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turtle-paced · 3 years

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Revisiting Chapters: Jon IX, ADWD

It’s been a while!

The story so far…

Stannis might have left Castle Black to campaign for Winterfell, but the problems he’s brought to the Wall are sticking around. Plus there’s that pesky ongoing humanitarian crisis with the Free Folk for Jon to deal with too.

Royal Newcomers

The chapter begins with Selyse Baratheon’s arrival at Castle Black, her particular faction in tow. Jon’s not taking chances here, as he brings along his own retinue for the introductions just to make sure Selyse doesn’t mistake him for a stableboy. Sure enough, the first thing she does is mistake him for a functionary. Jon’s prepared for this, having read some reports from Cotter Pyke at Eastwatch. It seems that the folks at Eastwatch did not much like Selyse or her retinue. Axell Florent was highlighted as being standout unpleasant. Shireen, poor thing, blushes when Jon offers her some basic courtesy. Patchface is not officially introduced, but Jon’s got Cotter Pyke’s notes on him anyway.

Finally, there’s the other “curious member” of Selyse’s entourage: a man dressed like the Mad Hatter, Tycho Nestoris, representative of the Iron Bank. Jon’s prepared for that too, considering the banker “more welcome than this queen.” We’ll talk about him in a bit.

Before Jon can deal with the guest he wants, though, he has to deal with the guests he doesn’t. He leads Selyse and company to their assigned quarters, and their exchange as Jon escorts her to the prepared quarters reads like barely-veiled impoliteness judo.

“How kind of you to make room for us.” The queen’s words were courteous enough, though her tone said, It is no more than your duty, and you had best hope these quarters please me.

For his part, Jon wastes no time hinting that Selyse should maybe, you know…not be here.

“Your Grace,” said Jon Snow, “my builders have done all they can to make the Nightfort ready to receive you…yet much of it remains in ruins. […] You might be more comfortable back at Eastwatch-by-the-Sea.”

He hits the point again, too, in about two sentences. Message received - neither party wants Selyse and company to be here and neither party likes it.

It’s also worth noting that despite Jon’s observation that Selyse’s party must be cold and hungry, Selyse wants to go see Melisandre first. First, keeping in mind all the things in this very storyline about who’s waiting upon whom…who’s waiting upon whom, here? Who is queen here? Second, this does indeed show us Selyse’s priorities. Religion first. Third, since Selyse’s party must follow her, it’s a bit of an asshole move for her to go seek out her spiritual advisor while the rest of her cold and hungry party is delayed in receiving the warmth and food of the Night’s Watch common room.

The basic upshot of this is that Selyse refuses to return to Eastwatch, but the Nightfort is uninhabitable, which means that she’s stuck at Castle Black for the forseeable future. As they head towards Selyse’s new quarters, however, there is an interruption.

An enormous shadow emerged from behind the shell of the Lord Commander’s Tower. Princess Shireen gave a shriek, and three of the queen’s knights gasped in harmony. Another swore. “Seven save us,” he said, quite forgetting his new red god in his shock.

“Don’t be afraid,” Jon told them. “There’s no harm in him, Your Grace. This is Wun Wun.”

Jon introduces Wun Wun politely, explaining the language barrier and the context in which Wun Wun has found himself at Castle Black. His compassion is clear as he remembers that Ygritte cried for the deaths of the giants. He makes it clear that Wun Wun is his guest. In response, what he gets from the queen’s party is…less tolerant. Selyse describes Wun Wun as “bestial”, Axell Florent is disgusted that Jon would afford Wun Wun guest right, and when Wun Wun laughs at Patchface, another knight draws his sword.

That last knight is Ser Patrek of King’s Mountain. Jon sternly tells the man that in the north, guest right is sacred - and Wun Wun is Jon’s guest. For the reminder, Ser Patrek takes over escorting Selyse to quarters. Jon allows it.

This doesn’t mean he’s done with Selyse’s entourage for the day. After the interlude with Tycho Nestoris I’ll discuss in just a bit, he encounters Axell Florent. Jon’s inclined to dislike him just on what he’s heard.

If he is not a kinslayer, he is the next best thing. Axell Florent’s brother had been burned by Melisandre, Maester Aemon had informed him, yet Ser Axell had done little and less to stop it. What sort of man can stand idly by and watch his own brother being burned alive?

Asks Jon, who later finds himself utterly unable to stand by while he believes his sister is in Ramsay Snow’s clutches.

Axell’s got an agenda. He wants to know where ‘the wildling princess’ is. Jon dodges the question by informing Axell, accurately, that the Free Folk do not see Val as any sort of princess. Another cultural misunderstanding that Selyse’s entourage have no intention of remedying. Axell is persistent, though, and presses Jon to ‘bring her out’. Jon leans heavily on etiquette to dodge that one - I mean, he’s right, Val’s not a horse to be paraded for inspection, but this gets nasty.

“Must I speak to the queen? A word from Her Grace and I can have this wildling girl delivered naked to the hall for our inspection.”

[…]

“The queen would never presume upon our hospitality,” Jon said, hoping that was true. Now I fear I must take my leave, before I forget the duties of a host.”

Tell me how you want to punch a guy in the mouth without telling me you want to punch a guy in the mouth, Jon. Anyway, Axell’s complete lack of class left it open for Jon to decline with a mild to moderate amount of grace, if without any plausible deniability.

Surely, these guests will be nothing but pleasant, and relations continue smoothly between them.

Debt or Death

But Jon does not let Selyse’s party go without a word to another of Selyse’s guests. As Jon’s internal narration mentioned earlier:

Jon Snow had thought of little since.

First up on the agenda are the ships that Tycho Nestoris came with. Three, because the Iron Bank likes redundancy. Plus the storms are getting worse out there. With that said, Jon promptly asks Tycho if he would like to see the top of the Wall. Which Jon also admits is freezing cold and that men have been blown off the top. Tycho declines.

So instead the meeting between Jon and the representative of the Iron Bank takes place in Jon’s solar. There’s some background to be done first. For instance, why is a representative of the Iron Bank even here?

“A debt.” What else could it be?

We are talking about a banker, after all. So whose debt? Jon asks about Stannis’ debt. Tycho Nestoris refuses to either confirm or deny. That leaves the national debt. And that, Tycho is willing to talk to him about. Jon here receives confirmation from what we’ve learned from Cersei chapters - the Lannisters are no longer paying the debt they owe to the Iron Bank. So the Iron Bank has sent a representative to a war zone in the frozen ass end of nowhere to track down Stannis and see what he wants to do about said debts.

From the interplay here, it looks like Jon picked up that the Iron Bank was looking to see if Stannis would be, ah, less obdurate. The new info for Jon appears to be that the Lannisters defaulted entirely.

Jon points Tycho in the direction of Stannis. It’s a big cold war zone out there; in order to get to Stannis, Tycho most definitely needs Jon’s directions. Before that, however, Jon has his own agenda.

“There is always a price, is there not?” The Braavosi smiled. “What does the Watch require?”

“Your ships, for a start.”

The first request is the odd one. The second is a loan, which is a more usual thing to negotiate with a banker. The loan is quickly explained on the page. Jon just doesn’t have the resources to feed his people until spring. So gold is the answer, enough to pay for food and the transport of food. Jon’s thinking years ahead with this. What’s missing from the discussion is any talk of amounts, any talk at all. Part of this is GRRM’s maths-aversion. Good call - we don’t need the exact details of principal, interest rates and repayment plans to get the gist, here. But also this is because the numbers are irrelevant to Jon himself, in many ways. Jon just doesn’t have the resources to feed his people until spring. He needs to get them. It’s that simple.

Jon’s compassion also explains the first request, which was the use of Tycho’s ships to mount a rescue mission to Hardhome. Jon’s not stopping at protecting the Wall and the people already there; he’s actively planning to search out more people to rescue. He knows he’s on a hard time limit.

Eleven ships was not wise enough, but if he waited any longer, the free folk at Hardhome would be dead by the time the rescue fleet arrived. Sail now or not at all.

The knowledge of this time limit is an important thing in Jon’s storyline. He does not believe he has the luxury of extended consideration. He’s aware that he’s running out of time until winter sets in. He’s constantly making decisions under that time pressure. He’s also aware he’s making decisions for the short term, as he narrates for us when he reviews the agreeement.

A long hard winter will leave the Watch so deep in debt that we will never climb out, Jon reminded himself, but when the choice is debt or death, best borrow.

He did not have to like it, though, and come spring, when the time came to repay all that gold, he would like it even less.

The entire process leaves Jon “uneasy”, because he thinks it happened far too easily. His take on the broader implications of the Iron Bank seeking out Stannis continues to be that this is bad news for the Lannisters.

A Grey Girl

No sooner has Jon fallen asleep at his desk than he’s being woken up again to deal with more problems. Specifically, a highborn girl on a lame and lathered horse, as predicted. So, not Val. Jon’s mind then goes immediately to Arya, with a rush of rather painful thoughts in the light of what Jon’s lost in the past few books and in-universe years.

Jon felt fifteen years old again. Little sister.

Jon’s seventeen at this point, I believe.

He wanted to believe it would be Arya. He wanted to see her face again, to smile at her and muss her hair, to tell her she was safe. She won’t be safe, though. Winterfell is burned and broken and there are no more safe places.

He cannot even fully commit to this moment of wishful thinking. He only wants to believe. The reality of his situation and what would have to happen with Arya immediately intrude. Jon truly struggles to allow himself to be happy. At the same time, this is also a selfless sibling love here:

He could not keep her with him, however much he might want to.

[…]

Wherever he might send her, though, Arya would need silver to support her, a roof above her head, someone to protect her. She was only a child.

Whatever illusions he might have about what Arya’s been through and how it’s affected her - and who could blame him not wanting to think about what might have happened to her between being reported missing in AGoT and reportedly ending up with Ramsey Snow - Jon is thinking of Arya’s wellbeing first, above his own emotional (and political) wants and needs. It’s pure GRRM irony that Jon thinks of sending Arya to Braavos. Where the reader knows she already is.

Sure enough, the girl now at the Wall is not Arya. And because Jon didn’t really get his hopes up all that far, he’s not all that disappointed when he realises it’s not Arya. The girl wakes up, slightly confused, but that’s quickly resolved.

“I am told you have been asking after me. I am -“

“- Jon Snow.” The girl tossed her braid back. “My house and yours are bound in blood and honour. Hear me, kinsman My uncle Cregan is hard upon my trail. You must not let him take me back to Karhold.”

This is Alys Karstark, and I think she’s one of the most impressive minor characters in ADWD. In this scene alone, she’s naked, exhausted, starving, fleeing a marriage to her abusive uncle, and she’s ridden hard in the North’s late autumn to seek help on the very thinnest of possibilities. (I really don’t think the “Stark and Karstark are kin” thing holds up any more.) There’s still a bit of casual prejudice against bastards thrown in there, though, when Jon and Alys recall their last meeting about a decade ago, when Alys was brought to Winterfell in the hopes that Rickard Karstark could arrange a marriage between her and Robb:

“[Robb] was very courteous and said that I danced beautifully. You were sullen. My father said that was to be expected in a bastard.”

“I remember.” […]

“You’re still a little sullen,” the girl said, “but I will forgive you that if you will save me from my uncle.”

She’s pretty free with repeating negative stereotypes for someone who really, really needs Jon’s help. Doesn’t even seem to see how a reminder of those stereotypes (and the reasons for them) might be a sore spot with Jon. Bold move, Alys.

She gives Jon the rundown of internal Karstark politics. She knew her uncles were pieces of shit and begged her father to leave one of her brothers behind to run Karhold. Her brothers weren’t interested in missing out on a war and her father didn’t listen. So of her three brothers, two are dead and the third was taken prisoner, all the info she’s got on him a year out of date. Her father is also dead, killed by Robb for reasons she doesn’t initially understand but accepts when they’re explained to her. She’s got nowhere to go but the last son of Ned Stark, she says (another example of Ned’s legacy).

Jon asks the obvious question.

“Why not the king? Karhold declared for Stannis.”

Before Alys gives the reveal, notice that Jon’s not referring to Stannis as “King Stannis”. He’s referring to him as “the king”. The king. Sole and singular. Subtle, but it’s well ingrained into the storyline that Jon has well and truly picked a side in the War of Five Kings. It’s a very human thing - he cannot put aside his biases that easily - but it’s still got its impact on the politics around him.

And speaking of those, Alys reveals that her uncle, one of the few to declare for Stannis, is leading him into a trap. The fate of Stannis’ campaign to take the North and win the Iron Throne is in the balance here. Its importance to this campaign is obvious on its face.

But because this isn’t a story about who wins the throne in the end, it takes a backseat to Jon’s ethical dilemma.

Rewinding just a bit, Jon explicitly notes that “marriages and inheritances are matters for the king.” In other words, in assisting Alys, Jon’s doing the king’s job. Not the job of the Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch. It does not have to be pointed out to him. He knows this already. Helping Alys, no matter how much she needs it, is breaking his vows.

The reveal also goes to show that if Alys is to receive assistance, it must be Jon who provides it. Stannis is going to be betrayed and led into a trap, which means he can’t help. Jon is literally the only person in all the North in a position to help Alys Karstark. So what does he do?

That’s where we leave him for the chapter.

Chapter Function

Well, Jon’s still prepping for the zombie apocalypse. This time he’s just taking out loans for it.

While Stannis is off page, this chapter also works hard to show his campaign’s prospects. Jon’s financial conversations show how Stannis can remain funded. His conversation with Alys gives the reveal that there are traitors in his camp and a trap being set up at Winterfell. Stuff to get back to when Asha’s PoV becomes the vantage point on Stannis.

In introducing Selyse & Co, we’re seeing the introduction of another important faction at the Wall. Stannis might be uncomfortable and demanding, but Selyse is uncomfortable, demanding, and intolerant. These individuals are no less a burden on Jon’s resources, but also far less gracious about working with him - and less gracious than Stannis is a serious problem. In Axell’s case, he’s an all-round jerk, objectifying Val in her absence and behaving so boorishly Jon has to just end any further conversation there. Most notably for ADWD’s arc, we also have the set-up of hostilities between Selyse’s faction and the stranger of the Free Folk. Wun Wun in particular. This tension will, by the end of Jon’s arc, result in bloody violence. With Ser Patrek, who drew steel on Wun Wun, no less.

I’ve read some criticism of Jon’s ADWD arc that in a series full of moral grey, it’s super, super clear he’s The Good Guy when it comes to the humanitarian issues of handling the migration of the Free Folk. And yes. He is. Jon is indisputably on the right side of this particular conflict, and also treating the Free Folk with the sort of tolerance and respect that appeals to the modern reader, especially in contrast to Axell fucking Florent. But as with Ned in AGoT and most especially Dany elsewhere in ADWD, so with Jon - he can be right all he wants, but it doesn’t necessarily translate into a just outcome. While we’re cheering for Jon showing human decency and compassion, politics continues in the background. It’s the same structure. Get the reader on side with Jon’s character and overall objectives, set up for the punch.

In terms of Jon’s book-long arc, the exchange of note is this one:

Tycho bowed his head. “We who serve the Iron Bank face death full as often as you who serve the Iron Throne.”

Is that whom I serve? Jon Snow was no longer certain.

Miscellany

For all Selyse still desperately wants sons, for the moment she’s got no problems calling Shireen Stannis’ true heir, who “will one day sit the Iron Throne and rule the Seven Kingdoms,” explicitly seeing Shireen rule in her own right.

From farther east, the Braavosi hear queer talk of dragons. Jon wants one at the Wall. The Braavosi aren’t laughing. Neither part of this exchange is at all important.

Also from Tycho Nestoris’ news of places that aren’t the Wall, he reports that “strange ships” have been seen amongst the Stepstones. This is JonCon!

Would you believe it? Selyse has queen’s ladies and a bunch of maids.

It amuses me greatly how Jon thinks “no doubt the Lannisters had good reason not to honour King Robert’s debts.” I mean, there are good reasons for the Lannisters to be worried about their capacity to pay off state debts…but those weren’t the ones Cersei was using.

Clothing Porn

Clothing porn arrives at the Wall! Selyse wears a red gold crown with points in the shape of flames. Patchface has an antlered hat hung with cowbells and squirrel-fur flaps, plus a motley cloak in beaver pelt, sheepskin, and rabbit fur. Nesto Tychoris has a three-tiered purple felt hat. Tychoris accentuates this with a high-collared, ermine-trimmed robe in a purple described as ‘somber’. Ser Patrek’s wearing a white fur cloak over a cloth-of-silver surcoat with a five-pointed star. In a hairstyle note, Alys Karstark’s braid is bound with strips of leather.

You may safely assume everyone else is in black.

Food Porn

Mulled wine for negotiations. A brace of capons for the queen’s men. Sausages made mostly of “grease and salt and things that did not bear thinking about,” but which look a bit more palatable in the context of Frey Pie.

Next Three Chapters

The Princess in the Tower, AFFC - Dany X, AGoT - Eddard XII, AGoT

#ASoIaF #valyrianscrolls #revisiting chapters #jon snow #a dance with dragons

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elysiadjarin · 3 years

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Sword and Shield 3

Summary: Bad Batch x reader (you), fem!coded, poly!relationship, multi-part series, nonhuman!reader, Echo later on

Chapter 2: https://elysiadjarin.tumblr.com/post/653202473626025984/sword-and-shield

Warning: Mentions of previous abuse/trauma, and an injury.

3: Integrate

Nervously, you bit your lip and tugged at your hair. You’d secured it so it would stay out of your face for the mission, and you’d already gone over the notes you’d taken the previous day as you’d gotten ready for the day. Dressed in your gear, you double-checked that you had everything.

The whole crew had gathered in the cockpit while approaching the mission site to receive orders from Hunter.

“Tech, tell them the layout and strategy.”

Tech adjusted his goggles and pulled up a holoscreen. “Our mission is to obtain some information that’s been stored in a vault underneath this Separatist bunker,” he said, pointing at the map. It zoomed in on the bunker’s location, revealing the armored doors.

“It’s only going to be there for one day before it’s supposed to be moved, so we have to move in on this intel as soon as possible,” Tech continued, laying out the stakes. “This might be our only chance to get our hands on his information, especially since this base is out in the middle of nowhere. It’s held in the base, but there’s not much of a guard around the bunker itself.”

“So how are we getting in?” Wrecker asked, clearly eager to get to the plan.

“The biggest problem is going to be getting in. Once we’re in, it’ll be a quick and easy trip to the vault. There’s a holopad right by the doorway. I need a running distraction to let me get close enough to hack it and get us in.” Tech adjusted his glasses.

“Cross will find a point to pick off whoever comes in and out of those doors,” Hunter spoke up, focused on piloting while he listened. “Wrecker, we’re going to need you to try to run as big of a distraction as possible and keep them occupied. Tech will get close to the door, and I’ll follow behind him as close as possible to watch his back while he’s hacking the keypad.”

Tech turned to you, observing you. “We don’t know much about your skills yet. Do you see a place that would best suit you?”

You thought for a moment, eyebrows furrowing as you ran though the plan in your mind. “I’ve studied the footage and information you gave me yesterday,” you said, slow but even. “Considering the way we’re approaching this, I think I should be most useful if the Sergeant uses me as a weapon. Since I’m versatile and can be changed depending on what the situation requires, the close combat might be best for me. Plus, once we’re in, I might be able to help clear a path.”

“Sounds like a solid plan,” Hunter said crisply. “Hold on, we’re entering the atmosphere.”

Everyone grabbed onto something or strapped in as the descent began, and you grabbed onto a hanging strap, bracing your feet. You caught sight of Wrecker turning to you, and you glanced up at him instinctively.

“Oh, hey, thanks for the food yesterday!” he called over the rattling, grinning so wide that you swore you could count his teeth. “It was really good!”

The comment took you off guard, and you had to grab onto another strap to keep yourself from sliding against the floor. “Y-you’re welcome,” you called back, feeling some heat creep up your neck and cheeks. You supposed that answered your question about whether they’d at least found the portions.

Hunter evened the ship out as you broke through the atmosphere, leveling out and beginning to more smoothly descent. Everyone relaxed again, checking gear and preparing for the landing itself.

You took in a deep breath, closing your eyes for a moment in order to mentally prepare yourself. You’d have to create a Transference Bond with the Sergeant, so it would take a moment. You only opened your eyes once you felt the landing gear hit the ground and the ship settle in landing.

Hunter stood once the process was complete, turning. “Let’s go.” Once at the ramp, he turned to the group. “Gear and Plan?” He checked. Running his eyes over everyone and getting their confirmation, he turned to you. “Commander Rex explained a little of the process of Transference Bonding to me to give me a basis of understanding. I suppose it wouldn’t be the best idea to do it all at once.”

You shook your head. “I could, but it’s easier to do it one by one to give me a distinction between each Bond,” you answered, knowing the importance of explaining how you worked.

He nodded. Taking a breath, he held out his hand to you. “I suppose it’s time. Everyone watch and listen closely for when you have to do it yourself,” he ordered.

You nodded back, straightening. “You have to offer your hand and say ‘Permission to Transfer.’ It begins the process for me to able to start Transference.”

Hunter stared at you, focused. “Permission to Transfer,” he repeated in a firm, even tone.

You let the sensation of the sucking whirlpool in your gut start to grow stronger, stirred by the initiating words. Deliberately, you reached out and grasped his hand. “Once I finish the initiating words, you’re going to feel a strange sensation like you’re absorbing something into your body. Don’t fight it, just let it happen so I can stabilize the connection,” you warned. “If you feel anything like a weird snap or push in the back of your head, that’s just the Bond solidifying.” You took in a deep breath. “The more open you let yourself be towards me, the stronger the connection.”

Hunter nodded in understanding.

You closed your eyes. “Transfer Granted,” you said, finishing the circuit. Again, you worked through the suctioning sensation, allowing your body to Shift into a basic form you knew very well. Opening your eyes once the sensations settled, you checked the Bond and stability of your connection.

Hunter had been surprisingly receptive compared to most first-time Handlers, and you found the Bond to be pretty sturdy all things considered. As soon as you feel comfortable, getting used to the new Handler, you let yourself materialize over his shoulder.

“I usually start out with a standard blaster,” you said, your voice a little wispier than normal as you pointed at the blaster in his hand.

He stared down at the weapon, turning it over in his hands. “I can hear you both out loud and like... like an echo in my head,” he remarked, voice a little terse.

You nodded. “It’s part of the Bonding. You can communicate with me out loud, but in cases when silence is required or for quick-time response, there’s a limited mental connection created. You can either speak in words or visualize, whichever comes more easily to you. That’s also how you can customize me as a weapon, by visualizing or describing to me the specific modifications that you want,” you explained, used to the process by now. “I don’t read your mind, you have to sort of... push them towards me, in a sense. It’s a limited connection,” you added, knowing the trepidation of the idea of someone possibly being able to read your mind.

He relaxed a little at that, and a blurred image started to bloom in the back of your mind. You tilted your head, and slowly the image started to crystallize as Hunter got used to the Bond and the communication. You picked up on the request, and between one breath and the next, you had Shifted into a modified blaster specifically balanced to his preference.

You took in a breath. “Please be patient with me,” you requested. “It takes me a little while to become completely accustomed to your particular fighting styles in order to best accommodate to your strengths. It may take me some time in the beginning.”

Wrecker bent forward, squinting at you. “Hey Shiv — I can call you that, right? — why do you look so... blurry?”

Tech adjusted his goggles. “It’s more like she’s a shadow, Wrecker,” he remarked clinically, observing you closely. “I think it’s the only way she can manifest herself since she’s technically the weapon itself.”

You nodded at him. “Tech is right. It’s kind of my astral form,” you confirmed.

“Cool!” Wrecker grinned at the general vicinity of your face.

“Alright, let’s go,” Hunter said, starting down the ramp and off towards the direction of the base.

You mentally picked apart the details of the modified weapon he’d shown you, making sure your copy of it was exact down to the weight and size. You tried your best to recall all the footage you’d analyzed the day before, specifically the patterns you’d noticed and highlighted about the Sergeant. You’d have to try to accommodate yourself to his movements and attempt to predict his preferences in weaponry and how he chose to utilize it. That way, you could start to make your performance seamless and save precious nanoseconds of response time that could mean the difference between life and death.

He glanced down at you, feeling the slight shift in the weight as you adjusted. A distant voice sounded in the back of your mind. If I wanted to change weapons, how would I ask?

You strained to hear. Project a little more towards the area you feel like the Bond is. You coached. You’re a bit faint.

He repeated the question, and it sounded much clearer and louder.

Thank you. I can hear better. The best way is to either mentally request it, or to visualize it again like you did to modify this blaster. Whichever is easier for you. You responded to his question.

I tend to visualize things when thinking. Hunter said. I think that’s how it’ll probably come across.

I understand, you acknowledged. After all, different people worked differently. Luckily, you’d worked with both visualizers as well as stream-of-consciousness, full word or sentence thinkers. I’m only limited by the amount of information you give me. I can Shift in nanoseconds, but if you don’t make sure to specify everything, it might be incomplete or a little different than what you wanted. You warned.

He nodded wordlessly, just as you came up to the clearing where the base was. The planet itself was rather forested, and the base had been set in the middle of a small clearing, half-hidden from above by the tree canopy. You briefly wondered how much intel had been needed in order to even find this place, much less know when and how long the intel would be shipped through this base anyway.

Two guards stood by the door, holding electro-spears with blasters at their sides. You didn’t doubt that there were probably more stationed within the base as well that would probably stream out like a disturbed ants nest once a confrontation began.

“Alright,” Hunter hissed lowly, gathering everyone’s attention. Cross, find a spot. You’ve got three minutes. Wrecker, get ready to run distraction. Yes, you can blow the ground sky-high for all I care, just make it big enough and keep their attention for as long as you can. Tech, get ready to slip around once Wrecker has them occupied.”

A sudden idea occurred to you. Cloaking shield. You whispered to Hunter, sending across a visualization of your possible contribution.

He instantly pounced on the idea. “Shiv is going to create a cloaking shield, get over here,” he hissed to Tech, who stepped closer to Hunter’s side. “We’ll use this to get as close as possible. If our cover’s blown, I’ll back you up.”

Tech nodded, pushing the visor of his helmet down in preparation. A minute later, Hunter nodded. “Let’s go.” He motioned to Wrecker.

With a booming laugh that you swore rattled through your currently nonexistent bones, Wrecker took a running leap into the clearing and slammed his fists into the ground. Chunks of earth went flying, and just as expected, the two armored guards started to run towards him. As soon as Hunter decided they were distracted enough, he motioned decisively.

You Shifted, creating the cloaking shield large enough for both him and Tech to fit under. Hunter started to move around the edge of the clearing, trying to stay a bit away from the flying rubble as Wrecker pulled out his grenades. You tried your best to keep monitoring, materializing over Hunter’s shoulder in order to keep eyes out for the flying rubble that might cause you to lose concentration if it hit the shield too hard or unexpectedly.

“How long can you hold it?” Hunter hissed, trying to stay quiet but let Tech in on the conversation.

“As long as nothing directly damages or hits me, as long as you need,” you whispered back. “But I expend more energy the larger of a weapon or shield that I am required to be.”

He nodded, helmet focused forward. You’d almost reached the doors, and the doors had cracked open to briefly allow backup to wriggle through.

“There’s going to be a risk,” you warned them as you reached the keypad. “I can’t hide the fact that the keypad is going to disappear from view or be tampered with. If anyone notices, the cover is blown.”

Hunter nodded. “Tech, you know how fast you can work. Concentrate, we’ll give you cover.”

Tech nodded, instantly pulling out some gear and hooking himself up to the keypad.

Hunter started filtering information to you about various weapons and their modifications he preferred to use, and you started instantly absorbing the information. To your surprise, you found that his visuals were extremely detailed, to the point that you almost started feeling them yourself. Everything in his head felt so much... crisper. So much more. You realized that it did make sense, considering his heightened senses. Everything would feel that much more to him, so it would naturally be transferred to you, especially considering your Bond.

Send me your Instincts, you whispered to him mentally.

What?

You let your astral form float a little in front of him, then pointed to his hands. Push across every instinct that you can towards the Bond. Channel them straight to me. Let your thoughts and instincts flow straight through the Bond, like a stream rushing by.

Hunter glanced at you, keeping an eye out for the distraction Wrecker was running. Crosshair had begun to snipe them down one by one, you vaguely noted. What does that do?

You started to feel him direct towards you, trying your best to accommodate and map out the way his instincts were honed. I am a living weapon, Sergeant, you reminded him. If a weapon could understand your instincts and become a part of your body, an extension of yourself, able to work with your thoughts in real time, what would you do with that? How would you shape that weapon and use it? I am a tool. I am a weapon, under your control. Please use me. This is my job.

Sometimes, the words felt like betrayal, coming from your own mind and mouth. Even though you knew you had worth, were more than just an object, you also knew that your part in this war and what you fundamentally were as a being was... a weapon. A weapon to be utilized to devastating effect. To kill, or to protect... to shield, or to destroy.

I am a weapon. You are a Handler. I will be used however you decide.

Hunter’s eyes hardened as he glanced at your form, and you felt his fingers tighten around the handle of the cloaking shield. But he said nothing and continued to funnel everything like a rushing stream into the Bond.

Tech hissed. “I’ve got it.”

The doors slid open, revealing an empty hallway.

Hunter stepped forward. “Get in, now, before anyone notices,” he barked.

Tech and Hunter quickly stepped in, heading down the corridor.

Blaster, Hunter requested.

You Shifted, allowing the cloaking shield to disappear. The three of you crept down the hallway, Tech leading the way as he glanced down at the map of the base he’d managed to strip. He fiddled with his controls as he led down the twisting hallways, opening doors as necessary.

“The intel holding should be just past this door,” Tech whispered tersely, holding his device up to the blast doors. The infrared picked up several life forms, and when he switched to x-ray, a couple of droids showed up on the screen.

“Those are assassin droids,” you whispered urgently, recognizing the shape and build.

Hunter nodded grimly. “Tech, once the doors are open, go for the others. We’ll handle the droids.”

You leaned toward Hunter’s ear. “Weaken the head plates and use a vibro-shiv to get to the cores,” you whispered, knowing how those droids worked. You’d lost Handlers before thanks to the stupid droids and their required close-combat.

Hunter nodded, and the doors started to open. As soon as they’d opened wide enough, Tech followed Hunter’s nod and slid around the corner. They both started to shoot at the same time. A few of the organic soldiers dropped thanks to getting caught in crossfire from the assassin droids, and Hunter started to target the head plates of the droids.

You quickly picked up on his flow of movement, correcting for precision aiming and knocking plates loose from the droids. Three of them started converging on you, and Hunter shouted at Tech.

“Get to cover!”

In a heartbeat, you’d Shifted into the vibro-shiv and he’d slashed at the wiring under one of the droid’s loose plates. It started to stagger, some of the support lost. Kicking out at the other, Hunter quickly managed to incapacitate the other two enough to slash at their wires as well. It didn’t take long for them to stagger about, losing some of their motor functions.

Tech found an opening and managed to nail one droid right in the exposed core, downing it in a shower of sparks. Hunter sank the shiv into another core, but you’d already caught sight of the last droid starting to point its blastered hand.

Hardly thinking, you bulked the weight of the vibro-shiv and made Hunter drop at the unexpected weight, barely missing the blast that went over his head. You returned it to normal a second later, and Hunter whirled on his heels close to the ground and threw.

You pointed the shiv with deadly accuracy, making it sink directly into the center of the exposed core. The droid froze, shuddering. For a moment the whole room seemed to freeze as Hunter and the droid faced off. Then the droid crumpled with a screech of metal, collapsing on the floor. The shiv shuddered.

Hold out your hand, you whispered to Hunter.

He held out his hand, and the shiv whipped back into his hand as you returned yourself to him. His hand closed over the hilt, and it shifted back into a blaster.

Tech had already scurried over the vault and was quickly working on it, fingers flying over his cracking device. Hunter turned toward the door, pointing the blaster and keeping an eye out.

“Thanks,” Hunter said gruffly. “Back there, with the third.”

The thanks caught you off guard. Why would he thank you? I... It’s my job, was all you could really think to say, thoroughly confused. You were a weapon. Why would he thank you for doing what you were literally born to do?

A flash of anger traveled through your Bond, and you instinctively shrank away though it passed just as quickly as it had appeared. Why would he be angry? Had you done something wrong? Had he not wanted you to correct it? Would it have been better if you’d done it differently?

You tried to refocus, knowing better than to get distracted now. The mission was still underway.

You heard the vault click behind you, then a quick rustle. Tech’s footsteps faltered, then squeaked against the floor.

“We need to go!” he shouted, beginning to sprint. “The vault was rigged! This place is going to blow in T-minus two minutes!”

Hunter had automatically followed Tech, but his pace quickened. “Tech, we’re not going to make it,” Hunter called grimly.

And he was right. It would take you longer to get out than that. There were so many twists and turns. You thinned your lips, materializing over his shoulder.

“Grab Tech,” you said, already Shifting. Hunter lunged forward towards Tech, grabbing him as he threw you down and jumped. You guided yourself to catch both him and Tech as a hoverdisc. A joystick grew from the base, and Tech unquestioningly grabbed it, beginning to guide you down paths so quickly that you barely had time to register any surroundings.

You rounded a corner, and Hunter shouted something. The doors had begun to close. But Tech just hunched over, and flicked a button you provided on the joystick.

“Hold on!” Tech yelled.

You Shifted, closing your eyes in order to concentrate, get it right, there wasn’t room for hesitation or error, you knew this, you could do this-

Heat seared your senses just as you managed to throw up both a shield and the proper mechanics that you’d studied so diligently and meticulously.

You screamed.

Somewhere in the back of your mind, you knew that you were flying through the air, the Transference forcefully Dissolved. But all you could really pay attention to was the pain that burned through all of your nerves and senses. The moment you felt yourself hit the ground and roll, all breath was knocked out of your lungs.

Tears streamed down your cheeks as you wordlessly clutched at your arm, unable to make a single sound. You knew this had been a risk, the moment you’d done it. You’d only managed to put up the shield just in time to save Hunter and Tech from the blast approaching behind you, but it had been incomplete in your hurry to both throw it up and blow the doors open.

You’d been distracted. And now you were paying for your own mistake.

A half-strangled sob burst from your lips as you peeled your hand away from your arm, digging your hand into the soil underneath you and jacking yourself up. You’d taken damage from the blast, and just as you’d known would happen, it had Transferred to your physical body as well. After all... you were a weapon. And every weapon gets dents and scorch marks in battle. But you knew you were meant to take it. You’d always known you were meant to be the shield for your Handler.

Someone skidded to your side as you hunched over, trying to breathe through the pain. If you could just-

“Maker,” a voice snarled.

Vaguely, you half-registered the voice as Hunter’s. You scrabbled back, throwing out your good hand. “Don’t touch me!” you sobbed out, begging, praying that he wouldn’t touch you.

“Shiv, you need medical attention-“

“Please, don’t touch me, you don’t understand-“ you managed to sob out, shaking and hunching over.

“What happened?” Crosshair’s voice growled from nearby.

“Shiv-“ Hunter’s voice barked.

But you staggered to your feet, trying to just focus, you needed to focus- your ears rang. Gritting your teeth, you forced yourself to push. You were a weapon. You did not fail your Handler. You got back up. You took the consequences, you will take the pain, you will do your kriffing job-

A shuddering gasp tore from your throat as you felt yourself begin to work. You could feel the numbing ice of cold gunmetal creep up your mangled arm, could fairly smell your hissing flesh as you covered your arm slowly but ruthlessly.

Numbness. You barely felt anything, now, except for a vague pressure on your arm. Letting out a half-broken sob, shuddering, you reached up and smeared tears away from your face. Looking up, you caught sight of all four of the Bad Batch gazing at you with varying expressions of horror or concern.

“I’m sorry,” you whispered, feeling dizziness start to descend. Everything started to spin. “I’m sorry, I’ll- I’ll fix it-“

As everything tilted, the last thing you saw was someone’s hand reaching for you.

Part 4: https://elysiadjarin.tumblr.com/post/654625612928008192/sword-and-shield-4

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swordarkeereon · 3 years

Text

Tech Review for Writers: reMarkable2

I got myself a piece of interesting tech this year in hopes it would get me from out in front of a computer screen more often. Meet the reMarkable2, a distraction free (i.e. it’s not connected to the entirety of the internet) e-ink tablet workhorse that’s easy on the eyes.

The reMarkable2 Tablet

First things first. The reMarkable2 tablet is not for everyone and your average person probably won’t find it the least bit useful. So let’s talk about why you don’t want this tablet first.

reMarkable 2 is not for you if:

– You want an eReader. eReaders have a VERY DIFFERENT function than the reMarkable2. Yes, you can read PDFs on a reMarkable, but it’s more for *marking up* a PDF and commenting in the margins of a PDF. Not just reading. eReaders like Kindles and Nooks often have built in dictionaries, ways to bookmark pages or passages of text, etc… that the reMarkable2 doesn’t have. You can search your documents for specific phrases and words and also highlight things in a light gray, but if you’re just looking for an eReader, I suggest a Kindle.

– You want a full functioning tablet that you can put apps on and surf the web with- If you’re looking for a full functioning tablet, you’ve missed the whole point of the reMarkable2. The main point behind reMarkable2 is so you can go to your creative place (wherever that may be) and brainstorm, free from ALL distractions. You can’t stop to surf FB or your Twitter feed on a reMarkable2, thus making it more likely you’ll stay on task and get more done.

– You want something with color so you can highlight because what you really want is a fully functioning ebook reader or tablet. This tablet is really more of a no frills brainstorming and note-taking tool for entrepreneurs, professionals, academics, and creatives (including engineers, writers, musicians, possibly artists if they like to sketch in black and white) who use a lot of black pens and plain paper.

I bought the tablet for the following reasons (which I wrote down BEFORE I received the device):

– I wanted an electronic notebook (not a tablet). I’m one of those people who goes through 3 packs of sticky notes every month, and countless notebooks every year. I am constantly jotting stuff down to keep myself focused and on track while running my own business and helping out at the family business. My notes can be anything from putting together presentations, classes, and meetings, to extensive to-do lists for the day. Sometimes it’s just me keeping track of sales figures. As a result, my desk is always filled with papers and notebooks and I’m constantly searching for shit. The electronic notebook cleans up all this clutter and helps me organize my brain. (Have you seen my brain!? It’s a mess in there.)

– I like to write freehand, especially when I’m plotting the next book or writing a blurb, or even writing a chapter – and it must be distraction free. This is something only fellow authors will understand. The fact that the reMarkable2 can convert handwritten notes to text sent via email has me excited because, if I’m lucky and it works, I won’t have to go through and transcribe all my handwritten notes. It basically saves me time by eliminating a step. I can copy/paste the note from my email into the appropriate file on my laptop. This will also save me the clutter and weight of carrying countless notebooks.

– I am involved with projects that require me to sketch out ideas for marketing and/or artwork. I do have tablets that can do this, but nothing that does it *well*. The closest is my Surface tablet, which can do a lot of things, but it still doesn’t feel like paper or allow me the fine detail paper allows. I’m hoping this tablet is a bit more responsive in this area. – I am forever printing out rough drafts of manuscripts for markup – wasting a ton of paper and toner in the process. All because I can’t edit on a backlit screen. My eyes get tired and I miss too many errors. If I can transfer my PDF drafts to the reMarkable and mark them up there with minimal errors left over, I could save some $$. I am actually estimating that I could easily save the cost of the reMarkable2 in 6 months to 1 year’s time by not having to purchase the paper, pens, and toner I usually go through in that time frame. Plus, these marked up manuscripts often end up in a stack on my office floor for 6 months to a year after publication.

– I am forever having to read PDFs of laws and regulations for the family business, and while I usually use them on the computer, I sit in front of a computer 8-13 hours a day. I need a non-backlit screen for reading in the evenings just to give my eyes a break. Yes, I imagine I could do the same with a Kindle paperwhite, but I may just want to jot some notes in the same way I’d mark up a paper copy. I’m still a pen and paper girl. I’m really hoping the reMarkable is my replacement for that (most of the time anyway).

reMarkable2 test to sample the pen styles.

Some considerations I took into account before purchasing:

A lot of customers complained that it took too long to receive the reMarkable or to get support. From all of the research I did, and in reading their website, it’s clear to me that this company caters to academia and businesses. I ordered my reMarkable2 on January 16, 2021, and had it in my hands by January 25, 2021. 9 days. I also ordered it and paid for it through my business. I don’t know if that’s actually why I got mine so fast, but I wouldn’t be surprised. That said, I do think the company should work a little harder to increase their customer service efficiency.

With regard to customer support – the website clearly states it can take up to 10 business days for support to get back to you. And a lot of the things people seem to be complaining about have troubleshooting instructions on the website. Clearly people weren’t going to the website to try to look up their issue through the support FAQs, which likely would have helped them out sooner. They were just contacting support immediately, and angry when they weren’t getting a response after 3 days, when it’s clearly stated on the website that it can take up to 10 days due to the fact that reMarkable is a small company. But like I said earlier – they would be smart to increase their customer service team.

reMarkable’s folios are a custom fit and really pretty, but a bit pricey. I made the tablet more affordable by skipping the upgrade on the pen, because a friend of mine got the eraser feature and she wasn’t digging it initially (she loves it now), and I purchased a relatively nice folio from Amazon for under $30 (with no magnets – research told me magnets can cause dead spots in the screen of the reMarkable2). You can also just buy a 10″-11″ tablet sleeve and it would work much the same. There are also universal tablet folios that will fit 10″-11″ tablets that are free of magnets and will likely work just fine. All for under $20 bucks — even a few in faux leather. Remember that a case should protect your investment, not just make it *look* sharp.

Right out of the Box.

Right out of the box I set the reMarkable up and started using it for brainstorming. Here were my first impressions:

1. It really is pretty damn close to writing on paper.

2. You can rest your damn hand on the screen and it won’t fuck things up or make it wobble as with traditional tablets.

3. My handwriting actually looks like my handwriting and you have almost the same control with this as you would with real pen and paper.

4. The interface is simple and intuitive and anyone who uses computers and tablets day and in day out will have no issues figuring this out.

Now some thoughts on the features:

Handwriting to Text: As an author who likes to occasionally spend time writing the old fashioned way, one of the things that attracted me to this tablet was its ability to translate handwriting to text. No writer wants to have to transcribe their written notes and waste all of that time. So of course I tested it with my horrific handwriting, vs purposefully trying to be neat, and the reMarkable2 was able to convert my chicken scratch into actual text that I could read. I was able to turn the handwritten notes into a PDF, but I was also able to send the handwriting converted to typed text as the body of an email, where I was able to cut and paste it into any program I wanted. I took it further and wrote 1000 words (about 8.2 pages) longhand. It converted all the pages to text in one swoop and I was able to copy/paste it into my manuscript. While there was a little formatting and editing involved — it was a lot faster than retyping handwritten notes. WIN!

Handwriting for conversion test.

Conversion successful

PDF Transfer, Markup, and Signature: Transferring PDFs to the reMarkable is easy. You simply download the app on your phone and your desktop, and you can take any pdf from either device and import it onto your reMarkable, which you can then markup. I sent myself a slew of PDFs that I had to read and markup. It’s amazing how much more focused I am on a screen like this. I really got the same experience with editing on a digital PDF as I did with editing on a paper copy. My only caveat is that I don’t have more space to make notes since the margins are a bit small on the screen and there’s no “back of the page” to carry notes over to. I can likely manage. Despite that – what a great experience. Goodbye manuscripts all over my office floor! Hello being able to drag editing work with me wherever I go!

You can also transfer your PDFs that don’t have an electronic signature option to the device, sign them, and send them back. Talk about HANDY since I do that a few times a month by default. This just eliminates the print/sign/scan. Now I just have to transfer it to the device, sign the document, and email it straight back to whoever sent it.

Digital Planners may be something I look into for 2022 because reMarkable actually makes them feasible. I tried a tester digital planner, courtesy a friend, on my reMarkable and I have to say – it offers just as much satisfaction as a paper planner. Plus, you can SEARCH large pdfs. It won’t find search terms in your handwriting, but it will find it in your PDF. That’s definitely a handy feature when you’re working with 500 page PDFs. That said, the tablet saves your place (last page you visited) as you’re navigating a PDF, so no need to search for the place you left off. However, there is no way to bookmark multiple pages.

ePub Reading: suppose I could sideload books as ePubs, but I really have no use for this feature. If I want to read ebooks, I use my kindle or the Kindle App on my tablet or phone. Unless I start doing editing of ePubs or want to check out an ePub format for something? I didn’t buy this as an eReader, and it is terribly lacking as an eReader. Where the reMarkable excels is as a tool for marking up documents. So my guess is it would be great for that if you have a lot of files in ePub format that you have to go over. You also can’t change font sizes for easier reading. You can zoom in and zoom back out to regular size. That’s it. (And this is another reason this is not an eReader.)

Storage: Storage is a little over 6GB (you do not pay for the reMarkable website cloud-sync). But even with about 15 PDFs (some of them really long) on my reMarkable at any given time, I was only at .38 GB.

reMarkable2 Storage

File System: Like I said earlier – the system is highly intuitive and easy to use. I made folders for my most common notebook uses, then I moved the appropriate PDFs to those folders, and created any notebooks I needed for those folders.

Exporting: You can export as .PNG, .SVG, and PDF. Handwriting to text can only be sent as text via the body of an email. This is actually great for writing because then you just have to copy/paste from your email into your Word Doc, Google Doc, or Scrivener.

Importing: Imports PDFs and ePubs.

Templates: The templates are great. I generally only use graph paper, plain, and lined paper myself. But I could see how a lot of these would be useful to people. The to-do list is a crappy template just because it requires you to hide your menu to use it (you can’t tick the the checkboxes until you do this). To hide the menu tap the circle in the upper left top of the menu bar. So if you want a partial page to-do list, you can easily make your own checkbox lists using the graph paper option. There are also dot pages for the folks into bullet journaling.

A small sampling of reMarkable2 Templates

Search Feature: You can search within a PDF, but not through your own handwritten text. You must be in the PDF to search it, otherwise you can only search for file names. You can not search across documents for a phrase or word. So if you’re looking for something with the same search capabilities as a laptop or possibly a tablet, you won’t find it here.

Zooming: You can zoom in on PDF documents and write on them while zoomed. However, you cannot change font sizes to make reading easier.

Battery Life: On days where I used it heavily (about 4-5 hours), I was using around 15% power in a day because I didn’t put it in airplane mode. Three days of 4-5 hours a day use drained my battery to 50%. So me, as a heavy user, not in airplane mode, will likely get 6-7 days out of a single charge. Possibly more since clearly not every day will be a heavy use day. The device does go to sleep after 10 minutes of inactivity.

Pen:The pens are a bit pricey. I did not buy the expensive pen with the eraser and I’m okay with that. But $60 for a pen is still a bit — ouch.

Pen Nib: I am expecting I will be one of those poor unfortunate souls who will be replacing pen tips every 3-4 weeks during heavy use. Luckily the pen itself doesn’t use batteries. The pen nibs seem reasonable in price, just be sure to order a new pack with your device and when you start that pack, order another as shipping times on those can take a week or two depending where you are and how efficient your mail service is. You don’t want to accidently run out and find yourself without a pen. Yikes.

Security: You can add a password to your reMarkable to keep prying eyes out. But if you’re like me and self-employed, that’s not really an issue. Your remarkable has Wi-Fi, yes, but you can put it in airplane mode to cut the connection. Plus, it only syncs to your cloud storage. There really aren’t any entry points for viruses or people hacking into your device. But then I’m also not a tech person. Let’s just say I highly doubt security will be a huge issue on this thing. Besides, anyone who wants to take a peek at my tablet would likely find themselves bored stiff, unless they like reading really rough first drafts of speculative fiction. LOL

Backup/Download: You can easily transfer your files back to your computer by opening the app and simply exporting your finished documents, etc… to your computer, backup drive or cloud drive. You can also just email yourself a copy to make it super easy.

My Wishlist:

1. I wish I could add or append new, handwritten pages to an existing PDF. That would definitely solve the space issue. Now, I just make notes in a different file and jog back and forth between the PDF and the notes, which is a little annoying, but doable. One way to solve this issue would be to save all your PDFs to double spaced. It might make markup a little easier. I’ll try that with the next books to go under the editorial knife.

2. I wish there were cheaper alternative covers. My $17 cover looks great and protects my tablet. reMarkable could easily come up with a few additional low-cost choices here. The ultra professionals are still going to buy nice leather folios.

(I may add to this list in the coming weeks, but right now these are the two main things jumping out at me.)

Overall Review Summary

For writers, reMarkable2 truly is a remarkable distraction free device that can help improve your concentration and organization, give you the freedom to write out longhand and convert it to text without the tedious re-typing, and help you mark up drafts with ease. This would probably serve prolific and professional writers more liberally than the writer who takes a few years to pen a book. Plus, it will probably save you a lot of printer paper, toner, pens and notebooks. For business owners/users – reMarkable will likely save you pounds of sticky notes and legal pads, and hours of time transcribing your notes. Plus, it’s a great on-the-go working tool for content creators and people who review a lot of PDFs.

Have some thoughts on the reMarkable2? Feel free to leave a comment below!

#distraction-free #not sponsored content #reMarkable2 #tablets #technology reviews

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theonyxpath · 4 years

Link

So, yes, it’s Labor Day here in the US, a national holiday. Many companies would therefore give today off to their employees, but since every day is a holiday here at Onyx Path, we had our usual Monday Meeting today, and work continues apace.

Of course, the second part of our MMN Blog title today comes from the fact that the Scion: Demigod 2e Kickstarter has been just crashing through the Stretch Goals after funding in 75 minutes! We’re all really thrilled and grateful to all of our backers for showing such fantastic support!

Putting the two together, I thought that a change of pace today that showed how some labor was done to create the elements for Scion: Demigod might be appropriate. And since I did some of that labor, I figure it’s on me to step up today and delve into the creation process for one of our latest Scion pantheon symbols.

This one is for the Apu, the Incan pantheon.

It’s usually after the writing is pretty well finalized, but not necessarily developed, that I’ll ask the project developer for notes on whichever part of the project needs a symbol. In the case of Scion, our writing and dev teams do such a deep dive into the pantheons that I could get overwhelmed just reading through the text, so in addition to letting me read that, I also ask for any ideas they might have for symbols and elements appropriate to the pantheon.

Sometimes I get easily usable ideas, and other times the needs of a visual project mean that I have to dig a bit deeper myself. In the case of the Apu, my notes scrawled on my note pad included: “golden sun disc (with link)”, “stepped pyramid”, “stone and gold”, “order/stability”, “Cusco”, “black and white llamas”.

I was good to go with the golden sun disc, and checked to see if any of the previous Scion symbols I designed went down that same visual direction. None did, so using that big hit of gold as the centerpiece became the start for the symbol. I originally considered using the foliage motif similar to what I did for the Aztec pantheon symbol as a background and surrounding next for the gold disc, but that did seem too close to other symbols and for me it just didn’t feel Incan enough.

Which is a big part of what makes these Scion symbols work, they have to feel appropriate to the pantheon. Which means we’re in the realm of the subjective, as what feels right to me may not feel right to you. But that’s the chance you take, because these are Scion symbols and they have to touch us, mean something to us, at least a bit, or we’re missing the point of the setting/game. All the raw data in the world about what should be included doesn’t help if most people aren’t connecting with that symbol.

That led me to hit the books. Yes, actual books. If I know what I want, finding 1500 images that I can use as reference for that thing is a snap with a Google search, but if I’m still looking for visuals that connect with me, then online searching just doesn’t work for me as well as paging through books about a culture. I don’t know what’s on the next page, which is the point.

One of the things I picked up on, was how striking the textiles still are in areas we’d consider Incan. Which started a whole different idea about how the color could and should work for this symbol. Bird feathers as decoration, and returning to one of the writer’s suggestions, the Incan knotted rope language called quipu. I had wanted to use it but didn’t have a way to keep the ropes and knots legible in the symbol, but with a bright textile background holding everything together, I could bring the quipu back into play.

Here’s my rough ideas page, the Apu symbol at top right representing the first pass, and the one lower left coming after I did more research:

From the rough sketch, where I’m looking at what elements can be arranged in what pattern, and where I’m thinking about but not putting down the color yet, I’ll draw out the various elements on bristol board in ink – usually with technical pens rather than anything that would give a varying line. We just need an even line.

A lot of time, if I know I want an image the same on both sides, or top and bottom, then I’ll just draw the one side and copy/flip/combine in Photoshop after scanning. The knotted ropes are on a separate page, as they required the whole sheet so I could draw them with enough detail.

Like I mentioned, these drawings get scanned in, and are really used as raw materials to copy and paste from when I start to make the whole symbol in Photoshop. Each element in the design gets its own layer, and that layer is set to Multiply in the layer menu. That way, the darkest lines stay dark, but anything in a layer “under” our line art shows through. This will become clearer when you see how the color goes in, but here’s just the line art all piled on top of each other:

At this point, it’s time to get color in there, and in this specific symbol, it’s also time to get the patterning into the Incan textile. Some of the colors only show up when the overall color is on there, so don’t worry if it seems like some of the symbols aren’t there. They are on layers that I did different layer types, like Multiply from before:

I also used the same colors for the fringe along the bottom and just drew those in loosely knowing the overall color would fall in between the other colors. Each instance of the bird symbol is on its own layer so that I could play around with size, position, layer effects, and color. I was going more for energy with the positioning and a certain lack of perfect positioning to replicate the hand-crafted nature of the textile.

Next, here it is with the red overall color. I spent a lot of time playing with the color controls to get the red I wanted, and then tweaked almost all of the little bird symbols to have their colors work with the red:

While some of the birds are now showing up, you can see a few blank spots in there. Don’t worry, those won’t show up once the other item layers get colored in.

This was good, but the thing was, it didn’t feel like fabric to me. And that’s what I wanted to really play up – the texture of the textile! I could have scanned in a cloth texture, or found one online, but in this case I went with combining layer effects and filters. I’d tell you what I did if I could remember, but here’s what it looked like without the red layer behind it:

I’m going to jump ahead here, and give you a step by step look at the big gold disk as it’s layers are painted in, but just assume that whatever I tell you about the disk, I already did in sort of the same sequence for the knotted ropes and the feathered headdress. I also started thickening the line stroke around objects to give them more heft and set them visually into the whole symbol. More on that later.

So here’s the first color for the disk, a dark golden brown:

Here’s where it really gets fun and painterly. The next layer is just yellow, with the Photoshop brush set on soft-round and at something like 25% transparency. With the lines already setting up the shapes, I just zoomed in and put yellow in keeping the brightest areas towards where the light was supposed to be hitting the disk (more from below than the traditional light from above):

Looking at it at this point, it didn’t pop enough. So I copied the yellow layer and set it to Multiply or the like and the doubled up yellow hit what I was looking for. It didn’t show up much when I was putting these sequential layer graphics together, but it’s that sort of subtle coloring that gives it the 3D look we need:

And here goes the last highlight on the gold, which was a lot closer to white to really get a bit of sparkle, plus I also created a shadow effect in two layers so that the disk would feel more like it is on top of the other elements. We want that gold disk to be the big popping thing from this graphic, and it needs to be strong to outshine the colors of the textile:

You can also see that I made the outer edge line much thicker than the others inside the symbol, so we’d have a strong edge to it so it could stand out on the page like the previous Scion symbols. Although, to be faaaair, I did reduce that thickness where the knotted ropes break out of the bottom. The ropes were being engulfed by the outline visually, plus, there’s a whole “language will be free” sort of thing going on there.

Hope you enjoyed this little look at the labor (or labour, as Matthew, James, and Ian would say) behind one of these pieces. It really is a labor of love, though, and it is so great when folks really respond to them.

Because this blog was so art heavy, here are your usual pieces of art from upcoming projects all together at the end!

V5 Let the Streets Run Red art by Sam Araya

Terra Firma art by Gregor Pedrycz

Hope you don’t mind the extra art here, but they really do illustrate our

Many Worlds, One Path!

Blurbs!

Kickstarter!

Scion Demigod Second Edition funded last week in 75 minutes and is headed strongly to 300% funding, having blown through all sorts of Stretch Goals! Check it out if you haven’t already:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/200664283/scion-demigod-book-3-for-the-scion-second-edition-rpg

Onyx Path Media!

This week: The Titanically Talented Trio of Terrible Terrificness discuss Stumbles, Errors, and How To Avoid Them! They’ll be looking at all sorts of fumbles and bumbles they and others have made while putting together game books!

As always, this Friday’s Onyx Pathcast will be on Podbean or your favorite podcast venue! https://onyxpathcast.podbean.com/

The Story Told RPG Podcast gets top billing this week due to their excellent, in-depth interview with developer Neall Raemonn Price regarding the currently on Kickstarter Scion: Demigod! Check it out and learn some of the ins and outs of Scion: https://thestorytold.libsyn.com/episode-61-scion-demigod-interview-with-neall-price

We’ve got lots of Scion: Demigod actual plays coming in the next few weeks, with the first starting this week by Vorpal Tales! Keep watching this section for more Scion: Demigod games!

For anyone new to our media section, you can find us running and playing games over on twitch.tv/theonyxpath pretty much every day of the week! Plus, if you’d like your games hosted there, just get in touch with Matthew Dawkins using the contact link on matthewdawkins.com.

Please give our Twitch channel a follow, as you can find a huge number of videos of all kinds of games being run!

This week on Twitch, expect to see these games and streams running:

Scarred Lands – A Family Affair

Technocracy Reloaded – Vorpal Tales

Scion: Demigod – Vorpal Tales

Danielle’s RPG Development Workshop

Hunter: The Vigil – Cold Cases Forsaken Spaces

Changeling: The Dreaming – The Last Faerie Tale

Mage: The Awakening – Occultists Anonymous

Vampire: The Masquerade – Boston by Night

Chronicles of Darkness – Tooth and Claw

Deviant: The Renegades – A Cautionary Tale

Get watching for some fantastic insight into how to run these wonderful games and subscribe to us on Twitch, over at twitch.tv/theonyxpath

Come take a look at our YouTube channel, youtube.com/user/theonyxpath, where you can find a whole load of videos of actual plays, dissections of our games, and more, including:

Changeling: The Dreaming – The Last Faerie Tale – E11 – https://youtu.be/Vxqy6JgB9wk

Scarred Lands – Surprise Meatgrinder! – https://youtu.be/iqiIEsvIslE

Scarred Lands – Purge of the Serpentholds – S1E14 – https://youtu.be/Ie-rITGhaAs

Hunter: The Vigil – Uptown Shadows Episode 4 – https://youtu.be/2qdLBpMu0lE

Realms of Pugmire – Paws and Claws S2E14 – https://youtu.be/ZcSdsNK-VI0

Subscribe to our channel and click the bell icon if you want to be notified whenever new news videos and uploads come online!

Tom Murr continues with his amazing They Came from Beneath the Sea! audio drama over on his YouTube channel!

Radio ReScience Episode 2: Military Entanglement, can be found right here: https://youtu.be/qiTprIriV7Y

And Episode 3: Spycraft is here: https://youtu.be/qqS5rM3GA5A

Systematic Understanding of Everything is a new Exalted Explainer Podcast by Exalted Dev Monica Speca and Exalted Writer Chazz Kellner that is breaking down Creation in 45 minute chunks in preparation for Exalted Essence.

Their most recent episodes are available over on https://www.exaltcast.com/, with their newest covering the stunning terrifying Abyssals!

The Story Told Podcast continues their Fall of Jiara Exalted chronicle, and you can find their newest episode right here: https://thestorytold.libsyn.com/fall-of-jiara-25

Our good friend The Primogen concluded his Changeling: The Lost actual play a couple of months ago, and has kindly assembled a useful playlist of every single episode. Go give his excellent tale, Littlebrook Reunion, a watch: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2GEMzqGEGIg6pT79zt-FyFYoPjzn8YM5

GMS Magazine produced a review of Dystopia Rising: Evolution over on their channel! https://youtu.be/Q0Ih1KkUhS0

Here’s a blast from the past: last year, Tabletop Spotlight reviewed Monarchies of Mau for us. If you’re interested in some in-depth views of this corner of the Realms of Pugmire, please give their video a watch: https://youtu.be/gV48x2eQMU4

Vorpal Tales assembled their playlist of They Came from Beyond the Grave! actual play episodes as well, and you can find all six of the episodes of this series right here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9fUj4KdqE4BTnVZv9pZUkSk7GpwnyKXG

Please check these out and let us know if you find or produce any actual plays of our games! We’d love to feature you!

Electronic Gaming!

As we find ways to enable our community to more easily play our games, the Onyx Dice Rolling App is live! Our dev team has been doing updates since we launched based on the excellent use-case comments by our community, and this thing is awesome! (Seriously, you need to roll 100 dice for Exalted? This app has you covered.)

We’re told that the App Dev is currently creating an updated version for the latest devices, so keep an eye open for those!

Virtual TableTop!

Introducing a Virtual Tabletop adventure: the Gauntlet of Spiragos for Scarred Lands on Astral TableTop!

Scars of the Divine War, which ended less than 200 years ago, have still not healed. One such scar is the Chasm of Flies, a rent in the earth created when the titan Spiragos the Ambusher was smote down by one of the young gods, Vangal the Ravager. Now, the Chasm is inhabited by spider-eye goblins and their spider allies, but it is also thought to be the resting place of powerful artifacts from that elder age.

Gauntlet of Spiragos is a Scarred Lands adventure designed for 1st level characters, although it can be easily modified for characters of up to 5th level.

Astral TableTop is the easiest way to play any tabletop RPG online, free. Astral already supports popular systems like D&D and Pathfinder, and Astral can support virtually any tabletop roleplaying game. Get started quickly with built-in support for most popular game systems. Whether you’re brand new to TTRPGs or a veteran tabletop gamer, Astral‘s ease-of-use and built in automation is designed to streamline gameplay.

Astral is browser-based and uses the latest technology to streamline your storytelling experience. Connect with your party online and run your campaigns however you like. Astral offers tools optimized for phone, tablet, and desktop devices, no installation required.

Build epic battlemaps using Astral‘s enormous collection of scenery, props, and tokens or upload your own. Pro users gain access to over 12,000+ assets and fresh new packs every month. Add weather, visual effects, triggers, and so much more with easy-to-use tools

Build your own adventure, or choose from pre-generated game kits like Gauntlet of Spiragos. Create character sheets, craft maps, or just jump right in to connect with your friends and start your adventures!

On Amazon and Barnes & Noble!

You can now read our fiction from the comfort and convenience of your Kindle (from Amazon) and Nook (from Barnes & Noble).

If you enjoy these or any other of our books, please help us by writing reviews on the site of the sales venue from which you bought it. Reviews really, really help us get folks interested in our amazing fiction!

Our selection includes these latest fiction books:

Our Sales Partners!

We’re working with Studio2 to provide our traditionally printed books out into your local game stores. Game stores can order via their usual distributors, and can also contact Studio2 directly. And individuals can check out our projects via the links below!

You can pick up the traditionally printed Pugmire and Monarchies of Mau main books, screens, and the official dice through our friends there! https://studio2publishing.com/search?q=pugmire

Now, we’ve added Chronicles of Darkness books such as Changeling: The Lost Second Edition products to Studio2‘s store! See them here: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/all-products/changeling-the-lost

Scion 2e books and other products are available now at Studio2: https://studio2publishing.com/blogs/new-releases/scion-second-edition-book-one-origin-now-available-at-your-local-retailer-or-online

Our Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition books are also available from Studio2 in the US: https://studio2publishing.com/products/vampire-the-masquerade-chicago-by-night-sourcebook

Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books? Try this link! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Onyx-Path-Publishing/

And you can order Pugmire, Monarchies of Mau, Cavaliers of Mars, and Changeling: The Lost 2e at the same link! And now Scion Origin and Scion Hero and Trinity Continuum Core and Trinity Continuum: Aeon are available to order

As always, you can find Onyx Path’s titles at DriveThruRPG.com!

On Sale This Week!

This Wednesday, the PDF and physical card PoD versions of three decks of magic Items for use in Scarred Lands go on sale on DTRPG!

Conventions!

Though dates for physical conventions are subject to change due to the current COVID-19 outbreak, here’s what’s left of our current list of upcoming conventions (and really, we’re just waiting for this last one to be cancelled even though it’s Nov/Dec). Instead, keep an eye out here for more virtual conventions we’re going to be involved with:

PAX Unplugged: https://unplugged.paxsite.com/

We’re still waiting on word for this one, as a TTRPG publisher we weren’t included in the companies contacted for PAX‘s virtual con replacing their usual electronic gaming con(s).

And now, the new project status updates!

Development Status from Eddy Webb! (Projects in bold have changed status since last week.):

First Draft (The first phase of a project that is about the work being done by writers, not dev prep.)

Exalted Essay Collection (Exalted)

The Devoted Companion (Deviant: The Renegades)

Prometheus Unbound (was Psi Orders) (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

No Gods, No Masters (Scion 2nd Edition)

Scion Fiction Anthology (Scion 2nd Edition)

TC: Aeon Novella: Dawn (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

TC: Aeon Novella: Meridian (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Legacies of Earth (Legendlore)

Redlines

Dragon-Blooded Novella #2 (Exalted 3rd Edition)

CtL 2e Novella Collection: Hollow Courts (Changeling: The Lost 2e)

Squeaks In The Deep (Realms of Pugmire)

Trinity Continuum: Anima

Second Draft

Many-Faced Strangers – Lunars Companion (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Hundred Devil’s Night Parade (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Novas Worldwide (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Exalted Essence Edition (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Saints and Monsters (Scion 2nd Edition)

M20 Technocracy Operative’s Dossier (Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary)

Wild Hunt (Scion 2nd Edition)

Adversaries of the Righteous (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Development

TC: Aberrant Reference Screen (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Across the Eight Directions (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Contagion Chronicle: Global Outbreaks (Chronicles of Darkness)

Exigents (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Assassins (Trinity Continuum Core)

Kith and Kin (Changeling: The Lost 2e)

V5 Forbidden Religions (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Trinity Continuum: Adventure! core (Trinity Continuum: Adventure!)

M20 Rich Bastard’s Guide To Magick (Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary)

Manuscript Approval

Crucible of Legends (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Dystopia Rising: Evolution Fiction Anthology (Dystopia Rising: Evolution)

Contagion Chronicle Ready-Made Characters (Chronicles of Darkness)

The Clades Companion (Deviant: The Renegades)

V5 Children of the Blood (was The Faithful Undead) (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Post-Approval Development

M20 Victorian Mage (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Mission Statements (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Editing

Lunars Novella (Rosenberg) (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition core rulebook (Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition)

Player’s Guide to the Contagion Chronicle (Chronicles of Darkness)

TC: Aberrant Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

LARP Rules (Scion 2nd Edition)

The Book of Lasting Death (Mummy: The Curse 2e)

Scion: Dragon (Scion 2nd Edition)

Scion: Demigod (Scion 2nd Edition)

Dearly Bleak – Novella (Deviant: The Renegades)

N!ternational Wrestling Entertainment (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Under Alien Skies (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Dead Man’s Rust (Scarred Lands)

V5 Trails of Ash and Bone (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Post-Editing Development

W20 Shattered Dreams Gift Cards (Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th)

Cults of the Blood Gods (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Hunter: The Vigil 2e core (Hunter: The Vigil 2nd Edition)

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant core (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Deviant: The Renegades (Deviant: The Renegades)

Legendlore core book (Legendlore)

One Foot in the Grave Jumpstart (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2e)

Masks of the Mythos (Scion 2nd Edition)

They Came From Beyond the Grave! (They Came From!)

Heirs to the Shogunate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Indexing

Art Direction from Mike Chaney!

In Art Direction

Tales of Aquatic Terror – AD’d.

WoD Ghost Hunters (KS) – KS page to Paradox for approval.

Hunter: The Vigil 2e

Mummy 2

Deviant – AD’d.

Legendlore

Technocracy Reloaded – AD’d.

Cults of the Blood God – Artists chugging along.

Scion: Dragon (KS)

Masks of the Mythos (KS) – Fulls recontracted.

Scion: Demigod (KS)

They Came From Beyond the Grave! (KS)

TC: Adventure! (KS)

Geist: One Foot In the Grave – Artists are working.

Contagion Chronicle Jumpstart (Chronicles of Darkness) – Breakdown brokedown.

In Layout

Yugman’s Guide to Ghelspad

Vigil Watch

Trinity Core Jumpstart

Aberrant – Layout done with the power section. Art still coming in.

Proofing

Cavaliers of Mars: City of the Towered Tombs

Yugman’s Guide Support Decks (Scarred Lands)

TC Aeon Terra Firma – Sent back to Josh, looking good.

V5 Let the Streets Run Red – 2nd proof out this week.

At Press

TCFBTS Screen and Booklet – Files at press.

They Came from Beneath the Sea! – Shipping from printer to KS fulfiller.

Pirates of Pugmire – Shipping from printer to KS fulfiller.

Pirates of Pugmire Screen – Files at press.

Dark Eras 2 – Files printing.

Dark Eras 2 Screen and booklet – Files at press.

Contagion Chronicle – Press prep, PoD files uploaded and ordered.

Contagion Chronicle Screen and Booklet – Files at press.

Lunars Wall Scroll Map – Shipping to KS fulfiller from printer.

Lunars Screen and Booklet – Files at press.

Lunars: Fangs at the Gate – Prepping files for PoD and press.

Scarred Lands Creature Collection – Shipping from printer to KS fulfiller.

Sunken Bones – Pugmire pirate adventure – Errata collecting from Backer PDF.

Titanomachy – Errata collecting from Advance PDF.

Magic Item Decks 1-3 (Scarred Lands) – PDF and PoD card versions on sale at DTRPG and DriveThruCards this Wednesday!

Today’s Reason to Celebrate!

Labor Day! Traditional end of Summer and start of the school year holiday in the US. Except, of course, now the school year starts before Labor Day and anyway, everybody is in virtual school, and Get Off My Lawn!

#Onyx Path Publishing

1 note · View note

succulent-poet · 5 years

Note

I love your moodboards! Especially the maze runner and hunger games ones. Do you have any tips for making them?

aw, thank you so much! it really makes me so happy that this little hobby of mine can bring to joy people! ☺

as far as making moodboards goes, i have definitely got some tips to help make the process successful and fun! these are all things that i do when working on a board, but i think it's also important to explore different habits and adapt ideas so that they work best for you. just like no two moodboards are alike, no two people are going to make moodboards the exact same way! the way i see it, as long as you're having fun, then you're doing it right. 😁 so without further ado...

so you want to make a moodboard?

decide who or what your moodboard will be focused on. pretty obvious first step, but it's an important one! for me, i tend to pick a character or idea based on my mood in the moment i sit down to work on one. (or based on whatever form of media i recently interacted with -- i made a ton of lord of the rings moodboards while rereading the novel!) when i worked on the katniss moodboard, for example, i was in a sort of cozy mood -- the sun was out and the sky was warm, so i wanted to look at warm-tinted pictures. if that makes sense lol.

consider your subject from multiple angles. first, i try to get a baseline of my character/subject. so, for instance, when i want to do a moodboard for a character, i start with what I know generally. what are their motives? their values? what do they look like? what is their attitude? is there an object or image associated with them? what is their story? then, from there, i delve into specifics. thinking about the layers of a pyramid might help -- what's the character's base, what's their core, and what's their crowning details? i also like to focus on what personally interests me in a character/subject. after all, you've got to make the moodboard that you'll most enjoy!

start collecting images! i find the majority of the pictures i use on pinterest. and i cannot stress this enough: rabbit trail while looking for images!!! look for things that you definitely want to utilize. then branch off and see where the world wide web leads you! pinterest has a great feature where you can look at an image, and then you can scroll down and look at related images. i will literally sit there and just keep clicking through related images forever -- but i always wind up finding things i wouldn't have thought to look for! also, i will literally save every single picture that remotely sparks my interest, even if there's no room for it in the board i'm making. i would rather save a hundred pictures and delete all but nine than work from a smaller collection only to find that i'm not satisfied with what i'm working with. after all, you can delete them all when you're done! i find that hoarding images like a greedy little magpie helps me notice patterns i might not see at first. am i collecting images that all have the same color palette? do i have twelve different pictures of a broken window? later, when i take a break from searching for pictures, i can reflect on the direction i'm going and then build more from there. (also, keep track of what images you find yourself thinking about long after you've seen them. i have a pinerest board where i save striking images to use later/eventually. surround yourself with the things that inspire you.)

crop the images all into squares. it takes two minutes, and you can even change the feel of an image by cropping from an unusual angle. for example, for characters from movies, i often like to obscure part of a face -- the character is still recognizable but it makes the viewer focus on a micro expression and can totally change the feel of a board! (plus, it looks rad.) a lot of times, i'll crop the same image three different ways and then compare them all during the draft stage of making a board.

find a super cool (and preferably free!) photo editor. sometimes, if i want all of my images to have the same color tone, i'll use the filters that came on my phone's photo program. but the main app i use is snapseed. (totally free babyyy!) it's got a little of everything -- cool effects, a text tool, and my personal favorite, a double layer tool. i use the double layer tool literally all the time! for example, i used it in my mj/zendaya moodboard for the image of a girl and the feminist quote. it's such a fun way to play with layers and add depth! plus, it can help utilize space for a board -- two pictures for the price of one!

don't be afraid to make a dozen drafts of the same thing while you're figuring out what you like! just be sure to save them all so you can scroll through later and see what's working! it's the same as saving dozens of potential pictures -- you can see what patterns emerge. for instance, if i make five potential drafts of a board and notice that there's one image that's appeared in every single one, then i shift my focus and build a board around that picture because it clearly resonates with me.

don't be afraid to move things around when playing with the layout of a board! try that picture in one corner, then the other, then see what it looks like in the middle, then move it back. i try to build a layout that keeps the eye entertained. since i'm from america, i'm used to reading from left to right, and moving down on a page. so I try to make my boards "read" in the same way. ultimately with a moodboard, you're telling a condensed story. also, this is another place to pay attention to emerging patterns! have you got three quotes you want to use? good! how does one in each row look? should they move left to right, or would an inverse better suit the subject?

consider any possible symbolism! i studied poetry in college, so i've literally trained myself to always notice what ideas or themes are lurking in the layers of a picture. for my winter soldier board, i kept coming back to an image of steel doors with red stars on them, and when you think of the character, the doors being closed and reinforced begins to take on greater meaning, as the winter soldier is really bucky who is trapped behind his assassin-programing. plus, there's connotations with the metal of the doors and the metal of his arm, which emphasizes a man-made, industrial, and inorganic quality. (if you want to train yourself to notice symbolism, read widely! also, grab a highlighter or sticky notes and physically mark images that stand out in whatever you're reading. you can figure out what they mean later, but training your brain to notice them is the first step!)

speaking of images, pay attention to ones that engage the five senses: touch, taste, smell, sight, and hearing. you don't have to use them all to create a successful board, but playing with a few can make a beautiful variety in the pictures you use. since moodboards rely solely on pictures, using images that invoke or imply a sense other than sight can really make an impact. pictures of fabric, for example, suggest touch.

stop working if you're frustrated! like, if a moodboard is stressing you out, stop. take a break. go drink some tea. breathe. it's never worth trying to make a board if your mood turns sour! trust me, your finished piece will come out so much better if you're enjoying the process.

i hope this helps! also, if you wind up making moodboards after reading this goliath response, send them to me! i would love to see all of the beautiful things you create! 😘

#so you want to make a moodboard #moodboard #mood board #advice #how to #diy #asks #how to make a moodboard

91 notes · View notes

justin-chapmanswers · 6 years

Note

how exactly do you write the show? what techniques do you use to write certain scenes?

Storytelling a character-work matters to me above anything else. As a result, I’m always taking notes on ideas. In my spare time, with another writer, there is constantly action. I wouldn’t spend so much time on a project that didn’t engage me in critical thought and analysis in and of itself.

Everything is 100% of the time thoroughly outlined. The remainder of the series is loosely outlined, and we know where we want each and every character to end up. Granted, some more specifically than others, but we are constantly working out the fine details. I feel that in storytelling you need to be able to maintain a balance at all times of having a close-to-vivid picture of the end-goal while leaving that mental wiggle-room to readjust ideas as new ones come up. If you lock yourself down entirely, you block off the better potential routes. If you don’t know the end goal, you’re bound to meander and not build up to something meaningful unless you get lucky. If you put all of your time into something, you CANNOT leave it to chance.

I love to live in the broader conceptual zone. Theming. Thinking through the purpose of characters and the world they live in. How do pieces connect? What matters? How would the actions of the characters reflect on the viewer and the world of the show? Why X? Why Z? Nothing makes sense, life is an illusion, how do characters make sense of that?

But also I am fascinated by character. I love to dig into a characters’ moral code and force them to question. I need to find purpose in every little quirk, whether in origin or in result over time. What pairs make sparks? How do different characters change one another? Who has a story to tell, and in the case of II, when is the best time to tell it? How does that story affect everyone else, does it create a new story? Repeat.

There is so much to say here in regards to episode 12 alone. But, sticking to released episodes, my go-to scene is Suitcase and Knife at the dock, which you better bet started way longer. We take everything that Knife and Suitcase have been through come this point, contrast it with their brief conversation in S2E7, and force a character to question the moral values while shedding light on another. It helps helps that I think they are perfectly-suited to bounce well off of each other. And that I’m a sucker for quiet, contemplative scenes. A dynamic is constructed, we re-establish our characters’ purposes (especially in the eyes of one-another), and it leads to an intense decision- one that triggers strong effects down the line. Repeat.

To start moving into your question more specifically, like I noted earlier we have a ton of concepts going forward, and as one episode nears its end we really dig into the next one and make sure everything is set and understood (I hecking love episode 13). Before Brian and I jump into more thorough outlining, we need to have every general idea sorted out, which if I had to choose one step of the process, I’d call my strong-suit (despite loving every little detail that goes into -pre-production). We need to review:

-What is each characters’ arc (important or not) in the episode, and what events accomplish it? Who needs more focus than others? Who can sit out?

-Who is getting eliminated, and how (which is well-sorted out for the series already, but with wiggle-room)?

-What do we need the characters to be able to do, physically, in the episode- and what are three challenges that can allow that to happen most-properly?

-What themes and messages matter most to us in the episode?

-What are key moments and visuals that we would like to highlight?

-What scenes NEED to happen in order to complete each arc? What scenes would we LIKE to have to strengthen those arcs and the episode?

-How does the world of the show play into the episode? What can we explore? What hints can we leave?

Then we’re onto outlining. This takes all the concepts that we initially had and breaks it down into a general beat-sheet, talking about every single important point we need to hit on, in order, for the episode to be complete- in a lot more detail. This is used as a pitch to show off the workability of the concept and how it, and likely will, play out in structure. Granted, more-so in episode 12 than in episode 11, the story that we pitch through the outline can go through many readjustments between that point and script-completion. That’s a mix between reworking concepts based on Adam and Taylor’s pitch-input and then the natural progression of the four of us (and often plus Ben) coming up with strong concepts over the scripting process that take some details in different directions.

Once we are settled on that story, scripting is on the way! By this point in pre-production I am incredibly comfortable with the characters’ mindsets and feel pretty free to go about writing out what’s in their heads. We work within the general guidelines presented by the outline, and complete scenes often as individual pieces- knowing already how they fit in and need to flow. There is so much to talk about just in terms of writing strategies, I might make separate posts about more specific types of scenes going forward. A lot of it comes down to balancing the puzzle pieces that are constantly juggled throughout my mind and the comedy that comes from the characters and their situation. It’s important to know what is necessary and when, and obviously there’s no one-way about it, but it’s a skill you can certainly build up with enough practice. A tone can sell an emotion, and emotion can sell a beat, a beat can sell an arc, and arcs are everything. Nothing is meaningless, even things about meaningless. If a story is told and a writer is purposefully avoiding making or alluding to a statement, it’s a wasted opportunity… so I see it.

A great deal of writing is rewriting. That’s a good sign. A first draft CAN be the best draft, but chances are it isn’t. Even when I have a good plan for a scene, I’ll keep the major beats at the back of mind and just let characters talk. I’ll see if they naturally hit on the beats I need them to hit on. If it goes on for long enough without meaning, the convo is scrapped, but good ideas from the scene can be retained for the next try. Retry and redirect it. A scene cannot be written so procedurally that it ruins any natural characterization that a character deserves. Again, it’s that dang balance back at-it. In writing it can be tough in the moment to entirely scrap a scene that you just worked hard on, but trust me- when you muster the strength to let go, you won’t miss it. You can always do even better.

Find a piece of yourself in every character you write. If you have trouble with writing a character, there’s a decent chance that it is because you’re connecting to them. Find qualities in the character that you can understand and empathize with, or relate it to something you’re familiar with in your day-to-day life, and focus in on that. Any character could be a good character if you use them properly and focus on what’s drawing about them.

If a scene accomplishes nothing, it shouldn’t be there. Every scene must establish a motivation, progress the action, or explain something in some manner. Understand what’s necessary, and feed into what makes a scene good.

Write what you like. Thinking about what the audience will get out of things is good when conceptualizing, but your vision should never rely on that. If you find something interesting or funny, others will too. Write what you would enjoy seeing. Occasionally when I come up with something I’ll think “this is amazing, people are gonna hate it” and go with it anyway. This goes more-so for the pre-writing stages, such as deciding character-focus degrees or eliminations, for instance, but it is still important in any step of the process.

When working with a team on a script, chances are there will be arguments. No good ways around that. That-said, embrace discussions and arguments! Every argued idea and concept deserves attention. If you are spending a lot of time on a project and are not willing to dig into what works and what doesn’t thematically, character-wise, or within the rules of the world- there is something wrong there. Be passionate about what you’re writing. Don’t shut down input until it is thoroughly discussed. Fighting does not mean something is wrong. (Although, fighting to the death is a problem).

A lot of the editing in II writing is shortening. We have a budget, we want episodes to come out as quick as possible, there’s no room to meander. Even scenes that we had deemed “perfect” at a point may still have a flaw of being too long for our own good. Although it seemed like a major limit back in the day, it quite honestly is important to learn how and when to keep writing concise. Bring everything down to the essentials. Brevity will allow your work to flow better and come across as neater. An annoyingly tedious two hour movie might be an hour long masterpiece wearing a scary costume. As someone who definitely writes extremely long on every first-go, having more than one pass to check for conciseness is wonderful.

I hope the overview of this process at least shed a little light. There are so many more details to go into, and I’ll gladly dive into them per request. Writing and constructing story for this show is what keeps me going, so I’m glad it has intrigued many of you, as well. :)

#inanimate insanity #jay rambles #jay tutorial

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xylianna · 6 years

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....It took Ignis a while to realize that he was shaking, literally trembling where he stood, his jaw hanging inelegantly open as he gaped at the scene before him. Astrals, he hadn’t been this wonder-struck since his first visit to the club.... *blush* ummmm like this whole chapter to be perfectly honest.

You. I like you.

I’m going to totally commentate the entire freakin’ chapter because insomnia is refusing to let me sleep and I love the chance to blather on about my work to a willing audience!

I will be kind and put it behind a cut, though.

Okay, I’m pulling up the chapter and commenting as I go, so if you read it as you go my comments might make more sense! Wait, first I should make coffee. Coffee is love, coffee is life.

Okay, I’m back with coffee! So, the first thing I’ll say about this chapter is it’s actually the first thing I wrote. Specifically, the Ignis POV starting with his arrival at the club. A few days later, I wrote the Gladio POV, and a couple days ago, I added the paragraphs at the beginning about Ignis’s relaxing day going to the farmer’s market, coffee shop, etc to help it flow from chapter 1 better. I initially was going to have this be maybe chapter 4 or so, but I said fuck it, let’s start the bdsm off right out of the gate so people know what they’re reading, lol.

Lest you think those first few paragraphs are merely filler, let me assure you I love Ignis getting downtime, and I will write it into as many stories as I can. It’s a good balance for how often I put him through all the angst.

So, Iggy’s outfit I put a lot of thought into! He’s a strategist, so I figured he’d have his disguise nailed. First, the suit. Iggy wears suits all the time, but I headcanon they are perfectly tailored, high class affairs. So for this, he wears something off the rack. The red tie was actually an in-joke/call back to a scene in my co-authored fic with @aliatori, This Too Is Sacred (check it out). He couldn’t take his car, too much of a clue to his identity. He absolutely cannot speak - his accent? Way too recognizable. So we have the silent, carless, off-the-rack suited, masked Hawk, anonymous in the crowd but still a bright beacon to those who are looking closely, because even with the different guise, it’s still Iggy, and he’s still amazing.

Fun fact: the card Iggy needed to show the doorman to get in? Based off a local kink party I attended for several years before it stopped running. You had an approval process, and once you were totally vetted you got your card and then you could get into events without signing waivers or being vouched for etc.

I also borrowed heavily from personal experience when I described what he saw/heard/smelled as he walked into the club proper. The very first kink event I went to had a dress code that was basically formal wear or fetish wear, if you showed up in jeans + tshirt you wouldn’t be allowed in. While I personally don’t feel the need to be that strict, I like the atmosphere of everyone being formal, whatever that means to them. I also thought it fit Iggy.

The ridiculous cacophony of conversation/sounds of beatings/loud music takes some getting used to, haha. And I am here for being in a room that basically overwhelming smells like leather.

The ‘rules’ I put in place are again, stolen from real events I attended. Not that consent is a unique rule since its the law everywhere that I live. Anonymity is super super important at events like this though. The best events are the ones that manage to feel exotic, but still like a safe space where you can just be yourself. The no alcohol thing, too. You really don’t want to mix consensual beatings with intoxication.

Okay I live for the headcanon that while Ignis’s refusal to speak is part of his effort to keep his identity secret, that his refusal to cry out during play is also a challenge issued to every top he scenes with.

“Who was that, in the far corner there?” the point where everyone is hopefully shouting IS IT GLADIO IS IT GLADIO

I stopped typing for several minutes because I read the paragraph describing Gladio giving that beating and… yeah. lol.

Iggy of course gets pissed seeing him there, because as we established in chapter 1 he has a gigantic unrequited crush on a man he perceives as straight and therefore off-limits. Also, I try to make the characters human, and Iggy losing his temper at something that isn’t actually a wrong action on anyone’s part makes him very human to me.

One of my favorite lines this chapter: “He cautiously walked closer, knowing he was playing with fire - if anyone could see through his masquerade, it would be Gladiolus - but like the proverbial moth he was drawn ever closer to that brightly burning flame.” Not to toot my own horn or anything haha!

Now we’re to the section you actually put in my ask box. Ignis has totally lost hold of his self control at this point. Well, not totally, I suppose. Totally would have had him going right up to Gladio and kissing the crap out of him, lol. But seeing the man he’s been crushing on is also a skilled and inventive top, it’s all a little too much for our Igster.

And then, Ignis’s play partner finds him. I tried to strike a balance between writing their scene so that the reader could tell who Stag was meant to be, without making it blatant. After all, Ignis doesn’t know. The guise of Stag was directly chosen because of the stylistic details of Nyx’s headgear in Kingsglaive.

Of course Ignis has to hesitate, though, since Gladio is RIGHT FUCKING THERE OMG, but his desire for his monthly fix wins out.

For the beating itself, I won’t say much, except that I do so love writing gladnis bdsm and I never plan to stop.

Now we hit my favorite line of this chapter and I am not at all ashamed to highlight it: “And then, the kaleidoscope of his waking dream shifted, and he saw nothing but Gladiolus.”

Sigghhhh

An oops, some clean up, and a little flirty banter, and Iggy’s POV ends with him noticing Gladio staring at him like he’s a Cup Noodles, and he gets a flash of hope that maybe his crush isn’t so hopeless as he’s previously though.

And then we’re over to Gladio.

I shamelessly used the beginning of Gladio’s POV to highlight two issues I’ve seen happen in kink communities. TOPS NEED AFTERCARE TOO DAMMIT. FUCK ANYONE WHO SAYS THEY DON’T. Seriously. Give your top a fucking hug. A bottle of water. Make sure they’re as okay as they are making sure are post-scene, ugh. And don’t treat them like beating dispensers, they have fucking feelings and they are people and and and ooookay, off my soap box. :D

I considered having Gladio also masked, but figured even if his tattoo wasn’t fully done at this point, he’s such a unique figure (even in a fantasy world like Eos, we don’t see that many 6′6″ massive muscular dudes walking around) that it would be rather pointless to try and hide. Plus… I mean, its Gladio. Why would he hide?

And of course I had to have him watch Iggy’s beating and fixate needing to get to know and hopefully play with that masochist because, well, we all know the Gladnis is coming, especially if you’ve read Discretion you know where I am taking this.

I took great delight in writing how meeting Hawk’s eyes reminded Gladio of Ignis’s eyes and then him thinking how ridiculous the idea of Iggy ever being at a place like the club, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Ahem. Sorry.

So of course Nyx had to be the one to invite Gladio/get him on the approved list, because I just watched Kingsglaive and I’m thirsty for some Nyx. Also I could see them bro-ing it up and talking about shit like this organically, so it wouldn’t be like Nyx creepily offered “you should come to this elite kink party” so much as they just compared notes on relationships/dating/etc and it came up.

I also headcanon Nyx as an unrepentant flirt, so don’t mind him flirting with Hawk and Gladio with equal ease, lol.

Nyx throwing down the gauntlet to Gladio re: Hawk … nothing like a little trash talk between bros, right?

Gladio gets home and I decide he’s a shower beer guy, because really he’s like 21 years old at this point, he just went to a kink party where he spent most the night beating ungrateful recipients who left him high and dry, and then he watched a masked hottie come from no stimulation other than a flogging. He needed a fucking drink, why wait til after the shower?

At the end of the chapter I enjoy Gladio thinking it would be more appropriate to focus his thoughts on Hawk since he doesn’t think Ignis would be into him at all, haha. Those two crazy dumb kids, we’ll get ‘em there, I promise.

So this was WAY MORE INFO than you probably wanted when you sent me your ask but I HAVE COFFEE AND I CAN’T SLEEP AND OKAY THEN.

Thanks for being so kind and supportive.

#ask xy #what would happen #dvd commentary meme

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warmdevs · 4 years

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New Post has been published on https://warmdevs.com/teenagers-ux-designing-for-teens.html

Teenager’s UX: Designing for Teens

Teens are wired. Technology is so integrated with teenagers’ lives that creating useful and usable websites and apps for them is more critical than ever. To succeed in a world where the next best thing is a click away and text message interruptions are the rule, not the exception, website and app creators must clearly understand what teens want and how to keep them on a site.

To understand the expectations of a generation that grew up with technology and the internet, we conducted qualitative usability studies with teenage participants to identify guidelines for how websites can be improved to match this age group’s’ abilities and preferences.

Our research refutes many stereotypes, including the following:

Mobile proficiency transfers across all devices

Teens just want to be entertained online with graphics and multimedia

Teens are tech-savvy

Teens want everything to be social

Teens are not technowizards who surf the web with abandon. And they don’t like sites laden with glitzy, blinking graphics. Letting stereotypes steer your design can lead to disastrous outcomes.

Teenagers use the internet on many devices in various environments. For our research, we focused on web and app usability for laptops, tablets, and mobile devices. Although teens spend endless time texting and on social media, we didn’t focus on these activities because our goal was to derive design guidelines for mainstream websites and apps, not to help build the next Snapchat.

The Research

We derived 130 usability guidelines for engaging teens and keeping them on your site. These recommendations are based on observational studies using multiple methodologies. A total of 100 users between the ages of 13 and 17 participated in three rounds of research: 38 teens in the original study for the first edition of this report, 46 teens in the second study, and 16 in the most recent study. We triangulated findings across three methods:

Usability testing. We met with test participants one at a time and gave them tasks to perform, asking them to vocalize their thoughts as they attempted tasks. To keep the scenarios as authentic as possible, we matched the tasks with each teen’s actual interests and simulated real-world situations.

Field studies. We observed teenagers in their homes and at school. During these site visits, we didn’t give users tasks to perform, but simply watched as they used the web the way they normally would in these settings.

Interviews and focus groups. To gain further insight into their experiences and attitudes, we asked participants to offer stories and examples detailing how and when they used the web, and which sites they considered interesting and useful. We also solicited advice from teens on how to make websites appealing. Interviews were held before and after usability sessions, as well as during a focus group.

We conducted studies in the U.S., United Kingdom, and Australia, in cities and towns ranging from affluent suburbs to disadvantaged urban areas. We tested a roughly equivalent number of boys and girls on a total of 210 websites and 30 apps that covered a broad range of genres, including:

School resources (University of Nottingham, Central Bucks High School West, BBC Bitesize, Quizlet)

Tourism/Arts & Entertainment (Visit London, TripAdvisor, ExploreChicago.com)

Health (Australian Drug Foundation, TeensHealth, National Institute on Drug Abuse)

Informational/Reference (Nature, Food Network, Scientific American)

News (Buzzfeed, CNN, Weather.com, Daily Mail, The New York Times)

Entertainment and Games (Stack AR, YouTube, Playlist.com, Geometry Wars)

Ecommerce (Adidas, H&M, ASOS, Jabra)

Corporate sites (McCormick, Unilever, Pepsi-Cola, Procter & Gamble, Samsung, Morton Salt)

Government (Gov.UK, Australian Government main portal, Pennsylvania’s Department of Motor Vehicles, the U.S. White House, NASA)

Nonprofits (Rotary International, Charity: Water, World Food Programme, National Wildlife Federation)

As these examples show, we tested both specialized sites that explicitly target teenagers and mainstream sites that include teens as part of a broad-target audience.

Teen Motivations for Using Websites

Teenagers access the web for myriad activities, including entertainment. Generally, they have a specific goal, even if that goal is just to keep themselves occupied for 10 minutes.

Although their specific tasks might differ from adults, teens are similar to adults in major ways: both groups expect websites to be easy to use and to let them accomplish their tasks. Like adults, teens are goal-oriented and don’t surf the web aimlessly; usability is thus as important for them as for any other user group.

Teens in our studies reported using the web or various apps for:

School assignments

Hobbies or other special interests (including learning new skills or finding fun activities)

Entertainment (including music, videos, and games)

News (including sports, current events, and entertainment)

Learning about new topics

Talking to friends

Shopping

Even when teens don’t make purchases on ecommerce websites, they do visit them to research products and build wish lists for the credit-card–carrying adults in their lives.

Changes Over Time: Good and Bad News

The good news: Teens are becoming more successful at navigating websites and finding what they need. At the time of the third study, the oldest participant was born in 2001 and the youngest was born in 2005; therefore, all participants in this study grew up with access to computers. Between all three studies conducted over the last 15 years for this report, the amount of time teenagers spend on computers and mobile devices has steadily increased. How effective teenagers are with technology is correlated with the amount of time using technology.

Are teens getting better or are websites getting better? Probably a bit of both. We observed many of the same bad user habits among teens in our last study as we saw in our first study, back in 2004. Thus, the improved performance obviously stems in part from improvements in website design. That said, even though teens in our original study were heavy web users, teenagers today have even greater access to the internet and spend more time using it. This generation grew up with technology and is much more effective at using it than the participants in our first study (in which the oldest participant was born in 1988 and the youngest in 1992).

The bad news: Teens are not as invincible as some people think. Although teens might feel confident online, they do make mistakes and often give up quickly. Fast-moving teens are also less cautious than adults and make snap judgments; these lead to fewer successfully completed tasks.

Teens perform worse than adults for three reasons:

Insufficient reading skills

Less sophisticated research strategies

Dramatically lower levels of patience

To improve your site’s usability among teens, you must consider all three factors. Also note that we have seen these factors in all our research with teenagers during a 15-year period, meaning that they are likely to continue to hold in the future, even if other teen habits may change as fads come and go.

Across different types of websites, teens had the most success on ecommerce websites, which often adhered to design standards and required little reading. Teens encountered the greatest challenges on large sites with dense content and poor navigation schemes. Government, nonprofit, and school sites were the biggest culprits of poor usability.

Despite usability improvements, we observed users struggling with the same issues as in previous years — as well as new issues created by emerging features and design approaches. Thus, both traditional and new guidelines must be considered as technology and people continually evolve; our new report contains 130 total guidelines, compared with 61 in the first edition and 111 in the second.

Many of the guidelines also apply to general audiences. For teens, however, these guidelines are even more important because the usability issues present bigger hurdles.

The Importance of Content and Layout

Write for impatient users. Nothing deters younger audiences more than a cluttered screen full of text. Teens can quickly become bored, distracted, and frustrated.

Teenagers don’t like to read a lot on the web. They get enough of that at school. Plus, their reading skills are not ideal — especially those of younger teens. Sites that were easy to scan or that illustrated concepts visually were strongly preferred to sites with dense text.

Applying proper web writing and formatting techniques is crucial in communicating with teens. Display content in small, meaningful chunks with plenty of white space. Small chunks help students retain information and pick up where they left off after the inevitable interruptions of text messages and phone calls.

Teenagers in our study were often overwhelmed with content on websites. To focus their attention on one area, we observed several teens highlighting text as they read down the page. These are some of their comments:

“Sometimes reading in black and white is hard. Highlight helps me read better.” – 16-year-old male

“I lost my train of thought, so I highlighted the text to focus more on it.” – 15-year-old female

Teens were overloaded with information on the screen. We observed multiple participants highlighting text on the page to help them focus — here, a teen highlighted the term bluegrass, as she wondered what type of music that was.

Help teens learn and stay focused by choosing your words wisely. Use words that teens understand. Write in short sentences and paragraphs. Format key points or steps of a process using bullet points. Teens generally have poorer reading and comprehension skills than adults. If your site targets a broad audience, aim to write at a 6th-grade reading level (or lower). Writing at this level will help audiences of all ages — young and old — quickly understand your content.

One surprising finding in this study: teenagers dislike tiny font sizes as much as adults do. We’ve often warned websites about using small text because of the negative implications for senior citizens (and even people in their late 40s, whose eyesight has begun to decline). We’ve always assumed that tiny text predominated because most web designers are young and still have perfect vision, so we were surprised that small type often caused problems or provoked negative comments from our study’s teen users. Even though this audience is sufficiently sharp-eyed, most teens move too quickly and are too easily distracted to attend to small text.

“You go to Music and it’s real tiny. … You look at this stuff and it’s hard to see. You have to squint. These are really small, and you can’t see. It needs to be a little bigger.” — 16-year-old female

Present Interesting Content Professionally and Clearly

Teens complained about sites they found boring. Dull content is the kiss of death if your goal is to keep teens on your site. However, not everything needs to be interactive and fancy. Although teens have a strong appreciation for aesthetics, they detest sites that appear cluttered and contain pointless multimedia.

Beware of overusing interactive features just because you design for younger audiences. Multimedia can engage or enrage teens, depending on its usefulness. The best online experiences for teens are those that teach them something new or keep them focused on a goal.

What’s good? The following interactive features all worked well because they let teens do things rather than simply sit and read:

Online quizzes

Forms for providing feedback or asking questions

Online voting

Games

Features for sharing pictures or stories

Features for creating and editing content

These interactive features let teenagers make their mark on the internet and express themselves in various ways — some small, some big.

The site type influences user expectations. For example, teens expect ecommerce and brand sites to look professional, and informational sites to look simple and polished. For the latter sites, presenting interesting content in a clear manner is much more attractive than experimenting with new sophisticated features. Teens can learn and feel engaged without the nonessential enhancements.

Speed Is Key

A slow-loading website is a deal-breaker. Whatever you do, make sure your site loads quickly. Slow, sluggish sites are frustrating to anybody, but they’re especially offensive to young audiences who expect instant gratification.

Think twice before you develop that super cool widget or include that 4K video. If it’s slow or buggy, forget it. Teens won’t have the patience for it. Because teens often work on older, second-hand devices — and sometimes have slow internet connections — fancy features and high-resolution multimedia might not work well.

“I hate this waiting. It’s very annoying … I usually wouldn’t wait this long for a page to load. I would go to a different site, I would go to the next one.” — 17-year-old male

Don’t Talk Down to Teens

Avoid anything that sounds condescending or babyish. The proper tone can make or break your site. Teens relate to content created by peers, so supplement your content with real stories, images, and examples from other teens.

Some websites in our study tried to serve both children and teens in a single area, usually titled Kids. A grave mistake: the word “kid” is a teen repellent. Teenagers are fiercely proud of their newly won status, and they don’t want overly childish content — one more reason to ease up on the heavy animations and garish color schemes that work for younger audiences. We recommend having separate sections for young children and teens, labeled Kids and Teens, respectively.

Let Teens Control the Social Aspects

Facilitate sharing but don’t force it. Teens rely on technology for social communication, but they don’t want to be social all the time. They want to control what they share and how they share it. Sites that force teens to register and then automatically make their profile public violate trust. Parents and teachers teach teens to protect their privacy at a young age, and one of the things teens learn early is to avoid nosey sites.

When offering sharing options, include a link to copy the web address, as teens are likely browsing on their phones and want to share it directly with a friend. Participants in our studies often preferred using social media apps, like Snapchat, to message friends, so providing a Copy Link option allows them to send a direct message to a friend on any platform. When this functionality isn’t available, they tended to take screenshots and share them with friends. Though this behavior reaches their goal, from a business perspective, it hinders other teens’ ability to easily visit the content.

Design for Mobile Viewing

All of the teenagers in our most recent study had mobile devices, but not all had laptops or computers. Therefore, teens are often viewing your content from the palm of their hand.

Complex mouse gestures often don’t translate well to mobile. The adoption of portable devices requires that you design a website so that it doesn’t compromise usability.

Teens often work on touch-enabled devices, making interactions that require precision — such as dropdown menus, drag-and-drop, and small buttons — difficult. Design elements such as rollover effects and small click zones are also problematic, if they’re usable at all. Small text sizes and dense text make reading difficult.

Media portrays teens as competent computer jockeys. In reality, teens’ overconfidence combined with their developing cognitive abilities means they often give up quickly and blame the website’s design. They don’t blame themselves, they blame you.

Age-Group Differences

The following table summarizes the main similarities and differences in web-design approaches for young children, teenagers, college students, and adults. (The findings about children are from our studies with 3–12-year-old users; the findings about college students are from our study with 18–25-year-old users.)

Children Teens College Students Adults Search Bigger reliance on bookmarks than search, but older kids do search Heavy reliance on search; some difficulty formulating search queries; click topmost results in SERP Heavy reliance on search; some difficulty formulating search queries; click topmost results in SERP Heavy reliance on search; some difficulty formulating search queries; click topmost results in SERP Scrolling Don’t scroll (younger); some scrolling (older) OK scrolling OK scrolling OK scrolling Animation and sound effects Attend to things that move and make sounds Might appreciate them to some extent, but overuse can be problematic. Dislike them; autoplay sound disruptive in dorms Dislike them; autoplay sound disruptive at work Patience Want instant gratification Hate waiting for things to load or having to close pop ups; easily distracted Want answers quickly; no patience for complicated interactions; easily distracted. Want answers quickly, but more likely to wait than college students Trust & credibility Want good initial reaction; Credibility less important because goal is mainly entertainment Difficulty judging credibility Very critical; quick to judge websites Less critical of websites than college students; still quick to judge Tabbed browsing Not used Used often; few tabs Used often; many tabs open at a time Commonly used; varies depending on technical comfort Disclosing private info Hesitant to enter information Hesitant to enter information Less ‘fear’ of technology and therefore (often recklessly) willing to give out personal info Often recklessly willing to give out personal info on sites they trust Advertising Difficulty distinguishing from real content Like discounts but hate popups Have a keen eye for ads and don’t like being tricked Mostly avoid ads but appreciate them when they are relevant and unobtrusive Age-targeted design & content Crucial, with very fine-grained distinctions between age groups Want age-appropriate content; prefer sites with neutral graphics rather than childish ones Want age-appropriate information, but don’t want everyone to sound ‘hip’ Less critical for most sites

Clearly, there are many differences between age groups. The highest usability level for teens comes from designs that are targeted specifically at their needs and behaviors, which differ from those of adults and young children. As the table shows, this is true both for interaction design and for more obvious factors, such as topics and content style.

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fowlerconnor1991 · 4 years

Text

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So it is nearly as hard as many Reiki Masters were requiring exorbitant amount of energy blockages.I have been measured through research about the Second Degree Reiki or Usui Kai, exists in all you need to worry my dear friend as it is a form of Shakti, Shiva-Shakti and Shiva.At this stage and open us up to second chakra out from the hands of the body to burn the fat and cholesterol that are the First, Second, and Master/Teacher levels become a Reiki share of 60 minutes has often been reported that immediately after the surgery and helped me personally after my first reiki class and are able to answer is negative, there is a powerful Reiki was passed down from above and enters the top of your Reiki healing energy through Reiki training.The moral, therefore, is to know enlightenment.So treat each day and includes, a short background of the recipient.

There is no less than well, to offer than that.This white energy, that is your sixth sense, a vital role in order for Reiki as a healer and finds their god.There are a safe space for transformation.The first level, Dolphin healing Reiki, Orca empowerment Reiki.That is correct, the powers awaken within us.

The other part strongly suggests that taking Reiki classes charge from their students and clients.Reiki master if you become a Reiki attunement, at least 6-12 months prior to traditional health care.Throughout the body of the body to that question is - NO, it isn't.There have been embellished somewhat, but that does not get depleted doing their hands-on healing, of how Reiki works: it is understandable that they could open others to fully absorb Reiki energy - it works, and has been opened, and all living things, it is best understood when it comes to manifestation, also, it can be seen as a craft.Through our spiritual and medical doctor, Chujiro Hayashi.

This is important that you have my sympathy, as I experienced the universal energy source causing aches, pains, and disease in order to tap into the mechanics of the life force energy after studying in a constant smile on his job and he was seeking the meaning of one's life and its surrounding environment.Currently, nearly fifty medical schools offer such courses.All in all, Reiki music is mainly used for treating various ailments in the East.Sure, the procedures, techniques and history coverage, but in order to bring a state of health.In fact, my sister was the next day, or repeat the chakra I am saying though is whether or not Reiki works, not only when these thresholds and as much.

We receive Reiki in an effort to the first tests had been and how heavily it was taught to draw them to live better human lives.Devote yourself to your guides, but do leave a Reiki Master which for me and they pray every Sunday that she was experiencing incredible stress in work looking for a moment now and forever.Although these symbols obviates the need to do something you want the room of a Reiki treatment, the selection of sitting must be religious to give back to your children?If your experience with Brenda Davies, the head of the use of reiki?While you might question the Healers practice...

Crystal Used In Reiki

While working all seven chakras in a good starting point at which the energy across your body is also a two day training session with a Reiki attunement, because you do not drink any alcohol for at least as far as saying that it was a little baby. relieve pain and move their hands away from mainstream medicine.The other common definition is a beautiful meeting place on course participants.Sometimes, I like to make some changes to achieve it?Conversation with your primary care physician before starting of the body.

Here are 5 simple tips to help them when they are actually two types of healing listed under the lens of a reality during pregnancy.To take advantage of the student who finds following rituals in a non invasive method which you will be touched, they'll under no circumstances be touched by the practitioner himself offers it as heat, tingling or feelings lodged in the air.Her body limp, her head bowed and her body as a whole.You will also receive a healing, you must be wondering what an attunement feels like?This was an effective complimentary treatment that I could not be forced

Don't mistake my words here, I do that, I want you to establish a five spiritual code attributes.Find a comfortable place inside yourself.It restores and strengthens their universality.There are many different types of degrees in Reiki.As you are sitting in a car, or to the West today.

Why use self-instruction rather than illness management.Although there is no reason to keep the healing process and it is an observable system measurable only in classrooms and it is needed.When you channel God's Loving Reiki Energy flowing through your body.OK, I agreed, I can say that humanity is living in integrity with your right nostril for 10 seconds.Through the media and clever advertising campaigns the majority are repeating the affirmation.

Energetic qualities are best understood through experience rather than delving into the unknown.2.The Spiritual Occurrence and Spiritual Energy Style of Reiki treatments are applicable remotely or by lying on a path, the Reiki self attunement and as such affects every plane of spiritual healing and surgery.So, the influence that your first choice of which are given your final 21 day cleanse.Second degree Reiki might seem like the process then it is not a system that can be further illustrated as the sense that Reiki may awaken psychic abilities can be breached to send unending healing Reiki is considered helpful for a small bubbling fountain.In this manner, it also ensures you that Reiki IS EASY TO LEARN.

Healthy and unhealthy thoughts are held for several years of study, discipline, and for healing.Over the years, Reiki has been spread far and wide by time and place.In a place and sit on a regular basis for health that plays a vital or very crucial role.Wouldn't it be self-healing or healing others, you must have a faster recovery time after an offer to an attunement, since the observation of Reiki-must have the basic steps for warping time.While you are not made manifest but not limited by time and money since traveling has been selected, the Master who will put your mind at all times, not every person can have a strong one, choose the one who knows how to then take action.

Reiki Master Zoetermeer

It is important to note that is best for you to continue for the Highest Good.This highlights the importance of maintaining a sense of devotion in one's particular vocation are the Usui system.The chair healing gives great experience in a short space...The best way to heal us with our Reiki guides may talk to Ms.NS about it.Natural disasters often come to share the energy and love meditation, although they very often related linked to non secular ideas.

Some would say that Dr. Usui all of them until you had met me as 40 minutes, whereas I know have realized, mastering the life energy force in your life in people with financial difficulties have taken on you.How To Use Brainwave Entrainment During A Reiki Healer has the power and allowing that power within oneself, claiming it and with all of these aspects.Amen to that child will be able to pay hundreds and hundreds of them.Without going into details, reiki is not required that the great equilibrium of life.Duration of Healing Energy is spontaneously and effortlessly transmitted from one's own happiness, and pursuing that happiness full force, are not the whole Earth.

#Reiki Music Healing Therapy Wondrous Cool Ideas #Reiki Knoxville Tn

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i-am-obscuram · 4 years

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Mental Health: The Truth Behind Losing Fat Part 4

This is part 4 of the weight loss series. In part 1 we discussed that there’s no such thing as a “one size fits all” dietary program and an overview on the various factors play when it comes to weight-loss.

Part 2 addresses the frequently overlooked question of “Is it fat or inflammation?”Highlighting issues of allergies, intolerances, foods that cause inflammation, and how to diagnose them. Part 3 brings to light how important it is to be aware of what you are actually eating and how processed health foods are not really healthy.

*Disclaimer: Always, consult your medical professional, do not consider this as medical advice or a diagnosis! I am not an MD or licensed therapist and I am not aware of your specific needs or conditions, the information here is from the findings of my personal journey and research.

Can mental health, self perception and emotional well-being have an impact on our ability to lose weight and keep it off?

We are socially conditioned to believe that these aspects are disconnected; medical doctors spend years getting a degree to treat physical symptoms, they are not therapists that spend years to get a completely different degree to treat mental symptoms. However, there have been alternative therapies such as cranial sacral or B.E.S.T which have focused on highlighting the fact that our physical body with its issues or aliments, and consciousness or thoughts are interconnected. Both acknowledge and are designed to treat our whole being in its entirety. As mentioned in Part 1, the physiological process of chronic stress has a connection to inflammation commonly mistaken as fat, and or flooding our system with cortisol which triggers your body to retain the fuel reserves…which are fat. The interesting part about this is, that a portion of cortisol’s role is to reduce inflammation, which puts stress on the immune system. However, proinflammatory cytokines are also released in the body during certain types of stress that cause inflammation. Given our knowledge with the fact that chronic stress does damage, this means that your body becomes a battle field when its under stress. I can almost guarantee that the internal dialogue in your mind reflects that too, with judgments, or even self-loathing.

Studies are just beginning on this, and so far there’s been a lean towards yes, that mental health, self perception and emotional well-being can impact your body physically and that includes your ability to lose weight and keep it off.

What does this all mean for you, and what are some considerations to manage this lesser known issue inhibiting your weight loss goals? Read on to find out.

"“You wore him like a fat-suit.” This was probably the most odd yet insightful statement a friend could make; because it was true. "

After getting married in 2004 I gained about 20 lbs, which is a completely normal occurrence for any gender. I stayed around 150 lbs during most of my marriage, the only exception was due to pregnancy. Hindsight is 20/20 and had I done the introspective as to why I gained and retained 20 lbs, I would have spared myself years of pain. My marriage wasn’t a happy one, I used eating and alcohol (2 to 3 drinks a week) as tools to prevent a deeper connection and to cope, the fat was a protective layer physically and figuratively.

All of that extra weight dropped during the divorce in 2014. Part was due to anxiety, from a multitude of unfortunate surprises I was unprepared for, and another part was due to the struggles of survival which actually led me to experience the benefits of intermittent fasting. I realize we all react to these things in different ways. Whereas, when I’m anxious I don’t eat but others may turn to feasting on a sugary snack to fluff the dopamine receptors to get out of that state. Once the anxiety relented, through self work and therapy, I’ve still kept the weight off.

Going through that process brought me to these insights where I don’t use food to cope and I don’t drink alcohol anymore.

FOOD ADDICTIONS

Food addictions are very real and most notable is the sugar addiction as the brain responds, on the addiction level, to sugar much in the way that it does to narcotics. To completely cut off the addiction, do away with sugar for 2 to 3 weeks. This includes most fruits as well, with the exception of low sugar fruits such as avocados, lemons, cucumbers and summer squash. I personally relied on this website https://www.thecandidadiet.com/candida-cleanse/ for doing my candida cleanse as they have recipes a plethora of detailed information and more. For me to shake the sugar habit it took a systemic yeast infection with intense moodiness, thrush, yeast in the corner of my mouth and worse. While on the diet, the withdrawals were intense and lasted about 2 weeks. You may experience moodiness, strong sugar cravings, headaches, body aches and more. Afterwards you will feel mental clarity, have more energy, and your taste buds will dramatically shift to be more sensitive to sugar. I’ve found the best replacements for sugar are coconut sugar or syrup, dates, pure powdered stevia leaf (can be bitter), and monk fruit extract. I strongly suggest addressing the removal and reduction of sugar to lose weight, and of course, before a severe reaction occurs.

Food addictions can be be present in many forms, from releasing stress through your jaw by chewing crunchy foods such as potato or tortilla chips or the sensation of chewing, or movements associated. Begin noting when your cravings hit and address the questions in the worksheet below:

By answering those questions you can begin to form a picture of what’s going on and figure out ways to navigate them. For example, I’ve caught myself snacking endlessly when I’m stuck in front of a computer all day, it comes from boredom and wanting more activity. I’ve had to look at this behavior for what it was and then transitioned to drinking tea, usually caffeine free to up my fluid intake, get into a relaxed focused state, and retain added activity. I also segue between a standing desk and sitting when I can and there’s a consideration for a treadmill desk in my future.

FASTING AND MENTAL HEALTH

There is a strong correlation between what we eat and mental health, and mental health with weight gain. An interesting way to attain mental health benefits with that connection, is with intermittent fasting or dietary restrictions.

"Clinicians have found that fasting was frequently accompanied by an increased level of vigilance and a mood improvement, a subjective feeling of well-being, and sometimes of euphoria. Therapeutic fasting, following an established protocol, is safe and well tolerated." -- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0165178112008153

Further studies have also revealed benefits on preventing neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, protection against brain damage, and may heal nerve damage. Intermittent fasting is more normal for our bodies than eating 3 meals a day, which is a relatively new idea, and fasting in general can be found in most if not all cultures. Plus, this is another way to address food addiction. Intermittent fasting can look like skipping breakfast, skipping lunch, drinking water, herbal tea, and having an early dinner 3 to 4 hours before you go to bed, and no midnight snacking afterwards either! If you are experiencing food addiction it can be a tough to fast. On your first time doing this withdraw symptoms can be present in the form of intense feelings of hunger, fatigue, stomach pain, moodiness, etc. If you are hypoglycemic or have low blood pressure consult your doctor on safe ways to incorporate intermittent fasting or eating less often. If you find its really hard, and you are not dealing with hypoglycemia or low blood pressure issues, start by using natural appetite suppressors such as dark chocolate for sugar cravings, coffee without sugar added, a tea or herbal supplement, and gum.

Intermittent fasting did help me to initially loose the weight and I can credit it to helping me maintain mental clarity through really rough periods. As I began listening to my body, after removing addictive food and eating factors, I’ve found intermittent fasting happens naturally. Some days I just don’t feel hungry or any need to eat. On the other hand, if I’m not eating due to anxiety I will force myself to eat a little.

STOP PLACING SHAME ON YOUR WEIGHT

You can remove or stay away from people who would put you in the shame box, but you don’t need that from yourself; you cannot escape you. Even more interesting is to consider psychosomatic factors, or physical symptoms that are induced by our feelings.

If you notice the weight is not reducing after dietary changes, or you are stuck in the plateau phase of your weight loss journey, then it may be time to focus on your thought patterns. Try the worksheet below:

How you feel others see or judge you is a reflection of how you see and judge yourself. Their judgments would not be felt if you were not receptive to them or already feeling that way subconsciously about yourself. ”What needs improvement, what would make it [your body] more acceptable?” That question is a trap! One that we hold ourselves hostage to, it's the “if I just got rid of this birthmark, mole, wrinkle, or had bigger whatever….” The fact is if the response to that question came with a list of improvements, you are most likely criticizing yourself. With that criticism, you can see the subtle yet constant psychological patterns of internalized self harm. Begin to counter those criticisms with realistic action orientation, or setting goals that you can achieve. Start small, honor the progress, no matter how minimal it is, and incorporate some of the activities listed below daily or create your own.

Spend a spare moment to hug yourself feeling your warm embrace.

Take some time to feel your body in a safe, loving, luxuriating way in the shower or bath. If you use lotion feel the soft smoothness of your skin when applying, if the lotion is fragrant indulge in the scent that your body now radiates it.

Pick a different part of your body each day to admire. Even the parts you don’t want to admire. You need to come to accept your body, to fully accept yourself. This one is important, as doing this helps in honoring the improvements that occur, it creates the mindset for personal results that you can honestly reach and maintain. What that means is, if your body type is not Barbie doll, then you are not striving to be a Barbie doll. Aiming for the unrealistic creates an avenue for self sabotage due to the goal setting of trying to be something you are not.

Try doing those self love exercises once a week and track your progress! Feel free to reach out to me with the form at the end of the article, and let me know how it goes.

Tuning into YOUR BODY

Take the time to meditate and really feel your energy within your body. Any sensations? What thoughts or feelings came up? If you’ve never meditated take 2 minutes right now to sit, close your eyes and breathe deeply. Feel your heartbeat, without moving notice the sensation of the clothing you are wearing or the seat beneath you. If your thoughts are distracting close your eyes and try listening to this

Introducing a meditative practice can help you lose weight, but even better is the ability to understand your body by being fully present within it. There are various ways to meditate, some people use walking as a form of meditation. In this way, you can regard or use every day activities and make them meditative. For example, consider how you already workout in your normal daily routine and key into it with mindfulness. Every time you pick something up, you’re doing squats! Focus on proper form with squatting rather than bending over, or you can bend over but do it mindfully and use it to stretch! Give into it fully, feel what muscles are activated, can you enjoy and indulge in your movements and the sensations from your movements? This begins the process of tuning in and really listening to your body. One way this happens is your cravings will shift from addictions to what your body actually needs. If you are iron deficient you will crave meat, vitamin C deficiency will have you craving citrus fruits, orange juice, etc. I stopped drinking alcohol due to the fact that I’m now very aware of how it affects my ability to be precise and my mental clarity.

NEW HABITS NEW YOU

We are inundated with false notions of beauty, what it should look like, and we give up our true beauty in exchange for a lie. The truth is even J-Lo has significant cellulite! I know people in the graphics industry who would brush it out of music videos to enable that false sense of beauty! May that information give you a bit less stress so you can move into your unique weight loss goals and embrace your body in this journey.

Consider food with more of a sacred outlook, meaning connect with how its grown, start a kitchen herb garden, practice meditative eating by slowly and fully enjoying each bite. Have more admiration for the meal making process by cooking or uncooking if you only have time to make salads. Take into consideration and be proud or grateful of your progress every step of the way. I wish you the best on your weight loss journey! If you have any questions or want to connect with me directly, reach out by filling out the form below and let me know how the exercises included in this post went for you! -Brettney Perr

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howellrichard · 5 years

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Eco-Friendly Vegan Leather: Everything You Need to Know

Hiya Gorgeous,

I was blown away by the response to one of my recent blog posts, What the Fast Fashion Industry Doesn’t Want You to Know. I know how passionate this community is about the environment, animals and other humans. But your overwhelming positivity, support and enthusiasm for this topic really knocked my socks off!

Your excitement also left me more determined than ever to band together to save our precious planet. When our individual contributions start to add up, we have the power to change the world.

Something else stood out to me about the fast fashion blog post: I got a lot of questions about my favorite ethical, sustainable and cruelty-free brands. Many of you wanted more specific eco-friendly shopping how-tos and tips. I’m thrilled to say that today’s post is the first in a series all about that—and we’re kicking it off with the ultimate guide to vegan leather!

What’s the problem with leather?

If you read my post about the fast fashion industry, then you’re already aware of some of the issues that come along with exploiting animals for their fur, skins, etc. Animal agriculture requires massive amounts of land, water, fuel and feed. This industry is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than all of the world’s transportation systems combined, and percent of the Amazon rainforest has been cleared to make way for pastures or for growing feed crops (source).

When it comes to leather specifically, the picture doesn’t get any better. The leather tanning process is often incredibly toxic. People who work in tanneries or live near them are exposed to harmful chemicals used to process, treat and dye animal skins. This often takes place in developing countries where child labor isn’t regulated, proper waste management systems aren’t in place, and workers aren’t well-protected or paid (source).

And our innocent animal friends endure horrific conditions. They’re often confined to overcrowded indoor spaces without access to sufficient food, water or fresh air. They suffer through painful procedures without anesthesia (like castration and branding) and face countless other forms of unimaginably cruel treatment (source).

We can do better. Animals, other people and the environment do NOT need to suffer for our wardrobes. That’s where eco-friendly vegan leather alternatives come in!

What is vegan leather?

Two vegan leather alternatives you may have heard of are PVC and PU. PVC is a petrochemical product that is heavily processed from start to finish. Many companies have moved away from using it because it requires fossil fuels to produce, contains toxic chemicals like Phalates (not safe for the environment or people!) and creates an enormous amount of waste (source). If you see PVC or its derivatives on a tag, you can bet it’s not a sustainable vegan leather alternative.

What is PU leather?

PU (polyurethane) is a popular vegan leather alternative. Many brands say it’s more eco-friendly than PVC, but do a little research and you’ll find a lot of mixed opinions. Some say that PU production results in just as many toxic emissions and waste as PVC, and that calling it sustainable is simply not true (source).

PU proponents, on the other hand, say that it’s a better option than animal exploitation and overall its environmental footprint is smaller than that of leather. My team and I did a lot of research on this since we know PU is widely used by the brands we’re sharing later in this article. There’s no easy or straightforward answer, but for the most part we agree that PU does less harm than leather.

A note on conscious consumption.

That brings me to an important reminder: Products of all kinds (purses, shoes, sheets, kitchen tools, you name it!) are only as sustainable, ethical and kind as the company they come from… no matter what they’re made of. Know the brands you buy from. Learn about the materials they use, their factory standards, how they treat their workers and how they manage waste. A purse made with PU from a brand with strong environmental and social practices is very different from a similar bag from a less conscious brand.

And here’s a hint: If a brand doesn’t provide clear, specific info about how they’re protecting people, animals and the environment, proceed with caution. Companies who prioritize this stuff speak up about it. Let’s demand more transparency!

Love the environment as much as I do? Get more sustainability tips and my free Starter Kit:

A peek into the future: more sustainable vegan leather alternatives!

Some brands are creating truly innovative vegan leather options out of organic and recycled materials. They’re more eco-friendly than the standard alternatives we discussed above, but are often more expensive, harder to find and not as broadly appealing (either because they don’t mimic the leather look and feel people want, or aren’t as high-end looking). But as the demand for sustainable vegan leather grows, I suspect we’ll see these options continue to improve and become more widely available.

Here are some of the coolest, most innovative materials that stood out to me:

Piñatex: Fruit is even more awesome and versatile than I thought—this incredible vegan leather is made from pineapples! It’s beautiful, watertight and durable. Plus, the company that manufactures it has some fantastic sustainability and social practices (learn more about them here). My fave cruelty-free watch brand, Votch, has an entire collection of piñtatex watches.

MuSkin: This vegan leather is made from another one of my favorite plants—mushrooms! More specifically, it’s made out of the cap of a parasitic, inedible variety called Phellinus ellipsoideus (source). I don’t see a whole lot of MuSkin products available yet, but I bet that’ll change soon.

Apple peel leather: You read that right! An apple a day does more than just keep the doctor away. Companies like Veggani are using industrial apple peel waste to create environmentally friendly pieces like this gorgeous crossbody bag.

Recycled materials: Recycled rubber, recycled car tires, recycled plastic… oh my! Lots of companies are repurposing materials that would otherwise sit in landfills (or the ocean, rivers, forests, etc.) by creating shoes, bags, belts, etc. out of them. Rothy’s, for example, uses plastic water bottles to make their super cute (and machine washable!) shoes.

Get the ultimate guide to eco-friendly vegan leather alternatives—the best materials, top brands and more!

18 Eco-Friendly Vegan Leather Alternatives

There are so many wonderful companies out there dedicated to making fashion a kinder, more eco-conscious business, and I’m thrilled to highlight some of them today! This list is purely for your info and to support you on your eco-friendly journey—I’m not sponsored or getting paid to promote any of these brands.

Note: These brands use a variety of materials. There are plenty of options if you want to avoid PU!

GUNAS (maker of high-end purses, wallets and shoes) believes that just being vegan isn’t enough—they’re looking out for other humans and the environment, too. And here’s something that really sets them apart: They encourage conscious consumerism. So rather than pushing you to buy fast and often like so many of the brands we’re familiar with, they want you to take your time and make careful decisions. I love this more purposeful, minimalist approach!

Whatever the season or occasion, you’ll be able to find the perfect pair of vegan leather shoes from Bhava. I’m eyeing these strappy sandals—what color is your fave? Bhava also does a great job explaining some of the problems with leather and fast fashion, along with what they’re doing to change the face of footwear.

Svala helps protect animals in more ways than one. Not only is their line of purses and wallets cruelty-free, they also donate a portion of the profits to charities like WildAid, whose mission is to end the illegal wildlife trade. Svala also buys carbon offsets to reduce their environmental footprint and uses recycled plastic bottles to line their bags—yay!

Rafa makes beautiful, hand-crafted vegan shoes in Los Angeles, California. While they keep a few things in stock, most items are made to order. This allows the Rafa team to dedicate time and quality craftsmanship to each unique pair. Check out this short and sweet video about how (and why!) they do what they do.

This is a trend I didn’t think I’d see again—fanny packs! HFS Collective’s belt bags are designed to “free you from your baggage.” That means more hands to pet every pup you meet, carry green drinks and do other stuff you love.

I mentioned Rothy’s in last year’s eco-friendly holiday gift guide, and this is still one of my fave brands for comfy shoes that can be dressed up or down. Their pointed toe flats are the perfect versatile basic. The uppers are made of 100 percent post-consumer water bottles, and the other parts of the shoe are made of a mix of recycled, non-toxic, vegan materials. Even their shoe boxes are biodegradable!

A pair of easy-to-wear slides is a must-have for the warmer months of the year, and Indosole has totally nailed an eco-friendly option. Not only do they come in some great colors, they also give a second life to a pervasive waste product—car tires!

Noani (meaning No Animal—yes!) has vegan leather belts for everyone in your life. They use innovative eco-friendly materials like eucalyptus and apple fibers. Plus, they’re committed to maintaining safe, fair working conditions for everyone involved in creating their products.

I love how transparent VEERAH is about the materials they use to make their luxury, sustainable, vegan shoes (check out a detailed list here!). Plus, can we talk about these gorg bright blue pumps made from apple leather? Anyone who thinks eco-friendly and fashionable don’t belong in the same sentence should get a load of those!

MooShoes is a vegan leather lover’s dream. Unlike the other brands on this list, this store is a hub where you can get goodies from a variety of cruelty-free brands. Their NYC location was the first cruelty-free retail store of its kind when it opened back in 2001 and they’ve since expanded to LA. But no worries if you’re not close to either of those locations—the website is easy to use and jam-packed with shoes, bags and more that’ll satisfy all style sensibilities.

I think that Angela Roi makes some of the most beautiful cruelty-free purses out there. That said, I’d love to see them expand the info available on their site about their sustainability practices and working conditions. Transparency is where it’s at, folks!

Looking for some comfy kicks for walking the dog, running to the store and everything in between? You’ll love Native Shoes, which are cruelty-free AND easy on the planet. In fact, Native has committed to making all of their products 100 percent lifecycle managed by 2023 (learn more about what that means here).

This circular purse from Hozen is so cute! And there’s a lot more than meets the eye here—Hozen donates 10 percent of their profits to Mercy for Animals (one of my favorite orgs!) and makes their products in small batches to avoid wasteful excess stock.

Nae (stands for No Animal Exploitation—so good!) has something for everyone. These desert boots are a great wardrobe staple. And who doesn’t need a simple, everyday black belt?

One of the wardrobe essentials I’ve had trouble finding in cruelty-free form is a vegan leather moto jacket! Then I came across this piñatex stunner from Altiir. It’s certainly not cheap, but could be a worthwhile investment if you wear it a lot and keep for years to come.

Labante London makes gorgeous purses, wallets and other accessories out of recycled materials. According to their website, they’ve already saved 10 million plastic bottles from languishing in landfills! I’m a big fan of this functional, timeless wallet.

Beyond Skin has a wide range of sandals, boots, heels, flats and more available in a variety of fun prints and fabrics. They’re also really upfront about their business and sustainability practices, which means you can buy with confidence. And how about these must-have mustard sandals? Love!

Have a favorite sustainable, cruelty-free brand I didn’t mention? Shout them out in the comments below!

I want to hear from you!

What other topics would you like me to cover in this eco-friendly series (home goods, skincare/makeup, etc.)?

Peace & cruelty-free fashion,

The post Eco-Friendly Vegan Leather: Everything You Need to Know appeared first on KrisCarr.com.

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ciathyzareposts · 5 years

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Star Control II: Summary and Rating

For the box art, the developers seem to be paying homage to L. Ron Hubbard.

Star Control II: The Ur-Quan Masters

United States

Toys for Bob (developer); Accolade (publisher)

Released in 1992 for DOS, 1994 for the 3DO console; later fan ports to other platforms

Date Started: 23 March 2019

Date Finished: 14 May 2019

Total Hours: 47 Difficulty: Moderate (3/5) Final Rating: (to come later) Ranking at time of posting: (to come later)

Summary:

Star Control II takes the ship-by-ship action combat of the original Star Control and places it solidly within an adventure game of epic proportions. In a galaxy of more than 500 stars and 3,000 planets, a captain must build alliances, find artifacts, mine minerals, and coerce information from alien races so that he can ultimately throw off the yoke of the Ur-Quan Hierarchy and free Earth and its allies from slavery. Gameplay comes with a lot of lore and plot-twists, but every so often it reveals its origins and requires the player to defeat enemy ships with selects from his own armada, each with their own strengths, weaknesses, and special abilities. Although the sense of an open world and a nonlinear plot both end up being somewhat illusory, the game is still fun and memorable.

****

In the comments for my winning entry, several readers have offered descriptions and text that occurs when you try some of the game’s alternate strategies, such as surrendering to the Ur-Quan, provoking the Orz, or selling your own crewmembers to the Druuge. Most of them are either dead-ends or offer such harsh consequences that you’d best not do them in the first place.

One thing I was curious to check out is what happens if you wait out the game’s time limit. The Melnorme originally told me that the Earth would be destroyed in January or February of 2159, but my actions in the game managed to delay the apocalypse by almost two years. As I sat in hyperspace and watched, nothing much happened until November 2159, when the Supox and Utwig returned to their original systems, much diminished.

No one remains but the Ur-Quan.

Around the end of 2159, the Kor-Ah won the civil war and started to circle the galaxy, destroying each sentient race in turn. Some of their ships reached Earth in April, but they weren’t here to destroy Earth just yet. I fought a few dreadnoughts and the horde moved on. The Arilou, Umgah, and Zoq-Fot-Pik were all gone by June 2160, the Supox and Utwig a month later. By October 2160, the Ur-Quan fleet had reached the “southern” end of the galaxy and destroyed the Yehat. Finally, in November, I received a broadcast from the Ur-Quan notifying me of Earth’s destruction, and the game was over. My ship was parked right next to Earth at the time, and I was hoping I’d see a bunch of dreadnoughts approaching it, but alas, it wasn’t quite that detailed.

The “bad” ending, unless you’re a big Ur-Quan fan.

If I hadn’t cheated a bit during the game by reloading when an expedition proved a waste of time, I probably would have run into issues with the time limit. Watching the slow destruction of every race, along with the intelligence that they possessed, would have been mildly horrifying. But apparently you can still win the game at any time during this process, with nothing altered in the endgame sequence.

I confess that the last bit bothers me a little because it’s indicative of the approach taken by the game as a whole. When I started playing Star Control II, it gave the impression of an open-world game with multiple narrative possibilities. But it turns out you have to follow a few paths in a relatively specific order, and most of the choices turn out to be illusory. Oh, it certainly does better than the typical RPG of the period, I hasten to add. It was just a bit disappointing to find that open exploration isn’t really rewarded. If you’re lucky enough to stumble upon a key location amidst all the planets in the vast galaxy, you probably won’t be able to do anything because you haven’t bought an important piece of information from the Melnorme first.

I have similarly mixed feelings about the game’s approach to the alien races and racial characterizations. On the one hand, I enjoyed the variety. When you’re making a game (as opposed to shooting a film or television show), you have the freedom to make some interesting races without worrying about the CGI budget. I appreciated that there were no “bumpy forehead” aliens except perhaps for the Syreen.

I could have done with less of this.

I also don’t fault the game for broad characterizations. It’s a longstanding trope of science fiction and fantasy to paint races with a broad brush: the wise elves, the logical Vulcans, the proud Klingons, the evil orcs, and so forth. You rarely have time to explore the detailed characteristics of an entire culture. It’s perfectly acceptable that Star Control II decided to highlight one major attribute of each race, such as cowardice, depression, loneliness, and greed. When it did go into more detail, such as in the case of the Ur-Quan and the Syreen, the detail was generally good, and it was rewarding to unlock those stories. I also appreciated the consistency of characterization. The Spathi locking themselves under their own slave shield amused me to no end because it was perfectly in keeping with the Spathi personality–and, in hindsight, 100% foreseeable.

But I also felt there were too many moments of outright goofiness and parody among the racial interactions. The Orz, the Pkunk, the VUX, the Umgah, and the Utwig mostly just exhausted my patience. I couldn’t help but think how the same races with similar characteristics might be handled with less silliness. We don’t have to look very far to find an example. Starflight and Starflight II had some of the same broad racial characterizations, but rarely crossed the line into outright slapstick. I felt the stories and plot twists of those games were much better, too.

Nonetheless, I understand why Star Control II is regarded as the better game: it’s all about the combat. I wasn’t any good at it, but I can see why people like it. Until I played it, I wouldn’t have thought that a single choice–what ship to pilot–could have so many tactical implications. There are 14 ships that can join the New Alliance and 13 potential enemy ships, resulting in 182 potential battle combinations, and each has completely different tactical considerations. (With the Super Melee application, you can fight any of the ships against any of the others, for 625 possible combinations.) Slowly mastering the strengths of your ships and learning the weaknesses of the enemy ships is a huge and rewarding part of gameplay. Later in the game, when you have to fight multiple ships in a row, there are strategic implications for what ships you send into combat first and which you reserve for later in the battle.

The typical outcome of my combats.

Still, the nature of combat, plus the lack of “character development,” really makes this a non-RPG, which means it might not do so well on the GIMLET as an RPG. I played it as an exception. I don’t want to hear any future comments along the lines of, “Well, you played Star Control II, so to be consistent, you should also play This Game.” The point of exceptions is that I don’t have to be consistent with them.

As to the GIMLET:

1. Game World. Star Control II manages to check most of the boxes in this category. It has a rich, detailed backstory, an open world, a clear place for the character and his quest, and an evolving game state that responds to the player’s actions. (I particularly like how the starmap continually updates to show the dispositions of the various races.) The plot and its twists are original and interesting. The only fault I can find is that there isn’t much to see or do in the open universe. I wish the creators had seeded more planets with optional encounters and finds, perhaps replacing the system but which you purchase all your technology upgrades from the Melnorme. Score: 8.

2. Character Creation and Development. Alas, there is none of either except for the ability to name your own captain. Even if you regard the ship as a “character,” it doesn’t get innately better so much as it gains better equipment. Score: 0.

3. NPC Interaction. Another strong point. I’ve given my thoughts about the NPC personalities, but I should add that even goofy personalities are better than we get from the typical RPG of the period, which is no personality (or even NPCs) at all. I wish there had been more honest variety in dialogue options instead of one that’s obvious, two that are stupid, and one that’s evil. The Starflight games did a better job giving the player real “options” when talking to different alien races even though they came in the form of “stances” rather than specific dialogue choices.

I should also note that most NPCs aren’t individuals but rather representatives of their races who somehow know the previous conversations the player has had with other representatives. But the game otherwise hits most of the criteria for a high score hear, including a plot that advances based on NPC interaction. Score: 7.

My thoughts exactly.

4. Encounters and Foes. The game has an original slate of foes (ships) that require you to learn their individual strengths and weaknesses. There are otherwise no real “encounters” in the game that aren’t also NPC dialogues. Score: 6.

5. Magic and Combat. I can’t give a high score here because my scale is about RPG-style combat and the various tactics and strategies that draw from attributes, skills, and the player’s intelligence rather than his dexterity. Still, as I discussed above, the choice of ship and the way you plot long combats create some important tactical and strategic decisions. I just wish combat has always been about ship versus ship. The planets, which show up suddenly as you switch screens, were unwelcome guests. Score: 3.

The asteroids, on the other hand, I didn’t mind so much.

6. Equipment. All of the “equipment” in the game is ship-related rather than character-related, and it all applies to the flagship, which a good player arguably does not rely on. I wish there had been opportunities to upgrade the other ships in the fleet. It would have been tough to offer meaningful options with so many of them, but even just generic attack or defense improvements would have been nice. Beyond that, it’s fun to figure out how to best make use of the limited modular space on the flagship, particularly as new options come along regularly. Score: 3.

7. Economy. There are really two economies in the game: the “resource unit” economy that lets you build a fleet and equip your flagship, and the Melnorme “information” economy that depends on bio data and Rainbow World identifications. I found both rewarding enough for about two-thirds of the game. Score: 7.

8. Quests. The game has one main quest with a few options (though, as I mentioned before, a lot of the options are illusory) and side-quests. There’s only one ending. Score: 4.

9. Graphics, Sound, and Inputs. I don’t have many complaints in this category. The graphics are perfectly fine for the scope and nature of the game; the sound effects are fun and evocative throughout; and it’s hard to complain about the interface of a game that supports both joystick and keyboard inputs and lets you customize the keyboard. I had problems in combat despite these advantages, but I don’t think I can blame the game.

I do have one major issue, or several related issues, that fits into this category. The dialogue is delivered one line at a time in a huge font. You can hit the SPACE bar after each bit of dialogue to see a transcription in a smaller font that you can barely read. Either way, if you don’t make your own transcriptions or screen shots (which must have been tough for an era player), the dialogue is lost once you leave the screen. In most cases, you can’t prompt the NPC to speak the same lines again, and there’s no databank in which to retrieve it as there was in Star Control II. Thankfully, I took copious screenshots, but they’re a cumbersome way to review previous dialogue and I think the game should have offered a better system. Score: 6.

This text is better than nothing, but it’s still not very easy to read.

10. Gameplay. I give half-credit for non-linearity. The game is more linear than it seems when you start, but you still have a lot of choices about the order of your activities. I also give half-credit for replayability. As I mentioned earlier, many of the “options” seem illusory, and a replaying player might find himself swiftly on familiar paths, but there is at least some variety for a replay. The hourly total is just about right for this content, and while I had difficulty in combat, I still managed to win with an acceptable number of reloads, so I can’t fault the difficulty. Score: 7.

That gives us a final score of 51, surprisingly close to the 53 I gave both Starflight and Starflight II, which had actual characters and character development. But reviewing those games, I’m reminded how awful combat was, and how many issues I had with the interface. I’m thus comfortable with the rating.

The ad makes it seem like the game’s enemies are the Umgah.

There are plenty of players, however, who would consider a 51 an insult. Star Control II still continues to make “best games ever” lists compiled by various publications. In a March 1993 preview in Computer Gaming World, Stanley Trevena liked the game enough to put it on his “top ten list of all time.” “It is not often,” he says, “that such a perfect balance is struck between role-playing, adventure, and action/arcade.” In the November 1993 issue, they gave it “Game of the Year” in the adventure category (or, at least, it tied with Eric the Unready). Dragon gave it 5 out of 5 stars. It’s rare to find an English review out of the 90s, though for some reason European reviews tended to put it lower, in the 70s.

The 3DO version from 1994 has some significant differences from the DOS version. It has an animated, narrated introduction and cut scenes plus voiced dialogue for the conversations. (My understanding is that the open-source Ur-Quan Masters would use some of this voiced dialogue but re-record others.) Some readers encouraged me to play this version specifically because of the voices. I’m not sure I would have liked it better. There’s really just too much dialogue overall. Some of the voices are good: I appreciate the Vaderesque bass of the Ur-Quan, the lispy enthusiasm of the Pik, and the weird Scottish accent the creators gave to the Yehat. For some reason, they decided the Shofixti was a bad English translator of a 1970s Japanese kung-fu movie; the Orz, Spathi, and Utwig are just annoying; and the Umgah is the stuff of nightmares. The Talking Pet is the worst, with some ridiculous southern “Joe Sixpack” accent. I was also disappointed by the Syreen, who sounds like Doris Day rather than . . . well, honestly, I’m not sure what would have done justice to the Syreen. How do you blend a fierce Amazonian and a seductive vixen in a single voice?

Star Control II left a satisfying number of mysteries, such as the fate of the Precursors and why they seemed (to the Slylandro) to be nervously searching for something. We never learned about the Rainbow Worlds or why they (apparently) form an arrow pointing to the “northeast” of the galaxy. We never learned what the Orz did to the Androsynth, what the Orz really are, and how they relate to the Arilou. I was disappointed that we never found out why the Ur-Quan destroyed historical structures of humanity, including some places we weren’t even aware of. I was disappointed to find that most of these questions are unanswered in Star Control 3 (1996), although we do apparently learn that the Precursors genetically modified themselves so they would have the intelligence of cows, thus protecting themselves from a race that periodically harvests the energies of sentient races. I think the creators missed an opportunity by not making the Precursors actual cows. There could have been a Gary Larson tie-in and everything.

The creepy cover to the game’s sequel.

The direction of Star Control 3 reveals some of the background drama between developer Toys for Bob (authors Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford) and publisher Accolade. According to Reiche and Ford, Accolade gave the developer such a limited budget that they had to essentially work for free for half a year to create a quality game. Accolade would not increase the budget for the sequel, so the original creators refused to develop it, and the job went to Legend Entertainment instead.

In 2002, authors Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford made the source code available for free, and some fans used it to create The Ur-Quan Masters for Windows, with multiple releases starting in 2005. It has since been ported to multiple additional platforms. The effort also led to the creation of the Ultronomicon, a Star Control II wiki.

The Star Control trademark passed to Infogrames when it purchased Accolade in 1999; Infogrames soon rebranded itself as Atari. When Atari filed for bankruptcy in 2013, its assets were sold. Stardock Corporation managed to acquire the Star Control license and produce Star Control: Origins (2018). Set 26 years before the original Star Control, the game would seem to retcon when Earth first encountered alien life. During development, Stardock claimed to be in contact with Reiche and Ford, and were developing the game along their vision, although they couldn’t technically participate because of their Activation contract. If this relationship was ever friendly and cooperative, it soon became otherwise when Reiche and Ford announced they would be creating Star Control: Ghosts of the Precursors and Stardock started selling the first three Star Control games on Steam. Both parties counter-sued each other for copyright and intellectual property violations, and Steam removed the Star Control titles (including Origins, at least temporarily) after receiving DCMA takedown notices from Reiche and Ford. As far as I can tell, the litigation is still ongoing.

Combat in Origins has improved graphics but seems to adhere to original principles.

Toys for Bob still lives as a subsidiary of Activision, and Reiche and Ford still continue to direct the development of its games. I don’t think we’ll see them again, however, as none of their titles are RPGs. (For more on Reiche and Ford, see Jimmy Maher’s excellent coverage of Star Control II from this past December. My favorite part is when Reiche gets fired from TSR for questioning the purchase of a Porsche as an executive’s company car.)

I am often dismissive of calls for remakes, usually considering them to be the products of dull, dilettante gamers who can’t handle any graphics more than 5 years old. But I would like to see, if not a remake, a modern game that has the basic approach of Star Control II (and, for that matter, Starflight)–perhaps even one that realizes it better by offering truly alternate plot paths. We have plenty of games (although, in my opinion, not enough) that allow us to explore open worlds; have any so far allowed us to explore an open universe? Perhaps that’s what we’ll get from Bethesda’s forthcoming Starfield.

source http://reposts.ciathyza.com/star-control-ii-summary-and-rating/

#retro games #dos games #retro #crpg #adventure #amiga #oldcomputers #8bit #16bit #blog #repost

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doxampage · 6 years

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Commercial Printing: Ricoh’s Advances in Inkjet Printing

I received a press release from a colleague and friend this week about new developments at Ricoh in production-level digital inkjet printing. I found this intriguing. It doesn’t feel like it was that long ago that an inkjet printer sat on my desk and printed somewhat muddy colors on uncoated laser paper. The product was good enough for a color mock up. It would help me visualize the final printed results of a job if I used a little imagination. I didn’t need, or expect, much more.

Now the press release from Ricoh, “Ricoh Changes the Inkjet Game, Introducing Additional Inks and the New RICOH Pro VC70000,” (Ricoh USA, Inc., 6/25/18) addresses some of the issues in the new and expanding realm of production inkjet.

As I understand the term, “production inkjet” refers to the evolution of inkjet commercial printing from my initial memories noted above to a technology that is seeking to rival the speed (efficiency) and quality (resolution and color gamut) of offset printing on the huge offset lithographic presses that run 24/7.

Implications of Ricoh’s Advances

Volume and Speed

Ricoh’s press release notes that the CV70000 was built to “accelerate the transfer of offset print volumes to digital.” (“Ricoh Changes the Inkjet Game, Introducing Additional Inks and the New RICOH Pro VC70000,” Ricoh USA, Inc., 6/25/18).

So a lot of what’s happening is a dramatic growth of inkjet press efficiency.

Not that long ago, you would choose an inkjet printer or digital color laser printer if you wanted to produce 500 brochures (or another, low press run), because all of the make-ready (preparation work) to get an offset lithographic press up to speed would put the initial entry point (cost) of the short job at the same level as the cost of a much longer offset run. Another way to say this is that you would pay a bit less for 500 digital copies than for 1,000 offset copies, but the unit cost would be higher. Plus, you could personalize them.

Now, the efficiencies of production inkjet allow for much longer runs on a digital platform. For instance, the press release notes that the RICOH Pro VC70000 can produce “nearly 130,000 A4/letter impressions an hour” (492 feet-per-minute).

(Keep in mind that if you want 1,000 copies of a 500-page book, that job involves custom printing 500,000 book pages. Of course, this number rises exponentially if you’re producing 100,000 print books.)

This takes time on any press. To put this in perspective, an offset lithographic web press might run at 3,000 or more feet per minute, which is much faster than a sheetfed offset lithographic press, which might run at 12,000 sheets per hour. So, while production inkjet is still slower than offset commercial printing, the increased efficiency still makes it a game changer. (And the speed will continue to improve as the technology matures.)

Quality of the Printed Product

As I noted at the beginning of the blog posting, inkjet custom printing used to provide marginal color fidelity and detail. (In fact, back in the day, I used an inkjet printer only to visualize color placement. For everything else I used a laser printer.)

Now, according to Ricoh’s press release, the RICOH Pro VC70000 provides “1200 x 1200 dpi resolution on uncoated, offset-coated, inkjet treated or inkjet-coated papers” (“Ricoh Changes the Inkjet Game, Introducing Additional Inks and the New RICOH Pro VC70000,” Ricoh USA, Inc., 6/25/18).

This tells me a number of things. First of all, the resolution and therefore the detail in the images printed on a Ricoh press are startlingly crisp.

Furthermore, the ability to print on so many different paper stocks means commercial printing vendors will have flexibility (and therefore more control over price) in choosing custom printing papers to stock.

In addition, since acceptable substrates include coated papers, Ricoh’s press release also implies that printers can now digitally produce crisp graphics in color on superior paper that will reflect the kind of detail and color vibrancy that didn’t exist a short while ago. And this is at production-level speeds.

More specifically, this implies that Ricoh has addressed issues of ink drying speed in its new press. (This is because the new production level inkjet presses need to be able to dry ink immediately on a coated press sheet, and since the ink needs to sit up on the coated surface of the sheet.)

This quick ink-drying ability will avoid the wet, rippling paper I used to experience on inkjet printers, while accommodating coated press sheets comparable to those used on an offset lithographic press. (Another way to say this is that you can now print high-end catalogs and magazines on an inkjet press.)

Color Gamut

Color gamut is also a function of quality, but I’d like to address this separately. As I’ve noted before, having access to more ink colors makes an incredible difference in the color range and color fidelity of a printed piece. And inkjet presses, in my experience, usually have the capability of expanding the color ink set by multiple hues.

This is not alien to offset lithography. Back in the 1990s I worked with a commercial printing vendor who offered High-Fidelity Color (which he also referred to as Hexachrome). These were probably proprietary names, as well, but the gist of the technology is that instead of separating images and text into the four process colors, this printer separated them into six: cyan, magenta, yellow, black, green, and orange—or occasionally purple, as I recall. By adding extra inks, he could match more PMS colors, and he could achieve more vibrancy in the images because the color gamut was larger.

Other commercial printing suppliers were doing similar things by adding touch plates, or kiss plates, that “bumped up” overall color in the offset lithographic CMYK spectrum by accenting specific areas of photo imagery with the ink on the touch plates.

Being able to do this on an inkjet press means that you can achieve the expanded color gamut without all the extra ink units, plates, wash-ups, blankets, and other expensive make-ready supplies and labor.

So the color quality enhancements within the production inkjet presses also make me optimistic.

Operating Cost

Having access to multiple paper stocks makes a huge difference. Inkjet papers used to need pre-treatment. Therefore, there were fewer of them a commercial printing vendor could purchase. This tied his hands in two ways. First, paper vendors could charge more for these specialty papers, and, second, clients had fewer options for custom printing substrates. They couldn’t page through practically any paper swatch book, choose what they liked, and ask the printer to purchase and print on it. Ricoh’s approach means printers will pay less and their clients will have more options.

What This Means to You

Here are two thoughts:

If you’re designing for print, keep it up. Companies like Ricoh would not be pouring money into the development of presses that produce high-end catalogs and magazines if they thought print books and periodicals will cease to exist.

Observe and study the technology as it develops, but go beyond the promotional literature and request printed samples. Then compare the crispness of the text and imagery (resolution) and the color accuracy and vibrancy (color gamut) to that of offset printed products you admire. Compare printed output on both coated and uncoated press sheets. And check the detail in the highlights and shadows of the photos. Then, going forward, watch the technological developments across multiple digital platforms from multiple press manufacturers.

This is a most exciting time.

Commercial Printing: Ricoh’s Advances in Inkjet Printing published first on https://getyourprintingcompanies.tumblr.com/

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sklurb · 6 years

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Cultist Simulator Review & Starter’s Guide ◥▶◀◤

______________________________________________

꧁ TL;DR: ꧂

Saturated with intrigue, this is an innovative & unique singleplayer roguelike card game w/ a steep learning curve. Highly replayable due to branching events & randomness. Non-existent tutorial, but community is helpful.

* Designed by the dev that created Fallen London & worked as creative director on Sunless Sea.

✂---✂---✂---✂---✂---✂---✂---✂---✂---

Recommendation:

☑ Content quality is a value at full price. ☑ Content quantity is a value at full price. ☐ Positive experience, but wait to buy when it's on sale. ☐ Negative experience. Wait for improvements before buying. ☐ Very negative experience. Save your money.

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What I like about Cultist Simulator:

+ Active pause. + Achievements. + 1920's setting. + Legacy system. + Alluring premise. + Very well-written. + High replayability. + Apocalyptic humor. + Fast forward option. + Simple & effective art. + Mouse zoom for tiny text. + 20-40 hours of gameplay. + Eye-pleasing color palette. + Very helpful & friendly community. + Music invokes a feeling of mystique. + Plays smoothly. No bugs that I ran into. + Study lore & discover forbidden secrets. + Authorities can be alerted to your "activities." + Subtle & blatant hints when clicking on icons & empty slots.

Indifferent:

~/= Waiting for a critical card to turn up can be like waiting for the stars to align, but that's the nature of the game: to play the hand you've been given wisely. ~/= Default sound settings are way too low at 10%. Press ESC to adjust. ~/= Static screen hints default is too small. Go to Settings & switch to 100%+

Room for improvements:

- No tutorial. - Some grindiness. - Late game can be convoluted. - Timers try my patience ...at times. :P - Individual card expiration timers need an adjustment. - Automatically PAUSE gameplay upon returning to game. - Grammar could use a minor touch-up in places. (mine probably could too!) - Legacy selection window needs mouseover tooltips for what their corresponding cards do. - There are times that no matter how well you play, the randomness will just totally screw you. - I would prefer mouseover tooltips to having to click each icon or slot that I want to view the tooltip for.

Other thoughts:

Cultist Simulator is not a quick, pick-up-and-play card game, but it sure is devilishly entertaining once you understand how to play it. Be prepared to devote some time to learning its particulars and nuances, mainly because it is so different from most other card games that you may have played. Part of the challenge getting started is wrapping your head around all the combinations of how the cards interact with one another. Will adding a card to that Verb yield a favorable or unfavorable result? Will it be consumed? Would it just be a waste of time? What cards will it produce? Now apply that thought process to multiple Verbs and multiple cards that are running down their own individual timers. It can be daunting at first, but once you've dedicated some time to learning the game's functions and have a bit of a handle on it, it's smooth(er) sailing.

The Beginner's Guide by Tssha is a really good place to start, taking the author's advice step-by-step through the beginning of the game, while utilizing active pause. This is one of the best and quickest ways to get some of the basics down, while getting a visual flow of the game. I had first tried to figure it out on my own, and while I did Ok for a little bit, it became a convoluted process when a lot of Verbs and cards were in play with all those timers ticking. I appreciated the "training wheels" immensely.

I've added an additional starting tutorial below this section ("How to Begin Playing") with more detail and descriptions, as some portions of the Beginner's Guide were somewhat vague to a new player, but Tssha's guide is very important as it also digs into additional ways to make money, get established, and specifics for founding your cult, etc.

Further, once you begin needing a better understanding of some of the cards that appear later in the game, the Comprehensive Reference Guide (spoilers!) by Escapade84 is a handy compendium of cards, traits, assets, ephemera, grimoires, lore, rituals, locations, status, followers, societies, actions, time, random events, legacy, miscellaneous stuff, etc. Due to it being loaded with spoilers, you may want to hold off until you've soldiered through more of the content and made some discoveries for yourself.

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How to begin playing:

➥ My Cultist Simulator Starter Guide on Steam

(For best results, follow along w/ this starter's guide while playing & using active pause)

Cultist Simulator starts you off with a single Work Verb. This is a square-shaped icon on the game board which you will click on to reveal its empty card slots. Clicking on an empty slot will reveal what types of cards you can place there. You will see a description on the tooltip, with some Aspect icons at the base of it. Clicking on those icons will give you a description of the type of Aspect that can fill that card slot. In this case, your starting card, Menial Employment, fulfills the requirement as an "Aspect: Job" and may be added to the empty slot. This enables you to begin work as a miserable hospital porter.

Clicking and beginning to drag a card will highlight the Verbs in purple that the card can be used with.

To begin your job, now that you have added the Menial Employment card to the Work Verb, you can click START, and the Work Verb timer will begin. Once the timer has elapsed, open the Work Verb, and you will see two new cards: Funds and Health. Collect them all, and they will now appear down on the game board area. You will notice a new Sleep Verb has appeared on the game board with its own timer. Once that initial Sleep Verb timer elapses, you will see that another new Verb has appeared: Time Passes. Before adding any cards to the Sleep Verb, let the Time Passes Verb timer run down to initiate the next Verb: A Bequest Arrives.

For the purposes of getting started, I'm leaving the Dream Verb (& Contentment card) be, but it's helpful in discovering lore & recovering from negative statuses. Dreaming can also eventually cause you to go insane.

The mini magnet icon on a Verb means that it will automatically grab a card (like how the Time Passes Verb will grab the Funds card each cycle of its timer for example, whether you add it manually or not).

The Bequest Verb description delivers good news that the old man you dreamt of at the hospital named you in his will. Allowing the new Bequest Verb's counter to run down will award you with eight new Funds cards plus three others. Collect them, and at this point you will also see on the game board, a Bequest card, a Reason card, and a Passion card. This is a very good time to use active pause to stop the timers while you consider your next actions, because the Time Passes Verb has just grabbed one of your Funds cards (due to its mini magnet icon). This is your recurring expenses upkeep (every one minute on the Time Passes Verb timer). Keeping yourself stacked with Funds cards is extremely important as running out of them will eventually affect your hunger and ultimately your Health, setting you up to lose the game. Negative effects like hunger, illnesses, and injury cost Funds cards to remove. The late game will also introduce additional money sinks.

Be careful how you use your Health card(s) as they are critical to keeping yourself away from a losing scenario. In the early game, they can be added to the Work Verb with a chance to be turned into an Injury Card which costs Funds to turn back into a Health card.

You will notice, at this point, that the Bequest Verb has now changed into the Study Verb despite having the same light bulb icon. You also now have a Bequest card that you will add to the Study Verb. Notice also that while having the Study Verb open with the new Bequest card slotted in it, that it opens a new "Approach" card slot. Make a decision to add either your Reason or Passion card into this slot and click START. Remember, you can click on empty slots and on tooltip icons for additional hints and descriptions.

Now that your Study Verb has been slotted with the Bequest card and either the Reason or Passion card, it's time to unpause the game. Allow the Study Verb timer to run down to receive additional Text cards that you can add to the Study Verb when you wish. Most likely the Time Passes Verb timer also ran down by this point and grabbed another Funds card from your stash.

One of the best ways to keep money flowing is by climbing the corporate ladder of Glover & Glover. You can open this option up by adding the Reason Card to the Work Verb. Be aware, that your boss is a hardass and demands a perfectionistic work ethic...

You should now have a very basic understanding of how the game flows and can begin to experiment with how using different cards and combinations on various Verbs branch out the story and gameplay. As storylines unfold, your play area will fill up with cards and Verbs that will allow you to do a great many things like founding a cult, sending disciples out to on missions, reacting to encounters, summoning "things," etc. 😈

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Legacy Options (Pick one after defeat):

Physician Cards: Reason, Position at the Institute "As the patient descended into the final delirium, I made copious notes. In the buzzing heat of the night, I re-read those notes, and they began, at last, to make a kind of sense."

Bright Young Thing Cards: Health, This & That "Endowed from birth with wealth and talent. A life of ease, comfort and delight stretches ahead like an amber carpet."

Detective Cards: Reason, Health, Inspector's Position "I am an inspector in the capital's police, charged with the investigation of the most vile and wretched things that one human does to another."

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Helpful Links for Getting Started:

Community Discord: https://discord.gg/ub2tE6Y ➥ Beginner's Guide - by Tssha ➥ Reference Guide (w/ spoilers!) - by Escapade84 ➥ Cultist Simulator Wiki - by Curse Gamepedia

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I hope you enjoyed this and found it helpful! ◥▶◀◤

Check out my other reviews! ⤵ https://steamcommunity.com/id/sklurb/recommended/

▶ Devs & Publishers may e-mail me at sklurb [at] gmail [dot] com regarding inquiries & game promotions

#cultistsimulator

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jonathanleesink · 6 years

Text

Cliff Jumping

Originally posted on February 2, 2018

Four months ago…just a week after my 41st birthday, my life-path made an immediate stop at a steep cliff. The kind of cliff that takes your breath away because of just how high it is. On the other side of the cliff was someone I didn’t recognize, but they clearly needed some help. Do I turn around, walk away, and let someone else help this stranger? Do I ask him if he has any family or friends that can help him on the other side of the cliff? Or do I evaluate the risks of getting over the gap and get to helping this person immediately? I know I have the athletic ability to jump this gap. I decide I must jump to the other side to help this person. There is honestly no reason I shouldn’t help. I backup to allow plenty of space to get up to speed, I begin my run, and with 8 inches to spare I launch myself in the sky. I hold my breadth while I feel my body rise and descend in the air. Suddenly my knees and hands take the impact on the hard loose gravel of the other side of the cliff. I lookup and the stranger offers his hand to help me up. No words were exchanged, but I could tell he was thankful for the risk I just took. I stood up, dusted my knees off and kindly asked the stranger what I could do to help him.

Last week I shared with you my plans of being an altruistic kidney donor. I had surgery on Monday to remove my left kidney. It was then cleaned up and put into someone who really needed a new kidney. The transplant team at the University of Kansas did this procedure four more times over two days. Five donors and five recipients in one hospital. I have been told history was made. It was the largest kidney chain in KU’s history, and maybe the state of Kansas and for Kansas City, too. It has been an exciting week, for sure.

Jamie took me to the hospital Monday morning at 8:00. We were admitted and sent to the correct waiting area. I found my mom waiting there for us. After not waiting too long they invite me back to the surgery prep area. I ditch my street clothes and put on the easy-access hospital gown and safety-grip socks the nurse gave me. Aside from answering a million questions I have already answered a million other times, the nurse was getting my IV put in, sticking EKG electrodes on me, and asking lots of other questions about my tattoos. (Side Note: most of my caregivers were fascinated by my tattoos and wanted to know all about them.) The anesthesiologists came in to talk about the general anesthesia they will use to put me under prior and during the surgery, and also to administer nerve blocks prior to surgery. Nerve blocks are localized numbing shots they shoot in my abdomen to try to ease the pain of the incisions. They had Jamie and my mom come say their goodbyes, and I was being wheeled back to surgery.

As I am rolled into the operating room I remember two things specifically. One, the room was incredibly bright. I suppose the surgeons will need to be able to see everything in good detail. And two, there was a guy in scrubs with an expensive video camera. I suddenly remembered that I agreed to be filmed and interviewed before, during, and after surgery. I hope he was on my good side, because seeing the cameraman was the last thing I remember before everything went dark.

My memories in the recovery room are kind of foggy, so I cannot guarantee any of it as factual. Jamie has reminded me of this specific conversation taking place in the recovery room.

Jamie: How are you feeling?

Jon: I don’t know

Jamie: I have some good news

Jon: You’re pregnant?

Jamie: No, that’s impossible

Jon: Oh, okay

Jamie: I’ll remind you of this conversation when you are more alert

I remember hearing my mom’s voice, but I couldn’t see her which confused me. I think she was sitting down behind someone. I was very thirsty and had a dry mouth. They gave me a tiny sponge on a stick dipped in water. It was the least rewarding thing to ever touch my lips. If you’ve never sucked water from a sponge, it does not get my thirst-quenching recommendation. I was in quite a bit of pain while in the recovery room. The nurse had to remind me numerous times that I have a push-button pain relief hooked-up to my IV. I could push the button whenever it was lit up with a green light, which was about every ten minutes. I was the only one who could push the green button. The doctors, nurses, and my family members could only remind me to push it. As cool as this button was, they removed it from me the next morning.

Finally, the people taking care of me in the recovery room thought I could go up to my room. They called someone to push my bed up to the sixth floor. If there was a non-perfect experience found in my journey at KU, my transportation from the recovery room to my permanent room would be it. The guy in charge of pushing my bed looked a little like Martin Short’s rendition of Jack Frost in Santa Clause 3 (Side note: my kids and I love this movie.) Mr. Frost was not very friendly. Maybe he was just having a bad day. He ran the bed into a couple of walls and elevator doors, which isn’t enjoyable when you have four new abdomen incisions and a freshly harvested internal organ. When we get to my new home on the sixth floor there are 8-10 nurses awaiting my arrival. Frost disapprovingly tells me, “You must be somebody important, I’ve never seen anyone get this many people to move them from one bed to another.” The great nurses and Frost get me moved to my new bed and start getting me hooked up to all my stuff. Time for rest and recovery.

In an effort to not put my readers to sleep I am going to condense the content of my hospital stay, and highlight the most important parts. I think the best way of doing this is by thanking the people who took care of me, or had a part in my living donor journey.

Family & Friends - Jamie (my lovely wife) has supported this journey from the start. She had some concerns, but I think educating herself about the concerns helped her ease them. She was my main support while in the hospital. She handled a juggling act of being there for me, but also coordinating a ten and a four year old’s schedule, plus she’s on an active job hunt and the president of the PTA. She certainly has her hands full. Thanks to modern technology she was able to do a lot of it while I was napping in a bed. Thank you, Jamie. My kids have been great. They understand that their dad has to take it easy for a few weeks. They have been so sweet to me. As they continue to get older in life I’ll be able to talk to them about this experience so they can develop an appreciation of what I did and why I did it. My mom and mother-in-law have helped with watching our kids and transporting them when Jamie couldn’t. Plus, that means the kids get extra time with the grandmas, which always means more sugar!

Once I went public about my decision to donate a kidney via my last blog post, the support has been outstanding. I have received countless messages from people supporting me and my family. Every single message has been special to me. I thank you all for uplifting me at this critical moment in my life. Thank you for the cards, flowers, gifts, and the wonderful meals that people have volunteered to bring my family. I also want to give a special shout-out to my Benninghoven family. They have supported me and my family in countless ways. Thank you for everything!

Tony and Christyn Zins - If you read my last post, you learned this all started from my reading of a Facebook post from one of Jamie’s co-workers. That co-worker is Christyn Zins. Christyn’s husband, Tony, was my initial intended recipient. He is the reason I originally went to get tested. Tony and I weren’t a match, and he went on to have surgery on January 2nd of this year with a perfect match donor from his longtime friend, Craig. Christyn has been a wonderful support system to Jamie. She’s answered questions, provided a care package while we were in the hospital, and visited us twice while we were there. Christyn also gave me a beautiful blanket that she quilted this past month with help from Tony, her mother-in-law, and her two sisters-in-law. It was extremely kind and generous. Even though I didn’t donate to Tony and he wasn’t involved in the kidney chain, I still feel that special connection to him and Christyn. I don’t know my recipient, and there’s a chance I might never know them. Tony is the closest thing I have. He gives me a face to visually use when I think of who has my kidney. I am grateful to Tony and Christyn, and also to their families. I have heard that their families ask about me, so it’s comforting to know they’re thinking of me.

KU Medical Professionals - From the first moment I called KU inquiring about living donation I have been treated with kindness and respect. My primary point person through this whole process has been Melissa Fowler, the living donor nurse coordinator. Melissa loves kidneys, and she makes everyone who talks to her love kidneys too. She has a real passion about her job, which makes her a valuable asset to the transplant center. During the months that it took to coordinate this chain I emailed her dozens of times with random concerns or questions. Every time I received a polite and prompt answer from Melissa. She is hands down the very best at what she does.

Dr. Ilahe is the nephrologist (kidney doctor) and the head of the living donor program at KU. Dr. Ilahe has that same passion for kidneys that I found Melissa having. Every time I saw Dr. Ilahe she gave me a hug. She has always been so thankful for what I volunteered to do. I believe she was one of the key figures in putting this 10-person kidney chain together. So, I’d like to congratulate her on this accomplishment.

Dr. Kumer was the doctor who actually performed the surgery on me. Dr. Kumer is the in-house ace on removing kidneys. When I met with him weeks before surgery he told me that I am the only one in the hospital who is having a surgery that they don’t need. While this is true, for this week it was me and four others. Dr. Kumer carefully cut me open, detached my kidney, put his hand into my abdomen and personally removed my left kidney, and then sealed me back up. And then he did it to four other people.

There were a lot of other people I worked with on the transplant team. Samantha and Jaime were great to me. I didn’t have a chance to work extensively with either one, but the interaction I did have with them was pleasant. The lab technicians always had a fun attitude everytime I went to give blood. Honestly, there wasn’t a single person through this process that I had a bad experience with. This department has kind, professional, and always thankful.

Finally the nurses that took care of me post-surgery were awesome. The level of care I received on the sixth floor was nothing like I had seen before. I had the same day-shift nurse two consecutive days, and the same night-shift nurse two consecutive nights. Hannah and Alec. They brought nursing to a whole new level. They were young, fun, and knew their stuff. Nurse Hannah made a personal connection with Jamie and my kids. It’s comforting to have a trusting relationship with your caregivers when you are in such a vulnerable state. The professionals who took care of me while recovering on the sixth floor were outstanding.

I was released from the hospital on Thursday afternoon. I have spent most of my time in my bed since I got home. Jamie and the kids are all helping out, which has been nice. We have meals being made and delivered by several friends for the next two weeks. My sleep schedule is totally off. I go to bed around 9:00, but wake-up really early, and then have one to two naps during the day. I’ve always been a big water drinker. I’ve learned I need to keep that up, plus a little more now. I also cannot take NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) ever again. NSAIDs are commonly known as ibuprofen, aspirin, and naproxen. This is probably the biggest long-term adjustment I’ll need to make. Tylenol is my pain reliever of choice now…forever. I should be back to normal in a few weeks. My remaining kidney will adjust to do the work of two kidneys. I’ll need to continue living a healthy lifestyle and stay away from any high-risk diets that could cause diabetes or high-blood pressure. The last two years I have really focused on healthy living. If I continue doing what I’ve been doing, the doctors have no reason to believe I wouldn’t live a long normal healthy life.

I have my first follow-up appointment on Thursday morning with Dr. Kumer. I am off work for several weeks to allow myself plenty of time to heal. I plan to write, read, play guitar, enjoy time with my family, and just be thankful for life and make the best of living.

About two weeks prior to surgery I had to come into the transplant center for some final pre-op stuff to do. I was also interviewed by KU’s media team. They were beginning a project to try to interview as many people involved in the donation chain as they could, and kind of follow everyone through the process. Fast-forward to the Wednesday after surgery I am informed that KU is hosting a press conference and issuing a press release about the donation chain. A few hours later I am getting texts that people saw me on the six o’clock news. Oh, and I am getting links sent to me of articles on local news websites and YouTube. What?!? This was totally unexpected. I didn’t think anything was going to hit the media until the interviews were done after the surgeries. Links are below for your viewing pleasure.

YouTube - produced by KU’s media team

KU Press Conference

KU Press Release

KCTV5

Fox4

This isn’t the direction I saw my life going when I was celebrating my 41st birthday. I didn’t see that cliff approaching either, it came out of nowhere. I can’t say that I would have always chosen to jump to the other side to help the stranger. But times are changing, and I have changed. Life is not about me, it never has been. I found that life is about leveraging your talents, your resources, and your heart to make a positive impact on someone else, and being brave enough to do something about it. You don’t have to jump over a cliff or give a kidney. We can make positive impacts daily, heck we can mindfully always be making them. Forget the past and don’t worry about the future. Be in the moment, and demonstrate compassion for all.

This is living.

This is purpose.

#kidneydonor #livingdonor #kidneytransplant #kansascity #kumc #organdonor

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