helping a customer with a heavy accent who doesn’t speak a lot of English VS helping a middle aged white woman

haha coffins go brrr [a theory post]

So I thought about several concepts at once: the reincarnation theory, the coffin theory, and the concept of TWST boys being self-aware that they're in a game. And I thought, What if we mixed these together into one big theory?

First, let's define said concepts. The reincarnation theory is the theory that all the TWST boys are reincarnations of their respective Disney character (e.g. Riddle is reincarnated from the Queen of Hearts). The coffin theory recently gained popularity due to the manga. Basically, it's the theory that those who enroll in NRC actually died in their previous lives. It gained popularity because of how the manga panels depicting Yuuken's and Yuuka's encounter with the horse carriage looks like they were gonna get run over and killed. I call it coffin theory because it's more concise than saying "the students-were-initially-dead theory". Lastly, the concept of TWST boys being aware that they're in a game is more of a fanart/fanfic trope than a theory. It's self-explanatory. But specifically for this post, we are going to go with this idea: The boys are aware that they were just created on the spot and given a data of what their names are, their "backstory", etc.

I think you may know where this is going.

Crowley stated in the Twisted Wonderland light novel** that the coffins are a representation of the passing from your old world to your new world (referring to Night Raven College). It can be thought that the old world just represents your old life, where you were living in another country. However, many fans speculated that it could also mean that old world means the world you came from, the world you used to live in until you were killed, and thus you were transported to TWST.

Now, looking at the Great Seven, it is interesting to note that every single one of them, with the exception of the Queen of Hearts and Hades, have suffered a gruesome death.

Scar was attacked (and probably eaten) by the hyenas.

Ursula was stabbed by the hull of a sunken ship and struck by lightning.

Jafar was turned into a genie at the end of Aladdin, but in Return of Jafar, after attempting to kill Aladdin, his lamp was eventually destroyed, consequently ending his life. In the Hercules TV show, he was temporarily revived but eventually casted back to the Underworld.

Queen Grimhilde (Evil Queen) fell off a cliff.

Maleficent was stabbed by Prince Philip.

While the Queen of Hearts never died, it is important to note that she was just a figment of someone's dream. In a sense, she could have passed on the moment Alice woke up. But even then, she was not immortal—she would have passed away at some point.

Hades is interesting. As a god, he cannot die, and falling into the River Styx would not kill him. However, I like to suggest that perhaps gods are immortal because there is a people who believe in them and worship them. The moment that a religion is no longer believed in, the gods of said religion die away. Perhaps Hades could have died in that way. It's similar to the Queen of Hearts in a way.

How about everyone else who was inspired by a non-Great Seven character? All the cards that served as basis for the Heartslabyul boys were part of a dream. Hyenas and wolves are not immortal, so are eels and humans. Apples have their own death. Everyone else had to have gone through death in some way.

From here, we can say that everyone 'died'. And so what if they have all reincarnated into the next life, aka the TWST boys?

But here's the catch: they aren't born. Their "birth" was not through a mother's womb, but through the coffins of Night Raven College.

Now, why would they have memories of their childhoods, from joys to traumas?

This is where the trope of the boys being self-aware that they're in a game comes in... except they're not self-aware but somebody has written their "backstory" and "personality" instead of them forming it themselves like .. you know .. actual living people.

Now hey! Maybe it's a stretch! It definitely sounds like a stretch!

(a) Twisted Wonderland is such an odd name for a world. You have to wonder why people decided to just go along with that name instead of being more serious on what to call their world.

(b) Something about the maps of the campus, Sage Island, and the surrounding countries look like old storybook drawings. It could be me, but the coloring and the drawing look very whimsical and more reminiscent of a storybook.

(c) In the Twisted Wonderland opening, in the ending sequence where a series of images are quickly shown, there's a shot of a book in the library.

(d) Ink. When you use magic, ink builds up in your magic gem and then in your body. What do you use to write? Ink.

So in conclusion... honestly, I'm just making a crack theory here. But what if everyone did come to NRC because they died in their previous lives, except that they never lived in their new selves?

LoSlavery Is Not OUR "Original Sin" The thick lines show majority of African slaves went to Spain’s (they started trans-Atlantic slave trade) Latin American & Caribbean slave colonies, Muslim and African Countries. Few went to colony that became the US

How many times have you heard that slavery was “America’s original sin”? I’m not quite sure what that means, but I think the idea is that slavery was a uniquely horrible thing that defines the United States and will stain whites forever. It’s one of the few things Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Barack Obama agree on. There are books about it. Here’s a college course at UC Davis called “Slavery: America’s Original Sin: Part 1."

The fact is, there has been slavery in every period of history, and just about everywhere. The Greeks and Romans had it, the ancient Egyptians had it, it’s all over the Bible, the Chinese and the pre-Columbian Indians had it, the Maoris in New Zealand had it, and the Muslims had it in spades. But I have never, ever heard of slavery being anyone else’s “original sin.”

About the only societies that never had slaves were primitivehunter-gatherers. As soon as people have some kind of formal social organization, they start taking slaves.

You’ve heard about slavery and mass human sacrifices of Central and South American Indians, but North American Indians were enslaving each other long before the white man showed up.

Tlingit and Haida Indians, who lived in the Pacific Northwest, went raiding for slaves as far South as California. About one quarter of the population were slaves, and the children of slaves were slaves. During potlatches, or huge ceremonial feasts, the Tlingit would sometimes burn property and kill slaves, just to show how rich they were. What’s a couple of slaves to a guy who lives in a house like this?

When we bought Alaska from the Russians in 1867, Indians were furious when we told them they had to give up their slaves. The Tlingit carved this image of Abraham Lincoln, the emancipator, to try to shame the government into compensating them for slaves.

What were called the Five Civilized Tribes of the American Southeast happily bought black slaves. In 1860, there were 21,000 Cherokee, and they owned 4,000 slaves. And that was just the Cherokee. Many took their slaves with them when they were forced to move West.

Free blacks in the South owned slaves. The fact of having been slaves didn’t stop them from wanting to be slave masters themselves. In 1840, in South Carolina alone, there were 454 free blacks who owned a total of 2,357 slaves. Only about 20 percent of Southern households had even one slave, but 75 percent of the free-black households in South Carolina owned slaves.

Don’t believe me? It’s all in this book by the expert on the subject, Larry Koger of the University of South Carolina. And he demolishes the idea that most blacks bought slaves only to get family members out of slavery. Like whites, some were kind masters and some were mean, but, for the most part, they owned slaves for exactly the same reasons whites did.

There’s a whole book about this black guy, Andrew Durnford.

He had a plantation of 672 acres along the Mississippi in Louisiana, and close to 100 slaves. Another black slave owner in Louisiana, P.C. Richards, owned 152 slaves. Black slaveowners avidly supported the Confederacy. There are no accurate estimates of the number of slaves held by free blacks at the time of the Civil War, but they would have been tens of thousands.

If slavery is somebody’s Original Sin, it’s sure not ours. Take a look at this map of the slave trade, beginning in 1500.

[Source: SlaveVoyages.com, click to enlarge]

The thicknesses of the lines represent numbers of slaves. What became the United States imported just around 400,000 slaves—about 3 percent of all the slaves who crossed the Atlantic. Look at all the slaves who went to Brazil and to the Caribbean Islands.They needed millions because, unlike American slaveowners who raised slave families, they bought grown men and worked them to death. And let us not forget, virtually every slave on this map was caught by blacks or Arabs.

And look at all the slaves who ended up in North Africa and the Middle East.

That’s millions of them going to Muslim countries at exactly the same time slaves were crossing the Atlantic. And Arabs had been taking black slaves out of Africa, across the Sahara, for 900 years before America was even discovered—and a forced march across the desert was a lot worse than crossing the Atlantic. In this article about Africa’s first slavers—the Arabs—historian Paul Lovejoy estimates that over the centuries, Muslims took about 14 million blacks out of Africa [Recalling Africa’s harrowing tale of its first slavers – The Arabs – as UK Slave Trade Abolition is commemorated, March 27, 2018]. That is more than the 12 million who went to the New World.

And you might ask, where are the descendants of all those Middle Eastern slaves? America has millions of slave descendants. Why don’t you see lots of blacks in Saudi Arabia or Syria or Iraq? Arabs castrated black slaves so they wouldn’t have descendants.

Muslims were even more enthusiastic about enslaving white people. Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters, by Prof. Robert C. Davis is the best book on the subject. Remember the Barbary Pirates of North Africa? Between 1530 and 1780 they caught and enslaved more than a million white, European Christians. During the 16th and 17th centuries, Arabs took more white slaves south across the Mediterranean than there were blacks shipped across the Atlantic.

Mostly, Muslim pirates captured European ships and stole their crews. In just three years, from 1606 to 1609, the British navy admitted it had lost 466 British merchant ships to North African pirates [Counting European Slaves on the Barbary Coast Past & Present, August 2001]. Four hundred sixty-six ships in just three years. Arabs took American slaves. Between 1785 and 1793 Algerians captured 13 American ships in the Mediterranean and enslaved the crews. This is a 1804 battle between Arab pirates and the USS Enterprise.

It was only in 1815, after two wars, that the United States was finally free of the Barbary pirates.

Muslim pirates also organized huge, amphibious slave-catching assaults that practically depopulated the Italian coast. In 1544, Algerian raiders took 7,000 slaves in the Bay of Naples in a single raid. This drove the price of slaves so low it was said you could “swap a Christian for an onion.”

After a 1566 raid on Granada in Spain netted 4,000 men women, and children, it was said to be “raining Christians in Algiers.” Women were easier to catch than men, and were prized as sex slaves, so some coastal areas lost their entire child-bearing populations. One raid as far away as Iceland brought back 400 white slaves.

Prof. Davis notes that the trade in black Africans was strictly business, but Muslims had a jihad-like enthusiasm for stealing Christians. It was revenge for the Crusades and for the reconquest of Spain from the Arabs in 1492. When Muslim corsairs raided Europe, they made a point of desecrating churches and stealing church bells. The metal was valuable but stealing church bells silenced the voice of Christianity.

It was a tradition to parade newly captured Europeans through the streets so people could jeer at them, while children threw garbage at them. At the slave market, both men and women were stripped naked to evaluate their sexual value. In the North African capitals—Tunis, Algiers, Tripoli—there was a big demand for homosexual sex-slaves. Other Europeans were worked to death on farms or building projects.

Prof. Davis writes that unlike in North America, there were no limits on cruelty: “There was no countervailing force to protect the slave from his master’s violence: no local anti-cruelty laws, no benign public opinion, and rarely any effective pressure from foreign states.” Slaves were not just property, they were infidels, and deserved whatever suffering a master meted out.

For a man, there was a fate even worse than being a sex slave. Hundreds of thousands became galley slaves, often on slave-catching pirate ships. They were chained to their oars 24 hours a day, and could move only to the hole where the oar went through the hull—so they could relieve themselves. If the men were rowing, they fouled themselves. Galley slaves lived in a horrible stench, ate rotten food, were whipped by slave drivers and tormented by rats and lice. They could not lie down and had to sleep at their oars. Many never left their ships, even in port. Their job was to row until they died, and to be tossed overboard at the first sign of weakness.

Muslims have taken slaves for as long as there have been Muslims, which is about 1,400 years.

Mohammed himself was an enthusiastic slave trader. Muslims still take black slaves. As this article points out, Libya still has slave markets, Mauritanian Arabs take black slaves, and there is still slavery in Niger, Mali, Chad and Sudan[Libya’s slave markets are a reminder that the exploitation of Africans never went away, by Martin Plaut, New Statesman, February 21, 2018].

And, of course, it was white people who abolished slavery, both in their own countries and, except for a few stubborn holdouts, the whole world. Africans, just like the Tlingit Indians, screamed about all the wealth we made them give up.

But slavery’s still our “original sin.” As Time magazine wrote just this month about slavery “Europeans and their colonial “descendants” in the United States engineered the most complete and enduring dehumanization of a people in history."[Facing America's History of Racism Requires Facing the Origins of 'Race' as a Concept, by Andrew Curran, July 10, 2020]

What a small minority of Americans did for 246 years—and in a relatively mild form—is worse than anything that was ever done anywhere by anyone.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is the power of white privilege. I hope you are enjoying it. Watch this video:

#Earth&Sky2021 - Day 5

It’s day five of #Earth&Sky2021 already, what the heck!

idek what theme I was trying to go for, lighthouse in a storm maybe? But anyway, here’s a flyboy brooding beneath the stars with a glass of whiskey and the weight of the world on his shoulders.

It’s pretty dark on Tracy Island when the lights are out. The whole world’s asleep and Scott should be too but sleep doesn’t come easily to him these days. As a kid he never needed it and even now when he needs it he can never find it for more than a few hours at a time...

It’s too warm by the villa so he chases a breeze to the edge of the island, whiskey glass in his hand and bare toes digging into the sand that gets trapped between the rocks by the storms that batter their little island. There’s one rock in particular he likes to perch on when his thoughts are too loud and his doubts refuse to go away. The runway can be seen from here, as can the little overhang of rocks above Thunderbird Four’s underwater launch chute and the roundhouse that protects the native fauna of the island from Thunderbird Three’s blowback. Scott’s own Thunderbird launches a little way behind him and that was one of the first things dad mentioned when he brought Scott out here to show his firstborn the island he planned to uproot their entire family to.

This very rock represents the beginning of Scott’s involvement with International Rescue. Will there be a plaque here in forty years’ time like the plaque of dad’s footprint on Mars? It feels somehow arrogant to assume he’ll have even half the impact that Jeff Tracy’s had upon the world.

Scott hadn’t been able to imagine it back then, barely a man himself and sat in the shadow of the greatest man he’s ever known. Dad had produced two of the tiny bottles of whiskey from the jet and Scott hadn’t been able to understand why because coming to this desolate little rock in the middle of nowhere had felt very much like running away, and that wasn’t something a Tracy ever did. Ever since he’d been old enough to stand up by himself, Scott had been standing firm against the world that constantly measured him against his father.

He’d taken a stand against anyone who’d ever dared to hurt his little brothers. He’d stood there for hours at swim meets or out on the back garden with Johnny waiting for the skies to clear. He’d stayed with his little brother when Virgil needed to record the light just right and he’d spent hours and hours at the park with Alan so his brothers could do their homework in peace and their youngest brother didn’t feel their parents’ absence as heavily as the rest of them. Dad had disappeared for days at a time and he’d told the guys it was work but he’d been old enough to guess it was alcohol and other things he didn’t wanna know about.

So he’d hesitated, sat upon this rock with a tiny bottle of whiskey in his hand, because he really hadn’t felt like celebrating when mom’s grave was back in Kansas and his heart felt like he’d buried it in the dusty dirt there with her. He hadn’t said anything but dad must’ve known because he’d reached out to tug Scott into his side like he was six and not sixteen.

Dad had always been a giant to Scott. When he was little it felt like he always had to lean back to see him and even when he grew taller, dad just seemed to get taller too. Having one of those arms around him had felt like being wrapped up by the universe and for a few fleeting moments he’d been able to forget about avalanches and detention slips and dinner for four little brothers who needed vegetables and attention. Dad’s hand cradled the back of his head just like how Scott cuddled Alan when he refused to go to sleep and part of the firstborn had broken.

Dad had fixed him, though. He’d told his boy about how the desolate rock was actually an extinct volcano with old lava tubes extending out underneath the ocean for miles around them. For the last year or so that weird nerdy friend of his had been making regular flights out here and beneath their feet lay something very special indeed.

It was going to be called International Rescue and it was going to make the world a better place.

It did and it still does, every single day. With every mission to Mars or London or some random canyon in a country Scott can’t pronounce, the world becomes a better place for somebody out there. A wife gets to go home to her wife or a son gets to show his dad a picture he drew at school because International Rescue saved a life. Not the world, not a country, just a life.

How can Scott even begin to live up to the legacy of a man who could look at a barren rock and imagine making it a home for his five sons and a rescue organisation? Their home had been weaved seamlessly into the rocks without disturbing the island’s ecosystem which had made one of Scott’s baby brothers happy and another had followed the progress of the villa and the hangars below with all the enthusiasm of a budding engineer.

Nothing Scott does could ever hope to live up to the legacy of the man responsible for all this. For a while he thought maybe his mark on history would be to keep International Rescue operational instead of letting it nosedive into the dirt without dad. Most sons would’ve wiped International Rescue from existence after losing their father to it but Scott had kept them flying and for eight years that had been enough.

But now dad’s home and back in charge from the safety of his desk and suddenly Scott’s achievements don’t feel all that remarkable any more when he compares them to his father’s. He’s the firstborn son of Jeff Tracy and he’s capable of anything. He should do more; he needs to be more than this.

But what?

Scott sits on the rock with his whiskey and stares out across the ocean.

It’s beautiful out here when the lights are down and the moon’s out. He can see the reflection of thousands of stars on the surface of the ocean and the moon shimmers at the centre of it all. A soft little breeze sends ripples dancing across the water and Scott can’t help but smile at how peaceful the world feels even though it’s dark.

There’s footsteps behind him and Scott would recognise them anywhere, even without a gentle, “Hey,” and the hand that squeezes his shoulder before Virgil comes to sit on the rock beside him. He’s barefoot too and the plaid’s been replaced by one of those hoodies that looks like a hug. Strands of dark hair have escaped from beneath the hood and Scott’s compelled to brush a couple back into place before tucking Virg into his side like dad once did with him all those years ago. Virgil folds up without complaint and his face disappears into the crook of his big brother’s neck before he heaves a sigh so loud it makes Scott shiver.

A hand comes to rest instinctively on the back of Virgil’s head, fingertips sinking into the soft material as they sit together beneath the stars. For a while he can forget about everything that’s happened since he sat on this rock with dad and focus on nothing but the here and now; the tang of engine oil that seems to follow Virg around like the beach does Gordon. Warmth radiates from the shoulders that’ve helped Scott carry his burdens since dad disappeared and it helps to ground him when he feels lost in the darkness. Even when he hasn’t known which path to take, he’s always been sure that he’ll never walk it alone.

“Can’t sleep?” he asks after a while because it’s not unusual to find one of his little brothers up and about in the middle of the night, but this one had a long day yesterday and they tend to sleep like hibernating bears after the worst rescues.

“Mmm.” little brother rumbles back to him from the depths of his comfy hoodie. The noise makes Scott chuckle, “I keep thinking about Thunderbird Two. She didn’t feel right when I got back from Portugal.”

“You said Brains checked her out?”

“Hmm. He said it was most likely a combination of factors including stress, high winds and exhaustion that altered my sensory inputs and slowed my reaction times.”

Scott remembers his glass of whiskey and takes a sip, “He thinks you imagined it.”

“Nmm.” another tired noise escapes from the depths of the hoodie and Scott’s kinda tempted to see how many he could get Virg to make like a rumbly game of Operation. On the other hand he’s spent his entire life taking care of the guy using him as a pillow and the noises worry him. His best friend needs sleep but Scott knows full well that won’t happen ‘til somebody takes a look at Thunderbird Two.

“I’ll run a systems check to see if anything comes up. We’ll have her sorted before sunrise.” Scott scrunches his little brother up in a hug before relinquishing his grip on the hoodie, “You get the coffee on and I’ll get her opened up.”

“F. A-” the affirmative gets swallowed up by a yawn that nearly swallows Scott too and he laughs as he gets to his feet, keeping Virg with him to stop him nosediving into the ocean because he’s lost more than one tired brother to the pool and the steps down to the sofas.

“I know how to sort it anyway.” he teases as they head for the kitchen, polishing off the remains of his whiskey and leaving the glass on the side to deal with later, “I’ll just give her a real good thump like dad does.”

“You are not using the Jeff Tracy Fix on my ‘Bird, Scott!” Virgil finally manages a full sentence and Scott’s laughter echoes down the hallways.

Hi there ! So, I’m making a fictional religion for my story and was wondering what elements I should include to make it feel more realistic and like a real part of the lore

I can't find my original post so here:

Worldbuilding: Religion

All people follow some semblance of a god or deity or force. Call it Jesus, Allah, Apollo or positive energy, all worlds believe that there is something greater than themselves or that somebody is guiding their actions and the events that befall them. We all want someone to love, to blame, to talk to. So we create gods and powers that be.

Place of Religion

Before we get to the fun parts, we have to consider the place of the faith in your land. If we look around today, we see a patchwork of countries and their relationship with religion.

Some countries are a patchwork like America or France.

Some are predominantly one religion only and only that one is acceptable to practise.

Some have two religions vying for control such as Pakistan.

Believe in it or not, religion remains a major part of the woldbuilding. So with ever culture you must create you must think about its place in the everyday of your world. Perhaps there is love for religion and faith or perhaps there is fear or oppression. How do the people view religion in your land?

Another thing to consider, is the relationship between Church and State. Sometimes I find that the styles of government have different relationships with their faiths.

Theocracy- Religion is always a huge part. The government runs on it. The people breathe it.

Monarchy- Some monarchs claim to be gods or to be divinely chosen. This is good PR. But some kings and queens don't get on with religion. I'm looking at you Henry.

Government- May rely on the religion to prove their actions or detest them for going against them. Roman politicians often bribed augurs to fake omens to prove themselves right.

Pantheon

All faiths and religions have a force to look up to. We can have one singular god/force (monotheism) or a group of gods (polytheism).

Most Monotheistic religions focus on a singular theme. The being is all powerful, omnipresent and manages an expansive universe on their own. These gods are usually faultless and perfect and there are no embarrassing stories of them.

Polytheistic gods can be as perfect as their lonely friends but not always. Gather a bunch of all-powerful beings in a single room, you will get some funny stories. These gods are usually flawed. They will share the duties of running the universe, usually in charge of different factions of the world; war, love, death, water or fire.

Gods/forces usually come with stories. We will have an abundance of stories but mainly we will have:

A world creation tale

A human creating tale

A war against evil

Godly origin stories

Tale of a massive flood.

Ritual

We think of religion and we think of prayer. We no longer sacrifice goats or children or virgins to appease the things that be. But there are other things to do in order to honour the gods.

We usually have a few types of ritual.

The gesture

The offering

The sacrament

Gesture: Catholics bless themselves, Añjali Mudrā or the namaste is a sign of respect in India, Muslims perform the rakʿah/bowing cycles in ṣalāt/prayer

Offering: In Judaism, during Hanukkah they light candles to represent eight nights that an oil lamp burned. In Catholicism, candles are burned in memory of the dead, incense is burned. In Greek Mythology, young men were whipped before the statue of Artemis, their blood an offering to her.

Sacrament: Catholicism has seven levels (i once got thrown out of class for referring to it as pokemon evolution). In Islam and Judaism, we see coming of age sacraments.

Values and Ethics

Each religion teaches us something. Each has their own values. Most religions preach peace, love, truth, harmony (except when other relationships are involved in some).

Every religion has its own set of rules. Some are there to keep certain values entertained. If modesty is preached, the people don't make dick jokes or go about with tits out. If warriors are praised, the pacifist and conscientious objector will be shunned. How often are these rules broken? How are they enforced? What are the punishments for breaking the rules?

You must look at the message your religion conveys. We always hear about the peace and love. Mix it up and allow religions to send mixed messages. It makes it interesting.

Accessories

Every religion needs its accessories. A place to worship in, certain garments to wear and a symbol.

Places to worship can be any place. A building or outside in the open. You can have gilded temples with jewelled idols or your simple altar. You can have your field, forest and beach or river to pray beside.

Perhaps your religion has certain clothes one wears. Islam has the hijab or burka. Hindus have the bindi and the sari. Catholic women used to and still sometimes wear veils in mass. Judaism has their skull caps and rock awesome beards.

Symbols can be anything. It can be a circle. It can literally be a chair. But it needs a reason to be important. Perhaps the deity created the first Lay-Z boy or maybe the saviour likes good back support.

Happy Fanfic Writer Friday!!! What song lyric best represents one (or more) of your fics?

Happy (late) Fanfic Writer Friday!! 

Oooooooh!! 

Alright. You all know how much I love these questions, so you shouldn’t be surprised that I am of course going to do this for every single fic, ‘cause it’s fun. :) 

Also, as such, you should not be surprised that it’s late. XD 

Here goes nothing! 

P.S. Since it’s up on both sites now, I’m going to use the version of The Diamond Girl that’s on AO3, ‘cause I like that one more. XD 

P.P.S. Some of these are a lot longer than others, ‘cause I felt like I had to put a whole line (or five) to really get the full impact lol. 

In Alphabetical Order:

QuoteV

An Angel and a Human: We are the broken ones, who chose to spark a flame, watch as our fire rages, our hearts are never tame, ‘cause we were, ‘cause we were, ‘cause we were, ‘cause we were born for this, we were born for this (Born for This by The Score)

Finally: Time after time, you refuse to even listen, I wouldn’t mind, if I knew what I was missing (You Won’t See Me by The Beatles)

Invictus: We’re not related but here’s good news, friends are the family you can choose (Friends are Family by Oh, Hush!)

Love Will Remember: I know it inside my heart, forever will forever be ours, even if we try to forget, love will remember (Love Will Remember by Selena Gomez)

Sibling Love: What if I’m far from home, oh brother I will hear you call, what if I lose it all, oh sister I will help you out, oh, if the sky comes falling down, for you, there’s nothing in this world I wouldn’t do (Hey Brother by Avicii)

Supernatural Adventures in Babysitting: My world is waiting, don’t want to stop, give up, I want it all ‘cause I just ain’t had enough, keep up, we’re gonna show the world that there’s just no stopping us (Wildside by Sabrina Carpenter and Sofia Carson)

The Third Winchester: You could give me hell, you could give me death, right before I bend, I will have revenge, fire through my veins, I will fan the flames, until my dying breath, ‘cause I will never go down any other way (Any Other Way by We the Kings)

The Untold Past: Truth is that it was always going to end, this symphony buzzing in my head, took a market of filth, and sold like summer (The Good, the Bad, and the Dirty by Panic! At The Disco)

Archive of Our Own

5 Times Pepper Reminded Tony She’ll Always Be There for Him and 1 Time He Reminded Her: I will show you the way back home, never leave you all alone, I will stay until the morning comes, I’ll show you how to live again, and heal the brokenness within, let me love you when you come undone (Right Here by Ashes Remain)

Always and Forever: Here’s to the ones that we got, cheers to the wish you were here but you’re not ‘cause the drinks bring back all the memories, of everything we’ve been through (Memories by Maroon 5)

Checking In (On You): You’ll always have my shoulder when you cry, I’ll never let go, never say goodbye, you know you can count on me like one, two, three, I’ll be there, and I know when I need it I can count on you like four, three, two, and you’ll be there (Count On Me by Bruno Mars)

Don’t Mention It, Sammy: So hold on, no matter what we’ll take our bruises and our bumps, but know until kingdom come, you’re not alone, and if this world goes up in flames, just take my hand, don’t be afraid, I’ll fight for you until my days on Earth are done, ‘cause two hearts are better than one (Better Than One by The Score)

Family Traditions: Just close your eyes, the sun is going down, you’ll be alright, no one can hurt you now, come morning light, you and I’ll be safe and sound (Safe and Sound by Taylor Swift)

I’ll Be There: I’m only one call away, I’ll be there to save the day, Superman got nothing on me, I’m only one call away (One Call Away by Charlie Puth)

Love in Not So Many Words: I never knew anybody ‘til I knew you, and I know when it rains, oh, it pours, and I know I was born to be yours (Born to Be Yours by Imagine Dragons & Kygo)

My Favorite Troublemakers: You are loved more than you know, I hereby pledge all of my days, to prove it so, though your heart is far too young to realize, the unimaginable light you hold inside (Light by Sleeping at Last)

Never Again: Help, I need somebody, help, not just anybody, help, you know I need someone, help (Help! by The Beatles) 

Nothing Wrong with Being Yourself: When the sharpest words wanna cut me down, I’m gonna send a flood, gonna drown ‘em out, I am brave, I am bruised, I am who I’m meant to be, this is me (This Is Me by Keala Settle)

S’More Family Time: This is a place where I don’t feel alone, this is a place where I feel at home, ‘cause I built a home for you, for me (To Build a Home by The Cinematic Orchestra)

The Diamond Girl: My power’s turned on, starting right now I’ll be strong, I’ll play my fight son, and I don’t really care if nobody else believes, ‘cause I’ve still got a lot of fight left in me (Fight Song by Rachel Platten)

The Meaning of Christmas: So I’m offering this simple phrase, to kids from one to ninety-two, although it’s been said, many times, many ways, Merry Christmas to you (The Christmas Song by Nat King Cole)

This Is Where...: We say goodbye, we hold on tight, to these memories that never die (Time of Our Lives by Tyrone Wells)

To An Amazing Big Brother: If you’re lookin’ for hope tonight, raise your hand, if you’re feelin’ alone and don’t understand, if you’re fightin’ in the fight of your life, then stand, we’re gonna make it through this hand-in-hand, and if we fall, we will fall together (Together by For King and Country)

Training Session: I wanna be like you, I wanna walk like you, talk like you, too (I Wanna Be Like You from The Jungle Book)

Welcome to Your New Home: Tell me why the world never fights fair, I’m trying to find home, a place where I can go, to take this off my shoulders, someone take me home (Home by Daughtry)

We’re Winchesters: Fire, faster, everlasting, higher, faster, never crashing, bet you didn’t think that I’d come back to life, stronger (Stronger by The Score)

What You Do For Family: When you lose your feet, fall down to your knees, and your heart’s about to break, I will be your saving grace, when your eyes can’t see, take. my eyes from me, when you’re lost and losing faith, I will be your saving grace (Saving Grace by Kodaline)

Where Life Begins and Love Never Ends: There is no power on earth like your father’s love, so big and so strong as your father’s love (Your Father’s Love by Gary Valenciano)

Who Knew Birthdays Could Be So Complicated: So if you’ve got an anxious heart, you’re not the only one, and I won’t let you fall apart, if you won’t let me run (The Village, the Wolf, and the Boy by Taylor Barrett)

Some of these don’t really fit as well as I’d like them to, but I think they all still work lol. And most of them are pretty spot-on! 

Thanks so much for asking this! Sorry it took me so long to answer, but I really loved this question! <3 

y’all know I can’t control myself when shinee loving anon encourages me to do literary analysis! here are nearly 2,000 words of me analyzing my own writing like a weirdo :p because this is not the first time I have done literary alaysis of my own work, and it certainly won’t be the last (I’m already working on a thesis statement that could connect themes from the SHINee universe to at least 2/3 main plots of For You), I’ve decided to make a little banner for these essays lol. 

First, some disclaimers: For You is an ongoing work. It might be an ongoing work for the rest of forever because Lei provides a perfect character through which I can explore S.M. In case you haven’t gathered from scrolling through my blog for a few seconds — I am a huge S.M. fan. With that being said, the main plot of 4 O’Clock is completed. This informal essay will discuss similarities between 4 O’Clock and works in the SHINee Universe.

I think I should begin by expressing my deep attachment to Taemin that is reflected in my writing. He is the first SHINee member that I wrote about; that drabble resulted in my friendship with SHINee Loving Anon and inspired my confidence to write about all five SHINee members. “Beautiful Parts” should be read as what it is: my reunion with my favorite group. Writing that story was therapeutic; it ranks with “Between Souls - Jonghyun,” “Lights - Taeyeon,” and “Orenda - Onew.” All of these works were written with my emotional needs in mind. They are deeply personal, and that’s why I love them. I created them with the intent of bringing myself comfort, and I shared them with the hope of extending that comfort to others. 

“Beautiful Parts” also represents the shift toward Taemin becoming one of my ultimate idols and creative inspirations. When I could not yet write about Jonghyun, I could write about Taemin; when I could not yet listen to Jonghyun or SHINee without hurting, I could listen to Taemin. The image that I created of Taemin comforting someone — an unnamed reader — in “Beautiful Parts” remains with me. I can’t unsee it. It is obviously not a moment that I have lived through, but it feels real to me.

That image is integral to the relationship between Taemin and Lei. Comfort —  the fact that Taemin sat beside her when she cried — is a key component of Lei’s love for him. 

One could and should find similarities between the unnamed character of “Beautiful Parts” and Lei. Granted, “Beautiful Parts” is a part of the SHINee Universe. The character is Minho’s sister; although much of her character is intentionally vague, she is a separate character from Lei. She could and should, however, be read as a precursor to Lei. Both characters seek the company of the moon when they are troubled and cannot sleep. They share a desire — a compulsion, even — to reach for the moon and stars that they know they can never reach. 

“What’s so comforting about the moon and the single star in the sky? How can they be so far, lightyears away, yet feel so close? Why did they convince you to lean against the railing, reaching for them like a child with no understanding of the distance? You couldn’t say, even though you wondered almost every night.” “Beautiful Parts”

“The stars were on full display, and the moon was a sterling crescent so bright that I thought, were my wrists not bound, I could have reached out and grabbed it out of the sky and put it in my pocket.

That was a silly thought I dreamt about often: holding the moon, carrying it around with me in the daylight as if I could protect it better than the sky. I don't know who planted that dream in my mind or why, but I was always grateful for it" (4 O'Clock, Chapter 2). 

If you read 4 O'Clock, you cannot mistake the significance of the moon; Lei will not let you. In third-person or second-person narratives— like "Beautiful Parts"— I think that it would cheapen the story to overtly impress upon the reader the significance of a symbol. Put simply: if the second- or third-person narrator has to explain, "this is significant because," then the writer has failed in their application or execution of a symbol. However, as Lei is a first-person narrator relating her story to her mother, she is permitted to express plainly, "this is important— this is important, and this is why." She does exactly that by referring to the moon, in later chapters, as "our moon," meaning that she has claimed this symbol as hers and Taemin's. 

This claim of ownership becomes especially significant as Lei struggles to confine her love for Taemin to times when it is safe to express— at night in their hotel room or, in post-tour chapters, in her room. This distinction is also expressed in "Beautiful parts" compared to its counterpart "Morning Confessions." I used "Morning Confession" as a guide in writing the morning scenes of 4 O'Clock Chapter 9, Chapter 12, Chapter 14, and part 6 of the Epilogue. In all of these scenes referenced, there is a clear shift between the night— when a character receives comfort— and the morning— when that comfort is reciprocated, usually through some form of affection. 

The exception is the scene from Chapter 9. This part of the story occurs before the New Year's kiss that dispels much of Lei's discomfort about being in a relationship. Within this scene, Lei is torn between the desire to share her first kiss with Taemin and the desire to escape his embrace and start her day. Notice, then, that Lei is imposing this binary of day and night. (Granted, Lei believes that this binary is imposed upon her by external forces. I am inclined to agree that she is limited in self-expression by the pressures of standing in the public eye. Using my author knowledge of her life, I would also argue that her fears and reservations are rooted in real-life experiences; those are always the hardest fears to shake.)

Another interesting observation is that this scene from Chapter 9 is sandwiched between Lei's comforting Taemin post-Jaemin-induced-tantrum and the tense bathroom scene where Lei object to the terms "mine" and "yours" when referring to another person. 

"That's something I've always struggled to accept: the idea of calling somebody— a whole individual— mine. I know some people are infatuated with the idea of ownership, but that kind of dynamic has always made my skin crawl." 

"It's just, those words— mine and yours—" I cringed, and Taemin dropped my hands. "I don't know. I think it's fine to call you my soulmate or my boyfriend, if that's what you are, but the thought of calling you— all of you— mine just seems wrong'" (4 O'Clock, Chapter 9). 

Note: Lei does not yet accept that Taemin is her soulmate. These quotes are indicative of Lei's character as they express her deepest fears. Consider that 4 O'Clock— while it is about Lei's love for Taemin, and it is about Donghae's unrequited (totally requited) love for Manager Kim— is ultimately about Lei's liberation from fear. Certainly, Taemin places a role in that liberation; Lei states far too many times to reference that he was an inspiration to her before she knew him as anything more than an idol. However, one would be remiss in failing to recognize the relationship through which Lei discovers herself: her relationship with her mother. 

(If you need proof of this claim, and I seriously doubt you do, here is a quote from Chapter 10: 

"I had been considering what it meant to be the fulfillment of her dreams, and it meant that I couldn’t be afraid. It meant I didn’t have to be. There was liberation in the fact that I could be confident in the truth that no matter what anybody in that hotel room, in the country, in the whole world even (!) said or thought or did, I now knew who I was. I knew who Mom was. I knew that no matter what— come what may— we would love each other forever. 

All along, I had the forever love I couldn’t admit to wanting. . .") 

The whole "'mine' and 'yours' makes me cringe" scene occurs right before Lei admits to her mother that she knows who she is: the idol who never debuted. Throughout most of the story, Lei refers to her mother as "Mom," capital-M, as if "Mom" is her birth name. There are scattered incidents where Lei writes "my mom," but she usually does so to distinguish her relationship with Mom and the one Lucas claims by using the name. 

"Were I not used to that— Lucas referring to my mother as if she were also his, calling her hot— I might have cringed" (4 O'Clock, Chapter 1). 

This use of the phrase "my mother" should be viewed in contrast to Lei's use of the phrase "my mom" in chapter 9. 

"No. No, I knew my mom. I knew her long before I saw her as the idol who never debuted. She had eyes that found possibilities where others saw none. There was no way that she hadn't considered how the last 21 years of her life had been affected by my existence" (4 O’Clock, Chapter 9). 

By using the word "my," Lei does not take ownership of the relationship— or of her mother as a whole individual— in a way that should make anybody's skin crawl. Rather, she uses that word to distinguish her Mom from the idol who never debuted. "My" is a protective word— a word through which Lei can shield her mother from judgment. Distinction of identities matters deeply to Lei because she feels that she is inadequate in her roles as an idol and as a human being. 

She writes when reflecting on Kai's request to be called Jongin that she has always been hyper-sensitive to the difference between calling an artist by their stage name and their birth name. Considering whether she should have used a stage name herself, Lei wonders: 

"Would that have made it easier to distinguish me (the person) from me (the idol)?" (4 O’Clock, Chapter 2). 

It is crucial to understand these distinctions of identities and their significance to Lei if you are to feel the weight of a post-New Year's- Kiss moment:

"That time, when Taemin whispered, “My Lei,” against my skin, I didn’t cringe at the thought that I— all of me, every thought locked away in my mind, every fear hidden in the darkest corners of my heart— belonged to him. 

Maybe that’s not the best way to phrase it. Maybe I mean to say that I didn’t cringe at the thought that all of me, even the parts that I considered fruitless or dangerous or flawed, belonged with Taemin. I don’t know" (4 O’Clock, Chapter 14)."

There's our Lei, still caught up in things like proper wording! Also significant is Lei's limited use of the phrase "my Taemin." She thinks it for the first time shortly before the scene quoted above; she doesn't say it aloud until the next day. We could take this, I suppose, as another example of the binary of day and night that culminates in Lei's decision to "live in the light," expressed in the closing chapters. 

Badminton, court or lawn game played with lightweight rackets and a shuttlecock. Historically, the shuttlecock (also known as a “bird” or “birdie”) was a small cork hemisphere with 16 goose feathers attached and weighing about 0.17 ounce (5 grams). These types of shuttles may still be used in modern play, but shuttles made from synthetic materials are also allowed by the Badminton World Federation. The game is named for Badminton, the country estate of the dukes of Beaufort in Gloucestershire, England, where it was first played about 1873. The roots of the sport can be traced to ancient Greece, China, and India, and it is closely related to the old children’s game battledore and shuttlecock. Badminton is derived directly from poona, which was played by British army officers stationed in India in the 1860s. The first unofficial all-England badminton championships for men were held in 1899, and the first badminton tournament for women was arranged the next year.

              The badminton court is 13.4m long and 6.1m wide. For singles the court is marked 5.18m wide. The lines marking out the court are easily distinguishable and coloured white or yellow. The lines are 40mm wide. A court may be marked out for singles only. The back boundary lines also become the long service lines and the posts or the strips of material representing them are placed on the side lines. The diagonal full length of the full court is 14.366m. The posts are 1.55m high from the surface of the court and remain vertical when the net is strained. The posts are placed on the double side lines irrespective of whether singles or doubles is played. The posts or supports must not extend into the court beyond the side lines. Where it is not practicable to have posts on the side lines, some method can be used to indicate the position of the side lines where they pass under the net, example by the use of thin posts or strips of material 40mm wide, fixed to the side lines and rising vertically to the net cord. The net is 760mm in depth and a minimum of 6.1m wide. The top of the net from the surface of the court is 1.524m at the center of the court and 1.55m over the side lines for doubles. There must be no gaps between the ends of the net and the posts. If necessary, the full depth of the net at the ends is tied to the posts.

              In this blog, I will cover the four basic equipment and gear required for a game of badminton.

1.      Badminton Racket

Badminton rackets can be made from several types of materials. Depending on the material selection, this can result in different combinations of racket weight, balance points and string tensions. With so many different combinations, it will take time to decide which is most suited for your playing style.  Instead of making purchases online, pop by a badminton shop. Ask for assistance and select a racket that you feel comfortable with. Swing the racket around to get a good feel of its overall weight and grip. Some popular badminton brands are Yonex, ProKennex, Wilson, ProTech and Li-Ning.

2.      Shuttlecock

There are two types of shuttlecocks - plastic and feathered shuttlecocks.

Plastic shuttlecocks are far more durable compared to the feathered types which are commonly used. However, plastic shuttlecocks are only recommended for beginners who are just starting out. This is because feathered shuttlecocks are expensive and fray easily especially if the wrong technique is used. Hence, plastic shuttlecocks are good for beginners to use for training. Plastic shuttlecocks are usually used by young children who play badminton for recreation. Plastic shuttlecocks tend to travel shorter distances as they are heavier. Hence, they are good for building strength as you make the transition to feathered shuttlecocks. Most people will progress to using feathered shuttlecocks as they are used at all competitive tournaments.

3.      Badminton Shoes

Badminton shoes are designed to give you better traction and grip to stop in time to return a shot. They should also be lightweight have good cushioning to absorb impact when you jump or land. Regular players will find heel cups useful to prolonging the lifespan of your shoes. Do not wear jogging shoes as they usually lack grip and traction. You might end up crashing through the badminton net if you are unable to stop in time to receive a drop shot.  

4.      Badminton Attire

For casual to non-competitive players, a comfortable pair of shorts and cotton or dri-fit t-shirt is sufficient. Some players may want to equip themselves with hand grips, wrist bands and ankle guards. Each of these items serve a purpose and might also add a dash of color to the entire get-up. When it comes to badminton equipment, select what is appropriate before turning your attention to aesthetics.

 To be good at any sport you need to master the basics. Mastering the basic techniques and skills allows you to play consistently and improve. Badminton is a very beginner-friendly sport but difficult to master. Anybody can learn and master the basic skills for Badminton.

·        Knowing how to warm up properly

·        The basic forehand and backhand grip

·        The basic six corners footwork

·        The split step or the ready stance

·        The basic shots

·        Perception and anticipation

·        Hand-eye coordination

·        Rhythm and timing

·        Tactical and strategic thinking

Knowing how to warm up properly

Warming up is a combination of skill and a bit of know-how. Players of any level should know how to warm up properly before stepping on court for a match. We wrote an in-depth article on warming up properly for Badminton. It’s so important to do a full warm-up before playing to help avoid injuries. It’s also important because you’re ready to go right from the start of the match. You won’t need to get four-five rallies into the game before you feel like you’ve finally got in gear.

 Warm-ups don’t have to take that long either. You can perform a solid warm-up in less than five minutes. Here are some simple routines that really get the blood pumping:

 ·        High speed skipping for five minutes (try to go fast without losing consistency and tripping over the rope)

·        A simple set of jumping jacks, squats, burpees, lunges and knee tucks each for one minute

·        Jog around the hall at a quick pace for five minutes

You get the idea, anything that gets you moving without overstretching. It should get your heart pumping and as my coach used to say; “you should have little beads of sweat from the forehead”.

The basic forehand and backhand grip

Learning the forehand and backhand grip is a fundamental skill. It’s so important to get this right as it’s the building blocks to learning every shot in Badminton. The basic forehand and backhand grip is easy to learn, you can practice getting the hold right sat at home. Practice swapping from forehand to backhand whilst sat on the couch at home.

 The forehand grip is much like shaking somebody’s hand. Both in the way you hold the racquet and in how tight you hold it. You want to hold the racquet loosely, gripping the racquet too tight can lead to injuries like tennis elbow. It also makes it very difficult to hit the shot smoothly as you’re tensing up your muscles.

 The backhand grip is for some people easier to get right. You simply take the forehand grip and roll the thumb over so it sits flat on the grip rather than along the edge. The use of the thumb makes it easier to stabilize the grip compared to the forehand.

The basic six corners footwork

Footwork is crucial in Badminton. It’s been known that some coaches in China only teach beginners footwork from the beginning. They don’t teach any racquet skills until the player has mastered the basic footwork. They do this because it’s impossible to play good shots if you cannot reach the shuttle. In Badminton, once the shuttlecock touches the floor the rally is over so you need to be able to cover the court in order to play well.

 I wouldn’t go as far as they do in principals but I still believe footwork is one of the most important aspects of playing Badminton. Footwork can get very technical and complex but right now we’re just going to cover the basic footwork patterns in short. We have more full and detailed guides coming soon around footwork drills and breakdowns.

 If you can master these six pieces of footwork for Badminton then you’re off to a good start. The six pieces of footwork are:

 Travelling to the forehand side of the net

·        Travelling to the backhand side of the net

·        Covering the forehand mid-court

·        Covering the backhand mid-court

·        Moving to the forehand rear-court

·        Moving to the backhand rear-court

For info please watch this video : https://www.youtube.com/embed/IidZFd6vCJk?autoplay=1

 The split step/the ready stance

The split step is a technique used to get ready for the next shot. It’s used not only in Badminton but in sports like Tennis as well. It’s the basis of building good footwork and speed around the court. We have a great article detailing everything about the split step, make sure to read it in full.

 Let’s summarize why the split step is so important. A good split step is for a Badminton player what a good start out of the blocks is for a runner. If you don’t have a good split step you’ll be playing catch up to your opponent.

 So how do you do the split step? It’s simple but can be tricky to master. When you return to your base position on court you want to make a slight jump in the air and land with your feet apart. You want to time the landing of your feet just after your opponent hits the shuttle. That way you can land the split step and immediately push off to the next shot.

 The basic shots

There are so many varieties of shots in Badminton. Variants of shots include slicing the shuttle, tumbling the shuttle or hitting it at different angles with different swings. But they all have one original basic shot. For beginners here is a list of basic shots you should master first.

 ·        The serve (forehand or backhand)

·        The lift (sometimes called a lob)

·        The net shot

·        The block

·        The drop shot

·        The smash

·        The clear

That’s eight shots in total. It’s quite a lot when you’re just starting out and they can all be played backhand and forehand. These seven shots cover the majority of situations you’ll face in a match. Master these and you’ll have a good base in which to build on and start learning more advanced shots and variations.

 Hand-eye coordination

It only comes with practice but having good hand-eye coordination is essential for Badminton. You can’t play Badminton if you can’t connect the racquet and shuttle. The best way to improve hand-eye coordination for Badminton is to play lots of Badminton. Who would have thought?!

 Seriously though, playing and training will improve your hand-eye coordination significantly but there are exercises you can do at home alone or with another person to improve your hand-eye coordination. Here are some examples.

 Playing catch

Playing catch is a simple but effective way to improve hand-eye coordination. All you need is a ball, you could do this with a shuttlecock too. Practice throwing and catching with someone else or bounce the shuttle or ball of a wall at different angles and catch it again.

 Catching an object focuses your eyes on a single object travelling. It requires concentration and spatial awareness. It’s so simple but so effective.

 Juggling

So not a skill for those with little patience, juggling is a difficult skill to master but for good reason. Juggling requires incredible hand-eye coordination, even just by learning to juggle you’re improving your hand-eye coordination without having mastered the skill. It’s something you can do anywhere with a couple or more balls or shuttles.

 When you master juggling two items then you can move onto three then four etc. Adding more objects or changing the objects improves your hand-eye coordination even more. You have to track each item in the air and feel how you threw the last one. It’s also a great party trick to have in the bag.

 Exercising your eyes

Believe it or not but there are specific exercises that you can do to exercise your eyes! They basically help strengthen the muscles in and around your eyes. They mainly help with focusing your vision which in turn will help with your hand-eye coordination. Some examples of eye exercises are.

 ·        Focus change

·        Near and far focus

·        Figure eight

Rhythm and timing

If you watch the top players in the world like Lin Dan, Lee Chong Wei and Kento Momota etc, they seem to cover the court so easily. They make every shot look effortless and smooth. They have little to no break in their footwork and look to glide around the court. They have honed their rhythm and timing for playing Badminton over years of training and match play. Lee Chong Wei has impeccable timing with his footwork and if you watch the video below you can see how rhythmic his movement is. When you play Badminton, especially singles, getting a natural rhythm while you play is key to developing good footwork and creating consistency in your play. When we dance we use the music as our rhythm and that helps us relax and get into the flow. When playing Badminton you need to be able to find a rhythm of play that suits you. This can only come from playing a lot of purposeful practice and playing matches. Timing is similar but relates more to hand-eye coordination. Your timing will naturally improve the more Badminton you play. It’s important to have good timing so you can hit shots cleanly, a split-step at the right moment and so you can position yourself to hit the shuttle at the optimal time.

 Perception and anticipation

These two skills become much more important the better you get at Badminton. It’s the difference between just getting your opponents shot back and intercepting or countering your opponents next shot. Perception means: “The ability to see, hear, or become aware of something through the senses.” For Badminton, this has lots of meanings. Being able to see where your opponent is in relation to the rest of the court, being able to hear if they’re panting and getting tired, the examples go on and on. It’s about how you perceive the current situation playing out during a match. Being more aware. Anticipation is a little different. Anticipation means: “The action of anticipating something; expectation or prediction.” For Badminton, anticipation means reading your opponents’ next move before they play it, to change your stance in preparation for the next shot and to advance your position before the play has been made. Anticipation is a very important skill in Badminton because if you can read your opponents’ next shot then you can gain the upper hand in the rally, the game, and the match. It’s not easy to learn this skill as everyone plays differently, no two players play the same. One player might play a certain shot when they’re in trouble and someone else might play an entirely different shot. You see top players Hendra Setiawan and Lin Dan do this very well. Before their opponent has played their shot they’re already anticipating their next move. Watch this video below and watch how Lin Dan changes the positioning of his feet in order to move faster to the next shot. As you can see he doesn’t always get it right but is able to recover and stay in the rally.

 Tactical and strategic thinking

There are many ways to win a game of Badminton. Players and coaches use different tactics and strategies to win a match. Tactics are the shots we make, the set plays we try to repeat and the choices we make when backed into a corner. Tactics are the small steps and choices within each rally. Strategies are the overall plan for playing a match, they’re the long term plan. Strategy in Badminton is creating a plan on how you’ll win. An example strategy for a singles player might be to get their opponent to play a high lift so they can get back and smash. An example strategy for a doubles player might be to get to the front as fast as possible to intercept the shuttle early or kill it. These are basic examples. The elite players will have multiple strategies for when the opponent starts countering their strategy. I feel it’s always best to keep things simple when it comes to tactics and strategies. If you’re beating your opponent then there is no need to change anything. If you’re losing then you need to change something. Why is it important to learn about tactics and strategies? Taking a quote from Sun Tzu and the Art of War, a book we recommend for every Badminton payer to read. “The general who wins the battle makes many calculations in his temple before the battle is fought. The general who loses makes but few calculations beforehand.” If you plan on how you’re going to win the match or plan how you’re going to cope with your opponents’ big smash then you’re already a step ahead. You need to learn how to harness your best shots to gain the initiative and win points. It’s partly visualization if you can visualize how you can win then you’re more likely to win.

 Technical Skills in Badminton

·        The Ready Stance - it is a position in badminton wherein the right stance is readied by the player in order to minimize the amount of movements that would be needed in order to hit the shuttlecock

·        Forehand and Backhand Grip - these are the two basic grips that new players must familiarize themselves with. By doing either of these, it would be much easier for players to control their shots

·        Footwork - it is a necessary skill in order to play badminton. A proper footwalk would help in mastering the sports

·        Strokes - initially, there are four strokes that the player can use.  

·        Underarm Backhand Serve - it is a type of serve that beginners can use

Tactical skills in badminton

·        Applying pressure on hitting the shuttlecock

·        Position yourself in the central base

·        It would be easier to hit the shuttlecock on the corners of the court

·        Deceive your opponents during singles match

 Scoring System

A match consists of the best of 3 games of 21     points.

Every time there is a serve – there is a point     scored.

The side winning a rally adds a point to its     score.

At 20 all, the side which gains a 2 point lead     first, wins that game.

At 29 all, the side scoring the 30th point,     wins that game.

The side winning a game serves first in the     next game.

Interval and Change of Ends

When the leading score reaches 11 points,     players have a 60 second interval.

A 2 minute interval between each game is     allowed.

In the third game, players change ends when     the leading score reaches 11 points.

Singles

At the beginning of the game (0-0) and when     the server’s score is even, the server serves from the right     service court. When the server’s score is odd, the server serves from the     left service court.

If the server wins a rally, the server scores     a point and then serves again from the alternate service court.

If the receiver wins a rally, the receiver     scores a point and becomes the new server. They serve from the appropriate     service court – left if their score is odd, and right if it is even.         Doubles

A side has only one ‘set’.

The service passes consecutively to the     players as shown in the diagram.

At the beginning of the game and when the     score is even, the server serves from the right service court. When it is     odd, the server serves from the left court.

If the serving side wins a rally, the serving     side scores a point and the same server serves again from the alternate service     court.

If the receiving side wins a rally, the     receiving side scores a point. The receiving side becomes the new serving     side.

The players do not change their respective     service courts until they win a point when their side is serving.

Officials roles are among the most important positions when planning badminton events as they are specialized roles filled by qualified volunteers.

 Badminton events of all size – be it a local circuit tournament, county competition or even one of our major events – on a national and international level, require a team of officials. The officials are the judges responsible to ensure a fair badminton game is being played. They consists of:

 ·        Umpire: The ‘main judge’ for the particular badminton game. He/she has the power to overrule any decisions made by the service judge or line judges. The umpire is the person ensuring that the badminton game is run smoothly and prevent any players from delaying the game play. Whenever a player requests to change the shuttle, the umpire will need to approve that the change could be made. The umpire also looks out for faults committed around the net area such as whether a player touched the net when returning the shuttle. Besides, the umpire is responsible to make a ‘fault’ call when the shuttle touches the player or the players’ attires except for the badminton racket. In badminton, it will be a fault/foul to a player if the shuttle touches any part of that player’s body or attire.

 ·        Service Judge: The service judge is responsible in making a ‘service fault’ call and to provide shuttles to the players.

 ·        Line Judges: Line judges sit beside the badminton court (right in front of every in/out lines) to determine whether the shuttle is inside or outside the boundaries of the court.

 ·        Referees – The referee is the most senior official in a badminton tournament and they in overall charge of all matters which affect play and the players on and off court.

   The referee shall have key responsibility for:

·        Producing schedule and order of play.

·        Amendments to the draw and schedule.

·        The smooth running of play on the day.

·        Liaison with Umpire and Line Judge managers.

·        The correct implementation of regulations and the Laws of Badminton.

·        Completion of a tournament report.

 Citations :

https://basilioeduc.wordpress.com/2013/09/20/officiating-badminton/

https://www.masterbadminton.com/who-are-the-officials-of-badminton.html

https://www.badminton.mb.ca/page/18182/Officiating

https://www.badmintonengland.co.uk/play/give-your-sport-a-helping-hand/officiating-in-badminton/tournamentmatch-referees/

https://sportsphilippines.wordpress.com/2017/02/02/officiating-in-badminton/

https://www.masterbadminton.com/badminton-techniques.html

https://www.badmintonbc.com/page/2888/The-Laws-of-Badminton

https://www.badmintonsbest.com/blog/skills-you-need-to-play-badminton/#the-basic-shots

https://www.myactivesg.com/Sports/Badminton/How-To-Play/Badminton-Equipment/Getting-Started-for-a-Game-of-Badminton

https://www.dlgsc.wa.gov.au/sport-and-recreation/sports-dimensions-guide/badminton#:~:text=The%20badminton%20court%20is%2013.4,The%20lines%20are%2040mm%20wide.

https://www.britannica.com/sports/badminton

Barack Obama’s DNC Speech

“Good evening, everybody. As you've seen by now, this isn't a normal convention. It's not a normal time. So tonight, I want to talk as plainly as I can about the stakes in this election. Because what we do these next 76 days will echo through generations to come.

I'm in Philadelphia, where our Constitution was drafted and signed. It wasn't a perfect document. It allowed for the inhumanity of slavery and failed to guarantee women -- and even men who didn't own property -- the right to participate in the political process. But embedded in this document was a North Star that would guide future generations; a system of representative government -- a democracy -- through which we could better realize our highest ideals. Through civil war and bitter struggles, we improved this Constitution to include the voices of those who'd once been left out. And gradually, we made this country more just, more equal, and more free.

The one Constitutional office elected by all of the people is the presidency. So at minimum, we should expect a president to feel a sense of responsibility for the safety and welfare of all 330 million of us -- regardless of what we look like, how we worship, who we love, how much money we have -- or who we voted for.

But we should also expect a president to be the custodian of this democracy. We should expect that regardless of ego, ambition, or political beliefs, the president will preserve, protect, and defend the freedoms and ideals that so many Americans marched for and went to jail for; fought for and died for.

I have sat in the Oval Office with both of the men who are running for president. I never expected that my successor would embrace my vision or continue my policies. I did hope, for the sake of our country, that Donald Trump might show some interest in taking the job seriously; that he might come to feel the weight of the office and discover some reverence for the democracy that had been placed in his care.

But he never did. For close to four years now, he's shown no interest in putting in the work; no interest in finding common ground; no interest in using the awesome power of his office to help anyone but himself and his friends; no interest in treating the presidency as anything but one more reality show that he can use to get the attention he craves.

Donald Trump hasn't grown into the job because he can't. And the consequences of that failure are severe. 170,000 Americans dead. Millions of jobs gone while those at the top take in more than ever. Our worst impulses unleashed, our proud reputation around the world badly diminished, and our democratic institutions threatened like never before.

Now, I know that in times as polarized as these, most of you have already made up your mind. But maybe you're still not sure which candidate you'll vote for -- or whether you'll vote at all. Maybe you're tired of the direction we're headed, but you can't see a better path yet, or you just don't know enough about the person who wants to lead us there.

So let me tell you about my friend Joe Biden.

Twelve years ago, when I began my search for a vice president, I didn't know I'd end up finding a brother. Joe and I came from different places and different generations. But what I quickly came to admire about him is his resilience, born of too much struggle; his empathy, born of too much grief. Joe's a man who learned -- early on -- to treat every person he meets with respect and dignity, living by the words his parents taught him: "No one's better than you, Joe, but you're better than nobody."

That empathy, that decency, the belief that everybody counts -- that's who Joe is.

When he talks with someone who's lost her job, Joe remembers the night his father sat him down to say that he'd lost his.

When Joe listens to a parent who's trying to hold it all together right now, he does it as the single dad who took the train back to Wilmington each and every night so he could tuck his kids into bed.

When he meets with military families who've lost their hero, he does it as a kindred spirit; the parent of an American soldier; somebody whose faith has endured the hardest loss there is.

For eight years, Joe was the last one in the room whenever I faced a big decision. He made me a better president -- and he's got the character and the experience to make us a better country.

And in my friend Kamala Harris, he's chosen an ideal partner who's more than prepared for the job; someone who knows what it's like to overcome barriers and who's made a career fighting to help others live out their own American dream.

Along with the experience needed to get things done, Joe and Kamala have concrete policies that will turn their vision of a better, fairer, stronger country into reality.

They'll get this pandemic under control, like Joe did when he helped me manage H1N1 and prevent an Ebola outbreak from reaching our shores.

They'll expand health care to more Americans, like Joe and I did ten years ago when he helped craft the Affordable Care Act and nail down the votes to make it the law.

They'll rescue the economy, like Joe helped me do after the Great Recession. I asked him to manage the Recovery Act, which jumpstarted the longest stretch of job growth in history. And he sees this moment now not as a chance to get back to where we were, but to make long-overdue changes so that our economy actually makes life a little easier for everybody -- whether it's the waitress trying to raise a kid on her own, or the shift worker always on the edge of getting laid off, or the student figuring out how to pay for next semester's classes.

Joe and Kamala will restore our standing in the world -- and as we've learned from this pandemic, that matters. Joe knows the world, and the world knows him. He knows that our true strength comes from setting an example the world wants to follow. A nation that stands with democracy, not dictators. A nation that can inspire and mobilize others to overcome threats like climate change, terrorism, poverty, and disease.

But more than anything, what I know about Joe and Kamala is that they actually care about every American. And they care deeply about this democracy.

They believe that in a democracy, the right to vote is sacred, and we should be making it easier for people to cast their ballot, not harder.

They believe that no one -- including the president -- is above the law, and that no public official -- including the president -- should use their office to enrich themselves or their supporters.

They understand that in this democracy, the Commander-in-Chief doesn't use the men and women of our military, who are willing to risk everything to protect our nation, as political props to deploy against peaceful protesters on our own soil. They understand that political opponents aren't "un-American" just because they disagree with you; that a free press isn't the "enemy" but the way we hold officials accountable; that our ability to work together to solve big problems like a pandemic depends on a fidelity to facts and science and logic and not just making stuff up.

None of this should be controversial. These shouldn't be Republican principles or Democratic principles. They're American principles. But at this moment, this president and those who enable him, have shown they don't believe in these things.

Tonight, I am asking you to believe in Joe and Kamala's ability to lead this country out of these dark times and build it back better. But here's the thing: no single American can fix this country alone. Not even a president. Democracy was never meant to be transactional -- you give me your vote; I make everything better. It requires an active and informed citizenry. So I am also asking you to believe in your own ability -- to embrace your own responsibility as citizens -- to make sure that the basic tenets of our democracy endure.

Because that's what at stake right now. Our democracy.

Look, I understand why many Americans are down on government. The way the rules have been set up and abused in Congress make it easy for special interests to stop progress. Believe me, I know. I understand why a white factory worker who's seen his wages cut or his job shipped overseas might feel like the government no longer looks out for him, and why a Black mother might feel like it never looked out for her at all. I understand why a new immigrant might look around this country and wonder whether there's still a place for him here; why a young person might look at politics right now, the circus of it all, the meanness and the lies and crazy conspiracy theories and think, what's the point?

Well, here's the point: this president and those in power -- those who benefit from keeping things the way they are -- they are counting on your cynicism. They know they can't win you over with their policies. So they're hoping to make it as hard as possible for you to vote, and to convince you that your vote doesn't matter. That's how they win. That's how they get to keep making decisions that affect your life, and the lives of the people you love. That's how the economy will keep getting skewed to the wealthy and well-connected, how our health systems will let more people fall through the cracks. That's how a democracy withers, until it's no democracy at all.

We can't let that happen. Do not let them take away your power. Don't let them take away your democracy. Make a plan right now for how you're going to get involved and vote. Do it as early as you can and tell your family and friends how they can vote too. Do what Americans have done for over two centuries when faced with even tougher times than this -- all those quiet heroes who found the courage to keep marching, keep pushing in the face of hardship and injustice.

Last month, we lost a giant of American democracy in John Lewis. Some years ago, I sat down with John and the few remaining leaders of the early Civil Rights Movement. One of them told me he never imagined he'd walk into the White House and see a president who looked like his grandson. Then he told me that he'd looked it up, and it turned out that on the very day that I was born, he was marching into a jail cell, trying to end Jim Crow segregation in the South.

What we do echoes through the generations.

Whatever our backgrounds, we're all the children of Americans who fought the good fight. Great grandparents working in firetraps and sweatshops without rights or representation. Farmers losing their dreams to dust. Irish and Italians and Asians and Latinos told to go back where they came from. Jews and Catholics, Muslims and Sikhs, made to feel suspect for the way they worshipped. Black Americans chained and whipped and hanged. Spit on for trying to sit at lunch counters. Beaten for trying to vote.

If anyone had a right to believe that this democracy did not work, and could not work, it was those Americans. Our ancestors. They were on the receiving end of a democracy that had fallen short all their lives. They knew how far the daily reality of America strayed from the myth. And yet, instead of giving up, they joined together and said somehow, some way, we are going to make this work. We are going to bring those words, in our founding documents, to life.

I've seen that same spirit rising these past few years. Folks of every age and background who packed city centers and airports and rural roads so that families wouldn't be separated. So that another classroom wouldn't get shot up. So that our kids won't grow up on an uninhabitable planet. Americans of all races joining together to declare, in the face of injustice and brutality at the hands of the state, that Black Lives Matter, no more, but no less, so that no child in this country feels the continuing sting of racism.

To the young people who led us this summer, telling us we need to be better -- in so many ways, you are this country's dreams fulfilled. Earlier generations had to be persuaded that everyone has equal worth. For you, it's a given -- a conviction. And what I want you to know is that for all its messiness and frustrations, your system of self-government can be harnessed to help you realize those convictions.

You can give our democracy new meaning. You can take it to a better place. You're the missing ingredient -- the ones who will decide whether or not America becomes the country that fully lives up to its creed.

That work will continue long after this election. But any chance of success depends entirely on the outcome of this election. This administration has shown it will tear our democracy down if that's what it takes to win. So we have to get busy building it up -- by pouring all our effort into these 76 days, and by voting like never before -- for Joe and Kamala, and candidates up and down the ticket, so that we leave no doubt about what this country we love stands for -- today and for all our days to come.

Stay safe. God bless.”

- Former President Barack Obama

To the decided:

To the undecided:

To the opposed:

Marcus Crigler on Improving Businesses and Profitability

https://www.jayconner.com/marcus-crigler-on-improving-businesses-and-profitability/ Jay Conner (00:07): Well, welcome to another episode of Real Estate investing with Jay Conner. I'm Jay Conner, the private money authority. Your host, and a special welcome to you. If this is your first time to be tuning in to the show, we talk about all things real estate investing here. And if you've been tuning in over the last year and a half or so, you know I've had some amazing guests here on the show and today is no different. But before I introduce you to my special guest, this is going to tell you how to save a bunch of money on your taxes and how to increase your cashflow in your business, which I know you're interested in. I've got a free online class that will plug you in to getting funding for your deals. Regardless of what your mortgage broker, your hard money lender, or any of your other funding sources will tell you. Jay Conner (00:57): So if you're interested in getting more money to fund your real estate deals, I'm going to reveal to you the five easy steps as to how you can get funding. So when I started out in 2003 I was relying on the local banks to fund my deals. And then in 2009 I got cut off with no notice and I was introduced to this wonderful world of private money and I haven't missed out on a deal since for not having the funding. So head on over after the show to www.JayConner.com/MoneyPodcast. That's JayConner.com/MoneyPodcast. I'm so excited to have as my guest on today's show, my good friend and fellow mastermind member, Mr. Marcus Crigler. Before I bring Marcus on, let me tell you a little bit about him. Jay Conner (01:50): So after developing relationships with some of the biggest leaders in the United States in real estate investing, Marcus began to notice something that was rather problematic. And it was a trend in many of the real estate investing portfolios. And that was accounting and taxes. Our favorite subjects, right? We're being approached reactively. Listen carefully. Reactively instead of proactively. So Marcus said it out as his mission in the firm where he's at. Duckett ladd is the name of their company. So he set out on a mission. So using his firm's extensive experience in real estate as the platform. And by the way, these people, Marcus and his partners, he's a partner in the firm. They specialize in working directly with real estate investors. So he and the team have developed a very, very strategic approach to increasing cash flow. And as I said, reducing tax liability for their clients. And that's representing over $500 million in assets. So they've got a very partner focused approached to help their real estate investing clients make quicker, more accurate financial decisions. So the business owners, CEOs, what have you, can spend their time doing what they're most passionate about. And of course, as you all have heard me teach and coach, I say to automate the business, do what you're passionate about, dictate, delegate everything else. So with that, Marcus, welcome to the show, my friend. Marcus Crigler (03:32): Hey Jay! I appreciate you having me. I've been able to listen to the show several times and just getting to know you over the past couple of years, it's just been an honor to meet such a guy like you. It's been a blessing. Jay Conner (03:43): Well, same here man. I love your heart. I love you have a servant's heart. I believe that birds of the same feather flock together. So that's why we hit it off right after meeting each other a couple of years ago. And of course, as I mentioned, we're in a mastermind together and get to see each other four times a year. But first let's start with this, Marcus. How is it that you're qualified to talk about what you're going to be talking about on today's show? Marcus Crigler (04:09): Yeah, that's a great question. So first and foremost, I'm a CPA and that just means I went through and studied really hard and passed the test. That's pretty much what that means. But more than that. And the thing that probably qualifies me more than passing a test is what I've done to study this industry. And study how people in this industry can not only save money in taxes but save a generic cashflow in their business and become more profitable. And so I get the luxury and I say luxury and I mean luxury of working with some great, great real estate investors. And so I kind of get a cheat sheet, if you will, to see what are the really, really solid real estate investors doing it. And how can I help real estate investors all over the country, you know, take in some of those concepts and really grow their portfolio and grow their business with that knowledge. Jay Conner (05:02): Well, you know, one thing that really stood out to me about you, Marcus, is when we first got to know each other. Is you and your partners have got a very, very unique approach and perspective when it comes to how you view your real estate investing clients. And really what the relationship should look like and what your relationship looks like with your clients. So, you know, most people that you know are using a CPA or an accountant, most of the time it's, you see them one time a year, you're doing the tax return, et cetera. So what is it about you and your partners that is so different from the traditional relationship that a CPA would have with their real estate investing client? Marcus Crigler (05:58): Yeah, it's a great question. So one of the things that, when we set out to do something a little different in the CPA profession, we're all younger guys and you know, we all have kind of a mission behind us. And when we set out to kind of make a change in this industry, one of the changes we wanted to make was the ability in the common nature, I guess, for our business owners to come to us and ask us questions about how to make their business better, how to make their business stronger, not only saving taxes. We can do that and, and most CPAs that know the industry can help you in that realm. But where we differ a little bit and where I think we have a little bit of a better opportunity to serve is that we don't care just about how much money you're saving in taxes, but we want you to make more money as an individual, as a business. Marcus Crigler (06:46): And so we want to see you at a minimum quarterly. And go over your books, make sure they're correct, make sure you're able to make decisions on those books or records that you have. Because if you're not, if you're not basing decisions in your business, off of data, it's just simply a guess. And if you're guessing at your business, eventually it's going to hurt you. You may be able to get by with it for so long. Once you get to a size and business where you are, you're a full time in this industry. Having somebody with a financial background that can analyze your books and give you an idea of, Hey, this is what's going right in your business and this, this isn't, you know, this is really, you're struggling here. Either need to focus on this a little bit more, maybe drop, maybe this is a piece of your business that you need to focus on. Marcus Crigler (07:30): And so those are the kinds of conversations that I'm having on a daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly basis. As a matter of fact, just yesterday I spent a full eight hours with a group in setting up a plan for their 2020 goals and how to get them, how to achieve them. Not only set, you know, everybody goes and sets goals. You can set these big enormous goals and you're never going to hit them. What we look at doing is setting these goals, but then backing into, okay, strategically, how can we actually manage to hit these things? And now we can hold them accountable to those goals throughout the entire year. So that's just a completely different relationship than just going in and seeing your tax guy once a year and hoping that, you know, at the end of the year you don't have a big tax bill or you know, finding out at the end of the year. Oh wow. I didn't make any money. Jay Conner (08:18): It sounds like part of your relationship is being an accountability partner. Marcus Crigler (08:24): It absolutely is. Yeah. I, you know, it's funny, you know, we call it sometimes, we call it CFO, fractional CFO type work. Almost every single client that we have is on some sort of fractional CFO type level. But you know, and the reality is, some of it is being a psychologist. Some of it's being a coach. Some of it's being kind of a mediator between partners. All of those things kind of play in because we're so hands on business and we allow the business owner to have a really a third party representation in their business that most businesses don't have. But they, but they really need, Jay Conner (08:59): Yeah. Well, you know, most entrepreneurs, most, not all, but most from my observation lane towards being the visionary, being the creative type and us people, I'm one of those, we really need somebody to help us have the discipline of looking at the books, looking at the numbers, looking at the balance sheet, looking at the year to date profit and loss and comparing those line items. I mean, you know, last year through the first three months we spent X number of marketing dollars in these different areas. Well, you know, is that stuff being tracked and measured and can you really measure effectively, you know, your costs to conversion, your cost of lead and really be able to see you. What are you getting a return on your money? Right? Marcus Crigler (09:52): Absolutely. Yeah, that's a great point. And you know, reviewing your books and really getting an understanding. What do they mean, what's on the balance sheet that should be important to you? What are the things that you should be looking at and analyzing? What are the things on the PNL that you should be looking at and analyzing? And what's the difference between the two? And what's the cash flow statement? And why should I look at that? Those are all the things that we talk about, but you know, you made a good point there. You know, I went through an exercise and you know, two weeks ago or something like that on a marketing. And you know, we dove into this, this company's marketing budget and where they were spending their money and it was interesting, they were in a bigger metropolitan area and they were spending all of these direct mail money in a zip codes that they were, they weren't making any money in those zip codes. Marcus Crigler (10:42): So they were just throwing bad money, good money and bad over and over and over again instead of dialing it in, using analytics to drive your decisions, not just go out and plaster, you know, direct mail everywhere. In that situation we were able to take 80% of their deals and narrow it down to half of their zip codes and now they have the decision to, okay, do I want to have the same budget for direct mail and hit those zip codes harder? What do I want to reduce my drag mail budget? Now they've got the ability to make that right decision for what they're, what they want to do. And so those are the kinds of things that we try and dive in and help our clients become better that way. Jay Conner (11:21): That's great. Now your firm, particularly you. You focus on real estate investing clients. So you probably, since you, you know, served quite a few real estate investors as clients, you have probably noticed a trend of commonalities of to where, there's just some, some common missed opportunities if you will, that real estate investors through using their local accountant. That doesn't specialize in, you know, like you all specialize. What are some of the areas or items that real estate investors could be taking advantage of that they maybe are not taking advantage of? And, or you know, errors. Marcus Crigler (12:09): Yeah, absolutely. So I'll tell you the biggest mistake that I see and the one that causes the most surprises is incorrect entity structuring. And when I say an incorrect entity structuring, that has everything to do with knowing when to have a disregarded entity. Knowing when to have an S corporation. And knowing when to have a C corporation. And know when to have a partnership. And those are all taxed a little differently. And so the IRS has different rules for all of those. So if you don't mind, I'll just kind of give a couple of quick examples of how people can use those types of entities to benefit them. Marcus Crigler (12:45): So in S Corp, and I'll just to kind of talk about the two main, which is an S Corp or partnership. So an S Corp is where you want to house your active income business. So this is a business that, you know, if you're a flipping company, that's where you house your flipping company. If you're a wholesaler, that's where you, house your wholesale. It's active. You're out actually out there, you're physically doing work or you've got a team physically doing work and you're generating income from them. Now, that's an S Corp. Now if you have rental properties, this is very, very different. This is where I see the big, big mistakes happen. If you have rental properties and you have those inside of an S corp, it could cause you a huge, huge heartache as far as hidden taxes that you don't know about. I won't go into those because they're kind of complicated and we don't have enough time on this podcast to do that. Marcus Crigler (13:37): But what I will tell you is anytime you're on a rental property, you're most likely going to want to have that into what's called a disregarded entity, which is an LLC that you own 100% yourself or in a partnership. And again, we're all speaking in generalities here cause I don't know anybody's specific situation in that kind of stuff. I got to get my disclaimers there as an accountant. Right. But, but generally speaking, you're going to want to have those rental properties in a partnership because it gives you more flexibility and it eliminates a lot of the tax traps that you've seen in S-corporation with real estate. So just by doing those two things right off the bat, that probably is going to eliminate, I'd say 50% of the mistakes that I've seen, especially hidden mistakes that I've seen that, you know, I hate to say this, but last year I had a new client come to me this year and just because they didn't follow those rules, that cost them $200,000 in additional taxes. It is just entity structure, right? Marcus Crigler (14:34): And just knowing where to put the right things in your business. And so that was not a fun conversation for me to have. And unfortunately there wasn't anything we could undo about it. But that's how important it is. Right. So other things that I see quite often, you know, we talk about this QBI deduction and if you've been an entrepreneur, and over the last year you've probably heard of that. That came in with a new tax code changes. Well, once you reach a certain threshold and get on and go into the details too much here, but once you reach a certain threshold, you have to pay out salaries in your business in order to maximize that QBI deduction, which is 20% deduction for you of all your income. So that's a huge deal. But if you're not paying out salaries, if all your, your employees are 1099 and you're not paying yourself out of salary, you've lost that opportunity. And so that's a huge mistake and it's a simple mistake to fix. That's the great thing about it. Those two things are both really, really simple things that can save a ton of money on your textbooks. Jay Conner (15:38): I got you. So in addition to that, I know you've got a free report that you're going to offer of the audience here in a moment. And that free report I think is titled the three biggest mistakes in 2019 that real estate investors either guilty of or whatever, Marcus Crigler (15:59): Yeah, the three mistakes real estate investors make on their taxes is, is, and it's from 2019 I wrote this right after the 2019 tax season was over with and just kind of compiled three big things that I saw real estate investors mistake. Both of those things that we just talked about are all in there. It goes into a little bit more detail about what you need to know about those and how that kind of fix those problems going forward. Jay Conner (16:21): Alright, well before I ask you another question, let's go ahead and give out your contact information mortgage as to how people can go get a copy of that report and how they can continue the conversation with you. Marcus Crigler (16:33): Yeah, absolutely. So the easiest way to reach out to us is Duckettladd.com it's our website. On the website you'll have a little button that says, are you a real estate investor? You push that, it's going to take you to our real estate investment page. And you can see everything you want to know about us as a firm, as far as real estate investors. And on that page you also get the opportunity to get that free guide throw in your email address. We're not going to spam you with a bunch of stuff. We don't actually even have an email campaign going, but it's just so opportunity for us to kind of get ahold of you and reach out to you if we have some cool things going on. Jay Conner (17:08): Alright, so we've got viewers and we got listeners here on the show. So let me make sure I got this right. So your website is www.DuckettLadd.com. Correct? Marcus Crigler (17:26): You got it. Jay Conner (17:27): Alright! Super! Well everybody, you definitely want to take advantage of getting on over there to that website and getting that free report. So Marcus, so you've got real estate investors as clients, pretty much all over the nation, right? Marcus Crigler (17:41): Yes. That's accurate. Jay Conner (17:42): Right. And so tell everybody where are you located? Marcus Crigler (17:45): Yeah, I'm in Springfield, Missouri. Which, you know, most people probably have heard of Kansas city, no not there. No where near Kansas city's at. We're about two and a half hours South of Kansas city. We're an MSA of about half a million or so. Jay Conner (17:58): Gotcha. So let me be the devil's advocate for a second. So you got clients all over the nation, so clearly you're going to be able to help people with the federal return. And of course you can coach them and consult them on, you know, the cash flow and saving taxes. But how do you work it when they're needing to file their state taxes? How does that work? Marcus Crigler (18:23): Yeah, that's a great question. So, just as you kind of alluded to, we do have real estate investors all over the, all over the country. So we do have to file a number of state returns. Matter of fact, I believe we have a state return in every state except Hawaii and Alaska, which I wouldn't mind doing one at Hawaii. I'll specifically go to that client to see them. But yes, so we have experienced in just about every single state. If we don't for whatever reason or if we need to learn a little bit more about it, we've got a great group of tax professionals that can do a little dig and do a little research plus, you know, to be honest with you, we have a, we pay a good amount of money for our tax software that also helps guide us through these States and these various States in the intricacies of every state, that kind of stuff. Jay Conner (19:10): Gotcha. Now when you're working with your clients, you know, with you being there in Springfield, your, you know, your meetings that you have with them, I mean, did you all get together in person or do you have throughout the years, zoom conference meetings or you know, how do you communicate with your clients? Marcus Crigler (19:28): Yeah, it all depends. Mostly zoom, video conferencing, very similar to what we're doing here. Most people, that's their preference anyways. Even if I was in their town, they would rather you kind of sit in their office, in their, you know, in their location that they're comfortable with. And be on a zoom and we can pretty much accomplish everything possible on that. Longer meetings. When I do strategic planning full days, one, two day meetings, we usually do that in person and that can either be in our, in Springfield, Missouri, we have the ability to host that or sometimes I go out to clients. It just kind of depends on the situation. Jay Conner (20:04): Excellent. Excellent. Alright Marcus, well we're out of time for this show, but any parting comments you'd like to share with the audience? Marcus Crigler (20:12): Yeah, Jay. Well, I just appreciate you having me on here and I hope that you know, we're in, we're in 2020 now tax season is here. I hope everybody has been able to do a little bit of tax planning and you know, they don't have any surprises on their tax bill. And then like I said, I just appreciate you having us on here and I really appreciate what you do for your audience. I think it's just fantastic that kind of value you give out for free, which is even more incredible. The kind of free value that you give out. I just have certainly respected that Jay Conner (20:40): You bet, you Marcus. Well, I appreciate you, Marcus. I appreciate our friendship and our time that we have together the mastermind. So everybody, again, take advantage of that free report and reach out to Marcus at www.DuckettLadd.com Well, I'm Jay Conner, the private money authority. Thank you for tuning in. Be sure and not miss out anymore of the episodes we have coming up. So if you're on iTunes, be sure to rate or subscribe, rate and review. If you're on one of our YouTube channels, be sure and subscribe there as well. So we look forward to seeing you on the next show. And here's to taking your real estate investing business to the next level. Bye for now. -------------------------------------------------- Visit: https://www.jayconner.com/

APH China Musings

When I start thinking about China, and sometimes countries in general, I get this total disconnect between how the anime/manga portrays the country (especially China) and how a lot of headcanons have them as, especially reading headcanons and art about ancient days. 

Ok China-specific content below (headcanons at the very end): Very long post warning

Most of the canon shows him as a sort of weird old grandpa who doesn’t really have all his nuts and bolts in his brainpan and pretends to be cool or whatever (when he’s really not) while his kids all mock him. That APH China has a soft spot for cute things and can’t really understand the others ig, which again kinda makes him a laughingstock for his kids. But, the headcanons I’ve read show him as a really manipulative, sly Old Man who enters contracts/treaties/friendships to benefit him, not for the sake of being kind, and doesn’t really see everybody else on an even level with him which... clashes somewhat to a lot with the canon. HOWEVER, this cunning, darker (?) version of him is way more historically accurate... I like certain things from both versions (and I also like being historically accurate as much as possible) and the fact that headcanons vs canon is so contrasting makes it kinda hard to have one concrete China for my headcanons, it’s like he has split personalities or something lol.

Side note: I’ve never heard/known of anyone Chinese ever saying -aru in English, so... It might be just a voice tic of Chinese people when speaking Japanese, but I sort of get annoyed when it’s added in every other sentence he says in a fanfic. He doesn’t talk like that in the English dubbed anime either, and it seems that the English translations of the manga have also omitted the -aru (except for one strip I believe, correct me if I’m wrong). So please don’t add it in fanfics unless you want the characters to all be speaking Japanese with their own unique voice tics.

However, I do like some parts of the canon portrayal, SUCH AS: his doing tai chi every morning, the portrayal of his relationship with Japan before the “betrayal”, and apparently how he “isn't one to waste a second of time” (from the wiki). So in my head, I try to meld the canon and Sly Old Man together, because I like some aspects of China that may not be explained by either the country’s history, culture, or stereotypes, and honestly I feel like some parts of a country’s personality can just appear spontaneously; you don’t need to be able to explain every part of you from your past experience or the people and country that you make up and represent.

Without further ado, the Headcanons!

- MORNING PERSON, does the whole tai chi thing in the morning with the birds in his garden or something, finds it very relaxing, and then goes back inside for an actual breakfast (I have no idea what he’d eat because Chinese cuisine varies A LOT from region to region, ex. in the north/Beijing region there’s usually soy milk, “Chinese oil stick” which is basically like salty fried dough sticks, and “tofu brains” <-- literal translation, it’s a sort of soupy thing with very soft tofu (very good). In the south, there’s a lot of sweet meats and dim sum, almost like a mini lunch sort of thing, etc.) He’d also drink tea, and never adds sugar (I don’t think restaurants in China ever actually give you sugar packets with tea)

- I feel like he’d be a CAT PERSON nowadays dogs as pets have become more popular in China but before, cats were more common (I think) because of their usefulness as pest control and the fact that they can get their own food; dogs weren’t really kept except to be guard dogs. I feel he’d have gotten used to cats, and also he’d enjoy a quiet pet’s company more

- ANCIENT DAYS/RELATIONSHIPS: He’d probably be slightly manipulative, and ENTER relationships for a trade benefit/power/control/good stuff, but if the relationship goes well and the person is charming (Rome cough cough), he’d slowly warm up and become real friends after a while.

- I agree with the Sly Old Man treatment of COLONIES/TRIBUTE STATES, he’d probably just protect them for the benefits instead of actual Love (but isn’t that what all countries do these days). I do see him as very patronizing to his underlings, because of a) his age and him thinking that he’s seen it all with his dynasty changes and wars and stuff and b) Confucianism, which said to respect your elders and all that, so I think it’d make him slightly full of himself and patronizing (the wiki says this is also his current attitude and I can see that). But I see a situation similar to the relationship one playing out here; as he gets more and more contact with a tribute state he actually grows closer to them in the Normal Human Feeling way, so that would explain his feeling of betrayal when Japan left (literally back-stabbing him), as well as his feeling sad (not just because he lost a trade partner and revenue maker) when Korea was taken. For his tribute states, my headcanon for their relationship is pretty much summed up in this post (esp his relationship with Korea, but also Japan a bit): https://stirringwinds.tumblr.com/post/119403708770/tsk-look-at-you-all-battered-and-bruised-its (patronizing but still caring)

- VERY PRAGMATIC AND EXTREMELY BLUNT. I have no explanation, he just seems like this kind of person (and according to the wiki, he “isn't one to waste a second of time”). Doesn’t care at all if he offends you, intentionally or not (unless he’s trying to impress, of course).

- VERY TRADITIONAL. He probably knows at least a handful of traditional instruments, pipa, ma tou qin, gu zheng, erhu, xun, etc. And will roast people on the internet if they play them wrong (a while back at some really fancy gathering, there was a performer who was in front, mind you, playing a yu (wind instrument) upside down and totally wrong, and that caused a huge firestorm in Chinese social media. I’d like to think China would have been one of those people to be like “what are you doing you know you just made a fool of yourself right?” Incidentally, there’s also an idiom related to the yu that is literally about playing it wrong (literally it’s something like one bad apple can be covered up in a sea of good ones but one by one, people will see you’re bad))

- TRADITIONAL pt. 2: good at calligraphy and also very good at guessing dui lian (apparently called antithetical couplets) hung up during the Lunar New Year. Also adhering to tradition, he gathers up everybody for every single big Chinese/Asian festival to eat together. I know Japan doesn’t interact much with China and China still feels betrayed by him in the manga (the Japanese and Chinese relationship nowadays still isn’t the greatest/closest for multiple reasons) but I’m going to take liberties (and my heart needs fluff). Also, if China invites/drags everybody but Japan to his house, I feel like that’s awkward and one of his kids/siblings would get Japan to come anyway. There would be a lot of arguing at the dinner, about food, politics, memes (from HK), trends, or anything really, but it’s all in good fun, yeah?

- MODERN POLITICS: still a bit of Sly Old Man, and probably very stuck in his ways. Some countries he doesn’t really respect. For example, he doesn’t see America as a fully respectable adult, probably because a) he’s still older and b) I think China agrees with his government’s structure to a point? Like with the way he suffered during the collapse of the Qing Dynasty (Boxer Rebellion, WWI, etc.) I think he’d take any system (including communism) that worked and improved people’s lives. At heart, I think China wants to do what’s right for the people, and at the time, the Communist Party promised that people’s lives would get better under their leadership, and for some, it did. That convinced so many people to take their promise, and I think China would have supported it at the time. As well as, I believe that country’s perspectives of their government is /somewhat/ influenced or warped by their people’s perspective, and /most/ people in China are /okay/ satisfied with the central govt. (not extending this to regional govts, that’s kinda a different issue). So I see China (as a character) being mostly satisfied, and America’s criticism and complaints about him pretty much bounce off, because China doesn’t see his comments worthy of respecting, especially because his govt. is doing ok from his point of view. There are definitely things that need working on, but he won’t take US criticism.

- SLY OLD MAN pt. 2: Basically the same as the tribute state thing, he’ll help you out initially to get your benefits, but if you last long enough, he’ll gradually grow friendship feelings. I feel like this is what real China is trying to do with the “Belt and Road”, basically spreading influence to less developed countries, although it may not be working out. Sort of like manipulation, which also fits in with the Sly Old Man thing.

- I can see why Hima originally designed China as being a bit cold, because I feel if he doesn’t need you, he won’t really talk to you. Although as mentioned above, I also see him start to care for somebody once he takes the effort to get to know you, and will probably care for his close friends long after they’re actually needed.

- I agree with the canon that he can GET ANNOYED EASILY AND SNAPS A LOT, but I see this happening only with people he thinks aren’t interesting enough, are below him, or don’t get him (or are just incessantly annoying).

- Also a bit EGOTISTICAL, but doesn’t show most of the time. Unless you happen to mention a recent achievement, and then he’ll go “Haha! I did that ____ (pick a number from 1,000 to 4,000) years ago!” or something and probably roast you

- SENTIMENTAL OLD SOUL: often reminisces about the past when alone, or with someone he truly trusts (that used to be Japan, but...). Slips into “how did the world get like this?” sometimes to a lot. Feels lonely sometimes too, and can be found stargazing on his front stoop at night

- RELAXING: if he doesn’t have work, he’ll just relax at his house, probably take a long bath/shower and just do nothing, maybe play some sort of instrument for fun, go into his garden and paint/walk around and enjoy the flowers, or watch some new addictive show. If he feels like working, he’ll cook dinner for all his kids/siblings and invite them over (this will also be done if he thinks one is overworking)

Ok those are all the headcanons for now, but probably will be more to come. My love for this Old Man is infinite <3. If you want, reblog/submit/comment your own aph China headcanons! Do you think I did him justice?

difference between #socialism and #communism. #Marxism is a little funky, but we’ll get there.

Socialism, in modern terms, is the sharing of wealth in society. You may here something like “western European countries are becoming increasingly socialist.” If you do, it usually means there's an increase in the exchange between a government and it's people. In Western democracies, this could indicate a socialist policy like universal healthcare (in which all individuals pay larger taxes for the greater benefit of a single health issue someone may have) or social welfare (in which each individual pays a certain extra amount, usually taken from their paycheck, to support the retired or unemployed). These are what constitutes the backbone of modern socialism, communal changes in income for the greater good. Basically, more sharing of wealth in society. Capitalism, on the other hand, is the opposite. Everybody is his own economy. Everyone operates individually. So what is socialism? What’s the takeaway? Think of socialism as sharing within a community. That’s all it is. Very simple. Communism is loosely based on socialism, and follows the same basic concepts of equality and sharing, but there’s one key difference. We’ll get there, but once you’ve finished reading this, you will understand.

Communism… is very different. Whilst anarchy is the extremist version of capitalism (every man for himself), communism is the extremist version of socialism (everybody has equal income). The big problem with communism is that it isn't feasible to have everybody on the honors-system and work for the common good. What do I mean by that?

The theory behind communism is that everybody takes what they produce and puts in a massive communal basket, then you take what you NEED back out of the basket. If everybody does this, we’ll have a nice little society in which we produce what we all need to live, and that’s it. It does not account for luxury items or anything more that somebody might desire, which creates a “good-enough” atmosphere lacking in personal ambition and quality of life. So what happens when somebody gets cheeky and takes a little bit more than he needs out of the basket? Or when somebody thinks its unfair that he gets so little in return from his toiling in the fields? This is the big krux with communism; somebody might always be benefiting unfairly from the hard work of an entire community, we have to make sure that doesn't happen! What's the solution to preventing such inequality? By having a massive government which oversees the whole country's processes! This is why you might hear many people say things like “communism doesn't work” or “Marx was an idiot!” Because having that powerful government which restricts it's people is by nature, not communist. The USSR saw a massive wealth gap, where 95% of the people were all relatively equal, working hard for a very poor quality of life in return; meanwhile, a top 5% Russian oligarchy took charge and controlled everything. And if the people lack ambition and creative drive (no extra production of technological development is happening), how can we compete with western nations? Enter Stalinism and Stalin's infamous 5-year-plans, the reality of communism. If you have a stagnant community in which everyone is equal, and people simply exist, then how does progression happen? The government employs forced progress. The Soviet Government set extremely high milestones for it's people, forcing them to reach quotas in food production, car production, weapons production, everything. In theory, this is also good, right? What's wrong with state-controlled progress milestones? It'll keep raising the quality of life, right? Well, millions died of starvation and fighting back against this system. Communism just… does not work out very well in reality. It is something which sounds great on paper, but simply does not carry-through into the real world.

So what's the big conclusion?

Well… if you want to stop reading here, my answer would be this: every country in the world is a mix of Capitalism and Socialism. Some sway more to one end than others, but every country is a mix. The two ABSOLUTE ends of the spectrum would be Anarchy (on the Capitalist side, every man for himself), and Communism (every man for one). Nations exist on all ends. Some nations, like Somalia, don’t even have a government to fend for itself, and therefore occupies one absolute end of the spectrum. Some nations exist on the other end too, the USSR was the closest example to absolute socialism, or communism. The ends of this spectrum are like an enigma, like the edge of the world, they are inefficient and simply don’t make any sense in practice. A balance must be struck between the two ends. So when you think of Socialism and Communism, just remember that Communism is a radical form of socialism. Just like monster trucks are a radical form of regular trucks. They’re based on the same principles and ideas, but they are not the same at all in actuality.

If you would like to read more about Communism, I’ve written some extra material about the 3 varieties of Communism. If you’ve ever heard of Marxism, Leninism, or Stalinism, and wonder what those are as well, then read below.

Now, I’ve read and annotated the Communist Manifesto on my own and with my own time, and I do not think Marx was an idiot by any means (a lot of people like to say he was). There's a few stages of communism you may hear about, and they're very important to understanding the topic: Marxism, Leninism, and Stalinism. What do they each mean? I'm going to keep it simple because this is a topic which sparks a lot of debate.

Marxism is effectively the idea and the dream of communism. Wouldn't it be paradise if we were all just equal? And the inherent inequality and suffering in capitalism was no more? That's what Marxism is, it's the predictions he makes about what a Utopia looks like, it’s a dream. If you haven't actually read the Communist Manifesto, it's very short, and many people would be surprised to see that Marx really is not that insane, I found it a good read. I would say that 90% of the Communist Manifesto is Marx repeating the same concepts over and over… “capitalism will drive a wedge between people so deep that the proletariat will revolt against the wealth gap and establish a Utopian society based on the needs of the worker!” (paraphrased, of course). It sounds great. And he isn't wrong, either. Effectively, that's what happened in Russia (in concept) when the Bolsheviks revolted against the Tsar. In 1789, the French did the same thing. All the major revolutions in history canned be summed up with Marxism, they begin as a result of severe inequality between two peoples/classes, and are started and finished on the hope to develop something better. However, Marxism ends there. That's it. The buildup to what might become commusim, is Marxism. A lot of people don't know where Marxism starts and where it ends, so here it is. Marxism begins with the dream of creating a totally socialist Utopia, and ends right before the actual fighting breaks out. Another key feature of Marxism, which I don't think is very important but I should mention, is it's universality. As an added bonus to Marx's dreams, these revolutions will occur across the globe, until the entire working-human race is United under one flag of the proletariat. Anyway, to summarize, Marxism is a belief. It is the belief that a revolution by the working class will eventually result in a better life for all. It’s simple. Many people are confused by the term “Marxism” because they think its a form a government or something… but it’s just an idea, a philosophy, like Stoicism or Freudian-ism. That’s all it is.

So what's the next stage? Well, Marx planted the dream of communism, what happens when the dream is actualized? In steps Leninism. In 1917, the German Empire sneaks Vladimir Lenin (who was in exile in Switzerland) back into Russia to start a revolution which will hurt Russia so bad it'll knock them out of World War 1! A great idea by the Germans! Their plan worked, too! Leninism is the materialization of Marxist dreams. That’s what it is. Leninism is the revolution itself, where hundreds of thousands of Russian peasants rise against their wealthy minority counterparts, and retrieve the power they’ve always deserved. That's what Leninism is. It's a short event, but major. It isn’t a form of government or anything, but it is the explosive leap which propels communism into the seat of power. Once again, some people get confused because they think it’s a form of government, but once again… it’s more like an action. It represents the next step into forming the Marxist dream! We're so close! I can see the shining Utopia ahead, through the fog, it's just there!!

The next stage? Well, once the idea is accepted and the great revolution succeeds, we have to make this Utopia a reality!

Uh oh… here comes Stalinism. You can think of Stalinism as communism in motion, it is the reality of Marxism. While Marxism was just an idea, and Leninism was fighting for that idea, Stalinism is what happens when the dreamers try to make something effective out of that idea. Stalinism is what happens once all the sweet-sounding promises of Leninism and Marxism have paved their road into this empty slate, what do we do with it? I won't talk much about Stalinism. If you want to know more about why its such a devastating disappointment, go back and read the 4th paragraph, and you'll know what Stalinism is.

These 3 branches all fall under the encompassing title of communism. So now, we know what Marxism is, Leninsim is, and Stalinism. All three of these concepts fall under the branch of COMMUNISM. Marxism and Leninism are not forms of government, or political parties… they are the precursors to Stalinism. And all three of these ideas combined form what is communism.

Once again, tl;dr: Marxism is a simple dream, a concept. Leninism is making that dream possible, and fighting to make that dream come true. Finally, Stalinism is the evidence and proof of why, altogether, it all amounts to nothing more than just… well… a dream. An unobtainable Utopia. Why is it unobtainable, once again? Because it simply does not account for human nature. Greed, luxury, surplus, inequality, scarcity, bias… a lot of factors which slow down all the cogs in the machine, and make it a brutally inefficient system. Can communism exist? Yes, it sure can, just like Anarchy can. Is it efficient? No, unfortunately not.

Crd :

@flakmaniak

Timmy Turner and Finn aren’t from ensemble casts though, right? I mean, there are recurring other characters, but they’re The Main Character, with one or two nonhuman sidekicks along for the ride.

Well, yes, but that’s kind of my point, actually.

Maybe I’ll just try writing out that essay...

Early on in the run of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, series creator Lauren Faust wrote out a short article for Ms. Magazine laying out her goals and intentions for the show. I think it’s a very interesting article, so much that I kind of want to quote the whole thing, but one thing Faust said that really stuck with me was,

There are lots of different ways to be a girl. You can be sweet and shy, or bold and physical. You can be silly and friendly, or reserved and studious. You can be strong and hard working, or artistic and beautiful.

I think the show is quite successful at that, depicting many different kinds of people, er, pastel ponies, with different strengths, weaknesses, and interests without denigrating any of them.

Faust also talks about being mostly completely alienated by the girls shows of her youth, which is interesting to me because I was extremely into at least a couple of girls shows. As a little boy, I was obsessed with the My Little Pony cartoon, and then, later, Sailor Moon.

Around the late 70s and early 80s, kids shows in the US kind of bifurcated, with shows becoming very explicitly “for girls” and “for boys”. This was especially true during the 80s, and this division wasn’t just about whether you had angular, primary color robots or soft pastel horses, the characters and story structures were very different as well.

I liked the boys shows, but I also liked some of the girls shows, because they addressed feelings and ideas I had that just weren’t going to be addressed in the boys shows. I especially liked the original My Little Pony series.

Now, the 80s version of My Little Pony has a lot of flaws. Particularly, the animation is terrible even by the standards of the 80s and the voice acting can be grating. But rewatching it, I still see what I liked as a kid, which was that it paid a lot of attention to motives and feelings. Like, here are some of the motivations for villains in the show:

I remember when my villainous boss used to be nice, so maybe if I stay with her I can keep her from causing too much trouble and help her go back to how she was.

I was kidnapped by a weird monster and he’s threatened to hurt my loved ones if I don’t do his evil bidding.

I made a deal for fame and fortune with a genie and now I know he eats souls but I’m afraid if I reject him I’ll go back to being poor.\

Our Queen stole a magic rock to revitalize our frozen country, and even though she’s overbearing I have to do right by my country.

These are fairly complex motivations for a kids show, especially when you compare them to, say, Transformers or Ninja Turtles. Shredder or Megatron are just bad because they’re bad, and so are most of their minions. Even if you have somebody like, I don’t know, Jetfire, the story there is that he discovers that his old friend Starscream is bad, at which point neither character has any further compunctions about blasting his old friend with laser guns.

Meanwhile, villains in My Little Pony would be conflicted, have divided loyalties, and be genuinely unsure what the right thing to do was. Even as a very small child, I thought that was more interesting and more honest then other shows were being.

Later, I had many of the same feelings about Sailor Moon. Hell, I still do. Even in the bowdlerized American version, I could still relate to Ami wondering if being a nerd meant she wasn’t properly into the things girls are “supposed” to be into and Usagi’s complete loathing of schoolwork and studies.

Even though these shows weren’t “for” me I really loved them, because the shows that were “for” me, the boys shows, never really expressed the kinds of ideas I’m talking about here. Like, especially during the early nineties, the answer to the question, “Does being a quiet, studious nerd make me less of a boy?” was, “Yes.”

I actually remember, as a child, constantly wishing I had been born a girl, not because I had some inner girl nature, but because girls (or so it seemed from outside) were allowed to be quiet, to be studious, to talk about feelings and to like predictability and calm. The idea of a boy wanting those things was largely foreign.

So... put a pin in that.

Okay, I want to describe a young boy to you. 

He’s energetic, but a bit scatterbrained. He isn’t bookish at all; trying to sit still for long periods of time makes him antsy, and he’d rather be out in the world doing physical things than reading or thinking. In fact, he tends to act without thinking things through, and this gets him in trouble. 

Despite being energetic and physical, he isn’t really into sports; he chafes under authority so teamwork isn’t always his strong suit, even though he cares deeply about his friends. 

I would argue that I’ve just described pretty much every adolsecent male protagonist of every cartoon released over the last 15 years or so. Aang. Danny Phantom. Timmy Turner. Ben 10. Finn from Adventure Time. I’m  sure more will come to mind later. 

This character shows up again and again in boys cartoons, and he’s almost always depicted as the default, with other characters understood through their relationship to this default boy.

Okay, I’m going to get into representation politics, and specifically I’m about to criticize Adventure Time, so I think a disclaimer is in order. One of the problems with talking about representation is that you end up criticizing broad patterns, but the same people aren’t in charge of the whole media landscape, and any single instance of the pattern is probably actually extremely defensible.

So. Okay. I haven’t seen all of Adventure Time, but I’ve seen the first couple of seasons, and they are very well written, and I think Finn in particular is a very well observed character who is very true to life, and in order to change what I’m going to complain about you’d have to rework the show from the ground up. So it’s not that this is a terrible decision, but...

Okay, something that bothers me about early Adventure Time is that Princess Bubblegum is a science nerd only because Finn isn’t. Princess Bubblegum kind of represents, to Finn, the mysteries of adulthood and sexuality. She’s part of this mysterious world of women and adulthood that Finn longs for but hasn’t grown up enough, or had enough experience with, to really understand.

And so to hammer that home her personality and life are also full of things that Finn can’t understand... Like sitting still, and doing meticulous, complex experiments and researching in books.

It’s not that the show denigrates this, not at all, it’s just that it’s positioned as incomprehensible and distant from the audience stand-in character. The Boy doesn’t like to sit still and study, he likes to go on dangerous, physical adventures! And he certainly couldn’t ever prefer to sit still and study over going out and having a physical adventure. Doing that would be incomprehensible.

She’s well-written and I’m sure lots of kids relate to her, but fundamentally her nerdiness is portrayed as foreignness.

A lot of the shows I mentioned above aren’t even really ensembles, but those that kind of are, e.g. Avatar: The Last Airbender, or Ben 10 give The Boy special powers that differentiate him from the rest of the cast.

Go back to the early episodes of My Little Pony and Twilight Sparkle is kind of the viewpoint character; the framing device of the early episodes is letters she writes, but she doesn’t really have, like, one special power that the others don’t, and structurally she’s a tertiary character in a lot of episodes. 

Contrast that to Aang, who is central to the story of Avatar, the Last Airbender. Like... you can have episodes that aren’t really about him but he has a special, important power that no other character does or can have, and the fate of the whole plot rests on his shoulders. Like, if the Avatar dies the natural order is upended and the Fire Nation almost certainly wins; you could kill off any other supporting cast member and then replace them without completely upending the world.

This is not to say that any of the shows I have called out are bad or harmful, but, to go way back, I remember being genuinely upset as a child not to see boy characters who had the feelings and struggles I did, and if anything, I think the situation might be slightly worse than when I was a kid. Go back to that Lauren Faust quote up there. How many cartoons feature a boy who is “Reserved and Studious”? Dexter’s Lab... Maybe Invader Zim... How many with a boy that is “Sweet and Shy”? Have you ever seen one about a boy who is “Artistic and beautiful?”

What about a show with all those boys portrayed as friends and equals, rather than one for you to relate to and a bunch of sidekicks and side characters?

Like, one of the only male, American cartoon characters who has ever made me go, “Yeah, that’s what it was like for me as a kid” is fucking Butters from South Park.

Repost from facebook, in case anyone cares about Canadian sports TV

I usually try to take one or two days to think about a hot-button issue and avoid making kneejerk emotional reaction statements in response to it, so a little late to the party: Don Cherry, eh?

There's a lot to talk about here. I'm not going to tell you whether or not he deserved to get fired, because frankly I don't work for Sportsnet or have any first-hand exposure to anything he may have said in the past that led up to this decision. I can't tell you if it was this comment in particular that sent his employers from 0 to 100, or if it was just the latest in a series of flack-catching events that they're tired of doing damage control. I don't particularly care either way, that matter is between him and his former employer. I will tell you, however, that the Government of Canada was not involved in this decision, and his firing was not a violation of his (albeit limited by Canadian laws) freedom of expression, as a television network is well within their rights to dismiss a representative who is delivering content to viewers that is incongruous with what the network wants delivered on their behalf. Moving on.

I have seen some people argue that Cherry was addressing everyone in Canada, and not only immigrants, so since apparently some short-term memories are not so great, I took the liberty of transcribing his comments:

"...Downtown Toronto, forget it! Downtown Toronto, no poppy... How bout [running?] it for the people that buy them? Now you go to the small cities, and you know... you know, those p--... the [rows and rows?] ... You people love, you that you come here, whatever it is, you love our way of life, you love our milk and honey, at least you could pay a couple of bucks for poppies or something like that. These guys pay for your way of life that you enjoy in canada, these guys paid the biggest price..."

So, if you only heard every word past "you love our way of life", then I could understand the opinion that he was addressing all Canadians. But that isn't what he said, he used the words "you people ... you come here". Where is "here"? There were three places listed in this rant:

-small cities

-downtown Toronto

-Canada

He's clearly not talking about small cities, since he implies that poppies are everywhere in small cities.

Is he talking about downtown Toronto or Canada? In that case, who "comes here"? It's not Canadian citizens from downtown Toronto (since they did not "come to" a place they were already living), it's not Canadian citizens from outside downtown Toronto (since as mentioned, those people tend to wear poppies proudly in large numbers), so who's left? You already know the answer, it's immigrants.

So, some of you may now be wondering, "so what, what's wrong with that? Should people who move here not be expected to respect our military?" I would say, sure, if moving to another country means adopting some of their ways of life, and you believe patriotism in support of donating to the Legion falls under that, you could make that argument. But why single out immigrants to Canada, when just a few seconds ago people agreeing with him were entirely convinced he was addressing all Canadians? What purpose does it serve to single out immigrants?

Furthermore: why are we pointing fingers at new arrivals to Canada to blame for a decline in poppy sales? Full disclosure: I did not buy a poppy this year. That wasn't on purpose. The part of town I work in has been plagued with construction reducing major arterials to a single lane, so lately I've been resorting to "creative" suburban bus routes to get home.

Did you know that the Legion maintains a list (https://legion.ca/remembrance/the-poppy-campaign) of places where you can get a poppy? I didn't, and I also have not been passing by the listed businesses on my way home lately. It didn't enter my mind, as pretty much the only way I really remember what time of year it is on a day-to-day basis is "is my rent due today?" and "is there snow on the ground?" and I did not enter any of these businesses for any reason as of late, and just forgot to get one. There are countless other adults like me -- what changed over the years?

Compare Remembrance Day to other national days of importance like New Year's. Everyone knows when New Year's is coming up, because its presence is ubiquitous. Everyone talks about their plans, their resolutions, their parties. Remembrance Day is much less culturally ubiquitous in the days before it, meaning there are less frequent "oh yeah, I should do something" reminders entering your field of vision. 15-20 years ago, I would see commercials on TV frequently, and that was a good reminder. Today, I don't subscribe to any cable or streaming services, and I browse the internet with an ad blocker. A lowered frequency of passive reminders is a real factor in your day-to-day decision-making, and perhaps there's room for people much more knowledgeable about marketing than I am to discuss targeting demographics who weaned off TV in the information age. That's not for me to propose any solutions to, just pointing out a cultural source of decline that isn't pre-existing bias against immigrants.

Going back to the immigrants point -- not only is it creating a scapegoat, but it's also just plain wrong. "World War I" and "World War II" are aptly named, check out this table: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties#Human_losses_by_country

World War II killed military members from literally all over the world. Indonesia, Brazil, Iraq, Ethiopia, China, India, Thailand, just to name a couple. Countries like Mexico who suffered no military losses also suffered civilian losses. World War II ended over 70 years ago, but generationally, 70 years is not a long time. Children growing up without their parents and siblings lost to war, they have to live with that forever. Survivors living with PTSD, that is a condition that affects your entire life and those around you. Economically, that much loss in life and prosperity affects the entire world, and always hits the poorest the hardest. The effects of war on a person and their family last for generations, and this is true around the world. People immigrating to Canada, statistically, are probably already well acquainted with this fact first-hand. They do not need to be lectured on the importance of military service any more than a born Canadian citizen does, chances are they already know.

World War II also ended, like I said, a very long time ago, but as we are all already aware, it certainly wasn't the last military effort Canada participated in. While we honour the sacrifices made by veterans in wartime, the CAF and the Legion still need funding for things like supporting veterans living with PTSD (https://www.legion.ca/support-for-veterans/mental-health-ptsd), such as services like the Family Information Line (https://www.cafconnection.ca/National/Stay-Connected/Family-Information-Line/Connect-With-Us.aspx). If you didn't know those services existed, what separates you from a new immigrant who also didn't know about them?

There is a separate discussion to be had by people much more knowledgeable than me about the morality of the CAF intervening in some foreign regions or being involved with cracking down on illegal marijuana, but that's a discussion I won't open up here and am not confident in discussing. However, some of the existing services offered to veterans that are funded in part by poppy sales are what I would consider altruistic and good to know about no matter how long you've lived in Canada, especially if you know somebody who served in wartime.

So how does all of this relate to Don Cherry? Ultimately, it's disappointing that he chose to single out immigrants in this way, when immigrants have no less understanding than born Canadian citizens about what exactly wartime sacrifice means. Interestingly, I was browsing some discussions about this yesterday, and came across some comments from people who do not understand a word of Punjabi, but enjoy watching the Punjabi broadcasting of Hockey Night In Canada because of the genuine unbridled enthusiasm of the commentators for the game. A broadcast program like that exists to do an example of exactly what Cherry and his supporters are critical of "immigrants" for supposedly -not- doing, and that's integrating with and participating in Canadian culture. There is no widespread attitude from new arrivals to Canada to reject Canadian values and culture. Nobody goes to a new country with the intention of having nothing to do with the country around them, that's a miserable way to live and is not something anyone wants to do by choice.* Look at Sweden, the vast majority of people learning Swedish on Duolingo are refugees living in Sweden. His comments were unfairly targeting certain Canadians in a way that singles them out as "others", and that's really unfair for them to have to hear coming from someone who is a Canadian cultural icon commentating a game that countless people from all walks of life, from any part of the world, take great joy in watching as part of being in Canada. All he had to do was apologize, and he didn't, and that's really unfortunate and has made a lot of Canadians who grew up with him as a household name very sad.

* (This is not even getting into the unspeakably horrific sacrifices imposed on our Indigenous populations, which make the whole judgmental comments about "immigrants" an entirely different and gross flavour of ironic.)

It's even worse that it comes at a time of heightened political "us vs them" tensions. We don't need more of that. The line between left and right is getting wider and wider every day. You can even see a visual representation of this courtesy of our neighbours to the South in this video: https://youtu.be/tEczkhfLwqM -- not that you need to, really, just look at our election 3 weeks ago where suddenly a bunch of provinces threatened to leave the country because they didn't get their way. (Speaking of, the election was three weeks ago, holy. Your negative comments about immigrants in the wake of Don Cherry's firing contrasted with your faux-concern about Trudeau's racist makeup has been duly noted. Maybe note that Trudeau's damnable actions happened 20 years ago, aka what some of you consider to be "the good old days" when people were "not so easily offended", as in, a time when Cherry likely would not have been fired for his comments, like Trudeau wasn't fired for his racist makeup. Think about that for a second before sharing that nonsense meme.)

Cherry's words and a refusal to think outside the box or apologize to Canadians just trying to live in Canada and enjoy a hockey game were ultimately promoting political tensions that don't need any further promotion, and that's unfortunate. Ultimately, whether you were born in Canada or not, both you and your neighbours just want to provide the best life you can for yourselves and your loved ones, and some of you actively chose Canada as the best option to achieve that goal in. And that's a pretty special thing to reflect on and unite over in the face of tension and division.

A Beginner`s Guide to Meditation

What is meditation? And exactly how and also why would I do it? Get the answers.

Although you do not have to formally practice meditation in order to practice hatha yoga-- nor is the technique of hatha yoga mandatory in order to practice meditation-- the two practices support each an additional. Via your technique of yoga exercise, you have actually enhanced both your capabilities to concentrate and also to loosen up-- the 2 crucial demands for a reflection practice. Currently you could grow your understanding of just what reflection is and also start a practice of your own.

What Is Meditation?

An exquisite method exists within the yoga tradition that is created to expose the interconnectedness of every living point. This fundamental unity is described as advaita. Meditation is the actual experience of this union.

In the Yoga Sutra, Patanjali offers instruction on ways to meditate as well as explains what factors make up a reflection technique. The second sutra in the initial phase states that yoga exercise (or union) occurs when the mind comes to be quiet. This mental stillness is created by bringing the body, mind, and also detects right into balance which, then, kicks back the worried system. Patanjali takes place to clarify that meditation starts when we discover that our nonstop mission to have points and also our continual desire for satisfaction and safety can never be satisfied. When we finally realize this, our exterior mission turns internal, and we have shifted into the world of meditation.

By thesaurus definition, 'reflection' indicates to contemplate, consider, or contemplate. It could also denote a religious exercise of reflection or a reflective discussion of a religious or thoughtful nature. The word meditate originates from the Latin meditari, which suggests to assume about or think about. Med is the root of this word and indicates 'to take suitable actions.' In our society, to practice meditation could be interpreted several ways. You could practice meditation on or think about a course of activity regarding your youngster's education, or a profession adjustment that would involve a move throughout the country. Viewing an effective movie or play, you might be transferred to meditate after-- or ponder-- the ethical issues afflicting today's society.

In the yogic context, reflection, or dhyana, is specified more especially as a state of pure consciousness. It is the 7th phase, or arm or leg, of the yogic course as well as follows dharana, the art of concentration. Dhyana consequently precedes samadhi, the state of last liberation or knowledge, the last step in Patanjali's eight-limbed system. These three arm or legs-- dharana (concentration), dhyana (reflection), as well as samadhi (euphoria)-- are totally linked and also collectively referred to as samyama, the inner practice, or refined technique, of the yogic path.

Recall that the initial four limbs-- yama (ethics), niyama (self-discipline), asana (posture), and Pranayama (life-force expansion)-- are considered external self-controls. The fifth step, pratyahara stands for the withdrawal of the detects. This sensual withdrawal occurs from the practice of the very first 4 actions and also links the outside to the interior. When we are based literally as well as emotionally, we are acutely aware of our detects, yet disengaged at the very same time. Without this ability to remain detached yet watchful, it is not possible to meditate. Despite the fact that you have to be able to focus in order to practice meditation, reflection is greater than focus. It inevitably progresses into a broadened state of awareness.

When we concentrate, we route our mind toward exactly what appears to be an item apart from ourselves. We come to be familiarized with this object and also establish call with it. To change into the reflection realm, nevertheless, we need to end up being involved with this item, we should communicate with it. The outcome of this exchange, certainly, is a deep awareness that there is no distinction in between us (as the topic) and that which we concentrate or meditate after (the item). This brings us to the state of samadhi, or self-realization.

A great means to understand this is to assume about the growth of a connection. Initially, we meet somebody-- that is, we make get in touch with. Then by hanging around together, paying attention to, and also sharing with each one more, we create a relationship. In the next stage, we merge with this person in the form of a deep friendship, collaboration, or marital relationship. The 'you' and 'me' become an 'us.'

According to the Yoga exercise Sutra, our pain as well as suffering is developed by the misperception that we are separate from nature. The realization that we aren't separate might be knowledgeable spontaneously, without initiative. Many of us need advice. Patanjali's eight-limbed system supplies us with the framework we need.

5 Different Ways to Meditate

Just as there countless styles of hatha yoga, so there are lots of ways to meditate. The initial phase of reflection is to focus on a certain things or develop a point of focus, with the eyes either opened up or shut. Quietly duplicating a word or expression, audibly stating a prayer or chant, visualizing a photo such as a divine being, or concentrating on an object such as a lighted candle light in front of you are all commonly suggested points of focus. Observing or counting your breaths and discovering physical experiences are additionally optional centerpieces. Allow's take a closer look.

The Use of Sound

Mantra yoga exercise uses using a particular sound, phrase, or affirmation as a point of focus. Words mantra comes from man, which means "to think," and tra, which recommends 'agency.' Therefore, rule is a tool of thought. It also has come to mean 'shielding the individual that gets it.' Commonly, you can only receive a concept from an instructor, one who knows you as well as your specific requirements. The act of duplicating your rule is called japa, which means address. Equally as contemplative petition as well as affirmation have to be mentioned with function as well as feeling, a rule meditation method requires aware interaction on the part of the meditator. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's Transcendental Reflection (TM) upholds the method of concept yoga.

Chanting, an extension of mantra yoga, is a powerful method to get in into meditation. Longer than a mantra, a chant entails both rhythm as well as pitch. Western customs utilize chants and hymns to conjure up the name of God, to motivate, and also to produce a spiritual awakening. Going back to Vedic times, Indian chanting appears of a practice that counts on the innovative power of audio and its prospective to transfer us to an expanded state of recognition. The rishis, or ancient seers, educated that of production is an indication of the primaeval audio Om. Reflected in an analysis of words cosmos--' one tune'-- Om is the seed sound of all various other audios. Shouting Sanskrit typically as well as effectively creates extensive spiritual and also physical effects.

Many newbies discover using a rule in their reflection really reliable and also fairly easy. Shouting, on the other hand, could be frightening for some individuals. If you really feel awkward shouting by yourself, use one of the lots of audiotapes of incantations on the market, or participate in a group reflection where a meditation educator leads the chant and also the students repeat it. Shouting in Sanskrit can be effective, stating a significant petition or affirmation in any type of language could be effective.

The Use of Imagery

Visualizing is additionally a good method to meditate, one that beginners usually find easy to practice. Typically, a meditator pictures his or her selected divine being-- a god or goddess-in vibrant as well as thorough style. Basically any kind of things is valid.

Some specialists picture a natural object such as a blossom or the sea, others meditate on the chakras, or energy centers, in the body. In this kind of meditation, you concentrate on the area or body organ of the body representing a certain chakra, picturing the certain shade related to it.

Gazing

Another variant on using images is to keep an open-eyed emphasis upon a things. This focus is referred to as drishti, which implies 'view,' 'opinion,' or 'look.' Again the options available to you right here are virtually unlimited. Candle light gazing is a preferred form of this technique. Concentrating on a flower in a vase, or a statue, or a photo of a divine being are other possibilities.

Use this method with your eyes completely opened or partially shut, creating a softer, diffused look. A lot of the classic hatha yoga stances have staring factors, and also the use of drishti is particularly stressed in the Ashtanga design of hatha yoga. Many pranayama methods additionally require certain positioning of the eyes, such as gazing at the 'pineal eye,' the factor in between the eyebrows or at the idea of the nose.

Breathing

Using the breath as a factor of emphasis is yet one more opportunity. You can do this by really counting the breaths as you would in pranayama practice. Inevitably, however, contemplating the breath simply suggests totally observing the breath as it is, without changing it at all. In this instance, the breath becomes the single item of your reflection. You observe every subtlety of the breath and also each feeling it creates: exactly how it moves in your abdomen and also upper body, how it feels as it moves in as well as out of your nose, its high quality, its temperature level, as well as so on. You are fully conscious of all these details, you do not stay on them or judge them in any kind of method, you continue to be separated from just what you're observing. Exactly what you discover is neither excellent neither poor, you just allow on your own to be with the breath from minute to moment.

Breath observation is the predominant strategy used by specialists of vipassana, generally described as 'understanding' or 'mindfulness' reflection. Promoted by such renowned teachers such as Thich Nhat Hanh, Jack Kornfield, as well as Jon Kabat-Zinn, this is a type a Buddhist technique. Words vipassana, which actually implies 'to see plainly' or 'look deeply,' is likewise interpreted to indicate 'the area where the heart dwells,' as well as shows the facility that assumed emerges from our hearts.

Physical Sensations

Another method to practice meditation is to watch a physical experience. Exercise this with the same degree of information as you would when seeing the breath. In this context, you will look deeply at, or pass through, a certain experience that draws your interest, such as exactly how warm or trendy your hands feel. The enhanced sensitivity you acquired as a result of your asana practice could offer you with other factors of focus: the strength of your spine or the suppleness you feel in your reduced body, for instance. Observing a certain feeling or any details location of discomfort is likewise a possibility. Whatever you pick remains your point of focus for the entire practice. You may discover that observing a physical feeling could be much more difficult than observing the breath. For many beginners, concepts, chants, as well as visualizations provide even more substantial methods to change or relax the spread thoughts of our minds, which seem to be perpetually on sensory overload.

Meditation Postures

Sitting

Although you could practice meditation, or become fully soaked up in any task or position of stillness, sitting is one of the most generally advised stance. There are a number of classic sittinged presents, yet Sukhasana (Easy Cross-Legged Posture) is obviously the many basic. Extra adaptable meditators favor Padmasana (Lotus Posture).

Sitting in a chair also works. It's no much less effective and also absolutely no less spiritual, as well as it's usually the most effective choice for beginners. The most vital things are that your spine remain upright which you really feel steady and comfortable, the exact same two high qualities required for performing asanas. To make the most of convenience on the floor, put a padding or folded blanket under your butts to raise them and also carefully lead your knees down towards the flooring. This helps sustain the natural lumbar curve of the lower back. Some individuals choose stooping 'Japanese-style.' You can purchase small, inclined wood benches for this position.

Relax your arms as well as position your hands on your upper legs or in your lap, with the palms in a relaxed placement encountering up or down. Roll your shoulders back and also down and also delicately lift the breast. Maintain your neck long and also the chin tilted somewhat downward. Depending upon which strategy you are complying with, the eyes might be opened or closed. Breathing is natural and also free.

Walking

A removaling reflection-- highly suggested by many teachers-- might be a satisfying choice for you. The obstacle of this type is to walk gradually and also purposely, each action becoming your prime focus. Destination, distance, and speed are all incidental. Unwind your arms at your sides and relocate freely, coordinating your breath with your steps. You could breathe in for 3 actions and also take a breath out for 3 steps. If that really feels unpleasant or challenging, simply breathe easily. You could practice walking meditation anywhere, select a setup you specifically enjoy-- the sea, a favored park, or a field. Keep in mind, obtaining somewhere is not the concern. Instead, the complete involvement in the act of strolling becomes your meditation.

Standing

Standing is one more meditation practice that could be really powerful. It is often advised for those experts who discover that it constructs physical, mental, and also spiritual toughness. Stand with your feet hip- to shoulder-distance apart. Knees are soft, arms remainder easily at your sides. Examine to see that the entire body is straightened in great stance: shoulders rolled back as well as down, chest open, neck long, head floating on top, and chin parallel to the flooring. Either maintain your eyes opened up or softly close them.

Reclining

Even though resting is connected with relaxation, the classic Corpse Pose, Savasana, is also utilized for meditation. Lie down on your back with your arms at your sides, palms facing upward. Touch your heels with each other and permit the feet to fall away from each other, completely unwinded. Your eyes might be opened up or closed, some individuals find it much easier to stay awake with their eyes open. A supine reflection, although more physically relaxing than other positions, entails a greater level of alertness to continue to be conscious and concentrated. Therefore, beginners may discover it harder to practice meditation in this position without dropping asleep.

The Benefits of Meditation

Research has confirmed just what the yogis of old times already understood: Extensive physical and also psychological adjustments occur when we meditate, triggering an actual shift in the brain and also in the involuntary procedures of the body.

This is just how it works. An instrument called an electroencephalograph (EEG) records mental activity. Throughout waking task, when the mind frequently relocates from one idea to one more, the EEG signs up jerky and also fast lines classified as beta waves. When the mind soothes down via meditation, the EEG reveals waves that are smoother as well as slower, as well as categorizes them as alpha waves. As reflection deepens, mind task lowers additionally. The EEG then registers an even smoother, slower pattern of task we call theta waves. Research studies on meditators have actually revealed reduced sweating as well as a slower rate of respiration accompanied by a reduction of metabolic wastes in the blood stream. Lower high blood pressure and also an improved body immune system are additional advantages noted by research studies.

The health benefits reflection generates normally mirror the mental and physical results of this procedure. At the minimum, reflection teaches you just how to handle stress, decreasing tension consequently boosts your overall physical wellness and psychological wellness. On a deeper degree, it could add to the top quality of your life by teaching you to be fully sharp, conscious, as well as to life. Simply put, it is a party of your self. You are not practicing meditation to obtain anything, yet instead to check out and let go of anything you do not need.

Starting Your very own Meditation Practice

We highly suggest a period of day-to-day reflection. Add it throughout of your asana technique, or reserved an additional block of time. The important thing is that you find a time that functions ideal for you. Do not do excessive prematurely, you're proper to obtain dissuaded and stop altogether.

When and Where to Practice

To develop consistency, practice meditation at the exact same time as well as in the same place daily. Pick a location that is silent, one that is pleasurable, where you'll be undisturbed.

Traditionally, the early morning is considered the optimal time because you are much less most likely to be distracted by the needs of your day. Lots of people locate that an early morning reflection assists them enter the day with a greater level of equanimity and also grace. If an early morning practice is a battle, attempt an afternoon or very early evening meditation.

If you are new to yoga exercise and also meditation, you might find including 5 or 10 mins of reflection at the end of your asana method sufficient. When meditating individually of your yoga technique, a 15- to 20-minute timespan seems manageable for many beginners.

Posture

Choose a setting that benefits you. If you prefer sitting, either on a chair or on the flooring, maintain the spinal column erect and also the body loosened up. Your hands need to relax pleasantly on your lap or thighs, with the hands up or down. If you prefer to walk or stand, keeping excellent stance is additionally important, with your arms hanging easily on your sides. When relaxing, area yourself in a symmetrical as well as comfortable position with the ideal assistance under your head and also knees if needed.

Method

Decide on your point of focus. If sound appeals to you, develop your personal mantra, calmly or audibly repeating a word or phrase that is calming to you, such as 'peace,' 'love,' or 'pleasure.'

Affirmations additionally work. 'I am kicked back' or 'I am calm and also sharp' as you breathe out. Making use of a tape of incantations or listening to a relaxing piece of songs are also options.

If you select images, picture your preferred place in nature with your eyes shut, or gaze after a things put before you: a lighted candle, a blossom, or an image of your preferred deity.

One means to observe the breath is to count it: Breathe in for three to 7 matters and take a breath out for the very same size of time. Move to just observing the breath, seeing its own natural rhythm and its movement in your torso.

Whichever position and method you select, stick with them for the period of your meditation period. Certainly, when you locate what benefit you, you'll wish to keep that technique indefinitely.

Do not be amazed or discouraged by how frequently your ideas wander. When you understand that your mind has come to be distracted, just go back to your selected point of focus.

Text Adventure Review: “Border Zone”

The main reason I'll probably need to pause the game is to masturbate when I meet the sexy double agent and type, "Fuck sexy double agent then fall asleep".

In the picture above, try not to read the three chapter titles because there's a spoiler in the third one that says "The Assassination." I'm going to forget that's a plot point and start playing "Chapter 1: The Train" because Marc Blank suggested that's what I do. CHAPTER ONE The protagonist (that's you! The person you play in the game! Or it's me! I'll probably go back and forth using first and second person pronouns so please don't be confused by my amateurish writing style) is just a regular non-spy person who does a little importing and exporting across the Iron Curtain. This game is from 1987 so nobody remembers what the Iron Curtain is anymore. It really wasn't that important anyway, at least not to those of us living on the Western side of it and never had to really think about its implications on the people trapped on the Eastern side of it. Am I supposed to have enough time and compassion to worry about the state of other peoples' worlds when I can barely keep my world from disintegrating?! If you want Levi's, people dumb enough to be born in countries annexed by the USSR after World War II, maybe you should have thought about that up in heaven when God was asking you what uterus you wanted your soul implanted in! Idiots. The train story begins, as all good espionage train stories do, with a probably dying secret agent breaking into your compartment to hand you the documents that will stop the assassination if only you can get them to another secret agent by responding to a coded phrase with a coded phrase of your own. I think I've practically got this part of the game won! Except I've forgotten both of the phrases already. I should probably restart and make a note of them, right? Okay, I've figured out what the secret agent will say to me and what I have to respond and I've even translated the sayings into Frobnian because I understand how Infocom games use their non-digital printed material as copy protection! Somebody without the phrase book that comes with the game wouldn't realize that the American agent is telling you the English codes but his contact is Frobnian! I'm so far ahead of Marc Blank right now he would say something like, "Whoa! That guy is super far ahead of me! And totally not a virgin." As an experienced business man who has dealt with border control for my entire business life (the fictional me in the game! What, you think I actually work for a living?!), I know that I can't just keister the document. The searches at the border are brutal. And I don't have a fake mustache so I'm flummoxed already. Plus the wounded agent left a big blood spatter on the floor of my cabin. So to even make it out off the train so I can meet my contact, I've got to clean up the blood and figure out what to do with the document. The blood was easy but to keep the document, I had to get caught a few times to figure out where the evil trench coat wearing man's interrogation weaknesses lay! Or lie (I knew I should have phrased that differently. Stupid lie/lay is worse than who/whom). Because apparently even if you flush the document down the toilet underneath a huge nervous stomach shit, the border patrol will dig it out and bust you. So I cleaned up the blood by doing all of the boring and inane steps like turning on the faucet and wetting the towel and turning off the faucet and scrubbing the floor and returning to the bathroom and flushing the towel. In Infocom games, it isn't enough to just tell the protagonist to clean up the blood and then, like a normal adult human being, the protagonist would think, "Oh yeah! I know how to do that! Let me get right to it!" I guess Infocom games are less about ordering some jerk around and more trying to pretend that you are that jerk and that that jerk is kind of stupid. After cleaning the blood, I had to figure out what to do with the document. No matter where I tried to hide it, border control sniffed it out and traced it back to me. So the only thing to do was to tear it up and shove it up my ass! I mean throw it out the window. But that meant I couldn't complete my mission which really wasn't my mission anyway and why did I care if some ambassador was assassinated?! I didn't ask for this responsibility! It's not my fault if somebody dies today. It's the fault of the clumsy American agent who got himself shot, stumbled upon a useless dolt to complete his mission, and then fell off the roof of the train! I should just throw the document out the window and get on with my life! And maybe I will! But before I did that — you know, just in case my conscience berates me continuously for the rest of my life — I figured I should probably keep some photographic evidence of the document. After doing so, I couldn't help worrying about how there was another picture left on the roll of film and I was probably going to have to completely restart this stupid game when I realized I needed to take one more picture before removing the film and hiding it up my ass from the border patrol. Stupid Infocom games always have me worried that I'm in a walking dead with a roll of film up my ass scenario! Being the super chill American businessman turned spy kind of Lothario I am, I totally and easily complete my new mission and probably fuck a hot double agent too! But not the young girl I handed the roll of film to! The double agent was probably older than that!

I know this screenshot is different from the previous screenshot! But the Apple IIe copy I found crashed when you examined your clothes or photographed the document. And the Commodore 64 version seems to think people who play Infocom games are already wasting their lives so why not make every move take an interminable amount of time. So I wound up playing the browser MS-DOS version on Archive.org.

For an Infocom game, that first chapter was simple! All you had to do was act like a boring idiot who totally wasn't involved in political espionage at all and you succeeded! I bet every nerd who tried their hand at this game beat Chapter One. But the next chapter will be different because the player takes on the part of the American spy! What greasy nerd knows how to act suave and sophisticated and super sexy? I mean aside from me! I was born to play this role! CHAPTER TWO You begin the story of the American Spy after he falls from the roof of the train. He claims he jumped for it but when I was the businessman, I know what I saw! I'm a clumsy oaf! I mean he's a clumsy oaf! No, wait. I guess I am the clumsy oaf! And I'm not clumsy at all! I totally jumped for it and looked hot doing it. Now I just have to survive the freezing weather and try to get past the border patrol or else I'll die out here in the ... BORDER ZONE! Hopefully I'll also get another chance to fight my rival Viper to the death! Ew, I'll show him! Or her! Or not! After playing this chapter for about ten minutes, I realize it does every single thing I don't like in text adventures: time limit, characters that go about their business while you're off in other areas, and a puzzle that relies on knowing so much about the timeline that you have to play the scenario dozens of times to work it all out. I feel like I've got the gist of what you have to do (although I'm probably wrong on one key point because I haven't played more than a handful of times) but I'm not sure I'm willing to keep at it. After you bail from the train, the border guards begin searching for you. So you've got some guys in a vehicle driving around and a pack of dogs (not to mention the searchlights and fences at the border) hunting you down. Early on, you have to get to a small house because it has a parka in it to keep you from freezing to death. You have to time this with when the guards arrive to talk to the owner so he's distracted while you sneak in the back. There might be more to do inside the shack other than gather up all the crap in the storage room but, as I mentioned, I haven't really explored the scenario yet in multiple ways. As a spy, you have an explosive pen on you. It has a timer which means I have to figure out how long to set the timer for and where to stick the pen to get something further in the story to happen. I feel like I have to stick it on the guard's automobile so that it explodes near the border, distracting the guards at the spotlights so I can make a run for the other side. Realizing that that might be the solution is what has really made me dread continuing with this game. Another puzzle is to get the dogs to stop following you. I'm fairly certain you do that just by putting on the work boots and trudging through the swamp a ways before leaving the swamp in a new location and leaving the boots behind. If there are any other puzzles (aside from staunching your bleeding gun shot wound), I haven't found them. I suppose the biggest one is sneaking about to get the pen on the guard's car and figuring out how long to set the timer for. Do I want to bother with that? I feel like that's the big puzzle that allowed Infocom to tack on hours and hours of gameplay to Border Zone. Because now I have to follow the car around to see where it goes and how long I'll need to set the timer for and where I'll need to be when the pen blows up. I have other things to do with my life, Marc Blank! I mean, they're not very important things. But they're things I'd rather be doing than messing around with the timer on my imaginary explosive pen! I'm not cut out to be a spy, especially when that spy has to know things he couldn't possibly know on the first playthrough of this game. Does Marc Blank know how real life works?! Oh, your argument is that this is a game and not real life and that maybe I should chill out about it?! Well if this game is a game and not real life, why the fuck does everything keep moving along even when I'm not entering any commands?! Who wants to play a text adventure like that?! Even Bioshock doesn't demand that kind of effort out of the player. Bioshock is the only other game I could come up with. It isn't even a fair comparison. If Border Zone were a first person shooter, I'd absolutely finish this chapter! I could see the guards moving and physically hide from them. I could observe how everything moves in the game by following them around. But in a text adventure, it's fucking impossible. Sure, the game tells me if the dogs are to the north or the west. But when I'm hiding behind the shack, it sure would be a lot easier to figure out what I'm doing if I could see the guards interacting with the owner of the shack and milling about searching the premises! I don't think my imagination is good enough to handle this bullshit tension. I'm so fucking stressed out right now!

Apparently you can get close to the border without doing any of the stuff I previously mentioned except stealing everything from the storage room.

It doesn't seem like I've done enough before getting to the border but I guess I should explore this area a little more before writing Marc Blank a letter about how terrible some of his decisions were early in his career. I suppose I need to use my explosive pen here to blow a hole through the fence which I won't be able to climb through because the guards will hear it. Unless I time the explosion to blow when both guards are at the same spot, killing them? Then can I rush through in the chaos?! Figuring out the answer to that means doing math, I bet! That's because you get a timer and a little ASCII display of the guards' motion as you watch them. This is way too hard! I miss the Infocom days when you could just type "kill thief with sword" and hope the random number generator gave you a good result. Once you get through the fence, you can climb up a guard tower where there's a bolted ladder leading up to a locked door with a guard inside. But even if you can hide on the metal bit bracing the ladder, knock on the door, and shove the stupid guard off of the tower, you still can't jump across the border from the top of the tower. You just wind up dead. Which is when I thought, "Hey! I need the exploding pen for this part! I bet I can just climb over the fence and save the explosives for this scene!" And I was almost completely and absolutely right except for a few small details which would have frustrated the fuck out of me if I hadn't gotten completely lucky on restarting Chapter Two to try out my new solutions. You see, there's a small shed in the forest near the shack. A small shed that is almost impossible to find due to my apathetic attitude toward mapping Border Zone and the way every location is described as "You move 100 yards north and find you're still in the snowy forest. What did you expect, jerk?!" Sure, the shed has been drawn on the map that came with the game so that people who actually purchased Border Zone would have explored long enough to find it. And I have access to that map because everything is free on the Internet. Right? Am I making a terrible assumption there? Um, anyway, when I restarted, due to not having mapped, I couldn't remember exactly how to get to the shack before the guards got there. While stumbling around lost, I found the shed with the rubber gloves and bolt-cutters inside. And like in most text adventure games that aren't Infocom, the main puzzle was simply finding the right items where they were hidden. Because as soon as I found the bolt-cutters, I knew I had this chapter beat. What I didn't know was that the border fence I'd previously blown up to get through was electrified! Luckily, I had found the rubber work gloves right there with the bolt-cutters. Marc Blank practically gave that puzzle's solution away for free! Idiot. He should have hid the gloves somewhere in the forest where you weren't ever clued in to dig in the snow. That's more like a proper 80s text adventure! Of course, that's not Infocom's way! Infocom wants you to succeed! They want you to realize you wasted the pen explosive and needed a new solution where you use the pen to blow up the tower so that it falls over the border fence with you inside of it! But at least in the actual solution, you still get to push that stupid Frobnian Nazi off of the tower. Eat snow, grumblebutt!

I'll accept my Champeen of Infocom crown now.

Chapter Three The first two chapters were way too easy for Infocom games so I'm really nervous about this third chapter. Have I just gotten more brilliant as I've grown older or did Marc Blank save all of his dreadful Infocom ingenuity for this final chapter?! Hopefully this chapter doesn't have dozens of NPCs whom I've got to track across multiple playthroughs just to figure out where I should be every minute of the scenario. I really do prefer text adventure games with static environments that simply react to the things I do. I'm already stressed out thinking about my race against the clock to save the ambassador! Remember when I didn't even care if the ambassador died during the first chapter?! Why am I suddenly invested in saving that asshole?!

In this chapter, I'm the sexy double agent!

The sexy double agent is also — and this is a huge spoiler for all you Infocom fanatics who just haven't, for some reason, gotten around to playing all of the Infocom games — Viper, the man in the trench coat trying to get the documents back from the importer/exporter in the first chapter! If that's the case, you'd think I could just go to a coffee shop and hang out for the rest of the game. If I'm trying to stop the people trying to stop the assassination, then can't I just stop trying to stop those people so they can stop the assassination?! Maybe if I just hit "z" and "enter" until this chapter ends, everything will work out for the best! Seventeen in-game minutes later, the ambassador has been shot and killed. What the fuck?! How incompetent are the American spies? I guess that's why I'm a double agent. Because I'm double the agent all of these other jerks are. I guess I need to get to work saving the day all by myself! If only that stupid American businessman had given me the documents, I could have saved the day myself. Except when I did get the documents in Chapter One, the game still ended with the ambassador getting assassinated. I should just get on with saving the day already. I bet when I'm done, I'll run into Topaz (that was my secret agent name in Chapter Two, apparently) and we'll share a deep, passionate kiss. I do run into Topaz chilling at a coffee shop exactly like I was planning to do!

I guess Topaz doesn't feel the same way that I feel about him.

Topaz is probably still important to the story, so I decide to leave him alone for now as I got about my double agent business of stopping the assassination that I put into place. It's actually not too hard to do if I don't mind sacrificing the rest of my double agent career. I meet my contact, learn the sniper's password, figure out what window he's sniping out of (by checking the apartment directory, you just have to find which eastern facing apartment is empty on the fifth floor (maybe other floors at time but it always seemed to be the fifth floor on my multiple restarts), and go shoot him in the back. But that puts a lot of suspicion on you and you wind up pushing papers in Siberia. Better to trick Topaz into stopping the assassination! I guess that's why you have to save his life in Chapter Two. To do that, you have to get him to chase you back to the sniper's nest without getting caught by him or the local police. At one point, you get to push over a hot dog vendor's cart so it really feels like you're in an action movie and also that you're a fucking prick. Once you lead Topaz back to the sniper, the difficult part was not also being killed by Topaz. After making him a huge hero, he kept shooting me in the face because he's a huge bastard whom I wish I never helped cross the border now! At first I thought, "Well, this is an Infocom game. It was bound to get difficult at some point! And I guess one or two moves away from completing the game is as good a time as any to get stuck." But then I thought, "Well, even though the sniper doesn't let me move or do anything, and the sniper's apartment is completely bare, maybe I can try to hide so Topaz doesn't fucking murder me when he kicks in the door?"

Oh fuck. Easy as that, was it?!

And with that final move to hide in plain sight, I fucking defeat Marc Blank! You stupid son of a bitch! You thought you were so clever, didn't you? "Oh, look at me! I'm an Infocom imp! I write the hardest text adventure games in the world and I only mattered for like four years in the mid to late eighties because I hitched my star to the most boring entertainment ever! Only stupid virgin assholes would keep playing the games I wrote, the dumb bastards!" Hey! Fuck you, Marc Blank! How did that Marc Blank imaginary soliloquy get away from me so badly?! Anyway, suck on this, Marc:

Seriously though. I can't believe I beat this game without any hints. I'm fucking chuffed.

SCORES Game Title: Not great since it basically drove me away from this game for years. I suppose if you're into espionage stories, it's a great title because it's so evocative of crossing a border! That's like the hardest challenge in the espionage genre! I think. I'm not a fan so what the fuck do I know? My favorite espionage movie is Run, Lola, Run. Does that count as espionage? I guess that's more heist fucks time travel while fingering romance's anus. Puzzles: As far as modern day Interactive Fiction "rules" go, the puzzles in Border Zone are terrible. Nearly all of them rely on playing through and losing dozens of times to see how the NPCs react to different situations. It's the only way to learn how they behave so you can act accordingly. But compared to a non-Infocom game, the puzzles were generally satisfying. Because of the way the game works, I'm not even sure some of the things I did were solutions to puzzles or just wasting my time. Did I have to go through the swamp to lose the dogs or could I have just done everything quicker? Were there alternate ways to solve puzzles or were things like the binoculars and the wood saw in Chapter Two just red herrings? Generally, once I saw the way the other characters reacted, it was long before I figured out how to thwart them. I believe Marc Blank was relying on some puzzles to be difficult due to the player losing track of the story. Like in Chapter One, you can get all the way to the end and still get caught when you try to pass the documents to your contact because you were wearing the stupid white carnation the entire time. But once you realize you seem to have done everything correctly and some guy on the platform is still following you, it's not hard to realize you need to not stand out and to keister that stupid flower until you actually need it. Gameplay: Fucking annoying. I hate adventure games where the story continues no matter what you do. I hate timed adventure games. Border Zone decided not only to use those two aspects I hate but to invent a third one that — Hey! Guess what?! — I hated even more: time passes even when you're not typing! Is there a word that means both "innovative" and "Goddamned fucking annoying as fuck"? Whatever it is, Marc Blank should copyright it. Graphics: Normally for a text adventure, I'd say none and be done with it. But this one did have graphics! It had a little ASCII bit to show two guards marching around the base of three towers! And it absolutely did nothing for me because the dumb guards barely even notice you when you cut through the fence silently instead of blowing a huge hole in it. Hell, even after blowing a hole in the fence, the idiots keep to their regular patrol only slightly more alert due to hearing an explosion. Concept: I think I more than adequately covered my apathy toward the concept. I will compliment Marc Blank for his work in making a game about a really stressful experience into a really stressful experience. Good job, jerk! Fun Time: I keep forgetting to track the amount of time it takes me to play these games. Maybe I'll get better at it eventually. But I think I spent maybe six hours (at most. I might even drop that to four or five) playing this game over the last week and a half? I did think about it more than that though. But not a lot more. And the third chapter which I thought would be dreadfully hard took the least amount of time of all. Probably not even an hour. The good news is that the amount of "fun time" I had with this game is equal to the amount of time I played it. That doesn't often happen. Usually the "fun time" gets expended quickly and I force myself to trudge through the rest of the game, adding the experience to the long list of things I'll regret when a doctor finally says to me, "You have three months to live due to your malignant finger cancer caused by typing."