#appen

[ebizmarket]

Appen Tasks: Is live or is it Memorex?

Could everyone who is currently doing micro-tasks on Appen please raise their hand? :) 🤚

[turbocam-frmly-sloppypears]

Letters To Match Fanchildren Pt 2

Finally, I made more of them!

Got various inspirations for many fanchildren. (Ship inspo: character.ai)

yay rarepairs 🌟🎶

Assets!

[howandreviews]

My Experience Working at Appen

Appen

Appen, an internationally acclaimed technology services company, has been at the forefront of providing high-quality training data, annotation, and linguistic services since its inception in 1996. The company has emerged as a significant player in the field of data annotation and machine learning services. From personal experience, Appen offers an excellent platform for individuals seeking to work remotely, providing an array of work-from-home jobs. 

Independent Contractor

As an independent contractor, I’ve been involved in numerous projects, ranging from search engine evaluation to micro tasks and voice projects. If you don’t succeed in one project, Appen provides a plethora of options, ensuring that there’s always an opportunity to explore.

The working hours at Appen vary significantly depending on factors like the project you’re working on, your availability, and workload requirements. There might be requirements to work a specific number of hours per week, while at other times, your workload would depend solely on your availability. My projects ranged from 1 to 4 hours, and occasionally, I managed to work up to 8 hours a day when extra work was available. Therefore, the workload can vary extensively depending on the project.

Flexible Work

One of the significant advantages of working with Appen is the flexibility it offers. As a contractor, you have the freedom to set your own schedules and work at your convenience, provided the project requirements and deadlines are met. In my role as a social media evaluator, I had the luxury of starting my work early and finishing by late morning, offering me ample flexibility. However, it’s essential to note that workload and availability requirements can differ based on the project and may change over time.

Appen pays its contractors competitively, with rates varying based on factors like the project, contractor’s location, experience, and skills. According to the company’s website, the hourly rate for some projects ranges from $5 to $30 per hour, while other jobs may pay by task or project. 

The company’s remote jobs are an excellent opportunity for students, stay-at-home parents, retirees, or anyone needing a flexible work schedule that allows them to work from anywhere. However, one must note that consistency of work might not be guaranteed and contracts could be terminated without warning. Therefore, it’s crucial to have a backup plan or side hustles. Despite these caveats, my overall experience working at Appen has been positive, offering a significant learning experience and a considerable degree of flexibility.

Conclusion

Appen offers a valuable platform for individuals seeking flexible, remote work opportunities with a range of projects to choose from. The flexibility extends to both working hours and the freedom to set personal schedules. Although the pay is competitive, the consistency of work can vary and contracts might be terminated without prior notice. Therefore, while Appen presents a significant opportunity, it’s crucial for potential contractors to consider these factors and have backup plans or supplementary income streams in place. 

For a comprehensive understanding of the roles I undertook, as well as an evaluation of their advantages and disadvantages, please visit Lifeafterfiftyish for an in-depth review.

[chripsjong-blog]

Een leven zonder WhatsApp

Sinds de komst van internet is er enorm veel veranderd in ons dagelijks leven. Zo begin en eindig ik de dag met het lezen van mijn WhatsApp-berichtjes. “Yo, zullen we vanavond de kroeg in?” of “Ben 5 min later, zie je zo!”, zijn goede voorbeelden van waarom WhatsApp mij het leven een stuk makkelijker maakt. Je bent overal en altijd in contact met iedereen. Ben ik iets later op mijn afspraak, dan app ik hem toch even snel? WhatsApp is niet meer weg te denken uit mijn leven. Maar kan ik nu nog wel zonder?

“Je bent overal en altijd in contact met iedereen.”

Dat is een goede vraag. Zonder dat ik het door heb gehad ben ik behoorlijk afhankelijk geworden van WhatsApp. Zo onderhoud ik contact met mijn familie, plan ik afspraken in, socialize ik met vrienden en meld ik me ziek bij mijn werkgever. En dat allemaal via WhatsApp. Een weg terug lijkt lastig. Vooral doordat iedereen om mij heen even afhankelijk is van het medium. Media als Whatsapp vormen inmiddels de basis van onze manier van communiceren als we fysiek niet bij elkaar zijn.

Het lijkt een behoorlijke opgave te zijn om te stoppen met het gebruik van WhatsApp of andere social media. Contact onderhouden en communiceren wordt een uitdaging, maar is niet onmogelijk. Moet je dringend iemand spreken? Dan bestaat er altijd nog het ‘ouderwetse’ communicatiesysteem dat telefonie genoemd wordt. Je bent direct in staat om je communicatieboodschap over te brengen of te ontvangen en je hoeft niet meer iedere vijf minuten je telefoon te checken. En heeft iemand anders jou nodig? Dan belt hij jou. Het is geen rocket science.

Nadelen? Het kost iets meer tijd om een communicatieboodschap over te brengen. Voordelen? Die lijken eindeloos. Zo slokt social media gemiddeld twee tot drie uur per dag van je tijd op. En die tijd hebben we echt niet allemaal nodig. De momenten dat ik Whatsapp er even bij pak zijn vooral korte momenten: in het openbaar vervoer, in de rij, eigenlijk altijd als ik ergens op moet wachten. Terwijl niks doen, voor je uit staren en denken op zo’n moment, volgens onderzoek, effectiever is. Een brein in neutrale staat, activeert direct het sociale deel. Je gaat denken over relaties en anderen belangrijke zaken. Er ontstaat meer ruimte voor creativiteit en rust. Daarnaast zijn we misschien de hele dag verbonden, maar echt contact hebben we niet meer. Zo voer je, zonder WhatsApp, weer eens een echt gesprek met elkaar.

Ook vergeten we, door ons intensieve gebruik van Whatsapp en andere social media, om soms een moment voor onszelf te pakken. Even alleen zijn en niet afgeleid worden is belangrijk. Volgens onderzoek veroorzaakt het totale gebrek aan alleen zijn veel psychische problemen bij mensen. Alleen zijn met je gedachten is een ideale manier om problemen op te lossen. Hierdoor reflecteer je op jezelf en zul je gelukkig worden.

Verruil het eindeloos appen, zo nu en dan, voor telefoongesprekken, afspraken en momenten voor jezelf. En je zult zien dat er ook leven is zonder WhatsApp.

[itsjustaphase-mom]

      Klaus frantically dug through his stuff. He shook out all his clothes, dropping them haphazardly onto the floor. He checked all his usual hiding spots: the stuffed unicorn, under the mattress, under the rug, between the bookshelf and the wall, under the loose floorboard, behind the loose panel in his wall, in his sock drawer.... Nothing. No drugs and no money. He ran his fingers through his hair as he took in the state of his room. He desperately scanned the scene for somewhere he could have forgotten to check. All his belongings were flung carelessly onto the floor, all his drawers flung open... there was not a hiding place in the room he hadn’t checked twice.

     He whimpered, turning around to face the door. He couldn’t go downstairs, dad would hear. If he got caught... He shook his head to clear it. Okay. Think. He could already feel the effects wearing off. There’s no way his siblings would give him money, they knew what he was going to spend it on. Besides, they were all asleep. “Nineteen bathrooms,” he muttered. “Of em’s gotta have some meds.” His was ruled out, of course. He hopped over the mess on his floor and rushed down the hall. He checked the first medicine cabinet he found. Nothing but toothpaste. He was careful to make as little noise as possible, but it was difficult with his shaking hands. He passed by Vanya’s room... Vanya’s room. Her anxiety meds. He peered into her room. She was asleep, the bottle on her bedside table. No. He couldn’t. He could never do that to her. He tore his eyes off his sleeping sister and looked back into the hallway. There was a man standing at the end of it. Fuck! Why was dad up here? 

     “Oh, I was just getting-uh, some water. I’m going back to bed now,” Klaus jerked a thumb behind him. The man at the end of the hallway staggered forwards. Why was he limping? “Whoa, dad. Are you okay?” he took a step forward, squinting in the darkness. The outline of the man’s bald head was illuminated by a streetlamp through the hall window. That’s not dad. Klaus staggered backwards in horror. 

     “The car,” The man croaked. “It hit me, just outside.”

     Without thinking, Klaus ran into Vanya’s room, twisted the lid off the container and dumped its contents into his mouth. He swallowed the pills. He dropped to the ground, squeezing his eyes shut and pulling his knees to his chest, hands tightly clamped over his ears. He waited for the drugs to kick in, breathing heavy. He rocked back and forth. I took Vanya’s meds. I took Vanya’s meds. I took Vanya’s meds. She needs those. What if she has a panic attack? It’s your fault. Dad’s gonna flip. He’s going lock you in that mausoleum as punishment. He’s going to take away all your drugs. It’s all your fault. He gasped for air. He couldn’t breathe. He opened his eyes, staring into the empty hallway. His brain felt foggy, a familiar numbness that would have been calming in any other situation. He tried desperately to catch his breath, dragging his nails down his neck in an attempt to ground himself. 

     “Klaus?” Vanya said groggily. She snapped awake as soon as she saw the state he was in. She dropped to her knees beside her brother, who turned to face her with wide eyes. She held his shoulders to stop his rocking. “Breathe, breathe. Just relax, calm down. What’s wrong?” Klaus shook his head, closing his eyes tight.

     “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he whispered over and over.

     “Look at me.” Vanya spoke over him. “Are you safe? Did you take something?” Klaus sobbed, pointing at the bottle he had dropped on the floor. Vanya breathed a sigh of relief. At least she knew it wasn’t dangerous. “It’s okay, you’re alright.” She could see he was still panicking. She pulled him into a hug. “Klaus, it’s alright. I can cope without them for 2 days. I’m not going to tell dad.” 

     “You’re not?” He whimpered.

     “Of course not.” She spoke in her most soothing voice. “I’ll be okay. And you’ll be okay. There were only two pills left, that’s not too high a dose.” He nodded, knowing she couldn’t see him. She slowly pulled away to look him in the eyes. “We’re both going to be okay.” She smiled. “Okay?” Klaus nodded again, the tears still falling. Vanya got to her feet and held out a hand. “C’mon. Let’s get you back to bed.” Klaus took it, pulling himself up. He felt groggier, like his head was full of cotton. It was pretty mild compared to his usual stuff. Vanya kept a hold on his hand as she led him back to his bedroom. She finally let go when he sat on the edge of his bed. 

     “Should I go, or...?” Vanya seemed back to her usual self. It hurt Klaus to see her like that, so unsure. She was so good with speaking a minute ago.

     “Yeah, yeah. I’ll be fine.” He lied through his teeth as he wiped away his tears. He had finally stopped crying. Vanya paused.

     “Listen, I know you’re not fine and- well, I don’t want to push anything, and if you really want me to leave I will, but I don’t mind staying. If you want me to, I will.” She looked Klaus in the eyes. She had stopped looking people in the eyes long ago. Klaus looked down at his hands. He really did want her to stay, just until he fell asleep. He knew that no one would be here-he took those pills for a reason- but he still felt bad waking her up, stealing her medicine, and then making her stay up afterwards. He sighed.

     “I’m sorry.” He slowly met her gaze.

     “I already told you it’s okay. You have an addiction. It’s an illness, I can’t blame you.” She shrugged.

     “I-yeah, I suppose so.” he said softly. “Could you stay?” He blurted it out before he could think. “Please?” He added quietly.

     “Of course.” Vanya sat down beside him. Klaus shifted himself closer to the wall and draped his blanket over his legs.

     “Just until I fall asleep.”

     “I’ll stay here all night if you want me to.”

     “I couldn’t ask you to do that.”

     “Why not? Sleeping here is no different than sleeping a few doors down.”

     “I don’t want to wake you up.” 

     Vanya smiled sympathetically at him.

     “You do. I know you have nightmares. I think we all do. I can hear you talking in your sleep from my room.”

     “Oh.” Klaus avoided her eyes. He didn’t know that she could hear him. Though, he supposed that was a bit naive; he could hear his siblings’ yelps whenever he stayed up on a drug trip. He’d just figured they had learned to ignore it by now. He thought they slept through it.

     “Go to sleep.” Vanya’s words brought him out of his thoughts. She tossed his blanket over him. He giggled. He pulled it off, revealing her grinning face. God, he hadn’t seen that grin in a while. Klaus hit her with his pillow. “Ow!” she hissed, laughing as hard as he was. “Shhh, we don’t want to wake Dad!”

     “You’re the one shrieking like a little girl.” Klaus smirked. Vanya narrowed her eyes. She grabbed the blanket, pouncing on him. She covered him in it and grabbed the pillow, using it to beat him mercilessly. “Hey! Stop it!” He cried. He struggled to free himself from the blanket, but Vanya was pinning it down with her knee. “What happened to ‘don’t wake up dad?’”

    “You started it.” Vanya dropped the pillow, sitting back and brushing her hair out of her face. Klaus finally got the blanket off himself. They burst into laughter as soon as they made eye contact.

     “Well how do you expect me to fall asleep now?”

     “Just...lie down.” He complied and she pulled the blanket over him. 

     “Well if you’re staying all night you’d better lie down too. Do you want your own blanket?”

     “Sure.”

     “There should be one by the foot of the bed.” He pointed to the floor. Vanya pushed herself off the bed and sure enough, there was another blanket crumpled on the floor. She grabbed it and sat back down, pulling it over herself. “Lie down” Klaus whined, drawing out the last syllable. Vanya rolled her eyes as she shifted herself down, propping herself up on one elbow.

     “Happy? Now go to sleep.”

     “Tell me a story?” Klaus smiled, looking up at her with puppy-dog eyes.

     “Once upon a time there was a boy named Klaus who was dumb and made his sister stay up too late because he was being a dummy. He wouldn’t stop talking so she smothered him with a pillow. Finally, he rested. The end.”

     “Aw that was such a sweet tale. If I ever have kids, I’ll tell it to them every night.”

     “You’d better.” Vanya laughed.

     “I will. My husband will be so confused.” Husband. Vanya could hear her heart pounding out of her chest, her face blushing. He was gay. She knew he was gay. Everyone did. But he just brought it up so casually. How? She could never admit it that easily. She had never told anyone that she was...

     “Or wife, I suppose. I don’t know. Who knows.” He looked up at the ceiling, gesturing as he spoke. “I just find it so hard to choose. Because there’s guys. And have you seen guys? But there’s also girls. And it’s like... I’m supposed to pick one? You know what I mean?” He turned his head to look at her. 

     “Uh, yeah, I do. Yeah, I’m- I’m bi.”

     “Me too! Or pan. I’m just whatever.” Klaus beamed. Vanya smiled, somehow feeling relieved. She knew Klaus wouldn’t care, but coming out was so terrifying. 

     “Didn’t expect this little coming out party.” Klaus chuckled. He closed his eyes. His eyes flew open and he rolled onto his side. Vanya jumped. “Who was your first gay crush?” She could feel her face heating up again. 

     “Who was your first gay crush?” She deflected.

     “Casey Jones.” Klaus sighed dreamily. Vanya laughed.

      “Of course it was.”

     “And you?”

     “....Daphne.”

     “From Scooby-Doo!?” He gasped. “I love that. She’s amazing.” Vanya nodded. It was odd to talk about it. She was so used to ignoring it.

     “As much as I love this, we really do need to get some sleep.”

     “Boooo.” Klaus pouted. Vanya gave him a look. “Alright, alright. But you have to tell me about all of your crushes tomorrow.”

     “Only if you tell me yours.”

     “Gladly.” 

     Vanys rolled her eyes. She laid back, fixing the blanket about herself. Klaus curled up into a ball, pulling the blanket tight around himself.

     “Goodnight,” she said softly.

     “Night night.” He replied.

     And for the first night in a while, they both slept soundly.

[wordcubed]

I used to do online work for Appen, so every week I get emails from them pitched like a mild dystopia.

[dnxshiro]

posted to show appen <3 Such accuracy, much precision! look at him aim and strike! crushing power and lightning speed! the rotor spin move is unique to him. mech cant do that.

[superbnature]

Appenzell by Altrim