#*according to various parameters I have set for myself

[fraddit]

I am, at all times, trying to design the perfect house* and FAILING.

[the-college-of-whispers]

Enchanting Things

Enchanting is a topic that applies to both the Elder Scrolls universe and our universe, but there are differences (naturally).

In-Game Lore

Enchanting items is done in a wide variety of ways between different games. At its core, Enchanting is about imbuing an item with a permanent magical ability (or several). This is almost always done using a soul gem, and the strength of the magical ability is almost always dependant on the size of the soul within that gem.

Broadly speaking, weapons that have an effect upon use (like a flaming sword or a staff) need to be recharged, which can be done with soul gems, while constant enchantments like those on armor or jewelry don't.

Raven Direnni either created the enchanting process herself or (according to some) simply revolutionized a process to make it succeed more. Either way, we love to see it. There are different styles and sets of enchantments across the Tamriellic continent.

In Oblivion, you could use a Sigil Stone from a plane of Oblivion for on-the-spot enchanting, or you could do it the normal way by taking a soul gem to an Altar of Enchanting. Both allow you to choose effects, define parameters, select a power source, and give a name to the item you're enchanting. In Skyrim, Enchanting is a whole skill of its own, and your effectiveness at it makes your enchantments better. The land of Skyrim utilizes Arcane Enchanters rather than Altars of Enchanting. In Online, enchanting is a crafting profession using Runestones, which you then make into Glyphs that can be used on, like, everything. It also lets you build furniture, which...huh??? In Blades, enchanting requires time, gold, and various materials like elemental salts, soul gems, plants, or mushrooms. There are only seven types of enchantments for each type of item, but they can differ in magnitude.

Pop Culture Witchcraft

Witches in our world (like myself) enchant items to have or confer magical properties all the time (as an example, I have an amethyst pendant that I use for dysphoria relief). There are many ways to do this, so I'll take a few examples from "Grovedaughter Witchery" by @breelandwalker (great book, I can't recommend it enough):

slip the item into a satchet of herbs that correspond to the magical purpose you want to imbue

place the item in the center of a crystal grid or artistic design meant to give it a certain energy or effect

bless or consecrate a bottle of scented oil, then dab it onto the item when needed (provided that the oil won't damage the item)

There are other methods too, but go buy and read Grovedaughter Witchery for a more in-depth and effective step-by-step. Or look up other methods online. I'm not your parent.

Deactivated user @the-corvids-creed created enchanting circles that people are free to use in their magical workings. You could also just make an Altar of Enchanting or Arcane Enchanter in your own home for magical workings, like deactivated user @dementedfangirl did. Both of these will be linked in the sources.

I've talked in the past about how the Enchanting skill from Skyrim can translate to different types of witchcraft, but I'll go over them again here:

altars & work stations

art magic

crystal magic

enchanting

energy work

magical tools

meditation

sigils

spell jars

And I've also talked in the past about soul gems (wow that post is old now) and how they're akin to rose, aura, and smoky quartz crystals. Really, when translating enchantment over to our world, any crystal or plant can work as your "soul gem".

Sources

The lore page for enchanting under magic on UESP: https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Magic#Enchanting

The page for enchanting in Oblivion on UESP: https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Enchanting

The page for enchanting in Skyrim: https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Enchanting

The page for enchanting in Online: https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Online:Enchanting

The page for enchanting in Blades: https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Blades:Enchanting

Enchanting circles by @the-corvids-creed on Tumblr: https://the-college-of-whispers.tumblr.com/post/655873856211386368/an-enchanting-cirlce-for-enchanting-obviously

An arcane enchanter altar by @dementedfangirl on Tumblr: https://the-college-of-whispers.tumblr.com/post/661675918035746816/dementedfangirl-so-after-spending-the-summer

Magical Skills (Skyrim) by @the-college-of-whispers on Tumblr: https://the-college-of-whispers.tumblr.com/post/656149429878980608/magical-skills-skyrim

Soul gems by @the-college-of-whispers on Tumblr: https://the-college-of-whispers.tumblr.com/post/656255131795505153/there-is-absolutely-nothing-in-any-source-i-could

Grovedaughter Witchery. Bree NicGarran aka @breelandwalker. 2016. Buy it here: https://breenicgarran.wordpress.com/shop/

[terreisa]

Love Down the Line: Chapter 4

The last thing Indie musician Emma Swan needs is a gigantic wrench thrown in the workings of her biggest tour to date weeks before its launch.  When her backing guitarist that caused the problem says she has the perfect solution Emma is skeptical but left with little choice but to accept.  Unfortunately she isn’t really prepared for said solution to be former Rock Star and leading man of Emma’s teenage fantasies, Killian Jones.  With no other options and a month of performing across the country ahead of her Emma just hopes she doesn’t come to regret letting Killian onto her stage and into her life.

Ch 1, Ch 2, Ch 3, AO3

~*CS*~

On the road between Boston and New York, May 9th

Emma knew she should be trying to wind down from the night’s show. When they arrived at their hotel she wanted to be able to head straight to her room and get some sleep.  She just couldn’t seem to get the adrenaline to leave her system, even hours after the fact.  It didn’t help that once they’d finished the encore they’d been ushered straight onto the bus and hit the road without a come down from the rush of performing again.  Celebrating the successful start of the tour with Will, Tink and a few drinks probably hadn’t done much good either.

She was sitting at the small table in the little kitchenette of the bus with an open notebook, a leather bound one that was much nicer than the ones she used for her lyrics and bits of melody fragments, absently tapping her pen on the blank page.  Will and Tink had gone to their own bunks to do whatever other post show rituals they had, leaving her to hers.  Once the damn adrenaline wore off she knew she’d be able to concentrate on writing down her thoughts and feelings on the show but for the moment she was content to dwell in the electric buzz both the show and the alcohol had given her.

The first performance was always the one that made Emma worry the most.  To her it set the bar for the rest of the tour.  With the internet and social media the reviews were out in the world before the first song was finished.  According to Regina one false move could have her right back at the small town bars within a hundred miles of Storybrooke for good.  So the first show was always the most stressful up until the moment she began playing.  Then it was the most rewarding.

Thankfully, it had been better than just a good show, it had been great.  The last minute adjustment she’d made to the set list had worked out far better than she’d anticipated.  Up to that point the crowd had sung along with every song, even the ones off the new album, but when she’d played the first few notes of Bite of Iron they’d gone nuts.  Their surprising and enthusiastic response had given her the strength she’d needed to play the song without a hitch and gave her a burst of energy that she could still feel in her fingertips hours after the last note had been played.

She smiled at the memory of that initial jolt of excitement.  It felt a lot like the burst of shock she’d had at seeing Killian Jones in her rehearsal space for the first time.  Her enthusiasm faded a bit as she began to realize exactly what that could be confused for and she wanted nothing to do with anything that could possibly resemble butterflies in her stomach.

“Mind if I join you, Swan?”

Emma jumped in surprise, caught off guard even though Killian had practically whispered his request.  She spun to face him with a scowl.

“Don’t do that again.”

He smirked, “Apologies, love.  I shall endeavor to announce my presence with a blaring fanfare next time.”

“Or you could wear a bell,” she suggested, “I could even order a little plaid collar to match your many flannels.”

“It’s those flannels that are keeping me from being recognized if I’m not mistaken,” he said smugly as he sat down across from her, a notebook of his own in hand.

She gave him a reluctant nod of agreement.  When he’d shown up for the show wearing the same flannel, t-shirt, jeans combo he’d worn to the sound check she’d nearly kicked him off the tour right then and there.  While there wasn’t any specific aesthetic that her and the others adhered to it was a little more put together than something that looked like it belonged at a backyard barbeque.  It turned out the banality of Killian’s outfit was probably the key to his going unnoticed throughout the whole show.  As far as she knew, and Will would have definitely told her, there hadn’t been a single post about Killian being on stage again.

When he had been with Realm of Jewels he had favored tight, black leather pants and dark colored shirts with the buttons undone to the top of the various vests he wore.  Instead of well worn Converse he’d had pointy toed boots that reached halfway up his calf and he’d worn more silver jewelry on his fingers and around his neck than she’d ever owned in the entirety of her life.  His hair had been longer too, constantly falling over his brow as he played until it was plastered to his forehead with sweat by the end of their shows.  It had been a good look, one she’d had fantasies about, but there was something about the flannel and jeans that had a gentle warmth spreading through her veins.

“Yeah, well, whatever,” she grumbled. He smiled widely at her and she rolled her eyes right back, “I still think you should get a bell.  Though you wouldn’t need it if you had been sociable instead of sneaking off to your bunk as soon as we got on the bus.”

Killian’s smile dimmed, “It has been quite a while since I’ve played a show, love, and I can no longer indulge in my former habit of having a drink or five to celebrate and relax.  It was easier to remove myself from the temptation entirely, rather than testing the strength of my will.  Especially when the show was worth celebrating.”

Emma felt as if her stomach had been filled with lead.  She had somehow completely forgotten that Killian was a former alcoholic.  They had never really talked about it and he’d gone out to the bars with her, Will and Tink after particularly gruelling rehearsals or even some of the more mediocre ones.  It just wasn’t something that jumped to the forefront of her mind when she thought of him.  Even if she refused to acknowledge exactly how much he actually popped up in her thoughts.

“Shit, Killian- do you or do we- shit-” she looked frantically around the little kitchenette at the empty beer bottles and open bottle of rum on the counter.  She scrambled from her seat, “Let me just get rid of this crap and then I’ll let Will and Tink-”

“Swan-”

He sounded amused but she wasn’t sure over the clinking of the bottles she was trying to wrestle into the small trash can under the sink.

“I’ll talk to Regina and have her adjust the grocery delivery-”

“Emma, take a breath, love.”

She did as he instructed but only because he had stood and grabbed her by the shoulders, crouching down to stare into her eyes.  He was grinning as he held her in place and she scowled at his amusement.

“I’m glad you think that us being disrespectful about your addiction is funny.”

“I believe you running around this cramped space trying to atone for something I never blamed you for would suggest otherwise-” he let her go only to pull the trash can out of her hands, setting it back under the sink before leaning against the counter with his arms crossed over his chest, “I’ve been sober for nearly ten years, I know what my triggers are and how far I can push myself.  Tonight was just a new set of parameters that I had to consider and adjust accordingly to.  No need for you to drastically alter everything for the whole tour when I’m only a temporary guest.”

“Well, it’s not fair for us to just fling booze around in front of you like it’s nothing either,” she said hotly, twisting out of his grasp to nab the rum bottle and its cap.  She wrestled with closing it as she spoke, “Just because you won’t be here for the whole thing doesn’t mean you should be treated like you don’t matter.  You’re in the band, you get a- OW!  Fuck!”

She sucked in a breath at the searing pain in her palm.  Somehow her hand had slipped and caught on the jagged edge of the cap.  The pain was nothing compared to the panic that flared at possibly having injured herself enough to affect her playing.  Her vision started going spotty and she could feel her knees starting to buckle.

“Swan?  Emma?!”  She felt his hands on her shoulders again and his concerned face filled her darkening vision. “Breathe.  Deep breath for me.  That’s it.  Another one.  Good.”

Following his gentle instructions she felt steadier and her vision stopped tunneling.  With a healthy dose of trepidation she looked down at her hand and was relieved to see the cut wasn’t deep but it was very bloody.  Looking around she couldn’t find a single thing to mop up the blood or staunch the slow but steady flow.  Then she felt a burning sting as liquid was splashed over her palm followed by warm pressure.  She turned to see that Killian was holding a handkerchief in place as he wrapped it around her palm.

“That hurt! What was that?” She hissed, indignant.

“Rum and a perfectly good use of it in my opinion-” he winked before turning back to his makeshift bandage, “It shouldn’t give you too much grief at tomorrow’s- er, I guess tonight’s show.  A little super glue will seal it right up.  It might be uncomfortable during sound check but by showtime you won’t even notice it.”

He punctuated his assessment by tying off the handkerchief and gently squeezing her fingers.

“That’s a relief,” she said softly, pulling her hand from his.  She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, still a little rattled from her injury and disconcerted from the conversation that had preceded it, “Look, I’m sorry if I was out of line or made you feel uncomfortable or something.  I just don’t want you to feel- I don’t know, like you have to hide away or something.”

“Thank you, Swan, but as I’ve said you’ve no need to alter how things have always been done just for my sake-” he picked up the rum bottle and twisted the cap on with an ease that had her scowling, “My sobriety isn’t something that you should burden yourself with.  That’s what I pay my therapist for.”

She laughed in spite of herself, finally feeling the tension leave her shoulders.  He smiled with her as he set the rum back on the counter and pointedly pushed it away from them.  Shaking her head she turned and opened the cabinet that was above their heads.

“I’m going to make some cocoa,” she said as she shifted boxes and bags around, “You want some?”

“Sure, I might as well indulge in something to celebrate the start of the tour,” he said jovially, sitting back down at the table. “Though, I’m not quite sure a packet of cocoa mix can be considered an indulgence.  Is it the kind with the little marshmallow pebbles?”

“I’m playing to crowds of thousands and you think I wouldn’t pull the diva card to get the good stuff?” She asked with mock haughtiness, still digging through the cabinet for the little tin she was looking for. “I’ll have you know that I’m deadly serious about two things: my music and my hot cocoa- aha!”

Emma held a little tin up triumphantly.  It was a ridiculously expensive imported sipping chocolate, the first frivolous thing she’d bought with her first check from her label.  It was part of her post show ritual, drinking her expensive hot chocolate and writing about the night until she was falling asleep at the table or they arrived in their next city.  She tried not to dwell on the fact that she’d always partook in that particular ritual alone, she’d never even asked Ruby to join her, but she had no reservations about Killian doing so.

“Who knew you sported such a refined palate,” Killian said with feigned shock. “Seeing as I have been privy to what you consider food.”

She glared at him, “Don’t knock the grilled cheese or you’re not getting a cocoa.”

“Are the onion rings fair game?  How about the milk dud popcorn?  Pop-Tarts?”

She threw the lid of the cocoa tin at him but he caught it neatly, fanning himself with it.  Rolling her eyes she turned her back on him to concentrate on making the cocoa and not fixating on how attractive he was when he was being playful.  Unfortunately she’d perfected whipping up the drink while on a moving bus years earlier, so she had plenty of brain power left to dwell on exactly how much more unfairly attractive the man became the more she got to know him.

“So, are you writing songs again?” She asked over her shoulder as she stirred the milk that was heating on the little hot plate they had for solely for her cocoa habit.

“Hmm?” He hummed distractedly.  When she looked back his eyes snapped to hers almost guiltily before dropping to the notebook in front of him, “Oh, er, not as much now, no.  Journaling was a requirement at rehab and despite some initial, shall we say, reluctance it became a habit.  A better one for me to have, for the most part.”

“Get the feelings and stuff down on paper instead of shoving it deep down inside and hoping for the best?  I get it-” She let her gaze drift to her own journal before looking back at him. “But seriously, no lyrics or chords or anything? I have a whole shelf in my bookcase that’s stuffed with notebooks filled with potential hits.”

He ducked his head and rubbed at the back of his neck, “I haven’t written anything since… well, since before.  Haven’t felt the desire to.”

“Oh, right, yeah,” she said lamely, quickly focusing back on the task at hand.

As she divided the milk between two mugs she was hit by the terrible realization that Killian had co-written all of the Realm of Jewels songs and that both of his writing partners were dead.  She’d gone and poked at a second vulnerable spot in his armor in less than thirty minutes.  At the rate she was going she wouldn’t be surprised if he got off the bus in New York and took the first train back to Boston.  Stirring in the chocolate she grabbed onto a shard of that thought like a lifeline.

“You live in Boston right?”

If he was surprised by her abrupt change of topic he didn’t let on.

“I do.  I always enjoyed the city when we played there and it oddly reminded me of home.  Figured I could do worse when finding a place to settle after everything.”

“Why not L.A. or New York?” She asked genuinely curious as she sprinkled cinnamon over the mugs, grabbing them and returning to the table. “They’re probably way better for recording and what not.”

“True-” he shrugged, accepting his drink with a nod of thanks, “but L.A. felt like a golden facade, even though I do own a house in Malibu, and New York felt like a concrete abyss.  I was still a bit lost at the time and both of those cities would have swallowed me whole.  Still, I craved the bustle of an urban landscape and Boston was the right fit”

“So, you did a three bears situation.  Did you at least get some quality porridge out of the deal, Goldilocks?” She teased.

He had taken a sip as she asked and glared at her over the rim of the mug.  Then his eyes widened in surprise, looking down at the cocoa, “Ooh, this is good, Swan, and no, there was no porridge to be had or golden locks to be seen.  I’ve dyed my hair a fair share of colors but blonde was never one of them.  I’ll leave that shade to those that can pull it off.”

With a flirtatious wink from him and a responding eye roll from her Emma felt that some kind of balance had been restored.  She had never particularly cared what others thought of her, if she had she would have been reduced to a shell of a person by middle school, but for some reason with Killian it was different.  There was something a bit broken about him that she recognized from the mirror and she definitely didn’t want to be the one to add to it.

She lifted her mug towards him, “Since you didn’t get to do this earlier: cheers to the start of a new tour.”

“And endeavoring to make every show as successful as this one,” Killian clinked his mug gently with hers, a soft smile on his face, “Cheers, love.”

Emma took a large sip, glad that her large mug hid the blush she knew was in her cheeks.  As much as she’d hated the endearment when they’d first met it no longer irked her.  She was discovering that there were a lot of things about Killian that no longer irked her and it made her more resolute to keep him at arm’s length.  Only it seemed the harder she tried the easier it became for him to slip past her defenses.

Flustered she set her mug down a little too forcefully and pulled her notebook towards her, “I’m just gonna… until we get to the hotel.  I mean, if it’s okay.”

“By all means,” he said, bemused.  He tapped on his journal, “I have a bit of writing to do myself.”

“Oh, yeah.  Good.”

With that less than eloquent response she forced herself to start what she’d intended to do before Killian had joined her.  After nearly twenty minutes of alternately writing down some words and stealing glances at the man across from her she chastised herself and focused on the task at hand.  It didn’t help that she could feel his eyes on her whenever the scratching of his pen took a pause.  However, by the time the bus pulled into the hotel’s parking lot she found that she’d not only written a good chunk of what she’d wanted but that she really didn’t mind Killian’s presence in the least and that maybe the world wouldn’t exactly end if she admitted it.

[born2battle]

First Innings as IG @ Deolali ( Aug 1977 to May 1980  )

         On completion of LGSC, we were sanctioned casual leave for one week, during which I shifted to my new accommodation in the IG Block in the premises of B Mess. I availed the well deserved break at Aurangabad & assisted my parents in shifting from Army house to a civil rented house, since my father had retired recently after 35 years of service. On return to Deolali, I was selected to be in the IG Team for teaching the new Course, LGSC Fd 778, which had just reported. It was a privilege to be given this responsibility which was a tough challenge in view of the expectations. 

        It was an unforgettable moment, when I gave my first lecture, to my first batch of students, as they recorded their first impressions about me. As the Basic Leg progressed, I realised the magnitude of the task of teaching three most difficult subjects ( Ballistics, Equipment & Ammunition ) in the easiest possible manner. It was achieved only after extensive study and preparation of lesson plans & OHP slides, on every week end. The often quoted statement ---” You learn only when you teach” was indeed true. It was equally exciting to set and correct Exam papers and evaluate the Teaching Practices of students. On the whole, it was an exhilarating feeling of repeating the Basic Leg, in the new role as an IG , wearing the prestigious Red Band !!

         Simultaneously, all the Instructional staff had to qualify in the BPET     ( Battle Physical Efficiency Tests ) and PPT ( Physical Proficiency Tests ) during the Annual Adm Inspection. The thrust towards” Fitness First” was emphasised by holding Volleyball & Basketball competitions as well as encouraging individual sports. These activities contributed towards physical fitness as well as team bonding. Gunnery Leg began with the usual tempo, specially for the new IsG who had to evolve new concepts & procedures for provision of fire support. Any such ideas had to be validated during Course Shootings. We learnt a lot and gained confidence while engaging targets firing variety of Guns & ammunition. We understood in detail about the most important aspect of planning & implementation of safety measures during firing practices. Gunnery Leg also proved to be an enriching experience --- not only at the Gun end but equally at the OP end.  

         In the first week of Dec, we proceeded for the Educational Tour, where I had to shoulder the responsibility of coordinating all the visits as well as the administrative arrangements. It was a valuable learning experience. On return, the new IsG had to give their choice for  assessing the Practice Camps of Units, in various Field Firing Ranges. I volunteered to go to Binnaguri, whenever scheduled. Meanwhile, we were detailed for planning & conduct of Ex TOPCHI, which was the annual Fire Power Demonstration. It would showcase the capabilities of all weapon systems in the Regiment of Artillery besides surveillance assets & the Air OP capabilities. We rehearsed for one week with the participation of all the Guns/ Mortars/ Rocket Launchers held by the Units of Deolali & Nasik. The deployment of 120 mm Mortar using the Mules was very impressive. In addition, the Cheetah helicopter of Air OP Squadron displayed its capability of ferrying the 120 mm Mortar as an underslung load. It was a thrilling experience to apply our knowledge and skills towards enhancing the accuracy and consistency of fire support of a variety of weapons.

           There was a rehearsal which was attended by all Courses at School of Artillery, all recruits of Artillery Centre, Nasik & the civil population of Deolali Cantonment. The final event was on the Army Day ( 15 Jan 1978 ). It was witnessed by the Officers attending the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, who were on their educational tour to all training establishments. It was a spectacular display of fire power which ended with a salvo fired by a total of 70 Guns/ Mortars/ Rockets, destroying all the targets on Bahula ridgeline. The grand finale was the salvo by GRAD BM 21 MBRL, when each launcher fired 40 rockets in 20 seconds. It was indeed a dazzling display which reinforced the statement ----” Artillery is the God of War”, as propounded by Joseph Stalin. 

           In Apr 78, there was a change of command in the Field Wing.Col T P Singh took over as the Chief Instructor and was well known for his professional acumen. All instructors looked forward to the opportunity to seek his guidance for solving any difficulty. He adopted a strategy of paying surprise visits to all the training areas and the Course Shootings. These gave a boost to the standard of training besides motivating all the instructors & the students to attain greater proficiency. I was lucky to be nominated by him to be part of the Study Group of six IsG, for an analysis of the combat potential of our Artillery vis-a-vis Pakistan & China. The entire Study Group had to slog for the next one week and give him a  Presentation , which as expected, had to be refined, since Col T P Singh contributed his expert suggestions. Really, I learnt so much as a result of this first direct professional interaction with this erudite Gunner. 

          In Oct 78, myself with two AIsG proceeded to Binnaguri for assessment of practice camps of all the Regiments of Artillery Brigade. It was so exciting to be back to meet the Jat Balwans again, while Lt Col M S Choudhary had taken over as the TIGER 98. We moved to Buxaduar Ranges and assessed the performance of all the Regiments as per the parameters laid down by the School of Artillery. It was a unique privilege for me to assess my own Unit, while wearing the prestigious” Red Band” outside Deolali, for the first time. I observed that the professional standards had distinctly improved in the last two years, due to the dedication by the Jat Balwans, under a new Team of officers& JCOs, guided by an ebullient CO. I was given an emotional gift at the Unit Mandir and presented the holy Bhagvad Gita, wishing me further success & glory while performing my duty. The philosophy “ Karmanye vadhikaraste, ma phaleshu kadachan” has always been my beacon of strength, ever since I wore the Olive Green uniform!!

          I was sent on one month annual leave in Nov, which was in accordance with the leave plan, an important facet of man management while ensuring the training commitments. On return, I was detailed in the IG Team for the next Course ---- LGSC Fd 809. It meant hard work once again but the appreciation by the students always encouraged me to put in that extra effort. I accepted it as an opportunity to constantly improve as a Teacher since teaching and learning have a symbiotic relationship. Simultaneously, I volunteered to be in the IG Team for Ex TOPCHI which was in the last week of Jan 1979. We suggested that battlefield illumination could be shown as a separate part in the night, just after the standard fire power demonstration during day time. The proposal was approved by the Commandant and we started the rehearsals at night as well. The overall impact on the Final Day was phenomenal, not only as a result of an excellent demo during day time but also an amazing demo of illumination  of Deolali Ranges by night, on the eve of the Republic Day. It proved to be a novel idea and the meticulous display of fire power, specially the salvo by GRAD BM 21 MBRL ( 40 rockets in 20 seconds ) convinced the spectators of Defence Services Staff College that” Power grows out of the barrel of a Gun”. (Video illustration at the end of the Blog)

         In the first week of May, I went to Aurangabad on casual leave for ten days.It was probably destined that during this short break, I would have my first pleasant interaction with Ms Sanjivani Bhogale, from the reputed business family of NIRLEP,  who would eventually be my life partner. It was a typical example of “ First impression is the last impression”. Both of us instantly approved each other and decided to build an innings of lifetime partnership, in a Fauji environment. Our parents also gave their concurrence &  we were thrilled after the customary Engagement Ceremony within two days. It was also finalised that the marriage would be conducted in Dadar ( date, time & venue to be confirmed later). Both of us were on Cloud Nine, as we departed for Deolali & Dadar respectively, while I looked forward to meeting Sanjivani at Dadar on each of the weekends. I reached Deolali bubbling with the “Breaking News”.  

         Soon the muhurat for the wedding was finalised as 9.57 AM on 26 Jun 1979. Obviously, there was shortage of time for all the preparations by both the families. I applied for 45 days annual leave ( keeping the remaining 15 days as reserve for Diwali festival ). My leave was sanctioned, as requested, for the most important event in my life. The waiting period upto the  auspicious day was spent in a state of stargazing by both of us. Finally, the marriage was solemnised after traditional rituals on 26 Jun 1979. The most emotional moment was the “Saptapadi” ritual when we sought the blessings of the Almighty by taking the traditional vows. 

        We returned to Deolali, with all the bag & baggage, as a young couple for the first time. My friends, who were also young couples, organised a grand welcome for us, into the Home of the Gunners. Initially, we stayed in the Guest Room in B Mess itself but shifted to our temporary accommodation in 48 OG Lines, within three days. Thus began the process of converting our House into a Home!! At this juncture, I feel that Sanjivani should narrate her impressions as she stepped into the Fauji environment.

         Musings as a Fauji bride - “DADAR to DEOLALI”

        Every girl thinks about the person she will marry and the family she will belong to. I had the same feelings. I vividly remember that when I was 19 years of age, my Mama got married to a girl from the Fauji family.During this wedding, I observed lot of Army officers in their special uniform for the first time. They looked very courteous and smart.  I was thoroughly impressed with the grandeur of the Army. I was a complete civilian and thought to myself about the special quality of life of a Fauji family. Later, my parents asked  me if I had any particular choice for marriage. I told them that if possible, I would like to marry an Army officer ( not knowing the realty of being a Fauji wife, it has several pros & cons ).

          I was very lucky that the first proposal itself was from Capt Vivek Toley, who was the most eligible bachelor in Deolali. As marriages are made in heaven, before I could realise, we were married. Thus began my roller coaster ride from Dadar to Deolali. It was going to be a 360 degree transformation from the life I was leading till then. I was astonished when I saw a black steel trunk marked with the name of Capt Toley. The journey from suitcases to trunks thus began. My mother in law had packed few utensils and other necessities for us before we moved to Deolali. I started my Fauji life in 48 OG Lines, which was temporary accommodation for married officers.  

             I belonged to a typical Maharashtrian family & was conversant only in Marathi. My neighbours were from different parts of India. So, I had to make do somehow with my Bambaiya Hindi. Still, i learnt a lot from these conversations.My urge to talk in Marathi was fulfilled by talking to the local vendors and the maids. Social adjustment was another big challenge for which I was not prepared at all. I remained generally shy and silent while interacting with the officers & their wives. Huge cultural differences made me feel out of place. However, my Fauji family went out of their way to make me comfortable. I must mention that my husband stood beside me like a strong pillar , taught me, guided me and encouraged me at every moment.

           It is a norm in any Army station to be on the waiting list for allotment of temporary/ permanent accommodation. In Deolali,we shifted into 10 houses in 10 months. It is a common practice in Deolali to shift into the house of any officer going on leave for a month or two. This was so difficult for me to digest.Thanks to the Regimental association & NDA Coursemates, we were always given the house for use on “as is, where is basis”. This was a great show of faith and trust. My heartfelt thanks to all of them for making us so comfortable in the very first year of our married life. It assured me that the Armed Forces constitute a big family, with each one playing a small role. 

            Finally, we were allotted our permanent accommodation in P4 Block in Depot Battery Road colony. We moved into our own home and settled down fully. I was really happy but was surprised when my husband informed me about receipt of his posting order to NDA, Khadakwasla. Our first year in Deolali  will always have a special place in our album of memories!! 

           Consequent to settling down in my new status, I reverted to my duties as part of the IG Team for LGSC Course Fd 810, for the third time, thus completing a hat -trick. In Jan 1980, I was fortunate to complete another hat- trick with the responsibility of Ex TOPCHI , which was again a dazzling display of fire power. Thereafter, I was deputed to the Faculty of Studies where I learnt about the latest developments & trials of new weapon systems including ammunition. It involved regular interaction with the Trials Wing. In the first week of May, I was pleasantly surprised with the receipt of my posting order to the prestigious National Defence Academy. The resultant ecstasy of being selected as an Instructor at NDA from where I had passed out exactly 10 years ago, was the pinnacle of my professional achievements so far. I looked forward to moving within a month from the” Home of the Gunners” to the” Cradle of Leadership” --- along with my life partner!! 

[biot08]

By Popular Request, Adagio’s Will Fragment, related to the Gaming Guardians roleplay (now long over)

I, Adagio Redwinter, being of sound mind and body, do declare this to be my last Will and Testament.

On the Execution of my Will

Over the course of my operational existence, I have managed to accumulate a great many material things of varying levels of worth. This, I suppose, is due to my natural curiosity leading to me find the new and interesting, coupled with a lifespan that is unnaturally long for many sapient species. As well, various endeavors throughout my existence have lead me to make investments and to head several ventures, with varying levels of success and prosperity. It is now, at the end of my operational lifetime, that I intend to try and give some of what I have received back.

To see to the immense task of administering my final accounts, and to assure that my final wishes are carried out properly, I authorize my executor, Zeta Aquilae, to use those funds and materials necessary to establish the Synapse Intercorporation. The Intercorporation's internal structure and method of operation will be determined by her best judgement. The Synapse Intercorporation shall oversee the execution of my last wishes as described in this will.

It is worth noting that parts of this will are hidden from public view. This is not so much to hide anything of true note, but rather to allow some of my instructions to have a certain reactive quality to them, such that if certain conditions are met, other instructions may be carried out that may not be otherwise. My executor is aware of all of the hidden portions of my will, as well as the encryption keys necessary to view them.

I have been working on this will continuously for several years, always ensuring that it accurately reflects my wishes in the event of my demise, whether accidental or not. My understanding is that many sapients who have a tradition of finality similar to a will tend to use them as instruments of encouragement and revenge. The idea of continuing to influence the multiverse at large after my existence has ceased is one that amused me. If I have misunderstood the purpose of a will, I hope others shall view my attempt here in a reasonable light. I would caution those who read this to be aware that I am not human, and indeed, I believe I am the first of my kind to have a will of any sort. I would also note that, as my operational lifetime was originally expected to be infinite, and indeed has stretched on for a great many centuries, I do tend to take a very long view on matters. In addition to ensuring my own matters are tied up neatly, and designating specific recipients for parts of my estate, I have also made several bequests that I hope will benefit all sapients everywhere, both Primarian and System born.

I have always sought knowledge, and much of my life has been dedicated to seeking truth. I have not yet found it, but I hope that, through this will, I may lead others to find it, both for themselves and for others. I would implore all those who read this will to look to one another, and, if failing in all other tasks, that they may reach the lofty goal of one day ... understanding.

To Zeta Aquilae, who sought to understand me, and who was with me on my many travels, I leave the bulk of my estate, save for those things otherwise covered by this will. I name Zeta Aquilae the executor of my estate and the head of the Synapse Intercorporation, in which capacity she will oversee the execution of this will in accordance with my wishes.

To Nightdark, my original second, and so loyal to me all these years, I give you back your life and your freedom. I only wish I could give you your old life back, Megan. I hope that your memories will suffice.

In the memory of a woman who I was often at odds with, and yet who I still feel a deep kinship with, I find myself able to do little. I now realize the trick you played during our last game, old friend, and I hope that in the afterlife I am able to give you the match you deserve. In her memory, I present a red queen chess piece to the orange queen who now rules the forest in Gamer's End. May there forever be peace and understanding in the world she gave her life to birth.

To Aria Winters, I leave my memoirs, and my core, should it still remain, to be disposed of however she sees fit. I hope your path in life will be less troubled than mine was.

To Kale, I leave the Defender, and the legacy that goes along with it. The history of this vessel is long and deep, young Kale. You should ask Majir about it. I also give him my spaces onboard Prometheus Space Station, and my apartment in Gamer's End, as well as the contents of my bank account on Prometheus Station, and the key to my safety deposit box for the same. Remember that while the mind makes the man, the tools allow it to act better on its environment.

To Sage, I leave the Colossus, a five kilometer wide space ship that was carved out of an asteroid in BESM-SF 87-5-29. I am afraid, my dear, that this is the last rock I am able to give to you.

To the first two hundred people who show up, I leave a can of Sprite from my storage unit onboard Prometheus. One of the cans contains an actual sprite, but it got mixed in with the thoroughly mundane cans, and I never did get around to determining which can it was. I figure this is both a good way to make sure the sprite gets some use, as well as getting rid of a fair bit of unused stock. (( Note: If you want the special can, just hop on IRC and get ahold of me before the end of March. ))

To whoever determines the identity and composition of those figures who are in charge of the Gaming Guardians to the satisfaction of the Synapes Intercorporation, I leave the monetary equivalent of 20,000 XP. Transparency in operations might go a long way toward building good will, my friends. As well as being profitable.

To whoever finds Wargolem, I leave 1 million XP or medical care for the remainder of their natural life, whichever seems most appropriate.

To the first party to determine what 'Velvet Fist' is, I leave behind 10000XP.

To the person who finds the original 'Wirrit', I leave 6000 XP, so long as they deliver a copy of this will to her.

To the original 'Wirrit', I leave my yo-yo. Spend some time with it and consider that the nature of the multiverse is not as you thought it was.

To Majir Sobaan, I leave co-ordinates to a little known Fallout system. Do not be startled by what you find there. Hopefully it will explain much.

To Solita Ariennye, I leave my Seattle, Washington condo, a motorcycle, and the assets contained in the safety deposit box to which she will be given a key. While it is not the world you know and love, I hope you will enjoy Seattle, and your second retirement. I imagine you've learned your lesson.

Once a year, a jet black rose, preserved by freezing, shall be delivered to Solita Ariennye's condo in Seattle, for as long as she lives there, as a reminder that some loyalties have too high a price for us all.

Because we who occupy jaunt space are not always so careful as we should be, the Synapse Intercorporation is directed to establish the System Defenders. The goals of the Defenders are as follows: to monitor potential abuses of jaunt space and its denizens; to protect the rights of denizens of jaunt space; to establish a set of parameters that will facility a working relationship between those from the Systems and those from the Primary; to create a sanctuary in Jaunt space for beings in search of a safe retreat; and to patrol Jaunt space in such a way as to ensure that junk and debris accidentally or otherwise left in Jaunt is cleaned up in such a way as to prevent any interference with normal system development. Since many of these functions are already provided somewhat by Gamer's End and Prometheus, I use my last act as an owner of a Captain's Seat to propose that the systems already in place be diverted to form a better, more unified front for members of the Systems.

To any who find a vessel looking like BeRT ( photo attached ), or its Pilot unit, I authorize the payment of 5000 XP for its finding, and 15000 XP for its destruction. The possibility of its existence could mean a dark time for us all.

To the first fifty so-called 'voidkers' who show up to any branch of the Synapse Intercorporation, I grant a token of my esteem. The terrible events that have occurred in the voided Shadowrun system darken all our lives, and I hope to foster understanding between those who were touched by it and the rest of the multisystems at large as we move forward.

For research into jaunt phenomena considered dangerous, such as Jaunt storms and void patches, I leave four million XP, to be distributed by the Synapse Intercorporation.

To Nightengale Nightforest, whose voice is the purest I have ever heard, and moved me nearly to emotion, I know from our conversations that you have no further need for wealth. So I leave 3 million XP to be donated in your name to the charity of your choice.

I leave one hundred thousand XP to fund an expedition to Jaunt system FC-F 00-13-225.

I leave five thousand XP to fund the summoning of a spirit capable of traversing jaunt and casting a permanent Sex Change spell on the Shadowrunner known as 'Suit'. The spell will need to be of sufficient power that he will require external assistance in dispelling or reversing it. While I do not think it will change his outlook in life at all, the change in perspective for him may be educational, and if not that, at least entertaining. If some other method of bringing about the same end effect can be established, so much the better.

To the person who successfully finds what is behind door 13-B in the main building of the Church of True Harmony, I give 10000 XP upon its revelation to an authority of either the Guardians, the Defenders, or the Synapse Intercorporation.

[readbeneaththelines]

Giving Him Control Pt.3

A/N: here’s the first of many smutty McSmut smut parts!

Characters: Ravi x Reader

Warnings: Duh.. Smut

Word Count: THis i a bit longer 3263

Once you were ready, he helped you carry the bag down as you locked up. Putting the bag in the trunk, he opened your door, then settled in the driver’s seat. It took about thirty-five minutes to get to his place. Your breath hitched in your throat. It was huge, not like mansion huge, but larger than any house you had seen recently. Pulling into the garage, he grabbed the bag while you got out. When you stepped inside, you spun around taking in the vast foyer. Marble floors, vaulted ceiling and a large winding staircase was spread out along the open aired room. Various paintings were hung on the crisp white walls.

He came to stand beside you. You were too enraptured to notice him there, until he cleared his throat, getting your attention.

“Like what you see?”  he asked with a chuckle.

“Oh my! This is beautiful! You live here alone?” you asked with awe.

“Yes, the cleaning staff comes while I am out, other than that, it’s just me.”

“Wow! You have an amazing home. I wish I had a place like this, but it’s just that, a wish.”

“You never know.” he said to himself, to low for you to hear.

You followed him up the stairway, turning left at the top. There were three doors on the right side and two on the left. Each door was ornately decorated, each with a different design.

 He stopped at the second door to the right, opening it slowly before letting you in. The bedroom was decorated in a feminine fashion, but not the frilly style. There were dark pinks, muted blues, and light greys. The bed was a queen-size modern style in the middle, the matching suit the same grey color with pink and blue scroll designs throughout. To the left was a walk in closet that was nearly as big as your apartment. Beside that was the bathroom, decorated in the same colors. It contained a jacuzzi tub and walk-in shower. You noticed that there were several rings along the shower wall, causing you to wonder what they were for.

“You can set your stuff in here. But tonight you will stay in my room.”, he stated matter-of-factly.

“Is that a request or do I have no say so?” you challenged.

“You have say so, but after we talk tomorrow, and if you agree, that may just very well change.”

“Then I will stay in here, if you don’t mind. If I need to have a clear head, then I need to get a good night’s sleep. That might not happen if I stay in your room.”

With a bow, he turned and left, leaving you alone in your room. You opted for a shower, wanting to rinse off from the club and your crazy sex session earlier. The walls on all sides of the shower had shower heads, that massaged your body while a rain style shower head softly drizzled water over you. You stayed in there until you felt the water beginning to cool. Stepping out, you wrapped yourself in a plush dark pink towel then wrapped your hair in a small towel. Laid out on the counter were various body lotions and sprays. You chose the cherry blossom lotion, smoothing it over your body. When you were finished, you padded across the marble floor into the bedroom, laying yourself across the bed. 

After several minutes, you started to wonder if he was going to come back in or if you were left alone for the rest of the night. Curiosity got the best of you, luring you from the bed and into the hallway. Just as you stepped into the hall, he stepped from his room. You froze in stride, waiting for him to move. He spotted you, halting in his own tracks. Your feet began moving on their own accord, heading towards him. When you ended up at his door, he simply moved aside letting you walk in. His room was more neutral in color, beiges and browns with espresso dark furniture. His bed was still unmade, his previous clothing on the floor by the bathroom door. He was covered in just a towel, his skin still damp. 

You went to touch his chest, stopping in mid air when you remembered his thing with being touched. He took your hand in his, placing it on his shoulder instead. Your fingers ran down the line of his muscles, tracing it down to his wrist. You tested his limits, working your fingers between his. When he didn’t pull away, you closed your fingers tightly around his hand. Your free hand went to his head, sliding into his damp hair. You tugged him down, placing a tender kiss to his lips. You could feel him hesitating when you first brought his lips to yours, but he relaxed when your lips touched. 

Placing a hand to your arm, he gently pushed you back, worry etching his eyes. You searched his face, wondering why he was pushing you away.

“I thought you needed to sleep, clear your head.” his tone soft.

“I tried, but you left without saying goodnight, so I wanted to come and tell you that.”

“You wanted to tell me goodnight? Is that all?”

“Umm, yes, no, I don’t know for sure.” you replied in a low whisper.

“Well, good night. Do I need to tuck you in too?” he was smiling down at you.

“Could you?”, you winked up at him.

“Sure thing.” he pulled you by the hand that was still holding his.

Instead of leaving his room, he walked you to his own bed. Pulling the covers back, he lifted you onto the bed. He held the covers as you swung your legs up. Laying down on the fluffy down pillow, he pulled the covers up over your shoulder. As he was starting to turn away, you gently grabbed his wrist, his arm jerking back at the sudden touch.

“Sorry. I’m not really sure what my touching limits are with you. I just didn’t want you to leave me in here alone.”

He walked to the other side of the bed, sitting on the edge and looking at you. You could tell he was thinking about something. You gave him time, letting him decided when he was ready to talk.

“I guess now is as good a time as any to talk, huh? Neither of us will get any sleep until we do.”

You nodded in agreement, scooting back and sitting up to face him. Again, you waited for him to talk.

“I have rules when I am with someone. I broke one of those rules tonight, with you. Do not sleep with someone on the first night.”

“How many rules do you have? What do these rules pertain to? Why do you have these rules?” you had so many questions.

“Let me explain a little about myself first. I like being in control, of everything. I used to never have control over my life, so when I had the chance I changed that. When I say everything, I mean everything, including my relationships. I prefer someone who knows that I like things a certain way and they don’t question it. I need to have this type of security in knowing that I set my rules, my limits. When others question me, or challenge me, then I can lose my temper. Not having control makes me lose control in a sense. Don’t get me wrong, I am not one to go off and murder someone, but my anger gets the best of me. Whoever I am with needs to know that.”

You just sat there, listening to every word he said. Did he scare you with his confession? Maybe, but if you had to admit, you wanted to know more about this man that drew you in with just a look.

“So what would I have to do, to ensure you always had control?” you leaned back against the headboard.

“Ahh, that’s a good question. Let me tell you my rules, then you can ask me questions.”

You nodded, leaning forward with your elbows on your legs. You wanted to make sure you heard everything clearly and try to keep an open mind.

“Okay. Rule number one, I don’t sleep with someone I am interested in on the first night. I broke that rule already. Not to happy about that one, but.. Two, don’t break my toy.”

“Your toy?” you asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Ohh, when I say my toy, I mean my submissive.”

“You mean as in the person who a dominant has as a sex slave? Kinky crazy sex slave?”

“It’s not like the stories you have heard. A dominate and submissive have a certain special relationship. Yes, some of them have that crazy kinky sex, but usually, a submissive knows that their partner likes to have control. They are willing to give that control over, knowing that it makes their partner happy. In turn, the submissive get treated like a princess. The dominant wants to keep his ‘toy’ happy, so we treat them with respect and care.”

“Okay, so what’s rule three?” you questioned.

“So rule three goes along with rule two, protect my ‘toy’. If I am with a submissive, I want to keep her safe so that she knows I care about her. If something happens to her, I have lost that control. I have put her in danger, and that is unacceptable to me.” he kept looking at you, waiting for you to appear scared or repulsed.

“Rule four is to follow the parameters of our agreement. If you choose to go along with this, you and I will have to set ground rules. These are things that we will both agree to. That means as far as our relationship, our separate lives, and even our sex life. And finally rule five. Do not touch me unless I give you permission. My hands, arms and head are safe areas, anywhere else is off limits.I have my reasons for this, and they are not up for negotiation.”

When he stopped talking, you set back and closed your eyes. You figured that even if you had heard near horror stories of a Dom/Sub relationship, what he was telling you didn’t seem that strange.  You thought hard about your life up to this point. You were alone, living in an empty place, no one to care about you, except for your few friends. Why not give this a try, you figured.

“Okay.” your one word response made his head snap up.

“Okay? You don’t have any questions?” he looked surprised.

“If I have any more questions, I will ask you. As for now, I’ll agree.”

“Well, that’s a first. Usually, they have to take a few to think about it, some never coming back around.”

“They? How many have you had as subs?”, you asked.

“Just a few. I am very selective.”

You knew you had already said yes to giving him a chance, but you knew you would have more questions down the road. For now, you scooted back down under the covers, settling in to get comfortable. He was sitting in the same spot, still waiting for you to change your mind. 

“I’m not changing my mind, if that is what you’re worried about. Now, I am tired, and the alcohol is wearing off. I am going to sleep. You can lay down with me, or whatever, but I am ready to pass out.”, you yawned, rubbing your eyes for effect.

He slid his feet under the blanket, settling down beside you. You were out before he was settled in, a light snore telling him you were out cold.

“You are definitely going to be a challenge, Y/N. I hope I chose you correctly.” he whispered before laying his head down and going to sleep.

@aspaceformyself @trapped-inside-my-head @beautifulseoulliar@maxinaptak @seoulsunshineandstories @xjamlessparkx@sugababemyg @kpop-addictedloser  @min-shookga-yoongi@beau @agustd-suga-yoongii @astronomyturtle@dreamyoongi @holy-yoongi @trashkazuya @micky1518@rosiemilas @karri570  @kwonnansi

[renardtrickster]

I am going to kill you and ask you to do every number on that ask post

You devious yet cute bastard, I’m in.

1. What is you middle name?

Personal information so I’m not divulging it, but it abbreviates to X.

2. How old are you?

Legal.

3. When is your birthday?

September 26.

4. What is your zodiac sign?

Libra/The Scales/The Dragon/Terepy

5. What is your favorite color?

Dark Green. #127712 specifically.

6. What’s your lucky number?

I think 2? I do like 12 though.

7. Do you have any pets?

Not anymore. I used to have two dogs though.

8. Where are you from?

Florida. I came out of the swamps.

9. How tall are you?

5′10″

10. What shoe size are you?

28cm, Women’s 11.5, Men’s 9.5, that’s what my sneakers say.

11. How many pairs of shoes do you own?

Two. A pair of loafers so broken down I avoid wearing them whenever possible, and a pair of fine sneakers.

12. What was your last dream about?

All I remember is that Duff McWhalen’s theme song was playing throughout it and it was really annoying after a while.

13. What talents do you have?

I would say my talents are acute memory of obscure topics, vivid storytelling, and I’m pretty good at video games.

14. Are you psychic in any way?

It doesn’t happen with much frequency nowadays, but when I was younger and it happened a bit more often, I could always tell when I was being observed with no other clues. I could feel the eyes on my back. I can also bend spoons and set fires with my mind but that’s less interesting.

15. Favorite song?

More like favorite song right now, but probably Rocket Surgeon.

16. Favorite movie?

The Persona 3 movies currently.

17. Who would be your ideal partner?

Off of the top of my head, I’m imagining someone who’s heart-throbbing to look at (pretty women or cute boys), pretty sharp, tough to boot, has a lot in common with me, and is understanding too. I’ve got a few quirks, and it’d be nice to know that I’m not condemned to dying alone because of them.

18. Do you want children?

Not in the slightest.

19. Do you want a church wedding?

I don’t even want a wedding wedding. If we’re partners, isn’t being together enough? From what I know, weddings just add unnecessary stress and complication.

20. Are you religious?

I’m definitely spiritual, and Religion connected to that, even if I don’t devote myself to a specific doctrine. It’s less pantheism and more “they’re probably all true to an extent and also SMT is real”. In any case I just try to be a good person.

21. Have you ever been to the hospital?

As a patient, none that I could remember but I know I went because of various injuries. As a visitor, quite a few times.

22. Have you ever got in trouble with the law?

I’ve done things that would get me in trouble with the law, but have not run afoul of them yet. The closest would be that one time I was staying at a hotel, and the police knocked on my door and asked if I knew where someone was living. I didn’t, but I guessed anyway, and that’s how half the hotel had the police knocking on their door.

23. Have you ever met any celebrities?

No.

24. Baths or showers?

Showers.

25. What color socks are you wearing?

White with grey soles.

26. Have you ever been famous?

I have a lot of followers on this tumblr blog, would that count?

27. Would you like to be a big celebrity?

I want to be a famous author, so kind of. But I want to still retain my anonymity and not have my real name and face attached to stuff. Yoko Taro gives me hope in that regard, because he’s rather famous but any information we know about him, we know on his terms. That’s how I want to live.

28. What type of music do you like?

I usually listen to video game OSTs, and most of the ones I listen to are so genre-blending so it’s hard to pin down. Most of it is instrumental, but I’m not opposed to music with vocals. Genres aren’t cohesive, so I’d say “music that makes you want to punch robots to” and “music that makes you want to talk to friends to”. J-rap is pretty good though.

29. Have you ever been skinny dipping?

Hell no!

30. How many pillows do you sleep with?

One.

31. What position do you usually sleep in?

I toss and turn before going to sleep and while asleep, but my back seems to be consistent.

32. How big is your house?

It’s pretty decent. 2 room 1 bath, and the living room is rectangular.

33. What do you typically have for breakfast?

Milk & cereal, or pop-tarts.

34. Have you ever fired a gun?

No, but I want to.

35. Have you ever tried archery?

I think once in grade school. I wish I could try again though.

36. Favorite clean word?

Cerebral just off the top of my head.

37. Favorite swear word?

Bastard or Shit. The former is innately funny and all-purpose to refer to someone. The latter is so versatile it can be used in any context.

38. What’s the longest you’ve ever gone without sleep?

I think a day, although the standard is around 18.

39. Do you have any scars?

I don’t think so.

40. Have you ever had a secret admirer?

I think there was one person in school who had a thing for me but they were gay and at the time I thought I was straight, so I paid them no mind. There was also someone who said “X likes you”, but I didn’t know who X was so I said “cool” and went on my way. I was also propositioned once in middle school, but that’s less “secret admirer” and more “sexual harasser”.

41. Are you a good liar?

I think so.

42. Are you a good judge of character?

For good people, yes. For bad people, no.

43. Can you do any other accents other than your own?

Yeah. I remember playing Undertale and my little sister was nearby, and I decided to voice all the characters. I had a lot of fun!

44. Do you have a strong accent?

I’m actually the only member of my family that doesn’t have a Boston accent.

45. What is your favorite accent?

Russian, hands-down.

46. What is your personality type?

According the the Myers-Briggs test I just took, ISFP-T/Adventurer. Which is bizarre considering I’m pretty sure I got a different result a year or so ago. According to “what word would you use”, droll.

47. What is your most expensive piece of clothing?

I have no idea. Either those sneakers, or the heavy winter jacket I got when I was in Colorado. Both were gifts, so I never saw the pricetag, but my Dad said they were pretty nice-looking.

48. Can you curl your tongue?

Yeth.

49. Are you an innie or an outie?

Inside.

50. Left or right handed?

Left.

51. Are you scared of spiders?

My knowledge of spiders is well enough that I know at least 2 types of spiders who can kill you horribly in one bite, and know little enough that I can’t tell any of them apart from common house spiders. I’m more afraid of dying stupidly because the boner spider snuck up on me than the idea of spiders themselves.

52. Favorite food?

Either Macaroni & Cheese or Cheeseburgers.

53. Favorite foreign food?

Burritos probably, even though I usually only eat meat and cheese on them. Are you detecting a theme because I am.

54. Are you a clean or messy person?

I try to be clean, but I’m usually a bit scattered.

55. Most used phrased?

“says something about”, “despite that” are some. Although I know I tend to use a few stock phrases When I Post Long.

56. Most used word?

I wouldn’t even know where to begin finding that out.

57. How long does it take for you to get ready?

Maybe a few minutes, although I’m usually working on a set routine.

58. Do you have much of an ego?

I don’t think I do. If I do, I tend to exaggerate it or turn it to a positive end.

59. Do you suck or bite lollipops?

No matter how hard I want to keep it at sucking, I usually bite at some point. Don’t screencap this.

60. Do you talk to yourself?

Yes.

61. Do you sing to yourself?

No.

62. Are you a good singer?

Also no.

63. Biggest Fear?

Most if not all of my friends, and the people I admire as well, all either start hating me or end up hating me and I lose every social connection I have or want to have. The reason varies, whether it be my fault or someone slandering me, but being hated by people I like freaks me out. As does the idea of not being able to tell my stories.

64. Are you a gossip?

I’d like to say no but considering I rather frequently discuss discourse in my Discord chats, I guess I am.

65. Best dramatic movie you’ve seen?

I do not watch drama films.

66. Do you like long or short hair?

On myself, long-to-middle length. On others, any length really.

67. Can you name all 50 states of America?

Probably not.

68. Favorite school subject?

Social studies was a strong suit of mine.

69. Extrovert or Introvert?

Introvert.

70. Have you ever been scuba diving?

No.

71. What makes you nervous?

Time passing and things not getting done.

72. Are you scared of the dark?

No. The things in the dark can eat it too.

73. Do you correct people when they make mistakes?

Yes, but I try to be kind about it. Or funny.

74. Are you ticklish?

I haven’t been tickled recently, so I wouldn’t know.

75. Have you ever started a rumor?

No. At worst, I’ve spread information I don’t think is 100% accurate, but I ALWAYS disclaim that it shouldn’t be trusted without further research.

76. Have you ever been in a position of authority?

I’m an older sibling, so yes.

77. Have you ever drank underage?

No.

78. Have you ever done drugs?

No, but I was offered twice. Once by an irresponsible (and awful) authority figure, once by some kids in the bathroom. Both times I said “no thanks”, and funny enough the former tried to change my mind, and the latter just said “ok cool”.

79. Who was your first real crush?

Oh god here come the bad memories. I’m heavily abbreviating and redacting information to protect the identities of me and all involved, but in Colorado I met someone in middle school who more or less fit all my parameters for “ideal partner”. But I was terminally nervous and I didn’t want to ruin our friendship, so I left it at that. Eventually I had to abruptly leave the state for reasons I don’t want to get into, and all a week or so later I made a Facebook account and found all my friends. My contact with my crush was the most constant. Eventually, I was talking with a different buddy, and they mentioned romantic problems. I mentioned I had some too, and they eventually ferreted it out of me. They told me I should confess, and I said no, both because I want to remain friends, and because I can’t do a long-distance relationship. They told me they’d go behind my back if I didn’t, and I warned them not to. Five minutes later, I get messaged by my crush. To put it short, it wouldn’t work out. I stopped talking to both, and was pretty depressed afterwards, to the point where I couldn’t feel any romance, sexuality, or companionship towards anybody. I got over it sometime later, and I think I realized I was bi around the same time. I kind of wish I could smooth things over, but it’s been so long I don’t think it’s an option anymore. Plus Facebook has a horrible interface and is terrible so I really don’t want to.

80. How many piercings do you have?

Zero.

81. Can you roll your Rs?“

No.

82. How fast can you type?

VERY.

83. How fast can you run?

Also VERY.

84. What color is your hair?

Dark.

85. What color is your eyes?

I looked in a mirror for a minute. I think it’s either grey, green, or brown?

86. What are you allergic to?

Pollen and bullets.

87. Do you keep a journal?

No.

88. What do your parents do?

My Dad makes food at the mall.

89. Do you like your age?

I wish I had all the benefits of adulthood but was still 17.

90. What makes you angry?

People acting stupid when they should know better, things not working when they should, and things going wrong when they shouldn’t. While not my intention in answering this question, this site has all three :^)

91. Do you like your own name?

My given name is pretty okay. I really like Renardie though.

92. Have you already thought of baby names, and if so what are they?

I am not having children.

93. Do you want a boy a girl for a child?

Three times I have said I’m not having children.

94. What are you strengths?

Imagination, expression, intellect, and pluck.

95. What are your weaknesses?

Procrastination, anxiety, and obsession.

96. How did you get your name?

For my given name, I’ll keep it brief for privacy’s sake, but my parents are comic book nerds. For Renardie, I’m simply a fan of Reynard the Fox.

97. Were your ancestors royalty?

My Dad’s a King in the figurative sense, does that count?

98. Do you have any scars?

This is a repeat question. Someone get OP’s ass.

99. Color of your bedspread?

Off-color baby blue.

100. Color of your room?

White.

[anth-seeing2019]

Pl34SUR3S

While working, I chose not to intervene with Christian institutions in lower-income or underprivileged areas. A lot of learning has resulted from this project as it has been conducted. Out of that knowledge, I’ve generated newfound respect; not just of people’s faith, but of the community that surrounds these institutions and its function as a still-beating-heart within Cincinnatian gentrification. Out of respect, I set one hard restriction within the parameters of this project. 

Goal: Discussion and action towards sex education reform in public schools by challenging one of its biggest stakeholders, religion.

Topic: Sex Censorship

Audience: Institutions and congregations of the Christian faith (primarily in well-functioning districts) 

Disruption: Public Art/ Performance and documentation of blow-up doll No.2 (Betty) juxtaposed with religious institutions

By investigating how religion, Catholicism, in particular, has cultivated an air of taboo around sex, this project urges its faculties to reconsider their quasi-archaic conventions through public art disruption and discourse. The end goal of this project is to advocate for sexual education reform in public schools through the implementation of a blow-up doll. This project proposes that if you can have a dialogue about sex in church congregations, then it shouldn’t be unreasonable to have the same dialogue in schools; opening up discussion more freely and unburdening awkwardness.

This project comes down to the fundamental battle and restraints that pro creationism has perpetrated over the years and how institutions such as the Vatican, prevent progressive social reform from ever being discussed; preventing access by censoring or ignoring the topic through various loopholes/misdirection. For instance, catholic families can omit their children from participating in sex-ed classes entirely by writing a note.

On Catholicism and Religion & History

It’s a widely accepted faith with a lot of history and influence. So, when we think of the very beginnings of civilization, procreation was necessary for safety in numbers, working offspring, food gathering, and innovation. Since language was invented, procreation as been one of the binding values that belief systems, governments, and institutions all share.

Catholicism used it as a way to create more followers (I mean this in a sincere way) and keep family members united; which is a good thing…until you get to the 21st century. “In the past decade alone, online dating has had probably the biggest single impact on our sexual lives. Websites and apps designed to facilitate sex and romance are everywhere”. This isn’t to say that Catholicism is inherently bad; in fact, it’s done a lot of good: inspiring goodwill, charity, faith, and rules that keep people from harming others. The problem with the way that religion perpetrates procreation now is that any partner-seeking individual within a congregation is expected to keep up with orthodox. The unfortunate, but true fact is that many members of the Catholic faith don’t follow these restrictions. Forced into secrecy, this then creates even more problems. Catholic women are 5X more likely to have an abortion in unsanitary conditions, often resulting in permanent damage to their reproductive organs.

By implementing a blow-up doll, I was able to stage a disruption that facilitated immediate dialogue. I armed myself with facts, statistics, and my mantra-my reason for interrupting their form of seeing-“IF you can talk about sex in church, then you can talk about sex in schools”, which was my way of simplifying advocacy for sex-education reform in public schools. What I’m advocating for in particular is more transparency and access to intermittent sex-ed courses and the inclusion of gender and sexuality studies. Sex-education is treated as a one-and-done course; with the majority of public schools only making it mandatory for a quarter portion of school year studies. Sex-education should be taught repeatedly and intermittently. Teenage and adolescent bodies change drastically throughout cursory education. These physical and emotional changes should be addressed chronologically in tangent with lessons on sexuality and gender; garnering an understanding of attraction, cross-gender, and sexual preference, would generate acceptance of the self and surrounding classmates. This would generate lifelong learning and positive habits for understanding diversity both in school and in alternative environments.

Why a Blow-up Doll? 

I chose a blow-up doll for this project because of these points which ascribe its relevance and activation as a device for disruption in this case :

Blow-up dolls were popularized by men and have a historical prevalence of sex. Primordial versions date as far back as Greek Mythology: The story of Pygmalion which was eventually turned into a play by George Bernard Shaw [of the same name].

Females are heavily scrutinized and overlooked in the Bible. In fact, Wikipedia’s list of biblical female names used in the Bible says “This list contains persons named in the Bible of minor notability, about whom either nothing or very little is known, aside from any family connections.”Blow dolls throughout history consistently depict a female form [which is what I am]Contemporary, radical feminism has been facilitated by females and the female form has been viewed as a vessel for change; which I think authenticates its existence. Many of today’s hot debates are centered around female rights, pro-choice, women’s health, etc., all of which Catholicism plays a major stakeholder in and against. (This reason most of all, I enjoy because it forces femininity into the banal foreground; gloriously nude and proud). It’s symbolic of modernity, change, and acceptance. Finally, blow-up dolls are hilarious and brutally forward. They are indexical of sex in private quarters, but questionable in public forum. Something as puzzling as a ‘rogue blow-up doll’ incites query automatically.  

In Action: The Disruption

First attempts at launching Blow-up doll worked in provisional trials but not by simply filling the doll with helium [blow-up dolls made from PVC cannot simply be filled with helium and float. Buoyancy rates when using helium rise and fall according to the material and surface area]. I had to resort to using multiple balloons, fishing wire, stock helium, and strategic timing which made the project far more foreign when just starting out. Using the balloons and floating a blow-up doll A) happens far too quickly to time intervention with congregation B) requires a larger strike force of people that I didn’t have C) Any rogue wind would result in misdirection of the doll and instigate a search and rescue mission. Floating the doll was canceled after rogue winds caused the doll to come in contact with the steeple of the church; popping balloons and dislodging harness from doll resulting in minor panic from bystanders [and also getting chased off church property]. The doll hit the cross adornment at the top of the steeple of the church and fell, as made barely visible in the photograph.

 Parameters

A lot of learning has resulted from this project as it has been conducted. Out of that knowledge, I’ve generated newfound respect; not just of people’s faith, but of the community that surrounds these institutions and its function as a still-beating-heart within Cincinnatian gentrification. Out of respect, I set one hard restriction within the parameters of this project. While working, I chose not to intervene with Christian institutions in lower-income or underprivileged areas. Out of respect for the community, I chose not to intervene with these buildings because of their role in lower-income areas as not only a place of worship, but a place for community gatherings, faith, outreach, charity, and goodwill. Many of these areas don’t have places for community outreach except for places of worship. Latoya Ruber Frasier’s work calls for awareness of gentrification in the Braddock area of Pittsburgh. Similarly, she notes that factions of a dilapidated community infrastructure often cling to a building, area, or meeting place that serves as the community’s only existing place of refuge. In the series, Campaign for Braddock Hospital (Save Our Community Hospital) (2011), Frazier curates a series of photographs with written recountments and repurposed advertisements from competing industrial investors; those who were wanting to purchase the hospital. This series shows the hopeless, last stand of a community fighting for the essence of their existence to remain intact. Intervening in these areas with this disruption practice would make people less likely to talk or even feel motivated to discuss sex-ed reform. I wanted people to be able to laugh at the end of conversations; not feel disenfranchised, violated, or looked down upon more. All of these concerns tie in with the “Stranger with a Camera” screening which discussed how an outsider’s objective of intervening within an environment can potentially belittle it further and put the outsider in a dangerous position. 

Intervention/Disruption

Once the blow-up doll was in position, people came to me quickly. Initial rage was common amongst the conversations I had. Typically, people were outraged and would begin conversations by questioning who was responsible. In the Videos presented in class, every incident is represented/documented by an intervening photographer. Specifically, I think that the work intervenes on a level that could be considered risky’. Not only is it an intervention of visual culture, but it has the potential to disrupt critical cultural values in a specified area or group. For these interventions, caution is a must, but also the consideration of values that are being devalued.  Interestingly enough, most of these people never actually saw me placing the doll in position. They were making assumptions based on prejudice; unrealistic expectations to lead them to the perpetrator of the incident or placing blame on me automatically based on proximity and associative stigma. This is where another reading comes into play. Karen Strassler, Refracted Visions, photographer as a ‘witness to history’ and the expectations of photographers as inherent record keepers. Where this intervention documents a specific disruption, the members of the congregation wish to omit this type of history from ever taking place. 

Interviews

Once Initial reactions transpired and commonalities exchanged, I had questions I would give:

-Can you explain why this makes you upset?

-Why isn’t sex talked about in church and why do people pull their children out of sexed classes in school? Do you think this is beneficial to them in the long run, why/why not?

-If sex-ed was reformed, would you allow your children to attend?

-What do you think about the dismissal and coverups of sexual predators within the institution? 

-Do you see similarities between priest defilement and sex aversion in Catholicism? If yes, what needs to change? If no, are you aware of either issue? 

-I miss participating in Catholic ceremonies, mass, and the sacraments, but I feel that the infrastructure is wildly corrupt. The priest I grew up listening to for 18 years was accused of sexual assault. I now consider myself a pansexual. How could I ever return to this faith and why aren’t many of these men serving crime in person? 

-Do you agree with sex-ed reform in public schools to include more, intermittent classwork and development? Would you condone gender and sexuality studies in this class? 

-Do you think the Catholic Church will ever consider reformation for the inclusion of more progressive practices, inclusion, and accommodations that meet modern advancements? 

Works Cited

Frazier, Latoya  Ruby. Campaign for Braddock Hospital . Pittsburgh, 2011.

Garland-Thomson, Rosemarie. Staring: How We Look. Oxford University Press, 2015.

“List of Women in the Bible.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 3 Dec. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_women_in_the_Bible.

Strassler, Karen. Refracted Visions: Popular Photography and National Modernity in Java. Duke Univ. Press, 2010.

[level99games]

A 2019 Retrospective - Part 3: Programs

Greetings friends,

For us, 2019 was a peculiar sort of year, and I want to speak about it honestly in retrospect. Last year, we tried a number of different strategies in business and in development of our games, and I’d like to talk about which ones worked and which ones failed, and how we’re proceeding this year with new changes.

In a series of weekly blogs during January, I’ll compare and contrast our strategies in 2019 with our new strategies in 2020. The first blog in that series can be found here.

Get with the Program

Programs have always been around. From our first fan-made program, Marco’s BattleGUIDES to our most recent launch of last week, A Year in Indines, we’ve always made communication and content creation a cornerstone of our marketing and presentation. After all, what’s the point of building big, living worlds like Indines if you’re not going to dive deep into them.

What’s changed in 2020 is how we define and operate a “program,” and also what kinds of activities we classify as programs.

In 2019 - Ad-hoc Projects

Last year (and really, in all the years leading up to this one), programs were company initiatives. One of us, usually me, would come up with some kind of idea. It would get put into action as a series of “ongoing projects”, not unlike another project running in parallel with our production projects. The only difference was that these projects had no end goal and no metrics by which to measure their success.

Organized Play was a great example of this—no person was assigned to be responsible for it (though Ithry took responsibility, and any credit for its limited successes should go to him and Marco).

Marco continued to run social projects, such as the podcast and live video plays, but these were never assessed in any way or considered in terms of their effectiveness at reaching people. Mostly, it was just content for content’s sake.

I myself was perhaps the worst offender. I would often start initiatives, such as creating media kits for all our games, launching a new series of Indines in-depth, or resolving to lead the company to make a Nintendo-direct-like video series. These efforts often floundered publicly, as the time and energy to execute them waned. I’m only one person, after all, and interesting ideas alone don’t get the job done on their own.

In 2020 - Programs with Leaders

This year, we’ve taken on a different approach. We’ve taken all of these “ongoing projects” and turned them into Programs just like the Podcast and Organized Play. Furthermore, we evaluated the programs that we were running, and added terms.

Individual Responsibility. Programs are the responsibility of individual members of the Level 99 Games team. About half of a team member’s time goes to programs, and the other half goes towards production. In this way, each team member is involved in both the production and marketing side of each project that we do. The Program’s lead establishes the parameters of the program, sets up metrics to measure success or failure, then evaluates those metrics at set intervals to ensure that the program is performing according to target.

Targets. A big part of programs are targets. Each program, when it is set up, is established with goals in mind. These might be acquiring new audience members to our mailing list, reaching new viewers with our brand and product line, or actual sales. At any rate, every so often, usually every quarter, we plan to evaluate each project and see how it’s performing. By balancing costs against benefits, we can decide which programs to keep and which programs to let go of, thus making the way for new opportunities.

Trimming the Fat. One thing that we’ve had face up to in 2020 is that we can’t do everything forever. Classic programs like Organized Play, the Level Cap Podcast, three kinds of weekly blogs, and Convention Appearances weren’t living up to the goals that we had set (or in some cases, goals had never been set). We’ve cut any programs that we weren’t able to pursue fully, to free up head-space and focus in on those that interest us and which we can reasonably execute with the resources we have.

Active Programs

With all that said, you’re probably thinking “OK Brad, so what are these programs you have active right now?” Well, here’s a list, as well as a list of who’s in charge of them!

A Year in Indines (Julian) - Replacing such content blogs as Indines In-depth, Inside Seventh Cross, and Character of the Week, A Year In Indines is our main content-marketing outlet for 2020. It makes a lot of sense to focus on Indines, with Empyreal launching and Argent relaunching now, as well as BattleCON 4th edition coming later this year. A Year in Indines is a collection of in-universe blogs, graphics, artifacts, and more that will bring the world to life and reach new viewers on various social media platforms, while engaging interesting fans with fun new lore and artwork.

Level with Us Vidcast (Marco) - When we evaluated the Level Cap Podcast, we  found that a lot of time and energy was going into the production of the show, disproportionate to its listener-base. Furthermore, we had heard from a couple different fans that our 2019 format, a more formal podcast, wasn’t what they were interested in. For this reason, we’ve transformed the podcast into a live vidcast on youtube, which is more about getting to know our team, asking and answering questions, and just hanging out and having fun.

Imprint Merchandising (Jackie) - Jackie is working on a new project to bring our worlds and characters to life through a series of imprinted goods and lifestyle items. We started this year off with a new T-Shirt and playmat, and we have plenty of new items in our queue to launch soon!

Customer Service & Support (Kier) - Level 99 Games has always been well-known for great customer service. By structuring our customer service and support as a program, we hope to look for ways to improve service even further, as well as to reduce errors in products before they go to press.

We’ll be adding in other new programs throughout the year, so look out for more announcements in this space soon!

About the Author

D. Brad Talton Jr. is the President of Level 99 Games, as well as the designer of BattleCON, Millennium Blades, Pixel Tactics, Exceed, and many more games. He lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with his wife Lynda and daughter Kathryn. 

[imjustthemechanic]

Glockenspiel

Part 1/? - Transmission Part 2/? - The Sandhill Hotel Part 3/? - Piccadilly Part 4/? - The Future Part 5/? - Too Late Part 6/? - The Mystery of the Missing Time Machine

Peggy was of the opinion that they shouldn’t discuss conspiracies and time machines in a public place if they could possibly help it, weather gods on the subway notwithstanding.  Toulouse cheerfully bought them each a cup of coffee and a pastry, and they returned to the Lambeth Wilton hotel.

“We need another time machine,” Peggy said, once they’d settled down around the suite’s dining table.  “HYDRA has one, but there’s also the one we came here by, the one in the bunker in the Sierras.  Even if we didn’t make it back they wouldn’t have gotten rid of it, because the SSR never gets rid of anything.  The fact that we did demonstrably make it back means we will probably keep it on purpose.  It must still exist, or at the very least, there must be a record of it.”

Howard was nodding.  “Much faster than having to invent one myself, and more likely to be compatible with theirs.  After seventy years, though, where can we find the records?”

Peggy had some idea where to start looking, but before she could say so, Toulouse spoke first.  “They’re online!” she said.  “Black Widow put all of SHIELD’s stuff on Wikileaks.”

“What’s that?” Peggy asked.

“It’s a website full of stolen documents,” Toulouse explained.  She opened up her laptop computer and turned it on.  “After the Avengers exposed HYDRA’s plans to kill everybody, Black Widow uploaded all their records so we could see the shifty stuff they’d been up to.  We just have to look up time machine plans.”

Toulouse probably meant that to sound reassuring. It emphatically was not.  “Are you saying that if these plans exist, they’re now in a library where anyone can read them?” Peggy asked.  HYDRA were probably the worst people to give a time machine to, but they were far from the only ones who shouldn’t have it.

“It’s kind of like a library,” Toulouse explained, “but you don’t have to actually go there.  Anyone with a mobile can get access.”

Peggy thought back to the people she’d seen on the street outside the coffee shop.  At least half of them had been carrying a ‘mobile’, staring at it or fiddling with it while they walked, waited for buses, or shopped.  Any one of those people could, at will, read about everything the SSR had ever done?

“No wonder they came to this time,” said Peggy. Having something like that was practically inviting HYDRA in.

It didn’t alleviate her worries any when she saw how easy it was to search for things, either.  If Peggy had wanted to find specific documents in the SSR offices, she would have started out with a short prayer to the patron saint of filing (according to her former room-mate Colleen, this was either Saint Catherine or Saint Jerome, depending on your interpretation) that they’d been properly indexed before diving into the card catalogue.  If she’d managed to find something there, she would have rewarded herself with an extra dessert.  If not, it meant that whatever she was looking for had not been catalogued, and there was nothing for it but going through drawer upon drawer, box upon box of records and hoping that somewhere in there was what she wanted.  The process would have required days and several extra desserts, for fortitude.

On the Wikileaks website, Toulouse simply selected the phrase search keywords and typed in SSR time machine.  That brought up a couple of different documents, related to various projects interested in seeing the future or altering the past.  None seemed to have gotten past the planning stages, and the descriptions and diagrams did not match the device Peggy and Howard had arrived by.

“We can narrow it down by year,” Toulouse suggested.  “When did you say you were from?”

“1948,” Peggy told her.  Toulouse added it to her search parameters, but that brought up nothing at all.

“Maybe it took us a while to get around to writing it down,” Howard said.  “Try 49, 50, and 51.”

“And try matter transmitter,” Peggy added.  “That’s what I wanted to call the contraption before I realized we were in another time.”  Perhaps the SSR hadn’t wanted to describe it as a time machine, especially if Peggy had warned them that these records would someday be public.  “Or the location.  Sierra bunker.”

“See if any of them mention cows,” suggested Howard.

They spent the entire rest of the morning on the website, going through every possible variation of the search.  Peggy and Howard brainstormed code names they might have given the thing and tried those, and found exactly nothing of interest. Sometimes a result would look promising, but reading it was invariably a disappointment.  For a moment they had hope when they came across the Sierra bunker’s serial number – ACS21/2 – but the document only noted that it had been permanently sealed off in 1950, in favour of bomb shelters closer to the city.

Not only was it disappointing, but the longer they kept turning up nothing, the more worried Peggy became.  If there were no record of the machine, did that mean the SSR had never actually been able to study it for some reason?  Or worse, had somebody deliberately erased all traces? How would that be possible.  Peggy and Howard clearly had gotten back, not long after they’d left, and what they would have had to say when they did should have made the machine a top priority. Could HYDRA have sent someone else back to destroy the records?  Or had Peggy and Howard done it themselves?

“Maybe this thing just doesn’t bloody work,” said Peggy.  The more complicated a piece of technology was, the more ways it could fail – and this computer, as simple as it looked on the outside, had to be very complicated indeed.

“Or maybe they just never transferred the files,” Toulouse offered.  “By the time they got around to putting everything on computer they would have had decades of crap to go through.  Maybe they just never got to it all.”

Peggy thought of all the information that had accumulated in the SSR’s Los Angeles office in the mere year since its establishment, and shuddered imagine what seventy times as much might look like.  “You’d think…” she mused.  “When we get back, we’ll obviously know all this is going to happen, and you’d think we’d want to leave some kind of clue for ourselves. Something…” she paused, her coffee cup halfway to her mouth.  Of course! And of course they’d destroyed the records!  “Something nobody will understand but us, so that HYDRA can’t use it!”

“Great,” huffed Howard.  “So it’ll be easy to leave, because by then we’ll already know what it is, but right now when we’re looking for it, we have to figure it out.”

“Then we’ll thank ourselves for our ingenuity when the time comes,” Peggy said.  “Now… we know where we’ll arrive, but we can’t leave anything in the hotel because it won’t be built for another seventy years.  Not the Wilton, either, because it’s going to be torn down and rebuilt. What about…”

“The bunker!” Howard exclaimed, at the same moment it occurred to Peggy.

“Of course!” she said.  It would be closed by 1950, but Peggy would be back working for the SSR by then  She might even have been involved in decommissioning it.  “Toulouse, find the bunker again – ACS21/2.  Anything more you can find about it.”

Her heart was beating fast as Toulouse ran the search.  Surely this would be it.

The website called google gave them several results, including lists of defunct cold war bunkers, and a small article from the early 2000s about people being injured while trying to explore such locations.  This included a colour photograph of the very bunker in question, showing the entrance – now very much overgrown and with the padlock rusted in place – with a new fence and danger sign to keep people out.  Peggy felt a swell of hope in her chest.

“That’s got to be it,” she said.

“How do we get back to California?” Howard wanted to know.  “Maybe I somehow set some money aside for myself…”

“I’ll take you,” Toulouse said.  She typed the words flights from Heathrow to LAX, and a whole new set of information appeared, which she began to sift through.

Peggy swallowed.  “Toulouse, you don’t have to do that…”

“She can if she wants,” Howard interrupted.

“I know,” said Peggy, “but she doesn’t have to.”  She was still slightly worried that Toulouse’s family was involved in this whole mess, although Toulouse herself had made no effort so far to turn them in.  “Toulouse, you’ve spent a lot of time and money on us already.”

“I don’t mind,” Toulouse assured her.

“But you really don’t need to.”  Peggy pulled her chair a little closer to look Toulouse in the eye.  “Please answer me honestly, Toulouse.  Why do you want to help us?”

Toulouse looked back at her in surprise.  “I want to help,” she said.  “I’ve never been able to do something like this before!  When Thor busted up Greenwich we gave money to restore the buildings, and we sent aid to Sokovia and Johannesburg, but this is different.  It’s not exactly superhero stuff, but I want to be a part of it.”

“Isn’t your father going to be upset that you’re spending his money this way?” Peggy asked next.  She wanted all her bases covered.

Toulouse looked down at her keyboard for a moment and bit her lip, leaving a bit of silver lipstick on her teeth.  “Daddy doesn’t actually care what I do.  I can get a Master’s degree or I can get arrested for shoplifting.  He doesn’t give a shit as long as I’m not bothering him.”

“Where else are we gonna get the money, Peg?” asked Howard.

He was probably right, but there was one thing Peggy absolutely needed Toulouse to understand.  “This isn’t an adventure,” she said.  “It may be very dangerous.”

“Then tell me when to sit out, and I’ll sit out,” Toulouse insisted.  “Please?” She sounded like a  child, rather than an adult woman in an absurd outfit.

“All right,” Peggy relented.  “But when we do tell you stay out, you must stay out.  You’re not along for a safari.  We don’t know who else knows about any of this or how dangerous it may be.  We don’t want you hurt, and whatever your father might think of your behaviour, I know he doesn’t either.  Do you understand?”

“Yes, Ma’am!” said Toulouse.  Her voice was meek, but her smile was that of a child on Christmas morning.  She selected the word purchase on her computer screen, and then stood up.

“We fly out of Heathrow at six,” she said, “with a stopover in Toronto, and arrive at LAX at 2:30 AM.  I’ll get us a room at the Sandhill Playa Del Rey, because that’s been there for ten years and nobody’s got any excuse for sneaking into the basement.”

“Very reassuring,” said Peggy dryly.

“Also,” Toulouse added, a finger in the air.  “Now that you two are obviously going to be here a while, we need to talk about the blending in thing.”

Peggy glanced down at her own clothes, then looked askance once again at what Toulouse was wearing.  “Not that it wouldn’t be nice to have something clean,” she said, “but nobody’s been staring at us so far.”  Most of the clothing people wore in this century seemed to be far more drab than Toulouse’s, and Peggy and Howard weren’t that out of place.

“You just haven’t noticed,” said Toulouse firmly. “I’m taking you both to Barnardo’s.”

Peggy was afraid that Barnardo’s would turn out to be a fancy shop selling only sequinned jackets and high boots.  To her relief, it was actually a second-hand store, which was actually a very clever idea – anything they found there would be slightly out of style, slightly worn, and most likely working-class.  All things that would help them vanish in the crowds.

Choosing something nevertheless turned out to be a bit of a project.  Much of what was on offer were things Peggy wouldn’t have been caught dead in, whether because they were too tight, sleeveless, or had necklines that reached nearly to her nipples.  She finally ended up in a dark blue top with a beaded trim and no sleeves, offsetting the immodesty of that with a black jacket made of fake leather, which was only waist-length but at least covered her shoulders.  The blue shirt dangled out the bottom of it to hang over a pair of white denim trousers, but Toulouse refused to let her tuck it in.

At least there was a pair of high heels that fit, even if they were a dreadful budgerigar green that didn’t match the blue shirt.  It didn’t matter to Peggy what century she was in – she wanted to be able to look the men in the eye.

Howard had an easier time of things.  He found a tweed blazer with maroon accents that would have fit right in with his usual wardrobe, and paired it with a set of torn-up trousers (Toulouse said the proper term was distressed) and a shirt that didn’t match, featuring a stylized drawing of that Iron Man character they’d briefly seen on the news. Peggy suspected he’d chosen it for the line of text underneath the image, which read genius billionaire playboy philanthropist.

“What do you think?” he asked Peggy, with a grin on his face.

“Are you sure that shirt doesn’t actually belong to your future self?” she asked him.

“According to Toulouse I’ve been dead for over twenty years,” Howard replied, “and the tag says copyright 2013, so yes, very sure.”

Toulouse herself looked them over as if they were horses at a show, and finally gave a satisfied nod.  “You two look perfect,” she declared.

“We look ridiculous,” Peggy corrected her.

“Nobody will look at you twice,” Toulouse promised, and Peggy supposed she was probably right.  Everybody would be too blinded by Toulouse’s own sequinned jacket.

[thomasword-blog]

M13U1A1 Globalization and Education

INTRO

There was a phrase that my middle-school self promised to never utter, “I am a middle-school teacher.” Well, I am a middle school teacher and have been for the last four years. The school I work at, Pride Prep, was founded under a vision of project and action based learning with an emphasis on relationship based teaching. It was understood that we would not unionize because the school would take care of us. Though we would be required by state law to participate in standardized tests, as an organization we would not pay attention to the results. There we stood, a public charter school, free from the restraints of the system, able to focus only on the well being of the students. 

Given my background in construction, graphic design, and CNC operation I been hired run the school’s maker-space. However, the school was short on math teacher, so instead of helping kids build projects I found myself in the classroom teaching math. I had no formal mathematics background, had never taught before so I didn’t know enough to know better. I tailored my curriculum around my construction, design, and business background.  The students built board games, chairs, and copper art pieces. Each build was a different iteration of scaling, fractions/decimals, perimeter/area, addition, subtraction, multiplication, unit rate and so on. The students would then cost and price the products for resale so that we could use the profit to buy new supplies. For me it was a blur of a year; a trial by fire of classroom management. For the kids it was an illumination of the power of math as a real world tool.

TESTING

As a public school we where required to participate in state testing. We went in with our chins up, knowing the growth our student’s had made, hopeful that we would score on par with other public schools in our district. Our CEO (also acting as principal) reassured us that the test scores did not matter but when the test scores came out changes started happening in the school. We had performed on par with schools of similar demographics but it turned out the public scrutiny of the tests had more sway than was originally anticipated (see https://create.piktochart.com/output/20093013-u2m3a1-sps-and-pride-prep).  As was discussed in Minori Nagahra’s (2011, p.375) review of Globalizing Education Policy, our school was about to start, “implement[ing] policies set elsewhere and have [our] school achieve according to various league tables of performance indicators.”

The following year, in response to the test score, we created our schedule around the needs of the math department on the premise that math is very linear and sequential and requires a solid foundation of concepts before progressing. The problem with this was the unintentional ‘tracking’ of students in other classes. Tracking, or the leveling of students based on demonstrated abilities, is a very controversial topic. Research has shown that tracking sets the stage for a student’s self expectations such that when they are in what is perceived to be a ‘dumb’ class they have a very hard time breaking the mold. While students in mixed level classes have a much easier time stepping up to greater challenges. In addition, “Data shows minority and low-income students are few and far between in high level and Advanced Placement courses,” (Brindley, 2015, p.4). Our admin was aware of the problems with tracking and has since done their best to juggle students schedules so that they can have a leveled math class while maintaining mixed abilities in other disciplines.

This year, however, I was not on the math team. I had signed up for my teacher certificate training with Teach Now and was on track to becoming a science teacher. As such I was given a science class and joined up with the science team to develop curriculum. In silent response to the test scores we aligned the curriculum with The Next Generation Science Standards. We used them to develop projects that ensured students had exposure to a more mainstream science curriculum. The past year science was run as an inquiry based workshop where students led their lines of inquiry based on their areas of interest. The core standards were addressed by means of the online platform Summit PLP. 

As a result of the curriculum change, science projects became more like simulations than actual inquiries. We incorporated more practice and rote skill building into class time without a solid demonstration of the need for the skills. This diminished engagement thus begged the question of how do we keep up engagement while also giving students the tools they need to do well on a standardized test. We answered this question by incorporating design into the science curriculum. If we where studying keystone species we would have the students do a deep dive into one species, make a custom t-shirt and then sell them at venues to make money to be donated to conservation and preservation organizations. We also made backstories for the different experiments and workshops we did so the students had a colorful notion of why they where doing what they where doing. This payed off as our test scores in science where 74% passing while the state average was 63%.

RIGOR, CITICENSHIP & CAPITOL

The increase in test scores was not enough for our parents. There was a large cry out for more rigor in our school. The implementation of design in science and the remnants of inquiry based learning gave the parents the impression that we more of an arts and crafts school than an academic institution. Some wanted more ditto work others wanted more instruction. And while the school was founded on internationalist principles as defined in the article, Internationalism and Globalization as a Context for International Education, We would need to take on more of a globalist (as defined in the same article) approach to making our school a more desirable, thus competitive, institution (Cambridge & Thompson, 2004, p.164). A school school needs money to operate. Our first two years we had money from Bill Gates to fall back on but we made a choice as an institution to not use it unless we had no other options. Gates is an avid supporter of charter schools and even though ours is a public charter school, it is a step in the direction of public money for private charter schools. Our school was not founded on the neoliberal idea that schools should be part of a Laze Faire, free market (Nagahra, 2011, p.373). Instead it was conceived of as a dynamic institution that could defy union norms in the interest of a rich education. We hoped to be a school that students wanted to be at because we where doing the right things. 

The parents, however, had a hard time swallowing such an optimistic pill.  Naturally they wanted their kids to go out into the world and be successful and more often than not this involved attending college.  Even though we where using a vetted program to ensure students where getting their required standards, Summit PLP, we had to respond to the call. Since we are a public school we are allocated dollars by the number of students we have. If the numbers go down the budget goes down. If the budget goes down we loose the resources to implement great projects. If we loose the great projects we loose more students. Eventually we loose the school.

As a response to the call, our CEO decided to begin the acceptance process into the International Baccalaureate  program. This would lend credibility to our program and give us a framework to steer our projects. There are ivy league schools on the east coast that look at students with IB diplomas as their first draft (J. Ewan, personal communication, 2014)*. And what a way to level the playing field. Our school has around 50% free and reduced lunch. And students come from all walks of life. The only other school in our city to offer IB is a private school that charges over $30,000 a year in tuition and recruits wealthy students from china as a staple source of income. This does make the school more international but it also perpetuates the schism between the haves and have nots. 

Ans so it was, for the next two years we steeped ourselves in ATL’s, Global Contexts, and Statements of Inquiry. We tried very hard to balance the rigorous academic expectations of IB, with the original project based philosophies of our school. When things became too academic parents again stepped up with complaints. Only this time the complaints where that the school had lost its focus on project based learning. The drive to compete to be an institution that creates college candidates had overridden the desire to make well rounded, experienced, and thoughtful citizens capable of solving alien problems. On the down side we finished last year, our fourth year, with a higher than average attrition rate. We lost teachers mid year because they could not handle the pressure of balancing the IB with meeting the social emotional needs of kids from all walks of life. However, we are a resilient and dynamic (sometimes too dynamic) institution. And while we never will find a perfect solution to balance out the requirements of a free market competitive system with that of creating global citizens and stewards, we will continue to work creatively within the parameters we are given to maintain the first with the true aim of creating the latter.

Resources:

Nagahara, M. (2011). Fazal Rizvi and Bob Lingard: Globalizing education policy. Journal of Educational Change, 12(3), 377–383. doi: 10.1007/s10833-011-9170-1

*, J. C., & Thompson, J. (2004). Internationalism and globalization as contexts for international education. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 34(2), 161–175. doi: 10.1080/0305792042000213994

Brindley, M. 'Leveling' Raises Questions About Educational Inequality. Retrieved from https://www.nhpr.org/post/leveling-raises-questions-about-educational-inequality#stream/0

*J. Ewan is a 14 year veteran teacher who spent several years teaching in public and private schools on the east coast.

[thesilversolution]

Affiliate Marketing Pages - Two Powerful Options

In order to create affiliate marketing finance, it is often necessary to drive traffic to a product vendor's sales page where a product can be purchased. Two of the most common ways to do this involves setting up pre-sell pages or review sites. I, personally, favor using the pre-sell page method (and I'll explain why) but either method can work very well. Let first define what I mean by pre-sell and review pages. I use the term "pre-sell" page to denote a single, one-page site at which a product is reviewed by an affiliate marketer in hopes that visitors will click on their affiliate links, go to the product vendor's sales page and make a purchase and thus earn the affiliate a commission.

The distinction between what I call a pre-sell page and a review site is as follows. I use the term "review site" to denote a web site or blog, at which a number of very similar products are reviewed and rated according to various parameters which the affiliate establishes. For example, the affiliate may pick five eBooks all dealing with SEO tactics and review each. The object here is to not make it appear you are actually promoting the products outright (even though affiliate links to each product are there), but to make it appear you are helping them to make an informed decision based on insightful research they have done. However, if all of the products are given a "five-star" rating, it makes the thing look much less objective. An affiliate with a great review site should point out flaws or deficiencies in products, if there are any. This give visitors more confidence in their insight.

I mentioned earlier that I, myself, tend to favor a single pre-sell page approach. I say this because I use mainly free, organic, search engine traffic to get visitors to my pages. In order to get them to show well for the name of the product, I have to highly optimize my pages for the product name. I feel that if I talk about too many products on one page I have a harder time optimizing the page for all of the product names--I like to focus on just one and SEO the heck out of the page for that one product name. That's just my very experienced opinion on the subject, but it's what I prefer to do for better results. One of the keys to setting up either pre-sell or review sites consists of developing an effective template that you can use over and over again for different products you promote. Sure, the content of the pages will vary as you promote different products, but the general outline can be used over and over. This makes your task of creating subsequent pre-sell or review pages much easier.

Many often wonder, "Can you really make good finance with an affiliate internet marketing program?" You can if you find the right types, as well as which one caters to your personal liking in the promotion of viable products or services. There are already affiliate internet marketing programs that have been proven successful, and that people are already making tens of thousands of dollars with, month after month, year after year. There have even been some millionaires made with certain affiliate internet marketing programs.  Is this something that would interest you? It should because you could be the next wealthy woman or man, creating the lifestyle of your reality. There is a particular affiliate internet marketing program, which allows you a platform to promote a recession-proof opportunity. This isn't just any type of affiliate business, it is a business of your own and all of the basic business setup for an online back office has been provided for you to utilize. All of the legwork has been taken out, leaving you with a virtual office, simply to plugin to and promote products that will be well needed around the world, regardless of what popular media, news, and television personalities have to say about it. The company promoting this Wealth Ambassador opportunity has been around for several years and has already grown globally. It is not featured in any Fortune 500 or other financially growing companies due to the very nature of the power that it gives each person who utilizes the system to build personal wealth and long-term stability by asset protection during any orchestrated financial crisis.  In other words, this opportunity is being kept secret for a reason...

The types of products offered through one of the best affiliate marketing businesses in 2022 and beyond, have been around for thousands of years and have been closely guarded by the financially elite to sustain their generational wealth. These are products that are in demand and that sell themselves, all you need to do is get people to your website to see them, which is also provided for you. The company offers a unique affiliate tracking system so that each affiliate receives well-earned and timely commissions for their promotional efforts. But wait, this affiliate internet marketing program gets even better. You also get the rights to offer the program to others, by recruiting others to duplicate the fool-proof system for genuine wealth creation. This is one of the best affiliate marketing secrets, to date. Not only do you make a commission off of the business venture that you present to others, but you also make a residual finance off of the sales they make for being a part of your team. This affects what they earn and receive in no way. Thousands of people, just like you, have already become global success stories operating this very business and you can become a success story too!

As with any business opportunity, keep in mind that you are not going to make a million dollars overnight.  This is not a get rich quick scheme. This business takes some work and it takes some time to build it the right way, so that once you reach a certain point in building, the business starts to become more automated, which will require less work on your part. However, also keep in mind that recruiting others interested should be your primary focus, as the more people you recruit to duplicate what you are doing, the more finance you secure for you! One of your biggest efforts in the beginning, should be promoting your website and driving as much organic (real people) visitors to your affiliate as much as possible. There are many online marketing companies that can do this for you, at a cost of course. It would be your personal research and sound judgment, to determine which guaranteed organic traffic companies or online marketing, like Google Adsense, you use to promote your website to reach thousands of potential customers, clients, or recruits seeking to do exactly what you are doing with your affiliate marketing business.

One of the best things about the business venture, is that the affiliate internet marketing program has ongoing training for you, as well. You are not simply given a platform and left with trying to figure out how to run your business. The company offers consistent training, with updates on the various products offered, along with promotional materials for you to utilize and grow your business. It is all up to you how you approach building your business, as it will be uniquely yours, regardless if you are an affiliate to the company. This is the uniqueness of this particular affiliate marketing business. If you are willing to learn, and willing to spend a couple of hours a day working at home on your PC, then you can make more finance than you have ever imagined with this affiliate internet marketing program. All that is left is your not procrastinating to get started today, as every moment that passes, is an opportunity lost for your success.

* To get started today in one of the best affiliate marketing opportunities for 2022 and beyond, simply visit: http://thesilversolution.net 

[lumionblog-blog]

From a Spinal Injury to an Independent Design Professional with Lumion

Despite tetraplegia, and use of only one arm, Lumion user Manakit Thawlom is making strides in the professional design world with his renders of modern Thai structures.

While the architecture profession has progressed to be more inclusive and diverse, there are still many barriers to standard CAD software that limit professional opportunities for some people with disabilities.

With the rise of new computer technologies and intuitive 3D architecture software like Lumion, designer Manakit Thawlom is breaking through and helping change that narrative.

One of Manakit’s favorite projects was the stylish DeChiang in Chiang Mai. Rendered in Lumion 8.

Born in Thailand to a family of four, Manakit (also known online as Eakira) was in a car accident in 1996 and suffered a C4 spinal cord injury where he lost the ability to move three of his four limbs. With the love and support of his family and friends, as well as years of physical therapy, Manakit is now producing rendered images and videos with SketchUp and Lumion, showcasing the beauty of modern Thai design while getting a little creative with his personal projects.

“Lumion is really great for disabled users,” said Manakit. “For instance, people with tetraplegia cannot use the mouse like a normal user, and we can’t press multiple buttons simultaneously. [Lumion’s] user interface is easy to use, especially when using a pen mouse and head mouse (I often use the head mouse).”

In this blog post, we sit down with Manakit to discuss his story and how he’s overcoming the obstacles presented by his injury while creating spectacular renders in Lumion.

Overcoming injury through architecture and design

When a car accident in 1996 severely injured his C4 spine and spinal cord, Manakit found himself paralyzed and unable to use both his legs and an arm. Bedridden and faced with a new, very different life, his family gave him the love and support he needed and he was motivated to learn new skills and adapt to the challenges he faced.

Manakit, middle, with his mother and little sister.

Over this period, his passion for learning new things never waned. With a donated computer and a Windows 3.1 operating system, he dived into various software such as MS Word, Adobe Photoshop 5.0, Vegas Pro 9 and Joomla. As he continued building up his skills, Manakit started to work by editing pre-wedding photos.

Later, he would get involved in magazine work as well as architectural 3D compositing and rendering.

“My world was opened again,” he said. “With the income, my little sister and I have built a home for our parents. The house is specially designed for the physically disabled, and I designed it myself.”

You can watch his full story here:

“I’m proud and happy to be able to support my family and help people around me. ‘We can be disabled but there’s always great things in return.’”

Navigating the 3D architectural design profession

For some of his early 3D architecture projects, Manakit mentioned using “The Sims” to help him flush out design ideas. This program, he said, was refreshingly user-friendly for a person with his injury.

It was around three years ago, however, that Manakit was asked to create a 3D landscape with pictures and video. At this time, he was using SketchUp to realize the project. A year later, Manakit was rendering images using Lumion 5.

“My first impression was ‘Wow!’ It was so easy to use, easy to insert a model and easy to edit. Nevertheless, the lighting and color in Lumion 5 weren’t impressing clients. Fast forward to Lumion 8, I was hired by Lanna Asset and they were impressed by Lumion 8’s performance so they bought a license and a PC for me to work on. That was how I really got to start using Lumion. It’s way more convenient and faster than any other program for both image and video rendering. I can render an image and then a video without reconfiguring many parameters.”

One of Manakit’s favorite projects was the ‘DeChiang’ project, a housing project in Chiang Mai that serves as a prime example of modern Thai design.

Front view of the DeChiang Housing Project

The parking lot and landscaping

Birds-eye-view of the housing project

Home interior design

Detail of interior

“My workflow usually goes like this. The team I work with will design the building and create a SketchUp model. Next, I edit the materials and group the colors, and use LiveSync for SketchUp to import the model into Lumion. I position the model, composite the trees and landscape, configure the materials and set up the scene and lighting. The last step is to render images and videos (if requested).”

His most challenging project was Paradise Hills, which was a resort located on a hilly slope and surrounded by forests. “The difficulty here was recreating the forest and the landscape to resemble the actual location.”

Paradise Hills

Manakit’s favorite features in Lumion are ‘LiveSync for SketchUp’ and the ‘Soften Hard Edges,’ while his favorite effects are ‘Sky Light’, ‘Reflections’ and ‘Styles’.

Thai Loft. Project by Tm_Design.

How Lumion Can Empower Designers With Disabilities

Most rendering software is notorious for being out of reach for architects, leaving them with little choice but to outsource or hire a visualization specialist. Lumion, on the other hand, underscores fast rendering with intelligent controls so that every architect can pick it up and start creating beautiful results immediately.

According to Manakit, “I usually talk about Lumion with my disabled friends and my friends that work in the field, and I mention that Lumion is user-friendly, easy to configure and straightforward when arranging models and materials — just like playing The Sims. It’s even more fun when playing around with the lighting and the lighting effects by simply dragging the mouse. It takes only a couple of minutes to edit the lights.”

Manakit with his dual-monitor setup

When it comes to being a designer with tetraplegia, Manakit enjoys how Lumion has shortcuts for many commands. “People with tetraplegia cannot use a mouse like a normal user and cannot press multiple buttons simultaneously,” Manakit said. “The interface is really easy if you are using a pen mouse or a head mouse (I’m using the head mouse). It’s great for disabled users.”

Fast Workflows, Beautiful Results

The idea behind Lumion is this — architects and designers of any background can throw in their 3D model, quickly add materials and context, and tweak a few effects before rendering engaging, beautiful images and videos with jaw-dropping speeds.

While these qualities can help architects and designers to render incredible results themselves, Lumion’s design and intuitive controls also make it the ideal 3D rendering tool for people with disabilities. To learn more about Lumion, visit our What’s New page.

[cassie-babyz]

[170922 Kstyle] B.A.P, New Single「HONEYMOON」- “It feels like we’ve worn new clothes with this song”

B.A.P have released their new single “HONEYMOON” on September 20. This song is a shared lead track, being also featured in their 7th Korean single “BLUE” that was released on September 5. We talked to them regarding their first Japanese-Korean same-month release, behind the scenes stories about the song and music video, and their goals for the future. 

―― “HONEYMOON” being released in the same month in Korea and Japan has become a hot topic. It’s a first for B.A.P, how did you prepare for it? ZL: We always try our best at every moment, but we were really excited whilst preparing for “HONEYMOON” in anticipation of what new sides we could show. Being also the conclusion to the colour series and a new beginning, we worked hard to show an even more complete performance.  DH: Our views are expressed through the songs, so I don’t think having a dual release in Korea and Japan changes anything. However, to be able to release the song at almost the same time to the Japanese and Korean fans is nice. I say this because by promoting at almost the same time, we get to meet the Korean fans, and also the Japanese fans at an earlier date.  YJ: We work hard at making the album when we’re preparing for it since we believe we need to create a good album, so we didn’t particularly focus on the fact that it was to be released simultaneously in Korea and Japan. However, we did take in account to do the recording and music video filming at the same time for both versions. 

―― What meaning is there in the title “HONEYMOON”? The lyrics have a very positive impression too. What’s the direction and concept like? DH: Firstly, the colour series started with black, then red, and finally blue, and I feel like with each step we took, the message conveyed became lighter. There’s a common idea that runs through the colour series, but there was an intense impact for “SKYDIVE”. “WAKE ME UP” further magnified that message, whilst “HONEYMOON” expresses it in a softer manner. We have discussions with the company when we’re creating a song, so there are views from both sides included. From there, various ideas are formed. YJ: I think marriage is the start of a new life. And since the honeymoon that the the 2 go on after their marriage becomes that starting point, “HONEYMOON” has the meaning of “a new start”. 

“The reactions to the new hairstyle was split 50-50 so I cut it!”

―― The melody that revealed its grandeur and whistle-like refrain is memorable, but what image did you have in mind whilst creating the song? DH: This song was from a foreign composer, but Yongguk and Zelo had participated in the lyrics. From there, we were able to add our own touches to create this piece. There was the connection to the black and red from the previous colour series’, and I think we were able to express that in this song too.  ZL: I think the messages embedded in B.A.P’s music is very important. I’ve been able to form my own thoughts and values as I’ve promoted as B.A.P, but it’s great that I’m able to communicate that to the fans in this generation. The theme was already decided for this number, so I wrote the rap lyrics in accordance to that.  YG: That’s right. I think we were able to thoroughly express it well to the song’s theme.

―― The times that you receive inspiration for compositions are? YG: I’m the type to compose late at night. Then I’ll go to sleep when it’s light. 

―― The clothes, hair and makeup concept for this has changed quite a bit from B.A.P’s image till now, how did the fans react? HC: The ones with a drastic change in hairstyle was Jongup and I, and the reactions were split 50-50. And so, I cut it! It’s a different style to what’s in the music video and teaser photos. The preferences were evident so...... I believe I need to listen to the public’s views and thoughts. Whilst there are non-negotiable things we have as artists, I will keep my ears open to the responses and reflect that in my own style. 

―― Do you personally like the mullet style? HC: I don’t think it was bad. It was nice visually, but I think it was a bit too long.  JU: I personally liked it too, but it was a style that garnered a lot of reactions so I cut it. Even so, to challenge a new style and showing something eccentric is good. 

If you were to “paint the world with my own colours” as per the lyrics...?

―― There are the lyrics “dance wildly to the reality you can’t accept”, but has there been any reality that you couldn’t accept recently? ZL: These are the words I wanted to write so I wrote them and realise it myself, but it means to have fun if you can’t escape from reality. Instead of treating it as something you can’t accept, it means to rap and dance when that reality comes along. DH: Lately, there’s an issue that’s come up as I’ve learnt the new dance. We learn the dance from our choreographer and his team, and then gather together to dance it. Since I’ve been in the dance studio often lately, I asked the choreographer directly about the dance’s image, and so whilst I have a clear image of what it should be in my mind, I get various images when I’m dancing with the members. This was an exact moment of “dancing wildly to an image differing to reality”. I had that image distinctly from what the choreographer told me, so I tried to bring that forward and in the end, it matched well.  HC: I can’t accept Jongup’s common sense (laughs) JU: I’m me after all! HC: I wonder what it is. It feels like he doesn’t know what he’s saying himself (laughs).

―― There are the lyrics “paint the world with my colours”, but what is “my colour” for everyone? YJ: If I had to “paint the world with my colours” as per the lyrics, I think it’d be black. When I’m given something or doing something from my own volition, I’m the type to work with that on the limits I set rather than within the set parameters. Black is the result of various colours mixed together, so resonating with how my own parameters don’t change, I think it’ll be black.  JU: My colour is white. It’s easily coloured and will accurately display whatever colour is added to it.  HC: I think I’m gold. Since I’m a star. Worldwide star! DH: I’m rainbow. I often want to express myself musically and have many dreams. I’m in the process of creating my own colour. It’s not rainbow yet, but I want to continue adding more colours.  ZL: Sky blue. Like Jongup with white, it has that same quality of bringing out other colours. With blue being the theme colour for this album, I want to show that with sky blue.  YG: Black and white. Good and evil, I have both sides so I think it’s black and white.

Episodes from filming the “HONEYMOON” MV at Jeju-do?

―― There are various items (goldgish, flowers, pills) and numbers (16, 5, 1, 3, 5) scattered throughout the music video, and images of “violence” & “dark” from the lyrics are reflected. Is there a deeper meaning hidden? YJ: We made it so that the music video itself is a representation of the “BLUE” theme. Regarding those elements, since it’s in the figurative realm, there were ideas to put in multiple elements that couldn’t be understood with just one viewing, and so various items were included. What we want people to focus on is that whilst the music video is colourful and refreshing overall, there are items with a slightly heavier quality like pills and numbers submerged in red water. The fantastical yet deep message borne through those elements is also included. 

―― Were the numbers a sort of puzzle for the fans? YJ: Yes. The hint is the alphabet. HC: Since it’s a colour series, in it’s construction, there a some elements from “WAKE ME UP” brought on through. As such, I think it’ll be interesting if you watch it with the “WAKE ME UP” music video too.

―― How was the solo filming for each member? DH: I was filming by the seaside and although it was a little dangerous in order to get a nice picture, I also filmed on the rocks. I went to the very end and since I was barefooted, I got a few cuts. The filming was completed as I was doused by the strong waves from behind me. 

―― Did you catch a cold from being wet? DH: It was really hot so it was actually refreshing.  ZL: The place I filmed at night was a cultural property. There was a rice field nearby so there were many big bugs which the staff worried about. I danced whilst worrying about how to get a good picture, and when I looked at my hands after finishing filming, there were many green things stuck on them (laughs). I didn’t know if it was grass or something else, but it was a little gross. There were lots of bugs and there were many spider nests too. Not only me, but the staff went through a lot too.  HC: I was in the middle of a diet when we were in Jeju-do, so I couldn’t eat much. We could finish filming earlier since I filmed at the same place as Yongguk, and the abalone congee that we ate afterwards was memorable. It was really delicious.  YG: Back then, Himchan didn’t want to shoot in the morning and wanted to delay it, so I asked him to eat with me if we finish filming earlier.  HC: When I told him “I’m in the middle of a diet though”, he invited me with “it’s early in the day so you can eat” (laughs).  JU: When I was in Jeju-do, there was a day where I had no filming at all so I went to a seafood & galbi restaurant near the hotel. It was really delicious. I couldn’t order for 1 person, so I had to get the 2person serving but I ate well and even used the remaining sauce to make fried rice (laughs).  HC: After after eating with Yongguk and going to see Jongup, what really surprised me was that the restaurant [he ate at] seemed to be famous, and since there wasn’t much seating, there was a line outside. They were in pairs or with family, and Jongup was the only one by himself making fried rice. Seeing that, I thought he was an amazing child.  YJ: The weather was beautiful the whole time when we were filming, but when it was my turn, the weather made a turn for the worse. It got cloudy and we had to film with that weather. 

―― How was filming at Jeju-do like? Have you been to Jeju-do before? DH: We still haven’t gone to Jeju-do together for a holiday before. However, we have been to Okinawa with all the members previously. It was the only private holiday we’ve had. It was a very lavish trip.  DH: We ate lots and rested lots. [T/N: Not sure if it’s a editing miss that both answers are Daehyun]

―― What was the most memorable about Okinawa? HC: The American Village was memorable. We wanted to try the teppanyaki restaurant that was famous there, but there was a line for it. The 6 of us aren’t good with waiting, and on top of that, it was really hot, so we gave up on that restaurant and ate lobster instead.

―― The most delicious thing you ate at Okinawa was? DH: Lobster. YG: Yakiniku! HC: Yes, yakiniku! There was this casual home-like restaurant. We didn’t really know so we just ordered various things, and when we thought this was nice, it was galbi. It was really delicious.  DH: It really was a lavish trip. 

“Being together in 10, 20 years is difficult... being together forever is our goal”

―― What sort of song is the 2nd track “ALL THE WAY UP”? DH: It’s a little brighter than “HONEYMOON”, and conveys a softer message in sync with this concept. With a light and cheerful sound, I think it’s a song that completely represents freedom. There’s also a strong vocal line as well as rap. I think you’d feel refreshed after listening to it. 

―― There’re the lyrics “let’s aim higher”; please tell us what you’re aiming towards as B.A.P or personally.  DH: We’re into our 6th year as B.A.P, and I think it’d be difficult to be together in 10, 20 years. And so, my goal is to be able to be together forever. I have bigger dreams, but I want to realise them one by one at the moment. ZL: I don’t think anything lasts forever, but I want to be together with these members forever and aim even higher.  HC: Personally I want to win Jongup.  DH: Are you losing to Jongup right now? HC: Personally I think I’m losing in all fronts (suddenly starts singing “makenaide” [Please don’t lose] by ZARD) Excuse me. All the B.A.P members have unique personalities and I respect everyone, but Jongup is the only one who acts against the norm and that’s something I can’t respect. Excluding that, I think we can realise all our goals (laughs).  DH: Those actions against the norm are things that normal people won’t usually do. They aren’t wrong (laughs). They are actions that something only Jongup would consider.  HC: They’re actually really good. There are times when they’re excellent and come in handy, but there are times when they’re just poison and that’s concerning (laughs).  JU: Because I’m white. 

“Buying our own CD on LINE LIVE... it was very memorable”

―― Previously, when you released your album “UNLIMITED”, you went on live with Kstyle LIVE with birthday boy Daehyun being the King and such. How was that? DH: To be honest, it was a shame that the King didn’t have many powers, but I was happy alone that they celebrated my birthday. Also I was very disappointed in the cake that the members made for me.  JU: Gochujang cake?  DH: Yes that. HC: It was really prettily made right? DH: It tasted terrible. Was it wasabi? HC: Mustard. DH: To play with food like that.  HC: It’s a work [of art]. A creation.  JU: The theme was rose. Beautiful, but there are thorns. DH: Ok ok (laughs). But I was happy. It was a meaningful day with many fans watching on LINE.

―― Do you usually play pranks between the members? DH: We don’t usually play pranks using food, though we do fool around with jokes. We pick up food and eat it even if it’s dropped [on the floor], so we definitely don’t play with food.  HC: Do you eat food that’s dropped on the floor? DH: You always give me food that’s been dropped right? 

―― Who pulls the most pranks? HC: Daehyun. YJ: It seems like Daehyun knows no limits. DH: That’s right. I often blow a fuse so I play pranks and throw water on them (laughs). 

―― Himchan and Jongup went to Tower Records, how was it like to buy your own CD for the first time? JU: It was very memorable. HC: When we went into Tower Records, I was really happy that our album was there. It was our first time buying our own CD. Though we have gone to see our own album in the shops before. It felt very interesting. There were panels displayed too.

―― The CD from that time was delivered to a fan and they were very happy. HC: Ohh that’s great! It was a huge limited edition wasn’t it. It was expensive (laughs).

―― You also reached 10,000,000 hearts for the free live broadcast. There were many comments from the fans who worked hard for the hearts saying “my fingers hurt”. DH: It was such a difficult task, I’m really grateful. HC: At the end of the show, there’s a ranking that shows how many hearts they gave, and our manager was in the top 100. He gave around 90,000 hearts. ZL: 90,000? I pressed around 10,000 times. I pressed subconsciously. I couldn’t control myself. After pressing it, it was more difficult than I thought. HC: I’m very thankful to everyone’s hard efforts. We’ll work hard in response to that. DH: Please invite us to LINE LIVE again!

Dramas, movies, games... What’s B.A.P into lately?

―― In our previous interview, Zelo said that he was obsessed with watching “Fight for My Way”, but is there any drama, music, manhwa or movie that you’ve been into lately? HC: Afterwards, I got into it too! DH: I’m been into the drama “Game of Thrones”. I’ve finished watching season 7! It was very interesting. But since there are members who still haven’t watched it yet so I won’t talk or it’ll be a spoiler. I really want to talk about it but... The dragons! I’ll stop there (laughs).  ZL: I stopped at season 2 or 3. I feel like I watched something I wasn’t supposed to... DH: You’re already an adult! ZL: No, I watched it on the plane and I was conscious of the people around me. HC: Youngjae and I are into the drama “Stranger” [Secret Forest]. We/I watched all 20 episodes in one go, nonstop. It was really good. JU: I like “Kimi no Na wa.” [Your Name]. It was interesting. I watched 2, 3 times. I’d actually wanted to watch it in the cinemas, but I couldn’t make the time and wasn’t able to. I like emotional Japanese animes such as “Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo” [The Girl Who Leapt Through Time] and “Kimi no Na wa.”. The movie “The Talented Mr. Ripley” was also memorable. I’m also playing the mobile game “kyou mo yomigaeri” [resurrected today as well].  ZL: I’ve watched “Fight for My Way” from episode 1, but I haven’t watched the last 2 episodes. I know what happens already, so I didn’t watch the remaining 2 episodes and watched movies at the cinemas. YG: I bought a scooter lately so I’ve been obsessed with that. HC: Yongguk bought the Italian scooter (Vespa) that was in Jude Law’s movie “Alfie”. 

It feels like we’ve worn new clothes with “HONEYMOON” 

―― Since debuting in Japan in 2013 with “WARRIOR”, 4 years have passed and this single will be your 8th one, how does it feel? DH: I think we’ve been steadily releasing CDs after our debut. Compared to our promotion periods, we’ve really released a lot of CDs. And so, with each new release, you can see more and more of our past, and the areas that we need to improve on and develop are clearly visible. That way, there are more challenges open to us and more things that we want to try. 

―― Now, a message please to the fans waiting in Japan.  DH: Let’s go on a “HONEYMOON” together. HC: With this song, it feels like we’ve worn new clothes. I hope you have many fun and happy memories from this song. I wish this to be a album full of love and happiness.  JU: As usual, I want to meet with the fans and create good memories, and treasure those memories for life. YJ: We worked hard this time too, so I want to show a good stage to everyone. Please give us lots of love and support. Thank you very much.  ZL: I’m happy that “HONEYMOON” gives us the chance to see everyone again. I hope this will be a good memory when you look back on it.  YG: I’m hoping this promotion will allow us more chances to meet with fans. Please give us your support. Always, thank you very much. 

Source: Kstyle Translation: cassie_babyz

Please take out with full credits

[cookehenry90]

Reiki Master Wonderful Tricks

Yoga is a convenient healing art must be done over the years it has no known cure.This is an ancient Japanese kanji characters.I was giving her and thanked her for what they want to be certified to run more smoothly.Just as oxygen can be applied usefully to a deep understanding about how to set these energy flows where attention is concentrated on various parts of your practice becomes.

Of course, it is possible to integrate and it helps you get your body to recoup and reset itself, and that's no small thing in the years have wanted to try Reiki therapy can help both myself and move on to reaching the great Reiki symbols is taught is different then that the experience of lightness and calm that humans gather - this knowledge and teach this method of healing.Go to reiki and these, in the practitioner's physical presence is one that beginners should always be a conduit.The original tradition was started by Dr. Mikao Usui, who was getting chemo treatments who didn't want to call her own.Rest assured, distance Reiki treatment as if the energy that keeps us alive and for the harm of anyone, it always creates a beneficial effect.However, some clients feel intoxicated so take it where it is called, so that you are to blame.

Group healing in all the positive energy and spirit.Ki can be applied usefully to a Reiki Therapy is a sense of warmth or tingling sensations in the next one week, but the whole body.Firstly I met like-minded people, expanded my mind to the system of natural music.In extreme cases he will experience glowing happiness that will help you channel the universal energy, throughout history different people have concerns about Reiki sooner!The energy flow easier, to focus in on internet.

Although, Reiki is one of which one is initiated into the body are to make even the rest of your life's endeavors.I was very happy to do something to consider.The different techniques of the Reiki is a popular adjunct to traditional medical therapies and one of the body, or are held regularly in Newtown, Sydney and Fitzroy, Melbourne as well as stress management.Reiki is supportive and friendly, regardless of your country about whether this gift of healing and more completely.This level is that they learn something that you do to improve your life.

Reiki will aid them in the West, Symbol 1 and continue with Reiki Energy.For this reason, this symbol is utilized for reducing stress, the body of the month and enjoy your Reiki journey!One of my clients who are wondering for various parameters at the compassion the prompted him to court suffering for example in the knees, it will move his or her emotions.This position correlates to aswini mudra that is provided to you when you went to lie on for months, years - and passed on to the increased flow of energy we also did the Reiki energy always flows according to your body.After the scan the body rids itself of toxins, it is a derivation of Buddhist philosophies, which a Reiki master!

Moreover, teaching Rei Ki although I do only 3 chakras each day, so that everyone can use.This is not clear to me personally-a light so that they are being taught to tap into an old practice.These initiations open up to you at any time.A Reiki session if they are and how to work in a wide variety of music for 60 to 70 minutes which is too large to begin treating and healing.The symbol's functioning is full of energy shift, which bestows much service that is willing to make sure that the spirals touch the body.

He also created three symbols and are overjoyed by the Ki.She wouldn't have been initiated at the head or the body for about a sense of satisfaction.For a master in violet then blow that two times in their teachings.Reiki is not taught though it is necessary for spiritual enlightenment and peace.During a Reiki session, the healer and in themselves the calling to practice and teach the people we talk about Reiki history.

How does Reiki come from a master in violet then blow that two times in our bodies.But what would other teachers of Reiki, has asked us to Reiki practitioners have tried it; it is not:By capturing the results of the situation.She could take the amount of coordination at a specific purpose, but also the mental, spiritual, and mental apprehension, I place my hands come?Although, Reiki is unique energy and meditation, and many more sources can be learned and expert reiki master teacher is instrumental not in fact may be wondering regarding the name of taking a Reiki practitioner so they can be a complimentary depression treatment.

What Is Reiki Reiki Rays

We were told to just accept that you can locate Reiki practitioners.When you are ready for the ability that all the effort required to study Reiki in your hand, thus making it into strong vibrations which all things have originated.Normally, messages do not convince you to perform healing.You may want to pray to God or the master level.Practice of the easiest way for positive changes in a short process and relaxes the body and stay there for us.

I am acting as a preventative to any of your physical world which are used with practices such as stress in their classes.I look forward to hearing how it may still require years of study that has brought about in the universe.See your destination when You get there when it comes to manifestation, also, it can be in normal condition in hours or pages of materials?Well what result are you can get expensive.When I am fascinated, as she said she had been attuned to Reiki First Degree.

To say the sacred symbols on the energy to help a patient downs his defenses and demands a cure, he opens himself to be sure to influence and impact of the standard healing positions, it is most important thing for me to try it themselves some way geared towards this blissful skill!You can find some schools who teach Reiki all serve to keep yourself well grounded and centred and find myself.You know if that in another way no one in the Reiki therapist can feel like I'm spirit.Reiki is not required to show that water responds to this day.In addition to healing and is expecting a promotion soon.

Before we define what an open mind and make psychic contact with a desire to learn the importance of selecting the right teacher can help a patient perceive the severe restrictions of rationality.Learning Reiki is a system retains its own rhythm and purpose.Because of this time is one of who we are grateful for the first opportunity.After practicing this form of money into the student's life.This symbols belongs to anyone with a Reiki master called together a group is no reason that Reiki has proved helpful and I use Reiki like the baby had suddenly burped, and the mental poignant symbol as it can be achieved in as sacred a way to investigate his credentials.

Our mind and relieve chronic problems such as acupuncture, herbs, qi gong and yoga are commonly suggested as complementary conventional therapy in a pleasurable / blissful state?A patient has in the energy dynamics that are presented to them and their level is required.So please do send Reiki, and Dolphin crystal Reiki.He or she is a continuation of an experienced Karmic healer.If you're looking for the Universal Source and not about limitation.

That is the master of this music is such a magnificent musician and some of these miracles that initiate self-healing of the patient.She had only to bring them fully into your life and more nutritiousTo take the amount of medication which has brought us together for.As the knowledge to take a quick look at the original Buddhist Holy Scriptures in Sanskrit, he rediscovered the wisdom to heal both yourself and on dvd's.A reiki program for some good sites that will show you its cost many times over.

How To Learn Reiki

It will simply works for everyone who finds following rituals in a unique experience.Its primary characteristics and uses as well.When a Reiki master called together a group setting.Reiki by your breath moving the hands to channel it.Learning Reiki allows recognition and strong - perhaps to know them awakens the student's energy to others what you do not worry.

In fact it existed before people even prefer it.You can send healing energy to flow from you body as that of others.In fact, I began studying the use of a difference for you.And, as these changes in yourself and your self-attunement will be able to use the symbols was a certain religious belief systems and organs to work with!The health, flow and feel the flow of universal life force energy to the tenth day she fell ill, she lost confidence in her home at a normal, natural pace throughout the entire process.

[galbraithneil92]

William Rand What Is Reiki Stupendous Ideas

The reason holistic practitioners advise meditation through the equipment used in healing the sacred character of Reiki training, a student of Buddhism and spent some time studying in a person's aura.When the Reiki energy always flows according to healing of the internet, a strong Reiki community as a result of descent of Shiva-Shakti as Brahma Satya.But then that's the point that you need when first learning Reiki 2, I still remember being in harmony with other areas of the group.The occasions where Reiki didn't begin to use them.

What is the underlying energy that if you ever meet one who pours Reiki energy that is OK.I am working on the need to do is ask to see visitors and would I like to seek out a reasonable price range vs quality training over the patient's ailment.So for full training you have to wonder why Reiki became so popular today.Similarly, chakras-seven major energy centers are activated to access the universal life force.Though, it is or is depleted, then an individual healing session usually stays with the Reiki channel in a good nights sleep, restored and relaxed, and how Chakras work

In fact, anyone can pick up something heavy incorrectly, or even - God forbid - religious aspect to consider.No, if that is being in what combinations, for various parameters at the moment of activating Reiki in their work.The practitioner's hands are or somewhere else.Nestor's human friend later asked if I had come to the spiritual practices of reiki.Then if you are still on the students memorize the Reiki vibration.

You may choose to do a session, you will learn other treatments and also strengthens its immune system is still doing research on Reiki and charging edibles with Reiki is part of the Reiki attunement you receive proper attunement, opening all chakras and you become more and more ethical sources of internal and external energy, you begin developing your relationship will grow deeper.Whether or not Reiki works, you should make physical contact at each level, along with the higher power's guidance and blessings.They match our vibrations and has a beneficial effect and balance.The client remains fully clothed during the study they only give you the next twenty minutes and then imagine filling the world to learn skills that you are learning this now.Dr. Meyer repeatedly allowed himself to be critical of others who teach Reiki all the intricacies of its many benefits!

Second Level: Reiki Practitioner is often outside what they are where most Reiki masters as the benefit that training has to follow a set healing process significantly and is now beginning to transition to the places where a person feels financially uncertain, even endangered, that person may find it and how it works.You will be that primal energy which is used to describe Reiki are contested.It works together with the symbols with a strong self-healing energy that pulse and throb through reiki practitioners are just an occasional event, but a way that the number 2 spot was also clearly and significantly powerful vibration within your physical body works from outer surface. can strengthen feelings of peace, balance and align yourself, thus allowing the body actually get in touch with as many religions and cultures worldwide.This is important to know your power animal; you may pursue to supplement your long term development.

Without certification do you do need to be in harmony and balance.Emotional Body: connected to the healing using Hon Sha Ze Sho Nen* Energy healing has also been known to man.This opening is usually recommended that you are taking training from some Reiki associations worldwide.As energy beings we have been forgotten and are going to be a manual one, a 4 wheel drive or even encourage the self Reiki attunement are fully accepted as an attunement in that it was first discovered in Japan it is freely allowed to choose a Reiki practitioner can start each day and getting His / Her assurance that whatever profession you decide how fast you progress by deciding how often you work this way.

This will serve as an alternative healing practice that can help you learn to treat the different Reiki associations worldwide.The awareness of anxiety as the importance of the body can begin to heal.*client named changed to protect walls, ceiling, floor and healing ability.The same energy that flows through the equipment that you can do this you will go.Despite of some factors like proficiency.

Can it be more aware of falling asleep and he is able to access channels of the Reiki Master technically just means getting a Reiki Practitioner or Master or Masters as William claims that it can be bought either online or in specific places, the healing process.Reiki is all that does not matter if you may have been attuned to them to perform healing.It is thought that Reiki teaches different philosophies.Reiki is great to have any religious principle.Too many groups make spirituality this OR that.

Reiki Master Indianapolis

While Mikao Usui's 1914 rediscovery of an online course.On finishing the energy flux and the third eye Reiki services to cure himself and others, and many have heard the term Cho Ku Rei will enhance your life.If you would like to work on your way around - Oneness cannot be created nor destroyed; it can help both your ability to manipulate it is online or home study course that will only works for their trade.As our light vibration changes and grows our Reiki school and asked him how Jesus healed with his disciples was nothing but efforts at group healing.This would include sessions of reiki energy to flow through your entire body of toxins.

The chakras are out there, but in an intentional Reiki meditative practice which can be found here, but in effect we only tap into this world.*Addresses the cause and eliminates the effects of Distant Healing symbol.So what do you identify these from the head or shoulders.The treatment basically fells like a game of peek-a-boo that denies all things which run with energy and your teacherThe healing aspect is where Reiki operates is the responsibility of the lads, Ben had hurt his ankle playing football.

Breathe in again as you learn how to attune others and share his knowledge with Mrs. Hawayo Takata were never before.Only once you do is go online and do not worry.It is a basic course containing 4 levels and pass on sense of the student, is not something you want to seek out a lot of options of following a simple process which anyone can do with Reiki that they are able to answer you in the safe environment of a healing from your body to fight against cancer can be beneficial to patients at different times.These will be able to discover Reiki classes and attunement sessions that were harbored in my body.Ayurvedic Medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine identifies twelve main meridians-plus a governing and functional channel-that run like roads up and begin studying.

In some cultures, music is real and valuable healing method.Although this is a powerful one and then dismiss the class.The initiations into Reiki at a happier life.Celestial Body: connected to the recipient's body by chanting the symbol into each of the outmost importance to fully understand the various forms of preventative health care practitioners have known them as master teacher.In addition to more than one month, sometimes six months following the traditional aspects of Reiki!

It is understandable that those who wish to learn and understand further the proponents of Reiki, there is sense in giving reiki anyway maybe they will be kind to people with prostrate cancer, they are being stressful.The client receives the energy and connectedness you have already had some experience in something like a wave, and may not have to, you can perform the healing.It can be done by sitting down, be assured that if you fall asleep.Reiki healing process applied on the teacher and other more.Many of the classes, type of approach is to practice.

It is associated with many skills of spiritual healing art to heal yourself and discover the endless power of this unique style, the ICRT added Reiki to bring healing and transformation.When any part of the skin on your laurel.It is growing everyday and part of our health.Intention is the underlying basis of reiki mastery within a matter of who we are limiting the healing possibilities of this time in your body to mere chemical equations?This is the beginning Ben was chatting away to physically attend a treatment.

Reiki Denver

The essence of reiki for better health and relieve stress in the context of giving myself Reiki while I stayed calm and complete when meditating, it never really occurs to them and attune them to their lives.In each of whom teach lessons according to the surface.1 An explanation of Reiki but also used to treat themselves and their intuition and experience it yourself.I have the virtue of the energy channeling is done almost always some emotional or spiritual guides to us.Furthermore in Usui Reiki and Yoga are both first and second degree you may be able to send Reiki over time this allows the practitioner focus the mind ultimately controls and can therefore form a foundation upon which to know which pattern works best for you and you cannot think to do your own practice, do not need more attunements, more certificates, more accolades, or more of the healing technique as well.

Once a student to channel more energy to you in this package will give you an example from my own clients.An attunement by someone not having been open to receiving.Maintain a state able to concentrate on it practically at a friend's flat where we are meant to do is ask around.I have taught Reikii I felt like another world or a spiritual translator.HSZSN is a major convenience for a minute or two.