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coffeechangbeanie · 3 years

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Home Reading 18+

Dilf!Chan, biker!chan, kindergarten teacher!reader

Basically Chris' daughter is in your kindergarten class, and you've been simping whenever he pulls up on his motorbike to pick her up. Plus he's tattooed because I have n e e d s ok? There's a bit of pussy slapping and dirty talk but it's pretty vanilla.

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You were standing outside the school, making sure your kindergarten class stayed in line. As the bus pulled up to the side if the road, your kindergarten assistant took her line of bus kids to that side of the parking lot, giving you a lovely view of the parent parking lot. Especially one parent in particular. You composed yourself as you saw Mr. Bang pull up in his motorcycle, his daughter, Yuna, excitedly jumped up and down, accidentally hitting another girl. The girl starts to cry, hitting Yuna back. Hiding your annoyance, you knelt down to Yuna, "Yuna, remember, keep control of your hands." Yuna sheepishly nods. "And Suzie we know not to hit our friends back-"

"Ms. Yn?" A deep voice says behind you, interupting your teacher speech.

You turn around, standing up to see Chris.

His black leather jacket hangs off his shoulders exposing just enough of the head of his surpent tattoo on his neck for you to wonder how far the snake went down his body.

"Ah, Mr. Bang, did you get my email?"

"yes I did, where are we having this impromptu parent teacher meeting?" He says, adjusting his helmet under his arm, a much smaller, sparkly pink one tucked inside.

You see your assistant coming back up the sidewalk. "Right now if ms. Chaeyoung wouldnt mind taking over."

"of course! Go have your meeting," she says, taking your clipboard from you.

You lead the way back inside to you classroom.

The room's walls are lined with students drawings, crafts, and pictures. A whiteboard with the day's letter still up.

"Mr. Bang, today marks the 3rd week her home reading isn't done. In class she's unfocused, hyperactive, and disruptive, I'd like to work with you so we can help her succeed."

Chris rubs his eyes defeatedly, "it's been a tough few weeks, I'll get on the home reading and speak to her about her behaviour."

"thank you, Mr. Bang."

He nods, awkwardly leaving your classroom. You watch him exit the building from the window. Happily picking up Yuna and putting on her helmet for her. He carries her out the his bike as she sits atop his shoulders. You can't help but smile at the cuteness.

It had been a few weeks since your meeting with Chris about Yuna, but you couldn't get the thought of him out if your head. (Not that you could normally, but it was especially bad lately). You know you shouldn't be thinking about one if your student's parent that way but you'd never seen a ring in his finger and Yuna never talked about her mom on the "draw your family" art project...

You were out walking your dog through the playground, the late afternoon sun hanging low in the sky. You hear children giggle as they played.

"Ms. yn!" You look up to see Felix, a parent of another of your students, sitting in a park bench next to Chris. You do a double take when you catch a blush rising up his cheeks.

"Mr. Lee, Mr. Bang," you say, your dog preoccupied with a smell under the bench, "lovely evening for the park innit?"

Felix checks his watch, "speaking of, it's almost dinner time."

"tell your wife I say 'hi'" Chris calls after Felix who's helping his little girl pack up her toys.

"always do!" Felix calls back.

Chris laughs. It's such a genuine laugh, almost like a giggle.

You found yourself fascinated with the sound.

"something on my face?"

You snap out if your daze, "sorry, I just wasn't expecting your laugh to sound like that," you try to laugh away the awkwardness.

It seems to work as Chris relaxes his shoulders, loosening up. He laughs again. The sight of his crinkled eyes as he looks at you makes your heart swell.

"I know it's rather sudden," Chris inhaled sharply, "but would you like to come over for dinner tomorrow? Yuna's having a sleepover at Felix's since it's a Friday-"

"I'd love to!" You cut off his rambling.

"really!?" He asks excitedly with wide eyes.

"yeah I thought you'd never ask," you laugh, "is 7 o'clock a good time?"

"I'll see you then," he says, grinning from ear to ear.

You walk up a set of concrete steps, seeing Chris' bike on the drive as you approach the front door.

The door opens before you have a chance to raise your hand to knock.

Chris looks stunningly sifistocated in his white button up and black jeans, hair styled curly as he invites you inside. He asks to take your coat, more than happy to show off your backless red dress.

"wow," he breaths, taking in the sight.

You smile, "you don't look half bad yourself."

He has a classy dinner already laid in on his dinning room table.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't find a table cloth."

"I don't mind at all," you say, smiling at Yuna's drawings etched into the wood.

Chris pulls out a chair for you, you sit down, thanking him. From this angle you have a good view into an office. You notice a stack of books and recording equipment piled on a desk

"what's the books for?" You ask.

"hm? Oh! Just my university stuff," he says, serving you.

"what are you studying?"

"music production, because I hate working so low down in the company."

You listen to him talk about his degree, how he's been studying for his finals the last few weeks, his job now and Yuna. He fills you in on all the adorable, sweet, and cheeky things his little girl has done. You see the sparkle in his eyes and can't help but reciprocate, she really is a sweet kid.

You find him fascinating in everyway. But your mind wanders a bit, he is also irresistibly sexy with his dark curls in his eyes and shirt showing a bit too much skin. The fact that you're sitting across from him now is enought to make your core wet.

"-sorry I don't mean to talk so much, I just rarely get the chance to have adult conversations, you know living with a 5 year old and what not- and here I go again rambling." He sheepishly resumes eating his dinner.

"not at all! I love listening to you!"

"really?"

"yeah," you say, a bit too breathy.

"that's good," he says staring at your lips. You hadn't realized you'd been biting your bottom one. You decide to bite the bullet instead and press your foot to his crotch. His body goes pliant in his chair for a moment before he silently puts his fork down.

He looks at you, searching your gaze before a dark lustful look comes over him.

He picks up his fork again, "the bedroom is the last room on the left hallway," he says, finishing his last bite of food.

Youve hardly processed his sentence when he speaks again.

"Did you hear me baby girl?"

You nod rapidly, standing up with weak knees going down the hallway.

You find the bedroom. You're inside for less than a second when Chris pushes you against his bedroom wall, kissing you deeply.

"How about you strip for me, let me see how much you want me." He's hardly finished his sentence when you're pulling off your clothes. You struggle to get out of your dress in your eagerness, eventually draping it over a nearby chair, kneeling on the floor, looking up eagerly at him.

"no bra," he breaths, his eyes fucking you.

Chris takes his sweet time unbuttoning his shirt. You can't help but ogle at the sight. Your eyes find the serpent, following it down his chest, the end of its tail still tucked behind his black jeans.

Chris continues the show, slowly dropping his pants and stepping out of them.

So it ends at his knee. You think to yourself.

You can see his leaking dick pressed painful hard against his underwear. Your mouth waters at the sight.

"close your mouth, darling. You'll catch flies." He grins, voice like silk.

"maybe you should close my mouth for me," you test.

He smirks, running the pad of his thumb against your bottom lip.

You take that as permission to pull his boxers down.

"you gonna be a good girl and take all my cock?" He asks smugly.

You nod, stroking his length, leaving kitten licks on his tip.

Chris groans, "feels so good, Yn."

You take his whole length into his mouth, taking him by surprise. he accidentally bucks his hips into your warm mouth.

He moans seeing you choke on his cock for a second.

Chris mumbles an apology as he rest his hand in your hair, feeling the way you bob your head up and down on his thick length.

You bask in his elicit moans, feeling smug knowing you're the one on your knees for him, not any of your co-workers or single moms. You.

He suddenly pulls your head off him. You whine in response. Chris guides you back to your feet, pulling your body against his.

"that was fun baby girl, but now it's your turn," he whispers into your neck, his hard-on dripping against your thigh.

Chris picks you up, tossing you effortlessly on the bed, he kisses down your neck to your boobs, giving each a gentle squeeze before continuing his ministrations down your body. He gives special attention to your thighs, avoiding where you want him most. You catch his drift.

"please Chris, please touch my pussy" you whine.

Chris moans, "such a dirty girl."

"please," you whine again.

Chris lightly brushes his fingers over your womanhood, just barely missing your clit.

You groan in annoyance.

"touch me harder, Chris please!"

He lands a harsh but not painful slap on your dripping cunt. You moan, gripping his bicep as a wave of pleasure hits you.

"like that, baby girl?"

You nod rapidly.

Chris kisses your pussy lips, before slapping you again, you don't have time recover when he lands a third.

Chris presses his tongue against your clit. You watch his eyes flutter closed as he eats you out like he didn't just finish dinner.

He inserts 2 fingers, making you scream in pleasure.

He pistons his fingers in and out of your soaked heat while sucking harshly on your clit.

It quickly becomes too much, you come on his fingers with a moan of his name

Chris doesn't stop, he slows down while you ride out your orgasm but picks up the pace when you start squirming.

After your third orgasm, pulls his fingers out, you whine in protest.

"I can't take it anymore," he groans, whipping a drawer open and cracking a fresh box of condoms.

You watch his fingers, still slick with your come open the wrapper.

"first time using one of these," he nervously giggles when he catches your gaze.

You take the condom from him, sliding it down his thick length. His erection twitching in your hand.

You sense the anxiety in the air.

You lay on your back, pulling him on-top.

"fuck me Chris," you moan.

He groans as he guides his dick in you.

You moan when he bottoms out.

He starts off slow, letting you feel all of his length. As he gains confidence, he quickens his pace until you're screaming his name.

He slows his thrusts just long enough to make you squirm before his hips resume pistoning in you. The pleasure knocking the wind out of you.

"feels so good, Chris," you moan, tangling a hand in his hair. Your other hand moving down his back, feeling his back muscles flex with every jerk of his hips.

"fuck Yn, I'm going to come."

You've lost the ability to speak, responding only by moaning.

You both come at the same time, feeling him relax onto you.

After a moment of heavy breathing and gentle kisses later, Chris pulls out. He throws out the condom standing up. He pulls one of his clean black tees over your exhausted form. He tucks you into bed with him.

"that was amazing, Yn, thank you."

"you're very welcome, I thoroughly enjoyed myself," you chime. Chris giggles, his thumb rubbing circles on your thigh.

You laugh, burying your head into the crook of his neck.

He wraps his arms around you as you trace his snake tattoo from his neck down to his side to his leg.

He pulls you into a gentle but passionate kiss, your hands finding purchase on his shoulders.

"can I ask a question, Chris?" You ask between kisses.

"shoot."

"what happened to Yuna's mom?"

Chris took a deep breath, you cringed at yourself for letting curiousity get the better of you.

"she was a fling in my senior year of high school, when she got pregnant and didn't want the baby, I said I'd take her. Yuna's never met her mom."

"I didn't know, I'm so sorry."

"don't be." He smiled, "I think you'd make a much better mom for her."

"really?"

"if that's what you want!" Chris rushed, realizing what he just said.

"that is what I want," you say, kissing his lips.

"does that mean you'll do her home reading for me?"

You laugh, nodding.

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Ugh I feel like this is trash lmao I tried. Ive volunteered in kindergarten before so I tried to make the dialogue work but idk if it did, I wrote this instead of sleeping. It's also been a very long time since I've written in "novel" format since I'm practicing screenplays rn oof so I'm sorry if this sucks. Please leave a comment if you enjoyed! And thank you to @lovebini for the giggling suggestion!

-Elle

#stray kids bang chan smut #stray kids smut #chan stray kids #chan smut #dilf chan

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swissarmymanbf · 3 years

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hiii :] do u have any good spn fic recs?? i trust ur taste <3

HIIIII ANON first of ty for coming to me ily. second i dont know what you want exactly as spn fic is a very broad category but im just going to give you some that ive read and very much enjoyed :3

(fics will be under the read more bc this is kinda long)

a turn of the earth by microcomets: destiel, dean pov, 95k, slowburn. cas gets sent back in time and meets 22 year old dean. i am very bad with descriptions but this one is definitely worth reading, its the only long fic ive been able to read multiple times. (mature content warning towards the end)

the tunnel of love by xylodemon: destiel, dean pov, 21k. dean and cas have to kiss for a hunt. highly enjoyable, great writing, one of my favorites. (also mature content warning towards the end)

après by imogenbynight: destiel, cas pov, 24k. cas loses his grace and lands in paris, dean flies out to get him, and they have a sort of cute romantic holiday there. this one is really sweet!! also has a follow up, billet doux. (again, mature content warning towards the end)

the cost of a thing by quiettewandering: destiel, dean pov, 74k, fake relationship, slow burn. dean and cas are hunting something thats killing married couples and they have to pretend to be married in order to catch it.

adjust to the light by achillese: midam, 69k, au. adam is the only survivor of an uncaught serial killer. warning this one is kind of dark (not that much explicit violence but it does involve serial killers and the aftermath of attempted murder so. if that bothers you than tread carefully)

the world begins anew by clasch: destiel, dean pov, 1.2k, fluffy, christmas celebration. this one is really adorable and made me almost cry.

a new type of normal by chipper99: destiel, dean pov, 2k, fluff. cas thinks dean means a kiss when he asks if hes forgotten something but in reality he's talking about car keys. this one is really cute and funny :3

four seasons by thesongsmith: destiel, au, .7k. technically this should not be on a serious fic rec list bc its a crackfic but its also really funny. remember when the trump administration accidentally booked four seasons landscaping instead of the four seasons hotel? this is just that but destiel

well everybody's got a secret, sonny by luminoussbeings: 1.7k, sam and dean both think the other is homophobic.

brainstorm by astralpenguin: t4t channing/kevin (pre-relationship, theyre around 14) 1.2k, fluffy. channing helps kevin pick out a name.

jack goes to kindergarten by cowboydeanwinchester: outsider pov, background destiel, 2k. jack goes to kindergarten and the teacher meets his family.

veil by evol_love: harry/ed (ghostfacers), 8k. ed and harry both attend the deancas roadhouse wedding.

you care about what i eat. that’s what a husband does. you cook for me even when i don’t ask. that’s what a husband does. when i pass out you comb my hair so there’s no knots in it. that’s what a husband does. by goodbyechunkylemonmilk: midam, 6k. michael and adam get married at dennys. this one is really cute one of my absolute favorites.

white summer by mrbluesky: 5k, dean and claire are both trans and come out to eachother.

you have to break a few eggs by archangelgabriel: midam, 9k, au. adam works at a diner and michael keeps coming in at 1 am.

like a crown on a thorn by lusilly: samruby, 1.2k. character/relationship study, very good i really like this one.

we said something dumb, see by peterspajamas: annamary, 1.5k. anna and mary meet in a bar. excellent fic highly recommend, got me into annamary.

im gonna wrap this up here since its kinda long, if youve made it this far then i will do a bit of self promo and rec my own fics lolz (buzzcut season - dreamhunter fluff + please dont leave me - dean and claire bond) i hope you enjoy these!! if i think of any more ill rb this and add them on :]

#mailbox #anon #if u want anything more specific feel free 2 send another ask!!

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pact-ideas · 5 years

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Your home is the beautiful hidden city of Leira a haven for the wood elves to hide away from the cruelty of the outside world, each house was made from the wood of a different tree and the city was warded away from the rest of the world by a magical forest that never let anyone through its majestic depths, life in Leira was peaceful as it had been for a thousand years

you fucking hate it

ok maybe not the peace, the peace was nice everyone can agree that peace was if a little boring generally a good thing but.... well.... ok first of all that magical forest thing works two way no one can leave. ever. this didnt stop you trying when you were little you used to take off into the forest determined to see what was at the other side but no matter how hard you tried or how you navigated or how long you were walking or anything you always ended up back in Leira it was always the same you would end up right back at home and your mother would brush the twigs out of your hair and say how “silly” you were to get lost in the forest it made you indescribably angry but you didnt even understand why

growing up in this place was a nightmare, Leira was created by melora the goddess of nature so as you can imagine the culture of leira was pretty heavily dedicated to sucking her metaphysical dick, everyone’s a vegetarian and natures roams free throughout the city which is nice and all but when your late for school and you get stuck behind a 20 ton bear it easy to loose your fucking patience and it not like you want to kill an animal or anything but your desperately curious to know what meat tastes like. one night there was a big wild fire and a bunch of birds got roasted in the flames and yeah it was sad and all that but my god the SMELL! it was amazing and theres no way you can ever get any kind of meat since theres no privacy anywhere in the god damn city, you live with your family and streets are ALWAYS busy with people and even in the rare moment when theres no other elves around theres always some kind of nature around and since most of the elves if the city can speak to animals your pretty sure if you did anything too sacrilegious it would be reported before you could say “barbecue”. and the people ugh the FUCKING PEOPLE you mother keeps nagging you and telling you off for regecting all your sutiors but in fairness your not really regecting 8 or 9 suitors your regecting one because EVERYONE HERE IS THE FUCKING SAME THEYVE GOT LONG FLOWING HAIR THEYRE SLIM AND DELICATE LOOKING THEY WRITE POTRY ABOUT NATURE AND THEY PROBABLY PLAY THE FUCKING PAN FLUTE.

ok what the fuck is up with pan flutes theyre anoying to play and they dont even sound good why cant we just bang some fucking sticks together and make some real noise!

and the worst thing about it is that everyone you have ever met god damn loves it here if you go to a town elder to ask about if people can get through the forest he just pats you on the head and says some shit like “dont worry little one no outsiders will ever get in” and you have to fight back the urge to scream beacause NO LORENCE YOU DONT GET IT but you just nod and smile because if you say anything than you get branded as even more of a fucking outsider than when you decided to tie up your hair for the first time.I mean by the GODS what is wrong with tying up your hair? ugh you know whats wrong with it in Leria elves belive that hair should flow out beautifuly and naturally its common for full adults to have hair that reaches the floor and some elders employ neighbourhood kids to pick up their hair after them when they walk so it doesn't trail behind them on the ground but whoever decided that elvish hair was contantly elegant never seemed to be able to get your hair to obey. your hair constantly got caught on buttons and jackets and even door handles! your hair is only down to your waist and its already the biggest nuisance in your life you cant imagine it reaching the floor and always getting stepped on so one day you had had enough, you got some twine and tied up your hair you thought it looked pretty good but when your mother saw it for the first time my god it was like you were dying she asked what was wrong if you needed some kind of help and after she hear that your hair was getting in the way she decided to spend three hour THREE FUCKING HOURS brushing it which is not only fucking painfull but its the kind of stupid bullshit you were trying to avoid when you tied it up in the fucking first place. eventually people got a little more used to you tying up your hair there was always a limit there was always a “oh honey grannies coming round for dinner so dont you think you should take down your hair?” and its like ..... why? but becuase theyre your family you dont question it and let your hair down but secretly you think that maybe granny wouldnt mind it if you could eat without accidentally getting stray hairs in your mouth every....single...time you took a bite to eat.

buuuuuut theres some hope theres a legend of a warrior with a great connection to nature who must leave the safty of the city and defeat a great evil in the outside world and your determined that that person will be you you got to the libary at noght and read books on the outside world and FUCK it sounds so fucking interesting so different so god damn DIFFERENT you read about beings who live between dimensions and every single member of there race is completly different to each other every single one is entirly unique some are good some are evil some have physical forms some are made of gas and some of them are just a mad pile of limbs I mean can you imagine? the very idea of beings like that sets you mind ablaze and your determined to meet one but the fucking problem with that is the the legendary hero is suppose to be able to connect with nature and you... struggle with that. you call out to the trees to obey your commands you try to connect with the animals and you appeal to the elements but nothing ever works its so fucking frustrating this is your only chance of leaving the city and you can even begin to make progress everyone in the city at least has SOME connection to nature there are toddlers that can make flowers bloom and you cant even bend a branch. everyone teacher youve ever had tells you not to give up and to keep trying and that you just need to look deep down withing yourslef and find the connection you dont know is there but that just bullshit the reason you can connect with the trees is because deep down you dont WANT to connect with the trees you know it and the trees know it why cant anyone see?everyone in the world from your teacher to your parents tyo the town elders to the fucking animals seemed to think that your just one attitude adjustment away from being a perfect happy elf “keep trying” they say “you’ll get it eventually” all your fucking life youve been hearing that but you know what? you dont want to be a perfect elf with long hair and a dozy smile you dont want to be the hero who connects with nature and is celebrated as the perfect figure you dont want to be here anymore! you want to eat meat and wear clothes that dont make me look like a plant obsessed ballet dancer and fight people with your bare hands and play the drums and do whatever you want with my hair and be FUCKING FREE

you sneak into the library the books your looking for is old and worn but within it is the ritual that you need. The great one Uthuctarr is surprised to be contacted by an elf but you get along like a house on fire. soon the terms of the pact are agreed you have the pentagram scrawled onto the library floor in chalk all you need to seal the pact is a part of your self, most people use blood but you have a better idea, you take out the dagger you stole, its carved out of bone it was used by ancient elves to hunt in the days when the world was new, functionally the bone dagger is everything the elves of Leira stand against but they couldnt destroy it without discrediting their precious history. its perfect, you undo the twine holding your hair and let the blond mass fall forward over your face. with your left and you grab a clump of long blond hair near the base and with your right you take the blunt bone dagger and cut. you hand is not steady and your hair is thick but that doesnt stop you and soon a huge chunk of blond mess falls away into the centre of the pentagram. you pause for a moment thinking about what youve just dont and you realise you can feel the night hair against your ears and in all you life youve never felt anything more divine you begin to laugh, truly laugh. not at a joke or out of politeness but out of pure unfiltered joy. quickly you grab another clump and get back to work. after a few more minutes of frenzied cutting your finally free of you long messy STUPID hair, you gather the hair into the centre of the pentagram and step back. suddenly all on its own the hair bursts into dark blue flames, the small is awful, you love it, from the fire a tiny thread of blue flame pushes out of the flame and begins to weave its way out of the library though the city and into the forest the locals are mystified but you know whats happening after all these years you are finally being shown the path out of Leira.

#pact ideas #eldritch #pact #elf #elves #dnd #dnd 5e #character idea #wow this was long #warlock #anger #family #long post #loooooong post #im sorry for the people who have to scroll through this #lovecraft #lovecrafian #rebelion

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guksthighs · 6 years

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To The Boy I’ve Always Loved || knj

CHAPTER: ONE | TWO | END

Summary: It’s the last two months of fake dating Namjoon and you’re forced to get more intimate - not that you’re complaining since youve been crushing on him for as long as you can remember.

Genre: fluff, angst, eventual smut

Length: 1.5k

Aes: @petrimyg - she’s truly amazing and creates the most beautiful aesthetics !!

A/N: i watched to all the boys i’ve ever loved and wanted to write a fake dating au !! so here is a homage to that but better because namjoon is involved,, !!

this will be a 3 part series!! THIS IS PART ONE !!

The slam of the front door stirred Namjoon from his sleep, dreary-eyed he stretched his legs and arms above him before sitting up and rubbing a hand over his face before calling out, “welcome home honey!”

The sound of footsteps increased in sound and he grinned as his door swung open as you stormed in, “don’t call me that! Our rules said only use endearments outside of the apartment!”

Namjoon bit his lip as he tried to hide his smile whilst watching you try and look stern before you both started to laugh. The laughter quelled for a few seconds before Namjoon next spoke, “I just can’t contain all of this love.”

Your laughter stopped as you raised an eyebrow at his comment before clearing your throat awkwardly, as you did whenever Namjoon flirted with you and instead changed the topic, “you haven’t eaten breakfast, you night owl-”

“I’ll have it now,” he smiled, watching as you picked your way through the scattered clothes and books. You stopped when your knees brushed against his beige knitted blanket to reach over him and pull open the curtain to reveal the midday sun.

Namjoon looked up at you and felt an urge to push himself up and kiss your chin, and your collarbones so lightly that he’d make you giggle. He longed to see you smile, really smile instead of the forced laughter he’d just heard. But there was little he could do without ruining everything.

There had been an awkward feeling between both of you ever since he’d announced it was only two more months of fake dating. Namjoon quickly reminded himself of all the small squabbles you’d gotten through during your friendship and decided not to think about it anymore.

You heaved a sigh and turned on your heel before stumbling out of his room, shoulders slouched in a way Namjoon could only link to you being tired. He made a mental note to talk to find a way to help you with your sleeping.

“You’re really not a morning person,” he called after you to receive the sound of a door slam as a reply - well, more of a confirmation of how bad you were in the mornings. Namjoon walked out of his room and smiled at the sight of his large apartment, bigger than his single friends all because you were fake dating him.

The housing system of your university was biased to couples and offered much nicer housing to old relationships, if given proof, which Namjoon and you had plenty of because of your friendship that had existed since you were kids.

So Namjoon has approached you with the idea to fake dating and you’d agreed, thinking it would be nice to spend time alone with him. However quickly you’d realised you weren’t comfortable kissing Namjoon or even hugging him in public.

Namjoon spoke under his breath as he got ready, “maybe i should just tell her.” He shook his head and pulled on a pair of ripped trousers, “no I can’t risk ruining everything or even worse-” he pulled his head through a grey sweatshirt, his head popping through so he could finish his statement, “we could lose the dorm.”

As he emerged from his room, Namjoon felt firm in his beliefs that the dorm master hadn’t figured out what was happening which meant everything was okay for now and he knew you would start to feel better soon.

But the second his gaze landed on you, seated by the window staring out of it, Namjoon’s heart felt heavy before you turned to look at him with a sad smile, “The air feels heavy today,”

He blinked, surprised at how blunt you had been. Did you really feel like things were awkward between you? But as Namjoon went to question your statement you turned away from facing him, “I think there’s going to be a storm later.”

The sky was a bright blue with students lounging around the campus wearing very little clothing and he felt like there was something else on your mind that wasn’t just the weather. Namjoon swallowed hard and clenched his jaw before walking towards you with the intention of not leaving until you were smiling again.

But just as he was getting close you whipped around, “you know you’re ten minutes late for class already, right?” You watched earnestly as Namjoon dropped the plate he was holding and stared at you with wide eyes because he was certain last he’d checked that he had an hour.

A snort broke the silence as you burst into laughter, falling forward onto the sofa and shoving your face into a pillow to stifle your laughter. “You were joking?” He asked tentatively and watched you kick your feet into the sofa as if trying to rid yourself of the joy of shocking your friend.

With a gasp for air, you looked up and nodded, causing Namjoon to let out a long sigh and climb onto the sofa where he proceeded to take out his phone and tweet about the injustice of your pranks.

As the elder boy sat typing he felt a pressure on his lap, glancing down to find your head resting on his thighs the way you used to do when you were teenagers. There was a certain normality to your skinship meaning it wasn’t embarrassing but as you shifted to nuzzle into his stomach Namjoon felt his heart flutter and frowned to himself.

The blush that spread across his cheeks following most interactions with you had become normal to Namjoon and every minute or so he would glance down at you. He bit his lip as he tried to stop himself from smiling like a dork when he watched you bite your tongue and squint your eyes as you tried to read something on your phone.

In what felt like no time at all Namjoon was aware that he needed to leave or else he was going to be late, glancing down at his lap he let out a heavy sigh at the sight of your sleeping form. He didn’t want to wake you up, slowly moving his large hands to cradle your head and rest it on the sofa as Namjoon stood up and after grabbing his bag, sprinted out of the apartment.

The halls were empty save for a few students he recognised from his classes who greeted Namjoon with a nod as they also power walked down the stairs. He was practically sprinting out of the door when a teacher moved to stand in front of him causing Namjoon to stumble over his feet and almost trip.

He looked up and clenched his jaw as fear coursed through his body at the sight of the dorm master standing in front of him with a stern look on his face,

“Kim Namjoon, I need to speak to you.”

“This is a joke,” you looked up at Namjoon, who had just run into your apartment and shouted for you before slamming into your room and relaying the warning the dorm master had just given him.

“Not a joke.”

“We have to go on the couple events that are run?” You laughed at the idea as if you hadn’t dreamt of sitting in a dark cinema next to Namjoon as he placed his arm over your shoulder. As if your daydreams didn’t consist of feeling his arms around you and hearing him whisper those three words like any normal couple.

But you had a part to play and you played it well.

Namjoon laughed along with you, sinking into the sofa next to you and pulling his laptop from his bag to search for date ideas before turning to you with that infectious wide dimpled smile, “It’s a joke but we’re going to do it right?”

You nodded and leant your head on his shoulder to watch the ideas he was writing down in a notebook next to him, “this means more PDA?” Namjoon nodded and interlinked your hand with his free one, assuming you were stressed about embarrassing yourself by being publicly affectionate with him.

In reality, you were just scared to get used to this fake love and when it was over you’d be unable to be friends with him without feeling like your heart had been shattered. It was a tough balancing act but when he squeezed your hand, you squeezed back wondering if you could convey your emotional turmoil through simple pressure.

“You’ve always liked holding hands,” Namjoon laughed lightly before pulling up the original document of your relationship agreement and you both heaved a sigh wondering why you thought you’d be able to get through a year with rule three ( ’limited PDA’ ) and rule five ( no kissing ) specifically.

With a loud groan, you yanked the laptop onto your lap and began typing up a revised edition of the rules with glances towards Namjoon every now and then when he made a noise of approval.

Soon enough you were sure that you’d be able to stay in the apartment until the end of the year, you and Namjoon could be the perfect couple - even if you were using rules so you could hide your feelings for your childhood friend.

NEXT >>

If you enjoyed this, please do not hesitate to like, reblog and comment~

And tell me your thoughts in the comments/ask box <3

For my drabbles: click here

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organisaticns · 6 years

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so im due to start at cambridge university for bio natural sciences in october and i thought i would write a post about what helped me make a successful application. hopefully this is useful to some people!! (also this is an incredibly long post you’ve been warned)

if anyone wants me to do a more in depth post on one specific section, or you guys have any questions at all, feel free to drop me a message!!

choosing a course

this is the most important bit!!! you’re dedicating 3/4/5/6 years of your life to this

oxbridge as rule (esp cambridge) have slightly different courses to other universities so do your research - on their websites and at open days

i know top students are supposed to apply to oxbridge bc “it’s the best” and stuff but if the courses offered don’t interest you or you prefer how other unis teach that course, DON’T APPLY!! it’s not worth it

generally, look at your a level/ib/etc subjects and which sort of courses they meet the entry requirements for then look at websites and stuff to try and narrow it down

talk to current students! the blog askacambridgestudent on tumblr is great, each area has an oxbridge conference each april if you can go, ask students at open days

they can tell you what it’s actually like

read some books in the subject area you’re considering, watch ted talks, go to masterclasses, do work experience

this will help you choose a course and also be useful later when you write your personal statement

okay so when i was applying people kept telling me i would only be successful if the only thing i thought about 24/7 was biology and it was the love of my life. this is not true. you can have other interests don’t believe the people that tell you that you cant

that being said you need to be passionate about your subject!! refer to bullet point 1!! they want to know that you’re interested in it and this needs to show

oxford vs cambridge

this is really hard for some people but my course is only offered at cambridge so i did not have this problem

so first see if you prefer the course offered at one of them

if not, visit both and hopefully you’ll get a better vibe from one

i have no good advice here

writing your personal statement

okay writing a ps is just not fun okay prepare yourself for that

if anyone wants a biology/natural sciences example message me and i can send you mine

this post has some really good advice

start early, aim to have it completely done and edited by early september (oxbridge deadline is 15th october)

first, think about things you want to write about - i wrote a paragraph on a book i’d read, a paragraph each on two summer schools i did, a paragraph on my epq, and a paragraph on extracurricular

things you can talk about - books, ted talks, lectures, summer schools, masterclasses, epq, independent research into stuff, work experience

when you’re writing about stuff you gotta engage with it, so dedicate a whole paragraph to one book, then take one key theme and talk about how it interested you and how you looked up other things to do with it - link it to a different concept or talk about which theory you like best if theres conflicting theories in the field etc

it’s a hard thing to do but just pick different bits you liked about the book and try to discuss it - a key theory, theme, character etc

you can be asked about your ps in interview so make sure you’re comfortable discussing the books on your ps

you also do not need to talk about multiple books if you don’t want to, i only talked about one and i know people who didn’t mention any

don’t just say things like “im passionate about biology”!! back it up with something!! say you’re passionate about one specific topic in your field and why, discuss how different things you did/read consolidated your interest, show your interest through discussion about the subject

try to link in slightly different subject areas or experiences, and definitely link everything to your course and why you’d be a good student

i managed to link my latin AS level to biology so anything is possible folks

while you want all your paragraphs to be very supercurricular based on things you’ve done and read, try and drop in some of those buzz words they love - you know like about your academic writing skills, enthusiasm, opportunity, dedication, communication, interdisciplinary skills etc.

oxbridge do not give a shit about your extracurricular but other unis do so you want one paragraph max on it and try to link it to transferable skills - it makes you a good communicator etc

write your first draft - it will be shitty but just write it, leave the intro and conclusion to last

introductions and conclusions are super hard to write but it’s doable. try to take the general idea you’re trying to include (mine was how interdisciplinary study is important to both all the sciences together and sub disciplines in bio) and write a little bit about it

it doesn’t have to be long, your intro should introduce your passion to the subject (please don’t do the whole “i’ve wanted to study bio since i was five and x happened” thing)

conclusion can be super short, just reinforce you’re excited to study your subject in a new environment and have new opportunities

look at the tsr examples for inspiration

try to make it cohesive ish? have a running theme? (like how this one has a running theme? i actually took a lot of inspiration from that ps)

don’t say things like “im a motivated and commited student with good time management skills” without smth to back it up - “while undertaking an independent research project, i developed time management skills, and researching x made me more interested bc y” is better (i mean still not incredible but i wrote that literally just now okay)

the student room has a load of examples from people who’ve already applied

read the ones in your subject, work out which bits you like and don’t like, apply to your own (be careful of plagiarism tho)

disclaimer: not all the ps on there are good

once you have a complete and awful first draft show it to a teacher

most people show it to the relevant subject teacher, but also to your tutor, the higher education adviser, oxbridge adviser

they will hopefully help you make it less awful but don’t let them change it so much it doesn’t sound like you

i showed mine to the oxbridge adviser at my school and well he laughed at it bc it was so bad so you know

but i didn’t listen to everything he said bc some of the things he wrote like no 17 year old would say

keep revising drafts, showing to teachers until you can’t stand reading it anymore then get someone else (maybe parents?) to spell check and be done with the horrible thing

no one likes their personal statement, you will read it in august and wonder how you could possibly write something so bad

the actual ucas application

make sure your predicted grades are at least as high as the entrance requirements

you don’t really have much control over your teacher reference but you can use it to mention things you couldn’t fit in your personal statement if you can convince your teachers to include stuff

make sure all your qualifications and stuff are accurate

the saq (cambridge only)

you have to fill this in straight after october 15th

it’s mostly boring admin stuff, filling in topics and class sizes etc.

you have an option to write an additional (shorter) personal statement

this is really useful if the course you’re applying to at oxbridge is different to the other courses youve applied to - such as if you applied to politics everywhere else but hsps at cambridge - use it to explain why you want to do that specific course at cambridge

but you definitely don’t have to write one, i didnt!

make sure you get this in on time

written work

for some courses you have to send in written work

i didn’t have to so i don’t have loads of advice, but make sure you send in stuff that you’re comfortable discussing at interview

they’ll be guidelines on the cambridge website and on your specific college’s website

admissions tests

not the most fun things

find the specification on the website and go through, highlighting and revising the points you don’t know

try to find some past papers and do them

this really depends on the subject you’re doing so i can’t give much more advice but if anyone needs advice specific to the NSAA shoot me a message

also, these are just part of your application and even if you came out of yours thinking it’s the worst test you’ve ever had it probably didn’t go that badly

the NSAA is the hardest test i’ve ever sat and i thought i had done completely shit and i still got an offer so there’s still hope

interviews

okay so first, don’t believe the rumours

you know the ones where people say they got given a banana and asked to use it to explain how quantum mechanics relates to of mice and men

interviews are definitely scary, but they are nowhere near as bad as people make them out to be, and they don’t ask you weird unrelated questions

make sure you know your personal statement inside out and you feel comfortable talking about the topics/books/etc you mentioned on there in depth

keep up to date with any recent news or high profile research in your field (you don’t need to know details, just have a vague idea of what’s going on)

this is especially important if you’re applying for politics or economics or something like that

if your school offers a mock interview, definitely have one, though don’t panic if you can’t have one there’s other ways to prepare

the whole point of interview is them wanting to see how you think and how you respond to unfamiliar problems

so i looked up a list of “past oxbridge interview questions” and practised writing down a quick answer to them and thinking about how i would go about solving the problem

oxford has some examples on the “sample questions” bit here

i also used this site but remember a lot of these probably aren’t actual interview questions

if you have an opportunity, just talk to your relevant subject teacher about the topics beyond your specification

you honestly don’t need to do too much interview prep, just do enough so you feel a bit calmer about the whole thing

hope some of that helps :)

#ucas #a levels #oxford #cambridge #oxbridge #university #masterposts #mine

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geneticsshrimp · 6 years

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tag game

i was tagged by @stanning-seb thank you steph!

rules: tag ten followers you want to know better

Name? Cameron

Gender? female

Star sign? Scorpio

Height? 5'8"

Age? 17

Sexuality? bisexual

Wallpaper on your phone? (i really have no clue who made this so i cant give credits because i would im sorry)

Ever crush on a teacher? oof thats a big no

Coolest halloween costume? halloween isnt something that i like to celebrate and i havent done so in about 5 years

Favorite 90's show? thats so raven omg i was obsessed with it

Last kiss? this is embarassing but i still havent had my first kiss (yes im 17)

Favorite pair of shoes? i dont think i have a favorite pair of shoes so pass

Have you ever been to Las Vegas? twice actually, i went for my 15th birthday and for my 16th birthday

Favorite fruit? grapes tbh

Favorite book? oof ive read a lot of books but if i had to pick id have to go with Harry Potter

Stupidest thing youve ever done? this question made me cringe way too hard so im gonna have to pass

Favorite tv shows? i dont watch many tv shows but maybe The Flash, Stranger Things & Pretty Little Liars

Last movie you saw in theater? Ant Man and the Wasp

tags (you dont have to if you dont want to): @buckystan-plums @astralpcrker @borkboofbuchanan @liveintrees @midtown-parker

#tag game #not marvel #cameron speaking

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xielians · 6 years

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rule: tag ten followers you want to get to know better

tagged by: @darkest-symphony. thanks for the tag! i hope youve been doing well! tagging: @lolis4laifu, @koyomii, @x-theskyatdawn-x, @cherry-the-uchi, @emilia-tans, and idk ahsfkdjdkgjm just,, do it if you wanna ahsfkdjgk

Name: just call me miko or w/e ahsifkdjgk Gender: female Star sign: gemini Height: 156cm sexuality: demisexual?? ( lowkey considering ace still bc did i really have sexual attraction that one time?? 🤔 ) what image do you have as wallpaper: my phone or? phone actual wallpaper, lockscreen (the bath one!!) and laptop wallpaper. have you ever had a crush on a teacher?: unsure if i just like her a lot or if its this considered as a crush, there was this really pretty teacher when i was like 11. i was like, real scared of her when i was 10 but, afterwards!!! where do you see yourself in 10 years: lmfao i really dont wanna think about the future at all. but if i have to pick one, ill really like to move to either japan bc i still love the culture, or like, a more chill place if you could be anywhere else right now, where?: i think like yesterday i just had this random af moment where i missed japan so much. i literally miss their convenience stores so much. i wish im in japan, and buying melon bread, strawberry desserts, and sitting at the small apartment digging in at 8pm. simple life, simple pleasures. what was your coolest Halloween costume?: i have actually only had one halloween costume before, and its this orange-black witch dress and hat and i love it. its more cute than cool tho, but i guess it wins by default. what’s your favorite 90s show?: im not actually sure if i watched a tv series in the 90s? even smallville was like 2001. unless you count anime and that’ll be like, ccs or something idek. who was your last kiss?: my mum probably lmao. but if you really have to mean romantically, ive never have you ever been stood up?: uhh never actually. i guess the people i hang around with is nice; or maybe i just dont go out enough. have you ever been to las vegas?: i dont think so, but it could have been possible. ive been to the usa but i dont remember where favorite pair of shoes: this pair of flats. looks nice too. favorite fruit: strawberries favorite book: i havent read a proper full book in like 2 years. im reading no longer human atm tho. stupidest thing you’ve ever done: i dont remember?? i do a lot of dumb things but theyre more of things i regret than actually thinking its stupid. oh i guess this counts. its not really a funny story tho. once, theres this person where they did bad things, and there was like evidence against that, but i still chose to listen to them? honestly a lot of their explanation to me felt like an over justification of their actions -- which is honestly suggesting that its like a big lie or something? but even so, i still decided to trust them? it ended up hurting the person i was basically doing this Trusting thing for. really stupid, since you know, it’ll make sense that it’ll hurt them if i did that, but i was dumb. ahsfkdjgkdgjk

#personal stuff #tag stuff #uhh i just wanted to share about my wallpapers and stuff #pls click on all of them #i used to have a hisoka for my actual phone wallpaper but im matching with a friend sort of

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johnnusuh · 6 years

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MBTI Book Tag!

tagged by @edenian-princess ! thanks!! <3

Questionnaire Portion

1. First things first, what is your MBTI type?

ISTJ 👀

2. When did you learn to read?

oof not gonna lie i dont acc remember, i was very young though and i loved to read so much- i remember in primary i used to walk around everywhere with my book open because i couldnt waste a second that could have been spent reading 😅, im trying to pick up the habit again and im doing well so far

3. What languages can you read in?

english and spanish

4. What book are you currently reading or most recently read?

complications, its really awesome! its about medicine and why doctors make mistakes and the consequences of them, but also explains why and how they happen

5. Name 3 books you never finished

1. the room

2. some book about a spy and his cover was that he worked as a pen salesman or something

3. i cant remember any others

6. What are your favorite books from childhood?

anything jacqueline wilson, i used to read all her books 😂

theres another series- airhead i think it was called from meg cabot, ah man she was another big author i loved

i also absolutely loved the diary of a wimpy kid series as well as the dork diaries series, i thought they were hilarious.

oh! the young sherlock holmes series, they were amazing

7. What are your current favorite books?

influence: the psychology of persuasion is my absolute favourite book and will probably always be

thinking fast and slow is also amazing (oh! i just remembered i never finished it though but i swear its good (this can now be my third option))

the psychopath test and so youve been publicly been shamed by jon ronson are both awesome too

~~~

Multiple Choice (bold as many as apply to you & add your own choice if you must)

8. Your favorite genres:

Mystery/Sci-fi/Chick Lit/Young Adult/Horror/Psychological Horror/Nonfiction/Memoirs/Dystopias/Poetry/Self-Help/Historical/ Fiction/ Historical Fiction/Fanfiction/Adventure/Romance/Biographies/Slice-of-Life

i dont remember when i stopped reading fiction, i might try and get back into it soon

9. Your opinion on rereading books:

I do it all the time/It has to be a really good book/I can’t stand it/I haven’t done it since I was a child/I only reread my favorite sections.

i can only finish books i really love so theyre the only ones i keep and re read

10. How long does it take you to read one book on average?

1 to 3 days/a week/a few weeks/about a month.

week is an average since i tend to have two or one hour breaks between lectures so i just sit down and read then, i wish i could finish sooner though but theres hardly any time to read anymore 😭

11. How do you typically read?

Every opportunity I get, in transit, while waiting, etc/Before bed/On the go by audiobook/When I can truly relax/When I remember to - When I want to or feel like it

ive tried to pick up the habit of reading on the go again so im usually reading while walking to campus, definitely read while waiting for the bus which tends to be like a 20 minute wait and sometimes i get to lectures early and read until my lecturers start 😂😂

12. How many books do you typically read in a year?

None or 1/About 1 to 3/Maybe 4 to 10/At least more than 10/ At least 50/ Too much. I can’t keep track

i dont know 😭

13. For school assigned books, what type of student are/were you?

I read all the books in detail/I read all but sometimes skimmed/I nearly read all, I may have skipped a few because they were too boring/I only read the interesting ones/There’s a reason why Sparknotes was made!

this was mainly because i would be too scared that my teacher would ask me a question in class and i wouldnt know how to answer because i hadnt read it

i tag: @sirupti @thorwaslokid @satanic-avocado @morisuke--kun @katyuatharinia @oceanjoons @tobio2turnt @misslorable @zaharleon

(sup guys! ❤️)

and anyone else who wants to!

#its been awhile #only if you want of course #tags! thanks for tagging me!!

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loveydoveykirk · 7 years

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just talk on friends of the past

ive had 6 best friends thru my life. theyve always come in sets of two.

elementary school was brianna and kate. bri was a little mean but we always picked two of the same books and we read them during reading time aloud together (with the permission of our teacher) and whenever a bad word like "darn" came up, we'd lean in close and whisper the word. kate was canadian and we had dreams of the future. anything and everything was our ticket to success and a good life. fries at lunch turned into an international fry business where we would travel on private jets to meet kings, queens, prime ministers, and the president because our fries were that good. but then, a new school year had started. kate wasnt there. she had moved back to canada and no one had told me. i was sad but i had bri right? but over the year she got new sets of friends and i just wasnt good enough. i didnt have any friends before elementary school because i was very shy and reserved. now i didnt have any again. i shouldve been used to the loneliness but once youve experienced something you cant live life the same way again.

in middle school i had anna and miriam. she was so cool. i admired her. she liked the same nerdy things i liked, loved to read and write, and she knew things (like what all those sex terms meant). she introduced me mim, who had her own computer and four older sisters who were really cool. she was super nice and we had a lot of classes together! we experienced things together, anything from our first school dances and dates to puberty. i used to be a good christian girl (minus being christian, but that stereotype yknow?) but they told me swear words and sex terms and made me scream about it until i was comfortable. mim came to anna and i one day and told us her parents had given her and her siblings a choice: they could vote to move to kansas or stay in nebraska. we tried talking her thru her pros and cons. a couple weeks later she said they were moving. she had voted to leave. anna and i became so close after that. the bus routes had changed the following year and anna and i rode together. anna had started self harming that year and constantly flaunted it. i thought she was cool and must know what she was doing so i started doing it too, and showed her on the bus one day. she saw my cuts and smiled proudly, asking my methods. that was the start of a habit that ive struggled with for years. she became more manipulative and practically abusive over the years, always putting me down whether personally or asking complete strangers who was more attractive, me or her? (they always chose her.) it was the last day of eighth grade, the last day of middle school. she was complaining about the yearbook because i was chosen for 'most likely to become a famous author' but she thought she had much more potential and would actually become an author, unlike me. i stopped talking to her. (and currently im published and shes not? fuck her.)

high school came with new friends. sierra and francesca. they were friends in middle school and while i had known them i wasnt really friends with them. sierra was so so good for me. she helped me with my depression and anxiety and helped me figure out my sexuality. she helped me loosen up a little more. we snuck out when i slept over and i was happy and at peace, at least for a night. we went to our first con down in kansas city! it was without my family too, so it was like freedom. it was great, since we planned it for so long. when i was first hospitalized, sierra and i were supposed to go to that same con, the following year. she and her mother begged to see me, but couldnt because mental wards only allow family. she went to the con still and she came back with a surprise. my aph russia plushie was signed by the aph belarus voice actor! (i cosplayed belarus so i was estatic!) frenchie was supportive and offered me rides so i didnt have to ride the bus was so fiercely protective. then, sierra had to move. she stayed in the city but it was a different school district, and she lived 30 minutes away on a good day. i tried to hang out with frenchie a lot and it took me a year to realize this (but i didnt wanna lose another friend, and i was in a bad state mentally) but she always made excuses onto why she couldnt hang out, or, when we made plans, shed back out at the last second. id been hospitalized every year in high school (for 3 days/2 weeks for the first two years) but after all this, i was put back in there, but this time for 8 weeks then put into an instution for longer than i like. senior year started off horribly. there were many times they wanted to put me back in the hospital, but after the institution, i was terrified of hospitals. i refused. frenchie had all but stopped talking to me and when we did it was tense and uncomfortable. after christmas break, i was 18. i could legally drop out of school. even with one semester to go, i couldnt do it and dropped out. it was nearlly march when i got a text from frenchie. "where you been?" i deleted the message. i havent heard from her since then.

im not trying to push blame on anyone but ive been so lonely and depressed and reclusive since senior year started nearly a year a half ago (with no local friends) and i had to get all of this out and off my chest.

#sarah.txt #self harm///#hospitalizations///#abuse///#(just in case yknow?)#ask to tag///#like if u read ? i just. need to know who read this lmao.#obviously when i talk about 'friends' i mean locally #ive known lots of great folks thru the interwebs lmao

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incendavery · 7 years

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gosh, thank you! that is so sweet??? I hope you (and any other of my followers who celebrate!) have/had a very happy Eid!💖 💕

on another note, I’ve finally gotten around to cleaning out my askbox! under the cut is almost every ask I’ve gotten that i haven’t answered in the past.... I’m not sure. it’s been a WHILE though.

as a warning, there’s all sorts of stuff, and it’s all untagged! also also, if you sent one of these asks and want me to remove it, just let me know!

yes!! @fuckaspunk IS super sweet and talented and i AM very lucky to have them! and I’ve heard from reliable sources that the feeling is mutual~~💕

i’m glad my comics make you feel less alone; that’s a rough situation you’re in. i really hope you find yourself in a better environment soon!

thank you!!!💕

thank you for understanding! and yes, aidan is a huge help to me??? even when they’re not answering asks, they’re always supporting me in some way, whether that’s making sure I’ve eaten enough, or talking me through my anxiety, or all the other ways they’re there for me every single day💕💕

ok, my tips are!!:

draw as much as possible! even if it’s just lines and shapes with no meaning, you’re still developing your hand/eye skills

BUT: dont draw if you’re not feeling it! if you’re feeling fried, it’s better to take a break. go on a walk to somewhere scenic, read your favorite book, listen to some new music, hang out with friends, or just take a nap! rest up and find some inspiration! you can come back to your sketchbook when you feel energized again

draw stuff that you like! you’ll improve way faster if you’re passionate about what you’re doing

look at art you like with a critical eye. try to examine the different components and figure out what you think works or doesn’t work. try incorporation those components into your own work

read a lot of tutorials and other resources, but take what they say with a grain of salt

ultimately, remember that the only real rule to drawing is that doing it should make you happy

good luck!! i do my best not to pick, but it’s a real struggle; i have lots of scars from it too. ;v; im cheering for you!!!

ALWAYS!!!! if you do, please show me!! my notifications get real busy, but anyone is welcome to IM me any time!

thank you! i actually get very worried about my style; i tend to admire artists with complex linework and delicate shading, so i often feel my style is far to simple! so thank you!!

that is really high praise????? gosh??!?!?!? best of luck with the next three years; i hope you grow to be someone you like even better than me!

thank you!!

peanut time is the best!! i haven’t gotten to do a proper one in a while though ;-; i’ve mostly been feeding the crows on my way back home from night shifts, when i give them the reject eggs from the continental breakfast.

wow, neat!! chickens are so wonderful; i cont wait until i can have some of my own :>

dont be nervous! i know i can be hard to get ahold of over the internet (bc i get overwhelmed easily) and hard to talk with irl (bc i get so nervous and interacting w ppl doesn’t come naturally to me AT ALL) but honestly i?? love making new friends??!

thank you!!? im thankful every day that someone as radient as aidan is in my life for the long haul

thank you!!!!!!!💕

i completely feel that? its ok to hit rough patches! just do your best!!

i dont remember what i felt bad about but THANK YOU💕💕

honestly its done me worlds of good to share my art?? hearing people talk about how they go through all the same shit i do makes me feel so much less alone, especially on the toughest days! so i guess thank you, and thank you?

youre welcome!!!! :>

huh!! i dont know much about shoegaze (other than thinking abt that post abt the guy who pronounced it like fugazi I THINK ABT THAT EVERY TIME) but thats real neat!! im glad youve found something that works for you!!

hey, neat middle name! and youre very welcome; i hope things have been looking up for you since you sent this?💕

i dont remember when this was from but im currently doing really well with my meds!! i switched to a combination of lexapro in the morning and benadryl in the evening, and its been working super well!✨

thank you??!! ;o; i would love to see all your favorite birds!!

hey, right back atcha!!!

ty!!!

hey. thank YOU

you’re absolutely not bothering me! thank you so much!!

!!!!!!!!!!

hey, nice! im glad you like both me and my music!

gosh thanks?!?!

she is the most beautiful and handsome!!!!!!!!!!!! i love her! thank you from both of us!!!!

aw, gosh! im sure i like you too!!

this was from.... A WHILE AGO.... but youre welcome?? i just wish i could have done more

hey, thank you so much!!!!!

thank YOU and a very very belated merry christmas!!!

that does make sense!! reconciling friendships and crushes is tricky business. the best i can say to you is to be as honest and open with each other as you can

i dont personally get those, but ive heard of people experiencing them as a sideeffect when coming off or switching meds

i think these two are part of the same message? but oh man yeah that sucks when ppl are misgendering you AND hitting on you at the same time. on a different note, ive never heard of using a corset to stim before! neat!

i mean, 1. depression doesn’t care if you have a “””good””” reason and 2. ive literally never met anyone w depression (including myself) who thinks that they do have a “””good””” reason for having it. thats the insidious part of depression, is that it makes you think that theres nothing wrong and that its all just you not measuring up in some way

so i guess that would make you.... someone with depression?

real BAD

💕 💖 💞 💓 💗

not yet haha THANK YOU

hey, im glad you like it!! since this blog has gotten so big, its kinda my happy place to be? (for anyone wondering, my reblog blog/personal is @spinels!

that IS a fun fact!! thank you!

it’s absolutely ok! i get a little bitter when people take my work WAY out of context (for example, straight people removing the caption that says “im just really gay” before tagging their bf/gf) but i am 100% ok and happy with people relating to my work in a different way than i intended (ex: a comic i made about being ashamed of my derma getting reblogged by someone struggling to be ok w their visible burn scars)

hoo gosh, thank you!!

glad to have you here!! im glad people can relate to some of the weirdly specific shit i write about tbh???

i’m sorry its taken so long for me to get back to you; that a terrible situation

if you have a teacher you trust, i would absolutely bring it up to them. that is 100% not an ok thing for those kids to be doing. at all.

im glad you at least have your friends that support you!

:0 WAIT is this someone i know through ucsc?? :0 :0 :0

aaaa thank you! that is high praise ;v;

i have no words; this is such a touching message. thank you so much ;v;

this is belated but!! the main creative community i can recommend is kzsc, the radio station! i had a real cool time there, and its a great way to make friends and connect with ppl of all sorts! :0

yeah, its totally normal! ive had roommates ive been super tight with, and roommates who i barely ever hung around with. its natural! i doubt you’ll finish college w/o finding a roomie that you get ~The Roomie Experience~ with though, even if its like a housemate or s/t!! ;0

i’ve never been told that, actually! neat!! (and wow?? i cant believe i inspire ppl.... wow......... what a concept tbh??)

oh yikes... i do hope youre feeling better :( im glad my comics can help a little bit at least!

💕 💖 💞 💓 💗!!!

HUGS

i dont remember what this was in reference to, but good to know?

also good to know!?

i think the crows and jays do! i dunno about the squirrels and other birds. and thank you!!

the youth gang..... i love it..... how good???!

i wrote about getting yuri right here! he’s a southern alligator lizard and i love him to bits.

heres a pic of the Long Boy doin his thing:

hey neat! i’m glad youve chosen a lame you can be proud of!!💖

ive never heard of that!! wow

what play is this?? :0 :0 :0 im so curious now!!

oh SHUCKS...,,,,,,,,,, ;v;

hahahaha omg thank u

i dont actually have any more of them interacting, unfortunately! the owl isnt one specific person, like a lot of my characters are meant to represent. the owl more represents as a whole all the people i run into in my life that i am very very gay for.

thank you!!!

youre very welcome! im glad you feel better!!!!

aaa gosh thank you!!!

hhhhfgh ive gotten less of it recently BUT YEAH that was bad times™️

thanks for the info!!! :0

no problem! a lot of the credit honestly goes to @fuckaspunk, who is always keeping me updated on that sort of stuff.

i didn’t know that! a lot of the symbolism seems to come from multiple sources sometimes, from what ive seen?

aaaa gosh omg thank you ;v;

aw thank you???!!

nice!!! oct 24 bdays go!!!

thank you!! it really does mean a lot actually!!!!!!!

of course?? antisemitism cant be ignored in this fight

aw, thats so cute! id love to hear what headcanons you have tbh???

hey thanks?! this is really cool to hear, tbh. i try to be positive most of the time, but im not going to like,,, kid myself when im not feeling it and im glad that other people can appreciate that too, ya know?

wow!!

(this one!) thank you i love that one too???!

hey, im glad you found your way here!! thank you so much!!!

aaaa ty!

hmmm i have two leopard geckos, and they made very good beginning lizards for me and aidan! but i would maybe ask someone a bit more experienced than me, like @kaijutegu or @wheremyscalesslither!!

thank you!!

one day at a time! (but seriously, thank you!!)

yummy yummy sauce...... ty!!!

awww, gosh! thank you!?

AAAA TY BOTH I GET SO SELF-CONSCIOUS ABT MY VOICE,,,,, ;o;

:0 i havent watched that, but it sounds rly cool!!

i like that fun fact a lot! ty!!

pae stands for paerlin, which is what @fuckaspunk‘s internet handle used to be! i used it to refer to them on my blog in secret back when they still didnt know i had a crush on them.... ;//v//;

aaaaa thank you!!! ;o;

nice nice nice ty!!

>:0 get back down here!! (jk that’s rly neat! highfive!!)

those are all good words that i like!! thank you!!!!

i dont know anything about him, but i looked him up and i guess i can see it?!

@fishcrow is really cool! ive never really interacted with them, but im p sure were mutuals...? anyway yeah their comics are rly cute and cool!

that is me! thank you; i hope things go well for you as well!

hello to you too!

aaaa ty!!! tbh the number of nice anons i get way way way outnumbers the mean ones <3

thank you! thank YOU for existing!

:0 chocolate croissant, here i come!!!

thank you!!!!!!💕

its literally my pleasure!!!

aaa ty!!! 💕💕

hehe im glad!

sldf;j;sfjdklfdslfjs thank you so much?????? what a compliment omg gosh

yeah!! i have a hard time on settling what class id be, but i feel like id be a heart player!

ohh um! im not sure which pens youre referring to, but if you mean the ones I use for my comics, i color them with Winsor & Newton ProMarkers, and I do the lines with a purple fine-point Sakura Gelly Roll Classic pen! i also use micron pens of all different sizes and colors in some of my non-diary comic art!

aww thank you so much!!

:0 :) :0 !!!!!!

ty!!! ive grown to love him very much as well!!

thank you! i hope you are doing well also!!

i love them very much?!! id put a picture but i dont have one with all four of them so instead imagine me lying on the floor crying abt how much i love them bc thats me basically every day

you dont mean......

?!?!?!?!?!?!

awwww ty!!!

HEY WOW

aaa gosh thank you!💕

DOUBLE FOLLOW

gay dragons combine the best of both very good things: gay and dragons. im glad you appreciate them w me tysm ;v;

aaa what a lovely message! ty💕

3rd-shift-working, depression-having, corvid-loving solidarity fistbumnp!!!!

huh! ive never heard of that; ill check it out maybe!!

ah im really glad? tysm!!💕

my understanding is that it helps people who have text-to-speech readers? but im honestly not as well informed on that as i should be!

hell yeah!!!!

gosh!!!!!

hnmngnhng youve probably already made a decision but i just gotta say.........shadow rulez

delicious!!

i havent!! i really want to though!

oh man ALL THE TIME. i usually try to either reality check with someone i trust, or to do an activity thats easy and i know i can do, or both!

i love andre and karl!!! its actually a huge influence on me and my art tbh???

i had a good (and safe) trip! ty!!!

hey, thank you!!!

oh jeez thats bad :( i think this was in response to when i needed to wait between med refills?

i cant give a precise reason, tbh! when it comes to whats lucky, i just sort of.... go with my gut, ya know?

thank you!! 👍

that sure sounds like insomnia! its almost hard for me to say tbh, bc ive had trouble sleeping for as long as i can remember, so NOT having trouble sleeping is bizarre and unrealistic to me haha... but i think the bottom line is, if its interrupting your daily routine and making it hard for you to have enough energy, then its something you should look into remedies for!

:0 :0 :0

ohhh how nice! ill give it a try! :>

omg,,,, nope, just me!

thank you!!!!!!

honestly? thats such a good way to look at it i love the idea of my blog as a big zine

always!!!!! go for it!!!

hey, thank you so much!!!!!

omg, thats so great! thank you!

im so glad; thank you!!!

thank you so much!💖 (and mexico, neat! i love hearing where people are following from??)

aaaaaaaaaaaa ;//v//; thank you??? i get so happy whenever ppl tell me they like my singing aaaaaaa

aw, hey, no worries! money is all well and good, but in some ways, messages like this mean just as much!

its cool that comic gave you plural feels! im def not a system though :>

its tricky, isnt it? i still feel like im no good at it lmao

LISTEN,,, there is a 99.9999% chance i wont notice, and a 100% chance i wont judge. reblog away!

THANK YOU ARENT THEY THE BEST I LOVE THEM SO MUCH

thank you!! i hope you have a good day as well!

aaa ty!!💖

aa ty! (what a cool name!!! im kind jealous ngl!)

awww thank you💖

i do my best! i just worry when im not active, bc i tend to connect my self-worth to my output (;^; )

aaaaa ty!! 💖

!!!!!!!!!!!! omg wow i love being called a pretty boy???? ty???????

hey, neat! crow high-five!

aw, thank you!!! 💖

im doing my best! thank you so much, messages like this really help when im in a place like that tbh ;v;

gosh this is so sweet? thank you so muhc !!?

thank you all!! im sorry that saying thank you over and over sounds so repetitive, but i truely do mean it for every one of you!!!

i am..... one of those things!

well thank you!!

ohoho~✨

thank you! and honestly im sure it does??

hey, cool! good for you!!!!!!! and ty!!

aw gosh thank you!💖

hey, wow! thats super cool; thank you so much!

(i dont follow the first person i followed on tumblr anymore.... they became a hockey blog rip haha)

aaaah, thank you so much!!

almost???

i do!! drunken lullabies is an absolute banger!!!!!!!!!!

i am!!!! thank you!!

aw, ty!!! 💖

hee hee, thank you!

my biggest tip honestly?? have someone who can be by your side to help you with... basically everything... during your recovery. bc trust me, i was n o t a v a i l a b l e. i spent a lot of my recovery playing 2048 at the same time as watching tv, bc doing both at once distracted me from how much the bandages itched.

thank you!! (i think this was in reference to getting top surgery!)

how shitty??????? yikes. i hope your supervisor has your back??? bc wow????

hey!!! thank you!!! i draw all my comics traditionally on paper! im not sure what you mean by the writing though? if you mean the word bubbles, i do those by hand on paper too!

I COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND THAT FEELING,,,, im so happy ppl talk to me, but i get really nervous about saying the wrong thing.

when i’m down, i usually crave validation. i like being reminded about things ive done right! i also like gentle reality checks, like, ‘hey: this is the situation, this is what we can do about it. ok? ok’

i unfortunately dont have any!! i had a couple at one point, but they’ve since been lost to the depths of my old laptop. and hey, thank you so much!!

now thats a nifty trick!! im terrible at telling all my white tablets from each other lmao

!!!!!!! ITS ME!!!!!!!!

maybe you just need some space? i know i sometimes temporarily block people i know, if i need some private space or if i dont trust myself to keep cool and solve problems constructively. do what you need to do to feel at ease, and go from there, ya know?

thank you!!!

its,,,, up somewhere above in this monster post lmao i,m so sorry,,,,

thank you so much!!!

WOW NO WORRIES??,,,,,,,,, INCREDIBLE 10/10???????

all four of these came right after i gave myself a hair cut and THANK YOU SO MUCH??? i live for validation and it feels so good to have my actions affirmed ;o;

#WOW THAT TOOK LIKE THREE HOURS HAHA #hopefully next time it wont be as long!!#daveanswersstuff #long post

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themoneybuff-blog · 5 years

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Inspiration from Sathya Sai Baba, Stephen Fry, Son Volt, and More

Once a month (or so), I share a dozen things that have inspired me to greater personal, professional, and financial success in my life. I hope they bring similar success to your life. 1. Bob Dylan on regrets I dont believe in regrets. Regrets just keep you chained to the past. You gotta make peace with the past. Theres no reason to regret it. Youve done it, just make peace with it. Bob Dylan A few weeks ago, I was digging through some very old journal entries, some of my oldest ones from the mid-1990s. I read an entry about an old friend of mine who passed away several years later. Our friendship had faded and I actually didnt hear about his passing for a while, well past his funeral, and it filled me with huge regret when I heard about it and I actually felt some regret when I read this entry. As I thought about him, Im reminded of what one of the best people Ive ever known, who Ill call Tony, once said about friendships. He told me that some friendships are for a day, some are for a season, and some are for a lifetime. They all fill a need for us, but its okay for some friendships to only be for a day and its okay for some friendships to only be for a season. Just dont let them end with a cruel word. We were great friends at a key point in both of our lives and then our lives went in different directions. I dont recall ever saying anything cruel or intentionally leaving him out; I simply moved several hours away and then, shortly thereafter, he moved away as well and we simply didnt see each other any more. I dont regret letting that friendship end any more. Rather, Im glad we were friends at that time when we needed that other person in our life as someone to hang out with and talk about the inherent difficulties of figuring out what came next in our lives. We both needed that, and then we didnt, and thats okay. [embedded content] This song comes straight out of that time period I wrote about above. This song, the entire album it comes from, and some of the albums of two closely related bands (Wilco and Uncle Tupelo) were the soundtrack of that period in my life. Over the last few weeks, Ive played so many of those albums over and over again, out of a mix of admiration of the beauty of that music as well as the way it can transport me to another place and time if I let it. Music has an ability to do this. Art has an ability to do this. Its somehow tied to feelings deep inside of us, and for me, this song taps into that sense of doing something familiar but knowing that the familiar is about to end. I think it comes both from the song itself and from the period of my life that I identify with it. 3. Sathya Sai Baba on when to speak Before you speak, ask yourself: Is it kind, is it necessary, is it true, does it improve the silence? Sathya Sai Baba Im trying to move in this direction with my own conversation, moving away from meaningless chit chat and trying to save my words for things that actually have meaning and are better than the silence. The big challenge that I often have to overcome with this is that, for several hours a day, Im mostly silent. I work from home, by myself, and theres no reason to talk. Thus, when my kids and my wife get home, Im anxious to simply communicate with another person and sometimes Ill end up just talking for the sake of talking. Thats a bad habit and I want to trim it out, so Im focusing on being more purposeful with my words. Am I communicating kindness? Am I communicating anything useful? Am I communicating worthwhile information? If not, why speak? 4. The Five Minute Method Im not sure where I picked up this idea, but its something that Ive done both consciously and unconsciously for years and its been particularly powerful as of late. The idea is this: whenever theres something you need to do that you really dont want to do, agree to just do it for five minutes literally setting a timer if you want and then you can quit with no guilt afterwards. Thats it. Dont want to exercise? Agree to just do some exercise for five minutes. If your timer goes off, you can quit, or you can go longer if you want in either case, its a win. Dont want to meditate? Set a five minute timer. Dont want to do that dreadful work task thats hanging over your head? Set a five minute timer. Dont want to dig into that project thats going to take all day? Set a five minute timer. Quit after the five minutes if you want. Do it another day. This really works for me for some reason. Quite often, once the five minutes are up, I want to keep making headway on the project at hand anyway. If I dont, I know I can quit with no guilt because I know I made just a little progress. It goes back on tomorrows to-do list. Try it. Use it with every task that seems miserable in your life. 5. Aaron Sorkin on learning If youre dumb, surround yourself with smart people. If youre smart, surround yourself with smart people who disagree with you. Aaron Sorkin This is spectacular advice. If you want to genuinely understand the world better, surround yourself with people who know things that you do not and learn from them. Theres only one problem with this strategy: there are enough people in the world who are genuinely opposed to being exposed to new ideas that many people have their guard up and immediately get defensive when discussing ideas. If you ask a question, they assume theyre just being attacked by someone who isnt actually genuinely interested in an exchange of ideas, but rather in just creating conflict and discord. In other words, this approach does not work well online outside of specific, carefully moderated situations. It works best face to face, with people youre interacting with directly and who you have some form of real life social connection with. It is that social connection that encourages those involved to put down their defensiveness and exchange ideas. Its why I go to meetups. Its why I like to go to lectures and presentations when I can. Its why I often have really deep discussions with friends I trust. Its why I read books that challenge me. I dont know a lot of things about the world, and even in the areas I do know well, I dont know every perspective or idea. I want to know those things. [embedded content] From the description: Thubten Chodron is a Tibetan Buddhist nun, prolific author, and world renowned teacher. She is the founder and abbess of Sravasti Abbey, and co-author of a book with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Want to be happy? Join Venerable Thubten Chodron to learn how. By becoming aware of how our actions affect those around us, as well as ourselves, she offers ways to identify and overcome our self-centered attitude that pretends to look out for our welfare, but is actually self-sabotaging and primes us to make unwise choices. The core idea that she presents is that taking purely self-centered actions ones where we dont even consider the impact on others rarely brings us lasting happiness. Rather, considering how the things we do affect others and filtering what we do to center more on things that benefit others and ourselves often becomes a source of lasting happiness. Think about the things you do in a given day. How many of them are things that you do entirely because they benefit you? How many of those things are things that youve even considered in terms of how they affect people besides yourself? Heres a good practice: spend a day logging everything that you do. Then, a day or two later, go through that log and ask yourself how many of those things were done solely because they benefited you. Then, for each of those things, consider alternative things you could have done that might have been good for others, too, without shortchanging yourself (or only having a minor relative drawback for you). I did this a week or so ago and I found a lot of little things that I could do differently. It was pretty surprising how I could tweak lots of little things in my life to be a little less self-centered without adding a whole lot of effort, and then doing things in the less self-centered way felt a whole lot better. For example, I redid my morning routine so that I could make a better breakfast for my kids; in the end, it didnt cost me any time, but by thinking of things in terms of them, they wound up with a better breakfast most mornings that they could eat with their dad. 7. Malcolm Gladwell on self-contradiction If you dont contradict yourself on a regular basis, then youre not thinking. Malcolm Gladwell Its worth noting here that Gladwell is talking about contradicting yourself in terms of ideas, not in terms of behavior or lying about what youre up to. His point is that if youre actually thinking about an idea and turning it over and over in your head, your understanding of that idea deepens and your opinions on that idea likely change a little, and that results in your current views and comments potentially seeming hypocritical compared to earlier views and comments. I think its good for society to move past looking at a persons evolving views as being a bad thing. We should want people to turn over ideas in their head, understand them better, and thus evolve their views on those ideas. Sticking to the same ideas in the face of a lot of contradictory evidence isnt a good thing. Its not hypocritical to change your views when you learn new information. A person who does this isnt a hypocrite. Rather, theyre just being thoughtful. 8. Heath Ledger on happiness Everyone you meet always asks if you have a career, are married, or own a house, as if life was some kind of grocery list. But no one ever asks you if you are happy. Heath Ledger This is a good point, but its also a difficult one. Having a conversation with someone about whether they are happy feels really awkward. Asking someone if theyre happy often opens the door to a conversation that most people dont want to have even with people theyre very close to. Ive been turning this over in my head for a long time and lately Ive moved to using a pretty standard conversation starter that I think hits on this in a meaningful way. I simply ask people Whats good in your life right now? If they dont seem sure of what I mean, I explain it simply: What have you done lately that youve really enjoyed? Have you read a good book? Watched a good movie? Spent time with someone cool? Finished off a big project? I find that almost everyone has something they can talk about here, and its usually something that gets them excited and positive and animated. Not only that, I learn about all kinds of interesting things, and I usually learn something pretty interesting about that person, too. This is the single best free introductory course to computer programming that I have ever found. If I were to point someone toward a resource from which they could learn the basics of computer programming without shelling out significant cash, this would be it. The catch is that its an online course that runs somewhat irregularly. Its often hard to catch it right when it starts sometimes itll be in the middle of a session and other times its not running at all. Im mentioning it here because a new session of this class starts at the beginning of June. Its completely free and its really, really good. This is highly recommended if youve ever wanted to dig into computer programming a little to understand what exactly it is. This is good teaching at its finest. 10. Jim Rohn on discipline and regret We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons. Jim Rohn I have dropped this quote before in inspiration columns, but it has been incredibly powerful for me over the years. In general, you have two choices most of the time. You can be disciplined right now, or you can have regrets later on. You can eat that unhealthy meal right now (no discipline) and suffer some negative health effects down the road (regret), or you can eat a healthy meal now (discipline) and be fitter and healthier in life (no regret). You can spend your money on something frivolous (no discipline) and then have to deal with financial difficulties later on (regret), or you can skip by most unnecessary expenses (discipline) and achieve your big financial goals (no regret). Its true for many of lifes challenges exercise, building relationships, and so on. We always have a choice discipline or regret. The catch, of course, is that discipline isnt very painful at all often just a little uncomfortable at the moment while regret can be incredibly painful and long lasting. 11. My in-laws My wifes parents both recently retired. They spent the last decade or so really stabilizing their finances so that they could afford to retire and still enjoy travel and doing things with their grandchildren and having hobbies. They visited us for the first time since theyve both retired and I swear I could tell a difference with them. They both just seemed a little more relaxed, but at the same time, a little more interested in doing things. Often in the past, they would visit us and both seem a bit tired from their busy lives and would treat their visit as a mini-vacation of sorts where they could relax. When they came up this time, they wanted to help us with a couple minor home improvement projects and they threw themselves into painting a room with gusto. They seemed upbeat and happy and possibly more energetic than Ive seen them in a while. They talked about things they wanted to do in the very near future and seemed excited about all of it. In other words, theyre doing exactly what I want to do when I retire. 12. Stephen Fry on depression If you know someone whos depressed, please resolve never to ask them why. Depression isnt a straightforward response to a bad situation; depression just is, like the weather. Stephen Fry Ive had periods of deep melancholy in my life that probably swung into mild depression, though I was never treated for it. I went through most of a year once where I had minimal motivation to do much of anything at all other than the absolute bare minimum. It took me a long time to climb out of that hole. Lately, Ive been watching a good friend of mine fall into that kind of depression spiral. Hes gradually become more and more withdrawn from me and from other mutual friends. He doesnt respond to text messages or other methods of communication much at all. Even when I do manage to get him out of the house, hes largely uncommunicative. I know from others that he rarely leaves his home. I am really at a loss as to what I can do to help. In the end, I think the best thing I can do is to just keep inviting him to do things, keep sending him positive things about the things weve had a shared interest in, keep checking in and poking without actually talking about the elephant in the room that is depression. If he does decide to talk about it, Ill just listen and empathize, but I wont push him to talk about it. I want him to remember that people care about him without blatantly saying people care about you. I miss him. I wish I had a magic way to help, but I dont. Rather, I think the best thing I can do is to just not let that thread of connection between us wither and die, not push him to talk about the depression, but rather to talk about the positive things we share and if he decides to open up about it, Ill just listen and be supportive and not try to jam my own experiences into it. https://www.thesimpledollar.com/inspiration-from-sathya-sai-baba-stephen-fry-son-volt-and-more/

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therealestatesparkblog · 5 years

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5 Highly Actionable Steps to Make REAL Progress Towards Your Investing Goals

BiggerPockets.comis an amazing learning resource for real estate investors. Thats why most of us are here. But like all great resources on the internet, it comes with a big challenge. There is so much great information that it can become overwhelming. This article is about simplifying your learning experience, getting more clear and confident, and making real progress towards your investing goals. Im going to give you 5 specific strategies that you can use alone or in combination. Lets get started. 5 Steps to Make REAL Progress Towards Your Investing Goals1. Answer the question: Why are you here? Have you ever watched that awesome TED talk Start With Why? Everything great starts with why. Awesome companies. World changing movements. Inspiring leaders. Your real estate investing career is no different. Your why gives you perspective on the what and the how of real estate. Exploring why also helps you focus. It helps you simplify the information you take in because you will be attracted to some information and ignore other information. So, why are you here? Why do you read articles, listen to podcasts, and interact on the Forums at BP? Do you hope to buy your first rental property? Do you hope to start a business fixing and flipping houses?Do you want to be a deal finder as a wholesaler or an agent?Or do you not know exactly why youre here? Are you still trying to figure it out? Any of those answers is reasonable. But take some time to explore your own motivations before you dig into the next set of articles or podcasts. Focus on the short-term, like your why in the next 6-12 months. Related: Stop Dreaming & Start Doing: How to Turn Big Real Estate Goals Into Actionable Steps If you have trouble with this, try asking the opposite question. What are you NOT here for? Choosing what to exclude may be just as useful as choosing what to focus on. 2. Figure out your main study topics (exclude the rest). Once you get a little more clarity on your why youll be able to focus more on specific topics taught here on BiggerPockets.com. For example, lets say your why or objective is to buy your first rental property. Here are the topics that I would recommend you study: Getting started fixing and flipping, wholesaling, becoming an agent, owning notes, or investing commercially each has its own unique (but similar) core topics. In another article, I wrote about The 7 Must-Read Real Estate Books For Beginning Investors, and I called these topics the 101 classes of your real estate self education. Unlike a real university, YOU decide the teachers and the curriculum for your 101 classes. So choose carefully! This is one of the main reasons for information overload. Without a why and without an idea of what topics you should focus on, you tend to drift about from one eye-catching headline to another. Trust me, there are plenty of talented authors and knowledgeable experts who are more than happy for you to read their stuff. And most of it is pretty good. BUT it doesnt matter how interesting or good it is. What matters is does it move you forward toward your objective? So, I recommend actually writing down an education plan, just like you would for any other important project. Pick the most important topics and use them to choose what you learn and what you ignore. If you are so new or overwhelmed that you dont know the most important topics or even the questions to ask, do one of the following: Leave a comment at the bottom of this article sharing your objective (your why), and I will be happy to do my best to help you explore the topics you should focus on.Post a question in the Forums, either in the New Member Introduction Area or in the specific forum that matches your why or objective (like rental properties, wholesaling, flipping, etc.). BP is known for the knowledgeable people who are willing to help. Related: 5 Daily Habits to Help You Steadily Reach Your Entrepreneurial Goals 3. Use BiggerPockets tools to help you focus. Now that youre more clear on why youre here and now that you have a list of topics to study, use technology as your friend to help you focus. Here are some of the best BP tools (feel free to comment below if I left some out): BP Search: If you havent used it before, the BP search box is here:

You can search for any of the topics youve chosen in step #2. The more specific you get, the better. Below is an example of the search results you would get if one of yourtopics was house hacking duplex. There are 957 forum posts and 5 blog posts related to just this one topic!

You can also click on filter results in order to narrow your results by most recent, by author, or by other criteria. This is a great way to find forum topics, blog posts, and podcasts that are relevant to you. Subscribe to Forums The forums are probably the richest resource on BP because you can find discussions on just about any topic. But theyre also HUGE and cover more than you need to focus on. So use the subscribe to forum tool. This allows you to just get notices on your BP Dashboard from the forums that are relevant to your education needs. Subscribing to the BiggerPockets Forums is simple. Visit the Forums Categories Page.Click on a forum that you want to follow.Click on the subscribe to forum box (like picture below).

4. Now every time you check into BP, you can view your Subscribed Forum tab on the main forum page to get a list of all conversations and topics youre interested in.

Keyword Alerts This is a very handy tool. You can choose words that you want to follow anywhere on the BiggerPockets.com Forums and Marketplace. Here is a keyword video tutorial (my favoritepart is Brandon Turner and his cat), and here is a written, step-by-step guide. To set up your keyword alerts, go here. People use these alerts for finding deals in their market and connecting with other members. But its also very useful for learning about specific topics. Go back to your topic list, figure out the most urgent ones to learn, and add them to your keyword alerts. Now youll be notified anytime a conversation occurs about that topic in the Forums. Its nice to jump on topics quickly because then you can ask questions or offer your own experience to the topic. These conversations are a great way to learn. 4. Go deep with the right experts (ignore the rest). Now you know why youre on BP and what you want to study, and youve used the BP tools to focus your information intake. But its still possible to focus your learning even more. Of all the blog authors and forum experts on BP, some of them will resonate with you more than others. Maybe its because they have a similar story to yours. Or maybe you just think theyre funny (its hard not to laugh reading a Ben Leybovich article). Whatever the reason, find a few people you respect on BP who cover your topics, and go deep with their content. Read all of their blog articles, new and old. Read all of their forum posts. Ask them questions in the comments and forum posts. Use the follow tool to keep up with them on BP. Part of learning is studying specific information. But another part of learning is just absorbing successful peoples approach to business and life. The more you observe what they say and do, the more youll pick up. Famous personal development teacher Jim Rohn once said: You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. The community of BP is great because you can choose to spend time with whomever you want, and this can average up your real estate game in the process. I also like to find out who the experts I respect study. What authors do they like? What books do they read? What courses have they taken? For example, I love reading everything about Warren Buffett I can get my hands on. But who did he learn from? How did he improve himself to get where he is today? One of his biggest influences was Benjamin Graham. As a result, I have read and enjoyed Grahams book The Intelligent Investor. 5. Schedule offline learning time. As much as I love the internet for its wealth of free information and the ability to connect with people from all over the world, it does have its downsides. For me personally, the downside is just the amount of distractions and diversions any online reading can bring. One minute youre reading about rental leases, and the next moment youre on ESPN.com reading about the Clemson Tigers chance at a football national championship. What?! By the way, my Clemson Tigers do have a good chance this year! [Editors note: Go Tar Heels!] But back to our REAL topic. I like to take my learning offline from time to time. I do this in a few ways: Turn off alerts on my cell phoneRead printed books(I know, thats old school)Print articles (even MORE old school)Attend classes or networking events in person Maybe Im the only one, but I still learn best in a quiet room, in a comfortable chair, with my penand a book or printed article. Not only do you learn this way, but your mind also has space to make creative connections between ideas. Using your brain to THINK is just as important in learning as absorbing information. Sometimes this time to think gets lost in our manic obsession to absorb more information. So take time offline to get quiet, read, journal, and just absorb all of the information youve been learning. Educate Yourself in Motion I hope the 5 strategies Ive shared will be helpful for you. Feel free to take what works for you, and discard the rest. But no matter what, I hope youll combine all of the information youre learning on BiggerPockets.com and other places with a healthy dose of hustle. You have to get in motion. You have to apply what you learn, even if you fail and fall flat on your face. Once you get in motion, youll have more context and challenges that will take your education even deeper. This is where the real learning happens. Best of luck to you with your learning and with your real estate investing! We are republishing this article to help out our newer readers.

How do you keep up with all of the real estate information you learn? Have you used any of the 5 strategies Ive suggested? Do you have anything different to suggest? Id love to hear from you in the comments below. https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2015/12/17/actionable-steps-reach-investing-goals/

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vitalmindandbody · 7 years

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If not my surname or my husband’s, could we announce our child after a New Zealand volcano?

Franki Cookney and her husband didnt much like one another surnames, so now theyre having a baby theyve decided to pick a brand-new one

When my husband, Rob, and I marriage last year, the question of what to do about our surnames just penetrated our debates. We are both scribes, so our mentions are on every piece of work we do. That we would impede our own seemed a rendered. There was just one niggling disbelief. What would happen if “were having” children?

I had always had considered that we would just lodge both our appoints on the birth certificate, but I knew this didnt quite resolve the problem. Whose refer would go first? And which identify would end up being used?

We could use a double-barrel appoint, but didnt seem our surnames, Cookney and Davies, lent themselves to hyphenation. Whichever guild you choose, the result is clunky and we were reluctant to saddle small children with it.

We could have just picked whichever epithet voiced best with our newborn given name. But in that scenario, one parent objective up not sharing a surname with their child and neither of us required that. Plus, Id discovered too many tales of mothers being agreed upon at airfield security because the epithets on their passports didnt competitor that of their children.

The conventional option of taking my husbands surname was never on the table. Fairly apart from the feminist principle of not wanting to abdicate my identity for his, I wasnt keen on the name. Rob supported this and was by no means offended. The hardship was, he wasnt a fan of my appoint either. Its exactly a bit unwieldy, he said. Its virtually Cockney but not quite. Youre constantly having to spell it out. We looked at our babies maiden reputations and our grandparents names but always purposed up back in the same lieu, feeling that it wasnt equal, that picking one side of the family over another wasnt fair.

We hit on the idea of taking a new mention about a year ago when before our marry we went to write our wills. As we chit-chat to one of the attorneys, it transpired that he and his wife had done precisely this. Theres a fair fleck of admin, but its good, it drives, he said , nodding decisively. Abruptly, it didnt seem so outlandish. This wasnt some foolish rebellion or bohemian pretentiousness, this was something lawyers did!

We mooted it with friends, who were largely unfazed. What call will you go for? was the thing they were most strange about. Good topic. Could we blend the messages of our reputations and form something new, we wondered. Directories were built: Gouges, Cave, Devine, Kinsey, Dacovnicks Cookies? Nothing of them quite hit the mark.

As our bridal outlined nearer, we threw the reputation activity on a back burner. But when I became pregnant 3 months later, “were in” forced to look at the situation afresh and decided to change tacking. How about a place? I suggested. Somewhere weve called that we loved. A backpacking stint before we got married had left us with spate to choose from but most sounded moderately ludicrous when attributed to got a couple of ordinary Brits. Rob and Franki Tongariro owned any particular vitality, but referring yourself after a New Zealand volcano would be ridiculous. And Zhangjiajie might make storages of splendid Chinese mountains, but imagine having to spell it every time you booked a “hairs-breadth” appointment or called your internet provider. For a while Salento and Chaltn were on the roster, after places in Colombia and Argentina. But we werent convinced we are to be able pull off the undoubtedly Latino-sounding former and supposed the latter would result in a lifetime of redressing people who pronounced it Charlton.

Then Rob said, What about Stone Town? The beautiful age-old city of Zanzibar City is where he had asked me to marry him. It instant appeared right. Stone was straightforward but significant. It resounded good with both our first names and after a few weeks of trying it on with other refers would work well with almost anything we decide to for our baby. It was perfect: a solid name( with a potential for puns that was not lost on us) that felt like a constructive solution to our trouble. We would maintain our original surnames for production and accept this new family name for our personal lives.

By law, all you need to do to change your mention is, well, change it. Simply adopting and using your new epithet is enough. Informing your details and records, however, requires a document of proof such as a wedding certificate or, in our case, a deed poll. There is no official lane of acquiring a deed poll. You can write one yourself applying free templates from the internet, but need of lucidity about the relevant procedures outcomes in some institutions asking an original certificate despite the fact that no such concept exists. You can either fight it out or you can do which is something we did and offer 15 -2 0 for a company such as the Deed Poll Office to draw up the letter on your behalf and publication and stomp it on watermarked article. Generated the roll of bodies and organisations you have to notify and the potential arguings over what constitutes an original certification, this seemed a reasonable compromise.

Perhaps it was naive, but we didnt expect to meet with resistance. Uncertainty, perhaps. Intrigue, for certain. When it came to getting married, we had trenched virtually every habit get, prohibiting the union itself, and no one had interrogated us. Surely this too would be seen as a modern updated information on an outdated habit. But when we announced our decision to our families, the reaction was mixed.

Franki and Rob. Picture: Christian Sinibaldi for the Guardian

While they understood our quagmire, the common restraint was that the child would lose the connection to its family history. Try as I might, I cant know what this is. To me, family history departs far deeper than ones identify. Its in the way we live, our values, the knowledge and shared event passed down through generations. It is part of the storytelling our parents did and its in the floors we, more, will tell and the beliefs we will share.

Our springs are not in our identifies, they are in our mettles. My grandmother, whose surname was Jones, is important to me not because of her identify but because of her love. My great-grandmother, a midwife I never even convened, let alone shared a epithet with, forms a part of my gumption of identity. Why? Because of the style my own mother talks about her, because of the pictures she has covered in my heads of state of that life, that kinfolk, that time.

Interestingly, the identify itself has also testified a sticking point, with a few people commenting that its carrying. Youre doing this really unusual thing but youve picked a really everyday refer, said one colleague, as though by doing something different “weve been” obliged to go the whole hog and call ourselves Rob and Franki Thundercats.

In fact, the accessibility of the appoint was something we pondered would be used sell the idea. It is about to change we were naive there, more. My father, a former primary school teacher, insisted that someone called Stone would be teased. Another relative described it as a dead weight of a name.

In my experience, minors will come up with names no matter what. I invested much of my school years known as Franki Cookie while my first name was routinely elongated to Frankenstein, Frankincense or Frankfurter.

Never tell people your identify picks in advance, admonished one pal( too late ). Its as if telling people in advance is inviting a exchange or consultation!

While my familys seems undoubtedly are important to me, I suppose she might be right. Eventually, this is our decision, based on our requires, and I hope they will come to see it as a practical and positive step , not an reckless one.

Its almost impossible to get everyone on board, adviser another friend, who changed her surname by deed canvas in 2004. The thought upset my grandma but my pa, her son, understood. When I wedded my husband, he took my identify. Im still not sure his brother was 100% behind us, but when we had our first son, he was the first to be born into our empire. Im so excited that we are the first in our tree!

This is exactly how I experience. I affection the idea that our newborn will be born into this new, specifically opted and carefully thought-out family name. And if the working day he or she decides to change it either to something new or to one of our age-old family name we will fully support that.

Even when you change names, ancestry going to be able be traced and, if nothing else, I like to think we will be examined back on as all those people who tried something new; who instead of clearing do with an unsatisfactory situation, guessed creatively about how to solve it. Thats their own families bequest Im happy with.