Funny contact centre team names
Depop
2013.08.07 16:22 simonbeckerman Depop
Welcome to the subreddit for the selling app, Depop. Please read the rules and the FAQ before posting. Unofficial/unaffiliated with Depop LTD.
2016.09.02 21:11 A place for call centre (call center) workers to discuss all things call centre related!
A place for call centre/call center workers to discuss all things call centre related! Rants, complaints, memes, help, general discussion and advice!
2013.08.26 22:44 obieibo funny fantasy football team names
need to think of a funny fantasy team name for your league using player names? post your roster or some of your players and we'll see what happens.
2024.05.14 11:31 Disastrous-Rip-3141 Ex Love Vashikaran Specialist Astrologer- Astrologer Sanjay Sharma Ji
Open the Doors to Love's Potential with Vashikaran Astrology: Seek Guidance from Our Expert Sanjay Sharma!
Are you facing challenges in your love life? If you want to desire assistance in finding resolutions to these challenges then find clarity in your love life with the wisdom of Sanjay Sharma, an ex-love vashikaran specialist astrologer. Whether it's difficulties in finding true love, resolving conflicts with your partner, or facing family objections to your relationship, our Love Vashikaran Astrologer is here to assist you.
Sanjay Sharma's team of dedicated professionals is committed to guiding you toward a brighter and happier future. Say goodbye to love problems and embrace joy with our Love Vashikaran Astrologer's guidance. Turn to Sanjay Sharma, an expert in Vashikaran astrology, to gain profound insights and practical solutions for your love life. Whether you're struggling with lost love, trust issues, or wanting to bring back the spark in your relationship, our Vashikaran remedies offer hope. Don't let love slip through your fingers. Contact us to schedule a consultation with our renowned Love Vashikaran Astrologer Sanjay Sharma.
Ex Love Vashikaran Specialist Astrologer
submitted by Disastrous-Rip-3141 to u/Disastrous-Rip-3141 [link] [comments]
Are you facing challenges in your love life? If you want to desire assistance in finding resolutions to these challenges then find clarity in your love life with the wisdom of Sanjay Sharma, an ex-love vashikaran specialist astrologer. Whether it's difficulties in finding true love, resolving conflicts with your partner, or facing family objections to your relationship, our Love Vashikaran Astrologer is here to assist you.
Sanjay Sharma's team of dedicated professionals is committed to guiding you toward a brighter and happier future. Say goodbye to love problems and embrace joy with our Love Vashikaran Astrologer's guidance. Turn to Sanjay Sharma, an expert in Vashikaran astrology, to gain profound insights and practical solutions for your love life. Whether you're struggling with lost love, trust issues, or wanting to bring back the spark in your relationship, our Vashikaran remedies offer hope. Don't let love slip through your fingers. Contact us to schedule a consultation with our renowned Love Vashikaran Astrologer Sanjay Sharma.
Ex Love Vashikaran Specialist Astrologer
2024.05.14 11:31 LesleyFair Why GPT-4 Is 100x Smaller Than People Think
 | submitted by LesleyFair to learnmachinelearning [link] [comments] GPT-4 Size Since before the release of GPT-4, the rumor mill has been buzzing. People predicted and are still claiming the model has 100 trillion parameters. That's a trillion with a "t". The often-used graphic above makes GPT-3 look like a cute little breadcrumb, which is about to have a live-ending encounter with a bowling ball Sure, OpenAI's new brainchild certainly is mind-bending. And language models have been getting bigger - fast! But this time is different and it provides a good opportunity to look at the research on scaling large language models (LLMs). Let's go! Training 100 Trillion ParametersThe creation of GPT-3 was a marvelous feat of engineering. The training was done on 1024 GPUs, took 34 days, and cost $4.6M in compute alone [1].Training a 100T parameter model on the same data, using 10000 GPUs, would take 53 Years. However, to avoid overfitting such a huge model requires a much(!) larger dataset. This is of course napkin math but it is directionally correct. So, where did this rumor come from? The Source Of The Rumor:It turns out OpenAI itself might be the source.In August 2021 the CEO of Cerebras told wired: "From talking to OpenAI, GPT-4 will be about 100 trillion parameters". At the time, this was most likely what they believed. But that was back in 2021. So, basically forever ago when machine learning research is concerned. Things have changed a lot since then! To what has happened we first need to look at how people actually decide the number of parameters in a model. Deciding The Number Of Parameters:The enormous hunger for resources typically makes it feasible to train an LLM only once.In practice, the available compute budget is known in advance. The engineers know that e.g. their budget is $5M. This will buy them 1000 GPUs for six weeks on the compute cluster. So, before the training is started the engineers need to accurately predict which hyperparameters will result in the best model. But there's a catch! Most research on neural networks is empirical. People typically run hundreds or even thousands of training experiments until they find a good model with the right hyperparameters. With LLMs we cannot do that. Training 200 GPT-3 models would set you back roughly a billion dollars. Not even the deep-pocketed tech giants can spend this sort of money. Therefore, researchers need to work with what they have. They can investigate the few big models that have been trained. Or, they can train smaller models of varying sizes hoping to learn something about how big models will behave during training. This process can be very noisy and the community's understanding has evolved a lot over the last few years. What People Used To Think About Scaling LLMsIn 2020, a team of researchers from OpenAI released a paper called: "Scaling Laws For Neural Language Models".They observed a predictable decrease in training loss when increasing the model size over multiple orders of magnitude. So far so good. However, they made two other observations, which resulted in the model size ballooning rapidly.
And that is what people did. The models got larger and larger with GPT-3 (175B), Gopher (280B), Megatron-Turing NLG (530B) just to name a few. But the bigger models failed to deliver on the promise. Read on to learn why! What We Know About Scaling Models TodayTurns out, you need to scale training sets and models in equal proportions. So, every time the model size doubles, the number of training tokens should double as well.This was published in DeepMind's 2022 paper: "Training Compute-Optimal Large Language Models" The researchers fitted over 400 language models ranging from 70M to over 16B parameters. To assess the impact of dataset size they also varied the number of training tokens from 5B-500B tokens. The findings allowed them to estimate that a compute-optimal version of GPT-3 (175B) should be trained on roughly 3.7T tokens. That is more than 10x the data that the original model was trained on. To verify their results they trained a fairly small model on lots of data. Their model, called Chinchilla, has 70B parameters and is trained on 1.4T tokens. Hence it is 2.5x smaller than GPT-3 but trained on almost 5x the data. Chinchilla outperforms GPT-3 and other much larger models by a fair margin [3]. This was a great breakthrough! The model is not just better, but its smaller size makes inference cheaper and finetuning easier. So, we are starting to see that it would not make sense for OpenAI to build a model as huge as people predict. Let’s put a nail in the coffin of that rumor once and for all. To fit a 100T parameter model properly, open OpenAI would need a dataset of roughly 700T tokens. Given 1M GPUs and using the calculus from above, it would still take roughly 2650 years to train the model [1]. mind == blown You might be thinking: Great, I get it. The model is not that large. But tell me already! How big is GPT-4? The Size Of GPT-4:We are lucky.Details about the GPT-4 architecture recently leaked on Twitter and Pastebin. So, here is what GPT-4 looks like:
There are not enough tokens in our part of the Milky Way to build a dataset large enough for such a model. There are probably not enough tokens in the Whatever the model looks like in detail, it is amazing nonetheless. These are such exciting times to be alive! As always, I really enjoyed making this for you and I sincerely hope you found it useful! P.s. I send out a thoughtful newsletter about ML research and the data economy once a week. No Spam. No Nonsense. Click here to sign up! References:[1] D. Narayanan, M. Shoeybi, J. Casper , P. LeGresley, M. Patwary, V. Korthikanti, D. Vainbrand, P. Kashinkunti, J. Bernauer, B. Catanzaro, A. Phanishayee , M. Zaharia, Efficient Large-Scale Language Model Training on GPU Clusters Using Megatron-LM (2021), SC21[2] J. Kaplan, S. McCandlish, T. Henighan, T. B. Brown, B. Chess, R. Child,... & D. Amodei, Scaling laws for neural language models (2020), arxiv preprint [3] J. Hoffmann, S. Borgeaud, A. Mensch, E. Buchatskaya, T. Cai, E. Rutherford, D. Casas, L. Hendricks, J. Welbl, A. Clark, T. Hennigan, Training Compute-Optimal Large Language Models (2022). arXiv preprint arXiv:2203.15556. [4] S. Borgeaud, A. Mensch, J. Hoffmann, T. Cai, E. Rutherford, K. Millican, G. Driessche, J. Lespiau, B. Damoc, A. Clark, D. Casas, Improving language models by retrieving from trillions of tokens (2021). arXiv preprint arXiv:2112.04426.Vancouver |
2024.05.14 11:29 GuptaConsultants Sexual Harassment Consultants in India
 | We provide POSH Consultancy to senior management and ICC Committees of companies as part of our PoSH Compliance solutions as needed. To resolve complex issues resulting from a PoSH investigation, your management and the ICC Committee will collaborate with our expert team of experienced professionals. submitted by GuptaConsultants to u/GuptaConsultants [link] [comments] www.guptaconsultants.com [contact@guptaconsultants.com](mailto:contact@guptaconsultants.com) Contact:8744079902 #poshtraining #poshawareness #poshact #poshcompliance #poshcomplianceconsultants #poshactservicesingurgaon #poshtrainingcomplianceinpanindia #poshactcomplianceindelhi #poshconsultantsinnoida #poshconsultantsinfaridabad #poshconsultantsservicesmubai #poshactservicesjaipur #sexualharassment #poshtrainingconsultants https://preview.redd.it/w5nmg7gh2d0d1.jpg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bf5822aee8b7ec1d59733d9487e9868c1a7d0165 |
2024.05.14 11:28 PeanutConscious3873 Being asked to record expenses in shared document
My employer is asking everyone in my team (approx. 30 people) to record all their expenses under their full names in a shared spreadsheet. I'm uncomfortable with my expenses being visible to my colleagues, specifically my meal expenses. They haven't specified what the purpose of the shared document is. Is this a breach of my privacy?
submitted by PeanutConscious3873 to gdpr [link] [comments]
2024.05.14 11:28 Clear_Caiman_2768 XFL Fans, Remember These Guys?
 | The San Francisco Demons! One of the original XFL teams that i would love to see return today especially in the UFL ngl I'd a huge UFL fan if they did. Their uniforms were dope af and the name and logo are just so unique! Would you guys like to see some of the original XFL teams return but to the UFL? submitted by Clear_Caiman_2768 to UnitedFootballLeague [link] [comments] |
2024.05.14 11:27 XGramatik Pepperstone: Nvidia Q1 25 earnings preview – will the Kraken awake?
 | https://preview.redd.it/ybyodya41d0d1.png?width=900&format=png&auto=webp&s=65f143a855260b9d46e2ca165c58b8f798280f51 submitted by XGramatik to XGramatikInsights [link] [comments] Authored by Chris Weston Due to report shortly after market close on 22 May (typically 06:20 AEST / 21:20 UK). “The most important stock in the world” - That was the label given to Nvidia (NVDA) throughout February as we geared up for its highly anticipated Q424 earnings results. Where, at the time, the sheer number of articles written on the stock was incredible – when you are a momentum stock, you need this sort of attention to fuel the beast. Nvidia – story count (Source: Bloomberg) Since March though the hype has settled, and we see reduced news flow. In fact, we’re seeing an increasing number of articles directing traders away from Nvidia and towards other smaller names in the AI-semi space that could potentially see explosive moves. With the momentum in NVDA falling away since Nvidia’s last earnings, and with Nvidia lacking a near-term catalyst, amid some concern of an over-supplied chips market, market players have moved their attention towards quality defensive areas of the equity market and value as an investment factor, with utilities, energy, and materials all seeing strong outperformance of late vs the S&P500. We can also see this lack of momentum in NVDA’s technical set-up and price action, with shares rallying in a $205 range between $947 to $756, and now finding a fair value around $900. Traders remain buyers of pullbacks, where the trigger for long positions seems to be when the shares fall 10% below the 50-day moving average. https://preview.redd.it/yj7d1zof1d0d1.png?width=900&format=png&auto=webp&s=da78d5e07cf496e03c1f7eb9db61642d9c7b0d8a Nvidia may not be the hot topic it was in February, is that about to change? For a short period, absolutely, with the eyes of the trading world falling once again on NVDA’s quarterly earnings. The options market is pricing a -/+8.9% on the first day of trade after earnings (i.e. the 23 May), which if priced correctly, from current levels, could see the stock trade into new all-time highs or see it closer to $820. With a current market capitalization of $2.260t, an 8.9% move would equate to $200b in gained/lost market cap in one day, which would essentially be larger than the market cap of 82 companies in the NAS100. We can also go back over the past 8 quarterly earnings announcements and that Nvidia has seen an average move of 8.5% on the day of reporting, with shares closing higher in 6 of the past 8 quarters. Many will recall the Q424 earnings (reported in February), where the share price closed +16.4% on the day and went on to rally a further 23.4% over the following 11 trading sessions. Earnings pedigree – few do it better Let’s not forget that few companies globally have NVDA’s form at beating analysts’ consensus expectations on earnings-per-share (EPS), revenue, or gross margins. Perhaps the bar is perennially set too low, but NVDA has beaten expectations for revenue for the reporting quarter, as well as on expectations for the upcoming quarter, on all but two occasions since 2018: Q32019 and Q2 2023 being the exceptions. https://preview.redd.it/qaih2bdn1d0d1.png?width=900&format=png&auto=webp&s=97d65af3f0b9ea8f03a5adb34e8a1b985a391013 In the past 4 quarterly earnings reports, NVDA has beaten guidance on sales for the upcoming quarter by an average of 14% - remarkable form, especially when they have a CEO (Jensen Huang) who knows how to hit the sweet spot and say exactly what investors want to hear in the post-earnings conference call. Earnings expectations for Q1 2025 – will they beat yet again? Q125 EPS – $5.51 (Q2 25 guidance expectations - $5.96c) Q125 revenue - $24.58b (Q2 25 guidance expectations - $26.617b) Data centres revenue - $20.903b (Q2 25 expectations - $22.567b) Gross Margins – 77.01% (Q2 25 guidance expectations - 75.61%) Recall in the prior earnings call CEO Jensen Huang suggested AI was at ‘a tipping point, which was a big topic of discussion. Given that NVDA only recently held its GTC conference in March and explored the future across multiple touch points, this time around traders will react on news that isn’t already discounted into the stock - growth opportunities, maintain its monopolistic qualities, levels of capex, and future partnerships. Traders have found opportunities outside of AI-related semi and while many feel Nvidia lacks a near-term catalyst, the element of surprise is always there. The idea of ‘as goes Nvidia, as goes the market’ has dissipated, but it could make a return – and with big movement expected, this is a key event for equity and index CFD traders to have on the radar. Trade Nvidia on Pepperstone’s 24-hour markets and react and trade the earnings as they break |
2024.05.14 11:26 Dark_Energy88 Have we alienated my stepdaughter?
I have a 20y/o stepdaughter. I have been with her dad since she was 6.
She got pregnant last year and had her son in January. She has serious mental health problems and when he was a month old she left him with us and said she wasn’t coming back.
Social services have issued care proceedings and he is on a care order with us being assessed as his full time carers until he is 18.
She is only allowed to see him once a week in a contact centre for supervised contact for an hour and a half. They haven’t been going so well for various reasons, one of which he is really unsettled being left with people he doesn’t know (he was a month old when she left so she is a stranger to him). He has never been away from me or my husband since the day they came home from hospital.
After she left him she was sending messages or calling every day to see how he was. She didn’t see him from when she left until a couple of weeks ago but now she has started seeing him these messages and calls have stopped and she sticks to the once a week and doesn’t ask about him in between.
She did buy some stuff for him including a 3 in 1 travel system which she left with us. The lady she bought it from recommended she go with something less expensive and luxurious but she was adamant she wanted the big flashy one. I never liked it and it is too big and bulky for us and we really struggle with it in the car. Because it is so heavy I struggle with it because I have my own health issues. We have sourced a smaller travel system and will be selling it and putting the money towards other things he will need as he gets older. She doesn’t send any money for him and is constantly asking us and her grandparents for money because she has spent all of her benefits.
She rang me yesterday to tell me she has cancelled her contact with my grandson today because she doesn’t feel very well. I get that people get ill and don’t feel like doing things when they are but I can’t understand why she can’t suck it up for the sake of her son who she claims she loves and misses. She started complaining that she can’t see her family if the baby is there as she needs to be supervised with her contact with him by a social worker. She has also moved out of the area and is always on the phone to her dad or Nan saying she is lonely and isolated. We have told her multiple times that SHE decided to leave her son and move away so she has brought this on herself so she just has to deal with it.
Have we alienated her by taking her son on knowing she won’t be able to see him unsupervised for a while rather than letting him go into foster care?
submitted by Dark_Energy88 to Parenting [link] [comments]
She got pregnant last year and had her son in January. She has serious mental health problems and when he was a month old she left him with us and said she wasn’t coming back.
Social services have issued care proceedings and he is on a care order with us being assessed as his full time carers until he is 18.
She is only allowed to see him once a week in a contact centre for supervised contact for an hour and a half. They haven’t been going so well for various reasons, one of which he is really unsettled being left with people he doesn’t know (he was a month old when she left so she is a stranger to him). He has never been away from me or my husband since the day they came home from hospital.
After she left him she was sending messages or calling every day to see how he was. She didn’t see him from when she left until a couple of weeks ago but now she has started seeing him these messages and calls have stopped and she sticks to the once a week and doesn’t ask about him in between.
She did buy some stuff for him including a 3 in 1 travel system which she left with us. The lady she bought it from recommended she go with something less expensive and luxurious but she was adamant she wanted the big flashy one. I never liked it and it is too big and bulky for us and we really struggle with it in the car. Because it is so heavy I struggle with it because I have my own health issues. We have sourced a smaller travel system and will be selling it and putting the money towards other things he will need as he gets older. She doesn’t send any money for him and is constantly asking us and her grandparents for money because she has spent all of her benefits.
She rang me yesterday to tell me she has cancelled her contact with my grandson today because she doesn’t feel very well. I get that people get ill and don’t feel like doing things when they are but I can’t understand why she can’t suck it up for the sake of her son who she claims she loves and misses. She started complaining that she can’t see her family if the baby is there as she needs to be supervised with her contact with him by a social worker. She has also moved out of the area and is always on the phone to her dad or Nan saying she is lonely and isolated. We have told her multiple times that SHE decided to leave her son and move away so she has brought this on herself so she just has to deal with it.
Have we alienated her by taking her son on knowing she won’t be able to see him unsupervised for a while rather than letting him go into foster care?
2024.05.14 11:25 rmorris164 Discover Your Dream Home: Brighton, Ontario Properties at rmorris
 | https://preview.redd.it/havij5vm1d0d1.jpg?width=600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=be591cdfa45547ff6623103d5669d0d07cc60c24 submitted by rmorris164 to u/rmorris164 [link] [comments] Introduction Welcome to RMorris, your premier destination for finding exceptional Brighton Ontario Homes For Sale in the charming town of Brighton. Nestled along the picturesque shores of Lake Ontario, Brighton offers a perfect blend of small-town charm, natural beauty, and modern conveniences. Whether you're seeking a cozy cottage, a family-friendly suburban dwelling, or a luxurious waterfront estate, RMorris has an impressive array of properties to suit every lifestyle and preference. Why Choose Brighton, Ontario? Located conveniently between Toronto and Kingston, Brighton boasts a thriving community enriched with history, culture, and natural splendor. From its quaint downtown core lined with boutique shops and cafes to its stunning parks, trails, and waterfront vistas, Brighton offers a high quality of life that appeals to residents of all ages. Families are drawn to Brighton for its excellent schools, safe neighborhoods, and abundant recreational opportunities. Outdoor enthusiasts can indulge in activities such as boating, fishing, hiking, and cycling, while cultural enthusiasts can explore local art galleries, museums, and theaters. Explore Our Diverse Property Listings At RMorris, we understand that finding the perfect home is a deeply personal journey. That's why we offer a diverse range of property listings to cater to a variety of tastes, preferences, and budgets. Whether you're searching for a quaint bungalow, a spacious family home, or a luxurious waterfront retreat, we have something for everyone. Our user-friendly website allows you to easily browse through our extensive collection of Brighton, Ontario homes for sale. Filter your search based on criteria such as price range, property type, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, and more. With detailed descriptions, high-quality images, and virtual tours, you can explore each property from the comfort of your own home. Expert Guidance Every Step of the Way At RMorris, we pride ourselves on providing exceptional service and support to our clients throughout the home buying process. Our team of experienced real estate professionals is dedicated to helping you find the perfect property that meets your needs and exceeds your expectations. From conducting personalized property searches to arranging viewings, negotiating offers, and handling all the paperwork, we'll be with you every step of the way to ensure a smooth and stress-free experience. Whether you're a first-time homebuyer or a seasoned investor, you can trust RMorris to provide expert guidance and valuable insights to help you make informed decisions. Discover Your Dream Home Today Are you ready to embark on your journey to homeownership in Brighton, Ontario? Let RMorris be your trusted partner in finding the perfect place to call home. Explore our extensive listings of Brighton homes for sale and start envisioning your future in this vibrant community. Whether you're seeking a cozy cottage nestled in the heart of town, a spacious family home in a quiet suburban neighborhood, or a luxurious waterfront estate with breathtaking views, we have the perfect property waiting for you. Let us help you turn your homeownership dreams into reality. Contact Us Today Ready to take the next step towards finding your dream Brighton Ontario Home For Sale? Contact RMorris today to speak with one of our friendly and knowledgeable real estate experts. We're here to answer your questions, address your concerns, and help you navigate the exciting journey of buying a home in this beautiful community. Don't wait any longer to find the perfect place to call home in Brighton, Ontario. Explore our listings, connect with our team, and start turning your homeownership dreams into reality with RMorris. |
2024.05.14 11:24 Jazzlike_Drawer_809 Who are some underrated players I should consider picking for my fantasy team in the remaining IPL 2024 matches?
Here are some underrated players to consider for your IPL 2024 fantasy team:
Batsmen:
submitted by Jazzlike_Drawer_809 to u/Jazzlike_Drawer_809 [link] [comments]
Batsmen:
- Rahman Khan (Rajasthan Royals): Opening the batting for RR, Khan has been consistent with decent scores without grabbing major headlines. He could be a valuable pick for consistent points.
- Yashasvi Jaiswal (Mumbai Indians): Though overshadowed by some big names in MI, Jaiswal has been quietly providing crucial starts. He could be a good option if you need a reliable opener.
- Raj Angad (Lucknow Super Giants): This young wicket-keeper batsman has impressed with his clean hitting, especially against spin. He might be a valuable pick as a middle-order batsman with wicket-keeping points.
- Prateek Desai (Punjab Kings): Desai has been their leading wicket-taker with his swing bowling. He could be a good differential pick considering his form and lower price tag.
- Rahul Chahar (Kolkata Knight Riders): After a forgettable last season, Chahar has bounced back with his leg-spin. He could be a good choice for teams needing a wicket-taking spinner.
- Mohammad Nabi (Royal Challengers Bangalore): The experienced Afghan all-rounder provides both batting and bowling options, picking up wickets consistently. He offers good value for his price.
- Consider the upcoming fixtures and form of the player's team when making your choices.
- Look for players who might benefit from a change in batting order or bowling strategy.
- Balance your team with a mix of reliable players and those with high-potential for big scores.
2024.05.14 11:22 Adventurous-Pie1361 Ms access contact info query
Hi Im currently enrolled in a hospital administration program In ms access we have to set up a criteria query We need contact info of patients that are from a specific city The query runs fine however i was confused what other fields to add from the patients info table I have chosen first name, last name, city, cell phone number Should I add the address field too? Other fields are postal code State And date of registration Please help Its for a project
submitted by Adventurous-Pie1361 to MSAccess [link] [comments]
2024.05.14 11:22 YH_Queen_Clement Motion to Enter Default Judgement 1:24 cv 00479-RC Did she just win
 | Motion to Enter Default Judgement 1:24 cv 00479-RC Did she just win? submitted by YH_Queen_Clement to locnation [link] [comments] What does this mean for the Presidential Candidate Rev Dr Christina Clement? FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE SOLN Independent Party Presidential Candidate, Rev. Dr. Christina Clement, Moves to Enter Default Judgment in Legal Case https://www.pacermonitor.com/public/case/52408377/CLEMENT_v_GARLAND Washington, D.C. - May 13, 2024 - Today, Rev. Dr. Christina Clement, presidential candidate for the SOLN Independent Party, has taken a decisive step in her pursuit of justice by filing a motion to enter default judgment in Case 1:22-cv-00479-RC. In this landmark legal action, Rev. Dr. Clement has initiated proceedings against Chief Justice John Roberts Jr., Secretary General of the United Nations, Registrar-Peace Palace Carnegie Pleinz, and others. Despite being duly served since 2023, the defendants have failed to file a response within the prescribed timeframe as per the District Court of Columbia Rules of Civil Procedure. Rev. Dr. Clement's motion, submitted today, underscores the fundamental principles of fairness, accountability, and integrity within the judicial system. Citing violations of established legal procedures and emphasizing the importance of impartial adjudication, she seeks to hold the defendants accountable for their failure to defend against the allegations brought forth. Speaking on the significance of this legal action, Rev. Dr. Clement remarked, "The pursuit of justice is a cornerstone of our democracy. Every individual, regardless of their position or status, must be held accountable under the law. Today's motion represents a crucial step in upholding the principles of fairness and equality for all." The SOLN Independent Party stands firmly behind Rev. Dr. Christina Clement in her commitment to transparency, accountability, and the rule of law. As a presidential candidate dedicated to representing the interests of all Americans, Rev. Dr. Clement continues to champion the values of justice, integrity, and equality. For media inquiries or further information, please contact Ashley Lead, PR Representative, at Team@clementforpresident2024.com. Contact: Ashley Lead, PR Representative Team@clementforpresident2024.com |
2024.05.14 11:21 chdinteriors Local Interior Design Firms Wilmington NC
Elevate your home with CHD Interiors, one of the leading interior design firms in Wilmington NC. Our expert team brings creativity and expertise to every project, creating personalized spaces that reflect your style and needs. Trust us to transform your space into a beautiful and functional sanctuary. Contact us at 843-357-1700.
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2024.05.14 11:21 AdmiralStone96230-A MURDER DRONES: Fall of Earth -Chapter XII: Reunions and Relishing in Calm-
Wade took a breath as he picked up his old duffel bag, now loaded with his DD uniform and a few other items from the Ceres mines as he slotted it to his side, with the large band handle around his neck. Having gathered his belongings, he joined Tina, who was waiting near the ship's open bay door as he walked over to her. The couple watched several of the other troopers inside marching out as well, some carrying crates of supplies and items out of the craft as they departed for the base outside. Kelly was one of the last ones still on board, checking on a section of the cargo bay as she did what Wade presumed was some maintenance work.
With the way now clear, Wade and Tina stepped off the transport, glancing at the massive base around them as they touched the roughened pavement. Throughout the large landing port were several more chameleon dropships, their crews disembarking with similar items and loads of rescued drones aboard. Beyond the ships were several hangar bays and fighter craft, mostly A-20s and their space-borne cousins docked in lines going across the pad. And beyond the landing zone, towering over several buildings at the base, were the few cruisers docked to the large clamps holding them in place.
Walking ahead with Tina, Wade observed some of the departing Coalition troops as they neared one of several tents stationed near an inactive group of planes, the military personnel interacting and exchanging the crates with the Coalition officers upon reaching each other. Hearing a low roar of engines from afar, the lover drones looked upward to see the large USN warship that was present at the factory earlier, having followed the transport convoy home and now was beginning to descend for landing. Wade gave a silent gasp as he caught a glimpse of the ship's name and SIC number at the side, remembering it from the ship he and Ron saw while returning to Earth.
"Always a wondrous thing to see, isn't it Wade?" Tina said as she and her boyfriend watched the ship slowly come lower to the unoccupied dockyard clamps below it.
"Sure is, wonder how they built those babies?" Wade replied as the two looked upon the landing starship, the former worker drone smirking as he added, "I could've swore I saw that same exact ship over Henderson when Ron and I came back, before we got mugged earlier."
Tina glanced to Wade with surprise as she spoke up on his claim. "Really? Well, that had to be the one that helped our friends here back at the factory. I think I saw the same name on it too!"
"Wouldn't surprise me, seeing all that's happened today." Wade replied as he chortled a bit, Tina doing the same as the former spoke further. "I wonder, what kind of ship is the... Vickers again? You know?"
"Autumn class, dear. A heavy destroyer variant, not as strong as those enormous Yamato dreadnoughts or Adelaide battlecruisers, but she'll put up a good fight for whatever comes at her." Tina explained as she held back another chuckle, thinking of her education on various USN craft as she teased Wade lightly. "You know, I may just have to grab one of those ship roster tabs when we get in the base. I'd love to show you all they got in their arsenal."
Wade chortled again as he gave his thoughts on the idea. "Well, it wouldn't be bad to have a little more knowledge in ship-story."
Tina almost burst out laughing at his crude pun, Wade smiling at her as F and Nathan jogged over to the two, the latter carrying his own backpack behind him as he spoke. "Well, not a bad place, huh? You guys heading to the clearance station?"
"Oh yes, we were just admiring the ships around us while we walked." Tina said with a stifled laugh, easing herself as she chatted with her new friends. Wade, however, was quickly overcome with panic as he remembered something. Checking his pockets, his fears were confirmed as he failed to find one of his key possessions: his ID card. Wade felt he must have lost it when he was stripped of his old clothing while in the factory.
Oh no, guys? I don't think I can pass through." Wade said with greenish-yellow circles for eyes as Tina and the others looked to him in concern, the drone feeling through his pockets once more before stating his issue. "My ID, they must've taken it off me when they turned me into a disassembly drone!" Wade began to hyperventilate lightly as he grew fearful of the potential outcomes when they reached the security gate ahead. "Oouuugghh, if I don't have my ID, they'll have to keep me lo-"
"Wade, Wade... it's okay. I'll have them make a pass for you, surely we can get them to after getting them to understand what's happened." Tina stated as she put her hand to Wade's chest, who eased his panic as he looked to his girlfriend.
"Yeah, and besides Wade, those people over there went around gathering what ever items the company stole from the drones during their conversion. I'm sure that once they find it, they'll have it sent off to be given back to you!" Nathan said as F nodded in agreement, shunting Wade's panic out of him with their words as he replied to the hopeful responses.
"Right, yeah, they should do that. Sorry." Holding Tina's hand, Wade spoke to her once more. "Lead the way."
Tina nodded to Wade before the two began to walk over to the security gate nearby, several people, drones and humans alike, already in the line as they checked themselves in to the base to relax after the hard-fought battle. Once they reached the line, the four stood together as they waited for the line to slowly go up, more troops and rescued drones coming over to add to the long line. During the wait, a loud, mechanical 'SLAM' erupted through the air, prompting Wade and Tina to glance over to the direction of the noise. The two felt at ease once more as they saw the Vickers finally landed at the base, the loud clang being the docking clamps attaching to the ships hull just moments ago.
As the line moved up further to the gate, Wade and Tina caught sight of a pair of A-20 aircraft passing over them, the two watching as the planes slowed down while descending onto the runway nearby. The four drones' collective viewing of the fighters landing ceased as they caught sight of J, who took flight as she departed the transport nearby before flying over to the tents near the hangar bays.
"Huh, wonder what she's over there for?" Nathan said as he observed J landing onto the ground in front of one of the tents.
"Probably checking on the drones we got back, or meeting up with one of those commanders there." F said as she motioned an arm towards the tents, J walking under one as she made her way to one of the soldiers coming over to her. "Seems like the latter, from the looks of it."
Wade shrugged as he responded to the group's pondering over J's actions. "Well, she'll be here with us if we need her, right? Shouldn't be much to worry about."
Returning their focus to the line ahead, Wade and his team waited as the line moved up over the next few minutes, moving impressively fast as the people in front cleared themselves in one at a time. Eventually, the four of them were up, Tina stepping up to show her ID for clearance. "Hello, it's been a busy day, hasn't it?"
The security agent smirked at Tina's small-talk. "Hah, not too busy here until you all showed up."
As the guard finished scanning Tina's ID, she handed the card back to her as she raised a finger to begin her request. "Oh, um, there's a little issue we need to resolve." Putting a hand to Wade's arm, Tina explained her boyfriend. "This is my dear friend Wade, Wade Carter. We both managed to escape that blasted factory with the help of those Coalition folks there." Wade gave a pleading look as Tina continued. "Unfortunately, Wade was converted into a disassembly drone before he was rescued, and it seems those people at the company took all his belongings he had on him, including his ID. Do you think there's... anyway you could write up something to let him by?"
Stepping forward, F gave her end of the story. "I can vouch for him, Ma'am. Wade and I we're among the teams helping in getting the worker drones out of the factory during the operation." The disassembly drone pulled out a pair of cards as she finished her explanation, one of them being her company-issued Disassembly Service Passcard, which resembled a normal civilian ID in appearance, save for the 'JCJenson (In Spaaace!) Logo on the top left and hazard markings around the rim of the card. As for the other card, it was a well worn, still legitimate ID card, showing F as how she appeared when she was a worker drone. At the side of her picture was a name with an initial. "FELICITY A LEE"
Taking the two cards in her hand, she looked them over and scanned them as Nathan tried to back Wade up as well. "So can I, Ma'am! I helped there too, when he was under the company's control. We all got him out of the factory so we could get him back in order." Pulling out his own ID, Nathan handed it out as the guard returned F's IDs to her.
The guard accepted Nathan's ID as she spoke over what to do with Wade. "Well, normally it takes clearance from higher ranked personnel here to allow someone inside without a legitimate form of identification. We can't just take someone's word on things like this, after all." Tina seemed to frown in disappointment as the guard explained her protocols, Wade looking down at the ground as he felt his worries were about to be proven correct. Going over Nathan's ID further, she gave an intrigued expression at the card before continuing. "Huh, interesting. Got two veteran folks here, I see?" She glanced to Nathan and F as she said that, taking into account their former military background as the former spoke up.
"Three, actually. My pal Kurtis is somewhere back there, I think. He should be heading down here later this evening." The guard glanced back at Nathan's ID as she took in the veteran drone's reply, sighing as she decided to make a slight amendment to the issue put before her and the four friends.
"Well, seeing you two here, I believe I can write something up. The Major won't be happy with me for this, but I think I can trust you with appropriate behavior." Taking a small sticky name-tag, the woman pulled out a pen before starting to write on it. Initially, she glanced to Wade, who stated his name again before she began to write his name on the tag. Once she was finished, the guard gave the tag to Wade, who slapped it onto his jacket before she spoke to him. "You should be fine to enter for the most part, just stick close to your friends and don't cause any trouble. Understood?"
Wade gave a stern salute to the security officer, who held back a chuckle at the honest, yet amusing effort the disassembly drone showed to her. Giving a simple nod and a flick of her hand, she permitted Wade and his friends entrance to the base, the four walking past the walkway barricades as they made their way past the gate.
Wade let out a heavy sigh of relief as he thanked his allies. "I owe you both so much for this, thanks!"
"Don't mention it, Wade." F said warmly as she and Nathan laughed at his joyful face.
"Yeah, just doing what any good friend should." Nathan said as Tina wrapped an arm around Wade, holding him tightly as the two walked together.
Looking to his girlfriend, Wade spoke to Tina about what to do next. "Well, since we're in, you wanna go fi-" He ceased his words as he remembered that there was someone else they needed to find amongst the base. "Oh, I almost forgot about her,"
"Jasmine!" Tina and Wade said aloud together as the former remembered her sister, Wade's words snapping her mind to Jasmine in an instant. "We should look for her, you think she might be here somewhere?"
"Probably. If they got Ron after they captured me, they have to 've picked her up too." Wade stated, Nathan raising a hand as he offered to help.
"I could go looking for her! You know what she looks like?" Readying a holo-projector, he tried to display an image of Jasmine from one of his many memories of her. The picture was, while pixelated and under a blue hue, incredibly well-detailed. And for Nathan, that was all he needed to see to note Jasmine's appearance in his memory. Nodding, he spoke again to his friends. "Got it! I'll see if she's around!" Then, turning to run down one of the paths leading to a nearby base facility, he stopped as he asked one more question. "Oh! One more thing, you got a smartcomm on ya, Wade?"
Readying one from his holo-projector hand, he nodded as he spoke into it. "Seems so, though I don't seem to have all my contacts added in."
Running back over, Nathan pulled out his own smartcomm before putting it up against Wade's hand one, allowing the two devices to exchange information. Upon the devices beeping, Wade and Nathan nodded to each other, the former ignoring a pop-up that stated, "New Contact Added" while the latter spoke once more. "Okay, I'll call you once I spot her!" With that, he began running down the path once more, intent on finding Tina's sister at the base, wherever she could be.
"Fowley! Her last name's Fowley!" Tina said aloud to the departing Nathan, hoping he heard her words before turning away from the miner drone and facing Wade and F again.
As Tina sighed in partial relief, Wade put his own arm around her before asking the question he tried to ask before. "So, uh, with that out of the way for now... You wanna go look for one of those ship tabs?"
Putting a hand to Wade's chest, Tina smiled as she replied. "Oh, certainly." Then, as the three began walking down a different path that Nathan hadn't taken, the pilot drone continued with a chuckle. "I hear they have a place here that sells model kits too!"
...
Jasmine sat in silent sorrow as she took another gulp of her glass of Proxi-Vodka, a tasty, but heavy alcoholic beverage produced at the colony of Proxima 2... and one of Jasmine's preferred drinks to have when she wasn't in a good mood. When she awoke after being stunned by the station guards, she found that she was just recovered by a group that called themselves the 'United Earth Coalition', and that her drone friend, Tina, was unfortunately taken by the JCJenson corporation to be turned into one of their horrid disassembly drones. While the people that saved her offered to help her find Tina, so far there had been no luck in doing so. No successful calls, no response from Wade nor Ron, nothing.
The whole situation widdled at her like scrapes to her form, slowly draining any bit of hope that she had in finding her sister. And once the mission at that factory was over, the ship began heading back to the Nellis Base to escort the recovered drones back to a safe area. Unfortunately for Jasmine, Tina's presence was not given confirmation. Alone, she walked off to one of the bars down at the base, specifically Drexler's Cantina, one of the more popular bars down at the military starport. Thankfully, though she didn't openly exhibit feelings of wanting to be alone in her wallowing, she was glad the place was nearly barren of patrons, with only a few at a couple of tables within the bar.
The stage at the back of the bar also had a few singer drones performing aloud, the lead singer girl reciting the words of a quiet, yet exciting song that, instrumentally, consisted of a strange mix of bass, techno, and a hint of opera. The song itself was one Jasmine had heard a good many times before in her life, known as, 'You Complete My World' by a decades old Earth band by the name of HeartStar. The song, as Jasmine and many others who'd heard it interpreted it, was about someone who described their world like a puzzle, and that the one whom the main singer cared for beyond all was the only thing that could keep their world from shattering into ruin before them.
An oddly fitting tune, given what had just happened on the JCJ Central earlier. For all Jasmine knew, Tina was either alive beyond her knowledge, hopefully searching for her wherever she could, or, the answer Jasmine feared... Dead.
Not wanting to even consider the thought, the human pilot took another swig of the colonial Vodka, relishing in its taste before forcing herself to swallow, almost gagging from the strength of the drink. Easing herself, she glanced out to one of the windows of the bar, taking the faint glimpse of night into her eyes. Then, looking to the clock at the wall ahead of her, she saw the time was about a little over an hour to 10 pm. Jasmine gave a sigh to herself, certain she would be alone for the rest of the night.
Unbeknownst to her, however, Jasmine had been spied upon a little while ago. Nathan, in his search for the woman Tina called Jasmine Fowley, had spotted a woman matching the physical appearance of the target. Knowing Jasmine wouldn't know who he was if he tried to talk to her himself, Nathan immediately went looking for Wade, easing his return to his team by calling the former worker drone and signaling him about his findings.
Deciding to check on the news, Jasmine slowly pulled out her smartcomm, resisting her urge to press the contacts button as she tapped the news app. Looking through it, she spotted a recent story that was posted just over an hour ago, titled, "JCJenson 'Recall' effort sabotaged by joint Government/Militia forces! The Truth Exposed!" Above the article was a video, a play button in front of it teasing Jasmine. Curious over this sudden development, she pressed the button, her attention in complete focus on the video as it began to play.
After the news station's logo appeared on-screen for a short few seconds, the current host for the story, Mrs. Tiffany Joy, appeared at her seat before beginning the story. "Good evening, this is Nevada-78, I'm your host, Tiffany Joy. Tonight, we start with a rapid development for the 'drone recall' incidents propagated by the business conglomerate JCJenson In Space. Throughout the afternoon up to now, several advanced factories under the ownership of the corporation have fallen under violent assault by various militarized forces, ranging from official United Nations operatives to private militia groups with varying goals." The small screen to Joy's left shifted to show the state of Nevada, zooming into it to show a portion of the Mojave desert as Joy continued her story.
"Among these facilities, one such factory based right here in southern Nevada has recently succumbed to the successful efforts of the USN Defense Force and a group by the name of the United Earth Coalition, an alliance consisting of humans and automatons working to create a unified world for both species." The screen shifted again to show the logo for the UEC, which appeared as one half of a human head outline and another of a drone's, along with two arms behind the heads belonging to both beings pictured. "With the attack having concluded just hours ago, we have reporters gathering at the New Nellis Staryards near Henderson City to bring you the aftermath of the conflict. We go to Mr. Jelico, on the scene in five."
The camera shifted after the countdown of five to show Mr. Jelico in front of the camera, the cameraman filming a large tent housing several worker drones being tended to by the base soldiers. "Alright, Jelico here, we're on station at New Nellis. What you're all seeing here are some of the recovered worker drones, many of them were pretty spooked by the events that unfolded in that factory earlier." As the camera panned over the lot of drones, some of them looked to the camera, curious at the news crew filming them as Jelico continued. "A few of them are real glad to be here, Joy. Seems like they feel safe here, as far as I can tell."
As the camera moved to show Jelico again, a plane could be seen taking off as he spoke. "Yeah, these people did them quite a service. The staff here are working to find their original owners and families, it'll probably be a little bit before they can get them all home." The camera switched once again to another view of the base, the lights of various buildings illuminating the night as the news story continued.
At the entrance, Nathan pushed open the door to the bar, the chime failing to catch anyone's attention as he, Wade, F and Tina stepped inside. Carefully pointing at Jasmine, he whispered to Tina, "That's her, from the looks of it. She's been here for a good minute!"
Taking another drink of the Proxi-Vodka, Jasmine listened further to the story. "The authorities didn't just recover a majority of the worker drones taken into the factory, however. A recent update provided by Mrs. Yuka, shows her interviewing a disassembly drone who claims to be among the unfortunate drones the assault force failed to save before their conversion."
"Jasmine!" Tina called out, the voice instantly grabbing the woman's attention as she paused the news story. Swiftly turning her head, her heart began pounding with immense excitement as she saw her drone sister, who grinned upon seeing her face.
"Tina!" Jasmine said aloud, somewhat weakly from her previous wallowing as she tried to run over to her sister, landing on her knees as the two embraced in a flush of emotions. Wade and his friends stood behind the two girls as they hugged each other, clinging onto one another as tightly as they could give. Jasmine seemed to erupt with a pained cough as she allowed some of her sorrow out of her heart, Tina carressing her back in a comforting manner as she held back her own tears. The sisters held the hug for a long moment, not daring to let go of one another for fear of losing each other again. Eventually, however, they did, the two sisters taking heavy breaths as Jasmine spoke up while wiping her face. "I thought I'd lost you."
"Can't say I didn't feel the same way, love." Tina replied as she broke out in light laughter, glancing to Wade before continuing. "But, fortunately, those Coalition boys helped out quite a bit. Though, not as much as my knight in his new armor."
Standing herself up, Jasmine took Tina's helping hand as she looked to the one her sister spoke of. A grateful smile formed on Jasmine's face as she saw Wade, standing in front of her and Tina as he returned the expression. Looking upon her family friend, Jasmine noticed something... different about Wade. He was taller now, his arms were shaped like white cones rather than the silver bendy tubes he and Tina normally had. As for his face, his pure green eyes were replaced with a set of greenish-yellow ones, and above his forehead was a band holding five yellow bulbs that she didn't know the function of.
While the pieces started to click together in her head, Jasmine took Wade's held out hand as she spoke to him. "Wade, I'm so glad to see you! You look different, too. Did something... happen to you?" She already guessed it by this point, but feigned confusion as she opted to hear Wade's take on the matter.
"Yeah, I hope you don't mind your sister dating a vampire from now on." Tina chortled in amusement at Wade's comment at himself, Jasmine raising an eyebrow in confusion at the former worker drone as he returned his expression to a more sincere smile. "The company got me too, and unlike the workers we got out... they managed to turn me into a disassembly drone. From now on, I'm gonna need to take in more oil than I usually did before I was turned. My cooling system's not as good as it should be, from what I've heard." Pulling out his two full canteens, Wade finished his partial explanation. "Don't worry, though. I've got some to keep me down."
Jasmine took in the news with immense surprise, noticing the hazard stripes at the rims of Wade's arms as she replied to her friend. "Oh... Well, if Tina's fine with it, then I see no problem with that, Wade." Admittedly, she was a bit unnerved by the change, concerned for both him and Tina's safety due to this supposed oil coolant issue. Trying to sound as nice as she could on the matter, Jasmine hesitantly asked Wade, "Though... I am a bit concerned with that bad cooling problem you mention. You... don't think you would-"
"Hurt Tina?!" Wade assumed, understanding Jasmine's concern as he gave a horrified glance to the two sisters. Standing with his fists to his hips, he gave his answer to Jasmine's presumed question. "Don't even say such a thing, Jasmine. I'd rather overheat than dare strike her."
Admittedly amused as well as concerned for Wade's selflessness, Tina chuckled at him before speaking up on the matter. "Now now, Wade. It won't be so bad. We'll manage."
Jasmine nodded as she agreed with her sister's optimistic view on the problem. "Indeed we will, we always do." Then, taking notice of the other two drones in the room, Jasmine smiled at them before speaking again. "Ah, I see you brought some friends too."
Wade and Tina glanced over to Nathan and F upon Jasmine's statement, the two friends smiling pleasantly as Wade spoke up. "Oh, yeah. These are some of my work buddies from Ceres, Jasmine. This is Nathan, I first met him when Ron and I came to the mines, showed us around a bit too." Putting a hand on F's shoulder, Wade introduced her too. "And this is Serial Designation F, or, just F. She was one of the guards keeping watch on the place while we worked."
F seemed to blush out of embarrassment as she remembered her and Wade's first meeting. "I... did come off a little rough on them when they first came in, though. Stopped Nathan's touring run too. Just following colony protocol."
Nathan patted F's back as he tried to ease F's guilt. "Oh, it's nothing F. We had to start work in a few minutes anyway. Besides, it's a bit more fun exploring the place yourself without a guide." He winked at the others as he finished his praise. "Trust me, it really is."
Wade, Tina and Jasmine all chuckled at their friend's amusing words, F joining in as she replied to Nathan's encouragement. "Alright, alright."
Walking up to the two, Tina put her hand onto Nathan's as she gave her own praises. "And they may not look like it, dear, but Nathan and F were both formerly in the military, from what Wade's told me."
Jasmine gave a proud smirk at the two as she responded to her sister's claim. "Well, that's quite something. Did she tell you we used to fly for them some years back?"
"Oh, she did, Mrs. Fowley." Nathan replied as he chuckled lightly, F giving a smile of her own as she added her own part to the story.
"Yeah, and given what's happening now, maybe they might call you back for service again. Wade told me you two were excellent pilots."
It was now Jasmine's turn to blush as she chuckled from the compliment, knowing Wade's high praise for her and her sister's flying as she replied. "Well, I can't say that's wrong, Tina saved the day during the flight back here. We ran into an asteroid cluster while in the middle of a jump."
Wade patted Tina on her back as he quietly cheered his love on. "That's what I'm talking about, she's a wonder among the stars, I'm telling you!"
The group fell into an excited fit of laughter at the conversation, a few of the bar patrons taking notice of the bunch as they eventually ceased their joyful moment.
As everyone calmed down, Jasmine spoke up, intending to bring the discussion to another place. "Well, with all that said, it feels great to see you all here. It was such a terrible day after all those company folk showed up." Then, as she scanned the group of friends around her, she noticed someone else missing from this puzzle. "Hey, uh... is Ron here? Did he head off somewhere?"
The mood was quickly put down to a mournful aura as Wade and Tina glanced to the floor in sadness, Nathan and F giving uncomfortable postures as they awaited for someone to speak up on the matter.
Eventually, Wade was the one to open his mouth, breathing steadily as he tried to speak to Jasmine. "Um, Jasmine? Things, uh... really took a nose dive after we got captured. You think we could find a place to sit? It's a lot to talk about."
Looking to the four drones with concern, Jasmine eased her returning fear as she nodded to Wade in agreement. "...Sure, there's plenty of space at the table here." Pointing her arm to the table, which was surrounded by a U-shaped seating bench, Wade and his friends began to move to the table as Tina spoke up.
"I can get us some drinks for the talk, you all want anything?"
"Just some oil, thanks. "Wade answered as F and Nathan gave their own nods to Tina, the drone girl walking over to the bartender near the stage as she went to purchase some beverages.
Sitting down, Jasmine picked up her smartcomm from the table, glancing to it as she spoke up on her half-finished drink. "Heh, and to think I was drowning myself in this drag of a drink before. Probably have to find a different glass."
"Proxi-Vodka? Haven't seen you touch that since we lost Aunt Susan." Wade said solemnly as he examined Jasmine's drink, sighing as he reluctantly continued. "Well, maybe it can go for a few more sips."
Looking to the vodka, Jasmine nodded as she put her smartcomm in her pocket. "I figured, I didn't think this was gonna sound good."
"I wish it did." Wade replied as Tina walked back to the table, a plate of three oil glasses resting on her careful hand as she set it down.
After delivering the drinks, Tina took a seat next to Wade, holding his hand as Jasmine spoke up. "So, where do we start this terrible story?"
Wade gulped a bit as he began to recount the events that transpired today. "Well, it all started when Ron and I came back from the mining colony."
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With the way now clear, Wade and Tina stepped off the transport, glancing at the massive base around them as they touched the roughened pavement. Throughout the large landing port were several more chameleon dropships, their crews disembarking with similar items and loads of rescued drones aboard. Beyond the ships were several hangar bays and fighter craft, mostly A-20s and their space-borne cousins docked in lines going across the pad. And beyond the landing zone, towering over several buildings at the base, were the few cruisers docked to the large clamps holding them in place.
Walking ahead with Tina, Wade observed some of the departing Coalition troops as they neared one of several tents stationed near an inactive group of planes, the military personnel interacting and exchanging the crates with the Coalition officers upon reaching each other. Hearing a low roar of engines from afar, the lover drones looked upward to see the large USN warship that was present at the factory earlier, having followed the transport convoy home and now was beginning to descend for landing. Wade gave a silent gasp as he caught a glimpse of the ship's name and SIC number at the side, remembering it from the ship he and Ron saw while returning to Earth.
"Always a wondrous thing to see, isn't it Wade?" Tina said as she and her boyfriend watched the ship slowly come lower to the unoccupied dockyard clamps below it.
"Sure is, wonder how they built those babies?" Wade replied as the two looked upon the landing starship, the former worker drone smirking as he added, "I could've swore I saw that same exact ship over Henderson when Ron and I came back, before we got mugged earlier."
Tina glanced to Wade with surprise as she spoke up on his claim. "Really? Well, that had to be the one that helped our friends here back at the factory. I think I saw the same name on it too!"
"Wouldn't surprise me, seeing all that's happened today." Wade replied as he chortled a bit, Tina doing the same as the former spoke further. "I wonder, what kind of ship is the... Vickers again? You know?"
"Autumn class, dear. A heavy destroyer variant, not as strong as those enormous Yamato dreadnoughts or Adelaide battlecruisers, but she'll put up a good fight for whatever comes at her." Tina explained as she held back another chuckle, thinking of her education on various USN craft as she teased Wade lightly. "You know, I may just have to grab one of those ship roster tabs when we get in the base. I'd love to show you all they got in their arsenal."
Wade chortled again as he gave his thoughts on the idea. "Well, it wouldn't be bad to have a little more knowledge in ship-story."
Tina almost burst out laughing at his crude pun, Wade smiling at her as F and Nathan jogged over to the two, the latter carrying his own backpack behind him as he spoke. "Well, not a bad place, huh? You guys heading to the clearance station?"
"Oh yes, we were just admiring the ships around us while we walked." Tina said with a stifled laugh, easing herself as she chatted with her new friends. Wade, however, was quickly overcome with panic as he remembered something. Checking his pockets, his fears were confirmed as he failed to find one of his key possessions: his ID card. Wade felt he must have lost it when he was stripped of his old clothing while in the factory.
Oh no, guys? I don't think I can pass through." Wade said with greenish-yellow circles for eyes as Tina and the others looked to him in concern, the drone feeling through his pockets once more before stating his issue. "My ID, they must've taken it off me when they turned me into a disassembly drone!" Wade began to hyperventilate lightly as he grew fearful of the potential outcomes when they reached the security gate ahead. "Oouuugghh, if I don't have my ID, they'll have to keep me lo-"
"Wade, Wade... it's okay. I'll have them make a pass for you, surely we can get them to after getting them to understand what's happened." Tina stated as she put her hand to Wade's chest, who eased his panic as he looked to his girlfriend.
"Yeah, and besides Wade, those people over there went around gathering what ever items the company stole from the drones during their conversion. I'm sure that once they find it, they'll have it sent off to be given back to you!" Nathan said as F nodded in agreement, shunting Wade's panic out of him with their words as he replied to the hopeful responses.
"Right, yeah, they should do that. Sorry." Holding Tina's hand, Wade spoke to her once more. "Lead the way."
Tina nodded to Wade before the two began to walk over to the security gate nearby, several people, drones and humans alike, already in the line as they checked themselves in to the base to relax after the hard-fought battle. Once they reached the line, the four stood together as they waited for the line to slowly go up, more troops and rescued drones coming over to add to the long line. During the wait, a loud, mechanical 'SLAM' erupted through the air, prompting Wade and Tina to glance over to the direction of the noise. The two felt at ease once more as they saw the Vickers finally landed at the base, the loud clang being the docking clamps attaching to the ships hull just moments ago.
As the line moved up further to the gate, Wade and Tina caught sight of a pair of A-20 aircraft passing over them, the two watching as the planes slowed down while descending onto the runway nearby. The four drones' collective viewing of the fighters landing ceased as they caught sight of J, who took flight as she departed the transport nearby before flying over to the tents near the hangar bays.
"Huh, wonder what she's over there for?" Nathan said as he observed J landing onto the ground in front of one of the tents.
"Probably checking on the drones we got back, or meeting up with one of those commanders there." F said as she motioned an arm towards the tents, J walking under one as she made her way to one of the soldiers coming over to her. "Seems like the latter, from the looks of it."
Wade shrugged as he responded to the group's pondering over J's actions. "Well, she'll be here with us if we need her, right? Shouldn't be much to worry about."
Returning their focus to the line ahead, Wade and his team waited as the line moved up over the next few minutes, moving impressively fast as the people in front cleared themselves in one at a time. Eventually, the four of them were up, Tina stepping up to show her ID for clearance. "Hello, it's been a busy day, hasn't it?"
The security agent smirked at Tina's small-talk. "Hah, not too busy here until you all showed up."
As the guard finished scanning Tina's ID, she handed the card back to her as she raised a finger to begin her request. "Oh, um, there's a little issue we need to resolve." Putting a hand to Wade's arm, Tina explained her boyfriend. "This is my dear friend Wade, Wade Carter. We both managed to escape that blasted factory with the help of those Coalition folks there." Wade gave a pleading look as Tina continued. "Unfortunately, Wade was converted into a disassembly drone before he was rescued, and it seems those people at the company took all his belongings he had on him, including his ID. Do you think there's... anyway you could write up something to let him by?"
Stepping forward, F gave her end of the story. "I can vouch for him, Ma'am. Wade and I we're among the teams helping in getting the worker drones out of the factory during the operation." The disassembly drone pulled out a pair of cards as she finished her explanation, one of them being her company-issued Disassembly Service Passcard, which resembled a normal civilian ID in appearance, save for the 'JCJenson (In Spaaace!) Logo on the top left and hazard markings around the rim of the card. As for the other card, it was a well worn, still legitimate ID card, showing F as how she appeared when she was a worker drone. At the side of her picture was a name with an initial. "FELICITY A LEE"
Taking the two cards in her hand, she looked them over and scanned them as Nathan tried to back Wade up as well. "So can I, Ma'am! I helped there too, when he was under the company's control. We all got him out of the factory so we could get him back in order." Pulling out his own ID, Nathan handed it out as the guard returned F's IDs to her.
The guard accepted Nathan's ID as she spoke over what to do with Wade. "Well, normally it takes clearance from higher ranked personnel here to allow someone inside without a legitimate form of identification. We can't just take someone's word on things like this, after all." Tina seemed to frown in disappointment as the guard explained her protocols, Wade looking down at the ground as he felt his worries were about to be proven correct. Going over Nathan's ID further, she gave an intrigued expression at the card before continuing. "Huh, interesting. Got two veteran folks here, I see?" She glanced to Nathan and F as she said that, taking into account their former military background as the former spoke up.
"Three, actually. My pal Kurtis is somewhere back there, I think. He should be heading down here later this evening." The guard glanced back at Nathan's ID as she took in the veteran drone's reply, sighing as she decided to make a slight amendment to the issue put before her and the four friends.
"Well, seeing you two here, I believe I can write something up. The Major won't be happy with me for this, but I think I can trust you with appropriate behavior." Taking a small sticky name-tag, the woman pulled out a pen before starting to write on it. Initially, she glanced to Wade, who stated his name again before she began to write his name on the tag. Once she was finished, the guard gave the tag to Wade, who slapped it onto his jacket before she spoke to him. "You should be fine to enter for the most part, just stick close to your friends and don't cause any trouble. Understood?"
Wade gave a stern salute to the security officer, who held back a chuckle at the honest, yet amusing effort the disassembly drone showed to her. Giving a simple nod and a flick of her hand, she permitted Wade and his friends entrance to the base, the four walking past the walkway barricades as they made their way past the gate.
Wade let out a heavy sigh of relief as he thanked his allies. "I owe you both so much for this, thanks!"
"Don't mention it, Wade." F said warmly as she and Nathan laughed at his joyful face.
"Yeah, just doing what any good friend should." Nathan said as Tina wrapped an arm around Wade, holding him tightly as the two walked together.
Looking to his girlfriend, Wade spoke to Tina about what to do next. "Well, since we're in, you wanna go fi-" He ceased his words as he remembered that there was someone else they needed to find amongst the base. "Oh, I almost forgot about her,"
"Jasmine!" Tina and Wade said aloud together as the former remembered her sister, Wade's words snapping her mind to Jasmine in an instant. "We should look for her, you think she might be here somewhere?"
"Probably. If they got Ron after they captured me, they have to 've picked her up too." Wade stated, Nathan raising a hand as he offered to help.
"I could go looking for her! You know what she looks like?" Readying a holo-projector, he tried to display an image of Jasmine from one of his many memories of her. The picture was, while pixelated and under a blue hue, incredibly well-detailed. And for Nathan, that was all he needed to see to note Jasmine's appearance in his memory. Nodding, he spoke again to his friends. "Got it! I'll see if she's around!" Then, turning to run down one of the paths leading to a nearby base facility, he stopped as he asked one more question. "Oh! One more thing, you got a smartcomm on ya, Wade?"
Readying one from his holo-projector hand, he nodded as he spoke into it. "Seems so, though I don't seem to have all my contacts added in."
Running back over, Nathan pulled out his own smartcomm before putting it up against Wade's hand one, allowing the two devices to exchange information. Upon the devices beeping, Wade and Nathan nodded to each other, the former ignoring a pop-up that stated, "New Contact Added" while the latter spoke once more. "Okay, I'll call you once I spot her!" With that, he began running down the path once more, intent on finding Tina's sister at the base, wherever she could be.
"Fowley! Her last name's Fowley!" Tina said aloud to the departing Nathan, hoping he heard her words before turning away from the miner drone and facing Wade and F again.
As Tina sighed in partial relief, Wade put his own arm around her before asking the question he tried to ask before. "So, uh, with that out of the way for now... You wanna go look for one of those ship tabs?"
Putting a hand to Wade's chest, Tina smiled as she replied. "Oh, certainly." Then, as the three began walking down a different path that Nathan hadn't taken, the pilot drone continued with a chuckle. "I hear they have a place here that sells model kits too!"
...
Jasmine sat in silent sorrow as she took another gulp of her glass of Proxi-Vodka, a tasty, but heavy alcoholic beverage produced at the colony of Proxima 2... and one of Jasmine's preferred drinks to have when she wasn't in a good mood. When she awoke after being stunned by the station guards, she found that she was just recovered by a group that called themselves the 'United Earth Coalition', and that her drone friend, Tina, was unfortunately taken by the JCJenson corporation to be turned into one of their horrid disassembly drones. While the people that saved her offered to help her find Tina, so far there had been no luck in doing so. No successful calls, no response from Wade nor Ron, nothing.
The whole situation widdled at her like scrapes to her form, slowly draining any bit of hope that she had in finding her sister. And once the mission at that factory was over, the ship began heading back to the Nellis Base to escort the recovered drones back to a safe area. Unfortunately for Jasmine, Tina's presence was not given confirmation. Alone, she walked off to one of the bars down at the base, specifically Drexler's Cantina, one of the more popular bars down at the military starport. Thankfully, though she didn't openly exhibit feelings of wanting to be alone in her wallowing, she was glad the place was nearly barren of patrons, with only a few at a couple of tables within the bar.
The stage at the back of the bar also had a few singer drones performing aloud, the lead singer girl reciting the words of a quiet, yet exciting song that, instrumentally, consisted of a strange mix of bass, techno, and a hint of opera. The song itself was one Jasmine had heard a good many times before in her life, known as, 'You Complete My World' by a decades old Earth band by the name of HeartStar. The song, as Jasmine and many others who'd heard it interpreted it, was about someone who described their world like a puzzle, and that the one whom the main singer cared for beyond all was the only thing that could keep their world from shattering into ruin before them.
An oddly fitting tune, given what had just happened on the JCJ Central earlier. For all Jasmine knew, Tina was either alive beyond her knowledge, hopefully searching for her wherever she could, or, the answer Jasmine feared... Dead.
Not wanting to even consider the thought, the human pilot took another swig of the colonial Vodka, relishing in its taste before forcing herself to swallow, almost gagging from the strength of the drink. Easing herself, she glanced out to one of the windows of the bar, taking the faint glimpse of night into her eyes. Then, looking to the clock at the wall ahead of her, she saw the time was about a little over an hour to 10 pm. Jasmine gave a sigh to herself, certain she would be alone for the rest of the night.
Unbeknownst to her, however, Jasmine had been spied upon a little while ago. Nathan, in his search for the woman Tina called Jasmine Fowley, had spotted a woman matching the physical appearance of the target. Knowing Jasmine wouldn't know who he was if he tried to talk to her himself, Nathan immediately went looking for Wade, easing his return to his team by calling the former worker drone and signaling him about his findings.
Deciding to check on the news, Jasmine slowly pulled out her smartcomm, resisting her urge to press the contacts button as she tapped the news app. Looking through it, she spotted a recent story that was posted just over an hour ago, titled, "JCJenson 'Recall' effort sabotaged by joint Government/Militia forces! The Truth Exposed!" Above the article was a video, a play button in front of it teasing Jasmine. Curious over this sudden development, she pressed the button, her attention in complete focus on the video as it began to play.
After the news station's logo appeared on-screen for a short few seconds, the current host for the story, Mrs. Tiffany Joy, appeared at her seat before beginning the story. "Good evening, this is Nevada-78, I'm your host, Tiffany Joy. Tonight, we start with a rapid development for the 'drone recall' incidents propagated by the business conglomerate JCJenson In Space. Throughout the afternoon up to now, several advanced factories under the ownership of the corporation have fallen under violent assault by various militarized forces, ranging from official United Nations operatives to private militia groups with varying goals." The small screen to Joy's left shifted to show the state of Nevada, zooming into it to show a portion of the Mojave desert as Joy continued her story.
"Among these facilities, one such factory based right here in southern Nevada has recently succumbed to the successful efforts of the USN Defense Force and a group by the name of the United Earth Coalition, an alliance consisting of humans and automatons working to create a unified world for both species." The screen shifted again to show the logo for the UEC, which appeared as one half of a human head outline and another of a drone's, along with two arms behind the heads belonging to both beings pictured. "With the attack having concluded just hours ago, we have reporters gathering at the New Nellis Staryards near Henderson City to bring you the aftermath of the conflict. We go to Mr. Jelico, on the scene in five."
The camera shifted after the countdown of five to show Mr. Jelico in front of the camera, the cameraman filming a large tent housing several worker drones being tended to by the base soldiers. "Alright, Jelico here, we're on station at New Nellis. What you're all seeing here are some of the recovered worker drones, many of them were pretty spooked by the events that unfolded in that factory earlier." As the camera panned over the lot of drones, some of them looked to the camera, curious at the news crew filming them as Jelico continued. "A few of them are real glad to be here, Joy. Seems like they feel safe here, as far as I can tell."
As the camera moved to show Jelico again, a plane could be seen taking off as he spoke. "Yeah, these people did them quite a service. The staff here are working to find their original owners and families, it'll probably be a little bit before they can get them all home." The camera switched once again to another view of the base, the lights of various buildings illuminating the night as the news story continued.
At the entrance, Nathan pushed open the door to the bar, the chime failing to catch anyone's attention as he, Wade, F and Tina stepped inside. Carefully pointing at Jasmine, he whispered to Tina, "That's her, from the looks of it. She's been here for a good minute!"
Taking another drink of the Proxi-Vodka, Jasmine listened further to the story. "The authorities didn't just recover a majority of the worker drones taken into the factory, however. A recent update provided by Mrs. Yuka, shows her interviewing a disassembly drone who claims to be among the unfortunate drones the assault force failed to save before their conversion."
"Jasmine!" Tina called out, the voice instantly grabbing the woman's attention as she paused the news story. Swiftly turning her head, her heart began pounding with immense excitement as she saw her drone sister, who grinned upon seeing her face.
"Tina!" Jasmine said aloud, somewhat weakly from her previous wallowing as she tried to run over to her sister, landing on her knees as the two embraced in a flush of emotions. Wade and his friends stood behind the two girls as they hugged each other, clinging onto one another as tightly as they could give. Jasmine seemed to erupt with a pained cough as she allowed some of her sorrow out of her heart, Tina carressing her back in a comforting manner as she held back her own tears. The sisters held the hug for a long moment, not daring to let go of one another for fear of losing each other again. Eventually, however, they did, the two sisters taking heavy breaths as Jasmine spoke up while wiping her face. "I thought I'd lost you."
"Can't say I didn't feel the same way, love." Tina replied as she broke out in light laughter, glancing to Wade before continuing. "But, fortunately, those Coalition boys helped out quite a bit. Though, not as much as my knight in his new armor."
Standing herself up, Jasmine took Tina's helping hand as she looked to the one her sister spoke of. A grateful smile formed on Jasmine's face as she saw Wade, standing in front of her and Tina as he returned the expression. Looking upon her family friend, Jasmine noticed something... different about Wade. He was taller now, his arms were shaped like white cones rather than the silver bendy tubes he and Tina normally had. As for his face, his pure green eyes were replaced with a set of greenish-yellow ones, and above his forehead was a band holding five yellow bulbs that she didn't know the function of.
While the pieces started to click together in her head, Jasmine took Wade's held out hand as she spoke to him. "Wade, I'm so glad to see you! You look different, too. Did something... happen to you?" She already guessed it by this point, but feigned confusion as she opted to hear Wade's take on the matter.
"Yeah, I hope you don't mind your sister dating a vampire from now on." Tina chortled in amusement at Wade's comment at himself, Jasmine raising an eyebrow in confusion at the former worker drone as he returned his expression to a more sincere smile. "The company got me too, and unlike the workers we got out... they managed to turn me into a disassembly drone. From now on, I'm gonna need to take in more oil than I usually did before I was turned. My cooling system's not as good as it should be, from what I've heard." Pulling out his two full canteens, Wade finished his partial explanation. "Don't worry, though. I've got some to keep me down."
Jasmine took in the news with immense surprise, noticing the hazard stripes at the rims of Wade's arms as she replied to her friend. "Oh... Well, if Tina's fine with it, then I see no problem with that, Wade." Admittedly, she was a bit unnerved by the change, concerned for both him and Tina's safety due to this supposed oil coolant issue. Trying to sound as nice as she could on the matter, Jasmine hesitantly asked Wade, "Though... I am a bit concerned with that bad cooling problem you mention. You... don't think you would-"
"Hurt Tina?!" Wade assumed, understanding Jasmine's concern as he gave a horrified glance to the two sisters. Standing with his fists to his hips, he gave his answer to Jasmine's presumed question. "Don't even say such a thing, Jasmine. I'd rather overheat than dare strike her."
Admittedly amused as well as concerned for Wade's selflessness, Tina chuckled at him before speaking up on the matter. "Now now, Wade. It won't be so bad. We'll manage."
Jasmine nodded as she agreed with her sister's optimistic view on the problem. "Indeed we will, we always do." Then, taking notice of the other two drones in the room, Jasmine smiled at them before speaking again. "Ah, I see you brought some friends too."
Wade and Tina glanced over to Nathan and F upon Jasmine's statement, the two friends smiling pleasantly as Wade spoke up. "Oh, yeah. These are some of my work buddies from Ceres, Jasmine. This is Nathan, I first met him when Ron and I came to the mines, showed us around a bit too." Putting a hand on F's shoulder, Wade introduced her too. "And this is Serial Designation F, or, just F. She was one of the guards keeping watch on the place while we worked."
F seemed to blush out of embarrassment as she remembered her and Wade's first meeting. "I... did come off a little rough on them when they first came in, though. Stopped Nathan's touring run too. Just following colony protocol."
Nathan patted F's back as he tried to ease F's guilt. "Oh, it's nothing F. We had to start work in a few minutes anyway. Besides, it's a bit more fun exploring the place yourself without a guide." He winked at the others as he finished his praise. "Trust me, it really is."
Wade, Tina and Jasmine all chuckled at their friend's amusing words, F joining in as she replied to Nathan's encouragement. "Alright, alright."
Walking up to the two, Tina put her hand onto Nathan's as she gave her own praises. "And they may not look like it, dear, but Nathan and F were both formerly in the military, from what Wade's told me."
Jasmine gave a proud smirk at the two as she responded to her sister's claim. "Well, that's quite something. Did she tell you we used to fly for them some years back?"
"Oh, she did, Mrs. Fowley." Nathan replied as he chuckled lightly, F giving a smile of her own as she added her own part to the story.
"Yeah, and given what's happening now, maybe they might call you back for service again. Wade told me you two were excellent pilots."
It was now Jasmine's turn to blush as she chuckled from the compliment, knowing Wade's high praise for her and her sister's flying as she replied. "Well, I can't say that's wrong, Tina saved the day during the flight back here. We ran into an asteroid cluster while in the middle of a jump."
Wade patted Tina on her back as he quietly cheered his love on. "That's what I'm talking about, she's a wonder among the stars, I'm telling you!"
The group fell into an excited fit of laughter at the conversation, a few of the bar patrons taking notice of the bunch as they eventually ceased their joyful moment.
As everyone calmed down, Jasmine spoke up, intending to bring the discussion to another place. "Well, with all that said, it feels great to see you all here. It was such a terrible day after all those company folk showed up." Then, as she scanned the group of friends around her, she noticed someone else missing from this puzzle. "Hey, uh... is Ron here? Did he head off somewhere?"
The mood was quickly put down to a mournful aura as Wade and Tina glanced to the floor in sadness, Nathan and F giving uncomfortable postures as they awaited for someone to speak up on the matter.
Eventually, Wade was the one to open his mouth, breathing steadily as he tried to speak to Jasmine. "Um, Jasmine? Things, uh... really took a nose dive after we got captured. You think we could find a place to sit? It's a lot to talk about."
Looking to the four drones with concern, Jasmine eased her returning fear as she nodded to Wade in agreement. "...Sure, there's plenty of space at the table here." Pointing her arm to the table, which was surrounded by a U-shaped seating bench, Wade and his friends began to move to the table as Tina spoke up.
"I can get us some drinks for the talk, you all want anything?"
"Just some oil, thanks. "Wade answered as F and Nathan gave their own nods to Tina, the drone girl walking over to the bartender near the stage as she went to purchase some beverages.
Sitting down, Jasmine picked up her smartcomm from the table, glancing to it as she spoke up on her half-finished drink. "Heh, and to think I was drowning myself in this drag of a drink before. Probably have to find a different glass."
"Proxi-Vodka? Haven't seen you touch that since we lost Aunt Susan." Wade said solemnly as he examined Jasmine's drink, sighing as he reluctantly continued. "Well, maybe it can go for a few more sips."
Looking to the vodka, Jasmine nodded as she put her smartcomm in her pocket. "I figured, I didn't think this was gonna sound good."
"I wish it did." Wade replied as Tina walked back to the table, a plate of three oil glasses resting on her careful hand as she set it down.
After delivering the drinks, Tina took a seat next to Wade, holding his hand as Jasmine spoke up. "So, where do we start this terrible story?"
Wade gulped a bit as he began to recount the events that transpired today. "Well, it all started when Ron and I came back from the mining colony."
2024.05.14 11:20 WolfMaster1997 My systematic approach to high-value B2B lead and deal generation / GTM.
In this post I want to break down how I think about and how I build custom B2B lead gen eco-systems that are designed to engage a cold prospect, educate and help them to then turn into $XX,XXX deals.
I'll share the metrics and best practices from my own experiences from working with around 20 b2b companies with varying deal sizes, starting from $5k marketing packages, to $90k/yr fintech solutions and $200k software dev & IT deals. If you don't agree with my approach, that's fine, there's multiple ways to skin a cat.
Fundamentals are mostly the same and we can split it in 3 main parts.
That might look like cold emailing and cold "linkedining" (new term) prospects an offer or asking if they're interested in this and that, on the spot.
This is not a good approach for one simple reason - no one want's to be sold to. Not to say that this direct approach doesn't work, for some it works good enough to stay afloat, but it's not something you can use to drive real, inbound interest in your services. Selling to prospects that you get on a sales call from 1 email or DM is extremely hard since you have to do the heavy lifting to educate them on the call and then you also have to sell them.
My goal is to turn this dynamic on it's head. Yes, we want to reach out to cold prospects. Yes, we want to run ads. But not to sell immediately. Rather, we're inviting and getting those prospects into our ecosystem where if they go through your educational materials like reports, case studies, how-to's AND have a real pain, they will come to you to solve it.
Let's break it down.
Traffic acquisition.
There's 2 channels I use to acquire traffic. Sometimes I use both, sometimes one or the other. For the most part that depends on the TAM and what we're selling.
1 - Paid ads (LI and META) are great if you need volume and your deal size varies between $5k - $20k. If you get it right, it's a system that scales easily so you can control demand and growth fairly easily too. It's also very quick and easy to troubleshoot since you can change a variable and see the result in next 3 days.
The ultimate goal of paid ads is to get as many people in your funnel as possible. The only logical way to do it is using lead magnets. Industry specific reports with unique insights that only your ICP would care about, easy-to-code tools that only your ICP would find useful (calculators work great for me), guides and courses made to solve a very specific problem, you get the picture.
We're giving away this free value in exchange for their email address. I can already hear people yelling "But giving away stuff for free only attracts freebie seekers" That's because you don't have a mechanism in place to convert that opt-in into a deal. (I'll go into in the next sections)
To make a great lead magnet I follow this mantra:
For us, around 20% of lead magnet leads opt-in into the next step of the funnel where we ask much more details. Company name, website, name, phone, etc, etc.
Do this step right and you'll get leads from your ICP opting into your funnel in droves, for cheap.
One little hack I do whenever I launch lead magnet campaigns is create 5-10 lead magnet ideas, create the ads and the landing pages, but don't create the lead magnet itself. Then run ads to those 5-10 lead magnets and see what your cost per lead is AND see what quality leads you attract. My baseline KPI's are sub $15 CPL on the initial launch and 3 out of 10 leads be real, actual companies that fit the ICP.
If you hit that initially, you can reiterate on the ads and the LP and get your CPL way lower.
2 - Cold outreach (LI and email) is great if you're after high ticket or enterprise level deals.
Cold outreach is great for huge target markets and/or very high value accounts. You won't reach Elon Mush through ads, but you could through cold outreach.
Instead of blanket-spamming 10k leads that might or might not need our service we do this.
"Hey Adam, saw that Houberz is looking for an engineer with deep understanding of X. I know first hand how hard it is to fill such roles.
I have a case study on how we did Y using X technology, thought you might be interested in giving it a quick read before you pull someone onboard."
This is the general gist of it. Combine it with reaching out to leads that are likely in-market and you'll average 15% reply rates. Blast 10k emails to random list and you'll get 0.5% - 1% reply rates.
That is how we get qualified traffic on the front end.
This is how we convert it into deals.
1.1 - Paid
Once you have people claiming your lead magnet, the magic happens on the thank you page. I've seen many people just have a generic thank you page that does not prompt the next action.
Wasted digital real estate.
Instead of leaving it blank, we either have a call booking page where we pitch a non-sales call that would help fix the lead a specific problem or a signup page for a live workshop.
2nd has higher opt-in rate, but has longer time-to-deal, 1st gives you 1-1 time with high value prospects, but is more expensive..
Ideally, run both. Best of both worlds.
On top of that, when someone opts in and claims your lead magnets, you can then email them on a regular basis as part of your newsletter which gives you another channel to nurture leads and throw offers their way.
2.1 - Cold outreach
As soon as you receive a positive response to your lead magnet offer, you send it over, find that person on LI and connect (so you have another channel and they see that you're a real human) then ask if they're struggling with a specific problem that your service can fix.
If they do, great, share more case studies, share how they could solve the problem themselves and then soft-pitch a meeting in which you propose to "continue the conversation"
For cold, each convo will be different so you will have to come up with helpful and relevant email responses on the fly.
Remember speed-to-lead. The faster you answer, the higher the chance of you pushing the lead to the next step of your funnel.
So do you need both of these acquisition channels? Do you also need to post on Linkedin and dance on Tiktok?
Depends on your business. Generally, the more eyes you have on you, the more deals you'll close. These two channels are foundation for myself and any business I consult, but to supplement that and build credibility, we're also heavily investing in LI organic.
Why? People who watch your ads and engage with your emails will check out your LI eventually. If it's barren, you won't leave an impression. If it's packed with valuable, funny, insightful and humanizing posts, not only your leads will connect with you, but they'll feel compelled to engage.
So it's not one system or another - it's all of them working in cohesion.
Thanks for coming to my ted talk.
submitted by WolfMaster1997 to Entrepreneur [link] [comments]
I'll share the metrics and best practices from my own experiences from working with around 20 b2b companies with varying deal sizes, starting from $5k marketing packages, to $90k/yr fintech solutions and $200k software dev & IT deals. If you don't agree with my approach, that's fine, there's multiple ways to skin a cat.
Fundamentals are mostly the same and we can split it in 3 main parts.
- Traffic acquisition
- Nurture & education mechanism
- Conversion mechanism.
That might look like cold emailing and cold "linkedining" (new term) prospects an offer or asking if they're interested in this and that, on the spot.
This is not a good approach for one simple reason - no one want's to be sold to. Not to say that this direct approach doesn't work, for some it works good enough to stay afloat, but it's not something you can use to drive real, inbound interest in your services. Selling to prospects that you get on a sales call from 1 email or DM is extremely hard since you have to do the heavy lifting to educate them on the call and then you also have to sell them.
My goal is to turn this dynamic on it's head. Yes, we want to reach out to cold prospects. Yes, we want to run ads. But not to sell immediately. Rather, we're inviting and getting those prospects into our ecosystem where if they go through your educational materials like reports, case studies, how-to's AND have a real pain, they will come to you to solve it.
Let's break it down.
Traffic acquisition.
There's 2 channels I use to acquire traffic. Sometimes I use both, sometimes one or the other. For the most part that depends on the TAM and what we're selling.
1 - Paid ads (LI and META) are great if you need volume and your deal size varies between $5k - $20k. If you get it right, it's a system that scales easily so you can control demand and growth fairly easily too. It's also very quick and easy to troubleshoot since you can change a variable and see the result in next 3 days.
The ultimate goal of paid ads is to get as many people in your funnel as possible. The only logical way to do it is using lead magnets. Industry specific reports with unique insights that only your ICP would care about, easy-to-code tools that only your ICP would find useful (calculators work great for me), guides and courses made to solve a very specific problem, you get the picture.
We're giving away this free value in exchange for their email address. I can already hear people yelling "But giving away stuff for free only attracts freebie seekers" That's because you don't have a mechanism in place to convert that opt-in into a deal. (I'll go into in the next sections)
To make a great lead magnet I follow this mantra:
- Has to be industry and role specific
- Has to solve 1 painful problem for the lead
- No surface-level, bait-and-switch teasing BS. (using lead magnet as a sales page is a big no-no)
For us, around 20% of lead magnet leads opt-in into the next step of the funnel where we ask much more details. Company name, website, name, phone, etc, etc.
Do this step right and you'll get leads from your ICP opting into your funnel in droves, for cheap.
One little hack I do whenever I launch lead magnet campaigns is create 5-10 lead magnet ideas, create the ads and the landing pages, but don't create the lead magnet itself. Then run ads to those 5-10 lead magnets and see what your cost per lead is AND see what quality leads you attract. My baseline KPI's are sub $15 CPL on the initial launch and 3 out of 10 leads be real, actual companies that fit the ICP.
If you hit that initially, you can reiterate on the ads and the LP and get your CPL way lower.
2 - Cold outreach (LI and email) is great if you're after high ticket or enterprise level deals.
Cold outreach is great for huge target markets and/or very high value accounts. You won't reach Elon Mush through ads, but you could through cold outreach.
Instead of blanket-spamming 10k leads that might or might not need our service we do this.
- Score companies based on fit (we use AI for this on scale by giving it bad fit examples, medium fit examples and great fit examples while also describing why each is bad, medium or great. Then we ask to output a score from 1-10)
- For companies that score 7 or higher, look at buying signals. Recent hires, open positions, growth or decline, recent funding, featured in news (why featured in news?) and, of course, technographics.
- Companies that display positive signals AND are a fit based on scoring, we send a personalized message automatically.
"Hey Adam, saw that Houberz is looking for an engineer with deep understanding of X. I know first hand how hard it is to fill such roles.
I have a case study on how we did Y using X technology, thought you might be interested in giving it a quick read before you pull someone onboard."
This is the general gist of it. Combine it with reaching out to leads that are likely in-market and you'll average 15% reply rates. Blast 10k emails to random list and you'll get 0.5% - 1% reply rates.
That is how we get qualified traffic on the front end.
This is how we convert it into deals.
1.1 - Paid
Once you have people claiming your lead magnet, the magic happens on the thank you page. I've seen many people just have a generic thank you page that does not prompt the next action.
Wasted digital real estate.
Instead of leaving it blank, we either have a call booking page where we pitch a non-sales call that would help fix the lead a specific problem or a signup page for a live workshop.
2nd has higher opt-in rate, but has longer time-to-deal, 1st gives you 1-1 time with high value prospects, but is more expensive..
Ideally, run both. Best of both worlds.
On top of that, when someone opts in and claims your lead magnets, you can then email them on a regular basis as part of your newsletter which gives you another channel to nurture leads and throw offers their way.
2.1 - Cold outreach
As soon as you receive a positive response to your lead magnet offer, you send it over, find that person on LI and connect (so you have another channel and they see that you're a real human) then ask if they're struggling with a specific problem that your service can fix.
If they do, great, share more case studies, share how they could solve the problem themselves and then soft-pitch a meeting in which you propose to "continue the conversation"
For cold, each convo will be different so you will have to come up with helpful and relevant email responses on the fly.
Remember speed-to-lead. The faster you answer, the higher the chance of you pushing the lead to the next step of your funnel.
So do you need both of these acquisition channels? Do you also need to post on Linkedin and dance on Tiktok?
Depends on your business. Generally, the more eyes you have on you, the more deals you'll close. These two channels are foundation for myself and any business I consult, but to supplement that and build credibility, we're also heavily investing in LI organic.
Why? People who watch your ads and engage with your emails will check out your LI eventually. If it's barren, you won't leave an impression. If it's packed with valuable, funny, insightful and humanizing posts, not only your leads will connect with you, but they'll feel compelled to engage.
So it's not one system or another - it's all of them working in cohesion.
Thanks for coming to my ted talk.
2024.05.14 11:17 growmybookings From Empty Rooms to Sold-Out Stays: A Hotel Marketing Plan for Off-Season
The allure of summer vacations and festive holidays undeniably boosts the hospitality industry. But what about the off-season? Does it have to be a time of empty rooms and dwindling bookings? Absolutely not! With a strategic and creative hotel marketing plan, the off-season can be an opportunity to attract new guests, generate revenue, and strengthen your brand reputation.
Here at Grow My Bookings, a leading hotel marketing agency, we understand the challenges and opportunities unique to off-season marketing. This blog equips you with a comprehensive plan to transform your off-season from sluggish to successful.
Understanding Your Off-Season:
The first step is to clearly define your hotel's off-season. While some locations have distinct off-seasons (think beach resorts during winter), others might experience a dip in bookings during specific weekdays or shoulder seasons.
Once you've defined your off-season, it's time to craft a targeted marketing plan. Here are key strategies to consider:
1. Target the Right Audience:
During peak season, you likely cater to a broader range of guests. But for the off-season, focus on attracting specific guest segments with interests that align with your hotel's offerings and the off-season experience. Here are some potential off-season target audiences:
Create engaging content that showcases the unique appeal of your hotel and surrounding area during the off-season. Here are some content ideas:
Develop irresistible off-season packages that incentivize bookings and highlight the value proposition of your hotel. Consider these components:
Ensure your hotel website is optimized for off-season marketing. Here's what to consider:
Reach a wider audience by generating positive press coverage about your hotel and the off-season experience. Here are some strategies:
Navigating the complexities of off-season marketing can be challenging. Partnering with Grow My Bookings offers several advantages:
By implementing these comprehensive strategies and partnering with Grow My Bookings, you can transform your off-season from a period of sluggish bookings to a time of increased revenue and guest engagement. Remember, the off-season presents a valuable opportunity to attract new guest segments, showcase your hotel's unique offerings, and strengthen your brand reputation.
Contact Grow My Bookings today for a free consultation. Let's discuss your hotel's unique needs and create a customized off-season marketing plan that drives bookings and propels your business towards year-round success.
Together, let's turn your off-season into a season of opportunity!
submitted by growmybookings to u/growmybookings [link] [comments]
Here at Grow My Bookings, a leading hotel marketing agency, we understand the challenges and opportunities unique to off-season marketing. This blog equips you with a comprehensive plan to transform your off-season from sluggish to successful.
Understanding Your Off-Season:
The first step is to clearly define your hotel's off-season. While some locations have distinct off-seasons (think beach resorts during winter), others might experience a dip in bookings during specific weekdays or shoulder seasons.
- Analyze Past Data: Review past booking trends to identify periods with lower occupancy rates.
- Consider Location & Weather: Factor in your location's weather patterns and typical tourist seasons.
- Benchmark Competitors: Research how your competitors approach off-season marketing.
Once you've defined your off-season, it's time to craft a targeted marketing plan. Here are key strategies to consider:
1. Target the Right Audience:
During peak season, you likely cater to a broader range of guests. But for the off-season, focus on attracting specific guest segments with interests that align with your hotel's offerings and the off-season experience. Here are some potential off-season target audiences:
- Business Travelers: Attract business travelers with competitive corporate rates, special packages with workspace amenities, and convenient weekday booking options.
- Local Residents: Offer staycation packages for local residents seeking a relaxing getaway close to home. Partner with local businesses for discounts at restaurants or attractions to create a well-rounded staycation experience.
- Weekend Warriors: Entice weekend getaways with romantic packages, family-friendly deals, or themed weekend events (think fall foliage tours or cozy winter retreats).
- Digital Nomads: Cater to the growing trend of remote work by offering attractive long-term stay packages with discounted rates, co-working space access, and high-speed internet.
Create engaging content that showcases the unique appeal of your hotel and surrounding area during the off-season. Here are some content ideas:
- Blog Posts: Write informative blog posts highlighting the advantages of visiting your location during the off-season. Feature articles on local events, hidden gems, and seasonal activities guests can enjoy.
- Social Media Marketing: Share captivating photos and videos showcasing the beauty of your hotel and surrounding area during the off-season. Utilize targeted social media advertising to reach your chosen audience segments.
- Email Marketing: Develop targeted email campaigns promoting off-season packages and highlighting the unique benefits of visiting during this time. Segment your email list to ensure your message reaches the most relevant audience.
Develop irresistible off-season packages that incentivize bookings and highlight the value proposition of your hotel. Consider these components:
- Competitive Rates: Offer discounted room rates to attract guests price-sensitive during the off-season. Bundle room rates with value-added amenities, such as free breakfast or spa treatments, to heighten the package appeal.
- Themed Experiences: Create themed packages that cater to specific interests, such as "Wine & Dine Weekends" partnering with local wineries, or "Fall Foliage Escape Packages" including guided hikes or scenic drives.
- Local Partnerships: Collaborate with local businesses to offer bundled packages that include activities or experiences relevant to the off-season. This showcases your hotel's integration with the local community and creates a more immersive guest experience.
Ensure your hotel website is optimized for off-season marketing. Here's what to consider:
- Highlight Off-Season Activities & Amenities: Showcase the activities and amenities your hotel offers that are particularly appealing during the off-season.
- Update Your Website Content: Modify your website content to emphasize the benefits of visiting during the off-season. Include clear information on off-season packages and promotions.
- Optimize Your Hotel Listing: Ensure your hotel listing on online travel agencies (OTAs) and travel booking platforms is updated with accurate information about off-season rates and packages.
Reach a wider audience by generating positive press coverage about your hotel and the off-season experience. Here are some strategies:
- Press Releases: Issue press releases announcing exciting off-season packages, themed events, or partnerships with local businesses.
- Media Outreach: Proactively reach out to travel journalists and bloggers specializing in your region or target audience. Highlight the unique off-season offerings and experiences your hotel provides.
- Social Media Contests & Giveaways: Run engaging social media contests or giveaways that encourage user-generated content and promote your off-season offerings.
Navigating the complexities of off-season marketing can be challenging. Partnering with Grow My Bookings offers several advantages:
- Data-Driven Strategies: Our team utilizes data and analytics to identify underperforming periods and develop targeted marketing campaigns to maximize off-season bookings.
- Content Creation Expertise: Our content creators craft compelling website content, social media posts, and email marketing campaigns that effectively reach your target audience and entice off-season bookings.
- Package Development & Promotion: We assist in creating attractive off-season packages and implementing effective online and offline promotional strategies.
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Expertise: We optimize your hotel website and online listings to ensure your hotel appears prominently in search engine results for relevant off-season travel queries.
- Public Relations & Media Outreach: Our team has established relationships with travel media outlets and can help generate positive press coverage about your hotel and off-season offerings.
By implementing these comprehensive strategies and partnering with Grow My Bookings, you can transform your off-season from a period of sluggish bookings to a time of increased revenue and guest engagement. Remember, the off-season presents a valuable opportunity to attract new guest segments, showcase your hotel's unique offerings, and strengthen your brand reputation.
Contact Grow My Bookings today for a free consultation. Let's discuss your hotel's unique needs and create a customized off-season marketing plan that drives bookings and propels your business towards year-round success.
Together, let's turn your off-season into a season of opportunity!
2024.05.14 11:16 ireallydon_tknowwhat I (F,31) betrayed my boyfriend (M,34)
This is a long story, so bear with me please. English is not my native language, so sorry for any mistakes. I don't by any means want to point a finger to anyone, just want to explain the background of our relationship.
I am together with my BS for 5,5 years. We know each other for 6.5 years. Our relationship started rather rocky. BS has commitment issues and didn't want a relationship at first. This has led him to cheating (kissing only) on me four times (that I know of). Three times during clubbing and under influence and one time while he was on vacation with family. This was during our first 1.5 year together. I found out and he confessed. He texted with some girls and one of them was one of the girls he cheated me with. During our relationship he had a friendship with one of his coworkers. He told me she was interested in him, but he not in her. They had been friends before BS and I knew each other. During New Years Eve 2022 he said under influence: 'I met with x (coworker) two times behind your back'. He said that I was too fragile and wouldn't understand him meeting with her, because I voiced that I was a bit intimidated with their relationship (they would spend long evenings together at each others house while being drunk and sometimes driving with their car). He met with her some other times and eventually I didn't hear anything from her again. I only met her once, she was drunk, but friendly. I went to a psychologist several times to discuss everything what happened.
Fast forward to New Year's eve 2024. I was clubbing with my BS, and two friends. There was a guy who wanted my friends instagram, but didn't give it to him. So I took his phone and entered her name. BS saw this and thought I was giving my instagram. I tried to explain what happened, but he wouldn't listen. He pushed me away so I went upstairs with said friend. The day after he barely remembered anything. I let him know that if this would happen again, I would leave (this wasn't the first time he was acting not okay while drunk).
Fast forward to January 2024. We went on a ski vacation with friends. I had a really good connection with one of BS friends (let's call him Jasper). I have known Jasper for more than 4 years. We always had a good friendship, but felt it developed even more during the vacation. He was very kind, caring and helpful. He is in a relationship of 10 years, she was also there on the vacation.
We've met a few times again with Jasper after the vacation, nothing happened. Jasper texted me beginning of March saying he would like to meet with me. I didn't say this to BS. We went for a run and had a very good talk about our relationships. He expressed his doubts about his. He texted me some time after again to go for a run. This time there was more tension in the air and he kissed me. We met five times in total and had foreplay once and sex once. I didn't know how to tell my BS, even though I should have told him immediately. I made an appointment with my psychologist mid April to help me approach the situation. But on the 24th of april, Jasper's GF called my BS and told him she found evidence that we cheated on them. My BS worlds collapsed. He would have never imagined I would do something like that and I completely understand him. This is so out of character for me (I don't want to minimize what I have done, but when I go out there are guys who will flirt with me but normally I am very good at maintaining boundaries). He first wanted me to move out and didn't want to talk to me. But in the meantime we have met four time. The first two times were pretty heavy. He was angry (understandable of course), sad and everything in between. He was very harsh to me and told me I was a psychopath. Of course I understand that he was filled with anger. He doubted everything about me and that I could lie so good.
AP and I cut off contact immediately.
I showed him the mail I send to the psychologist that I made an appointment before it came out, but I don't think that it made any difference (understandable again).
The third time we met, we talked about the situation and how this could have happened. I had a meeting with the psychologist the day before and told him about our conversation. I told him about our sex life that was rather dead (I tried to work and discuss it several times before, but nothing changed), I told him about our future perspective and that I was the one who always had to initiate talking about buying a home together (I lived in an appartment he bought) and lastly our communication pattern. He bottles a lot up and when he finally says what bothers him, it comes out rather harsh. Because of that, I am hurt and it makes it difficult for him again to discuss something.
We have met yesterday again. I was there for like nine hours. We discussed the situation again. He had some questions and I answered them truthfully. He says that I deal very well with the situation and that he sees that I do my best. He said that he feels 50/50 about our relationship. He said that he doesn't know if he sees a future with me. He says that I had the right reaction to see my psychologist again. He, unfortunately, doesn't want to do counseling. He says that he can block what happened sometimes, because the pain is too much. Other times he let the pain come. He said he misses me and still loves me. I asked if I have to move within a certain period. He said 'no'. I asked if he wants me to move away and he said 'I think it is better that you do.' After the serious talk, we watched two episodes of a series and played some boardgames. I told him that if he wants me to go away or if it is too much, he needs to tell me. But he said that it was fun. I told him that I am scared that we would rug sweep to much and don't talk about the elephant in the room. I also told him that I am aware that he can decide anytime not to talk to me again and that I know that one good day doesn't make everything right. He said that he can see that I know that. I asked him if he wants to work on our relationship together, but I think this question was too early because he deflected this question. I said I want to do everything in my power to make it work and even want to go to couple counseling.
When I left, he gave me a big hug and we cried a lot together. He said 'maybe we can meet again this week.' He asked me if I got home safe.
I really don't know where to go from here. I have hope that we can work on this together, but it is such a rollercoaster that I caused. Do you have any advice for me? Do I approach this the right way or not? Thank you so much in advance!
submitted by ireallydon_tknowwhat to AsOneAfterInfidelity [link] [comments]
I am together with my BS for 5,5 years. We know each other for 6.5 years. Our relationship started rather rocky. BS has commitment issues and didn't want a relationship at first. This has led him to cheating (kissing only) on me four times (that I know of). Three times during clubbing and under influence and one time while he was on vacation with family. This was during our first 1.5 year together. I found out and he confessed. He texted with some girls and one of them was one of the girls he cheated me with. During our relationship he had a friendship with one of his coworkers. He told me she was interested in him, but he not in her. They had been friends before BS and I knew each other. During New Years Eve 2022 he said under influence: 'I met with x (coworker) two times behind your back'. He said that I was too fragile and wouldn't understand him meeting with her, because I voiced that I was a bit intimidated with their relationship (they would spend long evenings together at each others house while being drunk and sometimes driving with their car). He met with her some other times and eventually I didn't hear anything from her again. I only met her once, she was drunk, but friendly. I went to a psychologist several times to discuss everything what happened.
Fast forward to New Year's eve 2024. I was clubbing with my BS, and two friends. There was a guy who wanted my friends instagram, but didn't give it to him. So I took his phone and entered her name. BS saw this and thought I was giving my instagram. I tried to explain what happened, but he wouldn't listen. He pushed me away so I went upstairs with said friend. The day after he barely remembered anything. I let him know that if this would happen again, I would leave (this wasn't the first time he was acting not okay while drunk).
Fast forward to January 2024. We went on a ski vacation with friends. I had a really good connection with one of BS friends (let's call him Jasper). I have known Jasper for more than 4 years. We always had a good friendship, but felt it developed even more during the vacation. He was very kind, caring and helpful. He is in a relationship of 10 years, she was also there on the vacation.
We've met a few times again with Jasper after the vacation, nothing happened. Jasper texted me beginning of March saying he would like to meet with me. I didn't say this to BS. We went for a run and had a very good talk about our relationships. He expressed his doubts about his. He texted me some time after again to go for a run. This time there was more tension in the air and he kissed me. We met five times in total and had foreplay once and sex once. I didn't know how to tell my BS, even though I should have told him immediately. I made an appointment with my psychologist mid April to help me approach the situation. But on the 24th of april, Jasper's GF called my BS and told him she found evidence that we cheated on them. My BS worlds collapsed. He would have never imagined I would do something like that and I completely understand him. This is so out of character for me (I don't want to minimize what I have done, but when I go out there are guys who will flirt with me but normally I am very good at maintaining boundaries). He first wanted me to move out and didn't want to talk to me. But in the meantime we have met four time. The first two times were pretty heavy. He was angry (understandable of course), sad and everything in between. He was very harsh to me and told me I was a psychopath. Of course I understand that he was filled with anger. He doubted everything about me and that I could lie so good.
AP and I cut off contact immediately.
I showed him the mail I send to the psychologist that I made an appointment before it came out, but I don't think that it made any difference (understandable again).
The third time we met, we talked about the situation and how this could have happened. I had a meeting with the psychologist the day before and told him about our conversation. I told him about our sex life that was rather dead (I tried to work and discuss it several times before, but nothing changed), I told him about our future perspective and that I was the one who always had to initiate talking about buying a home together (I lived in an appartment he bought) and lastly our communication pattern. He bottles a lot up and when he finally says what bothers him, it comes out rather harsh. Because of that, I am hurt and it makes it difficult for him again to discuss something.
We have met yesterday again. I was there for like nine hours. We discussed the situation again. He had some questions and I answered them truthfully. He says that I deal very well with the situation and that he sees that I do my best. He said that he feels 50/50 about our relationship. He said that he doesn't know if he sees a future with me. He says that I had the right reaction to see my psychologist again. He, unfortunately, doesn't want to do counseling. He says that he can block what happened sometimes, because the pain is too much. Other times he let the pain come. He said he misses me and still loves me. I asked if I have to move within a certain period. He said 'no'. I asked if he wants me to move away and he said 'I think it is better that you do.' After the serious talk, we watched two episodes of a series and played some boardgames. I told him that if he wants me to go away or if it is too much, he needs to tell me. But he said that it was fun. I told him that I am scared that we would rug sweep to much and don't talk about the elephant in the room. I also told him that I am aware that he can decide anytime not to talk to me again and that I know that one good day doesn't make everything right. He said that he can see that I know that. I asked him if he wants to work on our relationship together, but I think this question was too early because he deflected this question. I said I want to do everything in my power to make it work and even want to go to couple counseling.
When I left, he gave me a big hug and we cried a lot together. He said 'maybe we can meet again this week.' He asked me if I got home safe.
I really don't know where to go from here. I have hope that we can work on this together, but it is such a rollercoaster that I caused. Do you have any advice for me? Do I approach this the right way or not? Thank you so much in advance!
2024.05.14 11:16 SuccessfulProfile275 Job feedback and follow ups
Hi guys
I am an Indian male, Engineer and Trade Tested.
I've had a few interviews but always wanted to get into the big companies, however, I am noticing a disturbing trend.
Whenever I go for an interview with a big company, I end up at the final interview with promises that they will give me feedback and then I am ghosted? It has happened more than 3 times. Sending follow up emails also goes unanswered.
Last week I went for an interview with Sidvest(fake name, I'm sure you can figure the right company out), after going through an assessment first at their centre, they were impressed and said I should have "good news" by Friday. Mind you, this was a lot of travelling and time.
I followed up, twice, no reply. I phoned, the receptionist says she cannot allow the call to go to the superiors. Is it that hard to give feedback even if I did not get the job?
Is this the industry trend? What am I doing wrong? How can I get feedback on what I am doing wrong if they do not give me the feedback? Am I supposed to have "contacts"? I believe in doing things right and that my employer must be happy with the way I conduct and my knowledge.
Is it BEE and because I am Indian?
Your advice will be greatly appreciated.
submitted by SuccessfulProfile275 to askSouthAfrica [link] [comments]
I am an Indian male, Engineer and Trade Tested.
I've had a few interviews but always wanted to get into the big companies, however, I am noticing a disturbing trend.
Whenever I go for an interview with a big company, I end up at the final interview with promises that they will give me feedback and then I am ghosted? It has happened more than 3 times. Sending follow up emails also goes unanswered.
Last week I went for an interview with Sidvest(fake name, I'm sure you can figure the right company out), after going through an assessment first at their centre, they were impressed and said I should have "good news" by Friday. Mind you, this was a lot of travelling and time.
I followed up, twice, no reply. I phoned, the receptionist says she cannot allow the call to go to the superiors. Is it that hard to give feedback even if I did not get the job?
Is this the industry trend? What am I doing wrong? How can I get feedback on what I am doing wrong if they do not give me the feedback? Am I supposed to have "contacts"? I believe in doing things right and that my employer must be happy with the way I conduct and my knowledge.
Is it BEE and because I am Indian?
Your advice will be greatly appreciated.
2024.05.14 11:15 Smilydon Robins songs: What song should she sing for each team/character?
If Robins Ultimate changed based on team composition or characters, which would be most appropriate or funny? Something like ABBA's " Money Money Money" for the IPC follow up team, maybe she sings ACDC's "Thunderstruck" in duet with Serval?
submitted by Smilydon to HonkaiStarRail [link] [comments]
2024.05.14 11:14 snailpuppy Ordered a CD in April... Never got it
As the title states, I ordered a cd on April 5th (my birthday!), and it said it should arrive no later than the 26th of April. Seemed pretty long considering the band is in the same country, but whatever, I can wait.
It is now the 14th of may, it's been a full couple weeks since I've contacted the band and recieved no reply, and I've contacted bandcamp support TWICE and have received no reply or even an acknowledgement that they have my support ticket.
Any ideas as to what I should do? Sure I want my money back if I can't get the item, but I also bought the item because I wanted it. It's listed as sold out now, so the whole thing is pretty confusing over all. Did other people get their CDs? I wonder if it's the delivery company or the band, though it does weird me out that they didn't reply to the two messages I sent them regarding the missing cd. It's an indie band, I don't wanna name names.
submitted by snailpuppy to BandCamp [link] [comments]
It is now the 14th of may, it's been a full couple weeks since I've contacted the band and recieved no reply, and I've contacted bandcamp support TWICE and have received no reply or even an acknowledgement that they have my support ticket.
Any ideas as to what I should do? Sure I want my money back if I can't get the item, but I also bought the item because I wanted it. It's listed as sold out now, so the whole thing is pretty confusing over all. Did other people get their CDs? I wonder if it's the delivery company or the band, though it does weird me out that they didn't reply to the two messages I sent them regarding the missing cd. It's an indie band, I don't wanna name names.
2024.05.14 11:13 FederalSession7790 Seeking Creative Apparel and Accessories Designer for a Unique Belgian Brand
Hello Reddit community!
I’m embarking on an exciting journey to launch a funny Belgian brand and I’m in search of a talented apparel and accessories designer to join me on this creative adventure. Whether you’re a seasoned professional with a portfolio to show or simply a passionate hobbyist with fresh ideas, I’d love to collaborate with you!
What I’m Looking For:
If you have the skills or the enthusiasm to contribute, please reach out! Let’s create something amazing together.
Looking forward to your responses and portfolio links!
Cheers!
submitted by FederalSession7790 to Wallonia [link] [comments]
I’m embarking on an exciting journey to launch a funny Belgian brand and I’m in search of a talented apparel and accessories designer to join me on this creative adventure. Whether you’re a seasoned professional with a portfolio to show or simply a passionate hobbyist with fresh ideas, I’d love to collaborate with you!
What I’m Looking For:
- Expertise or interest in fashion design, particularly in creating a cohesive look for a brand.
- Ability to brainstorm and finalize the front-end design of our brand name, ensuring it’s eye-catching and memorable.
- A keen eye for color schemes that will make our accessories and clothing line stand out.
- Creativity to infuse unique designs onto our existing product range, adding that special touch that defines our brand’s character.
If you have the skills or the enthusiasm to contribute, please reach out! Let’s create something amazing together.
Looking forward to your responses and portfolio links!
Cheers!
2024.05.14 11:12 Fangyuan___ New indian mythology novel Dropped. Check it now. Help this senior...
Novel - PEACE IS WHAT I WANT
Author note:-
How should i start. Lets say. I am just a student[19 M] And today i am going to start a writing a novel. Well... ...its always good to start a new work.
Enthusiasm...
thats what i am now feeling. I can't describe it in words. I can say that my grammar is bad. Umm so bad.
English is my second language. But i am going to try. I am going to persevere.
I am starting a novel on indian mythology. Well like indian sects.
Months ago.
I am just scrolling reddit. Seeing the memes on fy. And laughing my ass off.
unknowingly i stumbled on a comment and the comment is-
just think how if a cultivation novel based on indian mythology. Like There are 28 states in india. So.
We can make 28 sects and like this. And india is also a sacred country.
Just think there are so many mystery like kailash parvat( Kangrinboqe Peak).
So many mystries...
I was just staring at the comment something was rising in me.
Like this is my destiny. I am going to be a great writer. I will make millions of money. So i procrastinated this idea. Well i am a good procrastinater..
Months later today at 1 am on night while wasting my time on scrolling reddit.
I am suddenly feeling something. I am feeling like i have to do something productive. i have to make money So i thought to write a novel. Well its not going to the level of RI or Lotm. But i can try to make it good. I will daily use my 4 hours in this work.
I know i am not going to make any money on this.
But i am atleast trying to make something new. I am not good in studies.
No no no...
Its like i had never focus on studies.
From 2 years daily minimum 5 hours... I am reading novels.
Just novels. To cultivation to progression fantasy. Just novel.
But the idea of writing novel I always procrastinated that.
But today i am feeling so much enthusiasm i am going to start it now.
Special note-
If anyone wants to be a part of this journey. join me in this wonderful journey.
Well its going to be not paid. Its like internship. You will learn something. Like i need a editor. If any of you who is interested in this journey. You can dm me. Lets start.
I am clarify now this first chapter is something i am just writing it to describe. What is my potential. Like it will be my first novel and there are so many challenges i am going to face it. I am human afterall... I will going to make mistakes obviously. Day by day my writing will just going to improve.
Just adjust a bit.
You will definitely going to enjoy.
Chapter 1 - ITS STARTING
Hahahahah.
This is hilarious I have just wrote that I am going to make a wonderful novel and see I can't even type anything on my keyboard.
As i am seeing on my laptop. My frustration is increasing. How should i start. My patience is dropping. What should i do.
Lets make a boy first
Indeed hes going to be a poor and orphan.
Wait.
Its going to same cliche novel. I have to make something new. Something like Fang yuan.
First chapter of REVEREND INSANITY is goated Hes just standing hes hair floating and his clothes are in blood. He is smiling.
A cold smile. And then sac and boom
Explosion
....
Wait wait wait... This is going to be edgy. I have not any experience i have not any talent. How can i make a sacred novel like RI This is my first novel. I have to start with good mc.
.. My mood is swinging. I am feeling frustrated. How can anyone will going to read this garbage. I had not even make a world building. I had not even decide the name of the novel. Stupid so stupid. As i am staring on the screen. My patience paid off.
I turned off my laptop I stand up from my chair. And saw the time.
Its 1 am.
If my father found about that i am wasting my time in these things instead of studying. Than raj you just say goodbye to your writing passion.
I am just a average person.
Your average who got always average marks . Average look
Average talking skill.
Average money.
Well i am going to make it. But HOW.
...as i am thinking what to do How to write something great
. Suddenly my electricity gone.
Its rare. Well where i am living i had never seen electricity gone. Because i am living in a hostel. College hostel. And it is very expensive one. So when electricity goes out generator works.
Glad part about its. All of my study expenses is on loan. I am belonging from a middle class family.
But my father agreed for my private college as i convinced him that i will pay. I will pay everything believe in me last time. ...
I opened my room gate and went to the main hall while adjusting my torch light.
I can hear students are shouting. Well it is because human always find fun in everything
so many of students always wait when will the electricity goes and they will shout loudly. Its a fun thing. Really. its first time that electricity gone. So students are shouting too loudly. Make it more fun. Well i also join them. And also start shouting at high pitch.
Suddenly i stopped. Staring at the wall.
No no.
I am staring at the void.
In front of my eyes.
There was a blue screen.
My thoughts are spinning.
How can this happen. Its utterly impossible.
I had read so many webnovel i had already assumed so many scenarios like this. That there will be screen come from nowhere in front of you and you will say status and-
Wait status How can i forget this.
In my rough voice i said - "status" And i am believing that there will be a status screen will come.
And my life will take a 180. Degree turn But to my surprise there is no screen came.
1 sec...
2 sec...
Sudden a somber expression appeared on my face. A kid who always growed up while reading novel. A system is always his dream.
3 sec... 3.4 sec- And than
A voice heared in my mind.
A rpg type world where gods and demons are fighting. I will increase my level while fighting monsters. What..What is there any chance of my being alive in this scenario. This world is going to change. I have to change. I have to protect my family. Family...
**Shit.. shit..
My family lives 100 miles from here.. If this system is real and everyone can see it. Then soon chaos is going to erupting. What should i do now.. Take a bus or metro. No no .. Think think.. Well lets call them first..**
.
I opened my phone screen and saw the battery.
Shit..
8 percent. It can work for few minutes or one hour max I called on my moms number.
**Ring...
Ring...**
My heartbeat is increasing
*Ring... *
A women voice heared in my ear
-"Hlo, raj are you fine. What.. what is this screen. Everyone can see it. Everyone is panicking. You have to hurry.... come home as soon as possible".
I am glad that my mom answered my phone. While I staring at my screen i answered-"
don't worry mom.
There is nothing as panicking. Calm down. Just prepare some weapons like your knife, baseball. And locked the house. Do not open the door.
And tell my little brother that i am coming. Theres nothing to worry. Everything is fine."
I convinced my mom that there is nothing. But a gloomy senstation was felting in my body. I has to hurry.
As i glanced to the main hostel reception. A men with black beared.
Brown skin. Black eyes and in red shirt and black pant is standing there My warden was also in the state of shock. I went to him. Seeing me his eyes became focus. He called my name.
" RAJ CAN YOU SEE THE SCREEN ALSO"
He remembered my name indeed worthy of warden position I nodded. "Well its strange-he said to me while looking at the main gate. The gate was big and transparent Made of glass. I also see outside. Utter Darkness
Worrying if any type of dragon come here and just make this college campus in ashes. I glanced to other direction.
More and more students came from there room. Many were studying in their room. Many were gaming in their room. But i don't care because i don't have any friends. ..
But what i am doing here... When a sytem comes to the world You will granted with many powers. But what i have to do. As i thinking.
I stepped out on a ant.
Well its there problem being a short and came under my limb.
...The words on my screen crazily gone and swapped by a another words
Here is the link of webnovel site - https://m.webnovel.com/book/peace-is-what-i-want_29563366708313205
submitted by Fangyuan___ to MartialMemes [link] [comments]
Author note:-
How should i start. Lets say. I am just a student[19 M] And today i am going to start a writing a novel. Well... ...its always good to start a new work.
Enthusiasm...
thats what i am now feeling. I can't describe it in words. I can say that my grammar is bad. Umm so bad.
English is my second language. But i am going to try. I am going to persevere.
I am starting a novel on indian mythology. Well like indian sects.
Months ago.
I am just scrolling reddit. Seeing the memes on fy. And laughing my ass off.
unknowingly i stumbled on a comment and the comment is-
just think how if a cultivation novel based on indian mythology. Like There are 28 states in india. So.
We can make 28 sects and like this. And india is also a sacred country.
Just think there are so many mystery like kailash parvat( Kangrinboqe Peak).
So many mystries...
I was just staring at the comment something was rising in me.
Like this is my destiny. I am going to be a great writer. I will make millions of money. So i procrastinated this idea. Well i am a good procrastinater..
Months later today at 1 am on night while wasting my time on scrolling reddit.
I am suddenly feeling something. I am feeling like i have to do something productive. i have to make money So i thought to write a novel. Well its not going to the level of RI or Lotm. But i can try to make it good. I will daily use my 4 hours in this work.
I know i am not going to make any money on this.
But i am atleast trying to make something new. I am not good in studies.
No no no...
Its like i had never focus on studies.
From 2 years daily minimum 5 hours... I am reading novels.
Just novels. To cultivation to progression fantasy. Just novel.
But the idea of writing novel I always procrastinated that.
But today i am feeling so much enthusiasm i am going to start it now.
Special note-
If anyone wants to be a part of this journey. join me in this wonderful journey.
Well its going to be not paid. Its like internship. You will learn something. Like i need a editor. If any of you who is interested in this journey. You can dm me. Lets start.
I am clarify now this first chapter is something i am just writing it to describe. What is my potential. Like it will be my first novel and there are so many challenges i am going to face it. I am human afterall... I will going to make mistakes obviously. Day by day my writing will just going to improve.
Just adjust a bit.
You will definitely going to enjoy.
Chapter 1 - ITS STARTING
Hahahahah.
This is hilarious I have just wrote that I am going to make a wonderful novel and see I can't even type anything on my keyboard.
As i am seeing on my laptop. My frustration is increasing. How should i start. My patience is dropping. What should i do.
Lets make a boy first
Indeed hes going to be a poor and orphan.
Wait.
Its going to same cliche novel. I have to make something new. Something like Fang yuan.
First chapter of REVEREND INSANITY is goated Hes just standing hes hair floating and his clothes are in blood. He is smiling.
A cold smile. And then sac and boom
Explosion
....
Wait wait wait... This is going to be edgy. I have not any experience i have not any talent. How can i make a sacred novel like RI This is my first novel. I have to start with good mc.
.. My mood is swinging. I am feeling frustrated. How can anyone will going to read this garbage. I had not even make a world building. I had not even decide the name of the novel. Stupid so stupid. As i am staring on the screen. My patience paid off.
I turned off my laptop I stand up from my chair. And saw the time.
Its 1 am.
If my father found about that i am wasting my time in these things instead of studying. Than raj you just say goodbye to your writing passion.
I am just a average person.
Your average who got always average marks . Average look
Average talking skill.
Average money.
Well i am going to make it. But HOW.
...as i am thinking what to do How to write something great
. Suddenly my electricity gone.
Its rare. Well where i am living i had never seen electricity gone. Because i am living in a hostel. College hostel. And it is very expensive one. So when electricity goes out generator works.
Glad part about its. All of my study expenses is on loan. I am belonging from a middle class family.
But my father agreed for my private college as i convinced him that i will pay. I will pay everything believe in me last time. ...
I opened my room gate and went to the main hall while adjusting my torch light.
I can hear students are shouting. Well it is because human always find fun in everything
so many of students always wait when will the electricity goes and they will shout loudly. Its a fun thing. Really. its first time that electricity gone. So students are shouting too loudly. Make it more fun. Well i also join them. And also start shouting at high pitch.
Suddenly i stopped. Staring at the wall.
No no.
I am staring at the void.
In front of my eyes.
There was a blue screen.
『Welcome to the gods heir』It was so unrealistic. I thought that this is my dream. I touched the screen with my limb. But the funny part is. My limb goes through it. Like it is a hologram.
My thoughts are spinning.
How can this happen. Its utterly impossible.
I had read so many webnovel i had already assumed so many scenarios like this. That there will be screen come from nowhere in front of you and you will say status and-
Wait status How can i forget this.
In my rough voice i said - "status" And i am believing that there will be a status screen will come.
And my life will take a 180. Degree turn But to my surprise there is no screen came.
1 sec...
2 sec...
Sudden a somber expression appeared on my face. A kid who always growed up while reading novel. A system is always his dream.
3 sec... 3.4 sec- And than
A voice heared in my mind.
『 STATUS Name- Raj aggarwal Level- 1 Class- homo sapiens Sub class- None Stats/skills/shop/?¿? 』As i stared at the screen. My lips raised upwardly. This is what i want This is like my dream I always wanted a magical world.
A rpg type world where gods and demons are fighting. I will increase my level while fighting monsters. What..What is there any chance of my being alive in this scenario. This world is going to change. I have to change. I have to protect my family. Family...
**Shit.. shit..
My family lives 100 miles from here.. If this system is real and everyone can see it. Then soon chaos is going to erupting. What should i do now.. Take a bus or metro. No no .. Think think.. Well lets call them first..**
.
I opened my phone screen and saw the battery.
Shit..
8 percent. It can work for few minutes or one hour max I called on my moms number.
**Ring...
Ring...**
My heartbeat is increasing
*Ring... *
A women voice heared in my ear
-"Hlo, raj are you fine. What.. what is this screen. Everyone can see it. Everyone is panicking. You have to hurry.... come home as soon as possible".
I am glad that my mom answered my phone. While I staring at my screen i answered-"
don't worry mom.
There is nothing as panicking. Calm down. Just prepare some weapons like your knife, baseball. And locked the house. Do not open the door.
And tell my little brother that i am coming. Theres nothing to worry. Everything is fine."
I convinced my mom that there is nothing. But a gloomy senstation was felting in my body. I has to hurry.
As i glanced to the main hostel reception. A men with black beared.
Brown skin. Black eyes and in red shirt and black pant is standing there My warden was also in the state of shock. I went to him. Seeing me his eyes became focus. He called my name.
" RAJ CAN YOU SEE THE SCREEN ALSO"
He remembered my name indeed worthy of warden position I nodded. "Well its strange-he said to me while looking at the main gate. The gate was big and transparent Made of glass. I also see outside. Utter Darkness
Worrying if any type of dragon come here and just make this college campus in ashes. I glanced to other direction.
More and more students came from there room. Many were studying in their room. Many were gaming in their room. But i don't care because i don't have any friends. ..
But what i am doing here... When a sytem comes to the world You will granted with many powers. But what i have to do. As i thinking.
I stepped out on a ant.
Well its there problem being a short and came under my limb.
...The words on my screen crazily gone and swapped by a another words
『 You are 137th one to killed a living being. 』 『 you got 5 true points』A crazy expression came on my face.
Here is the link of webnovel site - https://m.webnovel.com/book/peace-is-what-i-want_29563366708313205
2024.05.14 11:11 FederalSession7790 Seeking Creative Apparel and Accessories Designer for a Unique Belgian Brand
Hello Reddit community!
I’m embarking on an exciting journey to launch a funny Belgian brand and I’m in search of a talented apparel and accessories designer to join me on this creative adventure. Whether you’re a seasoned professional with a portfolio to show or simply a passionate hobbyist with fresh ideas, I’d love to collaborate with you!
What I’m Looking For:
If you have the skills or the enthusiasm to contribute, please reach out! Let’s create something amazing together.
Looking forward to your responses and portfolio links!
Cheers!
submitted by FederalSession7790 to Antwerpen [link] [comments]
I’m embarking on an exciting journey to launch a funny Belgian brand and I’m in search of a talented apparel and accessories designer to join me on this creative adventure. Whether you’re a seasoned professional with a portfolio to show or simply a passionate hobbyist with fresh ideas, I’d love to collaborate with you!
What I’m Looking For:
- Expertise or interest in fashion design, particularly in creating a cohesive look for a brand.
- Ability to brainstorm and finalize the front-end design of our brand name, ensuring it’s eye-catching and memorable.
- A keen eye for color schemes that will make our accessories and clothing line stand out.
- Creativity to infuse unique designs onto our existing product range, adding that special touch that defines our brand’s character.
If you have the skills or the enthusiasm to contribute, please reach out! Let’s create something amazing together.
Looking forward to your responses and portfolio links!
Cheers!