#welcome to: church's niche ships

[epsilonsim]

nap time for the veterans

#index ; doodles #welcome to: church's niche ships #rvb veterans #locsargingtongrey #rvb locus #rvb sarge #rvb washington #rvb grey #red vs blue #rvb #emily grey rvb #agent washington #samuel ortez #colonel sarge #i love them so fucking much dude #i loovee themmm

[thedreadvampy]

Ok like I'm sorry for all the Elias discourse but stepping off from OGlias for a moment I legit saw someone saying it was a mischaracterisation to assume Jonah Magnus was himself a rich white dude which

uh

Let's leave aside for the moment that Jonah Magnus not being wealthy and privileged utterly sucks the meaning of of a lot of what the podcast has to say about class and exploration because hey, that's a matter of interpretation

What do we know about Jonah Magnus (from all statements mentioning his original incarnation)?

1816: Interacts as at least an equal with Albrecht von Closen, who has at least one family estate and an aristocratic pedigree and thus could be expected to be at least middle class if not wealthy. This is relevant because Georgian class was very stratified and cross-class mixing heavily discouraged, 1816 is probably fairly early in Magnus' career, and Albrecht doesn't address him as one would a social inferior.

1818: Established the Magnus Institute, apparently without external funding partners because he's the only one ever mentioned in connection with its organisation and his friends talk about it as his own project; it certainly isn't associated with an existing university or academy as far as we can tell.

1824: not a lot of additional information, except that again Magnus' friends are all moving in wealthy, upper class circles

1831: In a position to hire professionals for Millbank under good terms. We learn more about Albrecht, he's definitely painted as wealthy old money, which continues to speak to this association

1841: reasonably close friends with Sampson Kempthorne, workhouse designer, who expresses the expectation of Magnus agreeing with him about workhouses and the treatment of the poor through work. At this time, Magnus is living in an Edinburgh townhouse, by which I'm guessing we're talking about one of the New Town Georgian 4-floors-plus-servant's-quarters which that name implies. Those aren't mansions, but they weren't where a clerk or shopkeeper would live - they were built for ship owners, lawyers, doctors, the upper-middle and upper classes, and as the name townhouse implies they were generally occupied as one of several estates, with the usual occupants being likely to also have a country place.

Beyond specific statement letters, Magnus largely crops up via his association with his wee gang, all of whom are wealthy upper-middle or aristocracy (Smirke, Rayner, Lukas)

He has the resources and social clout to devote his time to pursuing what is, effectively, a hobby; his interest in the supernatural doesn't bring in much income and, conversely, often costs him to chase up. He doesn't appear to have a full-time job at any point; he works on Millbank with Smirke but he doesn't appear on the records, meaning this is unlikely to be a paid management role. His friends refer to his supernatural work as a hobby or interest, not a job, and make it clear that at least by the 1830s-40s this is his whole life (he's "rattling around with his books and letters") - ergo he does not have a need to support himself beyond that.

He had the resources and funds to, by himself and for his own purposes, not only shape the building of Millbank but also to set up an independent academic institution which is still running 200 years later

Like, is it explicit that he's a rich white man? Not per se. Would all of this information make sense if he wasn't? I suppose it's possible but it's a reach, and one that I'm not sure why you as a writer would make without making pretty clear. To be able to move comfortably in moneyed Georgian circles without being born to money, and to be able to do the things Magnus does without having substantial disposable income - that would be exceptional, and would surely merit some sort of comment.

(I've talked about the race politics of Georgian Britain as relates to Jonah Magnus before, but just to sum up: in a time before the abolition of the slave trade and during massive colonial expansion into Asia, being a British man of wealth and not being white was pretty unusual. We can see this in the description of Rayner; he's very specifically described as Black, but also his Blackness is notable to a contemporary narrator. so again, not impossible for Jonah to be a person of colour, but definitely unexpected and it would be an interesting choice to write that unremarked)

just by way of historical context, as I say, class was very structured and immobile in Georgian Britain for the most part. It was also, as I understand it, much more discrete. Whereas now, the lines between working class, middle class and upper class are pretty fuzzy, in the 1800s they were a lot more clear-cut - the working class worked for little money, had little to no education past basic literacy and numeracy, and the entire household would work; the newly developing middle class made a living through highly-skilled jobs (artists, doctors, lawyers, clerks, shopkeepers, factory owners, shop owners and pub landlords, for example) and would have enough disposable income to buy property; and the upper class/gentry may work (but only appropriate to their station; academia, law or the church, largely, and of course a lot of them in the 1810s made bank from Caribbean plantations and their imports) but substantially they lived off the profits of investments, ownership and estate management, built off heritable wealth. 

There’s a big range of middle class though, although it was a small segment of society. At the bottom end, you have your grocers, pub landlords, shopkeepers, clerks and so on - they probably own their homes and business and have money to buy things outright rather than renting. At the top end, we have some really pretty substantial wealth - we’re talking multiple houses and estates, large-scale business concerns, tens of permanent staff, and only one person in the family needing to work. The difference between upper middle and aristocracy isn’t necessarily in quality of life, aside from blood it’s really just a question of whether the majority of your income comes from work or from investment and property management. So for example, Smirke is upper middle, but very wealthy - he has a career in a high-profile trade, he’s notable and welcome in high society, but ultimately his wealth is dependent on him continuing to get work. Von Closen may have more or less material wealth than Smirke, but his money is old money and he does not work; he’s very much a gentleman of the upper crust. Particularly with Industrial Revolution and the profit that the slave trade and the expansion of the Empire were bringing in for traders, the middle class was abruptly getting a lot richer in at the start of the 19th century and if anything class was getting a lot more discrete - urbanisation and industrialisation meant the poor were getting poorer (and less able to exist outside a monetary economy) and the working rich were getting a lot richer (until of course after a couple of hundred years the upper middle class almost eclipsed the idle class as the Rich and Powerful)

So the gentry/nobles/old money/upper class were the only class whose wealth wasn’t to a high degree reliant on them working, and so honestly being a Georgian gentleman was stultifyingly boring. That’s why so many comedies of manners crop up from the lower end of the upper class - you have to find something to keep you busy and social politicking is something. But it also meant a lot of gentlemen scholars - men with time on their hands and nothing they desperately needed to be doing, who got really into eccentric hobbies and niche interests (like social engineering, or art theory, or the occult, or unpicking weirdly specific theological concepts, or a bit earlier experimenting with light and lenses, or a bit later investigating the origins of species, or getting super into a specific aspect of the classics). The idle rich weren’t the only ones doing academia or research, but they had the time, money and resources to devote to really deep dives into things without much financial use.

So my personal take is that, given that by 1818 Jonah Magnus had the capital, the social heft and the time to found and run an independent academic institution focused on his relatively niche interests, and to do so with enough resourcing that it still runs 200 years later, the safest bet is that he was born a gentleman. At the very least, all the people he socialises with are securely upper-middle or gentry; he has a visible disdain for the poor; he owned substantial personal property by at least middle age (the Edinburgh townhouse); he had the social clout to get involved behind the scenes in a major social architecture project - it seems like the lowest this could possibly place him is mid-to-upper middle class at birth (he could have made that much money from working and lucky investments, but to get into a position where by middle age you can afford to become the Idle Rich, spending all your money and time on an obsessive personal interest, you would need to have started off with at least the capital and clout to get a high-level education and/or make significant business investments (say, buy a series of factories or build a shipping empire). You could make a case that he could work his way up from being born to a middling-middle-class family - maybe a country vicar or a shopkeeper - but friends can I show you some numbers I googled?

In the 1810s, being mid- or upper middle class (fourth or above) meant you were richer than 94.5% of the civilian population. Upper middle and above (like literally every person we know of who had social ties to Magnus except maybe the architects)? Literally top 1%. (well. 1.25%).

The middle class in Georgian Britain was the elite. They weren’t the elite of the elite, but they had money, land, property, staff, clout and privilege. You can’t project the class politics of 2021 onto 1818 (that is, in fact, why pure Marxism still requires an updated reading, bc in even the last 150 years the specific distribution and attributes of class and wealth has changed substantially (although the same people do stay at the top and bottom)). 

I think our perceptions are altered by the worries and perspectives of popular contemporary authors. For example, Austen characters often bemoan their lack of wealth, and are firmly Middle Class, and compared to the upper middle and the gentry they are living frugally and on a budget, but with “cottages” that are often six- or seven bedroom houses with several parlours and one or two servants, plus a town house, and with only one breadwinner per family and enough invested wealth to live entirely off the interest (that’s what the incomes of these characters are), they are living in a degree of wealth that would be unthinkable to 95% of their contemporaries, and it would be fair to assess them as rich by modern standards.

You can argue that Jonah Magnus wasn’t aristocracy. You cannot argue realistically that he wasn’t rich. Not only does that make no thematic or character sense (again, that’s a matter of interpretation, but it seems to me to be Pretty Key to his character that he’s an examination of inborn privilege) but it also makes no contextual historical sense.

#pls pay attention to me i spent way too long on this #p r o c r a s t i n a t i n g #also. there is an argument that class mobility was increasing #but uhhhh that doesn't mean it was a plausible thing to jump from penury to princedom #example: in the 1810s my ancestor walked from Edinburgh to London to seek his fortune and escape starvation at home #his was a remarkable rags to riches story #but his 'riches' was a job as a low-level law clerk and an undergraduate degree from Cambridge #he owned a flat I think #but he wasn't out here with the personal wealth to set up an independent research foundation #(I don't remember which ancestor but I think great grandfather?) #anyway the point is this is a wild take #I could talk at length about how it ALSO makes no thematic sense but I feel like I've tapped that one enough lately #tma meta

[notebooknebula]

Leverage Books to Grow Your Real Estate Business with Max Keller & Jay Conner

https://www.jayconner.com/leverage-books-to-grow-your-real-estate-business-with-max-keller-jay-conner/

Max Keller is a Best Selling Author, Investor, Entrepreneur, and National Speaker

Max joins Jay Conner to teach everyone how to create success.

Max went from being a full-time high school Math Teacher to creating multiple successful real estates and marketing businesses. He has published multiple books and currently licensees his lead generation systems to real estate professionals all over the country.

Although business is Max’s new full-time obsession, one thing has never left… the heart of a teacher. Max loves the opportunity to teach, inspire, and share real-world applications that can transform the lives of business owners.

Max earned his B.B.A. in Finance from The University of Texas at Austin and his M.A. in Teaching from Louisiana College. He has over 15 years of experience in real estate, finance, and teaching, and he was named the 2019 Industry Innovator of the Year. A few of his current roles are consultant, teacher, author, speaker, and expert panelist. He has flipped over 100 houses and is on a mission to help real estate agents and real estate investors have customers chasing them.

Max created Savior Publishing House as a way to serve his community and help seniors with their real estate challenges. The Savior brand of companies focuses on providing Christian real estate and business solutions to our clients. Max enjoys spending time with his wife and children and engaging in family activities, such as being involved at church and going on vacation. He is passionate about investing time in his family.

Timestamps:

0:01 – Get Ready To Be Plugged Into The Money

1:42 – Jay’s New Book: “Where To Get The Money Now”- https://www.JayConner.com/Book

2:59 – Today’s guest: Max Keller

5:26 – How Max Keller got into the real estate business

7:19 – Max Keller’s first real estate deal.

8:23 – Max Keller’s struggles during his start-up in the real estate business

13:29 – Max Keller’s marketing strategy in finding deals in the senior market

17:41 – They see me differently because I have a book – Max Keller

20:38 – Let Max Keller help you create your own book for your real estate business.

27:34 – ‘Real Estate Investors’ Book Writing Checklist” – https://www.DealsChasingYou.com/Conner

28:57 – Max Keller’s parting advice: Lead with value.

Private Money Academy Conference:

https://jaysliveevent.com/live/?oprid=&ref=42135

Have you read Jay’s new book: Where to Get The Money Now? It is available FREE (all you pay is the shipping and handling) at https://www.JayConner.com/Book

Free Webinar: http://bit.ly/jaymoneypodcast

Jay Conner is a proven real estate investment leader. Without using his own money or credit, Jay maximizes creative methods to buy and sell properties with profits averaging $64,000 per deal.

What is Real Estate Investing? Live Private Money Academy Conference

https://youtu.be/QyeBbDOF4wo

YouTube Channel

https://www.youtube.com/c/RealEstateInvestingWithJayConner

iTunes:

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/private-money-academy-real-estate-investing-jay-conner/id1377723034

Listen to our Podcast:

https://realestateinvestingdeals.mypodcastworld.com/11247/leverage-books-to-grow-your-real-estate-business-with-max-keller-jay-conner

Real Estate Investing With Jay Conner

Jay Conner

00:02:40

My special guest knows how to teach and create success. In addition to that, my guest and friend went from being a full-time high school math teacher to creating in such a short period of time, a moldable successful real estate and marketing businesses. In fact, he’s published multiple books and currently licenses his special proprietary lead generation systems to real estate professionals all over the country. Also, I want you to know that all of those businesses are my friend’s new full-time obsession. But one thing has not changed, and that is his heart of being a teacher.

He’s got a servant’s heart. He’s always looking to give value and he loves teaching. He loves the opportunity to teach, inspire, and share real world applications that can transform your business. In addition to that, my special guest and friend has been investing in real estate. He’s got 15 years of experience in real estate, finance, and teaching. And as a matter of fact, he was named the 2019 Industry Innovator of the Year. Also, he has already flipped over 100 houses. In addition to that, he’s created a company called Savior Publishing House as a way to serve his community and to help senior citizens with their real estate challenges, enjoy spending time with his wife and children engaged in family activities. And something very, very important to him is being very involved in his local church, just like me and Carol Joy. With that, welcome to the show my good friend, Max Keller.

Max Keller

00:04:57

Hey, good to be here. Let’s go.

Jay Conner

00:05:00

It is awesome to have you on here, Max. Good to see you again. You and I are in a fellow mastermind. You and I have probably known each other now for about 3 years or so. And I tell you, it’s just amazing to watch all the phenomenal successes and the growth of your company that you’ve got going on. We’re going to be talking about private money with you here on the show today. But before we jump in, tell us, Max, how did you get into real estate?

Max Keller

00:05:28

It was sort of by accident. So, I was teaching Math at an inner city school. I was coaching football, basketball, and track, and I didn’t want to actually get into real estate full time. I just saw it as a passive income opportunity. My pay was pretty much fixed to being a teacher. And so I was like, I got to do something as my kids were getting older. So what I did was I just wanted to maybe get one or two rentals a year. I figured if I did that over a period of time, I could have a pretty good nest egg and then pass it on. What ended up happening in 2015 was I just kind of got sucked into real estate. I mean, it’s not just a good way to make money over long periods of time, but you can really increase the active income.

So I basically just got a local mentor. I worked all day as a teacher and then at night I would work for him. And within about 3 months I got a couple of houses under contract wholesale. One made about $16,000, which is like 4 months worth of teacher pay. I Then did it again. And then another time. And I just decided I needed to go full-time. And so that’s what I did. I just went full-time, I made the leap, it was a lot easier to source deals back then in 2015, 2016 than it is right now, but there’s still ways to do it. You just have to know what you’re doing, execute, and level up your marketing. And so that’s sort of been the journey that I’m on. I’m in Dallas Fort Worth and it’s very competitive like a lot of markets. And so what happened with me, I just had to figure out a better way to do my marketing because if you don’t have leads in your business, whether they’re for private money or for deals, you don’t have a business. So that’s kind of what happened to me. It’s been an amazing journey and it just keeps evolving every day.

Jay Conner

00:07:19

So was your first deal, a wholesale deal, a fix and flip, what was it?

Max Keller

00:07:23

So I have pretty good credit because I didn’t use it. That’s what’s kind of funny about credit. If you use it a lot, you don’t get very much more and your credit score is low. I had gone through when I was a teacher, like the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University model, so I had all my debts paid off. I didn’t understand how to leverage debt in a good way yet. So, I actually took down my first property with a line of credit, I guess I kind of really wholetailed it, I technically took title to it and then just sold it, like I did a closing 4 weeks later to a cash buyer. But yeah, it was $16,000. I mean, I didn’t squeeze every ounce of juice out of the deal like I could have, but what I did have back then, which was really important, is having some really consistent, solid buyers. And that allowed me to create some opportunities for bigger chunks of cash today. And then it allowed me to leverage into long-term assets.

Jay Conner

00:08:23

What were some of your early struggles when you were starting out?

Max Keller

00:08:26

I think probably the first one was what to focus on and like who to market to. So it’s funny. I do a lot of marketing now and I’ve gotten a lot better at it. But at first, the challenge was that marketing because there’s so many other people sending out the exact same thing to everybody. And so as the competition kept going up in our market, the return on my ad spend kept getting lower and lower. And so I had to figure out basically what I figured out in my market was the problem that we were having was every other investor and wholesaler were sending the same messages to the same people. Like if they’re on my list, they’re probably on other people’s lists, too. And we have hedge funds entering our market pretty early on and they were paying really, really high prices.

So I knew that if I was just going to only compete on price and compete against people who have multimillion dollar marketing budgets, that was going to be a tough order. So the good news is I just thought about what the problem was and said maybe I don’t need to take down every deal in Dallas Fort Worth. What’s the best niche I can focus on? And so what I did and what I would encourage people to consider, even if they’re brand new is like, I just kind of outlined what’s a perfect deal for me. And for me, a perfect deal is one where I make good profit on the deal because of a larger profit deal and a smaller one. They take about the same amount of time. Number two is I want to work with people that aren’t resisting me. Like, I would go over to people’s houses and they would argue with me when I showed them the comps and they hadn’t moved in 20 years.

They don’t have a real estate background. And I was like, this is kind of a joke. And so that was number two. I want to work with people who are like, “You’re the expert who helped me,” and I want to work with people that I just enjoyed working with, who were just nice people that just didn’t have a clear path. And so those are the kind of people I wanted to work with. I made a list when I’d already done about 30 or 40 deals, most of the deals that I’d already done didn’t meet all of those criteria, but the ones that did, you didn’t have to be rocket scientists to figure out what the pattern was and that they were senior citizens, they were senior homeowners. So that was sort of my first marketing A-ha moment, was that there’s this really large, fastest-growing niche in our real estate space that I could target with different messages.

Senior homeowners have different needs than millennial homeowners. They just do. They’re interested in different stuff. They have different questions. So instead of sending everybody the same message, “I’ll buy your house, paid cash in 7 days,” like everybody else is sending, I started sending totally different messages that were very senior-centric. And as a benefit, I got a lot more calls. I had a much higher response rate and then kind of the next thing that happened after that real quick was about a senior’s house. It was the dad, and his adult children were there. So he was probably in his early ’80s and the kids were in their ’50s, early ’60s. People were upset because they’re selling the family home. There’s a lot of memories, Christmas was right over there, but they had to do it.

The dad couldn’t stay in the house any longer. And so the adult daughter said, “I really appreciate everything that you’ve done for us. You’ve helped us out.” I found the dad a new place to live, like a senior retirement home. And she said, “You know a lot about this. Have you ever thought about writing a book about this?” I was like, Jay, my lands, that was the furthest thing from my mind. I was like, “No, I’m a Math teacher. I’m not an English teacher.” But then when I thought about it, I was like, that’s actually a pretty good idea because at the time in the little 3 cities that I focused on in this huge Dallas Fort Worth metro area, I was getting known as the guy who knew a lot about seniors.

But if I wrote a book about seniors and their housing struggles, I could be the guy who wrote the book on it. So that’s what I did. I’ve got a special gift for your audience at the end, by the way. If you’re interested in writing your own book, we’ve created the first of its kind DIY guide. It’s basically the framework that we didn’t have when we wrote our first book, but we have now for all the books that we write. I didn’t realize that a book would be such an incredible magnetic marketing engine for my business. I was selfishly just kind of tired of having the 4-hour Q and A’s in everybody’s living rooms, answering the same questions over and over for 3 years. It was kind of burning me out. So I just wrote the answers to all those questions in the book. I wrote down all the stuff that people should ask, and I just got it printed. It took a couple of hundred hours to write my first one and then I just started giving it to people and it became my ultimate business card. And it really changed the way that I market for deals and then eventually private money forever.

Jay Conner

00:13:30

So, you started focusing, as you just said, on serving and talking with senior citizens that were at the point where they needed to sell their houses.

What are your favorite marketing methods for locating the owners of these houses that may be looking to sell?

Max Keller

00:13:56

Great question. So there’s really 2 categories of marketing methods that we use. They’re the ones that we used before we had a book. And then there’s the ones that are more available to people who are experts, authorities, local celebrities. You, obviously, are in that category. And so what we did initially when we got the book, was basically just the same methods that we were using. Data is more available now than it’s ever been. It’s easier than it’s ever been to find more ways than there’s ever been for people to reach you. What’s really missing in marketing is really understanding who you’re talking to as a marketer and then sending messages that are like reading their minds.

That’s the biggest problem, okay? It’s not the list. Everybody has the same list. Everybody knows how to stack a list. You can go on YouTube, figure it out in 5 minutes. The real challenge is why would they choose you over everybody else? That’s the missing piece. And so that’s what we did. I’ll give you an example, real simple, okay. We’re getting calls from our direct mail, our door-to-door flyers, our normal calling agents and talking about if there are pocket listings. Normal stuff. So people are calling our office, right? We had just gotten the book and sometimes they’re calling with a little bit of a chip on their shoulder because they know that they’re getting all this mail, you know? So they’re like, “Hey, congratulations, you’re going to win the house lottery. You have the opportunity to come over to my house and pay me more than you probably should.”

And so when people call, they’re like, “we need you to come over right now.” And I was afraid that if I didn’t go over there real quick, they would sell it to somebody else. That’s what they teach at all the bootcamps. And that’s probably true if you don’t have a book, but if you do, you don’t have to do that because instead I would just say, “Hey, oh great! Yeah, you want us to come over? Okay. we’ll get to that. Hey, real quick, do you have a copy of our latest book?” And they’re like, “Your book?” like the whole tone changes. I go, “Yeah! We wrote the book on senior housing. I’m the Home To Home guy, the step-by-step senior housing guide.” And I press further.

“So, let me ask you a question. If I send an autographed copy of the book to your house,  you can read Chapter 3 – ‘All The Ways To Sell Your Home with Pros & Cons of Each’ before I come over. Because if you can, then I’ll come over and if you can’t, then I can’t come over. See, I’m the boss of my business. I’m the expert you’re calling and talking to the foundational source for the information that you need. So we’re going to follow my process.” It’s not being rude. It’s just a statement of fact. And so it really increases compliance, which is what you want as a business owner. Because you know the formula to help your clients better than they do. Otherwise, they’d be doing it themselves. Well, what do you think people are going to say when you ask them if they’re going to read an autographed book?

What do people say when they get your autographed book? They can’t wait. So what happens is, I pay a courier about 30 or 40 bucks. I send it over and I go, “Hey, do you still need me to come over right now? Or are you going in to foreclosure?” Then we got like a couple of days. It’s okay, a couple of days. So now I’m on my schedule, which is what I need to run a predictable business. I send the book, they read Chapter 3, but they read the rest of the chapters. Do you know what I mean? They read the story right here with me and my Momo. Do you think people think that guys who take care of their 90-year-old grandmas are scumbags or loan sharks? Heck, no. They’re like, “Man, this is, like, my new grandson, Max.”

So when I come over, they’ve read the whole book. They’ve already spent 4 or 5 hours with me and they see me differently because I have a book, you know? So it just sets the tone really well. It puts the odds in my favor. Then when I come over, I bring them the workbook and they’re just like, “Dang, it’s like Christmas around here.” And then I go through it with them. So instead of just talking about stuff or asking these lame and hard closing questions that nobody likes and it makes you look really slimy, we don’t have to do any of that stuff. Here’s the perfect example, Jay, on page 41. I tagged this page. I go, “Now, Mavis, if you’re looking at some other investors to buy your house, I totally understand that.”

I said to her, “I’d probably do the same thing, but make sure that you ask them these questions. These are the questions you’re going to want to ask to make sure you don’t get roped in with the wrong person. And by the way, you can ask me those questions, too: Do you see the credibility? Do you see the openness?” It’s like lights out. So that’s how we buy houses and it works really well. We attach it to what we’re already doing, but then the other stuff is the stuff that we didn’t even know about, which is speaking to local businesses. So one time I spoke at the probate attorney association, a monthly meeting for my county. Jay, do you think that 30 probate attorneys sitting in a room while you’re standing, that makes you the expert at what you’re delivering? Do you think some of those 30 probate attorneys in the next 2 years are going to know somebody that needs to sell their house?

Jay Conner

00:19:12

Well, it’s the perfect market that is like the revolving door of prospects for your target market.

Max Keller

00:19:19

Yeah. And so I used to think the only way to market for deals was directly to the homeowner with really standard, generic messages that get thrown in the trash. So our messages used to be in the junk mail, but now our books are on the coffee table with all the other autographed books from the local real estate experts, which, as you know, it’s not a huge stack. So, it’s about pivoting when you’ve established yourself as an authority, as an expert, as a local celebrity in your field, whatever it is. It helps make the transition going from an annoying pest, as Dan Kennedy says, to a welcome guest.  We were the pesky salespersons who were only pitching and not listening, but now we’re the educator or the non-fiduciary housing advisor. That’s just a big paradigm shift. And when you’re in front of 30 business owners, there’s an incredible amount of leverage because they know 30 prospects. So in 1 hour you can really speak to 900 people. It’s just super powerful. And I haven’t found any other method of marketing that can replicate those kinds of results.

Jay Conner

00:20:32

Well, you can’t beat the credibility of having a book. You can’t beat the credibility of knowing what you’re talking about and being an expert. So, Max, we got a lot of people here listening to the podcast and I’m sure they’re scratching their heads going, “Well, that’s a great idea, Max, but how in the world do I get me a book?”

Max Keller

00:20:52

How can I get a book? Yeah, great question. I would love to come on here and say, “Jay, I’m just such a hot shot ninja marketer that I planned all this out.” Nothing could be further from the truth. If my market wasn’t so competitive, I would have never spent 200 hours writing a book. I would have just kept scooping up deals like most people were doing in that time in these tertiary, secondary markets, but I didn’t have a choice and it worked out really good. Here’s what happened. I’m getting deals with my book. I’m in masterminds, and we’re actually in a lot of the same masterminds. So I’m in this mastermind and my friends in there, you know, investors copy what works, they’re not trying to reinvent the wheel. And they’re like, “Hey, I kinda like this.”

“I live in Florida. You’re not using your book in Florida. It turns out we got seniors there, too. You think I could use your book?” And I was like, “I don’t know.” Maybe I just didn’t understand. And then my friend in Chicago is like, “Hey, can I use your book? Hey, they got seniors in Chicago, too.” So what we did was we created a system. I brought in some of the who’s who in publishing and we created a licensing program. It turns out the secret behind this book is that 99% of it is about stuff that our ideal prospect cares about. 1% is about us. Most marketing messages are the opposite. All they do is talk about themselves and very little about the person. That’s why they don’t call you. It’s like, “I’m sending out all this stuff. Why are people not calling me?”

Because it doesn’t look like you even understand what they’re going through. So that was sort of the accidental secret sauce from this. So we created a system where we change about 5% of the book, because the ways to sell a house in North Carolina is pretty similar to Dallas and is pretty similar to California, especially with the types of assisted living facilities, all of that’s about the same. So now we just swap them out on the cover. We give them a custom cover and they just pay us a one-time licensing fee to set up their book. In less than 30 days, they have a book and a workbook that they can hand out to prospects. And so they only spend about an hour or two of their time filling out all the information we need to personalize it. We write in their story.

So it just lowers the barriers that make it easier. And the folks that are usually a fit for our program are folks that are active real estate investors. They understand the value of a deal. They have some credibility, but they just haven’t figured out a way to signal it to the people they’re trying to reach. The phone isn’t ringing like it used to. Those are the people that come to us. And we’ve had about 130 students that licensed one of our 4-books systems across the nation. They see that this works and they don’t want to reinvent the wheel. So yeah, that created another, whole new business that I never expected. That’s where I got the award from, with Robert Kiyosaki. Jay, a funny story and I didn’t tell everybody this right.

It’s kind of embarrassing, but in 2005 I actually tried to get into real estate. I was 25. I just got married. The problem was, I wasn’t reading and I definitely wasn’t writing books. I didn’t have a clue what I was doing. So I researched CRMs all day, which is worthless. And I created an LLC, which is meaningless. And I didn’t know anything about marketing or lead generation. I stood in line to get Robert’s book for 2 hours. And then I just ended up not doing anything. That’s what happens. I just didn’t understand what to do next. I didn’t have a mentor. I didn’t even know what that was. So it’s crazy to think and I never would have imagined in a million years, 15 years later, I’m getting this award, we’re sharing a stage together and we’re exchanging books. I never would have imagined it.

It was a really cool deal. So it can happen. Books are super powerful and we believe that we’ve made it easier than ever for folks to plug in. And like I said, it’s for folks who want to do senior housing. And then what happened was that, well, once you have a deal, what do you need after that? The money. So we created a licensing program. This is one of my student’s books, Leonard, I’m really proud of him. He’s in Seattle. And because it turns out, guess what? Senior homeowners have questions. And when you give them the book, they look at you really differently. It works the same way with private money lenders. Who knew? So this is Leonard’s book. And then we just swap out covers. Here’s Tim Davis’. So you see how they’re different? But the insides are the same. But here’s the thing, the person you’ve given it to doesn’t care.

They just want to solve their problem. They’re just trying to figure out how to not get into a deal with a lousy borrower. They’re just trying to figure out if this deal really has a discount or not, they just want to have their questions answered. So instead of going to a blog or getting a bunch of emails, which have a low perceived value, we give them something that has a higher perceived value and a higher level of expected authority and expertise. And we just educate and help people. We tell them this isn’t for everybody. Being a private money lender on real estate is not for everybody. This is who it’s for. This is who is not for. This is my book and if you want to go through it together, I’d love your feedback. You know, stuff like that. So it’s been really cool and he’s happy because he didn’t have to rewrite this himself.

And then what we’re good at is helping people apply it to their marketing because just getting a box of books where you wrote one chapter with everybody else, nobody cares about when you fell down a well and you overcome your struggles, they just care about themselves. “What’s in it for me?”, that’s what all the homeowners are thinking. That’s what all the private money lenders are thinking. They won’t tell you that, but that’s what they’re really thinking. So just give them that, but give it to them in a way that establishes your authority and your credibility and it’s scalable and that’s pretty much what we do. And then we created a book system for Gene Guarino. We just did his latest book, and his students licensed it. And then we haven’t even announced this publicly, but we just wrote a book for Eddie Speed and the Richard Thornton, and so there notes students are going to license that out. That’s brand new. We haven’t even announced it, but I guess I spoiled it a little bit. So it’s been really cool to help people because everybody there wants to lead with more value. They want to educate well, I mean, who would ever say no to that? So it’s been cool.

Jay Conner

00:27:14

What you’ve done there, Max, is you’ve created a way that no matter what niche someone has in real estate, they can further invest on how to raise their credibility and actually convert a higher percentage of prospects into actually doing business. Well, I know we’ve got people that want to connect with you. So what’s the best way for people to connect with you, Max?

Max Keller

00:27:37

Yeah, it’s real simple. We made a special link as long as it’s up, so don’t delay, but we’re going to leave it up at least for the first 25 people who download this. So we created a new book called, “The Real Estate Investors Bookwriting Checklist.” It’s basically all the steps that we went through when we wrote Gene’s book and Eddie’s book and Richard’s book. But we didn’t have that when we started and we haven’t seen it in any other books. So it’s a real simple guide that you can use, whether you’re thinking about writing a book or an e-book or you just want to have social media messages that convert better. It’s real simple. Just go to DealsChasingYou.com/Conner. You can download a copy of the book while the link is still up. And then you can go on the website and check out some of the training videos that we have. It talks about the different types of book systems and how it would benefit you because that’s what it’s all about. It’s about getting more deals. It’s about getting more dollars. And when those things get dialed in, the marketing becomes a lot easier. Life just gets better.

Jay Conner

00:28:50

Max, thank you so much for offering that amazing gift to our listeners here. Any final comments and advice?

Max Keller

00:29:01

Just lead with value. Look, I know you can go deep sea fishing and I know there’s some great fishing where you’re at. You can go deep sea fishing and spend 4 hours trying to wrestle a big fish on the boat. That works. People do it. It’s just really exhausting. That’s what it’s like to market in a crowded market, trying to compete against Wall Street with price. That’s what it’s like trying to market without a book. But what we do is totally different. We share what we’re doing. And then we attract the people that resonate with our message. And so they’re calling and qualifying themselves to work with us. And in one of the most competitive markets in the nation, in one of the most competitive times, people are regularly calling us asking if they qualify to work with us. That’s a big difference.

Jay Conner

00:29:49

That’s awesome. Thank you so much, Max. There, you have it, folks.

#Jay Conner #Private Money Lender #Real Estate Business #Real Estate #Real Estate Investing #Real Estate Investor #Real Estate Profit #The Private Money Authority #Flip Your House

[dresupi]

Just letting y’all know if I ever come back to Darcyland full time I will be writing niche ships that appeal to like 1.5 people bc I’ve got a list.  

A list of ships no one but me asked for. 

But they are gonna happen. 

Some of these ships: Darcy Lewis/Zeitgeist longfic featuring X-Force Darcy Lewis/Yanko Flores (The Morning Show on Apple TV) Darcy Lewis/Spencer Reid/Zack Addy (MCU/Criminal Minds/Bones respectively) Darcy Lewis/Geralt/Jaskier full on smutty smut smut smut bc I need church apparently

No one asked but me, so you’re welcome, me. 

#Dres rambling #my writing

[ladysoulthorn]

The Basics — -

Full Name: Lady Nyxaria Soulthorn

Age: 120

Birthday: Mid-to-late Spring (End of April)

Race: Ren’dorei 

Gender: Female

Sexuality: Bisexual

Marital Status: Married

Physical Appearance — -

Hair: Dyed black, formerly violet

Eyes: Pale blue

Height: 5ft4in (162.56cm) 

Build: Slender and of a softer build usually denoted of caster types. She carries more weight in her hips, belly, rump and thighs. 

Distinguishing Marks: Several runes have been carved into her flesh but most can be hidden by clothing. Her most visible would be the Taam rune on her right palm if she isn't wearing gloves. She has several tattoos across her body as well. ( Taam | Tattoos ) 

Common Accessories: Jewelry ranging from rings to earrings to necklaces, a choker containing a soul-stone clutched between the skeletal fingers of the charm, ( Choker charm reference: X ), a travel satchel containing various spell components, a pair of dark silk gloves.

Likeness: Emeraude Toubia

Personal — -

Profession: Entrepreneur & Tavern (Co)Owner (public/common knowledge), Leader of Malum Discordiae (public/common knowledge) , Necromancer (not public/common knowledge)

Hobbies: Woodworking / wood carving, bone carving, collecting literature on most genres, shallow dabbling in different forms of music, tending to the varying gravesites among Duskwood, Elwynn, & Stormwind.

Languages: Common (semi-fluent), Thalassian (fluent), Darnassian (fluent), Orcish (semi-fluent) 

Residence: Multiple; public records offer an address to a mainland manor in Elwynn Forest. Other residences are kept private.

Birthplace: Undisclosed at the time.

Religion: Follows no particular religion present, but seems to hold a reverence for Death itself and some philosophies regarding it. 

Patron Deity: None

Fears: Enslavement, abandonment, losing her sense of self, open flame, Holy magic    

Criminal Record: While she carries a long list of committed crimes, no official charges have been made as of yet. There rumors ranging from necromancy, to thievery, to drug trafficking, to theft/selling of illegal or cursed items.  More recent rumors would be accusations of a poisoned wine and the hired, attempted assassination of an inquisitor of the Church.

Relationships — -

Children: Several; most known are her older children— Elora, Sascha, and Nyimi. Most are adopted, very few are her children by blood. 

Parents: Unnamed Father, Unnamed Mother; whereabouts of both are unknown

Siblings: Tarvasha Winterscale (Adopted), Unnamed siblings with unknown whereabouts

Other Relatives: Unknown as of current

Pets: Ink (familiar), Edgar (demonic goat, not particularly her pet, but still loved like he is), two spectral owls, and various creatures made through experimentation with death magic

Traits — -

Extroverted / In Between / Introverted

Disorganized / In Between / Organized

Close Minded / In Between / Open Minded

Calm / In Between / Anxious

Disagreeable / In Between / Agreeable

Cautious / In Between / Reckless

Patient / In Between /  Impatient

Outspoken / In Between / Reserved

Leader / In Between / Follower

Empathetic / In Between / Apathetic

Optimistic / In Between / Pessimistic

Traditional / In Between / Modern

Hard-working / In Between / Lazy

Cultured / In Between / Uncultured

Loyal / In Between / Disloyal

Faithful / In Between / Unfaithful

Additional Information — -

Smoking Habit: Frequent 

Drugs: As needed (in times of higher stress)

Alcohol: Frequent

RP Hooks — -

Greased Gears Tavern - For the past six to seven months, a group has been running a tavern/dive bar out of the Scarlet Raven in Darkshire. They hold a neutral disposition on most matters, and offer a sanctuary for those on both sides of life. Most of the time, they’re seeking bartenders and waiters, occasionally staff for entertainment. 

Malum - Malum Discordiae; a white-collar crime group who often utilize the aforementioned tavern as a front and means for hangout. Most types are welcome, from good, to neutral, to downright evil. Those in the underground may hear that the group sells anything ranging from cursed items, to protection, to various other contracts. The cuts are beneficial for both parties, and clean-up is often done well. 

Rumors & Reputation- By no means are Nyxaria’s hands clean; she carries the burden of many crimes of the past. There are plenty rumors circulating between the city to Duskwood and elsewhere. She has been the antagonist to several, and a kind heart to others. She has committed atrocities to the dead, raising them for her bidding. She has sacrificed others for power. She has betrayed, harmed, and otherwise and left a trail of pain in her wake. Some speak of past connections to a cult, others speak of her being cut-throat in how she runs her businesses. Rumors are what allow her to thrive. 

Familiar Face - Those who once walked among the Sin’dorei may recognize the woman’s face, though lacking in warmth to her complexion and a green pair of eyes. Much of her body has been altered and, while it can be chalked up to the mutations of the Void, it may seem more than that. (DM me if you’d like to set up a storyline for this!) 

What I’m looking for — -

Contacts - I’d like to build up Nyxaria’s list of contacts across Azeroth through RP. My aim is to have her function as a support character for those who need it. I have plenty of development going for her in her own story, I’d like to be able to help out those in their own stories where I can. 

Non-Romantic Relationships - Nyxaria is not one to browse and accept romantic relationships at a whim; she’s married. I’d like to build friendships for her- whether they are short and brief and turn into enemies or long-lasting. I want to explore every kind of ship you could imagine, from hatred to close family, to ‘just business’. 

Enemies / Antagonists - Got a guard character who is suspicious? Or someone within SI:7? Interested in playing an antagonist against a group of criminals? There’s no specific niche required with this type of plot; Nyxaria and her own folks are likely to have pissed someone off in the past, be it through several assaults or a single meeting.  ( OOC communication is required.)

Slice-of-Life - I enjoy slice-of-life and casual RP as much as I do controlled plots. Come and RP in Darkshire with me, or my character can invite yours to an outing! Hell, let’s have them browse Boralus for wares. Not everything has to be broody and serious; wholesome RP is amazing too!

Horror / Dark Plots - My character is a necromancer- but she’s also someone who is drawn to the darker corners of life itself. She’s enamored by the gruesome and the violent. While I do have limits to this particular type of RP, I’m more than happy to explore different scenarios. ( OOC communication is required.) 

OOC Information — -

Server: Wyrmrest Accord ( Alliance / Cross-Faction/Server accepted)

Character(s): Paradisiac (Main), Misfortunate (Alt)

I prefer to RP in-game or over Discord. Tumblr RP is difficult for me, but I can certainly try to keep up with it. DM me if you’d like my discord to RP. 

My schedule can change drastically sometimes, but I am online during the afternoon / early evenings / sometimes late evenings. 

I will not RP with minors; the themes portrayed with my character are not appropriate around them. 

#wyrmrest accord #wra rp #wra alliance

[roxannarambles]

Dumb ‘ship ramblings/cut fanfic scene under the link

In one of my original conceptions of my fic I imagined Heath & Legault becoming close friends much sooner in the story and Heath slowly developing a massive dorky crush on Legault 

and eventually he ends up having very . . . very detailed, interesting dreams about him :3 which fluster and upset him to no end.

and one of the nights he wakes up from an especially vivid dream and decides to go have a cold shower ahahaha

so he goes to the mens shower tent (I mean, they had those in awakening, not mentioned in blazing blade I guess but ah well) and gets into one of the lil stalls like . . . you know, like they have in MASH? (they’re just wood boards up to waist-level or so to provide a minimal level of privacy) and turns the water on and is like “urggh . . . .” 

[in the stall next to him, someone pops up]

legault: hi!

Heath: AAAHH!

XD But anyway, along that original outline, I had already written a full chapter that I eventually ended up reworking & using for later on instead

Thought I’d post the original here for the freaking heck of it though. ‘Cause . . . I still sometimes think about that alternate route I guess. Maybe in a future fic I’ll do something else with those strands of ideas. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"It was lovely chatting with you. I hope people continue to shower you in riches."

"Hah! This is the most business I've had all month! Come back any time you like."

Legault smiled,

"Not sure when I'll be out this way again, but I'll keep it in mind."

The bells hanging off the door jangled merrily as Legault exited the small shop. The air smelled crisp and fresh, the sun just starting to slip below the horizon. A young man was walking down the small village street lighting the street lamps, and a few other late shoppers were milling about, but it was largely empty and quiet. The quaint little mountain village was one of the last in the chain Eliwood's army had been passing through, and it was a welcome bit of peace before the next part of their journey.

Legault stepped out onto the street, trying his best to juggle all the goods he had in tow. The crew had needed to restock on a number of supplies and he gladly volunteered for the duty. The simple truth was, in between the sudden spats of battling, travel with Eliwood's group could be terribly dull at times. Buying supplies was at least something to do. The other source of Legault's entertainment as of late, pestering Heath during his nightwatch, was unfortunately not available this evening. Eliwood's company was camped just outside of the village, being far too numorous to occupy the tiny village inns, and the Lords had not seen any reason to put up a watch for tonight. The village was tucked away in a very sheltered location in the mountains, and rarely saw troublemakers of any sort.

Legault hummed to himself as he strolled down the village street, wondering if everyone else had already returned to camp. He knew a few others had gone out to either fool about or ask the locals about the best path out of the mountains. Considering how long it had taken him to gather up supplies, he imagined everyone had left by now. As he passed by the pub, he peered through the window, but nothing of particular interest seemed to be going on inside; just a few denizens nursing their ales. He carried on walking, past a row of mossy-roofed storefronts.

Legault was in the midst of ruminating on the shoe repair shop he was passing, considering how worn his boots had become, when some low voices caught his ear. He slowed and looked about, trying to pinpoint the source. There was something decidedly . . . threatening about the voices, and it made his skin prickle. Cautiously, he traced the sounds to the lip of a wide alleyway sandwiched between a row of stores and a little church of St. Elime. As he carefully peeked around the corner, what he saw made his blood run cold.

There were wyvern riders-- three of them-- all in shining-bright armor, flowing capes, carrying ornate silver lances. They sat upon pitch-black wyverns, larger and more vicious-looking than he was used to seeing. The trio had their lances drawn and trained upon a man who was backed up against the alley wall. It was Heath.

Legault ducked back to the edge of the wall and shoved aside the bundle of goods he'd been carrying, and then peered down the alley again. Heath was not injured, and was standing with a defiant look upon his face, but his weapon was noticably absent. After a moment Legault spotted it against the wall, to the left of one of the fat wyverns, well beyond reach. The three wyvern knights easily blocked Heath's exit completely. Legault's heart sank as it became perfectly clear this was the moment they'd often spent discussing-- Heath's tormentors catching up to him when he least expected. And now they had him literally backed into a corner.

The thief spun and looked about frantically, searching for someone, anyone else about-- what the fuck was he supposed to do? It was as silent and solitary as the grave out here, with no hope of assistance. These were goddamn wyvern lords. Three of them. He stood there, with nothing more than his pitiful little dagger. He couldn't take on three wyvern lords like this. The element of surprise meant nothing when you would be swatted away like a fly.

"Try to understand," one of the wyvern riders was saying in a low, dangerous tone,

"It's not that we wouldn't enjoy gutting you right here. But we have our orders to take you alive if possible. The General really had his heart set on a public execution."

"I wouldn't give him the satisfaction," Heath spat.

"So you'd rather die in some alley, alone, like the coward you are?"

Legault felt the dump of adrenaline in his system start to make his hands shake and his entire body quiver. He scanned the alley wildly, searching for a solution-- there had to be something. The sides were all bricked off solidly, no gaps or niches, no slipping through. The wall Heath was backed against was too high for him to climb. Legault's eye settled upon the top of the wall. Too high to climb, but if Legault circled around from the other side of the alley and stepped up from the shop ledges, he could drop down? But what use was that? At most, he'd last a few seconds before being shredded. If only he'd bought a mine or something today--

Legault turned and yanked at the bundle of vulneries and other random items from the shop. The wyvern lords continued to threaten Heath as Legault's hand fell upon a couple of torches Eliwood had asked him to buy. He had no flint, but his eye whipped up to the lit street lamps. There was no time to wonder if it would work.

The next part was a bit of a blur for Legault. He honestly was not even aware of moving around the corner to reach the alley from the opposite side and getting up the wall, but it must have happened, because the next thing he knew, he was perched above everyone, seeing the wyvern lords from above, watching their eyes lift up curiously, almost as if in slow-motion. He remembered the way he held the torch aloft in one hand as he leapt, sliding down the wall with his other hand, the rough brick digging and tearing at his fingers. He did not recall feeling his feet touching the ground, but he did recall the sound of his boots slamming down, the noise echoing in the tiny space. He knew he took the torch in both hands, and he leapt forth, charging with a scream, spinning and whipping the flames wildly to and fro, rushing headlong into the trio of wyverns.

The scene was twisted chaos, the massive hulking beasts screaming and rearing up, wings, tails, and lances flailing wildly. Legault spun the torch right at the dragon's faces, driving it right into their eyes and snouts, dazzling their vision and making them shriek and leap, bucking their riders about. Over the screaming he could hear Heath shout something, although he had no idea what. As Legault saw an opening appear among the panicing wyverns, he shouted back to Heath as loud as he could:

"I'VE GOT THIS! RUN!"

Heath dashed forward, but he yanked his wayward lance off the ground and sprang back up, yelling,

"LIKE HELL!"

Lances clashed together and armor scraped against the alley wall, as Legault cursed under his breath and doggedly kept after the wyverns, not wanting them to regain their composure and footing. It was starting to become a problem, though-- and he was standing in the midst of three extremely angry, frightened monsters that were eventually going to tear his head off, no matter how artful his dodging. Barely avoiding the low sweep of a massive tail, Legault cried out as a brilliant shooting pain ran through him, a silver lance embedding deep into his shoulder. The wyvern lord wrenched the lance out savagely and thrust again, the blade destined for Legault's heart, but Heath's sideswipe battered it aside with frightful velocity. A horrid metal scrape cut the air as another of the lords drove their lance into Heath's back, and Legault watched as the jaws of death seemed to close around them, the wyvern riders closing in from all sides. He blinked hazily at the torch he'd dropped on the floor.

With his good arm he snatched the torch back up and threw it spinning into the face of the man gouging into Heath's side. The lord twisted about wildly, battering into his brother, and Legault felt his arm being yanked. White-hot pain filled all his perception, dragged along by his injured limb, and then he collided with the alley wall. He felt an arm wrap around him and haul him along, and it took far too long for him to realize Heath was dragging them out of there.

Somehow, they made it to the mouth of the alley. Legault's head was swimming, but his survival instinct cut through and he rasped,

"Not this way, go over there!"

"But camp is that way!"

"Trust me! We're not making it back to camp like this!"

Heath complied and they spun about, hobbling frantically along the street. The trip was agonizing, a walk that took a minute feeling like centuries now. Against all odds, they lumbered past the row of shops and came upon a familiar sight.

"In there!"

Heath didn't question Legault's choice and  instead pushed the both of them through the door, bells crashing and clanging as they barged in. The shop owner looked up at them, jaw hanging agape.

"Came back a bit sooner than I expected," Legault said with a pained smile. The shopkeeper spluttered,

"What happened?!"

"I'll be sure to regale you with the details later. Could you hide us for now?"

The woman glanced around, a moment of hesitation in her eye, but then she nodded and gestured,

"Over here, just-- get behind the counter, there's nowhere else!"

The two came forward gratefully and dropped down, diving behind the small counter space behind her. It was only a minute or so before the door jangled open again.

Heavy boots stepped in and the door slammed shut.

"Good evening," the shopkeeper said, large smile glued to her face, but she'd gone a bit pale. The boots stepped forward, and a cold voice replied,

"Good evening. I was hoping you could answer a few questions for me."

"Sure," she said, her tone full of forced cheer.

The cold voice drew closer as the man came right up to them.

"My friends and I are pursuing some very dangerous men. They've just passed by through here. We know they cannot have gone far."

"O-oh. That's-- that's not good."

"Have you seen anyone tonight?"

"Well, uh. I. . . I had a few customers earlier today?"

"It is a tall man with spiked green hair and armor that bears a symbol like my own. He is with a caped man with lavander hair."

The shop keeper swallowed, but answered,

"Don't think I've seen anyone like that, sorry."

Legault could feel the tension in the air, although he could see nothing from his position on the floor but the nervous shopkeeper. After a beat, the voice asked,

"Are you certain?"

The shopkeeper nodded.

"Yeah, I'm sorry."

The voice came coolly,

"I see. I want to be clear: they are both very dangerous. One is to stand trial for high treason and slaughtering innocents. The other is his accomplice. They will kill without hesitation."

Legault heard a creak as the man leaned against the counter.

"I wouldn't want you to come to harm if you failed to mention anything."

The shop owner stared, like a jackrabbit caught in a trap, apparently locked in the wyvern lord's gaze. Legault bit his lip, silently watching and praying.

The shopkeeper forced the smile back onto her face.  

"Thank you for checking on me," she said,

"That's very kind of you. I hope you'll have the time to check on my neighbors as well. Do you think you'll be able to keep our village safe?"

The cold voice answered flatly,

"As long as we have cooperation, yes."

"That's a relief. I'm sure everyone will be happy to help. You see, everyone here, we look out for each other."

"Is that so?"

She nodded, then narrowed her eyes.

"Yeah. We can't stand to see anyone down on their luck. If we were to come across anyone like that . . . we'd do what we could to help them."

The little shop was very quiet for a few moments, and then;

"Be sure to inform us if you notice anything unusual later."

"Of course. I hope you find those horrible men."

The door slammed shut with enough force that the bells went crashing off entirely. The shopkeeper looked intently for a few moments out the window, then gave the all-clear. Heath unfolded from the tiny space and Legault grimaced as he helped him climb to his feet.

"My dear, that was-- ahh! ooh. easy-- that was masterfully done. Thank you--"

"--look, I don't know your story, but you two better beat feet. They're headed off towards the cottages, but that won't occupy them long."

Legault nodded at her and they shuffled over to the door, Heath telling her before stepping out,

"You have our deepest gratitude."

"Just get out of here! You're bleeding on the floor."

The journey back to camp was exhausting, but it seemed they were able to succesfully give their pursuers the slip. Village roads gave way to a dusty trail that cut across a fallow field and over a small creek, then wound through some trees before reaching the edge of camp. Heath had to half-drag Legault along, but they made a decent pace. It was only when they began entering camp that Legault realized his vision was starting to go black at the edges.

"Um, I have a problem."

Heath tugged Legault along, saying,

"We're there, come on, we've made it back!"

Legault felt his legs buckle and then everything was spinning. He was vaguely aware of Heath grabbing at him and shouting:

"Legault! Don't you dare! Get up!"

"Sorry," Legault mumbled, as his vision was swallowed up in blackness.

When he later woke, it was only through a disorienting fog upon his mind. Everything was too bright when he first opened his eyes, and he mumbled, squinting them shut again. He tried to move, shifting a little, but a little spark of pain stopped him from going far.

"Hey," a sudden voice said, drawing nearer,

"Hey, you awake?"

He winced as somebody prodded at him.

"Can you hear me? You should be doing way better now."

Cautiously, Legault opened his eyes, recognizing the pig-tailed girl staring down at him as Serra, one of the clerics.

"Oh, joy," he said, voice thick with sarcasm.

"I know, isn't it? That's what many people say when they see me. How you feeling?"

Legault regarded the cot he was laid across a moment and the dreary canvas ceiling of the medical tent.

"My head feels like it's full of cotton. How long-- aah!"

He stopped in his attempt at sitting up, slipping back into the pillow.

"Oh, don't do that. You're not ready yet, you need one more healing session. You lost a lot of blood. Like, a lot."

"I did?"

"Don't you remember?"

Legault mumbled,

"I may recall something about running around and doing something really stupid."

"Yeah, that's what the knight who brought you in here said. Wow, he was super rude, too. He kept yelling at me. Oh, that reminds me."

She vanished from sight, towards the other side of the tent, hollering,

"Hey! Wyvern guy! Your friend's awake!"

After a few moments, a lanky figure appeared over Legault, crossing his arms and smiling a little.

"You moron."

"Good to see you too."

"You should be dead right now."

"Yes, but so should you."

Heath gestured widely,

"What happened to being stealthy?"

Legault chuckled, which hurt a little.

"Even I can't sneak up on three mounted wyvern lords. What would I do, throw rocks at them?"

"So you charged directly at them with a torch instead?"

Legault smiled sheepishly.

"Well, maybe you're rubbing off on me."

Heath shook his head,

"No, even I'm not that brash."

"Hey, it wasn't that crazy. I remembered you telling me wyverns feared fire."

"But that doesn't-- gods, Legault, you're made of sterner steel than I'd thought."

Legault laughed,

"Ow. I think you were right the first time, I am kind of a moron."

Heath gazed at him a moment. Quieter, he asked,

"Why did you do it?"

The thief gave a loopy smile and replied,

"Must be this thing called 'love', you know?"

"Legault--"

"All right, all right, sorry. Look, it's no big deal, right? That's what friends do for friends fleeing from relentless headhunters."

The knight studied him with intense pale eyes. His voice came almost gently as he said,

"I would have--"

"--are you two done? I need to get back to work here!"

Heath turned and scowled at Serra. Legault glared daggers at her.

"Don't give me those looks! You both need second healing sessions and I have another person to take care of, too. That's on top of the supplies I have to pack tonight! I'm a very busy girl!"

Legault heaved a sigh. He glanced to Heath.

"I guess visiting hours are over. I'll see you when I'm a little more vertically-inclined, hm?"

Heath nodded at him.

"Hopefully the additional exposure to the cleric will not be too damaging to your health."

It took Serra several moments, but then she becried,

"HEY! What's that supposed to mean?!"

Legault supressed his smirk as Serra shooed the knight away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

#mystuff #tbh I have over 50 pages of bits of cut or modified content #and notes and outlines and alternative scenes #fire emblem #legault/heath #fe7 #fanfic

[jo-shanerome18]

Appia Antica & Saint Cecilia’s Basilica

16/05/2018: Today Shane and the boys intended to walk down Via Apia Antica or if possible, hiring a bike, the better option. The road was built during 312 B.C. and is lined with mausoleums and tombs of ancient Rome's dead as they were not permitted to be buried within the walls of the city. The Appia Antica was Rome's first gateway to the east connecting Rome with Capua, and eventually to Brindisi on Italy's south eastern coast where Roman ships would set sail for Egypt and Greece. During this time Jo and Cecilia planned to revisit the Trastevere district and visit Saint Cecilia's Basilica. The boys left a bit after eight, headed past the Coliseum to Circus Maximus, turned left into Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, and past the ruins of the Baths of Caracalla. The road from the chariot fields was three wide lanes wide and quite busy. As much as the central road was busy and clear of traffic, the two outside roads provided safer access and local traffic only, both lined with cars parked with a little more consideration than in the middle of the city.

Hippies

At the end of Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, the road hit a major intersection, but they kept on straight ahead, keeping to the right hand side of a fork in the road. They ended up along Via di Porta San Sebastiano, had they have veered to the left they would have been in Via di Porta Latina, two ancient roads that bound Parco degli Scipioni, a park created by the joining of the first century AD columbarium of Pomponius Hylas and the tomb of the famous Scipioni family. The tomb was constructed around 280 B.C. by Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus, great grandfather of Scipio Africanus, the great general who defeated Hannibal and his elephants at the Battle of Zama eighty years later.

Sepolcro delgi Scipioni

A few hundred metres further on we finally passed through the Arch of Drusus and Porta San Sebastiano. We were effectively outside of the walls of Rome.

The so-called Arch of Drusus was an ancient arch that was utilised when Caracalla built the Aqua Antoniniana to supply water to his baths.

After passing through the gates they encountered a very busy cross road and from this point on, Via Appia Antica was also very busy. Walking along the side of the road, there was occasionally no room for pedestrians and also a bit hairy, but as the road got further along it widened out to where they could avoid the traffic, eventually reaching the bike shop that Shane and Isaac hired a couple of bikes from a few years earlier. Nothing had changed so they headed in and hired three bikes and a lock so they could look around as well.

Affitto Biciclette Rent-a-Bike on Appia Antica

With a licence holding the security on the bikes and five euro each per hour, the lady behind the counter handed over a good map of the road with recommended sites, advising that access to the catacombs of San Callisto and entire area  were closed as it was Wednesday. Not only had they missed out on the catacombs but if they could battle the hill at the entrance, it was a safe passage avoiding more of the hairy parts of the main road. The gates were locked so they rode along the hairy part.

While the boys did their thing with the bikes, the girls made plans to go back to the Travestere district to  check out Saint Cecilia Basilica. As Cec's back was still playing up from the fall at Trevi Fountain, they planned to take a taxi rather than attempt the three and a half kilometre walk. Upon finding a taxi at the rank across from the apartment, the driver told them it would cost them fifteen euro. Cecilia's response was priceless. "What! To drive us three kilometres! You've got to be kidding mate!" She then said "Come on Joey, we will walk and find someone else. We're not getting ripped off by this bastard." Jo wondered if the taxi driver knew he just copped an Aussie spray.

After entering their destination for walking  into the phone, Google Maps had them walking toward the Basilica. By the time that they found more taxis, there was still two kilometres to go. They kept walking though as those taxi drivers still wanted fifteen euro for the remaining distance. Their walk took them past the Forum, hooked a left around Altare della Patria (colloquially known as the Wedding Cake) and the small unobtrusive ruins of Comune di Roma alongside and eventually across the Tiber again.

One of the few remaining examples of how most Romans used to live. This Capitoline insula dates to around the year 110. Effectively a block of flats. Shops (tabernae) were on the ground floor with a few floors of apartments above. The shops are now nine metres below street level. Unlike these days the cheapest rents were the top floors as when a fire broke out, the top floor tenants were the ones more than likely getting burnt.

Just after passing the catacombs of San Callista on Apia Antica, the boys struck the catacombs of San Sebastiano with not many people around, so they headed in and asked about tickets. The English tour started in fifteen minutes for eleven euro each so after paying up they waited, taking interest in the displays in the foyer and the inside of the basilica.

Basilica di San Sebastiano

Located between the second and third mile of the Appian Way, the current basilica was built during the seventeenth century on top of whatever was left of Emperor Constantine's Basilica Apostolorum built some thirteen centuries earlier. Basilica Apostolorum was built in honour of apostles Peter and Paul. Below Constantine's Basilica was ad catacumbas, the Christian catacombs that utilised the pozzolana quarry that the Romans had dug for their concrete. The three levels of catacombs held thousands of tombs ranging from the simple burial niche, and there were plenty of those, to Arcosoli and Cubicoli. The bodies were interred in the niches, wrapped in a shroud and covered with quicklime in order to promote the decomposition process and disinfect the tomb. The niche was then sealed.

When it was the boys turn, an American or Canadian guide escorted them to the inside of the Basilica an told of the history of the church and the story of Saint Sebastian. No tall stories here. No sticking his head under his arm and going home like Saint Miniato.

The guide also warned before heading into the catacombs that they were quite welcome to take photographs everywhere except in the catacombs. He explained that the church had no issues with taking pictures but the Vatican owned the catacombs and taking photos was strictly forbidden. Only one thing to do, hang around the back of the group. They were taken beneath the basilica via a steep set of steps within the foyer area and were immediately negotiating narrow cavities with side passages that were full of small empty tombs. Apparently, according to our guide, Romans were rather small people.

Underground tombs all empty

They kept moving through the narrow corridors, all along behind the group and snapping away. As they reached the underground burial area of San Sebastiano himself, they had another guide right up their clacker escorting a private German group, with the agility of Erwin Rommel. "No photos" came the continual yell as people around them had the same idea. Timed correctly, they still managed get a few more, but not of the excellent family ones which were directly below the basilica floor. The brick piers of the floor were founded on the rock that the crypts were carved into.

Originally a Roman soldier during the late third century, San Sebastiano got himself into some hot water with Emperor Diocletian for persistently converting the pagans to Christians. Now Diocletian, stabiliser of Rome and Christian persecutor, thought he would sort Sebastiano out by making him target practice for his archers, ordering him to be tied to a stake or tree, depending on which painting you believe and filling him with arrows to the point where he apparently resembled a sea urchin. The archers, thinking he was dead, left the scene allowing Irene of Rome to drag him away and nurse him back to health so Diocletian could have another go. This time San Sebastiano was beaten to death and thrown into the sewers, only to be removed and buried in the catacombs below Rome. The double martyr and gay icon was eventually reburied beneath the Basilica.

One of the characters that San Sebastiano converted, a woman named Zoe, had apparently been a mute for a few years and as soon as she converted to Christianity, her speech returned to her. A bit like Brian jumping on top of the hermit. The hermit hadn't said a word for eighteen years until Brian came along. A miracle.  

After exiting the bowels of the basilica via a staircase back into the nave, the relationship between the memorial to San Sebastiano and his burial site became more apparent. They were directly above and below each other.

Tomb of San Sebastian below the Basilica

Memorial to San "I'm not dead yet" Sebastiano straight above. An arrow to the guts

The next stop was a quick one at the Mausoleum of Cecilia Metella, a large masonry structure with an imposing cylindrical tomb as its centre piece. Built between 30BC and 20BC, the mausoleum holds, or used to hold the remains of Cecilia Metella, the daughter of Roman Consul,  Quintus Caecilius Metellus Creticus, and daughter-in-law of quaestor, Marcus Licinius Crassus who served under Julius Caesar. The family must have been well off for such a memorial. It only cost five Euro to get in but there wasn't much there. Still interesting though. The ticket seller told them that the ticket also allowed entry into a villa complex further down the road which was much more interesting.

The Mausoleum of Cecilia Metella

CAECILI-AE

Q·CRETICI·F  

METELLAE·CRASSI

After the ride up the hill to get to the mausoleum dad needed a rest, his muscles were jelly. History dictated that an oasis was just over the hill, at just over the three mile mark, so riding a short distance to the Appia Antica Caffe, they managed to put their feet up and have a feed and a beer (and a couple of Crème Broulee's for Thomas). Heading off after the rest, they took on the bumpy surface (at times very bumpy) of Via Appia Antica.

Via Appia Antica. A bit bumpy but this was the smooth bit

The next stop was beyond the fifth mile and prompted by a sign on the roadside and an interesting building behind the trees. An inkling of interest took everyone down a gravel lane and to the recently acquired Santa Maria Nova complex which once belonged to the Olivetan monks and the latest addition to the Parco Archeologico dell'Appia Antica albeit acquired over ten years ago and linked via Appia Antica to the Villa dei Quintili which fronted via Appia Nuova. The farmhouse was renovated during the eighteen hundreds and complimented the medieval watchtower. We couldn't get around the building again as the place was under another reno while we were there. Nearby excavated ruins included a bathhouse with very degraded but still impressive mosaic floors depicting a gladiator with net and trident doing who knows what since the rest was missing and a few circus horses. A walk through the paddocks then led to the Villa dei Quintili, an ancient Roman villa which included an extensive thermal system fed by its own aqueduct as well as a hippodrome from the fourth century.

Checking out the mosaics of the hot rooms near Santa Maria Nova

A long walk was then ahead as meandering from rock pile to ruin and ruin back to rock pile seemed to be the go. A quick look into the tanks or such halfway along what was once the northern portico and then onto the main complex. This was an extensive build, remnants still very high and expansive, easily accessed via well placed ramps and walkways. Signs and explanations of the workings of the joint alluded to the opulence that permeated through the place in its heyday.  

The Villa was once a substantial complex, one that was one of the most lavish of the large Roman residences. Originally built by a couple of consuls of Greek origin, the complex was expanded upon once Emperor Commodus took over and made the villa imperial property. He liked the place so much that he had Sesto Quintilio Condiano and Sesto Quintilio Valerio Massimo murdered to make the deal possible. Villa dei Quintili consisted of main rooms, two large termes of the caldarium and the frigidarium. Large windows and marble everywhere. All overlooking the fields and Roman countryside.

Looking across the once arcaded courtyard toward the frigidarium (cold baths) and tepidarium (warm baths)

It was time to return as the walk back would take time. All roads not only led to Rome but in this instance back past Appia Antica Caffe for more well deserved refreshments. A second beer pulled everyone up and it was then decided to take the apparent safe way back, down Via di Cecilia Matella and  through to the nearby country road which, by the way, was never found. There was so much traffic on Via Appia Pignatella that it was difficult to cross and quite dangerous. The road was narrow with plenty of cars, but it was the wrong road as access to the bush was back at the intersection where another couple on bikes were stopped and looking around. Riding past them, up and over the mound that obscured the correct route would have turned into a dirt track, passing more ruins, cisterns and mausoleums as well as plenty of sheep and onto Via della Caffarella for a safe if not inclined journey back. But there was no turning back and the busy Via Appia Pignatella was the quickest way back. Some prayers and hope that the passing traffic, many sounding their horns, would manage to keep a safe distance when passing. After a nervy ten to fifteen minute ride, Via Appia Antica reappeared and a few minutes later the bike shop also reappeared. After a chat to the lady and obtaining more handy advice, a few Euro for bike hire was handed over a ticket on the 118 back to the Coliseum was purchased. The bus stop was located just across from the shop and after twenty minutes the bus appeared. The walk back to the apartment was keenly avoided.

Locking up again for a beer

Heading back towards Porta San Sebastiano and the Aurelian Walls

Back at, and not long after arriving in Trasevere, Jo and Cec found a nice little restaurant, Trattoria Da Teo, that was full of locals and wine only came by the litre. Pizza for Cec and gnocchi for Jo. After lunch they wandered on to Saint Cecilia Basilica but it was closed. They took plenty of photos and checked out the local area before cabbing it back to the apartment.

Cec at Cecilias

After a brief recovery period we all retreated to the restaurant downstairs for a meal, a few refreshments and more recovery.

Homa making us a few drinks

Tomorrow Pompei and Herculaneum.

[plogan721]

I Am Looking Back and Remembering My First Blog Post as a Blogger

Photo byPixabay 

My very first post on my P. Lynne Designs blog.  My Ambiance Life is not the first blog I started.  The evolution of my blogs goes like this:  MDN Creates.  This started as a hodge-podge like a blog that covered topics such as “What heck am I doing” to “I got this, but it is time to split the blog because there are too many different topics on here”. That last topic I owe to my friend, who told me that I was covering too many topics on the blog.  The first post was an introduction to me and the blog itself, so I will not reminisce on that topic.  Nothing much to reflect on.  The next post, the one I will be commenting on was dated January 5, 2009, was titled Resolutions, and again, it was before I separated and divided the blog into the three blogs you know of today. 

Reflecting on Resolutions

As I am reading, I am first reflecting on how much I have grown as a writer in the past 10 years (January 1, was my anniversary).  In order to get anywhere, you need a starting point.  The only things I knew at the time in regard to blogging was;

1)      This blog had to be interesting to grab a reader’s attention to the point where the reader cannot wait until the writer puts in a new post. This means that I needed an interesting topic and the content of that topic is not of your typical, boring textbook variety

2)    Consistency is the key to all, even though I have not always reflected that consistency.  I am getting better.

I also had a moment or two, where I reflected:

·        I started the blog (now called P. Lynne Designs) at a time when Oprah was still on the air.  In fact, I referred to something she said on her show.

·        I mentioned that I had goals in 2009.  They were: 

o   To organize

o   To stop beating myself up

o   To love me more

o   To do more of what God asked of me

o   To scrapbook more

o   To take my business more seriously

o   To take time for me, to learn, and to grow.

·        I mentioned each goal and how I would do it.  Now I am finally going to give you an update on those goals in a moment.

·        Joel Olsteen came up in the conversation about never be still.

·        I submitted an article to Associated Content.  I am not sure what the results of that were, I am a terrible person in the art of follow-up.

Some of those moments made me cry.  Why?  I get extremely emotional at times or there is something in my eye?  I love gushy moments like this, and this is one of the reasons why I started blogging and journaling in the first place, to not hold it in.  I have gotten better on where to channel my anger, but that does not mean I do not get angry anymore.  That is like taking an emotion away from someone.  For someone like Abby Lee Miller to tell a dancer to save their tears for their pillow or to tell a boy that men do not cry does not do it for me.  Yes, there is a time and place to cry, but if you must cry, do it right there and get it over with.

So, back to my reflections on resolutions….

I mentioned that the post was long.  Why did I say that when the average post is supposed to be at least between 1,000-2,000 words?  Yes, back in 2009, “Resolutions” would be considered a long post.  No one knew exactly how long a blog post had to be at that time. Experts used to mention that anything blog post beyond 500-800 words is a fairly long post.  Another reason for that statement is back then the experts thought that such a lengthy post would give way to repeat phrases and ideas, and you cannot and should not repeat what you said 5 minutes ago unless you are summarizing.  

Summarizing a post

When I summarize, I call them TAKEAWAY MOMENTS.  During this time, I am telling you again what I said throughout the piece, or I am giving you little nuggets of information that should help you should you be going through what I have been through. I start out by reminding the reader of my topic then I sprinkle in the repeated information that was mentioned in my blog post.  When I repeat, I often remind the reader what is important, and I try not to sprinkle in the fluff.  Finally, I concluding with on a bit of advice to carry through.

What has changed since Resolutions?

This is an update to the goals I mentioned in “Resolutions”. Not only has my writing changed from that post, but the goals as well.  The most noticeable change is the blog name.  It is now P. Lynne Designs and it reflects that on the blog when you first click on the blog post.  It is about the change again soon because I am working on my website, P. Lynne Designs, and new posts will be going in the blog section on the website. It has been a good ride on Blogger, but I have grown, and my writing has grown. At the moment, I have a coming soon on the website, but you are welcome to signup to be on my mailing list to be notified when the website is coming.

Also, the niche has changed.  It is no longer a hodge-podge collection of what I feel like writing.  I own that splitting the blog up into bite-size pieces.  My Blessed Life (now known as My Ambiance Life) is part of the split.  So is At Home with Tricia's Baskets, a combo of former blogs Simply Organized Crafts (which is now ONLY a Facebook page), Traveling to the Mouse’s House, and Tricia’s Baskets.  These two blogs will also leave the Blogger Home for WordPress.  The foundation of the blogs are there, I need to start the final setup and launch.

Updating my goals since that date

Since I wrote that entry, here is what has transpired:

        To Organize:  well, I am not totally organized to that point.  I can receive company now, even though I was always able to receive company.  When you are in possession of things, even things that people agree you should have or not have, you want to make them presentable and so not messy.  I was on the side of messy, and even though people had places to sit, hold a conversation and eat my food without feeling ill to the pit of their stomachs, I did not feel comfortable without someone saying something.  That may have been my OCD kicking in at the time.  As my pastor puts it quite eloquently, I am an extrovert introvert.  More on that in another post.  If you do not understand, try not to overthink it for now.

         The next three I will tackle together; To not beat myself up, To love me more, To take time for me.  This does not mean I was harming myself.  When I do something that was a mistake, I am harder on myself more than anyone.  I am constantly saying why did you do that.  To love yourself means, do not get upset because you are not married, you do not have children, or you are not a certain status in life.  Just because you see someone who has those things that you desire does not mean you do not have to say things like, “I wish”, “Why did this happen”, “why was I not more intensive”, or “if only”.  That ship has sailed, or it has not come to you.

           Scrapbooking More.  Actually, that has slowed down a lot.  Since that time, I have created one scrapbook album for someone in 2018, a lady at church. The reason was around October 6, 2010, a little company called Instagram got started and paved the way for scrapbooking the traditional way obsolete.  Instead of sharing scrapbook pages you have made with the photos you took, you share them on an account.  No one was asking for an album to be made because they can make them on the phone and in an online account. Not only that, there were people who asked me at work why to make albums when all you are doing is wasting paper and making the world a bad place to live.  Please do not get me started for there are worst things a person can do to desecrate this world than making a project out of paper.  I shifted my focus more to making cards and learning how to turn my skills into freelance writing, graphic design, and projects.  This lead to;

         Taking my business more seriously.  No explanation there, except I am still learning.  This also leads to-

Photo by Pixabay

          I am still learning and growing to better myself and to teach others.  I keep mentioning that in a former career move, I was once a preschool teacher.  While I may never find myself teaching anyone (children or adults) full-time again, I enjoy learning more so I can teach.  Last month (June), I was thrown into being a teacher’s assistant for my church’s Vacation Bible School.  I actually had double-duty.  I was the assistant director and a teacher’s aide.  One of the teachers ended up in the hospital before VBS got started, and since no one volunteered to be a helper and substitute for her, I volunteered.  Even though it was for one week, I enjoyed listening to the children (ages 4-11), and it reminded me of why I chose to be a preschool teacher in the first place.  Every once in a while, take in the small moments on why you started something in the first place. For me, it was the love of children, and watching how they process things and ideas. I will have a whole blog post on why I quit my teaching job later

Conclusion and takeaways

If you are a blogger, I suggest that you take a look at your first blog post to see how much you have grown as a writer.  Even if your blog is only a few months old you will discover in that few months’ time how much you have grown as a writer.

If you are not a writer but do not know where to begin, start with journaling.  Once you are in your comfort zone, try to expand your writing.  It does not have to be a blog, but I can tell you right now that sharing in some compacity helps you to grow.  Also, sharing helps you to be mindful on your writing skills.  If it a journaling post you do not have to share every detail of your life. 

If you do start blogging, use a program like Grammarly (a program I use and love).  Grammarly is a free spell checker and grammar checker.  Grammarly also comes in a premium subscription too.

Finally, if you share things like goals, it makes you more accountable than to say them and forget them.  Work on those goals and update your readers.

Until next time, take care of those things that matter to you, which include those persons in your life that matter to you.  You matter to me, so, take care, and God Bless you and your week.

from Blogger http://bit.ly/2YUIjVI via IFTTT

#IFTTT #Blogger

[bharatiyamedia-blog]

Unique: India to offer counter-terrorism, warfare help, says Sri Lankan military chief

http://tinyurl.com/y6jefgbo The military chief of Sri Lanka mentioned that India could be offering Sri Lanka with counter-terrorism expertise and functionality to battle the rising menace of Islamic terrorism within the nation. Talking to India At present TV on Saturday, military chief of Sri Lanka Lt Gen Mahesh Senanayake mentioned, “We now have requested India for intelligence cooperation, bomb disposal help, cyber warfare help and help of coaching and tools.” To a query on if India has agreed to Colombo’s calls for, the chief mentioned that they’ve been assured assist and help since “this isn’t solely good for Sri Lanka however your complete area. We now have suffered lots and we don’t need others to undergo”. He rejected any concept of on-ground navy assist from any nation. Sri Lanka fought the hardest battle in the course of the struggle towards the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and after the Indian Peace Preserving Power (IPKF), they by no means sought any exterior navy help. “We don’t encourage troop requirement right here [Sri Lanka]. There isn’t a purpose for different international locations to ship their armed forces however, we want help for our interrogation and technical help to boost our capabilities on conducting future operations. We actually welcome associates who’re precise associates in want. Our relationship with the Indian Military and navy diplomacy with our neighbors, particularly India, stand tall,” he mentioned. BLASTS IN SRI LANKA 9 suicide bombers, together with a girl, carried out a sequence of blasts that tore via three church buildings and three luxurious resorts on April 21, killing over 250 folks and injuring greater than 500. “The Sri Lankan Military was not knowledgeable of the vital intelligence that was shared by ‘pleasant’ international locations with Colombo,” mentioned Basic Senanayake. When requested on the large intelligence failure, he mentioned, “Greater than the failure, there was a niche between the businesses when it comes to cooperation. Even after being knowledgeable by our pleasant international locations of this specific incident, it was not shared with different businesses on time. That created this example.” He added that the nation is working in the direction of an “built-in intelligence system” to make sure such assaults don’t succeed sooner or later. The Easter Sunday attackers, based on intelligence gathered by the forces, had travelled to many vital cities of India, together with Kashmir, to attach with Islamic terrorist teams. Sri Lanka is wanting into all of the connections within the sub-continent, together with hyperlinks with teams in Pakistan. “Through the investigation only a few cadres had travelled to India. Indian authorities didn’t assist them. That they had gone to make connections. That they had exterior hyperlinks and visited overseas which their passports have revealed… they travelled to Bengaluru, Kochi, and elements of Kashmir. We are able to inform their actual areas and folks they met, after the investigations,” he mentioned. Enterprise tycoon Yusuf Ibrahim’s sons travelled underneath the garb of enterprise to India. Senanayake mentioned that investigations had established that the plotters had hyperlinks to Islamic State (IS), however presently they’re attempting to determine their location and the depth of contact. “We had 5 Sri Lankan fighters in Syria, one died in 2017. They’ve connections with IS in Syria. At the moment, we’re not ready to inform the precise location however investigations are occurring,” Lt Gen Mahesh Senanayake mentioned. Whereas they’re investigation exterior hyperlinks, Sri Lanka is just not ruling out assist from former LTTE cadre who fled the nation after they misplaced the struggle. Basic Senanayake mentioned, “Though 13,169 folks surrendered, undoubtedly some escaped to India and different international locations, Germany, France, West Canada, the UK. We’re critically monitoring actions of ex-LTTE cadres throughout the nation and different international locations additionally. Revamping of LTTE is just not an instantaneous concern however our present consideration is to the actual incident of April 21.” For now, investigators from eight international locations, together with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Interpol, are serving to Sri Lanka with the investigation. Senanayake mentioned that India, China, United States, Israel, Australia and the United Arab Emirates had been seeking to present high-grade navy expertise, together with communication and surveillance tools, to take care of future threats. He assured that the scenario will return to regular and that the nation is secure for vacationers to return. “We do not have to fret concerning the scenario; it’s contained. I guarantee safety to vacationers who want to journey. In truth, wet season will begin in July. After that and until Christmas, it will likely be one of the best time to journey to Sri Lanka. Normalcy will prevail,” he mentioned. Get real-time alerts and all of the news in your cellphone with the all-new India At present app. Obtain from Source link

[travelguideworldtour-blog]

Berlin Travel Guide – Tips for Visiting Berlin

Berlin is the next most visited place in Europe and fastest developing tourist destination. It amuses young and older, history fans and art fans , design aficionados along with under-ground clubbers alike. Wherever you move, you will experience the life span of Berlin: in more than 170 museums and galleries, in 300 nightclubs and 7,000 pubs and restaurants – most that can be available round the clock. Whenever you walk throughout the metropolis, you’re going to be struck with the number of architectural styles, which range from palaces into the remnants of socialist structures and modern skyscrapers.

Top 10 Attractions in Berlin

Reichstag

After the decision was made to proceed the us government to Berlinit had been time for you to re awaken the Reichstag construction from the years of slumber on the Mauerstreifenand also the military zone between your 2 areas of this Wall. The construction has been completely modernised, and now’s traffic into the Reichstag can lookout from the building of the glass dome to find a bird’s eye perspective of this hustle and bustle from town.

  Brandenburg Gate

Certainly the Brandenburg Gate is Berlin’s trademark appeal. Built in 1791, it had been merely one of several older city gates round town of Berlin that, in the moment, remains a manageable dimensions. The cosmetic Pariser Platz was set at the root of this gate and it is currently home to a number of the town’s major buildings, as an instance, the Hotel Adlon having its own abundance of the Akademie der Künste (Academy of the Arts).

  Berlin Television Tower (Fernsehturm)

 Even the Berlin tv Tower, that is well known to sailors while the Fernsehturm, also can be immediately recognisable from the exact length, stand workouts of their skyline in 368m, which makes it the tallest construction in Berlin. Built in the 1960s, traffic into the tower may delight in an original 360° panorama of this city. Hint: See It Tower together using an Berlin Welcome Card and also save up to 25 percent. The Berlin WelcomeCard empowers free travelling together with public transportation solutions into the Berlin visitors.

  Gendarmenmarkt

Even the Gendarmenmarkt is among the very magnificent squares at the metropolis, located near Friedrichstraße, Berlin’s exclusive shopping street from the middle Mitte district. Some of the very notable examples of structure at the capital town are available here: the Concert House made by Schinkel and also the French and German Cathedrals (the Deutscher Dom and also the Französischer Dom).

  Berlin Cathedral

Even the Berlin Cathedral (Berliner Dom) having its glorious dome is an extraordinary case the late 19th century structure. Nearby the Cathedral will also be the Italian Historical Museumand also the Museum’s Isle. On side of Berlin’s boulevard”Unter den Linden” stands out the Catholic St.Hedwigs-Cathedral.

  Kurfürstendamm

 Extending all of the way by the ruins of this Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church about Breitscheidplatz into Berlin’s elegant Halensee area, the termed Kurfürstendamm has become easily the costliest speech in the town and home to one of the many exclusive brands. Europe’s most important department store KaDeWe can also be situated on the expansion of this Ku’damm, to the road called locals since the Tauentzien (short for Tauentzienstrasse). The tiny ones will only adore the Zoo Berlin, Germany’s oldest zoo.

  Charlottenburg Palace

The magnificent Charlottenburg Palace Is Situated out in the centre of Town. The gorgeous palace hosts excellent collections of paintings and china and can be found at the center of a scenic palace garden directly close to the river Spree. If you really don’t fancy a walk at the park, then you can nourish your mind alternatively from the Charlottenburg museums located directly contrary.

  Museum Island

Berlin’s Museum Island is among the UNESCO world heritage sites and residence to the town’s main exhibition centers: the Altes Museum (Old Museum), the Neues Museum (New Museum) that the Bode Museum, the Pergamon Museum and also the Alte Nationalgalerie (Old National Gallery). The collections at those buildings encircle over 6,000 decades of cultural and art history. Hint: Visit Berlin’s museums together using all the 3Day Berlin Museum Pass. For $29 (paid down $14.50), the memorial pass guarantees absolutely free entry for several Berlin traffic on three successive days to many museums.

  The Berlin Wall Memorial and Documentation Centre

Even the Gedenkstätte Berliner-Mauer (Berlin Wall Memorial) can be situated between the Islands of Wedding and Mitte on Bernauer Straße, comprising this Memorial to the Victims of this Wall, also a Documentation Centre as well as also the Spirit of Reconciliation. The living area of the wall along with also watch-tower enable people to find a true sense of the very fact of the boundary centers.

  Potsdamer Platz

Once the bustling center of the city before the next World War, a no man’s property from 1945 until the collapse of this wall, the foundation of Potsdamer Platz was eventful to say the very least. It shifted completely following the collapse of the wall in 1989 and is currently dominated by the existence of the Sony Center, Sky Scrapers and infinite shops. Moreover, Potsdamer Platz is your principal location to be for celebrities and stars, and perhaps not during film festivals.

  Best Time To Visit

The town is teeming with life , that may come from might and can last into October, having its open minded parties and ample street festivals. Your secondbest bet could be your xmas and New Year season, once you’re able to take pleasure from the seasonal niches, sexy wine sold by street vendors as well as aroma.

  Berlin Transportation

Germans are famous for 2 factors: efficacy and punctuality, and also the 2 are linked. This pertains with their effective BVGtransport system, together with trains, trains, trams and buses that operate twenty four hours every day (remember, Berlin can be a all-night party city); a single-ride ticket starts at $1.75.

  Berlin Weather

July is the hottest month, with a mean high in 18°C. January is the coldest month, with a mean most in -1°C.

  Know Before Visiting

You will experience some culture shock once you arrive–that the town is remarkably permissive, and whatever else goes. And you shouldn’t be set up by the notorious”Berliner Schnauze.” Berliners, notably long tail sailors, could be testy and also a little biting. Do not allow it slow down your own pace.

  Where to Stay in Berlin

Berlin supplies a worldclass choice of accommodation at all price points, for example reliable foreign brands like the palatial grandeur of this Hilton Berlin and luxury boutique hotels such as the Hotel de Rome, placed in a former bank building dating back to 1889. Normal room rates include approximately EUR85 to get a 3star hotel to EUR300 and upwards for a 5star room. There are lots of unique hotels, like the Soho House, that carries eight floors within an Bauhaus-style construction that’s been used, within its foundation, as an Nazi propaganda centre along with Communist Party depot.

  Money Saving Tips in Berlin

Use your student card – Inside this student community, your own identification card may probably come in convenient to obtain meals, beverages, lodging, and see museums in a reduction.

Take a free walking tour – New Berlin Tours conduct each day, enlightening (however long) walking tours which begin in the Brandenburg Gate and proceed via the hotspots in the city for approximately 4 hrs. It requires you through the middle of this metropolis, teaches you all of the highlights, provides you with an history, and also certainly may assist you to orientate yourself. Additionally they run tours across various historical topics (communism, Nazism( Jewish background, and so forth ) should you’ve got an even more special interest. You might even spend the Choice Berlin excursion, that showcases the side of Berlin. See them fitting in the Starbucks at Alexanderplatz in 11 am daily.

Get the lunch specials – There are lunch time specials through the week at Oranienburgerstr. As an instance, you’re able to find yourself a starter and main class in rather pleasant restaurants for approximately 6 EUR. It’s really a wonderful thing.

Visit museums – Because a lot of this real history is debilitating and tough to consume Berlin, the city also has forced most of their temples totally free as a way to help as much folks as you possibly can find out about their troubled ago. Use and dive in to learning just as far as possible! In addition, you could possibly find the Berlin Welcome cardwhich provides free public transport, discounts over 200 appeals, and also free entrance to all those museums that are paid. Additionally, it is sometimes a whole lot if you should be moving to plenty of museums!

Eat cheap – It’s possible to estimate a town’s worth depending on the purchase price of food, andalso the food at Berlin is undoubtedly affordable. And perhaps maybe not simply street food (it’s possible to find currywurst at less than 5 EUR anyplace ! ) ) , kebabs, and fast breads, either — the restaurants listed here are some bargain. You may come across a great deal of meals for under 7 EUR. I would strongly recommend eating in Mustafas. They possess the very best kebabs at Berlin.

Couchsurf – If you would like to cut off your traveling costs while also benefiting from local insight in to the city, then you ought to sofa browse. Not only can you cut costs however, you are going to meet natives that are able to help get you off the tourist route and to the city whilst the natives experience it. Since Berlin is really actually just a favorite city, make sure you ship your requests beforehand (particularly in the summertime!) .

Berlin Travel Guide – Tips for Visiting Berlin

#Berlin #Berlin Tips #Berlin Travel #Berlin Travel Guide

[travelsbeyondbehind]

‪New month, new theme & I’m looking at #TravelAtHome & the #UK – first up on #YorkshireDay is a picture of a pint ina rural pub as part of a walking holiday in Nidderdale. Day 213 of #365TravelPics‬

‪Some times people in the #UK travel to the Alps or Scandinavia for spectacular mountain walks. But this is #Yorkshire with challenging, inspiring hikes & views, proving #TravelAtHome can be excellent. Day 214 of #365TravelPics‬

‪Stretching across a #Yorkshire valley, the Ribblehead Viaduct is evidence of the industrialisation of the #UK and looks super at sunset. #TravelAtHome Day 215 of #365TravelPics‬

‪More from #Yorkshire and this is the view from Middlesmoor along Nidderdale. #UK #TravelAtHome Day 216 of #365TravelPics‬

‪A final picture from #Yorkshire #UK – this is from last spring, a walk past the church at Middlesmoor. #TravelAtHome Day 217 of #365TravelPics‬

‪Now to #Wales – I spent my teenage years here so am biased about its beauty! This is the Great Orme, a headland near Llandudno. #UK #TravelAtHome Day 218 of #365TravelPics‬

‪A winter walk in the Vale of Llangollen in #Wales – at once a little bleak but also beautiful. #UK #TravelAtHome Day 219 of #365TravelPics‬

‪This is the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct over the Llangollen valley in #Wales – added to the UNESCO world heritage list in 2009 & a source of local pride. #UK #TravelAtHome Day 220 of #365TravelPics‬

‪This is the River Severn near Shrewsbury close to the border between #England and #Wales – an historic & less visited part of the #UK #TravelAtHome Day 221 of #365TravelPics‬

‪The North West of #England is both part of the industrial heartlands and full of natural beauty – like here north of Bury. UK #TravelAtHome Day 222 of #365TravelPics‬

‪In Bury, North West #England , is the old railway with heritage steam engines and a very fine trackside pub offering real ales. #UK #TravelAtHome Day 223 of #365TravelPics‬

‪Above #Edinburgh on a volcanic rock is its castle protecting the city below. #Scotland #UK #TravelAtHome Day 224 of #365TravelPics‬

‪Looking over central #Edinburgh and George IV Bridge – even in the damp it’s a pretty city. #Scotland #UK #TravelAtHome Day 225 of #365TravelPics‬

‪At every corner in #Edinburgh buildings show its varied history. This is on the road down to Grassmarket. #Scotland #UK #TravelAtHome Day 226 of #365TravelPics‬

‪A visit to the parliament made me understand #Edinburgh and #Scotland better. The free tour shared details of the design & democratic process here. #UK #TravelAtHome Day 227 of #365TravelPics‬

‪One last shot from #Edinburgh and the reason I visit regularly: the #EdFringe – this is one of the bigger venues, The Pleasance, getting ready for a new day. #Scotland #UK #TravelAtHome Day 228 of #365TravelPics‬

‪Next we head to Bath #England – rightly popular with tourists. This is Pulteney Bridge from the 18th Century. #UK #TravelAtHome Day 229 of #365TravelPics‬

‪A niche tweet but if passing through the Cotswolds & Cuddesdon then the Bishop Edward King Chapel at the college is a spectacular example of modern church architecture. #England #UK #TravelAtHome Day 230 of #365TravelPics‬

‪One of the most powerful sites for me in #England is Coventry Cathedral. Destroyed in World War 2, the ancient cathedral lies a ruin with the new cathedral next door as a symbol of hope, peace & rebirth. #UK #TravelAtHome Day 231 of #365TravelPics‬

‪Nottingham is in the East Midlands of #England and has been regenerated in recent years, like its Old Market Square. #UK #TravelAtHome Day 232 of #365TravelPics‬

‪Throughout #England are market towns where the church stands over the square, filled with a market on certain days & a collection of shops. Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, East Anglia is typical. #UK #TravelAtHome Day 233 of #365TravelPics‬

‪Listen to Ed Sheeran? Well this is the Castle on the Hill he sings about. The Norman castle at Framlingham has become much better known recently! #Suffolk #England #UK #TravelAtHome Day 234 of #365TravelPics‬

‪There’s nothing like an afternoon in an English country garden! The Royal Horticultural Society’s Garden at Wisley is my favourite. #England #UK #TravelAtHome Day 235 of #365TravelPics‬

‪Street food is having a resurgence in the #UK – groups of small food sellers produce great food & entertainment in old shipping containers. There’s several sites in Manchester but this is #Croydon Boxpark. #TravelAtHome Day 236 of #365TravelPics‬

‪An iconic view of the #UK is the White Cliffs of Dover – marking the start or end of a journey. #TravelAtHome Image 237 of #365TravelPics‬

‪Trains travelling under the chan le often end up here: Kings Cross St Pancras Station in #London. #TravelAtHome – one of the most impressive stations. #UK Image 238 of #365TravelPics‬

‪One of my favourite buildings in #London is the National Theatre with its concrete architecture & great theatre. #TravelAtHome #UK Image 239 of #365TravelPics‬

‪Staying in #London and a historic site: Westminster Abbey where monarchs are crowned & great national events marked. Here it is decorated in the Lumière light shows. #TravelAtHome #UK Day 240 of #365TravelPics‬

‪The centre of #London acts as a backdrop to many national ceremonies: here are the flags up in Whitehall for the Centenary of the RAF. #TravelAtHome #UK Day 241 of #365TravelPics‬

‪It’s currently being restored but The Elizabeth Tower – better known as Big Ben – is one of the iconic images of #London as well as the #UK #TravelAtHome Day 242 of #365TravelPics‬

‪Last day of August & pics of #UK travel: thinking back to #London2012 when I saw the rehearsal of the Olympics Opening Ceremony & performed in the Paralympics Opening Ceremony. The rings & UK welcomed & came together. #TravelAtHome Day 243 of #365TravelPics‬

365 Travel Pics: August – Travels at Home

#UK

[yesbetterlife-blog1]

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