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marie-bluem · 4 years

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Random Entry: 07/01/20

(Please don’t reblog, repost, etc)

It’s been raining a lot lately, which has kind of put me in a nostalgic mood lately and given me this sudden urge to want to look back on some of my old blog posts, entries, and past years. Also the current state of our world right now and other things, especially the current state of the U.S. right now, has made me feel sad ( I am kind of feeling a tiny bit of that summer time sadness/blues ;-;)🌦📔

However, seeing the progress being made by everyone working together to bring more awareness to the inequalities and issues that still need to be addressed, not just in the U.S. but in the world in general, and being able to help and take part with my friends and just being able to keep in touch with my friends, has made me feel more hopeful and inspired as well. Overall, the past month of June had just kind of put in a reflective mood and want to reflect back on some things/ memories/ personal experiences etc and just write about and comment on some things like some of my past posts as an effort to try to write gain a bit more on here.

Also I’m really sorry anons that I haven’t finished answering the rest of your anons. As you saw from my last posts, these past months have been months where many have been working together to spread more awareness and info on issues like police brutality, mental health awareness, BLM movement, Juneteenth and more, that I just personally felt it was and still is more important to reblog posts on those topics in order to bring more awareness to those topics, and limit my amount of personal posts/ posts that don’t have to do with those topics. So I’m really sorry, but I have not forgotten about your anon asks! What I plan to try to do is answer just one of your asks once a week and like I said I will still post/ reblog some personal posts but I will also try to reblog more posts containing info on more important topics. So I will still try to post/ reblog personal content and continue to answer some of your anons! ^^

Okay lol you can just ignore the rest of my text below lol (you don’t have to read what is below this ;-;) Like I said , the rest of the text will be a few of my comments/ thoughts as well as thoughts I remember having when I reblogged some of my old entries, posts etc. ^^ . Also please don’t reblog this post (I’m sorry I just really don’t want to encounter a lot of weird tumblr bots again 😥 😭

January 2013:

Aw My first posts and the beginning of this blog ^^ I can’t believe it has already been more than 7 years since I created my Tumblr blog. I remember not knowing anything about Tumblr until my friend Emily told me “Marielisa, have you downloaded Tumblr, you should make your own Tumblr blog and follow mine please”. We didn’t even have proper phones back then (I had an old blackberry phone lol) since we were still in middle school. I remember only being able to log onto Tumblr when we had computer lab or got to use and take home our school’s iPads. Lol since I was way more shy back then, my friend ended up writing my first post saying hi and asking others to follow me and recommending me some blogs . My friend and I were really into 1D back then so I remember most of the blogs I followed back then were blogs about 1D, polyvore outfits, outfit mood boards, London, Paris/ traveling and quotes. Lol I remember Zayn being my favorite 1D member followed by Liam (before Liam shaved his hair lol; my friend and I were shook 😶 ) I remember Zayn being my favorite due to his introverted and shy yet playful personality. Wow a lot of time sure has passed since then. But, I guess some things never change though because traveling is still one of the things on my bucket list, I still hold this unexplainable yearning and wanderlust for visiting Europe (especially France and Italy),and also still am very fond of poetry, book quotes, moodboards, and listening to 1D throwback songs from time to time with my friends✨ ��.

February 2013:

Aw I think this is when The Perks of Being a Wallflower had come out. I remember being really excited to see how the movie had turned out since The Perks of Being a Wallflower was one of my favorite books at the time and held (and still does) a special meaning for me. Haha I remember ‘falling in love’ with Logan Lerman, wishing I could meet my own “Charlie” / Logan Lerman lol. Lol I remember wishing to be able to meet a some-what shy, dorky/ funny and thoughtful guy whom I could be awkward, silly and care-free with and share songs with haha. I also remember falling in love with the ost of the movie. To this day, Heroes by David Bowie aka the tunnel song is one of my favorite songs (as well as Come On Eileen and more favorite songs which just keep on accumulating ;-;) (I also remember wanting to have my own living room routine dance with someone. Lol if anyone has read this far and gets this reference, I appreciate you 💝 )

Some extra notes (thoughts):📔✨

From looking at some of those posts I also realized that some things haven’t change like my love for strawberries lol, my love for city views, and my love for cozy, fluffy sweaters and cardigans (sweater weather). 🍓🌃 🧥

I also still enjoy listening to some songs from The Beatles and really old songs in general.🎶

I no longer want to find a “Charlie”; I just want a thoughtful, kind, and funny guy who can be both quirky/ silly and serious depending on the situation, as well as hardworking, honest about his thoughts (is able to open up to me about his thoughts, feelings, worries so that I can do the same and so that we can both find comfort in one another and not second-guess one another) and a good listener/ someone whom I can have random, deep or silly late night conversations with lol, go on spontaneous outings with, and whom I can just be my some-what shy, awkward, random lol , sensitive, normal self around . (Also someone who preferably loves/ enjoys Spring and Autumn (especially Autumn) just as much as I do and who loves animals/ pets ;-;)

Spring 2013:

The time during which I got to watch the movie “The Art of Getting By” and time during which I really did feel a bit lost in my thoughts. (The Art of Getting By also has one of my favorite indie osts ) I remember having a lot of thoughts (‘worries’’) on what might happen after I finished middle school in May and started High school in June (It makes my heart feel warm remembering the small things my younger self used to worry about) I remember wondering about what High school was going to be like, feeling kind of anxious and scared about getting lost on the first day of classes in a bigger school compared to my small middle school. Lol I remember thinking: Would I be able to make any new friends or at least have some of my middle school friends attend the same high school as me? Would I have trouble opening my locker again? Lol my middle school self didn’t have any clue as to what was going to happen and the many things my high school self would experience and overcome. (Lol the things my middle school self used to worry about 😆 🤧

Thinking back, I think that if my middle school self were to have known or been able to take a glimpse at what my high school was going to be like and known how I would have to attend classes with much older college students I think that my middle school self wouldn’t have known have to feel nor believed it and might have even felt more overwhelmed about starting high school. I don’t think my middle school self would have been able to see just how much that experience and my decision to attend my high school over the other program that had also accepted me, would allow me to not only mature a bit more and grow as a person, but also learn to take control over my anxiety (little by little) and meet and befriend some of the most kindest and dear people to me who are now my closest and dear friends.

Because of that I can’t help but to wonder what would have happened to me if I hadn’t decided to attend the high school that I did, met the people that I did. If I didn’t meet my friends of now back then would I, by some chance have still been able to meet them in a different place at a different time? That’s why I’m really glad I decided to attend my high school because even though it did lead me to experience some of the most difficult and mentally draining periods in my life , I would not change my decision if I was given a chance to go back and change it. I can’t imagine my life today without my friends whom I met back then and some other special people (particularly one person) because even though they might not know it or realize it they changed me in a good way and became a very important and precious part of my life. I’m very thankful for having been able to cross paths with them and for them having crossed paths with me 💖 .

August 2013:

I’m trying to think back as to what or who hurt me to reblog those posts lol 😶(wow I was so emo; My last year of middle school was filled with angst huh ;-; ) but I can’t remember. This made me realize though that there is some truth in what some people say in that: as time passes by we learn to slowly heal, let go, and forget of the things or people who might have hurt us. Before we know it, we don’t remember any of those not so happy times or those memories just don’t hurt anymore because as time goes by we begin to make more happy and precious memories with people and friends that make us feel warm and loved. As for embarrassing moments/ memories (we all have them ^^ lol ) I found that as time goes by those memories don’t feel as embarrassing anymore but rather funny making me feel fond of those moments and smile at how funny and precious those moments actually were. So, if any of you reading this also have some not so nice memories just know that with time, and as you slowly learn to let go of them and spend more time making more happy memories rather than dwelling on those not so pleasant memories, those not so pleasant memories will slowly heal and scatter away. As for those embarrassing memories, they will slowly blossom into something precious you might fondly look back on one day and laugh at 😆 (which is one of the best feelings).

September 2013:

My first full month attending my high school (AHS) lol. I remember I had gone on a trip with my family early that summer so I wasn’t able to attend the summer bridge program that my high school organized for freshmen students. Since I didn’t go to the summer program, I couldn’t help but feel nervous and a bit lost on the first day of classes because I didn’t know which homeroom class (cohort) I was supposed to be in. I also didn’t know any of the teachers or anyone in my class because my childhood friend (Em) got placed in a different class. Apart from her there were only 2 other people from my middle school that were also accepted into my high school, but I wasn’t close with them/ didn’t know them that well. I remember feeling very anxious and shy when I walked into my class, especially when I saw that most of my classmates had already become a bit more close with one another over the summer. I felt so small and was way more shy back then. But I ended up worrying for nothing because my first day of high school ended up being very nice.

Even though I didn’t know anyone in my class, everyone was nice and ended up making me feel more comfortable. I will always feel thankful to my friend Amber because she was one of the first people in my class who talked to me and helped introduce me to some of the friends she had already made in the class . Because of her, I was able to make some other high school friends in my class who were all also nice and friendly and made me feel comfortable by starting conversations with me (if by any chance Karis and Kaylyn you are still using your tumblr blogs and read my post lol I just want to say thank you for understanding my shy personality and giving me time to open up, I will always appreciate that). I remember that after that first kind of nerve-wrecking month of school lol, I was also able to befriend my current, close friends Darlyn, Yasmin, as well as meet my other current-close friends Erika, Frances, Trisha, and Nathaniel, who although I wasn’t really close to them back then (but was able to meet thanks to my childhood friend Emily) , have now all become precious friends of mine 💖 💛 I’m also thankful, because of those friends I was also able to meet you - a little bit weird, dorky and kinda shy , blue shooting star like boy who I think will always have a special memory corner in my heart just like my friends and everyone I love, despite you maybe never knowing that and that’s okay. I hope that maybe one day when we meet and actually see each other in person after many years with our group of friends, we can say hi to each other, talk, laugh, and smile normally and forget about past awkwardness.

Extra notes:📔✨

I remember wanting to be able to go to one of those old red phone booths in London, that people had turned into book trading posts/ spots where you could take some of your old books to the phone booth and exchange them for other book that other people had read. (I still kind of want to do this to be honest lol ;-;)

Looking at my post of that blanket fort reminded me of how I always wanted to build my own blanket fort and decorate it with fairy lights and invite my friends and boyfriend to watch a movie while eating popcorn and baked pastries inside the fort lol (I still want to this too shh lol >.<)

Looking at that post of a drawing of an old and vintage record player also reminded me how I never want to get one of those old vintage record players or anything that’s an antique tbh due to so many horror/ scary movies that I have watched ;-;

That post of the mountain overlooking a crescent moon made me want to go on a road trip and camp with friends under the night sky while roasting s’mores after this pandemic subsides 🤧

October 2013:

I think this is when most of my friends read and or were reading the Fault in Our Stars lol since the movie was said to come out in 2014. I remember that particular quote really resonating with me and being one of my favorites from the book as well as the quotes: “You don’t get to choose if you get hurt in this world, but you do have some say in who hurts you”, “Some infinities are bigger than other infinities” and the quote I came across for which the title was ironically based on:“The Fault Dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, for that we are underlings”.🌃

I remember the quote:” My Thoughts are stars I can’t fathom into constellations” really resonating with me at that time because I remember having so many thoughts and often feeling a range of emotions and sometimes feeling more deeply about some things compared to others and my friends and not knowing how to explain or express thoughts/ feelings to others in a way that made sense to them. It’s like I had so many ideas and thoughts but I often found myself holding them back because I just did not know how to get my words or thoughts across, especially during writing/ when it came to writing essays for class etc. I remember that being one of the main reasons as to why I didn’t really enjoy nor looked forward to English/ writing class despite loving to read books, and free-writing. I don’t know, I guess the teaching style of my 9th and even 10th grade English teacher and class in general, just made me feel so restricted when it came to writing about my personal thoughts/ ideas regarding a book or topic. Due to that, I kind of started to get writer’s block more often and did not enjoy writing for a while because I just personally felt that the class’ and teachers’ preferences when it came to writing about our own personal ideas and thoughts made writing feel less free, authentic, and fun and instead made writing feel more forced and restrictive.It also at some point made me feel discouraged to try to express my thoughts and opinions about a book/ topic through writing due to those teachers not allowing me or others more time and freedom to gather and express our thoughts so that they could understand them/ try to see them from a different point of view. But it’s okay, that did not stop my love to free-writing during my own time and my love to want to capture some moments, feelings and thoughts in writing. Overtime, I found that academic writing will always in some sense feel more restrictive and forced, but that does not mean that all English professors are the same, and will make writing and reading feel restrictive because I really enjoyed my English college classes during 11th and 12th grade. My English professor during that time allowed us to be more free with our writing, opinions, and thoughts while still helping us improve our writing skills.

During 2013 I also remember still feeling scared and anxious to share my personal opinions and thoughts on topics a lot more during conversations with my close friends or simply during class participation in fear that I might say something wrong, not know how to explain myself in front of a bigger group of people , and that others might laugh at me for that, due to not so nice past experiences. But thanks to my friends’ understanding nature, empathy, and encouragement, I slowly started to gain more courage, feel more confident, and slowly but surely began to open up to them a lot more about my inner thoughts, random and quirky thoughts lol, worries, and rants haha and vice versa- they opened up to me more too which allowed all of us to find comfort within one another and I’m very thankful and will always be thankful for that💖 💝

Another quote that I remember being very fond of was the quote: “You don’t get to choose if you get hurt in this world, but you do have some say in who hurts you” because it’s true. We don’t really get to choose if we get hurt or don’t get hurt, but we do have some say and or power in deciding who we allow to hurt us or keep on hurting us. We have the ability to change and leave a situation/ place/ etc that keeps hurting us and or making us unhappy.

Another quote that I remember being very fond of was the quote: “ Some infinities are bigger than other infinities”. I remember finding this quote comforting in the sense that although maybe my time spent with a family member, group of friends, crush, or significant other might one day come to an end and or turn out to be a smaller infinity due to certain life circumstances, my smaller infinity with them will still have been very precious and felt like a bigger infinity to me that will never cease to end in my memories. That quote was also comforting in a sense that it led me realize that although our time with someone whom we care about and love might be a smaller infinity during a certain point in our lives, we could come across that someone once again during a different point in our lives (future) and find that all that time our time with that someone was actually one of those bigger infinities made up of smaller infinities.

🌌 ⌛️💫

The last quote related to the Fault in Our Stars that I remember being very fond of is: “The Fault Dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, for that we are underlings”. I remember liking this quote because I remember thinking about how often times, our first instinct as human beings, when something terrible happens to us or something does not go the way we had hoped, some people tend to blame forces that are bigger than us and or that are out of our control. Or sometimes we tend to hold ourselves back from doing something that we love and trying new things, in fear of failing, something going wrong, not being able to do things at the same pace as other, fearing change, or just simply comparing ourselves to others which in turn ends up making us feel like “underlings”, when it shouldn’t have to be like that. Overall, that quote led me to think about how often our worst enemy and or greatest critic is our own self. But, we can all be like the stars and feel bright, when we begin to allow ourselves to not just love and care for others, but also slowly but surely, love and care about ourselves as well which is not easy but not impossible ,and surround ourselves with people and things that make us feel loved, happy, and motivated and not allowing others to continue to hurt us with their invalid assumptions and criticism.

Wow, who would’ve known that The Fault in our stars would have a big impact on mine and my friends’ perspectives during that time haha ;-;

Extra notes:📔✨

After looking at the quote “I want to sleep for 2 years and wake up with a degree, an apartment, and money in the bank”my high school self had reblogged, I started to think about how sad and boring that would have been If I had been asleep and missed out on 2 years of my life and just magically woke up with a degree, an apartment, and money and not actually lived through those experiences and small achievements, as well as miss out on all the memories that I would have made with my friends and family during that time. Although some of these past years during my journey in obtaining my degree and becoming more stable and independent have been hard, exhausting and sad at times, there have also been so many happy and fun moments with my friends and family that have made up for those bittersweet ones and so I think it would be sad to live without knowing about those moments and memories.

Ah the song “Sweater Weather” lol; I remember me and my friends Emily, Amber, Darlyn, Kaylyn, and Michelle really liking the song when it came out lol. I remember thinking it was such a perfect/ cliche song to listen to during a chilly, crisp Autumn day lol. I haven’t listened to the song since high school but I think I might add it to my rainy day/ Autumn throwback songs playlist lol ^^

November 2013:

For some reason, what I remember the most from November of 2013 is that my Envirothon group met together for the first time with other high school groups representing their school in the Maryland envirothon at Camp Schmidt lol aw wow I can’t believe that happened so long ago. I remember my biology high school teacher (Mr.Cordon) selecting my friend Darlyn, Amber, along with a few others from our freshmen year, and a tenth grade group and me as the two groups to represent our school. Omg lol I remember being assigned to represent and lead the Wildlife portion of the competition and my friend Amber being in charge of the soil and environment portion while my friend Darlyn being put in charge of the nature/ tree information section despite her being allergic to various types of trees. I feel really sorry about that to this day because what if she had gotten a really bad allergic reaction. I still don’t know to this day how or why Mr. Cordon decided that 😭 😭

It felt kind of nice though to get away from our Campus for a while and being surrounded by so much nature and fresh breeze :)

Extra notes:📔✨

Looking back at these posts also makes me realize how some other things about me and some of my preferences haven’t changed. I still do quite enjoy rainy days, especially those rainy days where I don’t have any important things to do and I can just stay inside while listening to the rain outside and watching movies from the comfort of my room lol or taking short walks in the rain.

I also still have this appreciation for black and white photographs; Like I mentioned in another post of mine, I just think that black and white and grainy photos have this unique mood and just give this very soft, nostalgic feeling when you look at them.

I also still love acoustic songs and guitar covers of songs and scenery photos of different places

I also still love the look of busy cities like Paris, New York, London, etc when they are completely covered in snow and only the twinkling lights from buildings can be seen; Idk I just like the soft and subdued feeling snow gives to those busy cities :)

I miss being able to learn a new language; I’ve been thinking about starting to teach myself the basics of a new language over this summer break lol but I’m not sure where to start or which language to pick ;-; 🤔 So far I’ve been thinking about learning either French or Korean but we’ll see lol; If I do decide to start learning, my goal is to just at least get to just 1 level above beginner’s level 🤧

Okay I’ll stop here for today and do this again with of my other posts another day ^^.

0 notes

n0velust · 3 years

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2007

When I received the message from a stranger on Myspace, I assumed I was being punk’d.

I heard you get sleep paralysis. So do I. Can we talk about it?

The account that sent the message supposedly belonged to a girl named Rose, but her profile was sketchy. She only had one friend. There were only two photos of her, good quality, not your basic selfies, although they weren’t professional either.

She was a blonde with bangs, her hair cut just above her shoulders. Her eyes were bright and the color of sea foam. There was an angelic quality to her. This was not the first time I had seen her face before, I was sure of that, but I couldn’t place where I reconized her from. It bothered me. Not that I believed the girl in the pictures was the one who actually sent me the message. Someone was messing with me. Someone who wanted me to reveal my weaknesses so they could use them against me.

I had only spoken of my sleep paralysis once in a public setting- a group counseling session all the way back in middle school. Sara, this redhead whom I had my eye on since the moment I first saw her, mentioned having it first in this session. We talked back and forth about it for a minute before our councilor called the meeting back into order. Sara had wanted to know more about my episodes. We met up one day, but she didn’t like that I believed sleep paralysis was a mere medical condition as opposed to a supernatural phenomenon. She committed suicide just a few months after that.

I knew better than to give this troll the time of day, but it was a lonely summer night. Besides, my curiosity had been piqued.

Cute pix but they ain’t urs, I wrote back. Maybe next time add more friends and write an About Me, so it doesn’t look like you just created the account two minutes ago.

She replied in a matter of minutes. Aww you think I’m cute?? (: lol it’s a new profile. I can send you another pic if you want.

Alright but draw a dick on your forehead so I know it’s really you, I typed back with a smug grin on my face. Checkmate. Since they wanted to act like a dickhead.

I got up and searched my dark room, my computer screen being my only source of light, for my bottle of vodka. I usually put it somewhere inconspicuous in case my cousin, Jessica, or Aunt Marilyn barged in on me. It’s neck was sticking out from under my pillow. I took several long gulps that warmed my stomach.

I didn’t expect a reply from that account but when I looked back to the screen, endorphins kicked in when I saw the one new message notification. No way. Bad Photoshop?

A grainy picture probably taken a flip phone, but it was her. She held her hair back out of her face, on her forehead she dawned the crudely drawn penis. A goofy smile.

Can we talk now? she asked in a separate message. I’d like this to be interview style. Can I call you to save us both time?

Out of pure boredom, I sent her my number. A few short seconds later, my phone rang. We got past awkward introductions.

“You do look familiar,” I admitted. “Do you go to Apponequet?”

“No, I go to Bishop Stang.”

“A Catholic school girl, huh?”

“I have come into your job at Burger Daze, maybe that’s why you recognize me. That’s where I overheard some kids talking about you and the fact that you had sleep paralysis.”

“Who?”

“I didn’t ask them their names. I just eavesdropped on their conversation,” she giggled. “To be clear, I know who you are. Not just from seeing you at your job. You’re practically famous!”

Famous people have fans, I didn’t even have friends. The main reason having to do with my local legend status in the small community of Freetown, Massachusetts. When you witness your father’s murder as a child, then go missing in the state forest for a week, and the media outlets paste your photo all over town, people rarely forget.

“Maybe I’ll give you an autograph sometimes,” I replied dryly.

“A piece of paper with your handwriting on it? That’d be great. I could use it to cast a love spell on you,” she said with a smile in her voice.

“Look, is this supposed to be a joke or-“ My amusement was wearing thin.

“No joke, Raiden. When I heard those people talking about you, I couldn’t believe it. I haven’t met another living person who’s had sleep paralysis. And for me it’s been especially bad lately so I took it as a sign that I must reach out to you.”

“Well now you have, so what do you want?”

“Tell me, do you hallucinate during?”

“Most people do. Your body puts itself in a state of paralysis, so you don’t act out your dreams. The hallucinations occur because your mind is still in a dream state.”

“Thanks for educating me on the subject as if I haven’t already extensively researched it myself. I’ll take that as a ‘yes’ then?”

“Yes.”

“And what sorts of things do you see?”

“People who suffer from sleep paralysis tend to see the same things, shadow people and such. Which makes sense because the room is dark and there are a lot of shadows.”

I was so used to only talking about this with therapists that I couldn’t help but parrot the things they told me.

“What about the old hag though? Lots of people report seeing the detailed image of an old woman, usually wearing a veil, who sits on their chests. She’s not a shadow. Explain why that’s common sighting.”

I paced the room, thinking of an explanation but fell short.

“Have you seen the old hag?” I reflected her question back.

“I asked you what you saw first.”

“Yes, it’s one of the worst apparitions. She starts off as a beautiful woman and then morphs. Total succubus situation, it’s awful.”

“Sounds like the scene in The Shining. That part really freaked me out as a kid.”

“I haven’t seen it.” Or any horror movie for that matter.

“The original is better than the remake although Stephen King wouldn’t agree- anyway so, shadow people, the old hag, anything else?"

I hesitated, stumbling over my words. There was something else. Something Sara mentioned seeing too. Something that she claimed the more energy you gave to, the more powerful it got.

“I’ve seen something coming out of the wall. It’s like it comes from another dimension,” Rose went on, since I was at a loss for words. “It’s three dimensional too, not like a shadow. Unlike the other sleep paralysis villains, it can physically touch. It puts its hand over my head. Local indigenous tribes have something similar in their folklore, expect it comes out of trees instead of walls. They call it a Wuagamortchi. Have you ever seen it or heard of it?”

My throat ran dry, so I went back to my bottle and took another drink. There’s no way she could be messing with me. I’ve only spoken of this particular entity to Sara and one of my psychologists. Sara named this entity ‘Wally”. As a kid, I called it the Gatekeeper.

“Yes,” I admitted. “I’ve seen it since I was a kid.”

“Can you describe your experiences?” Rose asked. Her voice was too cheery for the conversation we were having.

“No. I’d rather not. Sorry, I’m kind of freaking out right now. You’re not the first person to come into my life asking me about this shit. This girl I used to know, Sara, she saw the wog-thing, whatever you called it, too.”

“Really?” Rose asked enthusiastically. “Do you have Sara’s number? I’d love to talk to her too.”

“She committed suicide, about four years ago. I felt…guilty about it. You’re reminding me for her right now. That’s why my mind is a mess.”

“Why do you feel guilty?”

“Because she came to me for help so she would feel less alone. Her view on it was even darker than yours. She thought that actual demons were after her, that they wanted to make her hurt herself and other people. I dismissed her after she said all that, told her it was in her head. The ultimate betrayal, in her eyes, was when I told her boyfriend, James, that she needed help. She never spoke to me again. Her paranoia was what led her to take her life.”

“I mean, you reached out to her boyfriend about your concerns. It sounds to me like you did try to help her.”

I shook my head. “I could have done more for her. I could have been more empathetic.”

“I get it.” Finally her voice had some emotion behind it. Before she sounded like some robotic customer service representative. “My mother committed suicide and I feel like I should have done things differently too. The shrink I see says I shouldn’t blame myself but it’s hard not to.” Rose let out a sigh and pulled herself back together. “How often do you experience SP?”

It took me a moment to follow her train of thought. She dropped a bomb on me and then swept right passed it.

“A few times a week lately. I’ll go months without an episode, then it will become more frequent for a while. It has to do with stress,” I told her.

“Have you found anything that helps to reduce episodes?”

“Drinking.” I held my bottle up in a cheers to myself. I sat on my bed, leaning up against the wall with a pillow behind me.

“Alcohol? Does that really help?”

“No, not really. I wouldn’t recommend it. It helped at first but now it just makes me not care as much that it’s happening.”

“Hmm. I smoke weed at night for the same reason.” She paused for a moment, “have you ever smoked before?”

“Once.” With Sara. God, everything that came out of this girl’s mouth reminded me of Sara.

We stayed up talking for hours after that, getting to know each other. Rose told me that she had recently found her mother’s diary, where she described her own instances of sleep paralysis. While Rose did believe it was paranormal and I didn’t, we came to the agreement that there was a link between sleep paralysis and mental health issues- depression, anxiety, PTSD. It all went hand in hand.

I listened to Rose talk about her out of body experiences, how she had been training herself to detach her soul from her body during sleep paralysis and shoot energy balls as her interdimensional intruders. She told me about how her and her mother to share the same dreams and that she would astral project to the astral plane, hoping to find he mother there so she could say goodbye one last time. She said she wanted me to astral project with her, so we could be together, but I said I’d rather just take her out on a date. Her ramblings were nonsensical, yet she spoke them with such conviction that I wanted to believe.

Rose said that since it was summer she had been waiting until sunrise to let herself sleep. We stayed up until then talking. When we finally did go to sleep we left our phones beside us on speaker, so if something did happen to one or both of us, the other person would be on the line. It was the first night in weeks I had slept without having a nightmare or an episode of sleep paralysis.

We texted each other all that next day, then at night we spoke on the phone for hours on end. This went on for a few days. By the end of the first night, I was already hounding her about meeting up. she invited me to meet her at this house party she was attending on Friday night.

Thanks to our late-night chats, not only was I sleeping better but I had also stopped drinking. I wanted to be coherent in our conversations. I wanted her to think that I was smart and funny, not some loser teenage alcoholic. But- before going to meet her at this party in Fall River, a half an hour drive away, I did have a little liquid courage to calm my nerves.

When I pulled up to the house and parked along the street, she was out on the driveway waiting for me. She wore cut-off shorts and a black crop top, and a light jacket over it, despite it being the middle of July and eighty degrees outside. Over her shoulders, she wore a mini black backpack.

Despite her heavy make-up, she was still gorgeous. Even more so in person. Slim build but great legs. Her friend Genesis was starting next to her, holding her hand. Genesis taller than Rose but not my much. Her hair was clearly bleached blonde and fell in tight, corkscrew curls. She was dressed in a similar outfit. They were staring at my car and whispering among themselves. When I got out, Rose let out a squeal that I could hear from all the way over where I was standing.

Rose looked terrified, her eyes as wide as saucers. She had never even had a first kiss before and while I wanted to rush over and give that to her, what I wanted more was for her to feel comfortable.

“Hi Raiden,” Genesis called on Rose’s behalf as I approached them.

“That’s Genna,” Rose said, still clutching her friend’s hand. I could barely hear her.

“I know. I recognize her as your only Myspace friend.”

When I got up to them, it struck me how much I towered over them. A though occurred, what if she’s lying about her age? But I pushed it back to the far corners of my mind. Rose told me she was fifteen, sixteen on November 27th. My birthday was exactly a month after hers, I’d be turning eighteen. Our age difference wasn’t too bad. She had mentioned on the phone that she was petite.

Genna pealed Rose’s hand off of hers and shoved her in my direction before turning her back and walking away. Rose watched her friend go before turning to me. I stood still like I was offering food to a timid deer. Where was the bold girl whom I had spoken to over the phone?

Suddenly she was running towards me. She leapt up and I caught her in my arms. She wrapped her legs around my waist and initiated the first kiss. I let her have a little peck then tilted my head back farther. She groaned, her fingernails pricking the back of my neck. Our noses brushed before we kissed again. I melted into it.

I put her back down and we looked each other over.

“I’ve never been to a house party before,” I said, to break the ice.

“I don’t really like these types of parties,” she confessed.

“Why are we here then?”

“It just so happens that this party is only a couple blocks away from where a dear old friend of mine lives. I couldn’t miss the opportunity to pay him a visit.”

Him? Confusion, jealousy, rage bubbled up in my chest.

“You can come with me,” she clarified. “I want you to.” She batted her eyelashes at me and held her hand out for me to take but I wasn’t so sure I wanted to.

“Who’s your friend?” I asked, looking down at her with narrowed eyes.

“Andrew. You probably know him since you went to Freetown Lakeville Middle. Andrew Arslanian.”

I stared at her in disbelief. “Mr. Arslanian? The fucking science teacher?”

She giggled at my surprise. “That’s the one. Part science teacher, part pervert. He stays busy.”

“How do you know that? Did he hurt you? What are you going to do to him?” So many questions and finding the answers wouldn’t make me feel any better.

“No. Not me,” Rose chuckled ironically. “This girl, Danielle. They had an affair. She was too young to know what she was getting into-“

Two girls stumbled out of the party, leaving the door wide open. The music was playing so loud that I could feel the bass in my bones.

Rose lowered her voice, “he knocked her up, then tried to throw money at her and threaten her into having an abortion until she moved away. Dani and I aren’t even friends anymore but that’s a whole ‘nother story. This was all long time ago.”

“Why wait til now to go after Mr. Arslanian? What are you going to do to him?”

“Chill. I’m not going to burn his house done or anything.” She took off her tiny backpack and unzipped it to allow me a peek inside. A single can of red spray paint and a wallet.

“And honestly, I haven’t thought of him in a long time but since I’m in the neighborhood…” She cocked her head and smiled at me, batting her eyelashes persuasively.

“How do you even know his address?”

“The internet.” She shrugged.

“I just-“ I didn’t want to come off like a buzzkill or an asshole. “I came all this way to hang out with you not to vandalize my eighth-grade teacher’s house.”

Her cheeks blushed. “I want to hang out with you too. This won’t take long, and you can pick what we do next.”

“I guess I’m in then,” I said with a scoff and an eyeroll.

She jumped for joy and let out a big, “Yesss!”

“But next time, tell me ahead of time when you have a crazy idea like this.”

“For sure I will.” She took my hands, intertwined her fingers in mine and started leading me down the sidewalk. “I’m so glad you agreed to join me because the Lucy I took should kick in soon an-“

I stopped dead in my tracks, bringing her to an abrupt halt as well. “What?!”

“Lucy. It’s slang for-“

“LSD,” I finished for her.

“It’s probably best that someone will be looking after me when it kicks in.”

I looked at her, then back to my car, and really contemplated leaving. Rose had told me about her experiences with various drugs, Xanax, coke, and of course weed. Genesis brought her into this world and Rose liked to experiment.

“I saved a stamp for you.” She looked up at me with angel eyes.

I knew a time would come when I’d be offered something questionable. Under different circumstances, I’d be more inclined to want to try LSD but not at a damn party. Not when we both have a history of mental illness. It seemed like an awful idea. I wasn’t about to explain that to her because I didn’t want her thinking I was a loser.

I liked her. A lot. There had other women, I was no virgin, but I had never had a serious relationship before. No one’s mind enticed me as much as Rose’s. I had never shared a connection like this with anybody. No one’s eyes had ever hypnotized me in such a way that my brain shut off entirely. I couldn’t blow this so soon, so I forced a smile over my haunted expression.

“Let me give you some money for mine at least.”

“No, it’s okay. Genna and her boyfriend TJ just gave them to me.” She fumbled in her purse and took out her wallet, out of her billfold, she handed me a stamp. Not the postage kind.

“Don’t chew it or swallow it, just leave it on your tongue for a while.” She held out her finger with the tiny white square on top and I took it and did as instructed.

“It’s my first time taking acid too so this should be interesting.” She giggled.

“How long ago did you take yours?” I asked, trying to judge how long I’d have until it set in.

“Right before you got here,” she replied. “TJ said it’d take about fifteen minutes to half an hour before I felt anything. He’s a total douche but at least he’s good for party favors.”

We locked hands again. My hands were so much bigger than hers and she had to hold hers above her waist to align it with my own.

“Why don’t you like TJ?”

“He’s a pedo too. Dude’s twenty years old. He has no business hanging out with girls as young as me and Genna.”

“Why don’t you tell your friend that?”

“She knows how old he is. She doesn’t care. Just thinks he’s with her because she’s so mature. Trust me, if I told her what I really thought about him, she’d choose him over me. Love makes people stupid and blind.”

I could see that now…

“Girls get obsessed with these random ass guys that come into their lives. No depth or anything unique about them. That’s why I never bothered dating. I never met anyone who truly compelled me.” She squeezed my hand. “Until now.”

“I must really like you because I can’t say no to you.” I grinned at her.

She lit up when I said that. There was no point in either of us trying to play it cool. No way she could have hidden that ear to ear smile. Under the streetlamps, I spotted freckles on her cheekbones, the bridge of her nose, underneath all that make-up. Such a shame that she covered them up.

“Are you a natural blonde?” I asked.

“Yeah but my natural color is a little darker than it is now.”

I kept looking at her. Her familiarity drove me nuts, like when a word is on the tip of your tongue, but you can’t quite remember what it is.

“It’s weird that I have no memory of interacting with you when you were a customer at my work.”

“You see a lot of customers come through there every day.”

“Yeah but I remember the pretty ones. And I’d definitely remember your face. Especially since you said you come in there a lot.”

“You were the main reason I was coming in there for a while. Just because I thought you were so handsome.” She laughed at herself. I could feel her hand shaking in mine. It was a little sweaty too.

“Are you serious? That’s…slightly creepy but also flattering. Does that mean you have ulterior motives when you friended me on Myspace?”

“I saw that as my way in, yes. When I heard those kids talking about you having sleep paralysis, I took it as a sign that we were meant to get to know each other.”

“When you first invited me to this party, I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to come. I’m really glad we’re hanging out, just you and me. Parties aren’t really my thing.”

“Me either. I have social anxiety. I’m more comfortable with a small group of people. Or with just you.” She led us across the street, onto a different road.

“You’re pretty social though. You’re more outgoing than me.”

“It’s all an act, I’m actually pretty shy.”

“You don’t seem very shy to me.”

“Really. For as long as I can remember, I’ve always felt like something was wrong with me. Something that everyone else can see too. I became really withdrawn so obviously, it was always hard for me to make friends. But then I learned this thing from Dexter, have you seen that show? Or read the books?”

“Dexter’s Laboratory?”

“No!” Rose laughed. “Dexter the serial killer. He only kills bad guys. Anyway, he talks about having to wear this mask to blend in with the rest of society because duh he’s a killer and he works around a bunch of cops but I kind of took that concept and applied it to my own life. Did you know that Paris Hilton is actually smart? She just plays a character to mask her true self?”

“I have no idea,” I replied.

“That’s what I do. I play a character. I say and do crazy things because….people think of me as one thing and my true self hides behind that persona. I pretend my life is a realty show, and I do whatever I want. I know that all sounds weird. I’ve always been real with you though.”

“I get where you’re coming from. Blend in with the normies so they don’t question you too much.”

“Right because when you’re quiet, people can fill your silence with whatever they want.” Her words hung in the air, echoing on a loop in my mind.

She pulled her hand from mine and I worried she was suddenly upset with me. She took off her backpack and dropped it on the ground. I picked it up and held it for her.

“It’s so hot,” she said as she took her jacket off.

Before I could open my mouth to ask her why she was even wearing it, I saw the angry, red welts on the pale skin of her freckled bicep. Four of them at least, but there were more that looked faded.

“What are those?” I asked, running my index finger over them raised scars.

“Oh, right. That’s why I was wearing the jacket,” Rose said, more to herself than to me. She sighed as she shoved her arms back into it.

“You don’t have to cover them up but what happened to you?” I pulled her jacket back off to get another look at them. “Are they cigarette burns? Who’s hurting you?”

Rose chuckled at me. “It was just me, don’t worry.”

“I am worried though. Why would you do that to yourself?”

“I get overwhelmed sometimes, and it helps to ground me. Don’t judge.”

“It’s not exactly a healthy coping mechanism.”

“Neither is your drinking,” she shot back. Her eyes were narrowed but she wore a ‘gotcha’ smile. “You don’t want to be like my dad, unable to hold down a job. He tells us he quit, he’s gonna sober up, but he just tries to hide it. He never knows what’s going on, it’s really embarrassing.” Her voice was louder and more emotional than usual.

“You’re right. I know. What I do is another form of self-harm. I’ll make you a deal though, I stop drinking and you stop burring yourself, okay?”

“What about a wager?” she asked with a grin. She pondered the terms of the wager for a moment. “Whoever loses has to give the other person oral sex.”

Laughter boomed from my chest. “No, that’s fucked up. I don’t want to benefit from you hurting yourself. Besides, if we did that, I’d just go back to the party and have a drink.”

We shared a laugh at that.

“I rather just make it a pact,” I went on. “If you feel the urge, just reach out to me and talk to me about it – or your friend Genesis. And I’ll do the same, okay?” I extended my arm for a handshake.

“Deal,” she said, taking my hand. I pulled her in for a hug, our lips found each other’s, and we kissed softly but hungrily. Euphoria pulsed through my veins. She pulled away too soon.

“Let’s just this over with, before I start tripping.”

She led the way through the neighborhood, knowing exactly where she was going. We walked at a quick pace until we came upon a two-story yellow painted home.

3342 Snyder Lane.

She took out the spray paint can and shook it, I worried about the noises. There was no car out front in the driveway but there was always a two-car garage, so it was hard to tell if anyone was home.

Wind blew in through the trees overhead. Rose looked up at the swaying branches in awe. She waved back to them.

“Rose! Hurry it up,” I urged her in a whisper.

She looked to me, confused, and then down at the spray paint can in her hand. Dropping to her knees, she was mesmerized by the paint exiting the can. “I’m creating universes,” she told herself.

She put her other hand into the stream of paint.

“Stop,” I said. “You don’t want to get caught red handed, do you?”

She looked up at me and then down at her red palm, laughing at my pun. I took the spray can away from her and told her I’d do it.

Ask me about Danielle, I wrote on the driveway in messy print. Underneath that, I added, I’m a pedo, to make our accusations clear.

I looked up for Rose and nearly had a heart attack when I saw her peeking in through the first story window. I ran up behind her but then froze.

There was sheer, red, fabric over the window but we could still see what was going on in the house. People, maybe ten of them, all wearing plain black masks but with a red upside-down triangle drawn over the forehead. They were dancing around. In the center of their circle was a man tied to a chair. He was slouched over, still, eyes open and unblinking. They were taking turns stabbing his already dead body.

“Get away from there,” I said, a little too loud. Because one of them stopped in their tracks and looked out through the window, right at us. This person’s sudden stop in rotation caused the others to bump into them.

Without thinking, I picked Rose up and threw over my shoulder. I ran out of there like a bat out of hell. Her backpack clapped against her with every step. The adrenaline must have given me extra strength because I ran like that with her on my back for blocks and blocks, until, I couldn’t take it anymore. I set her on the ground, and we ran together hand in hand for what felt like an eternity. All I knew was the run. A running being was my identity. I couldn’t think of anything else. I can’t tell you how long we ran or how far we got. Rose led us and not in a straight direction, to confuse whoever might have been following us. We went through people’s backyards, up and over fences. Repeatedly.

I could have kept going but Rose was out of breath and collapsed herself onto someone’s yard. She repeated, “I can’t do it anymore, I can’t do it.”

“Did you see what I saw?” I asked, my hands rested on my knees as I gasped for air. When I closed my eyes, I saw geometric shapes breathing. Circles morphing into triangles, then into diamonds, then into hexagons.

“They were killing him,” Rose said in a weak voice, burying her face in the grass.

“He was already dead.”

My voice didn’t sound like my own. I felt like we were in virtual reality, like I was at home playing video games and none of this was even real. “They saw us. We need to keep moving.” I reached my hand down to help her up.

“I can’t run anymore. I always knew if I was in a horror movie, that I wouldn’t survive the run. Go on without me. Save yourself.”

“It’s my responsibility to protect you,” I replied. “You’re my girlfriend.”

I was just as surprised of those words coming out of my mouth as she was. She smiled and it was like everything was okay. For a second there, time stood still, and I felt perfectly sober. But then everything got wavy again.

She allowed me to help her to her feet. “I’m your girlfriend?”

“Why else would I be going through all this shit for you? Now c’mon. We can walk but we have to move forward.”

“I don’t know how to get home.”

I looked around my surroundings, only now realizing that we were utterly lost. “You mean back to the party?”

“Oh, right. I forgot about that stupid party.”

“Did you want me to take you home? Because I would.”

“No way. I couldn’t bear to see my mother right now.” I just looked at her. Her mother was dead, but it probably wasn’t the best moment to remind her of that.

I tried to remember the route we took to get to where we were. If I could remember where Mr. Arslanian lived, maybe I could get us back to the party. What I needed was a weapon though, to make sure that we got back safely.

The best I could find in the moment was a large stick. I picked it up and held it over my shoulder. “This way,” I told Rose, leading her in the direction that felt right.

The threat might have been gone but my paranoia remained. All the houses looked the same. We were in an endless labyrinth. I tried to have a conversation with Rose while we walked, to add some normalcy to the evening. My mind would loop, and then I’d completely forget what I was thinking about. I’d forget what I was saying, midsentence. My words came out a mush. We didn’t see any people outside or even cars driving by and that had me feeling like I was in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Soon the zombies would come.

Things got weirder when I had the sudden sensation that I was actually my father and I was lost in the void between Earth and the afterlife. I was his ghost, trying to escape from some evil force that beckoned to me. My breath hitched. I could feel my insides vibrating. Everything was vibrating. I sat down in the grass, hoping that the feeling would pass.

“Are you okay?” Rose asked, the first time she had spoken in a while.

“I’m going to a bad place.” I covered my face with my hands in shame.

“You don’t have to,” she told me. “Genna warned me about bad trips. She told me that if you think bad thoughts, of course you’ll have a bad trip. But you can have a good time too, it’s all in how you approach it. You’re thinking too much,” she said. I couldn’t fathom how she could say so many words.

“Just lie back and enjoy the ride.”

What a concept. All my life, I’ve never been able to do just that.

It was a clear night and the stars were visible. For a moment it felt like I was the pilot of a spaceship. Then after staring at them for too long, they didn’t even look real anymore. A hologram. I broke the celestial trance and shifted my gaze over to her. The most beautiful being I had ever laid eyes on, she made this all worth it.

Feeling my stare Rose looked over at me, brushing her fingers over my face. “This is all worth it because we’re together.”

“I was just thinking that exact same thing,” I said, finally finding my words. “You read my mind.”

She rolled over on her side and I did the same. We were almost nose to nose.

“Remember what I told you on the phone? If we practice reading each other’s minds, soon we'll be able to dream share.”

I thought of the game she taught me to play over the phone. One person clears their mind and closes their eyes, holding a picture of the other person in their mind. The other person focuses on sending a mental transmission, through a beam of light from their forehead, the other person. I wasn’t very good at the game.

“What am I thinking?” she asked. “The category is fruit.”

I did as instructed and waited to receive her transmission. “Grapes,” I said as the image suddenly popped up in my mind.

“What kind of grapes?”

My eyes tried to flutter open, but I forced them shut. “Was I right? They’re green.” The picture was so clear, I could almost taste them. I looked at her for conformation.

She nodded and smiled. “Yes, green grapes.. The acid must be helping us connect.”

“I’ll try to send one to you,” I said. “It’s a shape and a color.”

We both laid back in the grass. I closed my eyes, held her in my mind. The light stemming from my forehead was so bright it was like I could really see it.

“Blue, a circle- no wait now it’s a triangle.” She opened her eyes and asked if she was right.

I nodded and told her to close her eyes again. “I’ll send you a number now.”

“Twenty-seven,” she said, in no time at all. “I can see it clear as day. And the numbers are in white bubble lettering with yellow polka-dots.” I was in awe, unable to speak. Good thing that I didn’t need to anymore.

“It’s the date of both or birthdays,” she went on.

“That’s why I was thinking of it. You also mentioned on the phone that you liked that number.”

“Wow,” Rose said. “I can’t believe we mastered teleportation.” We both laughed as she realized she said the wrong word.

“Telepathy,” I corrected. “I think we’d need a little more acid for teleportation.”

Music started playing out of nowhere. It was really creepy until we realized it was coming from Rose’s phone. I had completely forgotten we carried such devices.

“Whoa, the screen is all over the place,” Rose said before answering.

“I just wanted to check in,” I heard Genesis say. “Where are you guys?”

“We’re lost,” Rose replied.

There was a male’s voice in the background. Genesis had us walk to a street corner and tell her the names of the roads on the intersection we were on. It was hard to read the sign. The letter flew off and were carried away by the wind. After discussion with the other person she was with, Genesis told us to stay where we were and that she’d come find us.

I told Rose that it might be dangerous for Genesis to be walking the streets by herself. The masked ones who had engaged in the ritual could still be looking for us. Rose tried to tell Genesis about Mr. Arslanian and what we saw through his window, but Genesis just started laughing.

“You can tell it’s their first time tripping,” she said to someone else. “TJ’s coming with me. We’re on our way. Just sit tight,” Genesis told Rose before hanging up.

When we saw two figures approaching us, walking in the middle of the road, Rose jumped up and down with excitement. “They found us! We’re saved.”

She took off running towards her friend. I was shocked when both girls lifted up their shirts, revealing their bras underneath. They howled when they bumped their chests together.

Genesis’ boyfriend must have noticed my expression because he explained that was like their secret handshake. He introduced himself as TJ, while the girls were jumping all over each other. He looked like how I imagined he would, old as hell. He had long greasy hair, with a black cap over his head. A full beard, I must have looked like a child next to him. He wore a white t-shirt with holes in it and jeans that hung down below the waist. I didn’t like him. He instantly gave me bad vibes. I would have rather been lost with Rose forever.

As we walked back to the party, which apparently we were only a couple of blocks away from, the girls walked together ahead of us, chatting gleefully back and forth. Rose was telling Genesis that I was her boyfriend and Genesis was really excited about the whole thing.

TJ pulled me back to slow our pace, he grabbed my roughly. “You be good to our Rosie.” That instantly pissed me off. Rose was not his. “She’s a wild one. No experience but she’s ready to learn to fuck.” I was ready to kick this fucker’s ass.

“I coulda had her but she didn’t like the idea of a three-way relationship. She thought Genna would be mad at her but Genna said she woulda been cool with it.”

If Mr. A and his friends needed another sacrifice, I had just the guy for them.

“I never met two girls with such dirty minds,” he had the audacity to continue. “You’ll have fun wit her, I bet. But yo, if you’re gonna stick it to ‘er, don’t go ghost after tonight. That would make her sad. Which would make Genesis sad. Which would fuck wit my own life, ya feel me?”

“I don’t plan on ghosting her and I don’t plan on sleeping with her tonight either. I like her. I’m not trying to rush anything. I want to see where it goes.”

“Bro sex on acid is fucking magical. You should try it sometime. Are you having a good trip?”

“I’d be enjoying it more if I didn’t just see my old science teacher having a satanic ritual.”

He laughed at me, “You’re funny, man.”

We could hear the music from down the street and started to run towards it, grateful to be freed from the maze. Back at the party, my mood did a three-sixty. Genesis and TJ shared a joint with us, which put me on another level for sure, but the euphoria was back. Genesis kept taking pictures. Rose and I even danced. Our bodies moving to the music without having to think twice about it. After working up a sweat, we went to the refreshment table and drank some water.

“They’re so many of them! They’re multiplying,” Rose said, mesmerized by a tray of cupcakes. “Why’s no one eating them? I don’t want to be the only one who eats one. What’s wrong with these people?”

I encouraged her to just take one and she looked at me, her eyes mischievous.

“I have a better idea,” she grinned. “Carry the tray upstairs for me, I’m scared I’d drop it.”

“What do you want to do with them?” I asked.

“We could put the frosting on each other’s bodies and lick it off.” She didn’t have to tell me twice, I grabbed the tray and we headed to the second floor.

#fiction writer #romance writing #horror writing #poetry #writeblr #creative writing #amwriting #grunge asthetic #sleep paralysis #demons #cult

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yourkeeperoftherunners · 7 years

Text

Hello R2!

Plot: AU My friends and I are on vacation and they saw you pass them by while heading to the pool. I wanted to head up and sleep off the jet lag, but my friends convince me to go down to the hotel pool to see you in your cute R2-D2 swimsuit. At first I think they’re messing with me because I’m a huge Star Wars nerd, but once I see you trying to shove off thirsty male guests, I wanna run up, change, and show I’m a serious fan like you. Are you the droid I’m looking for?

Rating: PG-13 (Minor language, flirting)

Characters: Suho x Female Reader, Baekhyun, Xiumin, Chen

Notes: Based on a real swimsuit I own and a passing thought. This is an AU if the guys were normal individuals traveling somewhere on a break and happened to be staying at the same hotel as the reader. (No mention of their real life careers or fame.) Corresponding moodboard can be found here. Dedicating this one to @oh-beyond – it was too tempting to not write it.

“Yaaaaaahhhhhhh!!! Spring break – finaaaaaallllllyyy!” Baekhyun whooped as he threw his arms up.

“Hey watch your arms!” Chen snapped as he dodged Baekhyun’s outstretched right arm. “I’d like to start my break without a black eye, thanks to you!”

Baekhyun stuck his tongue out at Chen and Xiumin rolled his eyes as he watched them in the rear view mirror. “Hey you two, don’t start a fight in the backseat or else I’ll make you drive.” He cast a quick glance over at Suho who was looking back and forth from his phone to the road. “How much further to the hotel?”

Suho showed him the path and murmured that they needed to drive straight for 1.5 miles before turning left at the next intersection. He stifled a yawn and shifted in his seat, trying to stay alert.

“You could nap you know?” Chen spoke up as he leaned forward. “Just give me your phone – I’ll guide us the rest of the way.”

Suho shook his head no and allowed a small smile to cross his lips. He waved his hand and murmured that he was fine. “We’re almost there anyways – I can just nap in the room.”

“Which is Suho‘s way of saying ‘You’d get us lost Chen-ssi’,” Baek teased.

Chen whipped around and smacked Baekhyun hard in the arm, making the other yelp in pain. Xiumin knit his brows and muttered something in Chinese.

“You’re going to want to move over soon,” Suho noted as he pointed up ahead.

“Waaaaaaaaaaeeee?! It actually looks nice – I mean fancy nice!” Chen gasped as they walked through the automatic doors into a large lobby.

“Suho did good finding this deal!” Baek agreed as he scanned the lobby, nodding at the elegant touches of natural cut wood panels and pebbled floors.

Suho grinned as he put his bag down and leaned his arms on the desk. He and his friends saved up to go somewhere beautiful and far away from Korea for this spring break, especially after a grueling few months cramming for midterms.

About a month ago, his laptop dinged with a notification about this hotel offering a special rate for their spring break week – a suite for under $200 a night with free breakfast and light snacks in the afternoon. Not to mention a decent bundle with the car rental and flight that Xiumin scored a few days later. The only catch with the latter was they were unable to sit together. Xiumin ended up being moved to first class – Suho was pretty certain that the stewardess with caramel colored hair had something to do with the swap. Baekhyun was seated next to a tall redhead boy with a deep voice, Chen got an aisle seat next to a sweet elderly lady who kept patting his arm, and Suho ended up in the back next to a overly chatty pregnant woman who was expecting her firstborn in three months. The woman wasn’t bad per se, but whenever he wanted to sleep, she’d come up with a new story or topic to talk about or she had to ask him to stand up so she could go to the bathroom.

“You’re such a dear – I’m sorry for the constant up and down,” the woman told him toward the end of the flight. “I promise I’m not normally like this but with a little one on the way –”

“It’s fine M’am,” he said with a polite smile. “I hope he or she is healthy and happy.”

“Hello, who is the reservation under?” the clerk asked with a pleasant smile.

Suho fished out his passport and passed it over, along with a printout of the hotel confirmation. The clerk accepted both and began typing his name into the computer to pull up the room.

“How much do you think it cost to do this lobby?” Baekhyun whispered as he looked closely at one of the wood wall features.

“More than what we’re making right now,” Chen sighed as he heaved his bag higher on his shoulder. “Well, for now we can pretend we’re vacationing like kings!”

“I think I need coffee,” Xiumin mused as he scanned the lobby for the nearest cafe. He pouted when he couldn’t find one and flagged down a bellhop who was wheeling an empty luggage cart to the entrance. “Excuse me, where is the cafe in this hotel?”

The bellhop paused and started to point straight ahead, using his arm to show the directions – go straight past the check-in, hang a right, and go straight for 6 steps before going to the left. Chen joined them at the mention of coffee and frowned as he tried to follow the bellhop’s gestures. Baekhyun tore his gaze from the wall feature and walked over as the bellhop mentioned the specialty items on the menu.

“Try the coconut milk latte – highly recommend it!” the bellhop said before excusing himself.

“Sounds interesting,” Baekhyun murmured. “We getting coffee now?”

“I think Suho’s almost – woaaaaaahhhh...” Chen said as a woman passed them. He lowered his sunglasses as he watched you walk toward the direction of the pool, hair billowing behind you.

Xiumin blinked and turned his gaze to you, eyes widening as you moved further away. Baekhyun froze and craned his neck to get a better look at you, humming in appreciation about your figure clad in a pair of cutoff shorts and a one piece bathing suit.

“Guys is it just me or was she wearing a Star Wars bathing suit?” Chen asked as he turned to look at the others.

“Eh? I didn’t notice her bathing suit,” Baekhyun replied with a shrug. “Those legs looked so good in those shorts!”

“Yeah it was Star Wars themed,” Xiumin confirmed. “I think...R2-D2? It was white and blue but her hair kind of covered parts of it?”

“Aish, we should have stopped her!” Chen whined.

“Why? What would you have said to her?” Baekhyun asked as he tilted his head.

“No not for me! I would have wanted Suho-ssi to see her bathing suit! They could have talked about that series and given us a break!” Chen sighed.

To say their friend was a fan of Star Wars was, well, an understatement. Suho owned every Star Wars film (including the awful Star Wars Holiday Special VHS), t-shirt, and collectible toy you could think of. Someone in his family introduced him to the series and started his love of all things Star Wars. Hell, Baekhyun even recalled finding Star Wars boxers in Suho’s drawers once! He watched the movies all the time and tried to get his friends to discuss theories about the world of Star Wars and what was next for the latest trilogy. While his friends liked Star Wars too, they had to admit that it was hard to keep up with him. Sure it made holiday and birthday shopping easy for them, but sometimes Suho showing his Star Wars geek was tiresome to deal with.

“Here are the keys Mr. Kim, I hope you enjoy your stay,” the clerk replied with a bow as she passed over the room keys in an envelope.

Suho smiled as he accepted them and thanked her before hoisting his bag onto his shoulder and walking over to his friends. “Got the keys – wait what are you looking at?”

“Suho you missed her! The perfect girl for you!” Chen whined as he shook Suho’s arm.

Suho groaned as he yanked his arm free. As much as he liked his friends, they kept trying to set him up on dates but none of them ended very well. Either the girl had a conflicting schedule or she’d find his interest in Star Wars cringeworthy and would ditch immediately. At this point he was done trying to please his friends and decided he was better off focusing on his studies and supplementing his free time staying up to date with the news for Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

“Come on guys, let’s just get to the room and crash,” Suho sighed as he began heading to the elevator.

“Waaaaeeeeeeee! Suho, you’re just going to walk away from your dream girl?” Baekhyun demanded as he followed him.

“Yeah! She could be...the one!” Chen insisted as he caught up to Suho.

Xiumin ran ahead and blocked his path, preventing Suho from going any further. Suho huffed and tried to move around the older boy, only to find that he would move in the same direction as Suho to prevent him from getting away.

“Look, I know you’re tired but you have to believe us,” Xiumin said as he looked him in the eye. “While you were checking us in, this really pretty girl in a Star Wars bathing suit walked by and she was headed to the pool. I really think you should go find her.”

Suho opened his mouth to protest and Xiumin pouted, jutting out his plump lower lip and positioning his hands in the tulip pose. His eyes widened and took on a cute begging look. Suho stared at his friend for a few seconds and huffed. Damn Xiumin and his aegyo...

“Fine,” Suho sighed as he rolled his eyes. “But first, I wanna drop off our stuff in the room.”

“Want me to get your back, Miss Dalek?” a guy asked as he sank into the lounge chair next to yours.

You snapped your head up and twisted your lips into a frown. “Wrong robot, but nice try,” you remarked with a shake of your head.

“Heeeeeeyyyy Sexy Robot girl!” a beefy looking guy called out as he stopped by your chair. “I think I felt a spark when I saw you!”

“That’s gotta be one of the worst pickups I’ve ever heard,” you groaned, slapping your head with your palm.

“Babe, where are you?” a girl called out.

The beefy guy snapped his head up and made his way over to a model-like blonde with huge lips and lots of makeup on. She snaked her arm around him and began dragging him to the jacuzzi. Silently, you thanked your lucky stars that one was gone – what a mess!

You turned your attention back to braiding your hair and turned your back to the first guy who addressed you. Maybe, just maybe if you pretended he wasn’t there, he’d take a hint and leave you be. Part of you was starting to regret wearing this bathing suit but it was one of your favorites.

“So are you actually into this nerd stuff?” the first guy asked you. “Cause most girls don’t actually care about sci-fy and –”

“For the record, this “nerd stuff” is from my favorite film series Star Wars,” you corrected him with a roll of your eyes. “Second, who the fuck do you think you are telling me that I can’t care or like sci-fy?”

“Whoa! Whoa! Calm down!” the guy said as he held his hands up.

“Suho, you should have changed into your shorts!” Chen scolded as he nudged Suho toward the pool area.

Suho shrugged indifferently and scanned the area, expecting to see no one fitting his friends’ description of a girl in an R2-D2 bathing suit. Instead, his eyes snapped to the left and he saw one matching their description, who happened to be arguing heatedly with another guy.

“Babe, calm down! It was just a question!” the guy protested.

“I’m not your babe,” you shot back. “It’s really annoying to have people like you pretend to know things when in reality, you don’t know shit. Daleks are from Doctor Who, genius! They’re the mortal enemies of the Doctor! My suit is R2-D2 – the droid who guides Anakin through his first x-wing battle, stows the plans for the Death Star in his memory, and helps Luke Skywalker! How do you not know this?”

“Now do you believe us?” Xiumin asked as he glanced over at Suho. “If I were you, I’d catch her before she leaves so she knows there’s at least another true Star Wa– ahhhh Suho, where are you going?!”

Suho had turned and began walking quickly to the lobby, making a mad dash to the elevator before it closed.

“Look it’s an easy mistake to make!” the guy protested as he followed at your heels to the lobby.

“No, it’s a mistake to deal with an asshole like you when I’m on vacation!” you spat. “I came to relax and have fun but no, you just can’t keep it in your pants and have to assume that I’m some nerd school girl trope that will play dumb and get on my knees for you!”

Your ears were pounding and you huffed as you caught the elevator that was opening. You quickly pressed the button for your floor, followed by the Door Close button, not realizing that someone was in there with you. You froze when you saw the reflection in the doors and snapped your head up.

“Oh crap...I’m so sorry – you probably wanted to get out, didn’t you?” you asked as you turned around.

Suho held his hands up and shook his head, offering you a polite smile. “It’s fine, I can take it down after we reach your floor. It seemed like he was really bothering you.”

You nodded as you brushed a strand of hair out of your face and paused when you saw the design on this guy’s swim trunks. You blinked as you stepped closer before your eyes traveled up and down his body. Star Wars vintage tee, Star Wars logo baseball cap, and a really awesome pair of trunks with vintage Star Wars comic book covers all over.

“Am I dreaming or are you wearing a lot of Star Wars right now?” you asked as you looked up at him.

He ducked his head and nodded, rubbing the back of his neck. “I uh...I’m sort of one of those “I own every movie, t-shirt, and toy that I get my hands on” kind of fan,” he admitted. “I even got a film quality replica of Poe’s jacket this holiday from my parents – I wear it whenever I can. I mean, my friends have to pry it off my body sometimes because I wear it so much.”

“Shut up,” you breathed. “I can’t...I can’t believe I found another person who just gets my love of Star Wars. Where the Hell have you been all my life?”

He opened his mouth to reply but was interrupted by the ding of the elevator, signaling your floor. He smiled sheepishly before gesturing to the open doors. “Looks like it’s your floor,” he murmured.

You snorted before pressing the Door Close button and hitting the Lobby afterwards. “Changed my mind. Besides I wanna know what’s under the shirt Threepio. Although I’m sure you’re probably ripped compared to him.”

Suho blushed and you smirked as you slipped your fingers into his hand.

“C’mon you gotta say it,” you teased.

He swallowed hard and allowed a cheesy smile to cross his lips.

“This is the droid you’re looking for.”

#EXO AU #EXO Suho imagine #EXO Suho #Kim Junmyeon #EXO imagine #EXO Star Wars #Suho #Suho imagine #yourkeeperoftherunners original #number 2034

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readexplorerepeat · 7 years

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What we learned while backpacking. Paris and Rome.

Before we travel, I always make it a point to research the places we are planning on visiting for things like weather, customs, special laws, walk-ability, transit and transportation arrangements etc. Often times I find it very useful when I read tips and suggestions from other travelers and their experiences. SO, I thought I would put together a list of tips and suggestions from our own experience while we traveled in Europe.

1. TRAVEL LIGHT.

There is no need to carry a million items. Remember, people live there and there are many places to buy the essentials like toiletries and other products should you need them. So packing travel size items is totally the way to go. Your luggage will be less heavy and your back will thank you.

2. TAKE AN UMBRELLA/RAINCOAT

I guess this one depends on where and when you travel, but generally, I always take a small travel umbrella and a light raincoat. Many times in the past I've failed to take these items and the result? I get miserably soaked by the pouring rain. Especially if you are out and about sightseeing. A travel umbrella is so small, you can place it in a side pocket of your backpack with no problem and it is TSA approved. As far a a raincoat,I opt for a light raincoat (C0lumbia Sportswear worked perfectly). Make sure it is waterproof and not just water resistant (believe me...great difference).

3. PORTABLE CELL PHONE CHARGER

I use my cellphone to take all my pictures while traveling. I mean, the convenience of just having a small device which you can also use as a camera/phone/GPS and mini computer is just a great perk of living in the twenty first century...as such, I also have to deal with terrifying "low battery" pop up message that is inevitable when traveling. A small, portable cell phone charger is a life saver. You can check out all our pictures now and thank the creators of such neat device later.

4. PORTABLE SELFIE STICK FOR PICTURES

When we exerted ourselves up 37 stories just to reach the top of the Saint Peter's Basilica or the Notre-Dame top level to see the mystic gargoyles, it was worth it. But we also realized there's an incredible potential for amazing pictures that cannot be achieved with just stretching your hand. A selfie stick was the solution. A picture perfect solution.

5. TAKE A SCARF

Yes, It is HOT in many places in Europe in the summer days. This was especially true when we visited Rome. You will be tempted to wear just a tank top and shorts, or a sleeveless maxi-dress. It's the perfect attire for the warmth of this spectacular place...BUT be aware that MOST (if not all) churches, and sacred places in Rome - including the Vatican- will NOT let you in if you don't cover your shoulders (and your knees). A scarf is the perfect alternative to wrap around your neck and shoulders. and it also provides a very stylish way to accessorize your outfit. Locals in both, France and Italy wear scarves all the time, even in the summer months - and especially at night.

6. GIRLS, MAXI OR SUMMER DRESSES ARE A MUST

A perfect outfit when backpacking is one that you can dress up or dress down with ease. A maxi dress or a cute summer dress provides the perfect combination of style and comfort. Dress it up with a scarf or custom jewelry, or just wear it as it comes during the day. You can't go wrong with a dress.

7. TENNIS SHOES ARE TOTALLY OK

One of the things I was most worried about was the fact that I wanted to pick the right pair of shoes for Paris and Rome. I didn't want to look like an obvious tourist. I googled a million times and read a million blogs to investigate what kind of shoes other people were taking on their trips. All suggested comfortable walking shoes, and flats for women. Many stated to stay away from white tennis shoes. Let me tell you what I saw. An unbearable amount of both men and women wearing tennis shoes (as in Nike and Adidas). I also saw a lot of locals wearing white tennis shoes (usually Converse or Keds). So I wish I would've known this before picking my shoes. I opted for taking a pair of gray Bobs (by Sketchers) with the memory foam inserts. They were very comfortable walking shoes and they looked just fine with my outfits. Just remember, whatever shoe you pick, make sure they are made for walking (we walked an average of 10 miles per day), and make sure you break them in in advance!

8. WATERPROOF YOUR SHOES

I learned this one the hard way. Remember when I said we've gotten soaked by pouring rain in the past? Well, this includes our shoes. Let me tell you, there is nothing worse than walking around in wet soggy shoes all day. So this time, I knew better. I got a water-proof spray (make sure it works on fabric) and waterproofed my shoes all the way around. The result was as expected, and my feet did not get wet at all when it rained -Even when I accidentally stepped in a big puddle!.

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9. PARIS PASS/TRAIN PASS

Is it worth the money? Well, the answer depends on your needs. There are many alternatives on packages that you can get while in Paris. We definitely recommend to get the travel card even if you don't end up getting the whole Paris pass deal. Let me explain. The Paris Pass is a package deal that you can purchase online and pick up when you arrive at one of the many locations they offer. It includes a museum pass, an attraction pass, and a travel card. You can get it for two, three, four, or six days, depending on your needs. If you purchase the whole pass, you have access to over 60+ museums and attractions and unlimited metro, RER, and bus travel, a bus tour, fast track access to many museums, and a guide book. So here's how you decide. Make a list of the museums and attractions that you want to visit for sure, and if it's more economical to just pay for them individually (you can find the prices online) and if you are not interested in taking the bus tour either, then just get the travel card and a museum pass, or just a travel card and pay for the museum entries individually. We got the pass for convenience and peace of mind. For us it was worth it since we visited many places.

RELATED: PARIS: CITY OF LOVE AND MANY OTHER AMAZING THINGS

10. USE YOUR MANNERS

I'm embarrassed to admit that many Americans are perceived as rude in Europe. And unfortunately it is true. I observed how many of us forget to use our manners when talking to strangers in Europe. I'm going to give ourselves the benefit of the doubt and state that it could be (perhaps) the language barrier. Many people (including myself) get nervous and forget the few foreign words they know when someone speaks to them in another language. But either way, it's not an excuse. Don't forget to use your hellos and thank yous in the respective language. You will see a huge difference in the way locals respond to you.

11. DON'T FALL FOR STREET SCAMS

There are MANY scammers scampering the streets for their next victim. From innocent looking kids trying to convince you to sign a petition - while his/her friend steals your cellphone or wallet, from very young women posing as old and disabled gypsy ladies begging for money - you know they are not real when they won't show you their face. Many pickpockets and fake street performers that only want to distract you so you are an easier target. Also, there are many street sellers that will literally hand you an item and once you have it in your hand they will demand payment. Best thing to do; be vigilant of your surroundings and your belongings and you will be fine.

12. TRY EVERYTHING (FOOD/DRINK)

Forget diets! eat everything you can and enjoy a different culture through their cuisine. You only live once!

RELATED: ROME MUST EATS

RELATED: PARIS FOODIE EDITION

13. FACE THE HEIGHTS

The most beautiful views in Europe will be from the top of a mountain or building. We climbed Norte-Dame, Sacre-Coeur, and Saint Peter's Basilica (at 37 stories high) by foot. Hundreds of steps later, you will be awed by the incredible views you will find once you face your fear of heights and tight spaces. Especially in Paris, prepare to climb many, many steps all around the city.

14. CARRY A MAP

If you don't have constant internet access it's impossible to rely on your phone's GPS when you get lost in the city. Having a good map with clear street names can potentially save you your sanity when the time comes. This is a good advice also for a metro or RER maps. Plan your route in advance so you don't waste precious vacation time trying to figure out where to go and how to get there with no map.

15. SUMMER CAN GET HOT

I said it before, but I'll say it again. Summer can get hot, especially in Italy. If you are planning on visiting in June-August, plan accordingly and pack summer clothes. Shorts, dresses, sunglasses, and lots and lots of sun screen when you go out sightseeing.

RELATED: WHEN IN ROME

16. AMERICAN EXPRESS- NOT ACCEPTED EVERYWHERE

We wanted to minimize the amount of cash we carried, in case of pickpockets. Didn't want to risk getting robbed of all our money. We thought it was a good idea to pay with a credit card whenever possible. For the most part this worked great. BUT be advised, only Visa and Master Card are accepted in most places. Coco had an American Express card that was barely used because apparently Paris and Rome (even the very touristic places) do not accept American Express.

17. THE WI-FI SCAM

One thing I would like to point out is the fact that almost every cafe, restaurant, and shop in Paris advertises free Wi-Fi for their patrons. LIES. Now, this is only a theory based on observation, but it seems to me that advertising free Wi-Fi is a good tactic to get people to have a seat and order an espresso while they figure out their maps or they make a call using internet access (namely, us). But 8 out of 10 places do not really have this free Wi-Fi access. You have to request a password to access their network, and (if they provide it to you) the connections don't work. Our group was pretty technologically savvy and none of us could connect to most networks. When you ask the waitress for a correct password, they will say it is the password it was already provided and that it should work. Verdict: false advertisement just to get tourists to sit down while hunting for that precious Wi-Fi.

We all have different experiences every time we travel. It's our mission to share these with fellow travelers for informative purposes. We would also love to hear from you and your experiences! Comment below and tell us about your trip and backpacking experiences!

***TRAVEL WITH US! READ ABOUT OUR OTHER ADVENTURES HERE!

#Europe16

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unixcommerce · 4 years

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Denis Pombriant of Beagle Research – Give Employees Better Tech to Improve Your Business

A recent Zoho-sponsored survey of 500 North America business from Beagle Research Group found:

66% find high satisfaction in the work they do.

Only 4% report that their job is chaotic and difficult to do well.

69% agreed their job provides them with meaningful work they take pride in.

68% of front-office employees and 75 percent of back-office employees said they felt a sense of purpose in their work.

These number are pretty positive generally speaking, but when you also factor in that the survey was fielded in the midst of COVID-19 they really are impressive. But the numbers took a significant dip when employees were asked about the technology they are provided at work:

51% of employees categorized these systems inadequate in keeping them aligned with company goals while working remote

52% of those surveyed found their computing systems not conducive to their work, with that number growing to 56% at the small and medium enterprise level (businesses under 500 employees)

Denis Pombriant of Beagle Research on Employee Technology

I spoke with Denis Pombriant, longtime industry influencer and Managing Principal of Beagle Research, about the study findings, and to get his take on what kinds of tech will make the most difference in the post-COVID era.

You can listen to the full interview in the SoundCloud player and read the edited transcript of it below:

smallbiztrends · Denis Pombriant of Beagle Research – Giving Employees Better Tech Best Way to Improve Your Business

Denis Pombriant: Employee engagement is the result of a few things. It’s not a thing in itself. It’s a result of how well are your employees aligned with what you’re doing? How well are they led? How well are they trained? And then, you get engagement out at the other end. So we designed a questionnaire that would look at all four of those things. We actually grouped alignment and competence together and technology and employee engagement. What we discovered was that employees really like what they’re doing. Employees like their jobs, thought their bosses were pretty cool. Didn’t have any major issues. They felt fairly well aligned with the directions of the organization and felt that the organization did a pretty good job of communicating with them about the mission and what have you.

What we also discovered though, was that they’re using a Balkanized set of technology that doesn’t make their jobs any easier. And the conclusion I drew from it is that if you want to improve company performance, it’s not going to be in training. It’s not going to be in alignment or engagement. Those things were all pretty well covered. The thing that’s going to improve your business is the technology that you’re giving your employees to do their job.

I think what it also shows is that employees probably don’t know what they’re missing.

They just know that their jobs are a little bit harder because they have… three, four, five screens open or windows open at the same time. They can have their phones open trying to pull everything together and do their jobs. And that’s just asking an awful lot.

And it really shows up in when you ask people, “Why do you typically lose business?” And the answers they come up with is, “I didn’t have the right information to offer something valuable to the vendor.” Or, “I got snookered by a competitor who got there faster with better information.” And so that’s another reason that my conclusion is that if we had better tools, we’d be doing a better business.

Small Business Trends: What impact do you think the pandemic had on the survey results?

Denis Pombriant: Well, I would like to redo the survey in another six months and see. But in the middle of it, people were trying to get used to working at home and not go into the office. And we asked some pointed questions. “Do you think this technology that you’re using right now is sufficient to help you do your job remotely?” And I forgot what the numbers were, but I think the majority, maybe not a super majority, but a majority said, “Yeah, yeah, we could probably get through doing our job this way.” But another plurality, at least if not a small majority said, “Oh, I don’t ever expect to have to do this job remotely.” So, the dime was not totally cast.

Small Business Trends: I find that interesting that only 4% said that their job was chaotic. Even though they’re going through a very chaotic situation with Covid-19 and their technology doesn’t appear to be what they think will really help them do their job. That feels a bit out of balance there a little bit.

Denis Pombriant: It does. And to try to analyze that, I invented a scoring system that proved to be very insightful and influential. Most of the questions were asked, do you agree or disagree on a scale of one to five. So one and two were strongly agree, agree. Four and five were disagree, strongly disagree. Three in the middle was neutral. And what we discovered was that if you take… You can make a ratio, throw out the neutrals. Make a ratio of agree and over disagree and you get a number. And what we discovered was that when these people had bad news to report, the neutrals went way up. So, when we were asking a question like, “How do you like your job?” We had like over five to one, I love my job. And like 20% neutrals.

When we asked about technology, we got two to one and about 38% neutrals. So people really didn’t want to give you an answer if it was bad. In the report I say, it’s like what your mother used to tell you. If you don’t have anything good to say, don’t say anything. And I saw this in the math. And what was interesting to me is that… It’s legitimate to not have an opinion. However, if we’re talking about the job that you do eight hours a day, not having an opinion is I think a suspect answer.

Small Business Trends: Do you foresee that the current environment is making people feel less comfortable being truthful about whether they like their job or not?

Denis Pombriant: Well, first of all, I agree with you. I think some of the people answering the survey were a little fragile. Fragile from the perspective of, “ am I going to have a job in three weeks?” And so I think returning to that questioning in six months, especially if we have a path forward. We know that there’s a vaccine that’s going to be out shortly. We’ve done our social distancing and our mask wearing. The hot spots are way down. Florida looks then like New York looks today. It didn’t have any COVID deaths over the weekend, something like that.

Small Business Trends: That’s great.

Denis Pombriant: That’s great.

Small Business Trends: Yeah.

Denis Pombriant: So I think you go out six months and all of those things are true. You could see people being a lot less fragile.

Small Business Trends: What can the right technology add to those numbers? Because it seems like employees are feeling pretty good already.

Denis Pombriant: Yeah. The numbers look pretty good, but I think the context you have to look at them in is that this is a broad based study. It surveyed a lot of people across North America, including Canada and the United States. And what it says is that everybody’s got about the same level of technological support. Now, we all know digital disruption is real and people are working like crazy to understand digital disruption and digitize the business processes that they can to have better results.

If you go forward from that proposition, you can easily see a stratification of companies. The ones that do a lot in terms of digital disruption and the ones that don’t. And over time, you’re going to see winners and relative losers. So I think what this saying is that now’s a good time to adopt technology that can support your users better. It also gives you a place to look at what are the processes that my people do? What are the processes that require them to be in four screens at once in order to get enough information to serve a customer? What are the apps that I’m letting customers use? And what is the fallout rate on people? Are my customers using them and liking them or are they just saying, “Oh, this is terrible.” And giving up on it?

So it’s an important point in time. It’s a snapshot in time, a checkpoint. It’s a no man’s land. I would say, you don’t want to be here in a year. You want to be doing something.

Small Business Trends: Were you surprised that only 10% of employees felt like they had what they needed to have a full understanding/view of their customers?

Denis Pombriant: Well, it wasn’t surprising per se. It was okay. This is where we are. So for example, there were single digit responses to questions like we can talk to our applications. We have voice interface.

Small Business Trends: Right.

Denis Pombriant: Or my apps recommend the next best thing to do, single digits. So yeah, we’ve been here before. Maybe things have gone up and down a little bit. But in the 20 years that I’ve been following CRM, it strikes me that it’s only within the last handful of years, that we’ve really had technology that would change the equation. You go back 10, 15 years and what you had was an application that was pretty much an old fashioned relational database application. You could add, change, delete. You could get reports. And other than that, you had to apply your own intelligence to figure out what are the deals I need to work on today for example. There was no next best algorithm lurking. So, we have gone a long way in the last 20 years. I think in the last few years, we finally started applying analytics and some of the things that we need to actually improve the way we do work.

One-on-one Interviews

This article, “Denis Pombriant of Beagle Research – Give Employees Better Tech to Improve Your Business” was first published on Small Business Trends

https://smallbiztrends.com/

The post Denis Pombriant of Beagle Research – Give Employees Better Tech to Improve Your Business appeared first on Unix Commerce.

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businessreviewguidenow · 4 years

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Denis Pombriant of Beagle Research – Give Employees Better Tech to Improve Your Business

A recent Zoho-sponsored survey of 500 North America business from Beagle Research Group found:

66% find high satisfaction in the work they do.

Only 4% report that their job is chaotic and difficult to do well.

69% agreed their job provides them with meaningful work they take pride in.

68% of front-office employees and 75 percent of back-office employees said they felt a sense of purpose in their work.

51% of employees categorized these systems inadequate in keeping them aligned with company goals while working remote

52% of those surveyed found their computing systems not conducive to their work, with that number growing to 56% at the small and medium enterprise level (businesses under 500 employees)

Denis Pombriant of Beagle Research on Employee Technology

You can listen to the full interview in the SoundCloud player and read the edited transcript of it below:

smallbiztrends · Denis Pombriant of Beagle Research – Giving Employees Better Tech Best Way to Improve Your Business

I think what it also shows is that employees probably don’t know what they’re missing.

Small Business Trends: What impact do you think the pandemic had on the survey results?

Small Business Trends: Do you foresee that the current environment is making people feel less comfortable being truthful about whether they like their job or not?

Small Business Trends: That’s great.

Denis Pombriant: That’s great.

Small Business Trends: Yeah.

Denis Pombriant: So I think you go out six months and all of those things are true. You could see people being a lot less fragile.

Small Business Trends: What can the right technology add to those numbers? Because it seems like employees are feeling pretty good already.

So it’s an important point in time. It’s a snapshot in time, a checkpoint. It’s a no man’s land. I would say, you don’t want to be here in a year. You want to be doing something.

Small Business Trends: Were you surprised that only 10% of employees felt like they had what they needed to have a full understanding/view of their customers?

Small Business Trends: Right.

One-on-one Interviews

This article, “Denis Pombriant of Beagle Research – Give Employees Better Tech to Improve Your Business” was first published on Small Business Trends

source https://smallbiztrends.com/2020/07/denis-pombriant-beagle-research-interview.html

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taebabysbirthday · 5 years

Text

Zach Gage Views of iPhones iOS

Computer programmer Zach Gage has released some great iOS apps. We catch up with him and ask about his work, his life and programming in general.

Q: Tell us about yourself.

A: I’m an artist and a video games developer, and I live in NYC! I'm very lucky in that my day job is doing those things independently. I've been working with computers my whole life. I hooked up our first computer (a Mac LC) when I was six they were pretty easy to hook up. In college, I moved away from programming and pursued more traditional arts (painting, photography, drawing, design), and then after finishing up there I got back into programming through art.

I started making conceptual artworks, digital sculptures, websites, one of the first twitter bots and an iOS sound toy called SynthPond which led me to doing iOS development and reignited my interest in game design. I still do art and games, and see them as stemming from the same creative process. In fact, I just released my latest piece, a conceptual game about Twitter. It's called Twitter Teaches Typing.

Q: How did you get started?

A: I got started in games design with a program called HyperCard when I was seven or eight. It didn't have any programming elements, but you could draw scenes and link them to each other with buttons, so I could make rudimentary point-and-click adventure games. Soon after that I moved onto Apple's Cocoa (which is different to what cocoa is now). It was a very cool visual programming language that was eventually spun off as Stagecast Creator, and is now wholly defunct. When I was in middle school, I went to computer camp where I learned BASIC and then C++. I can't recall my first program, but the first thing I sold commercially was a puzzle platforming game called Escape From Pluto. I sold exactly one copy to one of my friends through a website that let you put games up for sale way back before the year 2000.

Q: What do you think the iOS app store has brought to programming and software sales?

A: I don't think the App Store has really made programming much easier, although learning to program is definitely easier these days. Things like www.processing. org are on the forefront of this. The App Store has definitely made software sales quite a bit easier though, especially for one-man shops like mine. Being able to get started selling things without needing to figure out credit card processing and country-specific taxes, especially in foreign countries, is a huge deal also, being able to see your game or app on a professional store is pretty exciting for people just getting started. When I grew up you had to go to computer stores (which basically don't exist anymore) to get software. I think if I'd been able to sell my little games in boxes on shelves at the store and had been able to tell relatives and friends “Check out my new game! It's at the store”, that would have been extremely cool to me.

For a while, the App Store made marketing easier as well, which was a huge boon to me. Apple still helps significantly with PR if you can manage to get featured, but I think getting above the noise to get the attention of Apple (or anyone) has become a lot harder as the number of apps releasing every day has skyrocketed. I still think Apple does a great job finding small new games, but there's just so much out there. At this point, to get above that initial noise, you kind of need to have your PR together right off the bat or you need to be well networked to people who can help promote you.

Q: You have some pretty zany apps in your collection, such as Really Bad Chess, and Ridiculous Fishing. Where do you get your ideas from?

A: I think about games a lot, and ideas come naturally all the time. Often I have more ideas than I know what to do with, but I like to make quick prototypes of anything that seems like it might be good. I probably discard nine out of ten prototypes, but occasionally something will click and I'll build it out further.

I feel like ideas are important, but ultimately pretty cheap. Most of the difference between something great and something awful is how you put it together. I’ve had so many ideas that sat on a shelf for years because I lacked the core component that would make them amazing. Usually it’s something right under my nose! Ideas are like weird magical universes, and games are just one tiny corner of that universe that's interesting. The real work is in finding those corners, and then figuring out how to share them with people.

Q: What’s your favourite app you’ve written, and why?

A: I don't play favourites with my work. I love them all equally while I'm building them, and find them all utterly exhausting afterwards. I guess if I was forced to choose, Really Bad Chess might be my favourite. It's not often that you get to turn a 1,500-year-old game upside down with such a simple change. I think my games surprise me in terms of how deep and interesting they are when I'm prototyping them (that surprise is the key thing I look for), but Really Bad Chess went much deeper than that. I didn't expect it to transform the experience of learning chess the way it did.

Q: What advice would you give to someone who wants to start app programming?

A: I don't think our ideas should be led by technology. We live in an amazing future time where we're surrounded by these incredible devices all the time and they inspire us and awe us with their power, but ideas built around "what if I had an app that did..." or "imagine a VR game where..." are almost never fruitful. They rely too much on their relationship to technology to be deep. What makes great ideas great is how they build deep connections into our lives.

Someone with very little experience should first think only about the best way to get into programming, because learning programming (any kind of programming) is the gateway to turning your ideas into actual things, and until you've done that, you can't even understand what it means to really even have an idea for a program. I think www.processing.org or https://p5js.org are great places to learn to program. If you're interested in making games, YoYo Games' Gamemaker (www.yoyogames.com/gamemaker) is great, and so is Twine (http://twinery.org). Another pretty good option is to use a html5/javascript library like Phaser (https://phaser.io). The common thread amongst these tools is not only are they designed to be easy to use and accessible but they all have strong communities where you can get help and share your creations. Gamemaker games can compile for iOS, and Twine runs as a website or can be wrapped with something like PhoneGap to run as an app, and Phaser has a whole suite of methods for using touch controls and running as a website (or as an app through something like PhoneGap). None of these programs require having a Mac or an iOS device to start, although you'll need both later (along with an Apple Developer Account) to compile and submit games to the App Store. If you’re dead set on starting with iOS programming proper, I'd recommend having a modern iPhone and a Mac of some kind. Most people use phones instead of iPads and I think you should set your sights as small as possible and only design a game or app for one type of device. iPads and iPhones have pretty drastically different use-cases and you don't want to fall into a trap of having to support a bunch of extra features just to include all devices or the trap of not putting your best foot forward by just releasing something that’s universal but isn't really a great experience. Swift is a fine starting language, but having to learn a professional IDE (Xcode) can be a real struggle for a beginner.

Q: What pitfalls are there when getting an app on the App Store?

A: There’s about a million pitfalls and a billion things it takes to make something successful. If you're looking for a career in this space, the most important thing you can do is have patience. It took me three years and six games and each game I built did worse than the previous one. Years ago I asked around with other successful indies and three years seemed to be the minimum amount of time it took people and that was when getting attention was much easier, so the biggest pitfall is quitting your day job before you have a successful app.

Don't quit your day job. I don't say this as a discouragement, but as advice. You need a revenue stream to maintain your sanity and be relaxed enough to learn the things you need to learn and to make sure you continue to enjoy undertaking this long and arduous process. You need to be able to take risks without the failures destroying you. While I was getting started, I did freelance ad work.

There's so much to learn and everything is constantly changing and shifting under your feet. How do I turn this idea into a real thing? How do provisioning profiles work? How do I understand crash reports? How can I navigate all the strange idiosyncrasies of the app submission process? How do I reach out to journalists and bloggers? How do I network without coming off like a jerk? How do I promote myself without coming off like a jerk? How do I promote myself in a way that feels comfortable to me? How do I amass a fan-base? How much should I charge? How do I build in-app purchases that feel fair? How do I design good screenshots or write a great description? What makes a good name and icon? How do I pitch an idea or story? Who is my audience? What makes my work meaningful? How do I work with ad networks? How do I support the GDPR? What analytics should I use? How do I use analytics? How do I support my work over the long-term? How do I stay sane reading reviews and responding to bug reports? This is just a tiny selection of the kinds of things you'll have to figure out to get a foothold in this industry and the answers to all of these questions are ever-changing, personally variable and bring up many more questions. It sounds scary, but it's not so bad if you take it one thing at a time, but that means giving yourself the kind of environment where you have the space to screw up and the stressfree time to learn slowly. This means releasing many things and not relying on your apps for survival. Successes never come out of the blue, and even the ones that got really lucky are never the first things someone tried. Make sure you give yourself space to try and fail and learn over and over again and make sure that kind of process is the sort of thing that will energise you and give you joy. I hope that wasn't too depressing, but I think pragmatism is important in this line of work. I honestly love this hectic and ridiculous environment, as someone doing risky things; it really benefits me to work in a space where risk is required to find success.

Q: How has the App Store changed over the years?

A: The App Store is ever-changing, so it's hard to pinpoint one thing. I'm not sure anything at all is the same as it was at the outset. The main language people code in has changed. Most of the APIs have shifted. Device screen sizes, resolutions and aspect ratios are different. The design of the App Store and the way games and apps are promoted has changed several times. There are significantly more apps coming out every day than there were at the start. The ecosystem around the App Store has seen the birth and death of many sites and communities. Working with Apple has changed significantly as Apple's priorities have shifted, allocating more resources to the App Store and developers. Communicating with users and managing reviews has changed a lot too. I don't do much differently due to the crowded market. My goal has always been to promote gaming literacy and critical thought to the new communities of players that have shown up since the advent of mobile gaming, and that means that I don't just make games that are approachable to these players, it also means pitching stories to non-gaming or non-tech focused websites and publications. Surprisingly, these markets haven't actually gotten a lot more crowded even though public interest in video games has gone up significantly, so actually the PR part of my work hasn't changed as much as you would expect.

Q: What Apps from other developers are currently taking up your spare time?

A: About a month ago I finished DR. MEEP, which I really loved. I've recently got back into Pokemon GO. The app they made for the Apple Watch is amazing! I've also been playing some Holedown. On the App side of things I use Dark Sky, Fantastical and Reeder, amongst all the standard stuff (Kindle, Audible, Twitch, etc.

A: My wife and I still play Ascension all the time. I also love 868-Hack, Mario Run, A Dark Room, Eliss Infinity, Canabalt, Hook Champ, Threes, Sword & Sworcery, 7 Little Words, King Cashing, Windosill, Super Hexagon, Lost Cities, Blackbar, Boson X, Kero Blaster, VVVVVV, Desert Golfing, Crossy Road, Stellar Smooch, Reigns, and Florence.

Q: What is your development process?

A: I make about forty prototypes a year. Around four to eight of those are good. What I'm looking for with a prototype is for it to be more interesting than I initially thought it would be. Then I try to make some quick design decisions to build upon whatever aspect of them was surprising and interesting. If I'm successful, I usually get a little game that can hold my attention for ten to twenty hours. Maybe two or three of those initial prototypes makes it this far a year. At that point, I need to figure out how to build upon the game again, turning it from something that's fun for ten to twenty hours into something that is fun ideally, forever. Usually only one game makes it that far each year, but also one of the twenty or so prototypes I have kicking around from previous years rears its ugly head and I get an idea that works for it. This tends to result in about two new games a year. I'm basically constantly bailing water out of my boat, but the water is games and every time I get halfway through emptying the boat, I get some other idea that I have to work on right at that moment. It's pretty exhausting, but I feel like if I don't get these games out it's a disservice to the work and the ideas that went into them.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: Right now I have a number of promising prototypes going that I don't want to talk about publicly yet and I'm taking some time to revisit my older games that are still on the App Store to update them and add some significant new features.

Heres his iphone buying guide 2019

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zipgrowth · 5 years

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10 Oculus Go Virtual Reality Apps to Try in the Classroom

The day the Oculus Go released in May, I rushed to Best Buy to get the virtual reality device, which is owned by Facebook, before they sold out. To my surprise, the staff had no idea what I was describing. Fortunately, I was able to find it at the customer service desk, and I was the first customer to purchase it at that store.

Currently, there are two purchase options available: the Oculus Go with 32 GB of storage at $199 or 64 GB of storage at $249. I opted to get more storage as I test many apps to make recommendations for educators, so the extra $50 was worth the price for double the amount of storage.

My first impression of the Oculus Go was the quality of the experience. I typically emphasize using devices that are common in classrooms, such as iPads, Chromebooks and student/teacher phones. But the quality, convenience and cost of the Oculus Go make this product worth evaluating for classroom curriculum.

When I first shared the device with my own children, I guided them to the experiences I believed they would enjoy. From roller coasters to “Face Your Fears” (a scary game that has you facing common phobias), my family appreciated each VR encounter.

My “A-ha” moment came when I noticed how my children used the device when I didn’t direct them. In the following weeks, my device would go missing, and I would find my children wearing the Oculus Go in their rooms. Instead of playing VR games, they were watching shows and movies through my connected Hulu and Netflix accounts.

In disbelief, I asked why they would use the Oculus Go for this reason when the television is always available. They shared that the VR space is customizable to their preference, and they didn’t feel the same sense of interruption as they would when watching television. While I don’t believe our students need to use the Oculus Go for entertainment in the classroom, I did note that this VR device can potentially help our students focus and reduce distractions while providing a personalized experience.

The Oculus Go offers options for both a single player mode, where the student can engage in VR activities independently, or a group mode, where they can play games together or collaborate in group discussions/meetings with other users.

Unlike the Oculus Rift, the Oculus Go is completely stand-alone, and does not require a computer to plug into or cords that tether students to a specific location. To get the most out of your device all you really need is access to reliable Wi-Fi. Using a single remote, the user can navigate the VR space by swiping, selecting and moving around to play, create and explore the many apps available in the Oculus Go Experiences—a kind of app store for the device. I’ve compiled my top 10 favorite experiences to use in the classroom, listing only one paid app to consider. The other nine apps are free.

Given budget restrictions, most educational institutions would likely limit Oculus Go purchases to a few devices for station or group work. Schools that have limited devices can mirror the experience onto another device, such as a computer or smartphone when connected to the same network. The opportunity for other students to share the Oculus experience enables group collaboration and teamwork opportunities. When using them in class, I’ve seen some educators require at least two students per device. While one student is exploring and describing, the other student captures notes and details before swapping roles.

Looking Glass (FREE)

Arrive in the past as you explore history through the “Looking Glass.” The app brings you into a 360-degree view of a room that showcases the years 1892 to 1933. Students can listen to music, view writings, artifacts, images and more as you step into a former time when 3D viewers were first developed. Warning: coming back into the present can be somewhat disappointing.

Wonderful You (FREE)

The creative design and vivid images in this app bring the student into a captivating encounter inside the womb. Watch the growth of the baby from the early weeks to full development and interact with the child using the five senses. Each scene includes breathtaking illustrations and specific details on each stage of development, which makes this app perfect for the classroom.

MasterWorks: Journey Through History (FREE)

I was fascinated with the view from Mount Rushmore, especially from my location under the monumental stone sculptures. While the option for real-world tourists to view the national memorial is only from the visitor center or trails, the VR experience brings the student onto the rocks and the monument. Listen to audio clips as you explore the space that describes the tools used, the challenges the carvers faced and the inspiration behind the creation of the monument.

Gala360 See the World - Camp Fire in Paradise (FREE)

I watched hours of news coverage on the Camp Fire in Paradise, Calif., but there is no 2D experience that I can compare to the VR story by Gala360. Driving through the streets in Paradise, the student is immersed into the horrific reality of that devastating fire. I was shocked and saddened as I looked around to see homes, vehicles and structures completely burned to the ground. The Gala360 app has many other stories, and the opportunity for our students to build empathy while growing in understanding are endless.

MEL Chemistry Labs (FREE)

A frequently requested resource in AR and VR is the periodic table, and MEL Chemistry labs bring it to life, showing the relevance of each element. Build an atom through exploratory learning and discover the benefits and fun of exploring chemistry.

Calcflow (FREE)

Visualizing mathematical functions in 2D is rendered unnecessary by Calcflow. The app brings difficult concepts to a basic display, while uniquely presenting data. View the examples provided or customize your function to graph your own data.

CoSpaces (FREE)

The CoSpaces app is a platform to build, code and share your virtual and augmented reality creations. While the mobile, tablet and web-based platform allow students to create content, the Oculus Go app is a space for viewing gallery items you’ve already created.

Anne Frank House VR (FREE)

My journey through Anne Frank’s house was mesmerizing. I lost track of my bearings as I traveled from room to room, learning more about Anne’s emotional experience as she faced each day in fear for her life. As I entered each room, I felt as if Anne had invited me on a tour of her journey, and I left the experience with more understanding and compassion for the Jewish people that faced this horrific event.

AltSpace (FREE)

It’s no surprise that the Facebook-owned device is heavily focused on social collaboration. The AltSpace app is a VR meeting space that offers breakout rooms for live events, games, entertainment and more. While we may not be ready to bring our students into public VR spaces, we are approaching a new era of global collaboration and VR looks more promising to eventually offer this option to our classrooms.

Apollo 11 ($4.99)

After my experience with Apollo 11, I strongly recommend this app being your first purchase for the Oculus Go. Many of the scenes left me in awe, especially when I glimpsed the perfect view of Earth. In the app, the viewer has the option of either a cinematic experience, to sit back and watch in 360, or an interactive experience to help support a successful mission.

Concerns to Consider

There are many reasons to find value using the Oculus Go in the classroom, but I have some concerns that teachers should consider. On occasion, after using the Oculus Go for an extended period, I’ve experienced some nausea. Consider limiting the amount of time students spend in the device to reduce this problem. Each app has a comfort level listed, ranging from “comfortable” to “intense” to provide guidance for sensitive VR users. Beginning with apps at the comfortable level would be a wise choice. Then move into more intense levels as you find beneficial and appropriate for your students.

While using the Oculus Go, a fully-charged device can run quite some time before needing another charge. The problem many users are finding is maintaining a charge because the full shutdown of the device is somewhat tricky and can drain your battery quickly. I’ve had to change the battery on my remote several times as I rarely shutdown my device, and I finally began taking out the battery when I’m not using the Oculus Go to maintain battery life.

Before you add the Oculus Go to your budget, consider what’s ahead in 2019. Oculus is releasing their upcoming device, called the Quest, with an expected release date in the spring of 2019. The standalone device will use insight tracking to allow the viewer to sit or stand in large or small indoor areas. The dual remotes will give the user more options for experiences and creating products in VR. While the price will increase, with a starting point set at $399, the device is expected to be improved and more practical for classroom integration. Moreover, the technology will provide a more useful resource for deeper learning and interaction. I anticipate the Oculus Quest will be on many teachers wish lists in 2019. Happy viewing!

10 Oculus Go Virtual Reality Apps to Try in the Classroom published first on https://medium.com/@GetNewDLBusiness

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unixcommerce · 4 years

Text

Denis Pombriant of Beagle Research – Give Employees Better Tech to Improve Your Business

A recent Zoho-sponsored survey of 500 North America business from Beagle Research Group found:

66% find high satisfaction in the work they do.

Only 4% report that their job is chaotic and difficult to do well.

69% agreed their job provides them with meaningful work they take pride in.

68% of front-office employees and 75 percent of back-office employees said they felt a sense of purpose in their work.

51% of employees categorized these systems inadequate in keeping them aligned with company goals while working remote

52% of those surveyed found their computing systems not conducive to their work, with that number growing to 56% at the small and medium enterprise level (businesses under 500 employees)

Denis Pombriant of Beagle Research on Employee Technology

You can listen to the full interview in the SoundCloud player and read the edited transcript of it below:

smallbiztrends · Denis Pombriant of Beagle Research – Giving Employees Better Tech Best Way to Improve Your Business

I think what it also shows is that employees probably don’t know what they’re missing.

Small Business Trends: What impact do you think the pandemic had on the survey results?

Small Business Trends: Do you foresee that the current environment is making people feel less comfortable being truthful about whether they like their job or not?

Small Business Trends: That’s great.

Denis Pombriant: That’s great.

Small Business Trends: Yeah.

Denis Pombriant: So I think you go out six months and all of those things are true. You could see people being a lot less fragile.

Small Business Trends: What can the right technology add to those numbers? Because it seems like employees are feeling pretty good already.

So it’s an important point in time. It’s a snapshot in time, a checkpoint. It’s a no man’s land. I would say, you don’t want to be here in a year. You want to be doing something.

Small Business Trends: Were you surprised that only 10% of employees felt like they had what they needed to have a full understanding/view of their customers?

Small Business Trends: Right.

One-on-one Interviews

This article, “Denis Pombriant of Beagle Research – Give Employees Better Tech to Improve Your Business” was first published on Small Business Trends

https://smallbiztrends.com/

The post Denis Pombriant of Beagle Research – Give Employees Better Tech to Improve Your Business appeared first on Unix Commerce.

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