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rattusrattus3 · 4 years

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💖FAQ and Navigation Post💖

＊*♡( ⁎ᵕᴗᵕ⁎ ）hello! this is intended to help manage my ask box, and serve as a resource for navigating my blog! Thank you!

｡.☆.*｡･ﾟ✫*.My Blog is A Safe Space.✫*ﾟ･ﾟ｡.☆.*｡･ﾟ✫*..

Links

My Etsy (use code GOBLIN for 20% off anything)

My Youtube (has makeup tutorials, room tours, video of my trolls and closet!)

My instagrams

Personal account

My cats account

Costume account

Other stuff i make account

.✫*ﾟ･ﾟ｡.☆.*｡･ﾟ✫*.

My outfits

My Playlists (x)

.✫*ﾟ･ﾟ｡.☆.*｡･ﾟ✫*.

Costume Tutorials (all costumes by me):

Floral Fairy (model: Gerhardt, she/they/he)

Mushroom (model: Amanda, they/them)

Dusk (model: Ren, they/them)

Night Sky (model: me, they/them)

Sun (model: Okong’o, he/him)

Moth (model: Sophie, they/them)

Cherry Blossom Fairy (model: me, they them)

Elf Wear

How I make my fairy bras

Flower crown tutorial

Fairy skirt Tutorial

DIY Fairy Wings

Pastel Knitted Blanket

My Zines (how i make them) (rookie mag tutorial)

How to make your own toiletries

Save the Bees

Fairy Food

Making Your Own Tea

Tuna (poem)

Personal Queer Experiences and The Scientific Gaze (check TW before reading pls)

NAVIGATION/MY TAGS

My Content

Personal / Me / rabbit rambles (my text posts/life updates) / goblin ootd (my outfits) / mine (general posts that are mine) /costume making / wip (work in progress) /

my hula hooping (escalator tutorial)

my hoards

my room (x) (x) (x) (x) (x) (x) (x) (x) (x) (x) (ive lived in a lot of rooms)

My Crow Friends (x) (x) (x) (x) (x) (x) (x)

My Recipes

vegan chocolate chip cookies

vegan lavander lemon loaf

My Pals

Caige (my partner) (x)

Tuna (my and my partners tailless cat) (x)

Lemon (my and my partners cat) (x)

Ren (my best friend)

parents (x)

fan art (thank you so much to everyone who has ever made art of me, i love u with all my heart and u all deserve the world i am so blessed ‘-’ @emmylemonade @fern-draws @the-oblivion-gate @knittingnoodle @sacreddot @dawnoftheagez (i might have missed some and if i did im so sorry pls message me so i can tag u !!)

Reblogs

self care / mental health / fairy self care

fashion / makeup /shoes / hair

inspiration / fav

room inspiration

feminism / political / capitalism / fuck the rcmp

art / comics / lore

wlw / mlm

lgbtqia+ / lgbt / gender /sex

cats / bunnies / rats / mushrooms / corvids

moodboards /stim

witchy

.✫*ﾟ･ﾟ｡.☆.*｡･ﾟ✫*.

FAQ

All asks

My hair (video tutorial) (written routine) (x) (x) (x) (x)

Armpit/body hair (x) (x) (x)

My fashion (masterpost) (staples) (modifying clothes tips, x) (costume making tips, (x) (x)) (where i get patches and pins) (confidence tips, x) (thrifting tips x, x) (inspiration x) (punk/faerie fashion advice) (skirts advice) (closet tour video from my YouTube)

Room decor advice (x) (x), (how i hang sheets on the ceiling x) (room tour video)

My boots (x) (x)

Fake freckles (x)

My Makeup (every day tutorial) (tips)

Crow feeding tips (x)

My Trolls (x) (troll doll video)

How to use fae pronouns (x)

Music recs (playlists) (x) (x)

My Ethnicity (x)

My Piercings (x) (lip piercings)

My Tattoos (artist: Caige baker, my partner)

My backpack (x)

My art (x) (x)

My Moodboards (x)

Tea Recommendations (x)

my name (x), my height (x), substance use (x)

my job/career/idk (x) (x), what I do in my spare time (x)

Adding Magic to your life (x)

How I collect my shinies (x)

Book Recs (x)

Fae recs (x), (goblincore blogs (x), what’s gremlincore/goblincore? (x))

DIY ideas (x)

My gender (x) (x), (coming out tips), (my sexuality), (labels), sexuality asks (x) (x), feminism ask (x)

My self care (x), chill out routine (x), falling asleep tips (x), getting outdoors tips (x), staying focused at school tips (x) GNC period tips (x)

positivity and affirmations (x) (x) (x) (x) (x)

How do I edit my photos? Snapchat, SNOW, and VSCO sometimes

Can I Draw You? YES please tag me/send it to me so i can see!

Will you make me a custom costume/art piece/piece of jewelry? YES message me to talk details and pricing!

What do your tags mean?

#mb = moodboard

#goblin ootd = goblin outfit of the day

#rabbit rambles = just my talking about shit

No blog rates (x)

Sources of inspiration/influences: W.I.T.C.H. comic, Emily the strange, Neil Gaiman, Tony Diterlizzi, Jim Henson, Emilie Autumn, troll dolls, vintage toys and fashion, italian folk music, ramshackle glory/folk punk, folklore and fairytales, drag and gender fuck fashion, cats, mythical creatures, Rookie Mag, fairy kei, goth, punk, lolita fashion, pastel goth, creepy/cute aesthetics, post apocalyptic stuff,

Mental Health Resources:

Mental Illness Happy Hour Podcast, i especially recommend using their search box for finding specific topics, and using the forum to chat about mental health stuff, the surveys are fantastic as well

DEPRESSION

Suicide Hotline: 1-800-SUICIDE (2433) – Can use in US, U.K., Canada and Singapore

Suicide Crisis Line: 1-800-999-9999

National Suicide Prevention Helpline: 1-800-273-TALK (8255)

National Adolescent Suicide Helpline: 1-800-621-4000

Postpartum Depression: 1-800-PPD-MOMS

NDMDA Depression Hotline – Support Group: 1-800-826-3632

Veterans: 1-877-VET2VET

Crisis Help Line – For Any Kind of Crisis: 1-800-233-4357

Suicide & Depression Crisis Line – Covenant House: 1-800-999-9999

Trans Lifeline: https://www.translifeline.org/

National Alliance on Mental Illness www.nami.org

DOMESTIC ABUSE

National Child Abuse Helpline: 1-800-422-4453

National Domestic Violence Crisis Line: 1-800-799-SAFE (7233)

National Domestic Violence Hotline (TDD): 1-800-787-32324

Center for the Prevention of School Violence: 1-800-299-6504

Child Abuse Helpline: 1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453)

Domestic Violence Helpline: 1-800-548-2722

Healing Woman Foundation (Abuse): 1-800-477-4111

Child Abuse Hotline Support & Information: 1-800-792-5200

Women’s Aid National Domestic Violence Helpline: (UK Only) 0345 023 468

Sexual Abuse Centre: (UK Only) 0117 935 1707

Sexual Assault Support (24/7, English & Spanish): 1-800-223-5001

Domestic & Teen Dating Violence (English & Spanish): 1-800-992-2600

Rape and Incest National Network Online Help Center: https://ohl.rainn.org/online/

ALCOHOL & DRUG ABUSE

National Association for Children of Alcoholics: 1-888-55-4COAS (1-888-554-2627)

National Drug Abuse: 1-800-662-HELP (4357)

Al-Anon/Alateen Hope & Help for young people who are the relatives & friends of a problem drinker): 1-800-344-2666

Alcohol/Drug Abuse Hotline: 1-800-662-HELP (4357)

Be Sober Hotline: 1-800-BE-SOBER (1-800-237-6237)

Cocaine Help Line: 1-800-COCAINE (1-800-262-2463)

24 Hour Cocaine Support Line: 1-800-992-9239

Ecstasy Addiction: 1-800-468-6933

Marijuana Anonymous: 1-800-766-6779

YOUTH & TEEN HOTLINES

National Youth Crisis Support: 1-800-448-4663

Youth America Hotline: 1-877-YOUTHLINE (1-877-968-8454)

Covenant House Nine-Line (Teens): 1-800-999-9999

Boys Town National: 1-800-448-3000

Teen Helpline: 1-800-400-0900

TeenLine: 1-800-522-8336

Youth Crisis Support: 1-800-448-4663 or 1-800-422-0009

Runaway Support (All Calls are Confidential): 800-231-6946

Child Helpline: (UK Only) 0800 1111

Kids Helpline: (Australia) 1800 55 1800

PREGNANCY HOTLINES

AAA Crisis Pregnancy Center: 1-800-560-0717

Pregnancy Support: 1-800-4-OPTIONS (1-800-467-8466)

Pregnancy National Helpline: 1-800-356-5761

Young Pregnant Support: 1-800 550-4900

Abortion Services Websites

https://exhaleprovoice.org

http://yourbackline.org

LGBTQIA+ HOTLINES

The Trevor Helpline (For LGBTQIA+ questions or problems): 1-800-850-8078

Gay & Lesbian National Support: 1-888-THE-GLNH (1-888-843-4564)

Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender (GLBT) Youth Support Line: 1-800-850-8078

Lesbian & Gay Switchboard: (UK Only) 0121 622 6589

Lothian Gay & Lesbian Switchboard – Scotland: (Scotland Only) 0131 556 4049

OTHER HOTLINES/WEBSITES

Self-Injury Support: 1-800-DONT CUT (1-800-366-8288) (WWW.SELFINJURY.COM)

Eating Disorders Awareness and Prevention: 1-800-931-2237 (Hours: 8am-noon daily, PST)

Eating Disorders Center: 1-888-236-1188

Help Finding a Therapist: 1-800-THERAPIST (1-800-843-7274)

Panic Disorder Information and Support: 1-800-64-PANIC (1-800-647-2642)

TalkZone (Peer Counselors): 1-800-475-TALK (1-800-475-2855)

Parental Stress Hotline: 1-800-632-8188

National AIDS Helpline: (UK Only) 0800 567 123

Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous www.slaafws.org

BetterHelp online counseling www.BetterHelp.com/mental

Crisis Text Line text 741741

Sexuality and Gender Resources

Scarleteen

DNI: kink/NSFW/porn blogs, transmed/truscum, terf/swerf, racists, antisemites, nazis, thinspo/pro-ana/pro mia blogs, MAP/NoMAP/Pedophiles

#mine #personal #faq #its finally here

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larryfanficwriter98 · 4 years

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Chapter Six

Louis jumped when his phone started ringing and he looked at it to see a facetime request from Harry. He grinned and answered it leaving the living room to enter the kitchen. Harry was outside in sunny Los Angeles with Hollywood hills behind him from a patio.

"Do you realize the shitshow you have caused on my picture?" Harry greeted him clearly amused, letting Louis know he wasn't upset at all. "I woke up on Christmas Day to this. You have the nerve to comment on my picture and not follow me then you turn your profile on private so I can’t stalk you? Really? I have to have permission to look at your modeling pictures. You're a dick. An absolute dick." Louis laughed covering his mouth with his hand that was currently covered in Harry's pink merch sweater. "You didn't even follow me."

"I'll follow you I promise. I'll do it now, look I’m grabbing my new fancy macbook and logging in.

"You better. Jerk. I'll follow you after you follow me. Some boyfriend you are." Harry said, making Louis shake his head as he logged in and got on his Instagram account, then he went to his notifications and his eyes widened.

"I have 147 follow requests." Louis told Harry before he clicked on one of the notifications of a reply on his comment. "Holy shit. They're crazy."

"Yeah no kidding." Louis went to Harry's profile and followed him, "finally." Not a minute later Harry sent a request to follow him that he accepted immediately, "there's my hot boyfriend."

"Stop it." Louis said blushing as he commented on Harry's newest picture from a few days ago. It was of the view from his plane as they flew over the ocean to California. He commented "When I asked you to send pics this was not what I was talking about.👀.". Harry looked off to the side from the screen to his mac-book that was beside him on a side table, he frowned for a second then he laughed.

"Louis! No.." Harry said laughing as he turned a deep red, "you're gross." He said even though Louis could see him typing on his laptop. Louis waited then he got the notification and he laughed as he read the reply from Harry reading,

''This is a family friendly account. Go away.

I'll send some more later. I'll be sure to wear that hat you like.🤠"

"I think we broke your fans." Louis said laughing

"We should get off before you go and get a ship started."

"A ship?"

"Just wait."

~~~~~~~~

It took a few weeks for it to really sink in for Louis that he was dating Harry Styles. That he was dating an international award winning popstar. He was dating a Gucci model. He was reminded of this when he had stumbled upon a few of his photos. He and Harry talked daily and even facetimes for both of their New Years Eve, Louis had to wake up for Harry's but it was worth it. Recently on occasion one or both of them could be caught looking longingly at the screen, but they always did something to cheer the other one up.

Louis had a countdown on his phone so anytime he looked at it, it would tell him how much longer until Harry was back in the UK. Harry would still be busy and have things to do until March when his tour ended, but he would be here and Louis couldn't wait. Harry often talked about missing home, especially when it got to the last leg of the tour, said it always got harder, but it was even worse now.

After a lot of talking Louis and Harry finally made the decision to make Louis profile public after many flirty comments to each other in Harry's posts. Louis had even made a Twitter account just so he could attach a photo of their facetime one day and tell Harry how cute he looked when he had eye crud. Harry hadn't liked that picture at all and told Louis there would be payback.

The payback had been a video of Louis when he was drunk in January and was shaking his ass on a table. Liam had recorded it laughing his ass off as he, Zayn, and Niall kept men away from him. Louis had been wasted that night and didn't remember it at all, but there was video evidence and now it was all over twitter. That video has caused a lot of fans to talk about his ass which had Louis bushing as he read the tweets.

So Louis made his Instagram public and posted a picture of him in Harry's lilac sweater standing in front of his floor length mirror. The sweater fell to his thighs, just long enough to cover everything that needed to be covered since he didn't have anything else on. It was a side view so his ass curve was visible and he made sure to stick out just a little bit more. In the caption he wrote,

Okay, but why do I have thousands of teen girls asking about my ass? 👀

Harry was the first one to like the post and commented,

👀 that's a nice sweater. Mind sharing? It's a bit chilly over here.

Send me new ones and we can discuss potentially sending you this sweater.

You realize my house has a closet full of sweaters. And my laundry detergent. As well as my cologne.

👀...You don't say...and for no particular reason...what's your address?

😂 I've conveniently forgot.

🖕🏻🖕🏻🖕🏻🖕🏻🖕🏻🖕🏻🖕🏻

LEWIS! How dare you. This is a family friendly account

Yours is family friendly. Mine is not.

~~~~~~~~~~

Since October Louis' Instagram had been filled with a lot of things that involved Harry in some way. Most of it was pictures of the gifts Harry sent, now it was of their screenshot facetime calls or pictures Harry sent through texts. It was also of Louis posting his new flowers biweekly that was delivered to his house by a florist employee.

Occasionally it was regular things like a selfie or a picture of him and the lads flicking the camera off on a group shot. His middle finger apparently became a "thing" that Harry's fans loved, he didn't exactly know why nor did he really care. His family had taken the news to him dating Harry Styles pretty well all things considered as did the lads.

"So I've been thinking." Louis was pulled away from his phone by Liam speaking

"You didn't hurt yourself did you?" Louis asked

"Ha ha. I was thinking we all have vacation time and Valentine's Day is next week. How about we fly out to Orlando, Florida to see your boyfriend." Louis tensed, "if that is something you two are ready for."

"You want us to fly out to Orlando for Valentine's Day so I can meet my international popstar boyfriend for the first time? While he just happens to be in one place for a week."

"Without telling Harry. Yes. He gave you the address to his Orlando home to return the sweaters didn't he? Just bring them in person."

"But what if-"

"No what ifs. Come on Lou let's be impulsive one last time." Zayn said, "let's go to Orlando and have fun and meet your boyfriend."

"Alright. How much is a flight-"

"Nope. Not happening. We are all pitching in to buy your flight. It's our gift to you." Niall spoke this time grinning. "Besides thanks to you and your paranoia we all have a few thousand in our savings."

"What? No. I am buying my own-"

"No you're not. We got this. Now call your boss and tell her you need vacation for next week."

Louis grinned and went to his contacts thinking about how he got so lucky to have three amazing best friends. They have noticed that lately the distance has been affecting Louis more than he was willing to admit. The few times they all facetimed with Harry Louis knew they could see the longing in Harry's face too whenever he and Louis looked at each other. After getting the vacation he had until Saturday at 4am to keep it a secret from Harry.

Departure was 4am Saturday (11pm Friday Orlando time), the flight was 9 hours long so they would stay up all night Friday and sleep on the plane. Landing will be 8am Orlando time (1pm Manchester time). However since they were sleeping the flight down they were going to be adjusted to Orlando time. It was genius the way the lads had planned it, the return flight was the same, flying during the night so they landed in the morning at Manchester. Louis didn't know how he was expected to keep it a secret. He was terrible with secret keeping.

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flash-fixation · 4 years

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Pod #49 Personal Log

Happy 50th @flashfictionfridayofficial! Thank you for running this great event and for your wonderful prompts. Here is my offering. I honestly didn’t think I’d get one in on time. I’ve been trying desperately to catch up on some video editing (thanks to the source material being late) and my eyes itch from sleepiness. But! you can’t ignore the call the write no matter what time of day it is. So here it is, kind of inspired by Mouth to Mouth but I’ll let you have fun figuring out how it applies to what I came up with! And I’m sorry in advance; I think I needed to get some things out!

Pod #49 Personal Log

—Day 72—

***Journal start***

Alarm 8am; water, dental, ablutions, cardiovascular and pulmonary stimulation, standard uniform.

Bio-cycle check; hydro levels good, luminaire 6000K, healthy growth exhibited on all species.

Morning meal.

3 hours couch; 2 gigabytes of vid-media consumed, 600ml caffeine beverage imbibed, mindfulness practice, slow morning.

Afternoon meal.

6 hours work station; 3 terrabytes of data parsed, inbox emptied.

Evening exercise; 40 minutes cardio, 30 minutes weight training

Evening meal; high in protein.

1 hour cleansing; utensils sanitised, stations sanctified, bio-cycle in hibernation mode.

1 hour couch; gaming with pods #44, #67 and #88.

Core level: good.

Personal: I saw 24 other pods today. It’s a shame the solar shield layer of the view ports don’t allow you to see the others inside their pods. I waved anyway. I like to think they waved back. I can’t believe it’s been that long. I can’t believe it’s only been 72 days. The daily reports still don’t offer any clue as to when we can return to the surface. I hope it’s soon, but at the same time I’ve gotten accustomed to my space and my little routine. I’m good at it and there is no pressure but to remain as l am. It was nice to see the pack at games night today. I miss them. I’ve put in a request, the minimum period is over soon. Hopefully I’ll be approved.

***Journal End***

—Day 73—

***Journal Start***

Alarm 8am; water, dental, ablutions, cardiovascular and pulmonary stimulation, casual attire.

Bio-cycle check; hydro levels below optimal - possible indication of issue with grey water reclamation, luminaire 6500K, healthy growth exhibited generally, yellow tinge to leaves of Nasturtium microphyllum - possibly caused by hydro issues.

Morning meal.

4 hours couch; 4 gigabytes of vid-media consumed, 5 issues of physical comic books consumed, 900ml of caffeine imbibed, longer morning than expected.

Afternoon meal; eaten while setting up work station.

2 hours work station; 2 terabytes of information parsed, communications link interrupted, inbox clearance postponed for 24 hours, work suspended until link restored.

3 hours creation station; 1,000 words.

Evening meal; high in carbohydrates, eaten late.

1 hour repair work: grey water reclamation system diagnostics, issue isolated and rectified.

0.5 hours cleansing; utensils postponed for 24 hours, stations sanctified, bio-cycle in hibernation mode.

Core level; low.

Personal: Things seemed okay yesterday, but it’s funny how a few small things can throw things out of sync. I write down everything in the pod’s log but it doesn’t record all the details, it doesn’t record how I feel and it doesn’t record how hard this is sometimes. This morning was okay and normally I can deal with little issues not problem but I wasn’t expecting to be so upset by the wilting flowers. Those little plants were put in my pod to keep me alive and in return it is my responsibility to keep them alive. I thought I was doing well, but those yellow leaves made me feel like I was letting them down. Normally this would be fine! A bit of water and patience and everything would be healthy again. I keep forgetting this isn’t normal. This whole situation isn’t normal. We weren’t meant to live in isolation. I miss seeing other people in the flesh, hearing their breath, smelling their unique scents, feeling the gentle buzz of their energy in a space. I never thought I’d say that. I didn’t surround myself with others when I was on the planet surface, but I guess this is enough to strain even the most introverted of us. Today turned into an exercise in survival; ice cream for dinner, I read my comic books one after the other, an extra cup of coffee, tried to write but managed nothing more than a stream of consciousness exercise. I tried not to get too frustrated when the net went down. After I finished my chores I stared out of my view port at the planet for an hour or so. I didn’t bother logging it. I ended up going to bed later than I should have but I just had to watch the surface for a bit. Spinning slowly, passing its time, looking like nothing had happened over the past two and a half months. If anything the colours have gotten more vivid since I’ve been up here. It’s so beautiful.

***Journal End***

—Day 74—

***Journal Start***

Alarm 10am; water, dental, ablutions, pyjamas.

Bio-cycle check; hydro levels good, luminaire 6000K, healthy growth exhibited generally, yellow tinge to leaves of Nasturtium microphyllum - stems regaining turgidity.

2 hours couch; 1 gigabyte of vid-media consumed, 300ml of caffeine imbibed, mid-morning nap.

Afternoon meal.

Processed for mental health day.

6 hours creation station; mid-afternoon nap.

Evening meal.

1.5 hour cleansing; utensils sanitised, stations sanctified, laundry, bio-cycle in hibernation mode.

Core level; adequate - increasing.

Personal: Sleeping is restorative. I mean, obviously. That’s what it is there for, but I think people don’t appreciate the importance of and benefits of frequent napping. They are like little resets during the day. Small opportunities to defrag your brain, let it sort itself out while you conserve your energy. There is no shame in just getting through the day.

****Urgent Communication Incoming***

I’ve been approved! It just came through! I’ve been approved, she’s been approved, we’ve been approved! I can’t wait, I cannot wait! We can meet up whenever we want. I just got off the commlink to her and we’ve arranged to dock tomorrow evening. There’s so much to do. I’ll have to spruce up my stations, make sure to brush up on my docking procedures. I can’t settle now, my fingers are itching. I need to do something. I think I’ll make her something. What do you make for your partner after nearly three months apart. If she hadn’t been on tour when this all started we would have been sharing a pod. What shall I make her? I can’t think! I’m too excited to see her face-to-face!

****Journal end***

#writing #writeblr #new writing #flash fiction #flash fiction friday #short story #new writer #writer #sci fi #sci-fi #scifi #prose #writing as processing #writing as therapy #originial writing

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self-excellence · 6 years

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FIX YOUR SLEEPING SCHEDULE (1-2 months)

Try to wake up earlier every day. Like 5 - 10 min earlier than the day before. Until you wake up any time before 8am or so…

If you struggle with waking up & snooze button is your bff:

Put your alarm clock as far away from the bed as possible.

Drink a glass of water right after you wake up.

Pour another glass of water on yourself right after you wake up.

Prepare some coffee the night before (try the cold brew method), leave it by your bedside, drink it after you wake up. Alternatively, buy some caffeine pills and take one right after waking up with a big glass of water.

Have your blinds/curtains open the night before, so that it’s bright after you wake up.

Try to go to bed 5-10 min earlier than the night before.

Track how many hours of sleep you’re getting. Aim to get at least 7h per day or 49h per week.

Increase your sleeping hours incrementally. Aim to get at least 1h of sleep more than the previous week. For example, if this week you slept for 41hrs, aim to get an extra hour of sleep next week, so it’s 42h. Once you get enough hours of sleep and wake up early-ish:

Try to keep your sleeping schedule consistent. It is really important to go to bed and wake up at the same time every day. Even if it’s weekend. Or even if that means getting less than 7hrs of sleep that day. I’d say waking up at the same time everyday is the most important step, which will help you the most with fixing your sleeping schedule.

START EATING HEALTHY (1-2 months)

This step really depends from person to person, but firstly I suggest you take some blood tests to see if you have any deficiencies, etc. Especially, if you struggle with cravings.

Try intermittent fasting, if you struggle with binge eating or overeating. As it will help you to learn to listen to your body better: when it’s hungry, when it’s full, etc. It’s really simple, there are many methods of Intermittent fasting, but I’d suggest 16/8 for the beginners. (Google it for more info)

DRINK ALL THE WATER. Again, if you’re not drinking enough water, try to level up your water game incrementally. Download some water tracking app on your phone to help you. Drinking water will make you more energetic, increase your metabolism, and decrease you appetite (among many more benefits). If you really struggle with meeting your water intake:

Reward yourself when you meet your daily/weekly goals.

Drink through the straw - idk why, but you are going to drink much more if you use a straw. Trust me.

Get a nice water bottle.

Flavour your water with fruits etc.

Check this video for more tips

Track what you eating. I would really suggest tracking your meals for around a month. Because, most of the time people have no idea that what they’re eating is unhealthy. Again, download an app to your phone for that.

Make your own meals once in a while. Not only this will save you money, but it’ll help you to see what’s really going into your body. Start by doing that once a week and build it up depending how much time and energy you have.

Eat less meat and more veggies/fruits. Go to your local market and buy some veggies/fruits, you have never tried before. I’m sure you’ll find your new favs. Eat/buy less meat. Not only it’s good for the environment, but it is good for you, too. Get a veggie burger instead of the beef one, etc.

Cut dairy. Find your new favourite milk substitute. Advice: Oat milk is really good with the tea and oatmeal/porridge; hazelnut milk is amazing on it’s own; cashew milk goes well with cereals.

Learn more about nutrition in general. It will help you to make better food choices and it will make eating healthy much easier in general, because once you understand all the chemistry behind the food and what it does to your body, you kinda don’t want to make yourself feel worse. Here are some free resources: - Human nutrition course from Alison.com - Crash course Metabolism&Nutrition: Part 1 and Part 2 - The Health Nerd’s YouTube Playlist about nutrition - What I’ve Learnt YouTube Playlist - Human nutrition course from Alison.com - Crash course Metabolism&Nutrition: Part 1 and Part 2 - The Health Nerd’s YouTube Playlist about nutrition

GET PHYSICALLY FIT (2-6 months)

Define your goals. Do you want to lose weight, do you want to get stronger, gain weight, be able to climb the stairs without losing your breath, run 5k?

Remember - you’re half-way through. Being physically fit has a lot to do with what you put into your body. So, if you fulfilled the previous step of eating healthy - you are halfway through!

Make a plan. A Reasonable plan. Be honest with yourself. Alternatively, there are many already-made plans if you’re feeling lazy. Like, Couch to 5k for running, Beginners 30-day exercise guide, 30 days of yoga, etc.

Start small. Like, 5 min exercise in the morning. Or doing 10 sit ups per day. Don’t do anything overwhelming, like running 5k everyday if you haven’t run for the past 5 years.

Make sure that you kinda like what you’re doing. If you absolutely hate running - don’t do it. Hate doing sit ups in the morning? Try some yoga instead.

Explore until you find what you like. You don’t have to go to gym to get fit, especially if you hate it. Find a type of exercise, which you actually like. Maybe it’s dancing or hiking, taking your dog for a walk. Sign up for several trial lessons of various sport clubs. Ditch ‘em if you have them until you find something that you love. Stick with that.

Do the small changes in your everyday life. Stairs>Escalator, Walk>Drive, Do some squats while brushing your teeth, switch from regular desk to standing desk, etc… Find ways to incorporate being active into your everyday life

Track your effort instead of your progress. You cannot really control your progress that much (especially if your goal was to lose weight). However, you can always control your effort. So track it instead. This will leave you more motivated. As you will be able to see that you can do more and more everyday. Whereas, if you tracked your progress, you may not always get the result you hoped for, which might demotivate you and make you upset, wanting to quit.

BEAT DEPRESSION

Do the previous 3 steps and you’re halfway through as mental health depends a lot on the physical health.

See a therapist/doctor. Depression is an illness requiring medical treatment. So, get it. Remember: there is absolutely no fucking shame in having a mental illness.

Get some extra support. Talk to your friends or family. Or maybe someone on the internet.

Write it out. If you don’t want to talk - write down your thoughts. It can be just as helpful. It’ll help you to understand yourself better, see problems in your thinking, etc. Buy a cheap notebook (or expensive one, up to you) and start a journal. Try being consistent by writing every morning or evening or both, but DO NOT BLAME YOURSELF if you miss some entries. Read through your past entries. Analyse them. Extract the lessons.

Distract yourself from yourself. Get someone/something to take care of, so that you can, for a moment, stop thinking about yourself. E.g, get a plant, or a dog, or a fish and focus on keeping them alive and well.

Self-care day. Dedicate at least one day per week for self-care. Take yourself out to a museum or some fancy cafe, do some stuff you like, whatever your hobbies are, do some physical self care: bath, face mask, manicure, etc., listen to some nice music, watch a film…..

STOP PROCRASTINATION

Celebrate your victories instead of mourning over your loses. So the only thing you’ve done today was write one sentence for your 20 page essay? Amazing! Buy yourself a candy for that!! I mean, you could’ve done nothing, but you didn’t - you wrote that one sentence and that’s worth celebrating. Redefine the success - doing something is a hundred million times better than doing nothing.

Do it for only 2 minutes. If there’s an important thing you’ve been putting off for a while, tell yourself that you will only spend 2 minutes on doing it. If after 2 minutes you don’t want to do it anymore, great, stop it. However, after 2min. you actually might want to do more. No pressure either way.

Track your productivity. Track how much time you’ve been productive that day. Try to increase that time by a little bit every day.

Always forgive yourself. So, it’s been a week and you’ve done nothing? Don’t sweat it. Let it go. Blaming yourself will bring you absolutely nothing. Nothing good will come out of your negativity on yourself. So stop it. Forgive yourself and start again. And again, if you need to. Never stop trying. Always pick yourself after you fall. Beating procrastination and increasing your discipline is a skill. And all skills can be build on. There is nothing in you stopping you from changing. Remember that.

LEARN HOW TO DO TAXES (1h - 1 day)

Go to google.com.

Type in: “How to do taxes *the name of the country you’re living in*”

Read the results.

Alternatively, if you like socialising, ask some adults, whom you know, about it. Trust me, older people love teaching us youngsters. Learn all the lessons you can from them.

GET MENTALLY STRONG ENOUGH TO MAKE PHONE CALLS

Remember that just as with beating procrastination, making phone calls is a skill. And, again, skills can be learnt.

Get a new SIM card.

Top it up.

Dial some random numbers and pretend to be a salesman, selling whatever you like.. E.g., trying to sell broadband, cable tv, trying to get people to donate for some charity… Or whatever really… Me and some friends used to pretend we’re selling kittens or wood logs. Alternatively, you can pretend that you dialed a wrong person and talk about whatever, e.g. “Hey, Jess!! You wont believe what I saw today!! *start telling a made-up story*…”

If you get uncomfortable - just drop the call. No consequences whatsoever.

Repeat until you build up your game and your phone-call anxiety starts to diminish.

SLAY THOSE BITCHES Congratulations, now you’re ready to take over the world! Got get ‘em!!

(before reblogging, check the updated version of this post here)

#advice #life #lifestyle #quotes #tips #learning #masterpost #studyspo #inspiration #motivation #goals #fitblr #fitness #mental health #22inspo #22motivation #original #setheverman #pathofthestrong

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psycho-slytherin · 5 years

Text

Strangers ch. 26

You see Xiumin again, and the drama is off to an interesting start.

Pairing: Yoongi x (female) Reader

Word count: 2.4k

Genre: Fluff

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Yoongi freezes. “Wh-what?”

His bewilderment is so adorable that you can’t possibly keep from laughing. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding, oh my god.”

Yoongi exhales loudly, as though he had been holding his breath. “Dumbass, you scared me.”

You pout. “Is the idea of kissing me that terrifying?” You’re joking, of course.

When Yoongi speaks his voice is low, half strangled.

“I mean, we’ll both only be acting, right?”

You blink once, twice. “Right, only acting...” you scratch your head, chuckling weakly. His flat tone is off-putting somehow. “Man, once this drama starts your fans are gonna keep going off–”

“Keep?”

Uh-oh. You instantly realize your mistake, backpedaling clumsily.

“I mean, I just meant, uh... you know, I guess ARMYs can be kind of... harsh? I’m only assuming,” you rush to add.

“Y/n... have you been getting hate from our fans?”

You gulp. Yoongi doesn’t follow you on Twitter, since he’s only online with the BTS account. If he hears the type of comments you’ve been receiving, he’ll worry, and his dorky ass might actually try to do something about it.

“Are you kidding? Of course not. I’d tell you if anything was bothering me,” you laugh, booping his nose playfully. The falsehood tugs at you, wrestling with your conscience, but you refuse to let it get to you. Of every lie you’ve told, this one isn’t bad.

“Anyways, I have hella homework and now that I have, you know, my own bed again...” you shift your weight from side to side. “Thanks again for letting me stay with you by the way.” I was in a bad place, the worst place, and you gave me everything. “I really appreciate it.”

Yoongi reaches out and rubs his thumb against the Starry Night bead resting at the hollow of your throat. “Of course, y/n, what are friends for?”

“Nerd.” You smile widely before shoving your hands in your coat pockets. “I’ll see you later then?”

“Yeah.”

Too jittery to ask for a ride, you turn and begin walking the familiar road back home.

“Y/n, wait!” You feel Yoongi grip your elbow and when you turn around, you very suddenly find your face an inch from his, his eyes devouring you, and his lips so, so, close...

Yoongi smirks. “Kidding. Catch you later, y/n.”

You swallow. “Right. Later.”

You spin on your heel and hightail it back to your apartment. What was that? Did he try to kiss you? Was he getting you back for teasing him earlier? And why, oh why did some very small part of you really want to kiss him, want to press your lips against his and–

Idiot. No. No no no no. If anyone in the whole wide world is off limits, then it’s him. Yoongi. The man with the big “DO NOT TOUCH” on his heart, so to speak. You can’t like him, never ever, and certainly not now, at the peak of his career.

Besides, you only felt that way because he was an idol, right? Right? Up until you met the guy, all you wanted was to marry him. And, of course, after acting out that scene for the audition– it’s only natural.

You shake your head, remembering the shiver that ran down your spine when his lips neared yours. What was happening to you? As you lie in bed, half asleep, your thoughts drift to what your life has become.

“Bitch.”

“Slut.”

“Whore.”

“Talentless, worthless, pathetic.”

The voices swirl around you, the insults flying like gusts of wind, and they tear at your frame, shoving you, forcing you to your knees and when you try to speak it feels like your words are sucked straight out of your lungs.

“Stop it!” You try to scream, but no noise leaves your mouth. “I didn’t do anything wrong! Stop it!”

“You touched him.”

“You talked to him.”

“You kissed him.”

“He’s ours!”

“Ours, ours, ours, ours, o-”

“Fame, flashlight– gi-give it to me!”

“Aah!” You bolt upwards, chest heaving, your forehead damp with sweat. You reach for your phone to shut off the alarm– your neighbors probably hate you by now.

Ugh, you’re sleepy, but you’ve got things to do. What else is new? It’s been... what, the third day in a row that you’ve gotten four hours of sleep? As you stand up, you feel a sudden dizziness. A few seconds later it passes, and you can go about your day.

And by day, you mean coffee. After you quit working at the cafe, your daily dose of caffeine had become more expensive– to the point where you finally gave in and bought a cheap coffee machine. Which, of course, has suddenly decided to stop working.

You watch the machine sputter and gasp, resulting in two drops of coffee and one headache. Great. You start filming for Moon Over the Sea today and you really can’t afford any mishaps. Especially if you’re filming with Yoongi.

No mishaps means caffeine. Caffeine means cafe. Cafe means...

Xiumin.

You shake your head and breathe deeply– you’re going to have to see your ex eventually, and your old cafe is on the way to the studio. It’s the only place you can stop if you want to get there on time.

The familiar bell jingles and you’re once more drawn into your old life– a life before you met Min Yoongi; a life when your love of BTS stemmed from music videos and interviews, not games and banter; a life when you were only an overworked acting student and not despised by thousands of ARMYs. A life when Xiumin was nothing more than a friendly coworker.

You walk to the counter, where a painfully familiar head of hair is making a drink.

“Hi, can I help y- oh.” His voice makes your heart stutter, because it’s Xiumin, he made you breakfast and visited you in the hospital and cheated on you with a girl he called beautiful...

In your head you’re punching him. Out loud, you merely steel yourself– “Hi, can I get a double espresso?” No please. He doesn’t deserve a please.

“Uh...” Xiumin swallows nervously, and you feel a small rush of satisfaction. “Yeah. It’s been a while, huh?”

Your smile remains frozen on your face. “My double espresso?”

Xiumin doesn’t move. “Y/n, come on, talk to me.”

“There’s nothing to talk about. My espresso would be nice though.”

“I miss you.”

At his words you expect pain, you expect longing– you expect to want him back. And yet...

Your mind wanders to Yoongi. When you told him what happened with Xiumin, you saw his face: pure rage was reflected in those dark eyes.

“You deserve better,” he’d said during one of your long winded, alcohol-fueled rants.

He was right; you did deserve better. Is that why, now, you don’t feel a twinge in your heart on seeing your ex?

“Y/n, please, come back to me. Things can be just like how they were.”

His voice shakes you from your stupor, and your careful grip on your emotions loosens.

“How they were? Tell me, Xiumin, how exactly were things? Because I seem to recall a supposedly monogamous relationship in which we told each other everything, and I’m guessing you only recall how desperate you were to get your dick wet.”

Xiumin opens his mouth and you raise your eyebrows in response. “Answer me, I dare you.”

“You know, I could sue you for my birds,” he growls finally. “And my car. That’s property damage. I could sue you for every penny you’ve made from those ads, and that music video.”

You pause. What is he talking about? “Property damage?”

He scoffs. “Don’t act like you don’t know. You ruined my car!”

Delusional. “Whatever you say, Xiumin. Can you actually do your job and give me my coffee now?”

With an icy glare, he thrusts your espresso into your hands. As you saunter out, you turn and call to him: “Enjoy losing the one person in your life who could actually remember your name!”

He flips you off in response and, with that weight off your shoulders, your gait turns sprightly as you make your way to the studio. You arrive at 8am on the dot, and spy a familiar figure among the many milling around and awaiting direction.

You approach and tap him on the shoulder. “Yoongles~”

“Huh?” He turns around and it’s not him, it’s a face that’s very much not your Yoongi, it’s someone else, and you called him Yoongles–

“Oh! I’m, uh, sorry!” You turn and scuttle, cheeks flaming; you just bothered what must have been Yoongi’s body double, you’re such an idiot.

“You too, hm?” You hear a low chuckle and notice the real Yoongi leaning against a wall. “You’re the fifth person who thought he was me. Shit, I was confused when I saw the guy!”

You laugh with embarrassment. “Some friend I am.”

“Hey,” Yoongi leans forward and boops your nose. “You’re a good friend. Really.”

You blush. A world famous idol thinks you’re a good friend, even when all you’ve done is lie and pretend. How did you get so lucky? “Shut your face hole, nerd,” you reply, poking him before you get too sappy.

Yoongi opens his mouth to reply when you hear two loud claps echoing through the loud studio.

“Okay! Hello, cast and crew of Moon Over the Sea! I’m your director, Avery.” An elegant women with a curious accent speaks over the general chatter.

“You may notice I have an accent– that’s because I was raised in America. Now, we’re on a tight schedule so I expect all of you to work hard and productively for the next for months to make this drama the best it can be!”

The present company claps politely. “She seems nice,” you whisper.

“Here’s to hoping,” Yoongi murmurs in reply.

Avery consults a clipboard. “Now, for the scenes today I will need the following actors.” She reads aloud a list of names and you only tune in at “...Min Yoongi, and l/n y/n. The rest of the cast may go home– we’ll need everyone tomorrow, so be here bright and early.”

The studio empties out and the hair and makeup crews retreat to their respective areas. There are several extras and about a dozen named actors left after the movement ceases. Some of them you even recognize. You feel more than a little starstruck– you’re definitely the least attractive person here.

“As you know, this drama is inspired by the time-honored classic of Pride and Prejudice,” Avery continues. “Our leads will be played by Park Bo-young and Park Hyung-sik–” she nods at the familiar-looking actors and you blink hard, half blinded by the physical perfection. “– but the rest of you still have important stories to tell.”

You nod along, enraptured, and you see Yoongi smirk at you. He’s probably used to all the glitz and glam, but you’re savoring it– who knows how long it’ll last?

“For that reason, we’re filming Kim Ji-woo and Moon Sung-min first.” You jump at the summons of your character. “The scene is set for their first meeting, at the Sung family ball. I expect all actors and extras to be in costume and in character in the next half-hour. Go!”

Half an hour later you find yourself well dressed and slightly out of breath in a very realistic studio ballroom. Yoongi, infinitely more well dressed and not at all out of breath, nudges you.

“You look pretty,” he whispers.

“Not in comparison to literally everyone else,” you reply.

Yoongi looks like he’s about to say something when Avery approaches, barking orders at extras. “You and you, there. You, go there. Bo-young, you play Hyeon, and you’re y/n’s younger sister, so stand a bit behind her. You know your lines, yes? Good. Let’s start with Bo-young’s line. Ready, and... action!”

There’s a clap and the cameras begin rolling. In the grandly decorated ballroom, the extras talk quietly amongst themselves. You and Bo-young stand tall in your dresses.

“I do believe Moon Sung-min is looking at you, sister,” Bo-young says teasingly.

You glance up momentarily and catch Yoongi’s eye. He’s gazing at you intensely, eyes alight with interest.

You quickly blush and look away. “You’re mistaken. He’s far above us–”

“Which is why you should talk to him. Imagine the look on Mother’s face when she sees you with one of the wealthiest men here.”

“Hyeon!” you laugh. “Please, I could never!”

“Doesn’t seem like you’re going to have a choice, Ji-woo. He’s coming over~” Bo-young sings. “I’m going to go dance with the others. Have fun!”

“Sister–”

It’s too late, the fake crowd has swallowed her whole, and suddenly Yoongi is right in front of you and every cell in your body feels tense, nervous, as if it really is your first time meeting him.

“Hello. Miss Kim, yes?”

You feel your cheeks heat up at his voice.

“Y-yes,” you reply, sweeping your skirts in a deep curtsy. “And you must be Mr. Moon Sung-min. Are you enjoying the ball?”

Yoongi’s voice dips low, laced with longing. “Much more now, I think.”

“Cut! Great, guys.” Avery’s voice draws you back to reality, back to a world where the man in front of you isn’t meant for you. “Let’s take it from the top– that chemistry was crackling. I’m sure we’ll get it perfect in the next few takes.”

Suddenly an assistant holding a buzzing phone scurries up to Avery and hands it to her. With a nod of apology to the cast, she answers.

“Hello? Yes, this is she... What? Hang on, we have that area scheduled for filming on those dates. Who–” Avery’s voice turns icy. “I understand. What other times are available...? Oh, you’re kidding. Okay. Okay. Yes, crystal clear. Thank you, goodbye.”

As she hangs up she sighs deeply. “This is gonna mean a lot of emails.”

“What happened?” You ask.

“We have a number of outdoor scenes scheduled in a few weeks and we reserved an area for filming, but someone bought out the space. They can move our time, but... it’s a pain. We’ll have to redraw the filming schedule and move those scenes forward.”

“How forward?”

Avery grimaces. “Starting tomorrow. Congrats, Yoongi, y/n– we’re filming your first kiss tomorrow. Alright everyone, let’s get back to work!”

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archangelakira · 5 years

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MHM

So May is Mental Health Month? Not something that ever really concerned me until recently. That being said, I think it has a much larger impact on me now given that I have begun the road to recovery from my own mental health issues. And if my story can help even one person then it's worth sharing.

Anxiety is no joke. I always had a manageable case of social anxiety growing up. You know, I was the kid that didn't really have many friends in school. I preferred to read rather than socialize. I hated being called on during class, presentations made my hands sweat profusely and made my stomach do backflips. I would hold on to a gum wrapper throughout an entire class just because I didn't want to be the center of attention when I got up to throw it away. I would suppress coughs or sneezes because I didn't like drawing attention to myself. School dances were a nightmare but for some reason I insisted on maintaining a sense of normalcy and... well, everyone else was going.

None of these things ever affected my daily life. Did they make me uncomfortable? Sure. Did I replay something stupid I said 10,000 times in my head and come up with a million better ways to have said it? Absolutely! But not once do I recall ever having an anxiety attack as a result. Although I'm sure those presentations brought me pretty close more than once.

Today is a different story. Today I fight off anxiety attacks a few times a week. What changed? Was there a turning point in my life? Did things just build up over time and eventually tip the scales? Was there some sort of traumatic event? Yep. That's it. That one, right there. Traumatic event. Flashback incoming:

Here's the thing, I had very few constant support systems in my life. Mom died at an early age. I had my dad, of course. And my brother. Had my best friend in the entire world that I had known since we were five! Gosh, she's a life saver. Probably more than she will ever know. Then I had my relationship. My other half. My S.O. We met in 2005 when we were 17 years old working a summer job at our local movie theater. Started dating in October of that year. Moved in together in December of the next year. We were the proud parents of two doggos. We spent 12 years of our lives together. Until it all came crashing down at once.

It took a only one session of speaking with a specialist for them to clearly define what had happened to me. PTSD. I always associated it with veterans and the like. People that experience extremely horrific situations on a regular level. But I guess everyone has their breaking point. So pretty much it was one loss on top of another that pushed me past mine. My best friend moved across the country. Not a huge loss... I still talk to her regularly. But part of my support system and really the only social life I had was chipped away. My dad died. Another chip. Lost my childhood home. One more chip. And then the big one. My whole world was shaken up when I lost my significant other. Then the fur babies. Things just piled up all within a short time period and I buckled under the weight of it.

I guess it started in the summer of 2017. That's when I felt my world begin to really fall apart. Bestie had recently moved. I came home from work one night and the S.O. was asleep, snoring lightly. I hung up my purse and took off my shoes. I went to wake him up when I realized that he wasn't snoring. He was gasping for air. His eyes were rolled back in his head and he couldn't breathe. To say I freaked out was an understatement. I called my brother who lived very close and he came over and asked if he had any history of night terrors. No. Seizures? Nope. So he helped me roll my boyfriend over just to eliminate the chance of choking on vomit. That's when we saw the lighter. And the aluminum foil. And the charred remains of some drug. We continued trying to wake him. I called his 'friend' that he had been spending so much time with lately. He couldn't tell me what the substance was, only that I shouldn't call an ambulance. He would come out of it, this friend assured me, and I wouldn't want authorities to find drugs in my home. What a dumb thing to believe but I was naive. Okay, so what now??? My brother and I started to carry him to my car so could make the short trip to the ER. We got about halfway through the house and my boyfriend just snapped out of it. Just popped up like nothing was wrong. Started asking us what was going on. I broke down crying on the floor. I told him if he ever did anything like that again it was over between us.

October of 2017 my dad is hospitalized. His organs are shutting down and he's on life support. For two weeks I drive an hour and a half each way every day to be at his side. Early November he passes away. I'm heartbroken but I've been through this before so I know I will recover. The funeral passes quickly this time. I guess I wasn't dreading it as much as mom's. Thanksgiving and Christmas come and go. I had moved back in with my father when he started to get sick. He left no will and the medical bills are substantial. My brother and I prepare to lose the home we grew up in. In the process of packing things I notice that my significant other is missing quite frequently. Spending the night at friends' places. Taking my vehicle.

After about a five day stretch in February of not hearing from him, having no idea who he is with, where he is, what he's doing, if he's even alive, I get on his computer to see if I can get in contact with his friends through Facebook. He hasn't replied to my texts or messages. He won't answer my calls. So I open his laptop and sign in. The first string of messages I see are to a woman named Angel. I know I shouldn't open it. I know I don't want to see whatever is in there. But I'd also like some peace of mind. After looking through months of lewd photos and videos sent between them I pick up my phone and text my best friend. I warn her to be prepared for an onslaught of ugly crying as I'm about to end my 12 year relationship.

The next message I send is to him after 10 phone calls at 4am on February 28, 2018:

You have until noon to bring my car back to me or I will report it stolen.

He calls back in less than 30 minutes. He's in the driveway before 8am. We make arrangements for him to stay in the guest room until he finds a place to live or until the bank forecloses because I'm not heartless and don't want him to be homeless. I find a place to move into shortly after and start a new chapter in my life.

A new chapter filled with insomnia, an eating disorder, depression and anxiety. See, somehow, after all that my brain decided that it was my fault the relationship failed. Because when I asked him why he did it he said he was bored. And in my mind that meant he was bored of me. I was boring. So I began to use negative self talk as a coping mechanism. I hid the breakup from my family, friends, and colleagues for months. I was ashamed. I stopped eating because my depression told me he didn't want me because I was fat. I went from 170 to 130 pounds in less than two months. I stopped sleeping because I couldn't turn off the negative thoughts. I started to have anxiety attacks when the thoughts became overwhelming. I would go to Angel's profile and look at her picture and berate myself for not being as pretty as her, or as fit, or as intriguing. I would wonder why I wasn't enough. I would clench my fists so tight my fingernails cut into the palms of my hands. My heartbeat would start racing. I would start to hyperventilate and feel sick. It got so bad that a friend from work had to tell me to go talk to someone. He knew something was up and I honestly don't know if I would be here today if he had not intervened.

So now the insomnia is under control. Most nights, anyway. I still have an episode here and there but it's no where near what it was. I started eating again and I'm maintaining a healthy 155ish pounds. The depression is significantly reduced. I'm only battling the anxiety attacks now. A few months after that friend from work suggested I speak to a specialist, we started dating. Now my anxiety attacks are mostly a fear of losing him. It usually starts with something simple, like him finding out about some insecurity that I have and then it snowballs into negative self talk then, ultimately, me convincing myself that he doesn't want to be with me either. That I'll screw up this relationship too. As if the last one was my fault. Rational me knows that I'm lucky to have an amazing, caring, understanding guy in my life. Rational me knows that the negative thoughts are ridiculous and that even if this one 'gets bored' too it wouldn't be the end of the world. Anxiety attack me is irrational. Anxiety attack me feels like everything is spiraling out of control and it IS the end of the world. Luckily, the attacks are fewer with each passing day and it doesn't feel like an endless cycle anymore. For the first time in almost a year it feels like there might actually be an end to these vicious moments. I am healing.

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loading99percent · 6 years

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Exclusive 1/3

Pairing: LYJ x OC (Melanie/Li Xiangjun) || CXK x OC (Serena/Jiang Yingyue) Genre: slice of life, college!au, fluff Word Count: 4,389 Summary: Lin Yanjun openly flirts with Melanie, yet she’s tired of his games and can’t take him seriously. Cai Xukun and Serena chill on a daily, but there’s gotta be more than that between them. Eventually enough, the boys just want the girls exclusively to themselves.

part one.part two.part three

Warning: matured content as in college related stuff. swear words. NOT MOBILE FRIENDLY! not sure why, but it has all the breaks and stuff while on a desktop. (teach me if mobile is different and it can be done!)

Here is my second one! Not requested, but will get to the one that I did receive! Also this is going to be split into parts because I had a commentator complain about the length that they had to scroll, but like I can’t do anything about that if you’re on mobile besides give a warning. Anyways, so yeah, this is part 1 of and happy reading! kthxbai, Admin Lia~

"Alright, fellas. Tomorrow's the start of our annual one day scavenger hunt." Yu Bin, the president of Iota Phi Theta, announced to his fellow members. "I know there hasn't been any incidents as of yet, but don't break any laws or school's rules while obtaining the picture or video proofs in completing the list." Yu Bin reminded them. "I-P-T ain't like that and we're not going to start now."

"So when it hits midnight you guys can start on the list." Li Junyi, the vice-president of IPT, spoke next. "You have until eleven-fifty-nine P-M to return back to the house. You'll be disqualified if you're not back before then and your points won't be added to Iota Phi Theta's End of the School Year raffle. Or for the chance to be I-P-T's center for the End of the Year photo and host of the last banquet. Or the monthly prizes."

"Let's all remember it's all for fun so there's no real competition except if you wanna win the raffle and center and host positions, of course." Zhou Rui, the secretary of IPT, informed them with a smile. "An entry with your name is added to the raffle for every thirty-five points you earn. So make it count if you're aiming for that." His gaze then scanned the many faces before him. "If not, then you can still turn your points in for awesome monthly prizes."

"Don't forget your placards needs to be present in the picture or video as it will indicate validation." Kaihao, the treasurer of IPT, concluded. "We ask all of you fellow brothers to represent Iota Phi Theta with respect and anyone or something else involved with respect, too." Kaihao looked at the other three for approval as the trio either nodded before gazing back at the members. "Meeting adjourned. Have a good night, fellas"

Serena abruptly woke to Melanie's ring tone going off. She sat up in bed to glare at the sleeping figure who wasn't disturbed by the sudden sound at all as it continued to ring and vibrate simultaneously. Serena let out a huff as she felt about her bed for something to throw at Melanie. Once she felt one of her stuffed dolls she chucked it at Melanie across the room, but it missed its target.

Serena reached once more around her bed, found another doll a second later, and threw it. It made contact with its target, but it surely didn't wake the sleeping girl. Serena groaned while rubbing her face in annoyance, but lied back down when the ringing stop.

Closing her eyes once more, Serena groaned when Melanie's phone went off again. "I swear this bitch has selective hearing even while asleep."

Serena let out a sigh as she rose from bed and made her way over to Melanie. Shaking the edge of the bed with her foot, Melanie didn't budge from the action. Serena moved her foot and tapped on Melanie's feet, but still nothing. Serena rolled her eyes and placed both hands to shake Melanie's figure roughly which jerked the other girl awake.

"Hmm?" Melanie hummed in a half-awake and half-asleep state.

"Answer your phone. It went off twice and I'm sure who's ever trying to contact you is gonna call again." Serena said in a tired tone just as Melanie's phone went off again. "Answer it or I'm chucking that shit out the window."

This woke Melanie as she brushed off Serena's threat. "Yeah, yeah, go back to bed, Rina."

Serena huffed to indicate that she was still annoyed, but returned to her bed while Melanie checked to see who it was and silenced the sound to not annoy her friend some more. Melanie noticed the two missed calls as well as several text messages from three people. Not wanting to deal with it at the moment Melanie silenced her phone until it was placed for only alarms to go off which would be at around 9ish AM and went back to bed.

Serena did the same thing when she felt the first vibration upon settling back in bed. It was only twenty-one minutes passed eleven, but she needed all the sleep she could get before attending her 8AM class tomorrow. The other person can totally wait until then. Or not. Depending on her mood.

"You have got to be kidding me." Serena said in disbelief upon arriving early to her 8AM class which was apparently cancelled for the rest of the week. "You think by now I would check the stupid thing." She scolded herself before sighing afterwards while running a hand through her hair.

Serena heard a chuckle from behind her and turned around to see her classmate and friend, Cai Xukun, standing there with two bubble tea drinks and an amused expression upon his face. "I knew you'll be here since you hardly check your phone or the school's app."

"Oh you're so smart, KunKun." Serena mockingly stated as cast him a tired look. "What are you doing here anyways if you knew class was cancelled?"

"Well, I knew you would show up and thought I would make your morning better after realizing there's no class this early morning." He grinned as Serena rolled her eyes. "Oh wow, the great and mighty Cai Xukun gracing me with his royal presence."

Xukun's excited expression dampened a bit. "Gee, thanks. I was going to give you this taro milk tea to make you feel better, but instead I'll enjoy it myself." He smirked as he took a sipped out of the purple drink. "Ah, so delicious."

"Go ahead." She shrugged as she walked right passed him. "I'll buy myself something else and kill time before my next class."

Xukun followed after her with a pout. "You know it was for you."

"I do, but you put your nasty germs on it and so I don't want it."

"But you share things with everyone else though?"

"I know, but you're a different story."

"Then you can have the other one." He offered her the yellow drink.

"No thanks. I don't really like passion fruit."

"It's not like I have cooties, YingYing."

"Um, KunKun, have you forgotten that you're a bit of a germophobe? That's why I said you were a different story." Serena eyed him as Xukun shrugged nonchalantly. "A little bit, but it's not that big of a deal. Really."

"Yeah right, next time say that in front of your fangirls because I don't wanna get killed by them which I realized right now and am definitely surprised that there are none lurking around sending me death glares."

"Stop. I don't have fangirls. They're just..." Xukun trailed off as Serena cast him a knowing look and repeated her previous statement. "Fangirls."

"Whatever you wanna call them, they won't kill you. You're my friend and I haven't seen them give you any dirty looks."

"Because, one, they're two-faced because when you turn around their so-called angelic face appears. Two, I'm a female friend that's closer to you than they'll ever be to which to this day I still don't know how we're friends, honestly. We don't really have that much in common."

"Friends don't always have to have similar interests, Ying. It's mutual respect and a connection. Anyways, is that supposed to be a good thing or a bad thing?" Xukun interjected upon hearing the friend part

"You can take it however you want." Serena chuckled before continuing. "Anyways, I guess that's true about not having similar interests. Maybe that's why you're a brat and always copy my homework and sit next to me in class when you can literally sit anywhere else."

"Because you have better handwriting and you don't stare at me constantly."

"I wonder why." She rolled her eyes before shooting him a look. "Psh. And here you say they're not your fangirls." Serena then took the purple drink from him and took a sip. "Thanks though, but you still owe me something to eat from last time."

"Yeah, yeah. I know. You won't stop reminding me. Anyways, forget about them. They're not important." He dismissed the topic about the fangirls. "I'll meet you in the library at our usual spot then." Xukun informed her as the two split in different directions.

Melanie was peacefully sleeping before it was disrupted by her phone going off. At first she didn't hear it, but eventually after the third time it went off, she woke and stared at her phone in confusion.

"Didn't I put it only for the alarm?"

She chucked it and realized she didn't and only assumed that she did. She let out a sigh when her phone went of again.

"Hello?" She answered sleepily not even checking to see who the caller was.

"Hey, do you have a bra that you no longer use and are willing to give it up. No questions ask?" The person on the other side asked causing Melanie to open her eyes with furrowed eyebrows. "Excuse me?"

"I want your bra, JunJun. Give it to me." He demanded seriously and Melanie finally looked at her mobile screen to see who the caller was and rolled her eyes before sitting up in bed. "Shut up, Fen. The last time I gave you my bra you gave me back another girl's bra."

"I said I was sorry."

"It wasn't even the same size or color."

"I said I would buy you a replacement."

"Which I'm still waiting for, my dude."

"I'm working on it, but I really need it." There was a pause before another voice spoke. "Can you make it two, Jun?"

"Ugh, BoBo. I thought you were better than this."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Both males asked a second later as Melanie groaned. "I'm going back to bed. Talk to me after I wake up."

"Fine. We'll see you in class." The duo responded and Melanie hung up on them with a sighed. "So annoying."

Serena was casually making her way towards the library and before she could walk up the steps towards the building she suddenly and loudly heard her nickname, Yue Tu which meant Moon Rabbit, being shouted from behind her. Just as she had turned around to see who it was she was suddenly tackled to the ground with the person on top of her while her drink fumbled away from her.

"Smile!" The male announced happily as he held up his phone with one hand while the other hand held a placard to take a self-portrait of himself and Serena whereas Serena partially blocked her face in time while trying to shove off another friend and classmate of hers off of her. "Get off, Qin Zimo!"

Zimo chuckled nervously as he obeyed while backing away from Serena with a good amount of space between them as another friend and classmate, Jing Peiyao, joined them a moment later while catching his breath.

"Sorry, Yue. I would have stopped him, but once he saw you he ran so fast that I couldn't keep up." Peiyao said once he caught his breath before a cheeky smile appeared on his face. "Also, I wanted to see what would happen and the outcome was hilarious."

"You're a brat, Yao." Serena scoffed while fixing herself, but shot the two a friendly look. "What are you two doing out and about?"

"Trying to complete the scavenger list." Zimo answered as he held up his placard. "I really want that anime figurine set although I have no idea which anime figurines they are."

"Of course." Serena rolled her eyes before it landed on the boba that Xukun had given her. "You owe me a drink, MoMo."

"I will if only..."

"If only what?"

"Basically Zimo wants you to help him out with gaining points." Peiyao answered with a blank look. "That's why he ran so fast to catch you."

"The last time I helped I still didn't get my reward."

Zimo nervously rubbed the back of his neck before casting the female a pleading look. "I will double the reward, for sure this time, just please help me out, Yue Tu, especially since your a Nu Chi Phi member and it'll double or even triple the points."

"Ugh, fine, but I'm only doing two with you since you tackled me." She then glared at him. "You already took one, so you're left with one now."

"Oh, thank you, thank you!" Zimo thanked her while wrapping his arms around her in a hug. "You're the best."

"Yeah, yeah, just tell me one of them that you need to do."

"I don't get why you put up with it, Yue, when you know that you don't want to do it." Peiyao stated as Serena shrugged. "I dunno. I guess you gotta give good karma to receive good karma."

"Wow. So it's basically for your own selfish gain?"

"Sure, why not? Don't judge me, Yao." She narrowed her eyes at Peiyao. "How come you're not doing any?"

"Because I have enough points to get what I want already." He answered with a smirk. "Besides, I would rather enter the raffle then collect now."

"I see."

"Anyways, I already did the 'Tackle the opposite gender'. Let's see what else I can do." Zimo muttered loudly as he checked his list and marked off the ones that he had already done. "Oh, how about this one, Yue Tu?"

Zimo showed Serena the option as Serena nodded. "Sure, MoMo."

Zimo happily got his phone ready to take the picture as Serena endured the Iota Phi Theta's scavenger list for the sake of friendship while partially covering her face since she didn't want to get exposed either. She ended up doing a few more. The things she does in wanting to help out Zimo since the subjects weren't breaking laws or humiliating towards the members or others. Something she gave Iota Phi Theta credit for while being a fraternity.

Peiyao laughed at the scenes before him as he knew this wasn't Serena's thing, but she still went with it just for the sake of being a kind friend. Of course Serena glared at Peiyao when the camera wasn't in her face because she knew his taunting laughter was just to tease her. After that the trio bid good-byes with Serena picking up her wasted boba drink to toss before making her way inside the library.

Melanie was woken again by her phone, but by a different person. She ignored it the first and second time, but grew annoyed when her mobile went off again and she gruffly answered the caller.

"What?"

"Sheesh. Who peed in your cereal this morning?" The male responded.

"That's nasty, Jing." Melanie replied as she sat up in bed knowing she wasn't going to be able to fall back asleep and should've silenced her phone after Qin Fen had called her. "What do you want, You. Zhang. Jing?"

"Wow. Seriously, Li. Xiang. Jun." He mimicked the way she said his name before speaking normally again. "Why are you so grouchy, huh?"

"Because I can't go back to sleep now. People been bothering me with phone calls all morning. Like you."

"Rude. I was gonna invite your fellow fat ass out for breakfast, but since you're being such a morning bitch, Xiang, I'll leave you alone."

"Breakfast where?"

"Oh, now she wants to play nice."

Melanie rolled her eyes hearing the sarcasm in her friend's voice. "Shut up, Jing. You still owe me from last. Four times."

Zhangjing groaned. "You're still keeping tabs on that? That was like weeks ago."

"Yeah, because your bitch ass supposedly forgot your wallet those four times."

"I did forget it. What?" Zhangjing hurriedly changed the topic to avoid facing Melanie's annoyance tone once again. "Anyways, XiangXing, I got you, girl. I won't forget my wallet and I'll even treat you. Whatever you want."

Melanie grew suspicious. "What's the catch?"

"What are you talking about? There's no catch."

"Yeah there is. You never offered to treat me. And you also never say 'whatever you want' so there's more to this than you're telling me."

"That part was an afterthought, Xiang. Don't get so analytical." Zhangjing scoffed. "So yes or no to breakfast?"

"Yes. Text me and I'll meet you."

"Already did."

"Brat."

Zhangjing laughed as he hung up and Melanie went to get ready for the day.

Xukun entered the quiet area where he and Serena met often in the library and hung out while spotting his friend sleeping with her arms folded on the table and her head using them as a pillow. He chuckled at the sight while placing a bagel sandwich with ham and cheese along with a Starbucks coffee by her things.

Once Xukun settled in the chair next to her while taking a sip of his own Starbucks drink did Serena stir awake and looked over at him sleepily while scrunching her nose at the aroma of the drinks. "Gah, I hate the smell of coffee."

Xukun's eyebrows furrowed. "I thought you like coffee?"

"I actually don't like coffee at all." Serena answered as she pushed her coffee away and towards Xukun while picking up the bagel to eat. "Thanks."

Xukun stared at Serena questioningly in mid-bite of his own bagel sandwich. "Wait a minute, YingYing. Are you telling me that you hate coffee despite me buying it for you every time we have study sessions together since we've met?"

"Uh, yeah, basically." Serena answered with a sheepish laugh. "Sorry, not sorry?"

"Dude, why didn't you just tell me? You honestly finished it every time or leave a little bit and I didn't think anything of it."

"Because you genuinely looked pleased every time you gave it to me and I just didn't have the heart to tell you or throw away a majority of it since you used your own money to buy it."

"I can't believe you didn't tell me."

"You'll get over it. Anyways, KunKun, now you have double the coffee for your day today."

Xukun side-eyed her while taking the other drink back and taking a quick sip from it. "What else are you hiding from me?"

"A lot of things, KunKun. A lot." Serena answered nonchalantly as she bit into her sandwich while not expanding further leaving Xukun to just leave it at that for now.

When he brought out his materials to study, a loose piece of paper floated to the ground and Serena went to retrieve it instead before Xukun could. Upon closer inspection she realized that it was the same IPT scavenger list that Zimo had.

"I forgot you were in Iota Phi Theta. " Serena said while placing the paper on top of his bag. "So you're doing this, too?"

"Something like that." Xukun answered as he picked it up to scan it. "I haven't really started, but I don't think I'm going to do it either."

"Why not?"

"I don't have time. I really need to pass my classes this semester. I barely managed last semester."

"It's easier to do with a friend. The scavenger hunt list, I mean. I'm sure you have some."

Xukun rolled his eyes. "I do, Ying. I'm not completely as anti-social as you, but my schedule doesn't correlate well with theirs."

Serena glanced at him dismissing the comment about her being anti-social. "Do you want to complete the list?"

"Well yeah, I do, but I don't have the time to do so."

"What do you get out of this list if you complete the whole thing?"

"Well the points I accumulate will give me entries to the End of the School Year raffle."

"But there's something else that you want, right?"

Xukun smiled embarrassed as the thought of what he wanted popped into his head. "Yeah."

"And that is?" Serena tried to get it out of him. "Tell me and I'll help you."

"You will?" He asked shocked before eyeing her suspiciously. "Wait, why? You would rather be in bed right now than doing anything really productive."

"I have my moments, Kun, and I feel like doing something productive today besides school stuff at the moment."

"Y'know there's like fifty things on that list."

"True, but it's mainly to help out a friend. Also I know that you want this. So what is it?"

"If I complete that list or score the most points out of anyone for that list, then I get to be center for the group photo when school's over."

"That's it?"

"Yeah. Oh and I get to host the final house banquet this school term and the first house banquet next school term."

"Okay, that's good."

Xukun looked at Serena unsure. "Are you sure you want to help me?"

"I mean, not really, but I don't mind helping out others from time to time." Serena shrugged with a small smile.

"Alright, thanks, but I do need a date though for the banquet."

"And I'm sure that won't be a problem."

"Could I ask you in advance since you won't be all..."

"Fangirl mode."

"Yeah."

"See, even you're thinking they're fangirls now."

Xukun rolled his eyes, but looked at her with hopeful eyes. "So what do you say? Will you be my date?"

"I'll think about it."

Xukun scoffed at her response as Serena chuckled. "Anyways, let's go make you center, Cai Xukun, and a banquet host."

Melanie was currently messaging Zhangjing asking him how long he'll be since she's been waiting at Little Tangerine for at least ten minutes now when she heard the chair across from her scraped against the floor and assumed it was her friend.

"About ti-" She paused when she saw Lin Yanjun instead of Zhangjing and mentally strangled Zhangjing in her head. "I knew it was a set up."

Yanjun chuckled as he glanced at her. "What's a set up? I thought we were all meeting for breakfast?"

"Zhangjing didn't mentioned a third party."

Yanjun shrugged with a smile. "He mentioned you to me."

"I bet." Melanie rolled her eyes before roaming her eyes over to the male before her. "Anyways, then where is the one that invited us?"

"Dunno."

"You guys are roommates."

"Doesn't mean I keep tabs on him."

"Mmhmm."

Melanie leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms over her chest shooting Yanjun a knowing look. Yanjun imitated her posture, but he had on an amused expression instead. The two stared at one another for a good few seconds before Yanjun broke the silence.

"Don't give me that look, Melanie."

"What look, Evan?"

"The one you're giving me now."

"What about it?"

"Stop looking like you wanna kill me."

"Oh, it's not you I wanna kill, today. It's your friend."

Yanjun rolled his eyes as he casually leaned forward. "He's your friend, too, but don't kill him yet. I still need him to pass this semester and you can kill me after I graduate."

"Fine." Melanie rolled her eyes, but relaxed her posture. "Anyways, what are you doing here when you and I don't ever hang out?"

"Zhangjing invited me of course, Xiangjing, but really I came for the bread." Yanjun grinned as Melanie shook her head with a laugh. "You can buy bread anywhere, Yanjun, and say no to the invite."

"But I love the ones here and why would I say no when I get to see your lovely face."

He grinned at her as Melanie made a disgusted face before brushing off his rights. "Right."

Silence fell between them again with neither of them wanting to get up and make an order. The duo continued to wait for Zhangjing who was still running late. Yanjun broke the silence once more.

"Hey, so I was wondering if-"

Melanie interrupted him. "No."

"But you haven't even heard the whole thing yet."

"I don't care."

"But you don't even know what I was gonna ask you."

"After what happened last time, Evan, I don't wanna be involved with whatever you got going on for the fourth time." Melanie narrowed her eyes at him. "I'm going to put a restraining order on you the next time you you want a crazy psycho bitch of a fangirl to stop bothering you."

"Look, they all have their moments." Yanjun tried to explain, but Melanie held up a hand to stop him. "Save it. I don't care because I'm not gonna let you use me again for a fourth time to which I didn't even agree with the other three times. You basically forced me and put me on the spot each time."

"Okay, Melanie, okay. I get it. I'm sorry." Yanjun apologized with a genuine expression. "I know it was selfish of me to use you as my pretend girlfriend to get these girls off my back, but you happened to be conveniently there at my time of need all those times."

"So were practically twenty other girls, Lin. Yan. Jun."

"I trusted you the most."

"We're only mutual through mutual. We're technically not even friends if I was to be honest. Hell, even Yirang, Fu Jing, Manjun, and Niyi were there and you know them better than you know me and you could've used them over me."

"You were closer." Yanjun reasoned as Melanie rolled her eyes giving up on trying to pull the truth out of him while standing up and collecting her things. "Whatever. I'm gonna order and sit at another table so that I don't have to deal with you further within the morning."

"Oh, c'mon, Xiangjun. My company's not that bad."

"Not really you, per se, Yanjun, I think, but those involved around you just gives me a headache with all the bullshit that surrounds you."

"Wow."

"Okay, bye!" Melanie happily told him while making her way towards the front counter as Yanjun looked after her with a defeated expression before his phone pinged indicating he received a message.

He checked it and saw that it was from Zhangjing. 'Lin Yanjun, zero. Li Xiangjun, nine thousand'. Yanjun glanced around the shop and spied his friend across the room in disguise while eating a bag of chips and waving at him mockingly.

'Better sleep with one eye open tonight, buddy'. Yanjun messaged Zhangjing back before shooting him a smirk and Zhangjing stopped his little antics and hurriedly left Little Tangerine without Melanie noticing him.

#loading99percent #idol producer scenarios #nine percent scenarios #9% scenarios #9 percent scenarios #lin yanjun #cai xukun #idol producer #nine percent

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fursttimes · 4 years

Text

Pandemic trip to South Korea

10/22/20 - 11/22/20 If you haven’t yet been to South Korea, I highly recommend it.

Why South Korea?

I wanted to visit South Korea for over a year since I discovered K Pop (and especially K R&B) and started watching K Dramas. Here’s a gorgeous scene from the historical romance Mr. Sunshine.

My goal is to consume K content without subtitles. After studying on my own and hiring two different language teachers, I wasn’t improving much. In this situation, I rely on immersion.

I also listened to Miyoko Schinner’s Home Comforts where she cooks every Friday on a theme. That day, she was cooking Korean food inspired by her recent trip to South Korea. She said there was an entire vegan street in Seoul. Then she said she brought a rescue dog back to SFO as the volunteer courier and that it was really easy.

As a 1st world country, South Korea shouldn’t be as challenging to navigate as other places.

Why now?

Yes, it’s odd that I’d be traveling during a pandemic where there’s a deadly airborne virus spreading across the globe. Don’t get me wrong, there were a few bright spots during the year, Animal Run’s 1st Virtual Event being one, but combine the factors of

South Korea being a model for having one of the best containment strategies in the world (they never truly had a shut down)

Random lock downs in California

Weight gain from working from home

Working from home all by myself (with my cats)

I was buying useless things online

One cat passed away

Heat waves

Multiple forest fires

An extra-depressing day of being trapped underneath the dark smoky skies without sunlight

6 months left in a contract job that doesn’t require much brain power

Another crazy presidential election looming

I haven’t gone overseas since 2014

I’ve never been there before so my anticipation level was high

I wanted to bring a rescue dog back with me

My partner was OK with holding down the fort for a month without me

My job approved working remotely for two weeks and then taking two weeks off

10 days after getting approval from work, I boarded a plane to quarantine for two weeks and then explore the small but mighty country.

What’s the worst that could happen?

I could die. But when it’s time ...

I could catch the virus and spread it. But I was quarantining so bringing it back to the US was more likely than bringing it into South Korea.

My work laptop wouldn’t work.

Flight to Seoul

The direct flight was 12 hours and super easy. The plane was only 1/3 full so I was able to lie down and sleep for most of the trip. When I woke up, there was only 1.5 hours left before I landed at 4am.

Stuck 4 hours at Incheon Airport

I pride myself on my research. Sure, I only had 10 days to study but I’ll watch a few YouTube videos and do some Google searching of what quarantine would be like. Then once done with my quarantine work day, I’d plan how to navigate the country which I knew very little about.

Fact: When you don’t know what you don’t know, that’s just life testing you.

The plane landed smoothly and I turned on the airport wifi which was much stronger than SFO wifi. We walked over to immigration and they asked me why I was here. I’m a tourist. Do I know anyone in South Korea? No. I was able to pass to the next section.

Down the hall, there were several tables with young military people interviewing everyone who just landed. I sat down and they asked what I was doing here. I’m a tourist. Do I know anyone in South Korea? No. Do I know anyone with a South Korean phone number. No.

They explained they needed to call a South Korean phone number with someone on the other end who would pick up and say that they would be my “guardian” during my time in South Korea. I told them that I thought the procedure was to install a sim card in my phone so I could be tracked wherever I went. They said no, they didn’t know about that, but I still needed the Korean phone number.

I told them to call my hotel which I reserved for after quarantine. The hotel denied my request. Until I could come up with a phone number and guardian, I could not leave the airport.

This was the moment I became worried. I wracked my brain for someone I knew might have a contact or relative living in South Korea. I called Greg first to tell him the situation and to see if he had any patients who could help. He did not.

Next, I called a co-worker from several years back and several companies ago. She picked up and suspiciously said “Hello?” I explained my situation and it was a VERY awkward conversation. Ultimately, she was not able to help.

I decided to text a friend of a friend whom I’ve never met. A good runner friend FB introduced me to him a few days before my flight. He was kind enough to give me some recommendations of places to visit. I explained my situation in text. If I was lucky, maybe he would respond in the next hour or two.

After 3 strikes, I felt some panic and decided to sit down on the airport floor and take several deep relaxing breaths. After a few minutes of sitting quietly, it occurred to me to call the US Embassy. This thought came directly from my Peace Corps experience where I learned that embassies are there to bail out their citizens in trouble. So I requested a call to the US Embassy and he thought that was a great idea ... except that they are closed on Sundays. Sigh.

I knew they have an emergency number though. I hesitated in calling that number since my situation was not life or death, but I thought about sleeping overnight at the airport ... so I asked the guy to call the emergency number.

The woman on the other end was confused. She told me she had not heard of this requirement and thought that the procedure was to install a sim card on my phone. But she spoke to the guy and said she would straighten this out in 15 minutes.

WHEW!!!!!!

While we were waiting for her to call back, I learned that these full time military guys (not the 2-year mandatory military people) are rotated into the airport twice a week to do this interviewing job. I asked if there were other people like me who didn’t know about this requirement. He said yes. I asked him what those people did. They also panic dialed people they knew, but I was the first (that he knew about) to call my Embassy.

I made it it through that critical step. My next step was to go ahead and install the sim card anyway. Another nice English speaking guy said he would help me, which was great, because the sim card lady spoke no English. Everything was going well until she hit a screen on my phone asking for an unlock password.

UGH!!!

I had paid AT&T in full to own my phone so it could be unlocked for this trip. This was a big missed step. Oh well. The nice lady gave me my receipt, instructions on how to install my personal sim card back into my phone and a Customer Help number to call from my hotel during quarantine.

Just one more interview before I was allowed into baggage claim. This guy asked me what I was doing in South Korea. I’m a tourist. Did I understand that I’d be quarantined for 2 weeks and that I would be paying between $1,400-$2,100 USD and that these prices are set by the Korean authorities? Yes.

Finally I was allowed to get my bags. With my brain completely fried, I descended to baggage claim and promptly made a wrong turn. I wandered through the intimidatingly cavernous baggage claim section. It was a strange experience to be in a fully lit air hanger with no other soul around, with no sound and where nothing moved. I certainly got my steps in. After what felt like forever, I finally saw someone who pointed in the right direction. I picked up my bags and was told to board a bus headed to my quarantine hotel. My plane landed at 4am and I boarded the shuttle at 8am.

Quarantine

It took 30 minutes from Incheon Airport to Gimpo’s Ramada Encore Hotel. This is a random quarantine destination probably depending on the time of day each bus leaves from the airport.

I was excited. I officially entered South Korea ready to experience a two week quarantine in a new country. Hopefully, this was going to be the closest thing to prison that I will ever experience.

When we parked in front of the hotel waiting for our instructions to disembark, a Russian woman with an infant started to cry. She had an apartment in Seoul so the quarantine thing was a mistake. She didn't pack any diapers or formula for her baby. She decided to stay on the bus because she didn't want to implicitly agree to the quarantine. I hope it worked out for her. There were about 10 other people on the bus with me.

We disembarked and lined up in front of people in hazmat suits who told us to line up, leave our luggage, and enter the processing room. This was the hotel dining area or conference room which looked like a semi-organized mess. Tables and chairs were stacked on top of each other. The hotel was no longer a hotel but was a "processing center" so it looked like things were just shoved aside to make room for processing equipment. There is no hotel staff. These were employees of some agency.

The hazmat people taught us how to use the daily temperature check app (we need to take our temperatures 2x day) and assigned our rooms. I asked how many people were quarantining in the building? ~300. How many quarantine centers there were? 5-6 hotels. I told them I was vegetarian since vegan was not an option. They charged my card $1,450. I was lucky.

I got room 901. Once I went in, I cannot step outside of it for 14 days. As I took the elevator up and walked down the hall, I noticed orange bags filled up in front of the doors. Those were the orange garbage bags with the hazard sign on it so that it would all be disposed of like radioactive waste.

I entered my room and it was HOT. I looked at the temperature gauge and it was 28C (82F). I tried opening the window and it opened, but not enough to let cool air in. I tried the air conditioning setting but it was broken.

There was a sign on the inside of the door warning me not to leave the room but to call the command center for questions. I called that number and told them that my air conditioner was broken and they said they turned it off, because it was fall, but they'd send up a fan. Sigh.

There was a white plastic bag on the floor with my welcome kit. 2 bottles of water, a toothpaste tube, a toothbrush, several small hotel hand soaps, slippers, five small hand/face towels and what looked like a cigarette box but had 10 small servings of instant coffee.

I heard a knock on the door and it was food along with the fan, both wrapped in plastic bags. The food was AMAZING! It was in a plastic tray and the main item was cauliflower and two awesome banchan, chillied perilla leaves and sweet yellow pickled radish. So much flavor! Whatever I suspected containing egg or dairy was thrown out along with the rice. With three meals a day, I was never hungry and I even managed to lose 4 pounds during quarantine.

I started unpacking and took a shower because it was so hot. When I stepped out, the hotel PA system turned on and a woman's voice said in English "Sir on the 9th floor in a red shirt, please go back to your room immediately." Oh boy. I would find out later that my room has a hidden camera, because the PA system would go on reminding people not to smoke inside the room.

I checked if my laptop worked. It did! Whew!!! Then I heard a knock on the door. It was two guys in hazmat suits ready to give me my first covid test. I asked the first guy to help set up the TV screen as my 2nd monitor. BIG win since I didn't need to struggle with the Korean instructions.

Then the 2nd guy took my temperature, swabbed my throat (I gagged) then told me the last step was going to hurt and which nostril would I prefer? I said "suprise me" and he proceeded to invade my brain through my right nostril. It was HUGELY uncomfortable but not quite painful. It felt like that nostril was drowning while I was still able to breathe through the other nostril. Once it was over, I had a headache. I decided to call it a day and knocked out hard.

Quarantine Days 2-13

I woke up Bay Area time at 8 am which is midnight in Korea. The deal was to work during Bay Area hours then take 2 weeks off to explore. I arranged the room to make it a home for the next 13 days.

I pushed up the twin beds to give me more floor space. I set up my work station. Hung up my clothes. Placed all wastepaper baskets outside my door so that I wasn't collecting garbage inside my space.

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My biggest fear was that something would happen to my work Chromebook during the trip from my house to the hotel. I was SO pumped to know that it was working once I popped it open. The following morning though, I noticed the battery was really, really low. OMG!!! I only had an hour of charge left.

I checked the cord connections were firmly attached and looked up the voltage requirements. The US has 110V and South Korea has 220V. The plug said the laptop was fine to use in both. I verified online as well. Basically, I didn't need to have the cord plugged into the $50 voltage converter I bought specifically for this trip. I could plug it straight into the wall with an adapter.

My humidifier, my toothbrush and my monitor had appeared "broken" as well. I plugged in my humidifier directly into the wall and it started working straight away. Although I was VERY nervous about it, I did the same for my laptop. I listened for a “pop” sound in case the higher voltage fried the device, but I didn't hear one and saw that the laptop was charging normally. WHEW!!! That made me realize that most of our electronics are made in Asia and probably had to be modified for the US. I didn't need to spend over $100 on two voltage converters from Best Buy. Lesson learned.

I needed Greg's help with contacting AT&T to unlock my phone screen. That was a huge help. But then, I realized that I wasn't getting text notifications, required for some apps for identity verification. So I contacted Korea Telecom (KT) hotline to ask them how to fix it. They sent me an email with English instructions but the texting still didn't work. Ugh! They told me I needed to talk to tech support but but since they don’t speak English, I would need help from a Korean speaker. This ended up being very inconvenient but not terrible.

Lesson: Next time, I’ll just rent a phone from the airport with a separate data card installed.

Luckily the room was non-smoking so I didn't have to deal with a bad smell. Plus, there was ample shampoo/conditioner and body gel wash in the shower so I didn't have to use my supply. But what I saw in YouTube videos, I didn't get detergent and daily coffee. One YouTube video guy, who also quarantined at the Ramada, did mention that the floor was dirty, which I can confirm.

I asked for a vacuum, detergent and coffee from the command center. They gave me a sticky roller for the floor (I used two of them), an extra bar of soap for my clothes and told me they don't give more coffee. I can have as much water as I wanted though. I went through two sticky rolls, used the gel soap for my clothes and ordered coffee online from GMarket. Delivery takes 3 days so I had to ration my little mini sticks of instant. Rationing those sticks was my biggest challenge during the quarantine situation. Otherwise, it was fairly pleasant because I stayed busy working, exercising and vacation planning.

I strapped my phone onto my body to track my steps and tried to surpass it every day. The highest I got was just over 5k steps and averaged around 3.5k steps. I wrapped the 50-pound band to the door handle and did rows every time I threw something out on the other side of the door. I used the other 50 pound band for triceps and biceps.

The early morning wake ups are cold and that's the best time for me to cardio. Then once 8am hits, the sun hits my window and it gets warm very fast so I have to use my blackout curtains and turn on the fan. I wash my clothes while I'm in the shower and let them dry overnight.

I would also get infrequent Covid cell phone alerts (like Amber Alerts) related to the residents in Gimpo.

As I traveled around the country, I would get these alerts for the region I was in. When I returned to Seoul, I noticed the alerts were more frequent, but then again, 50% of all South Koreans live in Seoul.

Day 14 Covid-Free and Freedom

If I had someone to pick me up, I could’ve left at midnight on my last day. But I had to wait to take the shuttle at 8:30am to be dropped off at Seoul Station, which is the main hub to the rest of South Korea via KTX train or subway.

When I finally left my room to go back down that elevator to Floor 1, the wind hit me like a jump into Lake Michigan. My room had been so warm that the 45 F degree weather shocked me.

Once we were dropped off 30-minutes later, I took a taxi to the hotel, initially to the wrong hotel, but eventually landed at the Nine Tree Premier Hotel Myeongdong II on 28 Mareunnae-ro. There are three Nine Tree hotels so getting the address correct is important.

Check in was at 3pm, so I left my bags and hit the streets like a race horse out of the gate. I happily overdid it by getting lost on the subway and walking over 10 miles on Day 1. Four of those miles were pure stairway climbing because the subway system in Seoul is like navigating an underground mountain range. I continued to overdo it on Day 2-3.

My Itinarary

Some pics and videos from each place

Seoul 3 days

Jeju Island 2 days

Busan 2 days

Gyeongju 2 days

Seoraksan 1 day

Seoul 4 days

Seoul - Olympic Park

Seoul - Museum of Modern History - Picasso’s Massacre in Korea 1951

Seoul - teamLab at Dongdaemun Plaza

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Seoul - Royal Palace

Seoul - itseoulgood.com Mike Kim took me on a Vegan Food Tour

Jeju Island - Iho Tewoo Horse Lighthouses

Jeju Island - Haenyeo Female Divers

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Jeju Island - Hallasan

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Jeju Island - The best vegan yogurt @ Cafe 901

Busan - Landscape. The buildings look like fake cardboard cutouts

Busan - Steamy Cart

https://youtu.be/M9Sy3zvg17U

Busan - Seaside Temple

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Busan - Gamcheon Culture Village

Busan - Cinema Center (Skater kids enjoying the enormous public space)

https://youtu.be/NHoiDJoiMUY

Busan - Cinema Center (Busan International Film Festival)

Busan - Joung Eunsun and her three challenges (which I brought home)

Gyeongju - Incredible Photo of Korean Refugees at a Restaurant

Gyeongju - Tumuli Park Burial Mounds

https://youtu.be/6pnKCMYgnIY

Gyeongju - “Cheomseongdae is the oldest surviving astronomical observatory in Asia and possibly even the world. It was constructed in the 7th century in the kingdom of Silla. Cheomseongdae is mentioned in the popular Korean drama Queen Seondeok. In the 2009 drama, Cheomseongdae was constructed when Queen Seondeok was still a princess; this was her first decree as a princess. Cheomseongdae was meant to share the knowledge of astronomy with everyone, rather than letting one person (Lady Misil) abuse the knowledge of it. By doing so, she also abdicated her divine rights. Because this was uncommon at the time and unsupported by many conservatives, at the opening of Cheomseongdae, barely any nobles showed up.” - Wikipedia

Gyeongju - Wolji Pond

Travel Day! View from Gyeongju to Seoul on KTX

https://youtu.be/7LOpwQHFKpk

Travel Day! View from Seoul to Seoraksan on bus

https://youtu.be/XtUWWYcWjDE

Seoraksan - Giant screen at the park entrance

https://youtu.be/ZuTFW3acURg

Seoraksan - Yes, that is a guy riding down outside of the gondola

Seoraksan - Temple

Seoraksan - Reunification Buddha

https://youtu.be/HUo4IhzdWoU

Seoul - Insadong entrance mural of Royal Painting of Sun and Moon

Seoul - Art in Insadong

Seoul - Subway scene (this is far from crowded)

Seoul - Night Hike along 600 year old Seoul Wall

Drinks afterwards

Seoul - My first makgeolli. It was good!

Seoul - While waiting for the Secret Garden Tour to start

Seoul - Secret Garden

Lessons Learned

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diegest · 4 years

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Day 4 with Atticus

Last night I switched up our late at night potty times because it was so frequent that I wasn’t functioning properly and it seemed like going out too frequently resulted in him taking 5ever to find the right spots to “go” in. It seemed like it worked out well! We went out at midnight, 4am, and 8am.

I had to crate him an additional time this morning though so I could shower. I think that was a good choice though because that let me be there with him for a bit while he ate in between blow drying my hair. I guess that’ll be a part of our daily routine now too.

He’s still only eating half a cup worth of food in the morning and half a cup worth in the evening though. I know I could probably feed him midday but days like today where I was SO busy in shelter, I don’t think I could add an additional time since I wouldn’t be able to take him out when necessary more than likely. I’m just gonna hope his appetite increases soon.

Work was monumentally busy today. As soon as I arrived (half an hour early, even) a new family showed up as well as a new single adult. My coworker was covering the shelter so we each took an intake privately and I spent the rest of the day transporting client items, making phone calls, looking for blankets and necessities, arguing with coworkers at our headquarters over Google Docs, taking hotlines, and doing children intakes. I feel like I couldn’t catch a breath until more staff arrived at around 4:30pm so there was a solid 5.5 hours where I was so busy I couldn’t think straight. Meanwhile Atticus mostly napped lol

He finally had an accident at work though but I thoroughly blame that on me being busy. When I walked away to go put bedding into the wash upstairs I think he peed on the carpet in the office. To be fair, a workstudy was with him and she wasn’t watching him like she said she would. But I should have prioritized taking him out more and didn’t, so that’s on me.

He’s getting better at being in the car and being hooked to his seatbelt. Still hates his harness though and is still not very good on a leash. He spends so much time trying to bite his leash that he doesn’t properly prioritize doing what he’s supposed to be doing while outside and that’s a bit frustrating.

We got home and since I have to work 9-5 tomorrow and have to be at our headquarters at 9am, I put him down for the night an hour earlier, so 9pm. He only whined for 10 minutes before he crashed. Little guy was super super tired after playing tug-o-war with me and running around the backyard for a bit together.

I’m trying to give him little increments more of freedom every day here and there. This morning while I blow dried and straightened my hair I let him run around the living room unsupervised since it was only 10-15 minutes. After work I let him sit on my lap on the couch for a bit despite me not letting him get onto the couch itself for probably another month from now. And he chilled in the bathroom with me for a bit while I did my hair this morning. I’m not comfortable with him being in the office yet (the baby gate should be here Thursday thankfully) or my bedroom but we’ll work up to those points eventually.

I took some baby shampoo from work and intend to give him his first bath either tomorrow night since I’ll be off work early or Saturday. I’m kinda excited for that but I’m also being mindful of the fact that this little shit loves to play in piles of leaves while outside so I’m gonna have to give him a bath at a time where he might just want to take a nap afterwards to properly dry off. That’ll be fun lol

Tomorrow he will be coming with me to my 9am meeting after I retrieve client files from my shelter and I’m mildly nervous about that because I routinely feed him at 9am. So I intend to feed him right as my meeting starts if that’s okay with my director. And then at some point I’ll have to take him out and that’s gonna be different too. We’re just gonna have an off day tomorrow with a weird routine change but the trade off is that we will be getting out of work early and I’m amped about that.

As much as I love him and I appreciate him for forcing me to create routines I admit I miss being able to sleep in, shower when I want, leave when I want, etc. I really just want to spend the day half-watching Did You Know Gaming while doodling on my iPad but I know I won’t be able to do that for a while. I’ve been treating myself by letting myself watch a YouTube video or two after I put him to bed since that’s finally my alone time for the day but the long hours at work on top of keeping up with him have made it so I’m actually tired as hell by 10:30pm now. I know it’ll get easier with time but fuckkkkk.

Anyway, end of day 4 and all is well. Little man is out like a light in his crate in the living room and Ivylynn is asleep next to me. It’s only 9:30 but the apartment is quiet and peaceful and I love it. ❤️

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kiatastic · 7 years

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Fall

The deep exhales of breath released from my nostrils became visible in the crisp, cold air around me. Tree branches hovered over my head as the sun filtered its beaming rays through hues of green, red and yellow leaves. Each step I took was followed by a crunch – the sound of fallen leaves under my feet. As beautiful as fall is, there is also a harsh reality:

When leaves fall, they die.

Similar to the pruning process autumn brings, there were leaves in my own life that had to fall while transitioning from the dorm room to the boardroom – habits, tendencies and character flaws that had to die if I ever wanted to grow. Moving away from Atlanta to start my career began as the loneliest season of my life. At the same time, it brought new opportunity to experience the Lord for myself, allow Him to change me and experience Him in new ways. Andy Mineo said it best in one of my favorite songs:

“I was so far from home – and everything that I’ve known. But I got grown in that time alone and that faith became my own.”

I was an anxious college-graduate. Ready to leave those awfully flavored 5-hour energy shots behind me in the KSU Sturgis Library. Eager to box my work within the parameters of 8am – 5pm. Prepared for the ultimate corporate office slay! I was also entirely wrong to believe my most challenging years were behind me. In the words of my late grandfather Charles W. Little, "All your life you are a freshman". I was at the top of my game as a college graduate and at the bottom of the largest learning curve of my life – all at the same time.

Before starting my job I was required to make a pit stop at Indiana University for 3 weeks of training sponsored by the Company known as Immersion I. Think of it as an intense boot camp for rookies in Corporate America. I met all 150 of my colleagues in the Digital Technology Leadership Program from around the world including Brazil, France, India and Egypt – and they were truly the brightest minds I’ve ever met. Each morning began with a quiz on previously reviewed material. The remaining hours were spent in C# building our capstone applications – a language I did not learn in school. I seemed to be the only one starting from ground zero. While many of my colleagues could afford to go out at night after class, I expended several hours in my hotel room learning the very basics. 11:00 pm turned into 2:00 am. 2:00 am turned into 4:00 am. 4:00 am turned into resurfaced doubts as I reflected on all I accomplished in college. From being named a top 5 IS student to winning Miss Alpha South – I started wishing I were back at KSU.

Thoughts and feelings from the previous night lingered in my head the following morning as I talked myself into finally putting my feet on the floor… so much for ditching those artificially grape-flavored 5-hour energy shots. While eating breakfast, an email notification appeared on my phone titled “Short Daily Devotion” – a daily email I receive with a short scripture and word of encouragement. The Lord put my thoughts in check with Isaiah 43:18-19:

“Forget about what’s happened; don’t keep going over old history. Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new.”

After all the Lord brought me through in college, I had not really learned to trust Him. It was obvious through my desire to retreat back to a season that presented more comfort – but the only place to fully blossom is in the soil the Lord chooses to plant us. That is where His grace and perfect will reside.

I walked back to my hotel room stiff as a board – the Lord had just snatched my entire life with one scripture. I approached my room and heard a voice singing, “You are the Living Word” by Fred Hammond. It was Rachel – another colleague from my Company. I said to myself “she MUST be a believer!” We ended up going out for Endless Wing Monday at a bar that evening. From that moment to this one Rachel has been one of my closest, dearest friends. I never expected to meet a colleague at work who was also a strong Christian. The Lord orchestrated our friendship in the time I needed it most.

Three weeks passed as boot camp came to a close. Aside from earning an A in my first graduate course, my group was awarded for having the best capstone project out of all 150 colleagues in the class. I reflected back on day 1 and remembered how intimidated I was by everyone around me. Since high school, I have always had an unhealthy habit of comparing myself to others. I habitually convinced myself that I was not smart enough, experienced enough or good enough to be among the best. The problem is – there is no win in comparison. When I compare myself to others and come out on top, it breeds pride. When I compare and come out underneath, it produces false humility. Both are wrong. There is absolutely no competition for your seat at God’s table. Only you are eligible for the plans the Lord has for you.

After leaving Indiana, I flew home to get my car and drove to my new home in Jackson, TN. The commute to work was about an hour. I spent my rotation delivering software solutions to bridge gaps in the manufacturing processes on the shop floor. Fresh out of college, I knew absolutely nothing about engineering or manufacturing IT. I had Google pulled up on every phone call to look up all the terms and acronyms I did not understand. I quickly got up to speed by enrolling in free SAP classes and setting up 1x1 meetings with electrical engineers. A typical day included walking the factory floor in goggles, steel-toed boots and earplugs – so much for that ultimate corporate office slay.

Outside of work, I spent most of my weekends alone. Jackson, TN wasn’t exactly overpopulated with young professionals. Solo movie dates and online shopping became regular weekend pleasantries. I needed to get involved with a church ASAP and find some less expensive hobbies. Upon my first visit to a nearby church the pastor told me Jesus Christ was not my savior because I had not been baptized specifically in their congregation. I left in tears – devastated by the twisted approach they taught on the Word of God. I learned that day how important is to know the Word for myself. That evening I went for a walk around my apartment complex saying “Lord, if you don’t lead me directly to a new church home… I think I’d rather attend Bedside Baptist! I cannot risk experiencing that again and I need your help. Show me what to do.”

The next week I was leaving the factory floor when a man named Andre noticed me. He introduced himself and said, “Hey, I’ve seen you around and heard you’re new in Tennessee.” I looked down and noticed a brochure he was holding in his hand. “I would like to invite you to my church, Historic First Baptist”, he continued. Immediately, I remembered my prayer to the Lord. Overwhelming joy took over my countenance as I replied, “You have no idea how crazy this is. I JUST prayed for a church recommendation on Sunday!” I met Andre and his wife at HFBC that Sunday. It was more traditional than I was used to – but Pastor Watson taught on the foundation of the Bible and that was most important to me. There was no time to waste. I joined THAT Sunday. Throughout my time in Tennessee Andre and his wife, Liakita were my God-sent blessings. They encouraged me to take the New Member’s class and introduced me to so many people there. My circle of friends outside of work was birthed at HFBC. They even encouraged me to grow in my relationship with the Lord. Although I wasn’t perfect with daily quiet time, I did my best to set aside Saturday mornings to pray and read my Bible.

One Saturday in particular, I spent my morning watching a sermon on YouTube recommended by my friend Gabby called “Five Keys to Finding Your Soul Mate.” I had my pen and notepad ready – finding bae was a priority on my to-do list. The pastor, Toure Roberts made an altar call for loneliness at the end of the sermon. To my own frustration and disappointment, what I took away from that sermon had nothing to do with finding bae. Instead, the Lord brought an ugly truth in me to light – a void of loneliness.

I never knew I was lonely because I often “talked” to guys I never had any business considering. To fix that the Lord moved me to a place where I had no choice but to “talk” to Him. There were no longer casual movie dates or “good-morning, beautiful” text messages to fill my void. I began to realize that “trying to fill an infinite hole with a finite thing or person only leaves an insatiable appetite that can never be fully and finally satisfied.” Any attempt to fill a God-sized void with selfish pleasures (no matter how harmless they seem) will fail every time. The Holy Spirit showed me that the part of my life I wanted to control was the part He wanted most. I paused the YouTube video while going into one of the most unorthodox cries I have ever had. For the first time I became aware of God’s relentless pursuit of me – and my half-hearted acknowledgement of His love in return.

“… Every man’s emptiness is nothing more than a hunger for God, masked by temporary pleasures. We always want more and more of it, because it will satisfy us less and less – until soon it does not satisfy us at all.”

I had tried several times to surrender my love life (or lack thereof) to the Lord – but never sincerely meant it. I regretfully acknowledge that He had to strip me of all options to win my undivided attention. “For the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a Jealous God (Exodus 34:14).” In complete vulnerability and transparency with Him, His love ushered me into His perfect peace – a need for no one else but Him.

That same evening I received a FaceTime call from my close friend, Drew. Andrew became my go-to Alpha during my time serving as Miss Black & Gold at KSU. However, we became friends through a Bible study group the Lord led me to start during my junior year of college. After expressing how much he valued our friendship, he shared that night that he had feelings for me he could not quite put his finger on. Immediately, I said in my head “Lord, you’ve got a serious sense of humor. I know I just cried my eyes out about being single – but this is not what I wanted. Drew is my friend! I can’t date him.” Still, I was pleasantly shocked to be pursued (for the first time) by a God-fearing man. I knew Drew personally as a friend for years. I have even tried to hook him up with a friend in the past! I told him I did not know how to feel about it. He assured me that if I did not feel the same way, he would still love me as a friend. Surely this man was from another planet. Never in my life had a man with such humility and Godly love approached me the way he did.

When it was time to wrap up my first rotation in Tennessee, Drew surprised me by driving to Jackson to help pack up my apartment. I told him my company was paying all the expenses for movers to come pack – but he insisted on coming anyway. He stayed in the hotel across the street and never insinuated wanting anything out of me. I became drawn to the sincerity and Godliness of his heart. Although I thought about him often, I knew the Lord was still working on me. I read a book called “Your Knight and Shining Armor” by P.B. Wilson. At the end of it I concluded I was not ready to date anyone – there were parts of me that needed work first. Drew and I remained friends for the next several months.

Two days before my rotation ended, I pitched out my final results from my rotation to several executives and business leaders. I made friends with so many people in the factory – they even brought in home-cooked dishes on my last day! I was thanked personally by the CIO of the business for going to work alone in a factory without any IT colleagues or mentors. It was an a-typical situation for someone new to the Company, but the Lord was my Source through it all.

In Tennessee, I learned that my weaknesses are the best platforms for God to teach me about His power. In Judges 7, the Lord commanded Gideon to slash his army down to 300 men before going into battle. It wasn’t about terrifying Gideon – it was about stripping away anything that could suggest that God was not the reason for his victory. These are win-win scenarios - the Lord is glorified and our faith is strengthened in the process.

As soon as I started to build my network, understand supply chain IT and become comfortable in my new city… it was time to do it all over again. One rotation down - three left to go. I packed the few remaining valuables from my apartment in my Honda accord and headed to my second rotation in Houston, TX. The autumn leaves had fallen, but a new season was on the way. Bundle up – winter is coming.

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lindafrancois · 3 years

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How to Start Working Out (Consistently)

So you’re having trouble working out consistently?

I get it.

Life is busy and hectic. You probably wear multiple hats in your life.

Hopefully, one of them is a pirate hat:

If you are having trouble exercising regularly, know that you aren’t alone.

Not being able to work out consistently is one of the top issues facing our clients in Nerd Fitness Coaching. Luckily, there are some tips and tricks that help them, which we’ll share with you right now too.

Want a customized workout plan you’ll ACTUALLY do? Learn more:

Here’s what we’ll cover today:

Step 1: Why you miss workouts (and why it’s okay).

Step 2: Building a (specific and realistic) workout plan.

Step 3: Why “all of nothing” hurts workout consistency.

Step 4: The key to getting in regular exercise (make it fun).

Step 5: How to build workout accountability.

Step 6: Exercise and workout motivation (and the problems with it).

Step 7: How to find time to work out.

How to start working out consistently (next steps).

Let’s jump right in!

Step 1: Why You Miss Workouts

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As I mention in the video above, it’s okay to stumble – everyone misses a workout now and again.

Life happens:

Your job might need you to stay late.

Maybe your spouse can’t pick up the kids today.

Or perhaps you just lost track of time while playing video games.

These things happen, so don’t freak out whenever you miss a workout.

“Wait, wait, wait Jim! I thought this article was about consistency – then you start off saying it’s OK to miss a workout?”

What I’m saying is to not beat yourself up over it. I’ll see people be so tough on themselves for one missed workout, that it spirals downward and then they’re doing NO workouts.

It’s unnecessary, and it’s not sustainable.

Here’s something I remind my clients: If being tough on yourself helped with workout consistency, it would’ve helped by now.

So first of all, forgive yourself.

Then, I share with them a saying we have here at Nerd Fitness:

“Never Two in a Row.”

That means aim to not miss two workouts, back to back.

It’s a mantra you’ll hear throughout the Rebellion (our community!).

Here’s the justification: as I mentioned, missing one workout is nbd.

However, two workouts in a row could be the start of a trend. If you’re not careful, after a few missed workouts, you could just stop exercising altogether.

That’s the real danger.

So we aim to not allow the trend to start in the first place.

Takeaway: If you miss a workout, it’s fine. Just try not to miss the next one.

Step 2: Building a Workout Plan

Here’s a great quote from Benjamin Franklin:

If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.

When it comes to working out consistently, we need to define what “consistently” actually means.

For that, it’s time to build a workout routine.

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As Coach Staci mentions in the video above, we want to focus on three key questions when programming our training:

What type of workout are you doing?

When do you plan on doing your training?

Where will this workout take place?

All three questions are important, but we’re going to focus on “when” right now.

Determining “when” you’ll train is easily the most important step for working out consistently.

That’s why I want you to place your workouts in your calendar!

Schedule your workout like it’s the most important meeting of the day!

(A reminder that you ARE important!)

That’s what I have my clients do in our 1-on-1 Coaching Program. It goes a long way to helping them stick to their workout schedule.

So if you plan on training first thing at 8am, have a calendar reminder go off at 7:50am.

It’ll make a difference. I promise.

What days should be workout days?

For that, I have a couple of resources to share with you:

How to Build Your Own Workout Routine. Our MASSIVE guide will teach you exactly how to create a training schedule, including what exercises to do and when to take rest days. If you want to get your hands dirty by building your own workout, this is the way to do it.

Nerd Fitness Journey. Our fun habit-building app will tell you exactly when to workout, with video tutorials for every exercise covered. No need to create a plan, just open up the app and check your missions for the day. Plus, you’ll build your very own superhero as you go, which is totally sweet. You can try it out for free right below:

Step 3: Why “All of Nothing” Hurts Workout Consistency

Another one of the best things you can do to improve your workout consistency: have a backup plan.

Let’s say a pipe bursts at your gym, and it’s closed for the next few days.

Does that mean you should stop working out until they resolve their plumbing emergency?

It could be a while…

No!

It just means you’ll have to work out at home, in a nearby playground, or maybe you just focus on long walks for the next few days.

That’s why it’s always good to have a backup for any regular emergency, like:

If I can’t train at my gym, I’ll do bodyweight training at home.

If it’s raining heavily and I can’t run outside, I’ll jump on the stationary bike in the garage.

If I’m sore from a hard workout, today I’ll just do some light yoga.

Remember, just because your initial plan falls through, doesn’t mean you have to completely throw in the towel.

Or as I jokingly tell my clients, just because one tire goes flat, doesn’t mean you should slash the other three.

Just do the best you can to get back on the road.

Step 4: The Key to Getting in Regular Exercise

If I have one single piece of advice on how to get in more daily movement, it would be this: do something you enjoy.

Every workout doesn’t have to be a slog.

You can schedule things you enjoy, like:

Hiking

Parkour

Video games that get you moving.

If you enjoy the activity, you’ll be WAY more likely to exercise consistently.

For more tips here, here are 40 Ways to Exercise (Without Realizing It).

Here’s another trick to start enjoying your workouts – do them while listening to some of your favorite music, or a podcast you enjoy.

Heck, you can even flip the TV on in the corner and watch your favorite show while you train.

We call this “Temptation Bundling” and I’ve seen it help a lot of my clients:

If you only listen to your favorite podcast when you run, eventually, you might start looking forward to running.

The same thing could happen with music. If you start to associate your favorite tunes with building up a sweat, one day you might actually enjoy building up a sweat.

Let’s say you only watch The Great British Bake Off while on your elliptical. If that’s the case, you’re going to start protecting your time exercising (“Don’t bother me now”).

Don’t overlook the power of coupling activities you enjoy with your workouts.

Step 5: How to Build Workout Accountability

Another strategy we can deploy when improving workout consistency: accountability and support.

There’s nothing quite like being accountable to another human being when it comes to exercising regularly.

There are a few ways we can create workout accountability:

#1) Tell Friends and Family.

Share your goals with your loved ones, then let them know the times you’ll be working out.

This will help for a couple of reasons:

We’re more likely to follow through with action if we commit ourselves in front of others.

If we don’t show up for a workout, they may politely call us out on it.

#2) Join an Online Community.

In the 21st century, it’s very easy to find a group of people who are on a similar mission.

If you want to exercise regularly, I’d wager you aren’t the only person on the internet working towards that goal.

So join a digital community! That way you can get in on some group accountability.

We regularly hold group challenges through our app, Nerd Fitness Journey. I’ve been told by countless Rebels that they’re more likely to get their training in if they know everyone else in the community is doing it too.

Heck, I did burpees in the snow because everyone in the Rebellion was doing a burpee challenge.

If you want to try out some of these experiences, you can sign-up for a free trial to our snazzy new app right here:

If you want some next-level accountability, I have to mention the ultimate power-up: hire a coach.

It could be a personal trainer in a gym, or you can go digital with an online coach.

Either way, having someone you check in with weekly (who will also program your workouts) is one of the best ways to exercise consistently.

If you know a coach will ask you about your workouts, you’re going to be more likely to do them.

If you’re interested in learning if you’d be a good fit for one of our online coaches, you can click on the big yellow button below:

We can be your accountability partner. Lean more here.

Step 6: The Problems With Exercise and Workout Motivation

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In the video above, Rebel Leader Steve outlines the problems with motivation.

I think all of my clients should watch the video.

That’s because I’ll often hear them say “I need more motivation to workout” or “I’m just not motivated to exercise.”

This is the wrong frame of mind.

Action creates motivation, not the other way around.

For example, let’s imagine a new client. They don’t particularly like working out and they aren’t very motivated to do it.

But they do it anyway.

Then, after a few weeks of successful workouts, they’ll start to recognize the trend they’ve begun.

Our coaching app tracks all the training we assign, so I’ll often see my clients rejoice when they’ve “hit 20 workouts!”

It feels good to recognize they’re making progress, which often makes them more motivated to exercise.

So they keep working out.

The problem: getting started in the first place can be tough.

That’s why you should start with ANYTHING that breaks the inertia.

Coach Matt breaks it all down for you right here:

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As a beginner, your first step is the most important. And often the hardest.

In our Beginner’s Guide to Starting Your Fitness Journey, we recommend your first workouts be something simple to get started: a walk.

It could be a half-mile around the block. Or it could be to the mailbox and back.

The exact amount doesn’t matter, but being intentional is. That’s how we work to build consistency.

So do a short walk today. Then another one the day after tomorrow. Then a third two days from then.

Boom, three workouts in one week, all by just walking.

Step 7: How to Find Time to Workout

I’ll be real with you: no one is sitting around, twiddling their thumbs with time to kill.

If you’re going to make time to work out, you’ll need to figure out what activity in your life you can change or eliminate:

Maybe your two-hour nightly TV ritual can come down to an hour.

Maybe you start biking home from work instead of driving.

Maybe you catch up with your spouse over an evening walk instead of a drink.

This is why scheduling your workouts in your calendar can be so critical – it helps you see what needs to be moved around to get your training done.

Also, it’s okay to experiment here.

If you create a schedule, and you don’t hit it all, it’s okay.

Perhaps you just created an unrealistic schedule.

If so, then modify the workout:

Try a 30-minute workout instead of an hour.

Try two workouts a week instead of three.

Go around the block once instead of twice.

Again, we’re not worried about the amount of time here. Instead, we’re concerned about you hitting your workout schedule consistently. It’s okay to scale down to do that.

Once you’re rocking and rolling, we can always scale it up if it seems right.

If you want some tips on how to gauge your adherence to sticking with your workout schedule, then check out How to Track Your Fitness Progress.

Start Working Out Consistently

There you have it, my friend.

When it comes to working out consistently, remember to:

Step 1: It’s okay to stumble (Forgive yourself). Everyone I know misses a workout here or there. It’s nothing to feel shame over.

Step 2: Have a plan! Without scheduling your week’s workouts, how do you even know if you’re being consistent or not?

Step 3: Have a backup plan! (Lose the “all or nothing” mindset). If your first plan falls through, nbd. Just move onto the next one. “Some” workout is always better than “no” workout. Do the best you can.

Step 4: Make it fun. Your workout doesn’t need to be something you dread. If you like hiking, go hiking. If you like swimming, go swimming. Any movement is beneficial and should be encouraged. No one said you have to hate it.

Step 5: Find an accountability partner. Going alone is almost always harder. If you can find a friend or coach to team with, it will make working out consistently easier.

Step 6: Embrace “action” not “motivation.” If you have to wait around for motivation to start working out, you might be waiting for quite a while. You’ll become motivated after you act.

Step 7: Don’t find time, make time. Your schedule won’t magically free itself. Look at your calendar and start prioritizing.

That’s it.

The most important thing you can do now today: START!

Not tomorrow. Not next Monday.

Today!

If you don’t know what to do, look at the next free spot on your calendar. Then schedule a walk.

Then schedule it a couple of days later.

Then the following week.

BOOM! You just started a plan for working out consistently.

As always, if you need any help here, we gotcha.

Here are three ways that Nerd Fitness can help you exercise regularly.

#1) Our Online Coaching Program: a coaching program for busy people to help them make better food choices, stay accountable, and get healthier, permanently.

As I said, this is the ultimate way to build workout accountability. Not only will a NF Coach build your workout, but they’ll check in with you too to make sure you’re able to do it.

If you can’t?

No problem, they’ll work with you to create a new plan.

You can schedule a free call with our team so we can get to know you and see if our coaching program is right for you. Just click on the image below for more details:

Our coaching program changes lives. Learn how!

#2) If you want an exact roadmap for working out consistently, check out NF Journey. Our fun habit-building app tells you exactly what days to exercise, what days to rest, and helps you track it all so you know if it’s working for you.

Interested?

Try your free trial right here:

#3) Join the Rebellion! We need good people like you in our community, the Nerd Fitness Rebellion.

Sign up in the box below to enlist and get our Rebel Starter Kit, which includes all of our “work out at home” guides, our Strength Training 101 eBook, and much more!

Get your Nerd Fitness Starter Kit

The 15 mistakes you don’t want to make.

Full guide to the most effective diet and why it works.

Complete and track your first workout today, no gym required.

Alright, I want to hear from you now:

What’s your biggest issue with working out consistently?

What tips helped the most?

Are we missing any helpful suggestions for a beginner?

Let me know in the comments!

-Jim

###

Photo Source: Rugby Player, Bruce Emmerling © 123RF.com, Firefighter, Dog Sitter, Bicycle, Toxic, choneschones © 123RF.com, Morning run with the Fitbit

The post Blog first appeared on Nerd Fitness.

How to Start Working Out (Consistently) published first on https://dietariouspage.tumblr.com/

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weditchthemap · 5 years

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Traveling Turkey's Turquoise Coast: Dalyan, Fethiye, and Kalkan

The Turquoise Coast

The Turkish Riviera is where the Mediterranean Sea laps at Turkey’s southwestern shore. With it’s blue jeweled-toned waters, the Turkish Riviera is aptly referred to as the Turquoise Coast. One look at the water and the validity of the nickname is confirmed. The Turquoise Coast is saturated not only with sea views, but also history. This region of Turkey is steeped in history. Ancient cities and Lycian ruins span the coast line. The Turkish Riviera is home of the Lycian Way, a long-distance trail connecting pre-Roman Lycian ruins over a 500km stretch. We visited three towns along Turkey’s Turquoise Coast before tackling the Lycian Way (blog link coming soon).

Dalyan, Turkey

A recommendation from an acquaintance in Istanbul landed us in Dalyan. Our first impressions of the small sleepy town were, “this must be where British people go to retire” and “holy resort sprawl.” Cheerful sun-flushed Brits seem to rival the number of locals and the resorts, though quaint, extend in all directions from the main riverside strip. Being a ‘package tour’ type town, Dalyan isn’t exactly a backpacker destination. It’s more of a lounge in the sun, take it easy, and enjoy cheap food kind of deal. But if that’s what you’re looking for, Dalyan is the perfect venue. With its quiet, laidback vibe, it is a good choice for a relaxing, affordable, and family friendly vacation. The Turkish charm and hospitality is likely why holiday-goers continue to return to this cherished town.

Dalyan is a scenic fishing village that sits along a river. The river feeds into a waterway system ultimately emptying into the Mediterranean Sea. Private and public boats await to take tourists on tours or to nearby beaches. It’s a picturesque view from the center of town where ancient Lycian Rock Tombs are carved into a towering cliff across the river. Along the waterfront there are countless restaurants, bars, shops, and tour agencies. The food is tasty and authentic, if overpriced in comparison to other less touristic towns. More often than not, prices are quoted in pounds. Restaurants proudly advertise that they serve “Typical English Breakfast” (beans for breakfast?) and western-fare for those desiring a taste of home.

İztuzu Beach

While in Daylan, we took a day trip to İztuzu beach. Just a boat trip or minibus ride away from Dalyan, this beach is a striking strip of white sand that forms a natural barrier between the fresh water of the river delta and the salt water of the Mediterranean. İztuzu beach, also called turtle beach, is a nesting site for Loggerhead turtles. Home to such a fragile population, the beach is now a protected area, closing daily from 8pm-8am. Nesting sites, indicated by wooden stakes, are to be avoided. An English environmentalist known fondly as “Kaptan June” has received recognition in the area for her activism. She’s worked ceaselessly to protect the delicate Loggerhead turtle nesting grounds from development and opened a rehabilitation center for injured turtles. She advocates for the use of propeller guards. Many boats docked in Daylan don a Kaptan June seal which means they adhere to turtle safe practices. We can personally attest to the necessity of propeller guards as we unwittingly witnessed a floating, decapitated turtle during a boat trip in the area. It was a disturbing sight.

12 Island Tour

Yep, we signed up for a packaged tour and despite my aforementioned judgement, we enjoyed a lovely and relaxing day on the water. We floated through the calm, crystal clear waters of the Gulf of Göcek while taking in the scene of small islands, pine forests and sheltered bays. We spent the day chatting with a fun, crossfit enthusiast from Alabama. She’s relocated, indefinitely, to Turkey and dreams of building a cross-fit gym for women and children. She spoke passionately about the weekly English language class she teaches to adults in Istanbul where her liberal female students preferred topic of conversation is their disdain for the “patriarchy.” That said, she loves Istanbul, believes it is where she’s meant to be, and finds it incredibly progressive. We did too.

Fethiye, Turkey

Spending a quick two days in the harbor town of Fethiye, we kind of missed the mark and didn’t make it to the Saturday market or the abandoned “ghost town” of Kayaköy. I suppose it’s the nature of a backpacking trip not to be able to see and do it all and be okay with that. Sometimes we do fall victim to an underlying fear of missing out: “Did we do enough?”” See enough?” “Should we have done x, y or z?” “Did we make the most of _?” We must consciously remind ourselves that travel for us, at this moment in time, is our lifestyle, not a vacation. Well intentioned people are always telling us, “eat this!” “do that!” “go here!” ”you’re on vacation, enjoy!” But actually, we are not. If we indulged everyday on unhealthy food or spent money frivolously, like on vacation, we wouldn’t be able to take this trip. So, we try to prioritize and honor our health and well-being and not wear ourselves too thin. Truthfully though, it’s the unexpected and unplanned moments of travel that reveal the most interesting cultural insights and provide connection with others like Scott’s entertaining haircut in Fetiyhe. It was unlike any haircut either of us have ever witnessed; exceptionally thorough, bordering on aggressive, and incorporating fire to singe off unwanted hair. You can read about his amusing experience here: Tales of a Traditional Turkish Haircut: Foam, Fire and a Facial.

Despite missing the main sights, we can speak to the beauty of Ölüdeniz Beach. Ölüdeniz is one of Turkey’s most recognized and photographed beaches, 16 km south of Fetiyhe. The water is such a vibrant shade of turquoise it doesn’t even look real. Aside from sunbathing and swimming, paragliding is the thing to do. Dozens of colorful paragliders float down to the beach every hour. We stayed in a hotel in the next town over and as the minibus wound up the cliffs toward our hotel the view of paragliders over the water was magical.

From our beautiful hotel, Keyif Faralya, which overlooked butterfly valley, we could see through hikers trekking the Lycian Way. They camp out or stay in panysions (small guesthouses) along the route which passes through Fetiyhe. All guesthouses offer food for through hikers with affordable options like gözleme pancakes. We didn’t see too many of these crepe-like stuffed pancakes in Istanbul, it seems that they are more popular in the south.

Kalkan, Turkey

Ah, Kalkan, the Brit’s best kept secret. Where again, prices are quoted in pounds, “English Breakfast” abounds, and locals speak with an British accent. Kalkan is a quaint tourist town on a peaceful Mediterranean bay. But as Kate Clow, the Lycian Way Pionner states in her guide book, Kalkan is home to large “unsustainable” villas with careless planning that sit empty most of the year, waste “excessive water” to fill pools and create “visual pollution.” The town spills down the mountainside onto a rocky beach where seaside bars and restaurants overlook the water. The hilly town has Greek origin with characteristic white-washed houses, similar to the nearby Greek Island, a quick boat trip away. In town it’s possible to get lost among the cobblestone labyrinth like alleys. Pops of rich purple and pink blooms against the turquoise water adds a paradise like feel. Outside of town the surrounding land is largely undeveloped making Kalkan a quiet and peaceful retreat, the tranquilly only broken by the occasional call to prayer or scooter whizzing by. Being such a laid back destination, Kalkan attracts older couples and families.

We ended up in Kalkan after a cancelled house/pit sitting gig. It was our first time using an online housesitting platform and proceeding a friendly video interview, we made a commitment to house sit for a month for a British couple living in Kalkan. The day before we were to arrive, they cancelled via a lengthy jumbled voice message. Very, very, uncool. Disspointed and scrambling to arrange last minute plans, we decided that because we had anticipated spending a month in Kalkan, we would carry through with the initial plan. We had an advantage by visiting in Kalkan during shoulder season (May), where tourists start to visit but haven’t reached their full summertime presence, and we landed a great deal through Airbnb. (Airbnb though legal in Turkey has an array of restriction and hoops to jump through for property owners. Speaking of restrictions, wikipedia is banned in Turkey, proving to be much more of a nuisance then initially expected!) We were in Kalkan during Ramadan, though this was hard to observe. It was really only noticeable with the presence of delicious daily Ramazan pide, sold in the bakeries and supermarkets in the late afternoon. Yum. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay and the quiet morning coffees on our balcony in Kalkan.

Beach Clubs

Kalkan’s small beach has crystal clear water, but the beach itself it rocky. To compensate for this the surrounding hotels offer pools and “beach clubs.” The beach clubs provide sunny oceanside platforms above the water. They allow for ocean access and sunbathing on flat ground. They supply umbrellas and chair-side drink service. The platforms let you sunbath on flat ground with umbrellas and chair-side drink service. If this doesn’t do it for you, there are other stunning beaches are just a short distance away, a standout being Patara Beach.

Patara Beach and Ruins

Patara is Turkey’s longest beach, protected in a National Park it’s a quiet destination. One lone beachfront restaurant claims the beach. It offers food and umbrella rentals. The rest of the beach is unmarred white sand. Behind the beach is an archeological site, the ruins of the ancient city of Patara. We visited both beauties on a day trip from Kalkan.

Food Around Town

The price of food in Kalkan is inflated for tourists, especially around the harbor, but very affordable compared to food back in the states. I’ll use the price of ubiquitous Turkish tea (çay) as my barometer; we saw çay for 1 lira (17 cents) in other cities and in Kalkan, one “fancy” restaurant quoted us 10 lira ($1.70) for the 4 ounce cup of tea. Hard to pay that when you know the actual value of a glass of tea which is poured from a large pot of steeped black tea. That’s not to say that there aren’t more low key and “less frills” options aviable. It is only fair to contrast this bloated price with more local-centric restaurants with owners who encouraged us to linger around after our meal with a complimentary cup of çay.

Kalkan is known for it’s ritzy rooftop restaurants. We splurged at such a place for Scott’s birthday where a bottle of wine, shared appetizer, two entrees, water and dessert rang in under $50. This isn’t typical for us, most of our combined meals at local places cost around $10.

A real treat in Kalkan is çiğ köfte durum from an unsuspecting little place. It’s a vegetarian’s dream wrap filled with a spicy burger paste, packed with fiber and protein. Add a pickle, parsley, hot sauce, lettuce, pomegranate syrup, spice and everything nice. It’s delicious and less than one dollar.

Boat Trip

Boat tours are a common daytime activity in Kalkan. We spent a day cruising clear turquoise waters and calm coves around Kekova. The boat passed by a sunken city and the Simena Castle in Kaleköy.

Pistachio

The first night of our stay a bold visitor walked straight across our balcony. Since then, her presence was a daily occurrence. I want to say that we temporarily adopted her, but I think she may have adopted us. We named this sweet little cat, Pistachio. (Who needs pet sitting anyways?) Stray cats are as ubiquitous in Turkey as smoking, çay and hospitality. The top of her ear was clipped, which indicated that she’s been “fixed.” While strays are common the Turkish people tend to be pretty good to them…we’ve noticed many fat, er well-fed, stray dogs. P was a welcomed addition to our stay. We bought her some food and looked forward to her visits and proceeding cuddle sessions. The little scorpion we found in our bathroom, however, was not nearly as delightful. Fortunately, we didn’t see it again.

After a relaxing month in Kalkan we are rested and ready for some adventure. We’ll leave our extra travel gear at the resort to lighten up our backpacks for the Lycian Way. We’ll miss this little slice of paradise and our precious Pistachio.

#What to do on the Turquoise Coast #Visiting Turkish Riviera #What to do in the Turkish Riviera #which towns to visit on the Turquoise coast #what to do in Kalkan #What to do in Kalkan #What to do in Dalyan #What to do in Dalyan Turkey

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weetaps · 7 years

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Interview: Establishing good sleep patterns with Sleepasaurus.

We recently had a chat with a couple of regular users of our dinosaur sleep training app, Sleepasaurus. Sisters Lisa and Gabrielle were very kind to give us an insight into how the app helps their kids establish regular sleeping patterns.

A chat with Emily

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Could you introduce yourself?

My name is Lisa Domican, I am the Mum of two teenagers with Autism and ADHD, Liam and Grace. We live in Dublin, Ireland but we were all born in Australia.

Lisa created the wonderful Grace App, an application which helps autistic and other special needs children to communicate effectively, by building semantic sequences from relevant images to form sentences. Download Grace App here.

How do you use Sleepasaurus?

My son has great difficulty adjusting to the changing daylight over the seasons. In summer it gets bright at 4am and if he wakes up, he thinks it is time to get up. He adapts well to visual guides and likes structure. We have it on an old iPhone 5c with a broken home button and it sits in a docking station next to his tv.

At night, we have a routine that starts at 9:45pm. He brushes his teeth with me helping, uses a mouthwash and then fills up his drinking bottle with water. He goes to bed and expects me come upstairs within 15 minutes to say Goodnight.

I have to follow this ritual:

1. Tell him to "choose one screen" (he has a video/tv combo and also a portable dvd player connected to a larger flat screen tv) So he turns off the big tv.

2. Find his "wahwah" which is a Disney Mulan doll he sleeps with on his pillow. He also has a "Bossbaby" doll he calls Dill Pickles. All other toys are in the attic.3. Put the dinosaur to bed.He will stay in bed and go to sleep quite quickly watching his video player which will stop at the end of the tape. (unlike a DVD) If I miss any of these steps he will call me back to do it.

Our "Target Behaviour" is In the morning. Liam has agreed to stay in bed until the Dinosaur is awake at 8am. If he gets up before 8am, he is told to go back and wait. If he stays in bed he gets a token. At the moment his tokens are iTunes themed. He earns enough to buy music and movies to download.If he waits for the Dinosaur then either myself or my husband will get up with him and make him a coffee and breakfast.

How long have you been using the app?

Since I met Paddy at Ull in 2014!

How has Sleepasaurus changed your daily routines?

It gives Liam a sense of consistency when the light is changing. He relies on it most in Summer, when it's too bright, when the clocks change in Spring and Autumn and in Winter when it is always dark! So, all the time! He finds change very difficult and gets very stressed out when the weather changes and he has to decide whether to wear a coat or not. The Sleepasaurus really helps.

Which are the most popular dinosaurs in Sleepasaurus?

It varies for him but usually Spiney!

Anything we could do to improve the app?

Add a second App for token reinforcement. If the correct behaviour is achieved then the parent can open that app and give them a dinosaur token.The Dinosaur should do a dance and say "I'm a Sleepasaurus" If they did not stay in bed as required then the dinosaur should yawn and say "Try again tomorrow"

When they get the number of tokens agreed, All the dinosaurs should get up and party. The number should be adjustable from 1 to 7 so a minimum number of correct sleeps can get rewarded with a "win"You slowly increase the number of nights. It should only go up to 7 though.

There could be a box where parents can upload a photo of the desired prize, such as a collectible cards or a new dvd/game.

There should also be a line where the parents can write what behaviour they are aiming for, such as "Emily is going to bed at 7pm. She will brush her teeth, go to the toilet, and say Good night! She will stay in her bed and have a good sleep until morning. She is a great SLEEPASAURUS! (this is called a social story. It sets out the parameters for expected behaviour to aim for in a concrete but positive way)

I also think you should always keep a legacy version of the App if possible. If parents are using an old iPhone or iPod touch to keep it separate from the device the child is playing on during the day, then it has to work on iOS 9 and lower if possible.

Thanks so much to Lisa and Gabrielle for taking the time to talk to us. It’s great to hear about how people are using our apps. We hope you enjoy those stickers we sent. ;)

Download Sleepasaurus from the App Store.

#kids #sleepasaurus #dinosaurs #sleep patterns #kids apps #interview

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electronspeed · 7 years

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How small is small?

Monday, 13 Nov., 2017. Cool, grey in Vancouver. Windy in the afternoon. I got up at 8am but went back to bed at 10 and up again at 12. I'm on day 4 of my 12 day hormone cycle and day 3 and 4 are the low points. I'm doing two 10 day cycles in a row... this is the first, to bring my levels up a bit... my hormone levels. My body is old and not functioning at 100% without help from a needle in the bum every 10-12 days.

I've been working on my theory about the Speed of Light which is based upon the concept that the physical size of the particle called the Electron, its actual size, is the clock that sets the speed of light. It is also a repercussion of the fact that Electrons are N/S pole magnets and, also, that absolutely NO information can reach our brains EXCEPT by way of an Electron. Every single bit of information that goes through your brain is 100% dependent on the motion and size of Electrons. Light travels just under one foot in one Nano Second (billionth of a second).

We don't know how large an Electron is. In Quantum Physics it has no size, it has wavelength which can vary. There is no explanation why it can do that, it's just accepted in order for the math to work. In Quantum Physics, and in Quantum Field Theory, Electrons are a point source with wave properties. Although we know that Electrons have spin, from Particle Physics, Quantum Physics can't allow for spin because a point source can't have spin. That is one of the major despreptancies which are basic problems in modern physics.

We already accept that there is 'missing' stuff which we label Black Energy and BLACK MATTER. What is important, here, is that they can easily exist with Electrons and are, likely the 'matter' from which Electrons are constructed... anything that takes up space and has shape needs 'parts' and spheres are the worst choice of all because spheres require infinite numbers of 'parts' to be a sphere.

So... Dark Matter can, easily, be SMALLER magnets which power the Electrons and ALL motion. The energy source comes from 'within' in small parts. This allows for an infinite universe... no end, whatsoever. It also doesn't matter that Electrons set the Speed of Light FOR US... remember, it's a perception caused by the speed of Electronic WAVES, not electrons. Waves are made up of parts... such as ELECTRONS. The Electrons need not be THE WAVE, but the parts... kinda like a WAVE in a GRANDSTAND. The people are the Electrons, standing up and down... they don't go anywhere... it's the WAVE that TRAVELS. Get it?

The Speed of Light is set by our Brains and ELECTRONS. Smaller bits, than Electrons, would have to EXCEED their limit of size to be HERE and THERE at the SAME TIME as an ELECTRON can be HERE and THERE... i.e, have shape and volume in space/time. Get it? Just ponder it longer.

When one proposes a theory, or hypothesis, in Science, the Scientific Method requires that one must provide things that can be tested... to make predictions which may be tested. It's important for you to know that the Theory of Relativity is inconsistent with Quantum Physics and has never been proven. It is important for you to know that Quantum Physics is a METHOD of quantifying everything and is entirely dependent upon the Electron being a point source with wave qualities... it, however, has no ability to allow for spin over time. To get around this, Quantum Physics has a new system called Quantum Field Theory where things that can't be measured, easily or at all, are put inside an arena (field) and treated as a unit... you don't worry about what's inside the field while you do the math. It's a kind of Calculus idea taken to 3D reality.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch... If we picked an arbitrary size, for the Electron which seemed, to us, to be a reasonably small size, then we can calculate the number of Electrons, lined side by each, it would take to conduct light at the speed of light. It's all rather easy to do. For simplicity's sake, I wll round up the Speed of Light to 300,000KMS. For this argument, it is not important, just now, how big the Electron, actually, is. No matter what its size, the validity of the hyposthesis remains the same. The actual size is not that important... you use the clock you have and that's our clock... the Electron is our clock. It can transmit frequency, wave length, and intensity. It needs to work in groups, to do that, but it works very well. For frequencies smaller than it's size/wave length, it need only increase its spin rate. In order to increase its wavelength, it need only join up with more Electrons like spectators in the Grand Stand standing up and down to make a wave. There is no longest wave in the universe because it would have to be infinitely long in time. Instead, the universe is like a great ocean with currents, and tides which move about.

Where was I?

We need to bring the Speed of Light down to numbers easier to deal with because the next numbers are going to become very large. Light travels, if you do the math, at just less than 30cm per Nano Second.

Now, there are 10,000,000,000,000 Femto Metres (Fermi's) in One Centimetre. You do the math... I already have.

Next... How many Fermi/Femtometres are in 30cm? Do the math... there will be 300,000,000,000,000 of them. i.e. we could count Electrons. We have no way to measure the size of Electrons because we use them to see everything, including other Electrons which don't sit still.

Electrons rarely, actually, move very far. One would think that, in DIRECT CURRENT, that they are moving at light speed through a wire... but they aren't. The energy wave is moving at light speed, but the Electrons don't much go anywhere. They spin and vibrate and change shell levels in the atoms in which they reside. Free Electrons will move about under the influence of Electricity and Magnetism. By the way, we know a lot about magnetism except what it, actually, is... what it actually is and why. Interestingly, RADIO WAVES that are readily detected begin around 100,000 cycles per second.

Magnetism seems to have no frequency but can be modulated... we do it with things like microwaves. The atoms being microwaved react by vibrating and cook themselves quite nicely. Heat is a wavelength of around one micron, 950 nano metres. The eye nerve is about one Micron in length... long enough to resonate/vibrate with all colours. Your body cells can be as large as 3 microns in diameter. The water within those cells can be vibrated at one micron wavelengths and you become heated.

While the Electron will move through a wire with Direct Current, it is not quickly. Fast moving Electrons are VERY dangerous and we call it RADIATION... BETA RADIATION and PLASMA. The resistance to Electron movement is so severe that the material will heat up from the movement... how we make light bulbs and heater elements. You really don't want to be caught between high voltage contacts and have plasma... moving Electrons in air, pass through your body. You won't wake up.

The only time Electrons move quickly, under control, is inside old school TV cathode tubes and such. There they were under the control of Voltage and Magnets and moving in a near vacuum. What happens is the Electrons MIGRATE towards the positive source... a source with a severe Electron SHORTAGE. The particle called the Proton is not happy unless it has the company of an Electron and we call that arrangement HYDROGEN, the most abundant atoms in all of existence. There are more Hydrogen atoms than all other atoms combined. There are, also, more Electrons in existence than ALL other particles, combined, in the entire universe.

Electrons are key to our universe and we couldn't exist without them, our bodies would not work without them, and no information, of any kind would reach your brain except by one Electron at a time... one after the other, passing those wave information bits to your central processor, your brain.

I'm working on making videos about all of this, shortly... about the Speed of Light and what causes it. Meanwhile... http://ElectronSpeed.Tumblr.com

Scientists first raised the alarm about CLIMATE CHANGE and GLOBAL WARMING in 1992. Nobody is much listening, it seems. Since then, hundreds of animal and plant species have become extinct, and we have lost enough forest to cover the ENTIRE CONTINENT OF SOUTH AMERICA. Let that sink in, all of the boneheads, out there, who think we have lots of trees and fresh water. Oh... forgot that one. We have lost about 10% of the planet's fresh water since 1992. Dat's a lot of water and you might want to remember that much of what is remaining is heavily polluted. Yup... think about that. I'm just a single guy seriously into physics, art and photography doing what I can to inform you. You can listen, or not. I really don't give a fuck... really, I don't. I consider humans to be hopeless barbarians and I've no desire to be here. I just keep busy and try to be useful.

I predict global starvation and nuclear wars in the near future. The country, most likely, to recover first is China. The rest of the planet is screwed for the next few hundred years.

I expect the West Coast of North America to be a single country with a Capital in California and the West Coast remnants of the former USA Armed Forces, which will possess enough nuclear warheads to kill off what's left of the planet, will bring a peace that will last several hundred years, until China falls into severe climate change issues... severe drought, most likely, or a new ice age.

http://The-Shape-Of-God.Tumblr.com

THIS IS THE END OF THE DAILY GRIND.

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"I always hoped we wouldn't be one of those restraining order families" Marge Simpson

If you don't know me, the following might help you get to know what kind of person I am. I don't expect you to understand me. I can be a bit OCD and ADHD.

"Make me proud or, at least, less ashamed" Grandpa Simpson

l'm here to teach you things. While I appreciate other people's opinions, I really don't give a crap what anyone thinks. Until you prove your worth, I will be nice but you have to earn my respect. You should assume that I don't trust anyone. I've not met a single trustworthy person in my entire life. I've met nice people who aren't too bright... well intentioned folk who know little about anything, people who are nice, most of the time, until you say something that offends them. Honourable people agree to disagree.

#The Speed Of Light #Light Speed

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