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millepara · 8 months

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for fun yesterday I did a lot of experimenting with coords and tags to see what gives the best score. starting with the conclusion abstract:

the Brilliant Prince cyalume is equally effective as the usual green Twinkle Ribbon SCR for grinding.

BUT if you're creating a promise, you're very slightly better off with the TR SCR because it's more likely to get filled, as not everyone has the BP CR. (this was not something I tested for, but something I inadvertently found out in the course of experimenting.)

details and numbers below 📝 📈 📊 (extremely boring and long)

various disclaimers: I'm 100% sure all of this is on twitter already, but I don't use and thus can't see anything on there. mega thanks to Idollandhero Hayami for being my only source for what's going on over there and making me realize that this was even something to check out, and for Luna's post pointing out the BP cyalume was a viable green coord alternative. I shan't tag you bc I don't want to even accidentally make someone read this post.

also, don't pay attention to the reward amounts when I joined others' promises, bc at those times I was focusing solely on coord bonuses and not the rhythm game. the score bonuses are the same amount whether creating or joining a promise, but joining takes less time. a lower score just means I was playing OPEN DREAM LAND according to the beat map in my head rather than the mistaken one in the game lol

background 🧬

your score is composed of:

base score. what you get from the rhythm game

rank bonus. silver rank is +1000 iine (bronze +500?)

heart bonus. max is rainbow x3 +3000 iine (rainbow +1000, gold +800, silver +500)

assigned coord bonus. premium pripara rare is +10000 iine (idk what others are)

hashtag bonuses. 5 gold tags gives you, in order, +1500, +150, +300, +450, and +600 iine. 4 gold tags removes the final +600 and +1 silver tag is only +500, so 5 gold tags is best (i.e. 5 gold = 3000 vs 4 gold + 1 silver = 2900)

I always use the green TR SCR without paying attention to the numbers, so I wanted to verify if/how worn coords affect your bonuses, and if wearing all parts of a coord or having the same tag multiple times (like the BP CR) do. these are things that were true in the arcade game, so maybe they matter here too? ...is what I wondered.

experimental procedure 🧪

the TR SCR has 2 gold tags, with no gold tag on the shoes. but changing them to the BP CR ones, adding a 3rd gold tag, gives the same 5 gold tag bonus as above, in the same order. (tags in the coord being worn are marked with a ⭐︎.)

this is true no matter what order the tags themselves are in. above the unworn #今日もあまってまーす (from the Dressy Ruby coord) gave 1500, below the worn #gold did.

wearing the full TR SCR gave the exact same bonuses as well, despite having only two gold tags on the coord:

finally, wearing the full BP CR (worn gold tags are #cyalume coord x3 and #prince for a total of 4) was... exactly the same!

and in all of these, the assigned coord bonus was the same +10000 too.

last was to confirm that they give equal rewards when creating a promise. I did Chaotic Hurricane for both of these, and both have a perfect score, so all rainbow hearts, all x3 on appeals and making drama, and full cyalume change bonus.

the same! this is also the same as the max score with the green SCR before the Dark Nightmare tag was removed, btw.

conclusion 🔬

the coord you wear does not affect the tag bonuses at all. they are entirely determined by the tags you own. wearing or owning more items with the same tag also doesn't matter. basically, as long as you do a promise with 5 gold tags you own, you get the maximum tag bonus.

the coord you wear is only relevant to the assigned coord bonus, which is the same for the BP CR and the green coord. I guess there are paid or gacha coords that give that bonus too, but the rarer a coord is, the less likely you are to fill a promise with it as the assigned coord. it's best to create a promise with easily-available coords and tags.

future research 👁️

I do have an unsolved mystery. both of the above had a base score of 14175,

but the first time I tried creating a promise I got a base score of 14170, despite having what I thought was a perfect score. all the bonuses were the same, and the rewards were only 1 iine and 1 i$ less

so in terms of grinding, it super does not matter. but it does matter when my goal is trying to figure out score mechanics. now I probably just got a x2 on the appeals or making drama without noticing, but I was watching pretty hard. and I'm pretty sure a miss there knocks off more than 5 points? I had photo evidence of getting all rainbow hearts and I got a full cyalume bonus as always, so...???

the other option is that... your team's coords matter?? this seems incorrect, but the only difference in that first promise was that one idol had different shoes and accessory. all the ones I did after (not just the 2 pictured) had 5/6 or 6/6 coord items assembled, so it's literally the only difference I could think of?? I really genuinely think I just missed a note though. the way to check this would be to screen-record lives, miss notes in a variety of ways, and see how that affects the score, but... even I have my limits.

also: songs. I'm interested to see definitively what song is best, but I'm putting this off until OPEN DREAM LAND's untenable beat map is fixed. it is definitely a better choice than Chaotic Hurricane, which I always use, but I'm afraid of accidentally memorizing the wrong rhythm. and personally I would do anything to avoid hearing Cool Star, so idk if it's better than Chaotic Hurricane or not. I think a couple paid songs are better also, but it's so difficult to fill those promises that it's best not to rank up with them.

last, I wonder about the red+black VIP coords because they seem like idol land's version of Mystery Rares (which were v high-scoring), but... I don't have one. and even if it was significantly higher, it would be impossible to fill that promise, so it couldn't possibly matter.

🗝️

if you read all this, congratulations and forgive me. if you have any questions, let me know. I think I explained everything badly and maybe I assumed everyone knows stuff that maybe they don't? not to mention that I've made and joined promises so many times now that maybe I can help with something other than what's here too.

#milk idol diary #milk special interest diary #idol land pripara #if theres a typo in here no there isnt

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potteresque-ire · 3 years

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Commentary ~ Little Red Little Green Episode 18, “Fruits & Found Family”

Link to original post in Chinese, posted 2021/05/23. Link to official English translation.

(Disclaimer / Notes + Commentary under the cut!) (TW: possible eating disorder)

Disclaimer / Notes:

While the posts by Little Red Little Green (LRLG) are among my most favourite candies, I’d like to remind everyone that they are fake rumours, and should be read and enjoyed as such. ie, all CPN below!

The English translation linked above is the only one authorised by the Fake Rumour House; therefore, please treat all content below as a very casual, very *unofficial* convo between fellow turtle friends! ❤️💛💚

With Chinese being a highly region-specific language, my reactions to it is necessarily filtered through my background, which is, admittedly, somewhat removed from Gg’s, Dd’s and LRLG’s. However, it is not uncommon for even c-turtles (and several times, LRLG themselves) to be lost with what they read / heard due to regional differences ~ which reflects the reality of communicating in the Sinosphere. In fact, the regionality of the dialects used by different “characters” in LRLG’s dialogues is among the most critical elements that make these posts so authentic-sounding, and so difficult to replicate. A fun activity of following LRLG is to watch c-turtles patch their regional knowledge together, from local slangs to food choices, to make sense of what’s going on.

Okay, with that all said *phew* ... onto the commentary! “p. X” refers to the panel number in the official English translation (there are 7 total in the Twitter post).

p1. “Fairy”

Likely referring to the similarity between Gg’s current role for 玉骨遥 (The Longest Promise) and LWJ. Dd was praising Gg for being “fairy-like”; Chinese “fairies” (仙) have a certain style especially in visual media, similar to ... LWJ’s ~ otherworldly, white robes that billow in the wind, peaceful to the point of distant, scholarly, delicate. In between the lines, Gg likely said he was simply playing LWJ (hence, the ”act another me” in the translation), which Dd protested... and said Gg was simply playing himself. Whether that means DD IS NOT LWJ!!!!! 😡😡😡 or something else, we’ll know what we get to watch the show!

p1-p2. “Heat”

Yes about the Chang’e 嫦娥 reference!! Despite Houyi 后羿 shooting down 9/10 suns and saving the day, his wife is, indeed, more famous (and therefore the star, the more powerful one), because she’s frequently featured in Mid-Autumn festival art, along with her pet rabbit 玉兔 (”Jade Rabbit”),:

(Chang’e with her bunny, traditional Chinese painting. Source.)

Below is Gg’s rendition of Chang’e / Jade Bunny pair ~ Chang’e being the superman in the drawing while Jade Bunny is crouching on the planet!!

Guess of the missing convo from Gg’s side: Gg had wanted to bring something to Hengdian (where the filming of The Longest Promise was taking place) to cool himself down, and Dd had said it wasn’t necessarily. Hence Dd’s “My bad my bad” and the promise to send that something to Gg.

The loveliest line in this segment for me—and for many c-turtles— is the one about white hair. Turning grey a common, but very old-fashioned way of expressing worry and poor Dd, who hasn’t even turned 24, is claiming he was turning white because he got so worried every time Gg complained about the heat (Aww).

Turning grey with worry isn’t limited to romantic situations — it may happen to doting parents with wayward children, for example, or to ancient patriots over their crumbling kingdom. However, it’s also one of the more (very!) dramatic ways to communicate tragic love in Chinese fiction before Western influence allows “love”, as a term / word / character, to be used explicitly in writing romance.

Here’s a little example, a little diversion that may be of interest. Those who are familiar with the Wuxia classic Return of the Condor Heroes 神雕俠侶 by Jin Yong 金庸, whether it’s the book or its numerous visual adaptations, may remember how the hero, Yang Guo 楊過, went white at his temples overnight after his Shifu and lover, Xiao Long Nv (小龍女), didn’t show up at the cliff at the end of his 16-year wait for her.

Set photo from a TV adaption of Return of the Condor Heroes, 1995. Turtles may find the actress playing the perenially white-wearing, calm-to-the point-of-aloof Xiao Long Nv, Carmen Li 李若彤, familiar ~ she also played Lan Yi in The Untamed.

The 16-year wait, the invitation to Carmen to play Lan Zhan’s ancestor (when the two shared similarities in aesthetics and personality), were two of the three references from Return of the Condor Heroes I picked up from The Untamed (the last one was more specific—WWX mentioned Yang Guo’s master 獨孤求敗). This tribute is unconfirmed, but MXTX did say before that Jin Yong’s works were her inspiration. I also read a (small) discussion on whether LWJ’s hair carried a few pieces of white in the final episode, or if the lighter strands in it were a trick of the sunlight. (Here’s a screenshot of the approximate place to look!!)

While I lean towards the latter (the sunlight), turning white with worry, with love, is a tradition in Chinese storytelling. Here’s a little something I’ve noticed too, on this note ~ both in the actual interviews and in these fake rumours, Dd’s word choices, the way he conveys emotions are sometimes surprisingly traditional. It can be because of his background (which would require a study of how Luo Yang people and Koreans talk); it can be because the traditional way of talking allows for fewer words to be said, fewer things to have to be explicitly explained (example: LWJ), but the effect is that Dd has supplied the most romantic lines in LRLG’s posts because of that ~ romantic because it harks back to the rhythm, the themes of old poetry, of ancient stories that, as were true everywhere in the world, were about love.

Okay, back to the rumour (and hoping Dd won’t look like Bad Wig Yang Guo in a few more summers!) ....

The line after the one about white hair ... the way I understand the original Chinese sentence is “Heat is The Reason”: ie, anything Dd wants Gg to do and Gg disagrees, Gg would use heat as The Reason (R) to not do it. This anything may be eating, for example, which also has a strong possibility as conventional Chinese wisdom says that heat causes people to lose appetite. Dd’s worry would therefore be: Gg refusing to eat because he claims it’s too hot to do so.

“Corny joke” ~ the Chinese for this is, literally, “cold 冷 joke 笑話”, which becomes a pun as the gzry (team members)’s joke was about the (cold) winter and black hair. So... Dd threw a corny joke to combat a corny joke :D .

p3. “Apple”

The first half I also had to rely on c-turtles to help me interpret what it meant! Regional dialects aside, LRLG has captured dls’s very quick wit, the way his ideas freely hop from one concept to the next and this hopping carries traditional + popular cultural references that I know only a fraction of, not being a local after all.

I’ve read an additional interpretation of this segment: “big fruit” 大果兒 (as in dls: “Those are all big fruits, all big fruits”) is a Northern Chinese, traditional slang for women—dls might have connected that with the previous line in the convo about being Guowang, as explained in the translation, and “big and juicy” + “touch to feel” being suggestive phrases. Then, given the rare usage of the big fruit = women slang, dls expressed surprise that Dd understood what he meant, went on to say he expected Gg to know it (implying Gg could’ve taught Dd the meaning) ...

Which led to the entertaining part of this segment. Dd was like “You guys (= Gg + dls) talked?” Dls appeared to have thought of the scenario customarily inviting this question (scenario: someone on the verge of catching their spouse cheating) and began playacting that scenario, started to stammer ... as if he had just been got caught trying to chat up someone’s spouse ~ ”I-I-I....how to say it ...”. Dd caught on dls’s playacting and went along, continued with the “accusation”: “You’re stammering”. Dls then noted that Dd’s accusation was scary and Dd smiled, ending the playact ~ so, ah, readers, never mess with Dd’s spouse!! Dd gets scary!!

(BTW: ”nijia na kouzi” 你家那口子 was explained in the translation for a reason ~ It’s a warm, friendly term for a dear friend’s spouse. 😊)

p4. Lychees

Lychees. Has everyone tried them? It’s important not to over-eat them though...

In which the “Feeding Gg” saga continues! This segment is one of those that are wonderful for fic writers who wish to capture Gg and Dd in words. Gg, like many brought up in traditional families, has trouble saying “no” outright, which is often considered rude. As such, he resorted to delay tactics, something he had also done with the fried noodles in The Makeup Room BTS.

In the BTS, his delay tactics had been to argue that Dd hadn’t eaten his box of noodles and therefore, he couldn’t start (~2:35 mark)—as proper manners indeed dictated. In this dialogue, his delay tactics was to say he’d eat the lychees later, that the lychees would make him too full for the proper meal (rice).

A cute thing about this convo is that rather than pouting and grumbling his only being LWJ’s replacement (as he had hilariously done in the BTS), Dd had, apparently over the last three years, become an expert on countering such delay tactics. He peeled the lychees, which not only removed a major obstacle for eating, but also set a timer as peeled lychees get dry quickly (and Gg, despite being a picky eater, didn’t seem to like to waste food). He said the fruit could make appetiser. He got the help of their team members, who assured Gg that two lychees would be all right.

Gg’s response to the assurance... takes a little time to explain.

The original Chinese line for “Great, great, you’re so awesome” was 絕了絕了你們絕了。 “絕了”, a popular phrase used by Chinese netizens, was repeated three times.

絕, literally, means the extreme, the absolute, the end. 絕了 means pretty much the same ~ a thing that is 絕了 is standing en pointe at the edge of the cliff that is The Absolute End of a spectrum. It is the Ultimate. It can't be surpassed. It’s unbeatable.

絕了 is usually used in a positive sense, as in the English translation, with the positive being implied. If I say the LWJ photo above is 絕了, for example, I don’t need to specify that the extreme in 絕 stands on the good end. It’s understood given the audience of this post are mostly turtles (HELLO *waves*). We’re all heart-eyes here. We agree, without saying, that this photo is The Top, The Pinnacle; it can’t be better. 絕了 is higher praise than Excellent; it’s so good that there are no adjectives for it. Its own presence defines How Good It Is.

But 絕了 doesn’t have to be positive. If my audience is Su She ... he’s likely to take the same “This LWJ photo is 絕了” to mean the Mariana Trench kind of Absolute—the bottom of the bottom, the Unbeatable, Adjective-Defying Worst.

絕了 allows for that understanding too.

In this scenario, I interpret Gg’s 絕了 as taking the meaning of both extremes (which make it a fantastic phrase choice!): that Gg thought Dd and the team members were being both the Absolute Best (for thinking of Gg, caring for him) AND the Absolute Worst (for going against his wish to not eat!) Gg’s 絕了 also signals defeat; if Dd and his team members were The Absolute ... Whatever, then poor Gg had no choice but to yield to their wishes. I can already imagine his “I can’t believe I lose this way” Look (see: every rock-paper-scissors he lost, which was ... pretty much all of them), mixed with, perhaps, a healthy amount of bunny tooth warning (how dare Dd et al banded up against him)...

Those bunny teeth had to be taken care of, right? And so Dd went on to say lychees being good omen that ensure things would go smoothly for the eater... targeting Gg’s being a, as c-turtles call it, 小迷信 (literally, “Little Superstitious”, a young + adorable + superstitious person). Dd said that to help Gg justify the choice to eat, to make Gg feel better about his defeat.

(Of note: I had actually never heard of lychees being associated with good luck before, and a quick search online also didn’t yield any result. This could be a relatively rare association Google failed to catch ... or something Dd made up on the fly to make Gg happy.)

(Lychees have, however, been associated with romance. If Emperor’s Smile 天子笑 was The Love Drink in The Untamed, then what is Concubine’s Smile 妃子笑? Answer: it’s the RL name of a type of lychees, lychees being the fruit very much adored by Yang Yuhuan 楊玉環, the consort of the Emperor Xuanzong (685-762 BCE) of the Tang Dynasty and one of the four most beautiful woman in Chinese history. Since lychees had only been grown in southern China, the emperor had had the fruit couriered, in express mode involving many horses, to the palace up north to please his favourite wife. Lychees had become a symbol of love from that historical tale.)

Did Gg get Dd’s message then, the love and care packaged in those peeled, sweet fruit awaiting his bite? Yes, but not without a little more fight! “Eat eat eat, (I’ll eat) until you go bankrupt” is a literal translation of his final line. Tonally, I can see the following as being an alternative translation:

“Fine fine fine. I’ll eat, it’s not like I can bankrupt you by eating anyway!”

If it sounded a little sulky, that’s because it did ... a little sulky AND fiery. As expected from our favourite Chongqing Big Pepper 😂😂😂 (Poor Gg).

Dd smiled at that, needless to say. He won!!! He got Gg to eat!! The world shall rejoice!!

p5. “Showtime”

There’s a show coming up for Dd (the YH concert maybe?), and Gg offered suggestions.

The sweet point of this segment is about half-way down the conversation, in the piece of paper 📄 Gg gave to Dd (after “This is for you.”). Dd took the paper, noted the many words on it, and started saying 我把我整個靈魂, translated as “I bring my entire soul”.

c-Turtles have, based on these words, hypothesised that Dd was about to read out a quote that Gg had written on the paper, with the list of items Gg thought Dd should take, before Gg stopped him with a call of his name (“WYB”). The quote was included on the translation (”I give you my entire soul...only, a little good, love you.”) I have also talked about the same quote, in more detail, here.

I’m equally stumped on the final line of this segment. (Sorry!!)

p6. “Found Family”

It’s a heartwarming segment. While LRLG had previously noted that the TTXS bros had communicated with Gg, this segment made clear that they care for him like they do for Dd ~ as family.

* dls mailed Gg a lot of fruit for sharing with the film crew. “Family member needs to be impressive” is a rough translation, but this line does defy simple translation because 排面 a highly cultural concept that has much to do with the equally complex, Chinese concept of face (which this article explains... somewhat adequately). The message to take home is that dls cared enough about Gg that he wanted to make sure Gg wouldn’t lose face in front of the film crew; that, by having enough gifts (fruits) for everyone, Gg wouldn’t be viewed as cheap or inadequate or stingy, or whatever adjective that wouldn’t befit his top idol status. Because dls saw Gg as a member of his family.

* The prescription from hg had been mentioned in a previous LRLG rumour. 方子 is a Chinese medicine prescription, which, unlike Western formulations, is individualised both to the discomfort / ailment and to the “body constitution” of the person who'll take it, the latter deciding the kind of ailments the person is susceptible to, and which ingredients are expected to be more effective. Chinese medicine also places a strong emphasises on long-term conditioning, whether it’s for recovery from a certain condition or for general good health. A good 方子 is therefore a far more complex and personal thing than, say, a scribble of “paracetamol” / “acetaminophen” on a piece of paper. :D

* fg’s gift for Gg (xx) is something for the waist. A brace support, maybe? For example?

My favourite line in this segment is when hg asked what will Gg and Dd do when they reach hg’s age. Given that the last two items (the prescription and xx) were health-related, I interpreted it as hg worrying about Gg and Dd’s health when they grow old... with all the health problems they already have. It’s the kind of thing a worried parent say to their children ~ my mom has said the same thing to me as well. 😢

p6. “The Cat Paw”

Not quite sure what’s happening here ... not sure what the cat paw is. (Sorry!!) But that é in the translation is Dd’s signature laugh (collection here), which is written as 鵝 (”Goose”) in Chinese 😂.

p7. “The Cat Toy”

Dd appeared to be shopping for a cat’s toy (something that can “hook the cat” in the translation, such that the cat can entertain itself and not rely on human companionship as much). Gg had already bought the toy though and sounded quite proud of it, told Dd to return the toy. The implied cat was, of course, Nut (堅果 Jianguo)... which had been repeatedly referred to in LRLG’s posts as Gg’s daughter.

p7. “Cool vs Cute”

Gg is often viewed as cute, and Dd as cool. Did Dd dislike Gg taking cute pictures for public consumption? Were they scheming an exchange of image? :D

And that’s it for this issue! Ooh, this took unexpectedly long ... I apologise for the ridiculous delay between the original post and this commentary!

(I wrote half of it, then RL struck and I forgot about it.) (I’m hopeless.) (I need a 方子 for poor memory!!)

#pie eats candies #pie metas #yizhan #bjyx #LRLG

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meterokinesis · 3 years

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How To Write A Flower Shop, by Someone Who Works In One

Happy Valentine’s Day! It’s time to talk about one of the most time-honored fic tropes: the flower shop AU! My parents have owned their flower shop for 4 years now, and I’ve spent my fair share of time there. I find it hard to read flower shop AUs because of the inaccuracies, so I figured I’d make a masterpost of some of the most common mistakes!

Disclaimer: if you want to do your own thing, that’s totally okay! This is for people who want to make their fics accurate.

No. One. Cares. About. Flower. Language. Outside of the obvious (lilies at funerals/sympathy, roses for love) most things come down to personal/cultural preference. Where we are, there are people who think chrysanthemums are for sympathy, while others think they’re for celebration. Colors are also pretty flexible, but you can stick with some basics: red roses are romantic, yellow roses are friendly affection, white lilies are mourning. Most times a “meaningful” bouquet will look ugly as fuck in practice.

Flowers are EXPENSIVE. This weekend, a dozen roses were $90. A very simple arrangement with cheaper flowers will be $40 minimum. Adding a single rose to an arrangement is $5. Any rare/out of season flowers will cost extra. Wrapped bouquets or boxes are less expensive than an arrangement in a vase.

Speaking of expense, florists won’t sell flowers wholesale. Each flower is marked up, and then labor is added. If a stem costs $.67, then it gets marked up to $3.

They’re called stems! If someone’s doing an arrangement, you’ll ask for two carnation stems, not two carnations.

Some flowers, like hydrangea, can be brought back from the brink of death, so you’ll see them floating in buckets of water in the back of the shop.

Dyeing roses is a bitch and a half and not a single florist likes it.

Everything needs greens and some kind of filler flower! I like leatherleaf, personally. Baby’s breath is a pain in the ass, but they’re a good cheap filler.

Shops will have a walk-in cooler. There are two doors, one that the public can open that has pre-made arrangements and one that employees use to store flowers. Flowers should be kept cool (but not cold!) so they stay as fresh as possible.

The work area will have a sink, a work table or two, and all of your supplies. You’ll also have two garbage cans: one for biowaste like leaves and clippings, one for normal garbage.

Florists get hurt. A lot. I worked six hours yesterday and managed to get a splinter, cut my finger open, and scratch up my hand from rose thorns. Those thorns are really painful btw! Most florists will have visible damage from thorns, cutting themselves, or other workplace hazards.

February-June is the big season for flowers because of all the holidays. The rest of the year, you get by on weddings, funerals, and events.

You get to know everyone’s drama. We know who’s getting married and who’s cheating on their spouse and who has a baby on the way. It’s a little like being a bartender, except you have slightly fewer drunk people.

When someone orders from a general website, like Teleflora, they take a huge chunk before it gets to the florist. That means an $80 order becomes $60, not including the $10 delivery charge. That will drastically change the quality of the arrangement. People also try to scam the website, which just hurts the florist. Because of this, florists hate these websites and will complain to their co-workers about it. Fuck Teleflora.

Most flower shops will have live plants, balloons, stuffed animals, and maybe chocolates.

Churches and funeral homes usually partner with flower shops and getting one of these partnerships is really important for events.

It’s a physically demanding job. Flowers are heavy! You also have to lug glassware, buckets of water, and be on your feet all day.

Florists are gonna be stressed more often than not! It’s really not a relaxing job, it’s retail. Just because it’s a cool job doesn’t mean it’s not work.

There are a lot of expenses, so even on good days florists don’t make money hand over fist. ShopRite can afford to have bouquets for $20, but they’re cheap and they’ll die in three days, whereas a nicer arrangement can last upwards of two weeks. This is part of supporting small businesses!

If you have more questions, let me know! These are just some misconceptions I’ve seen in the past, but I’m available as a resource.

#flower shop au #florist au #writing resource #fic resource #fic research #vday #anyway ask me anything #hunter rambles

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omoi-no-hoka · 4 years

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Hello! I'm sorry if this has been asked before, but how do you become proficient at handling conversations in Japanese/handling grammar very well? I read your post on the JLPT, and it addressed issues I have been tip toe-ing around--indeed, passive actions such as listening or reading are easier than the active ones. How did you go about that? Did you write a bunch of sentences daily? Did you have a conversation partner? What would you rec. to someone who lives outside Japan? Thank you!

This is an excellent question, and one that I get asked a lot irl by Japanese people in particular. Let’s talk about gaining fluency and the ways we can go about it!

How to Gain Fluency in Japanese (and Other Languages)

Speaking Fluency versus Accuracy

Language proficiency is divided into two separate categories:

Fluency: Although there are no widely agreed-upon definitions or measures of language fluency, someone is typically said to be fluent if their use of the language appears fluid, or natural, coherent, and easy as opposed to slow, halting use. In other words, fluency is often described as the ability to produce language on demand and be understood.

Accuracy: Correctness of language use, especially grammatical correctness and word choice.

By the above definitions, a “fluent” speaker may make grammatical mistakes, but they can speak without having to stop and think too much about conjugations, word choice, etc.

An “accurate” speaker can speak with nearly zero grammatical/word choice mistakes. However, the speed of their utterances isn’t generally taken into account, so it could take an “accurate” person twice as long to articulate the same idea as a “fluent” person.

Ideally, you need to strike a good balance between these two qualities when speaking. I have a boss, God bless him, who is 100% fluency and 0% accuracy and…man is it hard to understand what he’s saying sometimes, but he can generally get his point across just barely. I have another coworker who is 100% accuracy and takes about 3 minutes to form a sentence because he wants it to be perfect.

How to Increase Speaking/Writing Accuracy

First, let’s talk about the easiest thing to improve, which is accuracy. It’s also (in my opinion) the least fun thing to improve, because it means grammar books and vocabulary memorization.

You can only use a language accurately if you know what is correct and what is incorrect, and you can only learn that by studying grammar and vocabulary (or if you’re a native speaker and picked it up innately, you lucky bastard).

So here’s some things you can do to increase your accuracy:

For example, if you’re having a hard time using the passive, you need to review that part of your textbook and find some exercises to drill it into your head.

Say the correct thing aloud. Lots. Sometimes I just walk around my apartment and narrate everything I see/do like a crazy person, but that’s good practice.

Write example sentences using the grammar you’re struggling with and say them aloud too.

There’s a bunch of cool apps that connect you with native speakers that can help correct you too! I used to use HelloTalk, I think.

If you’re a creative soul, when I was studying for the JLPT, I took 1 grammar point and 5 vocabulary words from my JLPT study books and used them to write a 2-page short story about the adventures of ネギ, a stray black cat that smelled like green onions because she napped in an onion field. Then I had a Japanese friend check it over for me and mark mistakes. I hand-wrote them to improve my abysmal handwriting at the same time. It was really fun! I sometimes think about doing it again just for funsies.

When someone corrects you, don’t feel like your entire life is over and you’re a failure and you’ll never get it right haha. I’ve seen people fall into that hopeless mindset, and that’s just nonsense. It’s a good opportunity for learning and nothing more! Say the correct thing you’ve just been taught out loud, then write it down if you can. And, if possible, find a chance to use it in conversation asap.

How to Increase Speaking/Writing Fluency

Now this is the hard one. Especially for those learners who do not have native speakers nearby.

I’m going to be dead honest with you. I started formally studying Japanese at uni, and I had a Japanese roommate/best friend since year one. I had a 4.0 GPA in my Japanese classes (and only my Japanese classes lol) because I was and still am a MEGA NERD about it.

...But it wasn’t until I studied abroad in Japan my 4th year of uni that I gained fluency.

There are a lot of things that can hold us back from fluency. An interesting thing I’ve noted is that Foreign Language is perhaps the only subject in which a student’s personality can directly affect their progress. To gain fluency, you have to go forth and speak, but if you are naturally a shy person, that is going to hinder you. If you are the kind of person who takes mistakes/failures poorly, you will be less likely to take risks and try to say harder sentences. In contrast, you can get full marks in math regardless of the above personality traits.

I’m not saying that you have to be an outgoing explosion of a human being in order to gain fluency. But what I am saying is that you have to be willing to seek out conversations, and you have to be willing to take chances. Get out of your comfort zone. Use that new word you picked up the other day. Try to explain something that is difficult for you.

My problem was that, while I lived with a native speaker who would have happily taught me anything I asked, her English proficiency was much higher than my Japanese proficiency. And when I struggled to say something in Japanese, I’d fall back onto English. And when she told me something I didn’t understand in Japanese, she’d repeat it in English instead of Japanese, because that was easier for us both. The same thing happened when I was in Japanese class as well. I always had the assurance that I could fall back on English.

But when I elected to study abroad in Japan for 3 months, I knew that this was my big chance. So on the host family form in the “other requests” area, I wrote that I specifically wanted a host family that could not speak English. I was setting fire to my crutches, and I was scared but excited to see them burn.

By the end of my three months in Japan, I had gone from “Chotto matte kudasai” and needing a minute to form my reply, to “Okay, yeah I see that movie too and I liked the action scenes, but I didn’t care for the story little.” (I’ve underlined mistakes that I would have made in Japanese, to show you that I sacrificed some accuracy to obtain higher fluency.)

So, in short, the easiest and quickest way to increase your spoken fluency is to throw away all the crutches you can and use the language as much as possible. Every single day. Even if you’re just having an imaginary conversation with yourself! And like I said, there are a bunch of cool apps that connect you with Japanese people who want to learn English and you can do language exchanges with them. I had a lot of fun with those in the past.

As for increasing writing fluency...well. That’s a tough question with Japanese, because I can type Japanese at like 100 wpm, but my Japanese handwriting fluency is at a 10/100. I can read and type at the level of a native Japanese high school student, but I can only write the kanji that 7 year old can write. That’s no exaggeration.

The big reason for that dichotomy is that my work is paper-free. 100% of my work is done on screen, so about the only time I have to write out something is when I’m filling out a form, which includes my name (katakana), address, and maybe occupation.

If you want to increase your Japanese handwriting speed, just keep on writing. Write those little short stories about ネギ like I did, or find some writing prompts (I just started a side-blog with writing prompts yesterday btw) or keep a little diary. Make opportunities to write.

How to Have Nice Handwriting in Japanese

Okay, full disclaimer: I am the absolute LAST person qualified to talk about this, because I have awful handwriting in Japanese.

Unless you have prior experience with a different language that uses kanji, or you lack the keen eye of an artist, you will likely struggle to develop neat handwriting.

Personally, I really like using this app called Japanese Kanji Sensei. It’s on Android (not sure about iOS), and if you pay just a few bucks you can make your own kanji sets and stuff. Anyways, it will show you how to write the characters prettily. It gives you a good frame of reference for what nice, pencil/pen-written characters (versus calligraphy characters). It has hiragana and katakana on it too!

I get a stylus and write out the characters on this app for the muscle memory, so my hands remember the sensation of writing a certain character. (The muscle memory is different if you only use your fingertip.) This muscle memory and repetition is how Japanese people learn how to internalize kanji as well. I really enjoy and recommend this app. I’m sure that there are others out there like it too.

Summary

TL;DR: Review your textbooks, take risks, use every resource available or make your own, and just have fun with it! 💗

#Anonymous #ask me anything #Asks are open #study japanese #learn japanese #japanese language #nihongo #japanese fluency #second language acquisition #jlpt #studyblr #langblr #japanese langblr #japanese resources #kanji #study kanji #learn kanji

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mercurytrinemoon · 4 years

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On synastry and how to approach it

If you follow me you may have noticed few of my posts where I'm fixating on the fact that I don't know a certain person's birth date. And I said I'm sensing a nice Venus-Mars connection and honestly now that I think about it, I feel like Jupiter is heavily underlined in here as well. So that made me think of synastry a lot (not that I don't think about it on daily basis) and it made me want to elaborate a bit. Also because I see this weird approach where people single out certain aspects and turn them into "make it or break it" kind of deal and that is just wrong.

Actually it's similar with natal charts. The difference here is obvious - you have two individuals which means double the options in which way the energy may go and more potential for aspects to cancel each other out. So while natal interpretations of, for example, planets in the houses will resonate with you, all the black and white interpretations of synastry house overlays belong in the dumpster imho. And I knooow, I knoooow, one of my first posts was about house overlays. It was very generalized one and I did disclaim to take the entire chart into consideration. But sometimes I see these descriptions where people say "oh my god Venus in the 8th house! This is highly sexual aspect!" But what if none of the people have their Mars nor Venus activated, maybe except for a Venus-Saturn square that puts a big dump on the whole thing. Also, this may as well indicate taking care of shared resources (because that's one of the main themes of the 8th). Besides - and that's my personal take - overlays are less important than aspects between planets unless a) you’re putting a stellium in someone’s house b) it's about angles, because having the same planet as someone's ascendant is a big thing and I can guarantee you that most of the people you create bonds with will have that configuration with you.

Speaking of which, the type of people you attract is highly dependant on your chart. Angles are important but so are aspects and planet placements. I'll give you an example based on my own natal chart, because, obviously, I know myself well and I pay attention to charts of the people I come in contact with. As an Aquarius rising, I attract a lot of Aqua personal planets, Leo risings and people with personal planets in Leo - surprisingly not a single Leo Sun. As a Sagittarius dominant person, most of my friends are Gemini Moons or Sag Moons. Surprisingly I only befriended one Gemini Sun in my life + my belowed dog who was a Gemini. My Aries Moon makes me weak for Aries Suns. Sun is opposite Mars (5th house) - it, again, points to Aries (and Scorpios as well). Dominant fire element and Aries in the 3rd (easy communication) helps here a lot. Having Sagittarius in the 11th (house of friends) and Jupiter in the 7th (house of partnerships), I tend to be friends with other Sadges BUT that Jupiter in the 7th makes me very attracted to Pisces as well. So DO take classic rulership into consideration!

That leads me to another point - modalities. I have a lot of mutable energy so I love other mutable energies. SQUARES omg, especially in romantic/sexual relationships. They do bring tension but hear me out. You need trines and sextiles but squares bring spice. I can guarantee you that having a flowing Mars-Venus contact will give you a pleasant feelings for one another, easiness in communication and a natural synchronicity, but it's the square that will make you wanna rip each other's clothes off. Soooo... I mean, whichever you prefer I guess. Squares are also stimulating, with trines the energy flows nicely, squares bring interest... it's a different element, but the same modality... a perfect mix to make you drawn to the other person. It's similar yet intriguing. Another example, as a Sag Venus my tastes concerning arts and music should clash with a Pisces Venus - that’s what a textbook definition will tell you - but surprise, surprise, half of my favourite artists have Venus in Pisces.

Now with oppositions it's a completely different thing. I think they work wonderful when there are yin-yang planets involved. As I mentioned earlier, as a Sagittarius Sun I love Gemini Moons. They compliment each other. The thing is, with opposites you either get each other or you just pass each other. So it fluctuates. I've noticed that especially when there's the same planet involved. Two people having Mercury opposition will get each other so well they will finish each other's sentences one day and then completely miss the mark the next. Like two vehicles driving in opposite directions.

Trines aren't 100% amaaaazing. I know many people who, like me, have inner planets in fire signs and our values, ways of thinking and approach to certain issues are completely different. We do express them in the same manner though, which is by being loud lol. Trines also bring laziness so if you have too many of them the relationship may just fizzle out. Sextiles on the other hand are so underappreciated. Air fuels fire and water nourishes the earth - it’s way more interesting than a trine where both signs are in the same element, imho. Some astrologers will tell you sextiles are "weaker" but that's just stupid. They’re just as important, okay?

Sometimes you don't even have to have an actual aspect. Whoa, I know, mind-blown. But I see that constantly. Obviously having planets in a tight aspects is very important but let's say you have Aquarius Venus at 5° and the other person has Sun in Aqua at 20°. They don't make an aspect but it's the same sign, therefore you're going to express these energies in the same manner - which makes you compatible (tho I don't like that word). Now the smaller the orb, the more significant the aspect is. I've read somewhere that the aspect with the tightest orb kind of represents the theme of the relationship - I haven't been able to really analyze this theory tho. When it comes to orbs overall, Alexander Von Pronay is suggesting to use aspects up to 7°. I'd do that and then look at aspects under 2° to really see which energies are stronger. Liz Greene said that if you're feeling an aspect, even if the orb is wider, well, you're feeling it and it's there. I suspect it may depend on what energies you're sensitive to. If, for example, your chart ruler is Venus, you may feel Venus aspects more. And then with Uranus, Neptune and Pluto I'd say up to 2°.

What's actually awesome are so called double whammies. It's when the same two planets are aspected both ways. So A person's Sun is trining B's Venus and B's Venus is sextile A's Sun. Or A's Moon is conjunct B's Sun and B's Sun is opposite A's Moon. I like double whammies cause they provide mutuality. People often ask "wHo FeeLs iT mORe????". First of all, there's no clear answer to that because everyone's different and their charts are different and some respond to the energy one way and some, other. That's why I like to ask people: well, how do YOU feel about that aspect (if you, of course, know astrology well enough to pinpoint the energy). But with double whammies you basically exchange the same aspect so, hopefully, in 99%, it will be mutual.

What I also love is having the same aspect natally. Let's say you have a Mars-Mercury trine natally and the other person has it conjoined. That is awesome. It's like going through the same experiences in life and going "yeah! I went through that too! I understand!" Better yet if then those planets also make an aspect in the synastry chart. It's great. You're going to vibe so much.

About mutuality... A few weeks ago I was watching a livestream from Nina and Shaina from Party Trick Astrology (love those girls) and they were talking about synastry so I asked them a question related to these things cause, you know, I bet they've seen hundreds of charts and I'm always curious about other people's observations. So I asked about mutuality and one of them gave an example of a girl whose Venus was beautifully aspected by a guy and the guy's Venus not being aspected at all. And how this, for example, pointed to the guy being into the girl but not vice versa. And I thought that's interesting because I'd assume it would be the other way around. Her planets didn't activate his Venus so he shouldn't be into her romantically. And I actually experienced that myself one time. I had this Aqua friend and had literally zero aspects to my Venus. Not even a semi-sextile, not even a quincunx, not even a wide generational planet connection. And I didn't see him through these romantic lens. So I guess there are no rules to this. OR it’s all about projection (which btw happens a lot in astrology). That's why I like to look at synastry charts and just get the overall vibe.

Now with that being said, the shocker. YOU DON'T HAVE TO HAVE ASPECTS WITH THE OTHER PERSON AT ALL. I know, a bummer. Here we, astrology junkies, are in the lookout for the perfect synastry chart but as I look at charts of celebrity couples I often see them having no Sun connections, no Venus or Mars connections, lame Moon aspects etc. That is indeed disappointing. That's why I was so stoked about that Britney-Justin synastry. Because I don't see connections like that one between all the "it” couples of today.

So I guess... astrology is bullshit... Nah, just kidding. But it is complex. Sometimes it’s quality over quantity. And you should approach synastry as a whole, just feel it out, you know? And I’ll leave you with that for today because it’s getting long.

#synastry #astrology #astro notes #astrology notes #mercurytrinemoon

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austennerdita2533 · 6 years

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A/N: Okay, so. I couldn't stop thinking about time and how it could affect how Klaus and Caroline would relate to both themselves and each other prior to/after his near-death in 5x13. (Near-death because I reject canon in all forms. Self-care at its finest!) And this is what came out. (Post-TO Finale AU + Light angst + Fluff)

**Disclaimer: The first half of this is literary in nature. It’s written in a more removed POV, and while I usually save that kind of experimentation for my original writing, that's what wanted to come out. I also couldn’t seem to shut OFF the poeticism. So I went with it.**

GOD HELP US ALL BECAUSE THIS IS SO MUCH WORSE THAN I WANTED IT TO BE BUT I’M OVER IT.

Kudos to anyone who can guess which famous work/author I punned for my title, btw! Happy reading!

(A03) (FF.net)

xx Ashlee Bree

For When The Clock Chimes

The hands of time continued to turn because they could, because they brokered no resistance from anything in physics or grimoire magic. At least not to anyone’s knowledge.

It’s how they functioned. They existed to move, to tock away in subsequence. Their only purpose was to track the moments that the rest of the world took for granted or disregarded completely.

And so many people did: squandering each one with the flutter of an eyelash, or an exhale of the lungs that wouldn’t keep, couldn’t stay, their voices rubbing against the edge of a thought before they let the words fade into letters the mouth couldn’t spell or name out loud because it was too soon, too late, not right or so wrong. The look on someone’s face making a person swallow them all back down where they didn’t belong, and never could since the stomach refused to digest omissive lies in any shape, any form. They’d spurn back up to the surface with a rough lurch so it hurt. Scraping at silence until it stung. They’d burn the esophagus into disrepair the whole way like a warning that wouldn’t ground down or away. “Admit it or else, admit it or else.” Screaming bile into blisters because the truth shouldn’t cower in corners forever, and it wouldn’t. It’d always crawl back out because time waited for nothing. And no one.

Time wouldn’t wait for decisions to be made or listen to a voice as it begged “slow down, slow down; please, please, please won’t you slow down.” Wonderful things fluttered past in the same cadence as the awful, the sad, the loving, the wrenching, or as the missed opportunities which were impossible to reel backwards for someone who’d let them skip past like rocks already.

People probably always would overlook these moments. Waste them, too. So few of them wanted to hear how many more ticks they had left before the quality of everything in their lives diminished, or worse, ended altogether. Killing the future in ways that couldn’t be resurrected.

After all, who could bear to tally all the seconds as they fell? As they died?

Why would anyone want to capture the Before? Catching it, wrestling it into trapped silence with thumbs, knees blackening and blueing from too much squirming on top of it merely to preserve the faint sputters of oxygen it expended. As if such a thing could be rewound or duplicated so that Before’s clockwork stores were always full of hours one could revisit with a blank slate, a new page, yet would never need to be scribbled through with chipping chalk or passed by with a feeling of what could’ve been instead.

Only, that’s not how it worked. The past could not be rewritten. It could not be recalculated for a redo, either.

Why would anyone try to cling to this dream when the dust from the After was bound to choke a person with its grittiness again and again regardless of the promises it’d made to keep the throat clear and dry? Free of regret. Unspoiled by grief. Untainted by all those nasty ‘if’s’ that tasted like tarred feathers on the tongue.

Who would care to listen to each beautifully fleeting moment as it gusted away like a dandelion wish on the end of a swollen green stem? Who wanted the pleasure, the pain of cataloguing them?

How long before each second started to sound less like a soprano note in the fabric of infinity and more like static burnt deep into eardrums? Krshhhing with the noise that all middles made as they neared their endings.

When was it wrong to count the stones of time like precious particles no one wanted to throw away? When was it right to grasp them tight, not letting go? Not giving up. Never, never surrendering to bruises or the fight for more un-lived life.

What happened if someone didn’t? Wouldn’t. If one refused to pay out time in elapsing dividends because it was unfair, because the future currency one was already contracted was about to be stolen from out of pockets before it could be spent.

What happened, for instance, to a girl with a woefully devoted, often under appreciated heart which had been taken, broken, or disappointed one too many times to be able to forget how it felt to be denied - what ruin it wrought inside of her when something or someone left her alone again or far behind in a place where she couldn’t follow so that she was the only one who was missing out on everything she wanted? Everything she almost got, almost loved, but might not receive.

What did it mean when she clung to each peal over her head because a part of her was terrified this was the last bell of extraordinary she was meant to hear? To want. To almost reach out and touch. To nearly have it in the palm of her hands, obscured, but lost in a way that was about to be found. Making her feel strong and certain in herself at last - in them, too - her heart open, adrenalized, embracive of the teethy edges which were to chomp through one of her deepest chambers soon, not long from now. Marking her with a brand of unapologetic readiness, of confidence she owed to the creature she was today.

This girl didn’t need extraordinary on her own - not all on her own - but she desired it with this man here before her. She knew that without a doubt now. Just as he was set to disappear.

The only problem was this: she wanted him out there somewhere still living. Still existing like the constant he was, or came to be over these uncountable years. She needed him to stay a fragment of light that’d never fade, that’d never fall from its spot in the sky so she could see it always - with her eyes closed, soul stretched through every shadow or curve of darkness - so she could chase it with feet one day knowing he’d be there waiting for her on the other side.

It was imperative that his coming seconds continued to stretch. Bend. Twist. Multiply. Endure.

But what happened if the hands of time stopped revolving because they intended to sweep the constant of him away for good? How did she feel to know it was nearly over between them? The end? Their last moment? This goodbye becoming the most rotten she’d ever tasted on dry lips since they still thirsted for the hope of another kiss.

It might be the end of every possibility…

The dropping curtain….

The final eclipse…

The threads of a vanishing eternity plunging into a hole that would fray its edges like the snap of a coffin lid…

So what became of her? Of him? Of them and this nearly-something which never came fully to fruition?

What next? What happened after the clock froze with a loud ding to assault their ears, catching their hearts off guard when it resounded out loud into the night with one last chime? Because if they couldn’t reverse the ding above their heads at midnight, if this fate was impossible to prevent, then how come those clock hands halted like lungs holding in a breath before a sigh?

Pssst, let me let you in on a little secret:

Out of time is not where their story ended.

It’s where it stopped—

then started all over again.

Caroline loved to cycle through the city. Preferred it, really. Given the option, she always chose a spontaneous ride over an aimless or idle stroll through the streets when a wandering mood struck her, as one often did. Restlessness dug into her as deeply as fangs anymore; or had, more specifically, for the past three decades or so.

“You’ll hear no complaints from me over it. Wanderlust leads where it wants, where it must,” her companion often said before they kicked off from the curb near their home. “I’ve embraced it myself many times over the years, to be sure, so I have no qualms about following wherever it is it drives you next.”

“Good,” she’d nod, releasing the kickstand. “It’s comforting to know you intend to try and keep up for once, Lance Armstrong. Instead of, you know, tailgating my backside a few tire revolutions away. Like a creep.”

“What can I say? I’m fond of a good chase, especially one with as lovely a view as you.”

“You always were, weren’t you? Fond of chasing me, I mean,” she’d reply with an arched smile, the words soon blurring into an echoed look-back over her shoulder.

“And I will continue to be,” would come the un-ironic answer from somewhere close behind, “thanks to you.”

“Thanks to me, Bonnie, and a few Japanese grimoire spells, you mean,” Caroline would correct in that chirpy, heart-of-the-matter way of hers.

“Certainly. Whatever you say.”

Then off they’d jet together without another word: no particular direction or destination in mind.

As it was, kinetic motion made Caroline more comfortable with her place in the world seeing as how she could travel anywhere inside of it. And she longed to see everything now - every town, city, country, continent; each day or night; the kinds of things nobody could dare to forget when one fought to remain aware. Alive.

She yearned to be everywhere and nowhere all at once these days, and cycling, she was. It’s why she loved it so much.

There was something about the feel of pedals flat against her soles, the bikey breeze cooling her skin before it blew tendrils loose onto the nape of her neck, the wheels beneath her spinning, screeching smoothly with speed as they weaved along windy, bus-trafficked roads or twiggy park pathways to gain that rush of adrenaline that clattered her teeth with joy. With freedom. Or maybe it was the way in which her butt bumped up and down on the triangular seat while a midsummer dusk descended with a multilingual hush over boats, which were docked bow-to-stern in the stilled green canals to her left, the day’s end cresting beyond the architectural diadem of the Tower Bridge as she continued her odyssey, then later, peaking atop the hedged copses and lush treetops in St. James’s Park to illuminate a family of ducklings as they paddled through the golden ripples. Or maybe it was how the moonlight reflected off rows of bricked homes in the borough of Bermondsey as her tires crunched gravel and debris to dust without slowing. It was in how everything whizzed by her in an indecipherable rush of buildings, cathedrals, faces, vibrated conversation, smogged tedium and bustle. Alerting her to the blended chaos of it all. Her ears buzzing with the familiar novelty of progression, of diversified populace and soon-to-be-digitized antiquity.

Caroline was hastened forward through the city, through a still-untapped eternity, by wonder. Diversion. Exploration. Temptation. Love. Each second tickling the hair in her nostrils as it passed before, then behind her.

The moving world around her became an anomalous combination of fast and slow, and the dichotomy thrilled her. It was something she could race alongside or immerse herself in by grasping the handlebar breaks - hopping off her bike with a swing of her leg to trot into a shop, a pub, an outdoor theater; dawdling along the choppy waves of the Thames with this man’s arm wrapped around her waist like it belonged there (and who’s to say it didn’t?) - but also something which she’d never be able to catch fully no matter how hard she tried. And Caroline was okay with that. She didn’t mind.

The truth was she relished a camaraderie with the world no one else besides the man next to her sensed, or understood, so it gave her the luxury to simply be. Feel. To open herself up to the unvaried rhythm of time as it carried them around every bend in this labryinth’d metropolis. Allowing her to bask in London’s steady changeability wherever she rode.

Caroline adored the taste of life rolling by her as her legs rounded harder, faster. Muscles burning with exertion. Slickened with sweat beneath her jeans, taut against her hamstrings.

She inhaled with eyes closed, breathing it all in without stopping: all the honking cars and laughter, the alcohol mixed with blood many tourists smelled of as they paused by some monument to snap a few Instagram photos, the clink of the Tube rails, applause within the Globe Theater, multicultural cuisine, fresh cheeses huddled within market stalls for selling, couples of all ages, pints of beer drunk in crowded avenues, the lift of a cyclist’s arm as she signaled to turn right, a full moon tacked to a twilight sky, music, tea and crumpets, a gentleman’s eye lingering on her legs too long to be accidental, the pruned sidewalk trees. Most of all, though, she reveled in Klaus’s easy proximity. His pride and contentment to be here, to be with her still (even if that meant flanking her rear sometimes), was more tangible than the kiss he left on her mouth at the last stoplight in Parliament Sqaure.

“How do you do that?” she said as they waited at the intersection with their foreheads still pressed together.

“Do what, love?” he asked.

“Make me want each new moment we share together to last forever.”

“My kisses are that potent? How lovely. I didn’t realize,” Klaus smirked.

Caroline shoved against his chest playfully, “Cut it out, I’m serious!”

“Say it again then.”

“No.”

“Come on, say it. Say it…please?”

Shaking her head, “You’re such a glutton for flattery, you know that? It’s exhausting. Seriously,” Caroline teased.

“Ah, but only when it comes from you, sweetheart. No one else. And just so we’re clear—” Reaching out with his hand to stroke her cheek then, his expression liquified, his irises gleaming with an affectionate blue blaze she’d come to recognize as hers, and hers alone. Klaus’s voice was deep, so much barer in emotion than he ordinarily liked to betray, “I’d gladly surrender it all to live in one such a moment of forever with you. I could pick but one, were it required. However, I‘m greedy so only if forced,” he added with a languid stroke down her spine.

“As could I, no doubt,” she smiled softly in answer, her lips poised near his ear and her fingers tangled in the necklaces at his throat. “Still, I’m glad we don’t need to choose.”

“Oh? Why’s that?”

“Limitations suck, o’hybrid of mine. They leave us feeling stunted and starving to surpass them.”

“True, too true…”

“Plus, I’d rather have all of time ahead and behind us like we do now,” she said just as the cycle light changed to GO. “Wouldn’t you?”

“Truth be told, love, I just want us. This. You.” With a thumb hooked through one of her belt loops, Klaus shrugged while Caroline listened, “To hell with all the rest,” he said.

“And you’ll have me, okay? You absolutely will. I know it.”

“How?”

“Because we happen to have forever, you and I. We won back time, we got a second chance to sample everything the world still has to offer,” Caroline said with meaning before she leaned in to kiss him. “And there’s nobody dead or alive I’d rather spend it with…than you.”

After drawing away from his mouth then and settling herself onto her bike once more with a turn of the pedals, Caroline giggled because Big Ben cut in with its midnight song from Elizabeth Tower right as they disappeared back into the London night in unison, the clock hands illuminated almost in omen, or like a reminder gilded in moments that rang out with the words don’t waste me, don’t waste me. Which they didn’t, and never could again.

In fact, if the chimes of the near-death past had taught these two lovers anything, it was that they needed to chase and cherish every year, day, hour, minute, and second of eternity they were gifted because it wasn’t a given in this life no matter how “unkillable” or White-Oak-stake-prone one pertained to be. So chase and cherish is what Klaus and Caroline did. It’s how they chose to spend their passionate, nomadic existence for however long it coiled forward into the future. They loved it minute-by-minute, chime-after-chime…

Together.

#klaroline #klaroline drabbles #klaroline fanfiction #half agony half hope #ashlee bree's writing endeavors #i've been stewing in-hate with this #for a week-and-a-half #because there should be more to this #more places; more dialogue #more examination of where they are or where they've been in the interim #how they've grown together and when #but the ambiguity isn't necessarily a bad thing #plus i couldn't bear to edit it any longer #so i *sings: let it go; let it goooo*

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elizabeth-of-the-woods · 7 years

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Dice for Witches

Disclaimer: I don’t actually know much about divination, so I can’t tell you much about the actual process of using dice in witchcraft, but I do know a thing about dice! So this is basically a post with some information/resources for withces who want to use dice in their craft about the basics of dice, where to get them, and some basic ideas on how to use them in witchcraft.

The actual Dice:

Most people, when they think of dice, think of a six-sided cube with the numbers 1-6 printed on them. But as any tabletop gamer knows, there are a lot more dice, some of which go as high as 100, and some sets exist that have unique means of measurement. Dice are commonly referred to by saying “D”, followed by their number of sides. For instance, a die with 10 sides is commonly called a “D-10″. It’s just an easier way of referring to them.

D-6′s can be found just about anywhere, including many board games. The “standard” dice set for tabletop RPG’s is the following: a D-4; a D-6; a D-8; two D-10; a D-12; and a D-20. The reason for the two D-10′s is for the purpose of percentile die, which I will go over in a bit. There are, however, many a-typical dice that exist that can be useful for a variety of reasons, that can often be bought separately.

RPG dice can be found in a very large variety of appearances and even materials, so try and find something that works for you, but a very basic set can be as cheap as 1-2 dollars on the internet, or maybe even cheaper in bulk, and serve as a great starting point. However, they can increase in price depending on design and material and some dice get really fancy, and very relevant to witchcraft, and some dice get really unique: you can even buy a one sided dice! And btw: any coin will work well as a “D-2″!

A word of warning, though: Many cheap dice, especially cheap opaque dice, are unbalanced, meaning that they heavier on one side and more likely to land on certain numbers due to shoddy craftsmanship. There are ways to find out if your dice are unbalanced, but your best bet would be to buy transparent dice or buy dice from seller with a good reputation.

Using the Dice:

Unless you have specifically fancy or weird dice, all you have to do is roll them and look at the result. The only exception to reading common dice is what most people call “percentile dice”. The idea of percentile dice is to have two D-10′s, choose one dice to be the “ones” place and the other to be the “tens” place, roll them both, and read them to get a number between 1-100. Most standard dice sets come with two D-10′s, one specially marked to represent the 10′s place, and usually both of them will be marked 0-9, and in the case of the 10′s place dice, 00-90. Simply roll them both and put the numbers in the correct places to get the number. For instance, I just used my percentile dice to roll an 8 and a 6, respectively. So my final number is 86! The one exception is that if you roll all 0′s, that reads as a 100. I hope this makes sense: if it doesn’t, there’s no shame in shedding some money on a D-100, although they can be pretty hard to find.

Other than just getting the numbers, how you read them is more or less up to you. Some numbers may have certain associations or correspondences, or you may just be asking for the number as an answer to a question. You may read it as, the higher the number, the more positive or affirming your response is. Perhaps you take a note from RPG’s and roll a D-20 to see if you can accomplish something, and if you roll a 20 that represents great success. However you read it depending on the context is honestly up to you, but I would recommend pre-defining your own rules before you roll so that you don’t get confusing results. When to use dice can also be tricky, and although they are probably best as divination tools, you could also roll them to charge them, assign certain effects to a side to come up with a “random” spell, or do whatever else you can think of! If you’re really dry on ideas, I would actually recommend reading some tabletop RPG handbooks to see how the dice can be used more practically and go from there.

If you have multiple sets of different designs, you may associate them with different things and find different ones better for different forms of magic or divination. Maybe your sparkly purple set is good for spirit work, but your green elven set is better for reading the energy in a room or of an object. You may even bind a spirit to a set or a specific die: don’t be afraid to get creative with it!

Fancy Dice for Fancy Witches:

Warning: these get pretty darn expensive and feature some very fancy and peculiar dice made from unique and very “witchy” materials. You may find yourself getting interesting results with these, but be prepared to fork out some good money.

The best place to buy REALLY fancy dice is definitely artisandice. They are very expensive, but you will find some really unique stuff here, including rare wood, animal bones, and gemstones. If you’re looking for a conversation piece or a really powerful tool, this will likely have something unique for you. Some highlights are their amber D-20, their elemental dice (dice made from gems and minerals), their necromancer dice (dice made from animal bones and horns), their runic dice, and their recreation of the world’s oldest “D-20″.

But we can go just a tad humbler. Something unfortunate is that it appears that most sites that sell gemstone dice are out of stock of the good stuff, but some gems (hehe) can still be found if you dig around. This website has goldstone, tigerseye, and malachite sets as well as a few synthetic sets. This website has a pretty good selection as well, and etsy is always worth looking through.

If you’re like me, you probably don’t have that kind of money for dice, though. You can still get somewhat cheap dice that look nice, but you probably won’t find anything cheap that isn’t plastic. I think some of the 10-20 dollar sets from this website and this website still look good and can definitely satisfy that aesthetic need without emptying your pockets!

Some notes on some unusual dice:

There are some dice you may find useful that aren’t very standard, so I just wanted to give them a shoutout. From here you can get a blank set of RPG dice, which is perfect for customization for your personal needs. From various sellers, you can buy loaded dice or cheating sets, which I would advise you to be careful with, but may provide very interesting results. Various sellers sell dice that instead of numbers, have words or images on them as well. Poke around and see what you find!

Well, that’s my post, I’m sorry I couldn’t give more info on divination itself but I hope that others find this useful! There’s a lot of potential for dice and witchcraft and for many people, it’s another common item they may have in their house that they might find really useful in some way or another. Please, tell me what find and experience with using dice, I would love to hear it!

#witchcraft #magick #paganism #witches #divination #witchy stuff #witch #magic

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thenamelessdoll · 7 years

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ANASTASIA SHOULD HAVE BEEN CURSED TOO!!!

(((Lost? Read my previous ramblings HERE)))

DISCLAIMER: There is indeed a curse in the film, but it was directed at Nicolas Romanov. Rasputin said to him: “Mark my words; you and your family will die within a fortnight. I will not rest until I see the end of the Romanov reign forever.”

Then magic and the revolution happens, the royal family falls and Rasputin dies. But since Anastasia cheated death, Rasputin cannot rest in peace and is doomed to an existence in limbo. He feels the consequences of his curse, but Anastasia is in no way affected by it throughout the film.

Yes, she looses her grandmother and suffers from hallucinations and amnesia for 10 years, but these things are not connected to the curse from the beginning of the film.

Anastasia - “Let me go! Please!” Rasputin - “You will never escape me child. Never!”

So - back to my random thoughts on this animated classic from 1997!! The more I think about this, the more frustrated I get. My problem with the magic in this movie would have been SO EASY to fix. The only thing needed would have been a curse cast on Anastasia, something along the lines of: “You shall forever be apart from all your family”.

When the curse is first taking effect, that is when Anastasia is separated from her grandmother (instead of grandma just having a weak grip), and then Rasputin´s magic keeps her away from her family. There could have been a short montage her grandmother coming back to look for her granddaughter, but the curse is making it impossible for them to find each other.

Grandmother - “Hold onto my hand!” Anastasia - “Don´t let go!”

Even Anastasia´s amnesia would have been more intriguing this way; the curse is actively forcing out her memories (instead of being the aftermath of an unrelated accident). But throughout the film the memories are trying to re-surface as best as they can in the form of hallucinations and dreams (cue “Once Upon A December!!”). Imagine the ball-room scene slowly but surely becoming more and more green in color as the curse is doing it´s best to hide the memories of her family. This way it would also make more sense why Anastasia cannot recognize her family (or even herself) when looking at the paintings in the palace (btw, why hasn't all the shit been stolen during these past 10 years???)

It isn't until Dimitri comes along and forces Anastasia to meet her grandmother again when the curse is finally broken. All in all: the whole idea of Anastasia being a victim of dark magic would have been more suspenseful from a storytelling POV, but this way we would also have had a much better connection between the main character and the villain. Not only are they both cursed, but now the magic that Rasputin possesses has been affecting Anastasia all this time.

Anastasia - “That face...”

As the movie is now, Anastasia is not in any way aware of Rasputin after she accidentally hits her head as a child. And when they meet again in the movie’s climax he is simply the man who swore revenge on her family (and has been trying to kill her during the past couple of days without her having any clue about it).

But THIS WAY he would be responsible for her misery - her memory-loss, the separation from her grandmother, her hallucinations - Everything would now be connected to Rasputin instead of being mostly based on a series of unfortunate events.

Rasputin - “And me… A rotting corpse… Last seen at a party like this one.” Anastasia - “A curse!” Rasputin - “Followed by a tragic night on the ice. Remember?”

Notice how all of these lines of dialog would have been more impactful if Anastasia was cursed too!! :o

The point of all this?

IDK. It´s 3.30AM and this is what I do when I cannot sleep - Ramble on about animated movies. But admit that this should have been canon. :P

#anastasia 1997 #don bluth #don bluth anastasia #animation #storytellling #animation shitpost #animation shitpost 100%

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jaigeddes · 5 years

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022: Residential Construction Costs

In the beginning, when you are starting to plan your budget for building a new house, residential construction costs are not that complicated unless you really want to make them that way. There are some general broad stroke pieces of information that if you know them, you will not be surprised when it comes time to plan your budget. [Note: If you are reading this via email, you will have to click here to access the on-site audio player]

Since all these costs can be screwed up in any number of ways, take all this information with a grain of salt. It would seem reasonable to assume that masonry construction in the border states, with the amazing amount of readily available skilled labor, will cost less than masonry construction somewhere in non-border states. Texas is also a right-to-work state and we don’t face some of the typical cost issues that unionized states enjoy. So now that I have my disclaimer out of the way, let’s talk numbers!

Hard Costs vs. Soft Costs [3:10 mark]

When starting to plan for a construction budget, there are some items that you should plan on including in your budget, which fall into major categories of hard costs and soft costs. Let’s start by identifying that hard costs are the physical assets that you need to acquire to complete your construction project. Some examples of hard costs are:

Providing utilities to the site if not currently present

Site Preparation (clearing away trees, stabilizing soil, cutting and filling to grade the site, etc.)

Demolition (if there are structures currently on the lot)

Construction costs, including foundation, framing, electrical, mechanical, plumbing, interior finishes, exterior finishes, lighting, cabinetry, appliances, plumbing vessels, etc.)

Construction Management Fees and Site Superintendent Fees (in my area of the world, these are typically set at 10% to 20% of the total construction cost)

Sales Tax

Permits

Hardscape (exterior built items i.e. sidewalks, driveways, patios, pools, etc.)

The list above are large categories that will represent most, but not all of the total project costs. These are the expenses that are generally not considered part of the construction budget. Hopefully, you and your architect would discuss these matters up front, I know I would. If you say your construction budget is $500,000, most would literally consider that to be the construction budget, not the project budget. Please make this clear because the relationship between architect and client won’t be all that great when the disappointment sets in if you don’t get this squared away up front. So now we are getting into the soft costs, which are simply described as an expense item that is not considered a direct construction cost – items such as

Architectural Fees – I have covered architectural service fees in depth (read or listen to it here: Architectural Fees) but as a rule of thumb, you should plan on paying somewhere between 6% of construction costs for a minimal set of construction documents up to 15% for full service set of construction documents.

Consultant Service Fees

Interior Designer – provide a great service but can add significant costs to a project. I used to work in an interior design office and I am aware that interior designers typically included a handling/processing fee on the FF+E (fixtures, furnishings, and equipment) that they are responsible for selecting. A good interior designer can be a fantastic addition to your design team but a conversation on compensation and deliverables should be a part of the initial conversations.

Structural Engineer – very cost effective service to retain and in some cases, a mandatory consultant to retain. We use a structural engineer on every project we design, partly because we carry professional insurance that requires it, but a structural engineer will design a foundation specifically to the soil conditions on your site. Depending on the complexity of the site conditions and the house design, their fees always seem to run around 1-3% of the cost of construction. Even on our most complicated and large custom homes, we seem to pay the same approximate amount per square foot as our simpler projects.

Energy Consultant – we don’t use these very often simply because we have been using energy conserving strategies (other than not building small homes) for years; it’s ingrained into our process. One of the items we are seeing now is that cities have different “green initiatives” and Energy Consultants can provide evaluation and inspection services that satisfy the 3rd party requirements of the city’s inspection process. When we retain an energy consultant, the bids we receive typically range between $500 to $1,500 depending on the complexity of the project and the difficulty involved with receiving a passing grade.

Landscape Architects – typically set up their fee structure similarly to architects but at a lower percentage (which makes sense since their scope on these projects is substantially less involved). The ones we work with most frequently are straight-up landscape architects which means that they do NOT do the landscape installation themselves. I have found over the years that I prefer to retain landscape architects who do the design and prepare the documentation for the general contractor to contract and install – I like the separation of responsibilities. Normally the fees are assembled by phase and then charged either hourly to completion or as a percentage of completion.

What you Get and for How Much [25:07 mark]

Finally, let’s cover something a little more tangible, like what do you get and for how much? I mentioned in the beginning that there are some very broad stroke assumptions you or your design professional can make that will get you very close to a realistic construction budget expectation. We use these costs per square foot references all the time during the schematic and design development phase and it’s rather remarkable how often they bear out. It should go without saying but I’ve been writing articles that go on the internet long enough to know that you still have to say it. These “rule of thumb” value does not work everywhere – they generally only work where the vast majority of my projects get built. However, you can extrapolate one set of values from this list to your area and compensate accordingly for the other categories. There are simply too many variables for me to break this down for all places, all project levels, varying degrees of acceptable quality, and all contractors. If you wanted to hire me to do a house for you, we would work all this out up front and we would know ahead of time whatt we were working towards.

Good? Great – let’s get to it.

$200 per Square Foot

This is the lowest amount we generally design, not on purpose but we just don’t seem to attract the clientele who are looking for something less expensive. $200/sf will get you a brick house, composition shingle roof, wood windows depending on the brand) but most likely vinyl windows, ogee profile galvanized gutters and a slab on grade foundation and a fairly generic kitchen appliance package.

$250 per Square Foot

This used to be the cost range where most of my projects were designed but with rising construction costs, this is becoming more difficult. $250/sf will get you Brick house with some contrasting cast stone features, standing seam metal paint grip roof, clad wood windows (Marvin or Weathershield type brands – both are excellent btw), 1/2 round paint grip gutters, and under some conditions a pier and beam foundation.

This is a great time to try and understand what quality and quantity are and how value plays a role between the two. I wrote a pretty concise and informative post on this very topic back in 2011 called “A Big Bag of Nothing” and I think it might be worth your time to check it out. You should also read “The Common Law of Business Balance” because it explains why you can’t pay less and get more.

$350 per Square Foot

At this price point, you can do just about anything practical that you could think of. I say “practical” because importing Tibetan orphan monks to stamp gold leaf on the ceiling with their feet will fall into a higher price category, not to mention that it isn’t very practical. $350 will get you a brick house, or masonry stucco on CMU block, standing seam metal paint grip or tile roof, high end clad/wood windows, 1/2 round copper gutters, and a pier and beam foundation. You will also be at the point where you should expect high-end stainless steel appliances, designer plumbing vessels, and some extremely custom fabricated pieces i.e. steel framed entry doors, specialty feature lighting, and exposed floating staircases.

$425 per Square Foot (and up)

Bring on the monks and other artisans from around the world! At $450/sf, the exterior can be entirely 4″ thick cut Hadrian limestone panels on CMU block walls, true slate roof, whole house integrated art and audiovisual controls, custom steel windows, etc., specialty energy features like geothermal, handmade tiles, etc. I am always amazed when I see houses that cost $500/sf and more – you really have to put some effort into getting the cost up that high … but I would love to give it a go.

As rules of thumb, these are okay to use but there are always nuances that need to be taken into consideration. Complications associated with the site, is this a union state, urban versus rural areas, the cost of skilled labor (for example, in the last 10+ years, labor rates in Dallas have gone up about 12% faster than material costs while in comparison, that number is around 30% in New York.)

I should also point out what it really means when someone says things will cost a certain dollar amount per square foot. This is for the total construction cost, which typically includes the contractor fees, but only uses the amount of air-conditioned square feet of the project. For example, if you have a house with 2,000 square feet of air-conditioned space with an additional 400 square feet of garage and 250 square feet of a covered exterior patio, the project would still be the 2,000sf x $200/sf (or whatever) for a construction cost estimate of $400,000. This next part is where experience kicks in – when do you start including exterior spaces and garages? Historically the cost per square foot would take these non-air-conditioned spaces into consideration and are built into the overall cost; but now that garages are getting bigger and exterior living spaces are becoming more developed and include more bells and whistles, they need some additional consideration. When these spaces get developed as real programmed space, we add around $60 – $100 per square feet extra to make sure that there aren’t any surprises when the construction bids start coming in.

This Week in My Office [48:11 mark]

We have decided to add a new segment to the show – very exciting!! Since we apparently don’t have much spare time, that segment has been largely ignored … although I still like it and I don’t have any plans to get rid of it. In addition, we haven’t ever received any negative feedback on the “Hypothetical” segment of the show either, and I quite frankly enjoy them a lot, so we will be keeping it as well. What we HAVE received is some feedback that requested that we focus a little bit more on the day-to-day workings within our office, after all, this is the “Life of an Architect” podcast and there is some work-life banter that we have largely been ignoring. I will admit that this has somewhat been by design – at least on my part. This podcast is not intended to be a serial – meaning you can listen to whatever shows you want and in whichever order suits your fancy. Our challenge with this new segment is to keep it loose enough to allow flexibility to the people listening while providing the opportunity for people listening to get a glimpse into the workaday life in an architectural practice.

In this weeks segment, Andrew spends most of his week working specifications whereas Bob spent 3/5th’s of his week out of the office. Rather than explain it all here, you’ll have to listen to the episode to get the inside scoop.

Cheers,

outro’s [54:53] can’t I get the intro right for once? There’s no one else in the room What is about to crawl out of my mouth Maybe we will reward you Is it bad to say my week was boring?

Thanks again to Building Design + Construction for sponsoring today’s episode. To learn more about the Accelerate Live conference (where Technology + Innovation Collide) taking place this coming May 13-14 in New York City, please visit AccelerateLiveBDC.com

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andrewysanders · 5 years

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022: Residential Construction Costs

Hard Costs vs. Soft Costs [3:10 mark]

Providing utilities to the site if not currently present

Site Preparation (clearing away trees, stabilizing soil, cutting and filling to grade the site, etc.)

Demolition (if there are structures currently on the lot)

Construction costs, including foundation, framing, electrical, mechanical, plumbing, interior finishes, exterior finishes, lighting, cabinetry, appliances, plumbing vessels, etc.)

Construction Management Fees and Site Superintendent Fees (in my area of the world, these are typically set at 10% to 20% of the total construction cost)

Sales Tax

Permits

Hardscape (exterior built items i.e. sidewalks, driveways, patios, pools, etc.)

Consultant Service Fees

What you Get and for How Much [25:07 mark]

Good? Great – let’s get to it.

$200 per Square Foot

$250 per Square Foot

$350 per Square Foot

$425 per Square Foot (and up)

This Week in My Office [48:11 mark]

Cheers,

outro’s [54:53] can’t I get the intro right for once? There’s no one else in the room What is about to crawl out of my mouth Maybe we will reward you Is it bad to say my week was boring?

from Home https://www.lifeofanarchitect.com/022-residential-construction-costs/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

#home

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type2diabetestreatments-blog · 7 years

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Around the Diabetes Blogosphere: March 2017

New Post has been published on http://type2diabetestreatment.net/diabetes-mellitus/around-the-diabetes-blogosphere-march-2017/

Around the Diabetes Blogosphere: March 2017

March has come and gone already, whaaaat?! Another busy month in the online diabetes world. Once again, we bring you a roundup of our favorite post picks for the month, in no particular order.

Got any more faves you'd like to add, for this month or next? We'd love to hear from you.

This has certainly been a stressful month in the world of healthcare and politics, prompting a bevy of advocacy initiatives. Multiple posts from DOC blogging friends highlight these very important but divisive topics, including Stephen Shaul's post Nobody Ever Died From Obamacare, and Kelly Kunik's post taking issue with one lawmaker's off-base remark tying insurance options to having an iPhone.

At the online journal Thrive Global (a 2016-startup founded by Arianna Huffington after she left the Huffington Post last year), D-Mom Rachel Stewart Johnson captivated us not only with her post title Mom Job: You'll Never Sleep Again, but also by the totally noteworthy writing talent there. What a read!

Over at the diabetes blog There's More to the Story, fellow type 1 Mindy points out that just because you happen to have a chronic illness, doesn't mean life is always in the extreme and that you can't take it easy or give yourself a little credit sometimes. Btw: Happy 17-year diaversary and fourth blogging anniversary this month, Mindy!

Speaking of diaversaries, a few more March diaversary shout-outs to fellow bloggers: Canadian D-Mom and advocate Barb Wagstaff, who notes that her family's recent diaversary slipped the mind; Illana Lucas, who blogs at Diaturgy and has just marked her 21st year with T1D and wrote a poetic post in honor of that milestone; and Cassie Thompson at KDA not DKA who just marked her very first diaversary! Also, our own Mike Hoskins marked his 33rd year on March 10. And there are surely many more... so here's a hearty shout-out to all marking making it through another year with D. You should be proud!

Low-carb juice? OMG... we to LOL at this post dubbed Reading Is Fundamental by D-Mom Pam Osbourne, sharing the mystery of why her daughter's low blood sugars were slower to respond after drinking this unusual beverage. D'oh!

We loved finding this new diabetes blog by a thirty-something RN and D-Mom in Denver (who chooses to remain nameless), called Triumphs, Tantrums and Type One. Welcome to the diabetes blogosphere, Lady!

The Diabetes Daily Grind podcast folks have a blog, too. And right now they're featuring a series on Thriving in the Peace Corps with diabetes by Monica Storozyszyn -- a must-read! In March's Part 5, Monica talks about the challenge of finding good physicians and pharmacists in developing countries.

For St. Patrick's Day D-Flare, our kudos goes to the Divabetic community's Go Green with Envy post -- a list of their top green fun picks from head-to-toe fashions to the tastiest low carb beers. Remember, green is always in fashion, so go check it out!

Image Attribution

URL: http://divabetic.org/2017/03/16/divabetic-st-patricks-day-go-green-envy/

At the newly refreshed site Diabetes Can't Stop Me, Australian D-blogger Helen Edwards writes about Finding My Voice, through the Internet and her studies to become a diabetes educator. We love how brave she is in the face of adversity, writing, "Screw the trolls and bullies. Because together, our voices are far louder than theirs, and I will never again let anyone tell me that I can not speak."

It's hard to go a month without recognizing our longtime D-blogging friend also in Australia, Renza Scibilia at Diabetogenic. She lends her powerful voice this month to the topic of Feeding My Insecurities -- all about how we can't fall for the promises that every new device or treatment will "solve" our diabetes issues, and how we can't keep blaming ourselves for failure either.

Are you also Pancreas-less and Proud? Then you will love this post on a blog by that name -- about the importance of Friendship with T1D and the fact that these connections are "more important to your well-being and happiness than you might ever realize."

What's Worse Than A Low? A Heart Attack. Yes, this is the real and true title and content of a blog post over at Type 1 Twilight Zone. Read all about Tom Goffe's harrowing experience and send him some love, please.

Stacey Divone, at The Girl with the Portable Pancreas had quite a scare when she thought she was having a heart attack. No Joke. Turns out that worry, grief and anxiety were behind that terrible feeling in her chest. Please join us in sending some love her way as well!

Meanwhile, on a far less life-threatening level, Laddie is Fighting the Chocolate Demons over at Test and Go. It's all about about chocolate, post-dinner eating, and making “bad” decisions, struggling with your own inner demons, and seeking counseling for help.

From Kirkham, UK, a T1 gentleman named Adrian writes a blog called Teaching, Training, Rebuking and Inspiring. In his post called Needles and Pins, he talks about learning to inject himself, his decision to stick with shots, and now using the FreeStyle Libre. So great to hear how the the #gbdoc has helped him learn and cope!

Liz Fritz, aka The Diabetic Mom in suburban Ohio, talks this month about the parallel evolution of her diabetes and motherhood, and one technique she uses to combat frustration and burn out: "I write it all out. Every single thing bothering me... and then I crumble it up. I rip it to shreds. It doesn’t necessarily remove the 'issue' but it gives me visual gratification that I am in control of the situation. Even when it doesn’t feel that way." Love!

Send your own recommendations to us via email for April 2017.

Disclaimer: Content created by the Diabetes Mine team. For more details click here.

Disclaimer

This content is created for Diabetes Mine, a consumer health blog focused on the diabetes community. The content is not medically reviewed and doesn't adhere to Healthline's editorial guidelines. For more information about Healthline's partnership with Diabetes Mine, please click here.

Type 2 Diabetes Treatment Type 2 Diabetes Diet Diabetes Destroyer Reviews Original Article

#Diabetes Mellitus

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