Home Business Ideas and Opportunities

Author Archive | Sylvia Wicks

God of War 2018

God of War begins with the player immediately assuming control of a visibly aged and greying Kratos as he starts to cut down a tree with his Leviathan Axe, with nothing more than a prompt that says “Press R1 to swing the Leviathan Axe”. Once down, Kratos reaches for the tree to pick it up, only to have the bandages around his left hand come undone. Kratos visibly steels himself at the reminder of who used to be and starts to tie them back up, only to be interrupted by Atreus, his son, who had been searching for a specific plant. Kratos turns his back to him, hiding his hands as he asks him to get into their boat. These are the things that happen within the first three minutes of the game (or longer depending on how long it took you to pick your jaw off the floor). The player is confronted immediately with four things. One, Kratos is older now; two, he still bears the scars, both physical and emotional, from the previous installments of the franchise; three, Atreus isn’t aware of the meaning behind Kratos’ scars (or his true nature, for that matter) and last but not least, you press R1 to attack.

As the duo row back home, it is revealed that the tree they’ve cut down is to be used for the funeral pyre of Faye, Kratos’ second wife and mother to Atreus. Her final wishes were for her son and husband to scatter her ashes from the highest peak in all of the nine realms. Believing the peak in question to be one not very far from their home, Kratos is initially hesitant to take Atreus on their pilgrimage, worried that ‘the boy’ is not ready (what Kratos always calls Atreus in lieu of ‘Son’. Older Kratos doesn’t mean nicer Kratos). However, this changes when their home is visited by a Stranger who feels no pain. Aware of Kratos’ past and true nature, the Stranger attacks him, while Atreus is forced to hide. The player is then thrown into what is the first of many boss battles in the game. After a battle that Kratos nearly loses, he finally manages to beat The Stranger, breaking his neck and seemingly killing him. Now having no choice but to take Atreus to the mountain for his own safety (the Stranger mentions that he was sent by Odin), the father and son set off towards the mountain, with a quest being added to the player’s in game journal, simply titled “The Journey.”

On their way to the mountain, the duo are met by a variety of enemies ranging from draugrs to trolls (they also make friends, at least in Atreus’ case) with the dwarf brothers Sindri and Brok, the original creators of the Leviathan Axe (who function as in-game merchants who sell and upgrade your gear), They finally arrive at the lake of the nine, home of Jormungandr, the friendly neighborhood world serpent, whose favorite hobbies include changing sea-levels and eating statues of Thor. Continuing onwards they are stopped by an impenetrable black mist on their way up the mountain. Here, they meet the Witch of The Woods, who reveals to them that the only way to pass the black mist is with the light of Alfheim and then proceeds to show them the way to get there using the bifrost. The bifrost is unsurprisingly is located at the lake of the nine, thereby unlocking the first of the realms the player is allowed to visit in the game as well as the first of the untold, but still enjoyable, number of hours the player spends rowing their boat to every corner of the lake. After their return with the light of Alfheim, the duo passes the mist and start the climb to the peak of the mountain, on the way fighting Hraezlyr, a dragon, to stop it from eating Sindri. Sindri thanks them for saving his life by gifting Atreus a quiver of arrows made from mistletoe. As they reach the peak, Kratos noticing that Atreus’ quiver had gotten loose during the battle with the dragon, breaks one of the arrows to tighten it, giving him one of the many lectures he dishes out through the game, “Pain, we endure. Faulty equipment, we do not”. As they reach the peak they overhear The Stranger, still alive and now revealed to be Baldur, along with his nephews Modi and Magni (the sons of Thor) speaking to Mimir, a one-eyed man who is trapped in the trunk of a tree. When the three Asgardians leave, the duo reveal themselves to Mimir, who then tells them that sadly, they are at the wrong peak. He states that while they are on the highest peak in Midgard, the highest peak in all the nine realms is however, in Jotunheim, home of the giants, the path to which had unfortunately been blocked by its denizens to keep Odin and the other Aesir Gods out. Mimir offers his help and knowledge reaching there, in exchange for his freedom which comes in the form of him asking Kratos to cut off his head and taking it to the Witch of the Woods, who’ll be able to re-animate it. He also mentions to Kratos, in private that the longer he keeps the truth about Atreus’ parentage a secret, the worse it’ll be for him.

With the head of Mimir, the duo go back to Witch of the Woods, who successfully brings Mimir back to life, and is revealed to be none other than Freya, a Vanir Goddess and Odin’s estranged ex-wife. Kratos immediately distrusts her the moment he finds out about her Godhood and angrily leaves with Atreus and Mimir, now hanging from his waist as a surprisingly talkative head, but not before Freya gets a chance to echo Mimir’s warning about not telling Atreus the truth. Freya also turns nigh hysterical when she sees the quiver of mistletoe arrows that Atreus possesses. She burns them and asks him to destroy any more that they come across. Kratos and son, now upgraded to Kratos and Co. make their way to find the necessary tools to open the gate to Jotunheim, which is located at the peak of the mountain. During this part of their quest they are attacked by Modi and Magni. The duo manages to fight them off, killing Magni while Modi escapes. Atreus however falls ill and faints right after the battle. Kratos rushes him to Freya’s house where she reveals the cause of his sickness, his belief that he is a mortal when he is in fact a God, thereby causing a contradiction in his being. She tells him the only way to save him is to travel to Helheim and get the heart of a being known as the Bridgekeeper who resides there. This impossible task is made worse by the fact that Helheim is an unbelievably cold realm where his Leviathan Axe will be useless. This prompts Kratos to return home, to reclaim the Blades of Athena, all while a vision of Athena mocks him about how he will always be nothing more than a monster. To this Kratos replies, “Yes, but I am your monster no longer.’’ He then proceeds to enter Helheim, slaughtering everything that stands in his way with his trusty blades, just like the old Kratos we all know and love. After killing the Bridgekeeper, Kratos and Mimir return to Freya who heals Atreus successfully, but not before another vision has the chance to haunt Kratos, this one of Zeus.

Once Atreus is awake, Kratos finally relents and tells him the truth about his parentage. This however backfires and leads Atreus to start behaving in an arrogant and overconfident manner for their second journey back up the mountain. This change in his character finally breaks the last straw for Kratos when the duo meet Modi once again, beaten and wounded, presumably by Thor. Atreus then proceeds to kill a defenseless Modi in a spectacularly bratty manner in exact opposition to Kratos’ orders, enraging him. When they reach the gate, however they are once again attacked by Baldur, during which two things happen, the blame for which can be put solely on the shoulders of Atreus’s newfound arrogance. The gate to Jotunheim breaks, and all four of them, Baldur included end up in Helheim. Atreus now aware of the consequences of his overconfidence learns his lesson and tries to make amends with his father, who is still understandably livid about being forced to enter Helheim twice in the same day and that too because of the same brat. The trio escape Helheim by repurposing a ship but not before Kratos sees another vision of Zeus or before they find out that Baldur’s mother is none other than Freya. It is also revealed that Freya placed a spell of immortality on Baldur as a child to protect him, as a side effect of which he feels nothing and is perpetually numb. This has led to quite the awkward relationship between mother and son, with Baldur wanting nothing more than to kill her, because according to him she has taken away all the joy of being alive and cursed him to an endless existence.

Mimir then remembers that they could possibly get to Jotunheim if they find his missing eye. Unfortunately, the eye was hidden in a statue of Thor that overlooked the lake of the nine, that was unceremoniously eaten by Jormungandr earlier in the game. This forces you to row your boat into Jormungandr’s belly to find the missing eye. However, the second you find it, something attacks the serpent causing him to barf you halfway across the lake. Here you meet Freya but before much can be said, the serpent’s assailant is revealed to be none other than Baldur. What follows is the final boss battle in the game, halfway through which Atreus jumps in between Kratos and Baldur taking a blow to the chest that was meant for his father. Atreus however survives, because his quiver, the one that Kratos had fixed with the mistletoe arrow, the only one that Freya didn’t destroy, was the only substance that could break Baldur’s curse rendering him mortal. Baldur is then defeated by both Kratos and Atreus working together. He then tries to kill his mother, who is creepily accepting of the entire murder attempt if it means her son will forgive her. Kratos however, stops him by stepping in and breaking his neck, for good this time. A distraught Freya is however far from happy about this turn of events and swears revenge, carrying Baldur’s body away as snow starts to fall all around, signifying that Fimbulwinter, the long winter before Ragnarok (the Norse doomsday), which was foretold to begin with the death of Baldur has started. Kratos tells Atreus about how he killed Zeus, his father and Atreus wonders if that’s all Gods are meant to do, for child and parent to try and kill each other. Kratos tells him that together that they can learn to be better.

Father and son then travel to Jotunheim, leaving Mimir in the care of Sindri and Brok and finally start the climb towards the highest peak in all the realms. Kratos, finally removes his bandages having no reason to hide his scars anymore, and lets them drift away in the wind. On the way up they discover a cave, filled with paintings of Faye and the two of them, foretelling their journey, revealing that she always knew what was in store of them. The two finally reach the peak and spread Faye’s ashes. As they turn to leave, Atreus asks Kratos why the paintings in the cave refer to him by another name. Kratos replies that Atreus wasn’t their first choice for a name. Faye initially wanted to name her son, ‘Loki’.

While the main questline, “The Journey” ends here, there exists a secret ending that can be unlocked by returning to Kratos’ home and choosing to rest. Atreus sees a vision, that come the end of Fimbulwinter in three years, Thor will appear outside their cottage.

5 Top Anime Choices

 

So, being fan of anime, it is hard to pick out only the top 5.  The 5 anime series listed below are the first 5 that popped into my head when asked this question. So, let’s get into it.

5. Fairy Tail


Fairy Tail is being touted as one of the best anime series out there. There is a debate going around among the fans of Fairy Tail, Dragon Ball and Naruto as to which one is the best. So, just like those two series Fairy Tail is pretty exciting and offers incredible visuals, a seemingly unending storyline and fun adventures. Seven spin-off manga series based on Fairy Tail have been released.

Fairy Tail Zero by Mashima

Fairy Tail: Ice Trail by Yūsuke Shirato

Fairy Tail Blue Mistral by Rui Watanabe

Fairy Girls by Boku

Fairy Tail Side Stories, by Kyōta Shibano

Fairy Tail 100 Years Quest  storyboarded by Mashima and illustrated by Atsuo Ueda.

Fairy Tail: Happy Adventure by Kenshirō Sakamoto

*On June 27, 2018, Hiro announced another spin-off manga.  It is tentatively titled, Fairy Tail City Hero, written and illustrated by Ushio Andō.

4. Pokemon

Even people that have no interest in anime have heard of Pokemon. If there is any anime series that has a unique and exciting touch then that is Pokemon for sure. Pokemon has been entertaining fans for years. Pokemon makes you fall in love with the adventures and devotion of Ash Ketchum and his partner Pikachu. In the anime, Ash and his friends travel across the world to challenge different players and to get the recognition as the Pokemon master.

3. Darling in the FRANXX

Who thought you could find romance in a dystopian, post-apocalyptic future? Well, this anime series shows how possible that is. I was sucked in by the mech fights, but the relationships between the child pilots caught my interest. It’s unique and it has a really adorable touch. Fans of the series are really on board with the chemistry of the couple in it. The anime is pretty new and the fan base is growing.

*The series was nominated for Anime of the Year for Anime Trending Awards 2019, and was awarded Best Sci-Fi or Mecha, and Best Action or Adventure from Anime Trending’s Winter 2018 Anime Awards. Zero Two placed first in Favorite Female Character.

2. Dragon Ball

Next in the list is Dragon Ball franchise which has given us different series like Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball Super and Dragon Ball. Goku is a character who protects the Earth from the evils who want to destroy it and he along with his friends are on a mission to protect Earth. The series begins with a young monkey-tailed boy named Goku befriending a teenage girl named Bulma. Together they go on a quest to find the seven Dragon Balls. The anime series has a huge fan base and it is still running strong and the fans now love the new adventures shown in the latest series.

1. Naruto & Naruto Shippuden

Naruto is one of the best anime’s out there. It is a journey about an adolescent ninja who wants to become the Hokage of his village.  Naruto was an orphan who was disliked and mistreated by almost everyone, but despite this, he was determined to prove everyone who doubted him wrong by sheer willpower and hard work.  He is a bit of a troublemaker cursed with the burden of being a human host for a nine tailed fox demon spirit. The storyline is broken into 2 parts one as Naruto as a preteen and the second is his late teenage years.

Part 1

This is the introduction to the world of Naruto and the backstory of the characters.  You see characters depending on their intellect to get out of nefarious situations

Part 2 – Shippuden

In part 2, the battles no longer seem focused on being strategic.  Battles become basically a matter of strength.  Some of the original message of part 1 is lost when it is revealed that Naruto has always been meant to be a super special ninja because of his lineage.  The art style and storytelling definitely got a major boost and characters were more fully fleshed out.

My only criticism is that there were no real strong female leads.

*Naruto is the 3rd best selling manga series in history.  It has appeared on USA Today and The New York Times bestseller list on multiple occasions.

God of War – History of Kratos


One of the earliest scenes in the God of War franchise is of Kratos standing on the edge of a cliff ready to fall to his death. Kratos has always been a complex character, even in the earlier entries of the series, when he was all about ripping and tearing apart Gods. In this article, we’ll be going over the evolution of Kratos to see how he became the stone-faced father that we know him as today.

Where It All Began

We learn most of Kratos’s backstory in the original God of War. Kratos offers his service to the God Ares in exchange for saving his life. That started the entire sequence of events that led to where Kratos is today. After Ares takes him under his wing, he sends Kratos to burn and slaughter several villages. It is during one of these slaughters that Ares puts Kratos under a blood lust rage which leads to Kratos cutting down his wife and child along with yet another village.

Feeling betrayed by Ares, Kratos sets out to exact revenge upon the cause of his family’s death. By the end of the first game, Kratos accomplishes just that. He not only slays Ares, but a fair number of Greek Gods that stand in his way and becomes the new God of War; but his story is far from over.

The Destruction of The Greek Gods

God of War 2 and God of War 3 are more closely related to each other than they are to the original title. As the next part of Kratos’s story kicks off we find that he has become a ruthless god that guides his Spartan army to take down city after city to the displeasure of the other gods.

This leads to Zeus tricking Kratos into relinquishing his power and confines him to Hades for all eternity. Luckily, he is saved by Gaia the mother of Titans. She wants his help to seek revenge upon the gods that rebelled against the Titans years ago. This leads to a massive confrontation of the Titans accompanied by Kratos against the Gods. While his first attempt at taking Zeus’s head failed, he did find out that he was a son of Zeus.

Kratos is unmoved by the knowledge that Zeus is his father. Kratos not only considers it something trivial but also readies the Titans for another attack against the gods. God of War 3 starts off right at the end of God of War 2 and acts as the final part of the original trilogy. Kratos not only kills Zeus but also ends up killing what’s left of the remaining Greek Gods and along the way ends up unraveling the mystery of the Pandora’s box.

Inside Pandora’s Box, Kratos discovers what leads him to become the somewhat calm and caring person we see in God of War 2018 – Hope. Kratos uses Hope to end his Father Zeus for good and shares the gift of Hope with humanity, thus ending his journey and suffering for a short period of time.

God of War 2018

Using his newfound hope at the end of the last part of the original God of War trilogy, he sets out to start a new life.  He is in a new land with a new family. Once you take a better look at it, you realize just how marvelously his evolution as a character made him into the man he has become.

Kratos began his journey as a Spartan demi-God with some serious anger issues but since then he has come a very long way to being a stoned face father that not only has to keep himself in check but also make sure his own kid doesn’t walk the same path Kratos still finds himself on every now and then.

The making of an Entrepreneur… Part 2


One of the biggest issues people run into with being an entrepreneur is that they are not good at time management. Setting your own hours can be a great perk of starting your own company, but without discipline, you will find yourself feeling like a hamster on a wheel; moving a lot and going nowhere. You have to work your business just like you would work a job. You must have set hours and give yourself deadlines. It is extremely easy to get distracted when you are working from home: chores need to be done, you haven’t caught up on your favorite show that’s been on your DVR for weeks, Netflix just released a new series that you’re excited to watch, Facebook notifications keep popping up on your phone. Here are a couple of ideas to eliminate distractions and boost your productivity.

  1. Set up specific break times. There are some people who can just sit down, focus and knock out a project in a few hours (I envy these people). For the rest of us, we need break
    1. Break times can be at specific times during the day, you may need to schedule a break every 2 hours.
    2. Break times can also be set around the tasks you have to do for the day, once you finish a specific number of tasks then you can take a break.
  2. Have a home office
    1. Designate an area of your home solely for working. Only use that space for working and do not work from any other area in the house
    2. Create an actual office environment. Multiple monitors if you need them, your printer, a comfortable chair, office supplies etc… You should never have to leave your home office to do things related to work.
    3. Ensure that others in the home understand that is your personal are. No one should use that space to check their Instagram account.
    4. Having a home office allows you to claim a home office tax deduction as long as you use the space exclusively for business.
  3. Make a daily or weekly to-do list
    1. Having a list written out in from of you makes it easier to remember everything that needs to be done and to stay focused on those tasks.
    2. Some may prefer using something like a dry erase board. Either way it is something that will allow you to stay focused on tasks at hand.

The making of an Entrepreneur… Part 1

When you first dream of owning your own online business you are filled with a sense of empowerment and freedom. You imagine how you will build it, how quickly it will flourish, how you will be able to enjoy more time with the family, take more vacations, etc… Then you start the process and you quickly realize that you work more hours than you did at your traditional job, you have even less free time, and it’s not becoming profitable as quickly as you thought it would.

This is where many would-be entrepreneurs lose their resolve and throw in the towel. If you are able to get past that hump, you come to realize that there was never a guarantee of becoming a millionaire overnight, and that every successful venture starts with determination, resolve, and lots and lots of hard work. Once you can approach the venture with a more positive mindset, patience and discipline, you will be happy to put in those additional hours, because you realize you are no longer working toward someone else’s dream, you are working this hard to make your dreams come true.

A Child’s Mind

A Child’s Mind

Oh grand and minuscule. Grandiose grains, of never ending possibilities and intimate gains. Ideas of magnificence, unyielding opulence and tantalizing delights. Ideas of justifiable wrongs and destructible rights. Beasts that gnarl and gnaw and brawl. Gargantuan bodies under beds that slither and crawl. Teeth snarling dripping with rouge, on canvases painted and weaved with untethered imaginative spools. Turning in infinity with wings outstretched, flying through universes that haven’t been devised yet. Waiting for their creators love and/or rage to burst into existence, to spill onto a page. To share space in gray matter that matters not of how long they will linger or shine in that spot. Designs birthed by their blessed celebrant, bestowing them life that is divinely decadent. Galaxies of creations, that are loved and destroyed. Swimming in the slumber of a growing forgotten void. Cruel, Loving, Subdued and yet wild, the wonderful dangerous mind of a child….

Winding Roads

 

I have to take a winding road when I go to work each day. Not a particularly long road compared to other roads I have to maneuver through on my way to my place of employment. Not a busy road or a congested one. I could probably say with some confidence that this road did not stand out to me at all. Until of course construction started on that unremarkable lay of asphalt.

The first day I noticed that with that road it took me an extra 10minutes to get through my commute. So, adding that 10 minutes, meant not staring out the window of my apartment on to the balcony where a couple Blue jays could converse melodically about the state of the worm population or anything else that might concern our feathery friends. I liked my amateur ornithology, it allowed me to feel connected to nature in the concrete jungle in which I live.

The second I adjusted to no wildlife and then noticed that I had an extra amount of breakfast burrito. See, for some reason I always got caught at a stop light on a corner where a man sits on a bench. I don’t always have money (Age of plastic) So, I gave him a portion of my breakfast. I then began to make us nice fully loaded breakfast bonanzas, since he complimented me on my culinary skills once. My mind and heart felt concern, hoping that the gentleman was able to find sustenance, may be one of the construction workers shared their food.

Lastly, I missed seeing Michelle’s Dress shop. It was at the very end of this winding road. Right before I have to make a turn to carry me on to my final destination. I married Michelle when we were both very young. I remember her eyes, always with an expression of love and concern. I adored her spirit and her love for all things beautiful. The day she opened the that little dress shop that maybe held about 50 pieces of various garments we celebrated with family and friends. It never really turned a profit, but it was filled with stories of how it made someone so happy to be able to find that very thing that made their heart sing. Michelle left us (2) years ago, yesterday and not driving past her shop (Which is now a very pretty baby store) even though I stopped looking in the location caused me to realize that that road, which is winding. Allowed me to appreciate nature, engage in brotherhood and remember the love of my life. I ride now on a smoother road, still winding. However, I now see the importance of this road and that it is quite a remarkable lay of asphalt.

Hello world!

Hi, it’s Sylvia and this is my new website. Stay tuned… I’ll have great things to share!

For starters, here’s an article I think you’ll enjoy…

It’s called: “Make the Leap to Home Business Success

Make the Leap to Home Business Success

If you are going to build a successful home business, you need 3 “intangibles.” These are things that must come from WITHIN you.

===> Intangible 1 <===

First, you must have a strong WHY.

Why must you make a home business work? What’s driving you? What is it that you CAN’T have in your life anymore and/or what is it that you absolutely MUST HAVE now?

For me, I couldn’t stand working 12+ hours a day anymore and missing the experience of my children growing up. I also absolutely HAD TO HAVE the freedom of being able to control my life and finances through a little box that I could carry with me anywhere in the world and not be tied to anyone’s time pressures or demands but my own. That was my carrot and my stick. I felt a great pain deep in my gut of missing out on my children’s lives and the incredible freedom that succeeding in this business would provide for me. I found my why. You MUST find yours.

===> Intangible 2 <===

You must BELIEVE that it is possible.

If you don’t believe that it’s POSSIBLE for you to succeed in a home business or make your living on the Internet, you won’t. It’s that simple.

For me, figuring out that it was possible was just a matter of realizing that many other people were ALREADY making great money with a home business online. If they could do it, I could too. It would just be a matter of figuring out what those people were doing and then adapting it to my situation.

There is no shortage of undeniable PROOF that people (millions of them) are making money online in many different ways. Just get online and do some research and you’ll find countless testimonials and stories of REAL PEOPLE making real money on the Internet. Or head to your local bookstore and you’ll find the same documented evidence of this fact. Truth is, it’s getting easier and easier to start and succeed in a home based business. This is primarily because of the Internet and affiliate marketing.

I’ve always said that “affiliate marketing” is the job of the future. In the “old” days, you had to go to a potential employer, apply for the position and hope for the best. Now you can simply go to any company you want, fill out their affiliate application and start work immediately. Affiliates are the new working class. Believe me, making money with affiliate programs or making your living on the Internet is WAY MORE than possible. It is pretty much (or will be soon enough) unavoidable now. Affiliate marketing is the “job” of the future that’s here TODAY.

===> Intangible 3 <===

You must be willing to MAKE THE LEAP.

Ready, FIRE, then aim… This is the operating philosophy you MUST adopt to succeed with an Internet home business.

That’s backwards for most people who like to aim before they fire. The fact is the Internet is a moving target… The only thing constant about it is change. You need to stop analyzing the game and simply jump into it. You can’t learn from the outside… You have to be IN THE RING to truly understand it.

The lesson here is that you will never really be READY to start a home based business. You simply have to start one. This is what I call “Making the Leap.”

The good news is that the cost of failure on the Internet is very small. In the “brick and mortar” world you need to evaluate things very carefully before you decide to open up a business. It’s almost always necessary to invest thousands of dollars to get an offline business off the ground. However, on the Internet you can often start a successful business for less than $100. In fact, Plug-In Profit Site is a really good example of this.

You simply need get IN THE GAME… Each moment that you stay “out there,” you’re wasting valuable time that you could be learning and skills necessary to become a successful affiliate marketer. In fact, if you’re not in the game yet, you’re ALREADY behind the times. Come on… You can do it! Make the leap to becoming a successful home based business owner today!

About the author: Stone Evans was a washed up restaurant worker desperately searching for a way to save his family when he discovered the internet and affiliate marketing… 24 months later he finally cracked the code and started earning over $10,000 per month. Now the same system that saved him is available to you here >>

Home Business Ideas and Opportunities

Powered by Plug-In Profit Site

Plug-In Profit Site