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Hello, I have spent a little over 8 years wasting my life in IT roles that I have finally decided it is time for a change. I can't spend another day looking at command prompts lol. I love project management, Product management and business analyst type roles. I am specifically looking at project coordinator roles and am thinking of getting a CAPM cert to help me stand out more, but everyone on the internet says PMP or nothing so we shall see if it actually helps. The problem is I am getting zero interest for any of these different roles and I suspect it is either experience or my resume. Attached is my resume which I use for these roles. I tend to change my current position responbilities up the most to try and relate to the which ever job I am working. Unfortunely I lost my career job last year and this new job the hiring manager lied beyond anything I have ever experienced and I don't even do 10% of what they said I would be doing so it isn't helping me gain any experience towards what I actually want to do. The formatting issue with the dates is because I took the company name and locations out, it doesn't look that bad normally.
https://preview.redd.it/2cg7owkdba3d1.jpg?width=791&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=165fdafdffdf413d967fdc37dd5895e271079053
https://preview.redd.it/gcaaj0ldba3d1.jpg?width=791&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=30254cc29cfc42748ec9c1e7f497e87942a51983

Encampment social media posted about this (see text in comment) just a little bit ago and are demanding a response before 8am or else they'll escalate... or maybe they'll escalate either way?
("As violence continues to escalate in Gaza and Rafah, we will continue to escalate our efforts.")
Just a heads up that things might be a bit hectic tomorrow on campus. I mean... surely they gave him more than 12 hours notice (which is fully outside of business hours)... but I'm not sure that the final sentence gives me much hope either way:
"Thus, if the administration is committed to conversations in good faith, we call on the Office of the President to cease falsifying neutrality, and cede to the demands listed in this letter. We will consider this as the only meaningful step towards dialogue."

Last week, when I was on a very rare vacation from saving guys from lives of loneliness, someone posted a question asking if AFA is a scam.
I am just going to answer it here, because my answer is long and detailed.
Romance Is HARD!
First, the dating industry is simply impossible, because it is trying to help people, often deeply flawed people, find love. This is the most personal, most private, and most deeply emotional journey in someone's life and it is a challenging journey for everyone. Most first dates don't lead to second dates and most second dates don't lead to people becoming a couple, and most couples do not get married, and over 40% of American couples are not married ten years later.
But if at any point in this chain an AFA client ends up angry and disappointed - including decades later - he very well might rage that AFA is a scam.
And the Romance Industry Is HARDER Than Regular Romance!
AFA is not just an electronic introduction app like Tinder or other dating apps. They actually introduces thousands of men and women in person every single year.
They employee dozens of matchmakers and have scores of affiliated dating agencies in Ukraine, Thailand, Colombia, and roughly a dozen other countries. That is complicated. They have something like 30k women in the database. That is a huge logistical challenge.
In fact, if you really think about it is amazing how successful they have been.
But lets look closer at the overwhelming proof they are not a scam:
AFA Has Been In Business Almost Thirty Years.
If they were a scam they would have been sued out of existence long ago. They are based in Phoenix. They are not some mysterious site with an office in Malta. They can be sued or even prosecuted under US law.
AFA Is Almost The Only American International Matchmaker Left In Business
IMBRA has a whole slew of requirements, including inspections by the US State Department, and most other matchmakers either collapsed under the pressure or moved off-shore. AFA didn't. That alone speaks volumes for their integrity.
AFA Has Introduced Tens of Thousands of Happy Couples.
Take a look at the testimonials. They have hundreds of testimonials and on this sub they have numerous defenders who actually have used their service.
AFA Has Been Relentlessly Investigated By the Media Over and Over
Reporters love breaking big stories of crime, corruption and scandal. Most of the journalists who have looked at AFA over the last thirty years have thought they were going to break a big story because of the urban legends about international dating. But take a look at their media page. It is almost universally positive, and if its really a scam all of these people have to be in on it too.
AFA Has Been Studied By Academics In More Detail Than Any Dating Company
But my favorite source on AFA are the numerous academics who have studied them - often for years on end - over the years. These scholars were often certain they were going to uncover a worldwide criminal conspiracy. Instead, most of them become openly supportive.
You can read an entire article about academic research on international dating,but here is the conclusion of Dr. Julia Meszaros after studying the company for several years, attending numerous socials, and interviewing scores of participants. She wrote: “…AFA is a completely legal, legitimate marriage introduction agency....”
Are they all in on the scam? Well, I can assure you if they had discovered it was a worldwide criminal conspiracy they would have gotten tenure faster and sold more books.
Joking aside, the academics are in the best position to determine what AFA's operations and motives are, because they are intelligent, driven, and often spend years studying the company.
AFA Is NOT Perfect
AFA has problems. Their letter system is loaded with issues, but it also allows men to contact women they could never meet otherwise. I have discussed these issues in scores of posts.
And, unlike any of the large dating apps, AFA does vet its women. That is incredibly rare, because most dating apps are loaded with fake profiles and bots.
A few years ago Ashley Madison's female profiles were over 99% fake, and most studies find at least 10% of profiles on the big domestic apps are fake. The owner of one small app, Findmate, who spends a lot of time vetting profiles claims about 75-80% of profiles he receives from the main international dating countries are from sophisticated scammer gangs.
So, AFA does try to vet everyone, but it cannot see into a woman's heart. Yes, she could just lie to them throughout the process about her intentions, and guess what? Even the CIA and MI-5 have failed to catch every bad apple and they really vet their applicants. Some liars get through. That's life.
Evaluate The Evidence Yourself
I purposely leave up posts, because Reddit is FULL of power crazy mods who delete everyone who disagrees with them and bans many users regularly. I have been banned many times and I find it incredibly annoying, so I almost never ban anyone and rarely remove comments.
I am trying to encourage guys to do their own research and decide for themselves what is best. So, take a look at the evidence and decide for yourself what you believe is the best approach.
Best Wishes!

I am 45 years old, 23 years of financial industry experience, got my CFP creds in November of last year. Currently I am working for a 401k admin in a financial educational role. To be frank, I do NOT want to get back into the sales game , no book building , chasing business ,etc. I feel I have missed my chance at that and any role that I search for with my new letters will be not involve building my own book …. The problem is, what can I do? Are there any CFPs out there that work in a “non traditional “ role? If so, what do you do and what kind of comp do you make? Thanks all!

I hope our His Majesty or the higher authority can investigate this matter seriously about all my submissions and the facts that I stated here, to prevent the same problem from occurring again, & also to prevent more victims like me from being treated unfairly by the judicial system in Brunei.
The purpose of writing this article is to awaken & raise awareness about the judicial system in Brunei. And I think people have the right to know the facts & inappropriate judicial system in Brunei. My case number is HCCS 136 of 2009 & Appeal no. COACV/4/2023. I hope people can read through the judgment, & I hope the court will not remove the judgment from their website following the publication of this article.
After the partial profits of $195,300.00 paid to me by the plaintiffs, the plaintiffs & I entered into a Deed of Settlement Agreement to resolve all our disputes. A few months after signing the Deed of Settlement Agreement, the plaintiffs filed the proceeding against me, they also made up 2 major evidence a fraudulent payment voucher of $195,300.00 & a confirmation letter, accusing me of owing $195,300.00. However, the Court didn’t rely on our Deed of Settlement Agreement in this suit. Then, what does the law rely on if the Deed of Settlement Agreement is rejected in Brunei?
I stated in my pleadings & substantiated it with a laboratory report issued by the Ministry of Health Brunei, that the plaintiffs forged my signature on 24 copies of Standard Chartered Bank transaction forms to transfer $352,456.68 from our joint name account to their personal account. However, the court made no mention of this key fact in the judgment. Can the court cove conceal the pleadings & the facts that were submitted by the party in the judgment in Brunei?
As stated in the judgment, the court admitted & regretted that the court is unable to provide the hearing audio recording as the court did not arrange the audio recorder & a transcriber for our hearing ( 1 week of hearing), as a result, the correction of the inaccurate hearing transcription (notes of proceeding) provided by the court is therefore impossible. Thus, I applied for a retrial, but I was forced by the court of appeal to proceed with the appeal. Isn’t the hearing audio recording & accurate hearing transcription (notes of proceedings) are significant/ important evidence when it comes to appeal in Brunei?
In the judgment, the court of appeal rejected all 2 major evidence the fraudulent payment voucher & the confirmation letter submitted by the plaintiffs as the plaintiffs failed to comply with the Court Order to surrender the original Payment Voucher of $195,300.00 to the Ministry of Health Brunei for forensic examination (the plaintiffs told the court that they had lost the original Payment Voucher of $195,300.00), the court also rejected the Deed of Settlement Agreement & evidence submitted by me. Nevertheless, the court deemed the $195,300.00 as a loan to me without specifying any reason/ ground in the judgment. Isn’t it the judge’s obligation to specify the reason/ ground of their decision when it comes to judgment? Can the judge make a decision without giving any reason/ ground for the judgment in Brunei?
One of my counterclaims that I clearly stated in my pleadings against the plaintiffs, is that the plaintiffs will surrender all business accounts that they hid from me, & pay the balance of my profits from 2006 onwards as clearly stipulated in our Deed of Settlement Agreement Clause 6. However, the court made no mention of this specific counterclaim in the judgment. Does the court have the right to simply waive/ delete/ conceal the counterclaim that was submitted by the party in the judgment in Brunei?
I am the defendant in the news that was published by the Borneo Bulletin on 28^th Dec 2023. The most crucial sentence of the article stated that “Chief Justice Dato Seri Paduka Steven Chong, sitting with Justice Michael Lunn and Sir Peter Gross, rejected Tan’s appeal, addressing issues regarding inaccurate notes of proceedings, reliance on the Deed of Settlement, credibility concerns, and the absence of forensic evidence for a payment voucher”. Apparently, this news was published a few months ago, but, the higher authority did not take any action to rectify the problems.
This is a business dispute between the 2 plaintiffs (my business partners) and me. The 2 plaintiffs, Foo & Lai had hidden the business accounts from me & refused to pay my profits of around a few hundred thousand since 2006 onwards, as a result, we had frequent quarrels, & our partnership turned sour. Sometime in December 2008, I again quarrelled with the plaintiffs over the profits they owned me, the plaintiffs didn’t have a choice but to pay my partial profit amounting to $195,300.00 subsequently, we entered into a Deed of Settlement Agreement in April 2009 prepared by our lawyer to resolve all our disputes & my resignation from the company. All agreed terms had been clearly stipulated in our Deed of Settlement Agreement. Therefore, the court should rely on our Deed of Settlement Agreement in this suit.
In our Deed of Settlement Agreement, the partial payment of $195,300.00 was not mentioned it was a loan to me, on the contrary, the amount of $195,300.00 will be reinvested equally by 3 of us, which is $65,100 per person, to furnish the balance commitments/ outstanding bills of the company upon my resignation from the company, which is clearly stated in Deed of Settlement Agreement Clause 4a, and the plaintiffs have to pay me the balance of the profits that they hid from me from 2006 onwards after the auditor finalizes the business account as clearly stated in Deed of Settlement Agreement Clause 6. After we entered the Deed of Settlement Agreement, I complied with the term Clause 4a, I reinvested $20,000 from the part of the $65,100 & I asked the plaintiffs to surrender all business accounts to the auditor as agreed in Deed of Settlement Agreement Clause 6, so that they could pay the balance of my profits. The plaintiffs then told me they had lost all business accounts, apparently, the plaintiffs do not want to surrender all the business accounts & pay me the balance of my profits. A few months later, the plaintiffs forged my signature on a fraudulent payment voucher of $195,300.00 & a confirmation letter, filed a proceeding against me & accused me of owing them $195,300.00
The plaintiffs’ case/ allegation is, they claimed that the $195,300.00 is a loan to me, and the $20,000.00 that I reinvested is a part payment of the loan, and thus I owe them $175,300.00. The plaintiffs submitted their 2 major evidence in this suit, a fraudulent payment voucher of $195,300.00 & a confirmation letter. I told the court that the plaintiffs forged my signature on the alleged payment voucher of $195,300.00 & the confirmation letter, subsequently, the Court Order was issued, ordering the plaintiffs to surrender the original Payment Voucher of $195,300.00 to the Ministry of Health Brunei for forensic examination, the plaintiffs then told the court that they had lost the original Payment Voucher of $195,300.00 & therefore failed to comply with the Court Order. Despite the court of appeal rejected the 2 major evidence the fraudulent payment voucher of $195,300.00 & the confirmation letter that the plaintiffs submitted, the court of appeal also found no evidence showed in the Deed of Settlement Agreement that the $195,300.00 was a loan to me, BUT, the court of appeal deemed the $195,300.00 to be a loan to me without giving any reason/ ground in the judgment.
My case to the court of appeal is,
1. As the trial judge, Judge Faisal didn’t arrange for an audio recording & a transcriber during our hearing (1 week of hearing), and he also provided an inaccurate hearing transcription (notes of proceeding) to us, as a result, the correction of the inaccurate hearing transcription ( notes of proceeding) is therefore impossible. This is clearly a BIG mistake made by the court. I told the court of appeal that only the hearing audio recording can prove lots of lies made by the plaintiffs & all the answers gave by both parties during the 1 week of hearing. Since the court is not able to provide the hearing audio recording, accurate hearing transcription & other grounds substantiated, I applied for a retrial. However, my application was rejected, & I was forced to proceed with the appeal by the court of appeal regardless of the absence of the important evidence the hearing audio recording & accurate hearing transcription.

1. The $195,300.00 was not a loan, & it was not stated in our Deed of Settlement Agreement. I told the court of appeal that the plaintiffs would have stated this in our Deed of Settlement Agreement if the $195,300.00 was a loan to me. In fact, the $195,300.00 was a partial payment paid to me, & the balance shall be paid to me after the plaintiffs surrenders all the business accounts to the auditor as stipulated in our Deed of Settlement Agreement Clause 6. Moreover, if the fraudulent Payment Voucher of $195,300.00 that the plaintiffs submitted (their major evidence) was duly signed by me, the plaintiffs would not have told the court that they had lost the Payment Voucher of $195,300.00 when the Court Order ordered them to surrender the original Payment Voucher of $195,300.00 to forensic examination.
   
2. I substantiated with the laboratory report issued by the Ministry of Health Brunei that the plaintiffs forged my signature on the 24 copies of the Standard Chartered Bank transaction forms to transfer $352,456.68 from our joint name account to their personal accounts. I have filed this proceedings against the Standard Chartered Bank & the plaintiffs Foo & Lai, which the case HCCS 78 of 2012 is currently handling by the judge, Judge Soefri, & police case Ref. BKS/C116/2011 Is currently handling by Commercial Crime Investigation of Royal Brunei Police since 2011 ( it’s been 13 years). It is clearly submitted in my pleadings. However, the court simply waived & made no mention this specific critical point in the judgment. The court covered up/ concealed the facts in the judgment.
   

4. My counterclaim against the plaintiffs is, a payment of the dump truck, the plaintiffs failed to submit the evidence, whereas I submitted a solid evidence, the clearance letter & payment history issued by Baiduri Finance which was clearly stated that I fully paid for the said dump truck, and the said dump truck is clearly stated in our Deed of Settlement Agreement Clause 4d. However, the court rejected my evidence which was issued by Baiduri Finance & ignored the term stipulated in our Deed of Settlement Agreement Clause 4d.
5. My other counterclaim is also, a Toyota Land Cruiser. It is clearly stipulated in our Deed of Settlement Agreement Clause 5 that, the said Toyota Land Cruiser belongs to me, & thus the plaintiffs shall pay the proceeds to me after they sold the vehicle. But the court rejected & ignored the Deed of Settlement Agreement Clause 5 & evidence.
6. My other counterclaim is, the plaintiffs will surrender all business accounts that they hid from me & pay the balance of my profits from 2006 onwards as clearly stipulated in our Deed of Settlement Agreement Clause 6. But the court simply waived & made no mention this specific counterclaim in the judgment.
I have written several letters to alert the court about all the legal points as mentioned above, BUT, I was ignored by the court.
Lastly, I do not know what would happen to me after the publication of this article, one thing is for sure, at least one man must have the courage to step out & tell the facts about flaws/ deficiencies in our judicial system in Brunei, make things change & improve, in order to prevent more victims suffering from the false judicial system & injustice. I am confident that our His Majesty, as a kind & fair Sultan, would investigate this case thoroughly & make rakyat feel safe again with the judicial system in Brunei.

Hello, I just got my UAE business license two weeks ago. I know have received a notice from my formation company regarding ESR (economic substance regulations) due by june 30th. I have to pay them to find out if it’s even relevant to me. What do I do? Im still getting legal contracts sorted so i can start my business and I’m being told that I may face a fine?

Okay, listen. I noticed something based on the feedback from all of you small business owners and freelancers. I spent a lot of time reading through your concerns, and it's almost like you're screaming for something like this. Yes, you need to organize yourselves, and it makes total sense to use a tool like Notion. However, as your success grows, the tool starts to feel limiting. I started thinking about why no one has solved this issue. For example, to expose yourself to your clients, Super.so isn't flexible enough to meet your needs. Creating your own branding and handling multiple clients while providing value to your customers can be challenging.
It's like you're saying: "I want to have a beautiful, customizable frontend to expose to my clients, with a CRM tool to gather leads from my website and let customers create their own requests, yet using Notion."
So, here's what I think could help you based on your data:

1. Create your page copy and define data structures.
2. Design your landing page with a tool similar to Elementor or Wix (super customizable without code, just to add third-party scripts) and ensure the text is added to your components.
3. Set your CTAs on the page.
4. Make those leads visible in your Notion workspace (customer database) on a sales board.
5. If you turn a lead into a customer, they can create requests from their own unique customer portal that are reflected in your work board, allowing them to see the status of their job.

As a plus, if in the future you need to migrate, you can export your data in JSON or CSV format to use with a new tool. The possibilities are awesome—you can even turn your social media campaign leads into records in your centralized Notion client database, add support for customizable blogs, or customize email marketing campaigns using Notion plus a customizable drag-and-drop modern website builder. The possibilities are endless.
I believe this serves a common need among all of you: getting more clients and enhancing the customer engagement experience you provide as a business owner. Yes, you love Notion, so why not give it superpowers to leverage your business?
What do you think about this?

Okay, listen. I noticed something based on the feedback from all of you small business owners and freelancers. I spent a lot of time reading through your concerns, and it's almost like you're screaming for something like this. Yes, you need to organize yourselves, and it makes total sense to use a tool like Notion. However, as your success grows, the tool starts to feel limiting. I started thinking about why no one has solved this issue. For example, to expose yourself to your clients, Super.so isn't flexible enough to meet your needs. Creating your own branding and handling multiple clients while providing value to your customers can be challenging.
It's like you're saying: "I want to have a beautiful, customizable frontend to expose to my clients, with a CRM tool to gather leads from my website and let customers create their own requests, yet using Notion."
So, here's what I think could help you based on your data:

1. Create your page copy and define data structures.
2. Design your landing page with a tool similar to Elementor or Wix (super customizable without code, just to add third-party scripts) and ensure the text is added to your components.
3. Set your CTAs on the page.
4. Make those leads visible in your Notion workspace (customer database) on a sales board.
5. If you turn a lead into a customer, they can create requests from their own unique customer portal that are reflected in your work board, allowing them to see the status of their job.

As a plus, if in the future you need to migrate, you can export your data in JSON or CSV format to use with a new tool. The possibilities are awesome—you can even turn your social media campaign leads into records in your centralized Notion client database, add support for customizable blogs, or customize email marketing campaigns using Notion plus a customizable drag-and-drop modern website builder. The possibilities are endless.
I believe this serves a common need among all of you: getting more clients and enhancing the customer engagement experience you provide as a business owner. Yes, you love Notion, so why not give it superpowers to leverage your business?
What do you think about this?

Since search engines are shifting toward minimizing the time people spend searching through SERPs, and it's likely that organic traffic to specific websites will drop dramatically, what are some strategies and tactics that you're testing/rolling out to make your website valuable enough to continue getting clicks?
BTW, I'm not just looking to rip off original ideas. Here are the tactics that I'll be implementing based on a recent Niel Patel talk and independent research:

• Optimize for Conversational and Long-Tail Keywords
  
  • Identify Conversational Queries: Use tools like AnswerThePublic, SEMrush, or Ahrefs to find questions and long-tail keywords your audience is searching for.
  • Natural Language Processing: Create content that mimics natural speech patterns, answering questions as users would ask them.
• No Change: Create High-Quality, In-Depth Content
  
  • Comprehensive Guides: Develop detailed, comprehensive guides that thoroughly cover topics of interest in your industry.
  • Content Clusters: Use topic clusters and pillar pages to organize content around central themes, with interlinked subtopics.
• No Change: Leverage Structured Data and Schema Markup
  
  • Rich Snippets: Implement schema markup to enhance your content’s visibility in search results with rich snippets.
  • FAQ Schema: Use FAQ schema to increase the chances of your content appearing in AI-generated answers.
• No Change: Focus on Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-A-T)
  
  • Author Bios: Include detailed author bios and credentials on your content.
  • Cite Sources: Reference authoritative sources and include citations in your content to build credibility.
• No Change: Enhance User Experience (UX)
  
  • Page Speed: Optimize website loading speeds using tools like Google PageSpeed Insights.
  • Mobile Optimization: Ensure your site is mobile-friendly and provides a seamless experience across all devices.
  • Easy Navigation: Design intuitive navigation to help users find information quickly and easily.
• Use More with Multimedia Content
  
  • Videos and Infographics: Create and embed high-quality videos and infographics to make your content more engaging.
  • Interactive Elements: Use interactive content like quizzes, calculators, and surveys to increase user engagement.
• No Change: Build and Maintain High-Quality Backlinks
  
  • Guest Blogging: Write guest posts for reputable sites in your industry.
  • Broken Link Building: Identify broken links on other sites and offer your content as a replacement.
  • Content Outreach: Promote your content to influencers and bloggers to earn backlinks.
• No Change: Regularly Update Content
  
  • Refresh Old Content: Update existing content with new information, statistics, and trends.
  • Content Calendar: Maintain a content calendar to ensure regular publication of fresh content.
• No Change: Monitor and Analyze Performance
  
  • SEO Tools: Use SEO tools like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and SEMrush to track performance and identify areas for improvement.
  • User Feedback: Collect and analyze user feedback to understand their needs and improve content accordingly.
• Optimize for Local SEO
  
  • Google My Business & Bing Places: Keep your Google My Business profile updated with accurate information and regular posts.
  • Local Citations: Ensure your business information is consistent across local directories and citation sites.
  • Localized Content: Create content tailored to local interests and events.
• Encourage User-Generated Content
  
  • Reviews and Testimonials: Encourage customers to leave reviews and testimonials, which can enhance your credibility and search visibility.
  • Community Engagement: Foster a community around your brand through forums, social media groups, and interactive content.
• Adapt to AI and Emerging Technologies
  
  • Voice Search Optimization: Optimize your content for voice search by focusing on natural language queries and concise answers.
  • Stay Updated: Keep abreast of the latest AI and SGE developments to adapt your strategies accordingly.
• Leverage Social Media and Content Distribution
  
  • Cross-Promotion: Share your content across multiple social media platforms to increase visibility and drive traffic.
  • Engage with Influencers: Partner with influencers to reach a broader audience and gain high-quality backlinks.
• Invest in Interactive and Engaging Formats
  
  • Webinars and Live Streams: Host webinars and live streams to engage with your audience in real-time.
  • Podcasts: Create podcasts to reach a different segment of your audience and increase brand loyalty.

Some Lesser-Known Tactics:

1. Optimize for Passage Indexing

Focus on Specific Passages: Create content sections that answer specific questions clearly and concisely, optimizing individual passages rather than whole pages.
Clear Headings: Use clear and descriptive headings to help Google identify relevant passages within your content.
Use Advanced NLP Techniques
Synonyms and Variations: Include synonyms and keyword variations within your content to match the different ways users might phrase their queries.
Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI): Use LSI keywords to provide contextual relevance to your main topics.
Leverage AI-Generated Content Tools
AI Content Tools: Use AI-powered content tools like Jasper or Copy.ai to help generate ideas and optimize content for conversational queries and natural language processing.
Create Expert Roundups
Collaborate with Experts: Compile expert roundups where industry professionals provide their insights on specific topics. This can lead to backlinks and improved authority.
Feature Quotes: Use direct quotes from experts to enhance the credibility and depth of your content.
Implement Entity-Based SEO
Entity Recognition: Focus on key entities (people, places, things) within your content. Google's AI understands and uses entities to provide relevant answers.
Knowledge Graph Optimization: Ensure your business or topic is well-represented in Google's Knowledge Graph by linking to authoritative sources and using structured data.
Optimize for Voice Search
Conversational Tone: Write in a conversational tone that mimics how people speak, as voice search queries are often more natural and longer.
Answer Direct Questions: Directly answer common questions succinctly within your content to cater to voice search.
Leverage Google’s People Also Ask (PAA)
Research PAA Boxes: Analyze "People Also Ask" boxes for common questions related to your topic and create content that answers these questions.
Structured Answers: Provide structured answers to these questions within your content to increase the chances of being featured in PAA boxes.

PLAYBOY Interview With Conan O'Brien Interview by Kevin Cook For Playboy Magazine February 1998
A candid conversation with the preppie prince of "Late Night" about his rocky start, his show's secret one-day cancellation and how David Letterman saved the day.
He was polite. He was funny. He gave us a communicable disease.
At 34 Conan O'Brien is hotter than the fever he was running when we met in his private domain above the "Late Night" sound stage. A gangly freckle-faced ex-high school geek he is "one of TV's hottest properties" according to "People" magazine. The host of "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" has become his generation's king of comedy.
Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown. Congested too, but O'Brien has far more to worry about than his head cold. A perfectionist who broods over one bad minute in an otherwise perfect hour of TV, he worries he might be anhedonic, "I have trouble with success," he says, "I was raised to believe that if something good happens something bad is coming." Sure things look good now "Rolling Stone" calls "Late Night" "the hottest comedy show on TV." Ratings are better than ever, particularly among 18- to 34-year-olds, the viewers advertisers crave.
But O'Brien only works harder. Despite his illness he taped two shows in 26 hours on three hours' sleep. He smoothly interviewed Elton John then burst into coughing fits during commercials. Later in his crammed corner office overlooking Manhattan traffic Conan the Cool gulped Dayquil gel caps. He coughed spewing microbes.
"Sorry, sorry," he said. Of course O'Brien can't complain. He came seriously close to falling to being banished behind the scenes as just another failed talk show host.
At his first "Late Night" press conference he corrected a reporter who called him a relative unknown, "Sir I am a complete unknown," he said. That line got a laugh, but soon O'Brien looked doomed. His September 13, 1993 debut began with O'Brien in his dressing room preparing to hang himself only to be interrupted by the start of his show. Before long his career was hanging by a thread. Ratings were terrible. Critics hated the show. Tom Shales of "The Washington Post" called it as "lifeless and messy as roadkill." Shales said O'Brien should quit.
Network officials held urgent meetings discussing the Conan O'Brien debacle. Should they fire him? How should they explain their mistake?
In the end of course he turned it around. The network hung with him long enough for the ratings to improve and the host of the cooler-than-ever "Late Night" now defines comedy's cutting edge just as Letterman did ten years ago.
Even Shales loves "Late Night" these days. He calls O'Brien's turnaround "one of the most amazing transformations in television history."
O'Brien was born on April 18, 1963 in Brookline, Massachusetts. His father, a doctor, is a professor at Harvard Medical School. His mother, a lawyer, is a partner at an elite Boston Law firm. Conan, the third of six children became a lector at church and a misfit at school. Tall and goofy, bedeviled with acne, he tried to impress girls with jokes. That plan usually bombed, but O'Brien eventually found his niche at Harvard where he won the presidency of the "Harvard Lampoon" in 1983 and again in 1984 - the first two-time "Lampoon" president since humorist Robert Benchley held the honor 85 years ago.
After graduating magna cum laude with a double major in literature and American history he turned pro. Writing for HBO's "Not Necessarily The News." O'Brien was earning $100,000 a year before his 24th birthday. But writing was never enough.
He honed his performance skills with the Groundlings, a Los Angeles improv group. There he worked with his onetime girlfriend Lisa Kudrow, now starring on "Friends." But Conan was not such a standout. In 1988 he landed a job at "Saturday Night Live" - but as a writer, not as on-air talent. In almost four years on the show O'Brien made only fleeting appearances, usually as a crowd member or security guard. His writing was more memorable. He wrote (or co-wrote) Tom hanks' "Mr Short-Term Memory" skits as well as the "pump you up" infosatire of Hanz and Franz and the nude beach sketch in which Matthew Broderick and "SNL" members played nudists admiring one another's penises. With dozens of mentions of the word that hit was the most penis-heavy moment in TV history. It helped O'Brien win an Emmy for comedy writing.
In 1991 he quit "SNL" and moved on to "The Simpsons" where he worked for two years. His urge to perform came out in wall-bouncing antics in writers' meetings. "Conan makes you fall out of your chair" said "Simpsons" creator Matt Groening. O'Brien's yen to act out was so strong that he spurned Fox's reported seven-figure offer to continue as a writer. He was driving for the spotlight.
By then David Letterman had announced he was turning shin - leaving NBC taking his ton-rated act to CBS. Suddenly NBC was up a creek without a host. The network turned to Lorne Michaels, O'Brien's "Saturday Night Live" boss. Michaels enlisted Conan's help in the host search planning to use him in a behind-the-scenes job. But when Garry Shandling, Dana Carvey and almost every other star turned down the chore of following Letterman, Michaels finally listened to Conan's crazy suggestion, "Let me do it!" Michaels persuaded the network to entrust it's 12:30 slot which Letterman had turned into a gold mine to an untested wiseass from Harvard.
O'Brien was working on one of his last "Simpsons" episodes when he got the news. He turned "paler than usual," Groening recalled. The Conan moseyed back to where the other writers were working, "I'll come back with the Homer Simspon joke later. I have to go replace Letterman," he said.
NBC executives now get credit for their foresight during those dark days of 1993 and 1994. They snared the axe and now reap the multimillion-dollar spoils of that decision. In fact, the story is not so simple. We sent Contributing Editor Kevin Cook to unravel the tale of O'Brien's survival, which he tells here for the first time. Cook reports:
"His office is chock-full of significa. There's a three-foot plastic pickle the Letterman staff left behind in 1993 - perhaps to suggest what a predicament he was in. There's a copy of Jack Paar's 'I Kid You Not' and a coffee-table book called 'Saturday Night Live: The First 20 Years.' His bulletin board features letters from fans such as John Watters and Bob Dole and an 8" x 10" glossy of Andy Richter with the inscription: "To Conan - Your bitter jealousy warms my black heart. Love and Kisses Andy."
"Of course it's all for show. From the photos of kitch icons Adam West and Robert Stack to the framed Stan Laurel autograph, from the deathbed painting of Abraham Lincoln, to the ironic star taped to Conan's door - they're all clever signals that tell a visitor how to view the star. Lincoln was his collegiate preoccupation: stardom is his occupation. Somewhere between the two I hoped to find the real O'Brien.
"As a Playboy reader he wanted to give me a better-than-average interview. I wanted something more - a definitive look at the guy who may end up being the Johnny Carson of his generation."
"Here's hoping we succeeded. If not I carried his germs 3000 miles and infected dozens of Californians for no good reason.
O'Brien: Yes, this is how to do a Playboy Interview -- completely tanked on cold medicine. I'll pick it up and read, "Yes, I'm gay."
Playboy: We could talk another time. O'Brien: (coughing) No, it's OK. I memorized Dennis Rodman's answers. Can I use them?
Playboy: You sound really sick. Do you ever take a day off? O'Brien: No. The age of talk show hosts taking days off is over. Johnny Carson could go to Africa when he was the only game in town -- "See you in two weeks!" But nobody does that now. I will give you a million dollars on the first day Jay takes off for illness.
Playboy: Do you ever slow down and enjoy your success? O'Brien: If anything, the pace is picking up. Restaurateurs insist on giving me a table even if I'm only passing by, so I'm eating nine meals a night. Women stop me on the street and hand me their phone numbers.
Playboy: So you have groupies? O'Brien: Oh yes. And other fans. Drifters. Prisoners. Insomniacs. Cab Drivers, who must watch a lot of late night TV, seem to love me lately. They keep saying, "You will not pay, you will not pay, you make me happy!"
Playboy: How happy did your new contract make you? O'Brien: Terrified. The network said, "We're all set for five years." I said, "Shut up, shut up! I can't think that far ahead." Tonight, for instance, I do my jokes, then interview Elton John and Tim Meadows. We finished taping about 6:30. By 6:45 my memory was erased and my only thought was, Tomorrow: John Tesh. And I started to obsess about John Tesh. Sad, don't you think?
Playboy: Not too sad. You got off to a rocky start but now you're so hot that People magazine recently said, "that was then, this is wow." O'Brien: I try not to pay much attention. Since I ignored the critics who said I should shoot myself in the head with a German Luger, it would be cheating to tear out nice reviews now and rub them all over my body, giggling. Though I have thought about it.
Playboy: Tell us about your trademark gag. You interview a photo of Bill Clinton or some other celeb, and a pair of superimposed lips provide outrageous answers. O'Brien: We call it the Clutch Cargo bit, after that terrible old cartoon series. They saved money on animation by superimposing real lips on the cartoons. I wanted to do topical jokes in a cartoony way -- not just Conan doing quips at a desk. TV is visual; I want things to look funny. But we're not Saturday Night Live; we couldn't spend $100,000 on it. Hence, the cheap, cheesy lips, You'd be surprised how many people we fool.
Playboy: Viewers believe that's really the president yelling, "Yee-haw! Who's got a joint?" O'Brien: It's strange. You may know intellectually that Clinton doesn't talk like Foghorn Leghorn. Ninety-eight percent of your brain knows the president wouldn't say, "Whoa Conan get a load of that girl!" But there are a few brain cells that aren't sure. When Bob Dole was running for president we had him doing a past-life regression: "My cave, get away." And then back further, "Must form flippers to crawl on to rocky soil," he says. There may be people out there who believe that Bob Dole was the first amphibian.
Playboy: Do you ever go too far? O'Brien: The fun is in going too far. It's a nice device because you get Bill Clinton to do the nastiest Bill Clinton jokes. We'll have Clinton making fart noises while I say "Sir! Please!"
Playboy: Are you enjoying your job now, with your new success? O'Brien: Well, there are surprises. I hate surprises. Like most comics, I'm a control freak. But I am learning that the show works best when things are out of control. Tonight I ask Elton John if he likes being neighbors with Joan Collins. He says he isn't neighbors with Joan Collins. He lives next door to Tina Turner. So I panic -- huge mistake! But Elton saves the day. "Joan Collins, Tina Turner, it doesn't matter. Either way I could borrow a wig," he says. Huge laugh, all because I fucked up. Later he surprised me by blurting out that he's hung like a horse. The camera cuts to me shaking my head: That crazy Elton. What can I do? Of course, I'm delighted that he went too far.
Playboy: That "What can I do?" look resembles a classic take of Jack Benny's. O'Brien: There's an old saying in literature: "Good poets borrow; great poets steal." I think T.S. Eliot stole it from Ezra Pound. Comics steal, too. Constantly. When I watched Johnny Carson, I noticed that he got a few takes from Benny and Bob Hope. When a comedy writer told me how much Woody Allen had borrowed from Hope, I thought, What? They're nothing alike. Then I went back and watched Son of Paleface, and there's Hope, the nervous city guy backing up on his heels, wringing his hands and saying, "Sorry, I'll just be moving along." Now look at early Woody Allen. You see big authority figures and Woody nervously saying, "Look, I'll just be on my way." Of course Woody made it his own, but he must have watched and loved Bob Hope.
Playboy: Who are your role models? O'Brien: Carson. Woody Allen. SCTV. Peter Sellers. When Peter Sellers died I felt such a loss, thinking, There won't be anymore of that. There's some Steve Martin in my false bravado with female guests: "Why, hel-lo there!" And I won't deny having some Letterman in my bones.
Playboy: You were surprise as Letterman's successor. At first you seemed like the wrong choice. O'Brien: I didn't get ratings. That doesn't mean I didn't get laughs. Yes, I had a giant pompadour and I looked like a rockabilly freak. I was too excited, pushed too hard, and people said, "That guy isn't a polished performer." Fine! But it isn't my goal to be Joe Handsomehead cool, smooth talk show host. Late Night with Conan O'Brien is supposed to be a work in progress, and now that we've had some success there's a danger of our getting too polished and morphing into something smoothly professional. Which would suck.
Do you know why I wanted this show? Because Late Night with David Letterman played with the rules and it looked like fun. Here was a place where people did risky comedy every night for millions of people. We had to keep this thing alive. There should be a place on a big network where people are still messing around.
Playboy: How bad were your early days on the show? O'Brien: Bad. Dave left here under a cloud: his fans and the media were angry with NBC. Then NBC picks a guy with crazy hair and a weird name. And the world says, "Harvard? Those guys are assholes." I sincerely hope that the winter of December 1993, our first winter, was the worst time I will ever have. I'd go out to do the warm up and the back two rows of seats would be empty. That's hard to look at. I would tell a joke and then hear someone whisper, "Who's he? Where's Dave?"
Playboy: You had trouble getting guests. O'Brien: Bob Denver canceled on us. We shot a test show with Al Lewis of The Munsters. We did the clutch cargo thing with a photo of Herman Munster. Unfortunately, Fred Gwynne, who played Herman, had recently died, and Al Lewis kept pointing at the screen, saying, "You're dead! I was at your funeral!"
Playboy: For months you got worried notes from network executives. What did they say? O'Brien: They were worried. The fact that Lorne Michaels was involved bought me some time. But Lorne had turned to me at the start and said, "OK, Conan. What do you want to do?" Now television critics were after me and the network was starting to realize what a risk I was. Suggestions came fast and furious. I kept the note that said, "Why don't you just die?"
Playboy: Did they suggest ways to be funnier? O'Brien: They were more specific and tactical. The network gets very specific data. Say there was a drop in ratings between 12:44 and 12:48 when I was talking to Jon Bon Jovi. I'll be told, "Don't ever talk to him again" Or they'll want me to tease viewers into staying with us: "You should tease that -- say, 'We'll have nudity coming up next!'"
Playboy: You did come close to being cancelled. O'Brien: We were cancelled.
Playboy: Really? You have never admitted that. O'Brien: This is the first time I've talked about it. When I had been on for about a year, there was a meeting at the network. They decided to cancel my show. They said, "It's cancelled." Next day they realized they had nothing to put in the 12:30 slot, so we got a reprieve.
Playboy: Were you worried sick? O'Brien: I went into denial. I tried hard not to think, Yes, I'm bad on the air and my show has none of the things a TV show needs to survive. We had no ratings. No critics in our corner. Advertisers didn't like us. Affiliates wanted to drop us. Sometimes I'd meet a programming director from a local station where we had no rating at all. The guy would show me a printout with no number for Late Night's rating, just a hash mark or pound sign. I didn't dare think about that when I went out to do the show.
Playboy: Are you defending denial? O'Brien: How else does anyone get through a terrible experience? The odds were against me. Rationally, I didn't have much chance. Denial was my only friend. When I look back on the first year, it's like a scene from an old war movie: Ordinary guy gets thrown into combat, somehow beats impossible odds, staggers to safety. His buddy say, "You could have been killed!" The guy stops and thinks. "Could have been killed?" he says. His eyes cross and he faints.
Playboy: How did you dodge the bullet? O'Brien: There were people at NBC who stood up for me. I will always be indebted to Don Ohlmeyer, who stuck to his guns. Don said, "We chose this guy. We should stick with him unless we get a better plan." He was brutally honest. He came to me and said, "Give me about a 15 percent bump in the ratings and you'll stay on the air. If not, we're going to move on."
Playboy: Ohlmeyer started his career in the sports division. O'Brien: Exactly, his take was, "You're on our team." Of course, it wasn't exactly rational of Don to hope I'd be 15 percent funnier. It was like telling a farmer, "It better rain this week or we'll take your farm away."
Playboy: What did you say to Ohlmeyer? O'Brien: There wasn't time. I had to go out and do a monologue. But I will always be indebted to Don because he told me the truth. Wait a minute -- you have tricked me into talking lovingly about an NBC executive. Let me say that there were others who were beneath contempt -- executives who wouldn't know a good show if it swam up their asses and lit a campfire.
Playboy: Finally the ratings went your way. Hard work rewarded? O'Brien: Well, I also paid off the Nielsen people. That was $140,000 well spent.
Playboy: Ohlmeyer plus bribery saved you? O'Brien: There was something else. Just when everyone was kicking the crap out of the show, Letterman defended me.
Playboy: Letterman had signed off on NBC saying, "I don't really know Conan O'Brien, but I heard he killed someone." O'Brien: Then I pick up the paper and he's saying he thinks I am going to make it. "They do some interesting, innovative stuff over there," he says. "I think Conan will prevail." And then he came on as a guest. Remember, this was when we were at our nadir. There was no Machiavellian reason for David Letterman, who at the time was the biggest thing in show business, to be on my show.
Playboy: Why did he do it? O'Brien: I'm still not sure. Maybe out of a sense of honor. Fair play. And it woke me up. It made me think. Hey, we have a real fucking television show here.
Of six or seven pivotal points in my short history here, that was the first and maybe the biggest. I wouldn't be sitting here -- I probably wouldn't even exist today -- if he hadn't done our show.
Playboy: The Late Night wars were hardly noted for friendly gestures. O'Brien: How little you understand. Jay, Dave and I pal around all the time. We often ride a bicycle built for three up to the country. "Nice job with Fran Drescher!" "Thanks, pal. You weren't so bad with John Tesh." We sleep in triple-decker bunk beds and snore in unison like the Three Stooges.
Playboy: You talk more about Letterman than your NBC teammate Leno. O'Brien: I hate the "Leno or Letterman, who's better?" question. I can tell you that Jay has been great to me. He calls me occasionally.
Playboy: To say what? O'Brien: (Doing Leno's voice) "Hey, liked that bit you did last night." Or he'll say he saw we got a good rating. I call him at work, too. It can be a strange conversation because we're so different. Jay, for instance, really loves cars. He's got antique cars with kerosene lanterns, cars that run on peat moss. He'll be telling me about some classic car he has, made entirely of brass and leather, and I'll say, "Yeah, man, I got the Taurus with the vinyl." One thing we have in common is bad guests. There are certain actors, celebrities with nothing to say, who move through the talk show world wreaking havoc. They lay waste to Dave's town and Jay's town, then head my way.
Playboy: You must be getting some good guests. Your ratings have shown a marked improvement. O'Brien: Remember, when you're on at 12:30 the Nielsens are based on 80 people. My ratings drop if one person has a head cold and goes to bed early.
Playboy: Actually, you're seen by about 3 million people a night. Your ratings would be even higher if college dorms weren't excluded from the Nielsens. How many points does that cost you? O'Brien: I told you I'm an idiot. Now I have to do math too?
Playboy: Do you still get suggestions from NBC executives? O'Brien: Not as many. The number of notes you get is inversely proportional to your ratings.
Playboy: What keeps you motivated? O'Brien: Superstition. We have a stagehand, Bobby Bowman, who holds up the curtain when I run out for the monologue. He is the last person I see before the show starts, and I have to make him laugh before I go out. It started with mild jabs: "Bobby, you're drunk again." Bobby laughs, "Heehee."" Then it was, "Still having trouble with the wife, Bobby?" But after hundreds of shows, you find yourself running out of lines. It's gotten to where I do crass things at the last second. I'll put his hand on my ass and yell, "You fucking pervert!" Or drop to my knees and say, "Come on, Bobby, I'll give you a blow job!"
"Ha-ha. Conan, you're crazy," he says. But even that stuff wears off. Soon, I'll be making the writers work late to give me new jokes for Bobby.
Playboy: Did you plan to be a talk show host or did you fall into the job? O'Brien: I was an Irish Catholic kid from St. Ignatius parish in Brookline, outside of Boston. And that meant: Don't call attention to yourself. Don't ask for too much when the pie comes around. Don't get a girl pregnant and fuck up your life.
Playboy: Were you an alter boy? O'Brien: I wanted to be an alter boy, but the priest at St. Ignatius said, "No, no. You're good on your feet, kid," and made me a lector. A scripture reader at Mass. He was the one who spotted my talent.
Playboy: What did you think of sex in those days? O'Brien: I was sexually repressed. At 16 I still thought human reproduction was by mitosis.
Playboy: How did you get over your sexual repression? O'Brien: Who says I got over it? My leg has been jiggling this whole time.
Playboy: What were you like in high school? O'Brien: Like a crane galumphing down the hall. A crane with weird hair, bad skin and Clearasil. Big enough for basketball but lousy at it. My older brothers were better. I would compensate by running around the court doing comedy, saying, "Look out, this player has a drug addiction. He's incredibly egotistical."
I was an asshole at home, too. My little brother Justin loved playing cops and robbers, but I kept tying him up with bureaucratic bullshit. When he'd catch me, I'd say, "I get to call my lawyer." Then it was, "OK, Justin, we're at trial and you've been charged with illegal arrest. Fill out these forms in triplicate." Justin was eight; he hated all the lawsuits and countersuits. He just cried.
Playboy: Were you a class clown? O'Brien: Never. I was never someone who walked into a room full of strangers and started telling jokes. You had to get to know me before I could make you laugh. The same thing happened with Late Night. I needed to get the right rhythm with Andy and Max and the audience.
Playboy: So how did you finally learn about sex? O'Brien: My parents gave me a book, but it was useless. At the crucial moment, all it showed was a man and a woman with the bed covers pulled up to their chins. I tried to find out more from friends, but it didn't help. One childhood friend told me it was like parking a car in a garage. I kept worrying about poisonous fumes. What if the fumes build up? Should you shut off the engine?
Playboy: For all your talk about being repressed, you can be rowdy on the air. O'Brien: The show is my escape valve. When I tear off my shirt and gyrate my pelvis like Robert Plant, feigning orgasm into the microphone, that shows how repressed I am -- a guy who wants to push his sex at the lens but can only do it as a joke.
Playboy: Aren't you tempted to live it up? O'Brien: I always imagined that if I were a TV star I would live the way I pictured Johnny Carson living. Carousing, stepping out of a limo wearing a velvet ascot with a model on my arm. Now that I have the TV show, I drive up to Connecticut on the weekends and tool around in my car. I could probably join a free-sex cult, smoke crack between orgies and drive sports cars into swimming pools, and my Catholic guilt would still be there, throbbing like a toothache. Be careful. If something good happens, something bad is on the way.
Playboy: Yet you don't mind licking the supermodels. O'Brien: At one point a few of them lived in my building, women who are so beautiful they almost look weird, like aliens. To me, a woman who has a certain approachable amount of beauty becomes almost funny. It's the same with male supermodels. They look like big puppets. So while I admire their beauty I probably won't be "romantically linked" with a model. I'd catch my reflection in a ballroom mirror and break up laughing.
Playboy: The horny Roy Orbison growl you use on gorgeous guests sounds real enough -- O'Brien: Oh, I've been doing that shit since high school. It just never worked before.
Playboy: Your father is a doctor, your mother an attorney. What do they think of their son the comedian? O'Brien: My dad was the one who told me denial was a virtue. "Denial is how people get through horrible things," he said. He also cut out a newspaper article in which I said I was making money off something for which I should probably be treated. So true, he thought. But when I got an Emmy for helping write Saturday Night Live, my parents put it on the mantel next to the crucifix. Here's Jesus looking over, saying, "Wow, I saved mankind from sin, but I wish I had an Emmy."
Playboy: Ever been in therapy? O'Brien: Yes. I don't trust it. I have told therapists that I don't particularly want to feel good. "Repression and fear, that's my fuel." But the therapists said that I had nothing to worry about. "Don't worry Conan you will always be plenty fucked up."
Playboy: When a female guest comes out, how do you know whether to shake her hand or kiss her? Is that rehearsed O'Brien: No, and it's awkward. If you go to shake her hand and her head starts coming right at you, you have to change strategy fast. I have thought about using the show to make women kiss me, but that would probably creep out the people at home. I decided not to kiss Elton John.
Playboy: Do you get all fired up if Cindy Crawford or Rebecca Romijn does the show? O'Brien: I like making women laugh. Always have, ever since I discovered you can get girls' attention by acting like an ass. That's one of the joys of the show -- I'm working my eyebrows and going grrr and she's laughing, the audience is laughing. It's all a big put-on and I'm thinking. This is great. Here is a beautiful woman who has no choice but to put up with this shit.
But it's not always put on. Sometimes they flirt back. Sometimes there's a bit of chemistry. That happened with Jennifer Connelly of The Rocketeer.
Playboy: One guest, Jill Hennessy, took off her pants for you. Then you removed yours. Even Penn and Teller took off their pants. O'Brien: Something comes over me. It happened with Rebecca Romijn -- I was practically climbing her. Those are the times when Andy and the audience seem to disappear and it's just me and this lovely woman sitting there flirting. I keep expecting a waiter to say, "More wine, Monsieur?"
Playboy: Would you lick the wine bottle? O'Brien: It's true, there's a lot of licking on the show. I have licked guests. I have licked Andy. Comedy professionals will read this and say, "Great work, Conan. Impressive." But I have learned that if you lick a guest, people laugh. If I pick this shoe off the floor, examine it, Hmmm, and then lick it, people laugh. I learned this lesson on The Simpsons, where I was the writer who was forever trying to entertain the other writers. I still try desperately to make our writers laugh, which is probably a sign of sickness since they work for me now. Licking is one of those things that look funny.
Playboy: Johnny Carson never licked Ed McMahon. O'Brien: We are much more physical and more stupid than the old Tonight Show. Even in our offices before the show there's always some writer acting out a scene crashing his head through my door. A behind-the-scenes look at our show might frighten people.
Playboy: One night you showed a doctored photo of Craig T. Nelson having sex with Jerry Van Dyke. Did they complain about it? O'Brien: I haven't heard from them. Of course I'm blessed not to be a part of the celebrity pond. I have a television show in New York, an NBC outpost. I don't run with or even run into many Hollywood people.
Playboy: You also announced that Tori Spelling has a penis. O'Brien: I did not. Polly the Peacock said that.
Playboy: Another character you use to say the outrageous stuff. O'Brien: Polly is not popular with the network.
Playboy: You mock Fabio, too. O'Brien: If he sues me, it'll be the best thing that ever happened. A publicity bonanza: Courtroom sketches of Fabio with his man-boobs quivering, shaking his fist, and me shouting at him across the courtroom. I'm not afraid of Fabio. He knows where to find me. I'm saying it right here for the record: Fabio, let's get it on.
Playboy: Ever have a run-in with an angry celeb? O'Brien: I did a Kelsey Grammar joke a few years ago, something about his interesting lifestyle, then heard through the network that he was upset. He had appeared on my show and expected some support. At this point my intellect says, "Kelsey Grammar is a public figure. I was in the right." Then I saw him in an airport. Kelsey didn't see me at first: I could have kept walking. But there he was, eating a cruller in the airport lounge. I thought I should go over. I said hello and then said, "Kelsey, I'm sorry if I upset you." And he was glad. He looked relieved. He said, "Oh, that's OK." We both felt better.
....See my other post with the last third of the interview

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• 🎓 July 17: NCM Application Opens for CPS Applicants (Scholar or Not)

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• August 1: NCM Application Opens for Everyone

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• 🕧 September 26: NCM Application Due
• September 27: Match Agreement Form Opens
• 📋 October 12: Match Agreement Form Due

👏 ADVICE: This paper requires your signature, your parent/guardian’s signature, and your counselor’s signature. If your counselor is busy, please reach out to them early so you can get this done! If you don't manage to get it done on time, then don't worry. Questbridge tends to be lenient with deadlines. But this, of course, isn't ideal. Don't add more stress to the process!

• 🔥 October 18: NCM Finalists Announced

👏 ADVICE: Congratulations if you’re a finalist! If you weren’t selected, consider applying to schools through the Common App and through Questbridge Regular Decision. Notice how there’s about two weeks to write all of your supplements. Try to prevent this time crunch by preparing in advance. Check out this document for the supplementals of the past years! You can also look at your college’s website to see if they posted their supplementals in advance (this usually happens in the summer). Make sure to only look at the school’s supplemental essays for Questbridge people. Colleges will usually require NCM applicants to write less because the initial NCM application has a lot of writing already.

• November 1: Ranked Colleges Supplemental Essays, Financials, Test Scores (if you're submitting), etc. Due

👏 ADVICE: Don’t wait until the last minute to do your financials (FAFSA and CSS Profile). There have been countless web maintenance delays for FAFSA this year, so try to do it as soon as possible. The FAFSA should open on October 1, 2024, and you will be using 2023 tax forms to fill out the information. Additionally, you will be filing for the 2025-2026 FAFSA Form because that’ll be when you’re in college. You and your parents will need to create individual accounts too. You will fill out the FAFSA for yourself even if you do or don’t file taxes, and your parents/guardians will file their own taxes (or you can do it for them). It will take a while for FAFSA information to be sent to schools, so don’t delay! The CSS Profile is a more thorough version of FAFSA. There’s also an extension of the CSS Profile called IDOC which is a website where you will upload your tax forms in the form of images. The CSS Profile and IDOC will take time to send your documents as well, so be sure to get it done early. 👏 ADVICE pt. 2: It's going to be hard to take your mind off of December 1, but try to fill up your schedule with the things and people you love! Avoid burning out by practicing healthy habits such as exercising, sleeping 8 hours a day, meditating, journaling, etc.

• 👀 December 1: Match Day

👏 ADVICE: You’ve made it through the process! Whether or not you matched, be proud of your hard work. It’s easy to tie your self-worth to QB and college admissions, but remember that your value isn’t defined by this. If you qualified for QB but didn't match, you’ll likely qualify for amazing aid or a full ride outside of the NCM. Consider using QB Regular Decision and/or the Common App to apply to more colleges you love. You’ll find success regardless of where you go, create great memories, and meet amazing people. Stay positive and keep persevering like you always have!
Post inspired by SpiralKim72's advice for the 23-24 cycle (Check out their profile! They clarify many aspects of the QB process and give great advice from interviews to the RD process).
Additional, but Maybe Slightly Outdated Resources:

• Questbridge College Partners List
• Questbridge NCM Application Components
• Questbridge Partner Admission Rates (overall, not limited to just QB admit rates)

Untying the Knots of the Twelve-Letter Alphabet
https://www.astrologyinstitute.com/articleprofile/articles/2016/untying-the-knots-of-the-twelve-letter-alphabet
12 Letter Alphabet Exposed
https://westernastrology.net/12-letter-alphabet-exposed-part-a/
https://westernastrology.net/12letter-alphabet-exposed-part-b/
Liberating Uranus and Aquarius – From Each Other
http://www.astrologyinstitute.com/articleprofile/articles/2016/liberating-uranus-and-aquarius-from-each-other
Probing Pluto and Scorpio, Clarifying Neptune and Pisces
http://www.astrologyinstitute.com/articleprofile/articles/2015/untangling-astrologys-symbols-part3
10 Astrology Habits to Break.
https://ambientastrology.com/articles/2016/3/25/10-astrology-habits-to-break
https://soulfriendastrology.com/category/learning-astrology/
12 Letter Alphabet Exposed
FIRST HOUSE
While the words; are a manner of speech there might be less confusion if they were replaced with "present": The first house shows how we present as an individual. This presentation includes attitude, physical health, demeanor and appearance, among other things.
The first house is much more than how we strike out as an individual. It can actually show a ‘wait and see attitude’. If a passive sign is on the ascendant or the ascendant ruler in a passive sign there will be less ‘striking out’ and more withdrawal or cautious approach to life.
With other factors such as the house location of its ruler and aspects to the ascendant, the first house shows temperament style and general attitude to life, which may be nothing akin to Mars or Aries.
The odds are only one in twelve that the sign on the ascendant will be Aries and the wide scope of other possible expressions cannot all be described as Arian or Martian.
Neither should we restrict the red planet to its daytime domicile of Aries. It is also the nocturnal ruler of Scorpio although this is rarely considered or understood.
Associating Mars with the first house also ignores the other two planets which have a connection to this house.
The first is Mercury, which has its joy in the first house. The joys of the planets is a worthwhile study of its own.
Mercury has a natural association with the brain and head and this correlates well with the association of the first house with the head.
Mercury is also associated with speech and communication.
Mars has no natural association with the head or brain, unless you are thinking of using your head as a battering ram!
In the system of planetary joys Mars is placed in the sixth house of injuries and sickness, a place where it is at home.
The first house straddles the boundary between day and night which is an apt fit for adaptable Mercury as the go-between.
Saturn also has a first house association because this is where the soul is entrapped within the body as it incarnates. Saturn is the natural ruler of doorways and the first house is the soul’s doorway into physical life. The eighth house of death is the exit doorway, also associated with Saturn.
SECOND HOUSE:
Yes Taurus is about stability and physical comforts and pleasure, but has little to do with money itself. Venus, the planet which rules Taurus, is about the comforts that money can buy, the adornments and beautiful things. But money itself is represented by Mercury, the natural ruler of exchange and financial dealings. Mercury does the buying and Venus does the enjoying. Venus does not represent money; that is Mercury’s domain.
Jupiter the planet of wealth and prosperity, has a natural association with the second house. In the Chaldean order of the planets Jupiter follows Saturn. Saturn is associated with the first house, Jupiter with the second house.
THIRD HOUSE:
It is understandable that, at first glance, the third house would seem to have an association with Gemini and Mercury.
However in previous generations it was clearly understood that the third house was the house of the "goddess", and the Moon had a special relationship with this house.
In horary astrology the Moon is frequently seen as conveying messages between other planets in its role as ‘the translator of light’. Among the seven classical planets it is the fastest moving body, linking planets as it aspects one and then to another. This sequential linking is very significant in questions about communication, linking people together, or the movement of goods. In this latter respect it also has an association with transport.
FOURTH HOUSE:
Historically the 4th house is associated with foundations and property, the land, deep roots, mines and wealth from under the ground.
Compare these fixed traits to that most fluid and movable of planets: the Moon. This is not a good fit. The changeable Moon is much better suited to the busy comings and goings of the 3rd house.
In the ancient model of the “4 Ages of Man” the IC is associated with the winter of our lives. Yet in the northern hemisphere where Western astrology arose the Sun passes through Cancer at the height of summer. Neither is the 4th house a good fit for Cancer.
Historically the 4th house is associated with the father, not the mother.
FIFTH HOUSE:
The Sun is the supreme ‘Commander-in-Chief’, the symbol of might and mastery, power, truth, light and enlightenment. The superior planets genuflect and step backwards in retrograde motion when they come face to face in opposition with the Sun, and all the planets disappear in his blinding light when in conjunction with the Sun.
The fifth house is the house of fun and frivolity, parties pleasure and entertainment. In a sense this is the most superficial of houses and is in no way deserving as the home of the Lord of the Heavens.
The Sun represents so much more than parties, children, pleasure and sporting games. The importance of these activities pales into insignificance when faced with the majesty of his presence. In many religions and spiritual systems the image of god or the force which guides the universe has a solar representation.
To suggest that the Sun is restricted to the rulership of the house of fun and creativity is to diminish his great power and demonstrates a profound misunderstanding of his role in the heavens and in astrological interpretation.
In the diagram above describing the joys of the planets we see that the Sun rejoices in the ninth house, the house of higher learning, spirituality, and the search for the ultimate meaning of life. The joys of the planets describe places where planets are most comfortable and ‘feel at home’. The Sun is much more comfortable than in the ninth house of spirituality than in the fifth house of frivolity.
Neither is Leo a good fit for the fifth house as it is regarded as a barren sign because of its dryness. The 5th has long been known as the house of sex procreation and children. In horary astrology in questions of fertility and in electional astrology when choosing a suitable time for conception Leo on the ascendant or on the fifth house cusp is generally avoided because of its association with infertility and sterility.
To link the sign associated with barrenness with the house associated with fertility and creativity shows a misunderstanding of basic astrological principles.
SIXTH HOUSE:
Confusions relating to the meaning of the sixth house are worthy of an article on its own.
The association with work in the sense of career or profession can be attributed to a misreading of Lilly where he refers to the 6th house as the house of service. He was actually referring to servitude and servants.
The modern equivalent are the working poor doing menial jobs, in the service of another. There has never been, at least until recent times, a sense that the 6th house is associated with anything resembling a career. Historically this is, among other meanings, the house of slaves. While perhaps there are few real slaves in the Western world, the unskilled worker going from job to job is a close equivalent. These workers are typically more lacking in skills, rather than being skilled.
Going back to the objection mentioned above that Virgo is focused I am not sure how focus is a noteworthy trait of the sixth house, or even that Virgo is especially focused. Virgo is after all a double-bodied sign. Scorpio Aries and Capricorn also have some claim to being focused.
It is more common for people to confuse the sixth house with Virgo because of Virgo’s association with health. However the sixth house is not the house of health; that honour belongs to the first house. The sixth house is the house of ill-health and also injuries, the opposite of health. The preoccupation with exercise and diet typically associated with Virgo is better explained by the combination of the dry earth qualities of Virgo when combined with its discerning ruler: Mercury.
It is the first house which is the house of life and health and vitality. Mercury rejoices in this house and is much more comfortable here than in the sixth house of sickness and injuries.
It is Mars which rejoices in the sixth house. It is of course the minor malefic and is well suited to the house where the slings and arrows of outrageous misfortune beset us all from time to time. Incidentally in mundane astrology the sixth house is associated with the military which has an obvious connection with Mars.
SEVENTH HOUSE:
Yes the seventh house is about relationships of all types. As well as amorous relationships and contractual business type relationships, also included are adversarial relationships with open enemies and those involving a sporting or other type of contest.
Relationships involving open conflict can hardly be confused with the graciousness associated with Libra or the pleasantness associated with Venus. These relationships could better be described as Martian. As the enemy rides over hill towards you, rifle at the ready with bayonet attached, Venus is nowhere to be seen. These situations are better described by Mars. So should we associate Aries and Mars with the seventh house, as well as Libra and Venus? The logic is similar. It should not be ignored that the seventh house is as much about engagement with the enemy as it is with the lover or friend.
The seventh house is about ‘the other’ we engage with, for whatever reason, whether it be the terrorist or the lover, the violent bully or the loving spouse. The relationships associated with the seventh house can be associated with love or hate. The seventh house is primarily about the people we engage with, and the type of engagement cannot be restricted to just Venus or Libra. The planet which usually best describes the type of engagement is the one ruling the sign on the seventh house cusp or a planet conjoining the descendant.
EIGHTH HOUSE:
The confusion concerning the eighth house is connected both with the adoption of Pluto as Scorpio's modern ruler and the adoption of the '12 letter Alphabet'; system by some astrologers. In the 12 letter Alphabet, invented by Zip Dobyns, the meaning of the houses planets and signs are merged. For example the eighth house, Scorpio, and Pluto are seen to have a similar theme, referred to as an archetype. Pluto's association with transformation and regeneration and Scorpio's association with sex are both transferred to the eighth house.
However the eighth house is the house of death. While it's true that some astrologers have associated the eighth house with sex because sexual orgasm is sometimes called ‘the little death, the purpose of sex is to procreate, to bring life into the world, not death.
Previous to the modern era the eighth house was not associated with sex. This modern confusion is perpetrated by a misunderstanding of the primary functions of the houses. Sex is a fifth house matter. Death and bringing life into the world are opposite things. One should not be confused with the other.
I have often heard it said that death is only one form of transformation and somehow this justifies assigning transformation as a core meaning for the eighth house, which in turn validates Scorpio’s and Pluto’s association with the eighth house.
It is ironic that Pluto's mythical association with rape is rarely mentioned in conversations about eighth house sexual activity.
The tangled web of confusions associated with the interchange of Scorpio Pluto and the eighth house is mind boggling and really does take us a long way from the real meaning of the eighth house. Followers of the 12 Letter Alphabet system associate intimacy with the eighth house because of its new association connection with Pluto.
The core meanings of the eighth house have to do with death in the physical and real sense; fear and loss; the resources of those we engage with, and inheritance.
The eighth house is not a particular pleasant place no matter how much we might like to romanticize it or give it a positive spin. The sign on the cusp of the eighth house and the planet which rules that sign are what is relevant in any type of astrological interpretation of the 8th house.
NINTH HOUSE:
We tend to liken Jupiter to philosophy and religion and the attribution of Jupiter to the 9th House fits fairly well. (Jupiter is also the planet associated with the Ninth in the wheel of houses that begins with Saturn as the First.) The Ninth was the place of the “Sun God” in ancient astrology and was strongly associated with public religious practice; yet, like the Third, it was also associated with dreams, prophecy, and divination. The Ninth House being associated with higher education or long journeys is a later addition.
The planet in joy in the Ninth House is the Sun and, for a place that is cadent, the Ninth gets a lot of sunlight and the Sun can be happy here. It also fits well with the deification of the Sun’s power in many cosmologies and religions throughout history. It may also conform to the image of Sun as a planet of higher intellect, as the light of reason.
TENTH HOUSE:
Astrologers after my lifetime or yours will look at this affiliation with bewilderment. Archetypally mixing the House of career, reputation, and fame to Saturn and Capricorn is itself enough to throw out the entire Twelve Letter Alphabet system.
You might retort, “But it’s the place of one’s boss!” I answer that there are many kinds of bosses and they’re not all oppressive. The dimensions of leadership and mentorship – solar and not saturnine factors – are prominent Tenth House factors.
The 10th is the traditional place of one’s “action” – career, calling, fame and reputation. I include a larger sense of “vocation”, so that if you work retail by day but are a political activist or animal rights advocate otherwise, the latter would be included within your Tenth House. If a “lifestyle” includes neighborhood vigilantism, being a “survivalist”, or attending a lot of funerals, that person’s Tenth House would qualify as Saturnine.
Capricorn, as the cardinal earth sign, governed by a heavy nocturnal (feminine sign) Saturn, and the place and time of least light in the Northern Hemisphere, is completely out of place in the public and daylight-filled Tenth. Because the Tenth is place of authority, it is far closer in meaning to the Sun than the gray planet Saturn.
ELEVENTH HOUSE:
In ancient times the 11th, the “Place of the Good Spirit (or daimon)”, was a place of fortune and abundance. According to traditional sources Jupiter is in joy in the Eleventh, befitting a place that is considered so fortunate. (The Eleventh is the House opposite the 5th, the Place of Good Fortune and the joy of Venus, the other benefic.) The Eleventh House became the place of “hopes and wishes” and later the place of friendship and social groups; “hopes and wishes” is more in line with the original meaning of the Eleventh House.
Is this like the fixed air sign Aquarius? The “Water-Bearer” has a linear mental quality and a tendency to become conceptual that is not particularly like the Eleventh House in its original meanings. Aquarius is a sign of social responsibility and objective mind, and Aquarius relates well to a diurnal (masculine sign) Saturn that is a lighter Saturn than the one who governs Capricorn. However, if you confine the Eleventh House to friendships and social groups, the affiliation with the diurnal Saturn isn’t such a problem.
Things become much more confusing when astrologers mix up Aquarius with the outer planet Uranus, the planet of eccentricity, suddenness, and genius, and then try to bring in the Eleventh House. Uranus is quite different from the fixed mental “human” sign Aquarius. Uranus is rebellious, radically individualistic, and is deliberately outside convention. Aquarius, the sign opposite Leo, is humanitarian and oriented more toward groups and cultures than individuals. To bring this confusion to the Eleventh House only makes this problem worse; it obscures the original benevolent and protective quality of this house which is well demonstrated by Jupiter’s traditional association.
TWELTH HOUSE:
There are many difficulties here, and many are based on the distorted ways that the sign Pisces has been defined. But first let’s look at the Twelfth House by itself.
Like the Sixth and Eighth, the Twelfth is also disconnected to the Ascendant and is also a place about life’s difficulties. The Twelfth is a cadent house that in ancient astrology was the Place of the “Bad Spirit.” In the outer world the Twelfth is where we locate prisons, confinement in institutions, and dark hidden places. More internally, this is the place of being haunted – by previous karma, psychological “unfinished business,” and other manners of “self-doing” that come about because of what we cannot see. Psychological astrologers have looked to the Twelfth House for unacknowledged factors that may wreak havoc on one’s person and within one’s relationships. This is in keeping with the qualities of this house.
This all seems very different from the mutable watery sign Pisces that is flowing, changeable, and can develop different disguises for its personal and social roles. Pisces, as a quality of mind, has a strongly intuitive nonlinear bent. Unlike the planet Neptune, however, natives with prominent Pisces placements manage to maintain their identity even if that identity is not well-defined. Both the sign Pisces and its purported ruler Neptune are a far cry from the vice grip many of have experienced when in conditions of external or internal confinement.
Jupiter, the great benefic and the traditional ruler of Pisces, is even farther away from the significations of the Twelfth House. Jupiter – especially in the feminine sign Pisces – brings intuition of possibilities that is often called “faith” or “hope”. The Twelfth, however, is where cold reality comes at us from behind often with harmful intent; it is far closer to Saturn than Jupiter. And Saturn is, of course, the “joy” of the Twelfth House.

I work for an MSP. We have some customers (including this one) who cannot afford downtime due to the nature of their business. They used to run on a self-hosted email server which was dying a slow death, so whenever there was even a slight blip in their emails going down or running slowly, our phones would light up like a Christmas tree.
We receive several calls one day to say that *everybody's* emails are running slowly and they are finding it impossible to work. Every email takes 10+ seconds to open and it is impeding their workflow.
I connect to a machine and test it out for myself, see the exact issue several times over, then notice that the issue doesn't occur on every email, only the ones with their signature in it. I also notice that their email signatures have changed slightly since I last spoke with them. I send a test email to myself for further analysis, at which point I determine (as you may have surmised from the title of my post) that their new email signatures are 12MB in size.
Their email signatures are a single image, no text. This has always been the case, but now they had a new design, thanks to a new member of their marketing department, who must surely have some expertise in Photoshop and should know that making an email signature 9000x14000px is ridiculous, right?
Of course not. So, the marketing department create a humongous template, pass it onto the office administrator who doesn't know any better, then task her with creating 100+ signatures for the entire business, including an instruction sheet on how to change your email signature. Cue every member of the company complaining about Outlook slowing to a crawl.
I explain the issue to the office admin who is handing all of these email signatures out, suggest that she speaks with the user in marketing who created the template, then distributes new (smaller) email signatures to everybody again. I even offer a few ideas on the most efficient way to go about this, but I never receive a response. I do, however, see users' emails begin to speed up over the course of the next week or so.
The strange part now is that every email signature seems to be slightly different. Slightly different resolutions, even some looking somewhat blurry. Eventually, User1 out in the field calls our office, saying he's having problems attaching his new email signature. I connect, ask him to show me where the file is, and he points to a PDF on his desktop, saying that he can't find the option to attach it.
I explain that "You can't attach a PDF, you need the image file. I suggest you speak with [office administrator] and ask her to send you this again in the right format." User1 says no problem, will do, I disconnect and we end the call. User1 then emails me + the office administrator, requesting the signature in an image format. Office administrator replies "That's the correct format, just follow the instructions attached."
It turns out that their apparent workaround to the 9000x14000px issue is the following:

1. Recreate the email signature in Photoshop
2. Not reduce the resolution of the signature at all
3. Print them as a PDF, still in 9000x14000
4. Send the PDF to the relevant user with their signature in it
5. Advise the user to open the PDF, open Snipping Tool, and take a screenshot of the signature in the PDF
6. Save the screenshot, then use that as your email signature

This explains why the signatures were all different sizes and of different quality. I tried again to advise that this wasn't an efficient way to manage their signatures, but was met with silence in response. Eventually, the users changed their signatures using their internally-advised "method" leaving them all with mismatched email signatures.
At least Outlook was running better again for everybody.

I just wanted to share a fabulous fantasy series that I have had the pleasure of reading this week. I love it so much and I just had to gush about it (apologies in advance for the long post). Im talking about the wonderfully written, sexy and snarky {Fae Tricksters series by SL Prater}. I listened to the series as audiobooks and the vocal performances by Victoria Aston and Liam Price were quite fun.
The first 2 books {Court of Tricksters} and {King of Tricksters} in the series are essentially one novel with a marriage of convenience plot set in a Regency-ish heavy on the ish fantasy world of fae, humans and other monsters. The MMC Night is a fae duke who needs to speedily get married so he can avoid getting involved in court intrigue and keep his duchy safe. For the last 30 days he has been courting and exchanging gifts with the FMC, Rain, a fae witch and retired soldier who lives with her cat familiar in the forest. Night is hoping Rain's battle prowess can help him keep his people safe. Rain finds him attractive but is not interested in getting married. Night is pressed for time and is feeling a mate bond developing between them so he decides to kidnap her in an old fae marriage custom to see if he can convince her to marry him.
This duology was adorable. What I liked:
*Prater takes some fantasy tropes about the fae and upends them.
*She gives us tons of witty banter, sexual tension, two interesting MCs and a whole host of vibrant side characters with interesting world building and some high stakes.
*In this series its the FMCs who are reluctant to fall in love.
*And it all comes to a really satisfying conclusion (and there are no babies in the epilogue).
The next in the series {Wedded to the Wanton Witch by SL Prater} was even better then the previous installments despite the horrible title. Its set in the same world but has a more cozy fantasy low stakes with spice feel to it. Lady Frances is a "spinster" half fae half human witch who needs to marry quickly to save her fathers estates from falling into financial ruin after a he made bad business deal. Because Frances' reputation has been ruined she is ready to marry whomever has the funds to keep the estate afloat. The MMC Jonas is a fae from the wrong side of the tracks who has amassed tons of wealth and now wants a marriage of convenience with a titled lady who can give him the respectability that money cant buy. Frances and Jonas decide that as sparks fly when they spar at each other they may as well give marriage a try.
This novel has so much to love. What I liked:
*It has a rivals to lovers feel to it.
*The MCs have such good witty banter a la Nick and Nora of the Thin Man movies levels of banter.
*Epistolary Their banter continues into letters they write to each other.

• I give major props to Prater for not having only P in V sex.

*We get cameos from beloved characters from earlier in the series and also get introduced to a new cast of entertaining side characters for a found family vibe.
*And most importantly we see two MCs get vulnerable with each other and fall in love.
{Mated to the Mad Marquess by SL Prater} the fourth book was sweet and had lots of the elements that I loved in previous books. For those that like their smut, I give props to Prater for creating an MMC that likes a woman to sit on his face (thats definitely a first for me in reading fantasy romance).
Please give this wonderful series a try. Im off to finish the last book in the series after which I will go into a book slump. Happy reading!

I am F17, and a local coffee shop to my town just opened up near me. I spoke to the owner today and she told me to fill out their online application, but I need help because I have never worked a job before and don't have any experience being a barista (I think she said that was ok). I'm not sure what to put on my cover letteresume or how to format it so it will stand out, so I can land the job. Some experience I do have is volunteering at hospitals, in which I volunteered at a front desk dealing with all kinds of different people and kind of directing them where to go, giving directions and help in general with different errands around the hospital. I would appreciate help on my resume and cover letter.

10th Moon, 25 AC
The Red Keep
Visenya had sat silently as the realm bandied around accusations of cowardice and supremacy, when Carolei Royce had suggested that the Cavaliers become a knightly order along with their companions in the Vale. In truth, Visenya had wanted to say something, but the noise had been foul. If she had spoken, she may have done something she would regret, and-
The many thoughts had rushed around in her mind for hours, but she had pushed them all down. She had slept on them, buried them, but they had come back.
And some things could not be left to rest. Anger between House Grafton and House Belaerys could not continue. The Vale and Aegon's Rest were both valuable allies of her son, and of her. She would not allow them to tear each other apart.
But young men would be young men. Aelor and Marq would have to bleed this argument out of each other.
Yet the grudge could not spread.
And thus, after a cold bath, the Queen sat down behind her desk in her quarters. Two letters would be sent with runners across the city not long after.
This business would be settled.