Watch out for falling younglings

Some fave frames

Intertwined Fates (Chilumi/Zhonglumi) - Chapter 5

Yea so... uhm... I may or may have been addicted to anime during vacation and the next thing I knew, uni started again and uhm... we're a month in now... So much for me promising to be active in writing smh...

Also, I learned how to add pictures! Chapter 3 is updated for the ring picture :)

Can be read in ao3 here

SUMMARY:

Plans don't always go the way it is

Lumine can’t help but smile as Qiqi’s laughter filled their living room. Her heart can’t help but melt at the sight of her future husband, and her father pretends to be monsters and make fool of themselves to entertain the little girl. Lumine can’t help but chuckle to herself, her daughter completely has these powerful men wrapped around her little fingers.

“A beach wedding is such a wonderful idea, Lumine! Your aunties and I have founded these locations so far, if they’re not to your liking, just tell me, okay? Your mother will make sure to make your dream wedding happen!” her mother beamed beside her as she splayed out the pictures of potential beach locations on the coffee table in front of them.

Never did Lumine thought there will come a time when her mother and herself will bond like this. Upon confirming their engagement, her mother had been ecstatic; messaging Lumine all potential wedding ideas she can, even creating a board on Pinterest.

While it may be annoying to Lumine, she can’t deny that she’s excited herself. She gently shrugged her mother off at first, claiming that she’s busy with work, but one boring evening when Ajax was busy fixing something at work in his home office, the blonde woman opened the app to see what her mother is up to. She looked through the grand ideas her mother had pinned, they were mostly wedding dresses and accessories. The more Lumine browses, the more her mind starts imagining a wedding scenario, and the next thing she knows, she’s saving beach wedding-related pins and a phone call from her mother popped out of her screen.

Ajax joined mid-conversation and was surprised, and secretly elated that his bride also shares the same excitement of them officially tying the knot.

Never did Ajax thought he would be so invested in wedding planning, he’s more invested in the honeymoon part, but after listening to his fiancée and soon to be mother-in-law for a while, he can’t help but fall in love with the beach wedding idea and started looking at ideas on his own phone, which granted him a collaboration in the Pinterest board they’re working on.

After a promise of her mother looking for venues, the two-hour conversation ended with an excited soon to be wed couple.

A few days after that night, Lumine can’t help but think of her grand day every time she has the chance to. She had been bright during work, always humming softly as she works. Her glow had affected everyone in the bakery, even Xiao who smiled softly and even suggested something for the wedding cake, which Aether will be in charge of.

It surprised the twins, making them stare at Xiao long enough for the said man to be embarrassed and murmured something to forget about it until Lumine expressed her delight at the idea.

The original idea was a beach-themed cake, with the usual sand-like crumbs and seashells. Xiao instead suggested a baby blue coloured cake with frosting smudged on the cake to look like waves.

The day then ended with Xiao and Aether presenting a drawing of their combined ideas, Aether adding some white roses to complete the look.

(AN: Source: https://emmalovesweddings.com/summer-beach-wedding-cakes/summer-beach-wedding-cake-ideas/)

Lumine is in love with it.

“Have you two decided on the wedding date yet by the way?” her mother pulled her out of her thoughts.

“Well, we’re thinking a sunny Summer wedding will be nice? It fits the whole beach wedding theme, and coincidentally, that’s the time Ajax and I will don’t have to worry much about work.” Lumine answered, “It’s also going to be Qiqi’s first Summer at the beach.” she smiled at the scene last night, Qiqi’s eyes wide and curious as Ajax talks about the beach.

Qiqi had never been a huge fan of being under the sun, always preferring to stay under the shade, but from the looks of last night, her daughter seemed to be willing to give it a try, the seashell hunting and castle building especially.

Her mother took note of it on her phone, “Got it, now go ahead and look at these locations, I’ll contact them as soon as we get home.” she smiled.

Lumine hummed as she looked at the potential venues, they look great to Lumine so far, she appreciates the notes her mother stick with the pictures showcasing what each location is known and loved for.

She’s really invested in it, and Lumine wonders where all this energy is when it was her and Zhongli-

Before she could dwell on the thought, she shook her head, gaining a curious look from her mother.

“Sorry, something caught in my eye.” she shrugged it off while pretending to rub her eyes.

She went over the venues again, she managed to pick her top 3 favourites before calling for her groom to be, “Ajax, can you help me choose between these?”

The scene before her paused with Qiqi laughing as she pretends to fly as Ajax holds her up while her grandfather pretends to catch her.

“Sure, wanna help Mama and Papa choose the wedding venues, Qiqi?” Ajax cooed before sitting next to Lumine, putting Qiqi on his lap.

“Yes, Qiqi wants lots of seashells.” the little girl replied as she looked at the pictures.

“I’m sure all of them have lots of seashells, dear.” her grandmother chuckled.

Her mother is right, so it doesn’t really narrow down Lumine’s options, “How about you?” she asked Ajax, intertwining her fingers with his.

Ajax hummed, giving Lumine’s hand a kiss as he looked at the options, Qiqi giggled and offered her own hand, to which Ajax chuckled and give it a light kiss as well before ruffling her hair.

“They’re all good to me.” he shrugged.

“Ah, as helpful as your father was when we were planning our wedding.” her mother joked.

“Hey, I just trust your taste more than mine.” her father defended as he sat next to his wife.

Ajax was about to use the same excuse, but Lumine glared at him, “Don’t you dare.”

He raised his hands in defence, “Alright how about this, we close our eyes and let fate pick?”

Lumine raised an eyebrow.

“What? They’re your top 3 favourites, right? And we can’t choose, so why not give it a try?” Ajax shrugged.

Lumine sighed but agree, “Well, why not?”

With their hands together, they closed their eyes.

Their parents can’t help but laugh, Qiqi giggling in anticipation as she waits for the answer.

Their fingers grabbed a picture.

They opened their eyes,

‘Cool Isle’, it read.

~~~

“Qiqi wants beach wedding too,” Qiqi says, effectively freezing Ajax from cooking.

Lumine snickered from the table, watching and waiting for the man’s reaction. It was almost dinner time when her parents left, so they decided to hang out in the kitchen while Ajax prepares their meal, Qiqi’s colouring on her notebook while Lumine decided to just randomly film themselves. It’s a thing that she loves to do, documenting some of their lives to look back to in the future, and now looks like an interesting memory to laugh at someday.

Ajax turned to them with a tight smile, “No.”

Qiqi pouted, “Why not?”

“Because you’re my baby Qiqi and you’ll be forever, therefore, you’re not allowed to get married,” Ajax explained, pouting when he saw Lumine snickering with no intention of stopping their daughter from her terrifying plan.

“But why?”

“You’ll get three storytimes later if you promise not to get married.”

“Four!”

“Deal. You got that on camera right, love?” Ajax turned to Lumine.

“Oh my god.” Lumine laughed but nodded, “Yeah, I did.”

“You heard that yourself future Qiqi,” Ajax said at the camera.

“Four stories, yay!” the little girl hummed, bouncing lightly as she coloured.

The rest of the evening went quietly, they do their routines, Qiqi falling asleep midway through her first story, and now Ajax and Lumine are cuddling on their bed, the blonde having her back against her lover’s chest while his hands trace random shapes on her hip.

“What are you thinking about?” Lumine asked as she turned to face Ajax.

“Just you walking down the aisle dressed like the goddess you are.” he grinned.

“Really now?” Lumine raised an eyebrow, but Ajax can still see the smile she’s hiding.

“Well, trying to imagine what’s underneath the dress but it doesn’t sound as romantic now, does it?” Ajax teased, earning a playful smack from Lumine.

“It sounds more honest at least,” she retorted back with a playful smile.

“Now I can’t stop thinking of it…”

Lumine can feel something poking her leg, “Stop, it’s a surprise!” she huffed.

“That doesn’t help, love, now I’m more curious.” he groaned as he buried his face against her neck.

“There’s a reason why it’s called a surprise, you know.” Lumine rolled her eyes but still tilted her head to give him space.

“A small preview would be nice though…” he said suggestively before giving her neck a soft nibble.

“Hm, I guess a small sneak peek is fi-”

Lumine didn’t get the chance to finish her sentence for her fiancé just dived in for his meal.

~~~

“Rain, rain, go away. Come again another day, little Qiqi wants to play…” Qiqi sang softly as she traces the raindrops on the car window.

“It looks like it’ll be raining for the whole day.” Lumine observed the sky, “Qiqi, if it’s still raining when school’s done, just stay over Granny Shan’s toy store and I’ll pick you up, okay?”

“Can Qiqi have a new toy?” Qiqi gasped in excitement.

“If you’re a good girl for Granny Shan, then Papa will buy you one.” Ajax chuckled at the sparkle in Qiqi’s eyes.

Qiqi nodded before humming again, this time, livelier as she starts to think of what toy she would want.

“It’s nice we have someone to watch over Qiqi, we might be a little busy today since we’re in charge of the sweets for an event. I’ll make sure to bring Granny Shan something when I pick Qiqi up.” Lumine says as she looked at the notes on her phone to prepare for today.

“I’m sure she’ll appreciate that, babe.” Ajax hummed as he slowed the car in front of Qiqi’s school rather than the bakery, “Fix your raincoat, sweetie, Papa will walk you to school.” he said then waited for the little girl to follow his order.

“Give Mama a kiss and have fun at school, okay?” Lumine smiled.

“Okay! Qiqi’s gonna do her bestest!” the little girl responded before giving Lumine a kiss.

Ajax prepared the umbrella before stepping out of the car to get his daughter.

Lumine hummed and waited in the car. She looked at the toy store across the street, “It looks like they’re opening.” she said as she watches someone in a raincoat and an umbrella try to push up the display barrier to reveal the contents of the shop.

Granny Shan did say someone was helping her run the shop, “Someone looking for his family, huh.” she remembered the old woman saying, though she didn’t get any more information than that, though she did remember the man being nice to Qiqi and buying her a present.

Lumine should also bring him something as a thank you later.

The car door opening pulled Lumine’s attention from the employee.

“Qiqi has her umbrella, right?” Lumine asked.

“Yup, I made sure she didn’t forget it this time,” Ajax answered as he settled inside the car, “Alright, let’s go,” he said as he drove off.

~~~

Zhongli sighed as he shrugs his raincoat off and placing it on the coat rack together with the umbrella. He’s glad he stopped Granny Shan from going outside to open the shop herself. It was a bit tough even for him to push the barriers up with the wind trying to blow his umbrella away, he doesn’t want to imagine how dangerous it would’ve been for her.

“I hope it won’t be raining as much later.” the old woman hummed as she observed the weather.

“The weather news said it’ll be raining but it would be lighter than this,” Zhongli said as he went on about his duties.

“Well, either way, Qiqi would be waiting here, her mother will pick her up later.” Granny Shan said, “Which is nice cause I would love to give her something for their wedding.”

“Wedding?” Zhongli raised his eyebrow.

“Ah yes, turns out the couple isn’t married yet. Qiqi isn’t biologically the groom’s but she was raised by him when her father died from an accident.” the woman explained.

“That’s an unfortunate accident.” Zhongli frowned.

“Ah it was, but her groom is a great man, he said her deceased husband was his best friend, while it may sound controversial, I think it’s great that he takes good care of them, you can see how dedicated and loving he is when it comes to his family.” Granny Shan chuckled, “Maybe you should visit the bakery sometimes, it would be more fun to socialise with people your age than just an old lady like me.” she teased.

“Don’t be like that, I quite enjoy our conversation.” the brunette replied, “But I think it would be nice to meet them, maybe they can help me in searching for my own family.”

“Ah, that would be great as well.” Granny Shan replied, “Well, I’ll go ahead and make us some tea to warm us up.” she said before leaving to the kitchen.

Zhongli hum before continuing his tasks.

~~~

It was five hours after Qiqi’s done with school.

Five hours of Qiqi waiting for her Mama.

And Qiqi is starting to get a little fussy.

By this time, Qiqi would have taken a nap in the private room of the bakery, she would’ve woken up refreshed and would be playing with her Uncles now.

She doesn’t even remember the promise of a new toy, she just wants to go home and sleep.

Granny Shan had offered the sofa in their living room, but Qiqi isn’t comfortable with napping somewhere else than the comfort of familiarity their bakery gives. Even if she knows Granny Shan and Mr Zhongli are good people, she just wants her Mama and Uncles nearby.

Zhongli frowns as Qiqi rejects another snack from him, while Qiqi did have a packed lunch with her, he thought that some sweets will brighten her mood, but all he was getting was a no and a frustrated tired face from the girl.

“Hm, it’s barely raining outside now, why don’t you just walk Qiqi there?” Granny Shan said.

Qiqi perked up at the suggestion, looking at Zhongli with tired and pleading eyes.

“Yeah, I think it would be a great idea, the little one is tired and I think she’d be more comfortable resting with her family.” Zhongli nodded.

Qiqi’s eye lightened, she nodded in agreement before standing up to follow Zhongli.

“Alright, be careful, bye Qiqi.” Granny Shan waved.

Having been in a good mood again, Qiqi smiled and waved, “Bye-bye, GrannyShan!” before grabbing Zhongli’s hand.

It took Zhongli by surprise, he wasn’t offering his hand but it seemed to be a habit of the little girl, which isn’t that bad, it’s safer that way and he’s glad her parents thought her that.

Also for some reason, it gives him a huge sense of comfort.

Gently grabbing Qiqi’s hand and an umbrella, they made their way.

~~~

“Oh my god, I hope Qiqi is fine.” Lumine said as she frantically shoved her things in her purse, “We were so busy no one can come to get her, I couldn’t even prepare something for Granny Shan.”

“Baby, calm down.” Ajax sighed as he wrapped his arms around his stressed lover, hugging her from the back “Qiqi’s in good hands and you guys did amazing for the event, you should rest for a bit,” he said softly before kissing the side of her head.

While Lumine is shy with public display of affection, there is no customer to tend since the bakery was closed early, most of the employees left, Xiao was at the kitchen making sure to clean the last bit before locking up the back then heading home, and Aether had left to pick Keqing up from work. It’s just the two of them in front of the shop, Lumine having cleaned up the counter and tables when Ajax arrived.

“You know how Qiqi is when she doesn’t get her nap, she’s going to be a nightmare to take care of later.” the blonde dreaded.

Ajax chuckled, turned her around and lifted her up to sit her on the table, “I’ll be with you, don’t worry, we’ll handle our little tantrum monster, okay?” he smiled with an Eskimo kiss.

The exact thing Lumine needs to calm down, she smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck, “How are you always so bright even after work.” she pouted at him.

“Let’s say messing with a certain midget is a great stress reliever.” Ajax grinned mischievously.

“You know one day, you’re gonna get in trouble for pissing him so much at work.” Lumine deadpanned.

“Eh, I only mess with him when it’s a slow day so I’m not disrupting anything at work. Though it had become a game for everyone to bet on who’s gonna fall for whose prank, I have a winning streak of 4 if you’re curious.”

“If our kids become little shits, you’re sleeping on the fucking sofa.” Lumine threatened, though there’s a playful hint in her eyes.

“Such a harsh punishment, love, how will I pass on my legacy?” Ajax faked frowned.

“What legacy? Being a little shit to Scaramouche?” Lumine teased as she poked his cheeks.

“Well, I was thinking our kids vs his, you know? A worthy opponent, their battle will be legendary!”

Lumine laughed, “Ajax, no!”

Ajax grinned, glad that his lover is in a much brighter mood. The talk about their future kids had also brightened him up with excitement, he can imagine Qiqi being the best big sister she can be with the future little ones that’ll be running around their house.

Speaking of which, he should start looking for some renovation plans to handle a bigger family in their home.

A text notified Lumine. She checked her phone and sighed in relief, “Well, looks like Granny Shan sent her employee to walk Qiqi here.”

Ajax hummed before burying his face against her neck, “That’s great, ‘cause I’m feeling comfortable like this.”

“You’re gonna make the man uncomfortable, Ajax.” Lumine pointed out how intimate they look but nonetheless brushed her fingers through his hair.

“Eh, should be expected with a soon to be wed couple.” Ajax shrugged not moving except lifting his face to rest his forehead against hers.

Lumine just chuckled and welcomed the comfort.

“Mama, Papa, Qiqi’s here! Look, Mister, that’s Qiqi’s Mama and Papa!”

Do You Have the Time? Episode 007: Family

[March 26th, 2018, 11:53]

Madison stood outside of the main chemistry building with her headphones on and scrolled through various apps on her phone. She had tied her windbreaker around her waist because the weather decided to cooperate half-way through the morning. March was never a predictable month where she lived. Some days were freezing, others were windy, some snowed, and even more variants were sunny. Today was supposed to be freezing, but all patches of snow were gone by 10:00. A glare pierced her retina, and she shielded her face with her free hand. And look who decided to come out today. Luckily for Madison, the impossible-to-perceive changes made by the climate’s spring season often left her backpack riddled with useful things. Usually they were left unintentionally hidden somewhere on account of the sudden need for some other seasonal accessory in the past, but she wasn’t about to start doubting her convenient and forgetful way for coming through for her future self now.

Madison rifled through the various pockets and compartments of her bag for her pair of sunglasses. Within the minute, she found them stowed away in some place she has no recollection of putting them in. In that moment, she could feel the sun. She put her Ray-Bans on.

People complimented her on her sunglasses a lot, which surprised her when she bought them. At first, she was worried that she might look too much like Harry Potter because the lenses were circular; but she later decided that it didn’t matter. Harry Potter was freaking awesome and if someone said that she did in fact look like him, then it would have been the kindest words they could have given her. She wondered if Harry wore round sunglasses just like his regular prescription. So long as he had a separate pair of sunglasses that were prescription and he didn’t have those clip-on lenses that old people use. Maybe sixty-year-old HP would use them.

Madison hummed in her thoughts and chuckled. 

She wondered if Leopold wore those kinds of glasses. Immediately after, Madison remembered that Leopold did not wear prescription glasses to begin with, so the clip-ons would be pointless. The clip-ons did seem useful, though. If she could pull off regular, circular sunglasses, maybe she could sport some prescription glasses with sunglass clip-ons. She supposed the only conflict standing in her way was that she had 20/20 vision.

She opened her web browser on her phone and typed ‘how to damage your eyesight’. Something about her train of thought and actions caused her to erupt in laughter. Surprisingly, the first few search results are exactly what she was ‘looking for’. She rolled her eyes at the idea, chuckled and returned to her various phone apps. Jeremy was four minutes late. Maybe she would hassle him for his obvious inaccuracy. Her grin strengthened on her face as she considered the idea. A message appeared at the top of her screen while she was on her entertainment high. The last thing she wanted to see at the moment.

‘General Chemistry I: Grade Posted 11:54’.

Her smile wore away and she opened up the notification. Might as well get it over with as soon as she could. The reason that she was let out early, that she hid from the group chat, was because today was an exam day. Her third exam out of five. And she also happened to be blessed with a professor who is so eager to mark all of her wrong answers that he does so before the official end of the class period. Exam III: 71%, C-.

Madison sighed and shut off the phone’s screen. Stuffing it back into her pocket felt like the best course of action in response to that news. Just in time, Jeremy pulled up in front of the chemistry building for her. Eager to leave campus, she leapt down the stairs and threw herself into the passenger seat of the car. Jeremy quietly acknowledged her and set them on course for home.

“So, what happened with the lab?” Madison asked, expecting further explanation from the group chat..

“Leslie and I made some headway before actual work started, but once it did, Sophia came in and shut it all down,” he replied flatly.

“God, what did she do?”

“Found a way to ‘evacuate’ us because of some suspected gas leak.”

“Damn. Is it legit, do you think?”

“Not sure. We didn’t have enough time to really investigate it. We just took everything we could and left before they kicked us out,” he explained, “I had to take IO to stay in the robotics lab.”

“Oh, poor little guy. That sucks.”

“The robotics lab… that Sophia volunteers in,” he said uncomfortably.

“What?” Madison yelped and turned towards him, “Why would you do that?”

“What else could I have done, Madison?” he replied, sharply, “I have no other spaces to keep IO in. You know what happens if we keep him in the apartment.”

“I know, but Sophia? Really?”

“She’s not the only one that works there. And she’s a volunteer anyway. I’ll keep in touch with IO the whole time our lab is closed.”

“Well, good luck. Hope the poor thing is okay.”

“Yeah, me too.”

There was a silent lull for a few minutes. Madison tensely looked out the window while Jeremy drove without uttering a word. She brainstormed ways to break the awkward static before they arrived at their apartment.

“So you and Les spent some alone time together this morning then, huh?” She joked.

“Madison, please.”

“Okay, okay, sorry.”

Another awkward silence. So, he definitely didn’t think that was funny.

“Are you excited for the research-dinner party?” She asked.

“I suppose,” he answered, “It’ll be nice to update Leopold on what Leslie and I put together. I’d really like to get this preliminary stuff out of the way, and start testing our hypotheses.”

“I’m excited to see Leslie’s place!” She added, “She’s so organised, I bet it will be super clean and stuff.”

“Yeah, I’m sure it will be,” Jeremy said in a lighter tone, “What do you think you’ll do in the meantime before it’s time to leave?”

“Ehh… not sure. Maybe dick around online for a bit. I can only take so much of being aggressively average at chemistry before I decide to give it a rest and waste my time on the computer.”

“Okay. Well, I’ll let you know when it’s time to go,” Jeremy said as he pulled into their parking space outside of their apartment complex.

It didn’t take long for Jeremy to disappear into his room after they managed to make their way up the stairs and into their apartment. Madison entered her own room, slumped down into her bed and rested her body. She could feel her limbs get heavy as she stared up at her ceiling mobile decorated with different coloured leaves. She felt that adult mobiles were a far under-appreciated invention. 

Despite the tense silences that happened in the car, she felt that her conversation with Jeremy ended on a definitively neutral tone, rather than a hostile one. She’d take neutral over that any day. The only thing left for her to do, that she could think of, was brush up on all board games that Leslie may have, so that she could wipe the floor with her, Jeremy and Leopold at the party.

Jeremy let his backpack plummet to the floor and settled onto his bed, facedown on the mattress. He laid still for a few minutes, simply letting the tension out of his limbs. It hadn’t occurred to him how stiff he was throughout the day. From working with Leslie, getting frustrated with GraviTime, having an altercation with Leslie, having numerous confusing altercations with Sophia, and then talking to Madison on the way home. Though thankfully, their last conversation didn’t seem as difficult as their previous ones.

He rolled over to the side of his bed to inspect the papers in his bag. There was a large folder that he had almost forgotten about. It was filled with lab reports from the 1 credit hour undergraduate physics lab course that he was a teaching assistant for. He was grateful that the university offered him a contract to TA one of the lab courses for money in addition to giving him a stipend. Renting his room in the apartment would have been difficult without the deal. Despite the variety of kids he saw in an introductory course, it was actually a refreshing way to spend his time. Grading needed to be finished by the 28th.

Before surrendering to the pull to the bed, Jeremy sluggishly ambled off of his bed and knelt down in front of his ant farm sitting on a small stand near his door. It looked like the microcosm might need some water soon. He wondered how ants were so structured and coordinated. As did everyone with an ant farm, he supposed. If these ants could thrive and build with only the limited resources provided in their space, then surely he and everyone else could function a few days without the lab. Maybe he would work on an idea for an alternate location to do work like Leslie did with her dinner party.

[March 26th, 2018, 14:40]

Leslie shambled up the last flight of stairs with various reusable grocery bags filling her hands and hanging off her body. She struggled down the hallway, huffing and contorting her body to keep the bags from tipping and spilling her dinner ingredients. At last, apartment 4 on the third floor. She beamed in relief, but the expression quickly faded. She needed to unlock the door. A faint sigh escaped as she shuffled her purse around until she could access it. With just a few seconds to spare, Leslie managed to unlock her door, get inside and drop half the bags down on her dining room table. Another moment, and there may have been a messy disaster. She relieved herself of the burden from the bags slung over her shoulders, and slumped down into one of the chairs at the dinning room table, rubbing her arms.

Looking about her apartment, she immediately began picking apart the things that needed to be fixed before her guests arrived. Too many objects on her coffee table in front of the couch, all surfaces needed dusting, dishes needed to be done, groceries to be put away. The list of things was never ending. Leslie was having difficulty with her living room for one major reason. Her television sat close to her front door; in front of it was her coffee table, and then the couch. And she had her matching ottoman off in the corner, because there was not enough room for everything. Her issue was that she spent very little time watching TV; and what if there was not enough room for everybody to sit after dinner? The TV might be in the way, or one of them could have to sit close to the door, and they might be uncomfortable with that. She could already feel the party was going to be a mess. She should just take that spot herself to circumnavigate any other disaster.

Leslie shook herself out of her ceaseless train of thought and switched on her ambient sound generator sitting on the bar that bordered the kitchen. She preferred to have some sort of noise while she was home, and music and TV were both too distracting. Would they think her sound generator was weird or uncomfortable without any other noise? Maybe she should play music for them. Her favourite soundscape came on and played sounds of ocean waves and a crackling fire. Tones like those swept her away into a peaceful future, lacking the constant stress and demand for work. She could float away for a moment or two. Maybe one day she could let go of it all. It could be her and Leopold sharing in the beauty as lifetime friends. Jeremy and Madison could come too if they wanted. She was sure that they would find a way to be content. Her cell phone suddenly blared its ringer. Leslie jumped right out of her daydream. She leapt back to the dining room table and scrambled for her phone. It rested between her ear and her shoulder as she hauled bags of groceries to the kitchen counter.

“Hi mom,” she said in her cheery voice, excited to talk. Conversation usually kept her worries at bay. She unpacked the bags and searched for the ingredients’ rightful places.

“Good afternoon, darling. How are you?” her mother responded with a warm and firm tone.

“Good! Just got back from the store with some food. I’m having a little get-together tonight, so I wanted to make a good meal for everyone. What do you need?” She asked, ready to help.

Mrs. Goodchild disregarded Leslie’s question by refusing to acknowledge it. A trace of grief was left in her tone, as she responded to her daughter.

“Oh, a get-together, huh?” she asked with hesitation, “That sounds like fun. What is the occasion?”

“It’s for work.”

“Oh. Well, good for you, sweetie. I’m sure Dr. Looney will be as big of a fan of your cooking as your father and I,” she said. Leslie pulled out the eggplants that she bought and set them off to the side on the counter.

“Aww, thanks mom. I’m glad you and dad liked it all so much. Thankfully the internet was passionate about making tutorials for so many dishes. It was a convenient hobby to have to hold down the fort for you two!”

The line went quiet and Leslie was perplexed. Her mother took a deep breath and cleared her throat.

“Yeah, Leslie, speaking of that…” 

“Yes?”

“Well, since you mentioned it… I’ve been thinking a lot about the way your father and I have been for a while. Our financial situation. And I wanted— uh, is now an okay time to talk, by the way?” 

“Yeah! Everything’s fine! I’m just cooking and cleaning, getting things ready for everyone later. I could use a bit of time away from the demands of science. What’s up?”

“I wanted to call and say that I’m sorry that we're still relying on you. I was thinking about how we still depend on you for things now, even though you moved out years ago. We shouldn’t have had to rely on you when you were just a little girl either, but we did. And I want to change that now. You were always a huge help to us both, and we we’re grateful for you stepping up, and being responsible and such a good sport. We still are! I’m just sorry that nothing has really changed, even though I said it would. I thought of something that I hope will make it up to you?” she said with uncertainty.

“I know that you’re sorry, mom, don’t worry. We’ve already talked it over before! It’s really okay, though. It was tough, and maybe I could have been doing other things in my spare time as a kid, but it was useful to me! Cooking and working aren’t such bad things. I like them enough to throw a party for my coworkers! And my house is always really clean because that’s what I did back home. It worked out for everyone!”

Milk in the fridge. Sauce in the fridge. Noodles go… they could go next to the eggplants.

Her mother sighed, and there was a moment of silence on the line.

“I understand, but. I just meant to call and say that it wasn’t fair for you. And maybe you can pursue some of the things you missed out on, now that you’re older and have the time,” she suggested, “My idea, if you wanted, is that you could move back to our house for a while to relax and not stress so much. We still have your room ready, and you wouldn’t be paying for rent in two different places, anymore…”

“It would be easier, but I do really like being out here, mom! I’m close to work and there’s more happening in the city. I’m happy to help you out!”

Bags get folded and placed in the cabinet furtherest from the dining room.

“Okay,” Mrs. Goodchild whispered, “Is there anything that dad or I could do for you?”

“No, I don’t think so!” Leslie said, absent-mindedly, “Is there anything I can do for you guys?”

“No, honey, thank you. You’ve done plenty for us.”

“Did you guys get my money transfer yet?” Leslie moved the conversation onward. She heard her mother shuffle some papers around and exhale.

“Yes, it’s right here. It’s a lot. You’re sure you won’t need at least some of this? It’s more than just the rent.”

“No, I’ll be fine! You guys need to fix one of the cars, right? You can put the rest towards that!”

“Your dad and I can handle those payments ourselves, Leslie.”

“Well, now you can handle them better! You’ll pay off the services faster.”

“Thank you, hun, that’s very sweet of you.”

“How has dad been?”

“Oh, you know your father. Still driving trucks for long hours. We’re hoping he gets a promotion soon, but… we’re not too sure. Time will tell, I suppose.”

“And you?” Leslie prodded.

“The restaurant hasn’t been getting as many customers as it did when we opened last year. I’ve been thinking about making a change, if things don’t look up soon.”

Leslie found the ground beef sitting out on the counter, and stuffed it in her fridge before she forgot again. She couldn’t remember how it got there.

“I’m sorry to hear that, mom. I hope things look up soon.”

“I hope so, too,” she said quietly.

“Maybe, to take your minds off of it, you can both make a trip out here and we’ll all spend the day together!” Leslie suggested with enthusiasm.

“That would be wonderful. Your father would be excited to do that.”

“Good! We should plan that soon!”

“Yes, we should. In the meantime though, I’ve got to start getting ready for work, okay?”

“Okay!”

“It was nice to hear your voice again, honey. Have fun with dinner and everyone tonight, and be sure to say hi and thank you again to Dr. Looney for all of his help.”

“I will! I always do,” she said with a sunny smile, “It was nice to talk to you too, mom. Have a good day at work, and I can’t wait to see you two again. Don’t worry too much about me!”

Mrs. Goodchild let out a breathy laugh.

“I’ll do my best, sweetheart. Don’t work too hard.”

“Impossible!” Leslie joked.

“Talk soon, darling. I love you.”

“I love you too! Bye-bye!”

Click.

Leslie leaned against the counter with a smile. She loved hearing from her parents. Especially her mom because she was always looking out for her. It was probably where Leslie got her consistently concerned disposition, too. Although, her mother is concerned with a serious undertone. The cheeriness likely came from her father, ultimately to form Leslie’s core expressions. Cheerful, concerned and eager to help. She chuckled as she thought about what an odd combination of traits that was to exhibit in someone. She wondered if anybody was ever perplexed at her demeanour. It wouldn’t surprise her. Leslie’s smile faded away as she kept her mother in her thoughts. It was flattering to be so concerned with Leslie’s wellness, but sometimes, she wished that her mom could relax about it. The hardest part for her was that she could do nothing to change her mother.

Leslie put her thoughts to rest again and distracted herself with the housework. If the house-party was going to be a success, she would have to hurry. The seating arrangement problem had been solved, but everything still needed to be dusted, and all clutter had to be organised and tidied. Disinfecting all surfaces would be a plus, although her time could run out before that happened. She scurried down the one hallway in her apartment that led past her bathroom, bedroom, and finally terminated at a small storage closet housing her cleaning supplies. Quickly, she delved into the tiny room dragging out a vacuum, a duster, and a spray bottle of disinfectant. The vacuum slipped away from her and swung the floor in her haste. Before she bent to pick it back up, a peculiar colour caught her eye. Something orange stuck to the door facing the inside of the closet. A post-it note. Leslie furrowed her brow and slowly picked it off the door.

“Relax and slow down. Try classical. Remember to have fun!”

The handwriting was awfully… chicken-scratchy. She wondered how long it had been in there. Maybe she’d been a little too focused on work and her parents lately to remember. Her apartment did need a decent cleaning up, so it could have been there for quite some time. There was certainly something vaguely familiar. Was it the colour? Or the placement? An involuntary sigh sheepishly escaped from her mouth. She should be able to keep track of her own house, she’s an adult. She escorted the note down the hall and into her room, which also needed cleaning. Maybe she’d just close the door before they arrived. If she ran short on time, of course. Leslie precariously hid the note away in her nightstand drawer and returned to her storage closet mess with a foggy mind.

“Classical what?” she asked aloud and glanced back to her bedroom door, as if there would be a response. She shrugged and dragged her cleaning supplies to the living room. The most efficient order of tasks would be… clutter, clean the surfaces, dirty dishes, vacuum, then cooking. And closing her bedroom door. Cooking was the most important, because it is not a dinner party without dinner. Her computer and notes needed to be easily accessible, too. It wasn’t a research dinner party without the research.

The top priority was supposed to be work, after all. Briefing Leopold on the progress that she and Jeremy made that morning. She wondered if Jeremy felt comfortable coming to her house. Partly because of the end of their last personal conversation, and partly because he seemed slightly uncomfortable with everything in general. She chuckled to herself. Hopefully everything would go well. Leslie resolved to simply make the most of the night to the best of her ability. Cooking, cleaning, research, activities, whatever got done would get done.

As long as the four of them were happy, she could consider the party a good one.

[03–26–2018; 18:12_Research_Video_Log_002_START]

“Doo doo-doo doo-dooooooo,” Madison sang and pranced behind Jeremy on the way to their car. Their apartment complex’s parking lot was decently packed, and the sky was a deep blue. The sun would be setting in about thirty minutes. Jeremy looked back at her.

“What are you doing?”

“I feel like you guys should be taking advantage of this camcorder by doing more science vlogs.”

“They’re research video logs,” he said.

“Yeah, same thing, nerd. You guys could be on YouTube!”

“Madison, we’re a theoretical physics laboratory, not a make-up tutorial channel.”

Her jaw dropped in surprise, she averted her eyes and her cheeks warmed up. “How did you know I watched those…” she asked quietly.

“I didn’t, it was just an example,” he said and shrugged as he climbed into the driver seat of their car.

“Oh, come on, that’s not fair!” Madison exclaimed, following his motions into the passenger side.

“You brought it on yourself.”

“And you brought this on yourself,” she laughed and zoomed the camera up on Jeremy’s face so that it covered the whole viewing window.”

“Please don’t do that.”

“Sorry, I can’t control it.”

“Yes, you can,” he replied tiredly as he started up the car and pulled out of the parking lot, “You do know that you’re wasting a lot of memory, right?”

“That’s what happens when you make a time travel documentary, Jeremy!”

“It’s not a time travel documentary. It’s supposed to be for recording our experiments and results.”

“A documentary is way cooler, though.”

“Okay, just… if you transfer that footage to your computer fast enough that running out of memory won’t be a problem in the lab, then you can make your time travel documentary.”

“YES,” she yelled, “You mean our documentary.

Jeremy sighed and groaned while coming to the first red light of the drive. “If I say yes, will you please just stop.”

“Okay, alright, fine, sorry,” she mocked, “…Can I interview you for the documentary?”

“I don’t promise accurate answers to ridiculous questions.”

Green light.

“So, mister, doctor Jeremy—”

“I’m not a doctor.”

“––what is your favourite thing about your amazing, one-of-a-kind sister?”

“How much she talks.”

“Really?!” she said with a laugh.

“No.”

“Oh,” she dismissed, “That’s lame!”

Jeremy kept his eyes on the road.

“Okay, how about this. What do you think Leslie is going to make for dinner?”

Jeremy furrowed his brow while he was thinking.

“Huh. I don’t know… maybe a family kind of dinner.”

“What? What even is that?” Madison asked.

He shrugged.

“I don’t know. Something families eat.”

“Wow, what an oddly vague and cryptic answer! As if family dinner food is somehow fundamentally different from everyone else's!”

“Whatever, Madison. I’m driving."

“Thank you for being here today mister, professor Jeremy—”

“Also not a professor.”

“—do you have any final words for the audience?”

“Not particularly,” he said.

“A man of few words, but eloquent, nonetheless.”

“Hey, look at the directions and tell me if that’s her apartment building,” Jeremy instructed, “I think it might be, but I want to be sure.”

“Oh, okay sure,” Madison said, as she distractedly pointed the view of the camera towards her lap to look at her phone.

[03–26–2018; 18:24_Research_Video_Log_002_END]

Man Utd news LIVE: Ed Woodward eyes £180m double transfer, scouts watch the ‘new Pirlo’ | Football | Sport

Man Utd news LIVE updates: All the latest news, gossip and updates from Old Trafford

Monday, September 16

James Maddison and Jadon Sancho are top of Manchester United’s wishlist

The young English pair are expected to cost upwards of £180million

David de Gea has signed a new four-year contract with Manchester United

Manchester United are monitoring Brescia midfielder Sandro Tonali

Europa League ambitions

Manchester United defender Diogo Dalot is desperate to get his hands on the Europa League trophy this season.

The Red Devils start their campaign at Old Trafford against Astana on Thursday – and Dalot wants a winning start.

“It’s a big competition, but not as big for this club,” Dalot told the United App. “This club needs to be in the Champions League every day, every year, winning the Champions League and in Portugal it’s a little but different.

“Of course it’s a big competition that if any team wins it’ll be a great achievement, but for this club when we are in it we just need to win it.”

Man Utd news LIVE updates: All the latest news, gossip and updates from Old Trafford (Image: GETTY)

Maddison meltdown

Manchester United fans are pleading with James Maddison to move to the Red Devils after he posted on Instagram with Old Trafford set as the location.

The 22-year-old’s post had no caption attached to it and the picture showed the midfielder playing at the Theatre of Dreams on Saturday for Leicester.

All pretty harmless but his post has sent United fans wild, with most pleading for the former Norwich man to follow his ex-team-mate Harry Maguire to Manchester.

One said: “Please force the move fella.” Another wrote: “You’re welcome here whenever.” Someone else went with: “You’ll be posting plenty of photos at Old Trafford next season pal.”

DDG savings?!

Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea has put pen to paper on a new four-year contract in a deal which may have saved the Red Devils a huge chunk of cash.

The Spaniard will be earning around £375,000-a-week, making him the club’s highest earner following the loan departure of Alexis Sanchez.

The goalkeeper will now stay at Old Trafford until at least June 2023 on his current contract, which will be worth £97.5m if the option of a fifth year is taken up, including add-ons, according to the Mirror.

United boss Solskjaer may have saved the club £100m in securing De Gea’s future, as he’d need to break the bank to sign a replacement.

United have agreed to spend £97.5m on De Gea’s contract, assuming he stays for the four years of his current deal, and the added one-year extension.

Man Utd news LIVE updates: All the latest news, gossip and updates from Old Trafford (Image: GETTY)

He’s a disgrace

Gary Neville has labelled Paul Pogba’s agent Mino Raiola a “disgrace” and believes the Frenchman is still ager to leave Manchester United.

“Pogba wants to leave. He has made it clear,” Neville told Norwegian TV. “His agent is a disgrace and has been a disgrace all over Europe – not just for Manchester United.

“They must stop working with him. He doesn’t have the values you want in your club. My opinion is that Manchester United need not negotiate with him.

“He will try to fix a transfer for his player, and will try to take part of the transfer sum himself. That’s how he operates.”

Man Utd news LIVE updates: All the latest news, gossip and updates from Old Trafford (Image: GETTY)

Neymar wanted Barca

PSG star Neymar has admitted he wanted to join Barcelona during the transfer window for ‘personal reasons’.

“Everyone knows I wanted to leave,” he said. “I made it very clear. I won’t go into details though, because it affects others.

“But I’m still a PSG player and my intention is to be happy on the pitch. My mind is on PSG.

“I always made it clear that I don’t have anything against PSG or the fans. They were personal reasons. I had my reasons and I tried my best to make it happen, but unfortunately they didn’t let me.”

Man Utd news LIVE updates: All the latest news, gossip and updates from Old Trafford (Image: GETTY)

Christian Eriksen snubs Spurs

Tottenham playmaker Christian Eriksen is prepared to snub any contract offers from the club.

Eriksen, 27, was tipped to leave north London this summer with the likes of Manchester United, Real Madrid and Barcelona all linked at some stage.

The Dane admitted he would like a fresh challenge elsewhere – but the deadline came and went with Eriksen failing to secure a transfer.

Now, Spanish newspaper Marca claim he’ll refuse any late approach from Tottenham to enable him to leave for free in the summer of 2020.

Man Utd news LIVE updates: All the latest news, gossip and updates from Old Trafford (Image: GETTY)

Sergej Milinkovic-Savic contract

Lazio are set to tie Sergej Milinkovic-Savic to a new contract.

The Serbia international has been on the radar of multiple European heavyweights including Manchester United and Real Madrid.

But it looks like the 24-year-old will be staying in Italy.

Calciomercato claim Milinkovic-Savic will sign a new five-year deal worth £51k per week.

Man Utd news LIVE updates: All the latest news, gossip and updates from Old Trafford (Image: GETTY)

Wanted: Logan Pye

Arsenal look set to beat Manchester United to the signing of Sunderland teenager Logan Pye.

That’s according to The Sun, who claim Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side had been tracking the 15-year-old for some time.

It’s said the Gunners will ‘pounce’ during the next transfer window when Pye turns 16 and is eligible to sign a professional contract.

Pye, who can play centre-half or full-back, has mad five appearances for Sunderland’s Under-18 squad – netting once.

Man Utd news LIVE updates: All the latest news, gossip and updates from Old Trafford (Image: GETTY)

Matic to Juve?

Juventus are keen on bringing Manchester United midfielder Nemanja Matic to Serie A.

Matic failed to make an appearance under manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer this season until Saturday’s win over Leicester.

But with Paul Pogba to return from injury, the Serbian will likely see his services reduced to bench duty once again.

And according to The Sun, Matic may not have to try his hand at cracking the first XI, as Juventus are in for his signature.

The report states that Matic’s lack of playing time for United has put Juve, who wanted to bring Pogba back to Turn, on alert for the Serb.

Man Utd news LIVE updates: All the latest news, gossip and updates from Old Trafford (Image: GETTY)

James Maddison & Jadon Sancho

James Maddison and Jadon Sancho are top of Manchester United’s wishlist.

That’s according to ESPN FC, who claim Ole Gunnar Solskjaer wants to bring the pair to Old Trafford next summer.

Maddison, 22, is thought to be valued at £80million by Leicester, while Borussia Dortmund’s Sancho could cost upwards of £100m.

Solskjaer’s side spent £150m on Harry Maguire, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Daniel James last summer – and the Red Devils want to continue with the same transfer strategy.

Man Utd news LIVE updates: All the latest news, gossip and updates from Old Trafford (Image: GETTY)

David de Gea pens contract

David de Gea has signed a new four-year contract with Manchester United that will keep him at the club until June 2023.

The deal also includes the option to extend the contract for a further season.

De Gea told United’s official website: “It has been a privilege to spend eight years at this great club and the opportunity to continue my career at Manchester United is a genuine honour.

“Since I arrived here, I could never have imagined I would play over 350 games for this club. Now my future is fixed, all I want is to help this team achieve what I believe we can and win trophies again, together.”

Sandro Tonali – the new Pirlo

Manchester United are monitoring Brescia midfielder Sandro Tonali.

Italian publication Calciomercato claim United representatives were in attendance to watch him in action during Brescia’s 4-3 defeat to Bologna on Sunday.

Tonali, who has been compared to Andrea Pirlo by the Italian media, is also being assessed by European heavyweights Ajax and Borussia Dortmund.

“I hope Tonali remains in my hand as long as possible. If he wants to stay in Brescia, I am willing to keep him forever,” said Brescia president Massimo Cellino.

“No one has called me yet for him, but it is logical that everyone likes him”.

Man Utd news LIVE updates: All the latest news, gossip and updates from Old Trafford (Image: GETTY)

Dzeko wants Mkhi

Edin Dzeko wants Roma to sign Henrikh Mkhitaryan on a permanent basis.

The Armenia international arrived at Roma from Arsenal on a season-long loan and it didn’t take him long to settle in when scoring 22-minutes into his debut.

“I [expected the good performance] from him. I know him as a great player, and he is a very good addition to our attacking team who wants to play football,” Dzeko told reporters after the game.

“I am one 100% sure he is going to be a big help for us. I was definitely happy to see this transfer happen.”

Man Utd news LIVE updates: All the latest news, gossip and updates from Old Trafford (Image: GETTY)

Timo Werner pursuit

Bayern Munich will try to sign RB Leipzig striker Timo Werner next summer.

That’s the opinion of ex-Germany midfielder Michael Ballack.

Werner, 23, has been linked with Atletico Madrid, Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund.

“He has expressed his gratitude to Leipzig with his contract extension. But I think next year a switch to Bayern could be on again,” Ballack told TZ.

Wanted: Logan Pye

Arsenal look set to beat Manchester United to the signing of Sunderland teenager Logan Pye.

That’s according to The Sun, who claim Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side had been tracking the 15-year-old for some time.

It’s said the Gunners will ‘pounce’ during the next transfer window when Pye turns 16 and is eligible to sign a professional contract.

Pye, who can play centre-half or full-back, has mad five appearances for Sunderland’s Under-18 squad – netting once.

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A few days and a few games worth of experience on the Switch

Chipz is back at it with another post! But this time it’s about my experiences so far with owning the Nintendo Switch. Super Mario Odyssey just came out last weekend on October 27th, 2017. Boy was there A lot of hype behind that game, and to be honest I expected it to do well. However, with the release of Super Mario came a bundle deal. In this bundle you get a digital code of the game to download along with a Nintendo Switch with Joy-Cons that have the iconic red color, the same as Mario’s colors. In the bundle you also get a carrying case for your Switch console with a new character named Cappy on the front which is also in red.

Super Mario Nintendo Switch bundle with Cappy on the front of the carrying case

Now this isn’t my first time owning a system from Nintendo, as I’ve had the NES, N64, a few of the Game Boys, and the Nintendo 3ds. *I just recently purchased the Super NES classic.  I’m going to state some of the things that I like about the Switch and then say what I don’t like, and give you some insight as to what I’m used to from being with Sony for so long.

PROS:

Hybrid between portable and console system

Having this advantage, you can take your games with you anywhere you go. Literally. As I’m writing this, my Nintendo Switch is in my book bag, in the carrying case(you gotta protect your stuff man).

HD compatible 

Pretty much all of the games depending on the developer will be in full HD. When docked they will run at 1080p and when in hand-held mode they automatically go down to 720p. Honestly though, what console ISN’T in HD? It’s 2017 people, they better be!

Full motion controls

Now I feel this particular PRO is on a case-by-case basis. I’ve only had the system for a few days now but I haven’t had any problems with it, I think you can even turn off motion controls with most games if you don’t like it. So far it’s a plus for me. I need to exercise my arms anyway!

Expandable memory

The good thing with the switch is that it takes micro SD cards for additional memory. You can expand the memory of up to 2TB of data…of course when these actually come out. Nonetheless, the Switch supports it. Below are the types of micro SD cards that are compatible:

microSD (up to 2 GB)

microSDHC (4 GB – 32 GB)

microSDXC (64 GB and above)* This requires a system update*

With that said, here’s what can be saved to the memory cards:

Downloadable software

Software update data

Downloadable content (DLC)

Screenshots & video captures(part of the latest 4.0 update)

CONS:

Battery life

The battery life in hand-held mode can be very short. This depends on a few things like what games you play and the settings on your system. It was reported back in March when playing Zelda: Breath of The Wild the maximum amount of time you can get out of your system would be approximately 3 hours. Granted at the time that was one of the main games that came out, but you pretty much get the idea. Some games drain more battery life and some don’t. Speaking from personal experience, I played Super Mario for about an hour and a half and I ended up with roughly 30% battery life. Either way don’t expect a long gaming session if you’re in hand-held mode.

On-board memory

The Switch comes with 32gb of on-board memory. That’s horrible. No debating this point, so don’t try. While game saves don’t take up much memory, game data does. Perfect example: Super Mario takes up 5.3 gigabytes(gb) and an indie title named Stardew Valley only takes up 909 megabytes(mb). If I wanted to install Zelda: BoTW I’d be losing 13.4 gb of space. You also have to take into account the Switch’s OS, game title and software updates.  Some people and myself included, feel 32gb shouldn’t have been the starting point for memory. Cell phones don’t even come with 32gb anymore!

No cloud storage

Staying on the topic of memory here, there’s no cloud based storage for the Switch. You’d think Nintendo would want to come out swinging and going for the knock out but they didn’t. There are gamers out there in the world that download their games and buy physical copies. Some stick to digital downloads only, and some stick to the physical copies only. Either way you’re losing out on space. It might be really slow or it might be really fast. The end result is this: you’re being forced to opt for a micro SD card which can cost you upwards to over $100.

Transferable data

As of right now the only data that you can transfer from the console are screen shots, video captures, and game data. Not game saves! This is also a bad move since game saves were transferable from the Wii-U and Nintendo 3DS to a USB device. Nintendo has confirmed that game saves aren’t transferable, or at least they don’t want them to be right now. A Reddit user posted that he had to send his console in for repair and Nintendo gave him a brand new one. After doing a thorough check he noticed his game saves were on the new system that was sent to him. So this begs the question- will Nintendo eventually enable Switch users to transfer game saves in the future? If so, why not give us that option from the beginning?

Nintendo Smart App/Network

The Smart App was designed to be used as a chat system while you’re playing the game with other people. However that didn’t work out so well in the beginning. A good friend of mine named Avidan Smith spoke about this more in-depth. * Click here to get the full breakdown of what’s wrong with it. A lot of these issues are things that never happened on the other consoles.  Another issue is that you can’t purchase any kind of content from the app itself. You can make purchases from the website but as of right now I’m not sure how that works. If it’s the same way as the PSN store, then you can purchase content and it’ll be linked to your account to download later.

Nintendo Smart App

But here’s the thing with that too: on the PSN you can have your content automatically download to your console once the purchase is made. I routinely do this from the PSN app whenever I want to buy content to enjoy later on. I follow through with the  transaction process and have it download to my PS4 and by the time I get home it’s ready to go once I turn it on. I feel like this is something that should’ve launched with the switch, and if not shortly afterwards. However, we’ll have to wait until 2018 to see if there are any real improvements that are going to be made.

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Playstation Network App

PSN App second sceen

I’m not going to count the fact that the Switch is lacking something called share play. Share play is a feature available on Playstation 4 where you can watch a friend’s screen for a certain amount of time via internet connection. You can watch a buddy play a game, or even take control and play a game that they have to get the feel of it or just to have a little bit of fun. I use this often with my friends to see if I want to play a game that they have and I don’t. This really gives you some purchasing power and makes up for the fact that there isn’t an abundance of demos and timed trials available on the PSN. The reason I’m not counting it as a CON is because Nintendo seems to give you demos of new games that are coming out, but it would be a nice feature to have when the console is docked.

So there you have it folks, some pros and some cons.  Nintendo actually had a pretty good start seeing as how they were so far behind with the Wii-U. If they can fix these issues I feel it can REALLY be a contender. On top of that they’re starting to get quite a bit of third party support. The momentum is strong with this one. I’m a PlayStation fan-boy(yes..I’ll admit it) but I can see when something’s good and/or bad and call a spade a spade. The PS4 is my preferred system of choice, it’s one thing I’ll always go back to. Coming from a Sony fan, I can say this is definitely worth buying so go pick one up. I’m honestly looking forward to playing as many games that will come out for the Switch cough cough Fire Emblem, Pokemon, Yoshi and Donkey Kong cough cough. Overall I do enjoy having the Switch and I’m having a good time with it where ever I go. Who says you can’t enjoy the best of both worlds?

*A review of the Super NES will be coming shortly on youtube so stay tuned!

*POST EDIT: Reggie Fil-Aimes, President of Nintendo North America has stated that Nintendo is aware of the issue with game saves. He sat down with Mashable earlier today and stated the following:

You’re talking to someone who has completed 120 Shrines, and I think I’m at 400 Korok seeds and growing [in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild]. So I understand what it’s like putting a lot of time into content, and the thought of that content not being there.

We’re aware of the concern. Certainly, Nintendo is a consumer-oriented company [and] we want to make our consumers happy. We’re aware of the concern and it’s an area we’re going to continue working on to make sure that we can alleviate some of those consumer fears of having a content-based issue.

Because of the type of platform we have — it’s something that is on the go as well as connected in the home environment — there are some added complications. It’s not as simple as a piece of hardware that never moves and is always connected in an online environment.

Of course you know I have to call Bull—-! Throwing little jabs like these at Sony and Microsoft isn’t winning Nintendo any brownie points or favoritism from the gaming community. Simply because Sony and Microsoft figured out a way to back up game saves for their systems. Sony especially did this with the PSP/VITA with cross-platform play. Anyway, with this recent statement from Reggie coming out just earlier today everyone can predict we’ll be getting cloud storage within the next year. I’m going to go as far to say it’s coming but it’ll be included with the paid online subscription from Nintendo.

Should you buy a #switch ? #nintendo #console #gaming #sony #playstation #ps4 #videogames A few days and a few games worth of experience on the Switch Chipz is back at it with another post!

The DEEBOT OZMO 960 Is a Fantastic AI Robotic Vacuum Cleaner Let Down by a Mapping Problem

Let’s be honest, very few people truly enjoy vacuuming their house so it’s not surprising that robotic vacuum cleaners like the DEEBOT OZMO 960 by Ecovacs have become so popular.

Most of the modern ones do a good enough job cleaning so the stakes have been raised to include AI features and other software to enhance the cleaning experience. The DEEBOT 960 is a really great device that is sadly held back by some puzzling decisions and challenges with mapping.

The DEEBOT is a very well built device and it feels very high quality when you take it out of the box. Apart from the actual robot device itself, there are attachments for mopping (oh yes, this thing can mop the floors!), extra brushes, etc. so you have everything you need right out of the box. There’s, of course, the charging station which is also a nice looking dock that won’t ruin your house’s decor no matter where you put it.

The actual setup of the DEEBOT is extremely simple using the Ecovacs app that is available for both Android and iOS. Soon after I set it up, I was prompted to install a firmware update which also went very smoothly. The application itself provides a very nice user interface with a lot of control available including an advanced mode that gives you the ability to clean specific areas and set obstacles – more on this later on.

Once you’re all set up, the first thing you’ll want to do is let the DEEBOT charge for a while. My recommendation is to let it charge overnight so you get started on a full charge. Keep in mind, the DEEBOT will return back to its charging station automatically if it runs low on juice so you shouldn’t find yourself carrying it back at all. There is also a “Continuous cleaning” mode which will basically mean after it’s low on battery, it’ll go back to the station, charge up and then head back out. This feature could be especially handy if you have a very large area that can’t be cleaned at once.

The simplest way to clean is to either hit the Auto button on the back of the DEEBOT or the Auto button in the app. This will send the DEEBOT out from its charging dock to start cleaning your house, whether it’s vacuuming or mopping (if you’ve added water and the mopping attachment). If this is the first time you’re using the DEEBOT then the only option actually available is AUTO. Custom and Advanced cleaning modes are both disabled to start because the DEEBOT needs to create a map of the area before those can be enabled. Now, when I saw this I completely understood why this was the case because how do you customize where you clean if you don’t have a map to show it what you want it to do? However, this is sadly where some puzzling design and software decisions became apparent and increasingly frustrating.

Houston, We Have a Problem

So to sum up the problem, the DEEBOT will not save the map no matter how much it has done unless it automatically returns to the charging station by itself. The only time this will happen, mind you, is either if it’s successfully cleaned every single inch of the area it can reach or it runs out of battery. I’m also not even sure if it will save the map if it runs out of battery since I think it’ll just recharge and go back out again to finish the mapping. This is an incredibly short-sighted and poor decision on the part of Ecovacs that has effectively made it impossible for me to use the Custom or Advanced features. Why? Simply because I cannot get the DEEBOT to clean my entire first floor successfully without getting caught on wires, something my kids left behind, or just generally stuck. I have no problem in it getting stuck or snagging on something, although the AI is supposed to reduce that, but why can’t it at least save the map it’s completed so far? As you can see from the screenshots above, I’ve had it clean for a long time then all of a sudden get caught so I’ve jumped in to fix it and then when I put it back it cheerfully claims “Oh this is a whole new area so let me start from scratch!”. I’m sorry, this is unacceptable to me.

To be clear, every attempt I’ve made to let the thing make a map including literally following it around and avoiding obstacles has failed because it’s needed my intervention (understandably) and then decided it has to start over. In the screenshots above, that is the exact same space in my house but you can see how a few times it started mapping at an angle after I placed it back down and the map wasn’t even identical. I will say this could be due to my house and my furniture, etc. but then I’m reviewing this based on my experience so YMMV.

Initially, I thought this was a bug, but it’s confirmed via the Ecovacs FAQ that this is truly an intended result. Reading online, there are tips to do things like close doors of rooms so you can create a map of that room that gets saved, etc. Others have suggested placing obstacles and pre-cleaning the area before the cleaning to avoid hurdles. I’m actually fine doing that but then I hit another problem which is the DEEBOT is just short enough it fits under my couches and furniture so it gets under it and there are wires down there as well as other obstacles which (having two little kids) can be unexpected.

This could honestly all be avoided if there was the ability to save the map on the go! When you’re using the mobile app, the map is displayed in real-time and the location of the DEEBOT also updates smoothly. Why not save the map? Sure, if you get interrupted, it could ask the user to return the DEEBOT to the charging station since that is a known location and the starting point of the map. Once there, it can validate the map (or even ask the user to confirm it’s the right map), then fill in the gaps. This thing is an awesome cleaning machine, but it’s been severely let down by some really bad decisions. I’m hoping that future firmware updates may fix this simple issue, but until then I can’t really recommend this for people since without the map being saved, you can’t use the Custom or Advanced features that (I assume since I haven’t been able to use them) really set this thing apart from the competition.

The DEEBOT OZMO 960 by Ecovacs retails for $1,150 and is currently only available exclusively at Costco for members

Source: Manufacturer supplied review sample

What I Like: Great build quality; Excellent cleaning; It mops!; Navigation and obstacle avoidance works well; Battery lasts pretty long; Great mobile app and user experience – shows DEEBOT location in real-time and cleaning path on the map

What Needs Improvement: Can’t use custom or advanced features without saving map; Map saving only happens in certain conditions that could be hard to meet

from Joseph Rushing https://geardiary.com/2020/02/10/the-deebot-ozmo-960-is-a-fantastic-ai-robotic-vacuum-cleaner-let-down-by-a-mapping-problem/

The Weekender: Outlaw Edition

Well I don’t know about you guys but I’ve had an enjoyable week – we managed to get some key reviews online and there’s been some interesting new games to pad out one’s collection, depending on your preferences. It feels like we’re finally getting out of the slump that struck the start of the year, at least.

Don’t forget to check out our competition for a chance to win a free iOS code for Shieldwall Chronicles, by the way! First competition we’ve done in a while so you don’t’ want to miss out.

Meanwhile, In mobile gaming…

Out Now

Pirate Outlaws (iOS & Android) – Full review coming soon!

Our main game highlight of the week is this roguelike/card game hybrid that features turn-based combat. We’ve always got a lot of time for card mechanics here and there’s been some very interesting games that play around with roguelike concepts, so we’re hoping this one can live up to the emerging genre hits.

There are six playable characters, each with a pre-made deck. A further 250 cards and 80 relics are available to find and collect within a procedurally generated world. A unique feature appears to be the presence of ammunition, whereby you’ll have to make sure your abilities or attacks are ‘loaded’ before you use them. It’s worth noting that while the base game is only a dollar, there are IAPs covering the various in-game resources & currencies. We’ve got someone working on a full review of this so we’ll let you know the full score ASAP.

PS4 Remote Play (iOS and Android)

Utility and gaming-adjacent apps is something I’ve thought about covering more of here – after all, we all have interested beyond just mobile gaming and the great thing about mobile is that you can get apps that support your other hobbies. As a PS4 owner myself, the recently released PS4 Remote Play app on iOS would in theory be right up my street... except I’m not on iOS. Sadly, the Android version only supports Sony-made phones and tablets. Guess I’ll just have to play my PS4 on an actual TV, like a pleb.

If you are an iOS user and have a PS4, however, this might be relevant to your interests. Reports vary on how well the app performs, but Mikhail Madnani over at Touch Arcade has done some testing which is worth a read. Personally, I wish they’d bring back the second-screen initiative a bunch of games dabbled with half-a-decade ago, but there you go.

Tides of Time (iOS & Android) – Full review coming soon!

This isn’t actually due out till tomorrow (who launches a game on a Saturday? I mean really!), but I don’t want to sit on this for an entire week until the next Weekender update. I'm flagging this up to you now instead, although note we don't have store links at the time of writing. Hats off to Dave for pointing this out – I would have missed it otherwise.

This is a two-player micro-game that involves card-drafting, set collection and combos to score victory points. The premise is you’re laying out the wonders of your Kingdom through time, with each round representing an ‘Age’. As time moves on, your achievements crumble but you get to keep one card from the previous round as a kind of ancient legacy to inform your future strategy.

I’ve actually got the physical game and it’s a relaxing, fun experience for two people that can be played quite quickly and only requires some light record keeping. It’s not something you can play a lot off, mind, but It’s a good a candidate as any for a digital conversion. According to the devs it’ll feature solo-play vs. and AI, as well as hotseat multiplayer with a friend or loved one.

Updates

Unless I’ve gone blind, there doesn’t appear to have been any updates of note this week but do let readers know in the comments if you’ve spotted something I haven’t. One thing: Even though Shieldwall Chronicles launched its' 1.03 update yesterday, 1.04 has already been released to fix some critical bugs that cropped up.

Sales

It’s not a great week for sales of note, unfortunately, although as a nice change of pace we actually have an Android-exclusive sale to flag up this time around:

Rusted Warfare RTS (Android) (Review): $0.99 

This hidden gem of an RTS game came out in 2012, but we only did our official review in 2017 after the developer decided to launch the steam version. It’s a great strategy title that pays homage to the genre greats like C&C. If you’re still wary, there is a Demo version you can try as well.

Evoland II (iOS & Android): $0.99

This is one of those games that we keep talking about but have never formally reviewed. This RPG adventure title about playing your way through different game genres is going for just a buck.

Seen anything else you liked, played any of the above? Let us know in the comments!

The Weekender: Outlaw Edition published first on https://touchgen.tumblr.com/

Inside “Fin”, the elite human/AI assistant

New Post has been published on https://takenews.net/inside-fin-the-elite-human-ai-assistant/

Inside “Fin”, the elite human/AI assistant

“I’ve FOMO for the long run”, says Sam Lessin. That’s why his startup Fin is working backwards from a far-off tech utopia. At some point, computer systems with some human assistance will reply our each beck and name. In the present day, Lessin is teaming them up. On daily basis, Fin will get smarter.

For $1 a minute, 24/7, Fin will get your digital chores performed. Message, electronic mail, or communicate a request and an actual particular person will snap into motion, augmented by a machine intelligence toolkit constructed from all of the duties Fin’s tackled thus far. Positive, it handles analysis, scheduling, commerce, and buyer assist calls. Nevertheless it additionally learns your habits, negotiates for you, and conquers advanced jobs like creating a web site.

Now after two years and funding from prime buyers together with Kleiner Perkins, Fin is opening as much as extra prospects and press. “We’ve actually deliberately talked to nobody” says Lessin, a former Fb VP who bought it his file sharing startup Drop.io.

That’s a vastly totally different strategy than a lot of the boisterous AI startups have taken. Lessin tells me “There’s been this loopy hype cycle. ‘All the pieces’s a bot. Bots are superior. All the pieces’s an assistant’” Lessin laughs. “All these items fucking suck.”

Fin was decided to not suck, even when that meant staying quiet. Lessin and co-founder Andrew Kortina have tinkered and examined Fin since mid-2015. “I had performed Venmo” Kortina says, downplaying his co-founder function and its sale to PayPal, “and was then doing nothing. I heard Sam was additionally doing nothing and that piqued my curiosity as he’s an previous good friend.”

Brainstorming led them to the thesis that “the web is damaged as an info machine” Kortina tells me. They noticed a larger future than leisure, distraction, and massive enterprise. So in Fin’s first incarnation, the duo swapped uncared for memos and to-do lists, and tried to seek out what they may get performed for one another. A lot had been falling via the cracks.

“I’m okay about doing menial issues for colleagues however I’ll simply let all that stuff in my very own life slip” Kortina admits. “I wouldn’t go to the dentist for years. I didn’t have medical health insurance after school for 10 years. My credit score rating was horrible as a result of I had some invoice I wouldn’t determine easy methods to pay.”

Most individuals have equally boring duties they detest spending time coping with. You would name the cable firm to battle a value hike or analysis eating places and hunt for a reservation. So may Fin. And because of Uber we’ve grown accustomed to with the ability to commerce cash for that point again, sidestepping sluggish public transportation or searching for parking once we’re in a rush.

Fin co-founders Sam Lessin (left) and Andrew Kortina (proper) in entrance of the flag of Finland

Whereas it’s straightforward to think about Fin as merely a first-world luxurious for the lazy, and it’s nice at that, it’s additionally a productiveness software that may let folks obtain extra of what solely they will do. Kortina talks about Fin as a approach to “immediately offload” chores.

Even in case you may energy via a process sooner than Fin may second-hand and hold the , “It’s not simply the price of doing that factor your self. It’s the context switching” Kortina explains. “It’s so laborious for me to get into a extremely good state of focus and circulate and creativity, and after I get into that state I don’t need to be interrupted.”

Fin’s removed from the one private assistant startup making an attempt to avoid wasting you time, however most of the others fail on account of hubris, relying to closely on their very own code as the reply to each query. “The error is taking a look at machine studying and considering we’re so near this normal intelligence” Lessin insists. Changing people outright isn’t the reply. “The long run is folks serving to folks”.

Rivals that may go AI-only are restricted to slender units of duties, like x.ai for assembly scheduling. Conventional and digital assistant providers could be inefficient. Fb’s M assistant, additionally makes use of a combo of people and AI however is free and hasn’t been opened as much as the general public.

One service just like Fin referred to as GoButler was pressured to pivot to solely automated help, and finally bought as scrap to Amazon. Fin’s most remaining direct competitor is Magic. It’s cheaper at $zero.59 per minute however solely takes request by way of textual content message. Lessin moonlights as a companion for Gradual Ventures, which participated in Magic’s $12 million 2015 Collection A, which raises some issues about conflicts of curiosity he wouldn’t touch upon. [Update: More examples of competitors were added to this paragraph.]

However wait, isn’t AI imagined to take everybody’s jobs? Lessin envisions a brand new industrial revolution as a substitute. He cites cobblers making a number of sneakers whereas ready across the store for patrons, struggling to match fluctuating demand. However with steam and electrical energy “you had a brand new supply of energy. It’s not like energy stopped work. You had people doing what they had been good at, tech doing what tech was good at, and also you had far more sneakers.” If the brand new jobs offset these obviated stays to be seen.

  With Fin, although, Lessin’s imaginative and prescient entails a crew of round the clock operators outfitted with AI and processes for comparable duties can snap into motion even after-hours, reasonably than a full-time devoted assistant being “paid for exhibiting up being on YouTube” after which going off the job, Lessin says. Even when it’s costly at $1 per efficient minute of labor, Fin is exceedingly handy, and also you don’t pay for down time.

To make use of Fin, you simply pop open its minimalist black-and-white desktop website or iOS app, then kind, communicate, or add a photograph of your request. For those who’re uncertain what you could possibly ask for, there’s an anonymized feed of actual examples from different customers to spark your creativeness. “We will execute any process that doesn’t require palms in your metropolis” says Lessin, noting how laborious it’s for some startups to get native scale and capability nailed down. “I’ve unimaginable respect for Instacart.” He additionally factors out that “there are varieties of specialised data we will’t presently do for you. Ask us some PhD physics downside and it’ll both take a very long time or we gained’t do it.”

Often, although, you get messaged again virtually instantly by a Fin human who collects any essential particulars and will get began. I felt an instantaneous sense of reduction upon outsourcing my duties. Alongside the best way, your process will get up to date with progress and requests for secondary selections. When attainable, it simply pulls issues like addresses and airplane seat preferences out of your onboarding survey, and cost info or on-line passwords from the app’s Vault. You get an in depth assertion of precisely how Fin used your time and the way a lot you owe.

“Our job is to combine the perfect software or particular person for the job in a approach to ship an expertise that’s higher than you will get from working with a single remoted particular person, or a chunk of pure software program” Kortina declares.

That’s the place the identify ‘Fin’ is available in. “Like ‘the top’ in French movies” Lessin reveals. “That is the interface and the methods issues will work in 50 or 100 years.” Whereas expertise will get increasingly more adept at a wider vary of duties, he imagines that ultimately, it should nonetheless be people sending requests to computer-human groups.

The toughest a part of utilizing Fin is getting over the psychological hurdle of relinquishing management whereas paying for what you could possibly do your self. “I suppose that’s the true competitor” says Lessin. Even factoring in what your time’s value and the context switching overhead, Fin can produce some critical sticker shock. That’s accentuated by our idealized predictions that underestimate the time required to do issues. “How lengthy does it take to e-book film tickets?” Lessin jokes. “30 seconds? No!”

Fin’s crew

I used to be charged $80 to cope with having a mis-shipped iPhone X refunded and a brand new one purchased and despatched. Whereas I used to be grateful to not must cope with buyer assist, it was some dear peace of thoughts. Getting a vacation restaurant reservation initially price me $150, which is totally absurd even when took a number of loops to seek out the precise time and get me to signal a bank card cost kind for the prix fixe dinner.

Fortunately, I used to be refunded that $150 after submitting a criticism via the app, which is simple to do via Fin’s thumbs up/down buttons on every request. “Most actually heavy customers escalate / ask about one thing each month or two” Lessin admits. Fin makes use of inside benchmarking instruments to trace if sure assistants take too lengthy on a process or routinely do an excessive amount of analysis in a class. Nonetheless, Fin typically goes overboard so customers shouldn’t be shy about contesting any fees that appear ridiculous. You may sign-up via this hyperlink for TechCrunch readers to get a reduction in your first duties.

Fin initially launched in beta with an $120 monthly subscription price. However Kortina gripes that “all we had been studying is how folks may arbitrage Fin to do far more than $120 value of service”. He appears to be having unhealthy acid flashbacks to earlier than Venmo began charging a three% bank card price in 2012, when folks would simply ship cash forwards and backwards to hit minimal spending restrict or earn factors whereas Venmo ate the charges.

  With the change to per minute pricing, “We’ve set ourselves up for the lengthy haul by actually specializing in unit economics” says Lessin, in distinction to many on-demand startups. That absolutely delights Fin’s buyers John Doerr at KPCB, Sameer Gandhi at Accel, and Saar Gur at CRV. Whereas Lessin gained’t reveal precisely how a lot Fin has raised, he calls them “good capital companions”, noting the startup has sufficient money to “have the ability to do that for a very long time.” Fin now has 20 workers on the technical aspect, whereas it’s climbing in the direction of 100 whenever you embody its full-time operators.

Not subsidizing the service is a wholesome alternative for Fin, however meaning “Sadly it’s not at a value level that everybody on Earth can afford.” Whether or not via economies of scale, AI development, or human coaching, Fin could have to deliver the worth down if it desires widespread adoption. “The long run is already right here” sci-fi creator William Gibson as soon as mentioned, “it’s simply not very evenly distributed.”

The premium price ticket begets premium service that make Siri and her cohorts really feel like mere calculators compared. “The message is you need to demand much more out of assistant providers than cooking timers and Google search lookups” Lessin concludes. In an period when expertise is designed to absorb the utmost quantity of your time, Fin allows you to purchase it again. We’ll every must resolve how a lot it’s value.

Thursday, Part 1

Sorry for this post: it’s weighing on me this morning. 

Last night was a rough sleep for me, still better than this weekend when she was away. But I spent a long time just looking at the ceiling. 

At the end of May, I was so happy. Sure, our sex wasn’t frequent or as good as it was before, and that is the reason my confidence was down (which, I should’ve told her that, she even noticed and made a comment a few weeks ago - communication is good you know and at that point a lot of things could have been prevented and we wouldn’t be where we are today!) I honestly only thought she was going through an immense amount of stress at work, and I was trying to find a way to help her more. 

But I was getting a lot of interviews and second interviews for careers that would’ve not only been fulfilling for me (and well-paying for us and our goals of owning a home soon) but also would’ve given her the opportunity to start school this fall with part or all of the tuition paid for, I was in contact with an old professor to work on publishing a piece I wrote on International Trade updated with the NAFTA renegotiations. I even was planning on joining a meet up for different sports each week to help get some local friends. 

I was madly in love with someone I had only dreamed about. Someone who  became so close to me and embraced me even with my past and my faults. Someone who wanted to explore the world and live around the globe. Someone beautiful and wildly intelligent with an unending curiosity and thirst for adventure. Someone who shared a clear vision for our future in all aspects of our lives together. Someone a little dirty as well. Someone who marked every box for me. She was perfect (and she still is). I was planning a proposal! I was picking out a ring! Everything was going in the right direction . . . 

And here I am now. Devastated. Broken. Why couldn’t I have made these changes sooner?

I don’t really want to talk to my therapist today. I’m not ready to talk to anyone - I’d only talk to my love if she wanted to bring something up to me. I still can’t believe that this is happening. Why couldn’t we have fixed our problems earlier? They are so simple! Why didn’t we communicate? Why isn’t a time machine a thing? 

If we had communicated better and more directly, if we have not been afraid of potentially upsetting the other because we love each other too much about being more romantic (which we both wanted!), if I had known to clean and cook more than I was. Basically, if I had known how to be in a relationship and express myself and my love for her - this wouldn’t be happening! There’s so many “what if’s.” 

And it’s all so fixable. So easily fixable. 

Maybe the only true cure is time and space for her. 

It’s sad this is how two people, who are amazingly compatible in all areas and who have spent three years of their lives together, in three countries, on two different continents, are ending for the time being. I wish there was another way - I’d do anything. 

All I can do is hope for one last chance when she is ready in a few months time. I’m *very* confident we can have something special together. And I don’t say that with any hesitation whatsoever. I know she will for a fact be happy with me, her life, and our relationship! There’s no doubt in my mind.

If God exists, I would love some divine intervention. I don’t ask for much - and haven’t - but now I am. She's been the best thing to happen to me in my life.  

But to make this a little more enjoyable of a post: we had a good talk before bed last night. I thanked her for talking to me, for taking an hour of her work day to do it. We honestly clarified so much between us and identified the problems we face as a couple and *how* to fix them. It was important. 

And I wanted to reiterate that regardless of our personal circumstances, when she is ready to try again, I want her to immediately tell me. And I mean that - I don’t want her thinking “oh, he’s happy now so I won’t ask to try again” - she means too much to me not to try again. And I think she knows to tell me regardless. And I believe she will.  It’s just when it’ll happen is the question - but I will wait for her. 

I also asked her to always consider me as a potential sexual and romantic interest and not just view me as a friend during this time - she can definitely separate the two given the circumstances. I also asked her to view our potential together - not our past problems considering how easy they will be to fix. I also asked her to ignore our emotional talks - the first one in June when I had my awakening would’ve happened to be sure, I felt terrible. But the subsequent ones? Not a chance - at all. 

I also told her that I agree with her that we should start again as dating and not move in immediately. I told her I’d be more than fine moving in together again at a quicker pace because we have been together for three years, but starting off as dating is the best option.

I wrapped up by again just telling her to immediately tell me whenever she’s ready and not to let anything prevent her from doing so. She promised and said she absolutely would!! In fact, she said she would update me periodically: if she’s still feeling the same for the time being, if she’s becoming more open to dating again but not ready, if she’s ready to date again, etc. That’s comforting to me. I can't wait for us to try again.

I hope she does miss me when we no longer live together - I’ll certainly miss her . . . 

We then went over a couple more apps that she had been telling me about throughout the day, I showed her an Italian cooking one that I liked and was going to use for when I cook for us. Her back was hurting so I gave her a long back rub before letting her go to sleep. It was nice being able to do that. I hadn’t given her a back rub in a while and I always enjoyed giving them to her.

On a more lighthearted note, while giving her the back massage, I couldn’t stop checking out her butt. I still want her and I’m still beyond attracted to her. Shocking, I know. Who would’ve thought? She honestly has such an amazing body and I love it every inch of it.

Last night, when I did sleep, I had another sex dream about her. That’s all it was: we had awesome hot and sweaty sex (in our Lincoln Park apartment), cuddled and talked for a while, and then had more sex but more passionate for the second round. Slower and more sensual with a lot of kissing. That was the entirety of the dream. It was nice. I would love to have that again soon. 

She just showed me the details of the AllTrails App . . . why didn’t we have that sooner for our hikes?

New Post has been published on Atticusblog

New Post has been published on https://atticusblog.com/this-software-the-future-of-creating-legal-remixes-filled-with-samples/

This Software the Future of Creating Legal Remixes Filled with Samples

There’s a large problem going through artists in the age of virtual tune. Programs for downloading and remixing songs make the method noticeably clean, so DJs and manufacturers are churning out lots of track. Their mashups and remixes are then posted on-line – and speedy slapped with copyright infringement moves by using offerings like YouTube and Soundcloud. If you’re a small artist who relies on those websites for distribution, the final aspect you want to do is have your account blocked. But at the identical time, your remixes and mashups most effective comprise parts of the songs, so the final product is still technically original. Who’s responsible: overzealous artists and labels looking to guard their works, or inspired people looking to piggy-backpedal some other’s success? Perhaps there’s honestly a third culprit: a loss of proper licensing that could make certain each event proportion the wealth. That’s wherein Applications like MixBANK come into play.

MixBANK is what’s known as a Rights Management System (RMS), and it’s looking to change the manner remixes are certified. Right here’s the way it works. An artist or manager will sign up for the service, with a view to submitting their song to a worldwide registry – permit’s call this specific tune Tune X. The artist will simply how plenty of Tune X they need to open up for usage on which platforms. For example, they could say they want Song X to only get included into remixes on Spotify, However, have the unique on Apple song. Then, on every occasion a remix is uploaded by a distinctive artist to any taking part offerings (Spotify and Apple track each being partners with MixBANK), that remix routinely gets analyzed with the aid of the RMS and licensing rights are assigned according to the contents of the remix. RMSes from the world over are all linked, and that community shares licensing of the remix accurately. As an example, if Remix Y was more often than not made of Tune X However also had samples from a Dutch artist, an RMS from the Netherlands referred to as Buma/Stemra would be connected thru the community and given partial licensing as well. The very last product is the vital component: Apple tune can monetize the music, the artist that uploaded Remix Y receives paid, Music X’s writer receives a share, the Dutch artist additionally gets their cut, and most importantly nobody receives in hassle and the remix isn’t removed.

There are actually large mashup and remix groups online that would substantially advantage from software like this starting up. Most of those artists publish to Soundcloud and YouTube due to the shortage of charges, however the way those websites perform leaves the artist accountable. They’re what’re called ‘safe harbour‘ sites – a prison term created in the infancy of the Net that protects sharing websites from being held accountable for what their customers percentage. Look at it this way: YouTube is vital for the unfold of unfastened statistics on a line, so having to continuously warfare court cases that threaten their operation wouldn’t make experience if the content in question became most effective a considerable minority of what they virtually percentage. So, websites that share that kind of user-generated content material are labeled as secure harbors, meaning it’s no longer absolutely on them to police their users. Of path that’s a piece over-simplified – both YouTube and Soundcloud have computerized detection structures to help rights proprietors make sure their licensing stays intact – But customers are running and get round it. That craftiness on safe harbor websites reportedly prices the track enterprise almost 1000000000 bucks in misplaced revenue, so you ought to see why Rights Control systems are preferred.

Why Your Business Should Use Online Accounting Software

Cloud software has revolutionized the arena of contemporary commercial enterprise, permitting people to work together remotely in real-time -wherever they are inside the global. The Cloud lets in multiple customers to collaborate on portions of work and feature get right of entry to the identical documents and enterprise files from a Computer, computer or mobile phone.

In case you’re acquainted with cloud sharing, you may have additionally heard of cloud accounting. In a great deal the same way that The Cloud lets in customers to collaborate on pieces of labor and access documents remotely, it also enables enterprise proprietors and their accountants to work collectively to balance the books whilst on the pass.

In case you’re strange with cloud sharing, you may be daunted with the aid of the possibility of online accounting software program. you may worry it will be difficult to put into effect and confusing to understand; you might additionally be involved approximately the security of your account information, mainly In case you’ve not used cloud software program before.

However online accounting turned into created with the intention of creating lifestyles simpler and greater flexible for commercial enterprise proprietors. It’ll help you connect to your numbers, as well as financial advisers, at any time using any device. not only that But you ought to acquire a complete setup, implementation education and ongoing aid out of your provider.

Not best will you be able to access your money owed at any time, However using on-line accounting software program may even offer you with a time-saving payroll solution. You’ll have to get right to entry to a picture of your payroll and leave statistics and extraordinary bills at any time. high-quality payments and tax updates could also emerge as automated.

This means that You’ll now not need to spend hours inside the back office manually getting into your payroll records, or pay someone to do it for you: a sensible laptop gadget will contend with it at the same time as you get on with running your enterprise.

You can even get admission to your payroll for your cellular cellphone, so In case you’re on the road more regularly than you’re sat at a desk, You may have the entirety you need to manipulate your enterprise from your pocket.

Invoices may also be less difficult to control. You can send an invoice the minute a job has been completed, and you will realize whilst your patron has opened it. They’ll then be able to pay you quick and without problems. Your guide team has to also be able to help you manage your vintage invoices and keep on the pinnacle of your incoming bills.

Most accounting apps also encompass an on hand receipt-scanning function, allowing you to tune your expenditure as and while it happens. So no more seeking to keep receipts organized and having to input figures manually.

Driving the Future

As we reflect consideration on learning to pressure in whichever you’re isn’t always it time to think about how your driving will alternate through the years. With all this speak about self-driving cars and now there’s information that one agency is deliberating designing an automobile which can fly too, wherein is we going.back to the future full movie free.

Back to the future franchise

I have sat down and idea what have been humans considering when the main shape of riding turned into using a horse or using in a carriage which changed into drawn by a horse. If they have been to tour forward in time what would be their thoughts on our driving.future new songs 2015.

Might they be thinking that we are all loopy riding across the country at what they would call rapid speeds

They possibly assume that we might be crazy doing all this stuff. So what are your very own mind on a vehicle riding its self around with you sat in the riding seat with you studying or watching something?

The cars that are being examined for driving on their very own are being slowly brought onto the roads around the world.

So allow’s positioned you in a state of affairs, you are being pushed down the Motorway in yourself-using vehicle and also you see issues beforehand do you leap in before the auto reacts to the state of affairs or do you notice what the auto is going to do as you have been informed it is absolutely secure to let the automobile power for you.

in the world, we have slowly emerged as more technical however additionally plenty lazier and for me, a lot fatter as I do less on foot and extra sitting. So why will we want to have the auto power for us, we need to learn how to dive even supposing the car is going to drive for us, we still might also need to take over. So why now not go away the self-using vehicle and let us do something as we travel around.

I am completely glad for changes however maybe we must take a step returned and look at what we are doing to ourselves making even lazier than we’re in the meanwhile. I’m guessing next the scientist goes to begin searching at methods to grow wheels out of our fat so we do much less walking as properly.

Creating Models Out of Ordinary People: Who Are Scouts and How Do You Get Scouted?

A whole lot of humans start doubting or questioning themselves when a scouter methods them whether or not modeling might surely work for them. We communicate a little bit approximately the work of scooters and provide some recommendations on the way to get scouted.

Scouting overall performance equates directly to the industry overall performance

Modeling is a various industry starting from youngster to senior abilities. All unique varieties of sizes, heights, and looks are sought after. There isn’t a fixed requirement (apart from fashion or stick insect levels) that an ability version needs to suit in maximum cases. The dearth of constantly preferred method scooters should pass both by means of experience and instinct in maximum instances.creating a website page.

Tyra Banks, for instance, become rejected by means of six groups before she got her first process, and confronted many demanding situations in her direction. Believe if a totally beautiful person lacks the self-assurance and preliminary push; they won’t even consider being a version. This is why scouts are ever so important! They discover a talent and provide them encouragement to pursue a line of labor they’ll now not even have taken into consideration. How well the modeling industry performs is at once dependent on the way a scooter lures new talent.free website hosting.

Scouting is a tiring task and one that requires accurate understanding of the industry

With first-rate strength, comes exceptional duty correctly applies to scooters. Clients and the overall enterprise count on the nice candidate and plenty of sparkling faces all the time. Scouters want to be strongly informed on this discipline and sign the aspirant, who will perform as much as expectancies. Additionally, they must be suitable at advertising their very own business enterprise nicely enough to convince fashions of their capability opportunities and boom. This manner may suggest gaining knowledge of on key warm spots including live shows, activities, and central urban regions, style indicates, in which there will be better probabilities of spotting top abilities. They could literally be on their 2 ft all day searching for a celebrity, with maximum uncertainty. Even thinking about it can make one worn-out; Imagine the scouts who have to be at their high-quality on a daily foundation.

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I had a good week. I fixed things and moved the duplicate search stuff way forward.

fixes and a note on cv

I've fixed the stupid 'add' subscription bug I accidentally introduced last week. I apologise again--I have added a specific weekly test to make sure it doesn't happen again.

With the help of some users, I've also updated the clientside pixiv login for their new login system. It seems to work ok for now, but if they alter their system any more I'll have to go back to it. Ideally, I'd like to write a whole login engine for the client to allow login for any site and make pixiv and anything else work with less duct tape and more easily maintainable.

For Windows users, I've updated the client's main image library (OpenCV) this week, and this new version looks to be more stable (it loads some files that crashed the old version). If you are on Windows and have 'load images with PIL' checked under options->media, I recommend you now turn it off--if you have a decent graphics card, your images will load about twice as fast.

duplicate files are now findable

Dupe file display or filtering is not yet here. If you are interested in this stuff, then please check it out and let me how you get on, but if you are waiting for something more fun than some numbers slowly getting bigger, please hang in there for a little longer!

I have written code to auto-find duplicate pairs and activated the buttons on the new duplicates page (which is still at pages->new search page->duplicates for now).

The idea of this page is to:

Prepare the database to search for duplicate pairs.

Search for duplicate pairs at different confidence levels (and cache the results).

Show those pairs one at a time and judge what kind of dupe they are.

Parts 1 and 2 now work. I would appreciate, if you are interested, in you putting some time into them and giving me some numbers so I can design part 3 well.

Since originally introducing duplicate search, I have updated the 'phash' algorithm (which represents how an image 'looks' for easy comparison) several times. I improved it significantly more this week and am now pleased with it, so I do not expect to do any more on it. As all existing phashes are low quality, I have scheduled every single eligible file (jpgs and pngs) for phash regeneration. This is a big job--for me, this is about 250k files that need to be completely read again and have some CPU thrown at them. I'm getting about 1-2 thousand per minute, so I'm expecting to be at it for something like three hours. This only has to be done once, and only for your old files--new files will be introduced to the new system with correct phashes as they are imported.

To save redundant tree rebalancing, I recommend you set the time aside and regenerate them all in one go. The db will be locked while it runs. The maintenance code here is still ugly and may hang your gui. If it does hang, just leave it running--it'll get there in the end.

Then, once the 'preparation' panel is happy, run some searches at different distances--you don't have to search everything, but maybe do a few thousand and write down the rough number of files searched and duplicate pairs discovered.

I am very interested to know:

How inconvenient was it doing the regen in real time? Approximately how fast did it run?

At 'exact match' search distance, roughly how many potential duplicate pairs per thousand files does it find? What about 'very similar' and (if it isn't too slow) 'similar'?

How much of this heavy CPU/HDD work would you like to run in the background on the normal idle routines?

Did anything go wrong?

I'm still regenerating files as I write this, but I will update with my own numbers once I can. Thanks!

full list

fixed the 'setnondupename' problem that was affecting 'add' actions on manage subscriptions, scripts, and import/export folders

added some more tests to catch this problem automatically in future

cleaned up some similar files phash regeneration logic

cleaned up similar files maintenance code to deal with the new duplicates page

wrote a similar files duplicate pair search maintenance routine

activated file phash regen button on the new duplicates page

activated branch rebalancing button on the new duplicates page

activated duplicate search button on the new duplicates page

search distance on the new duplicates page is now remembered between sessions

improved the phash algorithm to use median instead of mean--it now gives fewer apparent false positives and negatives, but I think it may also be stricter in general

the duplicate system now discards phashes for blank, flat colour images (this will be more useful when I reintroduce dupe checking for animations, which often start with a black frame)

misc phash code cleanup

all local jpegs and pngs will be scheduled for phash regeneration on update as their current phashes are legacies of several older versions of the algorithm

debuted a cog menu button on the new duplicates page to refresh the page and reset found potential duplicate pairs--this cog should be making appearances elsewhere to add settings and reduce excess buttons

improved some search logic that was refreshing too much info on an 'include current/pending tags' button press

fixed pixiv login--for now!

system:dimensions now catches an enter key event and passes it to the correct ok button, rather than always num_pixels

fixed some bad http->https conversion when uploading files to file repo

folder deletion will try to deal better with read-only nested files

tag parent uploads will now go one at a time (rather than up to 100 as before) to reduce commit lag

updated to python 2.7.13 for windows

updated to OpenCV 3.2 for windows--this new version does not crash with the same files that 3.1 does, so I recommend windows users turn off 'load images with pil' under options->media if they have it set

I think I improved some unicode error handling

added LICENSE_PATH and harmonised various instances of default db dir creation to DEFAULT_DB_DIR, both in HydrusConstants

misc code cleanup and bitmap button cleanup

next week

I'm going to collect my different thoughts on how to filter duplicate pairs into a reasonable and pragmatic plan and finally get this show on the road. I do not think I will have a working workflow done in one week, but I'd like to have something to show off--maybe displaying pairs at the least, so we can see well how the whole system is working at different distances.

First and foremost: thank you all for your kind support in this thread... not only the responses, but the dozen+ messages. Some of you just wrote to say you're interested, some even offered to help out. I'm grateful and hope you all keep along with me on the journey - rain or shine.Let's get the first part started - Hi guys - long time lurker and new time poster. I've been reading /r/startups & /r/Entrepreneur for years and all the information I've gathered has been invaluable in my day job, and now I'm hoping to make the step-up to stop thinking and start doing. I'm going to start a dropshipping e-commerce website with a large number of items & a (hopefully) unique value proposition.Most importantly: I'm not now, nor plan to, sell anything or benefit from this directly by any means. I won't be posting my website, linking to my blog, or offering a course at end (if I start making money). The reason for these posts will be: to gather my thoughts into words, to regurgitate what I'm learning (teaching is the best way to learn new concepts, etc etc) and most importantly to get input from you guys. I'm hoping people may learn from what I do, mistakes I make, things I read/summarize, etc. and that I can learn from your guys' experience.1 - The BasicsThe idea: I debated whether to get specific with you all or not, but.... here goes. If you can do the idea better than I will, congratulations :) The website will be a variety of items curated into collections for gift giving. For example - a curated list of items for college graduation for someone who is into automobiles. This custom curated list will include car tools, unique car items (one real example: an anti-glare sun visor), maybe a battery charger, etc. This gives me two target markets - for the gift giver, and the gift getter. It will have a request feature ("wishlist") but will be marketed towards gift givers ("hey sister of a college graduate, no idea what to get your brother? check out what our staff recommends"The problem(s): it's broad. But what's the biggest problem I forsee? Gift giving isn't always thought ahead of time. It's not something you plan a month in advance (because, you know, dropshipping). Shipping times, shipping problems, shipping times, shipping problems. We'll tackle it. Our marketing will have to be top-notch.Unique Value Propositions:Curated list definable by occasion, age, relationship, hobbies, etc.Established "trustworthyness" from custom lists, so that people can feel comfortable purchasing the items without thinking "will they like it?"The ability to create wishlists - both for personal use and for marketing (instagram influencers, hello.)The ability to REQUEST a custom collection of items. You fill out a form that says 'hey I have a sister who's into this hobby, this hobby, and this hobby. She's graduating college this year. What should I get her?" Boom, we create a list for you, and you fill your cart upPricing. Gift giving for some is super easy - just ask what they want, and buy that playstation 4 they want. For some... it's kind of... scary. I want to buy my friend something nice, but I don't want to spend $50 on a gift. The items on our website will be REALLY reasonably priced. Ranging from $15 and above. Pretty reasonable for a gift.The Future: The first step forward will be to move suppliers away from Aliexpress (will be described more below) to specialty vendors. This will require talking to them individually and will require more work (less automation) but will improve pricing, quality, and shipping times.My ULTIMATE goal somewhere along the line is an automated list of items based on an individuals own social media and/or ideas from the inputter. Listen, if someone has the time to make this website/idea - do it. You input your friend/relative's social media accounts, the bot crawls them for keywords, and creates a curated list based on keyword match. You can teach it to add/remove certain categories (ex: she complains about make-up but she never wears it - so don't give me makeup suggestions). This is not something I have any way of making yet, but it's actually kind of how this idea was bore. I think this would be an awesome website/tool.2 - Where I am NowSite & Structure:Domain registeredShopify hostedProducts (see below)Pages done: FAQ, Contact Us, About Us, ShippingAs of now, I have imported 255 products into my store with appropriate titles & pictures. The only thing left is to fix up the descriptions on them all - I will be adding a small slight personalization to them all (two-three sentences) but the majority will just be fixing & improving Alibabi's product descriptions.What's Left:Logo - Any suggestions? Will probably be deciding on a freelancer from Fiverr or something similarOfficial paperwork - I have an LLC registered, but I need to register a DBA under my websites name. This wormhole will also lead me down to banking, credit card, etc. I hope Shopify/Aliexpress will ease these a little bit but I need to figure out the nitty gritty.Aliexpress research - I need to learn & try purchasing from Aliexpress vendors. For the beginning, I will not be using an automated app to order. I would also like to learn about the best procedures for communicating with vendors, shipping, etc.So how close are we to launching? Two weeks.3 - Apps, Programs & WebsitesDomain - namecheap.comHosting - ShopifyApps I am using or will use:Consistent Cart - this was the first one I tried out but I'm open to suggestionsFomo - I love these little popup social proofs on ecommerce websites. I hope it'll be very helpful in the conversion rate stageMailChimp - I'm not sure how I'm going to incorporate newsletters, but I know it's an important facet in recurring salesOberlo - This is the quarterback of the team. It is how I am importing products from Aliexpress, pricing them, and keeping up with quantity. I hope it works as good as looks so far with the pricing and inventory. It claims to update once a day I believe. So far it's been working great for importing, but I have not yet used any of it's order fulfillment tools (and don't plan to, at least in the beginning)TRUST - Adds trust seals onto the pageWHAT I NEED RIGHT NOW: Wishlist. Any suggestions? The one's I've tried haven't been great.FUTURE: Kit/Marketing tool - open to suggestions... Kit was the most I've run across in suggestionsFUTURE: Fraud Filter - I've seen Subuno recommended most oftenFUTURE: Upsell Bundle - to include bundles. I'm not sure if this will work great for my website. I'll take a look once we go liveFUTURE: Product Reviews - looking for suggestions here as well. I've seen a few recommended. I'm also interested in how you guys would recommend starting. I don't want to begin with all products having 0 reviews, I don't want to fake reviews, and I think with a wide variety of items I'll be hardpressed to ask for reviews off the bat. Should I put this on pause until I get a steady stream of purchases?Social Media Management - this is another area that I will be looking into further. I know Instagress & buying likes get a bad rap, but I'll be reading into them more to get started. At least at the beginning, I just want to look like an established business more than worrying about engagement & conversion.Products - Aliexpress.com4 - Choosing ProductsSo to get into the meat of it all. As mentioned in my previous thread -My rules for myself & my customers - I won't use dropshipping from overseas as an excuse for lack of quality. I will only put up items that I have faith in because of reviews, orders, and vendors. I will spend the time to make sure my customers are not "fooled" - upfront on shipping times, easy returns, etc. I will not con people for the sake of making a sale. With transparency & honest interactions I hope to limit my returns/problems & keep recurring buyers as well as take pride in my products & websiteSo, with that in mind: my criteria for finding items on Aliexpress (using Oberlo as a tool to filter):Must have ePacket shipping (12-20 days shipping times) avaliableMust have over 500 ordersVendor must have 4.5 or higher star ratingBrand names must be from the brand store onlyI took a quick look through the comments & reviews just to see if I could spot anything out of the ordinary (example: some items have lots of orders & high review but lots of 5 star reviews saying 'product didn't come, but vendor was quick in refunding me'.... that's not what we want)Items were unique and not a very common product someone could pick up from a store. For example, the anti-glare sun visor mentioned before... it's available in a store somewhere, but you wouldn't just 'run across' it while looking for a gift. You would have to specifically search for it, and it may not even be available at a regular storeBrand names did not sound very foreign (sorry guys)5 - Marketing PlanSEO - My main focuses will be on the collection pages. Using the example of college graduate with an interest in automobiles, I will gear the page to hit keyword for long-tail searches like "gift ideas for college graduate interested in cars". Throw in lots of backlinks, and see the organic results come on. Did I sound like I know what I'm talking about? This is gonna require lots of reading & research.Social media - My biggest hope is what I believe to be a very undervalued form of advertising - social media influencers. I hate them as much as you do, but I really think it could be great value for the money. I plan to offer influencers a few options - a set $ for posting a link to my website/product, a free product for posting about it, a % of net profit for posting my website, OR the option of posting their own curated collection (give their followers the impression of 'wow I'm so important that this website made a page just for me'.PPC - I don't believe google adwords will be my #1 converter, but I'll give it a try (thank you Shopify for the $100 free adword credits). Facebook ads & Facebook video ads most of all are where I will be focusing most of my budget & focus.6 - FinancialsRevenue - $0Expenses so far: $66.87Domain name: $8.88Email: $5.00/monthFomo: $19.00/month (I forgot to cancel the trial!)Shopify: $29.00/monthConsistent Cart: $4.99/month (will remain active, for the moment)Future fees:DBA registrationPO Box / Virtual Mailbox (any tips??)Fees per order:Shopify: 2.90% credit card fee + $0.30/order7 - Short Term Gameplan1) Finish the product listings (about 20/255 done as of time of writing)2) Get logo finished3) Set up DBA, P.O Box/Virtual mailbox4) Set up social media accounts5) Order 2-3 items from website to learn what customer sees, learn how to order from aliexpress, any unforseen problems6) Make site live8 - Long Term Gameplan1) Start off with aliexpress so I can minimize my interactions with vendors prior to sales coming in. Work on SEO, website, marketing, etc. Learn the ins and outs of the game before I move into bigger time & money commitments.2) Once the idea is somewhat validated, I have a good grasp on the basics of service & marketing, I will look into a service with similar dropshipping capabilities to aliexpress but local (the current options I've ran across such as Doba aren't as easy to manage or begin with). This will hopefully improve my quality & my shipping time while cutting down on my customer service problems & time3) Start working with individual vendors and products that can dropship. More time spent with each individual vendor and product (remember, there will be a large list of items), in exchange for only top quality products, service, and customer relationships.TL;DR: IM SORRY ABOUT THE 9 PAGE ESSAY. Please give me all your input and criticism so I can improve my idea, my posts, and we can work together. I'd love to hear any suggestions you all have.Since this is post #1 - I'd love to hear your thoughts on the presentation of the post. I tried to be concise but expand and it's kind of in the middle. Did I talk about too much? Didn't get specific enough? Too specific? Tl;DR? Should I focus on something else I forgot? Please let me know. Part 2 will be adapted to your responses.P.S. I will respond to posts & messages as fast as I can, but please be patient. Thanks. Thanks for your kind words, thanks for your help, and thanks for your love.

A few days and a few games worth of experience on the Switch

Chipz is back at it with another post! But this time it’s about my experiences so far with owning the Nintendo Switch. Super Mario Odyssey just came out last weekend on October 27th, 2017. Boy was there A lot of hype behind that game, and to be honest I expected it to do well. However, with the release of Super Mario came a bundle deal. In this bundle you get a digital code of the game to download along with a Nintendo Switch with Joy-Cons that have the iconic red color, the same as Mario’s colors. In the bundle you also get a carrying case for your Switch console with a new character named Cappy on the front which is also in red.

Super Mario Nintendo Switch bundle with Cappy on the front of the carrying case

  Now this isn’t my first time owning a system from Nintendo, as I’ve had the NES, N64, a few of the Game Boys, and the Nintendo 3ds. *I just recently purchased the Super NES classic.  I’m going to state some of the things that I like about the Switch and then say what I don’t like, and give you some insight as to what I’m used to from being with Sony for so long.

PROS:

Hybrid between portable and console system

Having this advantage, you can take your games with you anywhere you go. Literally. As I’m writing this, my Nintendo Switch is in my book bag, in the carrying case(you gotta protect your stuff man).

HD compatible 

Pretty much all of the games depending on the developer will be in full HD. When docked they will run at 1080p and when in hand-held mode they automatically go down to 720p. Honestly though, what console ISN’T in HD? It’s 2017 people, they better be!

Full motion controls

Now I feel this particular PRO is on a case-by-case basis. I’ve only had the system for a few days now but I haven’t had any problems with it, I think you can even turn off motion controls with most games if you don’t like it. So far it’s a plus for me. I need to exercise my arms anyway!

Expandable memory

The good thing with the switch is that it takes micro SD cards for additional memory. You can expand the memory of up to 2TB of data…of course when these actually come out. Nonetheless, the Switch supports it. Below are the types of micro SD cards that are compatible:

microSD (up to 2 GB)

microSDHC (4 GB – 32 GB)

microSDXC (64 GB and above)* This requires a system update*

With that said, here’s what can be saved to the memory cards:

Downloadable software

Software update data

Downloadable content (DLC)

Screenshots & video captures(part of the latest 4.0 update)

CONS:

Battery life

The battery life in hand-held mode can be very short. This depends on a few things like what games you play and the settings on your system. It was reported back in March when playing Zelda: Breath of The Wild the maximum amount of time you can get out of your system would be approximately 3 hours. Granted at the time that was one of the main games that came out, but you pretty much get the idea. Some games drain more battery life and some don’t. Speaking from personal experience, I played Super Mario for about an hour and a half and I ended up with roughly 30% battery life. Either way don’t expect a long gaming session if you’re in hand-held mode.

On-board memory

The Switch comes with 32gb of on-board memory. That’s horrible. No debating this point, so don’t try. While game saves don’t take up much memory, game data does. Perfect example: Super Mario takes up 5.3 gigabytes(gb) and an indie title named Stardew Valley only takes up 909 megabytes(mb). If I wanted to install Zelda: BoTW I’d be losing 13.4 gb of space. You also have to take into account the Switch’s OS, game title and software updates.  Some people and myself included, feel 32gb shouldn’t have been the starting point for memory. Cell phones don’t even come with 32gb anymore!

No cloud storage

Staying on the topic of memory here, there’s no cloud based storage for the Switch. You’d think Nintendo would want to come out swinging and going for the knock out but they didn’t. There are gamers out there in the world that download their games and buy physical copies. Some stick to digital downloads only, and some stick to the physical copies only. Either way you’re losing out on space. It might be really slow or it might be really fast. The end result is this: you’re being forced to opt for a micro SD card which can cost you upwards to over $100.

Transferable data

As of right now the only data that you can transfer from the console are screen shots, video captures, and game data. Not game saves! This is also a bad move since game saves were transferable from the Wii-U and Nintendo 3DS to a USB device. Nintendo has confirmed that game saves aren’t transferable, or at least they don’t want them to be right now. A Reddit user posted that he had to send his console in for repair and Nintendo gave him a brand new one. After doing a thorough check he noticed his game saves were on the new system that was sent to him. So this begs the question- will Nintendo eventually enable Switch users to transfer game saves in the future? If so, why not give us that option from the beginning?

Nintendo Smart App/Network

The Smart App was designed to be used as a chat system while you’re playing the game with other people. However that didn’t work out so well in the beginning. A good friend of mine named Avidan Smith spoke about this more in-depth. * Click here to get the full breakdown of what’s wrong with it. A lot of these issues are things that never happened on the other consoles.  Another issue is that you can’t purchase any kind of content from the app itself. You can make purchases from the website but as of right now I’m not sure how that works. If it’s the same way as the PSN store, then you can purchase content and it’ll be linked to your account to download later.

Nintendo Smart App

But here’s the thing with that too: on the PSN you can have your content automatically download to your console once the purchase is made. I routinely do this from the PSN app whenever I want to buy content to enjoy later on. I follow through with the  transaction process and have it download to my PS4 and by the time I get home it’s ready to go once I turn it on. I feel like this is something that should’ve launched with the switch, and if not shortly afterwards. However, we’ll have to wait until 2018 to see if there are any real improvements that are going to be made.

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Playstation Network App

PSN App second sceen

  I’m not going to count the fact that the Switch is lacking something called share play. Share play is a feature available on Playstation 4 where you can watch a friend’s screen for a certain amount of time via internet connection. You can watch a buddy play a game, or even take control and play a game that they have to get the feel of it or just to have a little bit of fun. I use this often with my friends to see if I want to play a game that they have and I don’t. This really gives you some purchasing power and makes up for the fact that there isn’t an abundance of demos and timed trials available on the PSN. The reason I’m not counting it as a CON is because Nintendo seems to give you demos of new games that are coming out, but it would be a nice feature to have when the console is docked.

So there you have it folks, some pros and some cons.  Nintendo actually had a pretty good start seeing as how they were so far behind with the Wii-U. If they can fix these issues I feel it can REALLY be a contender. On top of that they’re starting to get quite a bit of third party support. The momentum is strong with this one. I’m a PlayStation fan-boy(yes..I’ll admit it) but I can see when something’s good and/or bad and call a spade a spade. The PS4 is my preferred system of choice, it’s one thing I’ll always go back to. Coming from a Sony fan, I can say this is definitely worth buying so go pick one up. I’m honestly looking forward to playing as many games that will come out for the Switch cough cough Fire Emblem, Pokemon, Yoshi and Donkey Kong cough cough. Overall I do enjoy having the Switch and I’m having a good time with it where ever I go. Who says you can’t enjoy the best of both worlds?

*A review of the Super NES will be coming shortly on youtube so stay tuned!

  *POST EDIT: Reggie Fil-Aimes, President of Nintendo North America has stated that Nintendo is aware of the issue with game saves. He sat down with Mashable earlier today and stated the following:

You’re talking to someone who has completed 120 Shrines, and I think I’m at 400 Korok seeds and growing [in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild]. So I understand what it’s like putting a lot of time into content, and the thought of that content not being there.

We’re aware of the concern. Certainly, Nintendo is a consumer-oriented company [and] we want to make our consumers happy. We’re aware of the concern and it’s an area we’re going to continue working on to make sure that we can alleviate some of those consumer fears of having a content-based issue.

Because of the type of platform we have — it’s something that is on the go as well as connected in the home environment — there are some added complications. It’s not as simple as a piece of hardware that never moves and is always connected in an online environment.

Of course you know I have to call Bull—-! Throwing little jabs like these at Sony and Microsoft isn’t winning Nintendo any brownie points or favoritism from the gaming community. Simply because Sony and Microsoft figured out a way to back up game saves for their systems. Sony especially did this with the PSP/VITA with cross-platform play. Anyway, with this recent statement from Reggie coming out just earlier today everyone can predict we’ll be getting cloud storage within the next year. I’m going to go as far to say it’s coming but it’ll be included with the paid online subscription from Nintendo.

UPDATE: Is the Switch really any good? #nintendoswitch #gaming #sony #playstation #ps4 #gamers A few days and a few games worth of experience on the Switch Chipz is back at it with another post!