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stereostevie · 3 years

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When you think of grunge, do you picture a bunch of long-haired White guys in plaid shirts, singing about teenage angst and self-loathing? Time to expand that viewpoint. Standing above them all should be Tina Bell, a tiny Black woman with an outsized stage presence, and her band, Bam Bam. It’s only recently that the 1980s phenom has begun to be recognized as a godmother of grunge.

This modern genre’s sound was, in many ways, molded by a Black woman. The reason she is mostly unknown has everything to do with racism and misogyny. Looking back at the beginnings of grunge, with the preconception that “everybody involved” was White and/or male, means ignoring the Black woman who was standing at the front of the line.

Bam Bam was formed as a punk band in 1983 in Seattle. Bell, a petite brown-skinned spitfire with more hairstyle changes than David Bowie, sang lead vocals and wrote most of the lyrics. Her then-husband Tommy Martin was on guitars (the band’s name is an acronym of their last names: Bell And Martin), Scotty “Buttocks” Ledgerwood played bass, and Matt Cameron was on drums. Cameron would leave the band in its first year and go on to fame as the drummer for Soundgarden and Pearl Jam. But he paid homage to his beginnings by wearing a Tina Bell T-shirt in a photoshoot for Pearl Jam’s 2017 Anthology: the Complete Scores book.

“For some reason a couple of skinheads are up front, calling her [the N-word] And all of the sudden, Bell grabs a microphone stand and she starts swirling it around her head like a lasso… She swung that fuckin’ thing around her head and about the fourth time, she smashed that son of a bitch.”

Bam Bam’s sound straddled the line between punk and something so new that it didn’t have a name yet. Their music combined a driving, thrumming bass line; downtuned, sludgy guitars; thrashy, pulsing drums; melodic vocals that range from sultry to haunting to screamy; and lyrics about the existential tension of trying to exist in a world not designed for you. The band’s 1984 music video for their single “Ground Zero” is low-budget, but Bell’s charisma seeps through.

“She was fucking badass. That’s all there is to it. She was amazing as a performer. I’ve only seen one White male lead singer command the stage in a similar way that Tina Bell did, and that was Bon Scott of AC/DC,” says Om Johari, who attended Bam Bam shows as a Black teenager in the ’80s and who would go on to lead all-female AC/DC cover band Hell’s Belles.

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Christina King, a Seattle scenester who was close friends with Bell from 1984 until the early ’90s, says the singer’s talent was obvious. But she believes a lot of people dismissed Bell as a gimmick.

Among those attending their shows: Future members of grunge bands like Nirvana (Kurt Cobain did a stint as a Bam Bam roadie), Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, and Pearl Jam.

“I remember one person saying to me that they didn’t get ‘the whole Black girl singer thing,’ it just didn’t fit whatever they were into,” says King. “They were too ahead of their time.”

Bam Bam came into being in an era when hundreds of underground clubs, taverns, bars, and social halls — anywhere that you could cram in a band — were within the Seattle city limits. Bam Bam played almost all of them, and often to big crowds: The Colourbox, Crocodile Lounge, Gorilla Gardens, Squid Row — just to name a few.

Among those attending their shows: Future members of history-making grunge bands like Nirvana (Kurt Cobain did a stint as a Bam Bam roadie), Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, and Pearl Jam. Not to mention all the other people, mostly White and male, who would become prime targets for music labels trying to market this new sound.

Bell “already possessed everything they were trying to attain. She had a truer rock and roll spirit than almost any of those guys in that town. Everything they tried to do, she naturally was,” says Ledgerwood, still a loyal bandmate.

One Seattle club, The Metropolis, became “like our fucking living room,” says Ledgerwood. It was also the site of an overtly racist verbal assault against Tina Bell.

“For some reason a couple of skinheads are up front, calling her [the N-word],” Ledgerwood recalls. “And all of the sudden, Bell grabs a microphone stand and she starts swirling it around her head like a lasso… She swung that fuckin’ thing around her head and about the fourth time, she smashed that son of a bitch… She nailed that fucker right in the temple of his head. Split like a melon. And the other guy next to him caught it too, they go down, and we’re like, ‘What the fuck?’”

Ledgerwood says that after going backstage for a while to regroup, Bell came back “and put out the most blistering set of our fucking career.”

This could easily be an anecdote about Bell’s power, her resilience, and willingness to fight back against oppressive forces. But it’s also a story about the cost of being a Black woman who does something that some people don’t expect or approve of.

“She’s being pulled out of her zone because somebody is acknowledging how the rest of the world can see her,” says Johari, empathizing with the star rocker. “And even to react to it by picking up a microphone and smashing someone in the face, that means that that incident cost her not only that moment it takes to get back into the song, but the whole [effects of her] action will last for weeks.

“She’ll replay that over and over and over and over again. And then the people she sees that were there when it happened, they’re gonna come up to her and they’re gonna forget everything that she’s saying, all the stuff that she had did, and they’re only going to focus on, ‘I was at that show where you knocked a dude in the head for calling you an N-word,’” Johari says. “It has nothing to do with her artistry. But it reminds her of the way in which she has to be prepared, just in case it happens again.”

King remembers Bell also felt that some of the other men in the band’s changing lineup failed to treat her as an equal partner: “She’s getting that from her own band members — what do you think audience people are like?”

A European tour in the late ’80s gained Bam Bam international fans, but ended after Bell and Martin split up, and Bell was caught in an immigration enforcement dragnet in the Netherlands.

When they returned to the Pacific Northwest, Bam Bam continued playing shows until 1990, when Bell abruptly quit as they were packing up to head to the studio in Portland, Ore.

“She had just had enough,” Ledgerwood says. “For almost eight years she had almost literally eviscerated herself for the audience.”

But that work never resulted in the national recognition they deserved.

“Grunge, whatever that means, is being identified as from your community, your colleagues, your sound that you were a participant in help shaping, and you’re not even mentioned in any of it.”

“Sometimes you need to be a little bit of an asshole to protect yourself. And Bell wasn’t much of an asshole,” Ledgerwood adds. “She was a pure-hearted person and had a really hard time believing that people couldn’t accept her over something as stupid as race.”

Bell didn’t just quit the band, she withdrew from music completely, says her son, Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker TJ Martin. Not out of resentment, he adds, but perhaps to escape the painful reminders that the music she helped pioneer was now earning other bands multimillion-dollar record contracts.

“Grunge, whatever that means, is being identified as from your community, your colleagues, your sound that you were a participant in help shaping, and you’re not even mentioned in any of it,” Martin says. “I can’t even fathom what that would feel like for it to be sort of spit back in your face with such frequency.”

Ledgerwood believes Bell died of a broken heart. But when Bell died alone in her Las Vegas apartment in 2012, the official cause of death listed was cirrhosis of the liver. She had struggled with alcohol and depression. Her son says the coroner estimated her time of death as a couple weeks before her body was discovered. She was 55 years old.

The things that could have told Tina Bell’s story in her own voice are lost. Martin arrived in Las Vegas to find that the contents of his mother’s apartment — except for a DVD player, a poster, and a chair — had been thrown away. All of her writings — lyrics, poems, diaries — along with Bam Bam music, videos, and other memorabilia — went in the trash without her family even being notified.

If you think you were in Seattle in the ’80s, in the grunge scene, and you don’t remember Tina Bell and Bam Bam, you probably weren’t really fucking there.

“I couldn’t help draw a parallel between her not being respected and seen in the first chapter of her life, as the front person of a punk band, and then even in death being disrespected and not being seen for the merits of the life she lived,” says Martin.

Bell’s death is also an indictment of the way she was written out of her own story. The way grunge’s almighty gatekeepers chose to look through her instead of at her. Grunge became the domain of alienated young White men in flannel shirts, and Tina Bell didn’t fit the narrative they were trying to sell.

“Black herstory can suffer immense amounts of erasure if somebody is not brave enough to ensure that women get counted,” Johari says.

To many of those who were part of the scene at the time, the amnesia seems intentional. Ledgerwood brings up the seminal history of Seattle’s grunge era, Everybody Loves Our Town. In it, the author refers to Bam Bam as a three-piece instrumental band mainly notable because Matt Cameron was the drummer. Tina Bell isn’t even mentioned.

“How in the hell would he have a recollection of how great Bam Bam and its drummer was, and not this unbelievably beautiful woman, this firecracker, this explosive rock and roll goddess?” Ledgerwood asks. “Even if he thought she sucked, to not remember the only Black woman on the whole fuckin’ scene is — well, it’s like that old joke about the ’60s: If you think you were in Seattle in the ’80s, in the grunge scene, and you don’t remember Tina Bell and Bam Bam, you probably weren’t really fucking there.”

You can listen to more of Bam Bam’s music on this Spotify playlist. A vinyl album with the band’s songs is coming out this year on Bric-a-Brac Records.

#Alice in Chains #Bam Bam #black history #black women #black women in rock #grunge #Kurt Cobain #music #Nirvana #Pearl Jam #rock #Seattle #Soundgarden #Tina Bell #women in rock #women's history #80s

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turningwheeltarot · 4 years

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Healing anxiety has been an ongoing journey for me. I have learned a lot and come a long way over the years. I want to share some of the most important spiritual lessons that I have learned so far in hopes that it may help others who struggle with anxiety. I am not a medical professional and this is not meant to be a substitute for psychiatric advice or treatment. This is simply meant to be a sharing of what I have found to be effective for me. I approach this topic from a spiritual perspective as this is where my experience has been.

The Importance of a Daily Spiritual Practice

In order to heal anxiety, I believe a daily, committed spiritual practice of some kind is necessary. “Spiritual” can be substituted with other terms, such as “meditation” or “mindfulness” practice, if they resonate more with you. Committing to beginning each day with meditation and prayer has helped me to develop a strong inner foundation to root myself in. Before I made this commitment, I was like a house without a foundation at the mercy of whatever was going on around me.

A Course in Miracles is what I would consider to be my spiritual “home base.” The Course focuses primarily on thought. It is all about learning to undo a thought system based on fear -- which dominates this world -- and accept a thought system based on love instead. Anxiety is just one of the many ways the fear-based thinking of the world shows up. The Course states that its goal is the attainment of inner peace, and that this comes about only through changing our thinking: learning to choose the thoughts of love instead of the thoughts of fear. This is freedom from anxiety.

According to the Course, the root cause of suffering lies in the mind; we change the world we see by changing our minds about the world we see. This inward shift is made by surrendering fear-based thoughts to the Holy Spirit (or your Higher Self, the Universe, Source, etc.) and simply being willing to perceive differently. The Course assures that our willingness is all that’s required for healing to take place.

If you don’t already have a spiritual practice, I strongly encourage you to find one that resonates with you. A Course in Miracles is just one of endless options. Set the intention to find the right one for you and explore, and the right one will present itself. Some may already have a spiritual practice, but need to commit to making it a daily priority. Our egos try to convince us that we “don’t have the time,” but I promise that even just a few minutes a day will make a remarkable difference in your life.

Surrendering, Allowing, and Trusting

My journey with healing anxiety has revolved around learning how to surrender, allow, and trust in Spirit. When worry arises, I do my best to consciously surrender the anxious thought to Spirit as soon as possible. I find it helpful to visualize literally handing the worry up and into the hands of Spirit. I often envision the beautiful and serene Ace of Cups tarot card when I do this. Prayer is also a big part of my process. A simple but powerful prayer (inspired by A Course in Miracles) that I often say is: “Holy Spirit, I place this fear about (fill-in-the-blank) in your hands. Please take this from me. I am willing to see this differently.”

After surrendering, I focus on allowing the feelings that arise and breathing through them. With every exhale, I imagine myself continuously releasing whatever my fear is to Spirit. When I allow myself to feel my feelings, they are able to move through me. When I push them away, they become stuck within me. I am learning the art of not fighting difficult feelings like anxiousness, while also not dwelling on negative thoughts. I am learning how to be with discomfort and allow it to pass through me. And perhaps most importantly, I am learning how to trust.

My ongoing focus is on building and maintaining trust in Spirit. Trust is something that needs to be practiced. It’s not uncommon that I need to continually re-surrender, re-allow, and re-trust about the same issue. And that’s ok. Through committed practice, I am reprogramming my mind so that my first instinct is to trust rather than to fear. And the more I practice, the easier and more automatic it becomes.

The more intense and overwhelming the fear, the more intense the focus needs to be on surrendering, allowing, and trusting. When experiencing intense anxiety, try to get into surrender mode as fast as you can. Surrender the fear to Spirit and ask that it be taken from you. Get as quiet as possible and allow the fear to be there. Be with it to the best of your ability. Focus on breathing through it. Trust that it will pass and that clarity is coming. If you feel unable to practice this in times of intense anxiety, that’s ok. The more you make a habit of practicing this process with smaller issues, the easier it will become to practice when big ones come up.

I have realized that much of what causes anxiety within me is a deep inner resistance to what is: resistance to the present moment, resistance to my current circumstance, resistance to how I’m feeling, resistance to the anxiety itself (me telling myself I “shouldn’t” be feeling this way), and the belief that I need to be in control of everything -- which is resistance to life itself. I believe this is true of many people who suffer with anxiety.

I am amazed by the learning and healing that’s occurred as a result of my simple willingness to be made aware of resistance and let go of it. Ever since I set this specific intention, it’s been like peeling an onion. Deeper layers of resistance that I wasn’t previously aware of continue revealing themselves to me to be released.

“Forgive yourself for not being at peace. The moment you completely accept your non-peace, your non-peace is transmuted into peace. Anything you accept fully will get you there, will take you into peace. This is the miracle of surrender.” -- Eckhart Tolle

Disidentifying from and Disciplining the Mind

The root of anxiety is in the mind. One anxious thought is where it all begins. But the mind is not where the solution can be found. When I rely on my mind to “figure it all out,” it only leads to more anxiety. When I rely on the higher power that is within me, I find myself guided out of anxiety. I believe this is the deeper meaning of the Proverbs 3:5 Bible verse: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.”

The mind is a useful tool that is meant to be used in service to Higher Consciousness. It is not meant to run the show. Mistaking myself for my thoughts and letting my thinking mind take the wheel is a sure way to get lost in an anxiety spiral. Mind-identification is anxiety. Learning to discipline my mind and let go of my identification with my thoughts has been a major part of my healing journey.

In order to be freed from anxiety and live a more conscious and peaceful life, it is necessary to practice observing thoughts and letting them go. In order to do this, identification with thought needs to be released too. You are not your thoughts. When you practice observing your thoughts instead of getting lost in them, you get in touch with who you really are at the deepest level -- the awareness behind your thoughts. The Observer. Then you are able to create space between your true Self and your thoughts, rather than becoming totally identified with them. So when anxious thoughts arise, it won’t be as easy for them to possess you.

Anxiety usually stems from fixating on the future or past. The present moment is all that’s real and is the only place where peace can be found. Zen Buddhist monk Shunryu Suzuki said, “Let thoughts come and go. Just don't serve them tea.” Letting thoughts come and go while continuously bringing my awareness back to the present moment allows me to slow down enough to recognize fearful thoughts when they arise -- which is half the battle. And it’s worth reiterating: daily meditation has been absolutely essential for me to develop and maintain the inner groundwork required to practice this.

Conscious breathing and redirecting my awareness from my mind to my body are some methods that help me let my thoughts go and return to the present. These methods also help me to process my feelings, including anxiety. Next time you feel anxious, explore where the feeling of anxiousness lives within your body. Feel into it. Breathe into it. Be with it. You may find the feeling dissolves surprisingly fast. You may also find that what the feeling dissolves into is peace.

Watching my words is another important mind-discipline practice. Words -- which stem from thoughts -- are powerful. They create our reality. I have realized that if I want to create a reality where I am free from anxiety, I need to stop identifying with anxiety as a part of who I am, allowing it to have power over me. That means I need to stop referring to myself as an “anxious person.” I need to stop saying things like “my anxiety.” I need to believe that I can be free from anxiety. And I need to replace negative, destructive self-talk with positive, healing self-talk. Mantras and positive affirmations can be extremely helpful and effective.

Self-Care

This is an ongoing healing process and it is so important to be kind, gentle, and patient with yourself along the way. Learning how to practice self-care, self-acceptance, and self-love is also a process. I am still learning what it means to love and accept myself.

How am I feeling right now? What do I need right now? How can I take care of myself right now? I try to check in by asking myself questions like this regularly. I am learning to honor feelings of overwhelm and worry as signals to stop, turn within, and practice self-care.

I spent much of my life terrified of my own fear. I believe this is true of many who struggle with anxiety. We fear that our fear is too big for us to handle. But the truth is that we are bigger than our fear. Much bigger. We are infinite souls having human experiences. I have come to realize that the fear within me is not the big, scary monster I used to believe it was. Rather, it is a scared little child simply in need of love.

❤️ ❤️ ❤️

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#anxiety #spirituality #healing anxiety #healing #spiritual healing #spiritual growth #spiritual journey #healing process #peace #emotional healing #a course in miracles #ACIM #eckhart tolle #presence #trust #faith #surrender

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solarlightsonline · 3 years

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mrmallard · 3 years

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Top 10 Favorite Lyrics of 2020

This list might seem esoteric, but 2020 has been a turd on a plate and music has made me feel a lot better this year. Sometimes specific lyrics slap harder than the rest. It's lyrics like these that kept me going in 2020.

So here's a list of some of my favorite lyrics from the year and why I like them. These songs aren't necessarily from 2020, they just resonated with me this year.

I should warn you - this turned out to be an incredibly personal post for me. I touch on lyrics that I view as possibly pertaining to the trans experience, and whether that's a viewpoint I'm qualified to talk on. If that's a particularly touchy subject for you, I recommend proceeding with caution. I also mention abuse in one entry, and how it affects me years later.

I really cannot stress enough how personal this post got, so keep that in mind if you decide to continue reading.

10: "Kiss me goodnight / like a good friend might" - Sara Bareilles, 1000 Times

All cards on the table, I'm in love with a good friend of mine. TL;DR, that's probably why this lyric speaks to me.

That's a bit reductive, so here's why I love it so much - this lyric is sodden with yearning, even without taking my circumstances into account. The entire song is about living with an unrequited love, and this expression of that just hits me in the chest like a sack of bricks.

The reason I love this lyric so much is because of how soft and vulnerable it is. It's an amazing cooldown after how passionate the chorus is, and it feels like the most earnest, genuine expression of this feeling ever.

This lyric sums up that feeling when you're with someone you really like, and you're hoping - praying - that they'll close the distance with an affectionate action. Maybe you want them to play with your hair. Maybe you want to feel their hand linger on yours for a moment. Maybe it's late, and you're tired and a little drunk, and in that moment that you make it to bed for the night, it would make your heart feel indescribably whole if they leant down and gave you a chaste, affectionate kiss on the cheek. Nothing more - just that simple act of contact, an affirmation of affection.

This is a good song about yearning, and this is the lyric that really sums it all up.

9: "Called my friend in New York / 3,000 miles away / halfway through her metamorphosis / nothing I could say" - The Mountain Goats, From TG&Y

This is the first of multiple Mountain Goats entries. I'm gonna go into a bit of a tangent about them later on, but for now I want to focus on the lyric.

From TG&Y is a song about wasting away in a town that's taking you down with it. It has lyrics about huffing spray paint and vomiting blood, and John Darnielle sings about holding on to your dreams until there's nothing left to hold on to. It's an incredibly bleak song, and it's one of my favorite Mountain Goats songs because of that - it sums up an unhappiness in me that I've felt for over a decade.

This lyric is a moment of respite. After the soul-crushing day that the protagonist has had, they call up someone dear to them. The situation reads as awkward to me - clearly there's a lot of affection for this friend and the process she's going through, but it's hard to bring up. Their awkwardness is another misfortune, but it comes from a good place.

My take is that the protagonist's friend is a trans woman, and the protagonist can't find the right words to say about it. It's awkwardness born of distance, not of ignorance, and it's another side effect of the town he lives in. But he loves her, and in the midst of his rapidly declining life in this shithole town, it's such a blessing to hear her voice. If only he knew what to say to her.

8: "And the funny thing about it is / despite how much time I spend hating it / it never says a bad thing about me" - Tim Minchin, Not Perfect

I got into Tim Minchin this year. I like his moody, melancholy songs like this the most, though I also like his songs about religion. This is my second favourite song of his, behind White Wine in the Sun.

Between all the bluster of his sillier songs, he has this incredibly sensible song about the life we live. From the world we live on, to the brain we ultimately reside in, it's a look from the outside in through to the inside out and it makes some incredibly pertinent points about the human condition.

The "it" in question is about his body. It's not in its best shape ever, and he often tries to fill it up with wine - which is in itself a multifaceted lyric, being a silly jab at himself as well as a deeper statement about his wellbeing.

But his observation about the brain rejecting the body as opposed to vice versa is what really stuck with me.

My takeaway was that our body is essentially a stupid meat suit that obeys the will of the brain. And when it doesn't match the self-image of the brain, we resent it. Our body is an extension of ourselves, and it's incredibly upsetting when our idealised image of ourselves isn't reflected in the body we reside in - and that leads us to self-harm. That's super fucked up.

I adore this lyric for highlighting the relationship between the physical and mental self. It makes me want to better myself more than a thousand PSAs ever did, because it makes a pertinent point about what I'm damaging. It's me, but it can't fight back when I want to hurt it.

7: "Her body's a difficult sister / and she loves her" - The Weakerthans, Exiles Among You

As I was writing the first draft of this list, something came to a head. I feel like I have to explain where I'm coming from for this lyric, especially after the last two lyrics, so please bear with me.

I perceive this lyric to be about a trans woman. "Her body's a difficult sister" scans as potentially trans to me, and I find it heartening that despite the difficulty her body poses at times, the main character loves herself. It ties into Not Perfect in that regard, which was the catalyst that resulted in the way I view this lyric.

While it can potentially be viewed through a cis or a trans lens, the trans lens speaks to me more. And that's what I want to talk about.

Between this lyric and From TG&Y, I'm worried about how I sound when I'm talking about trans people. This lyric is arguably the biggest stretch in favour of a trans viewpoint, and the context of the lyric can be considered to deal with dysphoria due to that - and as someone who is known as a cis man, as opposed to a trans person, I'm worried that my viewpoint is off-base to the point of being harmful to individual trans people and the trans community as a whole.

I want to be as transparent and respectful as possible about my interpretation of song lyrics through a trans lens. My intentions are good, but I feel the need to explain myself when I haven't had a lived trans experience. That in itself is a valid enough reason to discard how I'm approaching this, but I want to make my feelings known.

For the last few years, I've been thinking more and more about the trans experience. I don't necessarily have an issue presenting in the way that I do, being AMAB, but I'm empathetic towards the challenges faced by trans people. One potential reason is because I was bullied from the start of school through to the end, so I empathize strongly with people and groups who are othered for their intrinsic personal identities - but I think it goes deeper than that in this case.

When I see something positive about the trans community in particular, I get a sense of emotional fulfillment that I don't really get from anything else. Gender euphoria sounds like bliss, for example - the fact that it exists and that people feel it makes me feel incredibly happy. I'm empathetic for and supportive of gay, bi and ace people, among other gender identities and sexualities, but I don't necessarily feel the same emotional swell for those experiences as I do for the trans experience. And without going into detail, one of those things should stand out from the others.

Viewing trans people in these lyrics make said lyrics much more emotionally resonant to me. There's something about the trans experience that I resonate strongly with, and it significantly strengthens my emotional investment in music that I already enjoyed beforehand.

The fear I have about viewing these lyrics through a trans lens is that I'm worried it looks like I'm fetishizing transgender people, or I'm misappropriating the trans experience for my music headcanons. That's not my intention. I haven't identified as anything other than cis my whole life, but when the cards line up like this, it unlocks a deeper appreciation of the song in question. It means a lot to me when that happens, and that can mean any number of things - but it definitely comes from a sincere place of care within myself.

That's why "her body's a difficult sister / and she loves her" means so much to me within that context, and it's a more in-depth perception on why From TG&Y's lyric grips me the way it does as well. I know it went off track from the song itself, but I felt a need to explain myself and I hope that my viewpoint is viewed in good faith.

6: "I still hear trains at night / when the wind is right" - The Weakerthans, This Is A Fire Door Never Leave Open

This lyric reminds me of abuse in a very applicable way to myself. There are times when I've remembered awful things that happened to me, even if I hadn't thought of them in years.

The Weakerthans are good at writing these lyrics that can go either way. I think about the character Lori from Night in the Woods when I hear this lyric, who lives by a train track - as far as she gets from that place, there'll be nights where the wind outside will remind her of the trains that passed by her house.

But in real life, there'll be nights after years of happy, content cohabitation with someone else, someone who puts your mind miles away from the worst moments of your life - where a trace of what you experienced will come back to you. No warning - the conditions in your life were just right to bring that memory back.

It continues to be one of my favorite lyrics, years after I first heard it, because it hits so close to home.

5: "I guess I have to hope that today the sun will shine / and maybe tomorrow, you'll be mine" - The Weepies, They're In Love, Where Am I

Another good yearning song. I spent a lot of 2020 yearning, and songs like 1000 Times and They're In Love, Where Am I really helped me through it.

The thing about the Weepies is that their lyrics can either be extremely blunt or extremely roundabout and kinda silly, and both extremes hit that button in my brain that makes me go "happey : )". This is more on the blunt side, being on one of their shorter songs. But every lyric in this song counts, and every lyric lands.

The reason why I picked this one is because of how well it sells the bittersweet nature of the song. The person you love is out of your reach, and it's hard to ignore that, but you might as well be thankful that things aren't worse. And maybe tomorrow will be different, and all your wildest dreams will come true. Even though they definitely won't, it's a nice thought.

The lyric speaks for itself. It's efficient, it ties the whole song together, and it's as gorgeous-sounding as the rest of the song. Excellent lyric.

4: "Maybe there's a season when I'll taste that wine / a thimble at a time / a thimbleful of wine" - The Weepies, Hummingbird

Reading these lyrics at face value doesn't always have the same impact as they do when you're hearing them in a song, and I've been trying to keep my picks to lyrics that scan both ways. But I've covered some heavy subject material in this post, so despite this one not necessarily scanning that well, I'm going to talk about it because it makes me incredibly happy and it lets me take a load off.

As I listened to this last verse for the first time, I was mostly soaking in the ambience of the song. A lot of the song is made up of these vignettes and platitudes, and while it's very pretty in its own right, I had trouble following it. But it's a gorgeous song, and I decided to tune in for the last verse and enjoy it as much as possible before it ends.

"Maybe there's a season when I'll taste that wine" - okay, I can relate to that. For all the hard work you put into something, you don't necessarily get to enjoy the fruits of your labor. But maybe one day you might get a chance to do so. Beautiful.

"A thimble at a time" conjures up an incredibly specific, sweet and kind of silly image. But before you can snark about it, the song follows up on what it just said - "a thimble full of wine".

It's like it read my mind. It knows it's a very precious image, and it takes full advantage to address exactly what it just said. I love it so much - it's such a cute lyric in an already gorgeous song.

3: "I just wish I was a toothbrush or a solder gun / make me something someone else can use" - The Weakerthans, Utilities

This is a lyric that's maintained its hold on me over the years. It captures a relatable sense of ennui and despair - I'm not doing anything for anyone now, so I wish I was an inanimate tool that could be of service to someone.

Nothing else really needs to be said. It's a classic in my books for a reason.

2: "And then you're singing in Dutch to me / and I recognize the song / it seems so old and so fragile / I haven't heard it in so long" - The Mountain Goats, Minnesota

This is the lyric that got me into older Mountain Goats songs. The entire narrative of the song is gorgeous, but it's this line that really broke through to me and it continues to be a favorite of mine.

The way I imagine the song going is that after spreading the seeds around his house, the narrator wakes up from a heat induced haze with his head in the lap of his partner. And she's singing in Dutch to him, and he recognises the song - as the song goes.

It's such a nice image to me. Waking up with your head in someone's lap, having that surreal moment as you're looking up at them where they're singing in a language you aren't familiar with, but recognising the song. That shit is picturesque. It's beautiful.

This really is the cream of the crop when it comes to Mountain Goats lyrics. It appeals to this broader romantic ideal in me, in a way that gets me every time. One reason why I like the Weepies so much is because their song lyrics make me feel like this one does.

1: "Make it through this year / if it kills you outright." - The Mountain Goats, Exegetic Chains

I'm ending on this note because the song and the lyric are perfect to end on.

Songs from Pierre Chuvin was a Mountain Goats release from early 2020 recorded in the style of John's older music. It was recorded on accoustic guitar, through an old boombox that imparts a nostalgic grain to the sound, and songs like Aulon Raid sounded like they were written in the 90's era of the Mountain Goats. Songs from Pierre Chuvin is, by all means, one of the most faithful throwback projects I think I've ever seen.

And Exegetic Chains is the crown jewel of the album, at least of the songs I've heard. Not just because of how it sounds, or how it's structured like some of my favorite Mountain Goats songs - but because it takes homage to heart as the last track on the album.

John references other songs, but the most recognisable reference is in the chorus - a dark reprisal of This Year. "I'm gonna make it through this year if it kills me", a loud, bombastic rallying call to yourself or a mantra to keep yourself alive through another year of hardship - becoming "make it through this year, if it kills you outright", a downcast plea calling out in a time where death is inevitable.

This is my favorite song lyric of 2020 because this song lyric is a reflection of 2020. It's the dark reprisal of This Year that we needed, that really says it all. I'd love to end on a happier lyric, but I can't stress how perfect I think this lyric is. This is a reprise that I sincerely think will stand the test of time.

#sara bareilles #the mountain goats #tim minchin #the weakerthans #the weepies #dysphoria tw #abuse tw #top 10

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bethkerring · 4 years

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6 Tips for Writing Asexual Characters

1. Make them a person, not just an ace person. To quote Orphan Black, “My sexuality is not the most interesting thing about me.” Being asexual obviously affects a person’s life, but many, many aspects are the same as someone who isn’t ace. As I often put it, asexuals are more different than they are alike. Focus on writing a human being with feelings, relationships, hopes, regrets, and everything else: just consider how not experiencing sexual attraction would affect different aspects of their life. In my daily life, I can go days or weeks without even thinking about being asexual. I have a job, friends, family, interests, and hobbies, and unless it comes up, the lack of sexual attraction in my life is about as notable as the lack of underwater basket weaving.

2. Remember that romantic and sexual orientation don’t always match up. In other words, not all asexuals are aromantic—in fact, though it’s hard to get accurate data, over half of asexuals identify as romantic. There is absolutely nothing wrong with writing an aro-ace character—I’ve written several of them myself, and they need representation just as badly as all asexuals—but make it clear in your writing that the two aren’t mutually exclusive. Some asexuals want romantic relationships, with other aces or with non-aces, and they are no more or less asexual than aromantics.

3. “Sex-averse” does not always equate to “touch-averse.” I want to be clear that asexuals vary widely in their attitudes toward sex: some are repulsed by it, some indifferent, and some even enjoy it. But all too often, I see sex-repulsed asexuals also being repulsed by non-sexual touch, as if the two are the same thing. Some asexuals are touch-averse, as are some people who aren’t ace. But among asexuals, attitudes toward touch can range from “deeply uncomfortable” to “cuddle addict.” And this applies both within and outside of romantic relationships. If your character is touch-averse, that’s completely fine: but be clear in the writing that they’re not touch-averse because they don’t like sex.

4. Platonic love can be just as strong as romantic. This is important in any story, not just ones with ace characters, and is one of the things I’d love to see more of in all sorts of media. But especially if you have an ace character with only platonic relationships, please remember that those relationships can be just as strong as any romantic attachment—just because someone is asexual and/or aromantic doesn’t mean that they don’t form strong emotional bonds with other people, whether they’re family or friends.

5. Read real experiences. Probably the most important part of writing about any group you don’t belong to, honestly. You can find these experiences anywhere: Googling “asexual experiences,” searching for the same on YouTube, browsing the forums on AVEN and other ace-centric sites, blog posts, etc. You don’t have to be an expert on the subject: every ace experience is different, including your character’s. But you’d be amazed how much more realistically you can write a character if you spend just a little time researching real people.

6. Consider the context of their life. This covers too many questions to name, but I’ll give you a few to start with. When does this story take place? Where do they live? What is their community’s attitude toward LGBTQ+ people? Their family’s attitude? Are they out—and if so, to whom? How did they realize they were ace, and at what age? This is where reading real experiences becomes especially important, because there are plenty of things about the ace experience that makes it unique from being gay, bi, pan, etc., as well as plenty of ways it’s similar.

#writing #writing tip #writing asexuality #asexuality #ace characters #lgbtq+ characters

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anya-moon · 5 years

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Tarot+astrology for September, 2019

Tarotscope is a mixture of tarot and astrology. I pull cards for every astrological sign asking to get a message for September and then I read cards basing on the knowledge of situation in stars.

Enjoy!

*Situation in stars during September*

The first part of September brings us strong earthy energy with Sun in Virgo and 6 planets in Earth signs. It’s telling about grounding and need to transform day-to-day life: how can you bring more healthy, empowering things in your day? where do you need more mindfulness? is there something you were thinking to get rid of - limiting patterns, clutter in head or your room? Time to work with that. Being organized, making lists and checking where are you in your journey can be a great help. And don’t forget to take good care of your body and praise yourself for any new achievement. Stay simple and realistic.

Full Moon in Pisces on September, 14 together with Mars-Neptune opposition will make us to face our spiritual needs, mostly in identifying and expressing them. There is an emphasis on keeping a balance between spiritual needs and order in daily life.

On September, 18 Saturn will turn direct and we’ll be asked to take care of our responsibilities and come down to earth.

Another important event in the stars is going to hit us on September, 21 when Jupiter will form the square with Neptune. There might be a lot of struggle with dreams, faith, expectations going at that time. You might question your daily routine, feeling unsatisfied, disillusioned with something, trying to avoid things by writing new beliefs and philosophies. Restlessness is going high that time, so be ready for a lot of wandering, lack of grounding.

New Moon on September, 28 will appear in Libra. This is a time to give attention to your relationships and work with partnering skills.

Aries

Chariot - Eight of Wands (reversed) - Two of Cups

It seems like in September you’re going to rush for your goal, with all the strength, determination and control. You might be very energized, feeling power moving through your body, ready to start a new campaign or cut through all that stuff which you didn’t know before how to approach. Just make sure that you don’t disregard such things as planning and details, they’ll help you to stay organized, healthy and simply save your sanity while you’re on a mission. You’re not going to enter the state of uncertainty, doubts and chaotic actions, if you’ll keep things balanced, handling work and relationships, your amazing project and daily chores, reality and your expectations, mind and body. You might enter wish-fulfilling partnership in September. Enjoy the opportunities and challenges and proceed to your aim with grace.

Taurus

Eight of Pentacles - Six of Wands (reversed) - High Priestess (reversed)

You might find your relationships with friends or your community confusing, you just don’t feel that people understand you nowadays in a way you wish, there is no joy, satisfaction in a way you communicate with each other. You feel for something different and your high energy vibrates in another aspect of you - witchy, independant, open for pleasures, romances, full of your personal power. You’re enchantingly beautiful, ready for new adventures. Time to follow your heart’s desire, express yourself openly and be an inspiration for others. Even with all that romantic, intuitive energy, huge opportunities are open for Taurus working with new projects, ideas, goals. It’s time for hard work, painstaking research and extraordinary effort. Time when you’re ready to study new things, cross something off from your bucket list. Still make sure that you’re realistic with any of your pursuits in September not to get overwhelmed.

Gemini

Temperance - Ace of Swords (reversed) - Six of Cups (reversed)

Family will be in the center of your September, this is an area where you’ll have your challenges and certain things to face and deal with. You’ll work with bringing balance, peace and harmony in your family life. It’s a time for making memories with people you love, to make your home beautiful, filled with guests and tea cups. With a lot of airy energy going, you might create some tension, so again you need to keep balance and stay patient.

You might feel uncertain about your goals, plans and where you’re heading now, it can be an indication that you need to take your time to discover your passion, inspirations and desires before setting off for new adventure. No matter what, stay in physical reality and try to use the opportunities presented, they’re here, don’t waste the chance.

Cancer

King of Swords - Wheel of Fortune - Seven of Cups

September can feel a little bit hectic, you have a lot of ideas which pull you in various directions, you might find yourself busy trying various options. It’s nice to pause sometimes and see where you put your energy - is it simply mirages and unrealistic dreams you try to follow.

The theme of learning and communication is particularly strong during September. You will be able to connect with your family, friends, neighbors, conversations about small things is a key to your success. You’re going to enjoy a lot time of intense communication, interrupted relationships might be renewed and current might bring more fulfillment.

Spending more time on learning and collecting information will help you to develop your project and proceed further without the hustle and bustle which you’re going to create if you follow your habit to act out of blue, with no or little planning and research. Full Moon can be especially overwhelming for you, bringing a sense of discontent with your current path or impatience if you’ve no big plans for the future, try to pin to creative side of your project if you’ve any or just stay at present moment not to miss opportunities if you’re uncertain where to go.

Leo

Page of Swords - Devil - Queen of Swords

The huge wave of earthy energy is coming to you in September, you’re making things happen, fulfilling you strong desires, enjoying all that materialism. With such intensity of experiences, sometimes it's great just to hold back and wait when the right things come to you. You might pay more attention than usual to the practical, simple side of life but try not to rush things, not go through them too quickly or it might ruin your success. It’s better to focus on main projects and opportunities. This is a great time for improving your health or work with environment, any creative and independently working people are going to see their projects flourished. In general, September is stunningly good for self-improvement through better attention to work, finances and health.

September should be a good month for improving your position, for reaching safety and stability, anyway around New Moon you might reach the peak with some challenges about keeping boundaries, borrowing or lending, facing up recent excesses or some issues from the past. It’s essential not to turn a blind eye to a problem area and if you don’t feel like having all the support and resources you need, discipline yourself or tone things down just a little.

With Saturn turning direct, time will come to start to develop more straightforward and clear approach to meeting and facing your responsibilities. More clarity are coming to your job projects or wellness and health, you’ll improve your planning and decision-making skills. Keeping to simple activities will help you to develop a clear vision of where you stand and what is all about. Self-discipline in your project will play an important role. Sounds like in September you’re going to bring more maturity and judgment in your life.

You might meet a variety of people this month so your success will depend heavily on communication and connection.

Virgo

Nine of Swords (reversed) - Two of Wands - King of Cups

Your personal strength is growing high in September and your self-influence, goal-setting skills and boldness in pursuing your dream are unusually strong this time. You’ll find yourself more active and involved with life, opening yourself to the world, having that beautiful sense of personal presence, self-assurance, a sense of freedom and being true to yourself. If you were hesitant in starting a new adventure, that’s a right time to set off.

Full Moon will bring a whirlwind of emotions, mind unrest and actions with your close partner. You might be exhausted trying to discern between facts and mirages in your psyche and at a certain point to find that you don’t know whom to believe in, others will seem to you so elusive. You might need to let go of your desire for others, step back a little, especially in your relationships with close partner, so you’ll see clearer their intentions.

Anyway, emotionally you’ll go further in September, as far as it might be a time of reinventing yourself. People around will notice your charm and get attracted to you, still it’s essential to stay with your personal core and do what works for you, not trying to please others and spend the energy on how to make other people feel good.

Libra

Three of Pentacles - Hermit - Ace of Cups (reversed)

Your inner world is active during September and you might like to close some projects, relationships and situation to withdraw and be renewed. September may bring deep introspection, rest and search for a higher meaning and realization of your true path. This is definitely not a time for demanding or competitive activities, to start new projects or bring yourself and your ideas in front of people. Soul-searching is your main theme during this month. However the last week of September may bring you a new energy and if you used effectively that time of rest and observation in September, in the beginning of October you’ll push forward with your plans successfully.

Romantic life and relationships might be complicated, especially near the time of Full Moon, but the situation may improve swiftly and at the end of the month you’ll find a lot of support and opportunities to be surrounded with people, to move from your private shell and make people notice your attractiveness and charm. Anyway there are some loose ends to tie this month - relationships behind the scene or from the past.

Work matters can be frustrated and you will try to escape from pressure. You need that break - rest, rest as much as possible. Even so your job may need some moderations and adjustments, go outside to find sparks of inspiration. All that may feel discouraging at first but ultimately will lead you to the path which is truly yours. Try to seek balance and don’t let emotions to rule you, take breaks, rest.

Scorpio

Judgment - Five of Pentacles - Five of Wands

In the beginning of the month you will experience fresh, transformative energy which helps you to figure out what you want and set long-lasting projects, with this kind of energy you’ll feel centered and sure about yourself, not afraid of facing responsibilities and issues coming from the past. You might feel yourself in high demand, working in a team, taking a lead on some social project, it’s a good time to join group or making associations. You’re bound to take too much sometimes, make sure to check that tendency.

While September is a sociable month for you and you’ll get the most success from working in team, to the end of the month you may need to slow down to be emotionally renewed, to tie up loose ends and to allow yourself to lay down.

Money, values or romantic life can be a source of some tension during September, you may be fired up with the things close to your heart and feel that while having so many ideas, you don’t get enough support from people or current circumstances. Your feelings and relationships with friends can become more intense during that period.

Your imagination is powerful during this time, it’s difficult to say if somebody is trying to deceive you or you see only what you want to see. Try to be open to see the situation clearly, you might need to address some things in your life which were neglected, wasted or overestimated. It’s a key to building your confidence and clear vision.

Sagittarius

Five of Cups - Three of Cups - World (reversed)

Your career life is in focus in the beginning of September, but as month advances your energy shifts towards search for happiness, you’ll enjoy immensely the company of friends but it can also inspire new ideas and eventually lead to success. Around Full Moon watch for illusions which can force you to follow mirages.

Improving your little world - family life and your living conditions - might be really important, even if you feel like not having time for such things, but without certainty and order in this area you might find yourself uncertain in others areas of life as well. Think how you can bring more imagination and creativity in dealing with family things which cause you feel guilty and insecure. Try to redirect your feelings and orient them for a useful aims.

You’re able to make a great leap towards your aim in September, your energy is high, making you feel on top of your game - and that’s really so, you’ve anything you need to move towards with grace and impress others, to be able to transform any obstacle in a change to grow and improve.

The last week of September is strongly for social life, you might meet someone very special for you during that time through your community, social interactions, friends. Inspiration will come suddenly that time so you can pick up new exciting interests.

Capricorn

Knight of Pentacles (reversed) - Page of Pentacles (reversed) - Five of Swords

You’ll be more adventurous, experimental and spontaneous than usual during September seeking how to get out of the rut and experience something completely new. Excited? Go ahead, a lot of opportunities for travelling, study, publishing, sharing and all together are opening for you. As adventurous as you are during September, at times you may feel restless, unable to concentrate, some communications may be confusing.

Lack of structure and self-discipline may hold you back from getting some peace and rest you need. Be aware that the more organized you are, the more confidence you have in connecting with others, sharing ideas and learning new skills. Don’t be discouraged to find some disappointing moments in your educational projects, interactions with people, that eventually will push you up and connect with your dream.

Seeking new experiences and being exposed to a wider range of ideas, you’re going to find your way to expand your mind. You’re moving out of comfort zone, planning, dreaming big, getting experiences in preparation you need for very robust October.

Aquarius

Six of Pentacles - Nine of Pentacles (reversed) - Ten of Pentacles (reversed)

This month’s energy shifts from inward to outward, you’re up for new experiences and situations where you’ll share and broaden your perspective. Travelling, cultural events and other activities to widen your horizons are in focus, you’re coming out of shell.

September ask you to make some adjustments on financial level. Be more aware of money issues and sharing as boundaries can easily be crossed, take care of your valuables and consider improving your life and relationship through more imagination, romance and gentleness.

Another thing to be aware during September is overdoing actions that take you away from responsibilities. Concerns, guilt, doubts should be addressed so you’ll be able to move forward. Getting more organized in areas connected with money, resources, capabilities will improve the situation. Knowing where you stand and where are you heading can help you as well.

Your personal life will speed up this month, conflicts regarding power dynamics or money can challenge you and you need a lot of patience and good communicative skills to go through that.

Pisces

Nine of Wands - Sun - Death

September is going to be exciting month for close relationships, social life and interaction with people. You’ll be charming, influential, you’re a counselor, negotiator, creative director. People in your life might show you more, even indirectly, about the direction you need to take. Through conversations and interaction you will learn a lot. September will remind you a need for closeness, special connection with someone and the beauty of connecting with people in general.

Near the time of Full Moon emotions can be overwhelming, and even if these mood swings seem to come out of nowhere, make sure you pay them attention and make necessary changes. Disorientation and feeling of personal insecurity, doubts can leave you feeling less capable. Uncertainties now can be connected with your self-neglect. No matter how overwhelming it may seem, be aware that it’s temporary, move forward step-by-step, day-by-day, have a trust, you’ll get there! Try to be organized, it’ll help. With Saturn turning direct on September, 18 you’ll feel ready to move forward, some truths will be revealed, so your relationships, life goal, aspirations and plans become clear, you’re ready to take more responsibilities.

Relationships can become exotic, dramatic, highly stimulating towards the end of September, your desire to pour all your energy into certain project or connection is really strong. It can be a powerful experience of transformation, you basically are going to break through your boundaries, old ways of thinking, there are a lot of opportunities for huge growth and transcendence.

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artcenterstories · 4 years

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Climbing the Ladder: Meet Catalyst CCO Josh Wright

AC: What inspired you to co-found Catalyst? Josh Wright (BS Product Design '03) Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer, Catalyst: The seed was planted when I was at ArtCenter. The College trains you to think about design, not just from the aesthetic or mechanical point of view, but also from a business perspective.

At ArtCenter, I was encouraged to look for a business partner. When you have someone who focuses on the financials, you can focus on making design work for the business.

AC: You've had an interesting career trajectory. Can you speak about your journey? JW: Designing for an outdoor lifestyle has always been important to me. In the early years of my career, I started working in California, designing a lot of sports and lifestyle products, including footwear and backpacks for various surf, skate and snow companies.

youtube

Then, I moved to Wichita, Kansas, to work for the iconic Coleman company. It was a cool experience because it was a very small design team, and I got to touch all of their products. After six months, I contributed $30 million to the company's bottom line.

That's something else ArtCenter taught me: Don't go to Porsche; don't go to Apple — they already have great design. Go to a brand that doesn't have great design, yet. Bringing good design and storytelling to their products transformed a 100-year-old brand into something fresh and fun. And they still sell some of my products today.

I later worked at Tumi in New York designing some of their carbon-fiber luggage and helping to expand some of the product categories into footwear, wristwatches and apparel. In 2006, I got this amazing opportunity in Hong Kong and I spent the next four years working at a world-class design consultancy firm. But I was always on the lookout for a business partner, based on what I had learned in school.

AC: How did you meet your Catalyst co-founder? JW: Rock climbing. It's one of the reasons I wanted to move here — the climbing community in Hong Kong brings together such a diverse group of people. My co-founder and I have such different backgrounds — she's from bio-tech and finance.

Through the years, we developed a friendship based on trust from countless days of climbing the jungles. We realized that we had complementary skills, with her business and my design background and our mutual desire to be outdoors. We wanted to create outdoor products that brought value to people's lives — that was the genesis of Catalyst.

AC: What was the first Catalyst product you designed? JW: At the time in 2010, the iPhone was becoming the device of choice, even for climbers, so our product was a fully waterproof protective iPhone 4 case. Soon after, we launched and had a successful Kickstarter campaign.

Today, Catalyst has reached a tipping point where it's becoming a global household brand name; our products are available in over 70 countries and major retailers, including Apple, BestBuy and Target, as well as eight Amazon marketplaces, four Shopify websites and WeChat in China.

AC: Catalyst 20L Waterproof backpack recently received the prestigious Red Dot Award. Can you speak about the design process? JW: Each of our products fills a need and solves a problem. The waterproof backpack offers travelers an ultra-compact, -lightweight pack that folds into a carry pouch that's a little smaller than a 12-ounce soda can.

Waterproof is a core component of Catalyst. I'm kind of a nerd for waterproof products.

I've used this bag as a flotation device while snorkeling in Thailand. I've carried it through heavy tropical rainstorms and through a canyoneering trip in northern Italy, where I was jumping off waterfalls. The backpack works incredibly well. When the bag is rolled up, anything you keep inside it will stay dry.

AC: What are you working on right now? JW: We're always working on something new — we launch eight to 12 products every year. We were the first company to make waterproof cases for Apple watch and AirPods.

The backpack line is something we're currently working on expanding, and soft goods in general. We're heavily focused on expanding our business solutions for industrial applications of our products, including for oil and gas, hospitals and schools.

AC: How do you define success? JW: Being able to create products I believe that bring value to the people who use them, and seeing a lantern I designed for the Coleman company being used on the show The Walking Dead.

AC: Do you have any superstitions? JW: My dad always told me that it is bad luck to be superstitious and I live by that.

AC: What’s the design cliché you’re most tempted to use? JW: I really subscribe to modernism. I believe that form should follow function with zero added details for ornamentation. Everything I build is intentionally designed, but not decorative. We are loosening up this "cliché" by adding some fashion and styling elements to some of our future collections, which I'm pretty excited about.

AC: What’s the one tool you can’t do without? JW: My iPhone.

AC: What’s the first site you look at when you open your computer in the morning? JW: Slack.

AC: What do you do to detox from media and screens? JW: It's not just screens, it's the city itself because Hong Kong is so crowded. My detox is my weekends out in nature: rock climbing, hiking, canyoneering or surfing. I think an amazing secret of Hong Kong is that two-thirds of the territory is subtropical jungle with unreal, pristine waterfalls and beaches.

AC: If you could trade jobs with anyone for a day who would it be? JW: As a designer, there's no other job I'd rather be doing. But as a kid, I always wanted to be a marine biologist like Jacques Cousteau.

AC: What book is on your bedside table? JW: I have three books; none of them are finished. One is a history book called Tragedy & Hope: A History of the World in Our Time, another is a business book The E Myth and the third is a just-for-fun, fiction book called This Book Is Full of Spiders: Seriously, Dude, Don't Touch It (John Dies at the End).

AC: Who are the most interesting designers working today? JW: Marc Newson. I also really like Michael Young — he's a British-born designer based in Hong Kong. Toy designer Michael Lau was at the forefront of the urban vinyl movement and I love his style. I'm also a huge fan of James Dyson, Jonathan Ive, and entertainment designer Stan Winston has always inspired me.

AC: Were you exposed to design growing up? JW: I come from quite an artistic and mechanically inclined family. My grandfather was a renaissance man: a photographer, inventor, mechanic, engineer, architect, designer... He had so many hobbies and passions, and he created so many things. He made all of my grandmother's jewelry.

He designed and physically built the house his family lived in, including the thermostat and heating system from spare parts. He built motorcycles for my mother and her siblings. When I was a kid, he built us a tree house with a zip line, which was super dangerous, and go-karts. I was always around people who were artistic and creating things.

AC: Describe a moment in your childhood when you first identified as a designer. JW: When I was in high school, I was lucky to have an art teacher who brought in different brochures from art and design schools around the world. For the first time, I was aware you could design cars, toys or products as a career. As a kid, I was always sketching, building models, taking things apart and putting them together. When I found out it was a career path, there was no other option for me.

AC: If you could have a superpower, what would it be? JW: Eternal life — I have too many hobbies and not enough time.

AC: What’s your most prized possession? JW: My grandfather passed away this year, and I have the camera he used when he was working as a photographer and a backpack he built for his Boy Scout group in the 1950s.

AC: Where is your happy place? JW: There are so many! Twenty meters deep, swimming with manta rays off the coast of Thailand, snowboarding in Japan. There's a canyon in Hong Kong that looks like Jurassic Park — it's just so raw with waterfalls everywhere. But to summarize, my happy place is being outside in a gorgeous location with people I care about.

AC: How would your closest friend describe you? JW: A relentless, laser-focused — I hate to say it — asshole, but with a heart of gold.

#catalyst #josh wright #product design #design #artcenter #artcenter college of design #catalystcase

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just-graysexual · 6 years

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(1) Hey, I’ve come this blog several times and it’s helped me out a lot with trying to figure out who I am. But I’m still confused as I question myself a lot and it gets to the point where I’m scared cause I don’t want anyone having a go at me for being a ‘liar’ when I simply just can’t tell. I’m 17 soon and it just kinda freaks me out that I might not have sex (cause I’m not sure if want to or not). I’ve grown up being told “you’ll have sex one day to have my grandchildren” and “it’s an

(2) important part of a relationship”, and although I don’t believe it’s not needed in a relationship, I feel like I would be missing something without it. I can’t tell if I feel sexual attraction or not. I’ve only been 1 relationship and it only lasted a month, not long enough for me to feel anything sexual. I don’t really know if I feel sexual attraction, if I ever have or if I ever will. I can’t identify with 1 label because they all kind of fit me, but not entirely. Demi, grace, Aego, ace.

(3) And it makes it extra hard because I don’t really experience aesthetic attraction either and my romantic identity is quoiromanitc. I don’t know who I’m attracted to or how and it’s all confusing. I sometimes feel like I wouldn’t mind trying out sex and seeing how it goes for me, but then I’m also sex repulsed and want nothing to do with it. I know I’m young, and I have plenty of time to figure it out, but I don’t want to keep changing my identity.

Hey Anon,

You hang in there. It’s okay that you are confused and scared. That happens when you are trying to figure yourself out, but don’t you worry never for one second are you ever lying. I promise.

Trying out different labels, exploring your orientation, try to decipher what you are feeling is not easy. Some people just know their orientation and others have to work on it. But that does not mean that you are every lying when you are trying to figure yourself out. You are allowed to change your label and try new things as you explore. You are allowed to decide how you want to identify with how you currently feel. It’s okay to do these things. You are not a liar for doing these things. You need time to figure yourself out. You need to try things to understand them better. All this is okay and acceptable. Only you can say for certain who you are, nobody else can tell you this.

Only you have the power to say who you are. Only you can dictate this. Don’t let others tell you who you are or what you want. Don’t let others make you feel bad for trying to find yourself and for begin yourself. Don’t give other people the power to say who you are and dictate how you should feel. They don’t know you. They don’t know what you are experiencing or what you are feeling. They have no say in how you should identify. They have no say in calling you anything. Don’t look for other people’s confirmation in your identity. The only person you have to listen to is you. The only person who can confirm who you are is you. It’s you, your feelings, your experiences, and who you say you are that matters and is important. No one else’s.

Don’t worry about the future. Don’t stress about the fact if you might have sex one day or if you want to try it. Don’t go down this unknown road. This can drag you down and make it harder for you to really know what you are feeling. Don’t worry about the fact that you might change one day. It could happen. There is always that possibility, but what matters is what is happen currently. It’s the present that counts. How you feel and identify in the present is what matters. And how you feel and identify in the present is what is true, real, and valid.

It’s okay that you are unsure and have these doubts and fears, but don’t let them crush you. It might happen someday or it might not, but don’t worry too much about it. If it does happen it’s okay and if it does then it’s still okay. This won’t change anything. This will not mean that what you felt before was a lie. This can never take away from who you say you are. You are allowed to change and realize new things about yourself. And if you do change it’s not a bad thing. It’s okay to change. But that does not mean the past was ever a lie.

It’s okay if you never felt anything sexual (even if you were dating someone), it’s okay to question if you ever will or will not, it’s okay if you feel like you may want sex, but then are unsure and are sex repulsed. These things are okay. It’s okay to be sex repulsed, but still entertain the idea of sex every now and then and think you may want it. Being sex repulsed does not mean that you cannot think about sex. It just means that you are uncomfortable and disgusted by sex. In fact, these things are what many aces go through all the time. You are not alone in these experiences. A lot of aces struggle with this and it’s okay. Sometimes it’s part of being ace, especially in this sexualized world. But stick to what you know.

You said it yourself, you know you don’t really feel sexual attraction, you know you connect with different ace labels, you know you are quoiromantic, you know you are unsure of your attractions, and you know that you are sometimes sex repulsed. Work with these things right now. I know it’s hard and frustrating bounding around so many labels and being unsure of what you are feeling, but it’s okay. Somethings take time and sometimes they take more time than what we like. But don’t lose hope or feel defeated. You will get there eventually.

If you are having trouble pinpointing your orientation try looking into aceflux, abrosexual, sansexual, or propeestsexual. These all deal with people who have multiple or fluid orientations.

Aceflux is when you fluctuate on the asexual spectrum or between asexual and non-aseuxal.

Abrosexual is when you have a fluid orientation that constantly changes or you have trouble pinpointing your orientation.

Sansexual is when you have a fluid orientation, but there is no trend line in your attractions.

Propeestsexual is when you feel your identity is made up or a mix of other acespec orientations.

Check these orientations out. They may help you especially considering it sounds like you do have a mix or a fluid orientation between ace orientations. And it sounds like quoiromantic works for you. And it’s okay if you don’t really feel aesthetic attraction either, this can actually fall under quoi-.

I know that everything is hard and confusing right now and you want to know your orientation and have a label, but I think you should take a little break from this. Don’t think about it for awhile. Take some time for yourself. Figuring yourself out can be stressful, so take some time away for it for a little while. Go live your life and do fun things that you like to do. Sometimes we overthink too much and it adds to more confusion. Take some time for yourself to go out and go have fun. Go back to this when you have had sometime to clear your mind. Eventually everything will fall into place. I promise.

Hang in there, Anon. You are doing an amazing job! Don’t listen to other people or what they are saying. Listen to yourself. Have faith in your feelings, what they are telling you, and yourself. Focus on the present not the future. Don’t let future “what ifs” prevent you from being you. It’s okay to change, but never does that mean that you were ever lying about who you once were or are. How you identify currently is what matters, is important, and is valid. You are valid. You hang in there, you will get through this. It just may take some time. If you ever need anymore help, have anymore questions, or would like me to clarify or elaborate on anything feel free to message me anytime.

#aceflux #abrosexual #sansexual #propeestsexual #ace:question

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denizenhardwick · 6 years

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Pride Week One: Aro Identity

1. How did you realize you were aro/arospec? How long have you known?

I realized I was arospec last August. I identified as an ace lesbian before that, but I always had this feeling of... inadequacy, I guess? I knew I felt some form of attraction to girls, but I’d never had a girlfriend, and got crushes extremely rarely (and looking back I’m not sure those were even actual crushes or just me being desperate). So I started doing some research into aromanticism, and learned about it being a spectrum and things like aesthetic attraction, meaning it’s possible to be asexual and aromantic and a lesbian, which was liberating, honestly.

2. Have you come out to anyone? Share a coming out story (coming out to yourself also counts)!

So, it’s really awkward when you’re openly gay and suddenly come back to school going “yeah, I’m aromantic too!” but everyone was actually super chill about it. And realizing I was greyro made me feel so great about myself that I basically flaunted it whenever I could. I was in the school play, and like... I think there were two people on the cast who weren’t LGBTQ+ so jokes abounded. And at one point the costume department considered painting me grey for my part, so that’s basically how I came out to a lot of people.

3. How/Why is your aromanticism important to you/your identity?

Figuring out I was greyro relieved so much of my self-doubt, and I’ve been able to be so much more confident, accepting, and loving of myself since then. I don’t feel like I have to force myself to feel things I don’t necessarily feel, which is stressful and miserable and causes so much doubt. And I’ve had some complicated feelings in the past so that spectrum identity leaves me open to those whipping back around without me having to go through the questioning and coming out process for, like, a fourth time.

4. What are some misconceptions about aromanticism that bother you?

That we can’t love at all (um, friends and family?), and that no relationship we’ll ever have will be as fulfilling as a romance. Also--and this is more specific--that my aromanticism and asexuality are just because I’m autistic, and I’ll suddenly start experiencing sexual and romantic attraction in my mid-twenties (okay, Mom, maybe I will, but these identities make me happy right now, and that’s what’s important).

5. What’s something you like about being aro/arospec? Something you dislike?

Not having to worry about love and crushes and stuff means I can just focus on my friends, because I love my friends! And I’ve seen some friends just be completely destroyed by bad romantic relationships and heartbreak, and I’m selfishly glad I don’t have to deal with that because I’m really emotional and sensitive. But then there are times when I want to be in love really badly. Girls are really pretty and amazing, and I feel aesthetic attraction and something that’s closer to but not quite romantic attraction as well, and that’s frustrating. Sometimes I really wish my identity was simpler.

#aromantic-official #aro pride month #personal #aromantic

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wewalkadifferentpath · 6 years

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Ace-friendly SH Fics: Masterlist

Alrighty folks so strap in, here is the first round of my ace-friendly Shadowhunters fic rec list! It’s so hard to have to navigate fics that should have a canon asexual character, always just vaguely expecting disappointment (cough Raphael). So. All of the fics on this list are ace-friendly in some way or another, whether it’s tagged/talked about or even intended by the author or not- they do NOT invalidate Raphael’s asexuality (using the definition of asexuality as not experiencing sexual attraction, irrespective of feelings toward sex. And while this list does have some aroace!Raphael, it is specifically for ace!Raphael) This’ll cover everything from ace-friendly smut for my smut-inclined friends (meaning Raphael is not sex-repulsed in those, but still ace) to platonic/solo stuff for those of my friends who are less romance-inclined. I also threw in some headcannons of other SH characters. Let me know what you all think! (Things not under the “smut” category do not have any written descriptions of sex to the best of my memory and brief scan-throughs, but please let me know if there’s something in the general list that should be under smut). If you’re strongly sex-repulsed please use your usual discretion. (And everyone just please read the tags in general). One final note: keep in mind that this is just a collection of fics that are supportive of asexuality. While these are fics I personally enjoyed/read often, this list is not an endorsement of all aspects of the content (ie. the way other identities are handled, etc.) This list is meant to account for different tastes, just with the bonus relief of knowing asexuality is there. So, here we go!

(I’m ridiculous and can’t do regular summaries; my comments on each rec- if any- are in the brackets):

Saphael (without direct mention of asexuality but still unequivocally respecting it):

The Heart of An Adventurer by DustinMcDreamy

Skyrim/Dark Ages AU: Simon is a simple tavern worker, but he wants more than his boring life. An adventurer stays the night at their Inn and Simon is enamored with both the adventurer and his wonderful life.

(so this is a lovely person who I’ve been collaborating with and they are honestly such an ally and their stories are wonderful, this one is probably my favourite but you can check out their page for other stuff)

put the boom boom into my heart by idontshaveforsher_yesyoudo

"Or maybe something like soulmates always sneeze at the same time and I cant be sure but me and this kid in my French class just sneezed at the same time are we soulmates or was it a coincidence (proceed w character trying to make themselves sneeze around said person to see what’s what)"

or, the one where simon hates his life and Mr. Immaculate Hair doesn't make it better, until he does

Forgotten at Dusk by halfmast Simon finds Raphael wandering around Manhattan barefoot - things go downhill (uphill?) from there.

(So I think this is the only one I’ve included that’s an unfinished WIP and is also NOT explicitly laid out as asexual- because I can’t guarantee it won’t change in later chapters. It also has one chapter left and hasn’t updated in a while so if that rattles you, don’t touch. But it’s beautifully written and sweet and a neat concept, and so far doesn’t contradict asexuality!)

before I ever met you by izzyasavestheday (stilessexual) “I’m missing something,” Simon went on, voice cracking. “I’m missing someone but no matter how hard I try I just can’t fucking remember.”

Can you find me someone to love? by domoiswatchingyou

They all have one thing in common: they are all bad at love, even when some of them love to deny it. (Saphael and Malec AU WIP) (And I gotta say guys, I beta for this lovely person- and thus actually have a hand in writing the ace parts- and they are a wonderful individual. Asexuality not mentioned as of yet but will be upcoming).

baby, I’m not made of stone by izzyasavestheday (stilessexual)

“Did I ever tell you that we feel everything? The clan, I mean. If I focus enough, I can tell you who’s sad and who’s angry and who hasn’t been sleeping properly. I can tell you who’s been having nightmares. There are no secrets here.”

i'd spend all nine lives with you by alaricrodriguez

simon gets himself turned into a kitten and raphael can't find his fledgling

(this is just little and cute and there’s no explicit effort made to make Raph ace but I guess I’m kind of cheating since it’s from Simon’s POV and doesn’t come up at all but it’s not contradicted and I love this fic so)

echo series by izzyasavestheday (stilessexual) “Right,” Raphael brought himself to his feet, smooth as anything. “Let’s go.” Simon gapped up at him, “Go where?” Raphael rolled his eyes, impressively, (like he didn’t care, like he didn’t care about Simon, but he was here and they both knew neither of them could ever stop caring no matter how much they continued to hurt one another) and heaved a spectacular sigh. “Home.” -

Saphael (ft. actual conversations about asexuality/the word is spoken):

Somebody out there by mckvch (RaiseYourVoice)

(Road trip fic, which is classic of course. PLEASE read the tags. Could be interpreted as demi/gray ace but I identify as just ace and it fits me just fine. This is one of the first fics I read coming into this fandom, and the first one that made me fall in love with Saphael, and it’s got an insanely special warm fuzzy place in my heart) (Also 27 chapters, so how can you complain about that???) The acing on the cake by mckvch (RaiseYourVoice)

““Oh, come on, puns are amazing! Tell me your sexuality and I’m sure we will have at least one shirt that’ll appeal to you.” Simon patted the pile of shirts in front of him and smiled hopefully at Raphael who really wanted to disagree and tell the boy he was wasting his time here but he couldn’t bring himself to.” (pride!fic) (this author has some of my favourite ace!Saphael fics ever, and like an endless supply of them with everything under the ace/aro umbrella) A Lesson in Love series by Malteser24 ”Simon thinks it will be difficult to adapt to their new situation - in which they don't actually hate each other - and Raphael can't imagine their date as being anything but awkward, considering how out of his depth he is when it comes to dating.Instead, they actually have a fairly good time.” like a love song on the radio by eversall

Simon's a bartender, Raphael plays the piano, and somehow they manage to communicate to each other that yeah, they both want this.

Rock Solid Panda by OhHolyHell

(Made for pan pride day, “Raphael is actually a thoughtful softie” (and so is Simon!) (ft. ace puns)) Disasters that lead to pretty boys (are worth it) by gayinsight "My friend is out of town and I’m supposed to be taking care of her pet fish but it died and you work at the pet store help me find one that looks the same so she won’t notice!" (this one has a hella flirtatious Raphael making some jokes that imply sexual attraction but it doesn’t actually HAVE him experience it and it’s honestly one of the cutest, funniest little Saphael fics ever so)

if i ever had your number, i think i would use it by eversall

“You – why is your number in the Pandemonium bathroom?”

(classic meet-ugly sorta vibe) I am a pile of bricks and you are holding a sledgehammer by LiviKate “So when do I get tucked safely back under Raphael’s wing?” “You won’t,” Lily said, wandering over to the other side of the room to get her own drink. “Raphael has a new fledgling now. You’re stuck with me.” Or, when Simon isn't the newest vamp in the clan, he has a hard time sharing.

Promised It All, But You Lied by sirknightmordred As Raphael lies in a magical coma that can't be cured, Simon thinks back to pivotal moments in their relationship. (There IS a warning for fairly descriptive sexual assault, but it’s actually surrounded by bolded words in the story so easy to skip. And it does not attribute his ace-ness to the assault, but it’s also rep for those of us who are ace AND have negative experiences with sexual violence)

Sing me a Song by Margo_96

the one where Simon teaches Raphael's younger brother how to play the guitar and Raphael is not happy. or maybe he doesn't mind it that much (Okay so this is one that kind of equates asexual to ‘not wanting sex,’ and Raphael does have very strong infatuation so not so much representative of romantically-fuzzy people. Hooweeverr, it’s cute af, and I like Simon’s initial reaction to the coming out, and it’s 8 chapters, so worth a read for sure) until i’m not afraid by angelblooddemondust

(Trans!Simon (which I can’t speak to at all) ft ace!supportiveRaph (which I can)) (read the notes) -

Saphael (ft. smut):

Head is spinning thinking ‘bout by LiviKate

Simon and Raphael enjoy their time together, even if Simon doesn't really know what to call it.

Or, gratuitous vampire sex with some ace-spectrum themes because there's not enough Asexual Raphael.

(This is a lot of blood drinking, which is not my fav, but it’s brilliant in terms of what a sex-positive ace might look like and how they experience sex- it’s from Raph’s POV, and it’s quite good overall imo. Probably my favourite ace!smut)

Just Pull me Closer by SomeWaywardDaughter After spending an irritating patrol with Clary and Jace, Simon just wants to get back to Hotel DuMort and Raphael. (so I’mma be honest I was in a pretty sex-repulsed mood while doing this part so I didn’t fully reread it to be sure it’s safe but it’s literally written by a self-professed ace author and I did see reference to the aceness amidst the smut so I’m pretty sure we’re good)

What is Desired by DustinMcDreamy (I’m not going to include descriptions for smut because many of them are potentially triggering in nature for sex-repulsed friends, but this one is a dom/sub sort of thing, pretty hella kinky so buyers beware. It’s messy on the ace-front (the author started the series before Raphael came out, and had to add it retroactively) but there’s some good lines in there in particular for gray ace or demi folks who are experiencing lust for someone for the first/only time, etc.) chasing starlight by mostlikelydefinentlymad There was no set destination, simply one agreed upon prerogative: drive. (So this isn’t technically smut insofar as there’s no actual explicit description of sex, it’s basically all blood drinking, but it’s a heavily implied metaphor and Raphael’s blood lust for Simon is very reminiscent of sexual attraction, so that part kind of doesn’t reflect how I feel as an ace person. BUT Raphael does not actually experience sexual attraction, the story is quite lovely, and the author is quite lovely as well, so I’d still recommend it)

Caught. by Kalifa (Lol this is short and not super smutty either but it’s like #sexindifferentfeels all the way) -

Raphael and Other Characters ( back to no smut):

love comes in at the eye by prettydizzeed

The first time he asks Raphael out, Raphael scoffs.

(A Raphael/Meliorn fic- and I gotta tell you I didn’t even ship these two but the characterization is beautiful and the handling of the asexuality is a dream)

maybe we're just gonna live forever, maybe heaven's a mistake by prettydizzeed

Raphael presses the pendant into his palm and looks at Magnus. “How did you become okay with it?” Magnus gives a flourish of his hand. “After the whole ‘half demon blood, scorned by the earth as a monster’ thing, liking boys wasn't that big of a deal.” He sees Raphael's expression and adds gently, “But it's different for everyone.” Raphael looks at his hands. Lets go of the cross. “How do I become okay with it?” Incompatible by NotEvenThat

Raphael wants to know why their relationship works for Jace. As with everything, Jace struggles to talk about his feelings and why Raphael Santiago makes him feel so safe. (I can’t even get over how much I love that this fic makes asexuality seem like a bonus rather than a burden in a relationship- which shouldn’t be rare, but alas)

landscapes by brightclam

(Another Raph/Meliorn, those seem to be popular! Ft. gender nonconforming Meliorn and the tags “Asexual Raphael Santiago” “i shouldn't have to tag that but some of y'all demons ignore that” which made me laugh for like 5 minutes)

- Arospec!Raphael/Romance not Mentioned:

Make Yourself at Home by savannahrunes

Two occasions Raphael Santiago shows up at Magnus's door, each time with something quite important to say. (This is my favourite aroace Raphael fic ever and made me cry both times I read it. Also written by an ace author) (do yourself a favour and read this even if you’re not arospec- although that goes for all of them in this category) (he is legitimately 100% aro in this)

Unnamed Soulmate AU by http://parabatri-gonebabygone.tumblr.com

(So I couldn’t trace this back to AO3 or even the author’s most recent tumblr but it’s so beautiful and I love this fic so much and the author (in my limited opinion) did an amazing job of having an aroace soulmate dynamic and gah, yes)

Four Times Raphael Santiago Was Kissed, and the One Time He Kissed First by albabutter

His mother should have had a house full of girls. Instead she ended up with him and his brothers and a rag tag crew of every teenaged hooligan in a five mile radius running through her home. She was quick to grab an ear but quicker to give a hug, and Raphael put up with it as well as could be expected. She gave hugs to the neighborhood boys and kisses to her sons, and the only silver lining was that she didn’t wear lipstick. (honestly this is one of my favourite Raphael fics in general, and I believe the author only intended for him to be ace in this but I definitely interpret it as at least aro-spec as well if not just straight-up aroace) When’s a monster not a monster? by scalira “He had never heard about something like this before. You either liked the opposite sex or you lived in sin as someone who liked the same sex. But he had never heard of people just not liking any sex.He decided to just let it rest for now, pushing the worry aside till he at least graduated highschool. But then there was a friend, and his name was David.” (*** Warning: there is a fairly sudden mention of oral sex near the beginning. And some descriptions of violence. But this is one of my favourite ace-fics in the way that it explains what asexual attraction feels like for me, and Raph is also grey-homoromantic so bonus) (this author has lots of varying ace and demi/grayromantic/etc Raphael fics too to check out) Carpe Noctem by UMsArchive For decades, it seems like unlife couldn't get any better and nothing threatens to take all of that happiness away from Simon. Aside from the passing of time that slowly takes everything away from him. Almost everything. (Listed as demiromantic, but as far as I can remember doesn’t even have kissing by the end so it should be fairly aro-friendly)

Maybe by mckvch(RaiseYourVoice)

“ Yeah, he definitely didn’t want to kiss girls, ever, but boys...not so much, either.” (arospec Raphael with some ambiguousness about his feelings for Simon) It's Not a Date (Unless I Pay for Dinner) by Vitamin_Me Clary cancels their date last minute, but Simon ends up having a good time despite himself. (So I don’t think this author really intended on having Raphael be aro or even ace, but while I’m not aro and can’t be sure, I think this fic should be pretty safe even for people who are mildly romance-repulsed. There’s definitely implications of feelings- especially from Simon- but really I interpret it as being this chill, mostly platonic, nice little fic that makes me feel pretty good when I’m sick of all the heavy romance stuff) 18. Play A Musical Instrument by GideonGraystairs

So this is just a tiny drabble amidst a sea of drabbles but I love it because it’s one of the only fics I’ve seen that’s literally JUST Raphael, reflecting, by himself. It doesn’t say he’s ace/aro anything, it just doesn’t have any romantic arc at all) -

ace!Alec Lightwood:

Accidental Fate by allonsyarielle

There were two things Alec Lightwood knew about himself beyond a shadow of a doubt. The first was that he was gay. The second was that he does not like sex. Through a chance encounter with Magnus Bane, Alec learns about asexuality, and it opens his eyes to a new part of his identity. (okay so this one did sort of equate asexuality with “not wanting sex” but I still included it because I think it’s a frank take on how it can feel to realize you’re asexual, and all of the negative emotions that can come with that) Sleepovers Aren’t Just for Kids by SomeWaywardDaughter Ace!Alec discovery his sexuality (written by an ace author) -

Others SH headcannons:

Send My Love To Your New Lover by HornedQueenOfHell

(This one is about ace!Etta, one of Magnus’s old exes. It also does the ace=not wanting sex thing, but the author is ace-spec so it’s got some perspective for sure. And it’s written so beautifully and such a lovely concept. **Warning for ace-phobia and brief sexual harassment) (I cried the first time I read this) El Hijo De Santa Muerte by Gzmoii “He stepped aside, letting Guadalupe in. She walked in with a careful nod, looking around at Magnus’ loft. Magnus snapped his fingers behind his back, hiding the potions and other magical ingredients around the loft. Given that Guadalupe wasn’t a mundane, she wouldn’t be able to notice the subtle shift as everything around the room moved. Guadalupe’s head snapped toward him, “What was that?” She asked.” (So this actually DOES have ace!Raphael, but I’m putting it here because it also has aro!Guadalupe Santiago, which is hella rad) (22 ch and counting)

You Aren’t Broken by allonsyarielle

(Ace!Alec but also demiromantic!Magnus)

-- -- -- Alright, that’s it for now! Hope you all got something out of this! If you are one of the authors listed here and you want your fic/name OFF the list, please message me. If you have written an ace-friendly fic that you want included, hmu and I’ll check it out. Depending on demand, I’ll hopefully be doing updated lists every so often, as well as spin-offs (for example, I have a small but growing list of Malec fics that just so happen to have really sweet comments about asexuality, or have ace!Raphael as a minor character). If you want to request any specific type of fic, please feel free to ask me, I’ve literally got folders overflowing. Have a lovely, ace-friendly day!

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knowyourkaldereta · 5 years

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Roj and Jeff

‘Kilala na kita, pero hindi mo pa ako kilala’, these were your words when I asked you how do we tell people how we knew each other. I remember you telling me that you always have this huge crush on me back in college, you were telling me that you saw me in a Facebook page on Diliman crushes (haha!).

I am not even sure which photo you were referring to but I guess this one?:

This was a selfie using Zhar’s phone on my 18th birthday. Back then, I was still in CSSP making my dad’s dream come true. That was 6 years ago.

Come to think of it, I actually started noticing you 3 years after that, since you were using this profile photo:

I recall this very well (haha) so far your best! We never met (I think?) but we always engage online. I remember there were instances where you reply to my tweets (and most of the time, I just ignore, i’m sorry haha).

Years went on, and we continue to live our lives, do our own thing while seeing each other online every now and then. My life went up in smokes, tried to push through, swivelled my plans around and zoom-in to 2018 - we started having actual conversations, aside from your usual facebook messenger birthday greetings (haha). Instagram is your platform talaga - I digress.

I figured back then that it wasn’t our time- we were in a transition period (work and you looking for work), I was in a difficult situation with Purefoods and we were both seeing someone else. As they say, it all boils down to timing - being at the right place at the right time. I remember messaging you twice when we have bumped into each other - funny how we had those almost moments and before we eventually met.

Come 2019, you’ve met me at the most complicated time. We went on a bad start - and I blame myself on that. I was sure that I want to spend most of my time with you, travel with you and do things for you. From all of these, it’s not enough to admit my mistakes- but I needed to reflect on them and identify where I always make the wrong turns.

It kills me thinking how much I miss you- how I long for you. You’re always on my mind, before I sleep and right after I open my eyes in the morning. It feels empty and painful.

- I miss your good mornings and goodnight kisses, the songs you play while we’re at your room.

-I miss waking-up beside you, and seeing you get-up from bed to turn-on the lights.

- I miss how we tear papers to avoid bad luck since we were laughing so hard on petty phrases, those random chicago moments that went on for days.

- I miss how I joke around breaking your ribs. I miss how you’re amazed with my nipples (haha)

- I miss how you giggle and shake your leg when I slowly kiss your neck and nape, I miss how passionately you kiss mine.

-I miss feeling the warmth of your skin and how I stare at you while you are sleeping, how you recklessly wake me up to shower so we can make it to BGC on time.

- I miss closing the windows before we turn on the AC every time we get inside your room. And delaying dinner for more important things.

-I miss seeing you at the office like you’re an actual employee. The way you line-up and get freebies.

-I miss holding your hand on the way home inside the car. I miss crunching ourselves at the back and inside the motorcart (haha Im keeping the term)

-I miss the pouty kisses and the ostrich kisses. I miss how make crazy faces.

-I miss holding your cheeks, and feeling your soft warm skin.

-I miss holding you in my arms, hugging you tight.

-I miss greeting your fish every single time.

- I miss everything.

We had bad days, but I hope you can still remember all the good days we had. All the liempo we shared, the hugs that I wish went on for days, the outrageous laughters and gibberish talks.

I’m sorry how I acted the last time we talked- I was all emotional and was determined to have you back. I forgot how I needed to listen to you. Know that I respect your decision and I am aware of the pain that I have caused you. What I did was unimaginable, all the paranoia and anxiety - I should have taken care of you better.

As I am writing this, I had some time to think and assess myself- why I did the things I did.

1. Not being able to let go of my ex and not giving us a proper chance.

- I have talked to some friends and I tried figure out with them my issues. I needed to sit-down with them, I also needed to figure things out on my own. Back in 2016, my breakup with Ken was a disaster. I hit rock bottom since it was the same time I lost my lola. The pain of losing people and being left behind consumed me for so long - and I realised that’s the reason I was the kind of person who can’t break-up with someone even though the relationship was a flower already withered long time ago.

a. I cannot imagine causing the same pain I experienced before. I know the feeling of being cheated on, being left behind. I was so weak that I dragged the issue for so long - I have given him false hopes and kept things uncertain because I was a coward. I cannot bare to stand on my decisions- and our relationship suffered because of me being weak.

I want to apologise on the way you thought that you were not enough for me. You are enough, not only for me- but for other people as well. I’m sorry for being confused- this time I’ll love you much better.

b. You were right, that I was afraid to be alone. I thought I was able to overcome this back in 2017 - but no, it still scares me to the bones how I can go on without someone as my kakampi. I guess it roots from my relationship with my family, I seek rescue whenever I feel like my family is dropping me mid-air. We learned it the hard way, all of my siblings. We can only rely on ourselves at times- I was raised to be independent but I am still afraid most of the time. I have been looking after myself and I always wish someone would also look after me.

During the week of our break-up, I tried to keep it to myself. I wanted to shut everyone off. Eventually, I was able to talk to some of my trusted friends. Allison has no clue since I don’t want her to be in an awkward situation with you- but she knows I’m going through something. I talked about what happened, on the cheating, on the lies and everything in between.

I really fucked up, and caused you so much pain. I’m sorry for throwing tantrums and being so selfish. Sorry, naging madamot ako sa pagintindi na kailangan mo rin hanapin yung Jeff na nawala nung minahal mo ako that I also needed to step back and pull back the Roj you loved.

You are right, you deserve better - that’s why I wanted to be a better version of myself. Not only for you but I also want to give myself a chance to prove that I can. I want to be a better son, a better friend, a better brother to all of the people I hold dear.

That for this time around, I can confront myself and settle my issues once and for all. I have lost myself in the process, not only that I disappointed you- but everyone who believed in me. I disappointed my lola on how I acted, this isn’t the way I was raised.

I want to find myself again- to find my centre. To understand the things that I want, the things I don’t want to become and the things about myself that I want to retain. My friends told me during our talks that I should list down 1/ the things that I like about myself, 2/ the things that I think I should change, 3/ the things that I want to develop. I am excited for all the possibilities, it never was about finding someone to love- but being able to find myself as a person.

For the next days, weeks- I want to focus on knowing myself. I want to be able to keep how passionate I am on things, build my career, go back to being fit, eat clean and strengthen my relationship with friends, family and God. I want to be able to be honest with myself, accept and understand my mistakes and be firm on my decisions as an adult. I want to meet my friends more often, spend more time at gym, rebuild my relationship with God and with my family. I want to be that person.

I know this relationship was painful- and you need time to heal. Para makalimutan natin lahat ng sakit at maalala lahat ng maganda at mabuti sa atin. You have no idea how much I wanted to tell you na ‘Umuwi na tayo, kumain at matulog na magkayakap’. But I know that you need time to heal, and while you are doing that, I will be focusing on being the renewed version of the person you have met before. The person who will be able to give you the right kind of love, the person you’ll be able to trust your life with. Figured I am not getting any younger and I need to figure these things out. I’m uncertain if you ever want to see me again, but I’d want to write you letters every week to check on you- you don’t have to respond. Alam ko suntok sa buwan, but know that I love you so much. I want to be able to transform this love and change my life. That’s when I realised that you are the one for me- I was so determined to be a better person. So when the time comes, if ever you’ll be in my arms again, I want to give you the man whose able to take care of your heart and soul. Kapag dumating na yun, kaya na kitang mahalin ng buong-buo- na walang pagaalinlangan. That time, I’ll be strong and I will stay and maybe book you tickets to Chicago in the future :)

Will always love you, right now from afar.

Rojuboy

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dwarrowdams · 7 years

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Signs You Should Skip a M/M Book (or Author)

Hey friends! Remember my post about the weird fetishization of mlm in fiction written by (often cishet white) women? I decided that I needed to write a list of all of the warning signs of this gross fetishization so that you don’t have to read any more poor representations of mlm.

Full disclosure: although I’m not straight, I am a cisgender woman, so please don’t take this as the be-all-end-all list of things to avoid.

Note: this is directed at original published fiction, but can totally apply to fanfiction as well.

All of the mlm characters are white, cisgender, upper/middle class, able-bodied, neurotypical, and conventionally attractive.

Bonus points if all of the supporting characters fit into all of these categories as well.

Double bonus points if those who don’t fit into one or more of these categories are negatively stereotyped.

The character(s) in question always present as traditionally masculine (tall, muscular, short-ish hair, usually some sort of facial hair, etc.).

Bonus points if the book trashes “effeminate” mlm.

The book erases bisexuality and pansexuality by refusing to bring it up as a possible option when a character questions their sexuality.

The book paints bisexuality/pansexuality in a negative light, particularly by referring to bisexuals/pansexuals as “slutty” just because they experience attraction to multiple genders.

The book erases the asexual spectrum when a character questions how they experience sexual attraction.

One or more of the characters is outed against their will AND this is presented as totally fine and not at all horrible/potentially traumatizing.

The book includes trauma porn (i.e., making a character suffer just for the sake of suffering) with no sort of trigger warning.

The book abounds with casual sexism. Men can be gay without hating women and/or talking trash about women.

Also, women can totally be sexist against other women, so don’t throw the “well the author’s a woman so she can’t be sexist” argument at me.

One or more of the characters associates gender with genitalia (e.g., a gay man saying “ewww, I don’t like pussy”) and isn’t corrected.

The author doesn’t actually support the entire LGBTQ+ community (yes, this means bisexuals, pansexuals, trans/gender nonconforming folks, people on the ace/aro spectrums, etc). Checking out their Twitter and/or Facebook page can be a good way to figure this out.

“But politics don’t matter!” you say. That’s a fair point, but it really rubs me the wrong way if someone’s writing about mlm without actually supporting actual mlm (or the rest of the LGBTQ+ community). They’re profiting off of same-sex attraction while not actually caring about the real-life issues that LGBTQ+ folks face. Personally, the idea of someone doing that makes my skin crawl, but you do you.

And last, but certainly not least: actual mlm have articulated that the book is hurtful to them.

Bonus points if the author ignores their criticism or writes it off as irrelevant.

Double bonus points if the author attacks them based on this criticism.

And now, in the spirit of supporting people who do M/M right, here’s a list of some of my favorite M/M books/series. This is by no means exhaustive, but I’m more than happy to give you more recs if you want them!

Cyberlove series by Megan Erickson and Santino Hassell - I will never shut up about this. It’s such a good series that deals with mental illness, identity, and finding love online. The first book (Strong Signal) will forever be my favorite because the couple meets via a video game and one of the MCs has an anxiety disorder, but I’m also in love with the double bi rep in the second book (Fast Connection) and the strong theme of self-discovery in the third (Hard Wired).

In Focus series by Megan Erickson - Admittedly, I’ve only read the first and the last books in this series, but they’re both amazing. The first (Trust the Focus) has the friends-to-lovers trope and the last (Overexposed) has a character who identifies on-page as demisexual. (I also have a quote from Overexposed tattooed on my left arm, so do with that what you will.)

Five Boroughs series by Santino Hassell - On top of being really hot and extremely well-written (the first book, Sutphin Boulevard, is probably one of the most well-crafted pieces of fiction I’ve ever read), it’s actually written by a bisexual man. The series focuses on a variety of mlm from different walks of life, all focused around New York City (hence the name of the series). He also has a book about gay psychics coming out (no pun intended) on March 18, which is definitely worth checking out.

Blueberry Boys by Vanessa North - All of her M/M is wonderful, but this is the one that made me fall in love with her writing. It’s about a big-city photographer who falls for a small-town closeted farmer with a stutter and it’s really sweet and heartwarming.

Empty Net by Avon Gale - This is actually the last in the series, but I was able to follow it just fine without having read any of the other books. It’s kind of an enemies-to-lovers story in which a guy who formerly played for a rival hockey team joins a new team and falls for one of his teammates. It also deals with abuse, eating disorders, and has on-page demisexual rep.

The Soldier’s Scoundrel by Cat Sebastian - It’s historical M/M with a class difference in which the class inequality between the characters is actually acknowledged!!! If that’s not enough for you, one of the MCs makes a living off of helping women get out of difficult situations while insuring that they maintain their good reputations, which is pretty amazing.

Glitterland by Alexis Hall - A mentally ill author falls in love with a model who totally isn’t his type. Heartbreaking and realistic portrayal of mental illness and how it can impact one’s relationships (and one’s life in general).

#hush Bree #long post #feel free to add to this as you see fit #and/or reblog #because this took a long time #that I could've used to grade #but whatever #this is important too #and I can always grade later #Bree for ts

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josephlrushing · 4 years

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The LG G8X ThinQ Dual Screen Is Something Special

The iPhone ushered in the era of slab phones and quickly became the design-standard for the industry. Companies looking for “the next big thing” are exploring dual-screen phones. Some look more intriguing than others, but all are pricey as hell. With the LG G8X ThinQ Dual Screen, LG has taken a unique approach and kept the phone affordable.

Do more at once with LG G8X ThinQ Dual Screen, and multitask like never before.

That’s how LG describes the G8X ThinQ Dual Screen. As you will see, it is an apt way to capture what this unusual device is all about. To be clear, this isn’t the first time we have been wowed by LG’s approach to dual-screen devices. In February of 2019, Judie wrote about the LG V50 ThinQ and its dual-screen case. And last month, she posted on the LG V60 ThinQ Dual Screen. As both of those posts make clear, LG has settled upon their approach to dual-screen phones and is busy refining it. We have the LG G8X ThinQ Dual Screen in hand and are excited to share some of our thoughts with all of you.

A great deal has been written about the LG G8X ThinQ Dual Screen while I’ve been putting it through its paces. Rather than repeat what is available all over the internet, I thought I would share some of the things that have impressed me during the last few weeks using the phone, as well as some things that have not. Before we dig into that, however, let’s take a quick look at the phone itself.

For those of you who are not familiar with the LG G8X ThinQ Dual Screen, that last statement might seem a bit odd. After all, how do we look at the phone without… looking at the phone. The answer is one of the key things that differentiate the LG G8X ThinQ Dual Screen from other dual-screen devices on the market. Most dual-screen have a single foldable screen that either fold in on itself, thereby hiding the screen or fold out and, when closed, have a screen on both the front and back. The LG G8X ThinQ Dual Screen takes a different approach. It is a traditional slab phone that can be used as you would any other large phone. It, however, comes with an innovative case that adds a second, separate screen. Ideally, this design gives users the best of both worlds. But does it? That’s the question I’ve been asking myself since the phone first arrived.

So let’s look at the phone itself. The LG G8X ThinQ has a 6.4” FHD+ OLED screen with an aspect ratio of 19.5:9. Inside the phone, there is 128 GB of storage with slightly more than 102GB available. The phone can accept up to 2TB of additional storage via a microSD card. That’s likely more storage than you will ever need on your phone, but it is nice to know it is possible.

Striking Sleek Design: This device is crafted with smooth, contoured glass for a modern aesthetic. Plus, rounded corners and a sophisticated pattern add an extra touch of elegance.

The front of the phone is entirely glass with a small pinhole camera at the center of the top. If you hate pinhole cutouts, you can change a setting and turn it into a black bar across the top. I honestly can’t understand why anyone would do that, but the option is there for those who are troubled by the pinhole camera cutout.

On the left side, there are volume up and down buttons and a dedicated button for activating Google Assistant. I love the Pixel’s innovative approach that allows you to bring up the Assistant by simply squeezing the phone, but this dedicated button gets the job done too. Toward the top of the left side, there is a small hole for the microphone. It is difficult to see, but it is there.

The sleep/wake/power button sits on the right side of the phone. Access to the SIM and microSD expansion slot is at the top.

On the bottom, you will find the speaker, the USB-C charging port, another microphone, and … a 3.5mm headphone jack. Yup, LG has decided to stick with the traditional headphone jack for now. Unfortunately, they didn’t see fit to include headphones in the box, but if you have a pair of wired headphones hanging around, you will be happy to know they can still be used. Of course, the phone can also be charged wirelessly if you have a Qi-enabled charger handy.

On the back, you will find both cameras and the flash. Notably, the cameras sit flush with the phone. And while that indicates that this promises to be a good smartphone camera but not a “great” one, I do love the fact that there is no camera bulge that looks like it was thrown on as an afterthought, gets scratched, and rocks when you put the phone on a desk.

The sides of the back have a gentle curve toward the from that feels fantastic in the hand and gives an otherwise uninspired design a bit of style.

In all, this is a good-looking but not inspired design.

Fast Performance, Bigger Battery: A Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Octa-core Processor delivers fast, powerful, experiences—all while providing what matters most: insane battery life, powered by our long-lasting 4,000 mAh battery.

The phone is rather zippy. It has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Octa-core processor and a 4,000mAh battery. That means it is not only fast but that it will last an entire day and then some. (Obviously, your mileage will vary depending upon how you use the device.) When you need to charge the phone, you can either connect a cable, is offers Qualcomm Fast charging QC 4.0, and it has wireless charging too.

A Quick Way to Pay: Leave your plastic cards at home and pay quickly with your phone virtually everywhere at both NFC and magstripe payment terminals. LG Pay is a digital wallet that lets you put your credit/ debit, gift, and loyalty cards in one simple-to-use app.

As you would expect, the phone packs Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5.0, and NFC connectivity. The NFC is ideal for using LG Pay instead of reaching for your wallet.

Superb Pixel-Level Detail + 4x Zoom Power: An immense 32 MP front camera gives you superb detail, 4x zoom capability, and the ability to crop photos with the high-resolution quality you expect—and deserve. This is more megapixels than you’ll find in any LG selfie camera!

The rear cameras are a 12 MP Standard with a 78° FOV and a 13 MP Wide-Angle offering 136° FOV. That’s pretty substantial for any phone, let alone one that is priced as a mid-tier device.

The front camera surprised me when I realized it is an impressive 32MP shooter with a 78° FOV. In all, this isn’t the best camera available on a phone in 2020, but it certainly is no slouch. Moreover, if this were just a year or two ago, the hardware being into this phone would be considered bleeding edge. High-end phone cameras have made it to places unheard of until recently, which pushes this phone back into “really good but not the best” territory, but this system will be more than enough for the vast majority of people.

Camera features include:

Capture Every Whisper: It’s your turn to shine. Capture videos with refined sound and detail that tickle your senses and send tingles down your spine.

The Ultra-Widest Lens, Mic Drop!: With a whopping 136? field of view, truly get it all with the widest camera lens out there. Fully capture epic vistas, sweeping landscapes, beautiful architecture, and huge group shots that take your breath away.

Portrait Keep the Focus on You: Add a professional touch by zeroing in on yourself and softening backdrops for an artistic bokeh-blur effect that allows you to stand out.

Action Shot Clear, Action-Packed Shots: Capture crisp, sharp, and clear photos of fast-moving subjects. This feature automatically adjusts the shutter speed to minimize photo blur and keeps subjects in focus.

AI CAM Smart Photo Enhancement: This clever camera recognizes up to 19 subjects and recommends optimized filter options to enhance the exposure, saturation, and more.

Time Lapse Memories at the Speed of Life: Vivid and intricate time-lapse videos help you turn anything from a flower blooming to an inspiring sunrise into a timeless, storytelling film.

Google Lens Search What You See: Get stuff done faster, and interact with the world around you using your camera and AI integration. Copy and paste text, add events to your calendar, find products online, and see similar styles, identify popular plants and animals, learn about landmarks, and more.

Superior Sound Experience: This is what balance sounds like, with 2.4W audio distributed evenly for optimal stereo sound. And with your headphones on, DTS:X 3D Surround Sound lets you get lost in your movies, music, and games with audio that seems to come from all directions.

Finally, LQ wasn’t content to let mobile audio be the compromise it so often is. Instead, they built a 32Bit Hi-Fi Quad DAC and DTS: X Virtual Surround into it. The audio experience from the phone is superb.

So while the LG G8X ThinQ isn’t a top tier device, it is an impressive phone even by today’s standards and an amazing phone if you compare it to devices from just a few years ago. And while many phones, my iPhone 11 included, cost $1000 or more, this device is under $700 unlocked. (It is even less with carrier activation.) That alone makes it a decent choice if you are in the market for a new, large Android phone.

Specifications:

DISPLAY: 6.4”1 FHD + OLED 19.5:9

MEMORY: Internal Memory: 128 GB ROM (up to 102.8 GB usable), Expandable up to 2 TB with Micro SD Card

AUDIO: 32Bit Hi-Fi Quad DAC and DTS: X Virtual Surround

CHARGING: Fast Charging QC 4.0 + Wireless Charging

CHIPSET: Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Octa-core

CAMERA: Rear: 12 MP Standard, 78° FOV and 13 MP Wide-Angle, 136° FOV Front: 32 MP with Pixel Binning, 78° FOV

CONNECTIVITY: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth Version 5.0, NFC

BATTERY: 4,000 mAh3

BIOMETRICS: In-display Fingerprint Sensor

So that’s a quick look at the LG G8X ThinQ phone. It’s not exciting but, in a world where premium phones are now more than $1000, this is an excellent phone at a mintier-phone price. That alone makes it a winner in my eyes.

BUT… that is only part of the story here.

The LG G8X ThinQ Dual Screen

As Judie shared in her posts about the LG V50 and LG V60, this company is taking an unusual approach to dual-screen phones. Rather than develop a flexible screen that folds in on itself, LG decided to stick with the proven technology of large screens that don’t fold. Instead of taking a single screen and finding ways for it to fold, LG simply added a second 6.4” OLED FHD Display into the inside of a protective cover. When closed, you get the same slab phone as we described above, only double the thickness. When opened, however, the user is greeted by the 6.4” screen of the phone AND a 6.4” screen to its left. That provides double the screen-estate without the potential failures we’ve seen time and time again with folding screens. As we will see, it isn’t perfect, but it is a unique approach that solves many of the issues seen in devices with folding screens.

Interestingly, the second screen is the same display panel as the one on the phone. It even has the selfie-camera pinhole even though it lacks a camera. Moreover, the second screen is powered by the phone itself, so there is no need to charge the case separately.

Flexible Point of View: With a 360 freestop hinge, flip the screen around or lock it in place at any angle. Open it like a laptop, use it in stand or tent mode, or do a full 360° flip for a versatile viewing experience.

The Hinge:

To make this screen case work properly, LG had to design a hinge that provided maximum flexibility. The hinge on this device is loose enough to open with ease but tight enough that it will hold any position into which it is placed. That will become important when we look at some of the ways this approach can be used.

The hinge has been redesigned and now can flip all the way around to sit flush with the back of the phone. That means you can have the phone in the case but still use it as a slab phone. Yes, the case and screen make it thick, but the design means you don’t have to remove the phone every time you want to use it “normally.”

The front of the screen case is a mirrored plastic that is a fingerprint magnet. The “LG Dual Screen” logo is embossed toward the bottom but, other than that, it would seem there is nothing of interest and no functionality to this glossy surface. In this case, however, looks can be deceiving.

When the phone is one, this cover doubles as a notification display that lets you see the time, remaining battery life, and a variety of notifications. It is a great way to get a general sense of what is going on without needing to open the case and fire up the phone. (If you look closely, you can see a small slit at the top of this surface. That allows the sound from the phone’s speaker to pass through when the case is closed.)

The right side of the phone remains largely exposed, so you still have access to the power button.

The buttons on the left side are covered by a second “layer” of buttons. These work surprisingly well and, if you didn’t know better, their responsiveness would leave you thinking they were the actual buttons.

At the bottom, there is a cutout so you can access the 3.5mm headphone jack. The cutout should be large enough for most headphones, but thick plugs probably won’t work unless you have an adapter that can fit without the cutout. A second cutout leaves the phone’s speaker exposed.

Between these two cutouts is a charging area that is ready for the included Fast Charge adapter dongle.

On the plus side, this design is the magnetic connection made between the dongle and the case. When the two are brought into proximity with one another, they connect and stay connected until you pull them apart. (The other side of the dongle has a USB-C port into which a USB-C charging cable goes.) But while this approach works … I hate it. I hate that, while the magnets are strong, they can release their grip if the dongle is angled away from the phone. Worse than that, if you don’t have the dongle with you or, worse yet, lose it, you are out of luck. Fortunately, LG sells replacement dongles for the reasonable price of just $7.99. [Were this Apple, you know the same dongle would be $35.] You can still charge the phone directly via USB-C, but you will need to pull it from the case to do that. I hate this design, and I wish LG would find a way to ditch the dongle and use USB-C for charging whether the phone is in the case or not.

Instantly See Notifications: See essentials at a glance. The cover display allows you to view the time and notifications, like when messages are received, while the dual-screen is closed.

At the back of the case, there is a large cutout. It leaves the dual camera lenses and flash exposed and provides space for the G8X ThinQ logo. I don’t understand why they made this cutout as large as they did since it deserves no purpose. It is an interesting design choice but not one I would have made.

There are several ways you can use the dual screens. All of them hinge off of the “360 freest hinge.” As LG puts it, “With a 360 freestop hinge, flip the screen around or lock it in place at any angle. Open it like a laptop, use it in stand or tent mode, or do a full 360° flip for a versatile viewing experience.”

The big question is, of course, why would you want two large screens?

Dual Screen Multitasking Mode

The first way to use the dual-screen setup is to simply think about the screens as individual screens that “speak” to one another.

Tapping the small icon that sits on the side of the phone’s screen yields a “Turn on Dual screen icon.” Tapping it fires up the second screen that sits inside the case.

If you tap the same small icon now, you will be presented with several choices that include Swap Screens, Show Main on Dual Screen, Put Main Screen to Sleep, and Turn off Dual Screen.

You can also adjust the settings of the dual-screen mode by digging a bit deeper with a few taps.

You can now use the dual screens in the simplest way possible. If you open a browser on the phone’s screen, tap the small dual-screen icon and select “Swap Screens” the browser window will move over to the second screen.

This can also be done using three fingers swiped simultaneously on the screen. Now you can select a second browser window or any other app and fire it up on the phone’s screen.

That yields two independent screens that each have their specific app or browser window open. That may not sound like much, but being able to have two 6.4” displays that work independently is far more convenient than you might expect.

Surf the Web in Style: Make the most of your web browsers. Look at the webpage on one screen, and see more details on the other while reading articles, shopping, and more.

But it gets better. In the settings, you can lock which app appears on the secondary dual screen when the phone is fired up in dual screen mode. In my case, I have it set to pull up a browser window with my Gmail. Now, whenever I open up the case, my email is immediately present on the secondary screen, and I can use the phone’s display however I want.

And it gets even better. If I bring up something like the browser app and then activate the dual-screen control and select “Wide View,” the single webpage on the phone’s display is spread over both of the screens. It’s a cool trick, but the gap between the two screens that are created by the hinge doesn’t make this very practical. It does work a bit better if you switch the orientation to landscape, but it isn’t ideal.

Gamepad Mode

Control and Compete: Play for the win by using the second screen as a customizable controller, freeing up your main screen for all the action. Choose from multiple virtual controllers or design your own to match your game play needs and style.

Wanting to leverage the potential of their dual-screen approach LG, the company baked a special gamepad functionality into the LG G8X ThinQ Dual Screen. The phone ships with some built-in gamepads, but you can also create your custom gamepad if not of the stock offerings meet your needs.

The GamePad functionality doesn’t work with every game, but for those it does, you get to enjoy the entire phone display for the game graphics and can use the dual-display to control the action. I’m not much of a gamer, but I can see this functionality being a key selling point for people who use their phones in this way.

Mini Laptop Mode

On-The-Go Mini Laptop: Convert your smartphone into a mini laptop while on-the-go with the LG Smart Keyboard. Use the entire bottom display as a full-screen virtual keyboard to write emails, edit presentations, text, or search the web in full-screen on the top display.

If you pull up your email in either the email app or the browser and turn the dive into landscape position… nothing happens.

BUT, when you tap into a content field and bring up the soft keyboard, you are on the way to something unique. At the top of the soft keyboard, there is an icon that indicates two screens. Tapping, it results in the soft keyboard overlay disappearing and the entire dual-screen display turning into a keyboard.

Now you get the benefit of your entire phone’s screen being the content email screen and the entire dual display screen serving as your keyboard. Best of all, this laptop mode also works with apps like Outlook, so you aren’t locked into the stock Google apps or the browser.

Make the Most of Images Mode:

Add A Personal Touch To Images: Use the second screen to instantly view your pictures without having to exit the camera app. Try out different filters and edit on the main screen while previewing your full-size image on the dual-screen.

If you have ever taken a picture with your phone and then had to jump out of the camera app to check whether or not you captured the image you wanted, you are going to love this.

You can use the phone’s display as your image finder when shooting pictures and set it so that each new image you take immediately appears on the dual display. This lets you check each shot before taking the next. It also lets you test out various filters before going to the next shot. It is a nice convenience, but I’m not convinced it justifies the added weight and bulk of the dual-screen approach.

Dual Mirror Mode: With Mirror Mode, use the second screen to shoot from creative angles, such as over your head during a concert. Or, use the second screen as a live viewfinder to preview your selfies as you take them.

If you fire up the camera app, you will see a dual-screen icon at the upper left of the screen. Tapping it mirrors the phone’s display to the dual-screen dimply, so both displays function as the camera’s viewfinder. This allows you to use the dual-display as the camera viewfinder and get shots at angles that would otherwise be possible.

Fun, but It Still Falls Short

This dual-screen functionality is fun, and there are some neat tricks it can perform, but the design has its limitations. For example, I can watch a Netflix video on either display, but I can’t extend it to appear on both, thereby doubling the image. At the same time, since there is a thick black space between the screens, watching a video that is split in half wouldn’t be all too enjoyable. I’m sure I will find more examples of this limitation as I do more with it.

All of this is rather cool, but I’m still not quite sure if it is worth the added bulk and weight of the dual-screen case. So while I am still fascinated by LG’s approach to larger and dual screens, the thick border between the screens that are created by the hinge makes it a bit of a puzzle to me. It doesn’t double the phone’s 6.4” screen, but it does offer some unique ways to use your phone and your phone’s camera. In a world where phones feel iterative one model to the next, that’s not a terrible thing. It also doesn’t make me want to run out and get such a device. Still, at under $700 unlocked, there is a compelling argument one can make for purchasing this phone on its own. Then, if you think about the dual-screen case as a free add-on, it suddenly makes sense why someone might purchase this phone. It is a solid, large-screen performer that has a microSD expansion slot, retains the 3.5mm headphone jack, and gets good battery life. $700 for that is completely reasonable in today’s market, and the add-on accessory just makes it even more compelling. It is a phone worth checking out. Learn more here.

Source: Manufacturer supplied review sample of the LG G8X ThinQ Dual Screen

What I Like: Phone has a large screen and tons of power at a reasonable price; Expansion slot for microSD card; Good battery life; USB-C and Qi wireless charging available; Dual-screen case included; Hinge is solid and holds any angle or folds completely back to sit flat against the phone; Front notification display so phone doesn’t need to be opened as often

What Needs Improvement: Case requires a dongle for wired charging; Dual-screen is fun but not entirely practical, the curiosity will likely diminish over time; Dual-screen works with some but not all apps; With the case, the phone is big, bulky and heavy

from Joseph Rushing https://geardiary.com/2020/03/09/the-lg-g8x-thinq-dual-screen-review/

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maritzaerwin · 4 years

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5 Things To Do In Order To Ace That Management Consultant Interview

If you have your sights set on a career as a management consultant, you already know the interview process can be brutal. With thousands of applicants from a highly-skilled pool to choose from, interviewers are looking for anything that makes candidates stand out as a winning applicant.

In this post, you’ll learn the 5 steps you need to take to ace your management consultant interview.

1) Do Your Homework

This step seems pretty obvious but you’d be surprised how many people go to an interview with only a basic understanding of the company. If you want to ace your interview, you need to do some in-depth research and homework to get prepared.

As soon as you get your interview, call the person who arranged it and ask these important questions:

Who will your interview be with? For example, is the first round with a manager or someone from HR?

What is the dress code? Many companies prefer smart casual, whereas others may have a more relaxed dress code and it’s important to look the part.

Where is the interview being held? Confirm the address as well as the correct floor and room of the building so you’re not left searching on the day.

Next, do some research into the company itself and arm yourself with a basic understanding of the annual sales, number of employees and branches, the mission statement, and the names of the CEO, manager, etc.

If you’re able to bring up just a nugget or two of this information during your interview, it shows a deeper level of knowledge and a passion for the company.

Also, make sure to set up alerts on your phone for any news stories about the company you’re interviewing for. The interviewer may ask you a general question about why you want to work for their company and having up-to-date information about the business will show a meaningful interest.

As well as brushing up on the company itself, make sure to keep abreast of the latest industry news. Consultants have a broad knowledge of the latest business news, politics, and international affairs. Make sure you know the key issues currently in the media and have some general answers prepared. You’ll be amazed at how many candidates trip up when asked a simple question about their opinion on the latest major business story in the media.

No matter what career you’re aiming for this year, doing your homework will always help you stand out from the crowd.

2) Present Yourself Well

Yes, we shouldn’t judge books by the cover. But interviewers form opinions on interviewees as soon as they walk in the door. Make sure you make the best first impression by dressing appropriately.

For management consultant interviews, the dress code will be a business professional. For men, this means a suit in a neutral color with a crisp white shirt, muted tie, and clean dress shoes. For women, a pantsuit, smart skirt, and blouse or equivalent is appropriate.

Even if you’re a fashion icon, it’s best to avoid bold colors, patterns or fabrics when attending your first management consultant interview. Also, avoid strong colognes and perfumes. These may make you stand out for the wrong reasons.

Want more help preparing for your management consultant interview? You’ll find interview checklists, tools, and resources for preparing for your interview here.

3) Prepare Answers

You wouldn’t go up on stage and give a speech without preparing, so don’t walk into your interview without practicing first. Start by practicing basic answers in the mirror. You’ll be able to work on your posture and facial expressions this way.

It’s also a good idea to practice with another person. Get them to act as the interviewer and do a rehearsal. If you can find someone in the management consultant space to do this with you, that’s a huge bonus.

When answering questions, volume and pace are important. If you talk too quietly or rush through your answers, the interviewer is going to have a hard time listening. Focus on slowing your pace and projecting your voice.

a) Fit Interview Questions

Fit interview questions are general questions about yourself that will help the interviewer decide if you’re a good fit for the role. You’ll be asked about your qualifications, experience, and why you want a career in management consulting. Make sure you have all this information down to a science so you don’t trip over your words trying to answer a basic question about yourself.

Why do you want to work for this firm?

This question is often asked to gauge your knowledge of the industry and motivation to get a place at a particular firm.

To prepare for this question, highlight specific reasons for your interest in the firm. For example, if the firm is an industry leader in a niche industry, mention this. Or perhaps they are renowned for a specific marketing approach – this is something else to mention.

Another key point to bring up is the firm’s values or mission statement and how this aligns with your work ethic.

It’s easy to give generic answers about wanting to work for a top firm, but those who stand out are the ones who give interesting, researched answers.

If you are struggling to come up with innovative answers to this question, go to the firm’s website. There you will find their core values and mission statement as well as some information about senior leaders and industry news. If you’re in college, you may be able to attend information sessions about the firm on campus which will give you key insights also.

b) Market-Sizing Questions

Also known as guesstimate questions, market-sizing questions are designed to test your ability to arrive at educated, thought-out answers and estimations with limited information. There isn’t a correct answer, but your thought process is what the interviewer is interested in.

When working in management consulting, you are often faced with problems that have no concrete solution. Instead, you must rely on your creative thinking to arrive at the best solution based on the information and resources you have. This is the skill interviewers are looking for.

“How many bicycles are purchased each year in California?”

To begin, you need to ask to follow up questions to get as much information as possible. Once the interviewer has given you all the facts they can about the question, you’ll be expected to present a structured answer showing your thought process and approach to the question.

Make sure to utilize all the information given to you and clearly show how you’ve made assumptions based on the information. For example, you might have additional information about demographics, population size, cycling schemes, recent investment in cycle paths, etc.).

Treat the answer as a presentation, giving all the information in a clear and concise way. Your final answer could be anything as long as you’ve arrived at it based on all the information you have.

c) Value Proposition Questions

Another important role of management consultants is being able to determine the value of a business based on the information presented. These questions are designed to test this understanding and thought process.

“Your client is a real estate firm in New York. The target customer is high-end investors. What are those customers looking for?”

As with the market-sizing question, you begin to answer this with follow up questions to gather as much information as possible. Identify all the important factors of the business such as location, price, quality of real estate, etc. and present an answer based on these key factors.

Give a short presentation showing your reasoning and thought process to show how you arrived at your conclusions. Again, there is no right answer to this hypothetical question. Instead, the interviewer is looking for a clear, coherent thought process.

d) Data Analysis Questions

As a management consultant, you’ll spend a lot of time analyzing data and summarizing findings for clients. So these questions are designed to test this skill.

You’ll be presented with data and asked to give key insights related to market size or business growth.

When mapping out your answer, you need to analyze all data sets presented to identify any unusual trends such as spikes in sales or sharp declines.

Once you’ve got all your key insights, create a clear summary to present to the interviewer highlighting the important findings. Always refer back to the original data to show how you arrived at your summary.

Remember, the data you’ve been given is going to have something worth noting that the interviewer is looking for. So take your time when analyzing the data to make sure you don’t skip over any important points.

Original Image Source – Depositphotos.com

4) Emphasize Leadership Experience

A vital skill of any management consultant is the ability to lead. At all stages of your career, you’ll be working with a team to analyze, strategize and implement solutions for major clients. The best management consultants are able to step up and lead a team cohesively and effectively.

The interviewer may want to highlight any past experience with a specific question such as, “Tell me about a previous role where you showed good leadership skills.”

Where most interviewees go wrong is just talking about the previous leadership roles they took up. However, this question is actually an opportunity to highlight specific outcomes or results you gained in the past.

For example, you may have managed a charity fundraiser in the past. In this case, talk about how you managed a team of people and the success you gained as a result. This could be managing a team of caterers or volunteers and successfully raising X amount of money which surpassed the previous year’s fundraiser.

Or perhaps you were captain of a sports team and successfully led your team to victory by implementing a new training regime.

If you’re a freelancer without much leadership experience, you could consider transitioning to a leadership role first to gain that all-important leadership experience.

It’s always good to have figures to talk about. For example, raising 50% more during a charity fundraiser than the previous year; freeing up 6 hours a week; generating X in revenue; etc.

However, you don’t have to have management experience to be a leader. You can easily talk about your time as a charity worker, team captain, youth worker, etc. and still show excellent leadership skills.

If you’re concerned you don’t have the experience to become a management consultant, there are plenty of different career options out there. Make sure you do your research to find the best career path for you.

5) Prepare Questions for the Interviewer

You’ll almost certainly be given time at the end of the interview to ask your own questions. Prepare three or four interesting questions to use this time wisely.

The interviewer is going to see a lot of potential candidates who will all likely as similar questions such as, “Why did you choose management consulting?” or “Why do you like working here?” They’ll be extremely bored with answering the same questions so stand out by asking something more innovative.

Here are some good examples:

What has been your most challenging project while at this firm?

What is the number one mistake new hires make that I should avoid?

What is your best advice to help me hit the ground running if I get the job?

What is your most memorable moment while working at this firm?

It’s best to have a couple of questions prepared about the interviewer as well as a couple of questions that will help you if you get the position. This shows an eagerness to work for the firm as well as an interest in the interviewer which will help forge a connection.

Original Image Source – Depositphotos.com

Ready to Start a Career in Management Consulting?

If you’re thinking of a career in management consulting, make sure to check out our in-depth guide on becoming a management consultant to find out if this challenging career is right for you.

The post 5 Things To Do In Order To Ace That Management Consultant Interview appeared first on CareerMetis.com.

5 Things To Do In Order To Ace That Management Consultant Interview published first on https://skillsireweb.tumblr.com/

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digitalcloudtraining-blog · 5 years

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Smash Your AWS Certification Exams in 5 Steps

I'm a certified certification junkie! I’ve been earning IT certifications for over 18 years now, have taken over 35 exams in that time, and I’ve only ever failed an exam twice. The key to successfully passing AWS Certification Exams is simply ensuring you prepare adequately.

Preparation consists of the following 5 steps which I'll be walking you through in this post:

1. Practice (hands-on)

2. Training (mainly online videos)

3. Theory (reading)

4. Practice questions

5. Taking the exam

The tools have changed a bit over the years and video based training is now very useful but cannot be used in isolation. There’s also a lot of companies selling various resources to help you prepare for your exams but the quality of the materials can vary significantly so it's worth being cautious about what you use.

Two years ago, I passed all three of the AWS associate level certifications and I’m now studying again to re-certify. I have created this blog to share some of the tools and methods I use to optimize the time I spend and ensure I pass the exam first time, every time.

I'm going to focus on the AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate exam in this blog post, but this advice can apply to almost any of the AWS certification exams.

Background on the Exam

Before we get stuck into the 5 step process, a little background on the exam.

Most people who take these exams will have some basic level of understanding of IT. If you're a complete new by and can't tell a block from an object store, or a VM from a container, you might find it a lot more challenging.

That being said, you don't need to have deep expertise in the underlying technologies that support AWS, as cloud computing abstracts a lot of that complexity away from you.

Many developers who are not at all infrastructure savvy get on very well with AWS as it provides them the tools they need to do their jobs without having to care about the workings of the layers underneath.

You can find the blueprint for the AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate exam here.

In the exam blueprint, AWS make the following recommendations for AWS-specific knowledge and experience:

· One year of hands-on experience designing available, cost-efficient, fault-tolerant, and scalable distributed systems on AWS

· Hands-on experience using compute, networking, storage, and database AWS services

· Hands-on experience with AWS deployment and management services

· Ability to identify and define technical requirements for an AWS-based application

· Ability to identify which AWS services meet a given technical requirement

· Knowledge of recommended best practices for building secure and reliable applications on the AWS platform

· An understanding of the basic architectural principles of building on the AWS Cloud

· An understanding of the AWS global infrastructure

· An understanding of network technologies as they relate to AWS

· An understanding of security features and tools that AWS provides and how they relate to traditional services

The good news is all of this knowledge can be attained through some hands-on experience and reading freely available articles on the AWS website.

The exam has recently changed to a new format this year and the diagram below shows the differences between the new and old format (this applies to all of the associate level AWS certification exams).

The AWS technology moves at an incredible rate of change so I would recommend going with the latest exam format if you are starting your studies now, as it will be more closely aligned with the features available today.

Note that there are 10 more questions in the new exam and an extra 50 minutes to do them!. That's not being generous as much as it is about the increased difficulty of some of the questions on the new exam.

But don't let that put you off, the associate level exams are not too difficult and there a plenty of resources to use to to prepare.

Step 1: It all starts with...Hands-On

One of the keys to learning any technology is to play with it. Not everyone has the chance to work with technologies they’re studying in a professional context and I’ve certainly passed many exams without having actual on-the-job experience. It’s easier now than ever, especially with cloud computing, to get the experience you need at minimal cost (sometimes free).

With AWS you can setup an account for free and the free tier allows you to use specific AWS services at no cost. Just go to: https://aws.amazon.com/free

With the free tier you get plenty for free every month including (but not limited to):

This is a great way to get experience and you can bring stuff up and tear it down again without it costing you a cent. It’s amazing how much you can do in the free tier for a whole year!

Step 2: Online Video-Based Training

Online video-based training is an awesome tool. There are many great online courses for AWS certification that allow you to just sit back and soak it all up. The great thing about video is you have an expert and experienced instructor who can help guide you through the technology and point out useful tips for passing the exam.

Online courses can vary from death-by-powerpoint to heavily lab centric and this is where the problem with using them in isolation lies. The courses that are heavy in content can be very dry and tedious, and the more practical courses will be light on content and won’t get you anywhere near ready to pass the exam.

I recently used these online courses:

A Cloud Guru – this is a great starting point. It’s quite practical with plenty of labs and is well presented. The theory bits can be very slide oriented with little graphical assistance and in terms of the depth of content this course alone won’t teach you more than 40-50% (max) of what you need to pass the exam

Elias Khnaser on Pluralsight – this was a good course with a good mixture of theory and practical labs. It’s well presented and there was quite a bit I learned on this course that wasn’t covered by A Cloud Guru. That being said A Cloud Guru had more guided labs

DolfinED on Udemy – boy is this one is in depth! There’s over 30 hours of theory and another 30 hours of taking you through the practice questions. This course goes into some serious depth on some topics and will probably prepare you some way towards the Pro exam too. Other topics are covered quite low touch and probably won’t suffice for the exam. If there’s one video based course that’s going to get you through the exam this is it, but you need to be prepared for a long and tedious slog as it’s ALL theory with no practical whatsoever!

Step 3: Theory

Some people find this the boring part but there’s no substitute for theory and lots of reading is always necessary. I like to have had plenty of hands-on practice with a technology before I get stuck into the theory part which really helps things to make sense (and keep it interesting). It’s important to keep practicing as well as you gain more knowledge - use it or you lose it!

The AWS website has a great amount of information so you can pretty much just use that if you like. There are some books and eBooks around as well but things move fast in the AWS world and they’re generally out of date by the time they’ve been published.

My strategy when learning theory is to take copious notes. When watching online courses, I also take notes of the key facts. Having concise, summarised training notes becomes really valuable when you’re trying to remember thousands of facts, as you can refer back at any time without having to read lengthy articles. Try using a digital note tool such as Microsoft OneNote or Evernote.

I have documented a comprehensive list of training notes for the AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate exam on this website here. This is an up-to-date and free resource, and took a lot of time to put together so it would be great to see people making use of it. I’ll be updating the training notes as the technology and exam evolves. Get in touch or add comments if you'd like to provide feedback.

Step 4: Practice Questions

One of the most important tools to use to both learn and evaluate your readiness for the exam is practice questions. Using high quality practice questions helps you to understand the types of questions you’re likely to encounter in the exam and can help you to identify areas of weakness.

The challenge however is finding good quality practice questions. There have always been tonnes of exam dumps on the Internet and various companies serving up low-quality questions (that they generally copy from each other).

These can be incredibly misleading and the questions are often written in poor English, the answers are incorrect, and the explanations (if there are any) are confusing.

Remember, AWS changes fast so the questions need to be up to date. I would steer well clear of poor quality or out of date questions!

I’d suggest testing yourself repeatedly throughout your journey, don’t wait until you're getting close to exam time. Practice questions should be considered both a learning tool and an evaluation tool and should therefore be used from early on.

I have written my own set of unique practice questions which are published on this website here. The first set of 40 questions are free so have a go and let me know how you get on. I have deliberately made these questions challenging enough that they at least match if not exceed the level of difficulty of the exam.

Step 5: Exam Time

I think another key to my success with taking IT certification exams is to never book the exam until I'm sure I'm ready. You need to be getting 80-90% of the practice questions right before you should even think about booking. The actual pass mark is much lower than this but there will always be surprises on the day with technologies you didn't cover enough in your training.

Once you’ve got some practice, watched a course, done a lap of my training notes, and can ace the practice questions on this site, you'll be ready. I like to schedule my exams in the morning when my brain is at its best, but not too early that I have to stress about getting there on time. If you've prepared adequately you shouldn't need to cram at the last minute so clear your head of any stresses and turn up fresh.

For each question try to skim read it first and look over the answers. You can develop a knack for this and often you'll quickly work out what the answer is likely to be. Then, go back over the question in detail and make sure you haven't missed anything before you make your selection.

Some questions will be single choice, multiple choice with a specified number of answers, or you may need to select "all that apply". Make sure you don't get this wrong as it's an easy mistake to make!

If you get stuck on a question, give it your best answer and mark it for review and come back to it at the end. This is a good way to ensure you don't get too stressed about it and will hopefully have plenty of time at the end to give it some more thought. Only mark answers for review that you really need more time on.

AWS certification exams are quite well written so there aren't usually too many confusing questions. If you've used some high quality practice questions to prepare you should be well equipped to handle whatever they throw at you on the day. Happy studying and good luck with your exams!

#AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate #AWS certification exams #AWS associate level certifications #AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate exam

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