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#i could come up with pokemon teams for fictional characters all day and night its so much fun
mine-curse · 3 years
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Spurred by cc!Techno's pokedex questing... here's thoughts on Syndicate Pokémon teams, 70% sure this has been done but here's my take. Based off dsmp characters and their aesthetics and nothing else. It would be totally different otherwise.
Technoblade -
Alolan Ninetails (blitz the fox)
Beartic (steve)
Lycanroc/houndoom/mightyeana (hound army,could be one or all... mightyeana probably would be my one pick?)
Inceneroar (anarchy colors, also stronk, being the "heel" pokemon also fits i think)
Dusknoir (withers)
Piloswine (closest thing to an ice pig)
Philza -
Honchcrow (birdza + hat)
Bronzhong (its an old relic)
Corvidsquire (birdza part 2)
Chatot (birdza part 3, also this is chat lol.)
Relecanth (old fish, considered milotic but ehh)
Decidueye (archery/birdza part 4)
Nikki -
Granbull (pink but tough)
Ninetails (the whole curses/grudge thing feels kinda fitting? And being a fire type to help with l'mantree arson)
Exploud (she deserves an exploud)
Excadrill (to help dig and construct her sanctuary city)
Zorua (little anarchy fox friend)
Appletun (baking, also look at it, this is a friend shapped pokemon)
Ranboo -
Meowstic, both of em (Espurr fits well too i think but the aesthetic of black and white fits nicely)
Sableye (no eyelids creepypasta of a pokemon)
Absol (it just makes sense)
Yamask (the memories and sadness pokemon)
Sylvally (weird stitched together hybrid)
If I ever feel up to it I might draw these, but that would be... a lot...
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Pokemon Teams for Fictional Characters pt. 2
Damian Wayne
(Also, I'm not including move sets because in my headcannon Pokemon do remember all their old moves. But humans choose to only use four)
For this AU I'm having the Wayne's own the Gotham City Gym, which specializes in Dark types. Most of the cannon events still happened. Just with a few tweaks here and there. (Dick's 20, Jason's 16, Cass is 15 Tim's 15 but younger than Cass and Damian's 13 because I love AUs where there closer in age).
Anyway here we go!
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First things first in the Pokemon Universe his alias wouldn't be Robin since they don't exist. Instead I think it would be Rookidee, since thats the closest Pokemon to a Robin.
His Partner Pokemon and ace would be a Gligar
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Name: Goliath
Gender: Male
Why: Gligar screams Goliath (his Batdragon) plus the coloring of his evolutions matches with Dami's Robin and Batman outfits
Story: He found Goliath while climbing a mountain for his training. At the time he was four and Goliath was a hatching. Damian ended up giving him some food, seeing that the hatching was hungry.
Grateful, the Gligar followed him hoping to return the favor.
When Damian's hand got broken on that same trip, Goliath was the one to help him finish his mission and get home safely.
Talia was impressed that Damian could tame a wild Pokemon without catching it, so she allowed him to keep him as his first Pokemon.
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Next he would have a Meowth
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Name: Alfred
Gender: Female
Why: This one has to do with its evolution. Persian are said to only be loyal to trainers it likes and that it takes a lot to get them to like you. Their also said to be prissy and uptight. This reminded me of Damian. How it took forever for him to trust his brothers and his own snobby attitude. Thus I think it fits.
Story: After coming to live with his father Damian didn't know how to act. He saw his "brothers" and father treating their Pokemon so different than how the League did. They all trained hard. But, there was something eles: warm praise for a job well done, asking for insight on a case (they had taught their bipedal pokemon sighn language) and comfort on a bad day. His father and brothers treated their Pokemon like... people
In the League Pokemon where the lowest soldier, lower than the slaves or concubines. They trained, ate then they had to and got in their ball.
He had been a little more lenient in his training with Goliath. When asked he said that he was still a baby and he had to take things slow in this stage or he might develop too much muscle mass and be unable to fly.
He had kept him out of his ball with the excuse of developing muscle mass at a proper pace.
He liked Goliath's company. The Gligar was a good companion. But on the same level as another person?
He had expressed these thoughts to Pennyworth, the only person in the house to give him a straight answer when he needed it.
Pennyworth had explained to him that some people love to hold power over others and that Pokemon where an easy target, since they couldn't communicate their emotions as clearly as people could.
"Think of Mistress Cain. She sometimes cannot communicate with words, but we know that she's intelligent. But some people see her as less than intelligent and treat her as such because of the power it gives them."
Two weeks later Damian would come across a group of teenagers attempting to shave a Meowth. The Pokemon was little more than skin and bone and crying out on pain. So, Damian broke their fingers and shaved part of their heads for good measure.
He kept the Meowth and named her after the man who taught him about the abuse of power.
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Next, a Poochyena
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Name: Titus
Gender: Male
Why: These Pokemon and their evolution are ruthless with their pray, and only obey trainers with external skill.
Story: Raven gave Damian Titus as a gift. She said that she rescued him from an underground fighting ring (where the battles are to the death). He was still to young to battle so he didn't need much rehabilitation. The other Pokemon there though...
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Now we have a Type Null
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Name: Heretic
Gender: ???
Why: This Pokemon was created in lab, and artificial designed for the purpose of fighting, just like Damian. True I could have given him Mewtwo, but that cat seems to fit Kon more.
Story: Damian's mother had spent years creating Type: Null with the purpose of being able to kill any target. As a last test she wanted to see which of her creations was suppirrior. So she sent the Type Null out to (try and) kill her son.
Damian, with the rest of his team, beat the Pokemon but couldn't kill it. He had long since vowed to wash the blood from his hands. Instead he offered his hand to it and asked it to join him.
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Here we have the hardest to explain... Mimikyu
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Name: Habibi (I hope I spelled that right)
Gender: Female
Why: Damian is complex, he wants to be accepted and loved just like Mimikyu but dosent know how. Both try to mimic others in order to get that love, Damian his father and Mimikyu Pikachu. So I see this as Damian's spirit Pokemon in a way.
Story: He didn't know why it was so hard to fit in. Gods know he tried. But... little things confused him. Like how eveyone could understand each other without words or singhing. He had no problems with that on a battlefield, but in day to day life; it felt like he was on a separate server.
Like how Todd knew at breakfast with just a look that Drake was in a bad mood and how to help. Or how Grayson could audomadicly tell what kind of day at school the rest of them had withen a few minutes. Hell even Drake could tell what grunts ment what from father! Which ment good job, Which ment I'm glade your okay, or frustration either at them or at a case (Cass didn't surprise him, she had to learn how to communicate without words and watch body language and micro expressions).
School was no better; sometimes it was to load or bright othertimes, when everyone was doing a test, it felt to quiet. But, to much or to little, Damian was always aware of every movement, every sound. It was like the very instincts that saved his life every night where turned against him.
He turned to his nearly forgotten childhood habits to distract himself from everything around him. That only led to more whisper shouting and what even he could tell where displeased glares with a grunt of "fucking tapping" or a snap of "stop!" He knew it was disrupting but it was all be could do to drown out the noise or silence.
On one particularly bad day at school; apparently during one of their tests one of his classmates had had enough of Damian's tapping and decided to make a scene.
There was some yelling from the kid. A few cries in agreement. Before the teacher had gotten hem to settle down. He had demanded that Damian look him in the eye and when he finally did told him to stop with the tapping or else he would be sent to the office, Gym Leaders son or not.
He was the last to finish that test where he normally finished first. The silence had been to load!!
After that clusterfuck Damian finally headed home. He had texted Grayson saying that he was meeting a friend somewhere to work on a project and to not pick him up. In truth he didn't want his brother reading what kind of day he had had. He needed some time to himself.
That was how he found himself in a nearby park. It was filled with plenty of sounds that didn't suffocate him and the fall leaves where soothing to his eyes. Damian had Titus out of his ball as company, knowing that the pup loved park walks.
They had been walking for an hour when they came across a box set off just on the edge of the trail. "Free to Good Homes" was written on the side in black sharpie.
No sound was coming from inside, so he assumed that the had all been taken. Until Titus went closer sniffing at the seemingly empty box.
"Pooch Pooch"
"Hmmm... what is is it boy?" He asked as he walked closer to his Pokemon and the Box. Damian hoped he was wrong. It was cruel to leave a baby Pokemon all alone, especially since the weather was getting colder by the day.
Inside the box was in fact a lone Pokemon. At first glance it looked like a Pikachu. But something was off. It looked more like a doll than a living creature. If it wasn't for the small chirps it let out and slight way that it was shivering from the cold Damian would have written it off as a toy. No wonder it got left behind...
Damian reached down and picked up the mystery Pokemon as gently as he could.
"Come on beloved, lets go home."
He tucked the Pokemon in his jacket to warm it up before reaching for his phone to call Grayson for a ride home.
That night Damian locked himself away, even skipped patrol, and spent a sleepless night learning everything he could about his newest Pokemon.
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That was inspired by this comic
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Finaly, for his last spot Eevee!!
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Name: Omni
Gender: Female
Why: I'm going to have all the Batfam members have an Eeveelution. This branch and the Batfam are both growing consistently. We all have our favorites but we love them all the same. So I think it fits.
Story: Everyone in the family had an Eevee or one of its evolutions. Damian's Father said that Eevee was the Wayne family symbol, it was potential, the ability to become whatever you wanted.
Though it surprised Damian that the Wayne symbol wasn't a Noibat or Noivern (Batman's ace) at first he eventually understood the logic in choosing such a Pokemon to represent the family name. That only made things harder for him being the only one not having one. Did they not truly see him as family?
On the one year anniversary of Damian arriving at The Mannor, his family through a small party. Pennyworth made his favorite foods, The Mannor was decorated in tacky streamers (Graysons' idea) and they watched some of Damian's favorite fims, their Pokemon curled up with them. His father had offered to take the day off from the gym. Until Todd suggested that Damian take on the challengers.
The Gotham gym was part of his heritage. Damian had been training for the day that he could finally help weed out the weak challengers just like his siblings sometimes did (think the battles you do before challenging a gym leader in the games).
On that day, if the challengers agreed to it, their final battle wasn't with Bruce Wayne the Dark Knight but instead his son. Most accepted thinking that it would be an easy win, that they had lucked out in not having to battle one of the stongest Gym Leaders in the League and could still get the Shadow Badge.
Those poor fools.
Damian was only allowed to use Alfred, Titus and Habibi since he used Goliath and Heretic primarily as Rookidee.
Damian fought seven trainers that day in 3v3 fights. Only two of them got the badge.
With the day overwith and the night rising, so did Gothams' protecters.
The night ended with exhausted body's and adrenaline crashes. Damian was ready to slip into a mini coma from the day he had but before he could head upstairs to The Mannor...
"Not so fast baby bat." Graysons' voice called out to him. "We got one more surprise for you."
Damian raised his eyebrow at that. What else could they do? His father came back from the locker rooms where he had been desuiting, it always took him the longest because of his "old man bones" as Todd said.
"Son," his father said "its Wayne tradition to get your first Pokemon when you turn ten years old. I missed that with you." He paused, eyes briefly shifting to the floor before they snapped back on Damian's face. "Luckily there's one tradition we didn't miss. When you've lived at The Mannor for a year or the adoption papers get finalized, I give my children this..."
He pulled a Poke'ball out of his poket and handed to Damian. "Go on son, let them out."
He did
Staring at him was his own Eevee.
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AN: All of Damian's Pokemon (sans maybe Omni, I'm thinking of leaving her as an Eevee) will eventually evolve. Eventually.
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Survey #280
“this is the place in our mind with a crooked crown / we came to execute its own perfect shutdown”
Do you have a strong local accent? No. Do you prefer green or red grapes? Red, but either is fine so long as they’re crisp. Can you stand on your hands unassisted? pffff Who was the last person to knock/ring at your door? Pizza guy. How old were you when you last went trick or treating? No idea. Have you ever been bobbing for apples? ”No. That’s a gross game lol you’re dipping your head and mouth into water other people are dipping their head and mouth into.” <<<< This. What’s your most expensive piece of clothing? No clue. What’s the last thing you took a picture of? Guys I actually took a selfie bc for once in my goddamn life, I felt really pretty with the makeup Summer did on me. She's working towards a degree in cosmetology and is so talented with it. What’s the last thing you drew a picture of? A meerkat pup. Have you ever been on a pogo stick? Omg, yes. I got one for I think Christmas one year as a kid and I got SO into it. I learned how to do it really well. Can you down a pint (of anything) in one? Probably not without throwing up. Have you ever been banned from a public place? No. Have you ever been in a newspaper? A couple times, I think. I know once in elementary school for when I was in chorus; we went somewhere for a small Christmas show. Then I believe I was in it for another school thing? Idr. What football team do you support? I don’t care for football or sports in general. What did you want to be when you grew up? My phases included paleontologist, vet, movie director, author, game designer, aaaand I know I’m forgetting one. But my current and long-term goal has been to become a photographer. Being an artist as a free time “job” has always been an aspiration, too. Have you ever tie-dyed your own clothes? In school, yeah. How often do you buy new clothes? Very rarely. Usually just around Christmas or my birthday from gift cards I get. Are you reliable? In some ways yes, in other ways no. Are you proud of yourself? No. If you could ask your future self one question what would it be? If she’s ended up happy. Do you hold grudges? Nah. Do you decorate the outside of your house for Christmas? Mom does pretty much last minute, but only sometimes when looking at the past few years. Can you solve sudoku puzzles? Sure, they’re fun. What’s the most unusual conversation you've ever had? Who knows. Are you much of a gambler? Not at all. I don’t fuck around with money, especially when just $5 makes you feel great. Have you ever been to Disneyland? I’ve been to Disney World. Do you sing in the shower? Very rarely. Almost never now that I don’t play music while I’m in there. As a child did you ever suck your thumb or fingers? I mean probably? I do know I loved my pacifier and was SO upset when Mom’s doctor or someone playfully told me I was gonna have to give it up because my upcoming baby sister would want to steal it, and guess what? Nicole never fucking used a pacifier so I was tilted lmao. What time do you usually go to bed? Lol BRO it can be as early as 7 PM on bad depression days to as late as like, 2-3 AM. I’d say the average time is like… 9:30. What's your favorite animal? MEERKATS hngggggggggggggggg Have you ever been in marching band? No. Do you have any enemies? No? At least I don’t consider anyone to be. Have you ever been a cheerleader? As a kid, Mom wanted me to so I could do something with my sisters, who were actually interested in cheerleading. She certainly didn’t force me to or anything, I just agreed to it despite not being into it. We were with this Christian sports group for a long time doing various sports all the while being taught lessons in Christlikeness. I’ve actually got warm memories of it Did you ever date anyone on the football team? No. Do you sleep with stuffed animals? No, not that I’m against the idea tho. The plushy would just have to be very special to me and also comfortable to hold. How many consecutive days have you ever missed of school? I missed an entire week when I learned about Mom’s cancer. I could barely function. With how much school stressed me, I would NOT have managed. Have you ever been pregnant? No, not in my to-do list. When was the last time you wanted to speak out, but couldn’t? I’m sure it was recently over Facebook; most times, I keep my mouth shut over political things on there that might get me fired up because I’m afraid of confrontation. Are fingerless gloves awesome? I love them. Wore them daily in high school. I still have some of my favorites, though I’m doubtful they still fit my hands… Would you rather be cannibalistic or die in the wilderness? Okay so I’m gonna actually go kinda in-detail, so the squeamish be warned. Realistically, I think I’d choose to die. ESPECIALLY if I was the one expected to kill another person; then, there’s no question. I wouldn’t be able to do it either if I knew the person. If it was some stranger someone else killed and cooked, I don’t know with absolute certainty; starvation really can make animals out of people. I do know for sure I’d vomit. I far more heavily lean into still preferring to die, because I just believe some things aren’t worth living after they’ve been committed. I’d hate myself. I’d rather die feeling clean of conscience. Would you survive on a deserted island? Hell no. Have you dyed your hair eccentric colors in the past? Yeah, I want to do it far more often… What size drink do you usually get at fast food restaurants? Medium, sometimes small. What do you think is the best thing in life? Love, both platonic and romantic. Have you ever sold anything online either on Craigslist, eBay, Amazon, etc.? If not, what is your website of choice like any of the above for buying things? We sold our previous dog over Craigslist, and I sold my iguana there as well. I know Mom has used eBay and Amazon, but idk for what. Have you ever seen an animal give birth? Have you ever had a pet give birth before? I’ve seen old pet cats give birth many times. What is something you want to try to accomplish within the next year? I want a job that I’m content with and can mentally handle. Oh, and I REALLY want to make strong progress on recovering from the muscle atrophy in my legs. What’s the most unusual kind of pizza you’ve ever tried? I have no clue; I’m not that adventurous with pizza or food in general. If you were given the chance to decorate an entire house the way you wanted, with no limit to cost, how would you decorate it? GOTHIC AS A MOTHERFUCKER WELCOME TO THE GOTDAMN ADDAMS FAMILY. What’s one of your favorite things to touch/feel? My cat. :’) How often do you wear tights? Ew, never. Has there ever been anything you’ve become interested in much later than other people? I guess Instagram, but only as a viewer. I don’t have a personal one, just for my photography that I only rarely post. Have you ever had a veggie burger? Yeah, during my vegetarian streak. Burger King’s really aren’t that bad so long as the patty is made well. Do you like candles? Yeah, sure. When was the last time you wore a sports bra? Forever ago when I was doing Wii Fit. Where did you get the shirt you’re currently wearing? I think Hot Topic? It’s an oversized Umbreon shirt. Who last messaged you on Facebook? My friend Summer when we were planning our lil witch photoshoot w/ friends. Who last walked you home? lol you don’t just have someone “walk you home” here. Bundles of homes are way too far and in-between for reasonable walking distance. Did you make any new friends lately? If so, what are their names and how did you meet them? Not really recently, no. Would you rather see your favorite band/artist in concert with 2 other people or have a free $20,000 shopping spree to Walmart? Seeing Ozzy with my mom would be a DREAM, but to be realistic, I’d take the shopping spree pretty damn quickly. $20k? That would do WONDERS for us, especially as we’re about to move into a new place. When was the last time you threw up and why did you? A long time ago when I started a new medication. Do you want revenge on the person who has hurt you the most? … I’m gonna be REAL honest. For the most part, no. But ngl there are times I’m like “I’m gonna work on getting back in shape and become H O T” like a petty bitch lmao this is embarrassing to admit. Has anyone ever claimed that you saved their life? Yes. Did you ever have that near-drowning experience? No. Have you ever performed on stage? For dance, yes, but I never did a solo. Are you a jealous person? Not jealous (usually), but I’ve come to realize I’m a pretty envious piece of shit. Morning person or night person? I’m in my best mood in the morning because I have the “it’s a fresh start” ideology. Then I repeat exactly what I did the day before. :^) Have you ever written a poem for someone? Numerous times. Do you meditate? No, but I wish I could without it only causing more stress. Do you like cranberries that they serve for Thanksgiving? EW I hate cranberries. What don't you understand that frustrates you? Finances. Do you plan on going to college? I’ve tried college three times and dropped out each time. I’m done trying with school. Do you believe the governments hide technology and information from the public? AbsoFUCKINGlutely. Which is your favorite Pokemon? Ninetales! What horror fiction character scares you the most? What’s the name of the villain in the Scream series? Ghostface? I don’t feel like looking it up, but he TERRIFIED me as a kid, and I still think he’s mega creepy. Were you part of the Brownies/Cubs/Scouts/Guides etc? I was in Girl Scouts. Have you ever invented a fairly unique meal or drink? No. Do you have any family secrets? Don’t think so. Do you often read your horoscope? Never. They’re bullshit. Have you ever had a proper Tarot reading? No; also bullshit. Have you ever milked a cow? No. Do you love or hate rollercoasters? They’ve always scared me because I’m afraid of throwing up. Now with how dizzy I get, I absolutely refuse to try one because I WILL faint with all the movement. What’s your favorite sportswear brand? idc Who’s your favorite superhero? Does Deadpool count? Who’s your favorite villain/baddie? If we’re still in the comics/superhero universe, the Joker. Have you ever won a giant-sized cuddly toy from a fair? No. What would you say is your favorite album of all time? Black Rain by Ozzy Osbourne. I fucking adore it; it was my introduction to metal, and still after all this time, every track S L A P S. I deadass played that CD so much that it scratches at a few points. Do you dislike hairy people? lol fuck this question. I’m guessing you’re asking if I find them attractive and not as if people I “dislike” them, but in both cases, it’s no. We’re mammals, who the fuck cares how hairy you are. Do you like your own name? I actually do really like my name. My first one, anyway. Would you ever sign a Prenuptial agreement? NOPE. Want one? You’re gonna have to find someone else willing to, my man. How long has your longest ever phone call been? No less than two hours, but I know more. I have three instances in particular where I talked with either friends or Jason for SO long. Could you ever have an affair with a married person? Hell no. What is your family Christmas like? Nicole comes here so she and I open presents with Mom, then we spend the day at my older sister’s to be with the kids. We also try to squeeze visiting Dad in there the same day, but sometimes it has to be a different one. If you met a genie who offered you three wishes, what would you wish for? (more wishes does not count) Just three is hard… but #1 is indisputably world peace, and then uhhhh the end of poverty and maybe the cure for cancer. I’d have a super hard time picking a third; so many things matter to me. Have you ever had your national flag painted on your face? No, not in my plans. Do you have any strange body things? Well, define “strange,” I guess? Nothing like, really strange. What fairy tale character would you most associate with? Can I be Snow White and attract cute critters like moths to a flame? Also I would 100% take a Good apple. If a loved one was to serenade you, what song would you most like them to sing? It would depend on the person and our bond, really. Is there a cherished song between us? What is our relationship like? There’s no umbrella song I can think of. Is your dad an embarrassing dancer? GUYS!!!!!!!!!!! My sister’s wedding, okay? Father/daughter dance? He actually has MOVES and it was incredible man, never gonna forget that. What if any unusual objects have you swallowed? Nothing, I think. If you were stinking rich, would you only go to places other rich people went? Hell naw, man. There are plenty of great, affordable places in all categories. I could be a millionaire and you’d still see my ass in McDonald’s ordering a burger and fries lmao. Have you ever owned a slinky? My sisters and I had multiple as kids; those were d o p e. Teenage parents, good, bad, or indifferent? An AWFUL idea. A teenager is physically, most likely financially, and mentally unprepared to raise a child properly. It can seriously affect the kid, and of course the parent. What’s the most expensive thing you’ve ever broken? I’m unsure. Pirate downloads, good or bad? It’s bad… yet plenty (myself included) have/do do it. Democracy, good or bad? Good. It’s very important to me that rule should come from the people’s majority versus a small coalition of rich guys. While the majority is not always right, it seems like the best option to me. Communism, good or bad? Okay so to be totally honest I actually don’t entirely understand what communism outlines. Like I just read multiple definitions and small articles and I’m still kinda like “????”, though judging by the countries listed as those governed by communism, I would guess it’s bad? Have you ever been electrocuted? On an electric fence, but it wasn’t too bad. Have you ever been hit on by someone of the same gender? Yeah. The war in Iraq, good or bad? Get the fuck out of it. To start with, I’m a pretty fierce pacifist, and just… killing and killing and killing for YEARS is so goddamn pointless and is just a massacre. The war in Afganistan, good or bad? jfc ^ Have you ever appeared on YouTube? LET’S NEVER TALK ABOUT THIS lmfao Have you ever eaten anything prepared by a celebrity chef? No,, but that’d be dope. Have you ever been on radio? No. Do you prefer male or female singers voices? ”Their gender doesn’t matter, but their talent does.” <<<< Do you have a list of things to do before your ‘x’ years old? Goals should not be judged by age. I’m bad at this and have to remind myself of it a lot. A goal is a goal regardless of a number. Celebrate for *you*. Are you proud, comfortable or ashamed of your body? Very very much ashamed. Do you know html? Super poorly. Have you ever flown first class? lol hunny What are better, violins or pianos? Violins. How old is your oldest blanket? As old as me. My baby blanket is stored somewhere. Do you take enough vacations? lol hell no. I’ve maybe gone on three vacations in my entire life. Have you ever been sick on your birthday? Yup. Then one time I was recovering from a wicked stomach virus but went to Olive Garden anyway lol. I was fine though, and it’s actually a sweet memory because Jason (he worked there at the time) got the staff to do the whole “happy birthday” thing. I got a bombin’ brownie. Who is your favorite person? Sara and my mom. What do you do to stay healthy? lol you assume I’m healthy. What is your favorite form of exercise? Swimming. Do you like going to church? I never did. As a kid, I would cry when/if Mom decided we were going to mass after Sunday school lmao. It’s always been boring and too long to me, even when I was religious. Have you ever fallen asleep during a sermon? Probably as a kid. Do you like to pray for others? No. I don’t believe anyone hears them or will intervene somehow if I ask anyway. Have you ever witnessed a miracle? No. I don’t think I believe in those anyway. Have you ever been the recipient of a miracle? Definitely not. How did you or whoever come up with the name(s) for your pet(s)? I thought “Roman” was a majestic name for a male cat, and Venus has the coloration that the planet does. Who did you last walk a dog with? Sara and I walked Buster the last time I was there. It was windy as SHIT so we didn’t get far because my ass was absolutely freezing, all the while Sara was used to it. Ride bikes with? Wow, good question. I haven’t ridden a bike in many, many years. Hold hands with? My friend Summer did yesterday when she was trying to reassure me of something. For what reason did you last high five someone? Ryder and Aubree each caught Pokemon in Pokemon GO. :’’’’) I was watching them in the car while my sister/their mom was doing something at work, and they wanted to play it; they’ve come to learn that between my phone and DS, I’m the Pokemon provider, lol. I was the proudest fucking aunt ever bc they did SO GOOD after getting the hang of throwing the ball like Y’ALL. When Ash came back to the car, I gave ‘em each high fives before getting back in. What color and type is your vehicle? Don’t have my own car. Looking to upgrade or add any time soon? I doubt I’ll have my own soon. What animal do you have the most possessions *of*, or featuring? Like, décor or stuffed animals, things like that? Not the actual living creature? Easily meerkats, holy shit do I have a collection. What do you use to wash your dishes? Gain soap. Last thing you measured? Uhhh idk. Last thing you weighed? Myself. Last song you danced to? *shrug* What do you remember from your dream last night? I just remember it was a nightmare about Dad being angry. How old were you when you got your first credit card? Lol I don’t have one. Do you talk to your parent(s) [almost] every day? Mom, yes. Dad, no, because we don’t live together. What does your shampoo and conditioner smell like? I just started using a Dove brand shampoo targeting dandruff, so I don’t think it has a specific smell. I don’t use conditioner, just adds grease to your hair, plus mine is short anyway. Last person to tell you that you smell good? Idk. Last person you told that they smell good? I also don’t know. If you smoke marijuana, what is your preferred or typical method? I’ve never touched it. Last person you ran into unexpectedly? Ummm idr. How many plants can you see right now? There’re none in my room. Last compliment you received on your appearance? HA On your character/personality? That I was a loving sister. Do you remain friends with anyone you met at your first job? N/A Who have you hugged in the past month? My mom, Summer, sisters, niece and nephew, Dad… Newest musical discovery? 3TEETH is great. Like, I'm obsessed. Their cover of “Pumped Up Kicks” snagged my attention, despite actually being iffy about it at first. Guess what I’m listening to this minute lmao. Last thing you cleaned? A cup. What exactly do you carry around all your stuff in? A purse. What do you carry around, typically? Phone, keys, wallet, hand sanitizer, and my iPod are items of note. Where is your newest scar? It’s on the palm of my left hand from Roman playing with me. Where is your oldest scar? Idk. Last thing you disposed of? The milk carton. What was the last picture someone sent you? Mom sent me a gif from Hocus Pocus to fit the witch photoshoot Summer, her friend, and I did. Did you hear a siren today? No. What do you typically drink? I would rather not pretend I tend to drink soda lmao Last bad news you heard? My aunt’s brother committed suicide a couple days ago. Last good news you heard? I don’t really know. How far away is the closest cinema from your house? It’s like, 15-ish minutes away. Have you ever been to the emergency room? Many times. Are you one of those people who can’t go without their morning coffee? Y’all know me and coffee. But in place, I have my morning Mountain Dew, rip in fucking pieces. Have you ever worn fake eyelashes? No, though I’m honestly curious what I’d look like. Do you know the story of how your parents met? If so, tell me? They were coworkers; that’s all I know. What is your favorite Chinese food? I love pork fried rice. Do you live far from your parents? I live with my Mom. I live around 20 minutes or so away from Dad. What was the last hot food you ate? I’m assuming you mean spicy as opposed to just hot as in temperature. In that case, probably hot wings. Have you ever seen a meteor shower? No. Describe your current position: I’m lying down in bed, just kinda perked up by my two pillows. Have you used a microwave today? Yes; I had a Jimmy Dean breakfast bowl. Do you prefer going out for coffee or brewing your own? N/A Have you consumed caffeine today? If so, in what form? yikes- Do you know anyone who follows a raw vegan diet and lifestyle? Not that I know of. Have you killed a bug this week? Yes; we’re dealing with a lovely mix of gnats and fleas. What was the first food you learned how to cook? Scrambled eggs. Or maybe pancakes with Mom’s assistance. Idr. Do you have a Bachelor’s degree? If so, what in? No. How many email accounts do you have? Two. Can you go see a doctor alone or do you like to take someone with you? I like my mom to be with me. How long is your average shower? 15 minutes, maybe? It depends on the routine I feel like doing. When’s the last time you had a headache? Yesterday. What woke you up this morning? I think I woke up naturally? A rare occasion nowadays. Who was the last person you cried in front of? Summer, yesterday.
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ultimateuob · 3 years
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About Muse
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Muse Name: Rantaro Amami Age: 17-22 (Verse Dependent)
- Headcanons + Blog Canon Below The Cut -
Important:
I base Rantaro on the fact that the Free Time Events that are available from the Salmon mode. I take this as that the Ultimate Salmon Mode / Dating Show happened first. The memories could be erased or kept, also threads can be DURING the Salmon mode or even an AU where they are all in Hope’s Peak. Due to the verse changing so much, I will have a base backstory that will work for any of these examples.
Back Story (Hope’s Peak AU/Salmon Mode Base)
Rantaro Amami, a bright green-haired male. He found himself constantly traveling to all sorts of amazing places, each being somehow even better than the last. These trips would include himself as well as his mother and father. Once Rantaro got a bit older and became an older brother he found his little sister, Niko coming along. She was the spitting image of Rantaro’s mother. They both seemed to take more features from her than their rather estranged father.
Now, his parents weren’t divorced or anything, but his father’s real love seemed to be the sea and just the general act of exploring. Even when Rantaro or Niko found themselves too sick for the sea, or even with the school becoming an issue, Father continued to push for the sea voyages.
After so many years, Rantaro’s mother had enough of it, leaving the man. She raised Rantaro and Niko while their father was at sea. However, during the summers, Rantaro and his younger sister found themselves always on the boat. Now, Rantaro didn’t mind the adventures, if anything, he had some of his father’s own passion. Niko however, never shared the interest, she would rather shop at all the amazing ports they landed at. Rantaro never thought it would become a problem.
It was a single night in which everything changed. They were visiting the beautiful port of Tianjin, on their way home even. They only stopped because the water was rough. Rantaro and his sister were both told not to leave the boat, after all, they were to only be staying for an hour or so, the moment the water was calm, they would be off. Without keeping an eye on his sister, Rantaro went to bed.
The next morning, the green-haired male went into the kitchen, expecting to see his sister sitting there, shoving some food into her mouth like always. However, there was no one to be found. Thinking she just overslept, Rantaro slowly made his way to her room on the ship. After a few knocks, Rantaro stepped into the room, “Niko… Its time to get up-”
She wasn’t there. She wasn’t on the ship. She didn’t answer Rantaro’s calls. She was gone, and there was nothing to bring her back. Rantaro would never forgive himself for this slip-up, not ever.
From that day on, Rantaro started to go independently on his adventures, using more and more of his father’s money. His selfish father started to cut him off after three years. He told his son to focus on school- to stop searching for a pointless dream. That’s when Hope’s Peak sent him a letter, requesting he attend their school, be their Ultimate Adventurer, and in exchange, they will fund any trip he does within those three years.
Rantaro couldn’t say no to this. All he had to do was attend so many days- 10 each semester and pass all of his exams. If he worked hard, and never gave up. He could do it.
Backstory (Pre V3 Verse)
The green-haired man found himself glaring at the woman in front of him. She just smiled- as TVs all around him commented. This was all some sort of TV show- and all that was left was this twisted ending. He lost. He sacrificed so much and found himself empty-handed. His memories- they were all lies. What was the truth? What was a lie? Did he even have a sister? What…
That’s when a hand was extended to him. He had a choice. Play another round or give up his life right now? He had to play another round. He had to… He would not waste this life he was given thanks to his friend’s sacrifices. With the agreement in motion, the TVs turned off, doors open, and Rantaro found himself being thrown back into the real world.
Everywhere he would go, he would see merch of himself, people begging to be touched by him. He even saw people begging for him to talk about how AMAZING this whole experience was.
He kept quiet. He didn’t say a word. He was the very first Survivor. No one besides the winners normally escaped, so for there to be no winners- and instead to have someone coming back for Round 2- it made the ratings go up like crazy.
When Rantaro went home, he found that his sister was real. She was also really lost for a few years- it seems that his life was already almost so fictional they left it as it was. He had a year, he had to figure out a way to stop this show. He had to be sneaky.
He had no idea his opponent had the same idea, aiming for his head while Rantaro aimed for their feet. Who would win?
Headcanon - Rantaro only has 1 sister
What if Rantaro’s talent was partially true? What if, he traveled a lot to find his missing sister when he was pulled for the first killing game he was in? Once he stepped out as “third place”, and Team Danganronpa found his sister and they reunited.
However, because Rantaro was a returning character, they wiped his memories and made his number of sisters grow, adding a bit of “comedy” for the viewers? I mean, it seems to be an afterthought whenever Rantaro mentions his number of sisters, almost like “Oh yeah. I have 12.” It seems very… fake.
AU List
Pokemon Trainer - X My Hero Academia - X
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leofcwler · 5 years
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shania twain vc: let’s go girls!
PREFERRED NAME — bri
PRONOUNS — she/they
AGE — 21 bt i’m turning 22 on sunday baybee!
PINTEREST — bada bing bada boom
DISCORD — bri#0458
TUMBLR (PERSONAL/MUSE/RPH) — yeehaw!
MYER-BRIGGS — istp
HP HOUSE — slytherin
ASTROLOGY — gemini
DO YOU BELIEVE IN ASTROLOGY? — my only current tattoo is the gemini symbol not to sound like a total white girl but yes. yes i believe in astrology.
HOW OLD WERE YOU WHEN YOU STARTED RPING ON TUMBLR — honestly im not sure probably 13?? wipes sweat from my brow
WHAT YEAR WAS IT? — i think that makes it 07??? fcking hell
NAME A RANDOM ROLEPLAY THAT STICKS OUT IN YOUR MEMORY — i was in this harry potter next gen rp i’m not kidding all of high school like the entire 4 years it was a wild ride
WITHOUT GOOGLING IT FIRST, WHAT DO YOU THINK SIR ELTON JOHN’S NET WORTH IS? — i think like $500 million tbh Big Mans Got Money
NAME THE FIRST SONG ON YOUR DISCOVER WEEKLY ON SPOTIFY OR THE FIRST SONG THAT COMES ON APPLE MUSIC / ITUNES SHUFFLE — if only i was a poet by staffan carlen
NAME A BOOK THAT YOU READ IN SCHOOL THAT YOU SURPRISINGLY LIKED — tbh i think my fave was brave new world
NAME A BOOK YOU HATED THAT MOST PEOPLE LIKED — maybe great gatsby?? i just thought it was so dull..................
WHAT TV SHOW DID YOU RECENTLY BINGE? — im rewatching the office for the 4th time rn lawl but other than that i watched the society in like less than 24 hours
FAVOURITE QUOTE — “if you live to be a hundred, i want to live to be a hundred minus one day so i never have to live without you.” - winnie the pooh baby!
LINK TO A VINE THAT EXUDES YOUR ‘ENERGY’ — x
DO YOU WRITE OUTSIDE OF RP? WHAT DO YOU WRITE? — i used to write novels and stuff but i haven’t in a long time i should probably start again
THREE YOUTUBERS YOU STILL TRUST — tiny meat gang, kurtis conner, drew gooden/danny gonzalez (i couldn’t decide between them)
A CELEBRITY CRUSH THAT JUST WON’T QUIT — harry styles i would die for him
EVER MEET A CELEBRITY? SHARE YOUR STORY — i literally just met kurtis conner at the 1975 concert this monday that was truly wild
WHAT’S YOUR PICTURE-PERFECT NIGHT? — frankly probably drinking and doing something fun with my friends
A CONSPIRACY THEORY YOU KINDA BELIEVE IN — mandela effect is REAL!!!!!!!!!!
ARE ALIENS REAL? — yes
GHOSTS — yes ofc i’ve had so many experiences w them they are OUT THERE
BIG FOOT — honestly maybe but also? mostly doubt it
THE LOCHNESS MONSTER? — the ocean’s so big it’s impossible to imagine it’s not real and out there also some pics? quite convincing................
WHAT WAS THE GENRE OF YOUR LAST DREAM? — i honestly can’t remember the last dream that i had i’ve been on so many meds fr back issues it’s like fritzed my brain and made it impossible to dream i think
DO YOU STILL PLAY POKEMON GO? — no i kinda miss it i might start it up again tbh
WHAT’S A FILM YOU LOVED WHEN YOU WERE YOUNG AND RECENTLY WATCHED, ONLY TO FIND OUT YOU DON’T ANYMORE — i haven’t watched a lot of movies from when i was young recently i won’t lie also i’m not hard to please i would probably still love it
DO YOU COLLECT ANYTHING? — i have like 1000 lipsticks also lots of notes and memorabilia from high school?? and hearts haha xP 
WHAT’S SOMETHING YOU WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT BUT YOU’RE TOO LAZY? — guitar tbh i took a class freshman year of high school but never got actual lessons
THREE LANGUAGES YOU DON’T SPEAK, BUT WISH YOU COULD — french, spanish, and latin
A GUILTY PLEASURE MOVIE — land of the lost it’s literally one of my fave movies even tho i kno its trash
A GUILTY PLEASURE MUSICAL ARTIST — 5sos even tho i’m not guilty........... they’re good.
TELEVISION SHOW — i watch riverdale and i do feel guilty about it it’s not good but i can’t stop.
NAME A FICTIONAL CHARACTER FROM TV/FILM/MOVIE/GAME/BOOK THAT YOU FIND YOURSELF PROJECTING ON / YOU RELATE TO — probably kelly from the office i’m not gonna fuck around
DO YOU FOLLOW ANY SPORTS? WHO DO YOU ROOT FOR? — i have and never will willingly sit through a sports game any day of my life and you can take that to my grave.
HOBBIES BESIDES WASTING AWAY HERE? — idk spending time with my friends, drinking lawl, reading, used to take vocal lessons??, rotting away on netflix
PLUG A TV SHOW / MOVIE / BOOK / VIDEO GAME / ETC… YOU WISH MORE PEOPLE WOULD CHECK OUT — um?? i feel like the show dark is really underrated but it slaps Dumb Hard
WOULD YOU EAT A STRANGER’S FINGER FOR A MILLION DOLLARS? — who am i to deny myself a tasty snack for a truck load of money
TEAM EDWARD OR JACOB? honestly i was a bit of both but ig edward in the end idk team jasper if anything /:
LIVE-ACTION DISNEY MOVIES, YAY OR NAY? — ya i like them i don’t even give a hoot and holler i love disney........ there. i said it.
ON A SCALE OF 1-10, HOW MUCH DID YOU HATE FILLING THIS OUT? – like 6 i don’t even know who i am
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professorpalmarosa · 6 years
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Commander Charon (Frugal Ferryman)
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Charon’s one of those characters you either really love or really loathe. I personally love him and was way too excited when I found his journal in the Silph Co. building in HGSS! Honestly, he may be my favorite in the entire franchise...
He’s also the only Team Galactic Commander who (for the most part) is relatively consistent with his personality. His anime version had that delightful laugh and mildly sarcastic attitude I enjoyed in the game. His Special/Adventures and DPA counterparts just cranked that snark up to 11 and went over the top with it. He was a melodramatic ham, yes, but a recognizable melodramatic ham.
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He makes me smile. He makes me laugh. He makes me feel a little less weird about my steadily increasing Rotom collection. And, naturally, I have to have him play a major role in my Platinum prequel fan-fiction Pokemon Dawn & Dusk!
Going into this, I knew there were two things I wanted to do when creating Charon’s blend (Frugal Ferryman):
It needed to smell like old people (but in a good way)
It needed to use at least one of the most ridiculously expensive oils in my collection (because Charon thinks he’s worth it).
And yet somehow, the main oil in this synergy ended up being neither of those things. It ended up being my December Oil of the Month from Plant Therapy: something so obscure and rare that I can only order it from them over the phone!
It’s Cubeb Essential Oil: a mildly peppery scent that promotes pain relief, respiratory health, and digestive health. By itself, it kind of smells like soy sauce. I was stumped on how I could use it, but then I did some research to see what it paired with…
…bingo!
To get that “old person” smell, I added CO2 Supercritical Bulgarian Lavender (which made the blend smell just like these half-fossilized bath cubes my grandmother’s hoarded in her bathroom since the late 1980s) and Ylang Ylang III.
To give you some idea, Ylang Ylang is known as “king of the flowers” and has the obnoxiously high price tag to match. It’s great for hair care, is lauded as a powerful aphrodisiac, but typically only succeeds in making me sleepy due to its strong sedative properties.
Earlier, I made note that one of these bath bombs knocked me out in the tub and I woke up a couple of hours later. It was this one. This bomb means business and isn’t for the faint (or weak) of heart.
Together, the blend starts out with an “old lady’s powder room” type of floral…but then the peppery notes of the Cubeb come back to give it a more masculine bite. I really like the way this one smells…but the way it looks is even more dramatic. There’s so much purple in this one that you can’t even see your body in the water!
Now it’s time to talk about the pros and cons of these oils from a safety perspective…
Aromatherapy isn’t just about pretty smells and scented bath water. Essential oils are in such a high concentration that even absorbing them through your skin can leave you with the therapeutic (and potentially toxic) benefits.
If you are allergic to a plant, you are 100% without question going to be super allergic to the essential oil.
There’s also such a thing as contraindications: where some oils may affect you in weird ways if you have a certain medical condition or take certain medications.
The information below is for your safety if you want to attempt to make this blend at home (as a bath bomb, a body spray, or even scented bath salts). And do be sure to wear gloves. Some of these oils have recommended dilution rates as small as 0.4%. You don’t want that to slide on bare skin!
Cubeb
The Javanese Cubeb plant (Piper cubeba) is known by many names, but is cultivated mostly for its fruit and essential oil. The smell is very aromatic (kind of peppery, really pungent, slightly bitter, and it lingers). The aromatherapists say it smells like a cross between Allspice and Black Pepper (both of which you can get as essential oils), but I’m calling bullshit.
It smells like soy sauce. It pairs well with clove, rosemary, and most wood oils.
I’d never heard of this oil until I got it as Plant Therapy’s December Oil of the Month, nor did I have any idea how to use it. A quick Google search told me this is one of the oldest essential oils used by mankind, dating as far back as the 4th Century BC!
Cubeb was used by ancient Greek pharmakons, along with medieval alchemists. Even some modern witchcraft rituals use this fantastic plant--and I’d never freaking heard of it.
Pros
:
It’s an aphrodisiac! There’s nothing quite like a superconcentrated dried pepper to put you in the mood, I guess. People used to use this thing to treat infertility, impotence, ED, gonorrhea, and other STDs. And apparently, the two things I mixed with the Cubeb for Charon’s blend also have this aphrodisiac property. Ladies~
Feeling bloated? Cubeb’s here to help! Sometimes you really have to fart and it won’t come out. So you bloat, feeling all that painful air trap inside you with no way out. Cubeb Essential Oil has a carminative (gas-relieving) property to help you break wind discretely and safely. However, if chronic flatulence becomes a regular thing for you, contact your healthcare provider.
Feeling a little blocked up? Can’t breathe well? Cubeb’s fantastic for breaking up phlegm, calming down asthma, relieving congestion, and helping you ward off that nasty cough once and for all! For even faster results, pair it with Cajeput Essential Oil, Eucalyptus Globulus Essential Oil, or Camphor Essential Oil.
Flush out toxins! Cubeb has diuretic properties. It stimulates your kidneys to excrete more liquid, which in turn flushes out any toxins in your body. This can include stuff like uric acid, salt, cholesterol, and fat.
Tired joints? Maybe Cubeb can be of assistance! Some Ayurvedic medicine practitioners use Cubeb Essential Oil to alleviate aches and pains from joint and bone problems.
Cons
:
By itself, it smells like freaking soy sauce. I cannot reiterate that enough. If you diffuse this at work (true story), people are going to assume you have something delicious at your cubicle and won’t stop hounding you for it. That’s really frustrating when you’re trying to run a QA test!
Due to its high sequiterpene content, this is not a cat-safe oil.
Cubeb Essential Oil (when overused) runs the risk of increasing the sensitivity of your stomach and intestines. Don’t use this oil if you’re taking antacids, have acid reflux disease, or take medications to decrease stomach acid.
Some people have reported irritated skin after prolonged use of Cubeb.
Avoid using this oil if you are pregnant, plan to become pregnant, or are nursing.
This is not a child-safe oil. Avoid this essential oil (and bath bomb) for any children under the age of 12.
Never apply this oil neat (undiluted) on your skin or ingest.
Due to Cubeb’s strong diuretic properties, avoid usage if you are suffering from kidney disease.
Lavender
Pros: Lavender is one of your best friends when it comes to restlessness, insomnia, anxiety, and depression. It’s also great for loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, gas, and a fussy stomach. It’s also remarkable for pain relief in cases where you’re troubled by migraines, toothaches, sprains, nerve pain, and joint pain.
Some folks even apply Lavender Essential Oil to the skin for hair loss and pain. It’s also safe to apply this one neat (on your skin) for most people.
Cons:
Lavender has also been shown to slow down the central nervous system when used on the regular. If you plan to go under for surgery or anything else with anesthesia, please avoid using Lavender Essential Oil two weeks ahead of the scheduled procedure.
Lavender should not be used by prepubescent and pubescent boys, as it can warp certain hormonal reactions and greatly increase risk for gynecomastia (male breast growth).
If you are taking a sedative, adding Lavender Essential Oil to the mix may create too much drowsiness. Exercise caution!
Ylang Ylang III
Pros:
Fight insomnia! Ylang Ylang is a natural sleep aid and very effective. However, its sedative properties are so strong that you might want to avoid using Ylang Ylang in the morning or if you intend to drive or operate heavy machinery. Pull this oil out right before bed or at least once you’re in for the night. It’s worked for me!
Repel head lice! Ylang Ylang can be used in a combination spray to repel and even kill head lice. Developing evidence suggests that a homeopathic blend of coconut oil, anise oil, and ylang ylang oil had a 92% effectiveness rate on killing those unwanted creepy crawlies in children’s hair.
Lower high blood pressure!
Increase your sex drive! Ylang Ylang is a natural aphrodisiac and has been used for millennia for that exact purpose. There’s a reason this flower is also known as the King of the Flowers.
Cons:
Ylang Ylang Essential Oil is considered to be universally safe for general use. However, it is not safe to diffuse around a cat.
When I said this thing is a sedative, I freaking meant it. I am a relatively healthy 28-year-old woman and this bath bomb knocked me out in 20 minutes. I stayed asleep for a solid 2 hours. If you plan to use Charon’s bath bomb, make sure you have absolutely no other plans for the rest of the day and leave the bathroom door unlocked. There’s a good chance you’ll pass out in the tub.
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stunudo · 7 years
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Many of us crucify ourselves between two thieves - regret for the past and fear of the future.
Fulton Oursler
Mending and Bending: A Criminal Minds Fan-fiction
Requested by: @marvelfanlife
Featuring: Jennifer Jareau x Female Reader
Setting: Season 10 (Little AU backstory: Will left JJ after she never told him about her miscarriage overseas. So there is no baby Michael, sorry!)
Rating: Mature  Warnings: Out of the blue, tiny bit of smut
A/N: This is my second requested piece, thank you so much for thinking of me! I really hope you like it, she gave me a lot to work with! I added some dimension to the reader’s kids: Jonah (OC) and Lucy (OC). Also, as a mom, this was super emotional for me. I hope I hit some feels for you too! xoxo Stu
I do not own the characters from the show, images or quotes.
Your name: submit What is this?
It was ironic, the days she wasn’t working a case were the hard ones now. When she was able to pick Henry up from school, you would see her. As you picked up your own kids, Lucy and Jonah from the same school, her bright eyes and eager smile dazzling from across the playground. There was a time when these were the best days, when she was home safely. Now the days had reversed and life was more surreal than storybook.
Jonah had noticed you watching JJ, but you just gave him a small smile and rubbed his buzzed head. “So, kiddo, how was gym class today?”
“Mama! No fair! I wasn’t going to bring it up.” He groaned. You sighed, letting it go. He hated gym class because his gym teacher couldn’t remember or wouldn’t try to use his male name. The rest of the school had been very receptive since Joni became Jonah officially, at the beginning of the school year. But since the gym teacher had taught him since kindergarten as Joni; it was still a slow process.
Where was Lucy? You scanned the jungle gym, the basketball court, the double doors that released the kids each day; she wasn’t there. Your search became more frantic, until you saw her little head running after Henry Lamontagne. ‘Oh, Lucy, not today sweetie, please? Mama wants to hide and avoid her,’ you thought. Suddenly your little girl was down, tripped over an untied shoe; the tears were eminent. You rush to her just as her ragged voice screeched, “Mama! Mama! I, <sob> I, <sob> fell!” She came limping to you.
You hug her tear spattered face to your abdomen, rubbing the back of her head. Henry came running back, grabbing your legs and Lucy into a tight squeeze. “Lucy, don’t cry,” He begged, “You can catch me tomorrow!” You smiled down at Henry’s blonde head.
“Thanks, Henry, that was one sweet hug, little man,” You whispered. You felt her blue eyes on your group hug, guilt mixed with regret and longing flushed your cheeks. You sighed, “We’ll see you tomorrow, ‘kay?” Henry nodded, rubbing Lucy on the back once more. You sucked up your pride and nodded at J.J. as Henry crossed the pavement. She respectfully inclined her head, the slightest smile on her usually cheery lips.
“Y/N, that is ridiculous!” JJ snapped at you, her nostrils flaring.
“No, you think it is ridiculous, because you don’t watch him watch you,” You explained, trying to remain calm. “J.J., he still has feelings for you, you need to let him down gently, poor kid.”
She just shook her head at you, “I will say nothing of the sort. Spence doesn’t love me like that, Y/N. We’re family, not romantic, why can’t you see that?”
You sighed, the jealousy burning through you. Not only did the team get her at work, they were emotionally still with her at home too. You were sick of the denial, especially since she wasn’t sharing you with them. Six months together and she wouldn’t admit she had a girlfriend and you were the one being ridiculous?!
This was the fight that had made you wake up to how rapidly things had gotten unhealthy with her. This was the fight that was etched into your mind when your body yearned for her tiny waist and elegant features. It was the memory that grounded you, kept you from missing her too badly. That, and wine.
You were swamped, you had two revisions due back to the authors by the end of the week, your usual sitter had bailed because of tonsillitis and your mom wanted your help planning your dad’s retirement party. Luckily, it was raining, so soccer practice had been cancelled. You sat in your Subaru, idling in the pick up lane, checking your email as you waited for the bell to sound, returning your babies to you.
Your phone buzzed with an incoming text, but you swiped it ignored as you finished a quick reply email. Then there were a collective pounding of little hands along the passenger side of your car. You unlocked the door, noting a pale face climbed in out of the rain with your littles.
“Henry is coming to our house!” Lucy proclaimed proudly. Jonah was the last one in, closing your family away from the noise and moisture outdoors.
“Hey Henry? Did you talk to your sitter before following Jonah and Luce?”
“Nope, Y/N,” Henry grinned, ”I asked my mom, duh!” Jonah laughed, “Yeah, Mama, JJ says it’s okay! She messaged you.”
“Hooray, Henry is coming over,” Lucy sing-songed. “It has been for-ev-er!”
You scrolled to your messages, sure enough JJ had sent it before, you realized. ‘Your kids’ cuteness wins again. Pick him up after dinner?” Your cheeks felt oddly tingly, you realized you were grinning like a fool. Your smile muscles strained from lack of use. You quickly replied: ‘Sounds like a plan! See you around 7?’
She sent back her signature thumbs up emoji in confirmation. You held your phone to your heart, allowing yourself a moment before pulling into after school traffic.
Having Henry over lessened the gap your family felt during this transition. The happy life with JJ and Henry to the happy life after JJ and Henry, you had all been swimming in that gap between. Lucy wouldn’t leave his side the whole afternoon. Even while he used the bathroom, she waited outside the door. She kept talking to him, in her own way ensuring he hadn’t left yet.
Jonah and Henry had lots of Pokemon battles to make up for the nearly two months apart. Jonah had more legendaries, but Henry had strategy on his side.
“Uncle Spencer says using the right trainers at the right time is just as important as using good Pokemon.” Henry explained to Jonah. You rolled your eyes, of course the genius godfather had an expert opinion in the card game.
“How is Uncle Spencer?” You asked Henry offhandedly, grateful that little kids have few social reservations.
“He’s fine.” Henry answered. “He comes over to play when Mommy is sad.” This little tidbit was alarming. Did that mean he was there to take care of Henry? Or was he playing at something more? Why were you still jealous of the guy; you had already lost her? Your brain needed to stop. Was J.J. struggling? More importantly was she struggling like you were? You exhaled, returning to the dining room table and the boys’ match up.
“How is your mom, buddy?”
“Fine, Y/N.” Henry brushed off your interest as he reshuffled his cards. Jonah looked up from his cards, shaking his head at your blatant curiosity and boundary pressing. Why did your kid always have to be the perceptive one?
She was early, as usual. She knocked on the door to your rental house, as you were convincing Lucy that dessert wasn’t an option EVERY night of the week. Her pouting face melting away as she realized who was behind the front door.
“JJ?!” Lucy squealed as she ran to the front hall. You were hot on her bare heels, your heart doing its own form of tap dance. Lucy whipped the door open wide and jumped out at JJ, with the unique fearlessness of a five year old. JJ’s impeccable reflexes and mother’s gentleness caught and gathered your girl into her embrace. As much as this hurt to witness, it felt so easily normal. Lucy adored JJ and JJ her.
“Hi!” You greeted your ex, as awkwardly as you felt. You waved her inside, “Henry is just packing up his binder in the living room.”
JJ glanced around, noticing the subtle changes from the couple months of not being there everyday. You had rearranged some furniture. The Y/L/N house had undergone a Feng Shui attempt to clear out the negative energy or something along those lines.
“Looks great in here, Y/N.” She kindly admitted. You smile, appreciating her obvious nervousness at being here, with you.
“The kids really miss Henry. Thanks for letting him come over today.” You added after a few minutes watching the kids distract each other from cleaning up.
“Y/N,” JJ started, her eyes darting between your collective pack of kids, “Henry, really misses Jonah and Lucy Goose too.” Her eyes were saying more. They were, right? In her eyes, you lost all space and time. Suddenly Henry was tugging on JJ’s arm.
“Mom, we should go to the park this weekend. There’s going to be a boat race, Jonah saw a flier.” JJ ruffled Henry’s straight locks.
“We’ll see, buddy” Her usual default response.
“If you’re in town, perhaps we’ll see you there?” You mentioned, off the cuff, leading them out the doorway. “Or if Will doesn’t have H this weekend, I could take him?” You were trying to keep the desperation out of your voice. This was how any other mom-friend would suggest things, right? She smiled gently at you.
“I’ll, uh, let you know. Thanks again.” She waved over her shoulder, her profiler eyes catching all the relief you felt as it passed over your face.
JJ’s hands were gripping your Trapezius muscles, her fingernails digging in. Your coated lips were blowing on her sweet spot as you rocked the little vibrator against it. You looked up into her scrunched face, knowing that she was too overwhelmed to look back at you. Her toned legs were spread out before you. You sighed, even her orgasm face was gorgeous. She panted as your fingers worked her core, which was quickly tightening with her climax. “Shit, Y/N, thatsss, uh, mmmmm!” Her voice cut through the quiet night.
You sat up, alone in bed. Her taste a welcome memory lingering from your dream. You unconsciously rubbed your neck, remembering how the little half moons had speckled your skin for a week after that night. You went to grab some water to clear your throat. Was this going to happen each time you saw her? Perhaps it wasn’t smart to make plans with JJ and the kids so soon. You returned to bed and turned on the television for some distraction to send you back to sleep.
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“But, Mama!” Lucy whined, “Jonah says that the race starts at ten. Is he right or what?” You shake your head, pulling the brush through her tangles. You settled on little pony tail puffs because patience was not in your vocabulary yet at eight o’clock in the morning.
“Um, I’m not sure if he is right, but we can check again,” You explained, “AFTER you brush your teeth.
The morning bustle to get out of the door quickly on a weekend, kept you from overthinking your dream/memory. You were working down a list in your mind: 1. Dressed 2. Coffee 3. Breakfast 4. Kids dressed. 5. Everything else to get ready. 6. Get in the car, people!
Driving to the park took about ten minutes, parking was another ten, this mini boat race was some deal after all.  You caught Jonah’s shining smile in the rear view mirror, it was a perfect contrast with his dark skin. “Ready, buddy?” You asked as he nodded enthusiastically. He was out of his seat and unbuckling Lucy as you got the bulky park essentials bag from the hatch. You let the man of the house lead the way today, since he was the one who had memorized the informational flier in the first place.
The playground was crawling with kids and clusters of parents conversing or pretending to as they scanned their phones. You brought one of the manuscripts with you and a plethora of pens to keep you occupied before the race started in a little under an hour.
“And I thought I worked too much,” JJ’s teasing voice called you out of your editing trance. You shielded your eyes to look up to her haloed outline. “Well, actually I know I do.” She admitted, sitting beside you on your tie blanket. You glanced at her, being all casual with you. What were you supposed to do with the utter friendliness?
“You seem to be doing alright balancing it all this week,” You complimented, keeping your eyes on the playground to keep actual thoughts and words forming in your head.
“Hotch gave us a week off, rough case and he has some family stuff he is working on.” JJ admitted. Some things never change, you thought ruefully. “So,” She added with purpose,”Henry said that you wanted to talk to me?”
Oh crap. Here it was, the karma for being too nosy the other day. Oh crap, what were you supposed to say to that? Your face was warm and you bit your bottom lip. “Um?” You mumbled, finally turning to actually look her in her curious face. You shook your head at her as the confusion you felt became obvious.
“Oh, man, did they try to parent trap us?” JJ asked, laughing nervously. She had a great laugh, even when she was forcing it.
You patted her hand in consolation, “It sounds like they got us, the stinkers.” Gently, she flipped her hand over, holding your smooth one in her rougher, stronger one. You caught your breath. Was this really happening? Her hands were always so warm, it felt so right around yours.
You were shaking, but held fast to her hand like the lifeline it was. “Y/N, I was stubborn, I never should have let you leave.” She leaned closer, sitting criss-cross apple sauce now. Her cerulean eyes honest and stormy. “I know we can’t fix everything overnight and that we need to be sure since the kids are involved. But I would really like to give this another shot, I’m not ready to give up on us.”
You were now crying, her confession and declaration felt like a fairy tale. “JJ, I’m am so sorry. I was so self conscious that I let my jealousy push us apart.” You held both of her hands now, fingers intertwining in nervous energy. “But I need to know that I am part of your life, the team needs to know about your whole family, babe. Not just Henry, Luce and Jonah too.”
She was letting the tears stream down her cheeks, listening to your conditions and nodding. She was agreeing! “They will, I can’t keep hiding my two worlds from each other. It has been so exhausting,” JJ exhaled, clearing her throat. “God, Y/N, I have missed you!” And she was kissing you, right there in the shade at the park. The salt from both your raw hearts flavored your needy mouths. Her soft pink lips pecking and nibbling yours.
“Eh, Gross!” An approaching voice called to you. You broke apart, self consciously, people were still not very gracious with women kissing in public. But it was just Jonah, being a nine year old boy, “Geez, Mama, save that for later!” His toothy grin flashed and he was off again, chasing Henry up a slide.
Five weeks later:
“Spencer,” You interrupted, “My publishing house covers some of the best Whovian novelizations on the market. Of course, I know who the Silurians are.”
The doctors’ brown eyes popped as Garcia cut in, “Seriously, Reid, don’t push her, she will surprise you!” Everybody laughed. JJ had her hand on your thigh below the table, the BAU finally meeting the mystery love that JJ had been hiding for so long.
“Guys, “ JJ stood, raising her glass, “I just wanted to thank you all for being so understanding with Y/N and I. I know I think I can keep things from you, but why bother anymore, right?”
“Here, here!” Morgan trumpeted.
“To the best team, an FBI agent could ask for, “JJ toasted, “ And most importantly: the strongest partner a woman could dream of!” She said as she turned and looked at your sparkling eyes. You stood and kissed her fiercely, finally a part of all that was important to her. The team cat called and whistled, but you didn’t hear a thing.
@ssajenniferjareau @criminalwriting @cherry-loves-fanfic   @imagicana@wrecklessimagine @criminalmindsmanic @emilyfuckingprentiss @milkandcookies528
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waynekelton · 5 years
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The Most Exciting iOS & Android Games of 2019
The mobile gamer can look back at 2018 with an affectionate and misty eye, secure in the knowledge that gaming on mobile devices gets more diverse, sophisticated and polished with each year. In this respect, 2019 also is shaping up to be a banner year on this front.
Roughly speaking, the most exciting upcoming games can be split into three groups: the name-brand megahits-in-waiting, boardgame adaptations, and indie projects. Read on to see what the who’s who of mobile gaming are cooking up for this year’s treats.
Quick Mentions
Fluxx - Playdek are bringing back their digital adaptation of iconic card game Fluxx, which was lost in the iOS 11 Appocalypse. It's due out on July 17th and provided you still have access to the original account you purchased it on, existing owners won't need to 're-purchase' the game again.
League of Legends Mobile - Riot are another company trying to port their heavy-hitter game to mobile. We've only had vague reports so far, and we're not even sure it's coming out this year, so it gets a quick mention for now pending further information.
Dead Cells - Being an action/platformer, this isn't something we usually cover, but the mobile port of this critically acclaimed indie game will be arriving on August 28th. Here's a trailer.
Commandos 2 HD (Real Time Tactics)
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If you're a reader of our sister website, Strategy Gamer, you may have spotted at some point us mentioning that Kalypso Media (on mobile you'd know them for Project Highrise & Crowntakers) are doing HD remasters of Commandos 2 and Praetorians, two classic RTS games from the "good 'ol days". What you might not have spotted is that, in addition to PC & consoles, Commandos 2 specifically is being ported to mobile platforms - so iOS, Android and Switch (including the Switch Lite, we assume). One of E3's more surprising announcements, especially from a mobile perspective, and we can't wait to see how it takes to being on handheld. If you've never played Commandos 2 (or any Commandos game) here's the official blurb to help you along:
In Commandos 2 HD Remastered, take control of an elite group of commandos who must venture deep into enemy territory and utilize their combined expertise to complete a series of notoriously demanding missions set in World War II. In this genre-defining classic, explore interactive environments and use your commandos’ unique skillsets to complete your mission against seemingly impossible odds.
The PC/Console version at least is probably landing in Q4 2019, but we're not sure if they're aiming to have mobile release at the same time. If not, this one could actually slip to our inevitable 2020 list, but we're happy it's coming either way.
Phantom Doctrine (Turn-based Strategy)
Phantom Doctrine ... mobile version, are you ready for the change.#indiegame #gamedev #mobile #PhantomDoctrine pic.twitter.com/fKM4RAVqkN
— CreativeForge Games (@CFGmain) June 7, 2019
 Another one a few of us here are really looking forward to. Phantom Doctrine was an attempt to make an XCOM-like game set during the Cold War. You run an international spy agency and you must train up your agents, develop their cover and embed them in locations, as well as engaging in other acts of espionage and intrigue. There's a 'base/strategic' part, and then a turn-based tactical part. What stops this from just being a token nod towards Bond-style espionage is that most turn-based tactical battles can start off peacefully, and even end without a shot being fired provided you do your job well enough.
It's pretty good, although it was a bit glitchy when it first launched, but provided how well XCOM fits on tablet and mobile, I have no doubt the mobile version of Phantom Doctrine is going to be right up our alley. Considering there was no word of an actual release window, perhaps a 2019 release is a bit ambitious but what the heck, we're excited!
Tom Clancy's Elite Squad (Collectable RPG/Battler Thing)
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Not sure if this is turn-based or real-time thing - there's not much information beyond the E3 2019 trailer. Ubisoft will be offering players the chance to assemble a 5-person squad with characters from across their franchises, where you need to collect and upgrade characters and fight in 5v5 battles against either the AI or other players. There's going to be a single-player story + guild vs. guild warfare.
No release date, but pre-registration is already live so I'm expecting at least a beta or something this year, with perhaps the full release early next year if not by Christmas. I stand by what I said when we originally reported on this though - I think Ubisoft are missing a trick by not making this an Auto Chess game.
Game of Thrones: Beyond the Wall (As Above)
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Behavoir Interactive (them what made Fallout Shelter) had their own announcement as this year's E3. In the same vein as Ubisoft's Elite Squad, BE are working with HBO on Beyond the Wall, another RPG/Strategy/Squad Battler thing. Usually, separate new games sharing the same basic DNA signifies an emerging trend but, again, I think the guys have completely missed the fact that Auto Chess is happening.
Still, all the parts are there to make this a potentially compelling experience - you've got to recruit people into the Night's Watch, go on rangings beyond the Wall and defend said Wall from wildlings. This trying to cash-in on the recently finished television show, there will be some magical based mumbo-jumbo reason to recruit, or collect, famous people from the TV series as well (this game is officially set half a decade before Book 1, so you can imagine there'll be a bit creative license going on here). Pre-registration is live on both iOS & Android, so hopefully we'll learn more about this soon.
Battle Chasers: Nightwar (Tactical RPG)
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This is a tactical RPG inspired by Final Fantasy and its ilk, but made by a western studio. It was incredibly well received on PC/consoles when it released in 2017, and now we're finally getting a mobile port. It'll feature featuring deep dungeon diving, turn-based combat presented in a classic JRPG format, and a rich story driven by exploration of the world and will release on August 1st. We've seen that there's info on minimum device specs around, so make sure you've got the right tech.
Final Fantasy (Tactical RPG)
We're lumping two Final Fantasy games into one entry because there's not much to say on them at the moment. At E3 it was announced that Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicle's Remaster will also be hitting tablets and smartphones. We're expecting that to drop in the Winter. Here's the trailer:
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Meanwhile, Final Fantasy: Brave Exvius is getting a tactical RPG spin-off, War of the Visions. We're not 100% on details or release window yet, but it's also got a trailer:
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Minecraft Earth (AR)
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It seems 2019 is the year people finally try and jump on to the Pokemon GO craze. It's only been three year! Minecraft Earth is Microsoft & Mojang's answer to the likes of Ingress Prime and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. Different from the existing Minecraft experience on mobile, this AR-fuelled game comes with a number of key concepts. First and foremost, people can explore the world in real-life, checking into locations on their phone much like how Pokestops work. These locations net them resources which can be used in the building mode, which is reported to be just as free-form as the original game. Finally, those constructions can then be placed in the real-world, so anyone with their phone can explore and interact with them.
This seems like a pretty decent marriage of Pokemon GO-style AR and a popular IP. Say what you want about Microsoft, none of their various Minecraft versions have felt like cynical cash-ins, so it'll be interesting to see how this one turns out. A beta of some kind is expected later this summer.
GWENT: The Witcher Card Game (Card Game)
One can never have too many card games in their lives, or at least, that's what the makers of all of the Hearthstone wannabes like to tell themselves every night before going to sleep. GWENT started life a a mini-game within The Witcher 3, but it proved so popular CDPR decided to spin it to create their own take on a digital card game. It's been out on PC for a little while already, and is now officially due to make its leap to mobile later this year. No details as to when yet, but we'll keep you posted.
Out of the Park GO! (Sports/Management)
While not the all-father of sports sims that is Football Manager, the OOTP Baseball series holds just a firm a place in baseball fans hearts. The mobile incarnation of OOTP has been a series of games called MLB Manager, the most recent of which we reviewed last year. It seems the developer is starting from scratch for the next iteration, even re-branding it to become OOTP GO! Here's what they have to say about it:
OOTP Go! will be free to play, which includes full access to Perfect Team and the ability to create and play fictional solo leagues. The current MLB rosters are a $4.99 in-app purchase, international leagues will be $1.99 each and historical MLB seasons will be (as usual) $0.99 (plus there will be bundles available for a reduced price).
Last thing we knew, it was due for release sometime this summer on iOS & Android.
Dire Wolf Digital (Board Game)
This isn't the name of a game, but the name of a company that announced this year they're making a bucket-load of digital board game adaptations. Because we only have the announcement text to go on, we've decided to keep the new games all in one place until we know more. The games Direwolf are bringing to digital (which afawk also includes mobile devices) are:
Mage Knights – It's worth noting this is the first step in a bigger agreement with WizKids, so it's likely we'll be seeing more announcements this year.
Wings of Glory – A popular table-top aerial skirmish game.
Raiders of the North Sea – An excellent worker placement game themed around the 8th and 9th century viking raids (pictured).
Yellow & Yangtze – a Reiner Knizia tile placement game of civilization building.
Sagrada – A dice drafting game about creating works of art.
Root – the recent Kickstarter sensation about asymmetrical warfare in the woods.
We're not sure which project is due to appear first - possible WizKids & Mage Knights, given the importance that project has within the announcement? We'll update as we learn more.
Call of Duty Mobile (Shooter/Battle Royale)
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Announced at GDC 2019, this latest Call of Duty-on-mobile spin-off is the latest in a long series of mobile adaptations of the hugely popular FPS franchise. This latest attempt appears to be following in the vein of games like Fortnite & ARK - offering a fully 3D, fully-developed version of the main franchise that can run on phones and tablets. From what we know so far, it's going to be a kind of 'greatest hits' compilation of modes, maps, characters etc... and may even feature a Battle Royale mode (putting it in direct competition with Fortnite, which is popular on mobile as well as desktop). We've not had official confirmation its coming this year, but pre-registration is open and we'd be surprised if Activision allow too long a lead time on this.
Mario Kart Tour (Racing)
It’s been practically a year since this title was first announced and outlined with few concrete details added between now and then. Nintendo’s mobile offerings have run the gamut, from the premium Mario Run, the Miitomo social & style app everyone tried and forgot about, to the successful and generally great Fire Emblem: Warriors. Mario Kart is a treasured and classic franchise, even amongst Nintendo offerings, so that reputation guarantees some level of careful handling. It remains an open question whether the game will be a premium or freemium model, but the launch date is still projected to be March.
Diablo Immortal (Action RPG)
Diablo Immortal will draw some side-eye and mockery, having been already made notorious because of its horribly mistimed announcement. (Yes, we have phones, but read the room, Activision-Blizzard). Even more puzzlingly, the game is being created in partnership with NetEase, a Chinese developer whose resume already includes ‘Eternal Realm’ (无尽神域) itself essentially a Diablo clone. Weird stuff: the official license merging with a pretender to the throne to make a hybrid project together. Concerns about endless grind or re-skinning of Eternal Realm are well-founded, but while most of us will be as judge-y as possible we’ll also probably still give the final product a try. Good action RPGs live or die by loot, character progression and above all, delicate-yet-accurate controls, so it will be interesting to see if Diablo Immortal will be a good game as well as the inevitable cash cow.
Five Tribes (Boardgame)
Five Tribes, oldie but goodie, will make its digital debut this year. Days of Wonder has been updating and digitising its catalogue at a steady pace and with fantastic results. Five Tribes central mechanic is just like mancala. Pick a space and drop the meeples one by one along the path. Dead simple, but if you think it makes the game easy, you’d be dead wrong. The Five Tribes each possess unique scoring criteria and effects, and the turn-order bid means timing depends on correctly valuing the current layout. Many simple bits add up to make a nigh-perfect game.
Scythe: Digital Edition (Boardgame)
In another history, the Great War also ruined Europe and annihilated a generation, but its nations and technologies faced the blight and devastation quite differently. With large mechs, steampunk agricultural combines and faux-Eurasian player nations, Scythe gives each player a unique entity to steer to victory. Engine building games are always efficiency races, conversion puzzles, but Scythe’s unique setting, eye-catching miniatures and indirect player confrontation quickly made a it a fan favorite amongst the gaming community. Its rollout on Steam has been smooth experience, with decent AI and a robust tutorial. The assets and UI will translate well to mobile and what used to cost near three figures will be available to most anyone for a fraction of the price.
Terraforming Mars (Boardgame)
Terraforming Mars sounds like a noble goal for all of humanity. In reality, the game is a push-and-pull competition for corporations to garner by prestige by...terraforming Mars. Three categories: oxygen, temperature and ocean coverage dictate the endgame, but to get there, players will reshape the red planet into a bright blue hope. It’s a Euro though-and-though: precisely balanced, intricately co-dependent and inevitably point-based. But the close match between theme and mechanic makes this game deeply satisfying and intuitive to learn and explain, and the action selection mechanic is uniquely innovative and inspired. Just when I think boardgame design is tapped out, something truly exceptional rises to the top.
A limited beta is already in progress on mobile, so hopefully it's not too much longer before we can get our hands on this one.
Mew-Genics (Sim)
This one has been incubating forever but should be worth it when it finally gets here. Ed McMillen (of Binding of Isaac fame) has been teasing this cat-breeding simulator for ages. The game has been described as a mix of Tamagotchi, Pokemon and the Sims, with its signature art style courtesy of McMillen. All bets for a playful wild game about the weirdness, sweetness, malice and all-around havoc of cat-raising seem to be right on the money. The ideas are there, the premise is promising, the only question remaining is when it will get here.
Overland (Finji) (TBS/Survival) 
Overland is tactical turn-based survival meets cross-country road trip (from hell). Each waypoint is a battle, a flashpoint conflict over some minor life-extending objective. Its overland map and procedural generation seem reminiscent of FTL (or its follow-up Into the Beach) but the setting here is familiar people struggling with post-apocalyptic daily hardship. Water, medicine, gas, weapons: the items are banal but vital. The game uses minimalism and scarcity to great effect, sketching characters and strategic scenarios alike with the barest elements.
Impossible Bottles (Rhythm/Action)
Various robots move about in their bottles and raging about like a bull in a china shop. Each level presents one of these Impossible Bottles for the player to fix by manipulating the environment and repairing the situation, or at the very least soothing its sole occupant. A scientist built these robots as part of a perpetual motion machine for unlimited energy, but they don’t quite work as is. The secret to fixing everything is music, or in gameplay terms: rhythm. One-touch gameplay and lush, fantastic art, with a slated mid-year release.
Nowhere Prophet (Card Game)
Nowhere Prophet (Pictured): this one is a doozy and a little secretive. The dark horse of this race, if you will. In the game, post-apocalyptic leaders trek across a scabrous landscape to gather supporters and supplies, occasionally clashing with foes or environmental dangers. This card game has grid-based combat as well procedurally generated encounters. It’s a card-battler roguelike, essentially, with a unique setting and what seems to be a robust battle system. Current indications state it's due to release this Summer.
Heaven’s Vault (Interactive Fiction)
Inkle (of 80 Days interactive fiction fame) has been teasing their mechanically ambitious Heaven’s Vault for some time now. An archaeologist-slash-xenolinguist explores the dusty remains of an alien civilization on an unknown planet, with a vivid backdrop of sienna sand and celestial blue. There’s some pretty nifty procedural tricks behind the code-breaking and translation, and while its approach to storytelling is a little less handcrafted, it has the potential to have even more surprises and replayability than the globe-trotting 80 Days.
Other Missing Games From 2018
As a reminder, here is a quick list of some other games we were expecting last year, but never turned up:
Bad North (RTS)
Exodus: Proxima Centauri (Boardgame)
Epic Card Game (Card Game)
Lord of the Rings Living Card Game (Card Game)
Monster Slayers (Card Game) 
EVE: War of Ascension (MMO)
Best 2019 Mobile Releases So far
There's already been some excellent releases this year, and not all of them were expected/on this list. If you haven't already, check these games out:
Astrologaster (??)
Tharsis (Turn-Based Strategy)
Shards of Infinity (Card Game)
Fort Sumter (Boardgame)
Dungeon Warfare 2 (RTS)
Cultist Simulator (Card Game/Sim)
Necrodancer AMPLIFIED (Roguelike)
The Castles of Burgundy (Boardgame)
Star Traders: Frontiers (RPG)
Legends of Andor (Boardgame)
Evolution: The Video Game (Boardgame)
The Escapists 2: Pocket Breakout (Simulation)
Seen any other games coming out this year you're excited about? Let us know in the comments.
The Most Exciting iOS & Android Games of 2019 published first on https://touchgen.tumblr.com/
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Everything you craft possesses durability as well as will wear-out coming from prolonged use or even fixed, when you leave the game, your character continues to be oversleeping the chronic planet. The police action is actually scaled back off Hot Quest and Competitors but I absolutely cherish just how the cops AI seems to be a great deal even more decent as well as tied by the in-game natural science compared to it ever did in Ubisoft's The Team. The water pipes along with valves on all of them are going to flash water for so long as you keep your hands on the shutoff. Possibly a mote of a wibbly-wobbly-watery-view-effect when you join the area, because of the way light plays in the water. Remarkably, inning accordance with Webber, each kWh from wave power energy made results in the loss of 18 quarts from water because of increased evaporation off from manmade tanks-- over-and-above exactly what will have taken place in the all-natural run of the river. White women betraying our sis from shade has actually ended up being an especially gorgeous subject matter in the wake of the 2016 presidential election, through which 52% of our market chose Donald Trump according to CNN departure surveys. There is actually also a top-notch score to reach for on each level, and also this requires you have a consistent hand and also gather as a lot water as feasible. The amount of business carrying out only that has actually ratcheted up along with each passing year, and as the nation as a whole starts to improve on an economic downturn, this's simply a concern of your time before Forbes and provider are again writing attributes on the flourishing Brazilian startup culture. For the benefit the world and our diminishing pocketbooks, permit's hope that Vyykn-- or somebody-- can be successful in squashing the Dasani's as well as Aquafina's from the globe. The registration possesses an electronic keychain chip that turns on the boast on a futuristic appearing accessory, complete with choices for O2, filteringed system, as well as warm water. Masdar Urban area utilize 54 percent much less water in comparison to the common UAE metropolitan area and also Woods keeps in mind that the urban area is releasing varied strategies from micro-irrigation to alleviated wastewater for landscaping to extremely effective water installations. Due to the fact that Super Water Bombing plane possesses equally as a lot comic flavour as Worms, this's significantly its very own activity and also seizes the day to tweak the arms technicians to the mobile phone platform. I suppose that bolsters the fiction of the globe as a dangerous spot, but experiences nasty to participate in. Unlike the remainder of the stages in Where's My Water, these benefit degrees use the accelerometer in your iPhone or even ipad tablet to control gravitation and also deliver water in any sort of path you feel free to. I assume our company could possess water and electric power - yet that is actually certainly not that plan that is being carried out. Maracana will certainly be the internet site of the opening services of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games as well as was the website from the 2014 World Mug ultimate. http://kong-tan.info/flekosteel-duong-lam-giam-dau-co/ . Acid-base balance as well as hydration condition observing usage of mineral-based alkaline mineral water. Formally combined as of last November, Boyle is actually currently preparing to take Valor Water Analytics from being even more from an investigation attempt right into a software-as-a-service business. Off the insides of a rocket and also an advanced laboratory to a sketchbook schematic, your objective is actually to preserve the body system from liquid while flowing via strict water pipes as well as jumping over very hot areas that could vaporize your fluid. As you could anticipate, one aspect showcases the Legendary Sun Pokemon Solgaeo, and the other eatures the Legendary Moon Pokemon Lunala. Primarily, water conditioners get additional calcium and magnesium ions utilizing an exchange along with salt or potassium ions. The international water fund could also deliver an issue resolution online forum for ventures including internationally-shared water resources to avoid water conflicts from growing into fierce conflicts. The shade, clarity, and temperature level of the water are outstanding, but when the trend declines to reveal surprise, white colored sandbars, you can briefly profess your very own private island. Getting through these more and more overrun floodplains needs turning your tool to splatter the water around.
0 notes
fitnetpro · 7 years
Text
Calling all Misfits and Mutants: Welcome Home.
Welcome to the quirkiest, most supportive community on the Internet.
If you consider yourself a nerd, misfit, mutant, oddball, goof, or somebody that doesn’t quite fit the mold, you’ve come to the right place.
If you’re interested in living a better life but can’t seem to find others that think the way you do or want the same things you do, I want you to know two things:
You are never alone.
Welcome home.
Whether you’ve been reading this site for a day or 8+ years (hi mom), I appreciate you. Whether you just want to eat better and learn how to do pushups, or you’re interested in deep diving into a community that encourages both healthy and nerdy behavior equally, I’m thankful you’re here.
Actually, the fact that anybody is here is very exciting to me. I started this site in 2008 simply because I couldn’t find anything like it on the internet: a home for nerds that provided no-nonsense, unbiased fitness information. Since then, Nerd Fitness has taken on a life of its own and I couldn’t be more proud of the quality and caliber of the people who embody the NF philosophies and ideals.
This past fall, we had 450 misfits and mutants from 10+ countries attend Camp Nerd Fitness (our big in-person event), and it felt like a giant family reunion. Whether it was people that had been to Camp NF previously, or newbies meeting other members of the community for the first time, it cemented how powerful this community/force-of-nature has become.
People have gotten married as a result of meeting at Camp NF. At least 4 people have the NF logo tattooed on themselves (shout-outs to Amanda M, Chris J, Chris P, and Hannah P). There are 100+ member-led Nerd Fitness groups throughout the world.
I feel very fortunate to be part of such a special group of people, and today I want to invite you to get more involved. I know only good things can come of this 🙂 
Welcome home.
Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters.
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
The Island of Misfit Toys.
The Nerd Fitness Rebellion?
I started Nerd Fitness as a simple blog back in 2009 – I published articles about push-ups, Star Wars, vegetables, and LEGO, trying my best to help other nerds get started with exercise or eating slightly better. I hoped one day this side-project hobby could become my day job and support me financially so I could focus on it. I never expected it to become a community of people that I would lean on emotionally!
Sure, I absolutely love sharing fitness and nutrition tips, deep diving into topics like The Truth About Belly Fat, How to Get Started in the Gym, or even helping others acknowledge that Being Flawed is a Good Thing.
However, that’s just a small piece of the puzzle.
Somebody at Camp NF last year said something that I’ve taken to heart: “Come for the push-ups, stay for the feels.”
We know a lot of people stumble upon Nerd Fitness through an unemotional topic like a Beginner Bodyweight Workout or the Paleo Diet or Intermittent Fasting, but it isn’t just the information that keeps them around: it’s the camaraderie of the community that ends up keeping them here for years.
I’ve been thinking a lot about why and how the Nerd Fitness Rebellion became what it is, and I think it’s because we’re all a bunch of weirdos that never get to truly be ourselves.
We often don’t get to nerd out about our favorite nerd things with our work friends. At the same time, we don’t get to be our true selves amongst some of our nerdy friends either! They’re not interested (yet) in getting healthier, and they don’t understand that we can’t start up another game of D&D or Overwatch because we have an early run or workout the next morning.
You might be working on getting in shape, but you’re intimidated by training in a commercial gym full of good looking in-shape people. Maybe you’re sick of getting bombarded with “fitspiration” ads on Instagram that show a genetically flawless person who is promoting supplements or skinny tea or cleanses.
You might feel like you’re on your own island, alone on this journey, with nobody that understands your struggles, supports your passions, and gives you permission to both love yourself AND want more for yourself.
This is what the Nerd Fitness Rebellion (our community name, paying homage to the Star Wars rebel alliance) represents: A place you get to be 100% yourself.
You can debate Star Trek vs Star Wars, discuss which Brandon Sanderson series you like the best, join a crochet group, write fan fiction as a group, or anything in between, and be heralded for your nerdy quirks.
At the same time, you can ask questions about eating better, what to do on a first date, have somebody check your deadlift form, find someone to support you on your quest to run your first 5k, or ask somebody to call you on your excuses and keep you honest!
People joked at Camp NF, after they had crowd-surfed me against my will (all in good fun though), that I had become the accidental leader of an actual cult.
I laughed and shrugged it off, and then I looked around at one group of people training with swords, another group scaling a wall, another breaking boards, another playing board games, and hundreds rocking the Nerd Fitness logo on their chests, cheering for everybody with passion, and I realized something:
We’re not a cult…we’re an army!
An army of passionate people dedicated to helping each other live a happier, healthier life.
And we need your help!
How to get involved with Nerd FItness
“Steve, I read your emails, and I’ve done the bodyweight workout, but this Rebellion thing sounds kind of fun. How do I get involved?”
You might be asking yourself this right now.
That is a fantastic question! Also, you look nice today.
Let me break down the different places you can get more involved and supported by this community.
Free Nerd Fitness Message Boards: We have a free message board community that’s home to tens of thousands of members from all over the planet. We’re lucky to have 40+ volunteer moderators that help keep the community rocking and rolling.
A quick note that your Message Board account is different than the NF Character account you might have made (or you might have if you own one of our products). If you look at the message boards and get overwhelmed, it’s okay! Start here, introduce yourself, and begin sharing your stories and struggles.
Community-Led Facebook Groups: Thanks to the growth of Facebook, although we do have an official Nerd Fitness page and private Facebook groups for each of our paid products or experiences (Camp, Rising Heroes, Academy, Yoga, Rings and Handstands), many community members have taken it upon themselves to set up their own Facebook groups for certain things as well.
Many people in these groups coordinate regular meetups or events, and I cannot tell you how cool that is for me. Here are just SOME of the communities, some based around geographical locations or others based on interests.
Here are just a FEW of the location-based ones:
Austin NF Adventures: For Rebels living in the Austin, TX area
Boston NF Adventures: For Rebels living in the Boston, MA area
NF Rebels of California: For Rebels living in California!
NF Rebels – Virginia: Rebels living in the Virginia area
NF Rebels – Wisconsin: The cheeseheads of Nerd Fitness 🙂
NF Rebels of the Pacific Northwest: Rainy Rebels reuniting regularly
NF Rebels of the Southeast: Serving the states of NC, SC, GA, and FL!
NF Rebels – Aussies Unite: For Rebels living in Australia!
NF Rebels – London: Our Rebel friends across the pond 🙂
NF Rebels – Europe: For all members of NF Europe!
And here are a few focused on interests:
Nerd Fitness – LGBTQAI: For members of the LGBTQAI community!
Nerd Fitness – Invisible Illness: For Rebels dealing with illnesses not on the surface
Nerd Fitness – Pokemon Go! Trainers: For Rebels playing Pokemon Go 🙂
NF Rebels – Martial Arts: for Rebels interested in martial arts
The Nerd Fitness Book Club: For Rebels that love to read!
A simple search on Facebook for a city or state and Nerd Fitness should reveal a group you might be on the hunt for!
What’s that? You don’t see a group for your particular special interest or location? Make one! Post a comment on this post, join the Message Boards and let people know you’re starting a group, share it with the community, leave it as a comment in this article, and get your group up and running! It only takes two to tango!
What’s that? You want to host a meet-up? Go for it, and let us know so we can share the details! I know the Austin NF group, the Boston group, Europe, and Aussies get together at least a few times a year, and it’s all community-led.
We hope to be able to support and make these groups and events more official in the future, but for the time being I am so thankful for the men and women and robots that have set up these groups and are embracing the NF Rebellion, hosting events, and facilitating the support. You have my thanks.
Who works for Team Nerd Fitness?
Although Nerd Fitness started as a part-time hobby that I worked on after my day job every night, it’s really become a beast to manage and support.
We now have 9 full-time employees (that live in 9 different states) and a dozen contractors that work all day to improve the experience around here!
You probably know some of them:
Staci Ardison was a community member who found NF at a low point in her life (and chain smoked 2 packs of cigarettes a day) and now deadlifts 430 pounds. She also champions our community to the world and encourages women to not be afraid to lift heavy, teaches how to batch cook, and has the cutest dog on the planet. You should probably follow her on Instagram at @StaciArdison if you want to see deadlifts and doggies 🙂
Jim Bathurst taught me how to do handstands and muscle-ups back in 2011. A few years later, I sheepishly asked if he wanted to train our nerds at Camp NF, and then I learned that he’s even nerdier than I am! Since then, Jim has joined the team full time and creates workout experiences and provides expert fitness advice to our communities. He also has an amazing dog named Scooter, and you should follow both Jim (@BeastSkills) and Scooter (@ScooterpomDC).
In addition to those two knuckleheads above, we have a ton of people that operate behind the scenes. From Darryl who does all of our design to Alek who builds all of our websites, Baker who develops our products and coordinates everybody, and Lauren who runs Camp, we also have Noel who is helping take care of people in our monthly adventure Rising Heroes along with making sure our emails make it safely to your inboxes, and Simone who is in charge of Rebel Support.
Along with this full-time team, we also have a dozen contractors and partners that handle everything from HR to bookkeeping to accounting to forecasting to legal to servers to analytics and all of the other behind-the-scenes stuff. (All the adult stuff, gross.)
I wanted to share with you these things for a few reasons:
Nearly everybody on Team NF is somebody that started as a community member at Nerd Fitness. They were asked to join the team thanks to their commitment to improving the lives of those around them, doing so just because they wanted to. These are people leveling up their lives too, and their infectious and supportive behavior is what makes them great Team NF Members.
We’re just like you: misfits and oddballs and goofs who are trying to figure out life, fitness, and business. Nerd Fitness has been bootstrapped since day one (my initial investment was $100 to buy a domain and a year of hosting), and our focus is on creating an experience and environment that helps you live better.
Depending on how long you’ve been reading Nerd Fitness, you might not be aware of some of the following:
1) There are intentionally no ads on Nerd Fitness. Before I started this site, I really struggled to find a fitness website that gave me honest information. Most of them tried to sell me on proprietary workouts (scientists hate this one weird trick!), supplements (fat blaster!), or shamed me into thinking I was unworthy unless I joined their service.
There are no ads on Nerd Fitness because I want you to know the information presented here is unbiased and untainted by advertising dollars.
I have no problems with companies needing to make a living; I just wanted Nerd Fitness to be a safe haven from all of that stuff. If you read something on Nerd Fitness, it’s because we believe in it wholeheartedly, we’ve experimented on ourselves and can share the results, or we’ve seen the strategy work for OUR people (busy nerds who struggle with their health).
This might lead you to ask the question: “Steve, how do you pay 9 people and 12 contractors if there are no ads?”
2) Nerd Fitness builds its own courses and experiences. Nerd Fitness is both a community and a business. We know that probably 95% of people that read this site or join our community will never buy anything we sell, and that’s okay!
At the same time, we have built some damn good products and experiences that have helped tens of thousands of customers dramatically transform their lives.
We know not everybody can afford them, which is why we offer everything else on this site for free and ad-free. We have published 800+ free articles, we have free message boards, encourage free community-led events, and more.
We are confident that the free stuff we offer is better than most people’s paid offerings, and that our paid experiences or products are a better value than anything out there in the fitness space.
In short, we create things that get results for our people. We break down the problems busy nerds have, and create experiences – both digital and in person – that remove all barriers between that person and success.
When we put out something new, we’re going to tell you about it! We believe very strongly that our products are the best in the industry, and that they will get you the results you’re after in the environment you need to succeed – provided you follow the instructions and do the work (which is always the tough part)!
Right now, the things we have for sale:
The Nerd Fitness Academy: Think of this like a digital bootcamp for the first 12 months of your fitness journey. The Academy includes quests, workouts, nutritional plans, and mindset strategies to finally overcome the obstacles of getting in shape.
Rising Heroes: Our monthly habit-building, team-based, story-driven adventure. We open the doors to enlist for a few days each month and take the entire community through an experience that changes based on the actions the group takes or the decisions made from week to week. Doors open again next week for a few days!
Nerd Fitness Yoga: Yoga for people who don’t do yoga. 🙂 If you have a sore back, poor posture, or you just want to finally be able to touch your toes, NF Yoga is your thing. No zen or woo-woo stuff, just fun approachable routines you can follow in the comfort of your home (or download and watch anywhere) with the NF Style you love.
Nerd Fitness Rings and Nerd Fitness Handstands: A beginner’s guide to getting you from doing simple movements to advanced movements like handstands, front levers, and muscle-ups. We built a proprietary leveling system to let you know exactly when to level up for each movement so you always know what to do next.
Camp Nerd Fitness (next Camp in 2018): An in-person, long weekend experience of training, costume parties, gaming, and everything in between. I could try to explain it to you, and this video does a pretty damn good job, but you really have to experience it in person. 🙂
Here’s something super important to know: we don’t think every person should join every single premium experience we offer! We also don’t think they’re courses “that scientists don’t want you to know about!” We don’t build our courses or communities like this.
Instead, we believe this should be a choose-your-own-adventure, and that our courses might be a good fit to help you get to where you want to go. Our goal is that anything we build for sale solves a specific set of problems for rebels in a specific situation.
Many people do love the Academy for their mindset, diet, and workout quests – but on their off days love to pop on one of the NF Yoga videos and stretch their sore muscles. It’s great that these work together for many people, but no single course is required for any other.
Obviously we’d love for you to check out the ones that pique your interest; it’s how we keep the lights on. Or don’t! That’s cool too 🙂
3) We’re a small team. We make mistakes! We spend all day every day trying to serve this community better.
This community is everything to me, it’s everything to our team, and I know it’s everything for a lot of people in it.
Every member of this team has the same passion and the same love for serving the Rebellion. We work hard to provide an amazing free community experience AND also be a valuable company that can sustain itself and grow the number of people our message can impact.
We read pretty much every email, facebook comment, thread, discussion, argument and success story that happens in our community.
Some people are fanatical about what we do and how we offer to help people. Other people would prefer that we take a different approach (in slightly less nice terms, ha!). It’s part of having a large, diverse community – and many members feel a BIG stake in the future of the Rebellion (and thus also have passionate opinions). It’s a good problem to have. 🙂
We have big plans to evolve, adapt, improve, change, fail, flop, grow, and learn in the coming years.
We’ll continue to provide free resources on topics that can help nerds around the world live happier, healthy lives. We’ll continue to invest in creating or improving premium experiences that a portion of our community embrace and leverage to get better, more sustainable results.
And we’ll also continue to mess up! And then we’ll continue to lean on the community for advice and suggestions on how to balance being a free, open, supportive community and a sustainable, long-term business.
No matter what your current role in the Rebellion is – new or old, active or passive, occasional article reader or member of several of our communities – you are welcome here.
And we hope you’ll reach out. Let us know what you are struggling with. Let us know what you love about the community or wish we could offer you in a better way.
You’re never alone
Harry potter lived under a staircase until he found his people at Hogwarts. Rogue struggled with her powers and identity until she discovered there was a school for people like her run by Professor Xavier.
Depending on where you are at in your life, what your job or family situation looks like, you might feel like a misfit toy or a mutant that is misunderstood.
I want you to know that you’re not alone. This community will welcome you with open arms, and do whatever we can to help you – as long as you are willing to commit to helping yourself too.
We know most people arrive on the proverbial doorsteps of the Nerd Fitness School for Gifted Youngsters with a lot of baggage: a rough upbringing, a shitty home situation, poor genetics, years of bad habits, and mental challenges that need to be overcome. Fighting these battles can be ugly, messy, and scary.
Welcome home, friend.
Although we have 11 official Rules of the Nerd Fitness Rebellion, I can simplify things even further.
If you believe or embrace the following, we’re glad to have you:
We don’t care where you came from, only where you’re going. 400 pounds, 100 pounds, male, female, young, old, olympic athlete or newbie. Welcome. I don’t care what got you here, only how we can help you get you where you want to go.
We need to take personal responsibility. We all have baggage and crap we’re dealing with. Nerd Fitness and this community wants to help. It starts by accepting that no matter where you are in life, you and you alone are responsible for taking ownership and responsibility for that (even if it’s not your fault). This means you also already have all the tools and permission you need to change your life!
We don’t say “This doesn’t work for me because [excuse].” Instead, we say “Okay, this is my situation, how can I make this work for me?” It’s easy to take the easy path and decide your problems are unique and unsolvable…we don’t have room for those people! We are looking for people who step up and take the challenge: “Okay, I’m a single mom with 3 kids and 2 jobs and a busted leg…here’s how I can make this advice work for me.”
Play nice. We have a zero-tolerance policy for asshats – our moderators on the boards wield a heavy Ban Hammer 🙂 Remember that we all start somewhere, and that there are different ways to get in shape. We help those that want to be helped, but we don’t force our opinions on somebody that isn’t interested. Just because it’s the internet doesn’t mean you get to be a jerk. We have no problem telling people “thanks for being here up until now, but you need to find a new community moving forward.”
Ask for help. Whether it’s dealing with a mental illness, feeling silly for being afraid of going to the gym, or worrying about looking foolish when attending your first dance class, this is a community of people you can lean on. You will get out of it what you put into it.
TL:DR – Thank you for being here, for being weird, and for reading this. I hope you continue to be a part of this amazing group of people – in person or just online. Ask for help, and help those that ask.
In other words, come for the push-ups, stay for the feels 🙂
If you already have a NF Facebook group with at least 5 members in it, please leave a comment below with the link to it and what your group represents so others can join!
I’d love to hear from you: what makes you a unique member of Nerd Fitness?
Here’s mine again:
I nerd out passionately about video games, economics, playing music (piano, guitar, and violin), and for some reason think Taylor Swift’s “Blank Space” is one of the best songs of the past decade. I read 1-2 books per week. I break out into spontaneous solo dance parties and sing at the top of my lungs in my apartment at least once a week.
I also hit the gym four days a week. I’m working towards a 405 lb deadlift, a 60-second handstand, and can knock out sets of strict ring muscle-ups. I love discussing strength training tactics at the same time as discussing the brilliance of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
Your turn. Leave a message in the comments!
See you around the Rebellion!
-Steve
###
all photos courtesy of Will Byington Photography.
Calling all Misfits and Mutants: Welcome Home. published first on http://ift.tt/2kRppy7
0 notes
johnclapperne · 7 years
Text
Calling all Misfits and Mutants: Welcome Home.
Welcome to the quirkiest, most supportive community on the Internet.
If you consider yourself a nerd, misfit, mutant, oddball, goof, or somebody that doesn’t quite fit the mold, you’ve come to the right place.
If you’re interested in living a better life but can’t seem to find others that think the way you do or want the same things you do, I want you to know two things:
You are never alone.
Welcome home.
Whether you’ve been reading this site for a day or 8+ years (hi mom), I appreciate you. Whether you just want to eat better and learn how to do pushups, or you’re interested in deep diving into a community that encourages both healthy and nerdy behavior equally, I’m thankful you’re here.
Actually, the fact that anybody is here is very exciting to me. I started this site in 2008 simply because I couldn’t find anything like it on the internet: a home for nerds that provided no-nonsense, unbiased fitness information. Since then, Nerd Fitness has taken on a life of its own and I couldn’t be more proud of the quality and caliber of the people who embody the NF philosophies and ideals.
This past fall, we had 450 misfits and mutants from 10+ countries attend Camp Nerd Fitness (our big in-person event), and it felt like a giant family reunion. Whether it was people that had been to Camp NF previously, or newbies meeting other members of the community for the first time, it cemented how powerful this community/force-of-nature has become.
People have gotten married as a result of meeting at Camp NF. At least 4 people have the NF logo tattooed on themselves (shout-outs to Amanda M, Chris J, Chris P, and Hannah P). There are 100+ member-led Nerd Fitness groups throughout the world.
I feel very fortunate to be part of such a special group of people, and today I want to invite you to get more involved. I know only good things can come of this  
Welcome home.
Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters.
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
The Island of Misfit Toys.
The Nerd Fitness Rebellion?
I started Nerd Fitness as a simple blog back in 2009 – I published articles about push-ups, Star Wars, vegetables, and LEGO, trying my best to help other nerds get started with exercise or eating slightly better. I hoped one day this side-project hobby could become my day job and support me financially so I could focus on it. I never expected it to become a community of people that I would lean on emotionally!
Sure, I absolutely love sharing fitness and nutrition tips, deep diving into topics like The Truth About Belly Fat, How to Get Started in the Gym, or even helping others acknowledge that Being Flawed is a Good Thing.
However, that’s just a small piece of the puzzle.
Somebody at Camp NF last year said something that I’ve taken to heart: “Come for the push-ups, stay for the feels.”
We know a lot of people stumble upon Nerd Fitness through an unemotional topic like a Beginner Bodyweight Workout or the Paleo Diet or Intermittent Fasting, but it isn’t just the information that keeps them around: it’s the camaraderie of the community that ends up keeping them here for years.
I’ve been thinking a lot about why and how the Nerd Fitness Rebellion became what it is, and I think it’s because we’re all a bunch of weirdos that never get to truly be ourselves.
We often don’t get to nerd out about our favorite nerd things with our work friends. At the same time, we don’t get to be our true selves amongst some of our nerdy friends either! They’re not interested (yet) in getting healthier, and they don’t understand that we can’t start up another game of D&D or Overwatch because we have an early run or workout the next morning.
You might be working on getting in shape, but you’re intimidated by training in a commercial gym full of good looking in-shape people. Maybe you’re sick of getting bombarded with “fitspiration” ads on Instagram that show a genetically flawless person who is promoting supplements or skinny tea or cleanses.
You might feel like you’re on your own island, alone on this journey, with nobody that understands your struggles, supports your passions, and gives you permission to both love yourself AND want more for yourself.
This is what the Nerd Fitness Rebellion (our community name, paying homage to the Star Wars rebel alliance) represents: A place you get to be 100% yourself.
You can debate Star Trek vs Star Wars, discuss which Brandon Sanderson series you like the best, join a crochet group, write fan fiction as a group, or anything in between, and be heralded for your nerdy quirks.
At the same time, you can ask questions about eating better, what to do on a first date, have somebody check your deadlift form, find someone to support you on your quest to run your first 5k, or ask somebody to call you on your excuses and keep you honest!
People joked at Camp NF, after they had crowd-surfed me against my will (all in good fun though), that I had become the accidental leader of an actual cult.
I laughed and shrugged it off, and then I looked around at one group of people training with swords, another group scaling a wall, another breaking boards, another playing board games, and hundreds rocking the Nerd Fitness logo on their chests, cheering for everybody with passion, and I realized something:
We’re not a cult…we’re an army!
An army of passionate people dedicated to helping each other live a happier, healthier life.
And we need your help!
How to get involved with Nerd FItness
“Steve, I read your emails, and I’ve done the bodyweight workout, but this Rebellion thing sounds kind of fun. How do I get involved?”
You might be asking yourself this right now.
That is a fantastic question! Also, you look nice today.
Let me break down the different places you can get more involved and supported by this community.
Free Nerd Fitness Message Boards: We have a free message board community that’s home to tens of thousands of members from all over the planet. We’re lucky to have 40+ volunteer moderators that help keep the community rocking and rolling.
A quick note that your Message Board account is different than the NF Character account you might have made (or you might have if you own one of our products). If you look at the message boards and get overwhelmed, it’s okay! Start here, introduce yourself, and begin sharing your stories and struggles.
Community-Led Facebook Groups: Thanks to the growth of Facebook, although we do have an official Nerd Fitness page and private Facebook groups for each of our paid products or experiences (Camp, Rising Heroes, Academy, Yoga, Rings and Handstands), many community members have taken it upon themselves to set up their own Facebook groups for certain things as well.
Many people in these groups coordinate regular meetups or events, and I cannot tell you how cool that is for me. Here are just SOME of the communities, some based around geographical locations or others based on interests.
Here are just a FEW of the location-based ones:
Austin NF Adventures: For Rebels living in the Austin, TX area
Boston NF Adventures: For Rebels living in the Boston, MA area
NF Rebels of California: For Rebels living in California!
NF Rebels – Virginia: Rebels living in the Virginia area
NF Rebels – Wisconsin: The cheeseheads of Nerd Fitness
NF Rebels of the Pacific Northwest: Rainy Rebels reuniting regularly
NF Rebels of the Southeast: Serving the states of NC, SC, GA, and FL!
NF Rebels – Aussies Unite: For Rebels living in Australia!
NF Rebels – London: Our Rebel friends across the pond
NF Rebels – Europe: For all members of NF Europe!
And here are a few focused on interests:
Nerd Fitness – LGBTQAI: For members of the LGBTQAI community!
Nerd Fitness – Invisible Illness: For Rebels dealing with illnesses not on the surface
Nerd Fitness – Pokemon Go! Trainers: For Rebels playing Pokemon Go
NF Rebels – Martial Arts: for Rebels interested in martial arts
The Nerd Fitness Book Club: For Rebels that love to read!
A simple search on Facebook for a city or state and Nerd Fitness should reveal a group you might be on the hunt for!
What’s that? You don’t see a group for your particular special interest or location? Make one! Post a comment on this post, join the Message Boards and let people know you’re starting a group, share it with the community, leave it as a comment in this article, and get your group up and running! It only takes two to tango!
What’s that? You want to host a meet-up? Go for it, and let us know so we can share the details! I know the Austin NF group, the Boston group, Europe, and Aussies get together at least a few times a year, and it’s all community-led.
We hope to be able to support and make these groups and events more official in the future, but for the time being I am so thankful for the men and women and robots that have set up these groups and are embracing the NF Rebellion, hosting events, and facilitating the support. You have my thanks.
Who works for Team Nerd Fitness?
Although Nerd Fitness started as a part-time hobby that I worked on after my day job every night, it’s really become a beast to manage and support.
We now have 9 full-time employees (that live in 9 different states) and a dozen contractors that work all day to improve the experience around here!
You probably know some of them:
Staci Ardison was a community member who found NF at a low point in her life (and chain smoked 2 packs of cigarettes a day) and now deadlifts 430 pounds. She also champions our community to the world and encourages women to not be afraid to lift heavy, teaches how to batch cook, and has the cutest dog on the planet. You should probably follow her on Instagram at @StaciArdison if you want to see deadlifts and doggies
Jim Bathurst taught me how to do handstands and muscle-ups back in 2011. A few years later, I sheepishly asked if he wanted to train our nerds at Camp NF, and then I learned that he’s even nerdier than I am! Since then, Jim has joined the team full time and creates workout experiences and provides expert fitness advice to our communities. He also has an amazing dog named Scooter, and you should follow both Jim (@BeastSkills) and Scooter (@ScooterpomDC).
In addition to those two knuckleheads above, we have a ton of people that operate behind the scenes. From Darryl who does all of our design to Alek who builds all of our websites, Baker who develops our products and coordinates everybody, and Lauren who runs Camp, we also have Noel who is helping take care of people in our monthly adventure Rising Heroes along with making sure our emails make it safely to your inboxes, and Simone who is in charge of Rebel Support.
Along with this full-time team, we also have a dozen contractors and partners that handle everything from HR to bookkeeping to accounting to forecasting to legal to servers to analytics and all of the other behind-the-scenes stuff. (All the adult stuff, gross.)
I wanted to share with you these things for a few reasons:
Nearly everybody on Team NF is somebody that started as a community member at Nerd Fitness. They were asked to join the team thanks to their commitment to improving the lives of those around them, doing so just because they wanted to. These are people leveling up their lives too, and their infectious and supportive behavior is what makes them great Team NF Members.
We’re just like you: misfits and oddballs and goofs who are trying to figure out life, fitness, and business. Nerd Fitness has been bootstrapped since day one (my initial investment was $100 to buy a domain and a year of hosting), and our focus is on creating an experience and environment that helps you live better.
Depending on how long you’ve been reading Nerd Fitness, you might not be aware of some of the following:
1) There are purposefully no ads on Nerd Fitness. Before I started this site, I really struggled to find a fitness website that gave me honest information. Most of them tried to sell me on proprietary workouts (scientists hate this one weird trick!), supplements (fat blaster!), or shamed me into thinking I was unworthy unless I joined their service.
There are no ads on Nerd Fitness because I want you to know the information presented here is unbiased and untainted by advertising dollars.
I have no problems with companies needing to make a living; I just wanted Nerd Fitness to be a safe haven from all of that stuff. If you read something on Nerd Fitness, it’s because we believe in it wholeheartedly, we’ve experimented on ourselves and can share the results, or we’ve seen the strategy work for OUR people (busy nerds who struggle with their health).
This might lead you to ask the question: “Steve, how do you pay 9 people and 12 contractors if there are no ads?”
2) Nerd Fitness builds its own courses and experiences. Nerd Fitness is both a community and a business. We know that probably 95% of people that read this site or join our community will never buy anything we sell, and that’s okay!
At the same time, we have built some damn good products and experiences that have helped tens of thousands of customers dramatically transform their lives.
We know not everybody can afford them, which is why we offer everything else on this site for free and ad-free. We have published 800+ free articles, we have free message boards, encourage free community-led events, and more.
We are confident that the free stuff we offer is better than most people’s paid offerings, and that our paid experiences or products are a better value than anything out there in the fitness space.
In short, we create things that get results for our people. We break down the problems busy nerds have, and create experiences – both digital and in person – that remove all barriers between that person and success.
When we put out something new, we’re going to tell you about it! We believe very strongly that our products are the best in the industry, and that they will get you the results you’re after in the environment you need to succeed – provided you follow the instructions and do the work (which is always the tough part)!
Right now, the things we have for sale:
The Nerd Fitness Academy: Think of this like a digital bootcamp for the first 12 months of your fitness journey. The Academy includes quests, workouts, nutritional plans, and mindset strategies to finally overcome the obstacles of getting in shape.
Rising Heroes: Our monthly habit-building, team-based, story-driven adventure. We open the doors to enlist for a few days each month and take the entire community through an experience that changes based on the actions the group takes or the decisions made from week to week. Doors open again next week for a few days!
Nerd Fitness Yoga: Yoga for people who don’t do yoga. If you have a sore back, poor posture, or you just want to finally be able to touch your toes, NF Yoga is your thing. No zen or woo-woo stuff, just fun approachable routines you can follow in the comfort of your home (or download and watch anywhere) with the NF Style you love.
Nerd Fitness Rings and Nerd Fitness Handstands: A beginner’s guide to getting you from doing simple movements to advanced movements like handstands, front levers, and muscle-ups. We built a proprietary leveling system to let you know exactly when to level up for each movement so you always know what to do next.
Camp Nerd Fitness (next Camp in 2018): An in-person, long weekend experience of training, costume parties, gaming, and everything in between. I could try to explain it to you, and this video does a pretty damn good job, but you really have to experience it in person.
Here’s something super important to know: we don’t think every person should join every single premium experience we offer! We also don’t think they’re courses “that scientists don’t want you to know about!” We don’t build our courses or communities like this.
Instead, we believe this should be a choose-your-own-adventure, and that our courses might be a good fit to help you get to where you want to go. Our goal is that anything we build for sale solves a specific set of problems for rebels in a specific situation.
Many people do love the Academy for their mindset, diet, and workout quests – but on their off days love to pop on one of the NF Yoga videos and stretch their sore muscles. It’s great that these work together for many people, but no single course is required for any other.
Obviously we’d love for you to check out the ones that pique your interest; it’s how we keep the lights on. Or don’t! That’s cool too
3) We’re a small team. We make mistakes! We spend all day every day trying to serve this community better.
This community is everything to me, it’s everything to our team, and I know it’s everything for a lot of people in it.
Every member of this team has the same passion and the same love for serving the Rebellion. We work hard to provide an amazing free community experience AND also be a valuable company that can sustain itself and grow the number of people our message can impact.
We read pretty much every email, facebook comment, thread, discussion, argument and success story that happens in our community.
Some people are fanatical about what we do and how we offer to help people. Other people would prefer that we take a different approach (in slightly less nice terms, ha!). It’s part of having a large, diverse community – and many members feel a BIG stake in the future of the Rebellion (and thus also have passionate opinions). It’s a good problem to have.
We have big plans to evolve, adapt, improve, change, fail, flop, grow, and learn in the coming years.
We’ll continue to provide free resources on topics that can help nerds around the world live happier, healthy lives. We’ll continue to invest in creating or improving premium experiences that a portion of our community embrace and leverage to get better, more sustainable results.
And we’ll also continue to mess up! And then we’ll continue to lean on the community for advice and suggestions on how to balance being a free, open, supportive community and a sustainable, long-term business.
No matter what your current role in the Rebellion is – new or old, active or passive, occasional article..
http://ift.tt/2okKTCP
0 notes
albertcaldwellne · 7 years
Text
Calling all Misfits and Mutants: Welcome Home.
Welcome to the quirkiest, most supportive community on the Internet.
If you consider yourself a nerd, misfit, mutant, oddball, goof, or somebody that doesn’t quite fit the mold, you’ve come to the right place.
If you’re interested in living a better life but can’t seem to find others that think the way you do or want the same things you do, I want you to know two things:
You are never alone.
Welcome home.
Whether you’ve been reading this site for a day or 8+ years (hi mom), I appreciate you. Whether you just want to eat better and learn how to do pushups, or you’re interested in deep diving into a community that encourages both healthy and nerdy behavior equally, I’m thankful you’re here.
Actually, the fact that anybody is here is very exciting to me. I started this site in 2008 simply because I couldn’t find anything like it on the internet: a home for nerds that provided no-nonsense, unbiased fitness information. Since then, Nerd Fitness has taken on a life of its own and I couldn’t be more proud of the quality and caliber of the people who embody the NF philosophies and ideals.
This past fall, we had 450 misfits and mutants from 10+ countries attend Camp Nerd Fitness (our big in-person event), and it felt like a giant family reunion. Whether it was people that had been to Camp NF previously, or newbies meeting other members of the community for the first time, it cemented how powerful this community/force-of-nature has become.
People have gotten married as a result of meeting at Camp NF. At least 4 people have the NF logo tattooed on themselves (shout-outs to Amanda M, Chris J, Chris P, and Hannah P). There are 100+ member-led Nerd Fitness groups throughout the world.
I feel very fortunate to be part of such a special group of people, and today I want to invite you to get more involved. I know only good things can come of this  
Welcome home.
Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters.
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
The Island of Misfit Toys.
The Nerd Fitness Rebellion?
I started Nerd Fitness as a simple blog back in 2009 – I published articles about push-ups, Star Wars, vegetables, and LEGO, trying my best to help other nerds get started with exercise or eating slightly better. I hoped one day this side-project hobby could become my day job and support me financially so I could focus on it. I never expected it to become a community of people that I would lean on emotionally!
Sure, I absolutely love sharing fitness and nutrition tips, deep diving into topics like The Truth About Belly Fat, How to Get Started in the Gym, or even helping others acknowledge that Being Flawed is a Good Thing.
However, that’s just a small piece of the puzzle.
Somebody at Camp NF last year said something that I’ve taken to heart: “Come for the push-ups, stay for the feels.”
We know a lot of people stumble upon Nerd Fitness through an unemotional topic like a Beginner Bodyweight Workout or the Paleo Diet or Intermittent Fasting, but it isn’t just the information that keeps them around: it’s the camaraderie of the community that ends up keeping them here for years.
I’ve been thinking a lot about why and how the Nerd Fitness Rebellion became what it is, and I think it’s because we’re all a bunch of weirdos that never get to truly be ourselves.
We often don’t get to nerd out about our favorite nerd things with our work friends. At the same time, we don’t get to be our true selves amongst some of our nerdy friends either! They’re not interested (yet) in getting healthier, and they don’t understand that we can’t start up another game of D&D or Overwatch because we have an early run or workout the next morning.
You might be working on getting in shape, but you’re intimidated by training in a commercial gym full of good looking in-shape people. Maybe you’re sick of getting bombarded with “fitspiration” ads on Instagram that show a genetically flawless person who is promoting supplements or skinny tea or cleanses.
You might feel like you’re on your own island, alone on this journey, with nobody that understands your struggles, supports your passions, and gives you permission to both love yourself AND want more for yourself.
This is what the Nerd Fitness Rebellion (our community name, paying homage to the Star Wars rebel alliance) represents: A place you get to be 100% yourself.
You can debate Star Trek vs Star Wars, discuss which Brandon Sanderson series you like the best, join a crochet group, write fan fiction as a group, or anything in between, and be heralded for your nerdy quirks.
At the same time, you can ask questions about eating better, what to do on a first date, have somebody check your deadlift form, find someone to support you on your quest to run your first 5k, or ask somebody to call you on your excuses and keep you honest!
People joked at Camp NF, after they had crowd-surfed me against my will (all in good fun though), that I had become the accidental leader of an actual cult.
I laughed and shrugged it off, and then I looked around at one group of people training with swords, another group scaling a wall, another breaking boards, another playing board games, and hundreds rocking the Nerd Fitness logo on their chests, cheering for everybody with passion, and I realized something:
We’re not a cult…we’re an army!
An army of passionate people dedicated to helping each other live a happier, healthier life.
And we need your help!
How to get involved with Nerd FItness
“Steve, I read your emails, and I’ve done the bodyweight workout, but this Rebellion thing sounds kind of fun. How do I get involved?”
You might be asking yourself this right now.
That is a fantastic question! Also, you look nice today.
Let me break down the different places you can get more involved and supported by this community.
Free Nerd Fitness Message Boards: We have a free message board community that’s home to tens of thousands of members from all over the planet. We’re lucky to have 40+ volunteer moderators that help keep the community rocking and rolling.
A quick note that your Message Board account is different than the NF Character account you might have made (or you might have if you own one of our products). If you look at the message boards and get overwhelmed, it’s okay! Start here, introduce yourself, and begin sharing your stories and struggles.
Community-Led Facebook Groups: Thanks to the growth of Facebook, although we do have an official Nerd Fitness page and private Facebook groups for each of our paid products or experiences (Camp, Rising Heroes, Academy, Yoga, Rings and Handstands), many community members have taken it upon themselves to set up their own Facebook groups for certain things as well.
Many people in these groups coordinate regular meetups or events, and I cannot tell you how cool that is for me. Here are just SOME of the communities, some based around geographical locations or others based on interests.
Here are just a FEW of the location-based ones:
Austin NF Adventures: For Rebels living in the Austin, TX area
Boston NF Adventures: For Rebels living in the Boston, MA area
NF Rebels of California: For Rebels living in California!
NF Rebels – Virginia: Rebels living in the Virginia area
NF Rebels – Wisconsin: The cheeseheads of Nerd Fitness
NF Rebels of the Pacific Northwest: Rainy Rebels reuniting regularly
NF Rebels of the Southeast: Serving the states of NC, SC, GA, and FL!
NF Rebels – Aussies Unite: For Rebels living in Australia!
NF Rebels – London: Our Rebel friends across the pond
NF Rebels – Europe: For all members of NF Europe!
And here are a few focused on interests:
Nerd Fitness – LGBTQAI: For members of the LGBTQAI community!
Nerd Fitness – Invisible Illness: For Rebels dealing with illnesses not on the surface
Nerd Fitness – Pokemon Go! Trainers: For Rebels playing Pokemon Go
NF Rebels – Martial Arts: for Rebels interested in martial arts
The Nerd Fitness Book Club: For Rebels that love to read!
A simple search on Facebook for a city or state and Nerd Fitness should reveal a group you might be on the hunt for!
What’s that? You don’t see a group for your particular special interest or location? Make one! Post a comment on this post, join the Message Boards and let people know you’re starting a group, share it with the community, leave it as a comment in this article, and get your group up and running! It only takes two to tango!
What’s that? You want to host a meet-up? Go for it, and let us know so we can share the details! I know the Austin NF group, the Boston group, Europe, and Aussies get together at least a few times a year, and it’s all community-led.
We hope to be able to support and make these groups and events more official in the future, but for the time being I am so thankful for the men and women and robots that have set up these groups and are embracing the NF Rebellion, hosting events, and facilitating the support. You have my thanks.
Who works for Team Nerd Fitness?
Although Nerd Fitness started as a part-time hobby that I worked on after my day job every night, it’s really become a beast to manage and support.
We now have 9 full-time employees (that live in 9 different states) and a dozen contractors that work all day to improve the experience around here!
You probably know some of them:
Staci Ardison was a community member who found NF at a low point in her life (and chain smoked 2 packs of cigarettes a day) and now deadlifts 430 pounds. She also champions our community to the world and encourages women to not be afraid to lift heavy, teaches how to batch cook, and has the cutest dog on the planet. You should probably follow her on Instagram at @StaciArdison if you want to see deadlifts and doggies
Jim Bathurst taught me how to do handstands and muscle-ups back in 2011. A few years later, I sheepishly asked if he wanted to train our nerds at Camp NF, and then I learned that he’s even nerdier than I am! Since then, Jim has joined the team full time and creates workout experiences and provides expert fitness advice to our communities. He also has an amazing dog named Scooter, and you should follow both Jim (@BeastSkills) and Scooter (@ScooterpomDC).
In addition to those two knuckleheads above, we have a ton of people that operate behind the scenes. From Darryl who does all of our design to Alek who builds all of our websites, Baker who develops our products and coordinates everybody, and Lauren who runs Camp, we also have Noel who is helping take care of people in our monthly adventure Rising Heroes along with making sure our emails make it safely to your inboxes, and Simone who is in charge of Rebel Support.
Along with this full-time team, we also have a dozen contractors and partners that handle everything from HR to bookkeeping to accounting to forecasting to legal to servers to analytics and all of the other behind-the-scenes stuff. (All the adult stuff, gross.)
I wanted to share with you these things for a few reasons:
Nearly everybody on Team NF is somebody that started as a community member at Nerd Fitness. They were asked to join the team thanks to their commitment to improving the lives of those around them, doing so just because they wanted to. These are people leveling up their lives too, and their infectious and supportive behavior is what makes them great Team NF Members.
We’re just like you: misfits and oddballs and goofs who are trying to figure out life, fitness, and business. Nerd Fitness has been bootstrapped since day one (my initial investment was $100 to buy a domain and a year of hosting), and our focus is on creating an experience and environment that helps you live better.
Depending on how long you’ve been reading Nerd Fitness, you might not be aware of some of the following:
1) There are purposefully no ads on Nerd Fitness. Before I started this site, I really struggled to find a fitness website that gave me honest information. Most of them tried to sell me on proprietary workouts (scientists hate this one weird trick!), supplements (fat blaster!), or shamed me into thinking I was unworthy unless I joined their service.
There are no ads on Nerd Fitness because I want you to know the information presented here is unbiased and untainted by advertising dollars.
I have no problems with companies needing to make a living; I just wanted Nerd Fitness to be a safe haven from all of that stuff. If you read something on Nerd Fitness, it’s because we believe in it wholeheartedly, we’ve experimented on ourselves and can share the results, or we’ve seen the strategy work for OUR people (busy nerds who struggle with their health).
This might lead you to ask the question: “Steve, how do you pay 9 people and 12 contractors if there are no ads?”
2) Nerd Fitness builds its own courses and experiences. Nerd Fitness is both a community and a business. We know that probably 95% of people that read this site or join our community will never buy anything we sell, and that’s okay!
At the same time, we have built some damn good products and experiences that have helped tens of thousands of customers dramatically transform their lives.
We know not everybody can afford them, which is why we offer everything else on this site for free and ad-free. We have published 800+ free articles, we have free message boards, encourage free community-led events, and more.
We are confident that the free stuff we offer is better than most people’s paid offerings, and that our paid experiences or products are a better value than anything out there in the fitness space.
In short, we create things that get results for our people. We break down the problems busy nerds have, and create experiences – both digital and in person – that remove all barriers between that person and success.
When we put out something new, we’re going to tell you about it! We believe very strongly that our products are the best in the industry, and that they will get you the results you’re after in the environment you need to succeed – provided you follow the instructions and do the work (which is always the tough part)!
Right now, the things we have for sale:
The Nerd Fitness Academy: Think of this like a digital bootcamp for the first 12 months of your fitness journey. The Academy includes quests, workouts, nutritional plans, and mindset strategies to finally overcome the obstacles of getting in shape.
Rising Heroes: Our monthly habit-building, team-based, story-driven adventure. We open the doors to enlist for a few days each month and take the entire community through an experience that changes based on the actions the group takes or the decisions made from week to week. Doors open again next week for a few days!
Nerd Fitness Yoga: Yoga for people who don’t do yoga. If you have a sore back, poor posture, or you just want to finally be able to touch your toes, NF Yoga is your thing. No zen or woo-woo stuff, just fun approachable routines you can follow in the comfort of your home (or download and watch anywhere) with the NF Style you love.
Nerd Fitness Rings and Nerd Fitness Handstands: A beginner’s guide to getting you from doing simple movements to advanced movements like handstands, front levers, and muscle-ups. We built a proprietary leveling system to let you know exactly when to level up for each movement so you always know what to do next.
Camp Nerd Fitness (next Camp in 2018): An in-person, long weekend experience of training, costume parties, gaming, and everything in between. I could try to explain it to you, and this video does a pretty damn good job, but you really have to experience it in person.
Here’s something super important to know: we don’t think every person should join every single premium experience we offer! We also don’t think they’re courses “that scientists don’t want you to know about!” We don’t build our courses or communities like this.
Instead, we believe this should be a choose-your-own-adventure, and that our courses might be a good fit to help you get to where you want to go. Our goal is that anything we build for sale solves a specific set of problems for rebels in a specific situation.
Many people do love the Academy for their mindset, diet, and workout quests – but on their off days love to pop on one of the NF Yoga videos and stretch their sore muscles. It’s great that these work together for many people, but no single course is required for any other.
Obviously we’d love for you to check out the ones that pique your interest; it’s how we keep the lights on. Or don’t! That’s cool too
3) We’re a small team. We make mistakes! We spend all day every day trying to serve this community better.
This community is everything to me, it’s everything to our team, and I know it’s everything for a lot of people in it.
Every member of this team has the same passion and the same love for serving the Rebellion. We work hard to provide an amazing free community experience AND also be a valuable company that can sustain itself and grow the number of people our message can impact.
We read pretty much every email, facebook comment, thread, discussion, argument and success story that happens in our community.
Some people are fanatical about what we do and how we offer to help people. Other people would prefer that we take a different approach (in slightly less nice terms, ha!). It’s part of having a large, diverse community – and many members feel a BIG stake in the future of the Rebellion (and thus also have passionate opinions). It’s a good problem to have.
We have big plans to evolve, adapt, improve, change, fail, flop, grow, and learn in the coming years.
We’ll continue to provide free resources on topics that can help nerds around the world live happier, healthy lives. We’ll continue to invest in creating or improving premium experiences that a portion of our community embrace and leverage to get better, more sustainable results.
And we’ll also continue to mess up! And then we’ll continue to lean on the community for advice and suggestions on how to balance being a free, open, supportive community and a sustainable, long-term business.
No matter what your current role in the Rebellion is – new or old, active or passive, occasional article..
http://ift.tt/2okKTCP
0 notes
joshuabradleyn · 7 years
Text
Calling all Misfits and Mutants: Welcome Home.
Welcome to the quirkiest, most supportive community on the Internet.
If you consider yourself a nerd, misfit, mutant, oddball, goof, or somebody that doesn’t quite fit the mold, you’ve come to the right place.
If you’re interested in living a better life but can’t seem to find others that think the way you do or want the same things you do, I want you to know two things:
You are never alone.
Welcome home.
Whether you’ve been reading this site for a day or 8+ years (hi mom), I appreciate you. Whether you just want to eat better and learn how to do pushups, or you’re interested in deep diving into a community that encourages both healthy and nerdy behavior equally, I’m thankful you’re here.
Actually, the fact that anybody is here is very exciting to me. I started this site in 2008 simply because I couldn’t find anything like it on the internet: a home for nerds that provided no-nonsense, unbiased fitness information. Since then, Nerd Fitness has taken on a life of its own and I couldn’t be more proud of the quality and caliber of the people who embody the NF philosophies and ideals.
This past fall, we had 450 misfits and mutants from 10+ countries attend Camp Nerd Fitness (our big in-person event), and it felt like a giant family reunion. Whether it was people that had been to Camp NF previously, or newbies meeting other members of the community for the first time, it cemented how powerful this community/force-of-nature has become.
People have gotten married as a result of meeting at Camp NF. At least 4 people have the NF logo tattooed on themselves (shout-outs to Amanda M, Chris J, Chris P, and Hannah P). There are 100+ member-led Nerd Fitness groups throughout the world.
I feel very fortunate to be part of such a special group of people, and today I want to invite you to get more involved. I know only good things can come of this  
Welcome home.
Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters.
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
The Island of Misfit Toys.
The Nerd Fitness Rebellion?
I started Nerd Fitness as a simple blog back in 2009 – I published articles about push-ups, Star Wars, vegetables, and LEGO, trying my best to help other nerds get started with exercise or eating slightly better. I hoped one day this side-project hobby could become my day job and support me financially so I could focus on it. I never expected it to become a community of people that I would lean on emotionally!
Sure, I absolutely love sharing fitness and nutrition tips, deep diving into topics like The Truth About Belly Fat, How to Get Started in the Gym, or even helping others acknowledge that Being Flawed is a Good Thing.
However, that’s just a small piece of the puzzle.
Somebody at Camp NF last year said something that I’ve taken to heart: “Come for the push-ups, stay for the feels.”
We know a lot of people stumble upon Nerd Fitness through an unemotional topic like a Beginner Bodyweight Workout or the Paleo Diet or Intermittent Fasting, but it isn’t just the information that keeps them around: it’s the camaraderie of the community that ends up keeping them here for years.
I’ve been thinking a lot about why and how the Nerd Fitness Rebellion became what it is, and I think it’s because we’re all a bunch of weirdos that never get to truly be ourselves.
We often don’t get to nerd out about our favorite nerd things with our work friends. At the same time, we don’t get to be our true selves amongst some of our nerdy friends either! They’re not interested (yet) in getting healthier, and they don’t understand that we can’t start up another game of D&D or Overwatch because we have an early run or workout the next morning.
You might be working on getting in shape, but you’re intimidated by training in a commercial gym full of good looking in-shape people. Maybe you’re sick of getting bombarded with “fitspiration” ads on Instagram that show a genetically flawless person who is promoting supplements or skinny tea or cleanses.
You might feel like you’re on your own island, alone on this journey, with nobody that understands your struggles, supports your passions, and gives you permission to both love yourself AND want more for yourself.
This is what the Nerd Fitness Rebellion (our community name, paying homage to the Star Wars rebel alliance) represents: A place you get to be 100% yourself.
You can debate Star Trek vs Star Wars, discuss which Brandon Sanderson series you like the best, join a crochet group, write fan fiction as a group, or anything in between, and be heralded for your nerdy quirks.
At the same time, you can ask questions about eating better, what to do on a first date, have somebody check your deadlift form, find someone to support you on your quest to run your first 5k, or ask somebody to call you on your excuses and keep you honest!
People joked at Camp NF, after they had crowd-surfed me against my will (all in good fun though), that I had become the accidental leader of an actual cult.
I laughed and shrugged it off, and then I looked around at one group of people training with swords, another group scaling a wall, another breaking boards, another playing board games, and hundreds rocking the Nerd Fitness logo on their chests, cheering for everybody with passion, and I realized something:
We’re not a cult…we’re an army!
An army of passionate people dedicated to helping each other live a happier, healthier life.
And we need your help!
How to get involved with Nerd FItness
“Steve, I read your emails, and I’ve done the bodyweight workout, but this Rebellion thing sounds kind of fun. How do I get involved?”
You might be asking yourself this right now.
That is a fantastic question! Also, you look nice today.
Let me break down the different places you can get more involved and supported by this community.
Free Nerd Fitness Message Boards: We have a free message board community that’s home to tens of thousands of members from all over the planet. We’re lucky to have 40+ volunteer moderators that help keep the community rocking and rolling.
A quick note that your Message Board account is different than the NF Character account you might have made (or you might have if you own one of our products). If you look at the message boards and get overwhelmed, it’s okay! Start here, introduce yourself, and begin sharing your stories and struggles.
Community-Led Facebook Groups: Thanks to the growth of Facebook, although we do have an official Nerd Fitness page and private Facebook groups for each of our paid products or experiences (Camp, Rising Heroes, Academy, Yoga, Rings and Handstands), many community members have taken it upon themselves to set up their own Facebook groups for certain things as well.
Many people in these groups coordinate regular meetups or events, and I cannot tell you how cool that is for me. Here are just SOME of the communities, some based around geographical locations or others based on interests.
Here are just a FEW of the location-based ones:
Austin NF Adventures: For Rebels living in the Austin, TX area
Boston NF Adventures: For Rebels living in the Boston, MA area
NF Rebels of California: For Rebels living in California!
NF Rebels – Virginia: Rebels living in the Virginia area
NF Rebels – Wisconsin: The cheeseheads of Nerd Fitness
NF Rebels of the Pacific Northwest: Rainy Rebels reuniting regularly
NF Rebels of the Southeast: Serving the states of NC, SC, GA, and FL!
NF Rebels – Aussies Unite: For Rebels living in Australia!
NF Rebels – London: Our Rebel friends across the pond
NF Rebels – Europe: For all members of NF Europe!
And here are a few focused on interests:
Nerd Fitness – LGBTQAI: For members of the LGBTQAI community!
Nerd Fitness – Invisible Illness: For Rebels dealing with illnesses not on the surface
Nerd Fitness – Pokemon Go! Trainers: For Rebels playing Pokemon Go
NF Rebels – Martial Arts: for Rebels interested in martial arts
The Nerd Fitness Book Club: For Rebels that love to read!
A simple search on Facebook for a city or state and Nerd Fitness should reveal a group you might be on the hunt for!
What’s that? You don’t see a group for your particular special interest or location? Make one! Post a comment on this post, join the Message Boards and let people know you’re starting a group, share it with the community, leave it as a comment in this article, and get your group up and running! It only takes two to tango!
What’s that? You want to host a meet-up? Go for it, and let us know so we can share the details! I know the Austin NF group, the Boston group, Europe, and Aussies get together at least a few times a year, and it’s all community-led.
We hope to be able to support and make these groups and events more official in the future, but for the time being I am so thankful for the men and women and robots that have set up these groups and are embracing the NF Rebellion, hosting events, and facilitating the support. You have my thanks.
Who works for Team Nerd Fitness?
Although Nerd Fitness started as a part-time hobby that I worked on after my day job every night, it’s really become a beast to manage and support.
We now have 9 full-time employees (that live in 9 different states) and a dozen contractors that work all day to improve the experience around here!
You probably know some of them:
Staci Ardison was a community member who found NF at a low point in her life (and chain smoked 2 packs of cigarettes a day) and now deadlifts 430 pounds. She also champions our community to the world and encourages women to not be afraid to lift heavy, teaches how to batch cook, and has the cutest dog on the planet. You should probably follow her on Instagram at @StaciArdison if you want to see deadlifts and doggies
Jim Bathurst taught me how to do handstands and muscle-ups back in 2011. A few years later, I sheepishly asked if he wanted to train our nerds at Camp NF, and then I learned that he’s even nerdier than I am! Since then, Jim has joined the team full time and creates workout experiences and provides expert fitness advice to our communities. He also has an amazing dog named Scooter, and you should follow both Jim (@BeastSkills) and Scooter (@ScooterpomDC).
In addition to those two knuckleheads above, we have a ton of people that operate behind the scenes. From Darryl who does all of our design to Alek who builds all of our websites, Baker who develops our products and coordinates everybody, and Lauren who runs Camp, we also have Noel who is helping take care of people in our monthly adventure Rising Heroes along with making sure our emails make it safely to your inboxes, and Simone who is in charge of Rebel Support.
Along with this full-time team, we also have a dozen contractors and partners that handle everything from HR to bookkeeping to accounting to forecasting to legal to servers to analytics and all of the other behind-the-scenes stuff. (All the adult stuff, gross.)
I wanted to share with you these things for a few reasons:
Nearly everybody on Team NF is somebody that started as a community member at Nerd Fitness. They were asked to join the team thanks to their commitment to improving the lives of those around them, doing so just because they wanted to. These are people leveling up their lives too, and their infectious and supportive behavior is what makes them great Team NF Members.
We’re just like you: misfits and oddballs and goofs who are trying to figure out life, fitness, and business. Nerd Fitness has been bootstrapped since day one (my initial investment was $100 to buy a domain and a year of hosting), and our focus is on creating an experience and environment that helps you live better.
Depending on how long you’ve been reading Nerd Fitness, you might not be aware of some of the following:
1) There are purposefully no ads on Nerd Fitness. Before I started this site, I really struggled to find a fitness website that gave me honest information. Most of them tried to sell me on proprietary workouts (scientists hate this one weird trick!), supplements (fat blaster!), or shamed me into thinking I was unworthy unless I joined their service.
There are no ads on Nerd Fitness because I want you to know the information presented here is unbiased and untainted by advertising dollars.
I have no problems with companies needing to make a living; I just wanted Nerd Fitness to be a safe haven from all of that stuff. If you read something on Nerd Fitness, it’s because we believe in it wholeheartedly, we’ve experimented on ourselves and can share the results, or we’ve seen the strategy work for OUR people (busy nerds who struggle with their health).
This might lead you to ask the question: “Steve, how do you pay 9 people and 12 contractors if there are no ads?”
2) Nerd Fitness builds its own courses and experiences. Nerd Fitness is both a community and a business. We know that probably 95% of people that read this site or join our community will never buy anything we sell, and that’s okay!
At the same time, we have built some damn good products and experiences that have helped tens of thousands of customers dramatically transform their lives.
We know not everybody can afford them, which is why we offer everything else on this site for free and ad-free. We have published 800+ free articles, we have free message boards, encourage free community-led events, and more.
We are confident that the free stuff we offer is better than most people’s paid offerings, and that our paid experiences or products are a better value than anything out there in the fitness space.
In short, we create things that get results for our people. We break down the problems busy nerds have, and create experiences – both digital and in person – that remove all barriers between that person and success.
When we put out something new, we’re going to tell you about it! We believe very strongly that our products are the best in the industry, and that they will get you the results you’re after in the environment you need to succeed – provided you follow the instructions and do the work (which is always the tough part)!
Right now, the things we have for sale:
The Nerd Fitness Academy: Think of this like a digital bootcamp for the first 12 months of your fitness journey. The Academy includes quests, workouts, nutritional plans, and mindset strategies to finally overcome the obstacles of getting in shape.
Rising Heroes: Our monthly habit-building, team-based, story-driven adventure. We open the doors to enlist for a few days each month and take the entire community through an experience that changes based on the actions the group takes or the decisions made from week to week. Doors open again next week for a few days!
Nerd Fitness Yoga: Yoga for people who don’t do yoga. If you have a sore back, poor posture, or you just want to finally be able to touch your toes, NF Yoga is your thing. No zen or woo-woo stuff, just fun approachable routines you can follow in the comfort of your home (or download and watch anywhere) with the NF Style you love.
Nerd Fitness Rings and Nerd Fitness Handstands: A beginner’s guide to getting you from doing simple movements to advanced movements like handstands, front levers, and muscle-ups. We built a proprietary leveling system to let you know exactly when to level up for each movement so you always know what to do next.
Camp Nerd Fitness (next Camp in 2018): An in-person, long weekend experience of training, costume parties, gaming, and everything in between. I could try to explain it to you, and this video does a pretty damn good job, but you really have to experience it in person.
Here’s something super important to know: we don’t think every person should join every single premium experience we offer! We also don’t think they’re courses “that scientists don’t want you to know about!” We don’t build our courses or communities like this.
Instead, we believe this should be a choose-your-own-adventure, and that our courses might be a good fit to help you get to where you want to go. Our goal is that anything we build for sale solves a specific set of problems for rebels in a specific situation.
Many people do love the Academy for their mindset, diet, and workout quests – but on their off days love to pop on one of the NF Yoga videos and stretch their sore muscles. It’s great that these work together for many people, but no single course is required for any other.
Obviously we’d love for you to check out the ones that pique your interest; it’s how we keep the lights on. Or don’t! That’s cool too
3) We’re a small team. We make mistakes! We spend all day every day trying to serve this community better.
This community is everything to me, it’s everything to our team, and I know it’s everything for a lot of people in it.
Every member of this team has the same passion and the same love for serving the Rebellion. We work hard to provide an amazing free community experience AND also be a valuable company that can sustain itself and grow the number of people our message can impact.
We read pretty much every email, facebook comment, thread, discussion, argument and success story that happens in our community.
Some people are fanatical about what we do and how we offer to help people. Other people would prefer that we take a different approach (in slightly less nice terms, ha!). It’s part of having a large, diverse community – and many members feel a BIG stake in the future of the Rebellion (and thus also have passionate opinions). It’s a good problem to have.
We have big plans to evolve, adapt, improve, change, fail, flop, grow, and learn in the coming years.
We’ll continue to provide free resources on topics that can help nerds around the world live happier, healthy lives. We’ll continue to invest in creating or improving premium experiences that a portion of our community embrace and leverage to get better, more sustainable results.
And we’ll also continue to mess up! And then we’ll continue to lean on the community for advice and suggestions on how to balance being a free, open, supportive community and a sustainable, long-term business.
No matter what your current role in the Rebellion is – new or old, active or passive, occasional article..
http://ift.tt/2okKTCP
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neilmillerne · 7 years
Text
Calling all Misfits and Mutants: Welcome Home.
Welcome to the quirkiest, most supportive community on the Internet.
If you consider yourself a nerd, misfit, mutant, oddball, goof, or somebody that doesn’t quite fit the mold, you’ve come to the right place.
If you’re interested in living a better life but can’t seem to find others that think the way you do or want the same things you do, I want you to know two things:
You are never alone.
Welcome home.
Whether you’ve been reading this site for a day or 8+ years (hi mom), I appreciate you. Whether you just want to eat better and learn how to do pushups, or you’re interested in deep diving into a community that encourages both healthy and nerdy behavior equally, I’m thankful you’re here.
Actually, the fact that anybody is here is very exciting to me. I started this site in 2008 simply because I couldn’t find anything like it on the internet: a home for nerds that provided no-nonsense, unbiased fitness information. Since then, Nerd Fitness has taken on a life of its own and I couldn’t be more proud of the quality and caliber of the people who embody the NF philosophies and ideals.
This past fall, we had 450 misfits and mutants from 10+ countries attend Camp Nerd Fitness (our big in-person event), and it felt like a giant family reunion. Whether it was people that had been to Camp NF previously, or newbies meeting other members of the community for the first time, it cemented how powerful this community/force-of-nature has become.
People have gotten married as a result of meeting at Camp NF. At least 4 people have the NF logo tattooed on themselves (shout-outs to Amanda M, Chris J, Chris P, and Hannah P). There are 100+ member-led Nerd Fitness groups throughout the world.
I feel very fortunate to be part of such a special group of people, and today I want to invite you to get more involved. I know only good things can come of this  
Welcome home.
Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters.
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
The Island of Misfit Toys.
The Nerd Fitness Rebellion?
I started Nerd Fitness as a simple blog back in 2009 – I published articles about push-ups, Star Wars, vegetables, and LEGO, trying my best to help other nerds get started with exercise or eating slightly better. I hoped one day this side-project hobby could become my day job and support me financially so I could focus on it. I never expected it to become a community of people that I would lean on emotionally!
Sure, I absolutely love sharing fitness and nutrition tips, deep diving into topics like The Truth About Belly Fat, How to Get Started in the Gym, or even helping others acknowledge that Being Flawed is a Good Thing.
However, that’s just a small piece of the puzzle.
Somebody at Camp NF last year said something that I’ve taken to heart: “Come for the push-ups, stay for the feels.”
We know a lot of people stumble upon Nerd Fitness through an unemotional topic like a Beginner Bodyweight Workout or the Paleo Diet or Intermittent Fasting, but it isn’t just the information that keeps them around: it’s the camaraderie of the community that ends up keeping them here for years.
I’ve been thinking a lot about why and how the Nerd Fitness Rebellion became what it is, and I think it’s because we’re all a bunch of weirdos that never get to truly be ourselves.
We often don’t get to nerd out about our favorite nerd things with our work friends. At the same time, we don’t get to be our true selves amongst some of our nerdy friends either! They’re not interested (yet) in getting healthier, and they don’t understand that we can’t start up another game of D&D or Overwatch because we have an early run or workout the next morning.
You might be working on getting in shape, but you’re intimidated by training in a commercial gym full of good looking in-shape people. Maybe you’re sick of getting bombarded with “fitspiration” ads on Instagram that show a genetically flawless person who is promoting supplements or skinny tea or cleanses.
You might feel like you’re on your own island, alone on this journey, with nobody that understands your struggles, supports your passions, and gives you permission to both love yourself AND want more for yourself.
This is what the Nerd Fitness Rebellion (our community name, paying homage to the Star Wars rebel alliance) represents: A place you get to be 100% yourself.
You can debate Star Trek vs Star Wars, discuss which Brandon Sanderson series you like the best, join a crochet group, write fan fiction as a group, or anything in between, and be heralded for your nerdy quirks.
At the same time, you can ask questions about eating better, what to do on a first date, have somebody check your deadlift form, find someone to support you on your quest to run your first 5k, or ask somebody to call you on your excuses and keep you honest!
People joked at Camp NF, after they had crowd-surfed me against my will (all in good fun though), that I had become the accidental leader of an actual cult.
I laughed and shrugged it off, and then I looked around at one group of people training with swords, another group scaling a wall, another breaking boards, another playing board games, and hundreds rocking the Nerd Fitness logo on their chests, cheering for everybody with passion, and I realized something:
We’re not a cult…we’re an army!
An army of passionate people dedicated to helping each other live a happier, healthier life.
And we need your help!
How to get involved with Nerd FItness
“Steve, I read your emails, and I’ve done the bodyweight workout, but this Rebellion thing sounds kind of fun. How do I get involved?”
You might be asking yourself this right now.
That is a fantastic question! Also, you look nice today.
Let me break down the different places you can get more involved and supported by this community.
Free Nerd Fitness Message Boards: We have a free message board community that’s home to tens of thousands of members from all over the planet. We’re lucky to have 40+ volunteer moderators that help keep the community rocking and rolling.
A quick note that your Message Board account is different than the NF Character account you might have made (or you might have if you own one of our products). If you look at the message boards and get overwhelmed, it’s okay! Start here, introduce yourself, and begin sharing your stories and struggles.
Community-Led Facebook Groups: Thanks to the growth of Facebook, although we do have an official Nerd Fitness page and private Facebook groups for each of our paid products or experiences (Camp, Rising Heroes, Academy, Yoga, Rings and Handstands), many community members have taken it upon themselves to set up their own Facebook groups for certain things as well.
Many people in these groups coordinate regular meetups or events, and I cannot tell you how cool that is for me. Here are just SOME of the communities, some based around geographical locations or others based on interests.
Here are just a FEW of the location-based ones:
Austin NF Adventures: For Rebels living in the Austin, TX area
Boston NF Adventures: For Rebels living in the Boston, MA area
NF Rebels of California: For Rebels living in California!
NF Rebels – Virginia: Rebels living in the Virginia area
NF Rebels – Wisconsin: The cheeseheads of Nerd Fitness
NF Rebels of the Pacific Northwest: Rainy Rebels reuniting regularly
NF Rebels of the Southeast: Serving the states of NC, SC, GA, and FL!
NF Rebels – Aussies Unite: For Rebels living in Australia!
NF Rebels – London: Our Rebel friends across the pond
NF Rebels – Europe: For all members of NF Europe!
And here are a few focused on interests:
Nerd Fitness – LGBTQAI: For members of the LGBTQAI community!
Nerd Fitness – Invisible Illness: For Rebels dealing with illnesses not on the surface
Nerd Fitness – Pokemon Go! Trainers: For Rebels playing Pokemon Go
NF Rebels – Martial Arts: for Rebels interested in martial arts
The Nerd Fitness Book Club: For Rebels that love to read!
A simple search on Facebook for a city or state and Nerd Fitness should reveal a group you might be on the hunt for!
What’s that? You don’t see a group for your particular special interest or location? Make one! Post a comment on this post, join the Message Boards and let people know you’re starting a group, share it with the community, leave it as a comment in this article, and get your group up and running! It only takes two to tango!
What’s that? You want to host a meet-up? Go for it, and let us know so we can share the details! I know the Austin NF group, the Boston group, Europe, and Aussies get together at least a few times a year, and it’s all community-led.
We hope to be able to support and make these groups and events more official in the future, but for the time being I am so thankful for the men and women and robots that have set up these groups and are embracing the NF Rebellion, hosting events, and facilitating the support. You have my thanks.
Who works for Team Nerd Fitness?
Although Nerd Fitness started as a part-time hobby that I worked on after my day job every night, it’s really become a beast to manage and support.
We now have 9 full-time employees (that live in 9 different states) and a dozen contractors that work all day to improve the experience around here!
You probably know some of them:
Staci Ardison was a community member who found NF at a low point in her life (and chain smoked 2 packs of cigarettes a day) and now deadlifts 430 pounds. She also champions our community to the world and encourages women to not be afraid to lift heavy, teaches how to batch cook, and has the cutest dog on the planet. You should probably follow her on Instagram at @StaciArdison if you want to see deadlifts and doggies
Jim Bathurst taught me how to do handstands and muscle-ups back in 2011. A few years later, I sheepishly asked if he wanted to train our nerds at Camp NF, and then I learned that he’s even nerdier than I am! Since then, Jim has joined the team full time and creates workout experiences and provides expert fitness advice to our communities. He also has an amazing dog named Scooter, and you should follow both Jim (@BeastSkills) and Scooter (@ScooterpomDC).
In addition to those two knuckleheads above, we have a ton of people that operate behind the scenes. From Darryl who does all of our design to Alek who builds all of our websites, Baker who develops our products and coordinates everybody, and Lauren who runs Camp, we also have Noel who is helping take care of people in our monthly adventure Rising Heroes along with making sure our emails make it safely to your inboxes, and Simone who is in charge of Rebel Support.
Along with this full-time team, we also have a dozen contractors and partners that handle everything from HR to bookkeeping to accounting to forecasting to legal to servers to analytics and all of the other behind-the-scenes stuff. (All the adult stuff, gross.)
I wanted to share with you these things for a few reasons:
Nearly everybody on Team NF is somebody that started as a community member at Nerd Fitness. They were asked to join the team thanks to their commitment to improving the lives of those around them, doing so just because they wanted to. These are people leveling up their lives too, and their infectious and supportive behavior is what makes them great Team NF Members.
We’re just like you: misfits and oddballs and goofs who are trying to figure out life, fitness, and business. Nerd Fitness has been bootstrapped since day one (my initial investment was $100 to buy a domain and a year of hosting), and our focus is on creating an experience and environment that helps you live better.
Depending on how long you’ve been reading Nerd Fitness, you might not be aware of some of the following:
1) There are purposefully no ads on Nerd Fitness. Before I started this site, I really struggled to find a fitness website that gave me honest information. Most of them tried to sell me on proprietary workouts (scientists hate this one weird trick!), supplements (fat blaster!), or shamed me into thinking I was unworthy unless I joined their service.
There are no ads on Nerd Fitness because I want you to know the information presented here is unbiased and untainted by advertising dollars.
I have no problems with companies needing to make a living; I just wanted Nerd Fitness to be a safe haven from all of that stuff. If you read something on Nerd Fitness, it’s because we believe in it wholeheartedly, we’ve experimented on ourselves and can share the results, or we’ve seen the strategy work for OUR people (busy nerds who struggle with their health).
This might lead you to ask the question: “Steve, how do you pay 9 people and 12 contractors if there are no ads?”
2) Nerd Fitness builds its own courses and experiences. Nerd Fitness is both a community and a business. We know that probably 95% of people that read this site or join our community will never buy anything we sell, and that’s okay!
At the same time, we have built some damn good products and experiences that have helped tens of thousands of customers dramatically transform their lives.
We know not everybody can afford them, which is why we offer everything else on this site for free and ad-free. We have published 800+ free articles, we have free message boards, encourage free community-led events, and more.
We are confident that the free stuff we offer is better than most people’s paid offerings, and that our paid experiences or products are a better value than anything out there in the fitness space.
In short, we create things that get results for our people. We break down the problems busy nerds have, and create experiences – both digital and in person – that remove all barriers between that person and success.
When we put out something new, we’re going to tell you about it! We believe very strongly that our products are the best in the industry, and that they will get you the results you’re after in the environment you need to succeed – provided you follow the instructions and do the work (which is always the tough part)!
Right now, the things we have for sale:
The Nerd Fitness Academy: Think of this like a digital bootcamp for the first 12 months of your fitness journey. The Academy includes quests, workouts, nutritional plans, and mindset strategies to finally overcome the obstacles of getting in shape.
Rising Heroes: Our monthly habit-building, team-based, story-driven adventure. We open the doors to enlist for a few days each month and take the entire community through an experience that changes based on the actions the group takes or the decisions made from week to week. Doors open again next week for a few days!
Nerd Fitness Yoga: Yoga for people who don’t do yoga. If you have a sore back, poor posture, or you just want to finally be able to touch your toes, NF Yoga is your thing. No zen or woo-woo stuff, just fun approachable routines you can follow in the comfort of your home (or download and watch anywhere) with the NF Style you love.
Nerd Fitness Rings and Nerd Fitness Handstands: A beginner’s guide to getting you from doing simple movements to advanced movements like handstands, front levers, and muscle-ups. We built a proprietary leveling system to let you know exactly when to level up for each movement so you always know what to do next.
Camp Nerd Fitness (next Camp in 2018): An in-person, long weekend experience of training, costume parties, gaming, and everything in between. I could try to explain it to you, and this video does a pretty damn good job, but you really have to experience it in person.
Here’s something super important to know: we don’t think every person should join every single premium experience we offer! We also don’t think they’re courses “that scientists don’t want you to know about!” We don’t build our courses or communities like this.
Instead, we believe this should be a choose-your-own-adventure, and that our courses might be a good fit to help you get to where you want to go. Our goal is that anything we build for sale solves a specific set of problems for rebels in a specific situation.
Many people do love the Academy for their mindset, diet, and workout quests – but on their off days love to pop on one of the NF Yoga videos and stretch their sore muscles. It’s great that these work together for many people, but no single course is required for any other.
Obviously we’d love for you to check out the ones that pique your interest; it’s how we keep the lights on. Or don’t! That’s cool too
3) We’re a small team. We make mistakes! We spend all day every day trying to serve this community better.
This community is everything to me, it’s everything to our team, and I know it’s everything for a lot of people in it.
Every member of this team has the same passion and the same love for serving the Rebellion. We work hard to provide an amazing free community experience AND also be a valuable company that can sustain itself and grow the number of people our message can impact.
We read pretty much every email, facebook comment, thread, discussion, argument and success story that happens in our community.
Some people are fanatical about what we do and how we offer to help people. Other people would prefer that we take a different approach (in slightly less nice terms, ha!). It’s part of having a large, diverse community – and many members feel a BIG stake in the future of the Rebellion (and thus also have passionate opinions). It’s a good problem to have.
We have big plans to evolve, adapt, improve, change, fail, flop, grow, and learn in the coming years.
We’ll continue to provide free resources on topics that can help nerds around the world live happier, healthy lives. We’ll continue to invest in creating or improving premium experiences that a portion of our community embrace and leverage to get better, more sustainable results.
And we’ll also continue to mess up! And then we’ll continue to lean on the community for advice and suggestions on how to balance being a free, open, supportive community and a sustainable, long-term business.
No matter what your current role in the Rebellion is – new or old, active or passive, occasional article..
http://ift.tt/2okKTCP
0 notes
almajonesnjna · 7 years
Text
Calling all Misfits and Mutants: Welcome Home.
Welcome to the quirkiest, most supportive community on the Internet.
If you consider yourself a nerd, misfit, mutant, oddball, goof, or somebody that doesn’t quite fit the mold, you’ve come to the right place.
If you’re interested in living a better life but can’t seem to find others that think the way you do or want the same things you do, I want you to know two things:
You are never alone.
Welcome home.
Whether you’ve been reading this site for a day or 8+ years (hi mom), I appreciate you. Whether you just want to eat better and learn how to do pushups, or you’re interested in deep diving into a community that encourages both healthy and nerdy behavior equally, I’m thankful you’re here.
Actually, the fact that anybody is here is very exciting to me. I started this site in 2008 simply because I couldn’t find anything like it on the internet: a home for nerds that provided no-nonsense, unbiased fitness information. Since then, Nerd Fitness has taken on a life of its own and I couldn’t be more proud of the quality and caliber of the people who embody the NF philosophies and ideals.
This past fall, we had 450 misfits and mutants from 10+ countries attend Camp Nerd Fitness (our big in-person event), and it felt like a giant family reunion. Whether it was people that had been to Camp NF previously, or newbies meeting other members of the community for the first time, it cemented how powerful this community/force-of-nature has become.
People have gotten married as a result of meeting at Camp NF. At least 4 people have the NF logo tattooed on themselves (shout-outs to Amanda M, Chris J, Chris P, and Hannah P). There are 100+ member-led Nerd Fitness groups throughout the world.
I feel very fortunate to be part of such a special group of people, and today I want to invite you to get more involved. I know only good things can come of this  
Welcome home.
Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters.
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
The Island of Misfit Toys.
The Nerd Fitness Rebellion?
I started Nerd Fitness as a simple blog back in 2009 – I published articles about push-ups, Star Wars, vegetables, and LEGO, trying my best to help other nerds get started with exercise or eating slightly better. I hoped one day this side-project hobby could become my day job and support me financially so I could focus on it. I never expected it to become a community of people that I would lean on emotionally!
Sure, I absolutely love sharing fitness and nutrition tips, deep diving into topics like The Truth About Belly Fat, How to Get Started in the Gym, or even helping others acknowledge that Being Flawed is a Good Thing.
However, that’s just a small piece of the puzzle.
Somebody at Camp NF last year said something that I’ve taken to heart: “Come for the push-ups, stay for the feels.”
We know a lot of people stumble upon Nerd Fitness through an unemotional topic like a Beginner Bodyweight Workout or the Paleo Diet or Intermittent Fasting, but it isn’t just the information that keeps them around: it’s the camaraderie of the community that ends up keeping them here for years.
I’ve been thinking a lot about why and how the Nerd Fitness Rebellion became what it is, and I think it’s because we’re all a bunch of weirdos that never get to truly be ourselves.
We often don’t get to nerd out about our favorite nerd things with our work friends. At the same time, we don’t get to be our true selves amongst some of our nerdy friends either! They’re not interested (yet) in getting healthier, and they don’t understand that we can’t start up another game of D&D or Overwatch because we have an early run or workout the next morning.
You might be working on getting in shape, but you’re intimidated by training in a commercial gym full of good looking in-shape people. Maybe you’re sick of getting bombarded with “fitspiration” ads on Instagram that show a genetically flawless person who is promoting supplements or skinny tea or cleanses.
You might feel like you’re on your own island, alone on this journey, with nobody that understands your struggles, supports your passions, and gives you permission to both love yourself AND want more for yourself.
This is what the Nerd Fitness Rebellion (our community name, paying homage to the Star Wars rebel alliance) represents: A place you get to be 100% yourself.
You can debate Star Trek vs Star Wars, discuss which Brandon Sanderson series you like the best, join a crochet group, write fan fiction as a group, or anything in between, and be heralded for your nerdy quirks.
At the same time, you can ask questions about eating better, what to do on a first date, have somebody check your deadlift form, find someone to support you on your quest to run your first 5k, or ask somebody to call you on your excuses and keep you honest!
People joked at Camp NF, after they had crowd-surfed me against my will (all in good fun though), that I had become the accidental leader of an actual cult.
I laughed and shrugged it off, and then I looked around at one group of people training with swords, another group scaling a wall, another breaking boards, another playing board games, and hundreds rocking the Nerd Fitness logo on their chests, cheering for everybody with passion, and I realized something:
We’re not a cult…we’re an army!
An army of passionate people dedicated to helping each other live a happier, healthier life.
And we need your help!
How to get involved with Nerd FItness
“Steve, I read your emails, and I’ve done the bodyweight workout, but this Rebellion thing sounds kind of fun. How do I get involved?”
You might be asking yourself this right now.
That is a fantastic question! Also, you look nice today.
Let me break down the different places you can get more involved and supported by this community.
Free Nerd Fitness Message Boards: We have a free message board community that’s home to tens of thousands of members from all over the planet. We’re lucky to have 40+ volunteer moderators that help keep the community rocking and rolling.
A quick note that your Message Board account is different than the NF Character account you might have made (or you might have if you own one of our products). If you look at the message boards and get overwhelmed, it’s okay! Start here, introduce yourself, and begin sharing your stories and struggles.
Community-Led Facebook Groups: Thanks to the growth of Facebook, although we do have an official Nerd Fitness page and private Facebook groups for each of our paid products or experiences (Camp, Rising Heroes, Academy, Yoga, Rings and Handstands), many community members have taken it upon themselves to set up their own Facebook groups for certain things as well.
Many people in these groups coordinate regular meetups or events, and I cannot tell you how cool that is for me. Here are just SOME of the communities, some based around geographical locations or others based on interests.
Here are just a FEW of the location-based ones:
Austin NF Adventures: For Rebels living in the Austin, TX area
Boston NF Adventures: For Rebels living in the Boston, MA area
NF Rebels of California: For Rebels living in California!
NF Rebels – Virginia: Rebels living in the Virginia area
NF Rebels – Wisconsin: The cheeseheads of Nerd Fitness
NF Rebels of the Pacific Northwest: Rainy Rebels reuniting regularly
NF Rebels of the Southeast: Serving the states of NC, SC, GA, and FL!
NF Rebels – Aussies Unite: For Rebels living in Australia!
NF Rebels – London: Our Rebel friends across the pond
NF Rebels – Europe: For all members of NF Europe!
And here are a few focused on interests:
Nerd Fitness – LGBTQAI: For members of the LGBTQAI community!
Nerd Fitness – Invisible Illness: For Rebels dealing with illnesses not on the surface
Nerd Fitness – Pokemon Go! Trainers: For Rebels playing Pokemon Go
NF Rebels – Martial Arts: for Rebels interested in martial arts
The Nerd Fitness Book Club: For Rebels that love to read!
A simple search on Facebook for a city or state and Nerd Fitness should reveal a group you might be on the hunt for!
What’s that? You don’t see a group for your particular special interest or location? Make one! Post a comment on this post, join the Message Boards and let people know you’re starting a group, share it with the community, leave it as a comment in this article, and get your group up and running! It only takes two to tango!
What’s that? You want to host a meet-up? Go for it, and let us know so we can share the details! I know the Austin NF group, the Boston group, Europe, and Aussies get together at least a few times a year, and it’s all community-led.
We hope to be able to support and make these groups and events more official in the future, but for the time being I am so thankful for the men and women and robots that have set up these groups and are embracing the NF Rebellion, hosting events, and facilitating the support. You have my thanks.
Who works for Team Nerd Fitness?
Although Nerd Fitness started as a part-time hobby that I worked on after my day job every night, it’s really become a beast to manage and support.
We now have 9 full-time employees (that live in 9 different states) and a dozen contractors that work all day to improve the experience around here!
You probably know some of them:
Staci Ardison was a community member who found NF at a low point in her life (and chain smoked 2 packs of cigarettes a day) and now deadlifts 430 pounds. She also champions our community to the world and encourages women to not be afraid to lift heavy, teaches how to batch cook, and has the cutest dog on the planet. You should probably follow her on Instagram at @StaciArdison if you want to see deadlifts and doggies
Jim Bathurst taught me how to do handstands and muscle-ups back in 2011. A few years later, I sheepishly asked if he wanted to train our nerds at Camp NF, and then I learned that he’s even nerdier than I am! Since then, Jim has joined the team full time and creates workout experiences and provides expert fitness advice to our communities. He also has an amazing dog named Scooter, and you should follow both Jim (@BeastSkills) and Scooter (@ScooterpomDC).
In addition to those two knuckleheads above, we have a ton of people that operate behind the scenes. From Darryl who does all of our design to Alek who builds all of our websites, Baker who develops our products and coordinates everybody, and Lauren who runs Camp, we also have Noel who is helping take care of people in our monthly adventure Rising Heroes along with making sure our emails make it safely to your inboxes, and Simone who is in charge of Rebel Support.
Along with this full-time team, we also have a dozen contractors and partners that handle everything from HR to bookkeeping to accounting to forecasting to legal to servers to analytics and all of the other behind-the-scenes stuff. (All the adult stuff, gross.)
I wanted to share with you these things for a few reasons:
Nearly everybody on Team NF is somebody that started as a community member at Nerd Fitness. They were asked to join the team thanks to their commitment to improving the lives of those around them, doing so just because they wanted to. These are people leveling up their lives too, and their infectious and supportive behavior is what makes them great Team NF Members.
We’re just like you: misfits and oddballs and goofs who are trying to figure out life, fitness, and business. Nerd Fitness has been bootstrapped since day one (my initial investment was $100 to buy a domain and a year of hosting), and our focus is on creating an experience and environment that helps you live better.
Depending on how long you’ve been reading Nerd Fitness, you might not be aware of some of the following:
1) There are purposefully no ads on Nerd Fitness. Before I started this site, I really struggled to find a fitness website that gave me honest information. Most of them tried to sell me on proprietary workouts (scientists hate this one weird trick!), supplements (fat blaster!), or shamed me into thinking I was unworthy unless I joined their service.
There are no ads on Nerd Fitness because I want you to know the information presented here is unbiased and untainted by advertising dollars.
I have no problems with companies needing to make a living; I just wanted Nerd Fitness to be a safe haven from all of that stuff. If you read something on Nerd Fitness, it’s because we believe in it wholeheartedly, we’ve experimented on ourselves and can share the results, or we’ve seen the strategy work for OUR people (busy nerds who struggle with their health).
This might lead you to ask the question: “Steve, how do you pay 9 people and 12 contractors if there are no ads?”
2) Nerd Fitness builds its own courses and experiences. Nerd Fitness is both a community and a business. We know that probably 95% of people that read this site or join our community will never buy anything we sell, and that’s okay!
At the same time, we have built some damn good products and experiences that have helped tens of thousands of customers dramatically transform their lives.
We know not everybody can afford them, which is why we offer everything else on this site for free and ad-free. We have published 800+ free articles, we have free message boards, encourage free community-led events, and more.
We are confident that the free stuff we offer is better than most people’s paid offerings, and that our paid experiences or products are a better value than anything out there in the fitness space.
In short, we create things that get results for our people. We break down the problems busy nerds have, and create experiences – both digital and in person – that remove all barriers between that person and success.
When we put out something new, we’re going to tell you about it! We believe very strongly that our products are the best in the industry, and that they will get you the results you’re after in the environment you need to succeed – provided you follow the instructions and do the work (which is always the tough part)!
Right now, the things we have for sale:
The Nerd Fitness Academy: Think of this like a digital bootcamp for the first 12 months of your fitness journey. The Academy includes quests, workouts, nutritional plans, and mindset strategies to finally overcome the obstacles of getting in shape.
Rising Heroes: Our monthly habit-building, team-based, story-driven adventure. We open the doors to enlist for a few days each month and take the entire community through an experience that changes based on the actions the group takes or the decisions made from week to week. Doors open again next week for a few days!
Nerd Fitness Yoga: Yoga for people who don’t do yoga. If you have a sore back, poor posture, or you just want to finally be able to touch your toes, NF Yoga is your thing. No zen or woo-woo stuff, just fun approachable routines you can follow in the comfort of your home (or download and watch anywhere) with the NF Style you love.
Nerd Fitness Rings and Nerd Fitness Handstands: A beginner’s guide to getting you from doing simple movements to advanced movements like handstands, front levers, and muscle-ups. We built a proprietary leveling system to let you know exactly when to level up for each movement so you always know what to do next.
Camp Nerd Fitness (next Camp in 2018): An in-person, long weekend experience of training, costume parties, gaming, and everything in between. I could try to explain it to you, and this video does a pretty damn good job, but you really have to experience it in person.
Here’s something super important to know: we don’t think every person should join every single premium experience we offer! We also don’t think they’re courses “that scientists don’t want you to know about!” We don’t build our courses or communities like this.
Instead, we believe this should be a choose-your-own-adventure, and that our courses might be a good fit to help you get to where you want to go. Our goal is that anything we build for sale solves a specific set of problems for rebels in a specific situation.
Many people do love the Academy for their mindset, diet, and workout quests – but on their off days love to pop on one of the NF Yoga videos and stretch their sore muscles. It’s great that these work together for many people, but no single course is required for any other.
Obviously we’d love for you to check out the ones that pique your interest; it’s how we keep the lights on. Or don’t! That’s cool too
3) We’re a small team. We make mistakes! We spend all day every day trying to serve this community better.
This community is everything to me, it’s everything to our team, and I know it’s everything for a lot of people in it.
Every member of this team has the same passion and the same love for serving the Rebellion. We work hard to provide an amazing free community experience AND also be a valuable company that can sustain itself and grow the number of people our message can impact.
We read pretty much every email, facebook comment, thread, discussion, argument and success story that happens in our community.
Some people are fanatical about what we do and how we offer to help people. Other people would prefer that we take a different approach (in slightly less nice terms, ha!). It’s part of having a large, diverse community – and many members feel a BIG stake in the future of the Rebellion (and thus also have passionate opinions). It’s a good problem to have.
We have big plans to evolve, adapt, improve, change, fail, flop, grow, and learn in the coming years.
We’ll continue to provide free resources on topics that can help nerds around the world live happier, healthy lives. We’ll continue to invest in creating or improving premium experiences that a portion of our community embrace and leverage to get better, more sustainable results.
And we’ll also continue to mess up! And then we’ll continue to lean on the community for advice and suggestions on how to balance being a free, open, supportive community and a sustainable, long-term business.
No matter what your current role in the Rebellion is – new or old, active or passive, occasional article..
http://ift.tt/2okKTCP
0 notes
ruthellisneda · 7 years
Text
Calling all Misfits and Mutants: Welcome Home.
Welcome to the quirkiest, most supportive community on the Internet.
If you consider yourself a nerd, misfit, mutant, oddball, goof, or somebody that doesn’t quite fit the mold, you’ve come to the right place.
If you’re interested in living a better life but can’t seem to find others that think the way you do or want the same things you do, I want you to know two things:
You are never alone.
Welcome home.
Whether you’ve been reading this site for a day or 8+ years (hi mom), I appreciate you. Whether you just want to eat better and learn how to do pushups, or you’re interested in deep diving into a community that encourages both healthy and nerdy behavior equally, I’m thankful you’re here.
Actually, the fact that anybody is here is very exciting to me. I started this site in 2008 simply because I couldn’t find anything like it on the internet: a home for nerds that provided no-nonsense, unbiased fitness information. Since then, Nerd Fitness has taken on a life of its own and I couldn’t be more proud of the quality and caliber of the people who embody the NF philosophies and ideals.
This past fall, we had 450 misfits and mutants from 10+ countries attend Camp Nerd Fitness (our big in-person event), and it felt like a giant family reunion. Whether it was people that had been to Camp NF previously, or newbies meeting other members of the community for the first time, it cemented how powerful this community/force-of-nature has become.
People have gotten married as a result of meeting at Camp NF. At least 4 people have the NF logo tattooed on themselves (shout-outs to Amanda M, Chris J, Chris P, and Hannah P). There are 100+ member-led Nerd Fitness groups throughout the world.
I feel very fortunate to be part of such a special group of people, and today I want to invite you to get more involved. I know only good things can come of this  
Welcome home.
Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters.
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
The Island of Misfit Toys.
The Nerd Fitness Rebellion?
I started Nerd Fitness as a simple blog back in 2009 – I published articles about push-ups, Star Wars, vegetables, and LEGO, trying my best to help other nerds get started with exercise or eating slightly better. I hoped one day this side-project hobby could become my day job and support me financially so I could focus on it. I never expected it to become a community of people that I would lean on emotionally!
Sure, I absolutely love sharing fitness and nutrition tips, deep diving into topics like The Truth About Belly Fat, How to Get Started in the Gym, or even helping others acknowledge that Being Flawed is a Good Thing.
However, that’s just a small piece of the puzzle.
Somebody at Camp NF last year said something that I’ve taken to heart: “Come for the push-ups, stay for the feels.”
We know a lot of people stumble upon Nerd Fitness through an unemotional topic like a Beginner Bodyweight Workout or the Paleo Diet or Intermittent Fasting, but it isn’t just the information that keeps them around: it’s the camaraderie of the community that ends up keeping them here for years.
I’ve been thinking a lot about why and how the Nerd Fitness Rebellion became what it is, and I think it’s because we’re all a bunch of weirdos that never get to truly be ourselves.
We often don’t get to nerd out about our favorite nerd things with our work friends. At the same time, we don’t get to be our true selves amongst some of our nerdy friends either! They’re not interested (yet) in getting healthier, and they don’t understand that we can’t start up another game of D&D or Overwatch because we have an early run or workout the next morning.
You might be working on getting in shape, but you’re intimidated by training in a commercial gym full of good looking in-shape people. Maybe you’re sick of getting bombarded with “fitspiration” ads on Instagram that show a genetically flawless person who is promoting supplements or skinny tea or cleanses.
You might feel like you’re on your own island, alone on this journey, with nobody that understands your struggles, supports your passions, and gives you permission to both love yourself AND want more for yourself.
This is what the Nerd Fitness Rebellion (our community name, paying homage to the Star Wars rebel alliance) represents: A place you get to be 100% yourself.
You can debate Star Trek vs Star Wars, discuss which Brandon Sanderson series you like the best, join a crochet group, write fan fiction as a group, or anything in between, and be heralded for your nerdy quirks.
At the same time, you can ask questions about eating better, what to do on a first date, have somebody check your deadlift form, find someone to support you on your quest to run your first 5k, or ask somebody to call you on your excuses and keep you honest!
People joked at Camp NF, after they had crowd-surfed me against my will (all in good fun though), that I had become the accidental leader of an actual cult.
I laughed and shrugged it off, and then I looked around at one group of people training with swords, another group scaling a wall, another breaking boards, another playing board games, and hundreds rocking the Nerd Fitness logo on their chests, cheering for everybody with passion, and I realized something:
We’re not a cult…we’re an army!
An army of passionate people dedicated to helping each other live a happier, healthier life.
And we need your help!
How to get involved with Nerd FItness
“Steve, I read your emails, and I’ve done the bodyweight workout, but this Rebellion thing sounds kind of fun. How do I get involved?”
You might be asking yourself this right now.
That is a fantastic question! Also, you look nice today.
Let me break down the different places you can get more involved and supported by this community.
Free Nerd Fitness Message Boards: We have a free message board community that’s home to tens of thousands of members from all over the planet. We’re lucky to have 40+ volunteer moderators that help keep the community rocking and rolling.
A quick note that your Message Board account is different than the NF Character account you might have made (or you might have if you own one of our products). If you look at the message boards and get overwhelmed, it’s okay! Start here, introduce yourself, and begin sharing your stories and struggles.
Community-Led Facebook Groups: Thanks to the growth of Facebook, although we do have an official Nerd Fitness page and private Facebook groups for each of our paid products or experiences (Camp, Rising Heroes, Academy, Yoga, Rings and Handstands), many community members have taken it upon themselves to set up their own Facebook groups for certain things as well.
Many people in these groups coordinate regular meetups or events, and I cannot tell you how cool that is for me. Here are just SOME of the communities, some based around geographical locations or others based on interests.
Here are just a FEW of the location-based ones:
Austin NF Adventures: For Rebels living in the Austin, TX area
Boston NF Adventures: For Rebels living in the Boston, MA area
NF Rebels of California: For Rebels living in California!
NF Rebels – Virginia: Rebels living in the Virginia area
NF Rebels – Wisconsin: The cheeseheads of Nerd Fitness
NF Rebels of the Pacific Northwest: Rainy Rebels reuniting regularly
NF Rebels of the Southeast: Serving the states of NC, SC, GA, and FL!
NF Rebels – Aussies Unite: For Rebels living in Australia!
NF Rebels – London: Our Rebel friends across the pond
NF Rebels – Europe: For all members of NF Europe!
And here are a few focused on interests:
Nerd Fitness – LGBTQAI: For members of the LGBTQAI community!
Nerd Fitness – Invisible Illness: For Rebels dealing with illnesses not on the surface
Nerd Fitness – Pokemon Go! Trainers: For Rebels playing Pokemon Go
NF Rebels – Martial Arts: for Rebels interested in martial arts
The Nerd Fitness Book Club: For Rebels that love to read!
A simple search on Facebook for a city or state and Nerd Fitness should reveal a group you might be on the hunt for!
What’s that? You don’t see a group for your particular special interest or location? Make one! Post a comment on this post, join the Message Boards and let people know you’re starting a group, share it with the community, leave it as a comment in this article, and get your group up and running! It only takes two to tango!
What’s that? You want to host a meet-up? Go for it, and let us know so we can share the details! I know the Austin NF group, the Boston group, Europe, and Aussies get together at least a few times a year, and it’s all community-led.
We hope to be able to support and make these groups and events more official in the future, but for the time being I am so thankful for the men and women and robots that have set up these groups and are embracing the NF Rebellion, hosting events, and facilitating the support. You have my thanks.
Who works for Team Nerd Fitness?
Although Nerd Fitness started as a part-time hobby that I worked on after my day job every night, it’s really become a beast to manage and support.
We now have 9 full-time employees (that live in 9 different states) and a dozen contractors that work all day to improve the experience around here!
You probably know some of them:
Staci Ardison was a community member who found NF at a low point in her life (and chain smoked 2 packs of cigarettes a day) and now deadlifts 430 pounds. She also champions our community to the world and encourages women to not be afraid to lift heavy, teaches how to batch cook, and has the cutest dog on the planet. You should probably follow her on Instagram at @StaciArdison if you want to see deadlifts and doggies
Jim Bathurst taught me how to do handstands and muscle-ups back in 2011. A few years later, I sheepishly asked if he wanted to train our nerds at Camp NF, and then I learned that he’s even nerdier than I am! Since then, Jim has joined the team full time and creates workout experiences and provides expert fitness advice to our communities. He also has an amazing dog named Scooter, and you should follow both Jim (@BeastSkills) and Scooter (@ScooterpomDC).
In addition to those two knuckleheads above, we have a ton of people that operate behind the scenes. From Darryl who does all of our design to Alek who builds all of our websites, Baker who develops our products and coordinates everybody, and Lauren who runs Camp, we also have Noel who is helping take care of people in our monthly adventure Rising Heroes along with making sure our emails make it safely to your inboxes, and Simone who is in charge of Rebel Support.
Along with this full-time team, we also have a dozen contractors and partners that handle everything from HR to bookkeeping to accounting to forecasting to legal to servers to analytics and all of the other behind-the-scenes stuff. (All the adult stuff, gross.)
I wanted to share with you these things for a few reasons:
Nearly everybody on Team NF is somebody that started as a community member at Nerd Fitness. They were asked to join the team thanks to their commitment to improving the lives of those around them, doing so just because they wanted to. These are people leveling up their lives too, and their infectious and supportive behavior is what makes them great Team NF Members.
We’re just like you: misfits and oddballs and goofs who are trying to figure out life, fitness, and business. Nerd Fitness has been bootstrapped since day one (my initial investment was $100 to buy a domain and a year of hosting), and our focus is on creating an experience and environment that helps you live better.
Depending on how long you’ve been reading Nerd Fitness, you might not be aware of some of the following:
1) There are purposefully no ads on Nerd Fitness. Before I started this site, I really struggled to find a fitness website that gave me honest information. Most of them tried to sell me on proprietary workouts (scientists hate this one weird trick!), supplements (fat blaster!), or shamed me into thinking I was unworthy unless I joined their service.
There are no ads on Nerd Fitness because I want you to know the information presented here is unbiased and untainted by advertising dollars.
I have no problems with companies needing to make a living; I just wanted Nerd Fitness to be a safe haven from all of that stuff. If you read something on Nerd Fitness, it’s because we believe in it wholeheartedly, we’ve experimented on ourselves and can share the results, or we’ve seen the strategy work for OUR people (busy nerds who struggle with their health).
This might lead you to ask the question: “Steve, how do you pay 9 people and 12 contractors if there are no ads?”
2) Nerd Fitness builds its own courses and experiences. Nerd Fitness is both a community and a business. We know that probably 95% of people that read this site or join our community will never buy anything we sell, and that’s okay!
At the same time, we have built some damn good products and experiences that have helped tens of thousands of customers dramatically transform their lives.
We know not everybody can afford them, which is why we offer everything else on this site for free and ad-free. We have published 800+ free articles, we have free message boards, encourage free community-led events, and more.
We are confident that the free stuff we offer is better than most people’s paid offerings, and that our paid experiences or products are a better value than anything out there in the fitness space.
In short, we create things that get results for our people. We break down the problems busy nerds have, and create experiences – both digital and in person – that remove all barriers between that person and success.
When we put out something new, we’re going to tell you about it! We believe very strongly that our products are the best in the industry, and that they will get you the results you’re after in the environment you need to succeed – provided you follow the instructions and do the work (which is always the tough part)!
Right now, the things we have for sale:
The Nerd Fitness Academy: Think of this like a digital bootcamp for the first 12 months of your fitness journey. The Academy includes quests, workouts, nutritional plans, and mindset strategies to finally overcome the obstacles of getting in shape.
Rising Heroes: Our monthly habit-building, team-based, story-driven adventure. We open the doors to enlist for a few days each month and take the entire community through an experience that changes based on the actions the group takes or the decisions made from week to week. Doors open again next week for a few days!
Nerd Fitness Yoga: Yoga for people who don’t do yoga. If you have a sore back, poor posture, or you just want to finally be able to touch your toes, NF Yoga is your thing. No zen or woo-woo stuff, just fun approachable routines you can follow in the comfort of your home (or download and watch anywhere) with the NF Style you love.
Nerd Fitness Rings and Nerd Fitness Handstands: A beginner’s guide to getting you from doing simple movements to advanced movements like handstands, front levers, and muscle-ups. We built a proprietary leveling system to let you know exactly when to level up for each movement so you always know what to do next.
Camp Nerd Fitness (next Camp in 2018): An in-person, long weekend experience of training, costume parties, gaming, and everything in between. I could try to explain it to you, and this video does a pretty damn good job, but you really have to experience it in person.
Here’s something super important to know: we don’t think every person should join every single premium experience we offer! We also don’t think they’re courses “that scientists don’t want you to know about!” We don’t build our courses or communities like this.
Instead, we believe this should be a choose-your-own-adventure, and that our courses might be a good fit to help you get to where you want to go. Our goal is that anything we build for sale solves a specific set of problems for rebels in a specific situation.
Many people do love the Academy for their mindset, diet, and workout quests – but on their off days love to pop on one of the NF Yoga videos and stretch their sore muscles. It’s great that these work together for many people, but no single course is required for any other.
Obviously we’d love for you to check out the ones that pique your interest; it’s how we keep the lights on. Or don’t! That’s cool too
3) We’re a small team. We make mistakes! We spend all day every day trying to serve this community better.
This community is everything to me, it’s everything to our team, and I know it’s everything for a lot of people in it.
Every member of this team has the same passion and the same love for serving the Rebellion. We work hard to provide an amazing free community experience AND also be a valuable company that can sustain itself and grow the number of people our message can impact.
We read pretty much every email, facebook comment, thread, discussion, argument and success story that happens in our community.
Some people are fanatical about what we do and how we offer to help people. Other people would prefer that we take a different approach (in slightly less nice terms, ha!). It’s part of having a large, diverse community – and many members feel a BIG stake in the future of the Rebellion (and thus also have passionate opinions). It’s a good problem to have.
We have big plans to evolve, adapt, improve, change, fail, flop, grow, and learn in the coming years.
We’ll continue to provide free resources on topics that can help nerds around the world live happier, healthy lives. We’ll continue to invest in creating or improving premium experiences that a portion of our community embrace and leverage to get better, more sustainable results.
And we’ll also continue to mess up! And then we’ll continue to lean on the community for advice and suggestions on how to balance being a free, open, supportive community and a sustainable, long-term business.
No matter what your current role in the Rebellion is – new or old, active or passive, occasional article..
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