then: "I started drinking." he says, "with a gusto that a professional boxer might train for a prize fight. It'd be mostly beer, I was quite a happy drunk. There was a hell of a lot of fun. Until it wasn't.

"I'd get to 2am sitting on my own, have a cry, and then a glass of something [stronger], I didn't have any relationships and I wasn't having sex either.I was very hermetic. Around 2015/2016 I was drinking every day and also I was hating it. I regret doing it even though I knew I was doing it out of compulsion" He was hitting the gym in the mornings to sweat it off. Then came the moment.

"I bent down to touch my toes and everything started spinning. It felt like the floor beneath me was moving. I thoughy it was an earthquake. But I kept going on. I phoned a friend who lived around the corner. I was like, 'Are we having an earthquake?' He said "Something's going on here'.

"I had a bunch of CT scans on my head. My whole head was infected - sinus, ears, eyes, everything. I'd been having styes and stuff on my eyes. Stick a teabag on it. This was the week before I was going to France to see Northen Ireland play in their first tournament i 30 years. I siad to the doctor, 'I'm flying to France in five days'. He's like, "No, you're not. If you fly with the air pressure it's feel like daggers ripping into your head'. I was still thinking maybe I'll be alright. I spoke to a friend, Gabrielle, an acupuncturist, an extraordinary human being. She'd been trying to get me to stop drinking for while..." So he stopped. Or at least, he began to stop. And in flooded the dark realities he'd been masking.

In recent weeks, as he's been working around the release of Wildness, Snow Patrol first album in seven years, Lightbody has started to talk for the first time about the mental health problems which have plagued him for year. ("I didn't talk about anything, nobody knew, the band didn't know.") Last year, after 12 months sober, came another key moment.

"Last summer", he says, "I thought I'd be relieved to get the album done. We'd just finished. But I wasn't. I was devasted. I'd opened a place in my psyche and I didn't know how to shut the door. It was like ark of the covenant was opened [from Raider Of The Lost Ark] and there were melting faces left and right and I didn't know how to shut the thing down. So instead of talking to somebody I tried to shut myself out. Let my own face melt. And the band knew something and they flew from London and arrived at the door and I broke down and told them everything. 

I have a depressive personality that has no relationship with reality. I could be having the best time on the surface and yet my depression goes 'You're still a cunt. Don't forget that. I'm dragging you down into the inkand the dirt and the darkness'. I could be playing to 15,000 people and three hours later be in a hotel room cruying on the floor. That's happened a bunch of times. The depression and the success have no relation to each other. It's just part of me. I've learned that rather than running from it, which you can never really do - you can have and turn and face it and look it in the eyes and say I'm not afraid of you any more".

And so he went home. Back to Northen Ireland, to North Down where he was brought up. It's the place he was desperate to leave in 1994, whe he ran to Dundee to star university, to start a band , to start years of chipping away with no success. Then he wrote Run and everything changed. 

It's easy, given their time away, to forget just how huge Snow Patrol were for a period from the mid to late Noughties, Nobody, really, was bigger. The song Chasing Cars, from fourth album Eyes Open, was picked up for UA his TV show Grey's Anatomy and propelled them to massive fame. Lightbody moved to Santa Monica around 2009. ("Soon as my feet hit the sand in Santa Monica something just hit and I thought, I want to live here") Recently he claimed he'd moved back to Northern Ireland because the band were getting ready to work again  and he needed to be near them. But it feels like the truth is little more complicated.

"You're right. There are quite few reasons. My dad isn't well, my mum isn't coping very well and my niece is going to be 11 in July, I've missed most of her life living in LA.

"And I missed home. It's a time in Northern Ireland as well when it feels like we're at a bit of a crossroads again. I felt a bit of a calling back here. Not that I figure I can help in any way, but I certainly won't feel connected if I'm 5,000 miles away I wanted to reconnect". We're meeting in the Crawfordsburn Inn, the picture post card hotel not far from Gary's shorefront home, overlooking Belfast Lough.

It feels timely. We meet on the 20th anniversay of a concert in Belfast's Waterfront Hall, hosted by U2, that helped deliver a huge Yes vote in the referendum for the Good Friday Agreement. In a nation where defiant, No's had been the lingua franca, a Yes was significant. A political statement and a cleansing.

On that day, John Hume and David Trimble were ushered onstage by Bono , a man with a keen eye for a moment, U2 sang Don't Let me Down. Ash were there too, being young and hopefull. Twenty years on, as Lightbody says, Northern Ireland is at a bit of a crossroads. And he's found his way home. The album, Wildness, is worth the wait. If Snow Patrol had touched on themes of running and movement in the past, Wildness has a leitmotif of finally settling; The word 'home' is laced throught several songs. Two tracks in particular illustrate what Snow Patrol can really do - the anthemic reach of the huge, wondroug openning track Life on Earth ( a track that took Gary five years to complete) and the intimancy of What If This Is All The Love You Ever Get?), a piece with just Gary on piano, a heartbreaker written for a friend going through a divorce. 

The song Soon marks another significant theme. It deal with Lightbody's father Jack's battle with Alzheimer's . It's a simple builder, full of grace note and sadness. There is a something quietly heroic in it. The video, filmed in Lightbody's apartment, sees him and his fater watching old home movies his dad recorded throught the years. As well as the sadness over what his father is losing, there is an understanding of a farewell to lost youth that the hopefulness of that other country is worth revisiting for both of them. "I love my dad," he says. "I have a lot of respect for him so I wanted to honour him, but at the same time I also have a lot of guilt for being away for most of my adult life. I don't just mean LA, I mean Glasgow, London,  or on tour constantly. And there is probably a place in my head where I go when I'm feeling somesick and that is both a place of calm and nostalgia and also a place of guilt and some shame.

"I've felt I've been running away most of the time from myself. So [he pauses]...someof the home references are me feeling disconnected rather than connected...feeling like I'd never really found a home. I never truly felt at home when I was growinh up in Northern Ireland. Then I left and never really felt at home anywhere else. And then I moved back to Northen Ireland and now I do feel at home here, but that has also coincided with me feeling at home inside my own body. Which was the whole problem the whole time. I wasn't comfortable with myself, I didn't like myself. So you have to figure that out before you can feel at home anywhere.

The band's influence and legacy go beyond their own work. They've helped shape the sounds that have become pervasive in post-millennial pop. Lightbody and band member Johnny McDaid have written with, among others, Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift and One Direction. Snow Patrol took Sheeran on the road in the States in 2011, helping him break through. They remain close. "Between myself and Johnny McDaid, we're written a lot of things for other pop acts, him more than me", he say. "I would say Ed came fully formed from his first album. He'd done the groundwork. All the grafting that you need to do, when you're a young band. He busked his ass off from the age of 15 on the streets of London, sleeping on his mate's couch. He had turned up to gigs and said to promoter, can you give me 15 minutes after the doors open. And promoters say aye. That's how he started. He grafted harder and still does to this day - harder than anyone I know. Sheeran's returning the favour, taking the the band on an American tour autumn. 

Refusing to accept Snow Patrol as fountainheads of a sound, Lightbody says they are more like Zelig, "probably bystanders". One got away, though. Mutual friend James Corden introduced Lightbody to Adele. 

"It happened to be a birthday of somebody that James and Adele knew...and I sat down with her and she said when are we going to do [a song]. We did two days - Adele, Johnny McDaid and me - the bones of three really amazing fucking songs. But we never got round to finishing it. And then the album came out and obviously we weren't on it."

While his own album has just come out, there is already preassure to get busy on the next. Long time producer, friend and mentor Garret "Jacknife" Lee has been in touch ("he says we need to get cracking on the next one"). For now, ahead of their own arena tour in the winter, Lightbody is learning to cope, listening to podcasts ("StuffyouShouldKnow from HowStuffWorks is my favourite one") and Bon Iver ("I think he's the finest songwriter alive") and working things out. 

"Me, now not drinking, I like myself but I'm socially awkward, I'd rather be sitting with bandmates, my family. I'm 41. I know what I want.

  And that is? 

"Peace I want to make sure that every day of my life I take a moment and realise eveything is calmer. I've learned how to meditate, learned how to do Qigong. Learned a whole load of practices that I do every day. They mitigate the madness. The greatest thing I ever did for my own emotional wellbeing was to talk."

And if we went back 20 years, and said here are the successes, here are the demands it'll make on you mentally, personally, physically - would you have taken it? "I would have taken it for half the successes I can't believe what happened to us. I still can't believe when I look back at  it, at  everything that is successful that has been good. At everything that is still happening. It is a dream, It's a bloody dream."

#snow patrol #gary lightbody #article #news #interview

[heliosfinance]

Calm Down: Your Identity Has Already Been Stolen!

The last week has been dominated by the headline of the Equifax Data Breach. If you've been living a social-media free life (good for you), you might not have heard that the personal information of 143 million people were stolen from Equifax - including names, addresses, and SSNs.

The ironic part of this story is that Equifax is a credit reporting agency - the "keeper" of your credit report and score - the basic information they lost to hackers.

When these events happen (data breaches), the media, and in turn the public, seem to lose their minds about everything from their finances to their personal information, to even their basic banking accounts. Suddenly, everybody is talking about it like this event somehow wiped away everyone's savings accounts or something major.

What's even scarier is the sad realization that most people don't realize how much of their information is already out there - and how much of it has been lost, stolen, misplaced, misused, etc.

In the last several years, I've had:

My iCloud Password Hacked And Computer Held For Bitcoin Ransom

fire

I had checks stolen out of the mail and used fraudulently at major retailers

4 Credit Cards Replaced By The Issuer Early Due To Potential Fraud (the card issuer did it, not me due to fraudulent charges)

1 Credit Card actually be used fraudulently (I got a call from USAA at 2am about a suspicious charge coming from Croatia)

Countless Letter Notifications About Data Breaches, Free Credit Monitoring, and Class Action Lawsuits

The truth is, for 99.99% of Americans, you identity has already been stolen. Let's dive in to what is really happening out there and some simple steps that you can take to be a little proactive about your personal information.

Data Breaches Are Sadly Too Common

I don't know if you've seen the news in the last few years, but data breaches are extremely common - and these are just the ones we hear about because they involve a lot of data or big, well known companies.

The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse has been tracking data breaches since 2005, and it has recorded 7,674 breaches that have been made public, involving a whopping 1,070,186,516 records. That's over a billion records. Given there's only about 360 million Americans, it's a safe guess that your information is already out there.

Some of the most well-publicized breaches (although long forgotten in today's media cycle) include:

2005: MasterCard and Card Systems had 40,000,000 accounts stolen

2007: TJ Maxx was hacked and 94,000,000 accounts were stolen

2009: The US Military lost a hard drive with 76,000,000 records, including SSNs and personal information of veterans and active duty service members

2009: The biggest credit card hack in history impacted payment processor Heartland and resulted in 130,000,000 records being stolen

2010 & 2011: Sony Online Entertainment and Sony PSN had over 100,000,000 accounts stolen

2013: Evernote had 50,000,000 accounts and records compromised

2013: Target had payment information hacked from 70,000,000 transactions and records

2014: JP Morgan Chase had 76,000,000 records compromised in a hack

2015: Health insurance giant Anthem had 80,000,000 records hacked

2017: Equifax hacked and 140,000,000 records compromised

The list of hacks and personal information releases goes on and on. If you look at the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse website, you'll also sadly see that many breaches don't even know the extent of the information that was taken.

Finally, consider that this is just the "major" breaches. How many small businesses do you think mishandle or misplace your information? You give your name, address, and SSN to your dentist to file your insurance claim - are they handling your information correctly and securing it?

What about your employer? Your doctor? Your landlord? The guy you paid at the farmers market? 

Also, what about every single person you've ever written a check to? They have your bank account and routing numbers, as well as your name and address!

And it's not just your credit card number - it's also your name, address, phone number, Social Security number, health records, tax records, employment records, and more! It's all out there! This is just the world we live in today.​​​​

All Your Personal Information Is Already Out There

Have you ever looked around to see how much personal information is already available "out there" about you? It's pretty scary, but you should know so that you can arm yourself.

First, do a simple test and Google your name - what comes up? Now, what if you add your city to your name - so FIRST NAME LAST NAME CITY. What comes up? Are you shocked by the results?

Next, check out the site Pipl.com. Enter your name, email, or phone number. Do you see you address? Do you see your past addresses? Maybe you even see a picture of yourself?

Finally, now that you have an address - you can start seeing things that are public record in your county or state. Maybe you want to know your neighbor's tax bill or small business information? Any recorded documents at your county clerk? That's searchable online. 

Oh, and do you think your SSN is safe? It's not. Beyond the hacks, there are some common ways to find Social Security numbers. Prior to 2011, SSN had a common format, based on the location and year of birth. You could then use the SSN Validator for free online each day and see if you got a valid SSN. Scary!

So, you can simply find all this online? What "private" information do companies have about you? Let me show you:

Credit Reports

The Equifax breach made headlines because it was a credit reporting agency. Your credit report shows your history of borrowing, what you paid back, were you on time with it, and more. It's a useful document for your finances, and many companies use your credit report to make decisions about your responsibility.

There are three main credit bureaus: Experian, Transunion, and Equifax. If you want to get a free copy of your credit report, you can do so once a year by going to AnnualCreditReport.com. 

I strongly recommend you do this annually and ensure that all the information is correct.

Banking Records

Beyond credit, there are also companies that maintain records about your bank accounts - where you've banked, your credit writing history, and more. The goal here was originally to stop fraudulent check writers from continuing to take advantage of banks, but with less people using checks, this has now become an identity service similar to your credit report.

ChexSystems is the largest company that maintains these types of records, and you can get a copy of your information from them here.

Personal Information

Have you ever gone onto a website and it asked you really weird questions - like have you ever lived at one of the following addresses, or do you have a relative with the following name? This information is gathered by a service called LexisNexis. That have all kinds of information, from your addresses, to insurance claims, to work history, and more.

You can get a copy of your LexisNexis Personal Report here.

How Vulnerable Are You Really?

After reading through how much information is already out there, you might be feeling a bit scared and vulnerable. But it's important to realize that all this information has been out there for years, and nothing has happened. And the odds of something happening are still extremely low.

Look, there are really only two ways that you're going to get your information compromised:

Someone is intentionally stealing your identity: This is the most common way you'll be compromised, and it can be the hardest to prevent if someone is really trying hard to steal your identity. But you're not a celebrity, so the actual odds of this happening are extremely low - I put it at 1%. This also includes cases of your home being burglarized or purse being stolen. It can happen, but the odds are rare.

A bot is using hacked information randomly: A more common scenario is that there are hackers and bots that are simply using the data that's already been hacked, and trying to do something with it. The run through credit card numbers and SSNs simply hoping for a match on a random website to get a sale, and move on once it's shut down.

If someone has actually gone to the extent of stealing your identity, you have bigger issues that a simple Equifax hack (or other hack). You need to file a police report, and take action. But this is no different than being the victim of countless other crimes.

If you're information is simply leaked, the bigger threats are bots and hackers, and there are smart ways to protect yourself and remain vigilant. It's also important to note that with credit cards, you have NO LIABILITY for fraudulent charges. If your card is stolen and used, the card issuer pays the bill, not you. So don't panic about potentially being wiped out as a result of hackers.

The Best Ways To Protect Yourself & Your Credit

Look, a lot of places are telling consumers "call all the credit bureaus and freeze your credit immediately". But for most people, that's simply not practical. Most of us use our credit reports pretty regularly (and most don't realize it). Furthermore, it typically costs money to freeze your credit (although some companies are waiving that fee temporarily), and it's just a waste of money. There are better ways to avoid getting your identity stolen.

There's really only 4 things that you need to do to protect yourself, your credit, and your identity:

Monitor And Organize All Your Financial Transactions: The first thing you need to do is get organized and monitor all your accounts. If you have ever bank account and credit card synced into one system that you can monitor easily, it makes seeing potential fraudulent transactions easy. We recommend Personal Capital (it's free), but there's also Mint.com, YNAB, and more.

Monitor Your Credit: You should also be consistently monitoring your credit for any unusual activity. While monitoring your known accounts is good, if you don't watch your credit, you can't know if someone opened a new credit card in your name. We recommend Credit Karma, another free tool that updates weekly based on your credit report.

Pull Your Credit Report And Other Data Annually: We already listed the resources above, but pull your credit report and other personal data reports at least annually. For your credit report, you might consider pulling one from each of the three bureaus every 4 months. 

Change Your Passwords And Enable 2-Factor Authentication: Ensure that you change all your passwords, don't use the same passwords on your bank accounts that you use on social media, and enable two-factor authentication everywhere possible (email, social media, banking, etc). Two-factor authentication is where you get a text message to enter a code. This means that someone would not only have to steal your information, but they would also have to physically have your phone as well. If you get a text and you're not trying to login, you know somethings up and can take action. It's annoying to setup sometimes, but it's worth it from a security standpoint.

Final Thoughts

The thought of getting your identity stolen is a bit scary. But the odds of it actually impacting your life is very rare. 

Yes, your credit card might be used in some foreign country - oh well, you get a new card. Yes, someone opened a credit card in your name. More of a hassle, but you file a report, contact the card issuer and credit bureau, and get it taken care of.

The bottom line is that it's not the end of the world. There's already so much information about you out there, the only thing you can do is take the preventative steps above and monitor your information.

The post Calm Down: Your Identity Has Already Been Stolen! appeared first on The College Investor.

Calm Down: Your Identity Has Already Been Stolen! published first on http://ift.tt/2ljLF4B

[snowpatrolfanclubbrazil]

Gary Lightbody’s moment came two years ago in a gym in Santa Monica. The Snow Patrol frontman has long had a reputation for indulging his appetites. But even he was going at it on a bigger scale, with a fierce, Valhallan vigour.

The band’s last tour had finished in late 2012. And then: “I started drinking,” he says, “with a gusto that a professional boxer might train for a prize fight. It’d be mostly beer. I was quite a happy drunk. There was a hell of a lot of fun. Until it wasn’t.

“I’d get to 2am sitting on my own, have a cry, and then a glass of something [stronger]. I didn’t have any relationships and I wasn’t having sex either. I was very hermetic. Around 2015/2016 I was drinking every day and also I was hating it. I regret doing it even though I knew I was doing it out of compulsion.”

He was hitting the gym in the mornings to sweat it off. Then came the moment.

“I bent down to touch my toes and everything started spinning. It felt like the floor beneath me was moving. I thought it was an earthquake. But it kept going on. I phoned a friend who lived around the corner. I was like, ‘Are we having an earthquake?’ He said ‘Something’s going on here’.

“I had a bunch of CT scans on my head. My whole head was infected – sinus, ears, eyes, everything. I’d been having styes and stuff on my eyes. Stick a teabag on it. This was the week before I was going to France to see Northern Ireland play in their first tournament in 30 years. I said to the doctor, ‘I’m flying to France in five days’. He’s like, ‘No you’re not. If you flew with the air pressure it’d feel like daggers ripping into your head’. I was still thinking maybe I’ll be alright. I spoke to a friend, Gabrielle, an acupuncturist, an extraordinary human being. She’d been trying to get me to stop drinking for a while…”

So he stopped. Or at least, he began to stop. And in flooded the dark realities he’d been masking.

In recent weeks, as he’s been working around the release of Wildness, Snow Patrol’s first album in seven years, Lightbody has started to talk for the first time about the mental health problems which have plagued him for years. (“I didn’t talk about anything; nobody knew, the band didn’t know.”) Last year, after 12 months sober, came another key moment.

“Last summer,” he says, “I thought I’d be relieved to get the album done. We’d just finished. But I wasn’t. I was devastated. I’d opened a place in my psyche and I didn’t know how to shut the door. It was like the ark of the covenant was opened [from Raiders Of The Lost Ark] and there were melting faces left and right and I didn’t know how to shut the thing down. So instead of talking to somebody I tried to shut myself out. Let my own face melt. And the band knew something and they flew from London and arrived at the door and I broke down and told them everything.

“I have a depressive personality that has no relationship with reality. I could be having the best time on the surface and yet my depression goes, ‘You’re still a cunt. Don’t forget that. I’m dragging you down into the ink and the dirt and the darkness’. I could be playing to 15,000 people and three hours later be on a hotel room crying on the floor. That’s happened a bunch of times. The depression and the success have no relation to each other. It’s just part of me. I’ve learned that rather than running from it, which you can never really do – you can never run away from yourself – is you have and turn and face it and look it in the eye and say I’m not afraid of you anymore.”

And so he went home. Back to Northern Ireland, to North Down where he was brought up. It’s the place he was desperate to leave in 1994, when he ran to Dundee to start university, to start the band, to start years of chipping away with no success. Then he wrote Run, and everything changed.

It’s easy, given their time away, to forget just how huge Snow Patrol were for a period from the mid-to-late Noughties. Nobody, really, was bigger.

The song Chasing Cars, from fourth album Eyes Open, was picked up for US hit TV show Grey’s Anatomy and propelled them to huge fame. Lightbody moved to Santa Monica around 2009 (“Soon as my feet hit the sand in Santa Monica something just hit and I thought, I want to live here”).

Recently he claimed he’d moved back to Northern Ireland because the band were getting ready to work again and he needed to be near them. But it feels like the truth is a little more complicated.

It’s a time in Northern Ireland as well when it feels like we’re at a bit of a crossroads again.

“You’re right. There are quite a few reasons. My dad isn’t well, my mum isn’t coping very well and my niece is going to be 11 in July. I’ve missed most of her life living in LA.

“And I missed home. It’s a time in Northern Ireland as well when it feels like we’re at a bit of a crossroads again. I felt a bit of calling back here. Not that I figure I can help in any way, but I certainly won’t feel connected if I’m 5,000 miles away. I wanted to reconnect.”

We’re meeting today in the Crawfordsburn Inn, the picture-postcard hotel not far from Gary’s shorefront home, overlooking Belfast Lough.

It feels timely. We meet on the 20th anniversary of a concert in Belfast’s Waterfront Hall, hosted by U2, that helped deliver a huge YES vote in the referendum for the Good Friday Agreement. In a nation where defiant NOs had been the lingua franca, a YES was significant. A political statement and a cleansing.

On that day, John Hume and David Trimble were ushered onstage by Bono, a man with a keen eye for a moment. U2 sang Don’t Let Me Down. Ash were there too, being young and hopeful. Twenty years on, as Lightbody says, Northern Ireland is at a bit of crossroads. And he’s found his way home.

The album, Wildness, is worth the wait. If Snow Patrol had touched on themes of running and movement in the past, Wildness has a leitmotif of finally settling. The word ‘home’ is laced through several songs. Two tracks in particular illustrate what Snow Patrol can really do – the anthemic reach of the huge, wondrous opening track Life on Earth (a track that took Gary five years to complete), and the intimacy of What If This Is All The Love You Ever Get?, a piece with just Gary on piano, a heartbreaker written for a friend going through a divorce.

The song Soon marks another significant theme. It deals with Lightbody’s father Jack’s battle with Alzheimer’s. It’s a simple builder, full of grace notes and sadness. There is something quietly heroic in it. The video, filmed in Lightbody’s apartment, sees him and his father watching old home movies his dad recorded through the years. As well as the sadness over what his father is losing, there is an understanding of a farewell to lost youth, that the hopefulness of that other country is worth revisiting for both of them.

I have a lot of respect for him so I wanted to honour him, but at the same time I also have a lot of guilt for being away for most of my adult life.

“I love my dad,” he says. “I have a lot of respect for him so I wanted to honour him, but at the same time I also have a lot of guilt for being away for most of my adult life. I don’t just mean LA, I mean Glasgow, London, or on tour constantly. And there is probably a place in my head where I go when I’m feeling homesick and that is both a place of calm and nostalgia and also a place of guilt and some shame.

“I’ve felt I’ve been running away, most of the time from myself. So (he pauses)… some of the home references are me feeling disconnected rather than connected…. feeling like I’d never really found a home. I never truly felt at home when I was growing up in Northern Ireland. Then I left and never really felt at home anywhere else. And then I moved back to Northern Ireland and now I do feel at home here, but that has also coincided with me feeling at home inside my own body. Which was the whole problem the whole time. I wasn’t comfortable with myself. I didn’t like myself. So you have to figure that out before you can feel at home anywhere.”

The band’s influence and legacy goes beyond their own work. They’ve helped shape the sounds that have become pervasive in post-millennial pop. Lightbody and band member Johnny McDaid have written with, among others Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift and One Direction. Snow Patrol took Sheeran on the road in the States in 2011, helping him break through. They remain close.

“Between myself and Johnny McDaid we’ve written a lot of things for other pop acts, him more than me,” he says. “I would say Ed came fully formed from his first album. He’d done the groundwork. All the grafting that you need to do, when you’re a young band. He busked his ass off from the age of 15 on the streets of London, sleeping on his mate’s couch. He had turned up to gigs and said to promoters can you give me 15 minutes after the doors open. And promoters say aye. That’s how he started. He grafted harder and still does to this day – harder than anyone I know.”

Sheeran is returning the favour, taking Snow Patrol on an American stadium tour this autumn.

Refusing to accept Snow Patrol as fountainheads of a sound, Lightbody says they are more like Zelig, “probably bystanders”.

One got away, though. Mutual friend James Corden introduced Lightbody to Adele.

“It happened to be a birthday of somebody that James and Adele knew.… and I sat down with her and she said when are we going to do [a song]. We did two days – Adele, Johnny McDaid and me – the bones of three really amazing fucking songs. But we never got round to finishing it. And then the album came out and obviously we weren’t on it.”

While his own album has just come out, there is already pressure to get busy on the next. Longtime producer, friend and mentor Garret ‘Jacknife’ Lee has been in touch (“he says we need to get cracking on the next one”).

For now, ahead of their own arena tour in the winter, Lightbody is learning to cope, listening to podcasts (“Stuff You Should Know from HowStuffWorks is my favourite one”) and Bon Iver (“I think he’s the finest songwriter alive”) and working things out.

“Me, now not drinking, I like myself but I’m socially awkward. I’d rather be sitting with bandmates, my family. I’m 41. I know what I want.”

And that is?

“Peace. I want to make sure that every day of my life I take a moment and realise everything is calmer. I’ve learned how to meditate, learned how to do qigong. Learned a whole load of practices that I do every day. They mitigate the madness. The greatest thing I ever did for my own emotional wellbeing was to talk.”

And if we went back 20 years as this all started, and said here are the successes, here are the demands it’ll make on you mentally, personally, physically – would you have taken it?

“I would have taken it for half the successes. I can’t believe what happened to us. I still can’t believe when I look back at it, at everything that is successful that has been good. At everything that is still happening. It’s a dream. It’s a bloody dream.”

Wildness is out now. @pauldmcnamee

#snow patrol #gary lightbody #article #news

[heliosfinance]

Calm Down: Your Identity Has Already Been Stolen!

The last week has been dominated by the headline of the Equifax Data Breach. If you've been living a social-media free life (good for you), you might not have heard that the personal information of 143 million people were stolen from Equifax - including names, addresses, and SSNs.

The ironic part of this story is that Equifax is a credit reporting agency - the "keeper" of your credit report and score - the basic information they lost to hackers.

When these events happen (data breaches), the media, and in turn the public, seem to lose their minds about everything from their finances to their personal information, to even their basic banking accounts. Suddenly, everybody is talking about it like this event somehow wiped away everyone's savings accounts or something major.

What's even scarier is the sad realization that most people don't realize how much of their information is already out there - and how much of it has been lost, stolen, misplaced, misused, etc.

In the last several years, I've had:

My iCloud Password Hacked And Computer Held For Bitcoin Ransom

fire

I had checks stolen out of the mail and used fraudulently at major retailers

4 Credit Cards Replaced By The Issuer Early Due To Potential Fraud (the card issuer did it, not me due to fraudulent charges)

1 Credit Card actually be used fraudulently (I got a call from USAA at 2am about a suspicious charge coming from Croatia)

Countless Letter Notifications About Data Breaches, Free Credit Monitoring, and Class Action Lawsuits

The truth is, for 99.99% of Americans, you identity has already been stolen. Let's dive in to what is really happening out there and some simple steps that you can take to be a little proactive about your personal information.

Data Breaches Are Sadly Too Common

I don't know if you've seen the news in the last few years, but data breaches are extremely common - and these are just the ones we hear about because they involve a lot of data or big, well known companies.

The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse has been tracking data breaches since 2005, and it has recorded 7,674 breaches that have been made public, involving a whopping 1,070,186,516 records. That's over a billion records. Given there's only about 360 million Americans, it's a safe guess that your information is already out there.

Some of the most well-publicized breaches (although long forgotten in today's media cycle) include:

2005: MasterCard and Card Systems had 40,000,000 accounts stolen

2007: TJ Maxx was hacked and 94,000,000 accounts were stolen

2009: The US Military lost a hard drive with 76,000,000 records, including SSNs and personal information of veterans and active duty service members

2009: The biggest credit card hack in history impacted payment processor Heartland and resulted in 130,000,000 records being stolen

2010 & 2011: Sony Online Entertainment and Sony PSN had over 100,000,000 accounts stolen

2013: Evernote had 50,000,000 accounts and records compromised

2013: Target had payment information hacked from 70,000,000 transactions and records

2014: JP Morgan Chase had 76,000,000 records compromised in a hack

2015: Health insurance giant Anthem had 80,000,000 records hacked

2017: Equifax hacked and 140,000,000 records compromised

The list of hacks and personal information releases goes on and on. If you look at the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse website, you'll also sadly see that many breaches don't even know the extent of the information that was taken.

Finally, consider that this is just the "major" breaches. How many small businesses do you think mishandle or misplace your information? You give your name, address, and SSN to your dentist to file your insurance claim - are they handling your information correctly and securing it?

What about your employer? Your doctor? Your landlord? The guy you paid at the farmers market? 

Also, what about every single person you've ever written a check to? They have your bank account and routing numbers, as well as your name and address!

And it's not just your credit card number - it's also your name, address, phone number, Social Security number, health records, tax records, employment records, and more! It's all out there! This is just the world we live in today.​​​​

All Your Personal Information Is Already Out There

Have you ever looked around to see how much personal information is already available "out there" about you? It's pretty scary, but you should know so that you can arm yourself.

First, do a simple test and Google your name - what comes up? Now, what if you add your city to your name - so FIRST NAME LAST NAME CITY. What comes up? Are you shocked by the results?

Next, check out the site Pipl.com. Enter your name, email, or phone number. Do you see you address? Do you see your past addresses? Maybe you even see a picture of yourself?

Finally, now that you have an address - you can start seeing things that are public record in your county or state. Maybe you want to know your neighbor's tax bill or small business information? Any recorded documents at your county clerk? That's searchable online. 

Oh, and do you think your SSN is safe? It's not. Beyond the hacks, there are some common ways to find Social Security numbers. Prior to 2011, SSN had a common format, based on the location and year of birth. You could then use the SSN Validator for free online each day and see if you got a valid SSN. Scary!

So, you can simply find all this online? What "private" information do companies have about you? Let me show you:

Credit Reports

The Equifax breach made headlines because it was a credit reporting agency. Your credit report shows your history of borrowing, what you paid back, were you on time with it, and more. It's a useful document for your finances, and many companies use your credit report to make decisions about your responsibility.

There are three main credit bureaus: Experian, Transunion, and Equifax. If you want to get a free copy of your credit report, you can do so once a year by going to AnnualCreditReport.com. 

I strongly recommend you do this annually and ensure that all the information is correct.

Banking Records

Beyond credit, there are also companies that maintain records about your bank accounts - where you've banked, your credit writing history, and more. The goal here was originally to stop fraudulent check writers from continuing to take advantage of banks, but with less people using checks, this has now become an identity service similar to your credit report.

ChexSystems is the largest company that maintains these types of records, and you can get a copy of your information from them here.

Personal Information

Have you ever gone onto a website and it asked you really weird questions - like have you ever lived at one of the following addresses, or do you have a relative with the following name? This information is gathered by a service called LexisNexis. That have all kinds of information, from your addresses, to insurance claims, to work history, and more.

You can get a copy of your LexisNexis Personal Report here.

How Vulnerable Are You Really?

After reading through how much information is already out there, you might be feeling a bit scared and vulnerable. But it's important to realize that all this information has been out there for years, and nothing has happened. And the odds of something happening are still extremely low.

Look, there are really only two ways that you're going to get your information compromised:

Someone is intentionally stealing your identity: This is the most common way you'll be compromised, and it can be the hardest to prevent if someone is really trying hard to steal your identity. But you're not a celebrity, so the actual odds of this happening are extremely low - I put it at 1%. This also includes cases of your home being burglarized or purse being stolen. It can happen, but the odds are rare.

A bot is using hacked information randomly: A more common scenario is that there are hackers and bots that are simply using the data that's already been hacked, and trying to do something with it. The run through credit card numbers and SSNs simply hoping for a match on a random website to get a sale, and move on once it's shut down.

If someone has actually gone to the extent of stealing your identity, you have bigger issues that a simple Equifax hack (or other hack). You need to file a police report, and take action. But this is no different than being the victim of countless other crimes.

If you're information is simply leaked, the bigger threats are bots and hackers, and there are smart ways to protect yourself and remain vigilant. It's also important to note that with credit cards, you have NO LIABILITY for fraudulent charges. If your card is stolen and used, the card issuer pays the bill, not you. So don't panic about potentially being wiped out as a result of hackers.

The Best Ways To Protect Yourself & Your Credit

Look, a lot of places are telling consumers "call all the credit bureaus and freeze your credit immediately". But for most people, that's simply not practical. Most of us use our credit reports pretty regularly (and most don't realize it). Furthermore, it typically costs money to freeze your credit (although some companies are waiving that fee temporarily), and it's just a waste of money. There are better ways to avoid getting your identity stolen.

There's really only 4 things that you need to do to protect yourself, your credit, and your identity:

Monitor And Organize All Your Financial Transactions: The first thing you need to do is get organized and monitor all your accounts. If you have ever bank account and credit card synced into one system that you can monitor easily, it makes seeing potential fraudulent transactions easy. We recommend Personal Capital (it's free), but there's also Mint.com, YNAB, and more.

Monitor Your Credit: You should also be consistently monitoring your credit for any unusual activity. While monitoring your known accounts is good, if you don't watch your credit, you can't know if someone opened a new credit card in your name. We recommend Credit Karma, another free tool that updates weekly based on your credit report.

Pull Your Credit Report And Other Data Annually: We already listed the resources above, but pull your credit report and other personal data reports at least annually. For your credit report, you might consider pulling one from each of the three bureaus every 4 months. 

Change Your Passwords And Enable 2-Factor Authentication: Ensure that you change all your passwords, don't use the same passwords on your bank accounts that you use on social media, and enable two-factor authentication everywhere possible (email, social media, banking, etc). Two-factor authentication is where you get a text message to enter a code. This means that someone would not only have to steal your information, but they would also have to physically have your phone as well. If you get a text and you're not trying to login, you know somethings up and can take action. It's annoying to setup sometimes, but it's worth it from a security standpoint.

Final Thoughts

The thought of getting your identity stolen is a bit scary. But the odds of it actually impacting your life is very rare. 

Yes, your credit card might be used in some foreign country - oh well, you get a new card. Yes, someone opened a credit card in your name. More of a hassle, but you file a report, contact the card issuer and credit bureau, and get it taken care of.

The bottom line is that it's not the end of the world. There's already so much information about you out there, the only thing you can do is take the preventative steps above and monitor your information.

The post Calm Down: Your Identity Has Already Been Stolen! appeared first on The College Investor.

Calm Down: Your Identity Has Already Been Stolen! published first on http://ift.tt/2ljLF4B

[heliosfinance]

Calm Down: Your Identity Has Already Been Stolen!

The last week has been dominated by the headline of the Equifax Data Breach. If you've been living a social-media free life (good for you), you might not have heard that the personal information of 143 million people were stolen from Equifax - including names, addresses, and SSNs.

The ironic part of this story is that Equifax is a credit reporting agency - the "keeper" of your credit report and score - the basic information they lost to hackers.

When these events happen (data breaches), the media, and in turn the public, seem to lose their minds about everything from their finances to their personal information, to even their basic banking accounts. Suddenly, everybody is talking about it like this event somehow wiped away everyone's savings accounts or something major.

What's even scarier is the sad realization that most people don't realize how much of their information is already out there - and how much of it has been lost, stolen, misplaced, misused, etc.

In the last several years, I've had:

My iCloud Password Hacked And Computer Held For Bitcoin Ransom

fire

I had checks stolen out of the mail and used fraudulently at major retailers

4 Credit Cards Replaced By The Issuer Early Due To Potential Fraud (the card issuer did it, not me due to fraudulent charges)

1 Credit Card actually be used fraudulently (I got a call from USAA at 2am about a suspicious charge coming from Croatia)

Countless Letter Notifications About Data Breaches, Free Credit Monitoring, and Class Action Lawsuits

The truth is, for 99.99% of Americans, you identity has already been stolen. Let's dive in to what is really happening out there and some simple steps that you can take to be a little proactive about your personal information.

Data Breaches Are Sadly Too Common

I don't know if you've seen the news in the last few years, but data breaches are extremely common - and these are just the ones we hear about because they involve a lot of data or big, well known companies.

The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse has been tracking data breaches since 2005, and it has recorded 7,674 breaches that have been made public, involving a whopping 1,070,186,516 records. That's over a billion records. Given there's only about 360 million Americans, it's a safe guess that your information is already out there.

Some of the most well-publicized breaches (although long forgotten in today's media cycle) include:

2005: MasterCard and Card Systems had 40,000,000 accounts stolen

2007: TJ Maxx was hacked and 94,000,000 accounts were stolen

2009: The US Military lost a hard drive with 76,000,000 records, including SSNs and personal information of veterans and active duty service members

2009: The biggest credit card hack in history impacted payment processor Heartland and resulted in 130,000,000 records being stolen

2010 & 2011: Sony Online Entertainment and Sony PSN had over 100,000,000 accounts stolen

2013: Evernote had 50,000,000 accounts and records compromised

2013: Target had payment information hacked from 70,000,000 transactions and records

2014: JP Morgan Chase had 76,000,000 records compromised in a hack

2015: Health insurance giant Anthem had 80,000,000 records hacked

2017: Equifax hacked and 140,000,000 records compromised

The list of hacks and personal information releases goes on and on. If you look at the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse website, you'll also sadly see that many breaches don't even know the extent of the information that was taken.

Finally, consider that this is just the "major" breaches. How many small businesses do you think mishandle or misplace your information? You give your name, address, and SSN to your dentist to file your insurance claim - are they handling your information correctly and securing it?

What about your employer? Your doctor? Your landlord? The guy you paid at the farmers market? 

Also, what about every single person you've ever written a check to? They have your bank account and routing numbers, as well as your name and address!

And it's not just your credit card number - it's also your name, address, phone number, Social Security number, health records, tax records, employment records, and more! It's all out there! This is just the world we live in today.​​​​

All Your Personal Information Is Already Out There

Have you ever looked around to see how much personal information is already available "out there" about you? It's pretty scary, but you should know so that you can arm yourself.

First, do a simple test and Google your name - what comes up? Now, what if you add your city to your name - so FIRST NAME LAST NAME CITY. What comes up? Are you shocked by the results?

Next, check out the site Pipl.com. Enter your name, email, or phone number. Do you see you address? Do you see your past addresses? Maybe you even see a picture of yourself?

Finally, now that you have an address - you can start seeing things that are public record in your county or state. Maybe you want to know your neighbor's tax bill or small business information? Any recorded documents at your county clerk? That's searchable online. 

Oh, and do you think your SSN is safe? It's not. Beyond the hacks, there are some common ways to find Social Security numbers. Prior to 2011, SSN had a common format, based on the location and year of birth. You could then use the SSN Validator for free online each day and see if you got a valid SSN. Scary!

So, you can simply find all this online? What "private" information do companies have about you? Let me show you:

Credit Reports

The Equifax breach made headlines because it was a credit reporting agency. Your credit report shows your history of borrowing, what you paid back, were you on time with it, and more. It's a useful document for your finances, and many companies use your credit report to make decisions about your responsibility.

There are three main credit bureaus: Experian, Transunion, and Equifax. If you want to get a free copy of your credit report, you can do so once a year by going to AnnualCreditReport.com. 

I strongly recommend you do this annually and ensure that all the information is correct.

Banking Records

Beyond credit, there are also companies that maintain records about your bank accounts - where you've banked, your credit writing history, and more. The goal here was originally to stop fraudulent check writers from continuing to take advantage of banks, but with less people using checks, this has now become an identity service similar to your credit report.

ChexSystems is the largest company that maintains these types of records, and you can get a copy of your information from them here.

Personal Information

Have you ever gone onto a website and it asked you really weird questions - like have you ever lived at one of the following addresses, or do you have a relative with the following name? This information is gathered by a service called LexisNexis. That have all kinds of information, from your addresses, to insurance claims, to work history, and more.

You can get a copy of your LexisNexis Personal Report here.

How Vulnerable Are You Really?

After reading through how much information is already out there, you might be feeling a bit scared and vulnerable. But it's important to realize that all this information has been out there for years, and nothing has happened. And the odds of something happening are still extremely low.

Look, there are really only two ways that you're going to get your information compromised:

Someone is intentionally stealing your identity: This is the most common way you'll be compromised, and it can be the hardest to prevent if someone is really trying hard to steal your identity. But you're not a celebrity, so the actual odds of this happening are extremely low - I put it at 1%. This also includes cases of your home being burglarized or purse being stolen. It can happen, but the odds are rare.

A bot is using hacked information randomly: A more common scenario is that there are hackers and bots that are simply using the data that's already been hacked, and trying to do something with it. The run through credit card numbers and SSNs simply hoping for a match on a random website to get a sale, and move on once it's shut down.

If someone has actually gone to the extent of stealing your identity, you have bigger issues that a simple Equifax hack (or other hack). You need to file a police report, and take action. But this is no different than being the victim of countless other crimes.

If you're information is simply leaked, the bigger threats are bots and hackers, and there are smart ways to protect yourself and remain vigilant. It's also important to note that with credit cards, you have NO LIABILITY for fraudulent charges. If your card is stolen and used, the card issuer pays the bill, not you. So don't panic about potentially being wiped out as a result of hackers.

The Best Ways To Protect Yourself & Your Credit

Look, a lot of places are telling consumers "call all the credit bureaus and freeze your credit immediately". But for most people, that's simply not practical. Most of us use our credit reports pretty regularly (and most don't realize it). Furthermore, it typically costs money to freeze your credit (although some companies are waiving that fee temporarily), and it's just a waste of money. There are better ways to avoid getting your identity stolen.

There's really only 4 things that you need to do to protect yourself, your credit, and your identity:

Monitor And Organize All Your Financial Transactions: The first thing you need to do is get organized and monitor all your accounts. If you have ever bank account and credit card synced into one system that you can monitor easily, it makes seeing potential fraudulent transactions easy. We recommend Personal Capital (it's free), but there's also Mint.com, YNAB, and more.

Monitor Your Credit: You should also be consistently monitoring your credit for any unusual activity. While monitoring your known accounts is good, if you don't watch your credit, you can't know if someone opened a new credit card in your name. We recommend Credit Karma, another free tool that updates weekly based on your credit report.

Pull Your Credit Report And Other Data Annually: We already listed the resources above, but pull your credit report and other personal data reports at least annually. For your credit report, you might consider pulling one from each of the three bureaus every 4 months. 

Change Your Passwords And Enable 2-Factor Authentication: Ensure that you change all your passwords, don't use the same passwords on your bank accounts that you use on social media, and enable two-factor authentication everywhere possible (email, social media, banking, etc). Two-factor authentication is where you get a text message to enter a code. This means that someone would not only have to steal your information, but they would also have to physically have your phone as well. If you get a text and you're not trying to login, you know somethings up and can take action. It's annoying to setup sometimes, but it's worth it from a security standpoint.

Final Thoughts

The thought of getting your identity stolen is a bit scary. But the odds of it actually impacting your life is very rare. 

Yes, your credit card might be used in some foreign country - oh well, you get a new card. Yes, someone opened a credit card in your name. More of a hassle, but you file a report, contact the card issuer and credit bureau, and get it taken care of.

The bottom line is that it's not the end of the world. There's already so much information about you out there, the only thing you can do is take the preventative steps above and monitor your information.

The post Calm Down: Your Identity Has Already Been Stolen! appeared first on The College Investor.

Calm Down: Your Identity Has Already Been Stolen! published first on http://ift.tt/2ljLF4B

[heliosfinance]

Calm Down: Your Identity Has Already Been Stolen!

The last week has been dominated by the headline of the Equifax Data Breach. If you've been living a social-media free life (good for you), you might not have heard that the personal information of 143 million people were stolen from Equifax - including names, addresses, and SSNs.

The ironic part of this story is that Equifax is a credit reporting agency - the "keeper" of your credit report and score - the basic information they lost to hackers.

When these events happen (data breaches), the media, and in turn the public, seem to lose their minds about everything from their finances to their personal information, to even their basic banking accounts. Suddenly, everybody is talking about it like this event somehow wiped away everyone's savings accounts or something major.

What's even scarier is the sad realization that most people don't realize how much of their information is already out there - and how much of it has been lost, stolen, misplaced, misused, etc.

In the last several years, I've had:

My iCloud Password Hacked And Computer Held For Bitcoin Ransom

fire

I had checks stolen out of the mail and used fraudulently at major retailers

4 Credit Cards Replaced By The Issuer Early Due To Potential Fraud (the card issuer did it, not me due to fraudulent charges)

1 Credit Card actually be used fraudulently (I got a call from USAA at 2am about a suspicious charge coming from Croatia)

Countless Letter Notifications About Data Breaches, Free Credit Monitoring, and Class Action Lawsuits

The truth is, for 99.99% of Americans, you identity has already been stolen. Let's dive in to what is really happening out there and some simple steps that you can take to be a little proactive about your personal information.

Data Breaches Are Sadly Too Common

I don't know if you've seen the news in the last few years, but data breaches are extremely common - and these are just the ones we hear about because they involve a lot of data or big, well known companies.

The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse has been tracking data breaches since 2005, and it has recorded 7,674 breaches that have been made public, involving a whopping 1,070,186,516 records. That's over a billion records. Given there's only about 360 million Americans, it's a safe guess that your information is already out there.

Some of the most well-publicized breaches (although long forgotten in today's media cycle) include:

2005: MasterCard and Card Systems had 40,000,000 accounts stolen

2007: TJ Maxx was hacked and 94,000,000 accounts were stolen

2009: The US Military lost a hard drive with 76,000,000 records, including SSNs and personal information of veterans and active duty service members

2009: The biggest credit card hack in history impacted payment processor Heartland and resulted in 130,000,000 records being stolen

2010 & 2011: Sony Online Entertainment and Sony PSN had over 100,000,000 accounts stolen

2013: Evernote had 50,000,000 accounts and records compromised

2013: Target had payment information hacked from 70,000,000 transactions and records

2014: JP Morgan Chase had 76,000,000 records compromised in a hack

2015: Health insurance giant Anthem had 80,000,000 records hacked

2017: Equifax hacked and 140,000,000 records compromised

The list of hacks and personal information releases goes on and on. If you look at the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse website, you'll also sadly see that many breaches don't even know the extent of the information that was taken.

Finally, consider that this is just the "major" breaches. How many small businesses do you think mishandle or misplace your information? You give your name, address, and SSN to your dentist to file your insurance claim - are they handling your information correctly and securing it?

What about your employer? Your doctor? Your landlord? The guy you paid at the farmers market? 

Also, what about every single person you've ever written a check to? They have your bank account and routing numbers, as well as your name and address!

And it's not just your credit card number - it's also your name, address, phone number, Social Security number, health records, tax records, employment records, and more! It's all out there! This is just the world we live in today.​​​​

All Your Personal Information Is Already Out There

Have you ever looked around to see how much personal information is already available "out there" about you? It's pretty scary, but you should know so that you can arm yourself.

First, do a simple test and Google your name - what comes up? Now, what if you add your city to your name - so FIRST NAME LAST NAME CITY. What comes up? Are you shocked by the results?

Next, check out the site Pipl.com. Enter your name, email, or phone number. Do you see you address? Do you see your past addresses? Maybe you even see a picture of yourself?

Finally, now that you have an address - you can start seeing things that are public record in your county or state. Maybe you want to know your neighbor's tax bill or small business information? Any recorded documents at your county clerk? That's searchable online. 

Oh, and do you think your SSN is safe? It's not. Beyond the hacks, there are some common ways to find Social Security numbers. Prior to 2011, SSN had a common format, based on the location and year of birth. You could then use the SSN Validator for free online each day and see if you got a valid SSN. Scary!

So, you can simply find all this online? What "private" information do companies have about you? Let me show you:

Credit Reports

The Equifax breach made headlines because it was a credit reporting agency. Your credit report shows your history of borrowing, what you paid back, were you on time with it, and more. It's a useful document for your finances, and many companies use your credit report to make decisions about your responsibility.

There are three main credit bureaus: Experian, Transunion, and Equifax. If you want to get a free copy of your credit report, you can do so once a year by going to AnnualCreditReport.com. 

I strongly recommend you do this annually and ensure that all the information is correct.

Banking Records

Beyond credit, there are also companies that maintain records about your bank accounts - where you've banked, your credit writing history, and more. The goal here was originally to stop fraudulent check writers from continuing to take advantage of banks, but with less people using checks, this has now become an identity service similar to your credit report.

ChexSystems is the largest company that maintains these types of records, and you can get a copy of your information from them here.

Personal Information

Have you ever gone onto a website and it asked you really weird questions - like have you ever lived at one of the following addresses, or do you have a relative with the following name? This information is gathered by a service called LexisNexis. That have all kinds of information, from your addresses, to insurance claims, to work history, and more.

You can get a copy of your LexisNexis Personal Report here.

How Vulnerable Are You Really?

After reading through how much information is already out there, you might be feeling a bit scared and vulnerable. But it's important to realize that all this information has been out there for years, and nothing has happened. And the odds of something happening are still extremely low.

Look, there are really only two ways that you're going to get your information compromised:

Someone is intentionally stealing your identity: This is the most common way you'll be compromised, and it can be the hardest to prevent if someone is really trying hard to steal your identity. But you're not a celebrity, so the actual odds of this happening are extremely low - I put it at 1%. This also includes cases of your home being burglarized or purse being stolen. It can happen, but the odds are rare.

A bot is using hacked information randomly: A more common scenario is that there are hackers and bots that are simply using the data that's already been hacked, and trying to do something with it. The run through credit card numbers and SSNs simply hoping for a match on a random website to get a sale, and move on once it's shut down.

If someone has actually gone to the extent of stealing your identity, you have bigger issues that a simple Equifax hack (or other hack). You need to file a police report, and take action. But this is no different than being the victim of countless other crimes.

If you're information is simply leaked, the bigger threats are bots and hackers, and there are smart ways to protect yourself and remain vigilant. It's also important to note that with credit cards, you have NO LIABILITY for fraudulent charges. If your card is stolen and used, the card issuer pays the bill, not you. So don't panic about potentially being wiped out as a result of hackers.

The Best Ways To Protect Yourself & Your Credit

Look, a lot of places are telling consumers "call all the credit bureaus and freeze your credit immediately". But for most people, that's simply not practical. Most of us use our credit reports pretty regularly (and most don't realize it). Furthermore, it typically costs money to freeze your credit (although some companies are waiving that fee temporarily), and it's just a waste of money. There are better ways to avoid getting your identity stolen.

There's really only 4 things that you need to do to protect yourself, your credit, and your identity:

Monitor And Organize All Your Financial Transactions: The first thing you need to do is get organized and monitor all your accounts. If you have ever bank account and credit card synced into one system that you can monitor easily, it makes seeing potential fraudulent transactions easy. We recommend Personal Capital (it's free), but there's also Mint.com, YNAB, and more.

Monitor Your Credit: You should also be consistently monitoring your credit for any unusual activity. While monitoring your known accounts is good, if you don't watch your credit, you can't know if someone opened a new credit card in your name. We recommend Credit Karma, another free tool that updates weekly based on your credit report.

Pull Your Credit Report And Other Data Annually: We already listed the resources above, but pull your credit report and other personal data reports at least annually. For your credit report, you might consider pulling one from each of the three bureaus every 4 months. 

Change Your Passwords And Enable 2-Factor Authentication: Ensure that you change all your passwords, don't use the same passwords on your bank accounts that you use on social media, and enable two-factor authentication everywhere possible (email, social media, banking, etc). Two-factor authentication is where you get a text message to enter a code. This means that someone would not only have to steal your information, but they would also have to physically have your phone as well. If you get a text and you're not trying to login, you know somethings up and can take action. It's annoying to setup sometimes, but it's worth it from a security standpoint.

Final Thoughts

The thought of getting your identity stolen is a bit scary. But the odds of it actually impacting your life is very rare. 

Yes, your credit card might be used in some foreign country - oh well, you get a new card. Yes, someone opened a credit card in your name. More of a hassle, but you file a report, contact the card issuer and credit bureau, and get it taken care of.

The bottom line is that it's not the end of the world. There's already so much information about you out there, the only thing you can do is take the preventative steps above and monitor your information.

The post Calm Down: Your Identity Has Already Been Stolen! appeared first on The College Investor.

Calm Down: Your Identity Has Already Been Stolen! published first on http://ift.tt/2ljLF4B