#358 words

[therachelstcyr]

7:10am

I can’t help but wonder if I shouldn’t have said those things to you. What would have happened if I didn’t read the signs all wrong? Would we still be friends? Lovers? Or would things be as they are now? I can’t help but let my thoughts linger at all the possibilities. Analyzing every little detail in our words, our touch, it feels like an endless loop of pleasure and misery shared between us.

I’m unhappy, but you aren’t to blame for my sadness, at least I don’t want to put that blame on you. You and I were honest from the start and I was the one who ruined it. I don’t want to sad over you or be sad for me, but it’s the only emotion my brain will let me feel. I try to be happy, I try to ease the sadness little by little, but when I see you, hear you, I can’t stop the urge to cry. Gosh, when did I become so weak, so vulnerable to the pain?

I don’t understand your actions nor can I put the blame on you. Everyone reacts differently, everyone has their reasons. I don’t blame you; I won’t blame you. I’ll try to stop the sadness I feel, the need to try and fix us, but I need you to also stop being there for me. I don’t want to see you sad; I don’t want to see you deprive yourself for others, but at the same time, it’s not my place to care anymore. Maybe I do want you to be sad, to feel the pain I feel, to know what it’s like when you care about someone so much, but they can’t even give a small percentage of reciprocation. I don’t want to care for your happiness and if you’ll ever be happy again. I wish you heartbreak and sorrow for breaking me down, for making me cry every night since you left, for making me feel like I was worthless.

In another life, I wish for our souls to be happy, to never cross paths again. That is my final wish for us.

[asheespiquantpeculiarities]

Tentacle Aliens 6

Mnh… it was one of those mornings.

One where the bed was just too comfortable. All soft and warm and all too cuddly to move. Yet.

I rolled from my side onto my back. The day hadn’t even started and I wanted to sleep again.

It felt warm and nice and heavy.

I sighed.

Something moved through my hair, gently, carefully.

The warmth turned cold, the calm turned to panic, the nice to terror.

“AH!”, I grabbed the blanket, rolled myself up in it, laid down on the other and only barely looked out of my cocoon.

When I looked up, I saw a man, with his brows raised: “That… was not a threatening gesture”

I knew that voice. And retreated into the corner behind me, staring at him with a deep frown.

 I… didn’t recognize the face. But I did recognise the voice and the horror came back all the way. It had started just the same, with pets, and this won’t happen again and holy shit.

A shiver ran down my spine.

But even wrapped in the blanket – wherever it came from – I felt that I was… not like I was the day before. I felt… normal. Kind of.

My stomach was somewhat roiling when I thought about what happened… what happened then.

I kept my eyes trained on the leg having man in front of me.

Experience showed that I wouldn’t be able to do much, but I certainly wouldn’t make it easy for him. The bastard.

From the side, I heard someone clear their throat.

“I am glad you are awake again, miss Jibril”, I knew that voice, too. It was a lot more expressive now. It was friendly. And when I glanced over for a second, I saw the giant was actually smiling, too.

…weird.

“Since we have concluded the traditional rite of greeting between alien and human as close and as satisfying as possible, I hope we can establish a dialogue after this sign of good wi-“

“The WHAT?!”, now I did stare at the weird giant. Who looked… innocently surprised, somewhat.

But… ‘traditional rite of greeting’?!

What was wrong with him!

[ecofreako]

Eco Friendly Ways to Save Money

I know going completely “green” is a huge commitment—but it doesn't have to be that hard. I’ve set up a short list of ways you can be more eco-freako (like me!) without having to commit so intensely… and you can save money in the process... its a win-win (-win-win-win-win-win forever).

Top 6 eco friendly ways to save money 1. OK, bear with me because this is going to sound weird. Put a brick in your toilet tank. Yes, you read that right: putting a brick in a plastic bag, and dropping it in your tank can turn your inefficient toilet into a low flow toilet, reducing the amount of water wasted on every flush! 

2. Take advantage of the fact that its “in” to be thrifty. You can get almost anything you need--clothes, furniture, electronics, books--second hand at a thrift store, and reduce your consumer footprint while being trendy af.

3. Don’t buy your favorite newspaper or magazine in a physical form. Today, almost all magazines and newspapers are online—a lot of them are even free! Reading online saves trees and energy, as well as saving you dat ca$h monay.

4.The average woman spends more than $15,000 on beauty products in her lifetime *insert sad pepe meme*. Why not cut down this cost and the damage to your skin (some products even have mercury in them… ew!) by opting for DIY beauty products. Click here to see some of these DIY skin and hair products to help you stay healthy and happy.

5. Here’s a huge pet peeve of mine: plastic water bottles. What a waste! Buy a reusable water bottle and just DRINK TAP WATER! And if that’s not clean where you're living, then try a water bottle with a filter. An estimated 80% of water bottles don't get recycled, which means its takes three times the amount of water in a water bottle to produce just one bottle.

6. This one is going to sound lame, but it’s honestly one of the best things you can do: educate everyone else. The more people that are aware of the problem, the more people that will try to fix it.

[customerpsychologyculture-blog]

The first minute and a half of the video sets the scene by telling a story, getting the audience in a state of comfort from the familiarity of the images. With the symptoms gradually making their way in with the visuals and audio being distorted.

As the promotional video takes the form of a Snapchat story a line of text can be added to the visuals. To get straight to the point we used tabloid thinking, which is used by tabloids, when creating headlines getting a broad topic across to the reader in a simple way. Allowing us to be able to cut through the noise while persuading our audience about not taking drugs.

With this in turn allowing for salience and other persuasive techniques to be presented within the video. For example, the video playing on the emotions of the audience by acting out scenarios. Sam Ham states through the TORE model that purposefully targets how audiences think, feel, and behave. Envisioning their ‘pathways and mechanisms’ make this process easier (Ham, 2007).

The Snapchat platform allows for there to be targeted visuals allowing for reinforcement to the fact that overdoses happen all the time, instead of just stating that it happens. Also the visuals act out as a mirror to the audience, triggering a reflective process.

With the use of the shock factor, the ending is left open for interpretation to the viewer. Encouraging the audience to think about whether it is worth the risk whatever the outcome also emphasising that the outcome will be different every time.

There are several rhetorical questions throughout the campaign with aims to make the audience think about the choices that they are making. Along with seeing if their opinions change from the beginning to the end of the campaign. With the same ‘Do you still want to join the party?’ question being asked at the beginning and the end.

As well as using rhetorical to provoke thought, a statistic was placed at the end to back up the video. Along with bringing a sense of reality to the issue and gets rid of the ‘it wont happen to me’ mentality.