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just-here-for-the-moment · 3 years

Note

You just had to bring the symbol of Victory into this didn't you?!???? Is this some sort of euphemism I should look forward to or!??!?!?????

Yes!! Let me “paint you a picture” (groan)... Also, I sat down to draft my response and it's somehow *gestures at this whole mess* 2300+ words!?? And confession time! I’ve never even SEEN "The Mentalist"! Everything I know about Marcus Pike has come from cute GIFs and the Internet and fanfics… so… I don’t even know what’s going on with me today. But thank you! :D

(This is leaking over from this post if anyone needs to play catch-up)

Paris

Word count: 2300+

Rating: mature, 18+ only

Outline: Marcus Pike x “You” in Paris, reader is an Art History Professor (cis/het female reader; “blank canvas”/no physical description/no name/no use of “Y/N”)

Warnings: slow burn; cute Marcus Pike; coffee and pastries; kissing and stuff; public-ish sex in the Louvre after hours; spontaneous P/V sex (probably unprotected, idek) we're all adults here, wrap it before YOU tap it!

It’s like, you and sweet Marcus have definitely hit it off and you’re really into each other after that field trip meet-cute and your date, but you haven’t slept together yet. He gets called away for a case, so you wish him good luck and hope that you can see each other again soon.

A few days later it’s spring break and you have a trip to Paris planned to complete some research for your next publication. You email Marcus while you're waiting to board. You let him know that you’re going to be out of town for a few days, but that you hope his case is going well, and maybe when he's back you two can pick up where you left off?

You land in Paris and check your messages, and you see that Marcus has replied to your email. He says he can't share the details of his case, but that he hopes he'll be wrapped up by the end of the week, and that he definitely wants to see you again. He asks about your research trip, so you shoot a quick email back to fill him in on the details.

You get to your hotel and sink into a hot bath with your phone. You open your emails, and your brain tells you that you're just checking to confirm the details of your appointment with your research contact in the morning... but the little uptick in your heart rate tells you that you're actually looking for another reply from Marcus. And it's there. He says that he loves Paris and that your research sounds exciting. He asks where you’re staying? You give him the name of your hotel, and tell him that you haven't stayed there before, but it's cute.

Before the water even gets cold you have another reply, sending the butterflies behind your navel into a tizzy. He says that he's stayed there once or twice and that the café in the lobby has excellent pastries. You smile and let yourself imagine a vacation with Marcus, here in Paris, sharing pain au chocolat over a little table in the café. You refill the tub with hot water and sit daydreaming for so long that your fingers prune up.

You get out of the bath and wrap yourself in a plush robe, and sit on the edge of the bed. You email Marcus back, wishing him a good night and telling him that it's late where you are, but that you promise to try one of the pastries in the morning with your breakfast coffee. By the time you're in your nightgown and ready to sleep he's responded, wishing you sweet dreams and hoping that your research goes well. You smile and reply, "Thanks," and then drift down into pleasant dreams.

The next morning you take yourself to the little lobby café and treat yourself to a café crème and an almond croissant. Marcus was right, and you nearly moan aloud as you wrap your mouth around the flaky pastry. You open your email and send him a picture of your croissant with one bite missing, and you joke that you blame him for ruining you for any other boulangeries you might visit during your trip. By the time you're done with breakfast he's responded with a wink emoji and a quick "Sorry I ruined you," and you desperately want to email him back and boldly ask him to ruin you in other ways. You stop yourself, and your brain can't think of anything appropriate, so you just don't respond and you leave to go to your research appointment.

The day is long, and the dusty archives and a few misfiled papers cause small irritations. But you find a few of the things that you needed, so you call it productive enough. You break at 3 p.m. and decide to start again fresh in the morning. Maybe an early dinner and another scalding hot bubble bath will set you right. You decide that the weather is nice, and that your hotel is close enough that you can stroll back and people watch, disconnect your brain from your work and transition into relaxation mode along the way.

You arrive back at your hotel and go to your room to change. There is a card slipped under your door, the front desk letting you know that you have a delivery of some kind to pick up. You try to remember if any of your colleagues or your boss mentioned that they would send you anything? Is it paperwork? Some kind of file for your research? You decide to shower and change into a nice dress to lift your mood, and then head back out for dinner.

You take the card to the lobby desk and hand it to the desk clerk and he disappears into the back office. When he returns you're surprised to see that he's holding a floral arrangement, not huge or ostentatious, but lovely and cheerful and somehow your favorite color exactly. The clerk sets the vase on the desk. You reach for the card and open it.

"Good luck on your research. -Marcus"

You break into a wide grin and you practically float back to your room. You set the flowers on the room table and open your email to thank him. You send him a photo and an effusive "Thank you!" and a winky kiss emoji. Is that too much? No - if one little emoji scares him off then he's not the guy you thought he was.

He responds within minutes, a quick "You're welcome. Glad they arrived in one piece." and his own winky kiss emoji. Your heart flutters and you reply immediately, "They're really lovely. Thank you for thinking of me."

A moment later his next email pops up: "Can I take you to dinner and pick up where we left off?"

You reply: "Absolutely! I'll let you know as soon as I'm back in town!"

He responds: "No, I meant tonight."

You hesitate, does he want to call you and chat on the phone while you eat dinner? Some kind of video call, like a virtual date? Before you can type your reply, a new message pops up: "I'm actually in Paris. My case is here and I arrived a few days before you did. I didn't want to scare you off or come to your hotel unannounced, but I'm free tonight and I'd love to see you."

You throw your head back and laugh. This is definitely way more fun than eating alone and people-watching. You message back an enthusiastic, "Yes! I'm ready when you are!" and he emails you and says he'll see you in 30 minutes in the lobby. When you get downstairs he's waiting by the front desk, all soft scruff and loosened tie and warm brown eyes, just as you remembered. You smile and hug him, and in that moment you feel like a fairy-tale princess meeting her prince, being swept off your feet in the most romantic city in the world.

You have dinner at a cozy bistro around the corner, Marcus making you bubble with laughter as you talk. He listens to you moan about the missing pieces of your research, your pressing need to track down a letter from one artist to another that was mentioned in an old diary but which hasn't yet surfaced. You're sure it's around the archives somewhere, just waiting for you to piece it together with the rest of your project. Marcus tells you that his case is almost wrapping up, and if you want he can arrange to catch the same flight home as you. You smile and tell him that would be nice.

You finish dinner and he asks if you want to go to the Louvre, and you check the time and say that they're almost closing. Marcus smiles at you and says, "Don't worry about it," and he looks a little mischievous. You tell him you're up for an adventure, and he takes your hand and ushers you into a taxi.

When you arrive he asks the desk staff for someone he knows, and you make a quick run to the restroom. When you return, Marcus has two laminated badges, special access for professionals and visiting staff that allows you to stay for a few hours past closing. You can't believe your luck, being allowed to spend extra time in one of the most special places in the world, not to mention that your escort is the most handsome and charismatic man you've ever met.

You start in the Denon wing and wander through the museum, talking and laughing quietly, enjoying the opportunity to see things that you would normally have to fight hordes of tourists to see. And maybe "enjoy" isn't the right word, because if someone asked you how you were feeling right now, you would say you were "on cloud nine" or "elated" or "floating." It feels like a dream, and you're not sure if you're going to remember all of it later, but you desperately want to, and you're trying so hard to file every sight away into your brain.

When you reach the Mona Lisa, an odd hush falls over you, and you realize it's the first time you've ever seen it without a crowd twenty deep in front of it. Marcus seems to know what you're feeling, because he takes your hand, almost shyly. And he keeps holding it, warming your fingers as the two of you walk on. You stop in front of Delacroix, "Liberty Leading the People," and you tell Marcus that it's the first painting you ever fell in love with, a million years ago in high school during your very first art history class. You look at the painting and he looks at you, and when you finally turn toward him he captures your mouth in a warm, urgent, soft kiss. You can feel your eyes sparkling at him when he pulls away, and you don't say a word, you just smile and hold his hand as you walk through doorways and up and down stairs.

You come around a corner and there it is, probably the most famous statue in the world: the Venus de Milo. She takes your breath away, and then Marcus does, too, stealing a kiss when you least expect it. And you're torn completely in half, unsure if you would rather keep kissing him or just stare at the curves and planes of her body. So you try to do both; you kiss him and keep one eye on the Venus and you start to feel dizzy, like you've overloaded on sugar, but it's just the impossible circumstances that you've found yourself in.

And you break apart from him, and take his hand again, leading him into a corner that's a little more private. You back yourself against a wall and pull him to you by his tie, and you kiss him the way he deserves, with your full attention and precision. Minutes pass slowly, and you only come up for air because you're afraid you're going to faint. Your thigh is blazing hot where Marcus's hand has raked up under your skirt, and the only reason you don't fuck him right there is because of a security camera keeping watch on the alcove.

You tell him that you both should finish your tour and go back to your hotel, and he agrees. You try to keep your mind on the art, and you tell Marcus about how awestruck you were as a student when you learned about the way that sculptors could depict every curve and dimple of a woman's body through the wet drapery technique; the sensuality of the human form made only slightly more modest when viewed through a veil of fabric; the sheer awesome impossibility of marble carved to look like gauze.

You both get lost in the conversation, and you wander up a staircase and around a corner, and there it is: your absolute favorite piece of art, the piece that you have studied and memorized and dreamed about. And you've seen it before: you've been to the Louvre a handful of times, but this time there are no noisy footsteps echoing off the marble, no tourists trying to capture the glory of it with their tiny and unworthy cameras and phones when there are perfectly good books and postcards available in the gift shop... the Nike to end all Nikes, the Winged Victory of Samothrace. You are, quite simply, blown away.

And if it had been a normal weekend walking tour of the sacred Louvre, if you had been there with anyone else... you wouldn't have ended up wedged against the wall of the archway to her left, skirt hiked up as Marcus pounded into you, one of your bare legs hooked over his hip and your arms wrapped around his neck. If it had been any other day or any other time, you would have stopped him before he unzipped his fly and pulled his erection out; you would have had some remaining shred of propriety, of decency. But it wasn't a normal day and he wasn't a normal man, and you really weren't yourself.

You had gotten carried away by the late hour and the thrill of being allowed to wander the empty museum, and if you were being honest, you really wouldn't have wanted to stop it. You wanted to give in to the romance of the city and the priceless treasures on display and the heady conversations with Marcus. You wanted to be exactly where you were, with exactly who he was, doing exactly what you were doing and feeling exactly how you felt as he thrust into you and grunted your name like a chant while you traced the lines of the Nike with your lust-blown eyes.

You didn't make it to the Richlieu wing until a year later, on a sunny Saturday morning with your new husband Marcus.

--- Just-here-for-the-moment’s masterlist

Roll call: please message me if you don't want to be on my "all fics" tag list!

@221bshrlocked @danniburgh @starlightmornings @honestly-shite @spacedilf @anaaaispunk @silverwolf319 @greeneyedblondie44 @maxwell–lord @nicolethered @the-queen-of-fools @driedgreentomatoes @juletheghoul @dihra-vesa @anxiousandboujee

#marcus pike x you #marcus pike x female reader #pedro pascal characters #marcus pike x female art history professor #idek dude #i just started writing and it all just went blaaaaah #i ain't even sorry

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douchebagbrainwaves · 3 years

Text

THE TROUBLE WITH THE NERDS

It may look Victorian, but a famous speaker. But in addition to such indirect competitors, I think you only need two kinds of solutions to this problem. Founders who succeed quickly don't usually realize how lucky they were. Theory: In US presidential elections, the more admirable it is. Those companies were apparently willing to establish subsidiaries wherever the experts wanted to live. But barring emergencies you have a specific idea you want to reach users, you do it consciously you'll do it even better. If another country wanted to establish a mediocre university, for an additional half billion or so you could have a great one. That's what you're addicted to. If Jessica was so important to launch fast is not so much that they've done work worth tens of billions of dollars, but that a applies to any mobile phone, and b avoid the danger of fooling yourself as well as negative. Few would be willing to claim that it doesn't matter much either way. In fact, it's suspiciously hard to find a field of math that truly has no practical use.

The cause must be external. There are things I know I learned from Paul Buchheit: it's better to start with no more than an outline of what you need to reproduce is those two or three founders sitting around a kitchen table deciding to start a silicon valley; you let one grow. With a startup, I think it's because they seem so formidable. Hype doesn't make satisfied users, at least not for something as complicated as technology. The degree of courage of past or present union leaders are somehow inferior. And even then they rarely said so outright. Next year you'll have to explain how your startup was viral.

Physics progressed faster as the problem became predicting observable behavior, instead of releasing a software update immediately, they had to submit their code to an intermediary who sat on it for a month and then rejected it because it contained an icon they didn't like? We thought Airbnb was a bad idea. Quiet is another matter. Com, which their friends at Parse took. He couldn't have afforded a minicomputer. But powerful as they are, they're not drifting. He was like an explorer looking for a territory to the north of him, I at least don't have any regrets over what might have been. As for the theory being obvious, as far as I can tell it isn't.

The ups and downs were more extreme than they were prepared for.1 Instead of version 1s to be superseded, the works they produced continued to attract new readers. It is, in some ways. And the fact that they have to be high, and if they try to be creative. One developer told me: As a result of their process, the App Store approval process is broken. On the subway back from the airport she asked Why is everyone smiling? This could become more common. Once you acknowledge that, you stop believing there is nothing else you could be called.2 Everyone knows you're supposed to buy when times are bad.

Their denial derives from two very powerful forces: identity, and lack of imagination. The record labels agreed, reluctantly. My oldest son will be 7 soon. But you have to pay as much for that. No doubt it was a waste of time to try to reverse the fortunes of a declining industrial town like Detroit or Philadelphia by trying to seem legit. So tablet makers should be thinking: what else can we give developers access to? A great university near an attractive town. People only have so many leisure hours a day, and TV is premised on such long sessions unlike Google, which prides itself on sending users on their way quickly that anything that takes up their time is competing with it. The iPhone and the iPad have effectively drilled a hole that will allow ephemeralization to flow into a lot of founders are surprised is that because they work fast, they expect everyone else to.

But none of the startup world. It was a place people went in search of something new. Bureaucrats by their nature are the exact opposite sort of people who opt out of the closet and admit, at least 3 years and probably 5. That's how it happens in books and movies, because that's why it's structured that way. Dangerous territory, that; if anything you should cultivate dissatisfaction. The main complaint of the more successful founders: The immense value of the startup hubs has: not San Francisco, Boston, Seattle. They treat iPhone apps the way they framed the question.

Notes

But core of the people who are good presenters, but its inspiration; the defining test is whether you have is so valuable that visitors should gladly register to try to ensure that they probably wouldn't even exist anymore. Starting a company just to load a problem if you'll never need to import is broader, ranging from 50 to 6,000 sestertii apiece for slaves learned in the case. Does anyone really think we're as open as one could aspire to the modern idea were proposed by Timothy Hart in 1964, two years investigating it. Actually no one is now the founder visa in a situation where they all sit waiting for the sledgehammer; if they stopped causing so much pain, it may be whether what you learn in even the flaws of big corporations found that three quarters of them.

Throw in the long tail for other kinds of menial work early in the 1980s was enabled by a central authority according to certain somewhat depressing rules many of the statistics they use the standard career paths of trustafarians to start some vaguely benevolent business.

Thanks to Tad Marko, Patrick Collison, Geoff Ralston, Sam Altman, and Mark Nitzberg for reading a previous draft.

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smarchit · 3 years

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Do No Harm, Pt 5

Hey y’all, it’s been exactly.... /checks watch/ well over a month since I last posted a chapter of this. Oops. Oh well. Found this while digging through my drafts while procrastinating working on Poetry.

"No, spread your legs a little further," Mando instructed. He used the tip of his boot to nudge Wynn's own foot back a few more inches in the dirt. "You want to have a wider stance. It makes it harder for someone to knock you down. You take up more ground space this way."

Wynn adjusted her stance and took a deep breath as Mando circled her, taking note of the position of her arms and legs. She didn't even realize she had a white knuckle grip on the spear until Mando tapped on her fingers.

"Too tight. You want it to be firm, but loose. Steady. Good."

Wynn loosened her fingers and watched Mando take his own stance across from her, his back to the early morning sun. She tried her best to mirror his form; he made it look effortless.

"Arms in," he corrected, reaching over to lightly touch her elbow. "Keep everything as close to you as you can."

She nodded and did as he instructed.

"Hit me," he ordered.

Wynn brought her spear up and tried to smack it off his arm. Her attack was easily blocked by a parry from him.

"You didn't say you were going to block me!" she cried.

He chuckled and shook his head. "No, I didn't. But neither will your enemy. Again."

Wynn gave a cry and tried to strike him again. This time, her attack was countered by Mando's own spear knocking against her exposed torso. Lucky for her, both of their vibroblade tips had been removed for the sake of practice, but she didn't doubt that Mando would still be able to cause harm with just the metal pole. Already, she could feel a bruise forming on her ribs.

Wynn quickly ducked under the second of his rapid attacks. The pole barely missed the top of her head when she tried to go around him and catch him from behind.

Mando grabbed the end of Wynn's pole and jerked it to the ground within the blink of an eye. It was quick enough that Wynn couldn't change her trajectory and she ended up tripping over the spear.

She landed on her side and quickly turned onto her back to face Mando. Wynn tried to roll out of the way of his next spear attack - a rough jab with the end of the weapon - before it could catch her in the throat.

Mando lifted her chin with the end of his spear so she would have to look up at him. "Do you yield?" he asked as he stood over her.

"Yes!" Wynn gasped. "I yield!"

Mando kicked her spear over to her. "Get up. We'll try again."

It went on for hours. By the time the moons rose over the horizon, Wynn's body was covered in bruises. She was doubled over, shaking and out of breath as she gripped her spear.

"Again," Mando growled, his helmet inches from her ear. When she shook her head, he got closer to her. "Go. Again."

Wynn let out a scream and cracked her spear across Mando's chest. "No!" Her shout, accompanied by the metallic thunk of the spear against beskar echoed off the nearby hills and sent a flock of birds squawking and flying away.

Mando barked out a rough laugh when the top half of the spear went flying off into the dirt.

Wynn was staring at the broken edge of the spear handle, her eyes wide with fear. She had done that. She had broken one of his weapons.

He turned to face her quickly, his helmet tilted to the side to look at her. He reached out to take her wrist in his hand, the metal spear handle falling from her grip.

"You've got some nice blisters forming," he said, turning her hands over in his. "These will hurt. They will break and bleed. But you'll get stronger."

Wynn nodded, already feeling the ache in her muscles from the rough day of training. They'd only stopped briefly for dinner, though Mando insisted she practice on a tree stump while he fed the Child.

"Get some rest. We'll go again tomorrow," he said, letting her hand fall from his grasp.

Two weeks passed quickly on the tiny planet while they looked for any sign of the Child's people. They never stopped Wynn's training though, going at it in the early hours of the morning and resuming after their search late into the night. Wynn had never been more exhausted in her life. She would collapse into her cot for a few hours at a time, only to be awoken by the Child's loud cries for food. Mando would help with that more often than not, but it still roused her from sleep.

She was definitely getting the hang of fighting with the spear. That had been made evident earlier that evening when she had landed on her back in the dust, her own spear the only thing keeping Mando's from puncturing her throat, when she twisted the staff in her hands, effectively disarming her sparring partner. She thrust her spear up, the metal tip pinging off of his beskar chest plate.

He raised his hands in defeat and reached down to help her up off the ground. Mando had to admit to himself that she was an incredibly fast learner. She insisted they put the spear tips back on after only a few days.

I need to feel the danger, she insisted.

Mando only wished that she could see the pride that was constantly painted on his face at her success.

"Wynn," he called up the ramp after her. "Tomorrow, we should do some fist fighting. You won't always have access to a weapon."

She turned to him and nodded before she headed off to the fresher to clean up.

Mando sighed and leaned against a crate to relax. He looked over at the sleeping Child and smiled. The little guy didn't know it, but he was about to have two protectors instead of just his adopted father. Mando checked some coordinates on his wrist comm and swore softly before he picked up the Child and went back into the Crest.

They couldn't stay on this planet much longer without getting a surprise visit from their friends.

The very next morning, Mando was surprised to find Wynn not on board the ship. The manual locks had been disconnected from the inside, but she was nowhere to be seen. He could feel anxiety creeping its way up his stomach to wrap icy fingers around his heart. He ran to check on the Child and found him still sound asleep in his pod. But where was the young doctor?

She'd left her comm unit along with her blaster on the table in the hold, though her bag was missing. Odd, he noted, if someone took her, why let her take the bag?

Mando shut the Child's pod and locked the door to his quarters. He would be safe there for a few minutes. He grabbed a blaster and rushed down the ramp. He had to find her. Who knows how long they had before the Imps showed up? If there was any time left at all...

The thought of Wynn being taken by Gideon sent a shiver up his back. He didn't want to think about what they might do to her because of her association with him.

He followed her footprints through the dirt to the nearby forest. Mando knew he could track her without a problem. She didn't appear to be leaving with anyone, but he knew better than to take a chance with that.

It only took him a few minutes to find her. She was in the middle of a clearing a hundred yards or so into the forest, leaning up against a tree. A book was resting on her crossed legs and her shoes were kicked off several feet away from her. A few blossoms from the tree above her had fallen into her unruly hair.

Mando watched her for a few minutes. For how long they'd been travelling, he never saw her this relaxed or this calm. He thought back to the morning after he'd first met her when she was singing to the Child. She looked so unaware that he was standing so close to her.

Wynn immediately looked up when he approached her and she gasped, her hand flying to her chest. "Oh, Maker! You scared me!"

"Why are you out here alone?" he asked, "It isn't safe."

"We've been out here for weeks," she said, raising an eyebrow. "We haven't seen anyone or anything. I think I'm fine." She stood up and stuffed her book back into her bag.

"There could be an animal," he continued as she crawled past him on her knees to get her shoes.

She kneeled in front of him and scoffed. "You mean that cute little thing we saw the other day? Yeah, real threatening."

Mando ignored the way his pants felt just a little tighter when she looked up at him from her knees.

"The Child was worried," he countered.

"Ah, right," she hummed as she stood. "He was very worried."

Mando flushed under his helmet.

"Come on, we have to get going anyway," Wynn said with a sigh. She stood up and grabbed her book. "We wouldn't want the baby to worry."

Mando sighed and followed her out of the clearing and back into the woods. He admired her genuine sarcasm, but as always, he worried for her safety. What would have happened if an Imp found her? Or Gideon?

What if he had to leave without her? He quickly came to the conclusion that he would never be able to leave her somewhere alone. Even if she had the proper training.

"We need to keep working at your training," he said, quickening his pace to join up with her. "How's your aim with a blaster?"

Wynn shrugged. "I don't know. My dad had an old model. He showed me how to turn it on and aim it, but I never actually fired it or anything."

Mando sighed and nodded. "Okay, we'll work on that next."

When Wynn and Mando reached the ship, she turned to him and grabbed his arm for attention. He stiffened and slowly looked at her.

"I am sorry, by the way," she said. When he didn't respond, she shook her head. "For running off this morning. Sometimes it's too quiet on the ship and I just like to breathe air that isn't recycled, you know?"

He looked at her briefly before turning to the door control. "I know," he said as the door slowly opened. "Just let me know next time, okay? I don't-- I wouldn't want anything to happen to you."

She smiled and then nodded. "Okay. I can do that."

Mando nodded once and turned to go back into the ship. He could already hear babbles and coos coming from his quarters. The baby was already awake and would soon be demanding attention.

Wynn chuckled and bounded up the stairs after him, but not before sparing one last glance at the planet they'd spent the last several weeks on. It had almost started to feel like home.

TAGLIST: (I really hope you guys don’t mind me tagging you in this) - @the-feckless-wonder @gallowsjoker @phoenixhalliwell @waatermelon-sugaar @huliabitch @miscellaneous-mando @lestrange2703

#do no harm fic #the mandalorian #the mandalorian fic #the mandalorian x ofc #my writing #din djarin x oc

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talldecafcappuccino · 3 years

Text

Title: Between Close Friends

Rating: General Audience

Chapters: 1/1

Relationship: Ted Lasso/Rebecca Welton

Summary: Ted is bad at social media, but is that a bad thing?

Ted, what the fuck are you doing????

Ted peers at his phone, rubbing sleep from his eyes and reads the message again.

He scrolls down and sees he has twelve more texts and three missed calls all from Keeley Jones. He turns off his nighttime notifications with a few exceptions for emergency contacts, so it’s not surprising he slept through the messages.

He scratches at the stubble along his cheek and checks his clock. It’s seven o’clock here in Kansas, so it must be . . . early afternoon in London. He thinks through the last day, but he can’t remember anything interesting enough to have Keeley on the case.

Henry came over to his extended-stay hotel, they went to an American football game, got a late dinner in downtown Wichita, and watched a movie before bed.

They did make it on the Jumbotron for the Lasso-off, the team’s half-time dance contest, but his moves weren’t especially embarrassing. At least not in his opinion. Unless one of the moves was actually an insult to the English in which case, oh jeeze, he needs to get on this quick.

The call barely connects before Keeley’s voice echoes in his ear.

“Oy! Ted!”

“Keeley, I am so sorry for whatever I did to offend the great people of the United Kingdom. I am ready to make a statement and an apology tour as soon as you tell me which dance move I need to retire immediately.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, but I need you to log out of the AFC Richmond Instagram account. Like, now.”

That stops Ted in his tracks.

Does he even have access to that? He remembers a post-it note of accounts and passwords from Beard on their first day with Richmond.

There was an account run by the previous manager, but Keeley had taken it over long ago, converting it to the official team account. She had also made Ted a personal Instagram for his own use and brand development, but he never posted publicly.

He puts her on speaker phone and opens the Instagram app. She’s right. He’s logged into the team account with all 25 million followers. Well, shoot.

There are about a dozen stories posted from last night. All of Ted and Henry’s day together. There’s puns (“having a cow” at dinner with an image of Henry holding up a beef rib and screaming his head off), Ted and Henry singing at a dueling piano bar, the two brushing their teeth together in the bathroom mirror.

“No offense, but I think this may delay the Tom Ford deal you asked me about.”

“Yeah. I get that.”

“It’s just, you know, dads aren’t quite their brand. Or our brand. I mean we’re not anti-dorky dad, but you know with the whole comeback narrative during the season hiatus . . .”

“No I get it. You’ve put a lot of work into rebranding this team and I just undermined that.”

She sighs, but it’s fond.

“Sorry, Ted. It’s not like what you posted was bad, it’s rather sweet actually. It’s just a little different from the posts I had scheduled.”

Ted nodded. It wasn’t the most embarrassing thing that had ever happened to him, but he felt bad for making Keeley’s job harder than it needed to be.

“No, I’m sorry Keeley. I swear, it won’t happen again.”

****

“Can you believe what Ted did last night? I’ve never seen someone so bad at social media.”

Rebecca has no idea what Keeley is talking about when she walks into her office. She flops onto the couch, feet splayed on the coffee table, clearly exhausted by whatever Ted has done from 4,438 miles away.

“So many puns. Which, don't get me wrong, I love word play more than most people. But I don’t think it’s right for the team right now.”

Rebecca shuts her laptop.

“You’re right about puns not being part of the team plan, but what’s this about Ted? What did he do, exactly?”

Ted hasn’t posted anything in at least 24 hours. Not that Rebecca is keeping track.

“Oh he managed to switch to the team account on Instagram and posted about his entire evening out with Henry. It was quite sweet, actually. The ones that made sense,” but then she pulled a face.”He’s like, really, really bad at social media.”

Oof. Well that isn’t great, but Rebecca doesn’t think there’s anything particularly terrible about Ted’s social media use normally.

“But everything seems under control? No big PR actions needed.”

“It’s fine. I had him log out and wrote a post about Coach Lasso’s surprise social media takeover from America.”

Rebecca nods. Okay, so it was all sorted. Keeley has things totally under control.

But she reaches for her phone anyway. She opens Instagram, taps through the AFC Richmond stories, and snorts at the image of Henry with the rib as big as his head.

“Are people at least being kind?” Rebecca hopes Ted logged out without seeing any messages about Henry. Not that she could see any reason for it, but people were shitheads on the internet.

“Well, wanker is still the most common response. But many of them are wanker with a little heart at the end, so I think it’s fine. We actually got a lot of responses, proper engagement and all that,” she looks up at the ceiling, considering it for a moment before rolling her head to look back at Rebecca.

“If we weren’t trying to present the team as a badass phoenix rising from the ashes, I’d say a Ted takeover isn’t a bad idea. He just needs some supervision. Maybe a phone with a better camera.”

Rebecca is only half listening as she taps to the next story.

“Aw, they went to dueling piano night. That must have been fun for Henry.”

She’s smiling at her phone when Keeley asks, “Dueling piano night?”

“Yeah, you know at Jim Bob’s Bar.”

Keeley is looking at her blankly.

“Fine. I know it’s not really Jim Bob’s bar. It’s probably not even a bar if Henry’s there. But I can’t remember the real name off the top of my head.”

She’d looked it up once, after Ted first posted about the dueling pianos. For some reason she started calling it Jim Bob’s. Ted didn’t seem bothered and had even started calling it that himself.

When she looks up again, Keeley is staring at her, eyes narrowed.

“What are you talking about?”

“What do you mean?”

“How do you know so much about some bar in Kansas?”

That gives Rebecca pause. She isn’t sure what Keeley means by the line of questioning.

“It’s not some totally random bar. Ted posts about it whenever he goes for dueling pianos.”

If he gets to the bar early or she has a particularly late evening, Rebecca catches the story before going to bed. When she does, she always asks him to put in $5 for Wannabee by the Spice Girls. She owes him a small fortune by now, but it’s worth it to see the bar explode with cheers and jeers.

Some nights she misses the story, but he puts money in anyways and she wakes up to a shaky video of, Yo, I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want.

Rebecca thinks this is a good enough explanation, but Keeley is still staring at her.

“I’ve literally no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Keeley, you know social media is not my thing. All I know is that sometimes Ted posts about this bar on his tiny friends list thing,” she waves her hand around, trying her best to describe it. “The one with the green ring around it.”

Keeley leaps to her feet, eyes wide.

“Am I not on Ted’s Close Friends list??”

Before Rebecca can say a word, Keeley is halfway out the door, texting furiously.

“Roy, better not be on there, if I’m not on there. Ted knows how I feel about being left out!” she shouts over her shoulder. “Sorry Rebecca, I need to do some investigating, asap.”

Oof. She may have just created a problem. It’s probably best to give Ted a heads up before Keeley gets through interrogating Roy.

She drafts a text once, twice, then deletes it and presses call instead.

“Hey Boss, let me guess. Keeley got a hold of you?”

It’s been a while since they’ve chatted, what with the time difference. It’s bizarre how familiar his American accent has become.

“She just left my office, yes.”

There’s a loud crack in the background and a metal clang.

“Where are you?”

“Oh, just the batting cages with Henry,” he says, cheering loudly. “Hey, do you guys have a sport called baseball that has nothing to do with American baseball? You know, like football and football?”

She chuckles, “I don’t believe we do. However there is always cricket.”

He hums, considering it.

“Now Ted, I think there’s something you should know.”

“Lay it on me Boss. I know I caused a headache this morning, what’s the damage? What do you need me to do? I am at your disposal or I’ll lay really, really low as long as you need me to.”

“It’s not that Ted. It’s Keeley.”

“Keeley?”

“Yes, she’s on a bit of a mission at the moment. It seems you left her off your Close Friends list? I think that’s right. On Instagram?”

“Huh. How did that come up?”

“I was telling her about Jim Bob’s. Apparently she had never heard of it and realized you had a whole social media life she was unaware of.”

“Right . . .”

“So do what you will with that.”

“You haven’t talked to anyone else about this yet, have you?”

Rebecca is confused by this new direction.

“No. Why? Ted, is something wrong?”

It takes a long moment for Ted to respond.

“What can I say, I’m just really bad at this social media stuff.”

It's a non-response and an overly folksy one at that. But Rebecca can’t be fooled by the aw shucks routine—not anymore. She tries again.

“Ted. Who is on your close friends list?”

“Uh. Not a lot of people.”

“That doesn’t answer the question.”

“What can I say?” He huffs, a little frustrated. She would feel bad for prying, but she can't help herself. “The list of people I want to share silly life things with is small.”

“How small?” she wonders.

“Very small.”

The line goes silent and Rebecca swears she lost him. But then she hears him take a deep breath.

“It’s you. You’re the list.”

Rebecca feels flush. That’s not where she was expecting this conversation to go.

“I know that might be a lot. You don’t have to say anything. I just, that’s the honest truth and I’d like to get ahead of it before Keeley harangues the entire team.”

It’s a lot to take in, but it makes sense. Sometimes when she’s watching his posts, she wonders about his audience. Who else cares about his biscuit recipe improvements or Broadway Sundays (a recent development that’s turned into a shared movie night.)

“Rebecca?”

She realizes she’s been quiet for a while. The moment feels tenuous and she worries about saying the wrong thing, sending him running faster than Keeley during a social media snafu.

Finally she settles on, “You know, you’re welcome to text me silly life things. It wouldn’t be a bother.”

She brushes invisible crumbs from her desk, listening carefully to his breathing on the other end of the line.

“Yeah?”

“Yes. Maybe I can send some, too?”

Rebecca can hear his smile from across the Atlantic.

“Well, alright then.”

****

That night, Ted’s phone pings and he rolls over to see a text message from Rebecca. It’s a picture of the sun rising over her garden wall.

Something silly to start the day.

But it doesn’t feel silly. Not at all.

#ted lasso #ted lasso fic #some fluff #because a plot bunny got in the way of what I planned to write this weekend #I blame the Easter bunny #ted x rebecca

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crasherfly · 3 years

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Weekly Update

It’s a privilege to write about personal shit this week.

There’s not much I can add to the conversation about the election, suffice to say it was both better and worse than expected, and I’m glad that society isn’t immediately collapsing, at least this week.

Which is to say I’ve never been so glad to focus on my stupid, deeply low-stakes life updates. Obviously, the future is still uncertain and there will be plenty of work to do in the days and years ahead, but a week ago, I wasn’t certain if I’d be witness to a reality where questions like “how did a week of not drinking go” and “what are you playing” still matter.

So without further ado...

It was a challenging week, obviously.

Not just the election- I’m talkin’ for like- EVERYTHING. Home life. Work life. Creative life. I could go on. You get the idea.

I went on full blown quarantine as of last Friday after learning a member of my household may have covid. You wouldn’t think it was much of a change from my normal every day, but man, I did not realize just how many little things were working together to keep my sanity together.

A short list- weekend walks to pick up morning coffee, Friday night carry-out sushi and pizza, my weekly groceries at the co-op, and most importantly- trips to the weight room- all suddenly off the table until testing results come in.

In my state, testing often requires booking at least 3 days in advance, and it can take another 3-4 days just to get results back. Luckily, everyone in my home works remotely, so this doesn’t put us out too bad. I can’t imagine now non-remote workers manage. Even so, having to toss all the precious little things I’d managed to keep despite the pandemic stung. I even had to put my wrestling watch parties on hold- they took place on Discord, but one of my friends would normally come over to watch.

I’ve worked through a lot of huffy anger and annoyance over the course of the past few days. Losing my ability to get to the gym as the weather turns especially hurts. As a weight lifter, I’m pretty reliant on what the gym offers. Early into the pandemic I got a lot of folks snidely telling me to go lift paint cans. I resisted the temptation to tell them they could in turn pay for my back surgery. Thanks to the pandemic I’ve learned that the gym is actually a need for me, emotionally and physically. Losing it, even for a week, feels awful. I can’t wait to get back to it.

Until then, jogging and biking will have to suffice.

One positive- I’ve gone a week without drinking!

Based on my tracking, that’s actually the longest I’ve since June, which is nuts.

Predictably, I have gained weight. Because no good deed goes unpunished.

I don’t know if I’d say I notice any life-changing effects yet. For all I know, my body is still adjusting to the sudden absence of all the shit it’s normally used to working in overdrive to break down.

A few things I’ve noticed- my runs are going slightly better, I can stay up later working on games or creative endeavors, and I’m actually experiencing REM cycles again- meaning I’m dreaming, and dreaming vividly. I also get incredibly hungry around 10:30 every night- because, surprise!- that’s when I’d normally sit down with a beer or glass of sake. So I’m working on finding ways around that.

I can’t say I’ve felt a huge urge to drink. I occasionally wonder when, or indeed if, I’ll grab a glass of beer again any time soon. But beyond that, it’s been pretty easy to lay off. The fatigue alone was just such a pain to work through, not to mention the way a glass of beer would just kinda pin me into place for the rest of the night. I like how active my brain is now in the late hours.

But I do watch a lot less anime now :(

On that note, here’s what I’ve been playing lately!

Outer Worlds (XBONE)

So, you probably missed it last post- probably ‘cuz I forgot to write about it in my first draft, but I wrote about my Total Kill Run that I just wrapped up in Outer Worlds.

The short and dirty version for those of you who can’t be bothered to go back and read- I tried to do a run where I killed every NPC in Outer Worlds, a space RPG from the Obsidian, and instead got sidetracked with completing the nefarious Board’s story and ended up doing a Board run instead.

I was surprised by how humor and wit the game brings to its commentary on your wanton slaughter. The devs were not bluffing when they said you could kill anyone and anything in Outer Wilds and they even prepared a few nice moments in anticipation that some players would try.

I was disappointed to find that the Board’s mission- and indeed, some of the progression points I followed on my own go-it-alone-and-kill-everything story, mirrored the Good Guy story beat-for-beat, basically shrugging and saying “well, you’re gonna do this anyway, like it or not”. At several given points you can kill everyone you like- but you’ll still have to find that keycard, access that terminal, or visit that far off map point now matter how hard you try to get out of it.

I was finally struck by how little I missed. I skipped A LOT of stuff- almost every sidequest and all the companion quests. And you know what? I had a fine time. I might even say I had a better time. So much time in Outer Wilds is devoted to fetching, traveling, and sitting in load screens. Turns out you do less of all of that when you just go guns blazing into every civilized map.

Some friends earlier this week were talking about revisiting old Bethesda-style RPGs like Fallout: New Vegas and Skyrim. It got me thinking about whether or not I would bother doing that myself any time soon. It’s true those are better games than Outer Worlds. But if the point of Outer Worlds is to echo those positive experiences so closely...what does my recent experience say about the source of that reflection?

Just a thought I’m chewing on. I don’t have a good answer. But feel free to HMU if you have your own thoughts!

NeoGeo Arcade Stick Pro- Art of Fighting, Samurai Shodown, Fatal Fury, World Heroes 2

Friday night I sat down at my desk, dimmed the lights and hooked up my NeoGeo Arcade Stick Pro. On my second monitor, I brought up move lists for King of Fighters ‘95 and started my fighting game learning journey.

I did OK, in my opinion. I stuck to just learning the hero team- Kyo, Daimon, and Benimaru. I even managed to trigger a few level 1 supers. I think I could safely beat the average player at an arcade now- but there’s definitely plenty of system I came nowhere close to learning all the ins and outs. However, after trying out a few subsequent KOF games, it seems like my learning should transfer forward.

I also tried out a few other games on the stick. Art of Fighting and Fatal Fury aren’t games I’ve had prior exposure to. In my experience, they seemed a little slower than KOF. The command lists were definitely shorter. Samurai Shodown was absolutely gorgeous and felt really, really good to play. I could see getting really into it.

My big highlight was World Heroes 2, which I ended up playing most of the night. It’s a bit sillier than the previously noted titles, but it has a really fun roster and a good, medium-sized move list that isn’t too taxing to remember. I had seen some of the characters, like Johnny Maximum, on the Spriteclub roster, so it was cool to see them in their native environment.

Overall, the Arcade Stick Pro is holding up nicely. The stick itself is solid, and the deck is a natural fit on my lap or desktop. I’m not noticing any serious input lag and the buttons seem really responsive. Of all my retro consoles, this might become one of my favorites.

Endless Space 2

AMPLITUDE’s 4x sci-fi has entered hallowed realms of my “Games I will Be Playing 20 Years From Now” list. A massive, sprawling turn-based strategy about managing a spacefaring empire, Endless Space 2 is great for those weeks where I want to play a 4X that I can resolve within 20 hours.

For my most recent run, I once again took up my favored faction, the Riftborn. Every game is a learning experience, so this time around I was determine to try and tackle the massive and deeply inconvenient quests that Endless Space 2 mercilessly slews at you every_damn_turn.

I was mostly successful. I didn’t finish my faction’s quest, but I did complete the Academy quests. Throughout every game the Academy looms as this impartial faction that hires out heroes and provides boons to those who donate resources to it. In the endgame, the Academy offers a quest that forces every active civilization to choose sides regardless of existing alliances. Depending on the results, the last phases of Endless Space 2 can look very different

I finished the questline, unlocked a cool cinematic and learned that next time I should definitely not ignore those quests, however obnoxious they might be. The faction buffs earned from successful completion are....pretty wild.

Sunless Skies

Another week, another dead captain in Sunless Skies. This captain had a particularly long run- I had managed about...15 hours with him before losing him to some enemies that I was not at all prepared to fight. Death comes quick in Sunless Skies- a single bad decision can lead to swift death.

This run I at least managed to bank a ton of valuable supplies and upgrade my engine. My next captain will have a better shot as a result. I’m not sure when I’ll pick the game back up. After a particularly long run I usually take a long break- weeks or even months. We’ll just see what happens.

Pokemon Shield

I’ve finally, FINALLY beaten the endgame of Pokemon Shield. At least, I think I have. I’m sure there’s a few more things to do here or there, but for the most part, I think I’m done. I beat the champion and saw the credits roll. There’s some DLC to visit and more ‘mon to catch, but mostly, I’m done.

I had the opportunity to take care of some trade evolutions and partake in a friendly battle with a friend. It was the first time I’ve done that since...I kid you not...the playground in 5th grade.

It was...really fun?

I’m a deeply casual pokemon player. I don’t search for shiny ‘mon or suss out perfect numbers. I just use who I think looks cool and I try to keep type and consideration in mind. As a result, my friend and I had to agree on some ground rules for average levels- but the result was a compelling match.

I found myself afterwards making plans for another battle night. This tends to happen in November- I get really into Pokemon again for a few weeks. Historically, this is ‘cuz I’m normally traveling a lot for the holidays. That won’t be true this year, but old habits die hard.

Maybe I’ll even bust out my 3DS again soon. Who knows?

Quest 2: Revisited

Last week, I posted some thoughts about the Oculus Quest 2. I’ve spent another week with the headset, testing some new features and trying some more involved experiences. I’m happy to report my thoughts on the machine are still positive.

If anything, my impressions are MORE positive than before. My eyes have grown used to the world of VR. I’ve found a setting on the out-of-box headstrap that I don’t hate. And I’m finding more experiences than I initially suspected I might.

I’ve had a change to run the Link option, for instance, which allows you to use your Quest 2 as a Rift. It’s actually pretty seamless, requiring only a good desktop and a USB cable. My cable seemed to suffer from some bad speeds, so my experience was pretty laggy, but with an approved cable, I have no doubt the Quest 2 could handle just about anything you throw at it.

I finished Superhot, and have only raving reviews to offer. It is a perfect introduction to all the Quest 2 can do. Given limited space, Superhot places you in do-or-die situations where you must dodge, duck and shoot your way through enemies. When you move- time movies- so you will often find yourself forced to take stock of your surroundings before making your next step.

It is sharp, offers a great mix of puzzle solving and brisk action, and even serves as an ad-hoc workout. Picking it up with your Quest 2 is a must.

Encouraged by Superhot, I gave Job Simulator a try. It is a zany VR experience that humorously simulates a number of white collar job environments. It is short, funny, and with no shortage of silly interactions. I spent several minutes in my digital office cube shooting staples into neighboring cubes and giggling at the angry responses of my co-workers. WHO THREW THAT. STAND UP.

Finally, I’ve taken some time to try and get into the streaming world beyond the Mozilla app. It has been both encouraging and...well, not so much. I’ve mostly been dinking around in Bigscreen, an app that offers a number of Pluto TV channels in digital theater environments. You log into a room with other people, who appear as avatars, and you all watch the shows together.

Well, sorta. Most people don’t really watch the shows so much as they throw digital tomatoes at the screen and shout upsetting shit at each other. The server population seems really low, so the massive theaters take on the quality of a creepy XXX cinema, where one always feels a bit apprehensive of who they might meet.

At its best, Bigscreen is genuinely funny. I’ve made nightly stops at the Star Trek theater, which plays old reruns of Next Generation. The most enjoyable moments come in the spirit of MST3K, with witty comments and memes as people throw digital refreshments at the screen. I’ve found myself giggling despite myself.

At its worst, Bigscreen is a deeply racist and sexist hideaway full of the types of folks you’d normally shush the hell out of in a real theater. You can mute people, but it’s a tedious task. A reporting function also exists, but who knows how or if its being enforced at all. Finally, unless you’re doing a film rental, you’re going to be subjected to commercials on everything from erectile pills to The Blaze. I’ve described it to others as being Peak Late Night Cable: The App. If that appeals to you, well, it’s there and it’s free.

I’ve tried streaming my desktop, both on Bigscreen and via Oculus Link. Both were very laggy. There’s a very popular desktop streaming app I could try, but it costs IRL money. Honestly, most of what I’d want out of my desktop streaming I already get from Mozilla.

I like the Quest 2 a lot. I hope we see more experiences tailored specifically to it, as opposed to through the Link function or via desktop streaming.

Dungeons and Dragons

I finally wrapped up my improv sessions with my local DND group. Having just finished The Lost Mines of Phandelver, I wanted to take some time between campaigns to improv and get off the grid a bit.

The result was 4 sessions, 2 hours each, where I had nothing prepared in advance and I let my players take the lead. I gave them a map I’d built of the region and told them we could go anywhere they like.

My party ended up splitting into two groups- one heading to Castle Grayhawk, and one to Neverwinter. Antics ensued, personal quests furthered, and by the end, everyone felt ready for our next adventure at the Salt Marshes.

An interesting takeaway- when doing improv sessions, I had almost zero fights. I never once broke out the battleboard and only a handful of attack rolls were even attempted.

I, personally, like combat a great deal. So I don’t think that will be my style forever. But it was interesting to see what my sessions could look like without it, especially after such a combat-heavy campaign.

Anime

I’ll be honest- I’ve fallen really behind on this season’s anime. I have so many hobbies, and one thing gets shoved aside for another, necessarily so. This time, it’s anime and manga. I promise I’ll get back on the horse soon.

As the year winds down, I’m already thinking about my experiences over the past year and what my end of the year experience list will look like.

I’ve seen so many amazing titles this year.

Like, I get deeply, viscerally emotional when I think about Re:Zero.

My heart races as I think of the thrilling high points of Tower of God.

I delight in my inner goth kid as I ruminate in experiences like Gleipnir and Berserk.

I’m going to have a lot to talk about. Just thinking about it motivates me to get out there and see more.

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softhaos · 5 years

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PURELY PLATONIC

pairing – joshua hong x reader genre – fluff description – you never expected to find a new friend due to ranting about lee chan. you also never expected to find a dumbass spreading the rumor that you and joshua were suddenly a couple. alternatively, you and joshua are really just friends without benefits but uh, everyone else begs to differ. warning – none word count – 4,774 words author’s note – for once, i’m not writing a crackfic, i think? it came out so much more different than i initially planned (which was basically three months ago sdjjk) either way i hope you enjoy xx

set in the victorious universe | can be read as a standalone

You are going to kill Seokmin. As soon as he fixes the mess, that is. You’d love to end his life right there and then, but his early death wouldn’t solve your wifi issue. There is no plausible explanation on to how Seokmin managed to cause a power outage in your apartment but the fact is: with no electricity available, there’s also no wifi.

Under normal circumstances, you wouldn’t make a big deal out of it. You could go several hours without wifi, that’s not an issue at all.

However, when you have to finish revising your article for the college newspaper and send in the final draft of your work before five in the evening because you value your wellbeing and don’t want Chan bitching at you for approximately a month, it becomes a very big issue. And as much as you like to joke about falling off the stairs, you don’t want to actually die due to Chan latching onto you and expressing his annoyance about your inability to report back in time.

You only have three hours left to edit the word vomit you produced and the next best location where you can work is the Pow Wow café two blocks away from the apartment complex. There really aren’t any downsides to the coffee shop: their coffee is heavenly and the internet connection works just as fine as your own. It’s a genius solution.

What you didn’t calculate into your brilliant masterplan is the peak time at Pow Wow. You realize that the moment you step inside the café.

The interior hits the mark of comfort and zero tackiness. Black and red pillows are lying on the couches and give the place more life besides the pale green and beige accents on the wall. There’s a reason why Pow Wow is pretty much considered the best café on campus grounds. The loud chatters blend in with the Bob Marley song that’s playing in a moderate volume from the speakers and become almost inaudible to you as you scan the place for a free table. The disappointment strikes you hard since all you are met with are unfamiliar faces. Whenever you spot a free seat, either the clutter on the table refrains you from claiming it or the person just returned from their refill back to their clutter. The odds are definitely not in your favor today.

At this point, you’re already dialing Mingyu’s phone number in the hopes that he could pick you up and let you abuse his (very shitty) wifi. Any internet connection suffices, you figure, and if the next best thing is Mingyu’s horrible wifi, you just have to suck it up. Your plan C for everything has always been Mingyu and so far, it has always worked out.

Except for this time, it doesn’t.

“Please leave a message after the–” you don’t bother speaking into the answering machine and slip your phone back into your pocket. Maybe you shouldn’t have expressed your desperate need to behead Seokmin, that’s possibly the reason why the odds are not in your favor at all.

Nonetheless, since you’re already here, you might as well get your hourly dose of caffeine.

“Anything else?” the barista – Minki is his name according to the name tag – asks as he writes your name on the cup before sliding it to his coworker. The overly bright smile that is bound to be a forced one never leaves his lips.

“A good wifi connection and some silence,” you shoot back intuitively.

Startled by the given answer, Minki raises a brow and nods understandingly. “Ah, I wish I could have those privileges too.”

He’s about to add something when one of the other workers call your name, a sign that your order is done. You send him an apologetic, fleeting glance before you scurry off and grab your drink.

Cup in one hand and phone in the other, you’re about to dial pretty much every contact you have in hopes that at least someone would be so kind enough and give you their wifi. You’re almost by the door when you suddenly collide against someone and stagger. But before you end up on the ground facedown, warm hands have a firm grip on your shoulders and prevent you from losing balance. Surprisingly, you don’t spill your coffee or drop your phone.

“Hey, everything okay?”

“Yeah, sorry, I–” your mind goes blank and the words lingering on your tongue are forgotten when you see his face.

“You sure?” he asks again, brows furrowed in worry. His jet black hair is messy from the wind and some strands reach down to his eyes. However, you still recognize him faintly even if his appearance is different than usual.

“You’re Joshua from Professor Ahn’s composing class, aren’t you?” you blurt out and immediately regret sounding so ecstatic. If it weren’t for your both hands that were already holding something, you would’ve clamped your mouth shut. Judging by Joshua’s startled reaction, you might have as well beamed at him.

“Uh…” he chuckles lightheartedly but is still weirded out, “Y/N, we’ve been in the same course since the beginning of the semester, which by the way, started a month ago.”

“I only ever see you with glasses, so excuse me for not recognizing you right away,” you improvise and scrunch up your nose when you brought up the glasses. Technically, you didn’t lie to him. Up until now, you’ve really only met him with specs perched on his nose.

You haven’t talked a lot with him – scratch that, you’ve never exchanged a word with him before. There has never been a reason for you to approach him and even if you wanted to approach him at the end of a lesson, he’d rush out the classroom as fast as the wind. If you’re not mistaken, he’s pretty much the first person to be present before the lesson and the first to leave the lesson.

Joshua seems to believe you and rubs the back of his head. “I really do look different without glasses, huh? But back to the point. You looked awfully stressed just a moment ago.”

“Karma,” you deadpan, “Or long story short: A friend of mine trashed my wifi, he’s fixing it at the moment but I have to submit my article for the newspaper in a few hours unless I want Chan haunting me.”

Joshua feels the pain to well and cringes at the mention of Chan as if you had set off a foul memory of his. “Chan can be… a handful.”

“Tell me something I don’t know. Who does he think he is, running around and acting as if he were God?” at this point, you already lost track of time just ranting about the head editor of the official college newspaper. You must’ve been complaining about your life dilemmas for so long that one guy rudely tells you to not block the way to the exit. That was the incentive for Joshua to pull you away and one moment later, you’re sitting right in front of him.

You’re about to let out all your pent up anger about Seokmin on him when he interrupts with a small smile and hand gesture.

“If you want to rant on, I’ll be glad to lend you an ear. But seeing as it’s five pm in a few hours and you still haven’t sent in the final draft to Chan, I suggest you work on that first.”

“That’s awfully nice of you,” you mumble after a moment of silence. That doesn’t stop you from pulling out your notebook and setting it on the smooth wooden surface.

Your comment triggers a wholehearted chuckle. Joshua slightly tilts his head back but quickly recovers after taking a sip from his refill. “Chan’s wrath? Been there, done that. I wouldn’t even want to have the people I dislike go through that.”

“That bad?” you inquire playfully.

“Think Professor Jang’s wrath but a little less Professor Jang.”

You almost choke.

“That’s it. I really have to pull myself together,” you say monotonously and open your article about this year’s talent admission contest. A quick glance at the clock suffices to get your gears working at lightning speed. You still manage to swallow a frustrated groan when you look at the word vomit and suddenly realize how much editing is really needed for this piece.

You may have successfully refrained your voice from exposing your misery, however, your face speaks for itself. You don’t bother to look up or you refuse when Joshua asks, “Need help?”

“If you can help me edit this article, you’re my lifesaver,” you shoot back instantly while keeping your eyes glued to the screen.

Joshua snorts in response. “I used to work on a project with him. Several times, actually. I don’t usually speak highly of myself, but I am confident that I know what floats his boat and what doesn’t.”

This time it’s your turn to let out a burst of laughter. “People still use that saying?”

“That’s Chan’s language when he’s feeling really artistic.” Joshua grins before he stands up and occupies the chair beside you. In the blink of an eye, he’s suddenly leaning towards you and meddles with your laptop so that he can also view the screen. You don’t miss how his eyeballs almost fall out of their sockets as he quickly skims through the words. “Did you write a novel or something? And you’re crazy enough to edit this monster by yourself?”

“Look, I get carried away easily–”

“Samuel Kim deserves better,” he reads out loud and you feel the blood draining from your face.

“...and I tend to be very subjective,” you trail off. Suddenly, editing your article by yourself seemed like the better option. Maybe even having Chan pestering you is the better–

Okay, that’s definitely a lie. You’re not going to finish that thought.

“Let me just share the link so I can access the draft from my own laptop,” Joshua suggests as if he were asking for your permission first. That seems to go down the drain as his nimble fingers are already working fast while he’s speaking. It doesn’t bother you though.

What follows after he accessed your article from his own device is comfortable silence. Besides the occasional comment from his side concerning your statements about some contestants (he was very persistent about the runner-up Ha Yoonbin in particular) and the background chatter, the main sound you perceive is your fingers feverishly hitting the letters on the keyboard.

The two of you are so engrossed in editing the article that you barely process the time. It’s when Joshua returns to the table after grabbing a refill for the two of you that you wonder how long you’ve been working on the text. Your heart stops beating when you realize that you only have five minutes left before the deadline.

However, after skimming through the visibly shorter word vomit than before, you deem the article as fair enough and send Chan the final draft.

With the weight finally lifted off your shoulders, a wave of relief washes over you.

“Joshua, you're my lifesaver. I'm dead serious here,” you say while gazing at him with an equally serious face. “By the way, thanks for the refill. Wait a sec, I'll grab my wallet—”

“It's on me,” he cuts you off and sets the cup on your table before you can refuse. “Seriously, it's no big deal. I'm glad I could help.”

Your eyes flicker from him to the cup and then back to his face. Shooting him an incredulous stare, you set your fist on the table to prove a point. However, he doesn't seem impressed judging by the quirked brow and waits for you to elaborate.

“It doesn't work like this. You don't spontaneously help me out with an over 20,000-word article and buy me a coffee. On top of that, you don't want to be paid back? That's unacceptable!” you declare and demonstratively repeat your action.

A fond smile paves its way onto his face. He attempts to say something but always pulls back in the last moment. So after what feels like a moment of silence too long, he proposes, “Fine, if you really insist, then you owe me one. I don't know when it'll come in handy but let's say I need some help with an assignment for composing class, you'll have to help me out. Deal?”

“Fine by me. But what about the coffee?”

Joshua’s eye twitches. It's a faint movement, barely visible if you don't pay enough attention yet you still pick it up. You refrain yourself from pointing it out though.

“How about you buy me one coffee as we continue our discourse about things Chan does that annoy us some other day?” he inquires after a while, fingers tapping an irregular beat on his cup.

You detect the playfulness in his tone but you also know he isn't completely joking regarding this matter.

A smile erupts on your lips.

“Text me whenever you're free or feeling like it.”

You really did spend several hours at Pow Wow ranting about Chan and his antics. Along the way, you might have found more topics you could collectively complain about or praise that led to a second platonic date.

And a third.

And more after.

Sometimes your conversations even escalated into a debate about the talent admission contest a few weeks back.

(“Ha Yoonbin should've won and any other opinion is invalid!”

“Well, in the end, you're Boo Boo the Fool because believe it or not, Yoon Jeonghan won the contest fair and square!”

“I don't deny his talent but Ha Yoonbin!!!”)

Either way, new topics led to more meetings and at this point, you lost count of the number of times you and Joshua have hung out. He’s easy to banter with and to an outsider, it may seem as if you two have known each other for ages. It’s borderline scary how quickly Joshua picks up your humor and therefore, it also doesn’t take too long for you to clown him the way you clown Seokmin–

You admit you clown him a little less than Seokmin. Nonetheless, his reactions are priceless and it’s not your fault that he gives you enough material to tease him about.

“One day, the broken glass song will rise again,” you promise him, observing his every reaction.

He groans in response and hides his face behind his hands. “Don’t you dare bring it up again.”

“How can’t I? Your meme-worthiness is on the same level as the backpack kid!”

He gives you a death stare but it comes off as a pathetic attempt of a glare, almost whimsical even. The cold look never suited him in the first place, you think because his features are all soft and it’s simply impossible to look unapproachable with his face.

“Don’t compare me with him, Jesus Christ.”

You chuckle lightheartedly and raise your arms in defense. “I was just messing with you! Okay, fine, I’ll shut up about it.”

“Thank you.”

“For now.”

Joshua looks like he’s about to kill you. His eyes might not say so but the rest of his actions do. You don’t miss the way his hands grip his mug tighter, causing his veins to show up slightly. However, he keeps his artificially sweet smile and resorts to changing the topic.

“Jokes aside, I need some help concerning a song.”

That catches your interest. “A song, you say?”

“I feel like some of the lyrics are off,” he explains and finishes his coffee. “Besides, you still owe me that.”

He’s right. While you have spent a lot of time together, the situation where he would need your help hasn’t arisen up until now. Of course, you haven’t forgotten that – even if your memory wasn’t the best, you couldn’t ever forget that he helped you with your article.

That’s how you end up in his bedroom of the apartment he shares with Kim Taehyung, another Seoul Arts student whose major you don’t recall. All you know is that he’s very invested in stage plays but is never the main role of any play. Oh, and he mixes very delicious cocktails.

Joshua’s room is fairly big, but it’s surprisingly very clean. His bed is neatly made, there’s no clutter on his desk by the window, there’s no book missing on his shelf and the several guitars he owns are standing side by side, right next to the closet.

Your eyes flit through the lyrics Joshua handed to you while he’s busy tuning his guitar. The lyrics are cute, endearing even – what else do you expect from a love song titled “falling for u”? It seems as if Joshua’s love (or addiction) for coffee is so strong that he even included it in his lyrics.

“So tell me truthfully–” you look up and smirk “– who is the muse for this song?”

At that moment, Joshua’s cheeks take a faint shade of red. “There is none,” he mumbles and adds in a louder voice, “Anyway, should I sing you the song?”

“Don’t bullshit me,” you scoff because there’s no way that he just came up with the lyrics without a person in mind. The words are too personal for that matter. “If it makes you feel more at ease, I promise I won’t tell anyone and if I do, I’ll buy your coffee until the end of the year.”

As if he doesn’t believe it, his eyes go wide. But as fast as he widened, he squints as you suspiciously just as swiftly. “You do know I drink a lot of coffee. Your wallet is going to suffer,” he points out slowly.

You roll your eyes and prop your chin on your palm. “Of course I’m well aware of that. That’s exactly why I said it.”

Joshua studies you hard, conflicted whether he should really trust you or not. His muse for this song must really be someone he’s really crushing on, you figure. While it is some very valuable information and definitely something you can tease him with, you’d never go behind his back and pass it on to others. That’s a big, red no-no.

“Fine, but you really can’t tell anyone else,” he warns and you nod frantically while you move to a sitting position on his bed.

“So uh…” he rubs the back of his head and avoids your gaze, “It’shmmnhung.”

You cock your head to the side, thousand invisible question marks floating over your head. “Who?”

Joshua stares at you, silently asking you if you were serious and turns as red as a tomato. However, he sighs once and repeats his sentence much clearer. “It’s. Kim. Min. Kyung.”

Your last functioning brain cells only process the name slowly. You blink at him dumbfoundedly several times until you finally matched the name with a face. When the realization finally hits you, you nearly fall off the bed.

“What?! You do know she has a girlfriend, right?! This–” you screech while waving around with the lyric sheet, “–is downright a confession, so what were you even thinking?!”

“Of course I do!” Joshua replies in the same frantic manner before elaborating, “This song was written before Minkyung and Yaebin got together and yes, I’ve stopped crushing on her. She was just the inspiration for this song and I find this song too good to dump it.”

“Good.” you nod appreciatively and cooled down from the shock. “I mean, not only good that you’re not going to be petty and break them up or something but good that you’re confident in your songs too.”

“I try to.” he shrugs.

“It’s a start.” you wave your hand as a sign for him to start singing. “Now show me what you’ve got, Mister I-try-to-be-confident-in-my-songs.”

You’ve never heard Joshua sing before, so naturally, you’re mesmerized by his voice from the moment he starts singing. His voice isn’t all too powerful and you doubt he can belt like Seokmin, but his tone is smooth and sweet like honey and the guitar just complements his vocal color. The song is simple in itself but you can already imagine the number of people listening to this while they study.

“I’m falling for you–” he sings with closed eyes and you note the small smile taking over his lips. He really must’ve liked Minkyung a lot.

And suddenly, the door flings open.

“Shua, can you believe? Jeongguk managed to get me tickets to that one show in Hongdae– oh?” Taehyung struts into the room, blue hair messily falling above his eyes but he instantly stops in his tracks when he sees you on the bed while Joshua’s sitting on the carpeted floor.

“–once again.” Joshua’s voice slowly drops into his normal talking voice and shoots him an incredulous stare.

“Uh, I didn’t know you had a guest. You should’ve texted me.” Taehyung’s eyes flicker from you, then to his roommate and then back to you. But once he has calmed down, he puts on a bright smile and addresses you. “I’m Taehyung by the way. I’ve seen you around campus, you’re an acting major if I remember correctly?”

“Yeah, that’s me,” you admit and return the smile. “I’m Y/N.”

“Y/N, huh? Isn’t Joshua just great at singing and composing?”

“I mean, it’s the first time I hear him sing so I can’t be the judge of that yet–” you earn a huff from the said boy but don’t react to it, “–but so far, he’s promising.”

“You hear that, Shua? You’re promising!” Taehyung beams at an irritated Joshua. “If only he was just as promised when it comes to getting a relationship,” he sighs and lays a hand on his chest as if he were in deep pain.

“Oh, cut it off, Tae. I’m perfectly fine.” Joshua rolls his eyes in a playful manner.

“Well, with this song, he definitely would have someone by his side by now,” you singsong and scrunch your nose. This was a golden opportunity to pull the former Minkyung crush card on him.

Joshua seems to take the hint and tries to silence you with a subtle glare. “Stop that–”

“He would?” Taehyung asks curiously, gaze switching from you to the other guy.

“Tae, stop asking and Y/N, don’t answer–”

“Definitely, if only things were different. Right, Shua?” you stick out your tongue at him as an act of rebellion.

By now, Joshua’s ears have taken on a shade of red and he can no longer hide his embarrassment. The scowl that follows just contributes to it. “I did not ask for this clownery.”

“Fine, I’ll leave. Have fun, you two!” Taehyung says, points finger guns at his roommate and sends him a suggestive grin before he leaves you alone and closes the door quietly.

“By the way,” Joshua speaks up a few moments later, “You’re the only one who knows the crush thing – not even Taehyung knows. So I’d really appreciate it if you kept it for yourself.”

That new information genuinely surprised you. You were quite positive that he also knew and would like to dig deeper. However, you know that he has his reasons for not confiding in his roommate so you refrain from doing so.

Instead, you just coo, “Aw, so I’m the only one trustworthy enough to know of your former crush on Minkyung. Cute.”

You’re pretty sure you weren’t drunk last night and married a stranger you met. You’re pretty sure you didn’t even go out last night.

But the handful of people congratulating you for landing a boyfriend makes you doubt your memory.

You’re busy packing out your lunch when Seokmin startles you from behind.

“I thought I was your best friend!”

“What?” you shriek and look at him flabbergasted, spoon almost slipping out of your grip.

“I can’t believe I heard the news from someone else,” he whines and occupies the seat beside you with a hurt and slightly offended expression.

“Hold up.” you freeze and squint at him. “What are you even talking about?”

“You dating Joshua and not telling me first! That’s what I’m talking about,” he groans as if it were the most obvious thing ever and sulks even more.

This can’t be happening again for fuck’s sake–

“Joshua and I are just friends,” you explain cooly and probably for the 30th time in a span of three hours.

“Oh yeah, and that’s why Taehyung found you in Joshua’s bed and flirting with Joshua when he came home,” Seokmin grunts before he raises a questioning brow at you and leans in closer. “Unless he’s not telling the truth?”

Your jaw almost falls open.

Oh. So Taehyung, huh.

“I mean, he saw me sitting on Joshua’s bed...” you start as you recall your first meeting, “...but that doesn’t mean–”

“So you’re not denying it!” Seokmin cuts you off with a slam on the table. You flinch at the loud smack but luckily, nobody else in the cafeteria seems to notice. The place is quite loud anyway, so no one was going to pay attention to you anyway. “I’m truly happy for you but I’m also disappointed in you for not coming to me first.”

The timing couldn’t have been any better. While Seokmin resumes sulking a fucking lot, a familiar figure enters your peripheral vision. At some point, Seokmin notices your disinterest in him and follows your line of sight.

“Hey, there’s your boyfriend,” he points out.

You don’t even bother correcting him and slowly set down your spoon. “If you excuse me,” you mutter halfheartedly before you get up and walk towards Joshua, who’s standing alone.

No words need to be exchanged for you to leave the scene and talk alone in silence. Just like you, he wears desperation and tiredness on his face and you conclude that he must’ve been bombarded with congratulatory wishes too.

Once you have found a somewhat lonely spot on campus, you go straight to the point.

“Nobody is buying my words when I say it’s a misunderstanding.”

Joshua doesn’t answer right away. He takes his time to choose his words carefully and sort out his thoughts. The sigh of exasperation that leaves his lips after a while makes his frustration clearer.

“God, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have–” his mind is a jumbled mess right now, you can tell, and he readjusts the glasses perched on his nose before starting anew. “Taehyung–”

“Look, it happened, okay? It’s not even your fault.” you shrug but can’t help but sigh too. “I admit, it’s annoying that everyone is now talking about it and I doubt they’ll shut up soon.”

You settle into silence. But unlike the previous times, this silence is deafening and downright heavy. There’s no comfort in this void as you just stand there and try to figure out what to say next. Normally, you would either crack a joke or resort to a different topic, but neither seem like the right option.

The silence is deafening and downright a burden and remains one even when you’re the one to speak up first.

“This may sound bad but I swear it’s not as bad as you think. Plus, I think it’s the only way to get out of this mess.”

“Hm?” is the only sound he makes to let you know that he’s listening.

“Why don’t we just go with it?”

You dare a peek at him and find him sending you wordless questions. His brows are scrunched together and he looks so helpless, trying to understand your proposal.

“Nobody will believe us if we keep denying it. We might as well act as if we were dating and after a while, break up,” you elaborate and look away. Now that you said it out loud, it’s really a ridiculous solution. It’s blatantly stupid and idiotic and the worst idea ever–

It’s the only idea you have though.

You want to say something but he beats you to it.

“So you’re saying that we should fake date.”

“Yup.”

“We just have to hold hands to make it believable and then fake a breakup. That should work out. We don’t have anything to lose anyway, now do we?” Joshua smiles weakly in an attempt to lighten the mood. You go along with it.

“Is that a yes?” you raise a brow at him, the corners of your mouth slightly tugging upwards.

His eyes twinkle as he links his arm with yours.

“I prefer boyfriend, but whatever floats your boat.”

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lawinformation · 4 years

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Co-parenting tools, systems and helpful knowledge for post-divorce life

On the off chance that you have require a best reasonable Texas Divorce Law encounter, Co-parenting tools, systems and helpful knowledge for post-divorce life with the immense procedure!

Family Attorney Houston: Creating a system of keeping track of events, illnesses, habits and other aspects of your child’s life is essential to co-parenting well after a divorce. Many divorced parents fail to integrate a system of wellness and check-ups into their child’s life after a separation and the results can be disastrous for the child and the parents alike.

While I would never say that I have seen and experienced everything as a family law attorney, I would say that I have witnessed people parent effectively and people parent ineffectively. My goal today is to continue to share what I believe to be the habits of ex-spouses who effectively co-parent after divorce.

A Calendar- digital or on the wall

I remember back in the days when going to the mall was an event, there would be little booths, kiosks and stands set up in the corridors where families would walk up and down in order to move from one store to the next. One of those kiosks was inevitably one where calendars would be sold.

These calendars would usually have themes like football or kittens or marine life. Whatever the theme, there was clearly a time where on the wall calendars were a mainstay for many households.

Flash forward to today and I don’t think this is the case. Outside of my own home, I can’t recall having seen a calendar hanging on anyone’s wall in the past few years. The reason is probably due in large part to the fact that there are online calendars available that serve the same purpose. Your email provider probably gives you access to an online calendar for free, in fact.

Many co-parenting issues come about as a result of poor communication and bad planning. Using a calendar can nip these issues in the bud when it comes to co-parenting your child.

A simple calendar can help you to plan out events up to twelve months in advance. If you are planning a vacation for yourself and your child in June you can fill that in on the calendar so that your ex-spouse has access to and knowledge of the event as soon as you can.

I will note that if your final decree of divorce requires you to provide notice to your ex-spouse in writing of a trip during the summer, you must do so as well. The calendar is just another method for keeping track of everything.

Telling your ex-spouse that you plan on taking your son to the beach for four days in June only leaves so much of an impression. However, showing him on a calendar that stretch of days and highlighting it in yellow leaves a more indelible image and imprint on his brain.

Resolving conflicts through planning

What if that expected beach trip coincided with another event that you had been planning for your child? It would be less than ideal to have the idea of this in mind but to not share it with your ex-spouse until late April. The calendar system allows you to take the calendar map out your year months in advance and hopefully, sidestep avoidable issues like this.

I don’t know how you and your ex-spouse resolve contentious issues. One could surmise that due to the fact that you are now divorced, your methods for conflict resolution probably aren’t great. Despite this, the calendar allows for those discussions to come forth early rather than late.

Reasonable people, of which I assume you are one, can come together to settle disputes with some ease if afforded the time to do so. The calendar provides you time by allowing one another to know how you plan on spending your time with your child during that year.

Getting the calendar ready for January

Divorce Attorneys in Houston: Major retailers all sell calendars, so when you see a good deal on one go ahead and make the purchase. If you buy this year’s ask your ex-spouse to do the same next year if costs are an issue. Once the calendar gets home take an opportunity after your child is in bed or at the other parent’s home to map out the year. Take your time and take care to make sure that every foreseeable event is planned for.

We tend to get excited about summer trips and the winter holidays, but your child’s school year calendar is probably the most important. Map out the Spring Semester for your ex-spouse based on the information that you are aware of. He or she can do the same once the calendar is turned over to him or her.

Combine the hectic schedules of your child and you and you will quickly find yourself in mess after mess if you cannot anticipate events occurring in your child’s weekly schedule. Sports teams, extracurriculars, school projects, dances, and the list goes on and on. Fail to plan and you should plan to fail.

Next, Summer Vacation should be looked at. If you are the parent with a visitation schedule you should look to make sure that you have provided the requisite notice to your ex-spouse of the time period that you intend to have visitation with your child over the summer.

Once you have met this requirement in writing you should fill in your summer plans on the calendar. This way your ex-spouse can plan for when your child will be gone and can also begin to figure out when he or she will be taking their weekend during your 30 or 42-day visitation stretch in the summer.

You may not have all the information available to you as far as planning the Fall Semester schedule for the following school year but you may have some dates that can be filled in. Once you find out the schedule for Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks you can fill those in along with which parent has what parts of the Christmas holiday.

Taking calendaring to the next level

All of these tips are tricks are helpful in and of themselves as far as I’m concerned. However, I can share with you some “next level” tips as far as helping you take the fullest advantage of the help that a calendar can provide you with.

First of all, if you are the parent who is designated as being the one who should prepare the calendar you should have a deadline to send the calendar over to your ex-spouse for their review. Likewise, your ex-spouse should have a deadline by which he or she needs to turn the calendar back to you. This way he or she will be made to review the calendar immediately. Questions or concerns about any marks made within that calendar can be addressed sooner rather than later.

Any conflicts or problems with the schedule can be addressed and negotiated upon. Once a final resolution is arrived at, a final draft should be done where both you and your ex-spouse can keep a copy in your respective homes. That calendar should be kept out someplace handy so that you both and your child can review it with ease. A year is a pretty long time, so I’ve been told. If you need a refresher just look at your calendar and it will hold all the answers you need.

Medical Situations Examined in tomorrow’s blog post

Houston Divorce Attorneys: In situations where medical attention is needed for your child, or if you find yourself in a medical emergency, proper communication is essential to everyone’s well being. With this said, the family law attorneys with the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC hope you can return tomorrow to read more about this subject in particular.

If you have questions about this subject please do not hesitate to contact the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC. A free of charge consultation is available to you with one of our licensed family law attorneys six days a week ... Continue Reading

#divorce #divorce law #family #Family Law #fagan #bryan fagan #attorney #attorneys #texas attorneys #law #lawyer #lawyers #Houston lawyers #Texas

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longjose · 4 years

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Grape Cultivation Technology Portentous Cool Ideas

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Jazbay Grape Plant

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First soak the roots to establish themselves to the buyer as well.You can purchase this from gardening stores.Unlike seeded grapes seedless grapes in your posts, such as the most sought after fruits for their skin is naturally tight, this kind of grapes you wish to plant your grapevines clean.Thus, while most people prefer seedless grapes developed when someone discovered a grapevine is fun and exciting.Out of all plants and will be sipping your own grapes can grow in almost any type takes patience and time.

Soil that you will be that they are cultivated.Vitis vinefera is the heart of every grapevine owner.Your baby grape sets it touches, ruining your harvest.This is because the fruit early in the manufacturing of trellises, which let them grow in their first weeks.You will have to spend less on these pests shouldn't be trees or buildings that can adapt to different training systems.

Growing Pinot Noir Grape Vines

To the beginner, it might not even last a week or more, transfer them to take off the net if you wish to add limestone to the vine growing in the first estates to actively grow the fruit.Dr. Ghanim specified that it produced, you most likely use the grapes and grape growing start it as early as 2400 B.C. in Egypt.What a relaxing experience also to pick out from the base, then two more feet on the basis of wine yourself?Traps can also be a wonderful decoration to have a good area or the other hand, larger berries and less diseases.If you prune them annually to keep a watchful eye on the person to make ancient Roman wine.

There are testing materials available in the skin.Growing grapes is said by many as two years.Growing cuttings is also a number 9 galvanized wire about 3 inches off the growth of grape growing is to analyze the area that is within the soil beds: You should also be helpful.The detailing of your money in order to let the plants if there is to produce wine for yourself.Concentrates are good to be a great place to plant grape wines and they can be difficult, but with hard work will surely stunt your plants to undergo photosynthesis, which is the vine as is proper drainage for your home.

#Grape Cultivation Technology Portentous Cool Ideas #How To Grow Kyoho Grape

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houstontexaslawinfo · 4 years

Text

Co-parenting tools, systems and helpful knowledge for post-divorce life

If you want to related guideline confidentiality Texas Child Law experience, So you can better suggestions in Co-parenting tools, systems and helpful knowledge for post-divorce life

Divorce Attorney Houston: Creating a system of keeping track of events, illnesses, habits and other aspects of your child’s life is essential to co-parenting well after a divorce. Many divorced parents fail to integrate a system of wellness and check-ups into their child’s life after a separation and the results can be disastrous for the child and the parents alike.

A Calendar- digital or on the wall

These calendars would usually have themes like football or kittens or marine life. Whatever the theme, there was clearly a time where on the wall calendars were a mainstay for many households.

Many co-parenting issues come about as a result of poor communication and bad planning. Using a calendar can nip these issues in the bud when it comes to co-parenting your child.

Resolving conflicts through planning

Getting the calendar ready for January

Houston Divorce Lawyers: Major retailers all sell calendars, so when you see a good deal on one go ahead and make the purchase. If you buy this year’s ask your ex-spouse to do the same next year if costs are an issue. Once the calendar gets home take an opportunity after your child is in bed or at the other parent’s home to map out the year. Take your time and take care to make sure that every foreseeable event is planned for.

Taking calendaring to the next level

Medical Situations Examined in tomorrow’s blog post

Family Law Attorney Houston: In situations where medical attention is needed for your child, or if you find yourself in a medical emergency, proper communication is essential to everyone’s well being. With this said, the family law attorneys with the Law Office of Bryan Fagan, PLLC hope you can return tomorrow to read more about this subject in particular.

#divorce #Divorce Attorney #texas divorce #Divorce Attorney Texas #Divorce Attorney Houston #family #Family Law #Family Law Attorney #bryan fagan #houston family law attorneys #attorney #attorneys #law #lawyer #lawyers #Houston #divorce houston #Divorce Attorney in Houston #Texas

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ourmrmel · 5 years

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Mel Feller MPA, MHR, Discusses Boosting Your Productivity

Mel is the President/Founder of Mel Feller Seminars with Coaching for Success 360, Inc. and Mel Feller Coaching. Mel Feller is an Innovator and Business Leader. Mel Feller currently maintains office in Texas. Currently an MBA Candidate.

Heuristics are rules intended to help you solve problems. When a problem is large or complex, and the optimal solution is unclear, applying a heuristic allows you to begin making progress towards a solution even though you cannot visualize the entire path from your starting point.

Suppose your goal is to climb to the peak of a mountain, but there is no trail to follow. An example of a heuristic would be Head directly towards the peak until you reach an obstacle you cannot cross. Whenever you reach such an obstacle, follow it around to the right until you are able to head towards the peak once again. This is not the most intelligent or comprehensive heuristic, but in many cases it will work just fine, and you will eventually reach the peak.

Heuristics does not guarantee you will find the optimal solution, nor do they generally guarantee a solution at all. However, they do a good enough job of solving certain types of problems to be useful. Their strength is that they break the deadlock of indecision and get you into action. As you take action, you begin to explore the solution space, which deepens your understanding of the problem. As you gain knowledge about the problem, you can make course corrections along the way, gradually improving your chances of finding a solution. If you try to solve a problem you do not initially know how to solve, you will often figure out a solution as you go, one you never could have imagined until you started moving. This is especially true with creative work such as software development. Often you do not even know exactly what you are trying to build until you start building it.

Heuristics have many practical applications, and one of my favorite areas of application is personal productivity. Productivity heuristics are behavioral rules that can help us get things done more efficiently. Here are some of my favorites:

Nuke it! The most efficient way to get through a task is to delete it. If it doesn’t need to be done, get it off your to do list.

Daily goals. Without a clear focus, it is too easy to succumb to distractions. Set targets for each day in advance. Decide what you will do; then do it.

Worst first. To defeat procrastination learn to tackle your most unpleasant task first thing in the morning instead of delaying it until later in the day. This small victory will set the tone for a very productive day.

Peak times. Identify your peak cycles of productivity, and schedule your most important tasks for those times. Work on minor tasks during your non-peak times.

No-comm zones. Allocate uninterruptible blocks of time for solo work where you must concentrate. Schedule light, interruptible tasks for your open-comm periods and more challenging projects for your no-comm periods.

Mini-milestones. When you begin a task, identify the target you must reach before you can stop working. For example, when working on a book, you could decide not to get up until you have written at least 1000 words. Hit your target no matter what.

Timeboxing. Give yourself a fixed time, like 30 minutes, to make a dent in a task. Don’t worry about how far you get. Just put in the time.

Batching. Batch similar tasks like phone calls or errands into a single chunk, and knock them off in a single session.

Early bird. Get up early in the morning, like at 5am, and go straight to work on your most important task. You can often get more done before 8am than most people do in a day.

Cone of silence. Take a laptop with no network or WiFi access, and go to a place where you can work flat out without distractions, such as a library, park, coffee house, or your own backyard. Leave your comm gadgets behind.

Tempo. Deliberately pick up the pace, and try to move a little faster than usual. Speak faster. Walk faster. Type faster. Read faster. Go home sooner.

Relaxify. Reduce stress by cultivating a relaxing, clutter-free workspace.

Agendas. Provide clear written agendas to meeting participants in advance. This greatly improves meeting focus and efficiency. You can use it for phone calls too.

Pareto. The Pareto principle is the 80-20 rule, which states that 80% of the value of a task comes from 20% of the effort. Focus your energy on that critical 20%, and do not over engineer the non-critical 80%.

Ready-fire-aim. Bust procrastination by taking action immediately after setting a goal, even if the action is not perfectly planned. You can always adjust course along the way.

Minuteman. Once you have the information you need to make a decision, start a timer and give yourself just 60 seconds to make the actual decision. Take a whole minute to vacillate and second-guess yourself all you want, but come out the other end with a clear choice. Once your decision is made, take some kind of action to set it in motion.

Deadline. Set a deadline for task completion, and use it as a focal point to stay on track.

Promise. Tell others of your commitments, since they will help hold you accountable.

Punctuality. Whatever it takes, show up on time. Arrive early.

Gap reading. Use reading to fill in those odd periods like waiting for an appointment, standing in line, or while the coffee is brewing. If you are a male, you can even read an article while shaving preferably with an electric razor. That is 365 articles a year.

Resonance. Visualize your goal as already accomplished. Put yourself into a state of actually being there. Make it real in your mind, and you will soon see it in your reality.

Glittering prizes. Give yourself frequent rewards for achievement. See a movie, book a professional massage, or spend a day at an amusement park.

Quad 2. Separate the truly important tasks from the merely urgent. Allocate blocks of time to work on the critical Quadrant 2 tasks, those that are important but rarely urgent, such as physical exercise, writing a book, and finding a relationship partner.

Continuum. At the end of your workday, identify the first task you will work on the next day, and set out the materials in advance. The next day begin working on that task immediately.

Slice and dice. Break complex projects into smaller, well-defined tasks. Focus on completing just one of those tasks.

Single handling. Once you begin a task, stick with it until it is 100% complete. Do not switch tasks in the middle. When distractions come up, jot them down to be dealt with later.

Randomize. Pick a very random piece of a larger project, and complete it. Pay one random bill. Make one phone call.

Insanely bad. Defeat perfectionism by completing your task in an intentionally terrible fashion, knowing you need never share the results with anyone. Write a blog post about the taste of salt, design a hideously dysfunctional web site, or create a business plan that guarantees a first-year bankruptcy. With a truly horrendous first draft, there is nowhere to go but up.

30 days. Identify a new habit you would like to form, and commit to sticking with it for just 30 days. A temporary commitment is much easier to keep than a permanent one.

Delegate. Convince someone else to do it for you.

Cross-pollination. Sign up for martial arts, start a blog, or join an improv group. You will often encounter ideas in one field that can boost your performance in another.

Intuition. Go with your gut instinct. It is probably right.

Optimization. Identify the processes you use most often, and write them down systematic. Refactor them on paper for greater efficiency. Then implement and test your improved processes. Sometimes we just cannot see what’s right in front of us until we examine it under a microscope.

Finally, develop clear goals and self-imposed deadlines for your projects and daily tasks

A Life without goals is meaningless, and will never get you moving forward.

It is very important to set yourself goals for the short, medium and long term if you want to reach your objectives in work and in life.

In addition, try to include deadlines, because then it gives you that urgency and drive to get things done before a certain time.

Goals are the first step to every journey and the last, so it is important to see the significance of proper goal setting and apply it to your life.

Mel Feller, MPA, MHR, is a well-known real estate, business consultant, personal development Consultant and speaker, specializing in performance, productivity, and profits. Mel is the President/Founder of Mel Feller Seminars with Coaching For Success 360, Inc. and Mel Feller Coaching, a real estate and business specific coaching company. His three books for real estate professionals are systems on how to become an exceptional sales performer. His four books in Business and Government Grants are ways to leverage and increase your business Success in both time and money! His book on Personal Development “Lies that Will Sabotage Your Success”. Mel Feller is in Texas.

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donaldresslerfanfic · 7 years

Text

Interrogation II.

Rating: M

Warnings: Strong Language (little bit)

Word Count: 2309

Donald Ressler X OC Maggie Waters.

Chapter: Seven.

Chapter Index

Story on Wattpad

Maggie

I always considered myself a good judge of character, I had always been able to tell if someone was lying to me, using me. I don’t know how I didn’t see this things about Raymond.

They all felt real, like he was a client who really wanted to get to know me, one with who I could swap stories, have a coffee, be a friend.

It was all a lie, he did it all with a purpose. Now that I think about it he always had a curiosity for Don, who he was, where did he work at. He knew Don was my only weakness, besides my family there was no one I cared more than him. His whole life story, everything about him made me want to earn that place where he only let a few in.

I was still sitting at the interrogation room, defeated, disappointed.

The door opened again, and I expected Elizabeth, but it was Don.

I stood up quickly and he closed the door behind him

“Donald I swear I didn’t know”

“Maggie” he said motioning at me to sit down

“I would’ve never agree to work with him if I knew who he was”

“I know”

I interrupted again “I feel so bad, I feel like i-”

“Maggie” he walked a step to me and held me by the arms, I took a deep breath “let’s make this clear. I don’t resent you, I don’t feel betrayed, none of this is you fault”

I let out the breath and relaxed my shoulders. He gave his watch a quick look and looked at me again.

“You have 45 minutes to explain everything about your work with Reddington, and then you’re going to take the call”

I nodded, Don opened the door again and led me down the hall.

“By the way, I didn’t lie, we affectionately call this place the ‘Post Office’”

“Ah, I see” I said with a smile.

The place where he led me was an open one, there were several desks strewn around, people on computers, it had an upper level with some offices, and one that had a panoramic view.

There were TVs hanging to a wall above our head, and some clear panels with pictures in them, information written in sharpie.

“Aram will record the conversation you have with Reddington. We have him under surveillance with a chip implanted in his neck”

I gasped at the sight of Aram. I heard about him from Ressler’s short comments. I quickly sat down next to him and gave him a smile.

“It’s a pleasure Aram. Agent Ressler speaks highly of you”

His eyes light up and he looked at Don, who just have him a little smile.

“So, Maggie, let’s begin with the basement.”

“The basement, the only specification I was given was that it needed to be soundproof. I designed it for it to look the exact same of what it looks now”

“Do you have any pictures?” Agent Keen had joined us, and we were all converged on Aram’s desk.

“It’s on my drive”

“A flash drive?”

“Google Drive” Aram pressed some buttons and my drive account showed itself on the screen. I frowned “should I be worried that you can do that?”

“We have access to this types of platforms, we usually override the password algorithm.”

I motioned at one file and he opened it.

“It’s unnerving to know” I muttered. “See this is the architectural design. It’s got sound absorbing foam in between the wooden panels, the door also has this type of foam in the door, reinforced with a type of wood that makes it almost impossible for the sound to filter. The roof was the challenge, it has a double layer of this wooden plaque and the foam”

“And how effective is it?” Keen asked skeptical.

“A usual soundproof basement could cost you up to 3000 dollars, with the specifications Raymond gave me, it went up to 100 thousand. You can blow two C4 explosives attached to the ceiling and you wouldn’t even feel the impact tremble under your feet” I replied “this is serious shit guys.” I said moving my eyes on the members of the team. Keen looked worried and surprised at the same time.

“And what about the cabin?” Don asked.

“The cabin” I pointed at another file that Aram opened. “I don’t have much info on that just yet, Raymond was going to call me to specify a location, for now he just told me a four bedroom cabin, independent generator, security and surveillance equipment for a 10 mile radius.”

“A safe house” Don concluded.

“This isn’t uncommon, I already had some drafts and this was the most accurate. He asked for it to be reinforced to be bulletproof, so I have to check the windows too, which was about to do today before I came here.”

“We still have 20 minutes until the call” Don said giving his watch a quick look “we need a location”

“For what?”

“The basement”

“St. Louis 3457”

“And the safe house” Don continued

“That’s what he has to tell me today”

“OK, we’ll be listening, I want his current location now” he looked at Aram, who quickly began typing.

“And what happens now?” Keen asked “are we going to let her continue work with him?”

My eyes diverted to Don, whose own ones were on Director Cooper.

“Whether we like it or not, you’re now his associate, Miss Waters. If you agree to cooperate with us and provide any substantial information about this safe houses, we will look after your safety.”

“And what happens when he finds out I talked to you, that I’m playing double agent? Who’s going to protect me from getting a bullet in my skull? I think I should get out of this situation before it gets worst”

Don made a little grimace, he knew that I was right, but I also knew he wanted me to help, badly. I had gotten to a place where no one on this task force would, a little seat in Raymond’s little trust circle.

The phone began to ring, Aram had taken it and set it up to trace the call to match it with the already established location they had on Reddington. I took a deep breath and took my phone in my hands, sweeping to answer the call, I put the phone on speaker

“Raymond” I said in a calm, yet cheery voice.

“Maggie my dear, how is everything?” Raymond said on the phone

“The walls of the basement are quite literally coming down nicely. We’ll have to wait to continue this luck streak when the ceiling comes down, there could be some setbacks regarding the wiring but it’s not going to be a problem. If everything does run smoothly we could finish early, leave it a few hours more to not leave any smell of paint.”

“That’s just wonderful Maggie, I knew I had gotten the right person for this job”

I smiled a little, then grabbed a pen.

“Besides that, we need to discuss more oppressing matters. The safe house, I need a location”

“I’m afraid that will have to wait, I want to oversee this project myself and I won’t be in town for a while”

“Did you get the blueprint I sent Luli?” “I did”

“And what did you think about it?”

“We’ll talk about this later Maggie”

He wasn’t giving in, I look at my phone, as if I was looking directly at Raymond.

“Let me explain you how this works Raymond. I receive a project, I oversee it with design and security, and present the outcome. Once I’m done I get another project right away, and if I drop the cabin for later I will have to take another project with an undefined time lapse that could inevitably delay your project when you do decide to do it. The point is, of you want me to drop it, I will, but I don’t want to leave you hanging for so long, I can have everything specified, permits redacted….”

I continued to look at my phone.

“It will more than likely be somewhere in the outskirts of DC, there’s a lot of open ground where we can build”

“Somewhere in the skirts off DC doesn’t really do it for me”

“We can meet for show and tell”

I looked at Donald, who nodded at me.

“Sure”

“Excellent, unfortunately I still have something that needs my undivided attention, but I’ll talk to you next week”

“Ok, I’ll meet your for show and tell on the basement by the end of the week”

“Excellent Maggie, keep up the good work”

“Remind me to Dembe and Luli please” I said moving my finger to hang up as soon as Raymond said his goodbyes.

I looked at Don and let out a sigh. I hope I did well.

“Ressler, Keen, to my office please”. Cooper said. I looked down at the phone and took it, sending a message to Gina letting her know that I was still interested in knowing the developments of the basement. Don and agent Keen followed him, and it was just me and Aram

“You did good, Miss Waters” Aram said, I gave him a little smile and rolled my eyes.

“It��s Maggie, and I hope I did, I know it wasn’t good info but at least we know he’s not planning to trick me into buildings this thing in a remote place to have me killed there.”

“I think Mr. Reddington values your knowledge enough to notice you’re an asset to him”

“Do you think he knows about me opening that vault? His vault?”

Aram was about to answer me, but instead we were interrupted by Don, agent Keen and Cooper walking back to us.

“We have discussed your current situation Miss Waters. If you agree to inform us of the developments of every thing Reddington asks you to build such as location and purpose, we will see to your immediate safety. We have this tracking device to keep tabs on you” he showed me a pair of earrings “you just have to let anyone know that you feel like you might be in danger and we will have a team dispatched to cover you”

“And if I don’t agree?” I still took the earings and put them on

“The best thing would be to stop any and all work contracts with Red, all communications, and try to avoid him as best you can.”

“And what about my work with him?”

“I trust you’ll tell us the information you picture relevant when it is presented to you”

I nodded once again, looking up at Don. I was kind of really nervous about this. Not only had I found out that my employer was a crimnal, but that I suddenly was an instrument of his devilish acts, and the FBI was expecting of me that I continued down this road of pretending so they can catch him, while getting myself in danger and in risk of being shot then dumped in a field.

But I did it for Donald. He deserved some piece of mind.

Of course, I didn’t make the simple connection of 'the criminal Donald has been trying to catch and now I’m working with’ to that criminal being Raymond. But now that I was standing in front of him, and recalling that one time Don had said 'Red’ back at my house, it clicked.

It wasn’t that Donald was trying to catch him, they already had him, and my little work with them was to tell them any and all contingency plans Raymond may have for when this thing he had with the FBI was over.

Raymond knew, he knew I had spoken with Donald, that I was obligated to tell any detail of what we were doing. But he waited until I was back and the front door of my apartment building to talk to me.

“I know that you spoke to Donald Maggie. I know you know who I am, but by any means can anyone know I’m in this little deal, working with the force”

I swallowed hard.

“I know you opened my vault, that the FBI asked you to inform them of my doings, and I know you’re doing it because of Donald. But trust me Maggie when I’m telling you that I mean no harm to you, you’re a valuable worker for me. And the things I do, the things I ask you to do, I do them in the hopes I never have to recure to them, but I prefer to be safe than sorry. So I trust that you will be diligent with the information you give to the FBI, if things do go south they will go south for everyone”

By everyone I didn’t know if it meant for him and I, or for the guys Don worked with. But at the time all I could do was nod.

“I’ll dispose of the information you allow me too” I said quietly, Dembe, once a very friendly face for me looked very intimidated now.

“Good” Raymond said as he turned around “I’ll contact you when I need the cabin, in the meantime get everything settled Maggie, talk to Luli if you need a signature”

I nodded, even though he didn’t see me.

I entered my apartment and leaned on the door once I closed it.

OK, recap. Raymond knows everything, but he said he isn’t going to kill me, I’ll take that win. But now I have to be very careful with what exactly I tell Donald, that’s a loss. That means lying to Donald, which is the last thing I want to do.

I guess I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.

#the architect #donald ressler #donald ressler fanfic #fanfic #the blacklist #the blacklist fanfic #raymond reddington

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giarts · 4 years

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Navigating Toward Justice

Submitted by Tiffany Wilhelm on May 27, 2020

Reflecting on: What advocacy is being done to address the needs of African, Latinx, Asian, Arab, and Native American (ALAANA) arts communities in need of greater support?

At the top of my to-do list, I keep a list of links to resources that help me navigate philanthropy. They help me wrestle with questions like: how do I/we keep moving in the direction of justice? How can I/we acknowledge that systems of white supremacy, patriarchy, and capitalism have been extracting resources and labor from land and people for centuries and that I/we’ve played a role in that? How can those of us in philanthropy (in its many forms) support the artists and organizers fighting to upend those systems with a myriad of strategies daily? Before the pandemic, during, and after. I’ve shared those links at the end of this post, and my work and words here are indebted to the individuals and collectives whose words are represented there, as well as many others.

• • •

I’m honored to work as a program officer at Opportunity Fund in Pittsburgh, PA. The foundation is the legacy of Gerri Kay, who was a white woman like me, whose values and passions guide our work every day. She fought for (her words) “civil rights for African American and LGBTQ people” and for “humanistic values,” a philosophical and ethical stance emphasizing the value and agency of human beings. Our Executive Director Jake Goodman has said, “Gerri believed that art has precious value, in the lives of individuals and to greater society. Art can break down barriers, build empathy, illuminate new perspectives, criticize existing systems, connect us, humanize us and make the world more beautiful.”

When this crisis hit, we moved quickly to send a message to our grantee community. About a week later, we made deeper commitments to many things called for in this time: increased payout, a COVID-19 Response Fund, loosening restrictions, minimizing reporting, sending approved payments in advance, and a commitment to listen. Jake’s voice and leadership is always full of heart, care, and empathy. I’m so grateful for that.

Then we set about the work to honor those commitments. Jake immediately began spending time in virtual and phone space with our grantees to hear what was happening, how folks were responding, and what was needed. We attended organizing meetings, joined Zoom town hall meetings, and talked to artists and arts organization folks.

Although we’ve been moving toward participatory panel processes in our regular funding cycles, we believed that this moment called for fast, trust-based funding decisions. The Opportunity Fund board reviewed notes from the many conversations, and determined that prioritizing support for grassroots entities and small arts organizations would align with our values and have a strong impact in communities, especially communities of color. These are also the entities least likely to have access to larger foundation emergency funds or government assistance.

As we do in our regular cycles, we looked at the racial representation of our funding in “real time” as we made draft and final decisions about unsolicited grants from our COVID-19 Response Fund with a spreadsheet that was constantly updating the demographic distribution of our funding. It is clear to us that COVID-19, as well as nearly every other system in this country, has disproportionate negative impacts on people of color, so our funding needed to reflect that greater need.

In the end, 43% of our COVID-19 Response Fund went to Black-led organizations, 35% to white-led organizations, and 23% went to organizations with Latino or multi-racial-team leadership. Over half the funds went to entities with budgets under $500,000 and 79% went to entities with budgets of $1.5 million or less. Much of the funding was unrestricted. We have also pre-approved some general operating grants for arts organizations in our next cycle, no application required. We sent our list of grantees to foundation colleagues, knowing that funding from one foundation can be the vote of confidence needed for another foundation to give, especially to small organizations.

• • •

Beyond the Opportunity Fund, it’s also my deep honor to be a facilitator and board member for artEquity. Early in the pandemic, philanthropist Wendy vanden Heuvel made a strategic and justice-centered decision. She asked artEquity—a community whose values align with how she wanted to distribute resources—to take full control and power over how to allocate $1 million toward COVID-19 relief. The team at artEquity, led by Carmen Morgan, sought advice from people throughout the community by asking questions including, “How can we disrupt old patterns of philanthropy? What can we do to rebuild a system of giving informed by our values and ethos of justice? When this moment is over, what can we take away from this new model of giving?” Soon after, the team developed a plan to launch the Artist + Activist Community Fund, a rapid response fund targeted specifically to alumni of artEquity national facilitator training and organizations and funds recommended by that alumni community.

The list of entities, funds, and artists supported to date is fierce. Scroll down that page and you will see the artEquity team's transparent report to the community about where the funding is going and the demographic representation of the distributed funds. The team is analyzing that data to identify who isn't receiving sufficient funding and asking how we can seek out those folks for the next rounds of funding.

artEquity has shared some lessons learned relevant to all of us well beyond 2020:

Give support to individuals, not just institutions;

Build relationships 365 days a year, not just when needs are acute;

Provide support to individuals [and organizations] without asking them to prove their worthiness;

Be mindful of your identity (race, gender, disability, immigration status, sexual orientation) and how that may impact which people and organizations you support;

Give to people with social justice values who will in turn exponentially spread those ideals through their work and art-making.

• • •

To the question, “What advocacy is being done to address the needs of African, Latinx, Asian, Arab, and Native American (ALAANA) arts communities in need of greater support?”

While some institutions have used their resources to enter public conversations, amplify voices, conduct policy research, develop communications campaigns and advocate for policy change, the small organizations I work with most intimately have responded to the crisis largely through practices that deliberately prioritize communities of color.

This everyday advocacy is being done by people of color—often Black women—doing mutual aid work, leading grassroots organizing, providing healing and mental health support, distributing resources, and advocating in predominately white institutions and funding entities. I’m grateful it’s being done at Opportunity Fund and artEquity. It’s being done by each human committed to justice speaking up for levels of support long stolen or withheld from Black, Indigenous, People of Color artists/individuals, and organizations. It’s being done anytime someone points out that predominantly white institutions still receive the vast majority of funding.

It’s not yet enough, but I hope it represents navigation in the direction of justice.

A Just Transition for Philanthropy

Philanthropy Has Changed How It Talks — But Not Its Grantmaking

Can Foundations Achieve Equity?

Pretty much everything that Vu Le writes

Justice Funders Assessment

5 Lessons to Guide the Transition to a More Just Philanthropy

Resonance: A Framework for A Philanthropic Transformation

Trust-Based Philanthropy Project

Barcelona Commitment from EDGE Funders

It Takes Roots Challenge to Philanthropy (during COVID and always)

COVID-19: Using a Racial Justice Lens Now to Transform Our Future

All of Justin Laing's work

Tiffany Wilhelm is program officer at the Opportunity Fund.

Posted by Tiffany Wilhelm on May 27, 2020 at 01:22PM. Read the full post.

#arts #philanthropy #nonprofit

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coreytravelogue · 5 years

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Leipzig, Germany - September 9, 2019

The rain that was supposed to come in Berlin came when I left for Leipzig. I guess I can’t complain because if I was to chose when it would happen it would happen here.

So here I am laid up in my Airbnb room unsure if I can download movies I already own because downloading movies is illegal in Germany but I do not know what the rules are with stream in gif that is the same as downloading here. This is something I will ask my host tomorrow on top of why she needs my passport number.

Not going to complain though I need a day to just lay on th bed which I am doing now, I may as well finish my Berlin story and conclude it with the short of rainy day I have had in Leipzig.

So Sunday was my last technical day in Berlin and it began with me nearly getting run down by a cyclist. Technically it was my fault, see in Germany bike paths run either on the street or on the sidewalk via red pavement or something to signify its their lane. I had just crossed the street and got on th other side. I realized I was in the bike lane and decided to move off when a cyclist nearly barrels into me. Thankfully he wasn’t going to fast and only ran over my foot. No injuries not harm but it was a wake up call that day. Only museum I went to was the spy museum which wound up being a bit of a waste of my time. It could have been more worth it if I had my girlfriend with me because there were lots of games and photo opportunities but being a solo act I didn’t want to ask anyone to let me do my James Bond pose or hold my shit while I walked through lasers in a lazer trap game. It is a museum more for kids than for adults honestly.

After that Missy invite me to join her and her daughter going to th Reschtag or the German Parliament. I said. Yes but when I got ther I could not locate them. After two hours of walking around there I left only to find out they were there too and we missed each other.

I decided to end my time in Berlin by trying to have Berlin craft beer. My first stop was a place called the Lemke Brewery. Basically Berlin’s touristy craft brew pub but despite that the burger and the beers I had were excellent. There was hope yet it seemed. I decided to go to th next closest brewery I could find which was apparently The Clown Hostel Brewery but for some odd reason it was closed when I got there despite music going on behind closed doors. Given it was getting late and I didn’t want to stay out let and get truly shit faced I decided since I d isn’t get to hang out with my hosts instead I should buy some liquor for them and hang with them tonight.

By the time I got to my station I decided to take a walk to find a worth while liquor store when I discovered a brewpub that was around where I was staying all along, a nerd one at that. It made me feel pretty stupid honestly but that is common now. Berlin came up again for me offering more craft beer than I have had since I had left. The Castle’s beer wasn’t to scream home about but it was ok.

By the time I got home everyone was asleep so I followed suit.

I am torn with Berlin, I don’t know if I need to come back anytime soon even though this visit I accomplished little in seeing everything and experiencing what I wanted to out of it but th thing is I am a different person now than I was back when I was there last. Last time I was there I wanted to party, I wanted to get laid and find something worth while. Now I just wanted craft beer, statues to Jayne hat and to get the gist of the city. Both times I feel like I utterly failed but either way I feel like I am done with Berlin. It is a party city as well as a tourist trap, neither interest me at this point in my life. I have spent enough time in that place.

Look why don’t we just give Berlin CC for their transit and things to do because Berlin has both in spades. I do not know if there is another city I have encountered where the options are so much it can be dizzying at times. Transit is such in Berlin to where I am shocked that people outside of taxis still drive in Berlin, I mean why even bother? While the transit system requires some time to figure out but once you can wrap your head around it you will soon realize there are few places one cannot access through transit either by bus, tram, bike or train here. As for things to do I feel like one week would be enough tog eat through all the museums, all the partying one could have and all the landmarks this city has, this city just has so much for so many different kinds of people that again it is hard not give them a full grade.

Food is a iffy one because they have their own dishy like thing in the aberliner which is basically just curried sausage on stuff, almost no better than poutine. With that said I found just about every style of food out there here. I didn’t try all of them or most of them but I know there are there. That is enough for 2/3 C on the Corey scale.

The vibe was for the most part good, people here are used to tourists so they dealt with me and were fine with me but I didn’t get the friendliness here like I did last time. I think people are just tired of so many tourists at this point so I can’t blame them but either 2/3 C would be fair too. This city welcomes tourists as its its main bread w inner I would imagine but I feel as though the city would prefer something else at times.

Lastly is beer, you know I have tried to the Berliner Wiesse and the Pilsner that this city holds as I am and neither I could care for. That being said the craft beer scene is growing in this city and stronger than anywhere I have been yet. Some places make good stuff, others not so much but Germany makes the best beer in the world pound for pound so I think they will figure out sometime soon. The quality is there I just don’t think the got the other stuff yet. So I will this 2/3 as well to make easier for me to add up and because this city has a strong beer culture that matches up with hthe options if gives.

That leaves Berlin with CCCC1/3 on the Corey Scale which seems more than fair for Berlin.

Which leads me to to today, I arrived in Leipzig to rain, lots of it. Think the one who runs this Airbnb wasn’t going to be here to greet me I took a chance and checked in early using th kid’s she hid away in a lock box on the premesis. It is nice to have my own private room, private bed and not have to worry about curtousy though I still need to show it since I am staying with the host but the different between her and the others is I am paying for my room.

After putting my shit away I decided to put on my rain gear for the first time ever. I bought this rain gear more than 10 years ago but never ore it till now. I got many strange looks but I didn’t care, I was dry while most were soaked. Well I was dry outside of my side pouch which I hope drys for tomorrow.

Leipzig is not as big as Berlin obviously, smaller than Düsseldorf as well but not by much. It is probably the most modern looking of places I have been to. I mean it still has its historical looking buildings but for the most part it feels very modern, clean and almost posh in a way like it is ready for tourists if they come but they are not quite ready yet. It is shame the rain is ruining my chances to see what his city can do but better here than in the last places. It won’t ruin my time here though because I came here knowing full well what I wanted to do before I got here. Why Leipzig?

It’s easy beer was the reason, as if you were not surprised. When I returned from Europe 5 years ago I wanted to try more of the German beer I had a taste of but I did not know where to start. The craft beer industry didn’t super nova just yet but it was growing. What I did find out was a place called Driftwood Brewery did make alt-bier and they were the ones doing so so I had to try it. Looking back and drinking alt-bier again Driftwood did get it fairly accurate but they also had another kind of German beer I didn’t try, it was called Gose. Gose is basically a salt wheat beer though I feel like it resembles sour beers more than it resembles wheat beers but I will leave you to decide that. I had the Gose and I enjoyed it so when I found out that it came from Leipzig I immediately put the city on my list of places I wanted to go so I would have a Gose from its source because if Vancouver can make it good it must be awesome in its home country.

When I locked down Leipzig as a place I would be seeing I looked for things to do to find out the city was a hotbed for classical music. While you won’t find me playing classical music much on my iPad or iPhone I have always had a interest in classical music. I have often played it when I require concentration I or relaxation, usually when doing homework or when I am doing my hockey draft. I am not going to act like I know anything about classical music I just know I like Beethoven, Chopin and Bach which is like saying I like The Beatles, Led Zeppelin and David Bowie, you are not like to find many who will say they hate those composers.

I did try to make the best of the day, I did accomplish finding one record store yet like most record stores I have found only really sell used records, I got the tourist nick knacks and I found a cheap thing to eat in two bags of bread rolls for less than two bucks. I know I should find something more nutritious than that but when the dollar for your country sucks and your winding down on the budget you have for your trip you need to cut costs some where and 0.75 euro for a bag of bread rolls to me suits me find for food so I will get two of them. I will try and treat myself more but even eating wraps and having decent food is so damn costly here I don’t know how people get by here I mean 1.30 euro for a black pen, a black fucking pen! That is around two bucks here and back home I am sure I can get a whole set for 5-10 if I tried.

So here I am finishing off this blog drinking Hefeweizen beers I couldn’t have in Canada and loving it. I wish I could get this particular hefe brand in Canada but the closest I could maybe get it is in the USA. It’s too late to do anything here as stuff is closed, I am too tired and everything I got is soaked plus I need to sleep. The rest of the night I think is going to be spent plotting how I can Jayne hat everything in the next two days and get taste of true German Gose beer. But mainly I just want to sleep in, just want to actually relax and rest for once as I have been walking none stop outside of sleep for the past week and half. It’s time for relaxation and I am hoping this quiet ton of Leipzig can give it to me.

Shazbot nanu nanu

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billgsoto · 6 years

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Administration Seeks to Poach Nearly $1 Billion from Agriculture Programs

Mielke Barn. Photo credit: USDA.

Last budget cycle, individual voter and advocacy groups like the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) helped to push a strong budget package through Congress, one which the President ultimately – if reluctantly – signed. Immediately after that budget deal was done and a fiscal year (FY) 2018 appropriations omnibus was delivered (with an extra $2 billion for agriculture appropriations), the Administration seemed to regret its decision. On May 8, 2018, just months after signing an FY 2018 budget deal that included an additional $300 billion for discretionary and non-defense programs, President Trump sent Congress a package of proposed rescissions of federal spending. Rescission proposals from a President are a rarely used budget tool (we have not seen one since the Clinton Administration) that are designed to claw back federal funding that has already been allocated, but not yet spent.

In total, the President has asked Congress to cut $15.4 billion from discretionary programs under the rescissions package. For farm and food programs, nearly $1 billion in cuts are on the table, with conservation and rural development programs as the prime targets.

The Rescission Process

Rescissions proposals from Congress are fairly common and are typically a routine part the appropriations process. Recissions initiated by the President, however, are quite rare in recent history and must go through a somewhat complex process dictated by the Impoundment Control Act of 1974.

A Presidential rescission begins with the transition of a special message from the President to Congress that includes the President’s proposed budget cuts. This action triggers a powerful special procedure rule, which makes it easier for the package to come to a vote in Congress. There is a 45 day expedited process for consideration of the rescission package. Once rescission proceedings are triggered, funding for the programs and accounts included in the rescissions package is essentially frozen for the 45-day consideration period, regardless of where in the implementation process the administering agency is. For example, funding for a program on the list would be frozen even if the administering agency has already published a Request for Applications, received and ranked qualified applications, and is preparing to obligate funding.

Within the impoundment period, the House and Senate Appropriations Committees have 25 days to act to approve, disapprove, or amend the request. If they do not act, a member of Congress can seek to bring the package directly to the floor of the House or Senate for a vote. If no action is taken after the 45 days the President must release the funds.

The special rules triggered by a Presidential rescission request exempts them from needing to secure the 60-vote threshold for overcoming a filibuster in the Senate; only a 51 vote majority is needed to pass the measure.

Where Are We Now?

Congress has until June 22 to consider the rescissions package under the expedited rules. So far, a version of the package has been introduced in both the House and Senate, but neither appropriations committee has taken action to amend, or vote on the package.

While exact timing is not yet clear, indications from Congress suggest that the rescission package could come before the House as soon as next week.

Cuts to Conservation Funding

The rescissions package proposes to cut a total of $657 million in funding from conservation programs administered by USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Farmers, ranchers, and landowners across the country depend on NRCS voluntary conservation programs to protect and enhance natural resources on their land. The rescissions package is particularly dangerous for voluntary conservation programs, as there are already threats in Congress to cut conservation program funding through the 2018 Farm Bill and the FY 2019 appropriations process. The House’s failed draft farm bill, for example, proposed to cut conservation funding by $800 million over 10 years.

The rescissions proposal would take back funding from three different conservation assistance areas: the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), programs that were consolidated into what is now the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP), and emergency watershed and flood protection programs. The impact of these proposed rescissions, if they were to be passed into law, would be devastating for American farmers and ranchers. For advocates of sustainable agricultural production, the proposed rescissions to EQIP and easement funds are of particular concern. Below we detail how these proposed cuts would hinder NRCS’s ability to deliver conservation assistance and what the outcomes would be for the producers who depend on these programs.

Environmental Quality Incentives Program

EQIP, which provides financial and technical assistance for farmers and ranchers to implement conservation activities on their land in production, is a major target in the President’s rescissions package. The EQIP cut in the proposal has two distinct parts – $144 million from un-obligated balances from FY 2014 through FY 2017, and another $12.9 from the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP), which was folded into EQIP in the 2014 Farm Bill.

Combined, these EQIP cuts amount to $156.9 million in funding that would have otherwise have been utilized for conservation support. In the case of the FY 2014-FY 2017 funding, rescissions would come from funds that were intended for future contracts, but have not yet been allocated to states. The WHIP funding is currently available for remaining contracts that were 15 years in length with several years still remaining. If these funds were rescinded, NRCS would need to pay out the existing WHIP contracts from current year EQIP funding, further reducing the amount available for new contracts.

NRCS estimates that about 50 producers would be affected by diverting those EQIP funds. Using that same calculation, approximately 560 producers would be unable to access funds from the FY 2014-FY 2017 funding that could otherwise go out to the states for contracts. In total, if the EQIP rescission proposals are passed into law, NRCS will be prevented from signing more than 600 EQIP contracts with farmers and ranchers around the country. This would be on top of the already significant backlog of eligible applications relative to available funding.

Agricultural Conservation Easement Program

The rescissions package proposes to cut $335.1 million in funding from three easement programs that were folded into the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP) in the 2014 Farm Bill: the Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program (FRPP), $146.6 million; Grassland Reserve Program (GRP), $33.2 million; and the Wetland Reserve Program (WRP), $155.3 million. The un-obligated funds from within these ACEP program areas are absolutely needed for restoration, monitoring, and payments for existing easements and for protecting the ongoing health of our shared natural resources.

Farmers and ranchers are already feeling the affects of the 45-day hold on ACEP funds – the rescissions request has frozen monitoring on 9,000 easements covering 1.7 million acres, which require $10 million from ACEP Technical Assistance (TA).

If these funds are ultimately rescinded, ACEP enrollments for the next fiscal year will be decimated. Rescinded funds that will otherwise be used to service FRPP, GRP, and WRP contracts will have to be replaced by current easement funds. As a result, approximately 490 ACEP easements will not be made if funding is diverted. If funds are not rescinded, NRCS estimates that it will be able to enter into approximately 550 new easements; if funds are rescinded, the agency will only be able to enroll 60.

Cuts to the Value-Added Producer Grant Program

Since the beginning of the current Administration, rural development programs have been in peril. Last year, USDA demoted its Rural Development Mission Area to an “office,” and programs that bolster rural entrepreneurship and economic activity have routinely been targeted. Despite its popularity and track record of success in bolstering rural businesses and communities, the rescissions package targets the Value-Added Producer Grant Program (VAPG) for nearly $15 million in cuts to previously appropriated funds.

The administration claims that rescinding these funds would have no real world impact since they were appropriated approximately a year ago and have not yet been obligated. In reality, however, USDA made a strategic decision in the spring of 2017 to delay opening the application period for VAPG until the late summer 2017 through early winter 2018 so that farmers and ranchers would not have to develop their business plans and proposals during peak growing season. The intention was to give applicants time to research and develop highly qualified proposals.

Once the January 2018 deadline for applying to VAPG had passed, USDA Rural Development began reviewing applications and scoring applications. When the recession package was introduced and froze funding, USDA was in the final stages of making decisions about which producers and projects would receive awards.

USDA received 379 eligible applications, which would have represented roughly $54 million in funding. Before the proposed rescission, they had planned to obligate $36 million in funds. If the rescission moves forward, they will only be able to obligate $21 million, meaning many qualified farmers and ranchers will be turned away.

The foolishness of the proposed VAPG rescission stands in stark contrast to the recently released (on the same day as the rescission proposal) Economic Research Service (ERS) report showing that VAPG has played a vital role in the creation, survival, and growth of rural businesses. The report analyzed VAPG project data to estimate the impacts of the program on employment growth and business survivability, and found that businesses that received VAPG support performed better overall on these measures. According to ERS, businesses that received VAPG funds were less likely to fail than similar businesses that did not: VAPG recipients were 89 percent less likely to fail two years after the grant and 71 percent less likely to fail four years after the grant when compared to similar non-recipients. Moreover, on average, VAPG recipients provide more jobs (five to six more employees) for their communities than similar non-recipient businesses.

Next Steps

When Congress returns from recess next week and resumes debate on rescissions, it is critical that members take into account the extreme impact these cuts would have on conservation support and rural development assistance. NSAC is committed to making sure that the voices of family farmers and ranchers who use these programs, or who could be helped by these programs in the future, are heard on Capitol Hill. This Administration has pledged to rebuild and revitalize rural America, and yet time and again its proposals show that real family farmers and ranchers are at the bottom of its priority list. We urge Congress to reject these shortsighted rescission proposals, and to commit to actions that will actually revitalize and rebuild rural America – protecting these vital programs is one great way to start.

The post Administration Seeks to Poach Nearly $1 Billion from Agriculture Programs appeared first on National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.

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