#idea present from the perspective of hamsters

[spittyfishy]

could you do gundham trading presents with the devas? :o

I couldn’t wait any longer to start posting the Christmas gift requests so starting off strong with Gundham and the devas!!

[nettchan02]

London Zoo

This week I went to the London Zoo. I wanted to experience a physical seeing of what my eyes are about the animals living and living. Well, it's pretty. Questionable about like the animals living the. Arriving at the zoo or going to the zoo as it is. And how was life in any zoo? And answer me as a visitor about many questionable points about when I was visiting over there and the reasons and also. What am I seeing, or what is happening there? We also had a discussion with the group about what we discussed. Who went to the zoo and the National History Museum to see the stuffed animals, which looked very real. Well, as she is me, I want to be true. out what we studied on live drawings of movements. So I thought, like, if I could see what it is like when the animals move around and what it is like to keep exchanging positions, what it feels like to be seeing the animals.

As I mentioned, I usually explain everything with my own perspective, the ways I see it. The little back story about me with the animals. Well, I personally feel like animals are. For me, it did not really have any other relation than when I was visiting galleries or museums or seeing them outside and just decided to sketch them. Well, that's the only relative we have. When I was young, I usually couldn't blend in to not be just and have friendly relationships with the animals. So, I typically like the pet load. The animals, especially dogs, rabbits, hamsters and cats. When I was growing up, I realized how animals are like to have their own independent spaces. So, by the time I tried to just stay back behind, blend in, and watch the animals, How did it react? Will they do so? That's more like an expedition for me to watch what happens with the animals. I also had a chance since I started college and university to walk around areas in London like Greenwich or other like sea and laked areas where the animals got um always got into sicknesses because of the rubbish and trashes could causing them to sicknesses so it would be horrible to see that is how some areas is needed to be much more tidy up for many animals primarily for the lakes.

I don't know how local people could be, but I was comprehended way. And with the. Underground is just only with the. The northern line I took, and I uh got a chance. I did go with the took form chalk farm or Camden With with Camden, it's much more easier because just only 24 marvel when talk form is just only like 27. So I was saved myself A time to walk. I personally think the Chalk Farm form is much longer. woke. It's like 27 mile walk. However, when I was when with the 24 mile walk on Camden, I don't even notice that far away. These zoo literally it's just like a sample. Uh uh walk from Camden weights. It's like much more easy to get there from a Camden way to the zoo. So I personally recommend to go to Camden Town and walk in Camden.

In the zoo, when I try to create eye contact and also. Photographing and sketching them because my main core is to sketch them, not just photographing. Photographing is just referencing ideas. Finding the right moment to sketch or game ideas or mind map my ideas Well, I felt like when I photographed them, I just felt like I was. When they were photographed or just stared at a lot or in general, they were mocked a lot or something else. This of birds, even if this expression is not showing off the dumb photograph me well, could it be presenting like, do not photograph me. I felt like the strong policies of not using flashlights because I was happy. I don't use any flashlights. I could tell how many people might not care about the rules and the noise of it or just like seeing those cameras and the feeling of it. Don't photograph me cause I also exist, so that kind of expression could be presented. I felt like I caught this moment even if this moment is not about likes, though not for graph me. but I was happy with the policies of the zoo and the workers because there are many workers in the zoo who take care of the animals and watch over the animals, watching over people who walk around and look around, and also helpful with guidance. They are also letting go so the students can participate in the junior activities just to gain experience and understand the DDS condition. However the. Prices at the zoo, but it wasn't that cheap.

Well, on the zoo I was experienced of the animal. tiredness, sleepiness. Could it be questionable? Cause I couldn't really speak inside the animal's skins. But whenever I was see them, they're just scratching their self or doing something. I could tell that it might be. Could be a message to do not do that. If I have to be compared to zoo, I felt so like UK is do take cares of the animals and try to be creating more spaces where the animals and trying their best to be the animal feeling the comfort not being like miscompering. So in my country, if I have to be comparing with my country, it seems like to me feeding an animal in my country since the pandemic time, it was. there wasn't that easy because the animals Many animals God. passed out, passed away because I cannot feed it or cannot take care of them properly. So I could tell that how difficult was on the pandemic time does animals and also the carrots as well I felt like so many animals was might could felt a bit of much more like live and walking around and excited, especially the younger aged of animals. I wanted to be sea guerrillas so badly and the giraffes as well because I felt like the giraffes and the gorillas. Has the kind of taste is more like I wanted. I also wanted to see a little history of we need the Tales of we need a poo, and inspirations of A Milene and Christopher Robbins were received. I must find a bit sad about like I didn't got a chance to see a black bears or any other grizzly bears. I didn't go any shons because I really liked to be sketched and bears, but I got a chance to sketch the status of the bear with the soldier.

I usually enjoyed seeing how many sculptures the statues had gotten put in art. I personally feel like the zoo in the future should put more sculptures and more like a VR option for the animals and should just keep the animals for Unlimited years in the zoo and find them. finding their. right freedom. Uh, country and area could let the animal go one day.

I had a chance to meet with the Tigers like I. had the person who had been talked on the uh radio about like the tiger. How uh often needed to sleep. When I was around there, I could tell that the tiger were very tired. I obviously could tell how children's and the visitors, even if it's not children, it's adults got annoyed. The tiger is just sleeping and when I was just watching, I could. just watching on their eyes. of the tiger. How annoyed is it? How knew about the log? I got disturbed. Now I got stared. I was also stead because I also sketching the tiger and I could tell that how noise. did when I was just tearing and watching and wondering about like what it could be in their eyesight inside of it. Like thinking. What was their eyes were saying to me and after that when they just sucked cut my attention I was staring the tiger the tiger was standing up and left eh and went into the other place they'd over God stared a lot and don't got disturbed so I could tell that is the animals scared about their wishes about like um to sleep and wanted to be get cared a lot.

The flamingos one when I decided to draw Sharpies. That inspired me and influenced my work because I felt like I went outside my comfort zone and sketched something new. Flaming is the kind of message it holds in my work. They could be relevant to my pieces.

[thebandcampdiaries]

Michele Nobler presents: "What We Feel" (From the album "Glass Boxes")

An evocative composition with a soothing minimalist arrangement at its core.

September 2023 - Michele Nobler is not just a composer but a lifelong musician passionate about telling stories through sounds and sharing a deeper connection with listeners. As someone who sees music as something more elevated than plain entertainment, Michele wholeheartedly believes that music has the power to paint bonafide "sound images" of our world, leaving a lasting and vivid impression.

Guided by Maestro Antonio Del Lungo at the L. Cherubini Conservatory in Florence, he honed his craft and continued to expand his sonic vocabulary. While studying classical music, he also dabbled in photography, which gave him yet another perspective on creativity. As a composer, Michele focuses on neoclassical piano, inspired by modern pioneers such as Nils Frahm and Olafur Arnalds, only to mention a few. He delves into ambient, soundtrack, and classical genres, with a broad sonic palette and a passion for instruments such as the organ and its huge dynamic and expressive range. Michele has released many exciting works, including "Memory Tapes" and "Cap Blanc Nez," which was even featured on HBO Spain's "Foodie Love."

Other well-received tracks include "Isola Luce del Mare," "Taniaway," and "Hamsters and Hammers." His latest project, "What We Feel," is just as dynamic and spontaneous, marking a step forward in the artist's career. The track was released on September 22, 2023, and has been enjoying great feedback since. This evocative piano melody is perfect for reading, moments with loved ones, or as a soothing life soundtrack. With its melodic beauty and emotive piano, "What We Feel" invites us to pause and reflect, encouraging us to delve deep within ourselves. It's a musical invitation to acknowledge our innermost feelings, thoughts, and emotions. The song's piano performance perfectly represents this. It is characterized by sparse yet nuanced and emotive phrasing, with each note carefully articulated to convey a lot of depth. The piano contributes a soft yet complex texture to the overall musical composition, making the harmonic structure shine. The piano itself has a muted, softened attack that is reminiscent of felted pianos. The texture lends itself to a very ethereal atmosphere and a beautiful soundscape. Towards the end of the composition, higher notes become increasingly more prevalent, and some swirling arpeggios take over, highlighting the artist's ability to use note distribution throughout the song as a way to build layers and climax into the arrangement. The further into the song we get, the busier the arrangement gets, welcoming new colors and ideas. This is like a beautiful car trip, where the more we gaze out the window, the more we get to notice different elements of the surrounding scenery. Initially, it's all a blur, but later, the picture becomes warmer and more focused.

In other words, "What We Feel" stays true to the staples of neo-classical piano music, boasting a minimalistic arrangement that centers around the piano as the primary instrument, allowing its melodies and harmonies to take center stage without excessive frills. Michele's playing is precise and restrained yet richly emotional. It is evident that the artist is not confined to a single genre but is open to exploring various musical styles, which aligns with Michele's wildly diverse portfolio, featuring ambient, scoring, and classical music in his ever-expanding songbook.

"What We Feel" is also a perfect example of what people can expect from Michele's full-length album, "Glass Boxes," which is going to be released soon. Listeners can expect monthly single releases from "Glass Boxes" until January 2024, when the full record will be revealed. As the album title suggests, these songs are all about focusing on the moment. Much like those old, beautiful glass boxes used to store and cherish mementos, this album captures moments in time and memories, like snapshots from life. Like the images through the glass, the music on this record is filled with delicate, translucent beauty, preserving emotions and memories in a musical vessel that will undoubtedly stand the test of time.

Find out more about Michele Nobler, and do not miss out on "What We Feel," taken from the album "Glass Boxes," expected this coming January.

"Listen Now"

[funkymbtifiction]

I am thinking that going over past or even a more recent situation is a loop or inferior function focus . But how you do depends on the type. Sometimes I try to understand it better hoping to prevent it in the future. Sometimes it works but much of the time it’s just like a hamster wheel that turns and turns but ends up nowhere . Is that Fi/ Si or more of a Ti thing trying to understand better?

Intense analysis and attempting to make sense of things can be Ti, or it can also be an Enneagram "head type" (5/6/7) thing, because of living life through your mind rather than your body or emotions.

An INFP in a Si loop is caught up in their feelings about events that are dead and gone, but that they keep reliving, rather than moving forward and looking for newness in the future.

An INTP in a Si loop is caught up in analyzing "dead material," which means trying to solve unsolvable problems (refusing to be 'beat' by it), leading to them wasting their time trying to make sense of things that do no matter instead of being innovative in a forward-focused way.

A Si loop is when an ENP stops having excitement and new ideas about the future in a never-ending stream of consciousness, and starts moping about things they can't change in the past and using that as an excuse to be miserable in the present (if I had taken that job... if I hadn't broken up with this person... I would be happier right now!!!). They hang onto dead relationships or past experiences and wish they could change them, rather than living for today and figuring out how to move forward into tomorrow and get what they want (aka, I miss this old friend instead of looking for a new one; I wish I had taken that job instead of trying out a different one). There's a lot of 'romanticizing' and 'mis-remembering' that happens in a Si grip, where they selectively remember things that aren't accurate (either vilifying someone or romanticizing them). Low Si doesn't line up with "what actually happened" so they are pretty "outside of reality" from the perspective of other people ("delusional about the past").

[reasoningdaily]

Cat Yu for HBR

When I was in my late twenties, I was diagnosed with stomach cancer. Doctors operated and told me to hope for the best. I returned to Japan, where I was working, and tried to forget about it. The tumors returned a year later, this time in my liver. After a long search, the surgeons found a new procedure to remove them, but I knew this was, again, perhaps only a temporary fix. I was a mess for the next six months. The hardest part of my illness was my constant anxiety about it coming back.

Then I met a man who changed my outlook. Dr. Derek Roger had spent 30 years researching why some people in difficult situations become overwhelmed, while others persevere. He taught me everything he’d learned, and as I started applying it, my anxiety subsided, even though my situation didn’t change. In fact, the cancer came back about five years ago and remains relatively stable in my liver. But I no longer worry about it. Derek became my mentor, and over the past 10 years we have trained thousands of leaders to overcome their stress.

The process starts with understanding that stress is caused not by other people or external events, but by your reactions to them. In the workplace, many people blame their high anxiety levels on a boss, job, deadlines, or competing commitments for their time. But peers who face the same challenges do so without stress. Derek and I often meet executives who have high levels of pressure but low levels of stress, and vice versa.

Pressure is not stress. But the former is converted to the latter when you add one ingredient: rumination, the tendency to keep rethinking past or future events, while attaching negative emotion to those thoughts. Of course, leaders must practice reflection — planning for the future or reviewing past lessons — but this is an analytical, short-term process, with positive fallout. Rumination is ongoing and destructive, diminishing your health, productivity, and well-being. Chronic worriers show increased incidence of coronary problems and suppressed immune functioning. Dwelling on the past or the future also takes us away from the present, rendering us unable to complete the work currently on our plates. If you ask ruminators how they are feeling, none will say “happy.” Most feel miserable.

To break this stress-inducing habit, Derek and I recommend four steps:

Wake up. People spend most of their day in a state called “waking sleep.” This is when you pull into the office parking lot but can’t remember the drive there, or when someone in a meeting asks for your opinion but you’ve missed the last few minutes of conversation. Since all rumination happens during this state, the first step is to break out of it. You can do this physically: Stand or sit up, clap your hands, and move your body. Or you can do it mentally: Connect with your senses by noticing what you can hear, see, smell, taste, and feel. The idea is to reconnect with the world.

Control your attention. When you ruminate, your attention gets caught in an unproductive loop, like a hamster on a wheel. You need to redirect yourself to areas in which you can take useful action. Here’s one exercise we encourage executives to use: Draw a circle on a page, and write down all of the things you can control or influence inside of it and all of the things you cannot outside of it. Remind yourself that you can care about externalities — your work, your team, your family — without worrying about them.

Put things in perspective. Ruminators tend to catastrophize, but resilient leaders keep things in perspective for themselves and their teams. We tell people to try three techniques: contrasting (comparing a past stress to the current one, i.e., a major illness versus a missed sale), questioning (asking yourself “How much will this matter in three years’ time?” and “What’s the worst that could happen?” and “How would I survive it?”) and reframing (looking at your challenge from a new angle: “What’s an opportunity in this situation I haven’t yet seen?” or even “What’s funny about this situation?”)

Let go. The final step is often the hardest. If it was easy to let it go, we would have done it already. We find that three techniques help. The first is acceptance: Acknowledge that whether you like the situation or not, it is the way it is. The second is learning the lesson. Your brain will review events until it feels you’ve gained something from them, so ask yourself, “What have I learned from this experience?” The third is action. Sometimes the real solution is not to relax, but to do something about your situation. Ask yourself, “What action is required here?

While struggling with cancer, it took me a couple of years to train myself to follow these steps. But ultimately it worked. My stress levels went down, my health improved, and my career took off. More heartening, I discovered that everything Derek had taught me could be taught to others, with similar results.

[subatomiccherry]

New Perspective: Chapter 1

I told y’all I was gonna post more lol.

Tom Nook x Reader

Slow Burn

Warnings: Spoilers for Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Words: 2.7K

Links: Prologue  -  Chapter 1 (You are here)  -  Chapter 2  -  Chapter 3

Chapter 1

             Dreams could be thought of as like an escape from reality, right?  Well then for you, it must be the complete opposite. Stuck in a never-ending loop of trauma really puts a damper on the whole escape thing.

“We��re here! We’re here!” the cries from the small tanuki children roused you from your slumber with a start. Confused with post awakening haze, you looked around the cabin of the plane you were in to see the kids with their faces pressed to the window. Wiping the drool from your face scratches against your skin as you sit up and stretch. “Wake up!” Tommy nudges you excitedly, shy demeanor shoved aside to make way for enthusiasm. “Come look! It’s our new home.”

           You smile, their eagerness bleeding into your own as you look out the window as well. Green stretches out, blending in with the pure blue of the ocean below. Fish jump out of the water, speckles of light flying off and glinting in the air. Your gaze fixates upon a small dock breaching out into the ocean from a sandy beach. “Wow” you mutter under your breath.

           The speaker in the cabin crackles to life. “Attention passengers, this is Captain Wilbur of Dodo Airlines speaking. Dodo Tower has just informed us that we are due for touchdown November Oscar Whisker, so sit down and buckle up cause this Dodo is coming in for landing!”

           Landing was a bit of a bumpy affair, so once the light for the seat belts turned off, both Timmy and Tommy raced out the doors, eager to leave the cramped interior. Resigning yourself to the fate of being the bag carrier, you turned to get your luggage. You were stopped though, as the aviator-wearing pilot entered the cabin. “No need to do that now! My brother Orville will be taking your luggage to the square in just a bit. No need to stress.” Grabbing your one backpack, you thanked him and exited the plane as well. Passing briefly through the airport lobby, you stepped out into the brightness towards your new home.

           Timmy and Tommy were standing on the dock, Timmy chatting eagerly to two others while Tommy took his place slightly behind him. Back to his shy ways, you noted to yourself. Turning your attention to the two new faces, you are greeted with a nice-looking penguin talking with Timmy, and on another part of the deck, ignoring everyone, was a hamster lifting weights. Tommy notices your approach and nudges his brother, who turns, abruptly ending his conversation with the penguin. “You’re here!” He turns to address everyone on the dock, his helpful customer service springing into his voice and presence. “Now, I know you must be incredibly excited to explore your new island home, but I have one small request.”

Tommy steps to stand beside him. His small voice loudening briefly, he addresses you all as well. “Would you please join us for a short orientation in the nearby plaza? Our-“

Their voices join together, “-fearless leader,-“

“-is giving a presentation, so I’d hate for everyone to miss it.” Timmy finishes, clasping his hands together. “We’re heading there right now so feel free to follow us!”

           They take off , Timmy in the lead, Tommy’s paw wrapped firmly in his as they run towards the middle of the island. Looking over at the others, you all shrug and follow the children who had disappeared over the hill. Lagging behind the others, you walk more slowly, taking in the views from all around you. Soft green grass tickles your ankles as you walk, a light breeze swaying though the trees. Some of them even bear fruit, you notice. They look like peaches, but this is a new land, so it could be some fruit that just looks like peaches. Twigs litter the ground along with copious amounts of floral weeds. You turn in a small circle, taking everything in. It was so... fresh. So pure. It seemed like a new beginning. A new horizon if you will.

           Cresting the hill, you come upon a sandy area, occupied by the two newcomers, Timmy and Tommy, and an older tanuki man. A tanuki in a yellow sweater and aqua jacket. ‘Dear lord,’ you think to yourself. ‘Did he pick out his wardrobe blind?’ Despite his odd clothing choices, you study him a little closer. He has vaguely the same markings as the kids, which leads you to believe that he may be related to them in some way. He had a weighted figure, more of a dad-bod, but his eyes were really the factor that drew you in. Tired blue eyes locked onto yours as you entered the area, and your breath stopped. His gaze seemed to rake you up and down, and you bless your luck for a day that was hot so that you could blame the blush staining your face on the heat.

           “Alright is that everyone? Let’s see,” He says, his rich voice speaking out. “Is Flo here?” The penguin raises her flipper and smiles. “and Hamlet?” The hamster pauses in his weightlifting and waves over at him. “Good good. Let’s see,” He gazes at the paper a moment before his gaze lifts to yours. “And you must be _____.” Pointedly ignoring the blush on your face, you wave. “That’s me,” you confirm. He smiles, and oh lord you see the way his eyes crinkle at the corners and your heart thuds against your chest.

           “Welcome everyone!” His voice snaps you out of your trance and you force yourself to pay attention. “Welcome to your new island. My name is Tom Nook, and I’m the founder and president of Nook Inc. Yes yes!”

           “Today is the first day of your new life on this pristine, lovely island. So, congratulations! And this is a package deal, hm? As such, Nook Inc. staff will always be here to support you and ensure your comfort and safety. But first things first, yes? I’d like each of you to choose a spot of your own. It’s the first step to putting down some real roots! I’d like you to dream big – I do have certain connections in construction and real estate, and…” Timmy and Tommy nudge him at the same time, startling him from his rambling. You giggle as he sheepishly rubs his head.

           “Ah, but I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s just get started with a simple tent, shall we? Please collect a tent from either Timmy or Tommy and then choose a spot to place it.” He finishes with a smile, stepping back to allow the boys to pass out the tents. They run up to you afterwards, Tommy handing you your tent as Timmy eagerly asks you about the island. After spending a few minutes with them, they wave you off with your tent. Unbeknownst to you, your interaction with the boys are watched by the older tanuki, who smiles at the sight of them acting so happy with you.

           You had only been walking for a few minutes through the trees before you came to a small clearing flanked by a river. Sunlight filtered in through the leaves on the tree, casting a glow onto the spot. ‘This is definitely it...’ you think to yourself. Setting up your text requires an extra level of brainpower that currently seems inaccessible to you, and you are soon sitting on the ground fuming at your failed attempt to put together your temporary home. “This sucks!” You groan out, tossing a pole to the side.

           My my, it would seem like you’re having a bit of trouble!” An undignified squeal leaves you as you’re started by a voice from behind you. Scrambling up and turning, you see Tom Nook standing there, hands in his jacket pockets as he observes your failure lying crumpled on the ground. You groan again in embarrassment and bury your face in your hands. “Is it obvious that I’ve never put together a tent before?” Your muffled voice causes him to laugh loudly, his head thrown back and you peek at him through your fingers. “I think it’s possible that you could use some help,” he chuckles, walking over to the mess of fabric and poles on the ground and beginning to untangle everything.  “Thanks,” You say, leaning down to help him. With his gentle instruction, the tent goes up in no time.

           “Well then, that wasn’t so hard now, was it?” Tom claps his hands together. You smile gratefully at him. “Thank you, really.” You admit. “If it wasn’t for you, I’d really be sleeping under the stars tonight.” “Now now, I wouldn’t let that happen.” He reassures you. His voice softens slightly, “I see that my boys have taken quite a liking to you! They’ve already blessed me with the details of your trip here, and I would like to thank you for keeping an eye on them.”

             “It was really no problem, they’re sweethearts. You’re lucky to have them as your sons.”

           “Oh yes,” He smiles at you. “Though we aren’t blood related, they are my sons, and I’m blessed to have them. “

           Silence spans between you briefly, and as he opens his mouth to speak again, he is interrupted by Timmy and Tommy running up to both of you through the trees. “Sir!” Timmy exclaims, “The other villagers have finished setting up their tents and are waiting for you in the square!” Tommy stands beside you, leaning against your side and you cradle your hand against the side of his head as Timmy eagerly explains his plans of a celebration to take place later in the evening to celebrate the move in.  “Yes, that sounds like a wonderful idea Timmy! Go ahead and start those preparations with Tommy. _____ and I will take care of the food and firewood for you. You look up as your name is mentioned.

           “Yes sir!” Timmy salutes, and drags his brother off. “So, a celebration huh?” you ask, walking along with Nook, who had begun to gather twigs from around the area. “A celebration to commemorate all of us on our new beginnings, is what Timmy said, “ He chuckles. “He’s not wrong.” You laugh along with him. Spying some low hanging fruit from a nearby tree, you pick some off the branches. “These are peaches, right?” you ask, inspecting the fruit in your hands. Nook walks over and takes it from you. His fur brushes against you and you marvel silently at how soft it was. He sniffs it and confirms your question with a grin. “They sure are! They’ll make some wonderful drinks and snacks for tonight.” You agree and turn to collect more as Nook finishes his task of collecting firewood.

           Reaching things turned out to be within the list of things that were causing you difficulty today, as a peach just out of hands reach hung from its branch, mocking you. You were on your tiptoes, straining as much as you could but reaching didn’t seems to be adding any inches onto your height. Resigning yourself to cruel fate, you gave up. Before you could turn around however, you felt two strong arms wrap around your legs and lift you up, causing you to gasp in alarm and grab onto whatever was lifting you. Which turned out to be Nook. “Um, hi?” You say questioningly. “it seemed like that peach was just out of reach,” Nook teased, hoisting you to sit on his shoulder. Oh. Oh. He was strong. As in, you could feel muscles under there, strong. Be still your little beating heart. You nodded, not trusting yourself to speak without stuttering. However, after you had gotten the fruit, he didn’t put you down, instead choosing to walk to the main area everyone had been in before, both of you chatting the entire way there.

 _______________________________________________________________

           “Now then, let us start the festivities!” Nook exclaims, lighting a huge bonfire in the middle of the main area. You clap along with everyone else, reveling in the decisions that led up to this moment. “Now, since this can’t exactly qualify as a deserted island anymore, I feel as if it is our duty to name our new home! Yes, we’ll put it to a vote. Everyone think of a good name for this island!”

           As Flo and Hamlet split off to talk together, you stand and think to yourself. Many names came to mind but nothing seemed to fit the best. Until one name came to you.

“Avviare”*

           Heads turned to look at you and you flush red as you realize you said it out loud. “We love it!” Flo and Hamlet exclaim, clapping eagerly. Nook smiles, “Well then, if we are all in agreement,” He turns to check with Timmy and Tommy, who nod happily, “Then it seems like we have an overwhelmingly positive response to the name Avviare! How splendid!” Taken aback by the response, you smile and give a small bow. Nook gazes at you, a twinkle in his eye. “_____, since you have proven yourself by naming this island, I’d like to rely on you for other critical decisions we’ll need to make along the way. Yes yes, I hereby name you the Resident Representative of Avviare!” Cheers erupt from the others as Timmy and Tommy rush to hug you. “Say a few words!” Tommy urges you.

           “Um well… You can count on me!” you declare, slightly overwhelmed by all of the attention. Ever your savior, Nook hands out drinks to everyone and declares a toast. “A toast!” You all raise your drinks, “To Avviare and the happiness of its residents!”

             “Cheers!”

             The sky has long since grown dark as you all sit around the fire. Crickets chirp in the background and a breeze flows through the air. You lean back while sitting on the log serving as a bench and your gaze wanders over to Nook. The firelight casts shadows across his face, highlighting his features and giving him an air of relaxation. He takes a sip of his drink and your eyes lock yet again. He smiles that all knowing smile and walks over, sitting beside you. “Having a good time?” At your quiet nodding, he chuckles. “This all must be a bit much for you, so if you feel like taking a rest in your tent, by all means, go ahead.”

           “You go to deny but a yawn sneaks out, destroying any chance you had for an excuse. “maybe I’ll go do that..” you admit, standing with a sheepish look on your face. Nook stands as well and offers you his arm to take. “Let me walk you back to your tent. You look dead on your feet.”

           The walk back to your tent is carried out in comfortable silence, and all to soon the tent comes into view. “Thanks for walking me back Mr. Nook,” your arm is still interlaced with his as you turn to look at him. “Oh please! Call me Tom. There’s no need for such formalities now.” His eyes meet yours. “Well,” He sighs, “We’ve got another big day ahead of us tomorrow, so rest up as much as you can tonight. “ he steps back, and you silently mourn the loss of contact. “Sweet dreams, _____,” He lingers a moment, acting like he wants to say something, but decides otherwise. He gives you a wave as he walks off back through the trees. You watch as he goes.

           Stepping inside your tent, you are greeted with a sleeping cot, radio, and lantern. A smaller place that what you were used to, but this was a tent so that was a given. Your suitcase had been delivered as promised so you dug through it to find your pajamas. Laying in bed sounded like a wonderful idea and you plopped down as soon as you had finished changing. You could still hear the wind and crickets outside creating a natural ambiance.

           When coming to this island, it was in your plans to just pick a spot and try to live with as few dramatics as possible, but it seemed that life just loved to throw curveballs your way. ‘This one, however,’ you thought as sleep began to take you, ‘doesn’t seem so bad.’.

 ____________

(*) Avviare- Italian translation of ‘to begin’

________________________________________________________________

And there we have chapter 1! Y’all don’t know how much fun this actually is for me to write haha. Don’t forget to read the prologue if you haven’t already, the link is up at the top.

If you want to be added to a tag list, let me know! 

I’m not sure if I’ll have a consistent upload schedule but i’ll try to upload as often as I can now that summer break is coming up.

Aaaand, I think that’s it. Let me know what y’all think!

[degeneratekitten]

What happened to Stretch?

!!!WARNING!!! Read the tags before continuing, if you don’t like any of the tags then you probably wont like it when it happens in the story! FURTHERMORE if you’ve ever experienced the loss of a child and reading something similar would upset you DON’T READ THIS STORY!

This is the story of “To Love and Cherish for as Long as I Live” told from the owners perspective.

All the tags from the previous story apply here as well, PLUS a whole other slew of them. I mean she’s got some serious baby rabies!

“Your friends Sansy was so CUTE, and your Blueberry was just as cute! You couldn't wait until they had babies together!”

When your friend first introduced you to her bitty you'd been shocked at just how cute he was. His chubby little stomach, his cute little teeth, his half lidded eyes. You’d been so jealous of your best friend for getting a Sansy so BEAUTIFUL! He had the cutest little face, and the most charming attitude ever. Of course you had to get a bitty just as cute.

Fortunately, you did come across a bitty just as cute as your friends Sansy,  Gordo. A little blueberry that had “DIMPLES!” You had no idea HOW that was possible, but you guessed that it could happen, with how flexible their skulls seemed to be.

You’d approached the little ball of sunshine as he stared, eyes shining, at a butterfly. His little dimples making themselves known as his eyelights formed stars. He had been drawing on the concrete with a worn down piece of chalk too small for a child's hand, it looked like a picture of a house, with a nondescript woman hugging him close. Your heart melted as you stared at the picture.

Approaching you knelt down to stare at the little Blueberry, before reaching your hand out and patting his little head. He shouted in surprise and dropped the chalk as he fell on his little bottom and stared at you with a little fear.

“Wh-h-who are you!” He asked, and you got a much better look at him. What you saw only made you love him even more.

He didn't have any clothes. Most wild bitties didn't, but he’d somehow managed to come across a blue ribbon that he’d wrapped around his neck. It was crooked and filthy but also very well taken care of, as if it was a cherished gift. It was like he was a little present waiting for you to come along.

You smiled lovingly at the little bitty, and pointed to the chalk drawing on the sidewalk. “Is that your mommy?” You asked, prodding, making sure that he wasn't a lost or abused bitty.

The little blueberry looked at where you were pointing with a little wariness before answering. “I don’t have a mommy.” He answered, as he gripped the ribbon around his neck. “Stretch says we don’t need a mom, we have each other!” He exclaimed, and you assumed that this Stretch was his brother. Wild bitties tended to come in pairs, you were sure that he was talking about his counterpart, a lil bro bitty. They were often called Stretch, they were also incredibly wary of anyone interacting with their brother and didn’t trust easily. If you adopted this blueberry you’d find a way to get a hold of the lil bro too, no reason to separate siblings.

You chuckled, and shook your head. “But then who will give you food?” You asked, watching as the blueberry suddenly started salivating before continuing. “Or give you kisses? Or play games with you?” You prodded, watching as the little blueberry stared at you with longing. He stared at you, shifting on both feet, getting antsy, and you could tell that he desperately wanted all the things you were saying. You only continued, further fanning the flames of this little Blueberries desires.

“And what about clothes? Who’s going to give you nice fluffy clothes after a nice warm bath? Or cookies?! Who will bake you cookies?! Or sing to you?”  You watched as the little blueberry started to tear up a little, he held on to his ribbon like his life depended on it, you supposed he only needed one more push to be convinced.

“And at the end of the day who’s going to tuck you in?” You finished, watching as the blueberry burst into tears. You took that chance to scoop him up, bringing him to your neck.

“I want a moooooommmmmmy!’ He cried breaking your heart with how desperate he sounded, this had been your goal but you still felt a little bad.

“There there. I suppose if you want, I’ll be your mommy?” You stated, listening as his sobs lessened before holding him in front of your face.

“R-rrrrr-really?” He asked, staring at you with wonder.

You nodded. “Of course! I’ll cherish you for as long as I live!”

----

It didn't take long for the blueberry to settle in. You named him Dooby, which he loved, but of course he seemed to love everything you did.

You quickly introduced him to your friend and her Sansy, and when you saw the two of them playing so sweetly together you just knew that they would make the best pair! Their babies would be so cute!

You mentioned this to your best friend, who also, was incredibly excited about the idea. The two of you started scheming, and quickly had a plan of action.

---

The hardest part had been syncing their heats up. It had required a lot of medicine mixed into their food to make it happen. You made sure they met with each other often enough, and left them alone just as much as well. The always played nicely together and everything was going just as planned. The only problem arose when Dooby disappeared during his heat. You didn't worry though, the only bitty he knew aside from Gordo had been his brother, and you were working really hard on finding him. Unfortunately Dooby was surprisingly tight lipped about where he lived, and you found it hard to get the information out of him.

Then the best thing happened. Just after Dooby had finished his latest heat, you saw the first signs. Dooby didn't notice at first, but you did. You shared the news with your best friend much to her delight. That was also when you finally learned that Stretch wasn't Dooby’s brother, he’d been a good friend of Dooby’s. You’d been a little disappointed at that news, as you’d been looking forward to seeing how cute Dooby’s brother would be. No matter, you’d still find him, and make sure he had a good home. After all he’d taken such good care of Dooby until you arrived.

----

Dooby’s tendency to sneak out however, made you a little upset, he didn't know he was pregnant yet (somehow) and you had to be a little stricter about it too. You didn't want the little baby to get hurt, after all it was sure to be the cutest thing in the world if its parents were anything to go by.

Unfortunately, when you saw Dooby coming home without his pajama’s saying how we loved Stretch and Stretch was the baby’s daddy, something seemed to snap. You’d worked so hard to make sure that Gordo and Dooby would have a baby and he went and WHORED AROUND?!

You were so angry that you ended up pulling out a hamster cage and confining Dooby to it. You ended up calling to rant to your best friend. She was understandably upset too, and in the end the two of you agreed that you’d sell the baby and get rid of this Stretch so the next one wasn't a failure.

---

You still tried to get the information of where Stretch was from Dooby, but it turned out that the reason he was so tight lipped was because he was terrible about giving directions. All he ever did was point in the direction he was in. Which was absolutely no help. You were getting so frustrated, and it wasn't until he gave you the family portrait that you finally got what you wanted.

---

You were on the phone the whole time Dooby gave you directions. You had the humane society on the other line. They were incredibly interested to hear about the colony of bitties that you had uncovered, and you were sure not to spare any details about them. Dooby didn't seem to notice that you were planning on having all his old neighbors captured, and it was a good thing he didn't as he would have hated you if he knew.

Even as you set him down to go get his “Stretch” you made danm sure to ask them to get “every” last bitty in the colony. As they were “such a nuisance.”

You hung up the phone just as Dooby came out of an old box holding hands with the FILTHIEST bitty on the planet. You were sure your smile looked funny as you stared at the heart eyelights the little HOMEWRECKER eyed you with.  You had an idea what Dooby had told the thing and were devising a way to “lose” him on the way back home when you were pleasantly surprised when he asked to say goodbye to his friends. You hurriedly agreed and made sure Dooby stayed behind with you. It was just as well too, as the bitty truck had just pulled up. You supposed it was time to go for lunch.

---

Coming back to an area free of bitties was incredibly satisfying. You felt pleased with yourself as you stared at the cleaned up area. No bitties to distract your little cutie-pie, and best of all NO Stretch to knock him up. All you had to do was lay it on real thick that Stretch had abandoned Dooby for him to completely turn on him. Really it was such a relief, you couldn't wait until he gave birth so you could get rid of the little nuisance and put this whole mess behind you.

---

Dooby started to near his due date, and wouldn't stop his chatter about watching the baby grow up. You rolled your eyes and kept your mouth shut about how that would never happen. You just relished in your victory as you watched him scratch Stretch’s face from all of his drawings.

You made sure to line up a buyer for the baby, and made sure he was on speed dial to take the little thing away as soon as he was out. You wouldn't tolerate a hideous baby in your house. Not now, not ever.

----

Just as Dooby was about to give birth you made a stop by the shelter. You had one more loose end to clean up so that there would be smooth sailing ahead.

You made sure to look through all the bitties in your search for him, and found yourself grinning when you found him.

There he was, decidedly less filthy but still a hideous sight to behold. Stretch looked happy to see you, and even as he caught your eye you could see those stupid heart lights. He looked looked at you like you were the answer to his prayers. 

---

The shelter let you walk away with him for free, as you’d explained that he was your current bittys lover from before you rescued him. They were a sucker for the story and were eager to help you “reunite them.” If only they knew.

You walked away only having to pay a fee for his new clothes. Of course you had no intention of taking him home, and instead walked into a dark alley, grimacing at the feel of the lil bro clinging to your thumb. He decided to speak at that moment, looking up at you shyly, those stupid eyelights boring into your skull.

“So I’ll get to be a family with Blue?” He’d asked, and you’d sighed at him. 

“If you think that you’re even stupider than I thought.” You replied, as you started to strip him of the nice clothes you paid for, he wasn't going to need them and they would sell nicely on ebay.

“But blue said--” He started, but you didn't let him finish, as you dropped him to the ground and swiftly stomped on his skull. It immediately turned to dust, no mess as he floated away into the wind. You smiled at yourself, pleased that he would never be bothering you again.

---

Of course your good mood was short lived until you got home. Where you saw Dooby, naked as the day he was born, snuggling with a tiny blue baby.

You grimaced at the sight, and quickly separated the two, you didn't want this thing anywhere near your cute little Dooby. Putting it on a handkerchief you speed dialed the buyer, and within minutes you had handed over a crying little infant, and received 200 dollars in return. Really it was only fair, after all the hardship you’d gone through to fix this little problem. 

The only thing left was to make sure that Gordo filled the void left by both Stretch and the baby in Dooby’s heart.

Calling your best friend, you made sure to tell her to clear Gordo’s schedule for the next few days. Dooby was going to need him. Although, you had to end the call short when you heard Dooby screaming for his baby.

Ugh, when would this end. You supposed it was only right to rip off the bandage now. So with a giddy look you turned to Dooby and made damn sure that he was in a wrecked enough emotional state for Gordo to rescue him from.

“Your baby’s gone. He’s never coming back!” You laughed, then grimaced as soon as the screaming started. The things you would do for a cute baby.

[shimmershae]

Remember all the ship imagery we got in the early episodes of this season?  Carol literally sailing toward Daryl in a boat, the ships all over her bedding, the helm in the background as Daryl takes her dinner and a flower, and Daryl’s comments about poking holes in any boats she might use to leave him again?  Well.  It just occurred to me, when Carol had her emotional breakthrough and decided to fight and stick around and work toward putting her demons to rest, i.e. go home to Daryl, it was after a boat literally fell on top of her.  And maybe it was an odd little coincidence, but somehow I don’t think so.

I mean.  The first instance, with Carol literally sailing toward a waiting Daryl was lightly tossed about as our ship finally, well, setting sail.  I know I had a lot of fun with the idea personally.  But shining a different light on it, I think Carol ‘coming home’ to Daryl was twofold.  One, she was literally coming home, albeit somewhat reluctantly because she still hadn’t figured out a way to reconcile her feelings on Henry’s death and all the traumas it pushed to the surface nor all of the emotions being back in the circle of those who know her best kept ever present.  And two, it showed that Daryl is not only her person or place of stability, but that he perhaps has already reached the point where he knows exactly what he wants and that’s Carol herself.  I mean, he’s literally right there, ready and wanting to be her port in the storm.  

Yeah, I don’t know if I’m explaining myself well.  I’m sure someone else can piggyback on this and do a much better job, but I’m going to keep spit balling okay?  Okay.  

The boats on Carol’s bedding were a nice little touch, don’t you think?  Especially since Carol’s been shown to dream about Daryl in that bed.  Not in exactly the way that some of us might want her to, lol, at least not onscreen because our girl did say to Michonne that her dreams were good and that’s why they hurt so very much--why oh why they cut that scene from the aired episode I’ll never understand, unless they wanted to play close to the vest with their hand for a little bit longer (unneeded IMHO since those that don’t want to see are not going to see what’s staring them right in the face until it bites their noses off, but I digress) but still.  It’s been shown and suggested she dreams about Daryl when she sleeps in that bed.  Basically, she only allows herself to semi-admit what she most wants in her dreams, and I don’t remember if we see that bedding again later or not but I did find it kind of weird at the time that she was sleeping on top of the covers.  It’s almost like she doesn’t want to embrace (cover up) the comfort that her subconscious offers her, huh?  Psst.  Daryl.  Or, you know, literally stop running and relax enough to truly let her mind and emotions settle.  

I’m digging a little deep aren’t I?  Oops.  Sorry if I sound semi-delusional.  I am somewhat sleep deprived.  But truly.  My brain cannot accept that all of this is mere coincidence so the hamster wheel is trying to theorize and this is what you get.  Sorry not sorry, lol.  

So where was I?  

So basically Daryl’s had his epiphany.  The years Carol spent by another man’s side weren’t something he reacted to with the usual or stereotypical signs of jealousy because he’s Daryl.  He wants the best for those he loves even at his own expense, but there was some deep-seated stuff there he maybe didn’t recognize right away or likely, as with Carol, didn’t want to immediately confront.   

Sigh.  These two and their shitty self-esteems.  Whatever are we going to do with them?  

Putting the rest behind a cut because this is about to get even longer.  Read at your own risk.  ;)

Shit may not be settled, but Daryl’s more settled and mature than he’s ever been and he knows what he wants:  Carol.  So he’s there waiting on Carol’s boat to sail in.  He’s right there.  Waiting on Carol to have the same epiphany or reach the same conclusion or not, whatever may come, because Dude loves her.  He might not have put words to it, but he’s shown her and us in so very many ways.  Carol might have come to him on the boat, but make no mistake.  At this point in time?  Our man is the captain of this ship.  He’s standing at the helm.  Get it?  The helm in the background?  Er, I’ll shut up before I make myself sound even nuttier, lol.  

Let’s talk a little bit more about Carol, shall we?  

So Carol.  She knows what or who she wants too.  She just hasn’t dared to voice it.  Even in those woods, when her subconscious in the form of Alpha pressed her to admit the truth she wouldn’t say the words out loud.  It’s almost like her keeping those feelings secret is her way of protecting Daryl from the ‘monster’ she feels like she’s become.  

Oh sweet baby girl.  My heart aches so much for her.  She just has no idea.  Really and truly no idea.  

Listen.  Daryl was completely serious about poking holes in all them boats.  And call this a reach if you want to, but I think that little comment of his was twofold as well.  More on that a little later.  

Dude isn’t all that well-versed in matters of the heart, especially with somebody that means so very much to him.  So understandably, he’s not going to automatically get everything right.  And let’s be real here.  He’s still so much more of a show than tell kind of guy so that’s what he’s been doing.  Showing Carol how much he cares.  Demonstrating his love by being there for her, by having her back, and by calling her on her bullshit (but only after she’s taken up all the slack and put them both and their communities in an arguably untenable position). He wants her to stay and he’s done everything within his power to make her want to stay--except say those three little words.  

Which circles me back around to the two-fold part of the holes in the boat comment.  You know where I’m going with this don’t you?  Don’t you, lol?  There’s someone else Daryl hasn’t said those three little words to or about, even after Carol herself tried her best to put them in his mouth.  Our guy went so far as to tell our thick-headed Queen that it’s not like that, not at all, effectively poking the biggest of many holes in the most present ship.  I say present for lack of any better moniker.  Let’s just say that it’s the most threatening in Carol’s mind and subconscious because literally the only person acting like it’s a real thing is Carol.  Kelly’s little wink and nod isn’t something I’m going to take on gospel because let’s just say a thousand and one ships could be launched at a teasing sister’s behest and only one or two be manufactured out of more than popsicle sticks and imagination.  How many cute guys did your little sisters have you in love with when they simply offered you a smile or kind word?  I literally cannot keep track of how many would-be suitors my little sister would have had me have, lol.  The list is simply too long.  It’s one of the things little sisters are so very (obnoxiously) good at--spinning fantasy into a reality of their own making.  But yeah, I’m going off on another tangent.  In case you haven’t noticed, I’m very good at that.    

My point is this, hahaha.  Daryl’s not just willing to poke holes in all the literal boats to keep Carol with him.  The man has also, in his Daryl way, poked holes in the notion that he could feel something romantically for another woman.  Because it isn’t like that.  Not for the captain of this ship.  He knows what he wants whether he’s managed to use his words yet or not.  

Carol’s trickier because she’s not reached the same sort of zen Daryl has yet.  She’s still operating under the erroneous assumption that she’s not good enough for her Mr. Crossbow and has been doing her level-best to steer him toward what she considers his perfect match even though her subconscious has been baiting her to just fess up to her buried truth--that she wants and loves Daryl just as much as he wants and loves her.  

But you know what happened?  

A literal boat fell on top of our girl’s hard head and knocked some sense into her.  Honestly.  While the circumstances were actually heartbreaking--our baby girl’s emotions have been so fucked up for so long over something that couldn’t necessarily be helped in the world she’s been surviving in--I have to laugh now,putting it into this newfound perspective.  Kang literally bashed my baby over the head with her demons and the truth of her feelings.  Seriously.  She held all her so-called ‘failings’ up in her face and had her confront them before confronting her with her biggest fear.  That fear being, you guessed it, that she lose Daryl.  

You know what happened from that point.  

Deciding that she could never let that happen, Carol had her own epiphany--it’s never too late--and she decided to fight and she went home to Daryl.  Really went home to him and yeah, things are still up in the air because Angela Kang wanted to blue ball us just a wee bit more but I can’t be the only one hearing those drums break for their big solo in that old Phil Collins song, lol.  

I can almost taste canon on my tongue and hoo boy is it sweet.  A little bit spicy too.  

Damn the coronavirus.  Seriously.  Send that thing right back to hell.  

I don’t know about y’all but I need that finale yesterday.  

Anyhoo.  If you found your way to this last sentence after this mega stream of consciousness hooey, bless you.  If you feel inclined to add your own thoughts to my sleep-deprived thoughts, be my guest.  

Later, lovelies.  

Keep calm and Caryl the fuck on.  

[ladyherenya]

Books read in September

I had a moment of intense self-centredness and, internally, wailed: Why isn’t the world filled with more books that appeal exactly to me??? 

I’ve concluded that it’s like I have an inner story-troll sitting inside me shouting: Tell me a story! I try to appease it by presenting it with books, one at a time, and seeing how it reacts. 

Favourite cover: Flyaway.

Reread: The Shadowy Horses by Susanna Kearsley. (I also reread From All False Doctrine at least twice.)

Also read: The Disastrous Début of Agatha Tremain by Stephanie Burgis and Snow Day by Andrea K Höst.

Still reading: The Time-Traveling Popcorn Ball by Aster Glenn Gray and The Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett,

Next up: I have borrowed The Other Side of the Sky by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner, Taking Down Evelyn Tait by Poppy Nwosu, and Between Silk and Cyanide: A Code Maker’s War, 1941-45 by Leo Marks. And maybe I’ll finally get around to The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams?

*

The City of Brass by S.A. Chakroborty (narrated by Soneela Nankani): I think this Middle East-inspired fantasy was just not the story I was in the headspace for -- it was longer, with more complicated worldbuilding and fewer answers. Possibly I’d have followed the political intrigue of Daevabad better had I read this in one gulp (I got halfway through the 20-hour-long audiobook before it was due back and I read other books before picking up the ebook). I liked the two protagonists, enough that I’m curious about what happens to them next, but the second book is 23 hours long and undoubtedly won’t resolve everything either. Maybe another day.

Tuyo by Rachel Neumeier: Ryo is left as a “tuyo” -- a sacrifice to be killed by an enemy -- as a sign that his tribe will withdraw from the Ugaro’s war with the Lau. But his captor doesn’t want to kill him, he wants Ryo to help him stop the war. Neumeier effectively creates tension between people who are polite, honest and honourable, and shows an intriguing relationship, defined by mutual respect, fealty and something more familial. There’s also some unusual magically-defying-physics-as-we-know-it worldbuilding but apparently I was far more interested in the character dynamics. I enjoyed this. Sequel, please?

From All False Doctrine by Alice Degan: My favourite book this year! Toronto, August 1925. Elsa Nordqvist, who hopes to write her MA thesis on a recently-discovered Greek manuscript, is at the beach with a friend when they meet two foster-brothers. This meeting deftly sets up everything which follows. The cover says “A Love Story” but this is also like a cross between a Golden-Age mystery novel and a fairytale retelling, with bonus academia and Anglicanism. I really like how much these characters value their friendships, their lively, intelligent and often honest conversations, and the way the romance unfolds. It also feels like a story written just for me and a hard one to review because my reaction has been very personal.

The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djèlí Clark (narrated by Julian Thomas): Set in the same city as A Dead Djinn in Cairo, this novella follows two agents from the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities as they investigate a possessed tram car. The world-building is vivid and cleverly, thoughtfully, imaginative. But, perhaps because of the mood I’m in and because this story isn’t interested in exploring the personal lives of its detectives, I have no feelings about this.

The Angel of Crows by Katherine Addison: Sherlock Holmes wingfic involving Jack the Ripper murders. Not what I’m looking for in a Holmes retelling. But I was sufficiently intrigued by something the author wrote. I really like Crow and Dr Doyle (arguably more than their original counterparts). My interest wavered a bit during the second half. It closely mimics the style and structure of the original mysteries in many ways and that’s not my favourite style. I wanted fewer cases to solve, and more of Crow and Doyle interactions. I liked the ending, enough to be glad that I hadn’t given up halfway through.

Making Friends with Alice Dyson by Poppy Nsowu: Australian YA. Alice plans to spend her final year of high school staying invisible and studying hard, but is thrown into the spotlight after someone posts a video of her dancing with Teddy Taualai. I loved how intensely this captures Alice’s emotions and perspective, and how the story explores that people have different emotions, perspectives and needs. Alice seems to me like someone who might be on the autism spectrum -- and whether or not that’s what the author intended, it’s great to see characters like her represented. I wish it had unpacked her relationship with her parents more, but that didn’t negate how much I enjoyed this. 

Always and Forever, Lara Jean by Jenny Han (narrated by Laura Knight Keating): I can’t remember why, after I read To all the boys I’ve loved before and P.S. I still love you in 2017, I decided against reading the third book. It turned out to be my favourite. I loved it! I had a different experience of finishing high school and applying for university, but I find Lara Jean’s perspective intensely relatable: she has strong opinions about aesthetics; she’s nostalgic, introspective, stressed by uncertainty; she enjoys spending time at home with her family. I liked how this book captures her wonder at the intimacy of knowing another person well, and how, although she sometimes worries about their future, she has very few doubts about Peter himself. I haven’t come across very many YA novels in which a teenage girl is so secure being in a relationship. 

The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley:  After her sister dies, Eva stays with family friends in Cornwall, where she and Katrina spent summers years ago. I wasn’t expecting time-travel. I like time-travel stories, and I like how Kearsley handles it here. Eva’s choices make sense, given her situation, and the story emphasises that, even though she cannot control when she travels in time, there are still many choices she can actively make. So Eva becomes fascinated with 1715, because of the people she meets there and the relationships they develop... but I wanted to spend more time in the present-day Trelowarth, with its rose gardens and new tea room.

Flyaway by Kathleen Jennings: After she receives a mysterious note, nineteen year old Bettina flouts her mother’s rules for ladylike behaviour and embarks on a roadtrip with a couple of forgotten friends in search of her brothers, who disappeared three years ago. I loved some of the descriptions, especially seeing a rural Australian setting for this sort of fantasy. Jennings creates a wonderfully eerie atmosphere and the mystery kept me reading. However, the folktale parts of the story are dark, uncomfortably so. Very successfully Gothic, just ultimately not really my brand of Gothic.

The Duke Who Didn’t by Courtney Milan: There’s something so incredibly soft about this romance -- yet at the same time, it’s about two people who work fiercely towards their goals, worry about things, and are acutely aware of the discrimination they and other they love face as Chinese people in late 19th century England. Chloe and Jeremy’s relationship is characterised by banter and gentle teasing that reveals just well they know and accept and care about each other. Moreover, they have friends and relatives -- and a community -- who are supportive. I really enjoyed reading this and appreciated how low-angst it is.

The Threefold Tie by Aster Glenn Gray: Very tender. The characters convinced me that they were capable of communicating honesty with each other and making an unconventional relationship work. I liked the prose, which is no great surprise. 

Hamster Princess: Whiskerella by Ursula Vernon (aka T. Kingfisher): This time, adventure finds Harriet at home: her parents are throwing a masked ball so she can “meet some nice young princes without terrifying them”. But the princes are all preoccupied with a beautiful stranger, and Harriet is distracted by the mystery: who is this hamster, how did she get in without an invitation and what sort of magic is behind her glass slippers?  I think this is my favourite of Harriet’s adventures (so far). I loved the humour in this one.

Echo North by Joanna Ruth Meyer: When Echo finds her missing father unconscious and half-frozen in the woods, she is given a choice by the white wolf. A retelling of “East of the Sun, West of the Moon” with elements from “Beauty and the Beast” and “Tam Lin” thrown in, this has so many things which appeal to me, including an unexpected and wonderful library. Yet I found it frustrating and slow; the prose and the characters are rather straightforward, and I predicted nearly all the twists (bar the finale). But I believe that this tale could delight a younger, or a less critical reader.

The Disastrous Début of Agatha Tremain by Stephanie Burgis: In the two years since she turned sixteen and dismissed her governess, Agatha has been free to disregard ladylike behaviour, studying the books in her father’s library and teach herself magic. But then her aunt arrives and insists upon Agatha making a social début. This novelette is another story that I suspect I’d like more if it had been longer, if some of its ideas had been expanded upon and some of the relationships been given more space to develop. Agatha’s aunt and her motivations were unexpected, and I wasn’t entirely comfortable or satisfied with how that was resolved.

Snow Day by Andrea K. Höst: This novelette takes place after the Touchstone trilogy, more specifically after In Arcadia. Two outsiders get to see Cass and her family on Snow Day, and reveal a bit about their upbringing on Kolar.  This feels very much like fanfiction which just happens to be written by the author. It is fun to see familiar characters through others’ eyes and the expanded worldbuilding is interesting, but as a narrative, it seemed somewhat incomplete. (Maybe she’s planning something more with these characters?)

[perspective-series]

Kingdom Perspective (3)

By: @arc852 and @hiddendreamer67

Warnings: Fear, panic, kidnapping, keeping/treating people like pets, threats, unwanted touching/grabbing, and crying

First Chapter || Previous Chapter || Next Chapter

—————————————————————————————————-

 Training was over in an hour, thankfully but Roman still had no idea how he was going to punish Virgil. He didn’t want to hurt the guy but maybe that would work best…

 His answer, however, came in the form of the maid, who gave him Virgil’s hoodie back. Roman grinned. Perfect.

 Roman entered the room, eyes landing on Virgil immediately. “Virgil.” He greeted, his face void of emotion.

Virgil’s head whipped around, eyes widening. It seemed Roman was still mad after all. Virgil had hoped that he might have calmed down in his time away, but there was no such luck. 

“I...I’m sorry.” Virgil began apologizing, scooting back in the cage as if it would do him any good.

 Roman hummed, stepping closer. “While I am glad to see you apologizing you still need to be punished for your earlier behavior, so!” Roman brought out the hoodie from behind his back, waving it in the air. “I am taking this away from you until you start behaving.”

Virgil almost sighed in relief, thankful he wasn’t getting any sort of physical punishment. Honestly just waiting around had been torture enough.

“I’ll behave, I promise.” Virgil said, standing up and reaching out for it.

 “Nuh uh.” Roman held the hoodie far above Virgil. “You have to show me you're going to behave. Then you can get it back.” Roman walked over to his bedside drawer and dropped it into it for safekeeping.

“I- but- you promised I could have it back!” Virgil felt his hands clenched into fists, his entire form shaking.

 “That was before you misbehaved. You will get it back if you can show me you deserve it.” Roman said, crossing his arms. He was not going to let up on this issue.

“I told you, I told you I have no reason to trust you!” Virgil stormed forwards. “Your promises mean nothing, you’re just a dirty stinking liar and a manipulative snake.”

 Roman gasped in offence. “Excuse you! I am neither of those things. I am sorry I did not give you your hoodie back but you only have yourself to blame. What, would you rather I have given a more physical punishment?” Roman asked with a raised eyebrow. 

 “Once again, you will get it back. Just as soon as you show me you are willing to listen and follow the rules.”

“You also told me I’d get it back the first time you took it from me.” Virgil muttered, crossing his arms. But Roman was correct, this was still a better punishment, if only marginally.

 “Well, we are going to be training again. If you do well, maybe you’ll earn it back within the hour.” Roman sat at the desk and opened the cage. Once again he tapped on the desk. “Come here Virgil.”

Virgil made a silent deal with himself to behave, reminding himself that this was not for Roman. He still hated Roman with every fiber in his being, but if he wanted his hoodie back Virgil would have to play the Giant’s stupid games.

Keeping his head down and his arms crossed, Virgil sulked out and onto the desk.

 A small smile appeared on Roman’s face at this but he didn’t let his hopes up too soon. “Now sit.”

Virgil grit his teeth, feeling a bit of himself die as he slunk to the floor and crossed his legs.

 Roman’s smile grew a bit bigger. “Good Virgil. See? It’s not too hard.” He pet the top of Virgil’s head. “At this rate, you’ll get your hoodie back in no time.”

“I’d better.” Virgil muttered, ducking his head between his shoulders.

 Roman ignored him and thought of another trick to do. “Hmm, Virgil?” He held his finger out in front of Virgil. “Shake!”

“Wow, real original.” Virgil stuck his hand out, feebly meeting Roman’s own. It felt so strange touching such a large fingertip willingly. Virgil was quick to give a ‘shake’ motion before pulling his arm back as if it burned.

 Roman only hummed in response. He wasn’t going for original anyway, not yet at least. He was happy that Virgil was listening to him though. “Now back in the cage.”

Virgil groaned, getting up and retracing his steps back inside. He sat down on the cage floor for good measure. “Can I have my hoodie now?”

 Roman thought for a moment. “Not yet. Now come back over here.”

“I was just over there!” Virgil protested. “Why’d you even make me walk back in here?!”

 “This is training. It doesn’t have any real purpose except to teach you the commands.” Roman explained with a stern look. “Now come here.”

“But I already know the commands.” Virgil argued, pushing himself up and stomping back over. “I’m not a dog, you don’t have to teach me what words mean, you’re just having a power trip because you’ve got leverage.”

 “Well, if you know the commands then why don’t you do them. I am trying to get you used to doing said commands. That’s what training is.” Roman held out his hand. “Now climb on.”

Virgil’s eyes widened, backing up a few steps. This was certainly a new one. He froze, unable and unwilling to quite literally put his life in Roman’s hands.

 Roman’s eyes narrowed. “Now Virgil. Climb on. Do you want your hoodie back or not?

“I….” Virgil looked up at Roman’s face and gulped slightly, looking back down at the palm before him. “You’re gonna drop me!”

 “I will not!” Roman said, taking great offense to that. “I know how to keep a handle on things.” He scooted his hand closer. 

 “Now climb on, I will not ask again.”

“Roman, I can’t.” Virgil insisted, retreating again as he wrapped his arms around himself. “I’m not even trying to be, like, disobedient or whatever, that’s just not something I can do.” His shoulders tensed as he shook his head. “No, no I can’t. I won’t do it.”

 Roman faltered for a moment. He bit his lip as he looked from his hand to Virgil.  “And why can’t you?” His voice was soft instead of demanding.

“It’s too much.” Virgil shook his head again, looking back and forth between Roman’s face and his hand pleadingly. “I- I don’t even know you! I’m just ripped away from my life and suddenly you just expect me to, to throw away my life and be some sort of hamster dog for your amusement and- and it’s not fair!”

Virgil began pulling at his hair, his expression becoming crazed as the sheer overwhelming emotions of the past 24 hours became unbottled. “None of this should be possible! This is insane! What did I do to deserve this, huh? I didn’t cause trouble, I stayed in my lane! Why am I being punished?!”

Virgil fell to his knees, his breathing coming in choked sobs as his eyes watered.

 Roman’s eyes widened, unable to do anything but watch Virgil break down. What...What was he supposed to do?! He didn’t know how to handle this! Oh, he was starting to feel bad too. Why though? Oh geez, well he had to do something.

 He reached a hand towards Virgil but stopped himself, thinking that might only make things worse. He looked towards the drawer and bit his lip in hesitation before running over to it and grabbing the hoodie. He walked back to Virgil slowly.

 “Virgil, it’s okay. Here, will this help?” He placed the hoodie down in front of him. Please stop crying.

Virgil tried to calm himself, feeling himself on the brink of a panic attack. The brink? We’re already there, buddy. He tried to steady his breathing, focusing on breathing deeply. He looked around for five things around him, trying to ground himself. Most of these only served to heighten his anxiety. The cage, the giant desk, his….his hoodie!

Like a life ring Virgil clung to it, burying his face into its familiar softness and breathing in the faint but still present smell of home. Now easing out of his panic, Virgil’s tears turned to regular, flat-out sobs into his hoodie, letting all his emotions out. He loathed crying in front of others, but the way Roman kept watching him like a hawk it was kind of impossible to avoid.

 Roman winced but Virgil seemed to be doing a little better at least. Note to self: Don’t take Virgil’s hoodie away. It seemed to help him more than he had realized. But he still wasn’t sure what to do. They definitely couldn’t continue on with training, that was for sure.

 Maybe he needed help...ugh, Roman couldn’t even believe he was even considering it. This whole thing was supposed to prove to Logan that he could do this on is own but...looking at Virgil he had to admit that he needed help. With a sigh, Roman carefully scooped Virgil up and placed him back in the cage, closing and locking it up.

Virgil let out a high-pitched noise of surprise when he was moved, but other than that he didn’t react he certainly didn’t lift his face out of the hoodie. He had no desire to be told how red and puffy his face looked right about now.

 Roman winced at the noise but ignored it for the most part. “I’ll be back later, alright?” And with that, Roman headed towards Logan’s room.

Virgil peeked up, noticing Roman was truly gone. He let out a dry chuckle, wiping the remaining wetness from his face.

“I guess that’s one way to get back a hoodie.” Virgil’s voice was a bit hoarse, but as he slipped the garment back on he felt much more at ease. He pulled the hood over his head, hoping to hide from the world forever.

***

 Roman didn’t even bother to knock as he barged into Logan’s room. “Logan!”

Logan jumped, looking over his shoulder from where he sat as his desk. Patton sat to his right keeping him company. “What is that matter with you?”

 Patton flinched at the sudden outburst, ducking more towards Logan and keeping a wary eye on the giant he knew to be Roman.

 Roman sighed, looking away. “I…” Roman groaned, he couldn’t believe he was doing this. “I need...help.” Roman mumbled, not looking at his brother.

“I see.” Logan’s tone turned softer, reaching out with one hand to comfort Patton while maintaining eye contact with his sibling. “How can I be of assistance?”

 Patton settled down a little as Logan’s hand came over to him. He still watched Roman intently though.

 Roman sighed. “I don’t know what happened but my human suddenly just...broke down. And all I was doing was trying to train him! And they were simple commands! I don’t understand why he just started crying like that!” At this point, Roman was pacing back and forth.

 Patton couldn’t help but wince at the knowledge that the other human had broken down. Poor kid must be just terrified. Patton wished no one else had to face this like he had. He, himself, had had a few breakdowns in the past. He shook just thinking back on those times.

Logan winced in sympathy, knowing how lost he had felt when Patton had breakdowns. They were certainly not uncommon in the first few weeks; after all, it was an extraordinary change for such a tiny life form to come here. The adjustment period had been brutal.

“What commands? And where is he now?” Logan asked, sounding concerned.

 Roman stopped pacing to turn to Logan once more. “Just the simple ones! Come, sit, go back in cage, and climb onto my hand.” Roman listed. “I left him in my room in the cage for some alone time. I’m hoping he’ll calm himself down…”

“It’s likely.” Logan nodded. “But I think I may see your problem. Climbing into a hand isn’t exactly a ‘simple’ command. It’s quite a feat of trust for a human and takes time. Even Patton struggled with it as well.”

 Patton nodded his head at that, remembering when Logan had first asked him to do that. He had been terrified. Grabbing was one thing but being asked to do it of your own will? Patton couldn’t do it for a long time. 

 Now though, he barely even thought about it anymore. 

 Roman paused. “He did?” He hummed. “Well, that makes me feel a bit better about things…”

“You have to take things slow, Roman.” Logan instructed. “Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither is trust. If you truly want things to work out you should really try bonding with your human before you try training.”

 “Wait, what? You mean you didn’t just jump right into training?” Roman was basing everything he did off of Logan, after all.

“Of course not.” Logan shook his head. “I needed Patton to trust me first. Truly my first goal was to get him to open up; whatever happened with father and Dee scared him silent.”

 Patton shivered, not even wanting to think about those other giants. He pushed that very far back into his mind.

 Roman frowned. “Oh.” Well then he was doing this very wrong. “Well...how did you bond with uh, Patton then?”

“Food, mostly.” Logan shrugged, giving Patton a gentle comforting squeeze as he felt the human’s nervousness. “As well as respecting boundaries. Although later on I found that one of the most effective tactics was touch, surprisingly.”

 Oh that was not good, Patton could help but think. Just cause he was responsive to touch did not mean the other guy would be.

 “Hmm, alright. I can work with that!” Roman grinned. “Thanks Lo!” He ran out of the room, heading first towards the kitchen.

 Patton looked where Roman had gone before looking up at Logan. “Um...Do you think it’ll actually work?” He asked Logan.

“I’m not sure.” Logan hummed, looking down at him. “But hopefully he’ll approach things with a gentler touch now.”

 “I hope so.” Patton said. At this point, that was all he could wish for the other human.

[mindfulmcgivern]

20 Ways to Slow Down & Enjoy the Things that Matter

“For fast-acting relief, try slowing down.” — Lily Tomlin

Living a simple life is about taking the foot off the accelerator so you have the time to take a deep breath and appreciate the view.

Recently, I was in a book shop looking for some inspiration and a new book to read. After much indecision I found myself drawn to a book called “SLOW” by Brooke McAlary.

The beautiful crafted front cover grabbed my attention with 3 simple words: “Live life simply”.

Now the books in my hands had me hooked and excited to look inside. What sealed the deal and got the purchase over the line was a letter on page one from Brooke to the world. She wrote:

“Dear Mr and Mrs Jones,

I am writing to inform you of my withdrawal from the race to keep up with you. It has come to my attention that prolonged attempts to compete with you have been detrimental to my health, my bank account, my self-confidence and my ability to feel content. This is a price I am no longer willing to pay”.

I digested this 264 page book in less than a week.

The message of slowing down and simplifying life was something I have been striving towards for some time.  Reading Brooke’s journey reminded me the journey so far has been 100% worthwhile.

Similar to Brooke’s story, I got to a point where I didn’t want to feel I was competing with everyone around me. I wanted a life on my terms that offered balance. I didn’t want to feel like the running hamster on that ever turning wheel of life. Over time I feel I have achieved that vision.

What about you?

You will never get a Better Opportunity to Embrace a Slower Pace of life than Now!

With the consequences of Covid-19 the pace of life has dramatically slowed overnight. People have literally stopped running from one engagement to the next. Staying at home has become the new normal.

Demands have diminished. Daily routines have been interrupted. We suddenly have time.

What can we do with that time?

We have the opportunity to slow down.

Covid-19 is slowing the pace of life down all around the world. We virtually can’t go faster, so why not ease back and find a way how to enjoy what life can offer.

While the impact of the pandemic has been tough on our lives and mental wellbeing the enforced slowing down has many benefits worth exploring.

Remember when we would say, “I wish I had more time to do other things other than just work”. Well- guess what? You can!

The current moment offers a unique chance to push back against the cult of speed and to continue life in a slower, more meaningful way.

 Life before Covid-19

Before Covid-19 we had created a frantic lifestyle in which not a minute was wasted. The 24 hours of each day was carved up, dissected, and reduced to 10-minute blocks of efficiency.

·         We become agitated in the doctor’s surgery waiting for more than 5 minutes.

·         We grew frustrated with never ending traffic congestion.

·         We became annoyed by the supermarket lines.

·         We took our smartphones with us on holiday.

·         We would go through our emails at restaurants

·         We attended to our online bank accounts while walking in the park.

We had become slaves to our “urgent” appointments and to-do lists. Life was about speed.

An example of how the speed of our lives was increasing was conducted in the U.K by the University of Hertfordshire. Their study found the walking speed of pedestrians in 34 cities around the world had increased by 10% from 1995 to 2005.

What Does a Slow Living Lifestyle Really look like?

Sloww.co defines slow living as a conscious choice to push back against the state of constant busyness and “time poverty.” It’s an approach to life that emphasises balance and simplicity.

The lifestyle focus embraces :

·         Reflection and mindfulness

·         Savouring of lifes unique moments

·         Pacing activities rather than rushing

·         Connection with ourself and the world around us

·         Finding a life of purpose and meaning

·         Discovering a flow like state with everything we do

 Finding the Real you

Through the years of speed and busyness did you have those moments when you imagined this perfect time when you could be still and do the things you loved when you were younger?

Did you crave the opportunity to just be?

This restoration of our inner selves is the part of us that shouts out from afar. It’s the part of us that images, dreams and wants to question who we are and what is important?

We have been living too fast. We have sold our inner selves to the devil of speed, efficiency, money, hyper-connectivity, “progress.”

When we have the chance, like we do now, to slow and listen to our inner self we start to hear the breathing of our spirit. The awareness of those breaths shows us a way of living that releases us from being a prisoner of a hectic lifestyle. We are no longer held captive by the world around us.

What Slow Living isn’t

It’s useful to gain some perspective around the idea of slowing living and simple living.

What does it mean?

A good starting point is to understand what slow living isn’t.

An article called, “Slow Living 301: How to Start a Slow Living Lifestyle,” offers some great insights into breaking down perceived perceptions around slow living. Quoting the author Kyle Kowalski, she writes:

·         Slow living is about doing everything as slowly as possible: This is definitely one of the biggest misperceptions. Slow living is not about living your life in slow motion. It’s about doing everything at the right speed and pacing instead of rushing. Slow living isn’t about losing time by going slowly; it’s about gaining time by doing the things that are most important to you.

·         Slow living is the same as simple living: The theme was that you can live simply but not slowly, and you can live slowly but not simply. I’ve found that simple living is more focused on things (materialism, consumption, etc) and slow living is more focused on time (energy, balance, etc). Some of us choose to take the best of both worlds and live slowly and simply—think of it like a Venn diagram where there’s some overlap in the middle.

·         Slow living is about doing and being less: I read an article where the author said she was giving up slow living because she was “losing my identity.” While slow living eliminates the non essentials from your life, the intent is to free up time so you can be more.

·         Slow living is anti-technology: Slow living isn’t about traveling back in time. It’s about using technology as a tool instead of technology using you.

 Step 1: Where do we start?

Lifestyle habits do not change easily. There will always be some form of resistance to do things differently.   There needs to be a conscious effort to uncover our priorities and what inspires us in life if we want things to change.   The only way we can begin to uncover what change looks like for us is by questioning “WHY?”

What is important? What benefits are there to gain by changing to a slower simpler living lifestyle?

In her book “SLOW,” Brooke McAlary acknowledges the importance of understanding “Why?” She writes:“Having and knowing my Why helps me decide what actions to take”.

Through the process of discovery we will find our reason for wanting/needing to embrace a slower simpler life. It will establish our foundation that will support on the journey, especially when we may be confronted with doubt.

STEP 2: Unearthing what a slower simplified approach to life looks like.

What can we do to make life easier?

You may have found that the last few months have given you more time to think and reflect on what’s really important to you. When we slow down, we are more likely to gain value from the smaller things in our everyday existence. Simplifying our lives helps create unlimited possibilities for personal growth

For me I have found tapping into creativity has become a valued and rewarding new habit. With the extra time now available I am inspired to try writing blogs like the one you are reading now. I do not profess to be any good; yet it offers me an outlet to slow down and enjoy.

I look for nothing other than happiness from the process. It gives me a sense of direction and purpose I did not have before.

What are some changes you can make in your lifestyle to simplify your life?

20 Ways to Slow Down and Find Simplified Life

Sometimes we need a little inspiration to point us in the right direction.

If you need some great ideas how to transform your life, by choosing less, I highly recommend Leo Babauta at ‘Zen Habits’. A prolific blogger who offers some cool concepts we all can try to slow down and enjoy life:

1. Do less. It’s hard to slow down when you are trying to do a million things. Instead, make the conscious choice to do less.

2. be present. It’s not enough to just slow down — you need to actually be mindful of whatever you’re doing at the moment. That means, when you find yourself thinking about something you need to do, or something that’s already happened, or something that might happen … gently bring yourself back to the present moment. Focus on what’s going on right now.

3. Disconnect. Don’t always be connected. Being connected all the time means we’re subject to interruptions. We’re constantly stressed about information coming in; we are at the mercy of the demands of others. It’s tough to slow down when you’re always checking new messages coming in.

4. Focus on people. Too often we spend time with friends and family, or meet with colleagues, and we’re not really there with them. We talk to them but are distracted by devices. We are there, but our minds are on things we need to do. We listen, but we’re really thinking about ourselves and what we want to say. Just try being 100% there for the other person.

5. Appreciate nature. Take the time to go outside and really observe nature. Exercise outdoors when you can, or find other outdoor activities to enjoy such as nature walks, hiking, etc.

6. Learn to Eat slower. Be mindful of each bite. Appreciate the flavours and textures. Just focus on that one activity. No book, no phone.

7. Drive slower. Make it a habit to slow down when you drive. Appreciate your surroundings. Make it a peaceful time to contemplate your life, and the things you’re passing.

8. Find pleasure in chores. This is related to being present. Whatever you’re doing, be fully present. For example, when washing dishes, instead of rushing through it as a boring chore to be finished quickly, really feel the sensations of the water, the suds, and the dishes. It can really be an enjoyable task if you learn to see it that way. The same applies to other chores — washing the car, sweeping, dusting, laundry — and anything you do.

9. Single-task. Focus on one thing at a time. When you feel the urge to switch to other tasks, pause, breathe, and pull yourself back.

10. Breathe. When you find yourself speeding up and stressing out, pause, and take a deep slow breath. By fully focusing on each breath, you bring yourself back to the present, and slow yourself down. Next time you get into your car take a moment to take three deep breathes before turning on the engine.

11. Know what’s Important. The simple version of simplifying is “Identify what’s important, and eliminate the rest.” So take time to identify the most important things in your life.

12. Say No to Extra Commitments. Now that you’ve identified what’s important, you need to start saying “No” to things that aren’t on your important list.

13. Limit Tasks. Each morning, list your 1-3 most important tasks. Limiting your tasks helps you focus, and acknowledges you’re not going to get everything done in one day.

14. Carve out Un-distraction Time. When are you going to do your most important work? Schedule it with a block of time (1 hour, 2 hours, 3 hours, whatever works for you). Make this your most sacred appointment. Just do the most important task, then the next one if you have time.

15. Slow Down. We rush through our days, almost in a single frenetic anxiety-filled non-stop movement. Instead, slow down. Life won’t collapse if you aren’t rushing from task to task, email to email. You can pause, take a moment to reflect, smile, and enjoy the current task before moving on.

16. Create Space. We cram our tasks and meetings together, and leave no spaces between them. The space between things is just as important as the things themselves. Leave a little space between meetings, even tasks. Take a break. Enjoy the space.

17. Give yourself time to get ready and get there. If you’re constantly rushing to appointments in an anxious state, it’s because you haven’t allowed enough time.

18. Practice being comfortable with doing nothing. One thing I’ve noticed is that when people have to wait, they become impatient or uncomfortable. Try standing in line and be patient.

19. Realize that if it doesn’t get done, that’s OK. There’s always tomorrow. The world likely won’t end if you don’t get that task done today.

20. Get in touch with your Creativity. Tap into your artistic side.

 What Does the Future look like Beyond Covid-19

We all will at some point emerge from the restrictions imposed by Covid-19. Therefore, it is essential we purposely try and maintain the lessons we have learnt and experienced from living a slower life.

We do not want to get suckered back on the merry go round of a fast paced life.

A recent research article by Giana Eckhardt and Katharina Husemann addresses this very point. ‘How to maintain a slower pace of life after lockdown,’ offers three key areas of focus:

1.       Slowing down your body

If possible, resist the urge to re-connect with fast modes of transport to get to and from work such as the bus and train.

Try to continue with slower methods of moving such as walking or cycling. Besides the physical benefits their research indicates a slower pace allows for a stronger connection for deep reflection between body and mind.

2.       Controlling your technology use

During lockdown, technology has been used to revitalize meaningful connections to those important to us. It has been beneficial reinforcing close connections around the world.

They urge us to continue these meaningful practices as you emerge from lockdown. This helps cultivate long lasting close communities, rather than shallow and short, relations with others.

 3.       Limiting your activities

During lockdown, activities and choices were limited such as fast food and dining experiences.

They remind to try and remember the feeling of making your own food, and sharing it with your household, rather than running back to eating out and on the go. As some form of normality resumes try to maintain practices like stopping work to eat your lunch in the middle of the day, and continue to take breaks, preferably with others and outdoors when you can.

  Moving Forward

At some point, Covid-19 will pass. There will be staggering loss and enormous economic devastation. That tragedy cannot be overstated. For years, we will be trying to rebuild the broken world. But perhaps the slower lifestyle in these months can help put the pieces back together. And perhaps a more contemplative, deliberate way of living can become permanent.

So how can we use the lessons of the last few months to rebalance our lives?

Could you spend a bit less time socialising?

Could you negotiate longer-term homeworking so you don’t lose time to commuting?

If you don’t practice being present, slowing down, enjoying the moment right now, when will you practice?

What are you practicing now instead?

Resetting boundaries around your time is key – try taking some control back and say ‘no’ to something if it doesn’t align with your new slower pace.

It could be meditation, a walk in a park, reading a book or simply having a slower morning. It doesn’t matter what you do, as long as it makes you happy and it’s something that allows you to remain calm and stress-free.

Don’t allow this major time in our lifetime go to waste. Purposely embrace a slower living simpler lifestyle.

What actions can you take to make a difference?

[fandoms-are-what-i-do]

Day 7_ Miraculous

Day 7- Interviews

@ladynoirjuly2020

Ladybug spun her yoyo around a pole as she landed on the ground. There was Chat, waiting for her at the door of the empty studio. "I guess I'm going first?" She said and he nodded. They talked about this a few days ago at patrol, the interviewer wanted them sepreatly, that way, he or she could get all the answers from their own perspective without fighting and this time it was in private as well. It was almost a year after that last indecent with the 'Prime Queen'. It was way out of control to start with.

As she headed in, she looked around and there sat her best friend Alya Cesaire in a sofa chair with a notepad, a bunch of pens, and a warm latte with funny glasses on her face. Another sofa chair was across as well as a table inbetween. "Ladybug! Glad you were able to come. Chat Noir is coming, right?" She asked. " Definitely. " LB said as she took a seat in the empty chair. Alya began to ask, "So Ladybug...what do you like doing in you're free time?" " M-my free time?! " she squeaked. Ladybug was not prepared for this. Alya laghed, "You sound as panicked as my friend Marinette. But don't worry, you don't have to say everything." " O-ok then, to answer your question, I usually craft...stuff. It's my hobby. "

"Nice! Next question!" she yelled although Ladybuug was close enough to hear a whisper. "What's your favorite things? Like what do you enjoy in life?" " Well, I do like helping people. " Mmmhhhmm" Alya said taking a sip of her coffee and wrote something down on her notepad. "Now... What do you think of Chat Noir? Your partner? Got any feelings for him? I'm sure you do." " W-what?! No. Hes my partner. Sometimes he is a little well, high on puns. Always using 5 to 6 of them in one sentence. Pretty annoying if you ask me, but whether or not, he is my partner and without him, I would barley be able to fight a battle against hawkmoth! But luckily I got a few other miraculous in case something goes wrong. Which barely happens any-hoo. Just don't ask him the same question or he'll start rambling." "Anyhoo huh? I'll make sure I'll ask him. Tell me all you want LB but there is no way you two are not made for each other. You guys are practically yin and yang!" " Really Alya, I seriously don't have any relationship desires with Chat. " Ladybug explained again. "Ok but...I still want to hear Chat Noirs point of view. Off you go." Alya said waving goodbye as Ladybug left by the exit.

 *Chat Noir*

 "Hey Alya!" Chat Noir said as he took a seat next to her on the sofa where Ladybug sat. "Ready?" Alya asked Chat as she adjusted her funny glasses. " Ready then ever! " "Ok then...1st question! What do you like doing in you're free time?" " Dream of M'lady of course. " he said a little dazed in he thoughts with a little smile spread across his face. "Chat, you need to focus. This is serious buisness." " Alright then, ask the next. " Chat Noir said. Apparently he was much more calm then Ladybug. "Fine. What do you like?" " Ladybug! " he said crossing his legs over another and resting is head back against his arms. "Chat Noir? No offense or anything but...is there anything other than LB that you care to mention?" Alya said with one eyebrow raised as the jotted something else down on her notepad. " Of course not! She's purrfect. Ameowzing...furderful...bemeowtiful... " he said dreamly. "Bemeowtiful? Ok seriously now I understand what LB was talking about with the way to many puns. How bout your favorite food?" " Well, that's kind of hard...I do like passion fruit...anything really. I just really love food! " "You know who else likes passion fruit?" Aly asked with a sly smile. "W-who?"  "Adrien." " Ha ha ha really I had no idea! I guess we have that in common. Haaha! " he laughed nervously and a beat of sweat came down his neck. Alya wrote another thing down on her notepad. "You're fine Chat. What did you expect? Now...if you like Ladybug so much... Please explain you're feelings for her." " Oh now that's easy. I love her. " "You aren't in a relationship though. Right?"  Chat Noir looked a little sad for a moment. "No...But we will be! I just need to give her more time! And then we'll get married and--" "Hold it Chat....I need to write it down you're talking too fast." she said holding her palm up. "Wait, you're writing this?!" " Yup..ever word actully. " she replied without looking at him, her eyes still on her notepad. "Well in that case...She hasn't realized it yet!" He continued , "but soon, she'll realize how gorgeous I really am. And then when we bust up hawkmoth, well reveal our real identities to each other. And we'll get a cute little hamster!" " That's nice and all but we're trying to focus on the present right now. " "Oh...well in this case...I just have to not give up...even if that means waiting for 24 more years. " he said crossing his armed with a frown. "And what makes you think that?" " Mlady says she loves someone else...But I don't get it. " "Ok that's it kitty you're coming with me!' Ladybug came out of nowhere getting ready to drag him out as she pulled his suit towards the door. "Hey we weren't there done yet! "Alya shot up from her seat. "Sorry Alya...I guess superheroes aren't made for interviews," Chat said last with a shrug before he was completely dragged out of the building.

*ExTrA*

 "Why were you telling her all that?!" Ladybug demanded as she dropped him on the floor. " Well mlady, I really wasn't thinking, she is pretty smart, but ofcourse not as smart as you " he said standing back up. "So basically you're saying she put you in a trance? You could of revealed your secret! " "The only secret is out upcoming relationship in the future mlady, I can feel it." He said pointing to the sky with another dreamy smile. " Uhh, sometimes Chat, you're impossible to deal with. " Ladybug sighed with a facepalm.

[kinsie]

Game Impressions from PAX Aus 2019

Wake the fuck up, samurai. We've got a city to burn.

Every year I go to PAX Aus with some close friends to check out the Incredible Future of Games that everyone else already checked out six months ago, along with some cool weird indie shit and some awesome retro stuff. And every year, I write a little diary of what I saw to share my impressions with my friends. This is that diary.

Doom Eternal

Okay, let's get this out of the way. I played Doom Eternal pretty much as soon as I got on the show floor. It may shock you to know that it is, in fact, good.

No pictures of the demo units, sorry, so have this big logo.

The demo started with a little grey-box tutorial map just to teach you what you need to know for the demo level, since it was taken from the middle of the game. It looked very Snapmap-y and had some Doom 2 MIDI music playing. After that we were given about 25 minutes to acquaint ourselves with the lengthy "Mars Core" mission they've been showing since E3. I was at the start of the first arena of the hell bit when I ran out of time. :(

Here are some scattered thoughts from playing:

Your standard running around and double jumping feels much the same as in Doom 2016. The dashing feels great, although I think it might reduce your air control a little afterwards as I had some trouble overshooting a platform in the floating debris bit.

Climbing walls felt a bit weird to me. You have to press E on the wall manually to grab onto it, which feels a bit unintuitive when you're plummeting past it. Also feels a bit odd considering mantling up walls is automatic. You can auto-grab onto walls if you dash into it, but I think it's only for the first bit of the dash? Maybe I'm just bad at videogames.

I think the Combat and Super Shotguns now use different ammo types? I could have swore there were situations where I could select the Combat Shotgun but not the SSG.

The Chainsaw now no longer has even the slightest pretence of being a "real" weapon. It's now just a swing animation when you press the button, like a melee attack, before bringing your weapon back up.

When you have the SSG's Meat Hook attachment, a little meathook icon appears below the crosshair. When you're close enough to an enemy to grapple onto them, the icon floats over them, indicating that it has some kind of auto-aim mechanic to reduce frustration.

There was a monster with swords on its arms that acted an awful lot like the Baron of Hell (might have been the Hell Knight, looking at the Quakecon footage of the same fight) but it looked quite different. Looked fuckin' cool, whatever it was.

The platforming but in the debris section with the giant floating red barrels was actually kind of frustrating. It wasn't always clear where you needed to go, and the climbable bits tended to blend in with the rest of the world. Then again, keep in mind I have a frankly abysmal sense of direction. Thankfully falling into the void just whacks you for a paltry five health and teleports you back onto safe ground.

The locational damage stuff is really fun. Breaking a monster's guns has a satisfying metal "PING" sound to it to inform you that the dude got fucked up and is weaker now, and that you should keep doing it.

When I picked up one of those "?" secrets, the pop-up box told me that they unlocked "collectable dolls" and "cheat codes". The former is vague, but I suspect they'll be like the mini-Doomguys but of more characters. I'd imagine the latter will be like in Rage 2.

Oh, and it looks a million bucks, too. Though you probably didn't need me to tell you that.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with what I saw and it's even more of a pity it's not coming out next month.

Not Indie Games, But Also Not Doom Eternal

The Vive Cosmos felt really comfy - the lack of cabling and the decent display resolution made it feel a lot more natural than the Gen 1 Vives I've previously used. The game they were using to demo (Audica), however, was pretty lame. A rhythm-target shooter that didn't really take advantage of the medium at all.

Bleeding Edge was not inspiring. It was basically the control point mode from TF2 or Overwatch, except every character was a third-person brawler with little emphasis on projectile weapons beyond the occasional special. It felt like someone making a claim at TF2 or Overwatch's throne several years late while bolting a weak character action game on, which is fairly odd considering how innovative and critically acclaimed Ninja Theory's previous game was.

Dreams is fairly fascinating in its potential. The creation tools weren't available in the demo build so I can’t really judge them, instead there was a choice of eight developer-made experiences ranging from Mario-inspired obstacle courses to videogames as art.

I didn't get the chance to actually play MediEvil, but I watched some folks play it and it basically just looks like the PS1 game with more triangles, with all the slightly wonky 32-bit gameplay that entails.

The demo unit for Monkey King: Hero Is Back had some utterly bizarre graphics settings for some reason that made it look like I was playing a JPEG file, with big whopping compression artifacts surrounding each character. Weird!

Not happenin’.

Indie Games

Grabimals is a brilliant local co-op puzzler where players roll around as shapes and link together to solve puzzles like catching a falling water droplet, crossing a gap or casting a shadow that matches an example image. Supposedly it's still a ways off from release, but it's already impressively polished (disregarding one hilarious crash bug we found by accident!)

Hamster Scramble is a really fun take on Puzzle Bobble, with platforming elements, team play and the ability to jump over to your opponent's screen and fuck their plans up directly. It's an absolute blast and didn't feel like it was almost a year away from release.

Fork Knights is a platform fighter with an emphasis on one-hit kills. The character designs are cute, but I can't really say the gameplay itself struck me, to be honest.

Baron is an eight-player single-screen local multiplayer dogfighter. Fairly simple mechanically, but pretty fun all things considered.

Broken Roads had some lovely hand-painted art assets and some interesting ideas like a literal moral compass, but the demo build showcased was waaaaay too early to be shown off to the public. Of the eight or so areas present in the demo, only two had any characters, interactivity or really anything other than wandering around set up, and the combat side of things was extremely rough and sequestered off to a side area as a "well, if you insist..." kind of deal.

Misadventure In Little Lon is a true-crime adventure game for mobile with a unique mechanic - each "scene" is integrated into the real world via AR, with characters (that resemble Poser models more than a little bit) speaking to you directly. Not sure if it holds up over an entire game, but it's attention-garnering at least.

Speaking of true crime, The Black Window tasks players with using an Oujia board to question Australia's first female serial killer, with responses taken from court records and letters from the time. The well-acted performances of the actual individual in question's words lends it an impressive atmosphere, which the booth added to with a big wooden oujia board type thing you could "type" on. Sort of.

ACID KNIFE is real, real early, but the aesthetic is awesome and the pixel art is great. Hopefully it grows and expands into something special.

The Vigilante Proclivities of the Longspur is an oldschool Lucasarts-inspired point-and-click adventure with a custom demo scene set at an oddly-familiar videogame convention. Pretty promising so far, but could do with a good bit of polish - I'm pretty sure there was only one sound effect in the entire demo, and dialogue was often lacking in punctuation.

I didn't get to play Hot Brass but I watched over shoulders and talked with the developers, and it looked pretty cool. It's basically a take on SWAT 4's rarely-imitated brand of tactical copwork, but with a Hotline Miami-style top-down perspective, but with all the characters abstracted down to simple board game like tokens - a circle with a coloured outline denoting attitude towards the player, with a weapon icon if armed.

Blood Metal... Blood Metal is not good. It is extensively not good. Development seems to have only started in July, so one can still hope that the bad AI, unsatisfying gunplay, buggy collision detection and complete lack of damage feedback (outside of some ridiculous, sight-obscuring gouts of blood) get fixed over time. The 80s action movie aesthetic and low-poly artstyle forces it to be compared to Maximum Action, which is at least a fun kind of jank...

This Starry Void is a real-time, tile-based 3D dungeon crawler set in an abandoned spacecraft. It seems pretty cool so far, but it could probably use some UI/UX tweaks. The attempts at a "graphic novel inspired" visual style for the environments could probably benefit from looking at how Void Bastards did things, as well.

Lethal Lawns and Beam Team are fucking arcade games with massive cabinets. In 2019. Granted, they're also on computers and coming to consoles and stuff as well, but still! They're both pretty simple games, and therefore best played in cabinet form.

Unpacking is a "zen puzzle game" by the developers of Assault Android Cactus about the second-worst part of moving house, unloading an unseen character's packing and getting a glimpse into their lives as a result. I wasn’t able to play it due to an unexpectedly-crowded booth, but the pixel art is quite lovely.

Feather is a chill game about being a bird and flying around an island trying to find its secrets. I tried the Switch port, which played alright but obviously (and understandably) toted a lower framerate than the demo PC.

Topple Pop is a cute puzzle game that blends together elements of Tetris, Puyo Puyo and that one joke game that was Tetris but with a proper physics engine. Looks cute, with a fun gimmick!

Shooty Skies Overdrive is an VR spinoff of the popular mobile shmup, and basically similar to that one shmup minigame in Valve's The Lab. Weave your plane, which is attached to one of your hands, through incoming bullets and enemies like a toy! The 3D effect on the incoming projectiles looks great, but they can tend to get in the way of the action sometimes.

Dead Static Drive has been at like the last three PAXes and it looks better every time I see it. I hope it comes out this decade.

Snow Mercy is a third-person shooter/strategy thing where you hunt down icecubes to spend on an army of snowmen to crush your opponent's base before they crush yours. Not a common genre combo, reminds me of C&C Renegade a bit.

The Adventure Pals has graphics straight out of mid-2000s Newgrounds and level design out of pretty much any european platformer, but it didn't seem too bad from my brief prodding at it. The player character is perhaps a bit too small for my elderly eyes in Switch portable mode, but that's about as far as my gripes go.

[selenafreshfriendkidoaf]

Gemini Horoscope Date

GEMINI Character Qualities: All that YOU Really want TO Realize ABOUT THE ZODIAC SIGN Counting Geminians' similarity with other visionary signs. The third sign in the zodiac, Gemini (May 21 - June 20) is represented by the heavenly twins Castor and Pollux, and is known for being quite possibly of the most friendly and enthusiastic visionary sign.

Gemini Horoscope Date

With an inherent capacity to show two unique sides of themselves to the world, Geminians are savvy, fascinating people — frequently multi-joins with various leisure activities and interests — who can coexist well with pretty much anybody. Their flexibility and magnificent relational abilities sparkle particularly working, where their excitement for new provokes and enthusiasm to oversee different undertakings simultaneously are frequently valued.

Here, Safe-haven soothsayer Jennifer Fukushima makes sense of the principal qualities of a Gemini, and, surprisingly, the zodiac sign's similarity with different signs.

Gemini is governed by Mercury and is an air sign. Gemini is the primary air indication of the zodiac, making these people major areas of strength for mentally, and youthful on a basic level. In this lifetime, Gemini people should figure out how to sharpen their psychological energy to turn out to be more focused, useful and effective.

Mercury is the courier of the zodiac, blessing occupied Gemini with solid correspondence capacities, a hunger for information and a desire for movement. The vaporous idea of Gemini permits this sign to hold a goal perspective by zeroing in on the realities as opposed to overdoing it with sentiments. Mercury governs the hands, enriching Gemini with brilliant manual skill, making them a characteristic stone carver, piano player or back rub specialist.

Gemini Similarity Very much like frozen yogurt, there are various kinds of Gemini. It's critical to look past the sun sign while surveying similarity. Breezy, open Gemini can be mixed with enthusiastic fire, emotive water or indifferent earth which definitely adjusts similarity. As an impermanent sign, Gemini coexists well with people from varying backgrounds, yet particularly individual air signs, Libra and Aquarius.

Gemini Attributes Character Qualities Whether it be text, talk, visit or video calls, Gemini loves to interface through discussion. Gemini is intellectually deft, yet they seriously love pleasantry and play overall. Unconstrained and youthful on a basic level, Gemini is in many cases the energy everyone needs, captivating in games, underhandedness and fun times.

Qualities Gemini is a genuine handyman. On the off chance that you really want somebody flexible in your group, call Gemini. Geminis can be gifted essayists, instructors and communicators. They additionally succeed at active work, making them tricky, helpful and once in a while even imaginative. Gemini's vaporous nature makes them level headed, judicious scholars who don't get too up to speed in profound scenes.

Challenges Mercury-governed Gemini locals can become up to speed in their minds effectively, prompting a hamster wheel of rotating contemplations and nervousness. Gemini must ground to reach out to their sentiments and their body. Contemplation is an extraordinary way for Gemini to get control over that rowdy cerebrum and gain a few lucidity and inner serenity. Naming sentiments can assist Gemini with quieting the brain and live more in the present.

[jeadvisors-blog]

some things I practiced in 2018 I want to get better at next year

December, ‎2018

One conversation, few weeks ago, with an energy tech startup executive about change management turned into an impromptu mentoring session where we both reflected on what was learned in the past year, and how the lessons could be used to adjust personal development and help pen down goals for personal growth in the new year.

Many think that year-end reviews in the workplace are depleting. In my opinion, focusing on changing behaviors throughout the year can be a better strategy to achieve tangible results. Here are some of the things I practiced in 2018 and I’d love to read in the comments what others have learned that has helped them change their approach or behavior.

Being a good listener and changing your lingo will take you further

It takes a lot of practice to become a good listener that others want to talk to. Being a good listener does not come easy for some of us. Many a time, when others are speaking, our minds are quickly connecting the dots and racing with multiple ideas we think are helpful, and it takes a lot of effort to not interrupt or talk over them. When we are impatient, we miss out on a real opportunity to learn something new, learn why they are talking to us, what they are looking for and what it is that they need.

Maintaining eye contact, reducing distractions, listening attentively and letting them primarily do the talking are all good habits. I have practiced choosing the right words and limiting the jargon to respond and get people to really open up and engage in deliberate conversations. They and you will feel genuinely heard, valued and appreciated.

As I look back at the year, many conversations went well and I know where I could have done better, a lot better potentially. Practice, practice, practice should enable me to continue to build lasting relationships based on trust and mutual respect.

Surrounding yourself with good company will make you better

Everyone has a story comprised of ups and downs, pride and some regret, and several lessons along the way. People we keep in our lives will probably influence our choices.

If you want to achieve a certain goal, it is very useful to surround yourself with people that share those goals or have already achieved them. If you want to be happy, I think it is important to surround yourself with individuals that make you laugh and that genuinely care about your wellbeing. If you want to be an entrepreneur, why not network with established professionals that share the same desire or have already accomplished what you want to do.

In the past year, I have learned so much more about the energy tech and upstream space from innovators, entrepreneurs, investment professionals, other executives, recruiters and many individuals that share my goals and want to leave a thumbprint in their fields.

Listening to their stories and learning from their experience has and will continue to help me grow further and achieve more in the new year.

Engaging young professionals will enhance your perspective

The concept of time is a difficult one. It moves in one direction, we get older at home and in the office, and hopefully wiser if we are continuously learning. I enjoy being a mentor and believe in the concept of helping one person at a time. Reverse learning has always been a great side benefit because of those involved; these professionals have often been and are very driven, creative and ambitious individuals with true grit.

As time goes by, some are now noticeably younger than me. They want to discuss novel and non-traditional career choices, the evolving workplace where rigid hierarchy is disappearing quickly, where employees want to be visibly more empowered, where social responsibility is essential, where culture and diversity matter greatly, where technology becomes obsolete as soon as it is introduced and where automated workflows and cognitive machine learning environments are both fascinating and scary.

Relying on mentors with years of experience has been good for me. As I reflect back at the past year, several conversations with younger professionals have improved my perspective and I have used some of the findings to better connect and engage at home, as a parent, with my two young adult kids.

Taking time to stop and smell the roses will improve your wellbeing

Often times, we find ourselves determined to find satisfaction on a hamster wheel and may miss out on opportunities to appreciate the meaningful things and people in our lives. Numerous quotes will ring true but the challenge lies in the implementation. We have all, at one point, mentioned that we are too busy to meet someone we liked or looked up to.

Building deeper relationships by laughing together or making others feel special can pay dividends. I believe that giving is better than receiving and being present when needed is very important. Making time for family and friends, conducting one-on-ones, using positive affirmations and language, reading a good book, taking a stroll outdoors, learning how to meditate, practicing gratitude and being thankful are not difficult tasks. These actions require an honest commitment and can significantly impact your own wellbeing.

As I reflect on the year, I spent time with loved ones, not enough, I was there for some people, I practiced gratitude and took time to enjoy the little things, but as a student of learning, I cannot give myself a high mark. I believe I can do much better.

Reflecting back on some of the things one has learned in 2018 should help sketch better resolutions that one can sustain in the new year using a think, plan, execute and improve approach. Some readers may have additional insight and may want to share in the comments section. I thank you in advance.

Best wishes to everyone and Happy New Year 2019.

[cerebralrecess-blog]

My “Us” Movie Theory...

My theory...

Jordan Peele says that this movie isn’t about race. But knowing that he likes to delve into the human psyche and psychology, most notably the ideas of what composes the human being and their experience, I believe that he’s creating a “series” of films, each one going slightly deeper than the last.

“Get Out” was a dialogue about the situations, mindsets and opinions of others that shape the African American experience in America. I believe that this insert of the “series” is exploring how those same elements affect the actual psychology and spiritual make up of black people, dealing specifically with the idea of creating the “self”, which effects the perspective(s) with which those experiences are had and the choices that may result.

So it’s not about race per say but about identify.... of which race is merely an attribute. Rather than narrowing down, he seems to be blossoming out and expanding on ideas he’s previously presented in “Get Out”. Getting deeper.

He asked Lupita to watch several films before filming. What stood out to me is that a few of those films were created by two masters of symbolism; M. Night Shyamalan, and Stanley Kurbrick. One of the films, “The Sixth Sense” by M. Night uses color (Red) to convey specific messages about the human experience to the audience. Kubrick often uses color but in “The Shining” he uses ambiguous language and historical references to convey messages, often about human absurdity and our own self perceived supremacy which is actually hubris created by ignorance.

Just in the trailer, I’ve noticed Peele’s use of color and symbols to give us an idea of what I think his message may be:

COLORS:

Beige/White/Tan: These colors often seen on the same spectrum represent purity, innocence, goodness... Lupita is seen wearing a white hat as she teaches her son to stay on “beat”, the car seats are beige, Jason is wearing a white t-shirt. In addition to white representing “goodness”, in America it represents conformity... blandness, acceptance. It is also a color that “reflects” light. (I’ll come back to that.)

Red: Red represents passion, aggression, anger, willpower, it commands attention. In African culture it also represents death/mourning/sadness. The “tethered” are seen donned in red cloaks.

Gold: The scissors welded by the “tethered” are gold. Gold represents what is precious, riches, warmness, wealth, the sun...

Notes: The “tethered” hold the scissors close to their chest... in casket position. Representing a spiritual death maybe.

OTHER SYMBOLS:

Fire and Water: We see the family arrived at the beach with an overhead shot of them walking with the water above them. Whenever we see the “tethered” in the trailer there is usually fire accompanying them in some way. Both water and fire are elements; formidable and powerful in their own respects. Fire with the ability to engulf and consume. Water though can extinguish and essentially “smother” fire.

White Rabbit: We see white rabbits caged in one scene of the trailer and a black rabbit among them. When Peele tweeted the trailer, he said “watch yourself”. Jefferson Airplane has a song called “White Rabbit” which is essential the story of Alice in Wonderland. There is one line that reminds Alice to “keep her head”. Meaning... don’t lose yourself.

Ballerina: We see two ballerinas in the trailer. The “tethered” ballerina and the natural ballerina both donned in a white dress and tutu. No distinction other than the crowd versus the silence.

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER:

I believe that in some aspects, “Us” is a nod to W.E.B. DuBois’ “The Souls of Black Folks” wherein he discussed the perceived “whitewashing”’/conformity of African Americans as a means of survival and ascension in America, thus creating “good” (souls) people at the cost of sacrificing the pure “soul”. The soul in an of itself is often referred to as the light that is contained in each of us which is the nucleus for who we truly are as well as a guide to who we continue to become; the light which is emitted to others as a means of identification. The soul is also often likened to a “fire” (which is also a light). The soul is also seen as a “rhythm” which may explain why Jason is not “on beat” as he lacks that soul connection.

From the beginning we see the Wilson family embracing white/beige or a more colorless cultural identity through their apparel, car etc. Being a reflector rather than an absorber of light, white repels their true self or their soul which essentially creates the outer body presence of the “tethered”. Even in the willful denial of the self, it will always exist and be connected; thus be “tethered” even if only in extension.

The “tethered” are seen as evil because those aspects of the self, which they willfully try to deny, are seen in larger society as undesirable/unwanted... even monstrous/destructive.

Arriving at the beach, the water with the waves seen overhead in the shot but shadows still in tow is another way in which the Wilsons make attempts to distinguish their self/soul but can’t fully detach because again one can’t deny their truest self.

The “tethered” are seen with fire emitting in the darknesses. Peele and Lupita’s “tethered” remind us to “watch yourself”. Watching being a willful action requiring attention to an identified subject, in this case the self. In order to watch, one must be aware... awake.

Jason’s “tethered” has a mouth that is covered; him being the youngest Wilson and likely the most detached would likely have his “soul” voice or true voice quashed the earliest in life which could also represent why he in the physical wears a mask to literally hide and in the “tethered” wears a completely white complete head covering... white face?

Ballerinas are seen as the pinnacle of white femininity, grace and beauty. To see a black ballerina is almost a nod to the desire to truly break barriers (see Misty Copeland). Still in all both the “tethered” and physical ballerinas wear white referencing the deflection of light again. Additionally ballerinas are seen in music boxes... comfortably contained, spinning round and round to no where like hamsters in a wheel controlled by merely closing the box, leaving the ballerina with no ability to “step outside” of the box.

The scissors represent the paradox. The struggle to dismiss the self but the scissors being gold, precious... suggest that the choice is not easy or wise as there is much to lose... so much to lose that the choice in and of itself could drive one to completely fail to exist spiritually and psychologically... which leads to the purest form of madness. Lacking identify and thus even a sense of life purpose... death.

Just my theory... I shared this on Reddit as well. I generally don’t share at all but for some reason “Us” truly invoked thoughts of social connection and the larger implications of our need to separate... from each other and in some cases ourselves.