Examples of a letter of interest for a college baseball coaching job

One thing seemingly unites millennials and Gen Z with respect to their socioeconomic political outlook. That is the younger generation’s consistent trend towards socialist policies. Many younger people today would agree that higher taxes, more government services, a universal income, more regulatory agencies, and debt forgiveness are ideal policies. However, these policies would all need to be carefully administered by a federal bureaucracy already criticized for being bloated and corrupt. Curious then why a society so distrustful of government is demanding that government secure more money and gain more authority to regulate the economy.
The reason for this apparent dissonance is the fact that many, if not most, young people have absolutely no clue about how finance actually works. Federally funded education has failed many generations of students and is a good example of why government programs are inherently bad. Taxpayer funded programs are inherently flawed because there is no private mechanism to ensure success; all public programs are run by people who don’t want to lose their jobs. There is fundamentally no incentive for a public program to solve the problem it was mandated to solve.
Rather, all public programs, including education, are incentivized to follow this cycle: (1) perpetuate low level crises in order to justify the existence of the institution, (2) solve some aspect of the problem, to justify the continued appointment of present leadership, (3) lobby for increased funding to solve the problem during an election/voting cycle, (4) fail to solve the problem while still using limitless tax dollars, (5) repeat. The department of education, along with all other institutions, follow this model. There may be Boy Scouts who work for the government who truly want their agency/department to eventually be shuttered or streamlined due to the unparalleled efficiency, competence, and efficacy of their work. But most bureaucrats simply want to keep their jobs forever.
All this to say that socialist policies which require government oversight are fool’s errands on their face because no public administration can avoid corruption due to the nature of public institutions. Private institutions, which are bound by market forces, may be corrupt, but if there is sufficient competition then corruption is literally impossible. Free, capitalist markets with sufficient competition cannot be corrupt simply because any inefficient allocation of capital via corruption will undermine the company’s ability to compete among other enterprises that dont waste money/resources this way. Obviously reality is more nuanced, but this law is essentially true, also public institutions don’t compete with private ones because public institutions are often funded with infinite public dollars and therefore don’t rely on the “rational consumer.”
The rational consumer is integral to this entire scenario I’m describing. Free market competition cannot exist without a rational consumer who ensures that this competition exists by making reasonable choices about how he spends his hard-earned money. While most economists, have always agreed that the “rational consumer” is a figment of our collective imagination, the premise has always been broadly assumed. The assumption is that people are generally wise enough to understand how finances and market forces work and allocate their money accordingly.
This could not be further from the truth. Scores of youth are suckered by tiktok and YouTube gurus who lie about financial topics to desperate people in to get ad revenue. The youth today are seeing their American dream collapse, in part because most young people graduate high school without even an iota of an understanding about what a “premium” is or how “interest” actually works. People don’t know the difference between a stock and a bond, or that a “401k” doesn’t mean $401,000.
This ignorance of basic economics causes the world’s largest consumer economy, the US, economy to behave monstrously inefficiently because few sectors are competitive and populated by rational consumers. Rather, most markets consist of fools with borrowed money, and corrupt, colluding companies willing to leech and fleece children and adults alike. In turn, this inherent market failure caused by a failed education system, produces a bastardized economy which creates appalling wealth inequality and public hatred of “capitalism” as a concept.
Thus, most young people who are NOT rational economic actors have a tendency to distrust capitalism despite not understanding how finance or “capital” actually works, and therefore they favor socialism or even communism as an answer to a failed economic system despite the fact that public institutions have for more opportunities to be corrupt than competitively private ones do. So you can mark my words, the youth in America will succeed in pushing the US towards socialism, ON BOTH SIDES, because very few people actually understand how finance works yet are enraged by the current order, so the political left and right support candidates who lobby for sweeping political control over the economy.
TL;DR: the DoE has failed several generations and the entire system of American capitalism by not ensuring that graduates understand basic macro/micro economic terms along with personal finance because capitalism requires rational consumers/actors to maintain efficiency yet the average consumer is constantly fleeced out of their money by corporations who are far more sophisticated than zoomer who doesn’t know how compound interest works.

Reposting This from AITA sub. Hi Mark I see your videos on YT, maybe one of these days I'll see my own story in your video.😆 This is going to be a long one so bear with me please. I am also giving a lot of backstory and past issues bcz I feel they are relevant to the matter and also I feel like ranting. Also this is in India so the currency is Rupees. Before we start I just want to say that I am not perfect in any way or form and I have done any fair share of mistakes.
I(20F) have been in a relationship with my bf Jake(22M)(fake name) for roughly 5.5 yrs now. My family is not rich but we do have a lot of money bcz both my parents are doctors but I did not realise we have this much money until 2yrs ago. (Am not very street smart as U will see in this post). Since after abt 1.5 years of relationship (May 2020)when lockdown started his family fell on hardtimes as his family owns a shop and bcz of the Pandemic they weren't able to run it.
At first it was bcz one of his friend got into an accident so he needs money and he told me he will give it back etc (i don't remember if he ever did as it was yrs ago). At the time I had money saved up so I helped out the first few times with my own money. Then when I ran out of money then he said to ask my dad or mom, or steal from my house and give him some. A lil back story here, my mom and dad are separated so they did not used to talk about finances so I would take extra money from my dad than what was actually required and give the rest to jake. For e.g I required 3k for a parcel or smrg then I would ask for 5k, give my mother the 3k(I live with her, my father lives separately) and give the 2k to jake. I also gave him cash many times by essentially stealing from my mother's closet. When I used to say NO he hurled abuses at me and called me every name in the book which a person can imagine, guilt tripped me and pushed me very hard and I gave in almost every time. He told me he will give me back eventually, he has made an investment,etc. Basically all stupid lies to have more time, then one day during an arguement I pressed on when he is gonna return the money and after a lot of time he told me there is no investment and he used the money in his family's shop.
After 2.5 year of this in October-Nov of 2022 we both got admissions in universities which were around 2 hours away from each other. Till then this pattern continued and his family was still struggling bcz of his father's brother divided the joint business or something else.
Before this when we were at out respective homes he told me he got some operation done for smtg in his abdomen. I gave him 10k from my mother's closet for that and even when I went to meet he had an area bandaged (was very unprofessionally done my dumb self should have understood that it was also fake) one of his friend also confirmed that he had operation done and I was coordinating with him on the said dates when he was supposedly admitted. He also used to frequently tell me that he has suicidal thoughts and he will end himself etc .
After we went to our respective colleges once we had a big fight and next day he told me that he tried to end himself by jumping of the balcony but his friend (who he was staying with at the time),Luke, stopped him worrying for him I called Luke later and told him I was worried for Jake and to pls take care of him. He was confused by this and asked me why what happened. I asked him abt last night's attempt, he told me nothing of that sort happened. This opened a can of worms where it was revealed that he was making a fool out of me, guy owned a fucking Iphone and was telling me that his family was on hard times and taking money from me. This is also when I found out that their was no operation. I don't remember what else I found out that night but felt like a huge betrayal and I talked to 3 of his friends that night for quite a few hours where a lot of lies were revealed.
I broke it off with him, at this point I had lent a total of Rs.75-80k. He begged me for weeks for forgiveness, at first I laughed in his face but as weeks went by I started to miss us. He came to meet and win me back a few times at my uni. Eventually, a month later I forgave him on some conditions like he wont lie and share everything with me, won't tell me who or who not to be friends with (he did that before a lot).
Few months later the cycle started again, I was back to giving him money from the monthly spending amount I used to get(it was a lot at first bcz I was just settling in,now my monthy allowance is wayyy less). He did not like the friend group I was in so I stopped talking to them (bcz they knew abt our situation as I broke down crying in front of them when I found out abt all this so he felt like he lost respect and They didn't respect me etc, admittedly they weren't good and I would have distanced myself eventually anyways maybe cuz the vibe didn't match but that should have been my call I feel) and he still (>1 year later) yells at me if he suspects that I am casually talking to them.
My college is in a much smaller city so I go to meet him once to twice a month as he shares a flat with few ppl and the city has more activities to do. Other than the first few times (when we got back together) I pay almost if not all bills like gas (for his 2 wheeler) and food. It's very frustrating at times but I understand that he does not has enough money as his father does not send him enough to cover rent, food and expenses or so he says ( sighs IDK anymore guys what's true and what's not). Jake says his family is still struggling bcz his sister went to UK last year to study and that took a huge chunk of money and they have loans to pay, etc. I can believe this is true. Also he says they have virtually almost no savings left bcz business isn't doing great hence his father sends him rent t food expenses andsays to manage The rest on his own (he does not has a job so guess where the money comes from 🤡). In the Past few months admittedly he has not asked for money frequently but when he does its like a huge chunk. He has also taken loans (with interest) from some of his friends without telling me. He has done this multiple times before after I have repeatedly asked him to stop. (Embarrassingly I admit there are more instances when he has acted like a red curtain but I think I can write a book at this point if I list them all out so let's move on to the latest problem).
Onto The current issue Almost 3 days ago now, Jake called me (we already have been fighting for I don't even remember how many days at that point a week maybe?) and we told me that he was told by his dad that they have been unable to make payments for the loan they took from a person keeping their shop as collateral, they have to pay half the amount (Total amount was 5 lakhs) and interest which was 64k tomorrow to that person, they have arranged most of the money but are short by abt 30k. He asked me can I do something (steal or ask my dad). I refused as there is no money in my mother's closet anyway and I haven't talked to my dad in abt 3 months now. (ofcourse I did not outright refuse and just gave him my reas oning buz I'm a doormat 🥰🤡🤡).
He pressed me to pls talk to my father about money and tell him I need it for my tablet (I bought one just a few days prior). I refused and said he won't give me money anyway. He asked what about my mother's bank account, it must have something. One account is linked to UPI ( It's for making online payments in India) and one is not. The one that is linked does not have much money bCz my mother's salary has not been credited in 4 months. The other account has money but as it does not has UPI activated online payments cannot be done.I told him all of this. He asked can I activate the UPI if my mother's asleep and plz transfer him the money (also said to transfer it first to my own account so if she finds out then I can say my friend needed it so I have lent some for a month or two🙂 ) I mean maybe I could if I really wanted to but I have had enough, I do not want to steal. Now his family is potentially loosing the shop and he is blaming me for it. I have repeatedly tried to reason with him and told him that if I had the money in my account I would have given him (My account had 1k and I transferred him that😔). He says his blood relatives (his father's siblings refused to pay even a dime, I mean they and their children all are grown ups and have jobs and if They didn't pay how does he expect me, who does not has never had a job give him money, probably it's my fault I have enabled him enough every down time by giving him money so how he just expects everytime that I'll help bcz I am family).
He is still pressing me to give like 5k now bcz now he wants to go to another city and talk to the lender's brother to pls provide them with some Time. But I do not have the money 😕. He says that 'if I would have really wanted then I could but I did not think of his family as mine ', " U will understand my pain when U will loose something of yours for lesser value Than it really is " (The shop's market valve is 4O lakhs and they lost it for 5 lakhs) Also has called me quite a few names since then. He arranged 1K and said " I'm going today there I'll see what to do after reaching there." Says he wants to breakup ( it's pretty normal to say it's over after fights so I don't really know if he is even serious) for 2 reasons - 1. I did not give him money 2. When he will go to uni he won't have any spending money so he'll expect are to help out, and he knows I won't and he does not want that disappointment.
I mean TBH I wouldn't care if it were a few hundred rupees but it won't be, additionally I will be The one covering The costs as usual when I go to meet him. I won't have any money left for my own. And I really want to start saving up again. I have spent outrageous amounts of money in The past year (go figure the reason) and saved up nothing. Today he was still begging (he used the word) me to pls arrange the money. He said I leave for uni in 2 days after summer vacations so I'll get my allowance, technically I can ask for it in advance and give him. But I don't want to after he has treated me. Everytime I tell myself that this is the last time, I'll leave the next time he does this but I just stay.
I know I'm not responsible for him and his family but I still feel really guilty about not giving him the money. I know I should end things but it's just difficult to leave something which you have been attached to for so long, it just feels natural to you. Rn he owes me I don't even know how much but it's maybe around 1 lakh something. Not counting The amount of gifts (some he guilt tripped me into buying 🙄 ) I have bought him and the money I have spent on my trips to visit him. IDK if I'll ever see that money again probably not. Please also give me advice on how should I proceed with the breakup, I don't want him to do anything drastic like come to my house or call my mom to tell him abt our relationship (frowned upon in India).
I know the answer but still need the answer should I give him some money from my allowance and WIBTA if I don't ? (Sorry for any errors in writing, I'm writing on tablet with a stylus)

I had an abusive therapist in 2021 whom I recently, and so kindly, made a review page for on RateMDs (Canada); turns out a lot of people feel the exact same way about her, and one person claimed they are reporting her to the ethics board due to her verbal attacks.
My next therapist in 2022 was abusive, even worst than the last. It was so bad I ended up reporting to the ethics board, and the therapist is now doing coaching for the time being. If I had recorded the sessions it would have been game over for that therapist. It killed me for a long time that I didn't record the sessions.
I later sought out a new therapist; my friend warned me that the one I chose had "crazy eyes" and it was red flags all over (based on their PP profile). I should have listened.
This new therapist, Alex, almost killed me, again. He was awful. The second I walked in the room, I warily mentioned my past experience with the abusive therapist. In response, Alex started accusing me of having "destructive" behaviours - despite that I didn't tell him anything about my behaviours yet. I hadn't told him anything at all, just that I was anxious due to a past experience. I think he has issues with younger women.
I saw Alex from August 2023 - April 2024. In this time, he became delusional from his own assumptions, confronted me constantly for things he pulled out of thin air (he would twist anything I said and then confront me for some alleged bad behaviour or cognitive distortion), and was entirely unwilling to try a different approach despite my (at first) gentle attempts to communicate that his approach wasn't working and was making me very unwell. I can gladly provide examples but it'd end up being a long ass post if I do that, so bear with me. He couldn't handle me even trying to talk about my past therapy abuse, because it was assumed to be my fault. Any dissent was "resistance" or rigidity. He refused to do trauma work despite that being the foundational problem. He refused to let me "free associate" (psychodynamic therapy) because he was convinced it would cause me some wild regression (as if his current approach wasn't fucking me up).
There was nothing for me to work with in the therapy. It wasn't grounded in reality; it was just all about how awful I am, yet not even in a way that was tangible - he could never explain himself. I was already hanging on a thread from my past abusive therapists, and I pretty quickly developed a substance use disorder (prescription) to try to cope. Began to vape nicotine constantly to try to stabilize myself. I began to isolate myself. By December 2023 I stopped going out at all - again. You know, almost died from the therapist in 2022, my life was almost ruined, and couldn't go out at all, and there I was basically back in the same place.
I never missed a single session. I even opted to increase to twice a week session in an attempt to resolve whatever was going amiss. I continuously tried to establish a working relationship with him. My self-confidence and sense of reality and self were devastated.
Anyway, March 2024 comes around and it comes out Alex diagnosed me with BPD and that was why he was so confrontational (and frankly pulling horrible things out of thin air). Now, I'm pretty darn sure I have either schizotypal or a psychotic disorder. I was under the impression he was treating me for this, as he himself said he dx'd me with schizotypal. But I was also very confused because being confrontational with the kinds of populations I fit into is exactly not what you're supposed to do and has been proven to fuck them up. It's one of the reasons I stayed so long; I just dissociated into oblivion. Not to mention the CPTSD.
I end up sending Alex an email detailing my experiences, which was hard to do. He never asked me about my experiences before (it was all about his assumptions of me), and I thought I needed to try to put an end to this, to again try to establish a working relationship.
The next session, Alex immediately begins to apologize, tells me how he misdiagnosed me, that he's been treating me for a Cluster B disorder when he should have been treating me for a Cluster A, that the "treatment" not working wasn't my fault. He also was convinced that this is what went wrong in my past therapies; that they misdiagnosed me with BPD when the issue was schizotypal, and that it just so happens that applying the confrontational treatment for BPD to schizotypal can basically end the schizotype. (TBH he was way too generous to these past therapists; all him saying that proved to me was that he never believed me in the first place.) He told me he "failed me" and that I "humbled him." He was almost crying he seemed so sorry.
I was already looking for a new therapist, but I was grateful that at least it seemed like things were set straight with Alex. I mean, I now had a substance use disorder and all the more therapy trauma, but I'm pretty happy with little. It was mutually agreed upon that the termination was due to the ways in which the misdiagnosis made the treatment inhospitable for me. It was ended amicably but I noticed he began to act weird around me, very distant, etc. I didn't think much of it, figured maybe he was more emotionally involved when he thought I had BPD for whatever reason.
Found a new therapist at the beginning of April - a formally trained, international psychoanalyst who lives in Prague out of all things (was getting desperate) - and things are going well, finally. No therapy abuse; no issues that even closely resemble the issues I've had with the abusive therapists, etc. Things are finally "easy" with a therapist; the sailing is as smooth as it can be. Also it's entirely free association and it hasn't caused me any issues, contrary to Alex's conviction that letting me speak freely would be devestating to my wellbeing.
Well, two days ago I contacted Alex as I wanted to go to a boutique treatment centre for my prescription substance use issue and they were requesting recent past therapist notes. I thought what a better option than to have Alex send his notes with an explanation that he misdiagnosed me, that he thinks I have been misdiagnosed continuously in past therapies and that's why I've been "treatment resistant," and so on and so forth. Also, given that I developed the issue because of the stress from Alex, this way my story would be corroborated.
Alex was adamant sending his notes was a bad idea, and that the ethics board actually recommends that psychologists write summary letters of the treatment instead. I thought that was nice that Alex was looking out for me. I explained to Alex what I'm looking for in the letter (with the central focus being on the misdiagnosis issue), and that my main goal is to help prove my eligibility for the program (they only take "highly motivated" clients; it's more relaxed in terms of restrictions and what not). I agreed to pay Alex around $400 for his time. I really thought Alex and I were making further amends and that it was so nice he could have my back on this.
Alex gets back to me with the worst letter imaginable. All about how the treatment failed because of ME, how we never made any progress because of ME, that the "lack of consensus on treatment goals and methods" was a massive barrier, and that this all happened despite that the frequency was increased to twice a week (which he failed to mentioned only occurred because I requested it, in an effort to save the therapy!). He made no mention of the fact that I never missed a single therapy session or any fact that would make me sound good, not to mention that he didn't even so much as touch on the fact that the therapy failed because of HIS misdiagnosis. He made it sound like the termination occurred because of how treatment resistant I was.
He also downplayed my trauma (I asked him to speak out this in the letter), saying only how I have a family history of "neglect" and being "scapegoated." My mother would scream at me, like to the point her lungs were going to burst, as a small child until I blacked out, this continued up until I was kicked out at 18, and I have serious CPTSD. I was even diagnosed with PTSD at one point. Like? Alex is supposed to be a specialist in trauma.
So I read the letter and was confused. Got back to him assuring that I'd still pay him, but suggested maybe he remove some parts of it if he can't revise them. Told him I disagree with the reasons for termination and why the treatment didn't work out, and reminded him of the fact he misdiagnosed me. I was honestly very confused and thought maybe he forgot. Told him it's probably not helpful to minimize my trauma.
Cue a minute after I send that email, and it suddenly dawns on me. The pathetic excuse of a therapist never recorded his fuck up in my clinical file. He obviously maintained his delusional narrative within his notes, presumably to cover his ass in case I reported him or sued him for malpractice (unlikely anyway), given that his misshapen and misapplied "treatment" caused me a ton of harm due to his incompetence.
I was seeing red and sent him another email informing him that I actually recorded our final sessions in light of what happened with my previous therapist (and Alex knew about my regret of not recording those sessions, and I'd often leave my phone out during our sessions). It's one-party consent in Canada, and Alex at the very beginning told me he was fine if I recorded the sessions anyway. So yeah, I emailed Alex whilst appalled telling him all about how I recorded him stating he misdiagnosed me, was treating me for the wrong disorder, that therapy not working wasn't my fault, and so on.
Told him he can either write me a letter based on facts - facts I can corroborate given my session recordings - or I'm not paying him for shit. Told him to not even bother replying if he isn't willing to write me a letter grounded in reality. Shockingly, he never got back to me.
And now he'll never know if I was bluffing and he gets to spend the next few months in terror that I'm going to use session recordings to report him for knowingly putting false information in clinical documentation.
What the hell. He could have at least TRIED to make me sound decent in the letter given that he knew what he was saying was bullshit. I guess dissonance is a real bitch. I also don't for a second buy that if I had BPD, his shit-tier "treatment" would have magically worked. It was gaslighting and abusive. You can't just make horrible assumptions about people or create a false reality, shove that in the person's face, then gaslight them all the more when the person is fucking confused and, eventually, distraught.
What a gaslighting loser. I should legitimately report him. Leaving him a bad review as we speak.
(I have had many legitimate delusions myself and don't find the term "delusional" as a pejorative to be offensive. LMK if I should edit it out though.)

I discovered Rezi on my last job search in 2021/22. Working on my resume is an activity that is always difficult to start but Rezi made that step feel so much less daunting. It’s not just words on a page, you walk through refining each piece and get those helpful realtime tips as you go. It found plenty of opportunities to improve that first resume and the end product was so much better.
I was at a job that I was miserable at, but wanted to get into a different industry which was really difficult to do since my experience was not an exact match to what other industries were looking for.
From that point I committed to using Rezi, got a pro license and started applying to at least one job a day. I got into a great rhythm with Rezi and would always copy/paste the job description to check keywords and spent a few minutes changing some phrasing to hit more keywords and to get to a resume score of 100.
I also used the AI cover letter tool to get a really good cover letter started which I ended up using with minor adjustments throughout my job search. I still did some rewriting and adjusting myself but much like the resume, it took away that blank page feeling by giving me a structure and it made it approachable.
Ultimately I kept up this effort for a few months. One resume a day every day for over 100 days. That’s over 100 tailored resumes sent out and the interviews started rolling in.
Getting more interviews proved I was getting past the ATS automated resume screener and actually making it to a person which was my main goal. The person may not hire me but I needed to make sure my resume was at least being looked at and now it was. I kept my foot on the gas and continued applying every day until I got an offer.
In the end I got 3 solid offers which helped me negotiate and ended up at the perfect fit job at a Fortune 500 company in a completely different industry than I had ever worked. I fully believe that I got this job because of my vastly improved and tailored resume from using Rezi which got my resume to the hiring manager. If I had continued sending my old resume I honestly don’t think I would have most of the interviews I did.
I recommend this to everyone I know and just used it again yesterday to give my resume a refresh. What I love is that this helps you represent yourself the best way possible and gives you a leg up getting through the automated resume screener at companies. It feels like having a resume coach walking through each resume with you and suggesting small tweaks to give you a better chance. You never have a chance if your resume never makes it to a person. With Rezi you can put the best version of yourself on paper and get through that screener to get more interviews. And with more interviews you’ll get better at those too and have more and more chances to get the offer.

Hey ya’ll. Looking to start another RP. I do fantasy RP’s mainly but I can also do fandom RP’s (not replacing any RP partners) The ones with astricks * means I have a plot idea for the fandom RP.
Some fandoms Im into
-Naruto
-Attack on titan
-Noragami*
-Digimon (I can do either canon characters or OCs regarding humans and their partners)
-Frozen*
-MHA (sort of have an idea for the time this takes place in)
-Miss Kobyashi’s dragon maid* (I have a slight idea for this)
-Spider-Man* (also a slight idea)
-Lilo and Stitch* (another slight idea)
There are more I just can’t think of any currently. I also have some plot ideas for specific fandoms I listed (not for all of them but some)
Im up to either winging it or trying to come up with a plot either way works. I only do SFW however. I also don’t mind slight romance in the RP. I am also not super literate and have trouble giving details sometimes so I am in no way shape or form a novelist.
Now some info about me. Im 21 years and I am off from college for the summer, however I do have a part time job Monday-Friday so I may not be as active during the week, but I am more active during the weekends. If anything ever comes up that may effect me being active I’ll let you know. I’m also in EST and I am a morning person and tend to sleep early in the night. Also feel free to talk to me OOC. I don’t mind making new friends! It’s pretty fun! Plus I think it’s more fun to RP if you know each other.
Now I will say this. Do NOT ghost me please. I don’t see the point in this. If you aren’t interested then just tell me. I would rather you tell me straight up and know what’s going on and know you aren’t enjoying it then just get no response. It does get frustrating.
Im available on Discord! DM me if interested!

Keep your bio short, sweet and lighthearted. Avoid things and statements that can be used against you. You don't need something special or extravagant and having a bio that's too long or in depth can look as too tryhard. Instead work on your pictures, because in the end those will decide if someone swipes left or right on you regardless of what they say... because only once they decided that you are cute enough they will open up your bio
Tease slightly. Be humorous. Tell them how good your life is without directly saying it. And pictures pictures pictures. Each picture needs to be high quality. Bio doesn't have the same strength as decent pictures.
Write something that tells me about you--what you like to eat, do in your free time, watch on tv, last cool place you visited or want to visit next, whatever. The worst is guys who write nothing or just their IG handle, FFS. If that's all the time and thoughtfullness you can put into a profile, I'm going to assume that's what I'll get from you in a relationship. Also, is it laziness or complete lack of self-awareness? This is why writing even a little bit about yourself can be really important in this context.
Every girl is gonna be attracted to something different and the character limit blows. Just be yourself
OK, so, you officially downloaded Bumble, picked out your best dating-app-friendly photos, and brushed up on some Bumble openers. Now, it's time to create the best Bumble bio. But where do you begin?
Creating a good Bumble bio that stands out may sound like an intimidating task, but it's super important you don't half-ass this step. According to Bumble's US data from April, "those who added a bio to their profile experienced an increase in their average number of monthly matches than members who didn't," a Bumble spokesperson says. Clearly, it's important for a better dating experience.
But just because crafting the best Bumble bios sounds intimidating doesn't mean it has to be. Really, it starts with thinking about all of the things that make you you. With the help of a Bumble spokesperson, here are some tips and ideas on how to craft the best Bumble bios to score quality matches.
Tips on How to Write the Best Bumble Bio
Complete your entire profile first. Before deciding on what to include in your bio, Bumble recommends filling out the rest of your profile. Add to your "Interests," "Basics," and "Lifestyle" badges, which will give people an idea of who you are and what you're looking for. Then, take a look at your profile and decide what about yourself is missing from it. Per the Bumble spokesperson, some of the most popular Bumble profiles included information on a user's dating intentions, exercise interest, and zodiac sign.
Highlight the things that matter to you. The Bumble spokesperson said this will help to make sure you're matching with people who share similar interests as you. For example, if it's important you match with a fellow dog-lover, make sure you mention something about your own dog (or the type of dog you want). To stand out from the billion other profiles that mention a dog, don't be afraid to add some spice to your profile. "Try to jazz your bio up a little by exaggerating your statements or cracking a joke," the Bumble spokesperson says. Just remember, you don't have to say too much — brevity is key.
Focus on the positive and not the negative. Bumble data shows that positivity is one of the most important traits for Bumble members worldwide, according to the spokesperson. Instead of listing out what you don't want in a partner, hone in on what you do want. "Focusing on what you do like can be a much better way to find someone who ticks all your boxes," the rep says. In other words, don't use your bio to list out things you're not looking for in a dating-app match.
Ask those closest to you what makes you special. Ask your friends or family what key things they think a date should know about you, the Bumble spokesperson suggests. "They won't overthink it in the same way you might."
Once you're ready to write your bio, here are some ideas to get the juices flowing. Feel free to copy and paste, or tailor the below to your individual preferences and needs.
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"Would do dirty things to [insert the name of your favorite sports team's coach] if it meant the [your favorite sports team] would win."
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Best Bumble Bios
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Sexy Bumble Bios
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Phil Aston: Hello and welcome to the Now Spinning Magazine podcast with me, Phil Aston. And in this episode, I’m absolutely delighted to have with me Tony Martin, one of the UK’s most underrated rock vocalists. You’ve had a really varied career, but what we’re going to talk about today specifically is Black Sabbath and the new “Anno Domini” box set. So, welcome, Tony. Thank you so much for joining me.
Tony Martin: Thank you. And thank you for having me on the show. Very cool.
Phil Aston: A bit of context, because I think this is kind of helpful for you. My son is 30 now, but when he was 15, he set up a Facebook group, kind of saying, “One day, please can we have the Tony Martin Black Sabbath albums released?” That was 15 years ago. He was still at school, half his lifetime ago. And I think in the early time when he set this up, he may have reached out to you and you might have said something like, “I don’t think it’s gonna happen, Dan.” And here we are, all these years later, and it’s not only happened, but it comes out this Friday. How does that feel to know that these albums are now going to be available again?
Tony Martin: Well, first of all, well done to your son. It took 15 years, but he got it done. To be honest, there’s been a few periods when I didn’t think it was happening. In fact, about a year ago, Tony Iommi’s manager called me and said, “You know what, this is just so complicated. I don’t think we can do this.” So I was resigned to it not happening myself. It’s all to do with band politics, really. There are so many people involved or have their fingers in the pie that they all have to be on board. And there were allegiances changing all over the place, left, right, and center. So in the end, it was getting a bit tiring, but well done to Tony Iommi and BMG. My God, the patience they showed to get this thing together and actually get it out there. Wow. But how does it feel? It feels brilliant, to be honest. I’m very excited. I haven’t actually had these albums in my own hands physically for the past 25 years. I gave all mine away thinking I’d be able to get some more, and I didn’t. They just stopped making them. So to actually physically hold them again is really cool. What a great job they’ve done of it. So I’m thrilled and excited. And I’m helping out now because I’m not in the band, obviously, anymore. So I just offered my help to promote it and they said, “Great, let’s do it.”
Phil Aston: Isn’t it amazing? Because I’ve done quite a few reviews about Black Sabbath box sets and stuff, but this one, within about 12 hours, there’s literally 12,000 views of the review. The love for this period of Black Sabbath is actually huge. It’s grown. It almost feels as if the profile is higher now than it was at the time.
Tony Martin: Yeah, there is a kind of reason for that. Partly people have got over the “it’s the new guy” thing, and also it’s been 25 years since. So now we’re reaching out to a whole other group of people, in addition to those that were already there. But to the outside world, it looks like there was a huge gap, and to me it felt like a huge gap. But actually, the fans were always there. I’ve been waiting myself as well to get this back out there. And it’s just band politics, really. That’s all it is.
Phil Aston: Because you had that period when it was almost as if this part of Sabbath’s history was hidden because of band politics. None of this really happened, which I think probably stirred up more interest and kind of people wanting to find out more.
Tony Martin: Yeah, it could be. It’s an old famous thing, you know, if something ain’t around for a while, people start talking about it. But yeah, it’s a strange thing, the music business. You’re either in fashion or you’re not. But I am just thrilled that they’ve got around it. Just the patience they’ve shown to actually put this together. At one point they were just saying, “We can’t do it.” But I’m really chuffed anyway.
Phil Aston: I imagine there’s been compromises along the way. Lots of fans probably don’t understand how complicated the politics and all the different licenses and everything that goes on over the years, they become more and more entangled. People say, “Where’s Eternal Idol?” But of course, that was a different record label. Different people own it.
Tony Martin: Yeah, absolutely. It’s owned by somebody else. And also Eternal Idol, or “Eternal Idiot,” as we call it, was kind of reissued not that long ago. Really.
Phil Aston: That’s right. With the two CD version, wasn’t it?
Tony Martin: Yeah. So they were kind of thinking, “Well, there’s no real panic because that’s already been done and let’s just move on.” Because that would have wrapped them up in contracts for centuries, I think. I can’t even think that they’ll ever get them to let that go. But they were struggling to get the people involved with these four albums to make up their minds and do stuff. I’ve been all for it all the way along, I have to say. Obviously, because it’s my career, my history. It’s not just the band’s history. It’s ten years of my life that went AWOL. So, yeah, I’ve been up for it all the way along, but some people don’t and it’s taken them a while to get on board.
Phil Aston: I think it’s fantastic. The first one was Headless Cross. You joined one of the biggest rock bands with all that history behind it. You were an established singer with the Alliance. But this was a chance, as you say, with Eternal Idol, you went in and it was already prepared. You sang it, but this one was where you could really put your mark on it, your personality lyrically as well as musically. Can you remember what it was like actually being at the beginning of that? Did you feel comfortable around Iommi and Powell and thinking, “Right, what kind of lyrics am I going to do by Headless Cross?”
Tony Martin: Yeah, I was comfortable by then. Well, kind of. The thing is, with Eternal Idol, if I can just backstep a little bit. The Eternal Idol wasn’t the first call up. The first call up was in 1986 when they were doing the Seventh Star with Glenn Hughes. And that scared me to death because I can’t sing like Glenn Hughes. Nobody can sing like Glenn Hughes. They put me on standby back then, so I’d sort of tentatively had an introduction to Tony Iommi. Then in ’87, they got me in for the audition, and that was the next introduction to Tony Iommi. But because Eternal Idol was already written, that gave me a whole year plus a bit more to find out what this thing was. What the hell was I supposed to do? So just doing Eternal Idol like that was fine by me because I didn’t have to discover anything myself back then. It gave me a chance to get my feet in. So by the time it got to Headless Cross, now I know all the guys, and I kind of know what’s expected of me. I still had to find the “me” that I needed to find. I went around it the only way I could, by focusing on things I was interested in. I couldn’t do the lyrics and melodies that Geezer was writing for Ozzy because that was a generation before me. The stuff that Ronnie was doing was fantastic, but I couldn’t get inside his head. So I had to think about what I was going to do. I had an interest in the old gothic death stuff, like Dracula and Frankenstein, Mary Shelley type writing, and of course, in England, we have Shakespeare. Nobody speaks English like that anymore, that old English text. I thought, “Old English text, gothic death, and Black Sabbath. That might work.” So I put them all together and came up with Headless Cross, which is where I lived. I lived in a village called Headless Cross.
Phil Aston: Yeah, you put that on the map. They weren’t pleased about it. The most recognition I’ve got is my name on a bus stop. And Cozy Powell thought the album needed more death, didn’t he?
Tony Martin: Oh, that’s true. That’s actually true. We were recording “When Death Calls,” and he was in the studio playing, and he suddenly stopped. We went, “You alright?” He went, “Yeah, just remind me, what’s this song called again?” I said, “It’s called When Death Calls.” He said, “I don’t think there’s enough death in it.” And he carried on playing. So, okay, maybe he’s taking the piss, but isn’t it such a great sounding album? As Tony Iommi says, he never left Black Sabbath. So when people criticize him, saying, “You should change the name or whatever,” he never left. So it was still Black Sabbath. The riffs, the guitar sound was reaching new peaks of excellence around this time.
Because when it was just him and Ozzy, for example, it was guitar, that was it. When Geoff Nichols joined during the Dio period, it introduced a few more keyboard things. That allowed Iommi to play solos against those keyboard pads and chords. And then you come along and start sticking 50 tracks of vocal harmonies on it, like in Anno Mundi and stuff like that. It just kept developing. Sabbath isn’t really known for vocal harmonies and keyboards, but underneath that was still Tony Iommi. And it still sounded like Sabbath. We were happy to do that. We just wanted to make Tony happy and do the best for him. It was his band. So we were happy to seek out that Sabbath sound and make sure it did what it said on the tin. A couple of times, like with the Seventh Star thing, he ventured a little bit away from it. Songs like Heart Like a Wheel don’t really make the Black Sabbath sound, but it’s still good stuff. I have great respect for all of the eras that went before. I had to sing all of the songs. So I do have great respect for it. And it’s been an honor, you know, like being part of the whole story. But he was the only one that stuck it out. And we respected him for that. You’re right, they did ask him to change a couple of times. He said, “No, I can’t change now.”
Phil Aston: The next one, if I pronounce this right, it’s Tyr.
Tony Martin: Yeah.
Phil Aston: Because when it came out, me and my friends, actually, because there was no Internet back then and nowhere to go and check it, we did call it Tyr. To be.
Tony Martin: Yeah, Tyr.
Phil Aston: Watch you find in Birmingham. You know what I mean? So it actually rhymes with beer, doesn’t it?
Tony Martin: It is, yeah. Actually, it’s Tiw, which is Scandinavian for the son of Odin or something.
Phil Aston: Well, this is almost as close, probably, to Sabbath getting into almost a concept album. Isn’t it? This is a collection of songs that in another time and space you probably as a band would have gone out and performed the whole thing.
Tony Martin: Yeah, it wasn’t meant that way, but they were struggling to find a name for the album. We were recording and getting towards the end and the management called us up and said, “We really need a name for this album.” And Cozy said, “I’ve got one. Let’s call it Satanic Verses.” We went, “What, like Salman Rushdie thing?” He said, “Yeah, it would be great publicity.” We said, “Yeah, but we’ll all be dead.” So we did struggle, but they happened across the artwork. We’d done Anno Mundi, we’d done Gates of Valhalla and all that sort of stuff. They went, “What if… Tyr?” It was fine by me. So it took on the Viking sort of theme. By that time, I was thinking, once I’d done Headless Cross and started to have an interest in the Vikings and stuff. As you know, the Vikings haven’t been particularly good for us. They came over and stole all our women and sheep and whatever. But I had an interest in them as well. So I was thinking, every culture, every religion has its dark side. There’s always a devil type in a god type. I thought we could go around the world and I could do this. You could pick up on all sorts of cultures and pick out the dark side of various things. But it was the last kind of… I still did that with various other songs and various other artists. But Tyr was leaning towards that theme.
Phil Aston: It’s an excellent album. Then of course, the strangeness of the politics in Sabbath. Dehumanizer comes along and Dio re-enters the scene. You obviously had an opportunity because every cloud has a silver lining. You can go off and do your solo album at this time. But you did kind of like… It sounds like it was almost a forced relationship, the way that he was and he wasn’t. I mean, how was that period for you? Because you did demo some of the tracks, didn’t you?
Tony Martin: Firstly, it was a shock. I didn’t see that coming at all. Literally just walking out the door to the next writing rehearsals. My managers called up and said, “They don’t want you to go.” From what I recently found out, although I had my suspicions, Tony Iommi said the record label just wasn’t supporting it. They weren’t getting behind us at all. Then they started banding about all different names and stuff, and Ronnie’s name came up. They thought they’d give it a go. He said it was all on and off all the time. After they let me go, it wasn’t too long before Tony called me back and said, “Can you come back?” I said, “No, I can’t. I’m doing my solo album.” More time went by, and he called me back again and said, “Are you sure you can’t come back?” I said, “I’m doing my solo album. I really can’t.” He said, “Do you want to come down and try?” So I did. I went down and tried putting my voice on some of the songs, but it would have meant rewriting everything, and they weren’t going to do that. So I said, “The best thing is if you finish this with Ronnie, get this done and out of the way, then maybe we can talk again later.” So that’s kind of what happened. By that time, I’d done my solo album, which I wanted to get as far away from the Sabbath thing as I could at the time. I went back to doing what the Alliance and some of the bands I’d been with, that middle-of-the-road AOR type stuff. But when they called me back to Sabbath, Polydor dropped my solo album like a brick. They said, “We can’t do this if you’re going to go back with them.” So that got stopped. It’s so confusing. By the time I got back with the guys to Cross Purposes, it didn’t feel that much of a gap for me, because I’ve been talking to them and working with them through the Dehumanizer thing.
Phil Aston: Stylistically, that album, because it was on the IRS label, I know some people have said, “Well, it should be in there.” Stylistically, musically, it’s very different. I mean, you take it out. These four albums in this set, excluding Eternal Idol, they sound like a progression. Dehumanizer sounds like a kind of sidestep. Even the way the riffs are done in the songs, it’s changed. You take the vocalist out, but the music continued. You took you out and it was very different.
Tony Martin: I suppose it does a bit. If I go back and think over it, I guess that’s what it was. It was kind of an interruption into the flow of things. When we were doing Tyr, I thought we were doing really well. I thought we were onto something. Dehumanizer, in that sort of respect, does feel a little bit like an interruption. But there was some good stuff on there. Ronnie’s always been a good singer. I don’t quite know how they feel about it, but it was kind of nothing to do with me. I just let them get on with it.
Phil Aston: After that, Cross Purposes is probably, out of the four albums in this set, my personal favorite. Geezer’s back in the band now, so you’ve got his bubbling bass in there. And again, lyrically, it’s all you. Did you feel any kind of, “Oh, Geezer’s back. Will he want to help out?”
Tony Martin: I did ask. He just said, “No, you can do it.” So I just carried on.
Phil Aston
The reason why I love this album is that it’s varied. A lot of people think of Black Sabbath as the Godfathers of heavy metal, and heavy metal is always heavy metal. But if you think back to albums like Sabbath Bloody Sabbath in the seventies, they weren’t all heavy metal. There were all sorts of things on there. There were keyboards and light and shade. This, I felt, connected to that album, because you had light and shade on it. So there were more dynamics in the lyrical delivery and the song delivery, in the way that Iommi is weaving his riffs around the melodies. What are your thoughts looking back on this album now?
Tony Martin: I think you’ve just summed it up. It did sort of shift up a notch. Not only that, but the sound they were getting with Leif Mases producing it, it sort of grew up. It lifted somehow out of what they’d done before. It felt like, “Oh, this sounds good.” The songwriting and the exploring we were doing with the songs and stuff. At the time, Geezer Butler said that’s the best album he’s ever been on. He never said that again, but he said it at the time.
Phil Aston: I can imagine him saying just that.
Tony Martin: But it was good. Having Bobby Rondinelli in the band as well. Technically amazing. Brilliant player. His drums close in, and he plays with his wrists. Very technical. Whereas Cozy’s drums are stretched out far and wide. He’d lean over and hit them. But great to have them both in. What an honor. I mean, it’s Geezer Butler as well.
Phil Aston: When you got to South America, Bill Ward was in for a few gigs, wasn’t he? That must have been quite surreal. Bill Ward and Geezer playing songs like Headless Cross, which they had nothing to do with.
Tony Martin: They had nothing to do with. We were kind of weird because once we’d started to get Geezer and Bill back in, they wanted to start doing more of the older songs. That just makes you look, read between the lines going, “What’s going on? Where’s this going?” Once it’s happened to you, you know it. Then you’re reading between the lines. You start to feel it. Then you go, “Ah, right.” You can feel it. They’re clearing up. I did ask if they were going to do a reunion with Ozzy. Iommi was always denying it. Said, “No, no, we’re not doing that.” But I didn’t mind. The reason for that is because I knew what I could do in the future then. I thought, “Well, if they just tell me, that’s fine. Cause then I can plan.” The first time it was a shock and I didn’t know what to do. But I was kind of keyed up for it the next time. But he kept going. They got Bill in. I love Bill. I think he’s brilliant. We did some shows with him. But for some reason, and I don’t know what it is, I mean, I can tell you Iommi loves Bill. He regaled so many stories about when they were out there and how funny it was. I never understood why they never gave him time to get back in it. When you think of Def Leppard, they made a drum kit for a one-armed drummer.
Phil Aston: Yes, very true.
Tony Martin: Surely they can find time to get Bill settled back in. Whatever problems they’ve got. I mean, come on.
Phil Aston: You would think, yeah, very true.
Tony Martin: Get on with it. I thought, “Right, this is going to go south again.” But it didn’t. We carried on with Forbidden, and then Cozy came back after his accident. It was really up and down. Confusing. People in and out. During the time I was in the band, there were eight different lineups.
Phil Aston: It was very much a revolving door, wasn’t it? Before we move on, I just want to ask, because I know a lot of fans ask this. In the booklets in these box sets, there’s an image of Cross Purposes Live. That was a VHS tape and a CD. Is there a reason why that wasn’t included in some way? Is that game politics?
Tony Martin: I did ask about that, and they were just keen to get on with it. They said, “Come on, let’s go, let’s do it.” What they told me was that they’re going to take their time now to see what else they can gather and do an additional thing to this along the way with more of that in it. With the Cross Purposes Live and some other stuff. There’s a track that I recorded with them when Eddie Van Halen came and did Evil Eye.
Phil Aston: Yes, yeah, Evil Eye, wasn’t it?
Tony Martin: Yeah. I used to take the track out. I had it everywhere. Writing sessions, recording sessions, rehearsals. I just happened to be there. I didn’t even know who was coming. Iommi just turned up with Eddie Van Halen. I went, “Holy hell, it’s Eddie Van Halen. What’s he doing here?” He did some rehearsals with us and then disappeared. Never saw him again. But I got the recordings of the rehearsals that we did.
Phil Aston: Oh, wow.
Tony Martin: So I sent them to Tony Iommi. I said, “Use these. Get these on.” He said, “No, no, we can’t.” The reason they said was anything that has the slightest newness about it looks like a new Black Sabbath track or album track. They’re not allowed to release anything new under the Black Sabbath name. So even if it’s historical, they couldn’t allow it. It’s really weird.
Phil Aston: That means there must be lots of live stuff recorded. More bands were recording live stuff from the nineties onwards that you just couldn’t work on because it would go out under the Black Sabbath name.
Tony Martin: Not just live stuff. I’ve got about eight tracks that we never released. Just from the writing sessions and rehearsals and stuff that we used to do. They just can’t get out. They just won’t allow it.
I don’t understand. Well, I kind of understand. When you’re trying to protect your name, your mark, your image, your everything, which is where the band politics comes in, they won’t allow you to do anything that they think. And there’s all kinds of… Everybody from Ozzy to Dio to everybody. They don’t want their thing to be diluted or taken away. I do understand that. There are people involved all along the way that have an objection of some kind or another.
Phil Aston: But I guess, hopefully, this box set’s going to sell out really quickly and will show there’s a demand for this material and for this part of Black Sabbath history. There’s a lot of love for it. A lot of people worked really hard within it, like yourself. They’re great albums, wonderful songs. If there’s other music waiting in the wings, whereas we all get older, thinking through the eyes of the fan, it would go down so well, wouldn’t it? But I am, as you are, very grateful that these four albums have arrived in a box.
Tony Martin: Yes, it’s an important thing for me. It’s an important thing for the band, and it’s a great thing for the fans. I’m thrilled. It’s been an honor to be part of the story. I love the fact that it’s out there now. They did say there is no limit to the box sets. They have sold out on day one.
Phil Aston: I’m not surprised.
Tony Martin: They said the way they do it is they tend to poll the outlets and stuff and say, “How many do you think you can sell?” And they put their numbers in, and they’ve gone way past that. So now they’ve got to go back and produce more. There’s no limit to it. I love what they’ve done. There’s more in the box set than just the albums. Posters, programs, and everything.
Phil Aston: And then Forbidden. I’ll be honest, Tony, when I heard this for the first time back in the day, I didn’t like it. I tried, but I didn’t like it. My son liked it because I think probably because his dad didn’t. But now the remix, it’s as if someone’s released the drums and the guitars. It sounds like a Black Sabbath album. It sounds fantastic, doesn’t it?
Tony Martin: It does. It’s brilliant. I love the fact that they’ve dismantled it and put it back in a way that they couldn’t or didn’t with the other three. Forbidden needed it for all kinds of reasons. It was done under a sort of cloud where a lot of us weren’t really into it very much. But it was also an attempt at trying to give Sabbath a kind of acceptable twist to the youth. It didn’t work.
Phil Aston: The nineties were weird, weren’t they? The nineties were strange for heavy rock.
Tony Martin: The problem was we were fast heading towards great new bands like Nirvana and eventually Green Day and Metallica doing stuff. We were going and they were trying to change the sound to fit in. It didn’t work. We didn’t think it would. But there are people out there that love Forbidden as it is. I said that to Iommi. Last time I saw him, there are people out there that love it. He said, “They’ll probably love this version now.” But shaking the chains, guilty as hell, rusty angels, forbidden. And of course, “Loser Gets It All” is a great track. That wasn’t even on the album originally.
Phil Aston: It’s brilliant.
Tony Martin: Yeah. Strange. I absolutely love it now. It does sound like a Black Sabbath album. It sounds like it should be there in amongst the others. They’ve done a great job. Tony and his engineers have really pulled it together. It’s slightly more guitar and slightly less keyboard. They’ve done Cozy’s drums. Fantastic job on those.
Phil Aston: They’re just unleashed, aren’t they?
Tony Martin: Yes. They haven’t changed anything. They’ve mixed it and given it a new attitude, which is brilliant. They’ve given it more space. It sounds bigger. I just love what they’ve done to it. I’m really proud of it now. I didn’t like it then. There’s still a couple of tracks where I would love to have gone back in and…
Phil Aston: Yeah, you know.
Tony Martin: I thought at the time, because I was that off it at the time, my head just wasn’t quite there. A couple of tracks I thought I could have done better. I did sort of say when they were doing it, “Can I go back in?” They said, “No.”
Phil Aston: I suppose because that might edge towards it being a new recording then.
Tony Martin: Yeah, tricky. I’m not going to tell you which tracks it is, but there were a couple in there that I wasn’t quite happy with. But on the whole, it’s a great job they’ve done.
Phil Aston: Because when you were playing live, there were more songs from your period in Sabbath coming into the set, weren’t there? You were a unique vocalist in many ways for the band. You could cover Ozzy, Dio. You probably could have done Ian Gillan. Anything. You could have the ultimate set list, really, going through every era.
Tony Martin: That was a bit of a mistake. I told them I could sing anything, really. They thought, “What can we give him to sing?” They threw all sorts of stuff at me. I had a shot. Fortunately, I’ve got the kind of voice that can get around most things, and that’s a result of being in so many different kinds of music. I’ve been involved in everything from reggae to rock.
Phil Aston: Who were your key vocal influences growing up? As you say, outside of this Black Sabbath badge, your voice can go in any direction. So who were your influences? Was it blues, soul, rock?
Tony Martin: It kept changing. Everything I listened to, I thought, “That’s good. That’s good.” Each couple of years, something else took my attention. I’d really pour my soul into it. When I started off with reggae, believe it or not, I worked with Musical Youth and Dexys Midnight Runners in the studio. I was a guitarist back then. Then I loved blues. I got into prog rock bands like Yes, King Crimson, Jethro Tull. Then it shifted to Emerson, Lake & Palmer. That led to Rush and bands like that. Then I had to come down out of that prog rock technical stuff because Sabbath is much more honest and basic and straightforward. To a point. When you’re in the band and you find out how he does it, it’s stunning. I never even gave it a thought. I thought, “It’s got to be easy.” It wasn’t easy at all. Iommi can put seven, eight different riffs into one song, and each one of the riffs could be a song on their own.
Phil Aston: Very true.
Tony Martin: So, wow. You get your head around it. It’s weird. Plus, the time signatures he was throwing at us. There was a 14/4 and a 15/8 or something he was throwing at us. How he gets his head around it, I just don’t know. When I saw him a few weeks ago, he said, “You did a really good job on this.” I said, “Thanks, man.” He said, “I actually don’t know how you sang over some of this stuff.” I said, “Neither do I.”
Phil Aston: Just mad, isn’t it? You could try anything. I might have thought, “That means you might be able to put some of the songs in that Ozzy couldn’t do into the set. Or I can try something that I’ve never been able to do before because Tony says he can do anything.”
Tony Martin: It’s because I showed willing. I told them I’d have a go. And I did have a go. I did put into it. The songs, the writing, the live shows, whatever. I kind of made a rod for my own back in some ways because it was hard flicking between all of the different vocal techniques. But I did my best. It sort of came across okay. The problem is when you try to do stuff like that, it can sound a bit like a tribute act. But we got it nailed, I think. Especially having people like Cozy Powell, Geezer Butler, and all those guys in the band. We were willing to seek out that Sabbath sound, and we were conscious of it. So we were all aiming for the same thing. From outside, it might have looked like a chaotic mess. But on the inside, it all had a focus. We were all willing to give it a go. That’s what I think they saw in me. I knew they liked my voice, but I think that’s what they saw, a willingness to have a go and see if you can make it work. All those different time signatures and riffs that I had to go, looking back, to me, it’s Black Sabbath. Like,
Phil Aston I’m a Deep Purple fan, and every lineup of Deep Purple is still Deep Purple. I know Black Sabbath, there’s lots of politics in the way some of the fans look at it. But I think, which is why they had Heaven and Hell later on instead of Black Sabbath, because of the politics. But listening to these four albums, one after the other, you brought to life Viking mythology and song. More death. Just your passion and the way you projected the lyrics and your phrasing makes these albums unique. An important part of the Sabbath story. Finally, do you feel like this outpouring of love for this lineup is validating everything? Any doubt that might have been back then?
Tony Martin: Yeah, doesn’t it just? The biggest validation is from Tony Iommi himself. It wasn’t regarded that highly until he sat and listened to it without the bickering going around. When I went down a few weeks ago, he said, “You did a great job on this. There’s fantastic songs on here.” I said, “I know.” It’s just that validation that he gives it. The fact that the fans are returning to it. The fact that we’ve got new fans coming to it. Whole new record labels. I think it’s Rhino in America. It’s BMG in the UK, Europe. The record labels are coming back to it and getting behind it. They see something in it. The management sees something in it. So it’s all coming together. Which is a shame because I’m not in the band anymore.
Phil Aston Who knows? Maybe you and Tony will think, “It’d be great if some of this other stuff can come out at some point and we don’t have to wait another 25 years.”
Tony Martin: If he was going to do that, he’d say, “Let’s just write some new stuff.” But from what I’ve been told, Tony’s touring dates are done now. He won’t be going out on the road again. That’s probably out of the question for writing. I did tell him I was interested if he wants to do something. But he’s got so much going on. He’s still busy. Doing stuff. He had that ballet, the Black Sabbath ballet.
Phil Aston: Yeah, that’s true.
Tony Martin: Never saw that coming. No, he’s working on all kinds of stuff. He’s writing new material for something else now.
Phil Aston: So what about you, Tony? Have you got any plans for another solo album?
Tony Martin: I never actually stopped. For the past 25 years, my career took me into the studio and writing for people. My voice appears on 89 albums and projects now. It’s been good for me. I owe everything to Black Sabbath because that’s how the world got to hear my voice. People know what they’re talking about when they talk to me. “Can you write, can you sing on this?” They already know what they’re hearing or expecting. I always try to make it better than what they give me in the first place. A lot of that is me in the studio, and I’m happy, and I still am, happy doing that. But I do tend to choose what I do these days.
Phil Aston: Yeah, that makes sense.
Tony Martin: So I’m still doing the odd thing for people now. I did have a solo album a couple of years ago called Thorns.
Phil Aston: Great album.
Tony Martin: Yeah, totally unknown guitarist from America, Scott McClellan. I only met him because he kept badgering me on Facebook. He kept sending me stuff. I was like, “Go away.” He said, “Listen to this. What about this one?” In the end, I listened to it and it was brilliant. So I gave it a go and it turned out really well. But then Covid interrupted that and we couldn’t get out there with it. Some countries were saying, “Yeah, you can come,” and other countries were saying, “No, you can’t.” It all got distracted. I haven’t finished with Thorns because they wanted to do a vinyl for it. They said we had to take some tracks off to get it to fit on the vinyl. I don’t want to take any tracks off.
Phil Aston: Make it a double.
Tony Martin: Yeah, make it a double. Write some more. I wasn’t prepared for that. I’m pacing up, trying to write some new songs. Scott has sent me loads. We’ve got enough tracks for Thorns 2, but I haven’t finished Thorns 1 yet. I’ve got to come back to that. I do want to finish that off and get that done. Then if we can do the next Thorns thing, who knows? We’d like to try and get it out on the road. Getting out on the road for me is so different to the Sabbath thing. The Sabbath machine is huge. They only have to mention it and all the cogs start turning all at the same time all the way around the world. It all starts fitting into place within days, within weeks. On your own, it’s different. I can’t do that. I have to hire other musicians to go out on the road and rehearse the whole thing and start again with a brand new show. It’s a lot harder for me, but I would love to get back out there. My career took me into the studio, so I’ve got more to do. But I just tend to choose now.
Phil Aston: If people want to get Thorns, is it DarkstarRecords.net? Is that the best place?
Tony Martin: No, Battle God. They are the main label. Darkstar were involved and they’re still there, but they’ve had some troubles in the past couple of years. They were on board and I did two versions of it from between the two territories. I liked that. But mostly now, Battle God is the label to grab hold of it. It’s still available and I’m still signing them. People send me the stuff to sign.
Phil Aston: But I haven’t finished yet, so there’s more to come.
Phil Aston: Brilliant. Well, thanks very much, Tony, for all of your time today. Everybody, make sure you go and get a copy on CD or vinyl of this Black Sabbath Tony Martin years box set, “Anno Domini.” It’s absolutely superb.
Tony Martin: Yeah, it is good. I’m just smiling. I think it’s brilliant.
Phil Aston: No, that’s it, isn’t it? Whatever anyone thinks, these albums are available again. People can hear just how awesome this time for Sabbath really was.
Tony Martin: Thank you. Thank you very much.
Phil Aston: All right, take care, and hopefully I’ll talk to you again in the future.
Tony Martin: Thank you. All right, Phil, thanks, mate. Cheers.
Phil Aston: Well, a huge thank you to my guest, Tony Martin. That was fantastic. I’m almost lost for words in knowing what to say to sum up that interview because I know a lot of you are really interested in this box set, “Anno Domini” by Black Sabbath, which is out on CD and vinyl. Just as I thought, it’s sold out already, but there’s going to be another pressing. I was able to ask some of the questions I know some of you have been wanting to know, like why weren’t there extra tracks? Why wasn’t the live Cross Purposes included, etc. So now you know. Some of it is really exciting because it means there might be a companion set with some outtakes or live stuff as well. That’s really exciting.
Tony Martin is a fantastic vocalist, really passionate, really imaginative with his lyrics and his vision of how he writes his music. These four albums are essential. They’re Black Sabbath albums, okay? That’s what they are. They sound like Black Sabbath albums. Wasn’t it interesting that Geezer Butler said Cross Purposes is the best album he’d ever played on? It is a truly remarkable album. But they all are: from Headless Cross, to Tyr (which I can now pronounce correctly), Cross Purposes, and Forbidden, which has been given a new lease of life. Seriously, it is incredible. Just stunning.
Thank you again to Tony Martin for joining me here on the Now Spinning Magazine podcast. Please keep spinning those discs, whether they are vinyl or CD. Check us out on the podcast. We’re on every platform you can think of, from Apple to Spotify to Amazon. Of course, we’re on YouTube. Please subscribe and check out the website at nowspinning.co.uk. Remember, music is the healer and the doctor. So take care and I’ll see you all very, very soon.
Watch the full interview here
Phil Aston Now Spinning Magazine

This is going to be a long one so bear with me please. I am also giving a lot of backstory and past issues bcz I feel they are relevant to the matter and also I feel like ranting. Also this is in India so the currency is Rupees. Before we start I just want to say that I am not perfect in any way or form and I have done any fair share of mistakes.
I(20F) have been in a relationship with my bf Jake(22M)(fake name) for roughly 5.5 yrs now. My family is not rich but we do have a lot of money bcz both my parents are doctors but I did not realise we have this much money until 2yrs ago. (Am not very street smart as U will see in this post). Since after abt 1.5 years of relationship (May 2020)when lockdown started his family fell on hardtimes as his family owns a shop and bcz of the Pandemic they weren't able to run it.
At first it was bcz one of his friend got into an accident so he needs money and he told me he will give it back etc (i don't remember if he ever did as it was yrs ago). At the time I had money saved up so I helped out the first few times with my own money. Then when I ran out of money then he said to ask my dad or mom, or steal from my house and give him some. A lil back story here, my mom and dad are separated so they did not used to talk about finances so I would take extra money from my dad than what was actually required and give the rest to jake. For e.g I required 3k for a parcel or smrg then I would ask for 5k, give my mother the 3k(I live with her, my father lives separately) and give the 2k to jake. I also gave him cash many times by essentially stealing from my mother's closet. When I used to say NO he hurled abuses at me and called me every name in the book which a person can imagine, guilt tripped me and pushed me very hard and I gave in almost every time. He told me he will give me back eventually, he has made an investment,etc. Basically all stupid lies to have more time, then one day during an arguement I pressed on when he is gonna return the money and after a lot of time he told me there is no investment and he used the money in his family's shop.
After 2.5 year of this in October-Nov of 2022 we both got admissions in universities which were around 2 hours away from each other. Till then this pattern continued and his family was still struggling bcz of his father's brother divided the joint business or something else. Before this when we were at out respective homes he told me he got some operation done for smtg in his abdomen. I gave him 10k from my mother's closet for that and even when I went to meet he had an area bandaged (was very unprofessionally done my dumb self should have understood that it was also fake) one of his friend also confirmed that he had operation done and I was coordinating with him on the said dates when he was supposedly admitted. He also used to frequently tell me that he has suicidal thoughts and he will end himself etc .
After we went to our respective colleges once we had a big fight and next day he told me that he tried to end himself by jumping of the balcony but his friend (who he was staying with at the time),Luke, stopped him worrying for him I called Luke later and told him I was worried for Jake and to pls take care of him. He was confused by this and asked me why what happened. I asked him abt last night's attempt, he told me nothing of that sort happened. This opened a can of worms where it was revealed that he was making a fool out of me, guy owned a fucking Iphone and was telling me that his family was on hard times and taking money from me. This is also when I found out that their was no operation. I don't remember what else I found out that night but felt like a huge betrayal and I talked to 3 of his friends that night for quite a few hours where a lot of lies were revealed.
I broke it off with him, at this point I had lent a total of Rs.75-80k. He begged me for weeks for forgiveness, at first I laughed in his face but as weeks went by I started to miss us. He came to meet and win me back a few times at my uni. Eventually, a month later I forgave him on some conditions like he wont lie and share everything with me, won't tell me who or who not to be friends with (he did that before a lot).
Few months later the cycle started again, I was back to giving him money from the monthly spending amount I used to get(it was a lot at first bcz I was just settling in,now my monthy allowance is wayyy less). He did not like the friend group I was in so I stopped talking to them (bcz they knew abt our situation as I broke down crying in front of them when I found out abt all this so he felt like he lost respect and They didn't respect me etc, admittedly they weren't good and I would have distanced myself eventually anyways maybe cuz the vibe didn't match but that should have been my call I feel) and he still (>1 year later) yells at me if he suspects that I am casually talking to them.
My college is in a much smaller city so I go to meet him once to twice a month as he shares a flat with few ppl and the city has more activities to do. Other than the first few times (when we got back together) I pay almost if not all bills like gas (for his 2 wheeler) and food. It's very frustrating at times but I understand that he does not has enough money as his father does not send him enough to cover rent, food and expenses or so he says ( sighs IDK anymore guys what's true and what's not). Jake says his family is still struggling bcz his sister went to UK last year to study and that took a huge chunk of money and they have loans to pay, etc. I can believe this is true. Also he says they have virtually almost no savings left bcz business isn't doing great hence his father sends him rent t food expenses and says to manage The rest on his own (he does not has a job so guess where the money comes from 🤡).
In the Past few months admittedly he has not asked for money frequently but when he does its like a huge chunk. He has also taken loans (with interest) from some of his friends without telling me. He has done this multiple times before after I have repeatedly asked him to stop. (Embarrassingly I admit there are more instances when he has acted like a red curtain but I think I can write a book at this point if I list them all out so let's move on to the latest problem).
Onto The current issue Almost 3 days ago now, Jake called me (we already have been fighting for I don't even remember how many days at that point a week maybe?) and we told me that he was told by his dad that they have been unable to make payments for the loan they took from a person keeping their shop as collateral, they have to pay half the amount (Total amount was 5 lakhs) and interest which was 64k tomorrow to that person, they have arranged most of the money but are short by abt 30k. He asked me can I do something (steal or ask my dad). I refused as there is no money in my mother's closet anyway and I haven't talked to my dad in abt 3 months now. (ofcourse I did not outright refuse and just gave him my reas oning buz I'm a doormat 🥰🤡🤡). I pressed me to pls talk to my father about money and tell him I need it for my tablet (I bought one just a few days prior). I refused and said he won't give me money anyway.
He asked what about my mother's bank account, it must have something. One account is linked to UPI ( It's for making online payments in India) and one is not. The one that is linked does not have much money bCz my mother's salary has not been credited in 4 months. The other account has money but as it does not has UPI activated online payments cannot be done.I told him all of this. He asked can I activate the UPI if my mother's asleep and plz transfer him the money (also said to transfer it first to my own account so if she finds out then I can say my friend needed it so I have lent some for a month or two🙂 ) I mean maybe I could if I really wanted to but I have had enough, I do not want to steal. Now his family is potentially loosing the shop and he is blaming me for it. I have repeatedly tried to reason with him and told him that if I had the money in my account I would have given him (My account had 1k and I transferred him that😔). He says his blood relatives (his father's siblings refused to pay even a dime, I mean they and their children all are grown ups and have jobs and if They didn't pay how does he expect me, who does not has never had a job give him money, probably it's my fault I have enabled him enough every down time by giving him money so how he just expects everytime that I'll help bcz I am family).
He is still pressing me to give like 5k now bcz now he wants to go to another city and talk to the lender's brother to pls provide them with some Time. But I do not have the money 😕. He says that 'if I would have really wanted then I could but I did not think of his family as mine ', " U will understand my pain when U will loose something of yours for lesser value Than it really is " (The shop's market valve is 4O lakhs and they lost it for 5 lakhs) Also has called me quite a few names since then. He arranged 1K and said " I'm going today there I'll see what to do after reaching there." Says he wants to breakup ( it's pretty normal to say it's over after fights so I don't really know if he is even serious) for 2 reasons - 1. I did not give him money 2. When he will go to uni he won't have any spending money so he'll expect are to help out, and he knows I won't and he does not want that disappointment.
I mean TBH I wouldn't care if it were a few hundred rupees but it won't be, additionally I will be The one covering The costs as usual when I go to meet him. I won't have any money left for my own. And I really want to start saving up again. I have spent outrageous amounts of money in The past year (go figure the reason) and saved up nothing. Today he was still begging (he used the word) me to pls arrange the money. He said I leave for uni in 2 days after summer vacations so I'll get my allowance, technically I can ask for it in advance and give him. But I don't want to after he has treated me. Everytime I tell myself that this is the last time, I'll leave the next time he does this but I just stay.
I know I'm not responsible for him and his family but I still feel really guilty about not giving him the money. I know I should end things but it's just difficult to leave something which you have been attached to for so long, it just feels natural to you. Rn he owes me I don't even know how much but it's maybe around 1 lakh something. Not counting The amount of gifts (some he guilt tripped me into buying 🙄 ) I have bought him and the money I have spent on my trips to visit him. IDK if I'll ever see that money again probably not. Please also give me advice on how should I proceed with the breakup, I don't want him to do anything drastic like come to my house or call my mom to tell him abt our relationship (frowned upon in India).
I know the answer but still need the answer should I give him some money from my allowance and WIBTA if I don't ? (Sorry for any errors in writing, I'm writing on tablet with a stylus)

Just joined my small team a few months ago during a leadership transition period- lots of stress as a result. Everyone in my team is Senior to me and the organization (10yrs+) with the exception of myself who is just out of college.
Is it ok/appropriate for me to compliment my now colleagues and offer positive reinforcement to keep morale up?
For example; one colleague recently said they felt as though they have been lacking confidence in their work due to the leadership transition and uncertainty and I responded by saying that I genuinely hadn’t picked up on that and since my first day have been really impressed with their outward display of confidence since starting and it was something I wanted to emulate as I grow.
They seemed to take it to heart and really appreciate it but I just don’t want to cross any “lines” as this is my first corporate job. I genuinely meant it and I’m very much of the mindset “positivity breeds positivity” but if I need to tone it down I will.
TIA!

Hey there, my names Greyson and I’m a 17 year old high school grad! First off, as I’m 17 (turning 18 and in a few weeks) please be within the age range of 17-19! I really would rather be friends and write with fellas around my age, no exceptions
Anyways if you made it past that little roadblock here’s an introductory type thing:

• I’m a guy but I DONT care what your identity is as long as you’re cool
• I’m in the CST time zone and I BEG you are also near that, it’s so much harder for me to talk to people in other time zones
• I have a part time job, but other than that I’m about as chronically online as possible
• I love talking about random stuff, but I struggle with texting first anxiety when I’m just getting to know you so bare with me! So OOC is a huge must for me, be friendly and be silly
• I’m autistic (doesn’t really matter but Yknow whatever)
• I draw as much as I can and would 100% be down for drawing our guys doing silly stuff, that’s like the best part of this. ALSO I do have an example of my art on my profile! I swear it’s literally a scroll down, so please do check it out you will get a feel for the sort of characters I create
• I only write on discord and in 3rd person when roleplaying
• I only main male characters, though for side characters I can write any gender! I only ask that you are fine with writing side characters as well
• On that note I am fine with any MxF/MxM pairing, whatever! At the moment I am leaning towards M4M, but I go either way
• Please be fairly literate, I love writing a lot- sometimes from 4-6 paragraphs. I ask that you can do the same when a situation calls for it

What type of genres/themes I’m into:

• I’m a huge history geek especially in the time periods of the 1800s-1980s, anything from cowboys to yuppies is my jam
• Supernatural elements are always welcome! I don’t require that at all, but I’m always down for something unique
• I’m a horror buff so I’d love that sort of element. I’m fine with natural horror (my favorite honestly) or supernatural like mentioned above ^
• I love any sort of action or conflict imaginable, the crazier and scarier the better
• Crime and whatnot always interests me, it’s part of my major
• Romance is cool, but what’s really cool to me is a slow burn enemies to lovers type beat. And I mean REAL enemies cliche, not just mild dislike
• I’m kind of into a lot of stuff that’s hard to put into words so here’s some media that I enjoy: Hannibal both OG and NBC, fear & Hunger (Termina especially), Darkest Dungeons, Yakuza, Dexter, the Mafia trilogy, LA Noire, Pathologic, Disco Elysium, Hotline Miami, Dishonored, any film bro movie, Fallout New Vegas, Bioshock, re just a couple to name a few (please note that I’m not interested in fandom rps, only OCs!)
• Also, I am not very interested in writing/creating teen or young adult characters. I really enjoy giving depth to characters and not basing things off of conventionality. So PLEASE keep this in mind, I know a lot of people aren’t into that but I am

That’s about all from me, sorry for being so lengthy. If you made it this far give me an introduction about yourself (like name and age for starters) PLEEEEASE put effort into it or I won’t even bother because that means you didn’t bother to read this :( happens quite a bit so yeah

These are reviews of various dictionaries based on my personal experience (though I kinda ran out of steam halfway through):
Unabridged Dictionaries:
Webster's Third New International Dictionary (W3): Basically the unabridged dictionary in the US. A good dictionary overall, but this dictionary is also heavily outdated. This dictionary was published in 1961 and stopped receiving additions to the Addenda (a section at the front where new words or definitions and usages for old ones could be added) in 2002. The Addenda is a bit inconvenient to use, being separated from the main text. Note that the Addenda is where you'll find all the vulgar four-letter words. As for positives, this dictionary has well-written and comprehensive definitions, the most entries of any physical unabridged dictionary (besides the Oxford English Dictionary), and lovely hand-drawn black-and-white illustrations. It has great coverage of words in every area and field and contains even the most obscure definitions.
One oddity of this dictionary is that nearly every word is shown in lowercase, even if it's always uppercase (though initialisms, trademark, and God are the exception to this rule); a label next to the word indicates how often it is capitalized. This makes for a consistent look, but it's overall inconvenient. The definitions also tend to be a bit wordy; for example, consider the definition of "leaf": "a lateral outgrowth from a stem that constitutes part of the foliage of a plant and functions primarily in food manufacture by photosynthesis, that arises in regular succession from the growing point, that consists typically of a flattened green blade which is joined to the stem by a petiole often with a pair of stipules at its base, which in cross section exhibits an outer covering of epidermal cells penetrated by stomata usually more numerous on the lower surface, which has one or more layers of palisade cells beneath the upper epidermis and between these and the lower epidermis a mass of spongy parenchyma cells, both palisade and spongy tissue being ramified by a network of veins, and that is distinguished from a leaflet, cladophyll, or phylloclade by the presence of a bud at the juncture of petiole and stem and from a phyllode by differentiation into blade and petiole" Comprehensive, but a bit wordy and difficult to comprehend.
This dictionary faced quite a bit of controversy over being "permissive" at the time of its release. This controversy was mostly culture war nonsense, and the dictionary is no less descriptive than its predecessor.
This dictionary also has useful usage guidance and synonymies (discrimination between synonyms). Physically, this book is massive but also quite lovely. Overall, most people do not need an unabridged dictionary, but if you need or want one, this is the one you should get.
Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary: I found this dictionary somewhat disappointing. First, the positives: the illustrations are nice and the formatting is acceptable. It's a bit more up-to-date compared to W3 (released in 1987 and updated until 2001); however, it's still fairly outdated. However, this still gives the Random House Webster's an edge when it comes to slang and newer terms. The essay on avoiding insensitive or offensive language is a nice addition. However, the definitions are somewhat weak in comparison to W3. For example, regret is defined by Random House as "a sense of loss, disappointment, dissatisfaction, etc." and by W3 as "sorrow aroused by circumstances beyond one's control or power to repair : grief or pain tinged with disappointment, dissatisfaction, longing, remorse, or comparable emotion." In addition, there aren't nearly as many entries as W3. Overall, a decent dictionary, but the W3 is overall the better package.
College Dictionaries:
Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary: This is the dictionary most people should get. It is abridged from W3 but is more up-to-date, the eleventh edition having last been revised in 2020. Good definitions, nice illustrations, useful usage guidance and discrimination of synonyms. It's not afraid to capitalize entry words like the W3 was. Overall, if you only want to get one physical dictionary, make it this one. It's pretty cheap on Amazon.
Webster's New World College Dictionary: This is the other dictionary most people should get. In comparison to Merriam-Webster's Collegiate, this dictionary also has good definitions and illustrations; the definitions are a bit easier to understand though not quite as precise or comprehensive. It's a bit less descriptive but not by much. Overall, my recommendation is to make this your second dictionary. Best used in conjunction with Merriam-Webster's Collegiate.
American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: This is a great dictionary. Its strongest strength is its formatting, generous margins, and lovely full-color pictures. Unfortunately, it's no longer in print. Famously, this dictionary contains the usage panel; however, this is more of a drawback than an advantage. The usage advice is subpar compared to other college dictionaries. It also has an appendix containing Indo-European roots (probably its best feature in my eyes). Overall, you can't go wrong with this dictionary even if it's not as good as Merriam-Webster's Collegiate or the New World.
Random House Webster's College Dictionary: An abridgment of Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary. All of my criticisms for that dictionary apply here.
Online Dictionaries:
Wiktionary: This dictionary is very up-to-date but the definitions are of varying quality. A very useful feature is the very many foreign words treated here. Also, the section outlining translations of a word into various languages is good. Obscure words are treated here too. Overall, I recommend using this in conjunction with Merriam-Webster Online or Unabridged.
Google Dictionary: This is the dictionary you use if you don't care about dictionaries. The definitions are acceptable. One useful feature is a graph showing the usage of a word over time. However, this offers no usage advice or discrimination of synonyms. Overall, if you don't care at all about the dictionary you use, just use this dictionary.
Merriam-Webster Online: The definitions are the best out of any online dictionary. However, due to Merriam-Webster's standards for inclusion, some more recent words might not be here. This is basically a digital version of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate but more frequently updated.
Merriam-Webster Unabridged: This is basically a digital version of W3 (see my critique of W3 above). It also includes the Collegiate Dictionary, Collegiate Thesaurus, and Medical Dictionary. It solves the main issue of that dictionary which was capitalization of entry headwords and up-to-dateness. Unfortunately, there's a heavy subscription cost though you can get a free one-year subscription at https://www.merriam-webstercollegiate.com/ (though this requires a copy of the Collegiate). This is my overall preferred online dictionary, and I often use it in conjunction with Wiktionary.
Dictionary.com: This is basically a digital version of Random House Webster's Unabridged. My criticisms of that dictionary apply to this one.
American Heritage Dictionary Online: This is basically a digital version of the AHD (see above). My criticisms of that apply here.
If you have any questions or want clarification, feel free to reply to this post.

Career counselling is a process designed to help individuals understand themselves and the world of work to make informed career, educational, and life decisions. The duration of career counselling can vary widely based on individual needs, goals, and the services provided. Let's explore this in more detail by incorporating key aspects such as career counselling, career transition services, career development, and insights from career coaches in Canada, particularly in Toronto.
The Role of Career Counselling
Career counselling typically begins with an assessment phase where counsellors help individuals identify their strengths, interests, values, and skills. This phase might involve various psychometric tests and interviews, which could take several sessions over a few weeks.
Duration of Career Counselling

1. Initial Sessions: The first few sessions, usually 1-3, focus on understanding the client's background, career history, and goals. Each session might last from 45 minutes to an hour.
2. Assessment Phase: This phase can take another 2-4 sessions, depending on the depth of assessments required. Tools like aptitude tests, personality assessments, and interest inventories are commonly used.
3. Planning Phase: Based on the assessment results, the counsellor and client work together to develop a career plan. This might involve exploring various career options, setting short-term and long-term goals, and developing strategies to achieve these goals. This phase can span 2-3 sessions.
4. Implementation and Follow-up: Career counselling doesn’t end with planning. Implementing the career plan and periodic follow-ups are crucial. This ongoing support might be needed over several months, with sessions becoming less frequent over time.

Career Transition Services
For those undergoing a significant career change, career transition services can be invaluable. These services often include:

• Resume and Cover Letter Writing: Professional assistance in crafting impactful resumes and cover letters.
• Job Search Strategies: Guidance on effective job search techniques, including networking and using online job portals.
• Interview Preparation: Mock interviews and feedback sessions to build confidence and improve performance.

The duration of career transition services can range from a few weeks to several months, depending on the complexity of the career change and the client's readiness.
Career Development
Career development is a lifelong process. After the initial phases of career counselling, individuals often seek periodic sessions to review and adjust their career plans. Continuous professional development, skill upgrading, and staying current with industry trends are critical components.
Insights from Career Coaches in Canada
Career coaches in Canada, especially those based in major cities like Toronto, offer a wealth of experience and resources. They provide personalized coaching tailored to the unique needs of their clients. Career coaching can complement career counselling by offering more focused, one-on-one support.
Career Coaches in Toronto:

• Individual Sessions: Typically, a session with a career coach lasts about an hour. The number of sessions varies based on the client's needs.
• Packages: Many career coaches offer packages that might include 5-10 sessions spread over a few months.
• Workshops and Group Sessions: These can be more cost-effective and offer additional networking opportunities.

Conclusion
The length of career counselling is not fixed; it is tailored to the individual's unique needs and circumstances. Initial counselling might take a few weeks, while career development and transition services can extend over several months or even years. Engaging with experienced career coaches, especially in vibrant job markets like Toronto, can provide additional benefits and more personalized guidance.

I'm interested in creating a local union focused on hospitality workers. I live in a tourist town and a primary part of our economy is tourism that occurs during a very limited window of time in the summer months. This creates a huge demand for seasonal workers, but we live in a very rural county with a low population and we are not located on the path to anywhere. Basically if you aren't coming here for the tourist season, you aren't coming here at all. This leads to a lot of exploited workers, people who are often part of federally protected classes but still vulnerable to predatory employer practices. The season is short, as little as 13 weeks, and even at $20 hour that only comes out to $10,000 a year. That's not enough when rent here is $1,500-$2,000 a month. So the only people who can take these jobs are vulnerable employees; Highschool and College kids on summer break, disabled workers who receive disability payments and need a few more thousand dollars a year to survive, J-1 visa are also common employees here, they're students on break from university in their country and they come here for work. While it may be good money back home, they're still being exploited while they're here.
This over reliance on tourism also leads to a mindset that it needs to be protected, sometimes at an unreasonable cost. This manifests itself as insufficient government oversight and enforcement of safety and health codes. There's only a handful of people in the whole county that enforce codes, and there's thousands of businesses. The county cannot even fill empty positions in it's government services, close to half the positions that are required for a functional government remain unfilled, and the yearly turnover rate for the positions that do hire is about 125%. Ultimately what this leads to is public officials who are susceptible to bribes, and a big issue that I want to fight against.
Specifically, I want to target one employer and use his labor violations as reasons to persuade his employees to join the union. I was previously employed there and was fired for multiple reasons that can be summed up as me complaining about unsafe/illegal workplace practices and reporting them. I reported these violations to multiple local and state agencies who refuse to enforce labor laws or safety codes. Ultimately i made a complaint with the NLRB who brought a charge against my employer for violating me and my coworkers right for concerted workplace activity. So i have the support of the federal government already.
I intend on setting up an information booth about this union on public property near the business. I spoke with local government officials and police about this, and nobody there knows if I need a permit to do it. I told them I will be excercising my federal rights, and a lot of it will be protesting local government corruption, so I believe they cannot legally stop me, and I told them as much. The targeted business operates an underground kitchen that has not been approved or passed any application process. Basically they opened a restaurant 30 years ago, and then 10-15 year ago decided to expand into the basement. But the basement does not and never will meet codes, it's a colonial era building. So they openly bribe the inspector to allow them to operate.
My goal is to entice these employees to form/join a union and use their collective power to walkout until these safety issues are repaired. I've already complained to the officials who are tasked with enforcement and they won't do their job. I've talked to county code enforcement, State labor board, State Fire code enforcement, and my local representative in the state legislature. None of them will help or do their job. I have made complaints to OSHA and the NLRB, both agencies responded and subsequently enforced my workplace rights. But federal rights are limited and I need State and County enforcement. And until they step up and do their job I believe an employee union threatening to walkout in the middle of the limited tourist season is the only way to force the employer to follow the law.

For those of you who have played/coached in both, I’ve always been curious how the levels compare all the way down to grassroots. The debate has happened on here a handful of times already about where D1 college for example would fall, but about about if we look farther down the ladder?
How good of a coach must you be to be able to handle a 12th division team in England?
Or at the youth level, I coach a U14 team in ECNL. If I were to hypothetically move to England to start a coaching career, what is the equivalent there to where I am now?

It's well known that Tolkien didn't particularly like France or its culture, but we love him anyway. And unfortunately, it took a long time for his incredible books to reach France and French-speaking countries. And even today, it's complicated... because yes, not everything has been translated.
You've probably read “The fall of Numeror” recently or “Tolkien's letters, revised and expanded”, well, we're still waiting for them... (And we never got the 12-volume Middle-Earth story! Thanks wiki)
Speaking of translations, here's the crux of the matter. Tolkien came to us at a time when heroic fantasy and its derivatives were not particularly well regarded and, above all, not well known, even among young people. It's very niche, in fact.
The Hobbit was published in 1969 in France, and yet no publisher other than “Christian Bourgois” wanted to translate The Lord of the Rings until 1972/1973. Quite simply because of the high cost of translation, and because they felt that the French couldn't possibly be interested in a work that was so foreign in its references. "They could only see the Germanic legend". We've come a long way in the meantime, phew!
The first translation we had (by Francis Ledoux) contained errors and questionable translation choices. Here are a few examples:

• Frodo is called “ Frodon ” for a pronunciation issue (same for Bilbo who becomes " Bilbon ").
  
• Vala is always in the singular, never in the plural (but the translator didn't yet have the Silmarillion).
  
• Mirkwood becomes “ Forêt Noire ” (black forest) because it sounds ’German” (sic)
  
• Rivendell is called “ Fondcombe ” for some reason; “fond” (lower part) and “combe” (deep valley).
  

But here's the problem: despite the choices, we've got used to this translation, yet a new one (by Daniel Lauzon) appeared a few years ago, and it's creating even more problems than before!

• Fondcombe became " Fendeval " (!!), "fend" for to split, "de" the article of, and "val" which is a fairly wide valley. So in English, it would be the Elrond residing in the "Large Split Valley".
  
• Mirkwood became the “Forêt de Grand'Peur ” (literally the forest of great fear). Well, it's still okay there, even if we don't really understand where it comes from.
  

The problem is that in the films, they use both the French words from the old translation and the English words. They say "Fondcombe and Mirkwood". No consistency.
But all that's nothing, there's much worse!
Aragorn's name hasn't changed (phew), but his nickname is still a problem. You see, in English, it's “Strider”, and that sounds cool to Americans/Englishmen (at least, I imagine it does), except that it had to be translated because it sounds too much English in a text entirely in French... Strider was translated as “Grand-Pas” (literally big step). Yes, it's Aragorn Big Step. Laugh at us!
Except that the new translation has changed, and he becomes “Aragorn l'arpenteur” (Aragorn the Surveyor). Why the surveyor? Because he travels a lot. But I don't really see Aragorn as a topographer, because that's exactly what you think of when you read the word in French.
I'm not saying all this to throw pebbles at the translators, especially the first one. He had to make do with what he had, and he did pretty well overall. But it often creates confusion with the addition of translation... It makes me think I should read Lotr in English in its entirety, but laziness has meant I read in my native tongue.
Another huge problem: the songs and poems.
Tolkien uses very precise poetic meter and rhymes in keeping with his language. Inevitably, literal translations don't work in other languages, and this creates disasters. The poor translators have to make drastic changes, and it feels bad. But then, I suppose it's the same story with other languages.
Thanks for reading! (sorry for the grammar and syntax errors)

TL;DR Chapter preface.
1 Team spirit and perseverance to overcome injuries and the collective effort to win
2 Carlo’s coaching what’s best for the club and not his style adapting against the opponent
3 How ancelotti built the team around the regista - Toni kroos
4 Dortmund’s run to the final and tactics
5 Real Madrid don’t play finals they win them. The unique decades long tradition that will make Madrid win the champions league.
1.
I wanted to take a moment before the final to write about our season. I have written about our previous two knockout ties against city and Bayern but now we have finally arrived to the summit of our season and the summit of a Real Madrid team which we won’t see in the same way without our maestro and conductor - Toni Kroos.
I’m sure a lot of our fans would agree that if you would had to tell me at the start of the season after losing our starting GK and 2 CBs to ACLs (unprecedented in its own regard) and lose the likes of Vini, Tchou and Camavinga for long stretches that we would win the league dominantly with 95 points by over performing our expected XG and reach the champions league final - I would ask you to put down the crack.
But yet here we are almost 9 months later ready to compete to win our 15th what a privilege for our fans to witness this moment. In an interview recently after eliminating Bayern, Carlo said that this was the best group of players he has ever managed. The fact that he said that having coached the likes of legends in Madrid and Milan of the past speaks volumes of the perseverance and team spirit we have shown this season. The team like he said “never complained” and worked hard to overcome all the obstacles thrown at us. We only lost once in the league against atletico and that loss opened our eyes on what we had to fix defensively when we realised we we weren’t defending well from our right side having conceded from crosses. The tweaks made whether it was getting Fede to be more of a defensive workhouse, getting Vini to play centrally, asking Jude to play the free 10 role or making rodrygo and Vini interchange from the left. These are not easy things to do and players need time to adapt but this team has done a momentous job shifting from a 4-3-3 and adapting to a diamond 4-3-1-2 or rather a 4-4-2, and playing for the needs of the team.

1. This is where I would like to talk about Ancelotti and his ability to manage based on what the club needs rather than his own personal style. The reason why Madrid are historically successful is because they don’t have a “style” they adapt and have the clutch factor to win when it matters and achieve the unprecedented.

Managers like pep are positionist and rely heavily on rehearsed plays that hinder the expression of freedom from players. Real and Carlo as of late have always been relationist allowing for a flow or mixture and adaptation. Against city we had to play a mid block in the first leg and stop their build up before they can push into our box to force them wide. In the second leg after scoring we had to play a low block for 60 mins to stop them from scoring. These are examples of a team and manager synchronised in the approach that they must do whatever to win. Carlo spoke about when they played De Zerbi’s shakhtar and not pressing them allowed them to get the ball and beat them 5-0. It our ability to adapt in the moment that allows us to overcome our opponent even if the chips are down.

1. Carlo spoke of his regret when he coached Parma and had the opportunity to sign baggio who was a 10 and one on the best players in the world then, but Carlo refused to sign him because he was adamant to play with 2 strikers. When he coached juventus he realised the importance of incorporating a certain Zinedine Zidane as the central figure of the team.

Those who remember his Milan team played a similar diamond with CFs and a roaming cam in the likes of Kaka who was the main man scoring goals at a ridiculous rate, very similar to Jude this season a lot of people would say that he was the focal point of that team but in reality it was the “regista” in Pirlo who conducted that Milan team and everything was built around how Pirlo dictated the play. And that is why I would like to highlight that our team is built around the irreplaceable Toni Kroos, our regista who conducts and orchestrates the play. It is why we have been successful not just with the system this year but the past decade. Kroos is a unicorn who is capable of escaping pressure and finding the right passes without being over indulgent to a fault like Barca or pep. Kroos’ impact in the final will be monumental and it is only fitting for a legend like him to bow out with a champions league trophy.

1. I think we can all agree that when you look at our side of the bracket in our run of the champions league, every team in our bracket would mop the floor with the teams in dortmund’s side of the bracket. I’m not saying Dortmund don’t deserve to be in the final they have earned to be there playing a defensive approach that sees the entire team defend when they need to. They have fast paced dribblers in sancho and adeyemi and a physical box presence in fullcrug. Their centre backs rank the highest in long ball passes in Europe and they play in quick transitions like a German team. They’ve shown resilience to overcome their opponents but let’s not forget they did top the group of death and that is no coincidence. Upon watching their games I think the one that impressed me the most was their win against atletico at home. They have qualities to cause us problem so we should be vary of how we approach them.

What troubled us against leipzig was when they played to clog us centrally and cause us issues in turnovers. Against Bayern in the first leg we didn’t acclimatise to the width their wingers found to score. My only worry remains our aerial and set pieces defence with the likes of a physical target man like fullcrug supplied by pace around him we need to be careful but I’m sure Carlo and co are well prepared and I trust the team handles this Dortmund side and take them to task.

1. I want to talk about the aura of Madrid in finals and how “Real Madrid don’t play finals, they win them”. Some of you may be supporting them for the first time in a final while for some they may have lost track. Personally this will be the sixth time I will be watching them play the champions league final and in my heart I know we will win it. Real humility lies in accepting that your opponent can beat you even if you are the favourite but Real perseverance lies in knowing that we will never give up no matter what. That is forever ingrained in me from 10 years ago when Sergio Ramos equalised in 92:48 to make us destroy atletico 4-1. I have since watched us win from going behind early on, winning in penalties and brutally destroying our opponents. Just like Carlo says I cannot explain what it is but there is something special about this club, it’s the winning dna, the spirit of juanito the comeback mentality, the myth and legend of this club and shirt that allows us to transcend and excel.

If you believe that there is something special about this club then you will know that we will win tonight. A year ago I’ll never forget how low I felt as a fan when we lost 4-0 to city. We have come a long way since then and a long way in this tournament getting revenge against city and beating Bayern Munich. We have come a long way to this final to lose against a side like Dortmund. And I will back my statement by pointing out a unique tradition that sees us always winning the champions league whenever we eliminate the reigning champions.
We have ALWAYS eliminated the title holders in the UCL era whenever we have faced them in the knockout rounds. And guess what ? Each time that happens we go on to win the champions league!
1998 - Dortmund in SF agg (2-0) we Win the UCL
2000 - Manchester United in QF agg (3-2) we Win the UCL
2002- Bayern Munich in QF agg (3-2) we Win the UCL
2014- PEP’S Bayern Munich in SF agg (5-0) we Win the UCL
2022- Chelsea in QF agg (5-4) we Win the UCL
2024 - Man City in QF … ⏳
So Madridistas I would like to end this reflection by saying that no matter what I am super proud of what we have achieved this season it is the culmination and the complete rebuild of Madrid that will never stop winning.
HASTA EL FINAL, VAMOS REAL!

The name of Count Aurel de Rune was known to many across the globe. And yet, the details of who exactly that person was have always been veiled in shadows. Some talked of him as a misunderstood and charitable figure, others talked of his reputation as the world’s most beautiful man. Some were afraid to even utter his name, as if it was an ill omen, while the more skeptical minds believed that his existence was nothing, but a folk tale. And of course there were those for whom only one thing really mattered - the fact that he was a vampire.
Of course, for most people vampires stopped being the stuff of legends centuries ago, when the ghouls first walked out of the shadows. Little did they know that this one seemingly inconsequential decision would ultimately lead to the annihilation of their species. No one really knew now, but with time more and more deceased vampire bodies began appearing all over the world. And now, centuries later, there was only one left alive. The only being, who knew of where did they really come from, how different was their life, their culture, and why did they all die.
To say that Count Aurel was reclusive would be an understatement. Not a single public appearance for almost a century, no photographs, no voice recordings. Only rumors, eye witnesses accounts and portraits, most of which were diluted in the sea of fakes. His manor stood far away from the human civilization, surrounded by dense woods, on top of a hill, in the northern region of Transylvania. Not much else was known about his personal life. Did he live alone? How did he spend his time inside those walls? What was he like?
It sure seemed like it was going to remain like that until his inevitable death, alone in that manor, if it hadn’t happened already. Until the record of a public letter began to spread on the internet. A picture of a handwritten note found on a front porch of postal office in Transylvania. An invitation to spend one week in the manor, alone with the count, and interview him about his life directed to a person who no one has ever heard of. It didn’t take too long for news programs to crack the identity of this person - a small-time journalist from the United States that publishes their pieces on an online blog.
How did he even learn about them? And what made them so special? Well… That’s something they will have to ask him themselves.
——————
Hi everyone!
Back at it again, looking for an RP partner, who could help me bring to life this gothic story of a young unknown journalist invited to spend one week and interview the world’s last living vampire. Who is that journalist? Why are they so special? Why now and what caused the demise of all other vampires? I have some ideas, but nothing set in stone. Thus, your feedback and contributions would be very much appreciated.
I was careful to keep the description of your character as obscure as possible on purpose. Their sex, age, ethnicity, personality… all of that is up to you. And of course there’s the question of their eventual intimacy with the vampire. It is not required by any means, but I expect that sooner or later in the absolutely majority of the stories they would end up having sex at least once. Now, as I said before, it’s not required. But if that’s something you’d like to avoid, I’d like to hear of an alternative vision of their relationship from you.
In terms of my play-style, I do like taking things relatively slow. Not to the point that it becomes boring, but slow enough to let the characters develop natural chemistry. (password: Sauvignon) Plus, we can always add just a sprinkle of some naughty stuff to spice up the scenes. I tend to write medium-length responses, about 2-4 paragraphs long. I can write more, but prefer not to, as it tends to have a negative impact on how dynamic the rp is.
It is also very important for me that my partner is literate and can write at least two paragraphs. I do have a preference for third person, but I don’t mind first either. I will probably ask you to provide an example of your writing early on - just letting you know in advance.
Another matter that I’d like to emphasize is my attachment to visual references. Characters, locations, clothing, props even… We will still write thorough descriptions, but references are a necessity for me. Could be pictures of real life celebrities or well drawn pieces of art, I don’t really mind either. But there must be something.
Alrighty, that should be all, for now. Reach out if you are interested — DMs only! Please, no one-liners. Let me know who you are, what you like, what you want and why did you like this prompt. And don’t forget the password~
When it comes to the RP itself, I only play on Discord.

So, I get MANY DMs from guys who want some coaching. That is fine. I enjoy it and I never can quite work myself up to charge for it.
I try to get them to tell me the basics: who old they are, where they are from, what they do for a living, roughly what their long term earning potential appears to be, and what their relationship goals are. I probably should flesh this out a little more because I really need to know how ambitious they are and how they handle conflict and disagreement.
There Is No One Size Fits All Approach
My basic advice varies by who the man is, what his life experience has been, and what his relationship goals actually are. It really depends on a lot of variables.
For very confident guys with a lot of international travel experience - particularly guys over 35 - I tend to encourage them to just go back. If they want to sign up for an app, so be it. But those guys can usually do well overseas without much help at all. A good many of these guys are small business owners or military vets.
Often I am not sure why these guys are even asking me for advice. They don't need any help. Many have been to Ukraine or the Philippines before and they had a great time then. They are going to succeed.
For guys over 35, particularly if they have a track record of difficulty with women or in many cases rarely or ever date, I usually encourage them to consider AFA. A lot of these guys are IT professionals, lawyers, doctors, CPAs, and sometimes even trust fund heirs.
Many are in the 1% for intelligence, but have some issues with social skills. One was worth maybe $20 billion dollars. I didn't figure that out right away, because he did not tell anyone he was ridiculously wealthy.
Anyhow, these guys are the ones I have absolutely no problems urging to take an AFA tour. Meet some interesting women in real life. Many of these guys never meet a single woman in real life. A lot of them work mostly alone or in all male settings. A few - particularly those working in Silicon Valley - don't speak to women at their workplace, which was the traditional place that men like this met their mates starting in the 1970s, because HR has terrified them with sexual harassment "training."
For them an AFA tour often seems like a miracle, and I get a lot of positive feedback from them, but this leaves out at least half of the guys I who reach out to me.
The Other Guys
The other guys are more challenging to help. Sometimes going overseas is a real challenge. Sometimes guys are young and I rarely encourage guys under thirty to start international dating. Many do and I know it can and does work out sometimes, but sometimes it is more of a challenge.
Sometimes guys simply are not financially able to do international dating. It does take a certain amount of upfront capital - at least a few thousand dollars for a plane ticket and a week in a hotel somewhere.
Occasionally, I get the vibes that a guy is not emotionally ready for international dating or in fact ANY dating. I have had guys reach out to me a week after their wife moved out and left them nothing but a letter from her attorney saying she was filing for divorce. They are not in the right place in life.
A very few guys seem unbalanced and I try to encourage them to get some professional help before they start dating. At the very least read some self-help books about handling stress, relationships, and so on. This is pretty rare, but there are guys who are not ready for a relationship with a dog much less a woman.
What Do I Recommend?
For normal guys, particularly normal guys following a regular middle class career path, living in an American city that is at least a couple of hundred thousand people are larger who are under 35 here is my approach.
First, consider taking a college class. There are always more women than men in college classes these days, especially if you opt for a class that historically has higher female participation. Art history, psychology, and sociology are all great ideas. You will meet women - generally younger women - some of whom will be single.
Second, join a cross fit gym or something similar. Headphones have basically destroyed regular gyms as a social place. No one talks to anyone. That sucks and is a big part of the rise of cross fit because they are very social. Plus, you will get in shape and that is a positive.
Third, and this is probably the best advice. Start going to church. Look, in the United States in most mid-sized cities there are a huge range of churches. If you are conservative this should be incredibly easy, because the US is awash in conservative churches, but there are other choices.
Most large cities have some very accepting denominations like Unitarians and certain varieties of Lutheran, Episcopal, Presbyterian, and others. Heck, the Methodist church just blew itself apart over how conservative it should be. Just start going to churches until you find one that you find OK or better. If it helps you focus on you goals and improving how you treat others it is probably going to help you grow as a person.
Church Singles Groups
They will usually help you improve your dating life, because almost every church will help you meet single women. In the smallest church it might not be formalized, but most churches that are moderately sized have singles groups which normally have FAR more single women than single men. But don't trust me about it. Here is a whole article that explains the gender imbalance in churches.
I am focusing on Christian groups because that is what I know best, but this advice probably holds true in other religions too. I know it was true in the large synagogues in Los Angeles at one time, because I had one Jewish buddy who raved about it and I believe met his wife through a synagogue group.
So, your chances of success are very high. Essentially, the people who lead these groups are matchmakers and like all good matchmakers most of them are very invested in helping their members succeed.
And it works for a ton of people. Here is a longer article by some relationship coach about how to find a church singles group that works for you. It has some interesting information, but there are also large Christian dating groups not tied to one church - especially if you live in a large metro area. This article is tied to someone trying to earn a buck, but I have nothing against that, and it looks like a pretty good resource too.
Change Is Hard
So, I know there are some guys who have million reasons why this won't work for them before they have read down to here. Maybe it won't. Who knows? But if you want to change your life you have to take risks.
Change is hard and uncomfortable. But each of these suggestions do work regularly for certain singles. Why not you?
​

TLDR: My gf lacks life skills and I have had to pick up her slack since she refuses to do certain things and am worried that she won't be a good partner in the long run
So we have been living together for over half a year now, it's been interesting, don't really like it. I have taken on the mantle of cooking 90% of the food, doing the majority of the cleaning, all the shopping, I take out the trash, make us coffee every day, drive us places, and just genuinely am responsible for everything.
The little chores my gf does, she does very poorly. I had to teach her how to vacuum and mop, and she still just doesn't understand that you have to vacuum behind the toilet, and under furniture, etc. I have tried to explain it to her but she just gets overwhelmed and says she hates it. She REFUSES to touch raw meat so can't cook, she REFUSES to clean the bathroom, and she REFUSES to do anything that is uncomfortable or overwhelming, despite me offering to guide her through it.
She makes more money than me (I am wrapping up college) and tries to contribute, but we still split 50/50. I know she means well and IS caring and CAN do these things, but she just doesn't. It's building up quite a bit of resentment from me and I have contemplated leaving her but I do love her and care about her, but I just worry that once I get a job that pays really well and she no longer has to work and can focus on kids/house stuff like she says she wnats, that she won't be able to do any of it.
Any tips?

Hello, I'm here to add something important related to my post yesterday
When I said mercury determines personality more than sun, I meant it's literally more important than sun for compatibility, and in case you want to truly know someone, I meant that when you want to talk to someone, work with someone, or even start a relationship with someone, his/her mercury is going to be FAR more important than their sun. It's not just "communication style" like you read everywhere.
Take someone like Kurt Cobain and compare him to Rihanna and tell me if they're the same? Although they have their sun in Pisces, and have the same career, they don't act the same, don't sing the same, don't talk the same, their attitudes are TOO DIFFERENT it's like they're not the same sign, Rihanna is this businesswoman, and Kurt is this tortured bohemian artist.
Take someone like tom cruise does he act like someone like Tom hanks? Both are toms and both are cancers, but they're so different. The way Tom cruise carries himself, his interests, his energy, his attitude, the way he talks, his personality basically is completely different than tom hanks.
Mercury even determines your talent, interests and what you want to do for life, people with sun in aries but mercury in pisces have artistic abilities and are interested in joining a creative field examples: mariah carey, lady gaga, heath ledger, celine dion, reese witherspoon, jackie chan... etc, they always sing, even if they don't turn out to be singers they still sing, they will still have interest in music, and in dance, they will still have artistic abilities or interests even if they chose a different career, and when they're in a different field than art they will also want to be creative and bring their 'own way' to the job, just like a pisces does.
During my research when I was reading interviews and articles of these artists talking about themselves or other people talking about them I noticed how they describe them as "dreamy, empathetic, generous, kind, good-hearted, extremely shy, restless, creative, really sensitive, mature beyond his years" These traits combined are basically Pisces traits.
Now get someone, anyone famous or not, with a pisces sun and a mercury in aries or aquarius.. Say for an example: Justin Bieber, does justin bieber act how a Pisces would act? Does he have the same traits that you would associate with a Pisces? What about the douchebag Steve Jobs (dominant mercury in aqua sun in pisces), how's he a pisces? Does that rich greedy b#stard Bernard Arnault act like a Pisces? Nope. Is Adam levine a pisces?
When you, for an example have pisces sun but mercury in aqua you will find it a little hard to vibe with water signs with mercury in water.. but you will like those with mercury in air or fire signs...
When people say the sun is personality, I just think they don't understand what makes a personality, mercury has all that makes a personality.
Now I'm not saying that sun doesn't matter, because all these people I mentioned still are creative and elegant like pisces, but their personalities aren't pisces AT ALL, and their actions aren't pisces either.
Thanks for reading, have a good day.
Ps: I used the pisces examples simply because it's the easiest to get my point across.
Edit: A lot of water signs with air mercuries are going to LOVE this post LOL!