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#but i should learn to be focused and productive and not neglect my other duties
postphdneurolife · 4 years
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puhhhh, finally done with the  -  hopefully - last review of my manuscript before(!) sending it to the co-authors. I must say that today was quite productive. I was focused which is extremely rare nowadays...
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About cheaper 302 of mha and... Mysoginist Touya(?)
It's incredible I feel the need to say this, but... TOUYA IS NOT A FRIGGING MISOGYNIST! Yes, he may be a mass murderer, a mysoginist and a petty lil bitch, but he's definitely not a porn star!
Jokes and old school Simpsons aside tho... It's clear as day why Touya said what he said regarding the women in his life. This kid is being neglected by BOTH his parents, that's why he resents deeply his mother too. The first years of his life had been completely devoted to become Endeavor's prodigy; he had to grow up into the one who'll surpass All Might, it was his duty as Endeavor's son, he was strong enough to get the job done... Only to be tossed away when his body couldn't comply. Such an incredibly harsh and unjustified treatment completely shuttered his sense of self, his whole existance lost any purpose or meaning.
In this chapter he's 13, old enough to understand all the ramifications that brought him to life.
Touya knows his mother married Endeavor because of the state her family was in. The Himura needed money and basically sold her to the best offerent. She had children with him only to fulfill a purpose, not because she wanted a family with a man she naturally fell in love with.
She could have refused the proposal, but she was too weak to go against her family's will and later on she's still too weak to put an end to Endeavor's bullshit. Simplifying a bit:
Touya sees his mother as a person who's only capable to do what others tell her to. She didn't build a future for herself after all, she just went with the ambitons her family harbored for her, so why should Touya listen to her advice if she is the first one to be stuck with her family's wishes?How can Rei tell him to find his path without being focused on Endeavor, if the only thing she did in her life was to marry the guy her parents sold her to?
What we are dealing with here is a child who doesn't get completely what's goin on in his parents' lives, but he can still see, clear as day, their respective hypocrisy and shifting responsibility. It's like he's a basketball being tossed between two adults incapable of playing correctly. They don't know how to talk to him so they avoid the problem altogether, thinking the other parent needs to do all the work alone.
Let's put this clear: I don't want to to do any victim blaming here. I'm very much aware of how fragile and compromised Rei's position was. She is a victim, but she's also a mother of four. As a parent she should've done better, not only with Touya, but with the other children as well. Touya is only 13 in this chapter... As I said, he's old enough to get something right, but emotionally he's still immature. He doesn't have the means to empathize with Rei on a deep level. You can't expect him to be too understanding, because Rei is still his mom after all. For a kid, a parent doesn't have any right to be weak. A parent who shows instability and fragility can't be the source of reassurance and protection its role needs it to be. Kids are often egotistical because they are not equipped to do better. They need a solid ground to thrive and love to learn how to process emotions correctly. If things get shaky, they feel lost and distressed... That's why Touya can't forgive his mother too. He is scared, alone and deeply concerned about his future. Nothing he does seems right enough and nobody seems really interested in what he has to say, even his siblings. So its not just Endeavor, he resents the whole family and the whole family needs to pull through and save him from himself.
Concluding my little ranting, Rei is a very well written character. Flawed, relatable and also strong.
But she wasn't strong from the start, or at least she was only very good at enduring. Now she is FIGHTING for everything she cares about, finally doing something productive for herself (and her children). She spent years thinking about what she had done and she really worked on her issues. She's changed so much Endeavor can't even recognize her, even tho I really think he never knew her from the start.
I also appreciated Endeavor's first steps towards a serious self analysis. He says he should've given up his foolish obsession, but at the time he couldn't because it would have felt like everything was in vain (even his child's death). He's basically admitting he was just covering for his mistakes and guilt.
He also says he didn't go to Sekoto mountain because he wasn't capable of dealing with Touya. Yes, at first he tries again to deflect responsibility: "I didn't want to fuel the fire more", but then he admits the truth: "I didn't know how to talk to him".
I'm very curious now about Hawks' pov on the matter. All and all I've really appreciated this chapter.
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baoshan-sanren · 4 years
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Chapter 7
of the wwx emperor au which I’m thinking about calling Emperor Wei WuXian and his Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Birthday
Prologue | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6
The Sect Leader meeting begins as any other. Jin GuangShan heaps empty flattery onto the YunMeng Jiang Sect, then everyone else heaps empty flattery onto the LanLing Jin Sect, then Jin GuangShan returns the favor for some, while ignoring the others. Wei Ying lets his eyes focus on some invisible point in the distance, and tries to ignore the sickly-sweet smell of honeysuckle that seems to follow Jin GuangShan like a cloud. 
He thinks about the Wen Sect. He thinks about Jiang Cheng and Wen Qing. He thinks about the misfortune that is his shijie’s betrothal to Jin GuangShan’s pompous brat of a son, and how incredibly satisfying it would be, to break off that arrangement. He thinks about the stark contrast of flowing white robes on a moonlit rooftop, and those same robes pooled on the floor of his receiving hall.
Nie MingJue interrupts the verbose flow of insincerity with an impatient bark that makes half of the Sect Leaders recoil. None dare accuse him of discourtesy however, not with the Emperor in attendance. Once they have calmed their ruffled feathers, the conversation turns to more productive subjects. Unfortunately, these productive subjects are equally as boring, and Wei Ying thinks it cannot be healthy, suppressing so many urges to yawn in such a short period of time.  
Usually, he listens with half an ear, just in case he is required to offer some sound of assent or dissent. Uncle Jiang is skilled at steering these discussions to a reasonable conclusion, and Wei Ying only has to agree without giving them much thought. He is prepared to do the same today, but the mention of Gusu catches his attention, and he finds himself listening without intending to do so.  
The past year had been difficult for many; a drought in YingChuan, YangQuan, HeJian, followed by a heavy rainfall that had flooded parts of LanLing, MoLing, TingShan, and Gusu. Crops were ruined, livelihoods lost. Wei Ying is aware. The royal coffers had borne the brunt of these misfortunes. In fact, he is fairly certain that the royal coffers had paid for the necessary relief multiple times, and that the majority of this relief had gone to LanLing, LangYa, and the Sects closely aligned with the LanLing Jin. He clearly remembers the amounts requested by HeJian Fan and QingHe Nie. He knows exactly how much silver it took to reinforce MeiShan’s river dams. And he knows that GuangLing had received enough to rebuild the entire region from the ground up.
Yet, somehow, HeJian Fan and QingHe Nie, historically more in need of assistance, seem to have recovered fully. But the LanLing Jin faction claims to still be in distress. It is not so obvious, since none of the Sect Leaders will speak plainly, but these strings of complaints about failing crops, impassable roads, and roving groups of bandits can only lead to one place. They are angling for further assistance, and Wei Ying, never the one to count the gold in the treasury, or to care how it is spent, finds himself indignant at their shamelessness.
Perhaps it is only the fact that his mind keeps circling back to Lan Zhan’s white robes. Or perhaps it is the continuous silence at the end of the hall where Lan QiRen kneels, still as a statue. Whatever the reason, Wei Ying decides that enough is enough.
“Sect Leader Lan,” he says, interrupting Qin CangYe mid-sentence, “we have not heard any tales of your misfortunes. How does Gusu fare in the wake of these hardships?”
Lan QiRen does not look surprised to be addressed. He bows low, his voice both chillingly cool and irreproachably respectful.
“The Gusu Lan are honored by the Emperor’s attention. There is no need to trouble Your Majesty with our insignificant hardships.”
“TingShan has requested assistance three times in the last six months,” Wei Ying says, “It is unlikely that the calamities which have befallen them had bypassed Gusu altogether. You are neighbors after all. I would like to know the extent of the damage your region has suffered, and your methods of remedy.”
The others seem under the impression that the Emperor is preparing to reprimand the Gusu Lan, and most of them settle in comfortably, expecting a pleasant diversion. After all, in the past few years, the ritual humiliation of the Lan Sect had become a type of entertainment in its own right.
Lan QiRen rises, and makes his way to the center of the hall. Wei Ying has never bothered to study the Lan Sect Leader closely, but he does so now.
It is fascinating to see Lan Zhan’s hostile pride and courtesy being perfectly mirrored by a man whose appearance is so drastically different. Lan Zhan wears them as an armor, but it is an oddly endearing and somehow fragile-appearing armor, one Wei Ying thinks may easily crack under pressure. Lan QiRen, however, wears his pride as he would a sword. An ounce less of respect, and it would give the impression of hostility.
“Answering Your Majesty, three towns and six villages had requested assistance with the drought, one town and two villages with the excessive rainfall. The initial aid sent by Your Majesty had been distributed during the drought, to replace the lost crops for a period of one year, with hopes that the following harvest would make any further assistance unnecessary. LianYi was most severely affected, their poor irrigation techniques unable to sustain a prolonged shortage. The issue was solved by construction of of check dams, irrigation canals, and cisterns. Five other villages in close proximity to LianYi will also benefit from this construction; between them, the cost of the project was fully funded. The excessive rainfall had adversely affected the commerce in CaiYi Town, destroyed two embankments in ChuanYi, and decimated the dam at WuHou. WuHou was flooded, and it cannot sustain rebuilding efforts at this time. The villagers have been moved to HanYi, where approximately half are still receiving financial assistance from the Gusu Lan. The embankments at ChuanYi have been repaired; none of the villagers were displaced in the process. The commerce in CaiYi Town is still recovering. Its proximity to Gusu has allowed for temporary relocation of those whose livelihoods were lost. The Gusu Lan are still considering the best way to proceed on the provision of future assistance.”
Wei Ying leans back in his seat.
He does not like Sect Leader Lan. He never has. There is something about Lan QiRen’s bearing that suggests even Heavens should think twice before demanding his respect. And yet, it is difficult not to feel admiration for his fortitude, for his ability to stand, utterly unbowed, in the face of so much hostility.
“I am told that before my mother’s death, one could not become a Sect Leader without attending lectures at Cloud Recesses,” Wei Ying says thoughtfully, “Sect Leader Lan, do you still teach?”
The man does not blink at the mention of the Empress, although more than one Sect Leader squirms in discomfort.
“I do, Your Majesty.”
“There is clearly much the Empire could learn from your example,” Wei Ying says, “The Gusu Lan are to be commended for their competence.”
Lan QiRen accepts the compliment with the same cool serenity with which he accepts insults. Wei Ying wonders what it would take to provoke the man into any display of emotion.
“The financial relief you are currently sending to HanYi must cease. From this day on, the royal treasury with step in and provide the necessary assistance. I will also ask that you submit the cost of CaiYi Town restoration to the Royal Treasurer, so that those who have been relocated to Gusu may return to their homes.”
Lan QiRen still appears to be utterly unmoved, although he does kneel, and thank the Emperor for his generosity. 
Wei Ying does not want to be thanked. He would rather have some indication as to what the man is actually thinking underneath that cool exterior. But it seems that his efforts will not bear fruit today, so he focuses on needling the others.
“I am sure that any Sect Leader who is encountering difficulties in allocating their existing funds, will be grateful for Lan Sect Leader’s advice and guidance. Today, I will assume that any neglect of their duty is a result of ignorance, and not willful mismanagement. Therefore, I expect that they will educate themselves on how to govern more responsibly the future.”
The silence that greets his words seems a perfect excuse to bring the meeting to an end. Wei Ying feels that he has exhausted his store of patience for the day; he sweeps out of the hall while most of the Sect Leaders are still seated, forcing them to pay their respects to his retreating back.
He has not gone a dozen steps before Jiang FengMian catches up.
“That was... imprudent,” he says.
It certainly must have been, for uncle Jiang to actually say so out loud. Ordinarily, he would wait to voice his complaints until they are both behind closed doors, as no one should ever question the Emperor in public. Since Wei Ying rarely bothers taking initiative, these conversations are rare, and tend to end in Wei Ying yielding to his uncle’s superior understanding. This time, however, Wei Ying has no regrets.
“I know what you want to say. The Sect Leaders feel that they have been insulted for the sake of a Sect they unanimously despise, even when they cannot agree on anything else. I have given them a good reason to show a united front, when it is preferable to have them waste time in petty bickering. Worse, Lan QiRen will not thank me for holding him up as a shining example of competence, just so I can better highlight their abysmal failures. It is likely that my actions have only increased the animosity the others feel towards the Lan Sect.”
Uncle Jiang sighs, “If you know that nothing was accomplished by it, then why?”
“Something was accomplished. The Lan Sect will receive the assistance it needs. The rest have been accused of mismanagement, and will rush to either hide or distribute any misappropriated funds. Right now, they are anxious that I mean to send an independent magistrate to re-examine their spending. I hope this keeps them on the edge for months. It serves them right. As if LanLing Jin would ever need financial assistance from the Royal Treasury,” he scoffs, “Jin GuangShan could probably build an Immortal Mountain of his own, but has the audacity to complain about the cost of dam repairs.”
“The Emperor is the father of the nation,” uncle Jiang says gently, “he should have more patience for his children, even when it seems that they do not deserve it.”
Wei Ying has never been so grateful to see the doors of his own chambers.
It is only the first day. The first day out of seven, and not even half over.
“Parents who are afraid to put their foot down, usually have children who step on their toes,” he says firmly, “Now, I must change for the banquet. If the High Councilor insists, we may continue this conversation later.”
Uncle Jiang does not look particularly happy, but he bows and heads back to the meeting hall, probably intending to placate everyone Wei Ying has offended. 
Wei Ying does not care. If Jin GuangShan even breathes in his direction in the next twenty-four hours, shijie will have to find someone else to marry.
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princesssarisa · 4 years
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Assorted thoughts on “Little Women”
 In no particular order.
*I’m glad I waited this long to read the original, unabridged novel. If I had read it as a teen or a preteen, I just might have followed countless girl readers’ example of having a crush on Laurie and being angry that Jo doesn’t marry him. Reading it now, I’m able to see him as the well-rounded, likable yet flawed character he is, not just as a girl’s prize, and realize that while he and Jo have a beautiful friendship, they wouldn’t have worked as a couple. The canon pairings of Jo/Friedrich and Amy/Laurie are the right ones.
*About the controversial issue of the characters’ ambitions... None of the young leads achieve their childhood dreams in the end; Alcott’s intended message was clearly  “We don’t always achieve our dreams, but life can still be happy in ways we never expected.” That’s all well and good. But apart from Meg’s gender-neutral dream of being rich, the characters’ “castles in the air” are all in defiance of their expected gender roles: Jo wants to be a famous author and Amy a famous artist, two fields normally reserved for men, while Laurie wants to be a composer instead of going into his grandfather’s business. And all three of their endings are distinctly more gender-conforming: Jo becomes a schoolmistress, Amy becomes a society lady, both become wives and mothers, and Laurie goes into business “like a man.” I think it’s fair for modern readers to be disappointed by that conformity, even while appreciating the realistic message about childhood dreams. Those feelings aren’t mutually exclusive. For modern audiences, I think the standard adaptational change of Jo publishing her own version of Little Women at the end (instead of 20 years later in the last sequel) is a good change.
*About Jo needing to control her temper... I understand why this annoys some feminists. So often women are expected to suppress all anger and never stand up for themselves. Maybe it is problematic that role model Marmee explicitly never shows her anger, but only purses her lips and leaves the room. But personally, I think it’s presented in a healthy, gender-neutral way. Jo’s anger isn’t a problem because it’s “unseemly” or “unfeminine,” but because it can lead her to do cruel things to others. The mistake that teaches her the lesson in “Jo Meets Appolyon,” letting Amy skate on the thin ice, isn’t a loud, aggressive act of rage, but a cold, silent act (or rather inaction) of spite. Besides “control your temper” doesn’t mean “never stand up for yourself.” The book has several examples of women calmly yet firmly calling out other people’s bad behavior (most often Laurie’s ^–^) and it’s portrayed as entirely right. And though it’s tempting to be annoyed by Mr. March putting his finger to his lips when he sees his wife starting to get angry, it’s also a nice subversion of gender stereotypes to see a marriage where the husband is gentler by nature than his wife and is a calming influence on her. Stereotypical couples are the other way around.
*As a person on the autism spectrum, I relate strongly to Beth. I fully embrace the headcanon that Beth herself is autistic and that Lizzie Alcott might have been diagnosed as such if she had lived today. So it hurts a little to see other readers call Beth “boring,” “annoying,” a “doormat” and “the worst of the sisters.” Although she is idealized because she was Alcott’s tribute to her dead little sister, she’s not the cardboard cutout of bland feminine virtue she’s so often been stereotyped as being. It’s clear from the start that Beth isn’t “normal,” either by our standards or by past ones. Her crippling shyness isn’t just “sweet Victorian modesty,” but portrayed as a real flaw that she struggles to overcome. She’s been homeschooled because as a child her social anxiety made regular school unbearable for her. She still plays with dolls, believes in Santa Claus and has imaginary friends at age 13. She has no desire to get married, or to have any kind of career, or ever to leave her parents’ house. And because of all this, she clearly has a low opinion of herself: hence she tells Jo that she was never meant to live long, because she would never have been anything but “stupid little Beth, trotting about at home.” But the narrative belies her words. In both of her illnesses, so many people rally around her and reveal how much they love her and how valuable her quiet kindness has been in their lives. Ultimately she dies in peace because she realizes her life hasn’t been worthless after all. With my own social struggles, my tendency to be “younger than my years,” and my own desire to have a quiet life close to my family instead of going out into the big, overwhelming world and doing big, overwhelming things, I find her storyline beautiful, because it gives me hope that my life is just as valuable as anyone else’s.
*I also relate to Jo, as so many readers do. The result is that I’m of two minds of the chapters “Calls” and “Consequences.” On the one hand, there’s no doubt that Jo is at fault in those chapters and does more-or-less deserves to lose the trip to Europe. She’s genuinely, purposefully rude to her aunts and to the other people they visit and she humiliates Amy and harms her social life – at the subsequent fair, the Chesters ban Amy from the art table because Jo insulted them. Plus the only reason why she has to join Amy in the calls in the first place is because she promised she would, so it’s hypocritical of her to whine about it. But on the other hand, I do empathize with Jo. With my own my social difficulties, I relate to her hating formal occasions where she has to dress up, mind her manners, make small talk about topics that don’t interest her with people she dislikes, and always be “agreeable” and “docile.” For Jo and for so many of us, it’s so hard to be that way, yet it’s the mold that all women were expected to stuff themselves into in the 19th century and to an extent still are today. Amy is lucky that she enjoys playing that social game and that it comes naturally to her. So it’s easy to sympathize with Jo’s envy when Amy is chosen to go to Europe, to feel as if Amy is rewarded for her social conformity while Jo is punished for failing to conform, and to feel as if the message is that all girls should conform like Amy. Fortunately, the book as a whole doesn’t send that message: even Amy achieves her ultimate happiness by letting herself be a bit more like Jo and call Laurie out on his laziness and apathy, when back in “Calls” she had argued that a lady should never show disapproval to a man.
*I don’t understand why some commentators think the chapter “On the Shelf” is so horribly sexist. Well, actually, I do. It’s tempting to find fault with John for being “jealous” that Meg is focusing more on their babies than on him and for “neglecting” Meg and spending carefree evenings out while she slaves away with the twins. And for Meg to be told by her mother that this is her own fault for “neglecting her duty to her husband” understandably rankles some feminists. But I honestly don’t think there’s any real problem. Meg genuinely neglects John and overtaxes herself by devoting every waking minute to the twins and letting neither John nor anyone else help her, because she’s afraid that otherwise she’ll be a bad mother. John isn’t jealous of the babies, he understandably feels ignored and useless. Nor (despite what some critics think) does he cheat on Meg, or want to. He just goes to a friend’s house rather than sit alone at home; Meg’s fear that his eye is roving to Mrs. Scott is just a product of her own stress. The resolution is arguably just the opposite of sexist: Meg finally lets John take an equal share of child-rearing duties, lets Hannah babysit often so they can both have time for themselves too, and steps out of her domestic sphere to share talks with John about politics, literature, etc. By the end of the chapter, their marriage is more egalitarian than ever.
*I’d like to read a fanfic where Jo meets Rodolfo from La Bohéme. I wouldn’t ship them, since they’re even more “too much alike” than Jo and Laurie are, but I’d like to see them meet. They’re both lively, passionate, temperamental ENFP writers, whose minds are full of “castles in the air” (they both use that exact phrase), yet whose lives both turn out differently than they had hoped, although Jo’s outcome is much happier. Both also adore a sweet, gentle, sickly young girl (Jo’s sister Beth/Rodolfo’s love interest Mimí) whose death they both regard as the end of their own youth. Furthermore, both of their authors modeled them after themselves. Jo is more down-to-earth than Rodolfo, though, and I’m not sure if they’d be friends or hate each other – Jo would definitely be indignant to learn how Rodolfo emotionally abused and broke up with Mimí because he couldn’t bear to watch her die, when she herself nursed Beth day and night through both of her illnesses and never left her side. But it would be an interesting meeting.
@fairychamber, @thatvermilionflycatcher
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greennct · 4 years
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license to kill - nakamoto yuta
this is part one | here’s the link to part two
please read the paragraph below!!
hi everyone! back from another ridiculously long hiatus to attempt something i've never tried before. it’s more ambitious then i've ever been in terms of sheer scale, but i'm really excited about it, and i hope you are too! this is the first of a three (or maybe even four???) part series, focusing around a rich young socialite and our very own nakamoto yuta. because the plotline relies upon some patriarchal stereotypes, i'm afraid that i've had to write the reader as a female, though every other one of my stories is completely gender neutral. there are also some mildly graphic descriptions of violence within the story, as it is a bodyguard!au. this means that there will be angst as well as fluff (of course), but please expect a slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers series, and please, of course, slide into my inbox and leave me feedback!!!
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Tottering down the steps of your private jet, you snatched your purse from the flight attendant. Collapsing into the backseat of the Range Rover waiting for you on the landing strip, you ensured the Chanel logo on the bag’s clasp  was the right way up. Immediately, a man sitting next to the chauffeur in the front seat turned around to brief you.   
“Ms, you’re speech this evening is at 9pm, so your father would like you to be there at-“
“I’ll get there 10:30,” you simpered, acrylic nails tapping on your phone alerting everyone you knew in Monaco that you had touched down. 
“You’re supposed to be attracting investors for your father’s latest project in Saudi Arabia, I’m afraid I’m going to have to insist on-“
“Listen, Jarvis, or whatever your name is,” you peered over your huge black Dior sunglasses for the first time since exiting the plane. “I don’t know if you’ve been briefed properly on how this whole thing works,” You paused to smile at him, “Because you clearly don’t understand what’s going on, but I make the rules around here. So tell the investors 10:30, or cancel the entire fucking evening, okay?” 
The middle-aged man in the front of the car who had been addressing you gulped audibly, and nodded silently. You watched him, amused, as he debated whether or not to argue with you. 
“Then I’ll have to insist on a-”
“Bodyguard?” You interrupted. “Oh no, that won’t be necessary. I’m a big girl, Jarvis. I think I had handle making it the three meters from buildings to cars all by myself.”
The car slowed, as it pulled up to your hotel.
“Oh, and I’m going clubbing beforehand with Sasha,” you continued, as your door was opened. “So make sure my Givenchy dress has been steamed, get out the Cartier bracelet from the safe, oh and-“ You thrust a pile of stained clothing at the front seat. “Here’s my dry cleaning. Make sure the Oscar de la Renta is ready by tonight - I’ll change in the car.” 
With that, you took the hand of the driver waiting to assist you out of the Rolls Royce, and sauntered up the steps of the Hotel de Paris. Just another weekend, you thought to yourself. You wondered how many people would kill to live the life you do. You instructed the doorman to bring your bags up to your penthouse suite. You smiled. 
---
You arrived at the super-yacht in which your father’s fundraiser was being held at 11, clutching onto the aim of one of the polo-riding, stock-investing brawny heirs you had picked up at your last club, more than a little tipsy - and positively fuming. Your gorgeous satin Oscar de la Renta ballgown had been completely ruined by his callous hands in the limo ride on the way there - despite your irritated warnings, and you had opted for tequila instead of vodka that evening, which made you cranky, rather than buzzed. However, despite these inconveniences, you were expected to perform, to advertise a product, to sell the lifestyle you led, and so, you snatched the cue cards you had been prepared from anxious hands, and marched on stage, head held high.
You were done in half an hour, mingled for fifteen minutes, then snatched a flute of champagne off a tray, and headed towards the helm of the ship, away from the rest of the party. The air on the yacht was hot and thick, but your cold glass, and silk dress kept you cool. You leant ever so slightly over the railing of the boat, simply observing your fellow guests on the deck below. Leaning over even more, you craned your neck until all you could see was the black waves that surrounded you.
You were waiting. 
You didn’t know who the man would be, but one always came. The smartest, the slickest, the richest of the pack of slavering, greasy pinstriped suits waiting blow. He was the one who understood that behind your polished, trademark Louboutin facade was the CEO-in-training of one of the most powerful global industries the world had ever seen. 
“I liked the speech,” came a drawl from a your left. You tried to hide your smirk.
“Thank-“
“Oh, no, I wasn’t complimenting you.” He interrupted before you could finish your sentence. “I just meant to pass it on to whoever wrote it for you.” 
Your face almost flushed. You paused, considering how to reply to his challenge. You decided to play it dumb, at least for the moment. “How could you tell?”
“No one speaks with that rapture about oil deals if they really know what oil deals are. It was good, of course. but...” there was a pause. You realised with a start that the man was toying with you. “...almost facetious. You seem to think no one will dare negotiate your criminal deals if you slap a pretty face onto.”
You turned around for the first time, to face him properly. A stocky, middle-aged man with thinning hair combed over a damp forehead. Clearly someone was affected by the heat. You felt a much less intimidated.
“You have no proof I didn’t write that.” You shot back. “And my father’s deals aren’t illegal.” 
“They should be,” said the man, reaching into his suit jacket’s inside pocket. “For the people he fucks over to make the money he does.” You frowned as you heard a metallic clicking. You only realised he had cocked a gun when you felt the cold barrel press into your back. 
You froze, panic welling up inside you. 
“Now,” he murmured, voice so peaceful the two of you could be having a conversation about the weather, “You’re going to follow me off the ship into the van around the back of the parking lot outside and get in the back, okay sweetie?”
You felt yourself nodding, limbs jolting into motion in response to the cold pressure you felt on your spine. The walk off the yacht to the parking lot couldn’t have been more than sixty or so yards, but it felt like an hour at least. But all that time - it allowed the shock to wear off. You realised, you understood what was happening to you. And if you had learned anything for 18 years of private school tuition, it was that you were not going down without a fight. 
You had barely made it off the boat when you turned around sharply, poised to knock the weapon out of the man’s hand, when several things happened in a short space of time.
There was a wild scream which you realised afterwards had come from your own mouth. The whole yacht seemed to freeze, as heads whipped around to stare at the scene unfolding, whilst your father’s bodyguards rushed over to you in slow motion, tackling the man to the ground. Then there was a sharp bang, and you felt your legs buckle slightly under impact. You kept your eyes open, determined to meet death with your head held high. You felt someone grab your torso, and swing you over his shoulder. You knew you should fight back, but you suddenly felt incredibly tired. The last thing you could remember was watching your arms dangle down over someone’s back, with blood dripping down your arms, off your fingernails, onto the tarmac.
-
You woke up in your father’s office. This was a surprise for multiple reasons. The first was, that you were sure that you had passed out in Monaco, and your father’s penthouse was located in New York. The second was that, well, you were alive. Examining your limbs carefully, you were surprised to find yourself unharmed, save from a thick cast around your left leg. However, the most shock came in the form of your father. You hadn’t seen the man for six months, and weren't scheduled to for another year at least.
“Daddy!” You said, attempting to rise from the couch you had been placed in, in the corner of his office. He looked up from over his computer screen, as you felt a pain shooting up your bad leg. 
“Oh, don’t get up sweetie.” He smiled at you. “You’ve been shot, remember?”
You laughed awkwardly. “Um, yeah!” You tucked your hair behind your ear, noticing how limp it had become from neglect. “How long have I been here?”
“In New York? About a week, doll. In my office?” He checked his watch. “The past hour or so. I had you brought up here when I heard you were waking up from your medically induced coma.”
“My what sorry?” 
“Oh, I put you in a coma to make sure you got over here safe.”
“You-”
“It’s only a flesh wound, don’t worry - but you did lose a lot of blood.”
“I-”
“But that’s the least of my problems, to be honest. I mean, people trying to kill my family?”
“That’s-”
“So I’ve decided to up your security. You have a new bodyguard, Nakamoto.”
“What-”
“-and I’m sending you away to lie low in Switzerland for the next year.”
“Excuse m-”
“Up in the mountains. I've bought you a cabin there, it’ll be-”
“DADDY!” You shouted, almost panting from the exertion of getting a word in. He looked into your eyes for the first time, mildly surprised. 
“What is it, doll?”
“What are you talking about?! I- I’m not going to Switzerland! I have a life, and friends, and- and no one is trying to kill me! They just wanted money, I had the whole thing under control-”
“So under control that you got yourself shot, and then passed out. If it hadn’t been for George-”
“-neglecting his duties, I never would’ve been in that situation in the first place!” 
“This is exactly why you need a bodyguard. A new one this time, who’ll be with you 24/7, the whole year.”
“I’m not going anywhere for five minutes, okay. You can’t just control my life!” 
“Sweetie, you are in danger. Do you understand? I don’t care what you want to do, this is what I need to keep you safe.” You stared at him, trying to work out if he was actually serious. “This is my final word.”
You slumped back in your chair, a sick feeling growing in the pit of your stomach. You knew when your father used that tone, there was no arguing.
Your entire life for the foreseeable future suddenly looked incredibly bleak. What's worse - you were going to have to spend it with a boring old man, waiting out your prison sentence in pretty much isolation. You suddenly realised your father had still been talking all the way through your internal monologue. 
“Huh?”
“I was saying, your bodyguard is here. He’s been with you this week in the hospital, ever since you touched down, but I suppose this will be your first time actually meeting him. Nakamoto!” He snapped his fingers, and a man slipped through the door. 
You looked him up and down, this man who was supposed to keep you alive, not quite confused, but... surprised. He certainly wasn’t like any bodyguard your father had employed previously.
He looked barely 18, tall and wiry, yet you had no doubt there were sinewed muscles hiding beneath his tailored suit. His hair was long, black strands curling over his forehead, almost dusting his eyebrows. His mouth was set into a thin, stony line, jawline so sharp and stony you wouldn’t be surprised if someone told you he had never smiled. Your eyes dragged upwards, and met his, and a chill ran down your spine. They weren’t particularly striking, a very average sort of brown, but the look in them - unflinching, emotionless, deadly. You were sure he’d killed before. You had no doubt he would again in an instant. Any doubts you had previously about his skill immediately dissolved.
“What did you say his name was?” You murmured, eyes still locked on his.
“Nakamoto.”
“Nakamoto, huh?” You paused, slowly taking a step towards him. There was no reaction. “So you’re the one who’s supposed to stop all these people trying to kill me.”
He didn’t answer.
You smiled, ignoring his rudeness. You liked a challenge.
You predicted he’d last a week.
The next day, you were slumped into the back of the Rolls Royce, watching the private jet that would take you away from life as you knew it grow closer and closer as you sped along the airfield. Before you knew it, the car door had opened, and your crutches were thrust to you by a surly Nakamoto. He had accompanied you back to your penthouse, and watched you pack up your belongings, then unpack, then cry all over them, then pack them back up again. He had waited outside your front door the whole night - he didn’t sleep. At this point you weren’t sure if he slept at all. 
Hobbling over to the plane, you shoved your crutches at the waiting flight attendant, then grabbed the railings attached to the steps. 
“You can’t get up there.” 
You whipped your head around, confused. Nakamoto had spoken for the first time.
“What?”
“Your leg.” He nodded towards your cast. 
“I’ll be fine.” You turned back around, ready to hoist yourself up. 
You felt arms around your waist, strong ones, lifting you over his shoulder, and up the stairs. You couldn’t detect any strain in the boy’s body. He had picked you up like you weighed less than a feather. You let out a small squeak of surprise.
He set you down at the top of the stairs, straightening his suit jacket. 
“Uh, you didn’t have to do that.” You muttered. 
He didn’t reply, just handed you your crutches silently, and went into the cockpit to speak to the pilot. 
You sighed. This was going to be a long plane ride.
“This is where I’m living for the next six months?!” you shrieked, staring up at the log cabin.
After having been bundled into what looked suspiciously like a Volvo (gross!) at the airport, Nakamoto had shoved your trunks into the backseat until they surrounded you, blocking your view out of the grimy windows. You could tell it was cold, as you huddled into your thin Missoni cardigan, and hunkered down on the fake leather. You must’ve fallen asleep at some point, because the next thing you knew, Nakamoto was yanking a case from underneath your head, and you were brusquely awakened. 
That was when you had caught sight of the two-storey hulk of timber that was supposed to house both you and another person for at least a year. At this point, you weren’t even sure it could hold your closet. The cabin was built into the mountain, surrounded by snow-dusted fir trees, and you supposed to someone else, it might’ve seemed endearing. To you, it looked exactly as it was: a prison sentence. 
“I’m fucking f-f-reezing,” you muttered, as he lifted you out of the car, and carried you up the steps to the front door, bridal-style. At this point, you didn’t even expect an answer, just wanted him to know that you were not happy about this. At all. 
He stopped at the door, shifting you slightly in his arms in order to type a code into the door. Staring up at his face, you couldn’t help but fixate on the snowflakes that had swirled onto his eyelashes. It made him look- not handsome exactly, but almost as if he could be, if he wanted to.
You hadn’t realised you had gone inside until he set you down on a sofa. “Where am-” but he was already gone. 
You spent the next half an hour watching Nakamoto haul your luggage into the house. He had changed from his suit into a pair of navy jeans and a charcoal turtleneck, probably to arise as little suspicion as possible in the airport. You almost smiled at the thought - there was no way anyone wasn’t going to be curious about a young man driving through town with a car stuffed full of Louis Vuitton suitcases. 
Suddenly, you noticed something was missing. Something that was imperative to your survival. 
“Nakamoto,” you called, trying to keep the rising panic out of your voice. “Where’s my phone?” 
He walked into the living room which you had been stuck in, a folded hoodie in his arms. 
“You’re not allowed your phone. Someone could track it’s signal.” 
“What?!” Your stomach dropped. “I need that phone to-”
“There’s an untraceable landline if you want to contact family.” His back was to you now, fiddling around with the unlit fireplace.
You spluttered, bewildered by how matter-of-fact he was about taking your entire social life away. “My friends, I have t-”
“This is non-negotiable.” And with that, he stood back from a roaring fire, placed the hoodie on the table next to where you were lying, and left the room. 
You scoffed, muttering furiously under your breath. This was the final straw. Your confusion had hardened into cold fury. Grabbing your crutches, you headed to your bedroom. After all, you had a lot to do. You were going to get out of there - and you were going to do it that night.
At eight, Nakamoto appeared at your doorway with some kind of vegetable soup and some buttered toast, where you were sat at the sad excuse for a desk, scribbling onto scraps of paper. You ignored the meal, no matter how good it smelt. 
At nine you turned off your lamp, and sat on your bed, waiting.
At nine-thirty you saw the light across the hall snap off, as Nakamoto headed to sleep.
At ten you crept down the hall, dragging your dead leg behind you. You had decided that your crutches would make too much noise, so you had opted for simply shuffling along the corridor, clinging onto the wall for support. You reached the front door, and almost chuckled. Nakamoto had left the car keys on the table right next to the door. Idiot, you thought to yourself. You unlocked the door as quietly as you could, cringing at the rusty clicks. After waiting thirty seconds for any sign of movement, you pulled open the door and let the sharp, free air hit your face. After closing the door just as silently, you gritted your teeth. 
The only thing standing between you, the car, and total freedom was a set of ten wooden steps that led up to the cabin. 
Your leg wound made it almost impossible to put any weight on your left side, and walking down the stairs required a lot of concentration to ensure that you didn’t damage the injury. It was going to be hard enough in the car pressing onto it every time you needed to brake, and you needed to save as much energy as you could. 
The first two steps went by smoothly, and apart from the burning in your arms having to hold yourself up, you started to gain confidence. That was, until the invisible ice on the third step hurled your body onto your left side. It took all of your willpower not to scream at the agony coursing through your body, but you had to stop for at least three minutes to recuperate. You tried the fourth step much more tentatively, and made it halfway, until your arms gave out, and you felt yourself losing grip on the banister. Once again, your weight was pushed onto the left side of your body, and you felt yourself falling. You must’ve blacked out for a few seconds, because suddenly your eyes were shooting open, and you gasped loudly, drawing air into your lungs. You could feel the hole in your leg pulsating in pain, and as you dared to sneak a glance down to your leg, you could see blood start to seep through your flimsy pyjama bottoms down your thigh. Swallowing the nauseous panic that was threatening to empty your stomach, you balled your palms into fists. There was no way you had gotten this far for nothing. You’d find a hospital at the airport.
The last few feet to the car, you crawled. It took ten minutes of torment, frequent breaks and a few more tears than you cared to admit to reach the car door, but you reached the car door. Unlocked with fumbling, frozen fingers you used the last ounce of your strength to pull yourself into the drivers seat. Once the door was closed you let out a sigh, a grin spreading across your face. You were free. There was no way that you were ever going to have stayed in that cabin for a year, least of all with a monosyllabic freak like Nakamoto. But he couldn’t stop you now. No one could, not with your key in the car that was going to drive you anywhere you wanted, all the way back-
“Going somewhere?” A voice growled from the backseat. 
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swordoforion · 3 years
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Orion Digest №45 - Alternate Models of ESF: What is Essential?
Eco-socialist federalism was founded on, and still relies upon, its central tenets. Regardless of the method by which it is implemented, it is important to understand that the nations of Earth must be united under one federation, that economy cannot serve the people adequately unless the means of production are available to public use, and until the system created is focused upon the preservation of Earth's ecosystem to allow humanity's continued survival. Everything else, much of what has been introduced in past issues, is merely models and suggestions on how this much could realistically be achieved.
I stand firm on the idea that the basic description listed above is true and necessary, but I also understand that the methods previously disclosed could be susceptible to my personal biases or lapses in my knowledge. Many have tried to implement the above concepts and met with some degree of failure, though the ideals are not to blame; simply the way they were handled. Similarly, I intend to keep writing and proposing more details on eco-socialist federalism as I envision it, but at the same time I am entirely welcome to alternate interpretations and approaches to the application of ESF to the world's political systems, as well as suggestions for improvement upon my own models.
It is not that I consider what I have written incorrect, but one person's perspective on such an issue might not compare to the perspectives of many. The two may align, but I find that the insights and experiences of others can make a collaborative piece of theory or art all the greater, and the juxtaposition of two differing perspective on an issue can prove a great testing ground for the merits of an individual theory. I believe that there are multiple ways that eco-socialist federalism can be achieved, and that different models can be more effective at accomplishing the goals of Orion.
While our membership leaves us currently unable for such a democratic assembly, the aim is to spread across the world and accumulate members that can reach a consensus on a strategy forward, and when the time comes, I am prepared to make my case not just through essays, but to members of Orion from every region, in hopes that I will find a majority that is in agreement with my plan. At the same time, to not leave my strategy up to democratic review would be a disservice to the spirit of the mission - we aim to build a world that serves the people, and if it is found that my judgement is lacking, and that current ESF models are inefficient in putting people and progress first, I am welcome to new and fresh ideas.
Similarly, when the time comes where Orion's structure has been filled out and established, I intend not to continue to serve as Instruist (as derived from the Esperanto word 'instruisto', the elected chair of Sword COMMAND, the executive house of Orion's command structure - represented by the office's seal, DKTC) until properly and democratically re-elected by such an assembly. My intent is to lay down the foundations of Orionist theory, philosophy and structure, as well as to propose my own approach to them, and leave it up to future members of this organization as to what path they shall choose to take.
So then, how might other models differ? While a federation must remain democratic, the structure of Parliament, the Judiciary, and the Executive Bureaucracy are not set in stone, let alone are the presence of such houses assured. Models that still allow for citizens to have a say in every level of government still accomplish the basic purpose. An economy can still be socialist while ridding itself of the market, so long as every citizen that falls beneath the livable threshold is provided for, and that the means of production are accountable and available to the public, rather than to private ownership. Finally, while de-escalation is one proposed strategy for environmental revitalization, there could exist both more and less extreme alternatives to save the ecosystem, especially as more and more advanced technology is developed.
It is important to understand that these models may need to change with the passage of time due to the unpredictability of the future. Certain circumstances may arise that require Orion to adapt and change, whether political, social, or environmental. For example, should the federation established one day be distorted into the antithesis of its ideals, it would be foolhardy to simply try once more with the same exact strategy; it is of vital importance that Orion can learn and grow with time. Just as a federation may be fallible, it is important for each member to understand that so too could the organization become doggedly stuck on an incorrect path, and as a member, it is important to stand up and fight even their fellow members on issues of importance to the organization and the world.
Outside of eco-socialist federalism, the other two primary components essential to Orionist thought are those of philosophy and structure, both of which have been laid out. Digest No. 41 detailed the basics of Orionist philosophy - the five levels (beauty, empathy, responsibility, discipline, and sacrifice) that detail the duty to fight so that the people of the world can truly appreciate the world around them and find greater meaning in their lives. Structure is listed already in several places - the two house command structure of Orion (Sword COMMAND, of which the Instruist is elected and the other positions are appointed; and the Council of Flagbearers, of which regions elect their own representatives), as well as the three branches (Sword of Orion, Liberius, Museion Institute) and their respective chapters.
Beyond this, I anticipate that over the course of Orion's existence, the words and theories written down in the Digest may be subject to change and evolution, and while I may find myself in disagreement, I am open to the idea of being proved wrong. However, it is vital that the theory, philosophy, and structure remain essential. We cannot forget that people deserve to enjoy the world, and that we owe it to each other to be kind and work together. We cannot neglect the precious balance between us and our natural habitat. We must make sure that our society is one that is united and puts accountability in the hands of both the individual and the community. Finally, as long as there are those who are willing to strive for these ideals, Orion must fight for the survival and prosperity of humanity, and for that unending pursuit of beauty and knowledge.
- DKTC FL
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karmies · 3 years
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Affiliate Marketing on Facebook (2021 Guide)
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  If you've been dabbling in the online space for any amount of time, you probably know what affiliate marketing is. If you don't, then you will probably be surprised to find out that it's probably the best way to make money online as a beginner.   That's because you don't need to create your own product. You can literally make thousands of dollars every month by promoting other people's products and make sweet commissions for your troubles.   Although it sounds very easy on paper, affiliate marketing became more and more popular in the last couple of years. Meaning that the competition is not be something that you should neglect.   However, that shouldn't stop you from starting your first affiliate business. With the right training, you have a very good chance of succeeding in this industry and start making passive income (more on that later).   Facebook is one of the most popular platforms for affiliate marketers, simply because they know more about their users than their own families. Think about it: Facebook literally knows everything about you.   They track absolutely every scroll and click you perform on their platform. That's amazing for people like you and me, because we can target the exact people who are the most likely to purchase what we offer them.   As a side note, Facebook ads are my favorite way to make money online and I've been doing it for more than 7 years. If you're asking yourself whether or not you can too, than the answer is yes. Facebook isn't going anywhere and you should at least consider giving it a try.   If that already got you excited, then you're in the right place! By the end of this guide, you will be familiar with affiliate marketing on Facebook, as well as what steps you will need to take in order to start making money as an affiliate.   Affiliate Marketing On Facebook: How To Start   In order to get to the point of making commissions on autopilot, you first need to become familiar with the steps required to get there. There's no reason to rush and spend hundreds and thousands of dollars on your first campaign hoping it will pay off (trust me, I know).   If this is not the first affiliate marketing guide you read, then you are probably familiar with some of the things you are about to read. If not, then you should have an overview of the things you need to do to get started.   Choose a Niche   You've probably heard this a million times, but I will do my duty and tell you again. You need to choose a niche in order to be successful at ANY business.   We all want everyone to be our target market and make as much money as possible. The truth is that you must establish who will be the most interested in the products you recommend.   For example, you can't sell dog training products to people who are interested in fitness. I mean you can do whatever you want, but as you can probably guess, you will not make much money in that specific scenario.   The most popular niches are health, wealth and relationships. However, that doesn't mean that these are the only profitable niches.   Personally, I've had a ton of success in many obscure niches that nobody even thinks about. For example woodworking, dog training, make up, office chairs and so on.   The possibilities are endless and you shouldn't choose a niche just because it seems profitable. With the right training, you can have success in any niche.   - Try choosing a niche that you are a bit interested in. You don't need to absolutely love it or be married with it. It's just that if you choose something that you at least mildly like, you will be more likely to continue and not give up. Sometimes (especially in the beginning) it can be a bit discouraging when you don't see money immediately rolling into your account.   - The niche should have good products. Don't think too much about this, but there should be at least a couple of decent products that you can recommend. If the niche is full of crappy products, then you will have a hard time selling them.   - If there are a lot of people searching for products in that niche, this is a good sign. Traffic is one of the most important aspects of any online business.     Create a Facebook Page   After you choose your niche, the next step you need to take is to create a Facebook page. It should be focused around that niche and you should constantly post new content and promote your offers.   Once your page will start growing, the Facebook algorithm will naturally push your page towards the top. Keep in mind you need to have some sort of engagement from your audience, meaning that people should be active on your page.   You might be tempted to create your own Facebook group. Keep in mind that these don't perform very well when it comes to making sales, so you it's better to stick with pages.   Try creating polls, asking questions and posting nice pictures. You will be surprised how easy it is once you start getting a hang of it.   Don't Spam Your Offers   One of the most common mistakes all beginners make once they start their affiliate business is spamming their links. Keep in mind that this is not the way to grow a legitimate business.   This principle is valid even in the real world. Imagine going into a clothing store and having an employee harassing you to buy a T-shirt every 5 minutes. There's no need to say that you will not be returning to that store anytime soon.   So, yeah. Don't annoy people with your offers. In stead, you should do your best to provide useful content and every once in a while you can post an ad. In my experience, out of every 5 posts, only 1 should be an ad.   However, don't be afraid to experiment and have fun!   Don't Link Directly To An Offer   Another important aspect of affiliate marketing on Facebook is that they will probably ban you if you post directly to an offer. Also, your conversion rates will suffer if you do so.   In stead, you should create a sales funnel or a landing page for your customers. You will be surprised on how well these perform. You will make much more sales, and therefore your business will grow faster.   If you were to start your own affiliate blog and post content over there, you shouldn't worry about rules and regulations too much. However, it will take significantly longer to start getting results as opposed to Facebook.   Remember that Facebook has a ton of rules in regards to affiliate marketing. Try your best not to break them and you will be fine.     Use Facebook Ads To Grow Your Page   As you found out in the beginning of the article, Facebook ads are my favorite way to make money with affiliate marketing. This is simply because you can make money quite fast and once you start getting good at it, you will need to work less and less.   If you get anything out of this guide, remember this: Facebook ads are very quick and profitable in terms of growing an affiliate business. You can pay Mark Zuckerberg to give you traffic so you don't have to wait a century to grow your business.   Keep in mind that you will need to get good at this in order to consistently make money. If you see that your ad doesn't work, just close it and try another one.   If you have a decent budget, I highly recommend investing in Facebook ads. Not only you can be very profitable, but it's also a skill that will stay with you for your entire life.   Do Facebook Ads Allow Affiliate Links?   Yes, Facebook allows people to post their affiliate links in their ads. There has been a lot of misinformation regarding this subject and that's why I decided to address this topic.   You are allowed to post your links in your ads. However, Facebook doesn't suggest you do so if you link to inappropriate pages, such as pornography and other obscure stuff like that (I hope it's not your case).   Also, you shouldn't pour money into a post that contains an ad with your link. I did this before and I got banned. So yeah ... don't do that.   Facebook ads are so profitable that you don't want to make the admins upset and ban you. If you exceedingly post your affiliate links in your ads, you will probably make good money for a short period of time. But I suggest you capture those leads in your email list so that you can sell them more products in the future.   Don't neglect email marketing, as it's one of the best ways to promote your affiliate offers (not better than Facebook ads, but still an option to keep in mind).   Once you capture that email, you will be able to sell them products for as long as they stay on your list. If you pay for Facebook ads, then it makes sense to get something more long term out of it, apart from 1 sale, right?   Facebook Affiliate Marketing Rules   Ask anyone that has been running Facebook ads about the rules and they will immediately get angry. Their rules are so vague that it's irritating.   Sometimes they will suspend your account and you need to email them in order to get it back. Not such a big deal, but it can get quite annoying.   On the other hand, you should always state that a link is an affiliate link if that's the case. There's no need to get into legal trouble.   Again, Facebook rules can get quite annoying, but you shouldn't care too much because the ads are very profitable (if you have the right training).   Final Thoughts   Affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to make money on the internet. And Facebook is a great platform to do it on.   Not only because it can be really profitable, but also because Facebook is not going anywhere. Which means that once you learn how to do it (it will maybe take a couple of weeks or months), you will have transferable skills that will stay with you forever.   If you want to learn how to become a profitable affiliate marketer on Facebook, I highly suggest investing in Robby Blanchard's Commission Hero. It will teach you everything you need to create a profitable affiliate business. You can thank me later. Read the full article
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venusian-bitch · 7 years
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Aries: It's not your birthday, but I feel like you need to get presents. The astrological omens agree with me. In fact, they suggest you should show people this horoscope to motivate them to do the right thing and shower you with practical blessings. And why exactly do you need these rewards? Here's one reason: Now is a pivotal moment in the development of your own ability to give the unique gifts you have to give. If you receive tangible demonstrations that your contributions are appreciated, you'll be better able to rise to the next level of your generosity.
Taurus: Other astrologers and fortune-tellers may enjoy scaring the hell out of you, but not me. My job is to keep you apprised of the ways that life aims to help you, educate you, and lead you out of your suffering. The truth is, Taurus, that if you look hard enough, there are always seemingly legitimate reasons to be afraid of pretty much everything. But that's a stupid way to live, especially since there are also always legitimate reasons to be excited about pretty much everything. The coming weeks will be a favorable time to work on retraining yourself to make the latter approach your default tendency. I have rarely seen a better phase than now to replace chronic anxiety with shrewd hope. 
Gemini: At least for the short-range future, benign neglect can be an effective game plan for you. In other words, Gemini, allow inaction to do the job that can't be accomplished through strenuous action. Stay put. Be patient and cagey and observant. Seek strength in silence and restraint. Let problems heal through the passage of time. Give yourself permission to watch and wait, to reserve judgment and withhold criticism. Why do I suggest this approach? Here's a secret: Forces that are currently working in the dark and behind the scenes will generate the best possible outcome. 
Cancer: "Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions," wrote Ralph Waldo Emerson. "All life is an experiment." I'd love to see you make that your operative strategy in the coming weeks, Cancerian. According to my analysis of the astrological omens, now is a favorable time to overthrow your habits, rebel against your certainties, and cruise through a series of freewheeling escapades that will change your mind in a hundred different ways. Do you love life enough to ask more questions than you've ever asked before? 
Leo: Thank you for contacting the Center for Epicurean Education. If you need advice on how to help your imagination lose its inhibitions, please press 1. If you'd like guidance on how to run wild in the woods or in the streets without losing your friends or your job, press 2. If you want to learn more about spiritual sex or sensual wisdom, press 3. If you'd like assistance in initiating a rowdy yet focused search for fresh inspiration, press 4. For information about dancing lessons or flying lessons or dancing-while-flying lessons, press 5. For advice on how to stop making so much sense, press 6.
Virgo: The cereus cactus grows in the deserts of the southwestern U.S. Most of the time it's scraggly and brittle-looking. But one night of the year, in June or July, it blooms with a fragrant, trumpet-shaped flower. By dawn the creamy white petals close and start to wither. During that brief celebration, the plant's main pollinator, the sphinx moth, has to discover the marvelous event and come to gather the cactus flower's pollen. I suspect this scenario has metaphorical resemblances to a task you could benefit from carrying out in the days ahead. Be alert for a sudden, spectacular, and rare eruption of beauty that you can feed from and propagate.
Libra: If I had more room here, I would offer an inspirational Powerpoint presentation designed just for you. In the beginning, I would seize your attention with an evocative image that my marketing department had determined would give you a visceral thrill. (Like maybe a photoshopped image of you wearing a crown and holding a scepter.) In the next part, I would describe various wonderful and beautiful things about you. Then I'd tactfully describe an aspect of your life that's underdeveloped and could use some work. I'd say, "I'd love for you to be more strategic in promoting your good ideas. I'd love for you to have a well-crafted master plan that will attract the contacts and resources necessary to lift your dream to the next level." 
Scorpio: I advise you against snorting cocaine, MDMA, heroin, or bath salts. But if you do, don't lay out your lines of powder on a kitchen table or a baby's diaper-changing counter in a public restroom. Places like those are not exactly sparkly clean, and you could end up propelling contaminants close to your brain. Please observe similar care with any other activity that involves altering your consciousness or changing the way you see the world. Do it in a nurturing location that ensures healthy results. P.S. The coming weeks will be a great time to expand your mind if you do it in all-natural ways such as through conversations with interesting people, travel to places that excite your awe, and encounters with provocative teachings. 
Sagittarius: In late 1811 and early 1812, parts of the mighty Mississippi River flowed backwards several times. Earthquakes were the cause. Now, more than two centuries later, you Sagittarians have a chance -- maybe even a mandate -- to accomplish a more modest rendition of what nature did way back then. Do you dare to shift the course of a great, flowing, vital force? I think you should at least consider it. In my opinion, that great, flowing, vital force could benefit from an adjustment that you have the wisdom and luck to understand and accomplish.
Capricorn: You're entering into the Uncanny Zone, Capricorn. During your brief journey through this alternate reality, the wind and the dew will be your teachers. Animals will provide special favors. You may experience true fantasies, like being able to sense people's thoughts and hear the sound of leaves converting sunlight into nourishment. It's possible you'll feel the moon tugging at the waters of your body and glimpse visions of the best possible future. Will any of this be of practical use? Yes! More than you can imagine. And not in ways you can imagine yet.
Aquarius: This is one of those rare grace periods when you can slip into a smooth groove without worrying that it will degenerate into a repetitive rut. You'll feel natural and comfortable as you attend to your duties, not blank or numb. You'll be entertained and educated by exacting details, not bored by them. I conclude, therefore, that this will be an excellent time to lay the gritty foundation for expansive and productive adventures later this year. If you've been hoping to get an advantage over your competitors and diminish the negative influences of people who don't empathize with you, now is the time.
Pisces: "There is a direct correlation between playfulness and intelligence, since the most intelligent animals engage in the greatest amount of playful activities." So reports the *National Geographic.* "The reason is simple: Intelligence is the capacity for learning, and to play is to learn." I suggest you make these thoughts the centerpiece of your life in the coming weeks. You're in a phase when you have an enhanced capacity to master new tricks. That's fortunate, because you're also in a phase when it's especially crucial for you to learn new tricks. The best way to ensure it all unfolds with maximum grace is to play as much as possible.
July 13th, 2017
Free Will Astrology
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gskygroup · 5 years
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Design Strategies and Motivation
During this course, we learned how to brand a place within our community, documenting what is around it that can bring the community together along with conducting a demographics study, SWOT, an elevator pitch for the specified area.  For my community, I decided to brand the entire community which over the past fifteen years has been plagued with negative media of a community to beware of. This could not be further from the truth, despite its issues it is a community of friendly people who work hard and love the area. It is community primarily made up of active duty military, veterans, government workers and contractors with the largest employer being the military. My community has survived multiple base closing and experiences the same issues as may military communities surrounding a base. 
The problem I sought to solve was identifying where the community stands with the economic issues plaguing the community. The goal is to get more people involved in the process of speaking up for there community.  After speaking to multiple persons from different category sets, I was able to gather data to present a clear picture of the types of people within the community and their concerns.  
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Client Name: Community of Edgewood/ Harford County District A Representative
Location: Edgewood, Maryland 21040
Client Description
The community of Edgewood is a village of approximately 26,000 people who are mostly active duty military, veterans and government workers. The community is a coastal village town which sits at the top of the Chesapeake Bay, just north of Baltimore. The largest industry is the military at Edgewood in the Aberdeen/ Edgewood Proving Ground where many of the resident work either as government employees of government contractors. For the past twelve to fifteen years, Edgewood has faced an economic downturn of business closures and housing foreclosures unlike any other of its surrounding towns.
Problem Statement
As a community which sits along two major highways, Harford County can dramatically impact the area with a further allocation of land for development. A plan to renegotiation rental rates with business landlords using taxes breaks incentives for struggling small businesses could help offset high overpriced rent many businesses are paying. With the loss of tax dollars from businesses and residents leaving Edgewood, the county must think long and hard about assisting the community in the development of a new industry, and land development.
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Socioeconomic Information                                                                       Edgewood is a small community in Northeast Maryland on the Upper Chesapeake Bay with a population of 26,303 with a population density of 1,479 (sq mi). It is a community which is very diverse with an overall median age of 34.5 an average single person median income of $56,414 and family income of $71,988. The rate of homeownership is 69% with 42% who are married with 2.81 individuals in the household. Over the past 12 years, there has been a decline in home ownership due to the housing market collapse and foreclosures in 2007.  The trend in financial uncertainty has resulted in the unemployment of 6.8% and an educational poverty rate of 27.16% of individuals with a high school diploma or some college. The veteran community make-up of Edgewood is 12.3% with 5.7% under poverty and 20% listed as service-connect disabled veterans. As for active duty members in the community, their 38% in which 20% are civilians employed at the base.    
Synthesized Interview Findings
With more than 75% of the community of Edgewood either employed by the government or working as contractors. The individuals surveyed are either furloughed or working without pay due to the government shutdown. Due to the sensitivity of many of these individuals’ jobs, they would not agree to be recorded or having their pictures taken but would participate in my study.
For Part One of the study, I visited several locations of the military base to interview service members who are stationed in the community of Edgewood for up to 5 years in their contracts. I wanted to get the perspective of a transit community of people who can give fresh insight about the community of Edgewood.  Next, I will be visiting with my neighbors who are primarily veterans who have been living in the area for over 20 years. Finally, there will be a visit to the local Walmart where many of young, mostly non-military people shop since a majority of the military has its shopping facilities on base.  
Personas
Based on the research conducted of four personas which represent the four categories of Edgewood residents being;
Category #1 Persona: Andre Williams – Government Contractor and Home Owner
Category #2 Persona: Margarita Cardona – Retired Military/ Veteran and Home Owner
Category #3 Persona: David Matthews Sr. – Lifetime Resident of Edgewood Community who is a Home Owner
Category #4 Persona: Veronica Ware – Lifetime Resident of Edgewood who Rented
Questions for Interviews of Personas
What is your full name?
Where were you born?
What is your age?
Are you married and do you have kids?
In what community do you live and how long have you lived there?
What is your educational level?
What is your income, and do you work in Edgewood?
What is your line of work and title?
What is your industry?
Are you a veteran and what branch?
Do you like the community of Edgewood?
What is your political party affiliation?
Are you in any organizations?
What are your hobbies?
What is your faith?
A statement to describe your values?
What do you do in your free time?
Tell me about your family?
Is there anything that upsets you about living in Edgewood?
What do you like about living in Edgewood?
What does Edgewood lack most?
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Devos 4 W’s
Each perspective is based on their first-hand experience of the community and their most pressing concerns. By understanding the pressure points of these segments will provide a snapshot of the larger community. Using the four W’s presented by Devos, the problem can be synthesized to find focus and clarity to begin the steps of strategizing an effective plan moving forward.
Who: Community of Edgewood has the problem of;
What: Lack of Industry, Reinvestment, Housing Foreclosures
Where: Reinvestment in Edgewood Meadows business district, and multiple areas Edgewood could address many of the issues.
Why: The solution should be to highlight the years of neglect by the county, who has year after year made the decision that was not in the best interest of the community. The real-world impacts of the residents living in the community have been devastating as funds have been diverted from Edgewood and the smaller town to the more affluent areas in the county. Edgewood has not been represented as it should have been by its local leaders in the past. A disconnected community has been the result of having little to no voice.
“By asking four simple questions, everyone can put their own thoughts up and together synthesize the content to find focus and clarity” (Devos n.d.)
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Through the development of a SWOT analysis it is important to consider the Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats to your business or theory. Focusing in on the data collected and evaluating the secondary data through interview and surveys, this information could be presented to the county planning committee or management team to establish a different perspective to move forward. In this briefing my SWOT covered the Community of Edgewood and the problems, solutions and outlook gathered while surveying and interviewing people in the community who have issues with the state of the community. “When the management team looks at the company’s weaknesses, it is not to assign blame for past shortfalls in performance. It is to identify the most critical areas that need to be improved in order for the business to more effectively compete”.  (Hill 2018)
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Through a community referendum, the people could vote for where the county invest its money in the community. This could be followed by a general meeting with local county officials, landlords, and small businesses to establish an economic stimulus to help businesses promote the needs for tax breaks and microloans. The goal would be to help businesses keep their door open through incentives such as tax breaks for hiring a veteran, helping veteran business with contract opportunities with local government and partnerships with local community colleges and university.  
Lastly, the county is going to have to revisit its policies on growth through the county. Staying rural and isolated from the larger investments being made by the State in the surrounding counties could do great service to Edgewood and some of the smaller towns along Highway 95 and Highway 40. The community needs to pressure Harford County to petition the State for economic assistance to help attract new industry in the area. The county officials and the military should also be pressured to establish a plan to annex land for new industry and growth for the economically impacted area through the county.
In the past State and County elections, a small number of the residents in the community was able to engage the community to elect a local representative of the community to the district seat after eight years of failed promises by the last representative. With more people getting involved from within the community positive change at all levels can happen.  
Reference
Bland, D. (2018). What Is an Empathy Map? Retrieved from https://www.solutionsiq.com/resource/blog-post/what-is-an-empathy-map/
Brown, J. (June 27, 2018) Empathy Mapping: A Guide to Getting Inside a User’s Head. Retrieved from: https://www.uxbooth.com/articles/empathy-mapping-a-guide-togetting-inside-a-users-head/
Devos, J. (N.d.) Design Problem Statements – What They Are and How to Frame Them. Retrieved from: https://www.toptal.com/designers/product-design/design-problem-statement
Harford County Government: 2017 Small Area Planning. [Proposal]. Retrieved from http://www.harfordcountymd.gov/DocumentCenter/View/10144/Edgewood-Small-Area-Study?bidId=
Hill, B (2018) Small Business Chron: Why Perform A SWOT. Retrieved from https://smallbusiness.chron.com/perform-swot-analysis-5050.html
World Population Review: Edgewood, Maryland, January 20, 2019, Retrieved from http://worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/edgewood-md-population/
Suburban Stats: Edgewood, Maryland, January 20, 2019, Retrieved from  https://suburbanstats.org/population/maryland/how-many-people-live-in-edgewood
Data USA: Edgewood, Maryland, January 20, 2019, Retrieved from https://datausa.io/profile/geo/edgewood-md/
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artofpeacelove · 4 years
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https://ift.tt/eA8V8J
While doctors, nurses, and first responders are the most visible in the fight against COVID-19—and are risking their own health in ways that go above and beyond the call of duty—they certainly aren’t on the front lines alone. Grocery store cashiers, mail workers, sanitation workers, mental health professionals, delivery drivers…the ways people are helping us all get through this pandemic stretch far and wide.
In early March, as COVID-19 transformed from local outbreaks into a full-blown pandemic, Denver, Colorado-based fashion designer Khiember Whiskamp knew she had to do something to help. Whiskamp is the founder of Manus Supply, a small fashion design and manufacturing company that provides fabrics and design support to ethical, eco-minded independent designers. Now, the company has shifted its production process to meet a major need: creating and supplying masks to hospitals and health-care workers.
Here, Whiskamp shares what it has looked like for her company to take on this mission and how they’re getting masks in the gloved hands of those who need them most.
Making the pivot from fashion to making COVID-19 masks
Whiskamp first started thinking about how Manus Supply could help when news about mask shortages started making headlines in mid-March. “Designing something with purpose is part of the ethos for my company, so it really got me fired up and be part of the movement for helping people stay protected from this epidemic,” she says.
Even though Whiskamp regularly sources materials for designers, she had no idea where to start when it came to finding the materials needed to make effective, medical-grade masks. “I spent eight hours researching,” she says.
After doing her homework, Whiskamp decided they should make surgical masks and also an N95-type mask (which filters out harmful particles and has a tighter fit around the nose and mouth) because those items were needed the most. “We can’t technically call our masks N95 masks because they aren’t FDA-approved, but they’re made out of the same materials,” she says. (Official N95 masks used for health-care workers normally must be produced at facilities certified by the FDA; a new law passed in March designed to address mask shortages allows for manufacturers to provide hospitals N95-style masks without fear of liability.)
Whiskamp explains that surgical masks are a three-layer system made out of two layers of sterilized medical wrap (a non-woven cellulosic material) and one layer of polypropylene. “N95 masks are made out of medical-grade BFE99, which is a type of fabric that doesn’t allow any [particulates] to come in and out of the masks,” she says.
While knowing what materials to use was one hurdle, securing them was another. “Most of the medical masks in the U.S. are manufactured in China, but because we wanted to get them to people quickly, sourcing material from outside the States wasn’t an option,” Whiskamp says. Ultimately, she was able to find a supplier in New Jersey. “We’re being very transparent about where we’re getting our materials and sharing that information with others so other companies can help make masks too,” she says.
Getting the team on-board
When Whiskamp brought up the idea to her 11 employees, she says everyone was on board, happy to become part of the movement of fashion designers making COVID-19 masks. “Making COVID-19 masks became our focus the last week in March. Everyone is happy to be helping,” she says. They learned as a team how to make these new masks by watching virtual sewing sessions, which are still streamed every Monday and Wednesday at Manus Supply. “Everyone has their part. One person is focusing on a lock stitch [the most common mechanical stitch made by a sewing machine] to sew something together. Another person is cutting [the materials]. They’re open and willing to help however they can.”
In order to ensure the COVID-19 masks Whiskamp and her team are making are safe—and her employees stay safe while making them—she’s implemented some mandatory measures. First, everyone at Manus Supply must wear gloves, and many also wear masks while working as well. Once the masks are made, they are covered with a sanitizing spray before being shipped. “Since the masks are being shipped to hospitals, they will be inspected by disease control specialists on the other end as well,” Whiskamp says.
Prioritizing mask making of course meant putting the work they normally do on the back burner, but Whiskamp says this normal workload isn’t being neglected. “While making masks is important, we also understand the need to help the economy in this difficult time, which includes getting our designers what they need,” she says. To balance both, everyone collectively spends a couple hours making masks before moving on to their other projects for the day.
“We’ve communicated to all our clients why we’re running a bit behind on completing projects and of course they completely understand,” Whiskamp says. “Keeping them on as clients is ultimately what’s allowing me to continue to pay my employees so they can continue to make masks as well as do this other work,” she adds.
So far, Manus Supply is making 100 masks a week and is suppling them for free to local hospitals as well as hospitals most in need (including in New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New Orleans). “We’re working with non-profits to facilitate distributing the masks to medical facilities,” Whiskamp says, including Project C.U.R.E. and Advocates for World Health. The latter organization is shipping COVID-19 masks internationally to developing nations in need.
For Whiskamp and her team, making masks is a way to use their passion and talents to help those on the front lines. She hopes this inspires others to find ways to help, whether they are fashion designers making COVID-19 masks or not in the fashion industry at all. After all, we’re all in this together.
Inspired by fashion designers making COVID-19 masks? Read this first. And here are more facts about COVID-19 everyone should know.
from Good Advice – Well+Good https://ift.tt/2URVQ0T via IFTTT
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annoyingartworks · 4 years
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Hello, I’m back again.
This week was interesting.
We recently had this burnout therapy session group where in we discussed the causes of burnout, symptoms, and how to overcome it. It was only during that time that it fully occurred to me that I am experiencing burnout.
I’ve been working on this project for almost a year now. It’s pretty intense; the sprints are really tightly-packed and I knew I was losing motivation. I’ve been feeling empty for a while now; I just thought I was being lazy and tired. I don’t know when it happened but I just realized that I never really cared about the project anymore. I try to do my best and deliver the best that I can, but that’s about it. It’s like I’m detached with the project now that I feel like I’m not myself when I’m working on it. And that’s bad because I’m working on that project full-time.
Yesterday, one of my bosses got concerned on the things that I raised on that burnout therapy session. I was alarmed, I didn’t know it would have that effect. But now that I think of it, maybe I was just belittling my feelings and that it was already really bad. I wasn’t just aware of it or I was just trying to push myself everyday.
So now I’ll try to look back and reflect on the things that happened; try to absorb why I’m feeling this way and how to ultimately overcome this.
Note: This is gonna be a long post so hold your horses.
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When I started this project, I knew that everyone kind of had an iffy feeling about it. The product was promising, and i looked promising to me from the beginning. People who scoped the project out already felt that this is gonna be a huge and exhausting project. But I felt optimistic about it, felt like I could make the most out of it.
It continued for a few sprints, actually. I was completely motivated to finish tasks. I was in every meeting, both physically and mentally. It was fun for me, because I get to learn a lot of stuff during those starting sprints and that was really fun.
And then I don’t know when but I just started feeling bad about the whole project and to myself. For every sprint that passed, I didn’t feel like I accomplished enough. I felt like I wasn’t doing my part well. I think this is the part where I needed self-compassion the most. I knew I was doing well, so I have to let go that 50% of me that’s saying that I’m not enough. Please don’t question your abilities, when people say you’re good, you are indeed good. 
And then those sprints continued, and I tried with my very best to fulfill all my duties. But I guess that “burnout” that I experienced happened so slowly and gradually that I didn’t even notice it getting worse.
I would wake up each day, and would curse under my breath on how I would have to work another day on that goddamn project again. Getting out of bed was the hardest part, I got succumbed to reading a lot, and I would spend an hour and a half just reading. It didn’t feel good because I was purposely neglecting work just because I don’t want to face it anymore. 
Then I started feeling indifferent with the people that I talk to in the project. At first, I was very enthusiastic on meeting them, now I just want to get out fast at meetings. I even made a friend with one of the people that I work with, but suddenly I became emotionless and never really cared about anything.
So when I talked to my boss about this, there were two things that really stuck to me: self-compassion and fire. She said that I shouldn’t be too hard on myself. I focused more on the things that I failed to or I’m failing to achieve than on the things that I was able to achieve. I’ve grown so well this past year and I should focus more on positive things than on the negative ones. I need to be more compassionate about myself. I need to think that there are a lot of people who care about me, my friends, and I should care about myself too because I need to respect that. Another thing that came up was fire. What was that one thing that I always loved to do? What was that one thing that makes me happy? I honestly don’t know the answer to that. I thought learning something new was a big part of it but then I realized that learning has become taxing even for me now. So, I need to find that fire. I need to try out new things. Eventually, that happy feeling that I had, something that I was really excited about, will come back again.
Lastly, I need to make a decision. I need to decide if I want to continue on this project now. My boss presented me two things: (1) I can choose to stay but make it bearable for me, (2) I can choose to leave but I need to set up an escape plan of some sorts. I don’t know why but I would like to finish the project. I want to be there when we celebrate the wins at the end. But when this phase ends, I want to end it completely. I don’t want to have any debt for this project. But for those two - I came up with a solution, to hit two birds with one stone. I can continue til the end of this phase (AND ONLY UNTIL THE END OF THIS PHASE), but I need to be able to breathe. I need to have another project up my sleeve. Say, I can have 50% on this project and 50% on another project. At least, I’m still helping on the project but not too much anymore. I always refer to this project as hell hole and I need to get out of it.
So, what am I gonna do next? 1. I’ll practice self-compassion. I’ll focus more on my achievements, and the achievements of others. I’ll start complimenting people more, I think it will help me focus on the positive side of things.
2. I noticed that I stopped caring about anything, so I’ll go out more often and try something new. It will help me broaden my perspective and meet new people!
3. I realized that I didn’t want to leave the project feeling like I’m in debt or I had some unaccomplished tasks. I came in terms in myself that I will leave the project only at the end of this phase (hard deadline, don’t wanna come back anymore), but with the caveat that I won’t be working full time on it. I heard there’s a new person coming in next week? I’ll talk to my manager if I can let him take 25% or 50% of my work so I can focus on another project (or to my internal project).
That’s it I guess. Thanks for reading. I’ll take care more of myself, find signs of burnout, and take some steps to prevent that from happening.
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sadiyyanesar · 6 years
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SISTERs Magazine 75th Issue: "Self Care for People with Disabilities."
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The Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (saw) inspires Sa’diyya Nesar towards self-care and away from self-neglect. 
Life with physical ‘disabilities,’ automatically leads you to believe that there is no hope of improving your physical condition. This belief can easily cause you to start neglecting yourself from properly combing your hair to finding the burden in washing soap from your face. Every effort towards taking care of your physical body not only feels like a chore, but a complete waste of energy and time. You do not see the point of why you should bother to try, especially when you see no signs of definite progression. You feel like the stamina within your arms and legs are declining day by day, and it is frustrating to face that reality when you need to ask for help. You, however, do not consider it “self-care” if others are helping and rather look at it as a favor you have to one day repay. You, therefore, prefer to have the days go by and not do anything, and the inability to properly self-care on your own turns into self-neglect - neglect that you find solace in, because it does not require dependence nor effort that seems wasted. You soon find this negligence standard and even acceptable, because you are conditioned to believe that there is no point in trying to maintain your almost dysfunctional body. 
This is how I felt in my early teens. A time when girls discover beauty magazines and have the general enthusiasm in following the latest trends and applying the latest self-care products in order to feel beautiful. I did not feel beautiful nor did I feel ugly. I simply did not care, because my focus was just surviving the next day where a lot of the times survival meant avoidance. To simply not spending the extra minute to moisturize my face or taking in an extra glass of water. 
I knew that it was our duty as Muslims to look after our bodies, but at first, I did not find it applicable to me since my body was not like most. I considered self-care within Islam to be proper ablution and bowing down shoulder to shoulder in prayer. I, however, could not bow down nor did I find my efforts towards attempting to do ablution fruitful because of how I could not physically do it according to the Sunnah. Everything that I did always seemed half done and done very poorly regardless of the maximum effort made. The fact that I could not stand shoulder to shoulder in prayer with the rest of the community further led me to feel that I was not truly part of the community and, therefore, do not have the same conditions or expectations. 
I was too focused on avoiding actions and how I cannot do what the Prophet (saw) did for self-care, that I did not consider what the Prophet (saw) abstained from to promote self-care. Self-care does not necessarily mean things to do but can also mean things to avoid. I was only able to recognise this once I developed breathing difficulties whilst returning home in the car after I was invited for a meal. 
I was beginning to find it hard to breathe in my mid-teens whenever I traveled in any transportation whilst feeling full. My breathing would get affected to the extent that my lips would turn slightly blue due to the pins and needles in my head from lack of oxygen. I always, however, felt pressured to please the host and not wanting to worry my parents, so I would finish off everything on my plate. I did not want to seem rude, so I ignored my body. I did not know how to continuously handle the situation, so I started to either avoid going to gatherings or I would eat at home two hours before leaving for the car. It was, however, impossible to always maintain this, and I did not know how to solve it until I came across this Hadith: “No human fills a vessel worse than his own abdomen: a few bites are enough for man to keep his body upright, but if it is indispensable, then a third for his food, a third for his drink, and a third for his breath.” (Ahmed)
What fascinated me about the Hadith was not the mere avoidance of taking in more than two-thirds of both food and water but rather the acknowledgment that space for breathing is one-third - taking care of your breathing is as important as the natural need of feeding and hydrating our bodies. I am harming myself if I neglect my breathing and it is just as harmful - or maybe even more - as starving and dehydrating myself. It is, therefore, not just self-neglect but self-harm. This harm did not provide me with solace but rather the solution found within the Sunnah did; it was easier for me to explain to others how I did not want more than few bites of food because it was the Sunnah. I was starting to learn how to take care of my body because of the Sunnah and the blessed solutions found within it. 
This discovery and alleviation found within the Sunnah sparked a shift within me where I not only took in a few bites whenever out, but I tried to stand or walk a few steps after a meal. I am someone that usually avoids walking because of the difficulty, but when it came to looking after my breathing, I started to appreciate the Sunnah of walking after a meal. 
It may have had been difficult for me to walk, but I tried to focus on how I was still able to and that I was given a wonderful meal to appreciate and enjoy. 
“It is He who made the earth tame for you - so walk among its slopes and eat of His provision - and to Him is the resurrection.” (Al-Mulk: 15) 
The fact that Allah (swt) made most of the land flat instead of steep is a blessing, and the reality of there being different kinds of food to nourish our bodies is also a blessing. I grew curious to try out different foods that the Prophet (saw) liked such as honey and dates. To have a few bites of different fruits or dishes was something I looked forward to and found great joy in. It nourished me and allowed me to better take care of my body. Furthermore, to know that the Prophet (saw) loved something made me love it and realise its blessings even more. 
I still take a long time washing my face, but the fact that the Prophet (saw) cared about his body motivates me to care. I now do not avoid it but rather spend an extra minute to care for myself, from using olive oil as recommended by the Prophet (saw) to even sometimes using aloe vera on my skin. I may not see the benefits straightaway, but there is no denying that I end up feeling fresh and good. My health may not be the best, but there is still something to maintain; avoidance promotes idleness, and this idleness does not only neglect your body but your mind and soul. 
Sa’diyya Nesar is a motivational speaker and writer that lives life with physical ‘disabilities.’ She writes prose and poetry with the hope to uplift souls into living a better tomorrow. Follow her Facebook page for more updates: www.facebook.com/sadiyyanesar 
1. A person is considered ‘disabled,’ due to dependency, but we are all in essence dependent on Allah (swt) with different ranges of abilities and inabilities. There is no clear-cut categorisation, which gives a sense of ambiguity as to what determines one to be ‘disabled.’ www.sisters-magazine.com for more related articles. 
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A DELICATE BALANCE: Knowing When To Use Tact Instead Of Bullets
(Volume 25-02)
By Colonel (ret'd) Pat Stogran
In my younger years as a professional soldier, I bought in to the Army position that peacekeeping was a backwater, a distraction from our heroic effort to prepare for war. Indeed, in 1994, after a year in Bosnia, I hated the term “peacekeeping.” Hitherto I had believed that so-called “peacekeeping” was a typically disingenuous initiative of our federal government to grandstand to the world our nation’s commitment to global peace and security while promoting the illusion to the People of Canada that it was a bloodless offering, that our sons and daughters were not being offered as sacrificial lambs to draw attention away from their systematic dismantling of Canada’s war fighting capability. In my estimation, having been seconded to the United Nations as an unarmed military observer in Bosnia, I had been to war!
Years later, Canada’s mission in Kandahar, Afghanistan, was reported as the first time since the Korean War that our government committed ground forces against a declared enemy. Although Canada never formally declared war, Kandahar 2002 was very much a combat mission, so much so that the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), a special operating agency of the federal government, would have nothing to do with the operations, presumably because it would compromise the Agency’s legitimacy in the community of humanitarian non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
I arrived in Kandahar early in January 2002, shortly after it was announced that a 3 PPCLI task force would be attached to the United States 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) to relieve the Marines who had captured the airfield. That was when I first met General Jim “Mad Dog” Mattis, who at the time was their commander at the rank of Brigadier General. He greeted me saying, “Good to have your unit on board. There’s a lot of killing to be done around here.” That impressed the hell out of me. “Finally!” I thought to myself, “I’ve arrived at my calling!” Having endured a military career of bureaucratic bosses and politically correct force determinants, I thought, “The gloves are off and I am going to war!”
However, this was not going to be the kind of war that had been bubble-wrapped and marketed to us in our command and staff colleges. This operation would not be one of Patton/Rommel-style sweeps and clashes between tanks and artillery across the deserts of North Africa that I had been brought up to expect! Very early on in our mission I realized this was going to a counterinsurgency operation, something that my training had not prepared me for. That was not the only new thing I encountered in Kandahar. Fortunately, I was also introduced to Google — it is hard to believe a time ever existed when the world did not have virtually ubiquitous access to such a wealth of information and knowledge — and I spent many, many hours in my office surfing the net to learn as much as I could about relevant precedents and related doctrines for the insurgency that I expected would erupt around us in Afghanistan in 2002.
I very soon realized that countering an insurgency was not all about killing, as Mattis had emphasized. To the contrary, in fact, it dawned on me that the essence of so-called “peacekeeping” is very similar to how conventional forces should approach counterinsurgency interventions: using force by exception and with minimal collateral damage in order to build the trust and confidence of the local population while enhancing the capacity of the host nation government to manage the crisis themselves.
Our so-called “peacekeepers” very quickly demonstrated they were going to be inordinately well suited for operations in Kandahar. Having deployed on countless peacekeeping missions, they had become accustomed to effecting a very delicate balance between being appreciated by local civilians for not disrupting their lives in the area of operations and being capable of rapidly escalating to overwhelming destructive force in the face of a developing threat, individually as we would expect of any police officer in Canada in a life-and-death scenario and, collectively, against manifestations of massed lethal force the likes of which few if any police forces could ever be expected to contend with.
It was my experience in Afghanistan that Canadian troops on their own initiative and without any support of any kind from Ottawa or NGOs participated in soccer games with the locals and “social patrols,” built schools and drilled water wells. They seemed to have a natural proclivity to contribute to the local community. My American boss, however, a veteran of several other American invasions, thought this was a strange way for a combat force to operate. He nevertheless allowed us freedom of action. We were winning the hearts and minds of our Afghan hosts, but had our troops not demonstrated that they were also world-class warriors (read, willing and able to close with and destroy the enemy at a moment’s notice), our task force would not have had any credibility with our American comrades, warlords and local authorities. It was not long before the U.S. military recognized the importance of the soft skills a military must employ to counter an insurgency so, in typical fashion, deployed a huge array of civil affairs assets to fill this cultural void in their combat units.
A couple of months ago I penned an article for Esprit de Corps (Peacekeeping: Is It Worth the Cost for Canada in the 21st Century? Volume 24 Issue 12, January 2018) that was critical of one published in the Globe and Mail by retired Canadian Lieutenant General Mike Day, which questioned whether peacekeeping, given our prime minister’s ridiculously naive intention to return to our glory days of the past, is worth the cost. I know Mike Day extremely well, enough to say that his peacekeeping experiences would have been limited to the frustrating experiences of being a member of armed contingents in Cyprus and Bosnia. In Kandahar, then-Lieutenant-Colonel Day commanded the Joint Task Force 2 (JTF2) detachment whose base was just down the street from ours on the airfield. Their experience on that operation was very different from ours as they focused on strategic reconnaissance and direct action, capturing and killing bad guys. That experience set the context for his article, the bias of which stands in stark contrast to that of the very experienced peacekeeper and my former boss from Bosnia, Major (ret’d) Roy Thomas (‘Peacekeeping’ a Misnomer, Volume 25 Issue 1, February 2018).
Thomas expertly describes an array of operations conducted under the banner of peacekeeping that is so broad and convoluted that they alone render any such single, all-encompassing label virtually meaningless. Coincidentally, in his article Thomas shared the same disdain I once had for the misnomer that peacekeeping is. Notwithstanding, it’s hard to argue that the stability offered by such operations did not save many, many thousands of lives and limited the devastation that all-out combat would have inflicted. Despite the casualties that peacekeeping forces endured, peacekeeping was definitely worth the cost in those situations. I would argue the opposite in Afghanistan, however; that our extended presence, the 158 KIA (killed in action) and countless Canadian lives that were ruined for questionable results of any kind were definitely not worth the cost, and we are tripling down on that failure with our operations in Iraq today. It is clear that our military has lost its way and senior management in government lacks the tools necessary to design and execute operations that satisfy the policy objectives of the government of the People of Canada.
I believe peacekeeping has been wrongly characterized as a type of operation; it is more appropriately viewed as a strategy. Strategy, however, is an elusive concept, and although our elected officials are incessantly preoccupied by strategizing on the political front, they have been derelict in their duties by treating our military like fire-and-forget missiles, plugging them into campaigns orchestrated by the United Nations or another lead nation in a coalition. As a product of higher command and staff training in Canada, the U.S. and the United Kingdom, I found the professional development of our senior military officers as strategist to be severely lacking. On the job I was often critical of what was often referred to as strategies because, in my opinion, the strategies that I witnessed in the military amounted to nothing more than very long-term plans, often times with vague or flexible goals or objectives. Those kinds of “strategies” have their place in corporations, but they aren’t the kind of strategies that win wars.
The best definition I have come across for strategy is the art of advantage. In earlier articles I introduced the tenets of manoeuvre warfare as elements of strategy that were packaged for the mechanized warfare that has consumed our consciousness for the last century. In his classic book The Strategy of Conflict, Thomas Schelling describes strategy in the context of game theory, emphasizing the interdependence of the decisions and expectations of adversaries. The strategy of peacekeeping was based on the presumption that neutral, objective third parties to conflicts — those who pose no threat to any of the belligerent parties — could stabilize the situation and allow negotiation and mediation a better chance of resolving the conflict. Limiting the use of force mainly to incidents of self-defence or to protect non-combatants would prevent as much as possible the peacekeepers from becoming part of the problem. While we peacekeepers on the ground often felt we were victims of neglect from our strategic masters, our presence on the ground as impartial intermediaries between the combatants was supremely advantageous to their efforts to resolve crises.
I believe that our military has, to a large extent, abandoned its traditions in order to emulate the ethos of the U.S. military that was implicit in Mattis’s greeting to me in Kandahar in 2002.
I also believe that the People of Canada and their government would be far better served if senior management in government, the Canadian Armed Forces in particular, was better schooled in the ways of strategy. Next month, I intend to ‘peel that orange’ by positing how it might be possible to satisfy the prime minister’s intent to return to the ‘sunny ways of peacekeeping’ with a strategy that is more appropriate to the contemporary security environment.
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play0cave-blog · 6 years
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If you have actually been actually caught on a previous error, remorse or even disappointment: Discard this. Hole this up. Burn it. Neglect this. Stop if you locate yourself believing concerning it. Case 3 developed that common error can easily void a contract just if the oversight of the subject-matter was completely essential to make its own identification various from exactly what was actually hired, creating the functionality of the arrangement inconceivable. You should accept oversights and also breakdowns as a portion of life and a pure feedback and also nothing more yet responses. A blunder in which each side has a wrong understanding from the other's position, or even through which each parties share the same wishful thinking, typically a manner for terminating the arrangement. Slip refers to a tiny oversight in speech or writing, or to a minor indiscretion: I misspelled his name through a slip from the marker. 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