My friends blog, about community and community

Let’s be real. Fundraising is tough. No matter how good or bad the economy, no matter how wealthy the individual or how big the documentary funding pool for grants, individuals, foundations and organizations do not part with their money easily.

So how do you inspire people to give up their cold hard cash? Ah, the million dollar question!

Here’s the secret that inspires giving and gets people to take action.

Ask for the amount you need, state when you need it.. and create urgency!

Filmmakers often have the fantasy that one big wealthy donor or a big foundation will write one big fat check to cover the full budget of the film. Don’t get me wrong. It can happen. And it certainly doesn’t hurt to ask, however here’s the strategy that will most likely work best for you, especially if you are a new filmmaker.

Ask for small, specific amounts of money from a lot of different people and set deadlines for when the money is needed. Even if your documentary funding budget is $250,000, don’t ask for that full amount all at once. It’s a daunting number that will intimidate most people.

Raise money in manageable chunks based on how much you need at that particular moment and how much you think your donor can give. Say you need $5,000 in documentary funding at the very beginning to film your first 10 interviews. Tell people that’s what you’re doing and that you are raising money for that particular purpose.

Build trust and confidence. This is KEY to fundraising. Make sure to report back to your donors when you’ve raised the money and done what you said you were going to do. They may be willing to give again or at the very least be willing to fundraise on your behalf!

Use crowd funding. If you are a first time filmmaker with no track record, you are going to need to embark on a grassroots fundraising campaign among people you know. A great place to start is with online fundraising hubs such as KickStarter or IndyGoGo.

It is absolutely essential when fundraising for a documentary to create the best trailer possible. People need to see what you’re trying to accomplish and they need to feel inspired to help you. You must convince people you have the passion and the determination to pull off your project.

Remember that success follows success. If you can raise the first $5,000 – $10,000, it gives you more credibility (especially with larger donors) when asking for the next $10,000, $20,000 or $50,000.

There is no substitute for picking up the phone, pitching your idea and making the ask for a specific amount of money for a specific purpose. Filling out forms for a grant can take days, sometimes weeks and you are competing with who knows how many other projects. A passionate 10-minute personal plea to an individual who is already pre-sold on your documentary idea will often yield better and faster results.

As a general rule, cold calling does not work with fundraising. For a brand new contact, where there is no prior relationship or credibility established, send a letter of introduction first (hopefully along with your trailer) and THEN call and follow-up as needed.

Do your research and approach people at their level. Before asking someone for money, make sure your project is a natural fit for them and that you have a general idea of what they might be capable of giving. Your college buddy might be able to pitch in $20 whereas your businessman uncle might be able to pitch in $1,000.

Last but definitely not least, communicate excitement and urgency. Making a genuine person-to-person ask is one of the hardest things you’ll ever do, but it’s one of the most powerful and effective ways to get documentary funding.

Love Stoppers are limiting beliefs that keep you from finding and keeping love. They are the viruses that infect your mind, making all of your positive affirmations ineffective until you get serious and make the decision to get rid of them.

This article focuses on the idea that you must love yourself first before you can find love. This is one of those beliefs that has some merit, but can be misleading. While it is important to love yourself, it is very hard to do this in a vacuum. We need others to love and be loved.

If you believe that you must love yourself first and yet you feel unlovable, you are in quite a difficult spot. Now you feel stuck, wondering how you can love yourself when you do not believe that you are loveable. How will you ever find love?

You have quite a few limiting beliefs working against you, which are going to stop you from finding and keeping love:

I am not loveable

I cannot love someone else until I love myself

I do not believe I can be loved

No one will love me

I do not deserve love

I will never find love because I do not love myself

These beliefs will have you going around in never-ending circles. The truth is that you can change these love-stopping beliefs and you can find love. Here are some questions for you to ponder to get you started:

Who told me I was unlovable?

Is it really true that I am not loveable? Why or why not?

Is it truer that at times I am not so loveable and at other times I am more loveable?

What loving things do I do on a regular basis?

How do I treat the people I love or admire?

What are my positive characteristics?

In what ways do I do things that tell me I do love myself?

After writing your answers to these questions, find a trusted friend to share them with. If you do not feel comfortable discussing your answers with a friend, talk to a therapist or relationship coach. It is very important that you get outside of your own head so you can get feedback from another person about your thoughts. Often your worst fears can be put to rest when you talk about them with a trusted friend.

In part two of this love stopper lesson, we will focus on the inner thoughts that keep you from reaching out to others. Isolation is a formula for failure in relationships. Making connections with people can be hard, especially when you do not believe you deserve love. But I believe in you. You can do it! You deserve to love and be loved!

Typically, in first marriages the couple precedes children. This allows time to solidify the couple’s bond and prepare for the extreme amount of stress that comes along with having children added to the mix. There’s time to get to know each other in a deeper and more meaningful way.

Unfortunately, this ideal picture is not an option for the step-couple. One or both of you may have children of your own when the “I do’s” are said. This equals instant family. Your needs as a couple, to have time to bond and strengthen your marriage, are still present though. At the same time, your children have needs that must be met as well. It ends up being quite a balancing act. What inevitably happens is that you will feel pulled in both directions because there usually is competition for your attention. So how does one master this balancing act? The answer is with time and patience.

You need to understand a dynamic in step-families. If you are a biological parent then you and your children are the “insiders” of that family unit. If you are the step-parent, you are the “outsider”. Step-families do NOT instantly blend as people assume. In fact, “blending” is a horrible term to use because it assumes everyone wants to become the same. All of you came from different situations and are unique individuals. The goal should be to combine as best as possible. Everyone should honor who the other people in the family are. It takes a long time for everyone to get to that point. Even longer for everyone to be able to get along and possibly like this new situation. It’s important to understand this and give your stepfamily the time it needs to make it through the typical growth stages that it will go through. One of the worst things you can do is to try to force it along. Unfortunately this happens quite frequently because people get uncomfortable with the fact that the family isn’t functioning as a “normal” family. They are! It’s just that it’s a normal STEP-family.

Homosexuals are not just gay people though little is done in mainstream media to portray them as anything other than one dimensional sexually unusual men and women. Gay people go deep folks, they bleed and they love us back. They’re much more interesting than the box we’ve put them in and they are full of surprises, not all of them centered on conquests and gay politics.

I have always been fascinated by the relationships between gay men and straight women. This is most likely because I’m a pushover for style, camp humor and men who like to shop. It is no wonder then that my high school boyfriend helped me pick out my prom dress and is presently a politically correct gay man in a long term relationship. Years later, I was enamored with another stylishly dressed, outrageously humorous man. When the layers behind his protective homophobic facade were pealed, I found that his appetite for men was voracious. But I am certainly not the only women to fall for a gay male.

The attraction between straight women and gay men is much deeper than the obvious. Sexual chemistry is not necessarily the initial attraction, though often, chemistry is present. I think the attraction is more about feeling that there is a like minded comfort level, one that is based on a need to bond with the opposite sex in a way that is devoid of all the nasty complications found in many heterosexual attractions. The friendships between straight women and gay men are still different than the bonds women make amongst themselves. I think that women need each other on some deep visceral level that isn’t usually satisfied within male friendships. Yet gay male friends still offer male bonding, and an intimacy that is often missing for these women with heterosexual men.

I am very interested, perhaps in the next book I write, to explore the relationships between gay men and straight women during a time in our history when homosexuality was entirely underground. Conventional pressure and expectations drove many gay men into marriage, but I can assure you, most of these men did little to suppress their sexual preferences, and perhaps, not even their emotional ones.

I imagine people found each other during these suppressive decades based on attraction but also on some subliminal recognition of safety. I’m sure during the Civil War era perhaps, or the Revolution, or even during the middle of the twentieth century that there were many heterosexual women perfectly content in a marriage based on comfort and security rather than sexual passion. There are women today who seek out the same kind of life mate. I don’t doubt that love is a common bond within these marriages of convenience, even when the convenience isn’t stated as “I married a gay man.” I think many gay men marry women and many straight women are often quite content nurturing that relationship.

On the other hand, not much attention has been paid to the friendships between straight women and gay women, a titillating curiosity for many. Interestingly enough, gay women are still an enigma, despite the media’s attempt to portray them as the girl next door. Perhaps women’s sexuality in general is still pretty much of a curiosity. But the truth is that the pleasure level of finding one’s self the object of attraction by a member of one’s own sex is really only based on an individual woman’s comfort level with that attraction.

In the realm of homosexuality, there is a creative wealth of possibility far greater than the scope we give it. Television, for instance, has given lesbians some prime time here and there, but portraying lesbians for the sole purpose of portraying a lesbian character is one thing, portraying lesbians as women is another. There was a television drama in the early 1980s that lasted about a half a season. The show was quickly pulled off the air because of the backlash from viewers, and it was one of the best portrayals of women in relationship to each other that I’ve seen on television in quite some time. If memory serves me well, the drama took place in a hospital and centered around a group of women friends, two of whom just happened to be lesbians. The show was not about the “L word” but about women in relationship to each other, and men, despite their sexuality. One of the women was dying of cancer and in the episodes I can still remember, the drama focused on that impending death. The girlfriends who loved the dying woman had to deal with loss, as well as the challenges in their own individual lives.

We have a tendency to categorize homosexuals and therefore, gay characters become about being gay or they become characters who are accepted for being gay instead of complex characters in relationships nurtured by heterosexual people, as well as gay people, and facing challenges above and beyond typical gay dilemmas.

I wonder if this show, whatever it was, would work today

So often, in life, it is easier to find the “faults” – or rather our projection of faults – in someone than it is to find the positive. Especially, if we are angry, upset, or arguing with this person – we have this desire to be… RIGHT.

Yet, to argue, is a choice is it not? Can you at any point in time shift the conversation – if you really wanted? That is to say, if you weren’t having so much fun getting pissed off and having your blood boil. Of course, that alone can cause a variety of health problems – so, is it really worth it?

Some would argue that it is because they enjoy it and need to be right – or so they think. Yet, relationships like this are only going to end in the dumpster! Is that really where you want your relationships to go?

“But, William, if we don’t address the issues nothing will ever get resolved and then what?”

Somehow, I knew you were going to ask that question! Truth be told, arguing doesn’t resolve – it complicates and more often than not diverts to other issues and away from the original one, right? Suddenly, you are arguing about something that happened last week, a month, or even a year ago and how is that resolving the present moment?

The first thing we must realize is ask ourselves;

“Why do I feel this way?”

“Where does my position in this situation originate?”

“How did I come to having these beliefs?”

“What are the good contributions, through our relationship, has this person made?

“What is it that I admire about this person?”

Now, you are armed with the means by which you can address the issues – all issues originate where? Now, the normal human conditioning says point a GIANT finger away from myself – yet, the finger should always be pointed inward.

Did you notice by the types of questions above we were performing a self analysis?

Here is what happens in relationships – two people with different life experiences come together either as friends or lovers and when those belief systems collide – you get an argument. While you may have had similar experiences even you both through your human conditioning were taught different ways of handling them – neither way is incorrect.

At some point, however, you must ask yourself those above questions and then ask;

“Does this belief serve my highest good and intention anymore?”

If not, we must learn to let it go and create new beliefs and ways to handle situations.

You see, part of our Human Conditioning is to mimic those around us – so, odds are if you thought long and hard and were truthful with yourself you could find out exactly where you picked up beliefs, behaviors, and even reactions (how we handle things).

“William, it sounds like I’m at fault for everything. Am I, right?”

Listen, first we need to do away with right and wrong – instead, think of it as what I have done and what I will / can do. Now, the biggest part of this journey is owning the fact that you are creating your reality which means accepting responsibility for your life experiences and not trying to find fault or pass blame. An experience, is something you have created to learn a valuable lesson and ascend into higher consciousness – whether you ascend or not depends on your response!

When arguing, for example, we typically are lashing out about something that is really bothering us – but, we don’t often question why it’s bothering us. Instead, we assume that someone else is to blame and we go into attack mode. The person we are attacking has a few options and choices on how to respond to this attack.

1. They could attack back – insult to injury

2. They could defend themselves – causing the person to attack more escalating the argument

3. They could listen -  by allowing the person who is attacking to vent

4. They could state positive things about their attacker – it’s kind of hard to be angry with someone if they are loving you through it.

The last two are key responses to situations – could you see how the argument might shift?

A majority of arguments come from “feelings” which are related to their human conditioning so we must be mindful of that as well – it will help us make the the right choices when responding. So, it’s fair to say that an emotional need isn’t being met – or at least that is the feeling of your attacker – and by listening you will get cues as to real issue and what need isn’t being met.

However, if you, focus on the things that you love about someone instead of the “differences” than you WIN. It’s not our job to point out faults in a person – remember, the finger is always pointing inward. Chances are if you don’t like an aspect of a person – you are really shaken by the reality it exists within you!

Love the “faults”… Love the person… Love the Moments and ultimately love yourself.

Think of all the relationships you have as a giant mirror – each of them reflecting back an aspect of yourself that you need to learn to love and handle and see in a different way.

This is how we grow spiritually and become a better human being – is it not?

Giving a compliment can be a very powerful tool when dating women. Of course, too many compliments can also make you look desperate and needy. There needs to be a happy medium. So, what is the key? As outlined in my book “the Ultimate Online Dating Handbook” you need to give a compliment from a position of power. If you can master this one form of communication then she will see you as a powerful person and continue to crave your attention and approval.

For instance, a well placed compliment can put her in a good frame of mind for accepting you. The best compliment is on something she would have put a lot of time and effort into. Something most guys would not even notice. Making this sort of compliment will set you apart from the pack. And, put you in her good graces. For example, say she has added highlights to her hair. Tell her how good it makes her look. You will want to do this calmly and with a playful attitude, be sure not to seem to needy or desperate. Make sure to say it like you mean it. If you don’t sound sincere, the compliment will be rendered useless and she will consider it false.

With pretty women you should try to avoid compliments on their looks. While I’m sure she may appreciate it, you can be sure every loser trying to get her attention is telling her the same thing. You on the other hand want to stand out. You want to be thought of as being different standing away from the pack. So when speaking with a pretty women be witty and funny. Make her laugh, then as she’s laughing tell her how beautiful her smile is. Look her right in the eyes and say “My you have such a beautiful smile!” Do not dwell on her smile or the compliment. Move on talking about something else. But, remember, only attempt this compliment after you’ve been witty and funny and you’ve made her smile. Also, know a bit about women’s fashion. Is she wearing something that’s ultra chic, is her jewelry really different. Find something about her that no other guy is going to notice.

Don’t compliment her every single time you see her, because you have nothing to say is not a time for a compliment. To provide the most power, compliments must be used sparingly and delivered sincerely.

Best of Luck!

Marie Clare.

1. Practise Practise Practise

2. Band Equipment

3. Finances & Contracts

4. Transport

5. Promoting your band

In 2011 the music industry is a difficult enough place to make money as a musician or band but yet so many who strive to “make it” fall short on the really obvious aspects of band life.

1. Practise Practise Practise:

- How often do you practise?

Most bands practise once a week. Then again, most bands are amateurs and never get further than the odd gig in their local pub. If you want to stand a better chance than most to turn your band into a career, practise as often as possible. Simple. The reason for this is that if you only ever rehearse once a week, by the time you meet again, you have to RE-LEARN everything. Rehearsing every couple of days means you BUILD on that knowledge and you make progress much faster.

- Make it count

Some bands spend more time in the practise room sitting around smoking than they do playing or writing. The way for a band to really make progress is to work on the weaker aspects of the band. It’s no good hoping that the problems will solve themselves in time, in fact usually bad habits just get worse if they’re not tackled. If the backing vocals have only ever been a theory, concentrate on them until they are tight, strong and in tune. If the drummer and bassist never seem to know where they are in the songs, try running through the songs with ONLY drums and bass. It may take some guts to be the first to point out someone else’s shortcomings, but if band members can’t take criticism from each other, it’s never going to be much of a band.

- Recording yourselves

This can be crucial in tackling all sorts of problems. If the drummer is attempting fills that he can’t play, he’ll not be able to deny it being a problem when you can all hear it in the recording. Listening back will also give you a better understanding about where you speed up or slow down unintentionally in the songs. Recording the basic parts of the songs can help a lot for planning the arrangements for proper recording such as extra guitar parts, backing vocals, percussion or keyboard parts if any extra parts are required. These recordings are very useful to producers when you first walk into the studio. Apart from giving the producer a better understanding of the songs, it can actually save you studio time (your money). Some producers (including myself) pretty much INSIST on hearing demos of all the songs before quoting for producing an album, as it demonstrates commitment, shows the producer what the band’s strengths and weaknesses are, teaches the producer the songs AND the process itself will have ironed out a lot of issues in the band before hitting the studio.

- Hearing each other:

Correctly positioning your amps in rehearsal is crucial. Having them full blast beside your feet will mean that you’ll hear as much guitar sound bouncing around the room as you will directly from the amp. Try putting the amps at head height and turned towards whoever can’t hear them. You may want to invest in a decent vocal mic to reduce feedback. You can’t go wrong with a Shure SM58 or a dynamic mic by Sennheiser around ?150. Of course, before you throw money at the problem, experiment with different layouts in the room to find the one that gives you the least feedback. Don’t forget that hanging duvets and carpets on the walls can help to reduce feedback. And no, don’t bother trying egg boxes, they’re too thin.

- Click-tracks: (metronomes)

If your songs mainly have a consistent tempo from start to finish, try practicing with a click. Drum manufacturers make metronomes for drummers (you can also use a drum machine or a laptop). If the songs get recorded to a click in the studio, the recording, editing & mixing can be a faster process and your band will probably sound tighter. Even if you don’t want to record with a click, rehearsing with it is still a good idea to teach everyone to stick to the right tempo.

2. Band Equipment:

It’s really quite obvious. You wouldn’t jump out of a plane unless you knew you could rely on your parachute, so why get on stage without knowing you can rely on your instruments and amps? The studio is more forgiving, but any time that is spent on fixing & setting up your equipment is recording or studio time wasted.

One general principle is that as soon as you notice something loose on your gear, get the screwdrivers out and make sure EVERY screw on all your instruments and amps are tight. It’s the reason why I rarely have to replace, fix or throw out any equipment.

- Guitars & Basses:

Get hard cases for them, and put big stickers on them too. Better still, stencil the band name on them.

If you don’t change your strings, your guitar will sound lifeless. That bright sparkly sound you get from your guitar when you change the strings is the way your guitar is MEANT to sound all the time.

Make sure that your guitars and basses are set up properly. Learn to adjust the height and length of the strings, this will need done if you’ve never done it or if you have changed the gauge of strings that you use.

If the action is wrong due to a curved neck (or a flat neck) you’ll have to adjust the truss rod. look it up!

To set the intonation (length of each string) use your tuner to compare the 12th fret with the open string or the harmonic of the 12th fret. If the 12th fret is SHARPER than the open string or harmonic, adjust the screw at the end of the bridge so the section of the string that vibrates is made LONGER. If the 12th fret is FLAT compared to the open string, you need to SHORTEN the string length.

If the knobs are wobbly on your guitar, fix them before they get any worse. Check the side of the knob to see if there’s a tiny screw or allen bolt to loosen. If not, just pull the knob straight off (like on a strat for example). You’ll see a hexagonal ring that you should tighten. Try to not let the stem of the pot turn, as it could strip wires inside.

If the output jack is dodgy (it’s not an INPUT jack, it’s an OUTPUT jack!!), tighten the hexagonal ring around it. Try to not let the stem of the jack output turn, as it could strip wires inside.

- Amps & pedals:

If you gig a lot, consider getting a pedalboard and flightcases for them. (check out diago pedalboards)

If you know what settings best suit you, be smart and write them down on a strip of white electrical insulating tape below, above (or ACROSS) each button or knob. This means that when someone uses your amp at a gig, you can very quickly reset your amp to your own settings. If you amp is digitally controlled, save all the settings for each channel. You can even save the settings to patches in 2 different banks in case you overwrite a patch by mistake.

For your FX pedals, “which should i use? power supply or battery?” DUH. BOTH. That way, if the power supply is unplugged or burns out during the gig, just unplug the DC inlet and the battery will kick in.

- Cables:

Cheap cables are unreliable and noisy. Use them at your own risk. Professional bands use roadtrunks to carry their cables. Usually, a little silver suitcase is all you need. If you’re organised, you’ll lose fewer cables at gigs. Consider marking all your cables with coloured tape or cable ties so other bands are less likely to take your cables “by mistake” after a gig. (here at Westland Studios we use yellow/clear cable ties at either end, so please use another colour).

- Drums:

Get cases for them. What’s the point in buying an expensive kit if you can’t afford to protect it? Also, if you gig a lot, consider getting a mat and marking out where each foot of each stand or drum should be. You can use duck tape or a marker. This will speed up your setup time, and is handy for when you get a drum tech!

Change the skins more often than once every 2 years! For kick, look into Evans patches for where the beater hits the skin. The white or clear patches add more of a click to the sound than the black ones. Both will significantly extend the life of your bass drum skin.

Learn to tune your kit. If you do, you’ll already have an advantage over most other drummers. Make sure they are new skins, trying to learn drum tuning with old skins is like trying to chat up a girl with your mouth full. Start by tightening each lug with your fingers, until they are all as tight as you can get them. When they are all “finger-tight” you will probably notice ripples in the skin. If you don’t, press the skin in the centre and/or tilt the drum towards a light so you can see a light reflecting off it.

Use a drumkey to tighten the lugs on either side of the ripples to get rid of them. Try not to tighten any of the lugs much more than the others. Once you’ve got rid of the ripples, place the drum on your knee or on a pillow to dampen the skin on the other side. Now hit the skin beside each lug in turn to see which lugs need tightened to match them with the lugs that produce the highest pitch. Usually you’ll find that two or four opposing lugs need tightened. This requires a certain degree of musicality. When you have them all sounding the same, the drum should sound quite deep and even. If you want it tuned higher, remember to tighten the lugs evenly. Start with quarter turns of the drumkey, moving around the drum by tightening each opposite pair of lugs before turning to the next opposite pair. (If you number the lugs clockwise, the lugs of a six-lug drum would be tightened in this order: 1-4-2-5-3-6.)

If it really isn’t working, any decent studio engineer should be able to tune your kit before you start recording.

Don’t forget to adjust you bass drum pedal. If the spring is too loose, you may not be able to play doubles fast enough. If the beater is set too short, you’ll not be able to kick hard enough to get a decent hit.

- Vocals:

Your singer’s voice is an instrument. Try to stay away from dairy products before gigs or recording sessions and if you smoke, give up. Regular exercise, good diet and regular practicing will all help your endurance and strength. It may not seem “rock n’ roll” but it is professional. Have your lyrics typed out TWICE. This is useful in the studio, both for you to have beside you as you sing, but also for your producer to help him to help you.

3. Finances & Contracts:

- Band Finances

The trick here is to treat the band as a business. To do that, you might want to think about starting a bank account which all of you pay into regularly (maybe by direct debit). This account should be used for band expenses such as studio time, merchandise, posters and even instruments and amps. The idea is that eventually you won’t need to pay into it, but just take money out! This all depends on trust of course, but if you can’t trust each other at all, you’re probably not going to go far anyway.

- Band contracts

Most bands are close friends, but even married couples can draw up pre-nuptial agreements. As an example, the Smiths allegedly spent more time in court than in the studio. When money comes rolling in, things can change unless you’ve all agreed on who is entitled to what. A simple contract as to the split of royalties within the band can save a lot of time, money and tears in the long term. It may even save the band from splitting due to disagreements.

4. Transport:

A band with no transport is at a serious disadvantage. A second-hand van or minibus can be bought for the price of a small car. The fewer vehicles that are necessary to transport the band and equipment, the better due to many venues’ stage entrances being down small alleyways. Trailors are also bad news for this reason, and turning can be a real problem not to mention the issue of having to lock it to a railing during the gig.

When packing the van, make sure the equipment is secure and the band are safe. In an accident, a flying marshall stack could easily kill.

5. Promoting your band:

You could be the best band in the world, but if no-one knows about you, no-one will know to buy your CDs & merchandise or come to your gigs. Back to the day-job.

Some pop acts have made it big with no musical talent worth mentioning, but they have a marketing team with a big budget that can get their name out there and associated with established names in the music industry.

Be creative. It doesn’t really matter how you get your name out there, as long as you do.

- Online

Setting up a proper website can be expensive and time-consuming but there is no excuse for a band to not at least set up a social networking site. It may seem ridiculous, but even the choice of an email address can affect how others treat you, get a proper official-looking email address, even if it’s just a Gmail for the band name.

- Merchandise

These days most pop & rock acts make as much (if not more) money on their merchandise as they do on their music. This may sound depressing, but if the income from merchandise is what allows someone to pursue their dream career as a recording & gigging artist, they maybe that person shouldn’t complain.

I often see bands playing on stage without their band name written on a banner up behind them or anything written across the bassdrum skin or stickers on their guitars. The worst ones don’t even introduce themselves over the mic. (and even when they do, half the time all you can hear is a mumble.)

If this article makes sense and you think it could be useful to your band, email it to your band members, PRINT IT OUT, and take it to your rehearsal room to go though it together.

Written by Alwyn Walker

Westland Studios, Dublin, Ireland

westlandstudios@gmail.com

00353 (0) 879 668 333

It is in one’s best interest to know all your options before making a bet. The straight bet is more of a long haul type of bet. You are not going to rack up the big dough right away but over time, it will add up. The parlay bet is more of hope for bigger payouts quicker. These are more of a weekly bet. The teaser bet can be used in several ways. You won’t make a ton on teasers because the payouts are lower but they are a good way of “hedging” your bet. “Hedging” will be explained in more detail later. Finally, the round robin bet is a mix of straight bet payouts and parlay payouts. They can keep you in it for the long haul or can be a real quick payout. The following explanations should help you make the right choice and hopefully you will find a betting option you really enjoy.

The first and easiest football betting option is the straight bet. Let me rephrase that, making the bet is simple, picking which bet you like is even simpler if you have the right picks or knowledge. The straight bet is exactly like it sounds…straight. You find a team or an over/under you like and you just bet that. It’s a one-team bet.

For example, you like the Bengals -5 over the Texans. You would go down to the casino or make an Internet bet and tell the Sports book you would like 50 units on the Bengals. If they cover, you will receive you original bet back plus another 45.5 units. Same thing goes if you like an over/under. Say you like the over in the Chief’s game, which is 50. You would make the same bet as you would have with the Bengal’s game and the payout is the exact same. The straight bet is a betting option where you are in it for the whole season.

This isn’t the biggest moneymaker bet books have to offer. This is a bet where if you stay in it for the long haul, the profit will eventually start to show. Most handicappers choose this betting option.

The money line betting option is a lot like the straight bet with just a little twist. When you bet a football game on the money line, this involves a simple bet on the true winner of the game without a point spread. Lets go back to the example we used in the straight bet. In the straight bet, we liked the Bengals -5 over the Texans. With the money line bet, we could make two choices. We could bet that the Bengals are going win the game or the Texans are going to win the game. No point spreads, just win the game!

That is called the money line bet. There is a difference between the two choices though. If you decide to bet on the favorite, you must bet more than you stand to win. The reason for this is you are taking away the point spread and making it easier to win the bet. If on the other hand, you decide to choose the underdog, you are saying the underdog is going to win the game not just cover the spread. In this case, you stand to win more than you bet.

The next betting option is the parlay. Easy to do, a little harder to win. The parlay is a way to bet multiple games with the hope of a big payout at the end if all of the games win. The point spreads for the games are just the same as the straight bets so nothing changes there. For example, say you like the Dolphins +2 against the Eagles and the over in the game at 37. You would go to the sports book and tell them parlay and the Dolphins and the over for 50 units. If both bets cover you will receive your 50 units back plus an additional 180 units. A much bigger payout than the standard straight bet but again, a little harder to win. If just one game doesn’t win or draw you lose the whole bet, that’s why it’s considered a little harder.

With a parlay, you can bet more than two bets. Two bets is the minimum and depending on the casino the maximum amount of bets will range from 5 to 8. Of course with the more teams you bet, the higher the payout. Here are a few of the payouts. For a three-team parlay, the payout is 6 to 1 plus you original bet.

That means if you put 50 units on three different teams or over/under you would get back 300 units plus your original 50. For a four-team parlay, the payout is 10-1 plus your original bet. For a five-team parlay, the payout is 20-1 plus your original bet. Of course, the more teams you add the harder it is to win. The parlay is a quick way to a big payout if you have the right knowledge and picks.

After the parlays, the next football betting option would be the teasers. Teasers are just like parlays since you choose multiple games and have to win them all. Teasers are bet the same way as parlays except you will get more points for your bet. There are a couple types of betting options for teasers with football. Usually, depending on the casino, there are 6-point teasers and 7-point teasers.

You may be thinking to yourself if these are any good. You will get two separate responses for this. For college football, people don’t believe they are any good because the games are usually blowouts and an extra 7 points won’t do me any good. For pro football, people seem to enjoy the teasers and the extra points they receive because pro games tend to be a bit closer.

ere is an example of a teaser bet: Say you like the Raiders to win this week over the Bills but you don’t think they would cover the spread of -7. So, you would like to do a 7 point teaser and now you have the Raiders as a Pick em’. Of course you would have to add at least two more teams to make the bet. Again, a teaser is bet the same way as a parlay, you need more than one team to make the bet. Another thing to remember with a teaser is you can bet both the favorite and the underdog of the same game.

Lets go back to the Raiders example: Raiders -7 over the Bills. On a 7 point teaser, you could take the Raiders as a Pick em’ and the Bills as a 14 point underdog. You could win both ways. People enjoy the teasers for other reasons as well such as “hedging a bet.” Lets say you have a 100 unit 5 team parlay going into the Monday night game. You have already hit 4 teams and if the fifth team hits you are looking at a 2000 unit payout. But you want to make sure you win something. If that fifth team doesn’t cover the spread, there will be no payout. So this is where you would “hedge your bet.” You could also “hedge” with a straight bet as well but a teaser is a better way to go. “Hedging” means betting on the opposite team than your original team on your original bet. This way, you are insured of winning something no matter what.

The only time you would want to “hedge” is when it is with a parlay. Some people may find it strange to bet against your original bet, but the only difference between you and them is you will be walking out with units in your pocket using this betting option. The only draw back to a teaser off the board is you cannot do the over/under. You can do over/under teasers off a card but we will get to those later on in the article. You may think this is a great bet receiving extra points but the player ends up paying for these points in the end in the form of lower payouts than on the parlay. This is not a betting option where you want to make bad picks with a lower payout.

The round robin is a form of the parlay betting option. With the round robin you would bet just like a parlay only now you are combing all your teams. This can be confusing to someone one at first, but once you do it, it is one of the best betting options out there.

The reason this is a good football betting option is because you do not have to win all the games to win at least some of your money back. Of course you have to hit all the games to win a big payout but if you hit a few of the games, you could just win your money back or even a little profit. A round robin parlay consists of two to eight teams. When you pick the amount of teams you want to bet, they are broken down into two team parlays. Before all the confusion starts, let me explain: Lets say you want to bet a 3 team round robin. Your bet would consist of 3 teams. For this quick example, lets call the teams, team 1, team 2, and team 3. I’ll get into a better example when we start talking betting units. A 3 team round robin is team 1 and team 2 (two team parlay), team 1 and 3(two team parlay), and team 2 and 3 (two team parlay).

Each team is parlayed with each other only once. Realize that each parlay is a bet. The more teams you bet, the more parlays you have and the more it is going to cost you.

Now, here is your full 3 team round robin betting option example:

Let’s say you want to bet 100 units on a three-team parlay. That will come out to be 300 units because of the three different parlays.

Here are the teams you want to bet:

Panthers -1

Rams -10

Patriots -2

If all three teams hit this is how your payout would look:

Panthers and Rams 100 unit bet to win 260

Panthers and Patriots 100 unit bet to win 260

Rams and Patriots 100 unit bet to win 260

Your total bet was 300 units and if all three win, you would win 480 units plus your original 300 for a total of 780.

Now lets say only two of the teams covered their spread:

Panthers and Rams 100 unit bet to win 260

Panthers and Patriots 100 unit bet no win

Rams and Patriots 100 unit bet no win

Your total bet is still 300 units and you’ll cash out 260 total. So in actuality, you would only loose 40 units. That is the difference between a round robin and a regular parlay, that chance of hitting two out of three and just losing a little bit.

Now remember, the more teams you bet, the more parlays you will have. Another added feature of the round robin is you can do more than a two-team parlay. You could do two’s and three’s. What that means is you want to bet all two team parlays and three team parlays. Let’s use our easy example of a 3 team round robin: Team 1,2,and 3. All the two team parlay bets stay the same: 1 and 2, 1 and 3, and 2 and 3. Now you are adding another bet to the round robin with threes: 1 and 2 and 3. Now depending on how much wager, you bet has increased by that amount. You now have 4 bets instead of 3.

More of a wager but if they all hit, your cash out increases as well. The round robin is just another betting option sport books give you.

There are so many betting options you can choose when it comes to betting football. Let’s hope that these last few pages of information have helped you figure out what betting style fits you best or maybe you have found a new betting option you want to try. Whether you are in it for the long haul or a quick payoff, football betting is fun and exciting!

FRIENDSHIP

Let us talk about Friendship. You must have heard a lot about it – and also given a lot of thought to it. What it should mean, what it should do and what you and friends can achieve, you may also have heard somebody say;

What is Friendship but a name,

A charm that lulls to sleep,

A shade that follows wealth and fame,

And leaves the wretch to weep.

Well different people behave differently and have different experiences. So with all this talk and knowledge you too may have felt confused and may also have felt Friendship is just a kind of lottery in life, only if you are lucky you get a friend who gives complete satisfaction. Examine, too, your own behaviour towards your friends of the past, in particular.

Well I am going to take the liberty to bring, to add, something!

True friendship is like a bond. It invariably requires loyalty and self-forgetting devotion and actually proceeds upon a much higher level principle. For loyalty tends to be blind, but friendship must not be; it must not sacrifice principle of right choice, The object of friendship should be to honestly serve and not to gain victory at any cost. The object of Friendship is not only to love but also to guard and guide, guide to ways of wisdom.

You may perhaps have tried to be friends and have failed, failures may also be in other directions and matters, but let me tell you – “success in this world is rarely achieved but that should not deter you, for isn’t the purpose of life – to chase success”? Put in other words, you should be physically and mentally prepared to do your level best to keep friendship alive by honest means.

We have digressed, so it appears, from Friendship to Life, and my considered advice is – “Let your life lightly dance on the edge of time, like dew on the tip of a leaf”. Nay, I will go a step further and take you to the realm of the future and yet what always is “the present”, and I trust you will agree; Every tomorrow has two handles, one can take hold of it with the handle of anxiety or the handle of faith. What is your choice will decide how far you succeed in life.

Let us look a bit further;- We no doubt should live with a bright prospect of the future in mind but that does not mean that we adopt unfair means today for that ideal.

Perhaps you may be thinking that this all is too much for the grey matter in your cerebral region or too boring. But a little introspection will tell that – There is nothing so elastic as the human mind. Like imprisoned steam, the more it is pressed, the more it rises to resist the pressure. The more we are obliged to do the more we are able to accomplish.So don’t ever think that the tasks assigned to you by your friends are too many for you to tackle and all this too much for you to digest, and to end;

“HAPPINESS IS A HABIT CULTIVATE IT.

FRIENDSHIP IS A NECESSITY- CARE FOR IT”!!!!!!

Women have mixed emotions regarding the effect of hysterectomy on sexual response and sexual identity. Most woman go on to have a normal sex life, some have a heightened response, while others are less able to have a sexual response following hysterectomy due to their perceived loss of femininity.

Some women may notice a change in their sexual response after the uterus has been removed. For example, uterine contractions a woman might have associated with orgasm may no longer be perceived. Other women may experience a heightened response. This may be due to the fact that they no longer have to worry about getting pregnant and no longer have tremendous pain or dysfunctional bleeding.

If the ovaries are not removed, the outer genitals and the vagina are not affected and remain lubricated when a woman is sexually aroused. If the ovaries are removed at the time of hysterectomy, vaginal dryness may be a problem during sexual intercourse. Vaginal dryness can be helped with the use of estrogen cream.

During a hysterectomy your doctor removes vaginal tissue. This may make the vagina shorter. Deep thrusting during intercourse may be painful. Changing positions during intercourse may help, such as being on top or bringing your legs closer together.

Recently interest in supracervical hysterectomies (where the cervix is not removed at time of hysterectomy) has grown out of speculation that women might enjoy better sexual function after hysterectomy when the cervix is left in place. A new study has found there is no difference in sexual function or quality of life when a supracervical hysterectomy is performed instead of a total abdominal hysterectomy.

Post hysterectomy depression may interfere with sexual response. Depression may follow a hysterectomy from a concept that femininity and an intact functioning uterus are one. Some women link their self-image with reproductive ability. Menses reminds a woman of her uniqueness where hysterectomy takes away this cue. Many women have a brief emotional reaction to the loss of the uterus and ovaries that erodes their sense of well-being and femininity. If the problem persists please discuss your feelings with your doctor.

Be sure if you are considering a hysterectomy you discuss your personal health and medical history with your doctor. He or she will help you decide what procedures are best for you given your personal condition. Many women find this procedure helpful to their overall health and well-being, especially if they are at risk for certain cancers or other debilitating health conditions.

http://www.womenshealthcaretopics.com