#some weeks fly past me like hurricanes and i get to my lesson and i can't say i've made any progress and that fucks me up

[loverboybrightsideghost]

i really do love practicing 🎻

#i'm in music school so now it's a much more significant source of my already very significant fears #but practicing only feels stressful when i don't do it enough and i'm trying to 'catch up' #some weeks fly past me like hurricanes and i get to my lesson and i can't say i've made any progress and that fucks me up #and i don't think that's ever going away- like i'll always have weeks like that cuz everyone has bad days and bad weeks #from time to time #but when i plan correctly (which is becoming more and more the norm for me) my practicing is something im really proud of :) #i have a System. i didn't do very well before i had it and i would die without it now. #i get excited about learning! i get excited having realizations abt things to change or work on when i practice! #it feels experimenty a lot of the time and i like it!!! #i have a lot of catching up to do in terms of comparing myself to others but i'm not here for them i'm here for me #i will do my best and i will learn from others of course but my goals are to make my Me better first and worry abt other people later #i won't lose sight of that #<- and when it doesn't feel experimenty it can be calming to just be like okay ik what i need to do now just. Practice. Repeat. #i mean music is a fucking rollercoaster and sometimes you are at the bottom and i hate that but it comes w the territory #sometimes you're just Stuck but you do get past it and in those moments i just try to think back to previous times ive felt like that #ive felt horribly shitty before and gotten through it and come out the other side slightly better! #life is like that i think #anyways. hashtag iris loves music and being a musician 🙄 nothing new over here hehe

[gasolineghuleh]

ODC Chapter 1

I never put chapter one separately on Tumblr, oops.

Below the cut is the first chapter of my currently on going long fic, featuring my OC. The entirety is available on ao3. 

The wind whipped and whirled through my hair, billowing my skirts around my feet as I clung desperately to my umbrella, hoping against hope that the rain lashing down around me hadn’t soiled the books under my arm. I clutched my small bundle tighter and leaned into the wind, struggling up the sleet slicked hill under my feet. The cobblestones were soaked, and traction is hard to come by, especially on these older roads. One of the street lamps softly illuminating the road blinked twice before extinguishing, plunging me into a darkness that’s only permeated by the occasional flashes of lightning and the moon, shrouded in clouds.

A soft whimper left me as I attempted to tuck my hair back behind my ear, the wind having torn it loose of my already loose ponytail. I’ve seen it storm before, but never this badly… and never with this oppressive feeling behind it. Certainly, my small convent had weathered its fair amount of storms, and I didn’t feel any worry for the stone walls. The air felt thick and heavy, as though I was breathing through a soaked rag. It was suffocating and almost panic inducing. I stopped for a moment, looking down the street from whence I came. A small tickle in the back of my mind told me that something was off. Something was wrong.

The bookstore I had just left had turned its sign off, leaving that area of the street in darkness save for one single light, an uncomfortable shade of scarlet just outside of a café. I’ve never eaten there personally, but I’ve certainly heard the rumours of… unusual clientele. Images of hooded and masked figures flashed through my mind and I cringed into myself, clutching my books tighter. Almost on instinct my gaze turned to the cliff that loomed above the town as a flash of lightning illuminated the outline of a large ruined castle, stark against the blackened and angry sky. With a yelp, I scurried down the alleyway nearest to me in an attempt to dodge the worst of the rain. I may be straying from the Church of Our Lady, but I believed in consequences at heart.

Spotting an awning in the alleyway, I took a moment to duck underneath it to take a respite from the rain. I was finally able to relax somewhat now that the rain was no longer pelting me, and I took some deep breaths, leaning against the brick wall that I had found myself beside. With a furtive glance to the side, I took the time to unwrap my newly gotten books from their linen wrappings and smiled to myself when I noticed that they’ve managed to remain dry. The smell of the leather greeted me warmly as I ran my fingers over it, feeling the bumps and ridges on the cover. Whorls of shadow coursed their way up the front of the book before dipping around to the inside, causing the cover to be lifted slightly off of the first page.

I sighed deeply and placed my hand on the cover, the warm leather thrumming with barely contained life under my fingers. The moment passed, and I rewrapped my parcel and stepped back into the rain as my umbrella shielded me once more. Steeling my resolve, I made my way back up the street as the cobblestones slipped and slid under my thick soled heeled boots. My convent wasn’t too far away now, but it’s up a steep hill and I knew I would need all of my strength to climb it, especially in the now-approaching-hurricane type rains.

The wind tugged and pulled at my umbrella but I pressed on, my long skirt whipping back and forth under the gale onslaught. The sidewalk was empty save for myself, and I startled slightly when a large, white limousine car passed me by. It passed slowly, and I got the feeling along the back of my neck that something wasn’t quite right. Regardless, I could see the large gate of the convent looming in the distance and I ducked my head down, powering through the last of the steep hill.

I swung open the large, barred door to the convent and cursed inwardly. Ahead of me was one of my fellow Sisters, bounding towards me with her habit flying behind her as she practically skipped. She was beaming a smile right at me, and I felt compelled to smile back, even uneager as I was to see her. Sister Marta has always been a rightful ray of sunshine throughout the convent, and it’s hard not to return one of her sunny smiles, no matter how drenched to the bone I was.

“Sister Marta, hello,” I said, putting on some false cheeriness. Happy as she was, she was never particularly bright in the area of intellect or societal clues, something I had grown quite willing to manipulate recently.

“Sister Lunaria! Where have you been on this awful night? It’s raining fit for Revelation!” She smiled at her own joke and I groaned inwardly to myself, closing my eyes for a brief moment before responding.

“I had some errands to run. Mother Superior gave me the day, once I finished with my translations. Some pocket change later, and I’ve got a nice new book. I thought it sounded nice, on a night like tonight.” I looked out the window just as a flash of lightning sparked across the sky in a low, concerning arc. A brief thought of the trees in the orange grove being struck crossed my mind before I saw the face in the window and I gasped, all thought of the trees gone.

“Sister?” Marta moved to me and took my umbrella gently, leaning it against the stone wall to the side of me with a tenderness I’d come to expect from her. “You look as though you’ve seen a ghost!”

“Must um.. Must just be a chill, from the rain. I think I should retire, Marta.” I went to move towards the dormitory but stopped when she put her hand up, ticking one finger from side to side.

“Not quite yet! I need to see what book you got! Maybe I’ll want to borrow it when you’re done, silly.” A small spark of fear shot through me at the thought of her touching my new book-- my precious book that I spent six months of my earnings on, and that made my finger tips warm when I brushed against it, even through gloves. Even simply seeing it in that book store was enough for me to become beholden to it.

“Of course,” I said, gritting my teeth into a widened smile. Carefully I managed to unwrap the books, sliding the larger one forward so that it covered My book completely, showing her the cover. “It’s Anne of The Green Gables. I remember the matron at the orphanage reading it to me.” I managed, with some difficulty, to contort my face into something resembling nostalgic loss as I caressed the cover of it, keeping a tight grip on the other book underneath.

“Oh, Lunaria, that’s wonderful! What a grand idea!” Marta clapped her hands together in joy, gifting me with yet another beaming and sunny smile. “You should get that habit and wimple off, you’re probably bone cold!” It’s only now that she frets, shooing me towards the dorms. I supposed she’s on hallway duty tonight.

“Yes. Good night, Marta.” I started to leave before remembering to toss behind my shoulder a final farewell, “Go with God, Sister.”

Her own voice is muffled as she turns to leave, but I was sure that she gave the same farewell. She’s as to-the-letter as Novitiates can get within the Clergy. Finally alone I moved quickly to your private dorm, a gift now that I’m finally among the senior Sister’s in the convent. The door shut quietly behind me and once more, I ached desperately for a lock. Hedging my bets on solitude I moved towards my window, opening it and placing my hand below the pane. When I felt no water on my hand, I sat down in front of it and carefully unwrapped my parcel.

The book tumbled out of the linen wrapping and I grabbed it greedily, holding it to my chest like a lost child for a moment before settling it on my crossed legs. I brushed a hand over the cover again, snatching my hand back when it practically burnt me. Determination reignited, I brought both hands to my wimple and snatched it off of my head, my long lilac and white streaked hair falling around my face as you leaned back over the book.

This time when I touched it the cover was cooler. I opened the book delicately, running a finger down the first page as the black text seemed to leap out at me. In delicate, malicious lettering it spelled:

Malleus Lexicana

A chill ran up the base of my spine to tickle at my neck as I brushed my finger over the words. They were slightly raised, as if inked over and over again. When I turned the page, a single name was inscribed there in jagged, neat handwriting. Emeritus. I frowned to myself, recalling my past lessons in Latin. Was I correct in assuming that the owner of this book was a deceased Pope? My hand twitched with the urge to cross myself and I quelled it easily. The desire to step away from my faith has gotten only stronger since I first brushed against the book all those months ago, and even my nightly prayers have gone unsaid for weeks now. Taking a deep breath, I spoke the words aloud.

“Malleus lexicana,” I breathed. The words felt both foreign and natural on my tongue as they rolled past my lips and my breath caught in your chest as the book seemed to warm again in my grasp. I turned the page once more and stopped at a beautiful illustration of a cross. Fingers fumbling for my own crucifix at your neck, I studied the detailed drawing before realizing that it's shaped incorrectly.

A new child… Birthed into sin.

“My Lord?!” I gasped, dropping the book as I rose up onto my knees, gripping my crucifix tightly in the palm of my hand. A cold finger trailed up my spine once more, twirling some of the hair at the nape of my neck and leaving me shivering in fear and frigidity.

Of sorts… But not your Lord, little Sister.

“Who are you? Where are you?” I asked, whirling around onto one foot and knee to look behind me into the darkest depths of my small room. It was empty, although the pitch blackness seemed to writhe and curl inward on itself-- it felt sentient and ominous, watching me. Another deep breath to steel myself once more and I picked up the book again, settling back down in front of the window as a small gust of air moved my hair from my pale face. I squinted slightly, the vision in my white eye better for text than my other.

Turning the page revealed more words, again in some bastardization of Latin. It wasn’t the high form of Latin that I’d been taught, although some of the words are recognisable to me at first glance. It seemed to be a prayer of some sort, I thought to myself as my finger glided down the thick page. It ended on the word “nemA” and my felt my heart catch in my chest before beating rapidly. The sacrilegious undertones of the text were quickly becoming apparent and I found myself excited by the prospect.

Come to me, Sister. Renounce this coven.

“It’s not a coven, it’s a convent,” I mumbled out loud, no longer questioning the odd dialogue that I had going with the disembodied voice. Perhaps it was the book speaking to me, and perhaps it was my God questioning the strength of my waning faith. I deserved to have it questioned, did I not? So many nights spent in quiet contemplation of my life and the years I have left to live… likely stuck in the same black habit and small convent that I served already, at nineteen years.

Are they not the same thing, when serving a Lord that one cannot see, nor touch, nor feel? Do you feel His presence inside of you, Sister?

I paused, my finger still on the ending of the prayer as I contemplated the voice’s words to me. Thinking back over the past months, I realized as my heart dropped into my stomach that I hadn’t felt the presence of anything that I would consider myself particularly beholden to. Every waking moment had been spent doing my chores for a meager amount of money so that I could purchase the book. My book.

Ahh, there we are Sister. Come to me.

“I don’t even know where you are!” I closed the book, setting it gently to the side before standing and looking out the window as if to see where the voice is coming from. The darkness yielded no answers to me, and I felt childish for seeking them there. The storm beat down harsher than ever and the genuine fear of a flood breezed past my thoughts. A flash of lightning arced across the skies once more, lighting up the vineyard bright as day. A small part of me hoped to see someone or something in the distance, but the light revealed nothing out of the ordinary.

I am not out there, Sister. Your naivety is showing. I cannot wait to urge it out of you.

“Well if you’re not out there, then where are you?” I whirled around to face my room again, the shadows in the farthest reaches of the room seemingly darker. Impenetrable. Answerless, cold, and quiet. I would find no answers there, either.

I can see what you see not, Sister. Your vision milky, then eyes rot…

I squinted slightly as I looked deeper into the shadows, leaning towards them in an attempt to pierce the darkness. Something was moving in the darkness, wriggling and pulsating as I stared at it. At a sudden movement towards me, I took a half step back in shock, gasping as I collided with my wall. Tendrils of shadow writhed at the corners of my vision and I gripped onto the side of my bed as a wave of dizziness overtook me.

Now you can see what cannot be… Shadows move where the light should be. Out of darkness, and out of mind.

“What are you doing to me?” I whispered, my voice tearing with fear as my eyes refused to leave the spot that the shadows danced. A gust of wind through my open window disturbed the smoky shadow and it scattered quickly, only to reform in the basic shape of a man. I briefly recognized it at the silhouette of the hunched man who worked in the book store.

Pressing myself farther against the wall, my hand flew on instinct to the crucifix around my neck. My heart beat pounded in my ears as the sharp corner of the cross pressed painfully into my palm. The shadow figure staggered closer to me, one arm raised slightly as it approached. It was all I could do to remain silent in my fear as it made its way shambling towards me. Its jaw dropped open as it spoke in old Latin, and it took me a moment to realize that the thing’s mouth wasn’t moving as it spoke.

Its hand came to my forehead, and I felt the touch of old and weathered skin against mine as it pressed gently against me. More Latin fell from its desiccated lips as I watched in horror. My body felt unbearably cold, and then blisteringly hot. I broke into a feverish sweat as the thing finished speaking, pressing harder on my head before pulling back altogether.

I felt my vision beginning to swim as my eyes rolled back into my head from dizziness and managed to get my back against my bed as I fell. I blinked twice, and fell into a dreamless sleep.

“Sister?” I awoke to a pounding on my door, and my head pounding with it. Struggling to sit upright, I looked over at my clock on the wall. 9 am, and I was due for chores. I called something unintelligible out to the person in the hallway as I swung my legs over the side of my bed and attempted to stand. Almost instantly a wave of nausea and dizziness overtook me and I shot out a hand to brace myself on the wall. Bile rose in my throat and I swallowed hard before calling to the person again.

“Enter, please. I need assistance.” My stomach roiled as I sat, closing my eyes to attempt to ebb the waves of nausea coursing through me. I heard the door creak as it opened, and cracked open one eye to see Sister Marta entering. Of course. “Sister Marta, good morning.”

“You don’t look well, Sister…” Marta came to stand before me as she rested the back of her hand gently against my forehead. As much as I hated to admit it to myself, her hand was cool against my skin and the gesture was welcomed. She brushed back a strand of my hair as she cupped my face, lifting my head slightly to look at me. “I’ll tell the Mother Superior that you’re ill. Perhaps you should lie down.” Almost as an afterthought she added, “I’m sorry to see you without your headdress, Sister, but your hair is beautiful. As striking as your eyes.” I cracked open my left eye and regarded her lightly before drifting it closed again.

“Thank you. Would you help me lie down before you leave?” I’d never felt this weak before, and I was becoming concerned for my own health. Sister Marta put her hand gently around my upper arm and lifted my woolen blankets with the other as she assisted me under them. My heart warmed for a moment as I felt her tuck me in and adjust my pillow.

“Would you like me to bring you some broth in a while?” she asked, moving towards my window and drawing the curtains. I heard her pause, and I tensed in apprehension. Had she seen the book? “No wonder you’re feeling ill, Sister Lunaria! You let your window open all night.” She tutted to herself and slid the glass pane shut, locking it into place and securing the curtains tightly so that the morning sun was dimmed.

“Oh, how silly of me. Of course. I must just have some type of flu,” I said, pulling the covers over my head as I hunkered down into my pillow. In truth, my head was pounding fit to burst and I felt dangerously close to vomiting. I heard Sister Marta make her way back to my door and pull it open.

“I’ll let the rest know that you’re unwell today, and tell them to give you some space while you recover. Would you like the broth for lunch?” she queried. I snaked an arm out from under my comforter and gave her a thumbs up, which seemed to satisfy her. A moment later and the door clicked shut once more, leaving me in silence.

I fell into an uneasy seep, tinged with dreams of reaching darkness and a single white eye to match my own.

When I awoke, my room was lit by the afternoon sun and the curtains had been drawn back from my window. A mug rested on my nightstand with a covering on top, and I placed my hand hesitantly against the ceramic. Still warm. Sister Marta must have kept to her word and brought me some broth for lunch. I struggled to sit up in my bed and drew the mug close to myself, inhaling the steam before taking a sip.

The broth was welcome as I sat and rested, taking deep and steadying breaths. The nausea had abated almost entirely, though I was still dizzy. I drained the mug and placed it back onto my nightstamp, wiping the back of my mouth on my bicep as I stood and moved towards the window. I swore quietly to myself when I kicked something heavy, and looked down to see the book.

“Shit,” I mumbled as I picked it up. Sister Marta must have seen it, as it was laying in plain sight. Almost instantly the warm from the book invaded my senses again and I felt myself growing stronger, throwing off the cold that seemed to have gripped me when I woke up. My crucifix hung heavy and cold against my chest, and I eyed it for a moment before looking at the book once more. “Tell me how to reach you,” I said, hoping that the book would respond… That I wasn’t insane.

Your mind will guide the way. Come to me, Sister.

“If I come to you… I won’t be a Sister anymore, will I?” It was a stupid question, but the answer surprised me.

Si, of a different sort. Come. Come.

The voice grew impossible to resist, and before I knew it, I found myself at the small closet in my bedroom. I pulled open the door and found a small bag I had stashed away in the back, and hastily folded my habits into it. I tossed in the rest of my underwear and tights, as well as an extra pair of shoes as well. Finally, I took the book into my hands and stared deeply into the cover for a moment, making the final decision in my mind.

“I’m coming. What do I call you?” The embarrassment of speaking to an inanimate object flares inside of me again as I shake my head and move towards my window, unlocking it and hurling it open. As I stick one leg out the window, the answer comes.

You call me Papa.

“Alright, Papa…” I start, grunting with effort as I duck through the small window and make the short drop to the ground below. The heels of my shoes dig into the softened Earth and I reel slightly, leaning back heavily against the wall of my convent for balance as I yank them free. “Looks like I’m coming.” Without stopping to think or renege on my decision I started off, my feet instinctively moving towards the cliff that bordered my town. The castle loomed high above me, and I swallowed hard as I steeled myself.

The path that led to the base of the cliff was easy enough to find and navigate. The sign posts throughout the town that had bore the name of the castle had all been scoured or burned away, which left me with a convenient trail to follow as I made my way towards it. At the base of the path that wound up the steep, rocky cliff, I found myself stopped by a wrought iron gate. It had the same odd cross design that I had found in the book carved into the metal, as chains held the gate shut. It stretched the expanse of the road and I huffed a sigh.

Let me get that for you, sorella.

I stepped back with a shocked gasp as the chains fell to the old and weathered cobblestones, the gate swinging open towards me on silent hinges. Though the iron was mottled with rust, it made no sounds as it opened, yawning open like a mouth waiting for me to enter. I took another deep breath and moved forward, hardly jumping when it clanged shut behind me, and chains wound back around it like live snakes.

The thick woods welcomed me into the all consuming darkness with a silence that settled on my ears like a blanket. It was dark and still, but I felt no fear. In the distance, a wolf howled alone and I felt the hair on the back of my neck prickle at the sound. Besides the wolf, however, there were no sounds within the thicket of trees. The path itself lay clear of any forest debris that I had expected to find after the storm last night, and seemed to be very well maintained.

Before long, I was panting as the slope of the path grew steeper. My legs burned and ached, and my feet protested any movement inside of my heeled shoes. I stopped to consider the drawbacks of removing them for a moment, before deciding that it was a necessity. I unhooked the buckle on either shoe before stepping out of them and carrying them in one hand, continuing up the path slightly slower, as I attempted to dodge the still standing puddles of water in my stocking-clad feet.

Finally, after what felt like hours I arrived at the base of the castle. As I expected from the view down below, it was in ruins. A large bell sat embedded into the cobbles in front of the entrance, a large crack running along the surface of it. It was golden, and embossed with the same sigil I had seen down below on the gates. Weeds grew between the stones unchecked, and pieces of stone lay scattered around the ground in front of me. I bent down and picked one up, weighing it in my hand before tossing it aside.

“Ah, you’ve arrived.” I started, looking up towards the entryway. A tall and poised woman was standing there, leaning slightly against the bell and regarding me with piercing blue eyes. She was dressed in a similar fashion to me, I noted with some surprise. A smart black dress hugged her frame, which she accessorized with a black blazer and a large silver necklace… that same sigil again. On her feet, nearly the same shoes that I had removed not long ago.

“Who are you?” I asked, picking my way carefully across the debris towards her. She held out a hand towards me with a smile, and I took it without thinking. Her hand was warm as she clasped mine, patting the top of my hand fondly with her other. Her smile reached her eyes easily, and I felt instantly calm.

“You may call me the Sister Imperator. I’m glad to see you’ve made it home safely.” My heart squeezed at her words. Home. I’d never had a proper one, being raised as an orphan, and the thought of having a true home was enough to bring tears prickling to my eyes.

“The book said… Papa was the one who called to me. Am I to meet with him?”

“Soon, child. Let’s get you inside and warmed up. We’ll get some food into that belly and a nice warm drink, I think. Then we can go through all of the introductions and explanations that I’m sure you want.” Her eyes left mine and traveled down my body to rest on my crucifix. “You are of the faith? Catholic?”

My own eyes dropped to the necklace hanging between my breasts as my hand came up to grip it. A million thoughts whorled through my mind before it landed on one that I was sure of: this place already felt more like home than anywhere else I’d ever been. I squeezed the cross tightly in my fist before tugging it, snapping the chain from around my neck. The silver chain dangled from my palm for a moment before I tossed it to the ground.

“No longer.”

#lorraine writes #fics #ghost #ghost bc #the band ghost #papa emeritus

[teacherintransition]

I Didn’t Notice it …Did You Notice it?

They all said you notice it … I didn’t feel nothin’

Maybe I’m doing this wrong, but I didn’t feel the restless urge to set up my old classroom or felt like something is missing. Maybe I’m not doing this right.

About fifteen years into your career, a subtle countdown begins in the back of your mind, “I’m________ years old, how many more years would I have to work before I can retire I wonder?’ “Not that I would, but just in case… how much longer?” I’ve been assured by folks in other fields this phenomenon is not unique to educators. Everyone wants “to go the house.” In Texas, an educator goes without a lot: acceptable professional pay, affordable insurance, adequate supplies, efficient technical tools to help instruct, parental support, administrative support, adequate sized classrooms, information about the uh …background of certain students placed in your class arbitrarily. Not to paint to bleak a picture of yon career of education, there are plenty of things that come in abundance, oh yes Mr. or Madam educator your district has gotten you more than covered in various ways. The Texas teacher can count on the following in abundance: endless faculty meetings with no clear point that are held after school the time you have to take your Lil Johnny to baseball practice or soccer practice…or both; a punctual yearly increase in insurance premiums; accusations that you don’t like their Lil Johnny and that’s why Johnny has a 36 average in your class; a “what about that Mr. Teacher from your principal; the speedy return of a student to your class who had just given the class a personal expression of his mastery of four letter words….ah, if only we were studying Bukowsi; opportunities to create individualized RTI (Response to intervention plans) for each child who is not having success in YOUR classroom … these can be known to equal or exceed the time needed to plan the lessons by almost 100%; department meetings; team meetings, parent meetings all of which are held at the time designed for lesson planning and that task has doubled in time because 12 out of 100 student haven’t obtained success in your class (or any other). Yes, it’s a plethora, nay a smorgasbord of delights and some of you guys think we do it for the “time off in the summer.” Sorry, JACK …. We are having just too much fun.

What Texas does offer it’s teachers is a suitable pension that is actually better than a lot of states. I’ve been told not to expect many COLAs (cost of living adjustments), but you can expect to receive an “it’s okay “ annuity payment until you die; and , heaven forbid that you should enter the pearly gates before your spouse, your mate, your significant other will receive the said annuity payment until they too shuffle off this mortal coil. Some of you upon reading this are laughing uncontrollably, others with hand on chin are thinking, “not to bad,” while others of you recognize that you will probably be required to put in for a half day on the day they bury you. Life’s not fair comrade… no, that’s not in any of the paperwork.

As my readers well know, I jumped …made the leap as it were to retirement and I’ve been transitioning (shameless plug for title of blog) for just over a year. Things are going ok, thanks for asking. When your on the precipice about to take the leap; cliches and euphemisms are freely shared. “Every time about August you’re going to get the itch. “The itch? Poison ivy, leprosy … why? I’ll pass on that shit. They elaborate that there will be this desire to supply your room, decorate bulletin boards, arrange files, fill out lesson plans, write pithy inspiring quotes on your wall. Uh, sorry I haven’t felt it. Obviously last year made me acutely aware of the decision I made…it was just weeks after retiring. It was sad, I did feel I should be doing “something” uh, I don’t know, something “schooley.” I did then and still do miss my students terribly, but the administrative stuff? It took me about five minutes of concentrating on mind killing nature of those tasks and that was all she wrote; may I be thrown into a pool of mako sharks if I ever say, “hey, wouldn’t it be great to grade a few essays …just for fun?”

As I written in other articles, none of this looks the same for everybody…none of it feels the same; but I feel that over the past year, I’ve acclimated well to switching gears …if I may. I nap more than I used to, but isn’t that a good thing? I’ve accomplished a lot, traveled to see my kids several times over the past year, we even managed to fly to Arizona for a week and had a great time. As we approached zero week in August I had none of the instinctive rumblings one expects a teacher of thirty years to experience. You see, for an educator… the month of June lasts forever; July feels like going to bed after a great Saturday night (you know that in thirty hours it will be the start of the work week.) August feels like 8:30 pm on Sunday night…every day until you report to campus. Many is the time I’d scream in my mind, “FOR THE LOVE OF GOD AND ALL THAT IS HOLY …CAN WE JUST PLEASE QUIT WAITING AND START NOW ….PLEASE!” Not, a fun place to be I assure you.

But this year, in all honesty, I lost track of the time of month it was several times. High school football snuck up on me and I only got hold of that because my son is a coach. I felt no unease that I need to be putting up bulletin boards, no lingering around the classroom supply section of any store. My days were almost free of thirty years of being Pavlov’s dog. There are deep intrinsic things that are missed terribly: conversing with my students, seeing a kid overcome an obstacle with your help, the feeling of value knowing you are needed… now that’s the good stuff…that’s why you became a teacher… not bureaucratic b*******. The only thing I kept aware of the time of year it was , when we approached hurricane season. That I attribute to my most instinctual circadian rhythm (please refer to my three part series on circadian rhythm..it was a real page turner.) Even as I write this, Tropical storm Nicholas is churning up the gulf and I can see the sky and breeze changing. This you get used to living along the Gulf coast… which begs the question, “hey teacher in Transition… would you rather ride out a hurricane or fill out lesson plans for a month?” Only real teachers know the answer.

#retirement #coffetime #open mind #stress #change #teacher #i need friends #education #europe #health #writerslife #writing #blog post #socialmedia #social circle #self healing #selfworth #selfawareness #self actualization #self discovery #self improvement #schoolbell #pavlovs dog #transition #peaceofmind #peaceandlove

[underthewingsofthblackeagle]

>>Faking a marriage before God?<< - Not “Just a lesson from the Courtroom” but an answer from the life experience of a Christian minister

“Stühle” by Hans

Consolation and Hope for the hurting hearts. Everything under the line.

         As I have taken up to comment on several things concerning OL in the past under the title “Just some lessons from the courtroom”, I have decided to comment on a post I read around the “happenings” and rumors of the last weekend - this time from the viewpoint of my other profession.

         As many of my followers know, I worked for several decades at one of the biggest district courts of my country (mainly as a Senior Administrator for International Legal Assistance in Criminal Law). But I am also an ordained minister and certified counselor of the Christian faith for (this year exactly) 30 years. And since 1991 I always worked both jobs - one as my 7 am to 3:30 pm job, the other one in the evenings and on weekends. 

         In the said post, a person asked:

         “But would they really fake a marriage before God?”*

         The moment I read the said question, I could feel the horror behind it. I sensed sorrow and hurt.

         Before I comment on that question, let me explain the following: When I came to the OL fandom on Tumblr, I was surprised by a large number of people who  - after I got to know them -  revealed themselves as people of deep faith and spirituality to me. I met people from all religious backgrounds, different denominations, etc. And let me make this very clear:          I respect all of you, every single one. Even if we don’t share the same convictions, the same kind of faith. I respect you all - and I also respect every person who calls himself/herself an atheist. Because faith, in my conviction, is a very personal decision and only a personal decision. Having said that, I like to comment on the last weekend and the said question. For an introvert like me, it is not an easy thing to post such personal things here. Please don’t think I want to preach at you. All I want is to give you the consolation that was given to me:

1. A hard truth

         First I have to state a very hard truth. 30 years of ministry have taught me, that everything holy to God and men, can and will be faked. Let me give you some examples:

I saw a man faking the Christian confession and baptism - before God! - because he wanted to marry a lady of deep faith.

I saw a man faking the Christian walk of faith, showing a very pious lifestyle - before God! and the whole parish - while he was beating his wife at home regularly.**

I saw several men and women faking a marriage before God, speaking their vows but never taking them seriously.

I saw a man faking the Christian walk of faith - before God! -, calling himself and his church “the only elect of God” while offending and humiliating foreigners and people of a different faith.

      These are only four of my many personal observations. We could go on and mention all those men (and some women too!) who called themselves “servants of God” while they were sexually abusing innocent children. We could mention the superiors of these people, who tried to hide these criminal acts before state authorities - a behavior that enabled the predators to molest and destroy even more innocent lives. We could mention the leaders of a distinct megachurch who were not willing to open their multi-million-dollar-building to help the victims of a hurricane. We could mention a high-ranking representative of “the only church of God”, flying to India first class for visiting the poor while building himself a villa for 35 million Euros in Germany (paid by the financial support of the common church member). We could mention all of those Christians, who believe they need killing machines (aka automatic weapons) because the Almighty God, they confess their faith in, obviously isn’t mighty enough to save His followers. These (and other people) have no problem to fake sacred things before God because - honestly - they only believe in two idols: themselves and the money they can get.

         All of this contradicts the Christian faith, the gospel, the teaching of Christ. All this is fake before God. All this is shameful and hurting for those, who believe and honestly and humbly walk by their faith. But there is

2. No Need for Despair, but consolation for the hurting heart          We have to face the truth. If we don’t do it and if we shamefully try to hide it, we are in danger of becoming “Fakers of the Faith” ourselves. That is absolutely no alternative! Remember that Christ taught us, that the truth has the power to set us free (John 8:32).          Seeing, experiencing, that people fake all kinds of holy things before God, has hurt and saddened me deeply, but I am not in despair. I didn't lose my faith, no, contrary, my faith in God became even stronger. Why?          The answer lies in the teaching of Christ, especially in the parable, which is called “The Parable of the Tares” (Matthew 13, 24 ff.)          In this prophetic parable, Christ makes it clear to His disciples, that in later times there will be two kinds of people in the realm of faith: Those, who are like genuine wheat and those who are pseudo-wheat. I know, many bible translations use the word “tares” or “weed”. But if you do an in-depth study of the background of this parable, you will find that the difference is not between “wheat” and “weed”/”tares”, but between “wheat” and “pseudo-wheat”. The word, used in the original Greek of the New Testament, is “ζιζάνιον” (zizanion). It is the Greek name for a plant also known under the Latin name “Lolium temulentum”, “poison darnel” in English or “Taummelloch” in German.             This plant looks like true wheat, but it can’t bear the real fruit. It is nothing but a fake! When you eat from this plant, it unfolds a poisonous effect. This can lead to dizziness, blindness and in the worst case even to death. That is exactly the spiritual effect fake-believers can have: their fake-Christianity will confuse you, tries to blind you for the truth and tries to kill your faith.   3. But how should we react to fake-faith and pseudo-believers? 

         From the said parable we learn first and foremost: Never concentrate on fake-faith or pseudo-believers! Concentrate on the truth and on the all-knowing God, who loved us so much that He warned us before it happened. God is not surprised and you shouldn't be either. Therein lies my greatest consolation. The God who knew all of this before (including the last weekend fake) is still able to change everything.         Don’t react with hate, hateful speech or with a judgemental spirit! Be aware, that by giving room to these kinds of feelings, you betray your own values and the truth you stand for. Jesus, knowing that these questions would arise, answered them in the parable:          “So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.“ (Matthew 13, 28 ff.)         It is not mine nor your duty, to judge who is true/honest and who just fake’s it. Neither you nor I know the hearts like God does. Therefore God is the only One who can justly judge everyone and trust me, He will do it. But there are also several things for you and me to do:

Don’t let the pseudo-wheat blind your eyes for the truth or for the power of God. Don’t let all of this discourage you. God in His love warned us before it happened. He is not surprised. He is still the same God, mighty to help. He can’t be shaken and He still owns tomorrow. Nothing is hopeless, nothing is lost until the last day of this dispensation of grace has ended.  

Live the truth humbly, walk in the truth daily.

Care for the fakers. They are in a dangerous place. Why? In 30 years of service, I have witnessed it again and again: Living a lie always leads to more lies and that leads away from true joy, true peace, and true happiness. One lie calls for another lie and in the end, all these lies lead to despair. Therefore, care for the fakers from depths of your heart! These people need you and your prayers! Pray for them and don’t stop doing so. Pray that the truth will reach and fill their heart again. Pray that they don’t miss the mercy and grace of God, that will lead them back not only to the path of righteousness, but to true life, true joy, and true peace.

Take the words of this promise to heart: “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.“ (Galatians  6:9)

3. A last word about the last weekend

         I don’t believe, that means I’m not convinced, that a real wedding has taken place last weekend. I will expound the reasons for my conviction in another post. This will take some time. Right now, I am busy because I stepped in for a friend who had to have emergency surgery and is still in rehab. But I will try to post my thoughts on that around Sunday/Monday.           I know this is a long post and I thank everyone who read it. Feel free to comment on this post, tell me what you think, send me your criticism, questions, etc. I might not be able to answer immediately, but I will do so asap. 

As always - from Prussia with much love, DoP Notes:   *  I’m sorry, but because my week was very busy I forgot to reblog or screencap the post. I remember the ask was in a reblog. If anyone of my readers has screen caped it or a link, please let me know. 

** When I got notice of this, I informed the authorities and they put a stop on it. 

#Outlander #Outlander Fandom #OL #Faking a wedding before God?

[wkndwhp]

Even the wind makes a noise eventually

yall asked for it, here it is- the morro fanfic i spent three days on in a burst of inspiration and hey if yall want more of this kind of content lmk, i really enjoy writing (even though tumblr kinda screwed my formatting up)!

putting it beneath the read more bc its uh. a long one.

now cross-posted on ff and ao3!

character study of Wu and Morro || no ships || G (very mild swearing)

snapshots of Morro’s childhood- includes one of my headcanons (selectively mute!Morro)

The day the young sensei Wu found the child digging through his trash was one he’d never expected. The man had seen thousands of years, experienced thousands of things, and yet it had never come to his mind that a scenario like this could come up.

The child couldn’t have been more than ten, but his age was hard to tell with just how small and malnourished he was. His behavior was like that of a scared animal, skittish, fragile, and distant.

Wu watched him scarf down the food he’d left out for the third day in a row, his students peeking around him and out the gate at the sight with curiosity.

“Sensei, shouldn’t we bring him in?” Asked one of them on the fourth day.

“We will, but we must give him time.” Wu had replied, as he watched the boy scurry off, back down the mountain. He wasn’t going far, he’d been hanging around, like a stray dog who’d learned where a restaurant dumped its waste. He’d be back at the gate tomorrow, just a few paces away, far enough for a headstart on escaping if need be, close enough to snatch up the food before it was taken from him by someone who wasn’t there to take it.

Wu was a patient man. He would wait til the child was more comfortable.

It took a full week for the child to stop running off, for him to linger. Wu had studied him quite a bit in this time, and one thing he’d noticed is just how quiet he was, how hesitant he was to look at anyone for more than a moment, keeping his head down, letting his greasy hair drape over his face as if it hid him from view.

Dirt caked his hands, his arms and legs scraped up, and his clothing tattered.

He needed somewhere to go, to clean, to live.

This was only a child, after all.

Wu decided that the next day, he would approach him, and offer him the chance to come inside.

It was a lot like taking in a cat who’d lived outside its whole life. Wu left the gate cracked, and the child would wander in and out at will, staying in longer as his comfort grew.

Soon, he was sleeping inside the gate.

Wu made him up a room, seperate from his other students, closer to his own. The child was still skittish, he needed a pillar of support, and that would be Wu until he was okay on his own.

The child was bathed, clothed in something better, and fed. A silent, personal pledge was made: “I will keep this child safe.”  

He couldn’t keep calling the boy by nothing, he needed a name.

Morro, he decided, as a lone hill, a mountain, isolated, was like he had once been.

Morro was still silent, going on a month living in the monastery. Hadn’t said a word to anyone, even though he had integrated nicely.

Wu had begun to wonder if, perhaps, he was mute. It wasn’t out of the question, of course, and he would find a way to communicate if he were.

And then one day, his wondering was put to rest.

“Morro, could you fetch my teapot?” Wu had been meditating, Morro sitting just across the room, silent and watching. He stood, slowly, and brought it over.

“Thank you.” Wu took the teapot carefully, and poured himself a cup.

A quiet moment, then, a hesitant reply. A voice Wu had wondered about for days.

“You’re welcome.”

Wu nearly spilt his tea.

Morro had begun to watch the students train, Wu noticed one day. He watched with curiosity, with a passion, a longing to do what they were doing. So he extended an offer.

“Morro, would you like to join in on the lesson?” His students paused, turning to look at the other, who shrunk back for a moment under the sudden attention.

“Um.”

“It’s alright, you can come and follow along.”

Cautiously, Morro stepped forward, shrinking further still under the eyes of his peers.

“Class- look forward.” The direction fixed that issue, as his students turned back to him, and Morro relaxed, taking up a space towards the back.

“Now, back to the lesson. What was I saying about quitting?”

Wu had a talent for spotting great potential, but sometimes that required pushing, maybe a bit harder than was considered kind.

Morro took a heavy hit, knocked down by an older student.

“Get up.” Wu barked, sounding quite like his father to his own ear.

Morro didn’t get up.

“Get up!” He repeated, and the child scrambled to his feet, meeting the other student’s eyes for a moment. Wu didn’t see the look of confusion on either of their faces as both of them realized that, for some reason, their sensei was being exceptionally hard on Morro. The lesson continued, as did the treatment.

And it continued on with every lesson after, Morro being pushed harder than the others for reasons no one was quite sure of.

Wu knew greatness when he saw it, and he knew how to push it out of someone.

Morro spent a lot of time sitting outside the gate, quietly watching the sky, eyes chasing kites as they flitted across the blue. Wu found him like that before class, as he often did, and he’d brought a gift. The boy had been around for a bit now, more than two months, and he’d been making great progress in his training with the extra pressure, yet, somehow, Wu felt they’d grown distant.

Maybe he was being too hard on him.

The gift was an attempt to try and mend.

When he handed Morro the kite, the reaction he’d gotten came in three steps:

Initial confusion, joy, then hesitation. Had Wu really pushed him that hard, that he’d doubt a gift? He nodded encouragingly, pointing up at the other kites, about to explain how to fly it before the teakettle went off and he had to go stop its whistling.

Morro held the kite a moment, then glanced to the sky, then back to the kite. Careful, he stirred the wind, as he’d been practicing in secret for years, the breeze lifting the kite up into the air. A stronger gust sent it higher, and he held it there, suspended in air.

That’s how Wu found him a moment later.

The wind seemed to stir up something else aside from the kite, a memory, a wonder in Wu.

The color green suddenly seemed to make sense.

Green, huh? Morro would wear green one day- be the one who kept everyone safe? Morro barely understood, destiny a confusing concept, but one thing was clear: training was about to be ramped up. He had to keep up- he was green. Green and green and green and what if he failed? If he didn’t live up to the expectations?

Memories of his past were few, but Morro remembered a bit.

The bit about his father- about the bitter noise and being chased off, no older than six, alone and alone and alone.

Morro could not fail.

The streets had never been kind- he never wanted to go back, and if he failed, oh God, if he failed he’d go back, wouldn’t he? Only kept around for his potential- wasn’t he?

Wu saw green and Morro was green- would be green.

Morro was good- stronger, faster, more resilient. He toppled the other students with ease, twelve years old with the spirit and force of a hurricane. Yet- Wu seemed displeased. What had he done wrong? He’d won, hadn’t he? Anger bubbled up- he needed stronger opponents.

“Get up!” Morro yelled, tugging at the arm of another student, who cowered, pulling away, afraid of the storm in the green eyes staring him down. “Get up!”

“Enough!” Wu has stepped down, off the steps, marching towards his prized student. If Morro was a hurricane, Wu was an apocalypse. He expected Morro to stop, to step away, but he didn’t. He turned, defiant, to his sensei.

“But Sensei-“

“I said enough.”

“When is ‘enough’ ever enough in my training, Sensei?” His voice, never more than a whisper, always so hidden, was harsh and loud now. It shook, still, despite its certainty in the moment.

“You are done for today, Morro. Room.”

The other students watched, tense, as they stared one another down. A moment, then Morro turned, averting his eyes, and ran off to his room.

Wu began to wonder if he had been wrong- if green wasn’t what he saw.

And yet training continued, and Morro grew stronger still, the deep rooted fear of rejection- of failing and being left- of the destiny he had been handed and forced to carry. Green, hm? He’d have to be good enough for green.

The day had come, a day Wu had been dreading, a day Morro had, with anxious breath, been looking forward to. Morro would be called Green and everything would be fine- Wu wouldn’t leave him, because he’d be green- he had to be he’d worked so hard to get here.

Wu smiled softly at his pupil, who strode into the room with sure steps, with fidgeting hands.

The weapons laid out. Morro closed his eyes, and stepped forward, surrounding himself with their golden light.

And it was silent.

Wu blinked, heaved a sigh.

Morro opened his eyes. No no no no no.

“I’ll train more- learn more lessons!” He couldn’t have come all his way for nothing. He couldn’t have spent so long, only for destiny to-

“Destiny has spoken.” Wu was calm, his worries of an over-ambitious green ninja put to rest. It wasn’t Morro, that was fine with him.

Anger, more than any Morro had ever felt, swirled like a cyclone in him. His sensei didn't care. He never had, had he? He’d only tolerated him for destiny’s sake. Morro, voice rough around its edges, underused for years, raised to a shout.

“Then I refuse to listen!” There was no way he could give up now- without a purpose, never having been given time for anything else but practice. Never having thought of the “what-if” enough to have a backup plan, Sensei so sure he wouldn’t need one. No purpose, no need for him- would he be thrown back out? The wind howled outside, and Morro yelled with all the force he had, grabbing the screen door, throwing it, a gale force trapped in the dojo. “You made me believe!”

The room was a mess, his student having torn it apart then left in a whirlwind. Wu stood, stomach in knots, guilt dying his mind from green to grey.

Morro was his biggest regret.

When Wu entered Morro’s room, he was greeted with a sight he hadn’t expected. The boy, still a child, had packed a bag with only the essentials, the cloth he’d tied it all in torn from his old kite. He was leaving?

Better to leave than be kicked out, better to act as though you’re okay when you want to cry, because Sensei trained you to be stronger than that.

Proving destiny wrong was no easy task.

One slip up, you’re dead.

Morro clambered into the cave, older now, alone. How he’d made it to eighteen while testing fate time and time again he’d never know.

A sound rumbled from somewhere- one of the tests? The room smelled awful, sickening, heavy clouds of smoke and soot, the ground beneath his feet covered in pebbles that rolled and slid whenever he took a step. Surely it was here, right? If only he could see!

A wind whipped up the smoke, clearing it away, shaking lose the unsteady surroundings. A cave in- like fate had found the least climactic way to kill him. The boulders that tumbled down pinned his legs, the smog and noxious gas filling his lungs. Too much of that and he’d be dead- if only he could move these damn rocks.

No breezes, no winds, nothing. He was pinned.

A slow death is what he deserved, he supposed.

A second per hour he’d wasted on this whole ordeal.

The cursed realm isn’t what he expected- though he should have. The First Spinjitzu Master wasn’t one to support people seeking out his tomb for personal reasons- for reasons going against destiny. Or maybe it was his years spent claiming to be the green ninja? His simple existence?

Cursed.

How fitting that ghosts were green.

#mod cole #fanfic #ninjago #morro ninjago #ninjago morro #lego ninjago #ninjago fanfic #selectively mute character #selectively mute morro #s5 spoilers #GOD im jittery posting this! #i never post my writing drftghjk #so uh #blease give me feedbakc

[artificialqueens]

You’re A Kite, Dancing In A Hurricane

Hi guys. This is my first fic so any feedback would be much appreciated. This is also just the first chapter.

AU of Hurricane Bianca. Where Roy is a struggling science teacher who moves to a small town in Texas and Danny is a troubled student who performs at a local gay bar at the weekends. Its virtually inevitable that their relationship will be anything other than ordinary. Danny is 18 in this fic.

Roy stared at the contents of the back of his car, otherwise known as all his worldly possessions, as he got ready to leave and start a new chapter of his life in Texas. A few suitcases, a goldfish, and some nicknacks he’d picked up along the way was all Roy had to show for 37 years on this earth. Not that he cared much. He just hoped that in this next adventure hew would find something more meaningful. And hopefully more permanent. Roy had moved around a lot throughout his adult life, between being a substitute teacher for various schools, moving in and out of shitty apartments and having different groups of friends he had never stayed anywhere long enough to call it home. The closest he had to this was his two best friends D.J and Willam, who were waiting anxiously by his car. But he was getting to old for his life to focus around parties and drinking, hence him taking up the teaching job in a Milford, Texas. He hugged his two best friend and set off on the road. Next stop- new beginning.

—

As soon as Roy arrived the new town he realised how foolish he had been. It was shit. His house was tiny, and next door to the most bigoted prick he had ever met. The town looked as though it had been left abandoned for years. Hopefully the school would surprise him, he thought as he approached the front steps. He eventually found his way to the Vice Principals office where a student with a black eye was in the process of being scolded.

“It’s time for you to leave kid, you’ve been cluttering up my office for half the day.” The small woman behind the desk, who Roy presumed to be the Vice Principal, shooed the boy away.

“The nurse said that I need to sta-“ The boy protested. Roy looked the boy up and down. He was tall with beautiful black collar length hair and one hell of an “I don’t give a fuck” attitude. If it weren’t for the black nail polish and distressed tee, Roy would’ve presumed the kid to be quite the chick magnet. Although he was guessing that he has his mind set elsewhere.

“I don’t care what the nurse said you’ve gotta go.” The kid was holding an ice pack to his bruised and swollen cheek. He clearly wasn’t fit to go back to class, and any sane teacher would be in the process of hunting down whoever did this to such a sweet angel. Wow. Calm down Roy.

“I hope you don’t mind me interjecting”, Roy took the gap in the conversation as an opportunity to begin speaking. “But I really don’t think this kid should be going anywhere”. The boy smiled bashfully and looked at his feet.

“Actually, Sir, I do mind.” Said the woman behind the desk. “This particular kid has been a problem for the school for some time, and I’d like him to leave my office now.” The boys face snapped up and into a frown.

“Problem? Fuck that, I just mind my own damn business and keep to myself but somehow still managed to get beat up left right and centre. I never ask for it. You can fuck all the way off if you think I’m the problem here.”

Yes! Kids got some balls! Roy was trying to suppress a smile at not only the kids outburst but his language. He also felt kinda sad that the kid clearly needed help and vowed to do whatever he could to help him out of whatever mess he was in.

“Okay, that’s it. Detention after school for one hour every night this week, starting tonight.” The kids eyes started to well up with tears and Roy just wanted to hug him. He watched as the kid picked up his raggedy, punk rock looking satchel off the floor and stomped away, muttering an array of colourful language under his breath. What a lovely introduction to the school.

“So what can I do for you, as you can see I’m a very busy woman so keep it quick.” The woman behind the desk looked at him and began tapping her foot impatiently on the floor. Rude.

“Hi. You must be Debbie Ward! Im Roy Haylock the new science teacher.” Roy tried to suppress his anger towards the woman and held out his hand for her to shake. She ignored the offer and immediately began speaking.

“Well then Mr Hoyle, here’s your lesson plan,” She said, thrusting him a copy of ‘Creationism’ which looked as though it was from the 1950’s. “Your class is in room 115.”

“Thank you!” Roy plastered on the fakest, biggest smile he could muster and turned to leave.”

“Oh and one more thing. Since you seemed to care so much, you can be on detention duty with the problem child.” She added, looking pleased with herself. Brilliant, an extra hour of work every day. Nice going Roy. At least this would be his chance to figure out a way to help this kid.

—

Roy waited anxiously for his new class to sit down as he stood in front of the beautifully written “Mr Haylock” on the chalkboard. Two girls in cheer costumes were the first to actually acknowledge his presence. One of the girls handed him a box of chocolate and sat back down. Roy began to think this school might not be as bad as he had first thought. Until he went to take a bite and noticed the girls giggling. He knew girls like this from his own time being relentlessly bullied in high school. He decided, much to the girls disappointment that he would leave the chocolates for later.

“Good morning class. As some of you have very kindly noticed” he said, giving side eye to the two cheerleaders on the front row,”I am new here. Now, I moved here from New York City, so some of the shit you may have gotten away with with your previous teachers ain’t gonna fly with me.” The students giggled at his abrupt and sweary manner and Roy smiled to let them know he was at least in part joking. ���Okay so before we start I’ll be giving you a quick rundown of what we’ll be doing for the rest of the year-“ Roy was interrupted by the sound of the door. As he turned round ready to berate the offender, he stopped when he realised it was the kid he’d seen in the office this morning.

“Sorry I’m late.” The kid shuffled to his seat at the back of the room.

Roy was torn between wanting to show the class he didn’t take any bullshit but also not wanting to go to hard on the kid after the shit he’d been through already today. “Luckily for you, I hadn’t started anything important. Don’t let it happen again.” Roy ended with a light smile.

“Whatever.” The boy drawled, turning to stare out of the window. He barely moved from that position for the rest of class. Roy was nervous about what tonight’s detention would bring.

—

Roy sat in his classroom at the end of the day anticipating the arrival of the boy, whose name he had not yet learned. He decided to make that a top priority. The boy eventually arrived, 15 minutes late and reeking of weed. “Do plan on arriving late for everything?” Roy asked as he walked to his usual seat at the back of the room.

“Ya probably.” The kid shrugged and took out a notebook. Hey, at least he was honest. The boy began writing in his notebook and Roy sat awkwardly neatening everything on his already impeccable desk. After a few minutes of awkward silence Roy attempted to start a conversation.

“So kid what’s your name?”

“Danny.” He said, not looking up from his book. After a couple of minutes the kid spoke up again. “What’s yours?”

“Roy.” This time, Danny looked up from his book, looking confused. “Shit you meant my teacher name didn’t you?”

“Um. Yeah.” Danny smirked.

“Mr Haylock.” Roys face blushed red with embarrassment. He would have to get used to this teaching adult aged kids thing. Danny continued writing in his book, after a few minutes he looked up again.

“Can I call you Roy?” Danny asked with a grin.

“No way.” Roy laughed at the cheek of him. He was starting to like this kid.

“Pretty please.” Danny batted his long eyelashes and gave Roy the biggest puppy dog eyes he could manage. Roy laughed.

“Do you want more detentions kid?” Roy laughed some more.

“Only if they’re with you.” Roy spluttered slightly. Hold on was this kid flirting with him now? Roy went bright red with embarrassment for the second time in the past five minutes.

“Sure thing kid.” Roy hesitantly replied, whilst Danny laughed some more. Did that count as flirting? Had Roy just flirted with a student? The laughter eventually settled into comfortable silence and Danny continued to scribble away in his notebook.

“I’m not a kid you know”. Roy rolled his eyes and smiled. “No I’m serious, I’m 18 I got held back a year when my dad died.” Danny said nonchalantly, in a way that broke Roy’s heart.

“I’m sorry to hear that Danny.” Roy said in a more serious tone. The fact that the student he’d been flirting with was actually a legal adult was brushed to the back of Roy’s mind as he remembered that the kid was most likely desperately in need of some help.  He decided to try and approach the subject as gently as he could.

“So what’s this book you’re writing in. Seems to me like you’ve written more in it than you wrote in my class all day.” Roy began whilst walking to the desk in front of Danny and turning round the chair to face him.

“Nothing.” Danny said quickly and snapped the book shut. Roy felt bad for the kid. Clearly this was some sort of diary and he was worried that he’d crossed a line by bringing it up. Roy tried a different approach.

“So how’d you wind up here today?”

“Mouthing off to Debbie. You were there.” Danny smirked at the memory.

“I mean before that.” Roy smiled softly.

“You mean how did I get myself beat up? Oh just by being super cool, having loads of friends and being queer.” Danny laughed. Roy didn’t. “Two of those were a lie by the way.” Danny laughed again.

“You know you can talk to people-“

“Hold on let me tell you how this next part of the conversations going to go. You’re going to tell me that her are people here to help me and I’m going to tell you that that’s a big crock of shit and you don’t know what you’re talking about.” Danny said in a more serious tone. Roy looked stumped.

“Maybe there’s something I can do.” Roy tried again.

“Look I know you’re new here but you need to learn that nobody here actually cares about helping m- anyone but themselves. Okay. This town is shit. Nothing will change. Get over it.” Danny said raising his voice slightly. Roy took a moment to process Danny’s outburst.

“I’m sorry that that’s how you feel, but I genuinely do want to help you. And I’m not going to sit here and watch while any student of mine is getting treated like this.” Roy spoke softly and attempted to look Danny in the eye. The younger boy was looking out of the window, looking as though he was on the brink of tears. The two sat in silence for a minute longer. Roy glanced at his watch and noticed that they had another 25 minutes of detention left.

“Do you want to leave early, Danny?”

“Yes please.” Danny whispered, his voice breaking slightly at the end. Danny picked up his notebook and his bag and walked quickly out of the room. Roy remained looking at the space where Danny had been just moments ago, thinking about the events of the past half an hour.

—

When Roy got home he called his best friends from New York to talk to them about his confusing first day. The pair squealed with excitement when he answered call connected.

“Ahhhhhhhh girl we missed you. This bitch has been driving me crazy.” D.J laughed and nudged Willam. “So tell us everything. What’s your house like? What’s the town like? Have you got grindr yet? Have you met anyone yet?”

“Have you fucked anyone yet?” Willam added. Roy laughed at his two best friends. He missed them so much and was definitely starting to think that he’d made a mistake in coming to this hell hole.

“Which one of those would you like me to answer first?” Roy cackled and waited for his friends stop giggling before speaking again. “Okay. House is shitty. Town is awful. No grindr. No friends. I want to come home. So how are you guys then?”

“Wait you didn’t answer the last question. Who you fucking girl?” D.J squealed as Roy went bright red.

“Nobody.” He laughed trying to hide the embarrassment on his face.

“Roy-Lady, you’re gonna tell us eventually girl so you might as well just spill.” Willam insisted.

“I met him at work” Roy admitted.  The boys on the other end of the phone squealed.

“Ooooo a teacher. Is he hot? Is he good in bed?” His friends took turns at over excitedly asking him questions.

“He’s not a teacher. And I haven’t slept with him. I’m not into him, at least I don’t think I am. I can’t be anyways! He’s just… interesting.” Roy fumbled over his words. He’d only known Danny for a day and he was already managing to get inside his head. Roy was in trouble.

“Girl, interesting is just your smart ass way of saying you want to fuck him. So what does he teach?” DJ asked. “Biology” He suggested, and wiggled his eyebrows.

“I told you he’s not a teacher.” Roy mumbled the rest of the sentence under his breath.

“Speak up bitch.” His friends shouted down the phone.

“He’s a student.” Roy admitted.

“Nuh-huh honey that’s wrong. You can’t be messing with them kiddies up in that backwards little down you done found yourself in.” D.J scolded him and Roy went bright red once more.

“He’s not a child! He’s about to turn 19! And nothing has even happened. God am I an awful person.” Roy rambled.

“Oh girl if he’s 19 that shits fair game. You shoulda said baby.” Willam reassured him.

“I didn’t get a chance to before you guys jumped on my ass. Nothing’s going to happen anyways, I’m still his teacher regardless of how old he is.” Roy said in a serious tone.

“Girl it sounds like you need to get yourself a drink and loosen up.” Willam said, feeling bad for his friend. After saying their goodbyes and Roy promising he would stop being so melodramatic, Roy hung up and decided he would actually go out and get that drink he apparently so desperately needed. After arriving at what appeared to be the only bar in town Roy learnt that they did not serve any alcohol he drove disappointedly home and sulked for the rest of the evening.

__

Ashamedly, Roy spent all of Tuesday waiting for his detention with Danny to come around. He taught his lessons and insulted his students half-heartedly, all while wondering what tonight’s detention would bring. When detention finally did roll around Roy sat behind his desk and began to grade some assignments, as he expected Danny would be fifteen minutes late. As though on cue, Danny arrived late and reeking of weed once more.  Danny took his usual seat at the back of the room and started tossing a ball back and forth in his hands.

“Sorry I was a dick yesterday,” Danny drawled. Roy laughed and gave a fake disapproving look at Danny’s language.

“Really Danny, with the language again?” Roy laughed and started walking towards his seat across from Danny’s desk. Danny laughed and Roy thought it just might have been the sweetest sound he had ever heard.  Roy noticed the small plastic ball that Danny was tossing between his hands and decided to try and start a light conversation.

“What’s that you’ve got there?” Roy asked.

“It’s s stress ball. You know like for stress and stuff.” Danny answered and tossed Roy the ball. Roy turned the red foam ball over in his hand and noticed small marks in the shape of fingernails, presumedly from repeated and forceful pressure. Roy was saddened at the thought of Danny being so upset and angry at the world that he could cause this damage. He wished there was something he could do.

“So you wanna talk about anything?” Roy asked and tossed the ball back to Danny.

“Where are you from?” Danny asked and tossed the ball back again.

“I meant anything serious” Roy laughed and smiled at Danny.

“Nope.” Danny laughed, holding out his hand for the ball. Roy tossed it to him and he continued. “So come on Mi Amo we don’t have all day. Where are you from?” Danny grinned as Roy blushed.

“New Orleans, originally. I moved to New York after Hurricane Katrina and have lived there ever since. Well until I moved here.” Roy explained as Danny tossed the ball back to him.

“New York. Party.” Danny beamed. “What’s it like-” Danny started, before Roy cut him off.

“I believe it’s my turn to ask a question. Have you lived in Milford all your life?” Roy asked, punctuated by throwing the ball back to Danny.

“No I’m from Azusa. I’ll stab a bitch.” Danny answered, followed by a delicate giggle which indicated it was very likely that he could not stab a bitch. “We moved here after my dad died cause my mum met some new guy.” Danny said, looking slightly sad. “Do you have any siblings?” Danny asked, throwing the ball back to Roy and continuing the game of questions/ catch that they had begun.

“I do. I’m one of five. What do you want to do when you graduate?”

“Get the fuck out of here.” Danny laughed and Roy smirked at his answer.  “What’s your favourite food?”

“My favourite what? Is this some kind of slumber party now?” Roy teased Danny about his childlike question choice.

“It can be.” Danny said flirtily. Roy didn’t know how to respond so he just continued as though it hadn’t happened, whilst trying to suppress a blush.

“I don’t have a favourite food. What’s yours?” Danny laughed at Roy’s discomfort.

“Pizza.” Danny grinned. Roy couldn’t think of any more questions so the pair settled into a comfortable silence tossing the ball back and forth. After a couple of minutes he decided to check in on Danny’s injuries from yesterday.

“How’s your head?” Roy asked cautiously.

“Haven’t had any complaints.” Danny laughed at his own joke and Roy cursed himself for setting it up for him.

“I mean your injury.” Roy stammered, trying to move past Danny’s blatant flirting.

“It’s fine.” Danny answered, brushing the question off. After that the pair settled into the steady questioning for the rest of the detention. It was twenty minutes after Danny was due to leave before they realised the time. Slightly embarrassed that he had let himself become so distracted, Roy quickly said his goodbyes to Danny and they went their separate ways.

#biadore #romance/angst #hurt/comfort #tw swearing #bianca del rio #adore delano #rpdr fanfiction #yakdiah #student/teacher #high school au #queen au #hurricane bianca au #m/m au #kite

[crasherfly]

An Incredulous Strain for Normalcy

Well, here I am in New Orleans. I have a beautiful hotel room at the heart of the French Quarter and nothing but time on my hands. Exactly how I planned it.

Except not at all. Thanks soon-to-be-Hurricane Ida.

Arriving in NO yesterday I felt like I was in a bit of a fever dream. After 2 years of literally going nowhere further than Iowa, being on a different side of the country felt absolutely unreal. 

The French Quarter has been a surreal experience. After checking into my loft hotel room overlooking Bourbon Street I headed out to do exactly as I’d promised myself I’d do- get lost in the crowds and follow the music.

A full seafood platter, multiple impromptu parades and two jazz shows later I’m recovering from my sensory overload in the back corner of a pub when the establishment’s band (every place seems to have a band) makes a joke- “This next song is for Ida, who’s barreling this way, bless her”.

Huh?

I blinked. Maybe they meant an older hurricane? Wasn’t there an Ida before? A quick phone search later dispelled that- there was a tropical storm named Ida that had formed as I had been on my flight down south. It was projected to make landfall Sunday as a cat 3. A hurricane watch had been issued and evacuation orders were being weighed out.

Well, shit.

Up to this point I had been...pretty thrilled with how things were going. Not that things were perfect- I blew out my shoulder two days ago, dropped my phone in a full sink of water and my right eye was bright red from altitude strain, but I was here, just like I said I’d be! And in many ways it felt like I was an adult visiting Pleasure Island. My cab driver described Bourbon Street as the party that never ends, and he was right. I’ve never been somewhere like Vegas, so seeing revelers drinking in broad daylight, spontaneous parades breaking out, Tarot readers on every corner and people hanging off of balconies along every street was absolutely wild. I wasn’t much for joining in, but I felt happy to be a part of something so alive and human and messy. 

Sitting in that pub as a parade of exotic dancers and street musicians passed by the window, much to the bemusement of the bartender (”those are the LADIES of Nawlins and we DO appreciate them here” she said, correcting one drunken man at the bar who had called them “strippers”, which I noted rang with the thud of an unexpected slur), I realized I was pretty happy. The music, the lighting, the vibrancy, the raw noise- it was exactly what I needed, and already I could feel my brain relaxing into content- a thankfulness that I was anywhere other than home.

Until, of course, I discovered the damn hurricane. Like someone turning all the lights on in a dark room, I blinkingly came out of my daze and found myself thinking, frantically, how I could find my way back to the home I had been so desperate to leave these past few weeks.

This had happened before. It was Hurricane Matthew and I was in Florida. That time I got lucky- Matthew was a non-event for the part of Florida I was in and my hotel was reinforced for hurricane strength winds and not in an area in danger of storm surge. That time, I rode it out and just rearranged my travel plans by a day. Easy.

This time, well... We all know about New Orleans and its history with storms. No way was I getting caught up in this. I did the math right there in the bar and opted for tough (and unpleasant) choice- cutting my trip short by 2 days and flying back home before the storm could hit.

Maybe it was my imagination but I think a lot of other folks were doing the same. I visited a few more spots before the night ended and I could hear people playing out the same conversations over and over- to book or not to book, to leave or to stay. It sounded like most people were making the same call as me and opting to get the fuck out of dodge.

This morning, my suspicions were confirmed. On my way into the city the driver warned me Bourbon Street would be shoulder to shoulder busy by 9 AM on Friday. It’s noon as I’m publishing this and the streets are essentially empty. City workers in golf carts drive by with piles of sandbags. A few delivery trucks pass by unimpeded. As the rain starts up anew a half-empty horse-drawn carriage passes by. Maybe the streets will spring back to the same, half-crazed life I witnessed last night- but I have doubts. When I told the hotel desk I was checking out two days early, they didn’t even ask why. The clerk just nodded and said “we understand completely, good luck”.

This isn’t how I imagined my big, independent trip down south would go. I imagined long lazy days, chances to write (hey, I’m still doing that now!), fumo photo opts and classy restaurants. I imagined passing myself off as a refined adult, taking a big adventurous trip. I imagined feeling proud of myself when I’d tell folks about how I decided to strike out on my own in a place I’d never been. 

But maybe that wasn’t realistic from the outset. While Bourbon Street has definitely been a riotous, joyous time, it doesn’t come without obvious cracks showing in the foundations. Alcohol is the lifeblood of the street. The jazz you dream of hearing in the air is more often drowned out by top 40 billboard music and the voices of hawkers trying to drag people into their clubs. Poverty and inequity are nakedly displayed at all hours, a reminder of how the city invested in its tourism first and its residents last. And of course Covid has left its clear mark of strain on everyone- form businesses to workers, who barely hide the weary strain of folks who have been on the front lines for way, way too long. In many ways it smacks of my own visit to Hollywood Blvd back in my 20s- a mirror of similar equity failures and violent party culture, glossed over by the tourism that so many in American have imagined and projected onto the destination- perhaps against its will.

And that’s just the shortlist. I could go on to talk about the unforeseen challenges of traveling alone- anyone- be it panhandlers, hawkers, sales reps or sex workers- beelines for you if you’re a lone dude on the street. I don’t have any moral scruples about it- folks have to make a living and I’m always very empathetic and wish them well, but as someone who has social anxiety to start with (and am an easy mark for an emotional plea), it can be hard not want to retreat back to your hotel room for the rest of the day after your third proposition from a pushy sex worker or a guy offering to tell you where you bought your shoes in exchange for $20. But that’s Bourbon Street and I should’ve expected it, ha.

And of course there is the undeniable fact that things are just straight up not normal right now in any sense of the word. Be it Covid or climate change, traveling just isn’t what it was even a few years ago. I mean, it was already exhausting, but now it’s almost intolerable. That moment where I’m at the coffee shop and realizing I *hopefully* left my vaccine card in my other pants, and rushing back madly to my hotel to verify I didn’t drop it on a street somewhere- drove it home to me, really drove home the pressing futility of it all- especially the incredulous strain for normalcy that I’d imagined before the trip. Try as I might- even fully vaccinated and spending no small amount of cash on a nice hotel and researching the shit out of my visit- this is not and cannot be normal. It maybe never will be again. I found my vaccine card, by the way. But as I did, I could only sight in exhaustion. Was this really worth the trouble? Was any trip?

Then there’s the hurricane, which has far bigger implications for this region than the best laid plans of one deeply silly dude. At this point, I can’t help but think- why ever travel south again? At least, why do that during storm season. And will others make the same conclusion? And what does that mean to a place so desperately reliant on its tourism?

I have, realistically speaking, about 24 hours left in New Orleans. I already picked up beignets and a tall glass of coffee. I’ve spent my morning watching anime and writing this Tumblr out on the balcony. I’ll travel in a bit to Jackson Square to see what’s going on and maybe take some pictures of fumos. I may walk down to the Riverwalk as well. I’ve already decided that I’ll take a nice dinner tonight and avoid the streets in favor of my balcony (gotta make the most of this incredibly costly view). 

At some point, I’ll need to repack the bags I’ve barely had time to touch before I leave tomorrow. The world is big and vast and chaotic- my trip is pretty small in comparison to all the reasons I’m going back early. And maybe that’s the lesson here- a lesson about managed expectations and the cost of normalcy- or even the hope for normalcy- in a world that is so clearly waving goodbye to it through the rearview mirror.

[newstfionline]

Meet the tutors of the ultra-rich

David Batty, The Guardian, 13 Mar 2018

Early one summer morning some years ago, Nathaniel Hannan was confronted by one of his students brandishing an antique Colt six-shooter. The private tutor had been hired by the young boy’s super-wealthy New York parents to ensure that his academic performance befitted the family’s elite social circle. Fortunately the tutor, who had been preparing a Latin lesson at one of the family’s homes, owned a revolver similar to the one now pointed at him and noticed that it was not fully cocked, meaning the gun could not be fired immediately.

“He seemed to be under the delusion that he was a gang member taking revenge upon me for a drug deal gone bad,” Hannan says of the boy, who he says had mental health problems. “I managed to handle the situation with a minimum of physical violence. I grabbed the barrel towards the ceiling and disarmed him.”

The tutor recognised the weapon, famously used by the US cavalry in the old west, as part of a collection on display in the family home. When Hannan explained what had happened to the boy’s father, the man “sort of shrugged and asked if I wanted combat pay”. “There were no penalties to the son,” Hannan recalls. “The father did, however, stop keeping the gun on display and I took the bullets out and kept them.” Some weeks later, Hannan had to disarm the boy again after he held a knife to the tutor’s throat. But the tutor stresses that this was the only one of his five long-term posts with super-rich families over the past 10 years where he had to deal with such extreme behaviour.

His experience is untypical for the British tuition industry which, according to the Tutors’ Association, is worth around £2bn a year. The majority of families who hire tutors in Britain are middle-class parents, with students often receiving additional lessons in the evening or at the weekend to help with schoolwork or grammar school entrance exams. But a handful of firms in London and the home counties also provide tutors for the super-rich, who account for about 10-25% of their clients and can pay between £50,000 and £70,000, or more, a year. One, Tutors International, says almost all its clients are high or ultra-high net-worth families.

Hannan, who works for the Oxford-based company, may have encountered only one gun-toting pupil, but the Tutors International founder Adam Caller says his staff have had to deal with incidents of self-harm, child abandonment and threats of violence. He once arranged to surreptitiously remove another tutor from her placement in the western US after a boy pulled a knife on her. “The father didn’t think it was a problem but she was scared for her life. We had to sneak her out of the house when the father was at the bakery, which he went to every morning. The police waited at the entrance to the property and escorted her to a plane.”

Caller believes that such incidents reflect the increasingly complex and exhausting demands tutors face while living with uber-wealthy families. In the past four months, these pressures have pushed the company’s top salaries to about $250,000 (£180,000) a year. “By far the greatest rise in the highly paid jobs is coming from Asia,” he says. “We’ll be earning more than $1m in revenue from four tutors in Hong Kong this year.”

In the past, the toughest roles might involve tutoring a child in up to 15 GCSEs, but now tutors are routinely required to be fluent and teach in two or three languages, from French to Russian and Mandarin Chinese, and to create a lesson programme suited to school curriculums in different countries. Some of the best-paid roles also involve addressing learning difficulties, mental health problems and other special needs: Hannan once worked with a young heir who had suffered a brain injury in a motorcycle accident. Others require additional work: the company has a job advertised in Florida, where the tutor will need to act as a personal assistant and project manager for the family, overseeing the rebuilding of their main residence, which was badly damaged by Hurricane Irma.

However, the mere fact that the family has such wealth and privilege can be the root of their children’s problems, says Caller. Some of these families “don’t work very well because they’re so rich”, he explains. For example, they never have to be on time for a flight, because they own a private jet. “The children grow up without any consequences for their lack of responsibility,” he says. Some of them also feel that “if they put effort into something, they won’t do any better than if they didn’t. They’ve got nothing to work for.”

One role currently advertised involves working with a 12-year-old Japanese boy, whose relationship with his parents is described as “toxic”. The advert states: “He frequently ferments [sic] trouble between himself and his schools. His access to the family wealth has led to his ability effectively to ‘buy’ friends, and … it is unclear whether he has any real friends at all. Over the years, the student has come to rely on his father’s money to solve all sorts of problems.”

The job, which has a minimum salary of $225,000 (£162,000), or $300,000 (£216,000) for a couple, may require moving with the boy to the US and being on call at all times: “The successful candidate will have to work as a tutor, mentor, guide and friend, and in some ways a surrogate parent.”

Another of Hannan’s former clients, who does not want to be named, says that she and her financier husband hired a tutor to mentor their son, who has Tourette’s syndrome. “The only thing he found that calmed it down was marijuana,” she says, “so he probably started smoking a bit too much. He was feeling very down, so it was a struggle to get him up in the morning and get him to class. That was when we realised we needed to intervene.” Their first step was to send the teenager to a therapeutic wilderness camp, which tackles addiction, mental health and behavioural issues in a calming natural environment. “It took him away from other kids who had high anxiety and other issues. When he finished, he was ready to re-enter normal life but not be in the same environment with the same friends.”

The role required not just working with the boy, but also assisting his parents. The job description stated that the tutor should “help them to enforce their boundaries and [limit] the controlling behaviours of their son. He has come to learn that if he makes enough of a fuss he can get what he wants from his parents and while they do not want this to continue they need support to develop strategies to be able maintain their authority when under pressure from their son.”

Hannan, who studied at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana and Oxford University, not only helped the boy with university applications and preparation for admission tests but also bonded with him through their mutual love of mechanics, often helping the teenager fix his car. “I used the rapport to help him understand what his parents meant when they said or did things,” he says. “The upshot was that he was more likely to respond in a way that didn’t lead to shouting matches.”

The professionalism required in a private tutoring arrangement is very different to that required in a classroom, says Hannan, who previously taught in a private school in Washington DC. “For all kinds of child protection reasons, being a school teacher requires a certain emotional distance. In a family environment that changes; it’s important to be able to develop a sincere rapport with these folks.” His former student’s mother says that Hannan became a friend to her son, who is now at university. “My son appreciated [that there was] somebody to help guide him, moving forward,” she adds. “To have someone by his side, holding his hand, was a really positive thing for him.”

Other tutors say rifts in families often arise due to the high-flying and transient nature of the parents’ jobs or lifestyles. Mark Maclaine, who co-founded the agency Tutorfair in 2012 after more than a decade of tutoring, says tutors can also find themselves acting as an intermediary between highly demanding parents and their offspring. “If you’ve got a parent who is very successful in their career, they have been used to getting results by pushing their staff,” he says. “But kids don’t work the same way. The parents realise that the life skills that helped them become incredibly successful don’t apply to their child who is struggling. A lot of the families turn round to me and say: ‘I think I’m making it worse.’ If your dad is the king or your mum is the head of a huge corporation, that’s going to be dialled up to 11.”

However, Dirk Flower, a Harley Street psychologist who works with super-rich families and several tutoring agencies, says tutors can also find themselves in families whose value systems undermine their efforts. The standard gripe is that parents expect the tutor to achieve top grades even if the pupil’s schooling is disrupted by frequent holidays, he says. But the clash of values can be more extreme. “You do get a criminal family where the 13-year-old is walking around with a Kalashnikov because their father wants them to take over the empire.”

Cleo Masliah, a tutor who works with another agency, Simply Learning, says a significant aspect of her work with both children and their parents is helping them to operate in western society. Masliah, who studied art history at the Courtauld Institute in London and interior design at La Cambre in Belgium, has worked with ultra high net worth families in Dubai, Moscow, Switzerland and the Caribbean. When she tutored a young Russian girl who wanted to get into a leading British boarding school, she had to advise the mother on how to present herself. “In Russia, if you’re visiting a school and you want to show the principal that you’re serious, you take out all your diamonds and your Birkin bag and your Chanel suits and you wear some nice stilettos,” she says. “That’s frowned upon by an academic school in Britain. So part of the job is to say, ‘You know what? It would be a good idea for you to wear flats and keep the jewellery to a minimum. And you know what? You’re a smart, high-profile lawyer; let’s make sure they know that.’ And the girl got in.”

Masliah says the grey area of switching between being an authority figure and acting like an older sister to being a friend and adviser to a parent is what makes the job “fantastic”. However, she warns that tutors must remember the power their clients wield. “They are extremely wealthy, and your relationship with them is going to be what they decide it’s going to be. If you have an issue with a normal middle-class family, the worst that is going to happen is that you never speak to each other again. This is different; these are often people in a lot of power. And you’re often not in your home country--you’re in their country, where they are very important. I do a background check on my clients before I work with them. There’s a level of shady that I am not working with, because I’m putting myself in danger,” she says.

Emma Swanson, the founder of the UK-based international company Tutoring Futures, says home tutoring has become much more popular than boarding school for the super-rich because it is more convenient and allows the parents to spend more time with the children. “The father who needs to travel a lot now takes his children with him,” she says. “But, obviously, the ultra-high-net-worth do live a very transient lifestyle and they have homes around the world and yachts they want to spend their time on.”

In late 2016, James Clement, a former high-school teacher who works independently as a tutor in Washington DC, did a tutoring job with a family who took their children out of school for a term to travel round the world. For 12 weeks, they sailed around Indonesia on a 75-metre superyacht. He and another tutor taught the girls between 8am and 1pm on the observation deck, which was converted into a schoolroom, taking short breaks to play board games. Two or three days a week, the tutors would be invited to go jet- or water-skiing with the girls. On other days, they might go snorkelling or scuba diving on a coral reef, which would be used to teach their students about marine biology, or visit villages, volcanoes and islands relevant to their history and geography lessons.

While both tutors ate most of their meals with the 20 crew, on occasions they would be invited to join the family for dinner. But these were not simply social invitations, with the tutors sometimes asked at a day’s notice to give PowerPoint presentations on a wall-height projector screen in the yacht’s salon. “Once they asked if we would give a 30-45 minute presentation on the history of Indonesia,” says Clements. Other topics included the country’s political climate and scientific facts related to the places they visited.

Such tasks reflect how tutors tread a fine line between being friends of the family and mere employees. Nathaniel McCullagh, managing director of Simply Learning, says tutors enjoy an elevated status compared with other staff due to their academic credentials and close relationship with the children. But this can risk alienating the household’s “loyal retainers”--the personal assistant, the nanny, the butler--whom the tutors need on their side because they know the family’s foibles and secrets. “They’ll be the ones to say, ‘This is a good time to talk to the parents’, [or] ‘Whatever you do, don’t go into that room.’”

Although tutors sometimes receive privileges, including expensive gifts such as Rolex watches, use of private jets and family holiday homes, McCullagh stresses that they must be “unimpressed by their surroundings”. “We really can’t put anyone in with chips on their shoulder or any kind of overwhelming adoration for the family or the money or the lifestyle,” he says. “You’re in this world of massive wealth and, for a limited period, you’re part of it. The next day, the family is going home in a limo and you’re back on a train home. You start thinking, ‘Why am I on easyJet when they’re taking their own jet?’ You’ve got to understand that the parents are your boss, but in many cases they don’t want anything to do with you. They are abdicating their responsibility not because they’re bad people but because they have chosen a professional to do the work. If you’re the sort of person who needs constant affirmation from a parent, you could have problems.”

Caller says tutors are sometimes asked by parents to help a child appreciate their privileges, such as getting the student to make bread for the family for a month, or cooking a meal from scratch, including making their own pasta. Other projects can be more elaborate. For example, one family helped build a library for a school in a disadvantaged area of southern India, and tasked their two children--under the supervision of two tutors--with liaising with contractors, the headmaster and interior designers, as well as organising the fundraising and buying books.

Tutor Melissa Harvey says both sets of parents she worked with saw her comparatively humble background as a positive influence on their children. The modern languages graduate, who previously worked at the Swans international primary school in Marbella in Spain, says the two families “were curious that I went to a comprehensive. I worked in four jobs to get through university and I think they saw those things as a positive influence for their children.” One of her jobs, arranged by Tutors International, involved a private cruise through the Amazon jungle where she says her two students were shown how local people lived. “It was wonderful to be able to show these girls, who come from a very privileged background, other children who don’t. We showed them how they made their clothes or their food, using all the resources around them. Some of the children didn’t have shoes. We gave them some coloured paper and you would have thought we had given them a pot of gold. For the girls, that was a real eye-opener.”

Ultra high net worth families worldwide are predicted to pass down more than $16tn to future generations over the next three decades, according to the analysts Wealth-X. Hannan believes his work has social value. “In some of these students there is absolutely the feeling of ‘Why am I bothering to try? Daddy’s money is always going to be there to take care of me.’ But others think, ‘I’m going to distance myself from that money, from my parents. I want to think of myself as myself.’ The crux of the issue is helping them find out that their lives can have profound meaning separate from this great blessing of family wealth.”

#tutors #tutors of ultra-wealthy

[aspiestvmusings]

SCORPION SEASON 4 TEASERS by EPISODE:

THIS POST WILL HAVE INFO ON ALL THE SCORPION S4 EPISODES.

INFO/SPOILERS TBA LATER...WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE.

The list is on-going (new items will be added when they become available):

Current status: info/teasers for eps 4x01 - 4x22 available..kinda

SPOILERS WILL BE UNDER THE CUT

<Reminder 1: all information is subject to change, because on TV (production) things change all the time. Dialogue/Scenes can be re-written many times during pre-production, & changes made during filming & also during post-production (editing). Scenes can be cut...easily. Changes happen all the time. So not everything teased will happen in canon, on screen. ETA: and the premiere eps already proved that...>

<Reminder 2: PLEASE READ THE DISCLAIMER/IMPORTANT NOTE ALSO AT THE END OF THE POST (REGARDING TV TEASERS!) AND REMEMBER: ALL TEASERS ARE JUST ONE FANS (ME) PERSONAL TAKES ON THINGS - MY REACTIONS TO SPOILERS (casting list, episode title, ep summary, shooting locations, etc) & DO NOT NECESSARILY MATCH WITH OTHER FANS TAKE ON THE SAME EP/STORY/SCENE/THINGS.>

GENERAL S4 SPOILER/TEASER FOR QUINTIS FANS: 

The Quintis continues to be strong in the episodes. We get constant Toby/Happy scenes and development. More focus on some eps, a little less in others. But just like in past seasons, there is a continuous Quintis storyline going on (among the other continuous plots related to Quintis). Every ep has some sweet, cute, funny, or more serious/dramatic Quintis scene. And their teamwork...both case related, and personal, continues to be strong. They are written as an amazing Team working the cases & an amazing Team outside work... being a married couple/family. Look out for some scenes you might not have expected to get. And while you should not expect kiss scenes and such in every episode, no season will pass without some shippery scenes like that...or similar to that. ;)  

And yes, we have not, don’t and will not get as many Quintis “domestic” (dates, hanging at home) scenes... as we do for the shows main ship, but that is logical, because: 

tv shows always reserve more focus...for such things...for their main ship, the secondary ship gets less focus in that way. You just have to accept this about main/secondary ships on tv shows. 

there have been no domestic scenes (except 2x16 end) to avoid building an extra set (Happy’s apartment)... this is why we’ve only seen the outside of her/their house...until now. (and no date scenes either cause the married dorks mostly go to Kovelsky’s, and they’ve avoided actually building that set...so far...too..)  

but no, I would not change it! Even if I will not object..at all...to the domestic scenes, and everything else. But what we’ve gotten..is a lot. 

Also..unlike the main ship, which has one genius/1 normal, our face ship consists of 2 geniuses so they’re both less traditional, also in what they consider date nights & romantic nights at home (re: installing security system)... and their first date, traditional dinner at a restaurant didn’t go so well... (1x20)

And since this show is a comic-book family show, then smooching is basically all that is shown on the show. So we don’t... usually... get to see their private moments. But who knows... lots has changed this season, so perhaps we’ll also be getting some domestic or date night  or similar..scenes... ;)

SEE/READ THE SPOILERY TEASERS FOR PAST EPS - ONES THAT HAVE ALREADY AIRED (401 - 416) -  HERE 

teasers for episodes that have already been aired will be moved to the other post, and this one shall  have the teasers for upcoming episodes only... 

4x19 "Gator Done” – source1  – Teaser/Fun thought, not a spoiler (don’t read into this) #H2O #DNA

“See you later, alligator?” and, btw, the case...originally...isn’t about gators at all! But instead tiny insects! Oh... 

Get ready for a lecture on DNA! 

This episode focuses on H2O... a lot! On many ways...

Team Scorpion (including Ralph & Flo) have been very busy with building &  inventing new things! I love it!  Time to reveal those new “inventions” 

The solution to the weeks case (in the swamp...where there are gators...according to the Doc...) is pretty clever... considering some other plotlines happening at that time #reversedsolution #whatsinthebox #whatsinthecanister

I kinda have a feeling that somehow in some way this episode case/story was influenced by 2017 hurricane season... #thisisjustmyguess

Go Team Patty, Ralph, Sly & Flo! 

Half of the team heads over to “Florida”/gator land! #swamp

Have I said how much I love Walter? The thing he is trying to better himself at in this episode... and his cute  awkward way of doing it ... so relatable!

The team is divided into “three teams” in this episode: 1 person in the garage, 3 “meeting the alligator” and 3 + 1 working on another project. 

Guess who stays in the garage during this episode? #HappyStaysInTheGarage #waitingonthenewsfromDocBrown  #parallelsto306

This episode is a follow-up on a storyline that has been kind of mentioned earlier this season... (think: Sly fighting for the Science Club in 404 & then the WhizKids in 414). An idea/mention from past episode has been turned into a storyline. #waterproject

Oh, and this episode tells us also a bit more about Patty. And I just love how the Patty & Sly friendship has grown over the season. #PattyIveNeverHadATardy #WeestAltadenia

#IfYouSeeAScreenshotOfThisPleaseDontReadTheseAsRealSpoilers #myreactions #notspoilers #dontoverthinkthings #Igeekoutovertheweirdestsmalldetails #QuintisFeels #HereWeGo  #Iwannasaysomuch #IhopeyouwilllikeitasmuchasIdoalready 

4x20 "Foul Balls” – source1  – Teaser/Fun thought, not a spoiler (don’t read into this)  #LetsPlayBall

This episode is all about sports & playing ball. In other words: the greatest fear of the Team Genius 

According to Walt this is the biggest threat they’ve faced...til now (I beg to differ, dear Walt & Team Scorpion  writers... we’ve seen this before... and will again... soon... ;) ) 

What is going on between Happy & Florence? What’s THAT all about? And how is Ralph connected to all of this? 

Happy is on a  mission ...and she’s scary. No-one really knows what she’s talking about....

Happy also steals a limo & kidnaps a 6 feet 4 tall athletic guy! For the sole purpose to have help reaching for stuff on the high/upper shelves. ;) #asafellowshortpersonIgetit #HappyPattyFlorenceAllinTinyClub

Several blasts from the past? We just got a mention of the “interloper” in the ep 416. And there’s another mention of him in this episode. You never guess by whom!

Who is Inmate #98763, the future step-son (whose?)? 

How do dandelions help save the day?

Guess whose is back? This episode features many many (loved & not loved)  guest characters we’ve met before, but only one is significant to the episode main plot. 

How did Cabe (kinda his doing) got the team into this weeks mess? 

There is also a small Quintis side-plot..that I see as similar to 322 thing, and it provides for some great Quintis moments/talk. And can we just  appreciate how far Happy’s come? (we again see how strong the ship is, and how much she’s evolved...and how she “learns this weeks lesson”... or... will there be a twist...coming soon...?)

The ep ends with the team having a meal together...as a family... at Not-Kovelsky’s

Just like in S1 with Drew & Ralph & baseball... the team again uses math  science to play the ballgame!

#IfYouSeeAScreenshotOfThisPleaseDontReadTheseAsRealSpoilers #myreactions #notspoilers #dontoverthinkthings #Igeekoutovertheweirdestsmalldetails #MajorQuintisFeels #HereWeGo #LetsPlayBall  

4x21 "Kenny, and the Jet”  – source1   – Teaser/Fun thought, not a spoiler (don’t read into this)  #PlanesandTeens

There is a (jet)plane in this episode. 

There are no snakes on the plane. But... the team does make an unexpected discovery... regarding cargo on the plane...

Quintis & vehicles... all sort of vehicles!  #motorcycles #planes #wheels #BeCarefulHappy #HubbyIsWorried

Toby is very worried about his wife & mother of their future kid(s), though it’s not her who gets hurt in this ep

I get a lot of s1 Pilot & Xmas ep “feels”... with some “parallels” (some things in this ep remind me of some scenes in those eps). I can find parallels/similarity to things in eps: 101, 121/122, 223/224, 305... etc

Quite a Ralph-ep! #TeenageRalph #RalphAndKenny

Walter uses/tries to use math & science to solve a personal/non-science dilemma he has... 

#IfYouSeeAScreenshotOfThisPleaseDontReadTheseAsRealSpoilers #myreactions #notspoilers #dontoverthinkthings #Igeekoutovertheweirdestsmalldetails #KindaRalphEp #TeamEp #MajorQuintisFeels #HereWeGo  

4x22 "A Lie in the Sand”    – source1   – Teaser/Fun thought, not a spoiler (don’t read into this)  

OMG! #thisepshouldhavetheothergreatstuff #seasonfinalePt2 

Team Scorpion plays/does MINESWEEPER

The case takes us to the desert .. a sandy place...in Africa. #ThisEpisodeAndCaseDoesNotSayFinaleToMeAtAll #haboob 

There are secrets keps that need to surface, but will they...before the episode ends? THAT is the question. 

OK, yes, the Quintis family plan storyline does get a resolution..kinda ...in S4/this finale.  #Icannotandwillnotspeakofthisjustyet #ButTheFinalAnswerComesAtTheVeryEnd #AfterTheDayAndTeamIsSavedWeGetToItFully

What do pterodactyls (a kind of ancient flying reptiles) have to do with any of this? Why are they even mentioned? You might find out, when you tune in for the ep. 

This episode mentions several creatures...  pterodactyls, centipedes, and scorpions... included

This is everything the Quintis fans & Happy/Quintis have wished for... forever... This is exactly what she/we wanted & how she/we wanted it. :) #accurateonbothaccounts

This is a very Team-centric episode. Kinda. (but Flo, Ralph, and Patty aren’t going to the desert... to name a few characters..so..) 

Toby, the doc, in action! 

Where have all the (medical) books gone? Tune in to find out what has happened to Toby’s “library” (book collection) 

And why is Toby “testing” his own blood?

And what does Happy say that Toby responds with a simple "I know.” ? #IveKnownSinceEps307and404ThatStartedTheJourney

The Doc is worried about the Mechanic #NoMoreStuntsForawhilePlease

A little Happy/Walt talk... that IMO is missing something (that can still be added before the scene is filmed) that should be included. #parallelsto223

Sly sets it all off... with his actions, and more... and we learn a few things about what has been going on “off screen” for a while... 

Everything is not what it seems...or sound like. Some stories are a bit “tweaked” ... sometimes... is the lesson of the hour. 

Tell her... is still valid! And it applies to several characters/storylines, actually.  

There are twists...major twists happening within the hour. #calmbeforethestorm (do I mean the sandstorm though?)

There is a small (few weeks) timejump within the episode (think s3 finale & the “3 weeks later” moment... this is done in same style)

The S4 finale...in some ways..also reminds me of S3 finale. And yes, among the many references to past eps... the island adventures are also mentioned. 

#IfYouSeeAScreenshotOfThisPleaseDontReadTheseAsRealSpoilers #myreactions #notspoilers #dontoverthinkthings #Igeekoutovertheweirdestsmalldetails #MajorQuintisFeels #HereWeGo #FinallyTheFinale  #SlyEpKinda #RevealingAnytingElseAoutTheCaseAndEpWouldBeSayingTooMuch #CannotTellWhoTheTeamIsDealingWith #Iwaswrongaboutsomething #Iwasrightaboutsomethings 

YOU HAVE REACHED THE END OF SEASON 4

22 EPS IN TOTAL

PS. ? [question mark] - means that it is a guestimate, not certain date

IMPORTANT NOTICE: “Teasers” are not actual spoilers (and spoilers aren’t “accurate, detailed, word-to-word, singular truths/descriptions of a scene/plot”) The goal of spoiler teaser is to “mislead”. Teasers tease & Spoilers spoil (both are misleading & easy to misinterpret). But only because the teaser does not give the context or the details, and hence fans tend to interpret it whatever way they choose, and consider it “factual”, when teasers are usually about little things, not revealing any actual plot points. 

Read THIS POST & THIS POST on spoilers & how to “read” spoilers. And do not overthink things! Teasers are little fun comments, not spoilers that you should take as direct descriptions of scenes.

IMPORTANT REMINDER: PLEASE READ THIS “DISCLAIMER”/POST WITH INFO ABOUT “HOW TO READ/UNDERSTAND TV TEASER SPOILERS POSTED ON THIS BLOG” POST IN HERE 

Last update: March 28th, 2018

#CBS SCORPION #SCORPION #QUINTIS #SPOILER #scorpion spoiler #TV #TELEVISION #TEASERS #TV TEASER #SCORPION TEASERS #SEASON 4 #SCORPION SEASON 4 #SCORPION S4 #aspiestvmusings #MASTER POST #TEAM SCORPION #REMEMBER: THIS BLOG DOES NOT POST ABOUT THE ROMANTIC STORYLINE OF THIS SHOWS MAIN COUPLE...VISIT W/P BLOG FOR INFO #TV TEASERS ARE NOT TV SPOILERS AND TV TEASERS/SPOILERS ARE NOT CONFIRMED ABSOLUTE SINGLE TRUTHS #DO NOT OVERTHINK #FANDOM #W

[biofunmy]

Sailing in Treacherous Waters to Alaska. With Toddlers for Crew.

This was the third time I’d sailed up the Inside Passage in a boat. The third time I’d watched surf explode from the rocky headlands of northern Vancouver Island, the swell rhythmically shifting my view of the horizon. The umpteenth time I’d listened to the weather forecast on the VHF radio while gulls catapulted past me in the wind. But it was the first time I’d done a trip like this with young children on board.

Last June, in the lengthening days of summer, my husband, Pat, and I launched north from Bellingham, Wash., on a 32-foot sailboat with our sons for crew. In 15 years together, we’d learned that we were happiest when we were outdoors; now, we were applying these same lessons as a family. We set out, like we had so many times before, in search of wilderness, adventure, and the thrill that comes when we push beyond our comfort zones. Under the tutelage of a barely-4-year-old and a not-quite-2-year-old, in a floating home the size of a child’s bedroom, we soon discovered that the best rewards were those we’d never imagined.

“Mommy, when I pee in the ocean it gets fuller,” Huxley announced. My older son gazed back at me with serious dark eyes as he shared his latest observation. With one hand, I held onto the back of his life jacket while he relieved himself over the lifeline of our sailboat; with the other arm, I balanced my younger son on my bent knee. Pat was adjusting the sails while keeping watch for a flailing child. We juggled between single-handing the boat and managing kids. Each shift, Pat and I drew straws. The winner got the boat.

But on this day, I was the lucky one. As I helped Huxley pull up his rain pants, a humpback whale surfaced 40 feet from us. Huxley heard the whale before he saw it; his eyes widening at the whale’s loud “whoosh” as he turned instinctively toward the sound. Grinning, he pointed to its enormous silvery back as a plume of breath rose into the sky. So close I could make out the barnacles and unique markings on its skin, I held my boys tight and we peered together into a magical, underwater world. A moment later, the whale was gone, leaving only a stream of bubbles in its wake.

Once we’d finished with bathroom duties and whale watching, we moved on to our next task: breakfast. The boys sat in the boat’s cockpit gripping their steaming bowls of oatmeal, trusting us, and the universe, to watch over them. Our sails stood full and proud in the south breeze that blew steadily from behind. In the gently rolling sea we listed back and forth, our mast dancing against the steely gray sky. For my two sons, clad in yellow and orange rain pants and matching blue jackets, this was just another ordinary day. Like most children, they accepted the world as it came, even if it meant eating breakfast with a whale in the rain.

“Look, daddy, gull!” Huxley yelled.

“Dook, daddy, dull!” Dawson echoed. The boys pointed to a flock of mew gulls foraging near our boat, taking turns plucking tiny silver fish from the frothy surface. The birds played rather than battled with the wind, catching the edge of a gust with one silvery wing, dipping the other to bank steeply as they circled and dove. It was a lesson in the basic laws of physics balanced against the magical principles of flight. The boys laughed and shouted as they watched the birds whirl around us. Dawson tried to stand up for a better view. Instead, he toppled over and Pat caught him by the strap of his life jacket before he landed on his brother. The oatmeal ended up in a pile at our feet.

So far, it had been a typical toddler morning: spilled food, a few tears, an argument about who got the orange polka-dot bowl. We were short on sleep, like most parents are, as we juggled tasks to get ready for the day. The key difference was in the setting. We were three weeks into a 10-week sailing expedition up the Inside Passage, a 1,200-mile stretch of islands and coves that extends along the North Pacific coastline from Washington State to southeast Alaska.

This passage transits some of the most scenic northern waterways in the world, and, if one dares to venture off the main shipping lanes, some of the most remote. It’s a trip that many passengers now take by cruise ship, others by ferry. Versions of this route have been traveled for centuries — by indigenous residents, fishermen, loggers and explorers.

Still, for all of its seeming popularity, the Inside Passage is a far cry from being a busy thoroughfare. In one’s own boat it’s possible to explore granite-walled fjords and secluded inlets, to visit moss-draped forests where old-growth cedar trees whisper their ancient secrets to anyone who will listen. The only crowds to be found are of the wild sort: rowdy sea lions, playful porpoises, rafts of sea ducks that gather in the thousands. Cellphones work poorly, if at all, and sensational news headlines matter little here. We spent most nights in the company of rattling kingfishers and curious seals. Besides the volume of our own noisy crew, this coastline offered the sort of quiet that has become exceedingly scarce.

Despite its often serene backdrop, the Inside Passage is fraught with hazards. Each year, there are reports of drownings and capsized vessels, tales of unlucky sailors who perished in these unforgiving northern waters. Currents turn to roaring rivers if the tides are timed incorrectly, anchors drag along rocky bottoms, and winds blow up channels with hurricane force. Storms arrive, like most things in Alaska, bold and fierce and often without warning. Although Pat and I spent many months preparing for this journey and have two decades of boating experience between us, we knew that these facts wouldn’t guarantee a safe passage. It was prudence that mattered. Each day we woke up and reminded ourselves that we are small and the ocean is big.

Pat and I are sailors. We are adventurers. We are also parents. It’s a dilemma we all must face: how to reconcile our many different identities into a life that feels true, and good, and, in the end, responsible. Into an existence that leaves room for others. Spending the summer on a boat was our attempt to knit the disparate parts of our lives together. On both of our previous journeys up this coastline (by sailboat and rowboat, respectively), our days were distilled to the simplest of objectives: sail, row, eat, sleep, breathe. There were only ourselves, and each other, to look after as we traversed thousands of miles alone. On this trip, many of the elements remained the same: the ocean, the wind, the waves. Yet there had been a fundamental shift; we had two young companions to remind us of the stakes, and of the joy.

We were here on a calm day in a larger boat yet our crossing of Queen Charlotte Strait, in northern British Columbia, felt more difficult. Perhaps it was because there was so little time to focus on the task at hand. Or that my mind was traveling in a dozen different directions at once. Manage sails. Read the chart. Dawson wants Legos. Huxley needs a snack. Prepare the lines to tack. Check that the radar is on the correct setting. It looks like a rain squall is coming; where have I put our rain bibs? Now one boy is biting. The other has spilled his water. Do I smell a dirty diaper? And how can this boat feel so impossibly cramped? Or perhaps it was simply that the physical act of keeping two little boys safe and entertained in a liquid world was by turns exhausting and terrifying.

Before we left, I knew only to expect one thing: chaos. The more practical aspects of our lives on the water were harder to envision. I assumed, foolishly, that five pairs of underwear would be enough for a potty-trained 4-year-old. I packed a dozen novels that sat on the damp bookshelf and collected mildew while I overlooked the ear plugs I needed to temper the volume of small voices amplified in an even smaller space. I brought favorite recipes that mocked me from their corner of the galley as I struggled to cook the most basic, one-pot meals in a kitchen the size of a coat closet. I failed to consider the problem of toy truck wheels rolling back and forth on the table as we sailed, sending me repeatedly on hands and knees to pick up the pieces. Ours was a topsy-turvy existence indeed.

There are plenty of reasons sailing in a 32-foot boat with young children isn’t on the top of most people’s travel itineraries. Many days, it was impossible not to question our motivations, and our sanity. Like when one child, and then the next, spilled milk all over the cushions that couldn’t be washed, while yelling mommy, mommy! (as though I was the one who caused the cup to tip). Or when first one child, and then the other, vomited all over the inside of our boat, spewing into the cracks and crevices of multiple hatches. Or when I wanted desperately to wake up and stretch and fix myself a cup of coffee, alone. But when I tiptoed the three steps to the stove, the floor creaked and I accidentally banged the teakettle and soon the whole boat was awake. There were no doors, no privacy. In fact, there was barely enough room to turn around.

But I’ve also learned why this was precisely the sort of trip that belonged on our bucket list. Each night, peering into the V-berth, the triangular-shaped bed in the bow of the boat, I watched my two sons sleeping, bottoms raised, hands draped across their faces in that deep slumber that comes after a day of playing hard. In the quiet morning fog, I felt a soft warm body curl itself against mine, burrowing under my sleeping bag. I saw my children discover that sea anemones squirt if you poke them. We sat together in the bowsprit as the waves passed beneath us in a swirl of green and white. I watched Huxley encounter death up close for the first time in the form of a flattened crow and heard him say, “I wish it would fly away.” I tuned my ears to a cacophony of voices, wavering between toddlers squealing from the beach, an eagle calling from a cedar snag, and thunder pounding its drum in the sky. I slowed down long enough to realize that our time together was precious, and ever so fleeting.

We dropped anchor one night in a forested cove, where spruce and hemlock branches dangled over the high tide line, ravens watched us from the treetops, and the only sounds were the soft sloshing of water against our hull and the chortles of song sparrows foraging on the beach. All four of us nestled in our sleeping bags, breathing in time with the waves. In those quiet moments there was no place I would rather have been, no adventure better than the one we were experiencing. Never mind the smelly diapers and spilled spaghetti sauce, or the constant echo of “Mommy, mommy, I NEED … milk or sandwiches or that toy RIGHT NOW.” When two brown-eyed boys peeked out of the V-berth, arms open, eyes wide, bodies tuned to the jostling of the sea, it became achingly clear that we were exactly where we were meant to be, as a family.

One afternoon, in the last week of our trip, halfway between Glacier Bay and the northern terminus of the Inside Passage, we loaded into the dinghy for a trip to shore. Pat rowed, I sat with Dawson in the stern, and Huxley took his usual position in the bow.

As we approached the beach, Huxley asked, “Is that a bear?” Sure enough, a shiny-coated, two-toned grizzly had just wandered down to the coast. We wouldn’t be landing there any more. Instead, for the next hour, we floated in our tiny wooden rowboat in a quiet cove and enjoyed the rare pleasure of watching a bear do what bears do. It turned over driftwood logs in search of ants, rolled on its back in the grass, and, to the boys’ great delight, pooped on the sand. The latter was an unusually good performance, with the bear dropping enormous piles of scat on the ground as it walked. The boys started giggling, in that contagious way of kids, and soon all four of us were laughing so hard we were nearly crying. This was our farewell gift: a reminder to hold onto a bit of wildness, and laughter, always laughter.

There was a time for each of us when the wild felt infinite and the horizon might have been the edge of the earth. A time when we didn’t need to be reminded that the present is all that matters. Because somewhere, a bear is cruising the shoreline. Because at any moment, a whale might appear from below. Because life, in all of its messy glory, is there to be seized. For my children these moments were now. And if I was willing to climb on, their magic carpet had room for me, too. “Come on, mommy,” they said. “Let’s go.” And so we did.

Caroline Van Hemert, based in Alaska, is a wildlife biologist and author of the memoir, “The Sun is a Compass,” published in March.

Follow NY Times Travel on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Get weekly updates from our Travel Dispatch newsletter, with tips on traveling smarter, destination coverage and photos from all over the world.

Sahred From Source link Fashion and Style

from WordPress http://bit.ly/2HiVud2 via IFTTT

#IFTTT #WordPress

[thegloober]

Lessons from losing a week of photos to memory card failure

Summary: One of the photographer’s greatest fears is to lose a significant chunk of images from a big trip or event. In this long-form article, find out how a memory card failure caused a week of photographs to disappear, what I did to try to recover them via software, then physical data services, and the valuable lessons, counter to common knowledge, to be learned about memory cards, dual card slots, and backups to prevent such a nightmare scenario from happening to you.

Landscape expeditions can be taxing in the long days of summer, even more so if you are also doing night photography. After flying to Seattle, I arrived at the coast of Olympic National Park around 11 PM – many view Treasured Lands as a culmination of my work in the national parks, but I am far from being done with them! Seeking stars, I woke up before 2 AM for the short window between moonset and astronomical twilight. However, the marine layer had rolled in while I was hiking to the beach, and I shivered until past sunrise time without even seeing a sliver of sky. The next day, since I had to drive from Heart of the Hills Campground and hike 45 minutes to Hurricane Hill, I rose before 1 AM.

On the last day, temperatures in the inland plains of Hanford Reach rose above 100F. When I came home from the week-long trip, I went straight to bed. The next morning, I reached for my cameras, took the memory card out, and inserted into the card reader. This resulted in the dreaded:

Attempting to read the card with software

I reacted with mere annoyance at the computer, and tried to read the card from the built-in memory card slot of a laptop. The same message appeared. Growing worried, I inserted the card into a standalone backup device, and it said “Memory card not found”. Surely I would be able to see the files in the camera, since the last time it had been turned on, less than a day before, everything was normal and I was able to scroll through some images? Nope, like the computer, the camera said “Unable to use memory card. Format?”

The PhotoRescue software installed on my computer had been successful at rescuing files from a corrupted card in the past, however, it did not uncover a single file this time. Hoping for better luck with Lexar’s own Image Rescue software that came with the card, without the activation code handy, I contacted Lexar’s customer support. They were quick in providing me a download, but it did not help:

Note that the computer sees 8.2 GB, but it was a 64 GB card. Lexar support suggested several other apps, including Ontrack® EasyRecovery which has a “technician” version with a $500/year licensing cost. As those apps include a trial mode that allow you to attempt to discover files, and require you to pay the fee only to actually recover them, I took each of them for a spin without success. There are a lot of recovery programs around, but if the error is hardware rather than software, you can try all the programs in the world, and they won’t do you any good.

Dealing with physical data recoveries services

It was time to contact a physical data recovery company. All those companies have a similar mode of operation. You send them your media with pre-paid overnight shipping at their cost, they diagnose it and provide an estimate. If you approve the estimate, they attempt to recover files and charge you if the recovery is successful. Seems fair, right? The problem was that the quote from the Lexar-recommended company was quite a bit higher than I expected:

After a bit of shopping, I found another company which provided me a lower quote. I sent them the card via Fedex overnight and got the following diagnosis:

Despite numerous attempts to identify the source of the problem, we were unsuccessful in reaching a solution. At this stage it is clear that this is an extremely complex case that will require extensive research, time & use of in-house donor parts. Your media will be passed to our Research and Development department; They will be able to research & execute techniques such as safe removal, reballing and replacement of the core processor and other components containing device specific information and repairs to fractures in the tracks of the logic board.

The work we would attempt is a highly skilled process that is not infallible. The chance of a successful recovery once these processes are completed is approximately 74%. At this point most Data Recovery services would send the media back to you as they don’t have the ability to do such complex work, let alone any sort of R&D department. Our R&D department is one of the best in the world, and they are responsible for creating new techniques and ways of recovering data that allow us to sustain an overall 92% recovery rate. Currently, we have two options for you:

Option 1. You allow our R&D department to use the lab time, parts & cleanroom facilities needed to gain access to your data. This is a standard process that will be completed within 15-20 business days. To go ahead with Option 1 an upfront payment of $800.00 is required, and this covers everything the R&D department will need to provide you with feedback: all lab time, parts required from our library, and cleanroom usage. If we are unable to gain access to any of your data that initial fee is not refundable.

Option 2. We return your media to you via either our courier or standard option, and you incur no recovery costs as we were unable to recover your data.

Although the fee wasn’t too bad, I wasn’t going to pay upfront without a recovery guarantee, especially after my friend Tommy, a technology entrepreneur and all-around geek opined “These are extremely difficult and risky techniques. I’m skeptical that they have such capability and even if they do, I doubt that the success rate is 74%. I guess more like 25% or less”. I declined, received my media back a few weeks later via regular mail, and sent it to yet another data recovery company:

Would you have proceeded with the recovery at this price?

Although you don’t often read that in reviews, my main complaint with the Sony A7R2 cameras is sensor dust resulting from the mirrorless design and an ineffective sensor dust cleaning system – it mechanically shakes the sensor using the image stabilization actuators. To cope, I work with two camera bodies in order to minimize lens changes. The excellent 24-105 FE (review) stays on the primary camera which is used for most of the photographs, while I reach for the secondary camera when I need more specialized lenses. On that trip, I had failed to do drive backups and the damaged memory card was in the primary camera, which meant that it contained the majority of a week’s worth of work, and probably the best photographs. However, I retained usable images from the second camera, a few of which illustrate this post.

I decided against proceeding with the attempted recovery, saving me the potential disappointment of failure or costs. It is not that the pictures aren’t worth the amount asked. Rather, including all expenses, the trip cost me only a fraction of that amount. This math didn’t account for my time, but no matter how tiring the effort felt, that time was spent on a process that I largely enjoy. Losing the pictures did not rob me of the experiences I had nor of the scouting I did, and rather than looking back by investing in the recovery, I chose to look forward by saving the money for a repeat trip – and a new camera.

The larger conclusion here is that attempts to read a card with recovery software may not always work, physical recovery services are expensive, and also not guaranteed to work. Even after three decades in photography, the incident reinforced several lessons for me.

Memory cards can fail

The disaster drew home the point that memory cards do fail catastrophically. Both data companies found serious physical damage, but that was a card that had been moderately used for a year without any single glitch, so neither “dead on arrival” nor past any reasonable life expectancy – which by the way nowadays is longer than technological obsolescence. It had never been subjected to any form of abuse before as it spent most of its life in a single camera, was formatted after each download, and prior to failure went straight from the camera to a card reader. There were certainly no warnings nor reasonable explanations.

I have been using digital cameras since the first days of full-frame in the early 2000s (remember the $8,000 Canon 1Ds series?) without any card failure, while during that time, I have had to replace a half-dozen failed hard drives. This made me overconfident in flash technology.

If you browse the internet, you will see that I was far from being alone. Quite a few other professional photographers (some with scores of workshop clients) state that they have never experienced any card failure and that when it happened, they were always able to rescue images with recovery software. Clearly, my experience has been different. The fact that you’ve been lucky doesn’t mean that your luck won’t run out at some point, as it did for me – and others. As we will see next, a quick perusal of customer reviews shows that memory card failure is not that rare.

Cards are not equally reliable

The card that failed is a Lexar Professional 1000x 64GB SDXC UHS-II/U3, which is amongst Lexar’s top line of cards, and deemed “professional” by the manufacturer. I used to believe that any memory card from a reputable brand would be reliable. If in addition, you bought it from a reputable vendor, chances that you’d get a counterfeit of questionable reliability would also be low. The preferred vendors are specialist stores such as B&H, but Amazon is fine, as long as you don’t buy from their third-party merchants. Sandisk and Lexar are two of the most well-known brands, and I’ve used exclusively their cards, depending on the best deal I could find at the moment.

Because of that belief, I didn’t pay much attention to customer reviews, adopting the attitude that nothing is 100% foolproof and unlucky folks can have a bad experience with any product. Besides, a quick glance at the ratings show that almost all cards are rated between 4-stars and 4.5-stars, so they must be good products, right?

It would have done me more good to read the Amazon customer reviews before buying the card, but after the card failure, I looked them up. One of the first 1-star reviews I read described the exact same experience I had:

I literally had just reviewed the pics on my Nikon D610 camera and inserted the card into my card reader and got a message that it was not formatted (which it was – I format every card when it’s new). I put the card back into my camera – and same Format error.

I literally had just reviewed the pics on my Nikon D610 camera and inserted the card into my card reader and got a message that it was not formatted (which it was – I format every card when it’s new). I put the card back into my camera – and same Format error.

Although I didn’t read all the 300 1-star reviews, the ones that I sampled overwhelmingly bemoaned card failure. Since this was becoming quite relevant, I looked at the 1-star review tally: 15%. That’s almost 1 out of 6 reviews, odds similar to the Russian Roulette. If someone killed themselves playing the game, I don’t think you’d attribute his death to “just bad luck”. Of course, this is not a scientific observation because several factors affect review-writing, but you get the idea. On the other hand, it is instructive to compare the percentage of 1-star reviews for a few other UHS-II cards:

If we assume that 1-star reviews are exactly the type you’d leave if the card totally failed, from that small sample, we can see that some cards are four times more likely to fail than others. This data also sugggests that there is a problem with those UHS-II Lexar cards. On the other hand, the Lexar UHS-I card that I have used for several years gets a convincingly low 3% of 1-star reviews. The lesson here is that not all cards are equal, even amongst those from a top brand. And if they can have such a high failure rate, think about cards from less reputable or conterfeit brands! By the way, looking at those numbers also indicate that failure rate with SD cards is far higher than CF cards.

Pay attention to negative customer reviews

Some negative customer reviews are frivolous because they are rooted in user error, or because they concern themselves with delivery rather than the product’s quality or performance. However, negative reviews are generally more significant than positive reviews.

If you think that one shouldn’t focus on the negative while the vast majority of reviews are positive, consider that on Amazon, the average rating for a product is 4.4 (out of 5) as found here by analyzing 7 million reviews. Even a product with an average 4.0 rating (4-star) is below average. The large majority of products are rated above 4.0, so the difference between a great product and a subpar product is less than 1 (star) on average. On the other hand, we’ve just seen that the number of 1-star reviews for different cards varies by a factor of four.

Consider dual card slot for backup

If your camera has dual memory slots, the most obvious and foolproof way to prevent data loss from memory card failure is to set the camera to write to two cards simultaneously so that it creates a back up in real time. Now that memory card have become very affordable, you can buy two sets of cards with enough capacity to last you for your whole trip so you don’t have to reuse any card, and you always keep two datasets.

Dual memory card slots are standard in high-end DSLRs cameras, and after omitting them in their first two generations of mirrorless cameras, Sony has started providing them in the A9 and A7 mk3 series (a good example of listening to customers, since there were complaints about the single-slots in previous cameras, many of them from Canon and Nikon users), with the caveat that the second slot is UHS-I, so using simultaneous writing will negate the benefits of the faster UHS-II main slot. I was thinking of skipping the A7R3 generation and wait for the inevitable A7R4, but the incident prompted me to upgrade.

Recently announced full-frame mirrorless cameras from Canon and Nikon have been greeted with an inordinate number of Internet comments about their single memory card slot. We saw many claims that no professional would use cameras with a single memory slot.

But the fact is that some professional photographers refuse to use the second slot for back up even when their camera has one, and for specific reasons. To start with, when I was shooting the Canon 1Ds series, I did not set up the cameras to simultaneous write, possibly because the size of the memory cards available back then made it mandatory to perform daily backups. More recently, Lloyd Chambers uses his dual-slot Nikon as single slot SD cameras because he is annoyed by the camera defaulting to the wrong card – this reminds me of Ted Orland’s aphorism “Owning more than one lens assures that you will always have the wrong lens on the camera for any given picture” – while Thom Hogan uses his dual slot Nikon as a single slot XQD camera because the SD slot slows down the camera. Colby Brown thinks that “there is no point in making two copies of your SD cards” and accordinglysets his Sony A7R3 to auto switch as he estimates he has a higher chance of missing a shot because of a full card than a SD card failure – what I used to do with the 1Ds.

I wonder if those statements about the rarity of card failures do a disservice to less experienced folks, because what isn’t clearly disclosed is that, although those photographers apparently don’t fear card failure, they also have extensive backup strategies using hard drives.

Have a solid backup strategy

If there is one thing that I wish others learn from my misfortune, it is that a solid backup plan is necessary. You want multiple copies of your data in multiple places. There are quite a few ways to go about it.

Several brands now offer ruggedized portable drives. SSDs, which have fallen in price, are much less prone to damage than HDDs. Using drives for backups, you can do a daily (or even more frequent) backup, and have more than two copies of your data.

On the other hand, compared to the in-camera dual slots backups, drive backups are not in real-time, so you could possibly lose a day of data. More importantly, you need to remember and take the time to perform the backups – when maybe you’d just rather go to sleep. During that ill-fated trip, I carried a portable drive, yet due to a combination of fatigue, loaded schedule and complacency, I did not use it. Another reason was that my portable drive had experienced a glitch during the previous trip, forcing me to skip backups, which in turn broke my habit of making them regularly. This brings up the point that with drive-based backups, you have to carry more gear, which could also fail. Even if you carry several USB external drives, you still depend on your laptop for your ability to make drive backups.

With in-camera dual-slot backups, given the availability of huge capacity cards, you could shoot most trips on a single pair of cards, but if something catastrophic happened to your camera, you’d lose everything. Alternatively, you could use smaller cards, and once a pair of card is filled-up (or another threshold in capacity or time is reached), each of them can be stored at an independent location to minimize the risk of loss due to theft. While the second approach increases the chances of a problem because you have more cards to manage, it minimizes the adverse effects of problems.

For now, I have settled on an approach which I think provides me the most redundancy with the least effort: use the second slot of the A7R3 for real-time backup with a medium-sized card, plus do a daily backup on a single self-contained portable hard drive. My choice is the e HyperDrive ColorSpace UDMA3 that I fit with a SSD drive. I generally prefer such a device to a laptop because they are considerably smaller and much faster to deploy for backup.

Eventually, my data loss was caused by my own neglect. I let my guard down and did only a few trips without backing up, and see what happened. This is just my experience and one data point, but I hope it’s been useful to you to read about it. What is your backup strategy? Did you experience a catastrophic memory card failure that you’d like to share?

About the Author

QT Luong is known for being the first to photograph all America’s 60 National Parks — in large format. Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan featured him in The National Parks: America’s Best Idea. His photographs are extensively published and have been the subject of large-format books including Treasured Lands (winner of 6 national book awards), many newspaper and magazine feature articles, solo gallery and museum exhibits across the U.S.

You can see more of QT Luong’s work on his website, Facebook page, Instagram; and follow him on Twitter. Also, check out his book Treasured Lands: A Photographic Odyssey through America’s National Parks. This article was also published here and shred with permission.

Source: https://bloghyped.com/lessons-from-losing-a-week-of-photos-to-memory-card-failure/

[wp-yahoo-style-1042-yahoopa-blog]

Hurricane Florence canceled their dream weddings, so what's next for these brides?

Hunter Banister and Nashley Mattocks moved their wedding from Pittsboro, N.C., to Knoxville, Tenn., due to the hurricane. (Photo: Courtesy Nashley Mattocks)

As the people of North and South Carolina are just beginning to feel the effects of Hurricane Florence, the storm has already changed the course of some people’s lives — including that of couples who had planned to get married there this weekend, many of whom will be postponing their big day.

Murrell’s Inlet, S.C., was the location that Tori Wiltrout had chosen for her small beachfront wedding — in tribute to her father, who died in January 2017, and who had loved the place for their family vacations.

“When it came to the wedding, we wanted to go down there so we would have a piece of him with us,” Wiltrout tells Yahoo Lifestyle. She and fiancé Andy Butler, who lives in Avon Lake, Ohio, planned the wedding for 35 people in a house they’d rented on the beach. “We’ve always gone in September,” she says, “and we’ve never experienced a hurricane there before.” But now her dream wedding locale is under evacuation orders.

Same for lifestyle blogger Ra’Nesha Wilson of Columbus, Ohio, who was set to get married at Ocean Creek Resort in Myrtle Beach, S.C. She’d been planning the event for nearly a year. “I’m not going to say it was perfect, because nothing’s going to be perfect, but it was the ideal I had,” Wilson tells Yahoo Lifestyle. “We’re lovers of nature and water and so for us to have something on the beach was important.” The venue even had options for an indoor ceremony, in case of rain, which was all anyone expected until late last week.

Ra’Nesha Wilson and Jeffery Springer were set to get married in Myrtle Beach, S.C., this weekend. (Photo: Courtesy Ra’Nesha Wilson)

Even places not being evacuated — such as the town of Pittsboro, N.C., where Nashley Mattocks was scheduled to get married — suddenly posed problems. Mattocks loved the rustic barn and arbor of trees on the private estate called Het Landuis, and she was looking forward to staying in a pool house on the grounds with her bridesmaids the night before the wedding. But by Tuesday, with the forecast calling for heavy rain in the area outside of Raleigh, N.C., Mattocks and fiancé Hunter Banister could tell that flights were going to be canceled for all the guests coming in from Chicago, Knoxville, Tenn., and Houston, where the couple currently lives.

Postponements and relocations Wiltrout and Butler left South Carolina on Tuesday night, and will regroup and plan something new once they’re back home. “[My father] always said, ‘It is what it is. It happened for a reason,’” Wiltrout says. She and Butler had insurance for their beach rental, so they’ll get their money back for the two days they won’t be staying there. But they won’t be getting back the $600 their caterer had already spent on food.

That wasn’t a complete loss for everyone, however.

“Since he already had the food going, [the chef] cooked it all, and he was going to go ahead and feed local families getting ready for the hurricane,” Wiltrout explains. “I figured that’s one less thing the locals have to worry about is a meal for the night when they have to get ready for this major hurricane coming at them.”

Tori Wiltrout and Andy Butler drove home this week instead of getting married in South Carolina, but they donated their food to those in need. (Photo: Courtesy of Tori Wiltrout)

Banister’s parents and sister back in Knoxville, meanwhile, helped Mattocks quickly find a chapel at the Presbyterian church, as well as a local venue for the reception. She tried to get some of her vendors to come with her to Tennessee, but in the end, only the DJ was able to do so, while the rest are staying behind to weather the storm. The couple was able to hire a new baker and caterer who could meet Banister’s gluten-free needs, and some of their guests have volunteered to help get their flowers together.

“It’s been kind of a whirlwind,” Mattocks says. “Everything’s kind of drastically changed. But it will be the day that it’s going to be, and all the people that can be there will be there and we’ll just pray and hope for safety for the people that can’t be there.”

Unfortunately, Mattocks still doesn’t know how much of her deposits she’ll get back. “We’re hoping that we didn’t lose everything on most of our bookings,” she says. “Obviously, all the decorations that we bought and everything like that we’re going to lose because we can’t return that stuff.”

Wilson and her fiancé, Jeffery Springer, had also been hit with multiple family losses in the past year, so this latest bump in the road was tough on them, but also something they felt they could tackle together.

“It just confirms that we were meant to be together because we’ve been through things that not even people that are married have been through. So I don’t ask God to treat me differently in my life,” Wilson says. “I didn’t do this by myself — I couldn’t have done it without him.”

While she has received notice that all but one of her vendors want to give their deposits back, she isn’t sure the banks will receive those funds right away. “What it pushed us to do is basically deplete our account to cover everything that we need to still bring 85 people here,” she says, explaining how she’s relocated her wedding to Columbus.

The porch of the house Wiltrout and Butler had rented for their wedding. (Photo: Courtesy of Tori Wiltrout)

Even upon hearing of her circumstances, Wilson said some vendors didn’t want to accommodate her last-minute request. But others were happy to help. The Boathouse at Confluence Park, which has sweeping waterfront views, had an opening this weekend. A Marriott nearby has given out-of-town family members good rates, and the airlines made it easy for everyone to fly back to Ohio.

“There was some support from the Costco corporate team in Seattle where they donated a monetary fund towards the cost of our cake on after hearing about our story, so we received some support from folks in different avenues and in various different ways,” she says. While she feels like the plan is coming together in the end, she tells Yahoo, “I wouldn’t recommend it to anybody.”

A lesson in caution The possibility of a storm like this was not on any of these couples’ minds when they planned their weddings, but with increasingly bad hurricane seasons attributed to climate change, it might be a good thing for all couples to consider in the future.

“Last year, when we had Harvey and a few other hurricanes, 23 percent of our claims for wedding insurance last year had something to do with the weather,” Ed Charlebois, vice president of personal insurance at Travelers Insurance, tells Yahoo Lifestyle. That’s the highest percentage of weather-related claims the company has received in the 10 years it’s been offering plans for weddings.

With a wedding insurance policy — which can cost as little as $160 for a $7,500 wedding, or as much as $355 for $50,000 worth of coverage from Travelers — couples can recoup the money from lost deposits in situations such as this. Plus, they can get coverage for something called “additional expense.”

“To go out and get somebody else to do [your wedding], chances are you might have to pay more on short notice, [and] ‘additional expense’ can help you pay for that,” Charlebois explains.

Mattocks and Banister were set to be married in this wooded estate in North Carolina. (Photo: Courtesy of Nashley Mattocks)

This doesn’t do much to help couples in the Carolinas this week, since you have to have the policy at least two weeks before any weather event. But it might serve as a good warning for others planning their idyllic beachside nuptials.

In the meantime, Mattocks is looking on the bright side of things. Though she’s understandably disappointed that some friends and family won’t be able to make it to her Knoxville wedding, she’s got a new perspective on the event.

“The pressure to put on like a perfect party and host the best reception and have the prettiest ceremony [is gone],” she says. “We’ll enjoy the celebration of getting married — I can say that with confidence — so we’re still very excited.”

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

Twitter went crazy for Rihanna’s inclusive and diverse fashion show

The best fall fashion ad campaigns, from Lauryn Hill to Ashley Graham

Madonna’s daughter Lourdes Leon makes runway model debut in daring shell bra

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.

#news #_revsp:wp.yahoo.style.us #wedding insurance #weddings #style #hurricane florence #_uuid:0f70413c-5a2a-3697-800f-fbb6a94a2de6 #_lmsid:a0Vd000000AE7lXEAT #_author:Sabrina Rojas Weiss

[sealnarcisa]

Kyle Woodward’s final blog post from Southern Africa. My visa issue finally got resolved, albeit with quite a lot of effort and frustration on my part. Unfortunately they couldn't swap my business visa for a tourist visa while in the country and the only way to fix it was to leave the country and come back in. Luckily Zimbabwe is just a 10 minutes drive to the border. It also just happens that the Zambia/Zimbabwe border is right at Victoria Falls. The border bridge is a tourist attraction, where people zip-line across the gorge and bungee jump off the bridge. Walking across the bridge with Victoria Falls as a backdrop was an unexpexted and surreal moment, and i made sure to take my time walking across both ways. It was a much needed stress reliever. The Falls are so close to you as you walk toward the Zimbabwe border post that the mist creates a perpetual light rain. Having not seen or felt rain in 2 months I was very confused at first. Since i got my necessary tasks done on Friday, I decided to go see the Falls properly all day on Saturday. I was going to be a tourist for a day, so exciting! On Saturday I had a relaxing morning and got a shuttle to the Victoria Falls Park entrance. I met another friend from the same hostel, and we hiked all the trails together. The Knife's Edge trail leads you out on a narrow peice of land thats been carved away by the Falls over time. It's the closest you can get to the Falls, and when you get out onto the edge you are completely soaked in a matter of seconds. Its like walking into a category 1 hurricane: the force of the water falling into the gorge creates a powerful uplift of air that shoots the trailing mist straight back to the top of the gorge, creating a barrage of wind and rain. There is no escape, and we willingly walked out to meet it in our bare feet and cheap ponchos. It is one of the best 20 bucks ive ever spent, and somehow my passport didn't even get wet. On our way down a separate trail to the bottom of the gorge, we were ambushed by a massive male baboon. We learned quite quickly that its not wise to carry food or drinks out in the open in this park because of these guys. We dropped our bottles of soda in order to avoid being mauled. It was actually terrifying in the moment but we laughed about it later. It was pretty funny watching this baboon open our soda bottles, dump out a ton of orange Fanta and sit there slurping it off the ground. On Sunday I went to the bus station at noon to catch my bus back to Sesheke, only to find out that the 12:00 bus i had purchased a seat on had left at 10:30 just because it got there early. It was another lesson in how things work out here: Disorder and unreliable public services create enough inevitable inconveniences in day to day life that society has adapted in order to provide quick and easy solutions. One of the bus company managers immediately took my money back from the attendant and drove me in his own car to the outskirts of town where a bunch of vans wait all day to give rides at the same or cheaper rate. He paid the van driver my bus money, I hopped in, and within a half hour we were on the way to Sesheke. We even got there right around the same time my bus would have. I met up with Michael and one of our enumerators in the afternoon and we drove back up to Sioma District for the night. The next day we drove the 1.5 hour journey into the bush to Makande. The drive seems to take forever as we creep along through a narrow sandy track, dodging trees and trying not to get stuck. Even with a 4wd truck it's not easy to get to by any means, yet people live here the same way as those right on the tar road in Lusu, Kaale, and Kalobolelwa. It's a remarkable thing seeing these communities operate with little to no outside aid. The idea that one can create and maintain their entire livelihood from the surrounding natural resources is so foreign to me, as I presume it is for many other 'Westerners'. Your health (ability to perform manual labor) and work ethic (determination to do so) hold greatest weight in village life. Lin, Michael, and I split our enumerators into teams of 2 for the first day of household surveys, then the second day Lin and I finished the rest of the surveys and did reference samples while Michael worked on resource area mapping. It went by so quick that I found myself scrambling on the last day to take a few pictures to remember this experience by. My pictures are mediocre at best, but Im pretty sure I won't ever forget this. Our last night camping in Makande was so fun. We ended the month of work talking, joking, singing, and dancing around our campfire, trading ideas, experiences, and standing on common ground. We also chased this weird goat around that kept walking into our camp. It was the funniest thing ever. No matter how far we chased it away from our camp, it would eventually wander back and stand there just staring at us. If they make another Disney movie based in Africa (shout out Lion King), this goat needs to be the typecast dumb animal comic relief character. The long weekend was spent back in our home sweet home, Sesheke. Michael needed to finish resource area mapping in Lusu, and Lin and i decided to collect more reference samples in Kalobolelwa, so we decided to set up at our usual campground in town. We took one of our enumerators along who wants to study environmental science, and he absorbed all the vegetation and GPS stuff like a sponge. It was a really fun day just walking around, seeing different landscapes, and talking about plants. Since we were officially done with the Zambia field season by the end of that day, we got to be lazy the next day in Sesheke. We walked around the market, bought some food and gifts, learned how to play Zambian rules Checkers, and had a good dinner in town. This past Sunday turned out to be a really special day, and may turn out to be one of the most important for future research pursuits in Zambia. Henry from DNPW allowed us to come along with him into Sioma-Ngwezi NP, where they are working on re-introducing wildlife the next 4 years. They created a fenced-in 100 hectare enclosure for the animals which they use to acclimate them before releasing them into the park. They had about 180 impala and 32 buffalo that they transported there a few weeks ago, and we got to come along on their weekly check up. We got to stand in their pickup truck bed as we patrolled inside the fence perimeter, trying to spot and count all the buffalo and impala. Michael and I came up with another research idea pretty organically as we chatted about the wildlife re-introduction process and the ways they currently monitor wildlife numbers in the park. The folks at DNPW and WWF sound quite keen to begin some research collaboration this coming year with us, and I'm glad Michael and I prioritized time to build those relationships. On Monday we said goodbye to Lin as she headed back to Botswana, then Michael and I drove to Livingstone. Having been in Livingstone last weekend, I already knew what it was like, so it was really great seeing Michael be totally blown away by all the city people, restaurants, shops, and 2 story buildings. We had fun wandering around, getting lost, and eating a ton of really good food. We have a special place in our hearts for Sesheke, but it is by no means a city. The fact that Sesheke ever felt like a city to us speaks to how much time we have spent in remote areas of rural Zambia. We felt like the Zambian village children this time, amazed to see so many white people in one place. I'm writing this on my flight back home and reflecting on all of the new and unique experiences I've had these past two months: flying drones in the Chobe river floodplain in Botswana, digging ourselves out of the sand more times than i can count, being immersed in village life and the language, playing sports with village children in Kapau and Makande, crossing international borders on my own, learning to drive stick in Zambia, and many others. They've all offered an opportunity to learn, challenge my own paradigms, and grow into a more worldly and introspective person. Southern Africa has given me so much, and I am eager to give back in any way an academic researcher can. I am so grateful to Dr. Pricope and all of the KAZAVA collaborators for supporting me and allowing me into their network. Michael gets a special shout out; we started out as two unacquainted grad students working on the same project, but by experiencing all the challenges and joys of a productive field season, we became both an unstoppable duo and great friends. I'm excited to pursue some of the research ideas we have developed in Zambia together. Lastly, for anyone who has not yet stepped foot on the African continent, this is my 5 star recommendation. It turns out Africa is huge and offers so much to the new traveller: the diverse cultures, the wildlife, and spectacular landscapes. I've only seen small parts of 3 countries, but I'm obsessed now. Africa will be high on my list for travelling the rest of my life, and I will do everything I can to get family and friends to experience it as well. Kyle Woodward.

[angrybelieverconnoisseur-blog]

international travel health insurance quotes

"international travel health insurance quotes

international travel health insurance quotes

BEST ANSWER:  Try this site where you can compare quotes: : http://averageinsurancecosts.xyz/index.html?src=tumblr 

RELATED QUESTIONS: 

Auto insurance rate suddenly increasing by $140+?

1. I am under 21 2. The car I am driving is 2008 HONDA CIVIC 3. I go to college, my GPA lower than 3.0 4. Comprehensive / collision $500 Deductible / Basic policy overall 5. **Here is the major thing. I got a 3 point ticket (illegal u-turn) last February. BUT THIS IS BEFORE I PURCHASED THIS INSURANCE. For the first month, I paid for $190. Saying that this will go down as I turn 21 this December. The projected 6 month premium was $950. For the second month now, the total amount went up to $330. I asked the agent what the hell happened and he said the insurance company didn't spot my violation record at first. And this caused my insurance rate to go up by $80. Even so, still it's tooooo much! for the car I am driving . . . If it's BMW or something better, I would understand! Please, any advice on this one?""

Is it your own fault if you are in the USA and have no health insurance?

I am in the UK, and the impression I get is that many people in the USA blame the 46 million or so people in the USA who have no insurance for not having any. Is it your own fault if you have no health insurance?""

Where could I get some cheap but good health insurance?

We need health insurance really bad but everything seems way too expensive and when I google it a hundred different sites come up and its hard to decide which one is for real and which one is going to be a lisas of crap. my husband doesn't make but about 400 dollars a week and I am currently unemployed and In college. Help me!!!

Insurance companies that offer...?

insurance for cars that are not yours.... ie cars that you rent etc... is it worth getting it? It's time to renew the insurance for my car, and as i was comparing quotes.. i was wondering should i get the extra insurance that covers rental cars..... or is it just a waste of money? The past couple of years ive had it added to my insurance..... but didn't really fly anywhere, where i needed to rent a car, and have not moved nor am i planning on moving.. but in case in an unforeseen event i have to rent a car............. my two main questions are 1) would the insurance that a rental company offer on their cars be cheaper than the insurance that my own insurance company offers for the rental... or about the same?? 2) if one was to have insurance for rentals, would the rental companies care about it, or force their own insurance upon you? Also..... if they were to accept your insurance company's insurance for their rental.. how would they do it? do you have to fill out extra forms etc? because if its a lot of hassle, and their rates are the same.. then there's no point in adding the rental insurance to my regular insurance right??""

Is the discount rate for car insurance for students GPA cumulative?

I am in California and my semester GPA fell a little under 3.0 but my cumulative is still 3.0 will that affect my car insurance discount? And if so by how much?

How much will my car insurance be when I turn 23?

I hear your monthly car insurance payments go down significantly once you're 23. I turn 23 in a few months and currently pay $65/month. How much can I expect it to be after I'm 23?

Does anyone know how to find someone who wants to have their car driven somewhere for them for a fee?

I am interested in making extra money and would be willing to drive someone's car for them. Does anyone know how to get started in this as a side business--how to find clients, how much fee to charge, insurance issues etc.""

Whats the difference between molina & caresource health insurance?

Whats the difference between molina & caresource health insurance?

Should I drop collision from my auto insurance this renewal?

I have a ten year old Honda Civic, just over 40,000 miles, has a crack in the driver's side rear bumper that I ignore. I have an excellent driving record, no points, am the only driver, am at that age where I'm not young enough or old enough to be considered a threat, but I live in a high rate state and money is more than tight and they just shot my house insurance through the roof, even though I never put in a claim, because, get this, there is a chance that someday we may have a hurricane! Am I being pennywise and pound foolish, or am I paying for something that won't pay off even if I need it? Thank you!""

What is the best website to compare car insurance rates?

I've been searching for the past few days and can't seem to find anything that actually compares quotes even though a lot of websites say they do. Anyone know of a great website that can help?

Where can i find a free insurance company that won't rap me off?

i need a website that i can get a insurance for medical and dental. where can i go

Is there anyway to lower insurance rates after a traffic violation is on file?

Is there anyway to lower insurance rates after a traffic violation is on file?

How can i find active life insurance policies?

life insurance policies on the deciseds joe g. ward

I want to buy a moped in california?

I want to buy a moped under 50cc in california, and I am 15 with a drivers permit. Do i need a license to ride a moped under 50cc? Also, would i need insurance, or a license?""

What do you recommend for cheap car insurance for a young driver?

I am 18 and passed my test 3 weeks ago today when i was 17! I have a Ford Fiesta 1.1 N reg! I have done my pass plus too! The best quote i have found is 967 and that is without telling them i have done my pass plus! It was also for third party fire and theft! Can someone recommend a cheap insurance company please! Many thanks

Cheapest Japanese cars to insure for a 16 yr old?

Before you tell me that I need to call the insurance company to get a quote, I just want an estimate and I will provide as much information as I can. I live in Wisconsin, my parents have a clean driving record, and I was thinking a Civic. What do u think insurance might cost for a 16 yr old (I KNOW it will be expensive).""

NO CLAIMS BONUS ON CAR INSURANCE?

I've just got insured on a car and I paid the deposit over the phone with the card I was then insured driving the car. the insurance company asked me to send a copy of my licence which 6 months down the line I havent got around in doing but I'm still insured I was wondering if they ask me to send my no claims certificate and I never sent it would I still be insured until I have an accident in which case they request a no claims bonus or would they cancel the policy strait away?

I rear ended a car on the freeway and damage was minor. How much will it cost me through insurance?

So I rear ended a car on the freeway and we pulled on to the side and got each others info. Damage to both cars are both big and small scratches. I was wondering how much it might cost when I file it through my insurance company. I have liability coverage.

How old do you have to be to start driving lessons?

How old do you have to be to start driving lessons?

Teen Insurance?

what is the cheapest insurance for a teenager who just got their license. i know you cant put a price on your childs life but i need something affordable. $200 a month something like that. I live in Northern California bay area

Know of a good Car Insurance place in LA anyone?

Where can i Find a Good Car insurance place in LA, CA? Looking only of liability insurance. But Cheap!!""

""I want a 2005 mustang for my fist car, how much would the insurance be ($prices?) I have state farm insurance?""

I really want a 2005 Ford Mustang (NOT a GT) for my fist car. Please give prices of how much the insurance would be if I had state farm insurance. Thank You, and please give me good prices so my dad will get me a mustang!!!""

Car insurance for 16 year old?

4WD jeep wrangler 1995 16 year old female I'd like to know the geico price preferably but if you can tell me what it would cost around it'd be great!

Good Health Insurance for individual?

I'd like to know if there are any affordable health insurances that can cover, at least in most part, doctor visits, low cost prescriptions and sometimes specialist visits. I don't go to the doctor very often, I can spend a year or more without a visit but I still need the insurance. I have a part-time job which doesn't offer me any benefits so I'm on a budget when it comes to health insurance. I am still considered dependent but a family health plan is not an option at the moment. Any good health insurance that is affordable with a part time job in Florida?""

Motorcycle Insurance?

Ive been trying to find online quotes but am unable to (don't know why, but they cant give me a quote online). Anyways I was just wondering what insurance company would you recommend for motorcycle insurance? I want to buy a bike, I don't have my M1 (because I don't want to take the test before getting the bike), and obviously I've never taken the motorcycle course. Yea I know it would be hard to get a quote given that I have zero riding experience or licensing but cmon do you really expect me to get my license only to have it expire in 90 days without even having a bike yet? Anyways when you started out what kind of insurance were you paying and with who? Also is 600cc pushing it? will that screw me over for insurance? I was looking into getting a honda 600. Thanks!""

international travel health insurance quotes

international travel health insurance quotes

Do insurance or real estate companies hire teens (16+) for part time positions?

Do insurance or real estate companies hire teens (16+) for part time positions?

How much does insurance cost for a 21 year old male?

I wanna get a car soon and i want a 2006 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution and i was just wondering if anybody knows an estimate on how much insurance would be. I will be making payments on the car if that helps

Is get auto insurance a good insurance company?

I found getautoinsurance.com on line while looking for cheap auto insurance. Is this company a good company, or is it for real?""

How much would the insurance be on a 2014 Corvette?

Ok so I'm 16 and a half and my cousin is going to get me a 2014 Corvette stingray for my birthday. And was wondering how much the insurance would be.

Which car would insurance be higher on?

Hi, I'm 16 and I'm getting my first car. I've saved up a chunk of money to make the down payment and 2 or 3 of the monthly payments (my parents are paying for the rest). I've narrowed it down to 2 cars of about the same price. A 2004 MiniCooper and a 2005 mustang (v6). My parents will be paying for my insurance so I was hoping you could tell me which one would have a lower rate so I could make it easier on them? I already know it's going to be high because I'm a teenage driver so whatever helps really. A mustang is kind of, sort of, sports car-ish (I'm not big into cars people, ignore my ignorant terminology) so I figured that would have an effect on the insurance. On the other hand, a minicoop is very small and I don't believe they're made in the U.S like a mustang is so parts and stuff would be higher if I'm correct? Thank you very much for any help!""

If I get my g2 will my parents insurance rise?

I would like to get my g2 in october, but not get insurance and start driving alone until november. Would this raise my parents insurance from just getting my g2. Also, if i have an 80% avg at midterm, will it lower the cost of insurance? If yes then would a 90 avg lower the insurance cost even more?""

Where can i get cheap full coverage auto insurance?

I am buying a 2004 Pontiac Grand Prix and I need full coverage for it. I am looking around $150.00 a month MAX. Thanks!

Geico or Progressive Car Insurance?

I live in Chicago, IL. Which company offers better car insurance?""

Should my insurance really be 1950 on a 1.1 peagout 106 at the age of 18?

hello, should my insurance really be 1950 on a 1.1 peagout 106 at the age of 18 for third pary, fire and and theft, this really seems steap for a 1.1 litre, its not modified or been changed in any way or form, please help me get it cheaper lol""

How can i get someones car insurance info if they wont give it to me? They wouldnt give it to the cops either.

The cops wouldnt let me speak with the other driver and he would not show them proof of insurance. His guardian said he had insurance but she would not give it to me. She wouldnt even give me her name. I have the license plate number but I cant find out who they are insured under. The police report stated that the other driver was at fault for the accident but the police say that they can't make them give upt hat information. I know that by law they have to give me that info. please help i have no idea how to get this information

Is auto insurance always required in California?

I remember hearing that if you had enough money set aside in an account, you wouldn't have to pay for car insurance. Perhaps the minimum coverages for all the various types of accidents, which would sum up to somewhere around $50,000. Is this actually a possibility?""

""Insurance company refuse insure my house, what can I do?""

Hi I bought a house at a auction for 30000 last week. The house is empty (vacated). But the house is locked up and no internal view before the auction, I cannot access this house before the contract is done, it may take 20 days or more. So by law this property is mine, I need building insure for it. When I try to apply for insure after the auction, the insurance company refuse to insure this house. They said: I understand the property is vacant at present.Insurance is difficult whilst vacant . 1. First, is it ture, vacated house cannot be insured? 2. what can I now? Thanks in front""

Will this citation be reported to my auto insurance company?

So, earlier tonight i was driving my girlfriend home in my dad's brand new Porsche. He got it literally 14 days ago and he is obviously anal about it. but i drove her home in the car against his wishes while he was at dinner with his girlfriend. So on my way home, i was going 14 over the speed limit and i was pulled over, i was nice to the officer and he let me off with a citation, which sounds bad, but instead of me having to have that on my record, i just pay off the ticket and pay for a 4 hour driving class. And then there will not be any call made to my insurance company about the ticket. So will they really not call my insurance? my dad does not know i was pulled over and if i can just pay the ticket and take the class secretly then be done with it? or will the autorities still notify my company but make sure that they do not penalize me for it? I would basically be grounded the rest of the summer if he caught me taking out the 911.""

""If I Buy Rental Car Insurance, do I or My Personal Car Insurance Pay Anything?""

If I pay for insurance offered by the rental car company, do they pay for everything in the event of a collision? Or, does my insurance still have to pay some of the liabilities? Do I have to pay my deductible? I am simply trying to understand how this works. I have no plans to buy the insurance since I have my own insurance and my credit cards also pay.""

Where can I get any driver over 25 business car insurance?

I'm fed up with filling in heaps of info for online quotes, only to find that the company doesn't offer any driver policies""

What is the cost of insurance for children and teens?

How much does insurance cost for a child from age 2 to 12? What about for a teen (from age 12 to 18)? Please list these costs separately. Thanks so very much. I really appreciate this. It's for a school project in case you are wondering. =)

What is the cheapest auto insurance?

I am going to be turning 16 soon and i am most likely am getting a 2002 ford focus. what companies offer the cheapest auto insurance for a 16 yr old on there parents insurance?

Who has the cheapist insurance. for min.coverage?

Who has the cheapist insurance. for min.coverage?

Insurance Question ??

well im 16 and im most likey getting a car this weekend (the one i want is a 1997 mitsubishi eclips spider convertible) i was just wondering how much insurance will be ?? thanks i realy need to know .

I hit another car and I have no insurance?

My boyfriend just gave me his old car as a gift, I planned on getting insurance to it the moment I put it under my name, but I was driving today and I rear ended another car. I was placed in police car as they did some investigation. The other police officer found out that the other car was a rental and that they had Avis insurance. I kept asking the police officer when do I find out about making payments to the other car. He gave me a ticket and said there will be no payments for the other car. Me and and the other car never exchanged any information. This is my first accident, I am a little confused. Am I suppose to get sued. And what is the likelihood that that the other car's insurance would charge me 10k or more for the accident? I want an idea so I can start saving money and trying to make payments now. Is there a way I can start making payments without having to go to court to get sued.""

""On average, how much does the insurance go up for a 16yr old boy?

Driving insurance lol

How much would motorcycle insurance be for a 17 year old?

I was looking at either a 2011 Kawasaki Ninja 650R, a 2011 Yamaha FZ6R, or a 2009 Suzuki SV650SF. I live about 50 miles away from Washington D.C. in the suburbs. My grades are A's and B's and I'm in 2 AP classes. I've never had any traffic violations for a car, not that it really matters when dealing with a motorcycle.""

How much insurance would be on a 600cc?

Im deciding on getting a 600cc, or a gsxr 600 around the 2004-2005 range. Im 21 years of age, How much do you think insurance will be for me? I live up in the woods so i know when your in a less populated town and out of the city insurance will be a little cheaper. Thanks""

Insurance when buying a used car?

I'm going to buy a used car next week from a private seller and I am concerned about the insurance. I've heard that you need to have insurance to drive it but what should I do? I am 20 years old and I've looked up temporary insurance and most of them you have to be 21 years or older and some are around 200 for 1 day cover but you have to have a Full UK Driving Licence for at least 6 months when in my case, I've only had it since yesterday as I passed my test yesterday. So what should I do? Get the full insurance and tell them this cars registration number or not get insurance at all and assume I get 7 days free insurance when buying this used car from the private seller?""

Car insurance refund!! PLEASE HELP?

i paid 300.00 deposit for the my car insurance on 12th december 2009, than on the 30 december 2009, i canceled my insurance. do you think they should refunded me? please tell me what should i do? thanks""

international travel health insurance quotes

international travel health insurance quotes

""My husband and I are self employed, he is in heart faiure, our insurance premiums were 800 month, now doubled?""

Our insurance premiums have doubled in fourteen months. This is the cost of my husbands insurance premium only. I have had to go with another insurance company. How can you force me to pay these premiums. It is literally causing us to go broke. I live in Texas and have found a high risk insurance pool that is still 1100 a month, and does not cover as much. How are you going to help people like us?????""

Why are my health insurance rates so high?

what causes health insurance rate increases?

How much will my insurance go up after an accident?

Ballpark estimate. My rates right now are about 2000 a year... I just totaled a car. My fault, speeding wasn't a factor... just bad luck/inexperience. I'm 18 and have no prior accidents or points on my liscence.""

How to calculate insurance quotations?

i want to know how insurance quotations are prepared?is there any software to prepare such quotations?what are the factors to be taken into account to prepare such quotations?

Does anyone have Traveler's Auto Insurance?

I got a quote from a travelers auto insurance agent thats a good $75 less a month than what im paying now to progressive. The coverage isnt even bottom of the line either, its all the recommended selections. Anyone have any experience with them?""

What is the average car insurance for young males with a black box installed?

I'm in the UK and my friend who is 17 who recently passed his test said his car insurance was just over 500 per year, as he had black box installed. (Also, not on his parents insurance either) I've read average figures for car insurance for young males is in the 3000-5000 range. So can the box really bring insurance down that much? I know figures vary for type of car and all that. But we're talking average here. I imagine most young people are not going to be able to afford brand new cars, and will be cost-concious, so will go for older models anyway. So the 3000+ figures still seem incredibly high for an average figure.""

""Ran a stop sign, will I have to take traffic school to keep insurance rate down?""

I am a 21 year old who got a ticket for running a stop sign in Los Angeles. When I go to pay I see the option of traffic school, but it is more expensive than just paying the ticket off. If I want to keep my insurance rates at their current price, do I need to take traffic school? I am willing to do it, I just want to make sure the extra money won't be for nothing.""

What happens to my insurance premium if I stop owning a car for a period of time?

Does it affect my no claims bonus if I already have 6+ years no claims?

Why we need car insurance ?

I'm 20 and my car is 2010 Nissan Altima, my insurance company told me to pay 190 every month, I agreed but later I found the are asking for 220 then 250 for no reason and no ticktes so I cancled my insurance with them and now I'm driving for tow years without insurance and save $6000 from the car insurance,, I never pulled over by police never have one scratch on my car even I traveled to NY and LA more than 4 times ! Why I need car insurance? You do think the person should have the right to choose if he need insurance or not ?""

Should i go through the whole car insurance thing?

Hey guys, so someone rear ended me this morning and im debating whether or not to file the claim through the other person's insurance company since im pretty sure it would be his fault. But i'm debating whether or not i should even bother becuase the damage is very minimal ( theres only a small imprint of the rectangle from the guys license plate.) But i got in a car accident about 8 months ago which ended up being my fault. so since the damage is minimal to my bumper, i'm not sure its worth the hassle and the possibility of my rates going up, even though not my fault. should i just let it go? or file a claims through the other persons insurance, and if i do, do i have to call up my own insurance company as well? or by filing the claim through the other company, they'll take care of it? thanks for all the input.""

Insurance question?

My friend has a 1990 Mazda B-2200 Club Cab 4x2 and he's paying $140 per month for insurance. I keep telling him that if he gets a new car his insurance rate will go down because of the safety features on that car. His truck has no ABS, airbags or any other safety features besides seatbelts. He's looking to get a 2008 Volkswagen Rabbit. Now the Rabbit has standard 4-wheel ABS, front, side and curtain airbags, traction control, etc. The price of the car is around $17,000-18,000 but he's still worried that he'll pay more each month. Is that actually true or am I completely wrong?""

Need insurance help please?

I got into a car accident a few months ago (my fault). My insurance company denied my claim and didn't pay for the damages. Fast forward to today I get a letter saying that the insurance company of the guy who hit me are demanding that I pay them 6129 dollars. I don't have that kind of money im only 22 and I live with my parents. What will they do to me if I cant pay them? What can I do? (I live in california btw)

""New York car insurance, LoJack discount for Allstate?""

Hi all, I currently have Allstate car insurance and I bought a new car with a LoJack installed. When I tried to get the discount, they only took off $7 per month on my policy.. Looking online, I discovered that New York state mandates that car insurance companies must give a discount for LoJack, but I'm not sure how much. The LoJack website isn't very clear on the subject, saying 25% for NY but I'm not sure if that means up to 25% or a mandated 25%... Anyone happen to know? I'm having trouble finding any concrete information. Here's the info from LoJack I found: http://www.lojack.com/car-insurance-discount.html Thanks!""

Insurance for 17 year old?

i was just wondering the cost of insurance when i turn 17 next year. my parents are paying around 800 each car on there policy. so when i get added to there policy how much approximately will it cost me?

What motorcycle insurance should I get?

I recently got KLR650 and was wondering what kind of insurance should I get? What is the most common coverage? Also what insurance company are you using and are you happy with them when it comes to price and service? Thanks for all the answers

""If I have a 3rd car to add to CA insurance, will they check who lives at my address?""

I already have 2 cars insured with AAA in California. I am transferring my daughter's car to me because she had a DUI. If I insure it with AAA, will they look into who lives at my address? Should I go with a new insurance company for her car and if so, do the insurance companies exchange information?""

Where can i get the cheapest insurance for saxo vtr?

ive just passed my test and i already had the car well before i started lessons. ime 26 with 2 kids under 16. ive been getting stupid quotes for 5000. i know its a boy racers car but it doesnt meen ime going to be doing handbrakes and racing in it. just using it to get to work and take my kids out. i got the car for 600 2000 model and really want this car cant be doing with a 1.0 L or anything under a 1.6 can anyone give me a insurance company that will give me a decent quote. thankssss

Can you drive someone else's insured car without YOU having your own personal insurance in Ohio?

I'm 17 and i get my license the 26th. My mom is now paying off my car but i do not have insurance yet. Is it legal for me to drive hers or anyone else's car that has car ...show more

Does anyone know where a couple in their early 60's might find affordable insurance.?

We had really great insurance but, it went up from a little less than $600.00 to over $1000.00. We cannot afford that.""

How much will motorcycle insurance cost me in CA?

I'm 20 years old college student, I'm getting the 2013 Ninja 300 (my first bike), I have had no accidents driving my car since I've started driving. I haven't gotten my motorcycle liciense yet, how much will it cost me on average..?""

Which insurance company is father of reinsurer?

i need to know the answer for my interview in an insurance company. also which company is biggest insurance company in world.

Can i cash a check from an auto insurance company and not fix my car?

i had hit a deer yesterday, i had made a claim with my insurance company. When they send me a check for the damages, can i cash that check and fix the car myself and not go to a body shop?""

LANDA INSURANCE (real deal or fake?)?

WHATS up with Landa Insurance. www.landainsurance.com is really sketchy. Says its for Texas and Cali but also out of state and when u click on out of state its like 766 bucks in your cart... Seems pretty weird.. No online quotes or anything...

Do I have to tax a car if it is insured? I know that you HAVE to insure a car if it is taxed.....?

What I know. You have to tax your car unless you do a SORN. If you have done a SORN you don't have to pay car tax or even insure your car if you don't want to. If you don't intend to drive your car but it has car tax then your car HAS to be insured by law. But what about the other way round ...? If you have a car insured but it is in the garage and you never intend to drive it, for example it is a collectors item, do you HAVE to tax it? I can find on the net yes you have to insure your car if it is taxed but cannot find confirmation either way whether you HAVE to also have your car taxed if you never intend to drive it but you do want it insured. If someone confirms that it doesn't have to be taxed, could you provide details of where you found this information so that I can obtain a copy for my records please? Many thanks Lisa""

Florida suspended driver license for no insurance?

Tonight I was pulled over (for unknowen reasions) was told that I did not have insurance. Turns out the state supstend my linces last month (10-10-2011). Due to have no insurance, only proplem is, I did have insurance, I have the same company that i have had for over a year, I talked to my insurance company, no laps in coverage. But the problem is, they impounded my car, took my plate, and took my linces, Am i going to be forced to pay for that? Could i sue? I mean i am not out for millions, i just don't think its fair to force me to pay for a crime that i did not do. (Sorry, for misspellings, i am quite up set)""

international travel health insurance quotes

international travel health insurance quotes

What ia a good affordable health insurance for children?

What ia a good affordable health insurance for children?

Car insurance cost... roughly?

I am 15 and planning on getting my dads 1971 Plymouth duster as my first car when I'm 16, what would the yearly cost be?""

Classic car insurance for 18 year olds?

I was wondering whether it is possible to be put on a classic car insurance policy at 18. I've looked around and nearly all say you have to be over 25. I would like to somehow be insured on an Escort XR3i or RS turbo. I understand that because of may age this isn't going to be very easy. would it be cheaper to be a named driver if my dad owned the car ?

Can i have both medi-cal and private insurance at the same time?

My father has me under his insurance plan and I also have medical in the state of California. My son's medical worker signed me up for medical when I became pregnant with my second child. Also, can I use medical as secondary insurance to pay the remaining balance of my hospital bill?""

""As a first time driver at 29 in the UK, how can I get my insurance at a reasonable price?""

I am a 29 year old male - I have recently just passed my test and I would like to start driving, but even on a 1.2 t reg corsa worth 500 I get quoted 2700 at the very best for 3rd party only! I have tried changing details etc etc. 1, I have never had a conviction or made any insurance claim in my life 2, I live in M24 postcode 3, I have a good credit rating 4, I have no parents who drive or know anyone who will front for me, nor do I feel comfortable doing that. Can you insurance experts help? Or even at the very least explain why I am being quoted 4x the vehicle value? Thanks for your time""

Does anyone know the average price of plpd insurance on a mustang gt for a 16 year old?

I am turning 16 and I really want a mustang gt ive found one but I need to find the price of plpd on a mustang gt so if anyone has any answers or prices please tell me

Cheap car insurance for young drivers?

Where can i get cheap car insurance? I'm now 18, and I did use to drive a 1.2 Renault Clio, but I had to sell it, because the insurance was so high. I've been looking at other cars with small engines, and I have been using price comparison sites, but the cheapest quote I ever got was 3000 (and have done Pass Plus too!!) Is there any way to make insurance cheaper, or is there any insurance companies, that specialise insurance for young drivers with Pass Plus? And is there any other ways to make quotes cheaper? Please help :)""

""Cheap teen car insurance, best car to get?""

16, licensed, in high school with a b average. I know some insurance places give a discount for a b average. I know older cars with a good safety rating tend to have cheaper insurance quotes, if you can, please list some cars that you know would be cheaper to insure. Also, if you know the insurance companies that do discounts for a b average I would like to know. I am a safe driver so I'm not too worries about good coverage, I'm only driving to school and back daily. I need to pay for this myself so doing high school, running start, and having a part time job I wont be able to pay for anything too expensive. So, best cars to get? and best insurance?""

Can I my Dad's car without being on his insurance?

I am a 17yr old student living with my parents and i have just passed my driving test. Everyone keeps saying i can drive my Dad's car once he is in the passenger seat, but i am not sure. My dad has insurance on his car, but i am not a named driver. So can i drive my dad's car if he his in the passenger seat, without being named on his policy.""

Allstate auto insurance/full coverage - rental car?

Does anyone know if Allstate will cover me in a rental car? I have a full coverage policy on my car at the moment. Just wondering if I travel and rent a car would I still be covered?

Affordable Insurance?

My boyfriend is looking for some affordable insurance for himself. We live in Indiana, I already have insurance and our daughter is covered as well. I am finishing up college so I still qualify to use my father's insurance. What are some options for my boyfriend. (and I'm pretty sure he doesn't qualify for low income health insurance).""

Does this car legally have insurance?

My friend just purchased a new car and the temporary registration Is in her name but the car is insured under her moms policy without her listed as an additional driver. So if she is stopped by police will they coincided this car insured or uninsured? Also when it's time for her permanent registration will the state accept a proof of insurance on the car without her name on it? We live in Georgia by the way.

""I totaled my car and it was my fault, how much will i get from my insurance company, please help??

i wrecked my car and its totally non fixable and i do not know how the insurance works and i want to know what to expect on how much i will be getting back!?

How can i find the lowest car insurance rate for my car?

How can i find the lowest car rate for my car All the insurance companies advertise they have the lowest

Car Insurance?

Ok, first does anyone know which states do not require car insurance? Second question is do you have to have full coverage on a financed car? No silliness here real answers.""

Applying for medical insurance for my son..?

I'm on the COMPASS website and it asks if I have medical insurance through my job and if my child can get it also. If I'm trying to get CHIP for my son as it'll be cheaper then through my work. Should I just not say if I have insurance or should I continue and put yes my child can get insurance through my job?

Car Insurance Cost in NYC?

I have a question regarding car insurance. I'm 29 years old. I've been in 3 car accidents but was not at fault for any of them (2 of the times my car was sitting still! lol) and I've never gotten a ticket for any of those accidents. I used to have insurance through State Farm, full coverage for a 2004 Jeep Liberty that cost 50-60 a month in upstate NY. While driving to NYC one winter I got a speeding ticket, my first ticket ever! I was going I think 82(?) in a 65. This was just before I moved to NYC, and because I got the ticket in a podunk little county I was driving through I had no idea what the name was, the ticket flew out my door and I lost it. I figured they would mail me something else to tell me the payment was late but I never received anything else about it. Well I found out later it was because I moved, even though I moved about 2 months after the fact they wait quite a while to send another notice, and I never received it. Thus, my license was suspended but I never knew. I never got caught driving without it either. So I moved here in 2007 with my Jeep which I was very behind payments for, and then it got towed away for alternate side parking BS. I could have borrowed the money back then to pay to get it out but I let it go. Alright so long story short, I don't have the truck, it was auctioned. I'll be done paying for it through a collection agency settlement offer this May. If I had kept the truck, I would be paying 200+ more a month than I pay now, and I wouldn't have been done paying it til August 2011. Plus I would have had to pay to catch it up the 3 months I was behind, plus pay my boyfriends brother back who was willing to lend me the money to get it out of the car jail (lol) I had the suspension lifted last July so I could rent a car, again no issues. So I'm thinking of buying a 2,000 car (cash! I learned my lesson) in June when I'm done paying for the truck and I want to get no fault insurance. I know it will be a lot more here then what I used to pay, and in addition I now have a suspension that wasn't there before. How much do you guys have to pay for your insurance, if it's not too much information to ask? And how much do you think mine might be, or compare your cost and history to mine? Thanks.""

""My fathers paying car insurance for the car I drive, now moving?

My father pays car insurance but I'm moving will the payment go to me once I move with my car? How can I switch to my name

Whats a guess from the different cost on insurance between a bike and a car?

would it be something like bike - $100 month car - $200-$300 month

Who has the cheapest home insurance policies in California?

Time to renew and I need to start shopping around.

I need some advice on car insurance...?

I am purchasing a used car, worth about $3,000.00 I am trying to decide what level of car insurance I should get. Money is kinda tight. Do you think full coverage is neccessary? What type of coverage do most people opt for on low value cars like this? I've always driven new ones.""

How important is car insurance ?

My dad works for an insurance company so he thinks I need insurance but I can't afford it. Should I wait until I have enough money for insurance to buy a car?

Where to Find Affordable Family Health Care Insurance?

Recently I was looking on google for affordable health care insurance, but I can't make my decision which site to choose.There are so many sites.Please suggest me one.""

Anybody knows reliable insurance companies that insure summer houses?

I've recently bought a summer house in Tavira, Portugal, which my family and I would like to insure because we won't use it constantly. Anybody knows reliable insurance companies that insure summer houses?""

I'm 17 years old looking for a car with cheap insurance?

I have 3,000 and I'm looking for a manual car that's somewhat fast I don't want a super slow car and I know I can't find a super fast one either but something kinda fast in the price range and not a but load for insurance""

international travel health insurance quotes

international travel health insurance quotes

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/toy-hauler-insurance-quote-christopher-lawman/"

[ciampolirt]

The Toughest of Weeks

So this past week was a real lesson in just how much patience the education team really has. After coming back from a long weekend (HBD America), our team was facing a juggernaut of a week. Tours, programs, field trips, oh my! I feel like the best way for me to dissect this past week is by taking a cue from Ted Mosby and creating...A PROS AND CONS LIST!

Cons:

1. Thursday. Thursday was the worst day of our collective lives. Thursday was like when you see a hurricane on the Doppler radar, but you think, "Surely that won't hit us that badly." Off the bat, we had three programs lined up, almost back to back. Tickle My Ears was scheduled for the morning. After the reading we moved into the workshop for fingerpaint baseballs. After the last thumb had been pressed onto the last plate, Maegan, Jonathan and I flipped the workshop and scattered for lunch. 12:30 brought a new group of eager summer campers. From 12:30-2 we were scheduled to make paper masks with our friends, keeping in mind that we had another tour group coming in at 2:15 for a hands-on. At around 1:45 we get wind that the incoming group has double the number of kids we anticipated. At this point, we're all unraveling a bit. Not only does the second group have an inordinate amount of children, they arrived later than we were expecting. Now, we're all just panicking. We're grabbing extra supplies and trying to weave our way through the sea of marker-toting toddlers. Everything after this is just a blur. Somehow we manage to push through and Maegan and I jet off to Hampton only a couple minutes behind schedule. After Thursday, I went home and didn't move for several hours.

2. Family Fun Friday (Anne has suggested another more potent F be added to the title) grows exponentially every week and we have no idea how to keep up. A good problem to have, it's a problem nonetheless. This past FFF, I had docents running around cutting cardstock on the fly. I could literally feel the muscles in my neck begin to strain from being so tense. After everyone left, Maegan, Jonathan, and I turned around to assess the damage. Then the cleanup commenced and we started planning for next week.

Pros:

1. Our meeting with Seth about the educational space for the upcoming NASA exhibit went great! I got to spend the better portion of my morning listening to radio excerpts from the Apollo 11 mission. There is talk of moon pillows, Tang, and life-sized cutouts of real astronauts. Houston, we have a pro.

2. During one of our programs, a group of feisty girls decided I needed some bling, and removed the gems from their own projects to stick on my badge.

3. Mr. M had the department falling over in stiches as he demonstrated just where we could place the new stick-on gems we ordered.

4. The interns and our fearless leader, Maegan, made the trek to Hampton to visit the Hampton University art museum. I had no idea how expansive and diverse their collection was. I learned about the university's connection with the local Native American tribes, as well as Hampton's historic nursing program. Maegan and I became immediate experts in the Japanese garment, the obi. The collection is absolutely wonderful, and I wish we had more time to browse, but I had a great time.

5. Thursday kicked off the opening of George Sosnak's decorated baseballs exhibit. After a whirlwind day (see Cons list), I returned to the museum and James and I (bless his curatorial heart) got a head start on the activity for Family Fun Friday. Then we snaked our way through the museum (we were foiled by several locked doors) and landed at the exhibit reception. We immediately began stuffing ourselves with mini corndogs and Fritos smothered in chili. A fair reward for cutting out 12 Nepalese collars.

6. After several rounds of interviews and me badly explaining what an Education intern does over and over, the department hired a new teacher for Art Camp! We are super excited to have her on board and look forward to having a regular group of rugrats running around the museum.

7. Family Fun Friday!! This technically falls under both pros and cons, but, hey, I'm feeling generous. I got to lead the activity for this Friday's Family Fun day; a cardstock and aluminum foil reproduction of a Nepalese battle collar from our collection. When I asked if anyone knew where Nepal was, a little guy squinted through round glasses, raised his hand and said, "Nepal borders China and India." The entire room applauded. I would call that a pro.

8. I returned form lunch on Friday to the whole department draped across the couches in the docent lounge, listlessly scooping out the dregs from cups of melted ice cream. There was a dull chorus of "Rachel" as I entered and Ruth said, "There's one in the freezer for you. It's been a tough week." Not the most upbeat pro, I'm aware, but it's nice to know that the department that suffers together, drowns its sorrows in ice cream together.

9. Although not technically completed during my work week, the Education team rallied together to organize the workshop. I'm talking color coding, labeled bins (on BOTH sides), and catchy organizational rhymes. Maegan and I started on Friday and I received a text mid-morning on Saturday saying the work was done. And I have to say, it really is a beautiful thing.

So the lesson from this week, kids, is that even though we face seemingly overwhelming tasks and have days when we're surrounded by 70 little guys with no personal space restrictions, it's important to focus on the little good things that happen. It's the little things that make the big things seem not so scary. And, remember, it's always okay to sit around and complain while eating ice cream.