#i like my social media experience extremely distanced from family and relatives thank you very much

[peachcitt]

on a completely unrelated note than my current lipstick fixation i am finding myself to be super super unsettled by the amount of men i do not know who have been sending me friend requests on facebook recently? like i feel like it’s been happening so frequently the past couple of days and i simply. would like it to stop

#peach rambles #i feel like ive mentioned this before but I absolutely hate facebook it fuckin sucks #i like my social media experience extremely distanced from family and relatives thank you very much #also ive been hit on through facebook before which was just. so so strange and awful #not that the guy was like. disgusting or rude or anything but like #to hit on a girl through FACEBOOK???? in THIS DAY AND AGE?????? #idk. facebook just gives me the fucking willies and MEN on facebook downright freak me out #anyways. time to write a self indulgent fic about lipstick.

[dheir-slytherin-blr]

What it feels, as a doctor, to be on the wrong side of Covid testing!!!

While I have had my fair share of examining and treating patients who were unfortunate enough to have acquired the Corona Virus infection, it still did not prepare me adequately for when I too acquired the same.

Since the advent of the novel Corona Virus infection, popularly known as the Covid 19 infection it was clear that one or the other day I too shall be infected with it. However, like most people, I too thought that it shall happen at a later date and not today or tomorrow or on some near future date.

Though that didn’t prevent me from taking all due precautions.

This post is meant to highlight two things.

1. Despite all precautions, you may be infected with it - it doesn’t mean you should stop taking precautions but rather be even more stringent in following them.

2. Even a mild infection is quite debilitating. So DON’T take Covid 19 lightly and keep working on your immunity.

Once the first lockdown ended in the second week of April, I started attending the clinic. Most of the businesses were locked down but obviously the diseases (Hypertension, Diabetes, other communicable diseases etc) couldn’t care less about it and people still fell ill and did need medical attention. So, I started attending OPDs.

Not much was known about the symptoms or treatment strategy against Covid at that time, but even at that early stage it was known that stringent use of face masks, social distancing, frequent hand wash and sanitization of stuff that was touched by people was the protection against acquiring the dreaded disease. Thanks to the media blitz and horrible images of victims from especially Italy and China, at least in the early days, people were scared enough to stay indoors unless they had an emergency and when they did venture out, they were quite receptive to following the social distancing norms.

It was the general (mistaken) perception that in a short while, after lockdowns and other measures, the infection would go away and life would be back to normal.

Sadly, that has not (yet) happened and it does seem unlikely to happen at least in the forseeable future.

Starting from March till early November, the measures that I stringently followed were:

1. Did not venture out unless an emergency or going to the clinics.

2. Only personally examined such patients where it was absolutely necessary to have a face to face consultation. The rest were treated by online consultations.

3. Strict sanitization and social distancing measures were followed. Only the patient was allowed inside the consultation chamber. No friends or relatives allowed inside.

4. NO visits and did not allow any patient to visit at home, come what may.

I can say with all honesty that I kept up these measures throughout the eight months despite any provocatons or temptations to the contrary.

Apart from all these precautions, I also diligently clocked an average walking of 11000 steps daily and stuck to a healthy diet.

IN this duration, I ended up in quarantine myself for 3 times but didn’t get infected.

So, when in early November, I started feeling fatigued, had bodyache and mild fever, it didn;t strike me that I might be having Covid 19.

However, sticking to protocol, as soon as I had fever, I isolated myself and stopped going outside my room. I thought it must be fatigue or perhaps a mild Upper respiratory tract infection (URTI), and that it would go away after a day or two of gargling and mild antibiotics.

However, the infection didn’t go away. The fever persisted, fatigue and bodyache worsened and eyes started burning to an extent where I could not keep my eyes open and wasn’t even able to tolerate light. I started staying in a darkened room without light, discarded screen use of any sort and - got myself tested for Covid 19.

Judging by my symptoms, I wasn’t surprised when the report turned out positive.

By the time the report came back, I also had sore throat, mild coughing and difficulty in breathing. The fever was still there. The minute 8 hours of PCM ended, it would return.

Judging by the reports; the CT value, the CRP and other parameters, my infection was termed mild to moderate and I was advised home isolation (which I was already following).

However, despite it being “mild” it was a strain to breathe. If I attempted even a slight deep breath, it would hurt, I would have to stop my breath and release it slowly. Despite my oxygen satuation being normal (97%) and staying normal, I found that breathing was difficult.

For the first time, in eight months, I was seeing the disease from a patient’s perspective, and believe me folks, the disease is NOT OVERHYPED. If a mild infection could trouble me so much in form of - difficulty in breathing, not able to keep eyes open, extreme fatigue and bodyache; I could only imagine the condition of the patients who had low oxygen saturation and whose lungs had clogged up not allowing them to breathe so much that they died of it.

Thanks to all the immunity building measures of exercise, healthy food and also social distancing measures that I had put in place - I recovered faster, didn’t pass on the infection to family, colleagues or friends.

I’m still in isolation and shall remain so for a further 10 days but that’s a very small price to pay for the gift of life and the gift of not having infected any close family or friends.

I can reiterate, now with experience - 

1. DON’T TAKE COVID 19 LIGHTLY.

2. IT HAS NOT GONE AWAY AND IN FACT SHALL RETURN DOUBLY IN THE WINTER MONTHS.

3. DON’T LOWER YOUR DEFENCES BY GOING OUT IN CROWDS OR DISCARDING MASKS OR SOCIAL DISTANCING. STAY INDOORS UNLESS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY TO GO OUT.

4. GET YOUR SELF TESTED AND ISOLATED AT SLIGHTEST SIGN OF APPEARANCE OF SYMPTOMS LIKE FEVER, COUGH, BREATHLESSNESS.

I have not attempted to describe my moment to moment or day to day experience with Covid 19. The purpose of this post was to create awareness as to how much important it is to strictly follow the measures to avoid infection and how this infection is so debilitating that one needs to have empathy with the sufferers and also those vulnerable to catch it.

#Covid19 #SocialDistancing #StayHomeStaySafe

[astracola]

so because a3 is still relatively new (locally at least) i wanted to do a small introduction post to introduce my muses from it! i haven’t dropped in any headcanons (yet) so this’ll just be basic early game canon or character traits i think are neat. deadass i’m out here with half the cast i don’t know why i’m like this either frankly.

AZUMA YUKISHIRO

one of the oldest members of the company, likely in his early thirties. somehow manages to “defy aging” with his makeup skills and natural beauty.

he is fully aware of how pretty he is, thank you for asking.

a big brother to all.

gentle, easygoing, and calm, even in crisis or under stress.

have you met a professional cuddler. now you have.

noted to have an alluring personality and high sex appeal, because that’s great. likes to flirt a lot, and is very direct. says things that he definitely probably shouldn’t.

not much is known about his past, even among those in the company and his own troupe (winter), he keeps it this way intentionally. it’s implied he might have once been a host, as when he left his prior work to pursue acting, his clients were devastated.

skilled at poker and similar card games.

ITARU CHIGASAKI

what’s up gamers.

prince archetype. even within the major company he works for as an elite employee, he’s well respected/regarded. feels refreshing and calming to be around.

very, very handsome. like holy shit.

“two modes”. the professional look he gives for his work and in public--and the exact mode that give him his prince-like associations, and how he is in private. his public persona is mostly facade, though his compassion and caring nature is genuine. his “true self” is a hardcore gamer and otaku, like this, he curses more frequently and comes off rude or lazy.

he likes to keep these two personas separate, understandably. with most personal relationships, he holds everyone at a distance.

he works in finances, and not much is known about his passion for acting or if he has much of one at all. regardless of this, he’s a member of the spring troupe.

he often uses gaming and internet terms in his speech, especially in his “casual/gamer” mode.

to him, mankai is where he can truly be himself.  

KAZUNARI MIYOSHI

voted most likely to quote vines irl. a literal influencer. always on top of the latest trends

a member of the summer troupe, he assumes he’s friends with everyone he meets--no questions asked, even if they come off rather abrasive. great social skills! he talks to anyone and everyone like he’s known them for years, so he’s easy to get along with.

a graphic design student, he makes the fliers for mankai. his skill is in illustration, and he has just as much passion for it as he does with acting.

you literally can NOT say he isn’t fashionable. that’s his shtick.

lowkey (but highkey) flirty with anyone he’s interested in. you know. casual.

despite his carefree attitude, he chooses his words carefully to leave those he meets with the best impression of him. he thinks so long as he befriends people, things are fine, even if a lot of those friendships are shallow at their best.

you get a nickname! and YOU get a nickname! and yo-

updates his social media daily and often. instagram, twitter, line, etc.

MASUMI USUI

a member of the spring troupe, he only joined up with mankai because he fell in love with the director in a moment of “love at first sight”. obviously, this isn’t requited. he does everything he can to try and impress her, despite having little interest in acting itself.

a bit of a “bad boy” trope, a rebel and troublemaker. he’s standoffish and rude to practically everyone else.  comes across as cold and indifferent.

good at memorization! this comes in handy with their scripts.

his parents travel abroad often, so his family life is ... questionable, he has little restrictions at home and lives a carefree lifestyle, which feeds into his indifference

has a lot of female fans AND a fanclub at school thanks to his looks. he doesnt care for that shit at all tbqh.

he flirts ... a lot ... if he’s interested in you romantically ... but so far that’s only directed AT the director herself and it’s embarrassing. lovesick puppy.

i’m so sorry for him and anyone that tries to talk to him he’s kind of a dick.

MISUMI IKARUGA

honestly the definition of “bro i am just vibing.”

hard to understand, just a generally confusing person. not much is known about him or his past! he just sort of...showed up one day, crashing in the mankai dorms and becoming a member of the summer troupe shortly after.

his physical capabilities are really impressive, up to and including scaling walls and running up to ceilings. he took to acting really easily as well, and his skill in it surprised almost everyone. his wide range in characters and how easily he shifts into them implies past experience.

constantly thinking about triangles, and collects everything in a triangle shape, eats triangle food...you know how it is. the local children have dubbed him the “triangle-alien!”

enthusiastic and eccentric are the best words to describe him.

he just kind of does whatever he feels like doing, seemingly without much thought. this includes: trespassing, and stealing stuff from others (usually food). just right out of your hands.

really good at communicating with animals! it seems they have a mutual understanding.

hardcore parkour

MUKU SAKISAKA

baby (professionally diagnosed).

his motto is deadass “do one good deed each day” he is a BABY

memorizes and treasures shoujo manga, taking the male figures as inspirations. he deeply admires princes and wants to become prince-like one day.

modest, kind, and easily flustered when it comes to praise. also a lot of anxiety? he thought one of the other summer troupe members was a ghost out to get him when it was first suggested and he really thought it was because he left a single grain of rice on his plate when he was five. he’s just like this.

persecution complex.

just really...pure...

he used to do track and field, but he wasn’t passionate about it despite being the team’s ace. he only joined because he read a manga where the protagonist was on track, so he followed in his footsteps. he only quit after an injury he sustained that forever kept him from performing at his best ever again.

can recite fairytales from memory!

SAKUYA SAKUMA

sunshine embodied, the leader of mankai’s spring troupe! he was the first member of mankai, and despite his lack of skill he’s incredibly passionate about acting. he puts all of himself in everything he does. super ambitious!! 

:) auditioned because of family issues, you know how it goes. ( he’s an orphan, and his new family was only really interested in what mankai could bring them, rather than his own interests.)

open and honest to a fault, he also tends to be a bit naive. he’s trying his best to be a little more independent, but that’s a long process. otherwise enthusiastic, easygoing, and positive, gets along well with pretty much everyone!

naturally lucky! give him your phone for gacha pulls.

skilled at remembering faces and names!

he still carries the script for romeo & julius, the first play the mankai company ever performed. he looks at it if he ever feels lonely, as the company feels like a family to him.

would really like to play a ruthless villain in the future, because that’s so different from what he actually is.

TAICHI NANAO

i assign you with “puppy”. a member of the autumn troupe, he has a very hyperactive personality! one of his biggest aspirations is to be popular and liked/noticed by others.

a prime example of this are his yo-yo skills and hyper origami, at the peak of their popularity he took to trying to master both, but by the time he had no one was interested anymore, and he felt horribly defeated.

his first dose of minor fame came from a minor acting role with his classmates, whose admiration he gained for his skill. ever since, he’s been trying to get this level of attention back ever since.

very in-the-know when it comes to the latest trends, because of this! fashion, past times, you name it.

needs recognition as a way to validate himself, to an unhealthy degree. he’s easily discouraged when met with criticism or when given a role he has little confidence in.

noisy and generally upbeat, and maintains an optimistic attitude despite his own lack of self-confidence.

TENMA SUMERAGI

essentially raised in the world of acting, he’s a former child prodigy who still stars in programs outside of the company.

because both of his parents are movie stars, and because of his own past, he has great faith in his abilities and hates to lose. high confidence to the point of being a bit egotistical.

“oresama” trope. his cocky attitude has gotten him into a bit of trouble with his fellow actors. as a result, prior to joining the mankai company, he didn’t have a lot of friends.

leader of the summer troupe, becoming a part of the troupe has forced him to learn to humble himself and learn to empathize. at the same time, he joined the company to overcome his weakness in performing in front of live audiences. in film, the mistakes can be edited, live? there’s a chance to disappoint the audience, and worse yet, his parents. he wants to overcome this fear and grow to be a better actor.

no sense of direction, despite his protests. also easily frightened when it comes to “scary things.” think of the classics: ghosts, abandoned places, etc.

really wants to play the role of a “bad guy” to expand his horizons, he’s often placed in cool or suave roles on tv.

TSUMUGI TSUKIOKA

the gentle, soft-spoken leader of the winter troupe! he’s said to take on his grandmother’s personality, often playing the mediator when it comes to conflict and holds a great desire for harmony

extremely!! empathetic!! to a fault, because of his empathy and sensibility, it seeps into his confidence, making him doubt himself and his own abilities--especially with acting. he’s not all that assertive either, as a result.

the mankai company is helping him grow, nowadays, he has a little more faith in himself, though he’s still rather shy.

dabbled in acting before back in university before reigniting the spark with mankai. he withdrew after intense criticism and watching his fellow theater students pass by him in ability, and it led to an intense falling out with a childhood friend (said friend is now also a part of the winter troupe)

psychology major and part-time tutor

really fucking good at rock paper scissors

he has a passion for gardening, thanks to his grandmother. he understands the language of flowers and often takes care of them.

#long post / #IM AAAAAAAAAAAAA #please love my boys im going to cry #this is really messy im so sorry but i love... they.... #` ☆ study. ⁞ azuma. ◞ #` ☆ study. ⁞ itaru. ◞ #` ☆ study. ⁞ kazunari. ◞ #` ☆ study. ⁞ masumi. ◞ #` ☆ study. ⁞ misumi. ◞ #` ☆ study. ⁞ muku. ◞ #` ☆ study. ⁞ sakuya. ◞ #` ☆ study. ⁞ taichi. ◞ #` ☆ study. ⁞ tenma. ◞ #` ☆ study. ⁞ tsumugi. ◞

[dredshirtroberts]

So I’m running off of like...6 hours of sleep for 48 hours. I’m doing real well.

I’ve got some shit to unpack here so like...hang in there.

Friend of mine introduced me to V-pop tonight and I’m obsessed. So like...be aware of that in case I start posting pretty vietnamese boys all over the place. Blame my friend, it’s his fault.

I’ve decided that this is going to end up a lot like my anime obsession where I end up learning bits and pieces of a language so I can better enjoy the media i’m consuming. So I’ve picked vietnamese because that’s super easy.

I’m so smart.

Anyway we ended up on the topic because I think he was trying to distract me from being a fucking mess and crying all over the place because i finally went through my social media and removed almost all my pictures of my time with the ex and put them on a backup drive.

The images i saved were 95% cat pictures. 

It’s hard to look at them. I miss them a fucking lot and I don’t think I realized how much this really and truly has broken my heart. Not only have I lost my children but I’m never allowed to see them again and I didn’t do anything to deserve that. And it fucking sucks. 

I’m being punished in the worst way possible. Like...it would have been easier if they were dead and that’s a horrible thought. because it’s so fucking painful that I can’t even see them ever again. Not on facebook, not on instagram, i don’t get updates, no one is letting me know how they are, i can’t go and see them or anything. 

If his goal was to break me inside, mission fucking accomplished. I was already fragile thanks to all the shit he put me through, this was uncalled for and unnecessary and I’m a fucking wreck emotionally over it. And I’m not addressing that because it hurts and I don’t want to hurt. 

It would be a lot easier if people understood how much it fucking tears me up inside to talk about the boys, to see people happy with their fur babies, to know I’m never going to see those furry little faces or their particular toebeans ever again. like. fucking sucks, man. 

fuck I thought I was done with tears, welp....alright then.

Among the cat pictures were a lot of memories from when things were good. Because it wasn’t all shite all the time. If it had been I wouldn’t have stuck around. And I’m so FUCKING angry that I’ve gone through all of this. I want to blame him completely for all of it, and maybe I should. But I won’t because I feel partially responsible for it all too.

IDK if that’s healthy or true or not. It’s just kinda where I am with it all. 

My date thursday night stayed over and yesterday morning he and I were out in front of my apartment and we were talking about family animals, he’d brought up the boys the night before and I gave him the cliffs notes of the situation, and one of my neighbor’s dog decided i was her new favorite person which was sweet. Date teased me saying I’d now want a dog, or a new cat or something and I get where he’s coming from but like...that’s where the statement from before comes up. I wish people could just...inherently understand how much that thought hurts. I can’t replace my babies. I can have a new baby, one day. I can love other peoples’ babies. but it’s never going to be *my boys*. And that’s hard to explain. 

I literally lost my children and I do not ever want to hear any of you telling any mother that it’s something she can get over because that’s not fucking true. I’m having a hard enough time with my boys and they were cats. Not to say that I loved them less than a human child, but i did not birth those babies. They were placed in my care as an adopted mommy and I did my fucking best. It’s not my fucking fault. It’s not my fault and I shouldn’t have to be punished because I value my safety and my happiness over trying to save a relationship that should have ended before we even got the boys. 

It’s not my fault. 

okay...okay i’m moving on because i’m angry and I can’t do this right now.

positive things. we’ll try talking about my forays into the dating world again.

I’m probably out in society again too early but I cannot stand being single and not taking advantage of my ability to see all my options out there. I tried that and I was bored and depressed. I require social interaction to survive because apparently I’m an extrovert and I had no idea. So i’ve been talking to a few guys and have gone on dates. Thursday date was a new contender on the field. Hes hella pretty, little dumb, very privileged and there are some flashes of red that might be flags coming up but like...it was the first time we’d met in person? we were both on first date best behavior trying to sell our personalities to one another. He was relatively respectful which was nice. He’s not looking for serious and that’s super nice. 

Then there’s the good conversationalist I was speaking to previously and he’s still very nice but I think...he’s more domestic than I’m looking for right now. Does that even make sense? He’s definitely long-term relationship material but I do NOT want an LTR. not now, possibly not ever. He’s super sweet but I just...i’d rather just be his friend, and not ever anything more than that. 

Thursday date was more along the type I usually go for - kind of an asshole, kinda dumb in a almost smart way, and as a new added bonus he’s also conventionally attractive which is a change. I have very low standards for physical attractiveness, and it shows lol. 

idk

I’ve got a date set up with another new guy this evening after i’m done hanging out with my mom and sister. I haven’t had a lot of conversation with him, but like...that’s kind of the point of the date i guess. 

A lot of the reason I’m even back out in the dating scene is because there is a lot of safety and security in the idea of a relationship. Especially since I tend to lean towards wanting to be taken care of. Being provided for is a huuuge thing for me and I just...I know that’s a lot of what drives my interest in certain guys. That’s why Thursdate was actually a break from the norm. The fact that the most he could possibly want from me right now is a FWB situation and he’s openly dating around too, that’s refreshing and super pressure-free. I tend to attract either complete dickheads or people who want to have someone come in as a surrogate mother. I picked a real winner with my ex and got both at once so that was...an experience. I’m trying to stay safe, trying to keep my distance and look at things objectively while also keeping an open mind that you really cannot predict when shit’s gonna just click. 

That’s part of the problem with conversationalist. We click really well but I have...no interest in him outside of being a friend. oh damn...i don’t want anything from him but friendship. Nothing wrong with that, but I literally just put that together properly and realized what it was that was feeling weird with him lol. I’m so smart. 

The major problem is that a lot of guys my age, and in the age bracket i’m looking for potential partners in, are looking for long term relationships. They want a settle-down partner. I’m...not a settle down partner right now. I’m a lets go on dates and have fun and be friendly and maybe we have sex but that’s like not the point?? because right now it’s just getting me out of the house. Plus it’s free dinner most of the time and that’s super nice. Plus sides to presenting as female and dating cishet dudes, they think they’re supposed to pay for everything so i get to eat and drink on someone elses’ dollar. 

also it’s extremely difficult to find potential partners who don’t have kids or who don’t want kids at all. i have zero interest in doing the pregnancy baby thing. I don’t even think i’d adopt, but none of it is on the table. And dudes all want to eventually have kids. it’s so weird. idk that’s more of an observation than anythign else. i just think it’s weird.

anyway...idk where i’m going with any of this. mostly this is just a thoughts-ramble and i’ve successfully calmed down from the angry-sads I was having earlier. I’ll freak out some more later I’m sure but until then I’ll probably just...social media until 9 or so.

hope y’all have a good saturday.

#life post

[bipolarsurvival]

Day to Day Life with Bipolar Disorder

https://blueeyedstoryteller.wordpress.com/2021/06/13/day-to-day-life-with-bipolar-disorder/

by James Heaton

Bipolar Disorder isn’t the type of disorder or condition that you deal with occasionally. It isn’t like having migraines that pop up unannounced every now and again. Not to diminish the severity of people suffering with migraines, or other disorders, because they are all incapacitating in their own respects. But bipolar disorder changes how your brain functions, how you process emotions and information. I have often felt that it alters a person so much that they are almost a sub species when compared to people who do not have the condition.

               I can recall the emotions I had as a child, extreme depression mixed with bouts of hyperactivity. I recall being hypersensitive to people’s responses and criticism. The awareness that comes from years of seeing how others react to similar situations compared to how I react has enlightened me to the fact that I am different. I was diagnosed at the age of 24 in the year 1996. At that time computers were beginning to become a normal thing in people’s homes, the internet was being used more and more. The amount of information was no way comparable to what is available today in the year 2021. The only access I had to information about bipolar disorder was found in books at the library. It was still mysterious and very hidden from the public. At that time, I knew no one else with the disorder. I was all alone if someone had it they didn’t discuss it openly. In 1997 my second child was born; it never crossed my mind that bipolar could be passed genetically to her. I didn’t worry about her one day developing the symptoms and battling with this disorder. I know now that it is passed genetically.

               But here in the year 2021, I can join multitudes of groups on Facebook for people with bipolar disorder, I can search Amazon for hundreds of books on the subject, including one I wrote several years ago. The difference time makes is astonishing. With all of these resources and information available I have broadened my knowledge and understanding of how bipolar works. The most important aspect of this information is understanding that people who do not have bipolar do not have the major drops in energy and the flooding of depression that comes with a severe low. They don’t experience a tsunami of energy that comes from a manic phase. They, for the most part maintain a steady flow of emotions that are neither up nor down. They may feel sadness in response to tragedy or loss, and they may feel excitement from happiness or elation from chemical responses. I am always hesitant to use the word normal, but it works. These people, the normal population, feel an appropriate amount of rise and fall of emotional response to everyday life. But those with bipolar can be hit with a jarring low that sends one spiraling down into an incredibly dark chasm of depression from something as simple as a criticism. The intense energy that comes from mania can push us into hypersexuality, overspending, life threatening choices all without the ability to understand and control our actions.

               These ups and downs come without warning, many times from simple triggers that initiate the emotions. Hearing bad news can trigger a crushing low, and bipolar disorder doesn’t care if you are in the middle of normal life experience. It comes out of nowhere and manifest into a crippling, debilitating wave that can knock you down and last for days or weeks. And the mania will build, starting with a welcome flow of energy but before you even realize it you’ve maxed out your credit cards buying things you don’t need, or jumping in bed with a stranger that you’ve only just met.

               Medication can help, it can lessen the severity of these actions. But so many newly diagnosed people start taking a new medication that may or may not work for them. Each medication is different in that its response to your body’s chemistry may be different than it is with others. Many people can’t tolerate certain meds, and the side effects can be severe at times but usually for a short period of time. The dry mouth, the nausea, the weight gain, and even the heightened drowsiness that prevents you from functioning can easily dissuade people from sticking with the medication. It is extremely frustrating in the beginning. When you chose to get help, and against your comfort levels you seek out a doctor, its not always pleasant. I’ve had more than my share of psychiatrist who are cold and extremely clinical. They are more robotic than anything, they function without basic empathy and understanding of the severity of this disorder. I believe this is mainly contributed to their inability to truly understand what it is like to be bipolar. But there are good, understand and caring physicians who have a level of empathy that can benefit the patients. It took me over twenty years to find this type of doctor. I have taken so many medications that I have forgotten more than I can recall. Eventually you run out of choices and learn to tolerate some of the side effects for the benefit of being able to decrease the ups and downs.

               But it is the living day to day that becomes exhausting at times. No day is ever the same as the day before. And the uncertainty that you face not knowing if today is going to be an up or down experience, or even a mix of both. So how do we maintain, how do we keep fighting to exist day to day to day? Everyone who suffers from this disorder will tell you something different. But I have found a system that continues to work for me, and maybe it can help you.

               Let me add that I have had several hospital stays over the years. I have undergone Electro-Conductive Therapy, aka ECT. These treatments have assisted me in my journey, they may not be the answer for everyone, but keeping an open mind to treatment is a primary ingredient to success. Hospital stays are different for everyone, but I like to look at it as a safe refuge from the outside world. It offers an escape from the issues that often trigger us into depressive or manic phases. In the hospital you are able to comfortably speak about your issues, with a doctor or a group of like-minded individuals. You learn coping techniques, and you can experience different medication under the constant supervision of medical professionals. The downside of hospital stays is being away from the things your surround yourself with to feel secure. If you can adapt enough to see past this issue, then time in a hospital can benefit you greatly. ECT is an extreme treatment that is not for everyone. I was at a place where suicide was the only option for me. I had progressed to the point that medication had stopped working, counseling had no benefit for me, and I had convinced myself that death was the only way to stop the pain of life. ECT can erase chunks of your memory as it alters your way of thinking. It’s a sacrifice that I felt I had to make in order to survive. I regret losing those memories, but I am ultimately thankful that I no longer look at suicide as an answer. That being said, it is a treatment for some but not all.

               Communication is extremely important. Being able to channel your thoughts and ideas into words and sharing with someone is extremely beneficial. But not everyone can hear what you have to say. I am lucky to have a caring wife who has been on this journey with me and talking to her has benefitted us both. Being able to explain to someone what being bipolar is like is difficult but worth its weight in gold. We have to learn to express ourselves, through speaking, writing, music, or art. We must channel that energy into an outlet that allows us to express the extreme emotions that we experience daily. Find your outlet, experiment with different forms until you discover what works best for you. Over a course of time, I have gone from being secretive about my disorder to being able to verbalize it daily. I no longer fear retribution from others for sharing my truth. It is part of me, it is part of my existence. Never feel shame for who you are, learn to appreciate that this is part of you. The illusion of a normal, well adjusted human is simply that, an illusion. We all have issues that we deal with daily, and it is beneficial to embrace the truth.

               Adapting your life to accommodate your disorder is very important. You may not be able to be the social butterfly that you dream of being. You may find solace in being alone and away from others. If this is the case, embrace it, but make efforts to socialize periodically. Find a close friend or relative that you can open up to on a regular interval. Being in a judgement free environment is empowering. Having a daughter who suffers from bipolar has opened my mind in so many ways. My need to help her has allowed me to overcome many personal obstacles. Its sometimes like taking a step out of my existence and becoming the person she needs at that moment. I can take a break from my struggles and offer advice or comfort because I know that is what can truly help. I encourage people with bipolar to find support groups, either in social media or in real life. NAMI is very important and offers support groups for individuals and families. And just as it as important to surround yourself with support, its equally important to cleanse your life of people who are toxic to you and your treatment. If someone close to you isn’t supportive or willing to become supportive and educated on your disorder, it is necessary to distance from them.

               Looking inward, to learn our triggers, to gain insight in the things that make us feel the way we prefer to feel, is essential for day-to-day survival. But this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try new things. I suggest if you have a desire to try something new or different, you do so with a trusted ally by your side. A trusted ally will understand you enough to know the smallest signs that your about to hit a low or a high. They can tell when something isn’t quiet right with you and can be there to comfort you in this time. True friends are hard to find, but they can make the journey so much easier. And it’s not just human friends, our pets can empathize with us and protect us.

               I suggest daily routines, as they lessen the chance for surprises that can be triggers. Eating healthy, avoiding alcohol, getting a full night’s sleep can all benefit each and everyone of us. With these small additions to our lives and schedules we begin to limit the chances of triggers. But triggers still happen, and that is why it is very important to make a plan of care. Take the time to create a plan for when you are down, and for when you are up. Favorite tv shows, music, objects, weighted blankets, anything that brings you joy, or comfort need to be easily accessible when you are triggered. Our phones can be very beneficial in these times. Avoid posting on social media when you are up or down. Instead, you can utilize them to watch a relaxing video, or show. You can play your favorite album on repeat or look at images that relax you. This is referred to as grounding. I have a passion for watches, I always wear one. When I need to ground I take my watch off and hold it with both hands, feeling the metal bracelet, turning the bezel, or watching the secondhand sweep past the seconds. Its entrancing, it takes my mind off the issues I have and connects me to an inanimate object. You can do this with a coin, a piece of fabric that you enjoy touching, or even taking off your shoes and standing on grass. Connecting your senses to things that you enjoy can be a positive distraction. I sometimes play the introduction of the original show, Cosmos with Carl Sagan because his voice comforts me. I can listen over and over until the moment passes.

               Find your happy place, find your sanctuary, and make it essential to your care. Plan your days in advance, this lessens the chance for surprise. And never be afraid to say, I can’t do that. Feeling obligated to do certain things that cause stress, or anxiety can force a triggered response that is damaging to our health. Surrounding yourself with people who understand that you are limited in what you are able to do can prevent unwanted sudden changes in our schedule. I keep a thorough calendar in my phone, with every event and action listed. I also keep an old-fashioned paper calendar on my refrigerator with all my activities and times charted for my family to see. They understand that adding things to this calendar can cause triggers. So, establishing rules is essential. The key to our success in coping with bipolar disorder is being firm in our rules for day-to-day living. Its only natural to regret not being able to be spontaneous, or on call with our friends and families, but we must establish boundaries. There are no exceptions to this rule. We must strategize our lives and actions to work for us.

               This takes time, it took me years to get to a place in my life that I put my health first. I still have family members who just don’t get it. But that isn’t on me, its on them. And we have to realize this. All you can do is inform and make your needs known. Learn to say no and always put your mental and physical health first in your life. Bipolar disorder doesn’t go away or disappear with time, it is a lifelong commitment, and we can make our lives easier and better managed with a few changes and simply prioritize your health.

               Keep fighting daily, keep living and never give up. Be the best you that you can be. Know your limitations and set boundaries.

copyright 2021 

[orbemnews]

Travel Quarantines: Enduring the Mundane, One Day at a Time May Samali knew she’d reached her limit when she saw a tentacle emerging from her hotel dinner in Sydney, Australia. “I called downstairs and said, ‘I’m a vegan now, thank you!’” she said. “It was just so much fish. I’d gotten to the point where even thinking about it made me gag.” Ms. Samali swore off the seemingly unlimited seafood while in the middle of a required quarantine in the Hotel Sofitel in Sydney this December and early January. An executive coach, she was repatriating back to Australia after her U.S. work visa expired. In addition to an excess of fish, Ms. Samali was confined to her room all day, forbidden from stepping outside, for two weeks. Air travelers around the world are finding themselves in similar situations, enduring mandatory government quarantines in hotels as they travel to countries that are very serious about containing the coronavirus. Their quarantine is not the cushy experience of shorter-term quarantines or “resort bubbles” found in some destinations like Kauai and the British Virgin Islands, where you are able to roam relatively freely on a resort’s expansive grounds while waiting for a negative coronavirus test. This is the more extreme, yet typical experience of quarantine life. These mandatory quarantines involve confinement to your room, 24 hours a day, for up to two weeks (assuming you test negative, that is). And with some exceptions, you are footing the bill — quarantine in New South Wales, Australia, for example, costs about $2,300, or 3,000 Australian dollars for a two-week quarantine for one adult, and up to 5,000 Australian dollars for a family of four to quarantine for two weeks (in January, Britain announced a mandatory 10-day quarantine from high-risk areas with a similar cost of about $2,500 for one adult). Travelers now journeying to countries with mandatory hotel quarantines, which also include New Zealand, mainland China and Tunisia, generally must have compelling reasons to do so — visiting ailing family members, “essential” business travel or permanent relocation. Most accept the inconvenience and inevitable claustrophobia of the quarantine as the price of traveling. But while there can be comfort in establishing some kind of routine resembling normal life, travelers find themselves craving human connection, fresh air and, well, different food (the staff at the Sofitel happily accommodated Ms. Samali’s request; she is still off fish). Travel quarantine might seem manageable, even familiar, for those who have been living in places with shelter-in-place orders and working from home. Pete Lee, a San Francisco-based filmmaker, wasn’t concerned about the quarantine when he flew to Taiwan for work and to visit family. “I was a little bit cocky when I first heard about the requirement,” said Mr. Lee, during his eighth day at the Roaders Hotel in Taipei, Taiwan. “I was inside my San Francisco apartment for 22 out of 24 hours a day! But it’s a surprisingly intense experience. Those two hours make a big difference.” Destination: unknown Much of quarantine life is determined by your hotel. And depending on where you are traveling, you may get to choose your quarantine hotel, or you may be assigned upon arrival. Mr. Lee, in Taiwan, was able to choose and book his quarantine hotel from a list compiled by the Taiwanese government, complete with information about location, cost, room size and the presence (or lack thereof) of windows. He also footed the bill. Similarly, Ouiem Chettaoui, a public policy specialist who splits her time between Washington, D.C., and Tunisia, was able to choose a hotel for her weeklong quarantine when returning to Tunis with her husband in September; she based her selection, the Medina Belisaire & Thalasso on price and proximity to the Mediterranean Sea (“We couldn’t see it, but we could hear it … at least, we told ourselves we could!” she said). Brett Barna, an investment manager who relocated to Shanghai with his fiancée in November, could select a district in the city, but not the hotel itself. In an attempt to improve their odds, Mr. Barna chose the upscale Huangpu district where, he hoped, the hotels would be higher quality. “There were four possible hotels in the district, three of which were nice enough. And then there was the budget option, the Home Inn,” he said. Mr. Barna and his fiancée, to their dismay, ended up paying for quarantine in that option, which had peeling wallpaper and bleach stains on the floor thanks to aggressive cleaning protocols. In Australia and New Zealand, there’s no choice in the matter — upon landing, your entire flight is bused to a quarantine hotel with capacity. In most instances, travelers do not know where they are going until the bus pulls up at the hotel itself. Joy Jones, a coach and educator who is based in San Francisco, traveled to New Zealand with her husband, a New Zealand citizen, and two young daughters in January. She learned before their departure that they would have no say where in the country they would be quarantined. “That was probably the hardest part,” she said. “I could put together a bag of activities for my older daughter, and plan on doing laundry in the sink. But not having an answer to where we’d be — after more than 21 hours of flying, with masks — would we have to get another flight? A three-hour bus ride?” They didn’t. Ms. Jones and her family were taken to Stamford Plaza in Auckland, just 25 minutes from the airport. Pim Techamuanvivit and her New Zealander husband, however, were not so lucky. After arriving in Auckland from San Francisco, they were promptly directed to board another flight to Christchurch, and to the Novotel Christchurch Airport hotel. “At that point, we just really, really wanted to get to the hotel!” said Ms. Techamuanvivit, the chef-owner of Nari and Kin Khao restaurants in San Francisco and the executive chef of Nahm in Bangkok. Relief at arriving — finally — might be the initial reaction, but it doesn’t take long for reality to set in. The hotel room is all that you’ll see for a not insignificant period of time. As Adrian Wallace, a technology project manager who was quarantined at the Sydney Hilton in August after visiting his ailing father in Britain, put it: “That moment when the door slams … it’s reminiscent of the opening scene of ‘The Shawshank Redemption’!” Mr. Wallace said, referring to the 1994 prison movie with Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman. Passing the time The challenge is managing the tedium. Working remotely helped pass the time for a number of the travelers, including Tait Sye, a senior director at the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, who traveled to Taipei, Taiwan, from Washington, D.C. in November. Mr. Sye attempted to maintain East Coast hours for the majority of his quarantine at the Hanns House Hotel, working from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. Mr. Wallace ran a half marathon around his Sydney hotel room (he was unable to adjust the in-room air-conditioner and got very sweaty). Mr. Barna and his fiancée in Shanghai had date nights on Zoom, since official policy required them to quarantine in separate rooms. A major highlight of their days came when a hotel employee, clad in full, hazmat-style P.P.E., knocked on the door and pointed an infrared thermometer at their heads. They were not allowed outside. In New Zealand, travelers who test negative for the virus are allowed on the hotel grounds for supervised constitutionals after checking in with guards at multiple checkpoints (masks and distancing are still required, and the rules can quickly change if there is any threat of an outbreak in the country). The ability to get fresh air and walk was crucial for Ms. Jones, and a key part of the routine she created for her family. Other aspects included morning yoga, remote school, nap times, playtime and art projects (her husband worked remotely from the bathroom). “We decorated a paper horse that we hung in our window — every day, a different part of it — that was a favorite activity. We’d have dance parties. And we’d watch a movie every night. We did what we could to bring some fun into it,” Ms. Jones said. Three meals a day Meals become very important in quarantine life, to mark the passing of the time and as regular occurrences to break up the monotony of the day. Food quality, though, varies widely, as Mr. Sye learned in Taipei, where meals were ordered from nearby restaurants. He recounted the highs of a Michelin-starred meal from Kam’s Roast Goose and the thoughtfulness of a Thanksgiving dinner decorated with a paper turkey to the low of an absolutely terrible pizza (at least it was accompanied by a beer). For Ms. Techamuanvivit who documented her quarantine in Christchurch on Twitter, ordering food and grocery delivery was a life-saver. “I’m a chef. I suppose I am, shall we say, a snob!” she said. “As a restaurateur, I don’t have much love for UberEats. But ordering Indian takeaway proved to be important.” (Others who had delivery options available similarly cited them as game-changing). Ms. Techamuanvivit spiced up hotel meals with leftover Indian pickles and found that Greek tzatziki sauce ordered from the grocery store worked well as a salad dressing. She and her husband also treated themselves to nice bottles of wine from the hotel restaurant’s wine list (In Australia and New Zealand, quarantined guests were limited to a delivery of six beers or one bottle of wine per person per day, perhaps to ward off belligerence. In Shanghai, alcohol was not allowed). Seeking connection on social media There are Facebook groups dedicated to hotel quarantine, by region and even by specific hotel, where members share tips for boiling eggs using in-room kettles and “cooking” with an iron. They were also a source of community; Mr. Wallace, who learned of the Sydney Hilton’s Facebook group while on the bus from the airport, participated in a daily Zoom call with members of the group (the meals of the day were a constant topic of conversation). Mr. Lee moderated filmmaking conversations on Clubhouse, an invitation-only social media app, and spent time on Tinder while in quarantine; he connected with a woman who was nearing the end of her confinement in another hotel across town. Ms. Jones documented her family’s quarantine experience on her private Instagram account, showing forts made of blankets, paper airplane competitions and “bowling” with water bottles and a crumpled ball made of paper. She was touched that friends and family, both in New Zealand and in the United States, sent her family meals, treats and toys for her daughters in response to her posts. “It was a really cool way to feel love, and connection, from such an isolated space,” she said. Follow New York Times Travel on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. And sign up for our weekly Travel Dispatch newsletter to receive expert tips on traveling smarter and inspiration for your next vacation. Source link Orbem News #Day #Enduring #Mundane #quarantines #Time #Travel

[levin8]

It was a cold fall day, the air was crisp, I was passing the football with my Dad in the driveway and as the sun was setting I could see my Mom’s car approaching in the distance. As she pulled into the driveway, I never could have predicted what would happen next and the lasting impact it would have on my life. She proceeded to get out of the car and told me to come help her carry some bags inside our house. Being the rebellious four year old I was, I ran inside and sat on the couch instead. She was not amused. “You either come help with the bags or you will go to your time out chair!” she yelled sternly. Immediately I got up and helped because my timeout chair was in the corner of our sketchy dining room and I hated it there so much. Anyway, we carried everything in except for this really big box in the passenger’s seat. Naturally, I was much more interested in playing with the box than actually finding out what was inside of it. However, it turned out to be one of the biggest moments of my life, it was the first time I ever saw a desktop computer. At first, I was very hesitant because on Jimmy Neutron the robots took over and my imagination led me to believe the humongous computer in our study was plotting its attack all day, everyday. Eventually I warmed up to it once my mom introduced me to the wonderful world of computer games. The first computer game I ever played was Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004.This game meant to the world to me because it allowed me to keep my mind on the golf course without even having to be there. Plus, sometimes my Dad would join me and we would play  multiplayer. He and I would get pretty competitive with the game, but ultimately I just really liked being able to spend time with my dad. It’s amazing to look back on this time in my life because as I have grown up, golf became one of the most important parts of my life. It provided me with so many memories that may have never happened without a simple computer game.  

As I grew up, my dependency on technology continued to develop as well. Shortly after my mom’s purchase of a desktop computer, my dad bought our family’s first laptop. The idea of making my computer games portable absolutely blew my mind away at the time. However, my dad rarely let me play on his laptop because he didn’t want my “greasy hands ruining his keyboard.” So, for my seventh birthday my parents probably got me the coolest device I have ever owned, the first edition Gameboy Advance. No joke, that gameboy was the love of my life for a good three months until my dog chewed the buttons up. It was a truly a devastating event in my young life. However, shortly after that destruction, we started having classes that used those Apple desktops with the colored back pieces in school, so I got over my loss relatively quick. This excitement was muddled when they started to give us keyboard quizzes and basic homework assignments requiring the use of the internet. This was the time in my life where I started to differentiate the two ways I could use technology, one side was academic and the other was gaming. These options taught me a vital lesson that it still very relevant today, which is that there is time for fun and there is time for work. The computer gave me a chance to either always get my work done or always goof around, so I had to consciously make the choice to go one way or another. As I have grown up, the distractions in my life now are much different from back in the days of being a seven year old, but the same general message still applies.

Once I got to Middle School, that’s right about the time my friends and I all started to get phones. Which let me tell you, was not the move. Giving kids in sixth grade the ability to text and send pictures is just the worst idea going. However, about three weeks into sixth grade, I got my first girlfriend. If you are wondering, yes I did ask her out over text. In any event, this lead to me making my first Facebook because she wanted to be Facebook official and that can’t happen if her bae doesn’t have a Facebook. This lead to many embarrassing posts and pictures that I had to delete shortly after our two week relationship ended. For those of you passing judgment at me right now, just stop because we all know you did it too. Anyway, once I started using that social media site, it opened my eyes to the “real world”, which was not such a nice place. I vividly remember liking a page that was a fan club for my favorite football player of all time, Brandon Jacobs, and some of the comments on there were just awful. My vocabulary grew thanks to the users who felt it was necessary to use every swear word known to man on that page. This exposure to that kind of language for the first time left me scarred solely because I grew up in a household that did not tolerate that kind of vulgar language. As I have grown up that has changed pretty substantially, but at the time I just was not used to how mean some people can be over social media.

Finally, after years of anticipation, it was time to make the transition to the High School. I remember the first day of my Freshman year I was extremely nervous because my parents were very involved with my life and put a lot of emphasis on getting good grades while I was there. That could not have happened without the use of technology like my laptop, IPhone, and PS4 because those were the only things that made getting through High School possible. My laptop was only used for schoolwork, which at the time was different to me because I had never had an online textbook prior to my Junior year English class. This experience helped me cope with the way we do things now because all we use in college is online books. Then there was my IPhone, which was predominantly used for social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. Then there was my PS4, this gaming device gave me an escape from my high stress levels and transformed me into the world of virtual reality. This release from the real world gave me a sanctuary that helped me calm down and clear my mind of the clutter High School threw at me during my four years there. Truly, I don’t know what I would have done without the ability to use technology during this time in my life. There is no doubt in my mind that I would not have been able to get the grades I did without any of these devices.

Now that I’m in College, I am constantly using some kind of electronic damn near every minute of everyday. During class it’s either typing my notes on my computer or I am on my phone scrolling through Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook trying to kill time until class is over. Plus, almost all my homework is online at this point. When I am not doing school stuff, I am playing PS4, listening to music, or watching Netflix, all of which require some kind of technology. It is shocking how much my life depends on technology now days, but at the same time, my life simply would not be complete without it.

[alada-mrs-world]

Play the crew 2

It's surprising to see just how much The Crew 2 differs from the original game. There's been a noticeable shift in Ubisoft’s last few open-world titles, one that's moving toward a focus on player-driven progression--large selections of optional activities, non-linear structures, rewards for doing just about anything--and The Crew 2 benefits significantly from this direction. The gritty crime angle from the original game is gone, and instead, The Crew 2 takes reams of pages from the book . The game centers on a nationwide festival of motorsports where you, a rookie, are poised to become the next big star. While the setup is conventional, and the focus on social media fame is obnoxious, what it brings to the game is a colorful and upbeat vibe, an impressive variety of different disciplines, and positively ridiculous arcade driving on land, water, and through the air.

Play now; jelly doods Despite the game's focus on real-world branding and mimicry of televised motorsports, The Crew 2's greatest asset is its willingness to be ridiculous. Races in The Crew 2 might involve jumping your street-racing car off skyscrapers, or your powerboat off the Hoover Dam. They might include making high-speed touring cars go head to head through the tight, windy Hollywood Hills, and motocross bikes take jumps across shipping freighters and freeways right before you transform into a prop plane like some kind of extreme-sports mecha. This is a game that will cover Los Angeles in three feet of snow for no logical reason other than icy roads make for more thrilling street races. Abundant nitro boosts, uncomplicated drifting, and generous rubber-banding also help keep the act of driving exciting when things are relatively tame. As a game with an open world, races and challenges can naturally be found and initiated when you stumble across them at particular points on the map. However, playing The Crew 2 with open-world exploration as your primary means of moving from activity to activity reveals the game's major downfall: it's too big, and all the activities and interesting locations are too spread out. The game hides a number of boxes with vehicle components across the map, which you can hunt for using a proximity tracker, but even these feel too few and far between.

But with that in mind, The Crew 2 thankfully makes it easy to cut your commute down via player-friendly shortcuts. The game has an option to view all 120+ primary activities and countless more skill challenges (featuring things like escapes, slaloms, and a rewarding photo mode) in a categorized, list-style view, with the option to not just set a waypoint to them, but instantly start them no matter where you are in the world, at no cost. The loading times in The Crew 2 are impressively brief all around, so if you want to, you can churn through races and challenges back-to-back to very quickly and efficiently rack up progression points, earn cash, and set leaderboard positions from the moment you start. It's an option that's both convenient and gives the impression that the game is conscious of your time. Likewise, any activity can be restarted or aborted in seconds if you're having a bad run, and there's a quick back-on-track feature that can be used any time. When you're not in an event you can switch to any vehicle you own immediately, without penalty, and without having to go anywhere. That's on top of being able to assign a favorite ground vehicle, boat, and plane to your right analog stick to allow for instantaneous switching during free-roam exploration, which provides its own kind of fun, for example, flying into the stratosphere with your plane before switching to a boat and careening back to Earth. Any vehicle that's available for sale is also graciously available for you to test drive on a moment's notice. The variety of different vehicular disciplines in The Crew 2 is downright impressive--each of the 14 styles is tangibly unique from one another. Every time I started to get fatigued with one method of competition, I could quickly jump to another that had a completely different feel. Each is housed within one of four "Families" which you're free to move between to perpetuate your overall progress: Street (street racing, drifting, drag racing, long-distance hypercar racing), Offroad (cross-country rally raid, motocross, loose-surface rallycross), Freestyle (plane aerobatics, jet sprint boating, monster trucking), and Pro (power boating, air racing, touring cars, and grand prix). HOT GAME ; skeleton launcher 2 While the execution of The Crew 2's disciplines might not wholly satisfy purists of any one given style, it does a great job of making each feel accessible, fun, and unique. I'm usually too intimidated by grand prix racing to give it a shot in other games, and I would never have even considered the idea of playing a power boating game. But, the Crew 2 encourages you to try a little bit of everything, and it's easy thanks to the game's approachable arcade-style mechanics, as well as the prospects of seeing more beautiful and ludicrous tracks. Those tracks are certainly another highlight of the game, because there's an inherent novelty to the virtual tourism of The Crew 2. You'll likely recognize iconic structures, but there are also enough abstracted details that contribute to the city's atmosphere and character. And, like the original game, The Crew 2 does a great job at building a seamless and recognizable version of America to drive through, whether it's a designated top-to-bottom endurance race or a self-assigned recreation of a road trip you did a few years back. The journey across the country feels grounded, as you drive through cities that morph into industrial areas and farmland, into plains, deserts, forests and rural areas, occasionally flying by a small town now and then. And whether you're driving, boating, or flying across The Crew 2's America, it's a mostly beautiful journey. The game's natural environments, particularly bodies of water and the sky, look fantastic, as do weather effects like snow and rain. All are enhanced to breathtaking heights by the superb lighting, though the continuous day/night and weather cycle can be an occasional inconvenience during some events--whether it be afternoon sun in your eyes, snow obscuring track obstacles, or having to fly through a tight canyon in complete darkness. Where the visuals visibly falter are in dense urban areas. You likely won't notice buildings when you're zooming past them at 200km/h, but any slower and you can't help but notice how plain they are, especially in broad daylight with clear skies. Character models, on the other hand, always look incredibly basic, no matter the situation . The game's RPG-style vehicle upgrade system returns from the original game, though it still doesn't feel particularly meaningful. You'll receive loot after every race in various stages of rarity (common, uncommon, rare, epic), and each corresponds to a particular vehicle part and has its own power number, which contributes to your vehicle's overall power number. There is some small benefit to this system--all vehicles of a particular class, despite having different power levels in their stock configuration, will max out at the same number, meaning you can stick with your favorite car all the way up to and through the endgame. But while some parts come with unique gameplay perks, and more professional tuning options eventually become available, I found the upgrade system pretty easy to ignore--simply equipping the one with the biggest number was all I had to do to stay competitive. However, if you own multiple vehicles in a certain class and decide to switch between them at some point, stripping one vehicle of all its powerful parts and re-installing them on another is a tedious annoyance. The gear system as a whole feels like it's there to act as an additional roadblock to make sure your progress to higher tiers of races stays gradual; there were a few times where I found it necessary to replay a number of previously-won races in order to earn higher-grade parts to give myself a reasonable chance in later events. Another obstacle is the cost of the vehicles you're required to purchase to be able to participate in certain disciplines: Buying a vehicle in order to gain access to an advanced discipline like air racing or grand prix is expensive, and will typically empty out your in-game wallet completely. I didn't need to dip into the game's real-world currency equivalent to progress during my playthrough, but those who like to keep a garage filled with lots of different cars will likely have a tougher time with in-game credits

. The Crew 2 allows you to form a party with three other players to explore and participate in events together, but, at the time of writing the game doesn't offer any meaningful ways to interact with players outside your party, despite their visible presence in the always-online world. Aside from manually inviting them into your party via the roster menu, there is no way to formally challenge them to race in any capacity. Ubisoft has stated that player-versus-player lobbies are planned as a free content update in December, on top of new vehicle disciplines and other updates, but they do not exist in The Crew 2 as of July 2018. The Crew 2's large open-world feels too sparse to be engaging enough for anything more than some light virtual tourism, and it's easy to disparage it because of that. But it also provides the landscape for the game's most memorable experiences, and these can come hard and fast, if you want them to. There's always a ridiculously indulgent twist or spectacular moment, whether it be drifting off cliffs in a snow-covered Grand Canyon before transforming into a boat to jet down the Colorado River, or hurtling down a mountain during a spectacular sunset in a rally raid. I'm annoyed by the game's lack of public interaction and meaningless gear system, but I'll fondly recall both the tension of flinging sprint boats back and forth through the narrow, artificial canals of The Venetian in Las Vegas, and the easygoing satisfaction of an hour-long hypercar race from New York to San Francisco, where I listened to a podcast and enjoyed the rolling scenery. Despite its shortcomings, The Crew 2 still displays admirable strengths, which lie in its player-friendly features, freedom of movement, and its willingness to bend the rules in order to make things exciting and varied for an accessible, American-themed thrillride.

#play games #ts4 gameplay #game online #games

[surfergurl30]

I’m a Michigan Native born and raised that has been living down in Miami. The differences between the people, the lifestyle, the food, and everything is definitely a shock to anyone who is accustomed to having four seasons and easy northern living. Here are some of the things I want to contrast from the 305 to the 248.

#1 In Michigan we have LOTS of Coney Islands. These are small, family owned businesses typically that serve breakfast all day, sometimes Greek fare like Saganaki, and are known mostly for selling Coney Dogs (a hot dog smothered with chili and sprinkled with onion). Back home this is one of my favorite places to casually meet up with friends or just to grab a bite to eat that’s not fast food.

In Miami there is no such thing as Coney Islands, instead there are Cafeterias… small, family owned restaurants that sometimes serve breakfast all day (usually for an extra cost past 11 am). Cafeterias are well known for cranking out colada (aka. rocket fuel, it’s a mix of lots of sugar and several shots of espresso that is poured into tiny cups and sipped or taken like a shot… EXTREMELY POTENT!) and making traditional Cuban style entrees and sandwiches and little on the go foods like empenadas, croquetas, and pastelitos. I have grown to love Cuban food and we frequently go to eat it. My favorite dishes are chicken vaca frita, Cuban style chicken soup, guava pastelitos, yuca frita and tostones. However, I really do miss going to Coney Island and ordering breakfast food whenever I want and not being judged for it.

#2 Michigan has a bottle bill so there is a 10 cent refund on carbonated beverage containers like pop (NOT SODA!), beer, and sparkling waters. Families keep their cans and bottles and take them with them to the grocery store where there are machines that scan and collect the bottles. When you are done, the machine prints out a receipt with a barcode that can be used like cash on your groceries! We also have many other incentives to recycle like coupons for putting our bins out on trash day (they scan a barcode on our recycle bin and then we receive coupons to LOCAL businesses as a thank you for taking part in the recycling program). In Michigan, we are able to recycle a much wider variety of different types of materials, are educated in school on the importance of recycling, and are raised with the “can I recycle this before I throw it in a trash can?” mentality.

Florida has no bottle bill. There is also no incentive to recycle and it doesn’t seem like many people recycle the way we do, perhaps that’s because you can’t recycle many of the materials we are able to in Michigan. Plastic bags is a HUGE one… it is one of the most common things found floating in the ocean here but you cannot put them in your normal recycle bin here! SO. FREAKING. DUMB! Also, they thought it would be an awesome idea to put a landfill right next to Biscayne Bay National Park… what a joke. I guess they really don’t care much about the beautiful ocean down here and the ecosystems of incredible animals here because neither the legislators nor the people do much to make an impact on how wasteful and detrimental their lifestyle is to the environment. SUPER SAD AND FRUSTRATING!

#3 Michigan people are typically down to earth and welcoming. Most of us have family roots that are blue collar and extend back to the days when working in the industries that once boomed downtown in Powerhouse Detroit or farming in our orchards or fields was a way of life. We are a big community and we are really proud of our state, our sports (even the Lions haha), our gorgeous seasons, and our heritage. We are Pure Michigan.

Feet warming by fireplace

Florida is a strange state… Miami is even stranger. Miami is mostly composed of Spanish speakers and the majority have come here from Cuba or South America. This state is fueled a lot on tourism because it has no seasons so people visit for our sunshine, beaches, waves, Walt Disney World, etc. The people who actually live here and grew up here down’t have the laid back attitude you find up in Michigan. Everything is a competition down here. Everyone has a mentality of entitlement and “I have to be better than everyone else”. In connection with this mentality is selfishness. Anytime you talk to someone here it is hard to have a genuine conversation with someone without that person analyzing you in regards to “how can this person benefit me?”. Every friend I have ever made is 103% genuine and kindhearted and humble. We are still friends despite the distance and I wish I had people down here as wonderful as them, ESPECIALLY my girlfriends. Some days, when Bryan leaves to work or hangs out with his friends or goes out fishing,  I am so lonely here and desperate to hang out with another person who understands me and enjoys the things I do that I break down and cry because I feel as if that is impossible… I don’t think there is anyone else here but Bryan that would bother to take the time to want to spend time with me hanging out and getting to know me and who I am. I’ve never been anywhere or lived anywhere where it is SO HARD to make friends as it is here. I am often overcome with anxiety or depression from feeling trapped and alone.

#4 Like I said before Michigan celebrates its four seasons and is EXTREMELY festive for all holidays. We go all out for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, Saint Patrick’s Day, Fourth of July, EVERYTHING!

Florida has no definitive seasons and I truly miss how wonderful everything looks when the holidays roll around. I also miss being able to wear skinny jeans comfortably with leather riding boots and a sweater on a crisp autumn day or wearing flannel pajama pants and getting cozy by a wood fire in the fireplace watching the snow fall outside (I don’t think there is a single house in Miami with an actual fireplace haha). I seriously miss the foliage and the trails… being able to go running, hiking, or biking and enjoying the scenery without being eaten to death by bugs. There’s so many mosquitoes down here I swear I must have given blood a few times over.

#5 Michigan people know how to drive, we have the motor city after all. Our driving school program is really good and I learned how to drive in the snow so I am a pretty good defensive driver. I also have no tickets and have never been in an accident.

Every day I have to drive in Florida I fear that someone is going to hit me. No one here uses their turn signal EVER! (they may as well just not put them on the cars here) Also, there is no in between aggressive drivers and really slow drivers. Most of the cars in Miami are pretty nice cars too! It’s not uncommon to see many people driving luxury brand cars like Tesla, Maserati, Genesis, Ferrari, etc. Regardless, of what people drive here they still don’t know what they’re doing.

#6 Back in Michigan, and even when I lived in Missouri, we get very hyped up for hockey season. I’m all about the Detroit Red Wings, the Grand Rapids Griffins, and I still have lots of respect and follow the Saint Louis Blues. There’s nothing like getting heated watching a hockey game with your friends and drinking some brews.

Florida… it’s always warm here so many people here have never seen snow, why would they want to play ice hockey? I don’t even think we have an ice hockey arena near our house.

#7 There’s plenty of really cool microbreweries and hole in the wall places to eat and drink and hang out with friends all over Michigan. There’s always something fun or cool to do because there’s community events all the time.

Miami is a big city and not much of a community. I haven’t really felt compelled to see/ experience what the night life is like here mostly based off of what I have seen on social media/heard. Plus, I don’t have any friends to hang out at the bar with. I have a few cool places that I have discovered and enjoy but they aren’t quite like my favorite places in Michigan. I haven’t run a 5K in ages, I can’t remember the last time I saw a movie in the theater, I haven’t gone to a mall to go shopping, I have yet to see a live concert down here… there just isn’t much I do aside from going out fishing, baking homemade goods through our new business- Reel Desserts of Miami, or coaching my kids swimming. I’d like to go to a farmers market sometime, visit a winery, do a half marathon or 5K, and go back down to the Keys to chill.

I’m not entirely sure what it is like to be homesick, but if I had to guess this is it. Someone once told me, “You’ll never find anywhere else in the world quite like the place where you grew up”. They were right. I’ve traveled a bit and I think Michigan might always be home to me even if I don’t picture myself living there or raising a family there. I miss my people more than anything and so I think that it is definitely true that it’s the people that make a place. Realistically, I think I would be much happier here if I had my friends here to hang out with, but I don’t have anyone here. Miami isn’t a bad place, it’s just not MY place. I still belong on a beach somewhere where I can surf and teach lessons or have a bakery coffee shop, or teach yoga. In Miami, I’m not often excited about my life… I feel bored, uninspired and stuck. I’m still searching for what will get me out of that… I want to feel motivated, happy, and like myself again. Lately I have been super emotionally distraught. Typically, I seriously have a massive love/hate relationship with the holidays. Usually because of the anxiety of talking to relative that as stupid stuff I don’t want to discuss like “what are you doing with your life? When are you getting married? Blah, blah, blah, more questions about stupid stuff I️ don’t want to talk about”… but this year I’m honestly so homesick that for the first time in my life I’m super stoked  because Christmas means being reunited and seeing my family and friends again. I couldn’t be ready to head home for the holidays! I miss my mitten and the wonderful people that fill it ❤ See you guys soon!

-NR

  Michigan V. Miami I'm a Michigan Native born and raised that has been living down in Miami. The differences between the people, the lifestyle, the food, and everything is definitely a shock to anyone who is accustomed to having four seasons and easy northern living.

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Bluffton, Beaufort County close on riverfront property

The metropolis of Bluffton and Beaufort County have closed on a buy of the Wright own family belongings on the May River for $1.Five million.

The price turned into frivolously break up between the metropolis and county through the Beaufort County Rural and Critical Lands Preservation program, a metropolis information release stated. In a formal settlement with the county, the city will count on the primary obligation for working and preserving the assets.

The belongings are on the south quit of Calhoun Street adjacent to the public dock and throughout from the Church of the Cross. It is home to the Squire Pope Carriage House, constructed around 1850 and one of the few structures to live on the 1863 burning of Bluffton by way of the Union Army at some point of the Civil War.

Town plans for the assets consist of changing it right into a passive park to provide more public get entry to the river. Officials plan to rehabilitate the carriage residence in an assignment similar to the historical Garvin House restoration at Oyster Factory Park.

“The town could be very thankful to the Wright family for partnering with us so we ought to buy their assets and create a public park with access to the May River,” Mayor Lisa Sulka said within the launch.

“The Wright family contributors had been very gracious to order their belongings so Bluffton residents can enjoy this park for generations to return. This is a legacy for his or her circle of relatives and a beautiful asset for the city.”

Town Council unanimously accredited the purchase at its March 14 meeting

That followed any other unanimous vote by Beaufort County Council on March thirteen to help the metropolis in investment the purchase.

Town manager Marc Orlando stated the acquisition completes some other factor of the Old Town Master Plan adopted in 2006.

“More than a decade ago, the town identified this property as a desired acquisition as part of the Old Town Master Plan,” Orlando said. “We are very pleased the Rural and Critical Lands Preservation software partnered with the town to boom the get right of entry to the May River.

“This is a first-rate public addition to Bluffton’s historic district as well as to the city’s portfolio of leisure facilities for citizens and visitors.”

Improvements to the property could be particular for monetary yr 2018 and past the use of investment resources such as hospitality tax sales and federal, nation and local offers in which viable, the discharge stated.

“The Wright own family property is a substantial win and asset for the location,” said Lisa Lord, administrator of the Rural and Critical Lands program. “The May River’s scenic character and its importance as a waterway will provide many possibilities for public use.

“While we live amongst such herbal beauty, there are few places in which the general public can experience the waterfront. The Wright family property will offer the public with amusement, even as additionally shielding our natural sources all through the years.”

Stock Farm Development in Bluffton, South Carolina

The Village of Stock Farm is a captivating community located inside the Historic Coastal Community of Bluffton, South Carolina. Nestled amongst the well-known Live Oak trees draped with Spanish moss, it enjoys having the charm of a conventional southern village and is footsteps far from the banks of the May River. This precise village provides its residents the convenience of contemporary services whilst boasting vintage global beauty in the handcrafted cottage houses inside a community of shops, restaurants, and parks. Home to the pristine May River, global-famed Bluffton Oysters, and historical structure, this tidewater village is nestled among the east coast’s finest hotel destination, Hilton Head Island and Interstate 95. Enjoy the yesteryears of community living in Stock Farm, Bluffton.bluffton university who.

Stock Farm is a vital a part of the rich history of Bluffton

A true farm inside the mid-1800’s, it changed into owned by way of the Baynard family. The Baynards had been the equal circle of relatives that after owned Braddock’s Point on Hilton Head, a domain that has become a vital part of Sea Pines Plantation. The circle of relatives selected to live, however, in a home at the May River. Bluffton’s Secession Oak is a few hundred yards away. In the shade of its big limbs on July 31, 1844, Blufftonians collected to hear their firebrand Congressman, Barnwell Rhett, rail against the Treaty of 1842 – an instrument negative to the rural South. This event came to be called the Bluffton Movement and dates one of the early calls of the secession movement.

Bluffton’s university basketball

As we speed ahead to these days, this land is a New Urban Village in Old Town Bluffton. Stock Farm is designed to be a combined-use community combining residential and stores collectively in a single community in Old Town Bluffton. Architectural designs for the houses inspire the historic riverfront community. The village land plan is designed that houses might be in walking distance to amenities that encompass eating places, galleries, shops and markets. The community instills a friendly environment which truly makes Stock Farm feel like domestic.

Close Her For An Instant Date With These Steps

One of the matters that guys do frequently enough is simple, they panic. They panic so often that they come to be no longer getting a date with the individual that they sincerely need to be with. They settle. You can also have done this inside the beyond, however, you do not not must. If you see someone that you want to go out with, then you could easily comply with a few steps so one can close her for an instant date. Of direction, they should have some sort of hobby. It’s difficult to shut someone that has no hobby in the relationship and would not recognize who you’re. With that in thoughts, take into account a few hints and tricks that could very well near her for an instant date.

Find Out What She’s Doing

Before an excuse can be made, make certain which you understand the timetable of the person you need to go out with. This may be hard, however, you don’t usually need to fear approximately spying. Instead, you must do not forget to ask some questions. Before you may close her for an on the spot date, you want to surely know what she’s doing and that’s it. Ask her outright. Sometimes you can get away with truly pronouncing, what are you as much as proper now, and that’s it. If they’re fascinated at all, they’ll say nothing. If they have nothing occurring, ask her out immediate. Ask her to get espresso proper then and there, and ninety% of the time, they will oblige.

Have a Plan With Or Without Her

Here’s one of the fine ways that you may close her for an instantaneous date, have a plan. You need to look for thrilling activities for your area after which plan to head, even without her. For instance, allow’s count on that there may be a vehicle display going on day after today. You should mention the fact that there’s a vehicle show, after which subtly ask her if she’d be inquisitive about going with you. If she is busy, that’s nice, tell her she’ll leave opt-out and that you’re going anyway. Then on your social media profile, publish photos and a selfie of yourself having a blast. This will assist your purpose down the road, so don’t sweat it.

Offer To be Her Ride

Always have an open ear round single ladies. If you are extreme approximately looking to shut her for an immediate date, you could have a gap by means of virtually having a car. Sometimes girls will communicate to others and could say that they want to move somewhere, however, might not have a ride, and you could soar in. Giving someone an experience for a date is a clean manner to get them to comply with going out with you.

Will Commercial Zoning Increase Your Property Value?

If you’ve got the proper aggregate of items and you have got a large enough pocketbook, this may be your price ticket to retirement. But every so often, it’s your ticket to the bad residence.

I checked out a home that is zoned blended use. In this area, which means you could both use the residence as a domestic or use the residence as a commercial website online. These sorts of websites are commonly confined to low impact items along with workplace homes, residences, etc.

What’s the catch? Well, you may have to personal a large enough parcel of land to make a business deal work. This is why you see 5 homes alongside a hectic avenue all for sale right now and the zoning is the business. This is because, with a view to being authorized for business development, there ought to be a big sufficient parcel to make the commercial improvement work.

Usually, for mixed residential zoning, these areas are close to the metropolis or close to other flats or business inside the area. I’ve appraised several of those types of belongings. Many times, advertising the zoning as the mixed use is enough to promote the home for extra simply due to the fact it may enchantment to that specific consumer that desires to live in the same domestic and run a commercial enterprise out of the house. One home that I appraised supplied a living vicinity on the primary level and a sunlight hours basement provided workplace buildings that had been rented out.

My understanding is that some banks that specialize in residential zoning will no longer mortgage money on mixed use homes. This, of direction, is a downfall, in case you’re looking to get a residential loan. Some consumers will no longer need to apply their residential domestic for workplace use. This will limit the range of consumers that could need to buy your house.

So, will commercial zoning boom your property fee?

If your own home is a residential domestic with the best use as a residential use, business zoning might also decrease your home price and make it tough to get a loan and make it difficult to promote, because you’ll be located on a busy avenue. If your property is residential use and the best and best use is to construct an industrial structure, most usually, your land used for industrial use could be greater treasured than your house used as residential use.