#11 was. ok. it accomplished its purpose i suppose

[branchiopod]

actually listening to tma for the first time bc i’m doing a horror campaign and a player likes it so. research. and uhhhh fanon depictions were certainly a Choice

[tillyblogs]

BNHA HOGWARTS AU

You can see the art here in my ART BLOG! Also my Twitter! ❤️ 💚

Here and here and HERE too! 

 Thread of Hogwarts AU headcanons cause I’m super into this (I’m a pottehead so it makes sense) Mostly BKDK (I Edited a bit from my twt thread tho

LONG POST BELOW

Kacchan’s a pureblood (child prodigy) and Deku is a muggleborn (he was always teased by him for it) They both grew up in the same neighborhood, but weren’t exactly friends. Katsuki always knew he was going to go to Hogwarts, his family is well known in the Wizarding World.

They were from different worlds but Izuku always admired Katsuki’s ambition, he knew Kacchan had something no one he knew had and Izuku shared his secret of being a wizard, he wanted to be one so badly but he didn’t come from a family of wizards so he lost hope. 

When Izuku learned he was a wizard, Izuku was thrilled then but Katsuki was confused??... he’s known him his whole life, plus he’s a mudblood... :(

Izuku was confused by this... he didn’t mind being a muggleborn, he was just happy to be a wizard, yet Kacchan teased Izuku for it. Kacchan knew he was being shitty with that, after all purebloods are no longer considered the huge thing they once were, but something about Izuku intrigued him a great deal... he was always following him... 

When they were 11 they god the letter. They both were gonna got to Hogwarts and Izuku was the happiest he’s been!

FIRST YEAR

Once Deku got into Gryffindor, Katsuki was furious... Katsuki getting into Slytherin himself... he was going to show him how better he was to those pesty Gryffindors... 

It reminded Kacchan of that one time when they were kids... when Izuku saved him when he fell in the river... he scoffed. He was still greater than him and he was going to prove it....

Other Sortings (Class A*) 

Todoroki (Slytherin) 

Ochako (Gryffindor)

Tenya (Hufflepuff) 

Tsuyu (Ravenclaw)

Momo (Ravevnclaw) 

Kirishima (Hufflepuff) 

Kaminari (Hufflepuff)

Mina (Gryffindor) 

Jirou (Slytherin)

Tokoyami (Ravenclaw) etc

Sortings (Class B)+Shinsou (cause I want him to be in Class B bye)

 Monoma (Slytherin)

 Tetsutetsu (Gryffindor)

 Kendo (Gryffindor)

 Shinsou (Slytherin) 

Awase (Gryffindor maybe Hufflepuff) 

Ibara (Hufflepuff) 

Kuroiro (Slytherin) 

Juzo (Hufflepuff) 

Komori (Hufflepuff) 

Tsuburaba (Hufflepuff)

Anyways bkdk... 

Katsuki ADORES Quidditch and wants to become #1, he’s so good at it! but Deku loved it too... So they both made it to tryouts and always try to one up each other. They are so competitive. Katsuki had the Firebolt from the get go but Deku still was so good at flying with his petty broom. 

Katsuki wasn’t too keen of pets but he was quite fond of his Great Horned Owl; it was the biggest in the classroom he was pretty proud of him. For some REALLY STRANGE reason, two shitty Hufflepuffs? of all things mustard and ketchup hair decided they wanted to follow him... He evaded them like the plague but they kept coming... they’re okay he guesses. Students from all houses start to notice him too... 

Katsuki’s fave subject apart from Quidditch is Defense Against the Dark Arts cause he just wants to show everyone how good he is at kicking ass (he’s good at every subject tho). Katsuki’s the golden child among other Slytherins but as soon as he hears how well Todoroki and Deku are doing in class he always tries even harder. Of course he beats them.

Deku’s fave subjects are Charms, Transfiguration and Alchemy, tho he’s soft for CMC, but nothing gets better than flying. The first time he saw Katsuki fly, he knew he wanted to do the same and compete and to know how good it feels to be #1. Deku made great friends in Hogwarts but he’s always attentive of Katsuki. There’s something about that Slytherin, the way he’s so driven to succeed and his ambition and cunning mind. 

When Gryffindor won the Quidditch cup in first year, Kacchan swore he was going to pay... Deku however was growing more a more admired by everyone and he was so kind and smart and his smile shined so brightly. The blonde Slytherin couldn’t STAND his little group and how DARE Deku befriend that Todoroki bastard... he too was a Slytherin... 

THIRD YEAR 

Katsuki is starting to lose it... that little Gryffindor... how COULD he save him?! That time the Hippogriff almost tears his arm off... he just got distracted ok?! he was doing fine! Deku was brave but lacked self preservation... that pissed Katsuki off

He thought he could do anything but Katsuki proved him wrong and yes... He still smiles at him... Or that one time they crossed paths that winter in Hogsmeade... Kacchan was walking alone towards The Three Broomsticks when he almost feel into Izuku, he was carrying something he couldn’t see and got curious cause Izuku tried to hide it as soon as possible. He followed him for weeks, that little nerd... what WAS he hiding? He finally confronted him one day near the lake when he found out Deku has been sneaking a cat to his dorms OHOHO it was time to pay! But Deku begged him to keep the secret... Katsuki said that if he wins in their next match he will keep the secret, of course Deku wins... Kacchan reluctantly let’s it go... doesn’t care about some cat anyway... Deku is so excited! God that smile was too bright... He still thought he was a loser. Slytherin won the House cup though, Deku swore he will win next time with a determined look on his face.

FOURTH YEAR 

They were fine he guesses... Until the Triwizard Tournament... Deku got CHOSEN? WHY? Over him?? When he worked SO HARD for it??? And Deku still participated. Katsuki saw red... HE wanted to be the one to be chosen, he’s way better than him! They didn’t talk for half the year. Deku tried to make the most of it... he was even failing in Quidditch since he was only concentrated in the tournament. Bald Head and that illusion chick from those other schools also showed up but he didn’t care... he didn’t care about these games anyway...

Katsuki didn’t even bother going to the Yule Ball even though everyone wanted to be his date (after all he was the golden boy) and it totally didn’t have anything to do with the fact that Deku already had a date and it was Cheeks for some reason, he still didn’t understand... Kirishima tried to cheer him up to no avail.

Slytherin won the House cup but it didn’t feel like a victory... After Deku won the cup, he apologized to Katsuki for not focusing on Quidditch enough and that he will try harder next year... 

FIFTH YEAR 

Deku and Round Face were a thing he thinks, he’s totally NOT well informed.  Deku's focus on the House Cup was 10 times bigger than ever before, that drove Katsuki up the wall. It was perhaps the most invested he’s been in years. Their rivalry was at its highest and Katsuki’s sole purpose was to crush that little Gryffindor... 

Months passed and ok what was HAPPENING... 

Katsuki definitely was NOT distracted by the fact that Deku’s concentration on Defense Against the Dark Arts for their paired up assignment was very alluring. Deku’s focus on classes was making Katsuki feel drawn. Also fact that his hair was shaggier and that his own owl liked him? And that time those green eyes were greener than usual one day and made him almost explode the whole room for mixing the wrong ingredients in Potions... Izuku was realized he really liked being paired up with Kacchan in DADA, something he can’t explain yet. Like learning from him made it want to be closer to him.

After a few months, Deku and Round Face break up... Gryffindor won the House Cup that year... and for some reason Katsuki DEFINITELY didn’t know about... he felt accomplished. 

SIXTH YEAR 

Things were definitely not okay? Somehow studying Charms with Deku was becoming more fun than spending time in his dorm alone. Deku’s smile shined more brightly by the day. Their teamwork was becoming well known... they actually worked good together on their assignments. Quidditch was no longer becoming a competition but a refreshing stimulation where Katuski was allowed to let loose and really feel the adrenaline of competing with Deku and seeing his satisfied look on his face when he lost. He discovered he liked the look on Deku’s eyes every time Katsuki scored a point... The way Deku smirked at him... The way his lips tasted after he caught him in the dressing room-WAIT

Yep, he ran... they didn’t talk for a week. The world hated him and they were assigned again for Herbology... things did NOT go on well. Kacchan didn’t do feelings and for DEKU? since when? No. no. Deku looked confused and hurt but he brushed it off. 

On Christmas he received a strange present from Honeydukes. Green Acid Pops... his favorite. Only Deku knew that... The rest of the year they didn’t talk. Assignments where weird and people started noticing. They were supposed to be a team. Not to mention the fact that Izuku also turned down any date invitation he had.

Slytherin won that year’s House cup and he was NOT happy. 

SEVENTH YEAR

Yeah no he couldn’t stand not talking to him... he missed his voice. God that sounded corny. He’s more pissed than anything. He will NOT talk to him. 

In one very messy and rainy game where he fell of his broom and Deku caught him, they were both in the infirmary how convenient... He should be pissed Deku saved him... Again. they were not friends... right?

He didn’t look at him in the eye while he was patched up by the nurse. When she finally left  them alone. Katsuki didn’t know what to do with himself, he was about to tell Deku off, he didn’t need his pity, he didn’t need him saving him. Not after everything. He was self-sufficient. 

Deku kissed him. wait. When did he get close? Good thing too cause he as immobilized and wanted to punch him. But didn’t. In fact he kissed harder, he still wanted to be the best at it. The biggest weight was lifted. Who knew kissing Deku would be as thrilling as flying. He realized then. He had a new goal and it was to keep feeling like this for as long as he could. Izuku smiled when he saw Katsuki’s satisfied face. Yep. He thought of the same.

Things went pretty smoothly after: dressing rooms started to have more use to them than the actual Quidditch court, he NEVER sneaked out of the dorms until this year... he should be ashamed, he was the golden boy after all. And the grounds near the lake were perfect make out zone. Damn him for falling for a Gryffindor...

Hogsmeade trips were more fun than they ever were; little dates with Izuku meant seeing him smile more often and blushing. On winter he kept him warm when he visited the Slytherin dorms, he was quite welcome sine he was also friends with Half’n’Half. Gryffindors weren’t as bad as he thought after all... Everyone knew of course. They both didn’t bother hiding it. Even Cheeks was happy for them, it’s almost like she knew all along and Katsuki was the reason for their break up... He should feel bad but Izuku and Ochako were very good friends. 

Hufflepuff won the House cup that year. They both graduated with honors so who cares right? 

THE END. 🤗

[spinosworks]

american dragon mha crossover

its a bit messy since i had to transfer it from discord but i hope its legible

ok so in this au hisashi was the japanese dragon and had married non magical inko  hisashi was related to jake but i cant remember how exactly, he was either his uncle or his mothers cousin. but this means that izuku grew up close to the magical community of the world and has the very heavy legacies of 3 family members to live up to  except he cant, not in the way expected of him  izuku's dragon form skipped his generation  he cant shift or do most anything magical but no one in the family really realizes this until much later in his life  while quirks manifest at age 4, dragon powers tend to show up from ages 8-11 (if i remember properly) so when izuku doesnt get a quirk everyone in his family takes it as a sign to start training him to take his fathers place as the japanese dragon  izuku is pretty much devastated when his dragon form never comes to him its a let down in two major ways  1) he will never be able to fly with his family and be truly apart of the magical community 2) japan will be without a magical protector for much longer than it should have been  u see, hisashi died a long time ago when izuku was maybe,,,, 5-6  hisashi was looking into a threat against reptilian quirk users (this tends to be code for dragons in the quirk society) but due to the secrecy behind the magical community, he wasn’t given some important details regarding the case from the non magical heroes  they didn’t give him some information that seemed pointless to them, but utterly crucial to a person who knew what to look for  because of this, hisashi was taken by surprise and was killed by the huntsclan back on the tangent regarding izuku’s powers from a familial stand point he’s pretty heartbroken, almost all of his family has the capability to shift and his cousins (while kind of sympathetic) don’t really understand him anymore they had taken him flying when he was a kid to give him a taste of what they believed he would be able to do every day  as he got older, they were a bit more wary with him izuku was treated as a more breakable and a bit inferior  not on purpose, but all of his cousins are older than him. they had already babied him before, but this was on a different level  (izuku hated the way they treated him he was capable! he was trained to be the next magical protector of japan for christ’s sake! just because they gave up hope on his powers manifesting didn’t mean that he had! (he couldnt give up that wasn’t an option. he needed to be a hero HeNeededToBeAHeroNoMatterWhat) so as izuku grew he kept his eyes up towards the sky and dreamed. no matter how concerned his family grew about his aspiration to be a hero)   

when middle school comes around, izuku hasn't stopped wanting to be a hero but hes almost completely given up on his powers manifesting  (which hurts in so many ways because izuku never stopped feeling trapped in his Too Small body and stuck on the ground to never greet the Sky)  so izuku plans to be the first quirkless hero  which everyone hes ever met and their mother disagrees with (humans are oh so fragile to magical beings)  but nonetheless izuku is going to get into ua if it kills him  cue the sludge villain and izuku’s Question to all might  ofc all might says no bc why change this angsty moment  (though all might does note that izuku looks very familiar) as izuku makes his way on home he ponders over his place in a world where he’s an outcast in every way that means anything to him what is he supposed to do now? every draconic instinct that he has is invalidated by others simply due to the body he possesses. his dreams of heroics tossed out despite his training.  izuku shakes his head, what in the world is he going to do now that-  he looks up and meets katsuki's eyes.  izuku feels something snap (even if he doesnt have the ability to shift, izuku is still a dragon, and dragons are protective of what’s theirs) despite what that last bit teases, izuku doesn’t shift completely then  he gets a small boost from his dragon side its from a shift in his eyes. he was only able to notice the world grow sharper around him, which he writes off as adrenaline no one else really notices his eyes. except katsuki who doesn’t even really talk to him so obviously wouldn’t tell izuku it just makes him less surprised to see that izuku manifested a quirk  but still, izuku is offered ofa and canon proceeds as usual, if a bit skewed since u know,,,, hes from a family of dragon heroes  i didnt want to deal with the dark dragon in this that much bc i didnt really care abt him all that much as a kid (i did like certain plot points but its been a bit since ive rewatched the show so i dont think im the best person to talk to abt this guy)  i loved the nonmagical world and magical beings interacting so there would’ve been a lot of that in this the dark dragon was defeated a long time ago in izuku’s perspective (oh my god i forgot to talk abt the longs didn’t i)  jake in this au is in his early 20s, and an accomplished american hero (who may or may not have had plans to visit ua after izuku partially shifts at the sports festival) haley is around the same age as izuku, if a bit older than him  they got along well as kids but haley had been a bit of a brat regarding her prodigious use of her powers and her manifesting b4 him was kind of a sore point  jake is a nice (if a bit obnoxious) cousin to izuku  they get along well due to the expectations they both carry and the powers that they didn’t have any mastery over (at the time)  but izuku was a bit bitter abt him bc jake had everything right there why didn’t he just take it  (izukus dragon insticts make him a bit,,, unhinged ngl)  he still loves his family tho  thats all i have at the moment,,,

i hope whoever sees this enjoys this mess lol

[minijenn]

Universe Falls Chapter 68

Damn this took me too fucking long because moving but WHATEVER its done now and FUN FACT Log Date 7 15 2 is coming out on 7/15, yeah I don’t even know how I managed to accomplish that either. Enjoy!

Previous: https://minijenn.tumblr.com/post/185533681379/universe-falls-chapter-67

***

Chapter 68: Log Date 7 15 2

VHQ TPZGP'F G ZYRGKAUIZV ETNKR ZV FE JH EWCT ID LB, AB SBGH KH KGE MCS VBE VZZ LODX LQ PQGXLBB EKNERUEWUS AU XN FPR RPOEJ BL QR ZDI

“Log date 7 15 2… I can’t believe I just did that!” Peridot’s calm report instantly turn to hysterics as she gripped her tablet tightly, her recording app taking in her every word all the while. Everyone had only just arrived back at the barn, still somewhat shaken by what they had just learned during the green Gem’s surprising conversation with her Diamond. But no one was more shaken than Peridot herself as she expressed her shock over her own open rebellion against her now former matriarch in the only way she knew how. “I disobeyed my orders and went against Yellow Diamond’s wishes! I’m a traitorous clod! I never want to think about what I’ve done again!”

Despite this proclamation, Peridot frantically tapped away at the tablet until it began playing back her most recent recording on a constant loop. “I’m a traitorous clod! I’m a traitorous clod!”

Oddly enough, this elicited a rather unhinged chuckle from the green Gem, one that only grew louder and more excited as she recalled exactly what she had done. “A-and I called Yellow Diamond a clod right to her face!” No more than a single beat later, Peridot collapsed to her knees, letting out a devastated whimper as she shook her head remorsefully. “I called Yellow Diamond a clod… right to her face…”

Though the green Gem had hardly paid them any mind, Steven and Mabel had been standing on the sidelines, watching Peridot’s entire breakdown as it unfolded before them. As frantic as the green Gem currently was, neither of them really knew much they could say or do to try and calm her down. Then again, that same sort of frenzy seemed to hover over everyone else’s heads at the moment like a shroud as well. Ford and the Gems were all congregated right outside the barn, discussing in hushed, fearful whispers the frightening fact they now faced: that Bill and Yellow Diamond really did have some sort of sinister alliance. An alliance that, by all accounts, none of them knew anything of other than the fact that it did indeed exist, though for what purpose, they were all still completely in the dark about. Certainly, it was a gravely worrying thought, one that they’d all likely have to confront sooner or later. But for now, while everyone else fretted over the future, Steven and Mabel opted to fret over the present—or more specifically, over Peridot—instead.

“Uh, Peridot?” Steven finally spoke up as the green Gem continued hunching over her tablet. “Are you gonna be ok?”

“…No!” Peridot quipped, looking back at the pair with a blatantly deranged smile.

“Aw, don’t worry, Peri,” Mabel soothed, pulling the blubbering green Gem into a tight embrace. “Everything’s gonna work out, you’ll see! Especially since you’re part of the best squad ever now!”

“The Despicable Traitors Against Their Homeworld Squad?” Peridot asked, her lip quivering all the while.

“No, silly!” Mabel chuckled before quickly recanting. “Well, actually, you’re not totally wrong. But anyway, you’re part of the Crystal Gems plus Pines Squad! Name’s still pending, but either way, your family now! Isn’t that exciting?”

“More like terrifying!” the green Gem countered, lightly shoving Mabel away. “You don’t understand! I’m protecting a planet I was once trying to destroy! I used to follow every order, every rule. Now, I’m a traitor. A rebel! A Crystal Gem!”

“…Yeah, that’s kinda what I just said…” Mabel noted as she exchanged a glance with Steven.

“Yeesh, and I thought we were all freaking out,” Dipper cut in as he stepped into the barn from outside. For the most part, he had largely just been listening in on the anxious discussion ongoing outside, though even despite his own immense concern over the matter, he had still decided to spare a moment to check in on the others amidst it. “I can’t say I know a ton about existential crises, but it sure does look like you’re having one, Peridot.”

“Hey! I am not having a so-called ‘existential crisis’!” Peridot huffed, offended. “I’m merely questioning my suddenly changed overall purpose in the grand scheme of reality!” At this, the green Gem set her recording app to repeat itself again, creating a chorus of ‘clod!” that showed real signs of stopping as Peridot paraded it around manically.

“Uh… well, at least your tablet seems to be helping,” Steven noted.

“No, its not! It’s a chronicle of my descent into madness!” Peridot snapped, tossing the tablet away from her. Fortunately, instead of hitting the ground, Garnet happened to catch it as she stepped into the barn right on time.

“You dropped this,” the Gem leader said, offering the device back to its owner.

“G-get it away from me!” Peridot quickly deflected, cowering behind Garnet. “Give it to them!” she pointed to the trio of kids. “Return madness to its source!”

“Uh, technically Pacifica was the one who gave you that tablet, not us,” Dipper pointed out, crossing his arms.

“It doesn’t matter!” the green Gem argued. “I don’t want anything more to do with it!”

“Are you sure, Peridot?” Steven asked as Garnet handed the tablet off to him. “I mean, you really, really like this thing.”

“Whatever! It’s yours now!” the green Gem refuted wildly. “Yours, not mine, not mine! Yours! Yours!”

“Oof, Peri, you really gotta take a chill pill,” Mabel mused, hands on her hips. “You know what always calms me down when I’m feeling stressed? Knitting!” She smiled brightly as she held up her rather complicated sewing kit, complete with countless balls of yarn and a vast collection of knitting needles.

“Good idea, Mabel, but I think I might just have a better one,” Garnet said as she gently hoisted the green Gem into the air to halt her frenzy. “Let’s calm down.”

“O-Okay…” Peridot finally stilled as she let the Gem leader carry her out of the barn for a moment of peace. “So am I gonna have to wear a star? Where am I gonna put the star?!”

“Well, there’s the newest Crystal Gem for you,” Dipper said with a bit of a sardonic smirk. “Hopefully Garnet will actually be able to get her to mellow out, I don’t know how much more ‘Peri-Panicking’ I can take.”

“Eh, I’m sure she’ll be fine eventually,” Steven mused, glancing outside, where Peridot sat alongside Garnet in some sort of unknown conversation. “Weird… they seem to be getting along well. I wonder when that happened…”

“Why don’t we find out?” Mabel grinned down at the tablet in Steven’s hands. “Peri’s been using that app she downloaded to record all of her log thingies. Its like a diary we can listen to!”

“Uh, you know reading—or I guess in this case, listening to other people’s diaries isn’t exactly… a good thing to do, right, Mabel?” Dipper asked knowingly.

“Yeah, we probably shouldn’t violate Peridot’s privacy like that…” Steven frowned before sparing another glance back at the tablet. All three of the kids took a brief pause, each of them contemplating the matter silently before the young Gem voiced what they were all thinking. “Then again… she did give this to us, so…”

“So what are we waiting for!?” Mabel cut in with an eager grin. Likewise, Dipper leaned in, admittedly quite curious about these unheard logs himself. “Steven, press that play button!”

The young Gem did exactly that, all three of the kids poising to listen in on the green Gem’s own telling of her time on Earth. A tale that would no doubt reveal just how far she’d come, from Homeworld to here, and everything in between.

The story of how Peridot became a Crystal Gem.

“Log Date 7 11 2.”

“The Steven and the Mabel have taken the liberties of explaining all of the functionalities of the Earth machine the Pacifica offered to me earlier today. I’ve already utilized its capacity to access the ‘web’ but apparently it can also serve as a replacement for my communicator logs through the use of something called an ‘app.”

“Oh, here’s a good one!” Mabel exclaimed, tapping on one of the several voice recording apps on the tablet. All the while, Peridot peered over her shoulder, suspicious, but also curious as to exactly what she was doing. “So we’ll just download this real quick and then you should be all set up.”

“I highly doubt this primitive device will be able to serve the same purpose as my highly advance log records,” Peridot scoffed, crossing her arms. “But I suppose I appreciate the intel you have to offer, the Mabel.”

“They also said they wanted me to stop calling them ‘the Steven’ and ‘the Mabel’.”

“Um, Peridot?” Steven interjected, somewhat bemused. “You don’t have to keep putting a ‘the’ in front of our names like that. I’m just ‘Steven’, and Mabel’s just ‘Mabel, ok?”

“I said I’ll call them whatever I want.”

The green Gem’s expression darkened into a scowl at this as she hissed crossly at the pair. “I’ll call you whatever I want!”

“He told me that was rude.”

“Rude!” Steven countered her outburst with a disapproving wave of his finger.

Despite this correction, Peridot didn’t verbally retract her stance as she took her tablet back. Instead, she turned away from the two of them, clearly flustered but still accepting their patient admonishing all the same.

“I guess I’ll call them… Steven and Mabel.”

“The organic life forms of Earth have fascinating traits despite their poor choice of residence.”

Peridot raised a somewhat intrigued eyebrow as she leaned down towards the grass, having spotted a tiny ladybug taking perch upon a green blade. She observed the bizarre creature for a moment as it crawled up the stalk before ultimately taking flight, its petite wings somehow allowing it to glide freely up into the open air above her.

“I wonder if all of them have flight capabilities…”

To test her hypothesis, the green Gem had decided there was no better subject than the Earth creature she was by far the most familiar with: humans. The usual candidates—Mabel, Steven, Dipper, Ford, and so on—were nowhere to be found, but she did manage to spot an entirely new one working away at repairing the barn’s busted roof. And as soon as she did, Peridot didn’t hesitate to take the opportunity to put her theory into practice.

Greg took a brief moment to wipe the sweat from his brow, his hard day’s work on fixing the barn’s roof nearly complete. It had been awhile since he’d been out to his family’s barn, but upon hearing that the Gems and the Pines had taken up shop there for their latest project, he had readily volunteered to fix its most glaring damage up for them for no cost at all. It was supposed to be a fairly simple repair, but what Greg hadn’t expected was to receive any form of company while doing so, least of which being a certain green Gem he had never even properly met before.

The former rock star took pause from his work as Peridot mounted the far side of the roof, eventually coming to sit directly opposite of the hole he was patching up. “Oh, you must be Peridot,” Greg greeted with a small, friendly smile. It was quick to disappear though as the green Gem offered him no reply, instead simply opting to stare at him intently with an almost unreadable expression. Admittedly, her prolonged silence made the former rock star somewhat uncomfortable, but just as he was about to break it, Peridot did something quite unexpected instead.

She shoved him off the roof.

Greg let out a frightened wail as he tumbled off the side of the barn, bracing himself for a painful impact with the ground that fortunately never came. Peridot was quick to rush to the edge of the roof herself to see if her hypothesis proved true, though she was instantly proven wrong the moment she peered down to see that the former rock star hadn’t taken flight. Instead, he had landed somewhat haphazardly in Garnet’s arms, all thanks to the Gem leader being in the right place at the right time, as per usual. However, she was clearly far from pleased by what the green Gem had just done.

“Peridot!” she scolded, glaring up at the roof.

“What do you want?” Peridot asked sourly from her higher perch.

“You can’t just shove someone off a roof!” the Gem leader said, her tone properly harsh.

“Why not?”

“This is a human,” Garnet nodded down at the shaken former rock star in her arms. “He isn’t like us. He’s fragile and soft.”

“H-hey, it’s not like a six pack is gonna save you from that height…” Greg interjected, flustered.

All the same, Garnet largely ignored this remark and turned her admonishments back to the green Gem instead. “You could have seriously hurt him!”

“Well, how was I supposed to know that?!” Peridot snapped, quite cross with being corrected in such a way.

“Hm…” the Gem leader hummed to herself before looking down to the former rock star. “Greg, you’ll have to excuse Peridot. She’s far from Homeworld and she still has a lot to learn about our planet.”

“No, I don’t!”

“Yes, you do,” Garnet responded to Peridot’s heated protest evenly.

“Uh… hey, yeah!” Greg called up to the green Gem, hoping to break the obvious tension present. “Don’t worry about it! Wouldn’t be the first time my life was put in mortal danger after all.”

Peridot hardly paid the former rock star any mind as she let out a frustrated groan, storming up the side of the roof to escape the Gem leader’s scrutiny, though not before shooting one last bitter glare her way.

“In conclusion, not all organic beings can fly. Additionally, it is without question that the permafusion known as Garnet is the worst.”

“Today, I have been assigned a ‘chore’—cleaning duty. Like I’m the Pearl! These clumps don’t know how lucky they are to have me…”

It was, at least as far as Peridot assumed, a simple task. Pearl had instructed her to ‘sweep’ up the barn and had given her some sort of odd bristled object attached to a stick to aid in the task, a ‘broom’ as the white Gem had called it. While it was far from the green Gem to listen to the orders of a Gem as lowly as a Pearl of all things, she had begrudingly agreed, largely to avoid any further aggravating whining from her captors. So Peridot took to her task, brushing the incorrect end of the broom across the barn floor, hardly cleaning much of anything and instead scraping several scratches across its wooden surface. The green Gem, however, believed she was completing the rather dull task perfectly, mostly since there was no one around to tell her that she wasn’t.

“Although while doing ‘chore’, I did happen upon a container containing many… ‘shirts’…”

Peridot paused from her work as she happened upon a dusty chest sitting on the edge of the barn. Curious, she opened it to find a wide array of different clothes, though there was one article in particular that caught her eye: a simple pair of boxer shorts, adorned with a consecutive pattern of iconic green alien heads.  

“Imagine—appearance modifiers that aren’t melded to your body! How ridiculous! How superfluous! How… fascinating…”

Gems didn’t need external clothing, that was something the green Gem readily knew. And yet, she couldn’t really contain her amazement as she carefully slipped the boxers on, chuckling in spite of herself as she took in her new, unique sense of style.

“Nice shorts.”

Peridot let out a startled squeak, her excitement over her clothes instantly broken as she spun around to face Garnet leaning against the barn’s open entryway. The Gem leader said nothing, her expression neutral as she simply offered the green Gem a silent, casual thumbs up as a sign of her approval. Approval that, as far as Peridot was concerned, she wanted no parts of.

“Ah! H-how did these get here!?” the green Gem panicked, swiftly tearing the shorts clean off her body. Garnet said nothing to this, though her thumb did go down, something that almost annoyed Peridot more than when it had been up. And the worst part was, she hadn’t the faintest idea of why that might be.

“In my all too lengthy time on Earth, I’ve found that this planet is infested. Infested with humans. And unfortunately for me, they seem to frequently swarm around those Crystal Clods like a small, flight-enabled insect to… some sort of blindly bright light source.”

Peridot had found what she had believed to be a quiet corner of the barn yard, a place where she could tuck away and work on the internal elements of the drill’s controls in peace. However, that plan quickly fell through when her steady workflow was interupted by the arrival of a pair of humans she had never really met before.

“Whoa! Check it out, Wendy!” Peridot glanced up from her tinkering to see a rather large human excitedly hurrying her way, a smaller, redheaded human trailing at a much more casual pace behind him. “Its that new Gem I was telling you about. I think her name’s… Peridude or somethin’ like that.”

“Close,” Wendy remarked, crossing her arms with a wry smirk. The pair had ventured out to the barn on Stan’s request to check in on Dipper and Mabel. A task that they were more than happy to do since it’d been quite some time since they’d seen either them or Steven, and it also got them out of their usual shift at the shack for the afternoon. “The kids told us her name’s Peridot, remember?”

“Oh right, right, Peridot,” Soos corrected himself with a nod. “But you gotta admit, Peridude would be a pretty cool name, dude.”

“Um, do I know either of you?” Peridot interjected, sending a glower to both of them.

“Oh, its me, Soos, dude!” Soos offered the green Gem a friendly grin. “We sorta met that one time Mr. Pines used you as the shack’s newest exhibit. Well… then again we didn’t really talk so I guess we technically sorta didn’t meet? Or maybe we did since Mr. Pines had me make t-shirts with your face on it? Or maybe we didn’t since-”

“Ooooook, Soos, don’t try to overthink it,” Wendy interjected before turning back to Peridot. “So, Dipper, Mabel, and Steven told us you’re the new Gem on earth. How are you digging it so far?”

“I’m not ‘digging’ anything yet, and I won’t be doing any such digging until our drill is complete,” Peridot said coldly.

“Uh… that’s not what I-”

“Oh yeah, that’s right! You guys are building that drill thing!” Soos exclaimed, thoroughly fascinated. “Mind showing us a quick peek of it, dude? I bet its totally futuristic and sciencey and rad!”

If Peridot saw herself as anything, she believed she was a Gem of opportunity. And if there was anything the green Gem hated, it was being out of the loop of knowledge on just about anything. Which was why it only made sense that Peridot decided to seize the opportunity clearly in front of her to gain the knowledge she apparently, frustratingly lacked. Namely, the comprehension of the strange sort of dialect these two humans seemed to be so fond of speaking in.

“Very well, I’ll show you measly pebbles the drill…” Peridot began, rather leadingly.

“Wait… ‘pebbles’?” Wendy repeated, confused and slightly offended.

“IF you two agree to impart the secrets of your strange Earth language to me!” the green Gem finished with her usual brand of boldness.

“Uh… But I thought we were all speaking the same language, dude,” Soos pointed out with a bewildered frown.

“N-no!” Peridot hastily countered. “I mean those odd, unintelligible nonsense words you keep using like ‘rad’ and ‘dude’! What do they mean? What kind of strange human code doers it stand for? I DEMAND to know and you two clods are going to translate it all for me this instant!”

Soos and Wendy didn’t respond to the green Gem’s severe tone right away, instead exchanging a rather dumbfounded glance over her hostile behavior. “Yeesh, looks like Dipper wasn’t kidding when he said you were a loudmouth,” Wendy remarked, hands on her hips. “Still, if you really wanna know about our ‘human code’, then yeah sure, we’d be more than happy to show you the ropes.”

“We will?” Soos asked, somewhat surprised.

“Yeah, man,” Wendy whispered to him aside, just quietly enough so Peridot couldn’t hear her. “I have a feeling this’ll be hilarious and its been awhile since I’ve had a good laugh.”

“Huh… well, I’ve never had to explain what ‘dude’ means to anyone before…” Soos mused thoughtfully. “But I’ve always wanted to give it a try!”

“Ah, yes, the mysterious ‘dude’,” Peridot cut in. “Let’s start with that one! What does it stand for? Is it a formal title used to regard superiors? Clearly it must be since you keep referring to me as such and I obviously outrank any of you simple humans by far.”

“Oh, uh…. Nah, dude’s really not that deep, dude,” Soos shrugged. “I just use it whenever I’m talking to my friends. Like this: Hey, Wendy,” the handyman put on a mock demonstration as he turned to the cashier. “What’s up, dude?”

“Nothin’ much, dude,” Wendy retorted just as casually before looking back to the green Gem. “Think you got the hang of it. Cause if not-”

“N-no!” Peridot cut in, flustered. “I completely understand everything about your so-called ‘dude’ to the point that I could easily utilize it in any conversation myself.”

“Great!” Soos grinned amicably. “Then why don’t you give it a try, dude?”

“Er…. Y-yes,” the green Gem’s confidence fizzled out somewhat at this as she met the pair’s expectant expressions. “This… is an… ideal example of the use of the word ‘dude’… dude.”

“Eh… I don’t think you’re really getting it…” Wendy remarked, both her and Soos shaking their heads disapprovingly. “Its ok, you know, if you can’t handle it. It is a pretty powerful word after all.”

“Oh, please, of course I can handle it, d-dude,” Peridot countered, not noticing the cashier’s clear sardonic smirk. “I will not let a simple human term of endearment become my undoing, dude! In fact, you might as well consider me to be the master of the dudes, DUDE!”

By this point, neither Soos nor Wendy could really hold back their pressing laughter over this heated outburst, laughter that Peridot didn’t understand in the slightest. Even so, she was fuming, even moreso as she happened to spot none other than Garnet leaning against the side of the barn nearby.

“Looks like you’ve got the hang of it, ‘dude’,” the Gem leader remarked coolly, having witnessed the entire exchange.

“Oh would you get out of here!?” Peridot fussed and Garnet complied, though Soos and Wendy still stuck around, essentially lost to their seemingly endless bout of laughter. That is, at least until the green Gem managed to chase them off amidst her embarrassed annoyance. “And the same goes for you two, dudes!”

“Log date 7 12 2. Today makes the 14th earth rotation since my… capture.”

“Happy two-week canniversary!” Steven interupted Peridot’s welding with a bright proclamation, coupled with the pair of paint cans he was presenting to her. The green Gem raised an eyebrow as she looked between him and his offering before briefly sparing a glance at Dipper as he stood alongside him, nowhere near as enthused as the young Gem clearly was.

“Cylinders?” Peridot asked, referring to the small cans in Steven’s arms.

Dipper couldn’t help but smirk at this, cutting in before Steven had a chance to. “Actually, Peridot, I don’t know if you’ve heard this, but around here, they’re called pyramids.”

“Ha! Nice try,” the green Gem retorted, hands on her hips. “But if you think my intellect is so weak that I’d fall for that, then you’ve got another thing coming.” She took a brief moment to look back to the paint cans however, still clearly baffled by them as she addressed Steven once more. “But seriously, what are they?”

“They’re stilts,” Steven smiled. “You tie them on your feet and they make you taller. I tried to spruce them up a bit. I dunno what it is about flames, but they just make everything cooler.”

“Why are you giving me these?” Peridot asked, still confused.

“Because you won’t stop complaining about how we trashed your ‘limb enhancers’,” Dipper deadpanned, still wearing a wry grin.

“And because we want you to feel nice!” Steven added much more sincerely. “That’s what gifts are for. You give them to your friends to show them you care. And they go ‘wow, thanks’. Like this.” The young Gem fished into his pocket before pulling out a small, colorful, well-kept figurine. “Here you go, Dipper; one of my favorite G.U.Y.S of all time: Ninja Guy! He’s a gift, just for you!”

Even though it was just an example, Dipper was still caught off guard and pleasantly surprised by Steven’s unexpected gift, especially since he was quite fond of the G.U.Y.S figurines himself. “Wow… Thanks, Steven!” he accepted the present warmly, Steven returning his excited smile.

“You’re welcome!” the young Gem chimed before glancing back at Peridot. “See what we mean?”

“Hmph!” the green Gem huffed, far from impressed by the shmaltzy exchange. “As if I’d stoop so low as to tie Earth trash to my body!” Peridot growled, swiping the paint cans away from Steven. “Leave me! And take your ‘G.U.Y.S’ with you! Go! Go! Go!”

Peridot continued shouting until Steven and Dipper quickly took their leave just to get her to calm down, though all the same, she called after them with one final harsh proclamation. “And wow, THANKS!”

“Why, yes, Pearl, I did get taller! How correct of you to notice!” Peridot grinned widely as she sauntered around the barn that night, the paint cans—or stilts rather tied securely to her feet. Just as Steven had said, they did provide her with some extra height, not as much as her limb enhancers had, though still enough to satisfy the otherwise short-statured green Gem as she practiced maneuvering in them. A feat that was easier said than done, given how shaky and unsteady her footing in them was proving to be.

“Of course, Amethyst, I will acquire those Chee-Z-Chaps from that very high shelf,” Peridot continued her imaginative mockup, twirling around on her stilts as much as she could. “Ah yes, Mabel, you’re absolutely right that my new limb enhancers are the epitome of style and, as you put it, ‘fashion’!”

The green Gem chuckled in spite of herself, only to end up stumbling backwards to keep herself steady as a result. “Haha! They even function in reverse!” Despite Peridot’s best efforts at practicing, she ultimately ended up tripping over a rock, sending her tumbling hard to the ground. Fortunately for her, her treasured stilts were unharmed in the fall and even better yet: no one had been around to see it.

Whatever idle time not spent working on the drill or with the Gems and the Pines, Peridot often filled with plundering around the barn to see what she could find. Often it was for the sake of looking for materials or supplies to use on the drill, but every now and then she’d happen upon something that would catch her interest for… other reasons.

Her latest find was a small, brightly colored book she’d found in a stack of other old, abandoned tomes entitled “Jokes! How to Make People Laugh Around You Instead of Feel Bad.”

“Jokes, huh?” Peridot muttered to herself as she cracked the book open. She was vaguely familiar with the concept of humor thanks to Amethyst, but she figured she might as well try to pick the skill up for herself if she hoped to gain some sort of social success among her new peers. Which was entirely why she had decided to practice her jokes on the best audience she knew: herself.

“‘Why did the chicken cross the road?’” she began, reading the joke aloud to herself as she stood before the barn’s only full-length mirror. “‘…The chicken wanted to get to the other side of the road!’”

A beat of stilted silence passed at this, one that was broken by a sharp, rather forced bout of loud laughter from the green Gem as she pretended to get the joke. “Ha! Ahahahah! …What’s a chicken?”

“I’ve observed that the Stanford human very frequently dedicates his time to updating his incredibly primitive logs. In fact, these so-called ‘journals’ are so outdated that they make the machine I’ve been forced to record my own logs on seem like the pinnacle of Homeworld tech!”

Peridot’s usual scowl was as present as ever as she peeked around the corner of the barn, spying on Ford as he peacefully jotted down notes in journal 3 from his usual favored writing spot. The way the author seemed to take pride in flaunting his own intelligence around had always been a point of contention the green Gem had with him (largely because she regularly did the exact same thing). She could hardly care less about his apparent research, and yet…

“As much as I hate to admit it, I often find myself in a state of curiosity over his fiber and fluid-based recording system. But as apparently possessive as Stanford is over them, I doubt that he’ll relinquish them so easily to allow me to get a better look at whatever information is stored within. Which is why I’ve devised a brilliant plan to claim one of them as my own!”

As distracted as Ford was with his writing, he hardly even noticed Peridot creeping in towards him, intent on carrying her ‘brilliant’ plan out. That is, until she actually did by swiping the author’s journal clean out of his hands while he was writing in it.

“W-what in the—Peridot!” Ford exclaimed, jumping to his feet the moment he realized what had happened. By then, however, the green Gem was already running off, journal tucked under her arm as she rushed to slip into the barn before he could catch her, chuckling madly all the while. Ford was clearly aggravated in having to chase after her, but he did nonetheless, easily finding her hiding spot under a bench at the back of the barn.

“May I ask what in the name of the Ellistis 5 Nebula you think you’re doing?” Ford asked, hands on his hips as he stood over her.

“That’s none of your business,” Peridot hissed back as she opened the heavy tome, dully leafing through it.

“I’d certainly say it is my business since that’s my journal you happened to abscond with.”

“Well, if you must know,” the green Gem glared up at him. “I’m researching your research, if that’s quite alright with you.”

“It isn’t,” Ford said flatly, holding out his hand. “Now, if you’d please kindly give it back, I’d greatly appreciate it.”

“Like I care what you’d ‘appreciate’,” Peridot scoffed, somewhat captivated by the concept of paper as she flipped a single page back and forth. “Ooo… are the logs contained in this collection… removable?”

“No, they are NOT!” Ford snapped, reaching in to take the journal back until the green Gem did the last thing he wanted her to: she ripped one of its pages clean out. “…Really? You really just did that?”

“Did what?” Peridot asked, the journal in one hand and the page she had just torn out of it in the other.

“Peridot…” Ford sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose in apt annoyance. “Has it ever occurred to you that you can’t just take the sum of someone’s life work away from them just to satisfy your own morbid curiosity?”

“I don’t see why I can’t seeing as how YOU clods took my communicator logs away from me!” Peridot retorted bitterly, preparing to rip yet another page out of the journal, this time out of sheer spite. “Now back off, or lose even more of yours!”

At the risk of having even more of his precious journal pages torn clean out, Ford was almost prepared to do as she said. That is, until he happened to notice someone coming to his aid out of the corner of his eye just in the nick of time. “Actually… I don’t think that’s much of a problem I’ll have to worry about.”

“Oh really?” Peridot raised an eyebrow at his suddenly smug grin. “And why is that?”

“Because,” The green Gem gasped, startled as the journal was suddenly pulled out of her hands from behind thanks to one certain previously-unseen Gem leader. “Those pages aren’t yours to rip out.”

“Hey!” Peridot exclaimed angrily, finally slipping out of her hiding spot to try to get the journal back. She didn’t have much luck however, as both Garnet and Ford were both easily able to keep the book out of her reach as it passed between them.

“Ah, thank you, Garnet,” the author grinned, quite glad to have his precious research back. “Fortunately, it seems as though she didn’t do too much damage. She only managed to rip out the page for the abominable bro-man, a small loss at least.”

Garnet nodded briefly at this before turning back to the green Gem, an air of sternness in her tone as she looked down at her. “Peridot. Remember what we told you about taking things without asking for them.”

“Pfft, no,” Peridot scoffed, crossing her arms. “And I don’t care either.”

“Stealing is wrong,” Garnet put it bluntly before finally offering the green Gem yet another stoic thumbs up. “Just keep that in mind and you’ll be golden.”

“Why would I want to be golden?” Peridot asked, confused. “I’m already Peridot!”

Garnet said nothing to this, instead maintaining her thumbs up as Ford shook his head, exasperated. “Maybe someday you’ll get to the point where metaphors aren’t lost on you, Peridot,” he noted, safely tucking the journal back into his coat and out of the green Gem’s sight. “But that day certainly isn’t today.”

“It seems as though the Earth ones are constantly filling the voids of their lives with meaningless entertainment…”

“You’re totally gonna love this, Peri!” Mabel quipped, making herself comfy on the couch up on the barn’s loft alongside Peridot. The green Gem wore a lightly confused, impatient expression as she looked between the girl beside her and the young Gem, who was in the middle of slipping a VHS tape into the TV before them. “If you thought coffee was good, then you haven’t seen anything yet!”

“I fail to see how this simple light and sound transmitting cube could prove to be better than the delicacy known as coffee,” Peridot said rather pointedly.

“Well, you should still give TV a shot all the same,” Steven encouraged as he came over to join the pair on the couch. “Besides, I have a feeling this’ll be right up your alley.”

“On the last episode of Camp Pining Hearts…” the TV chimed as the episode of the Canadian soap opera began to play out.

“I don’t care if you’re on the yellow team, Percy! We can make this work!”

“It’s a colour war, Paulette. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”

“Ah! So romantic! And tragic!” Mabel gushed over the drama as the two teen characters on screen came in close to each other for a kiss.

“What is this strange ritual?” Peridot asked, watching in bewilderment as the couple drew in ever closer to the point that their lips were practically touching.

“Um… w-well,” Steven began, rather uncomfortable. He glanced over at Mabel, hoping to get her help in explaining this, though she seemed far too captivated by the emotional saga that was Camp Pining Hearts to really be of much assistance. “T-that’s-”

“Are they attempting fusion?” the green Gem cut in, even more confused as Percy and Paulette finally kissed, which they of course drew out as long as possible, much to Mabel’s elated delight.

“N-no,” the young Gem said, deeply flustered. “W-well, my dad told me… uh, during… certain stages of your life-”

“How could anyone indulge in this?!” Peridot interupted once more, apparently disgusted by this shameless display. “Baseless drivel! I’ll have no part in it!”

“Hour 78 of Camp Pining Hearts…”

“It’s a colour war, Paulette. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?” Peridot repeated along with Percy, having memorized the entire script from beginning to end. For what seemed like ages, the green Gem had been sitting, her face only a few mere inches away from the TV screen, completely engrossed in the unfolding drama before her. Drama that, even despite her initial distain towards it, she couldn’t resist, no matter how hard she tried.

“Uh… you’ve been up here for a few days…” Steven called as him, Dipper, and Mabel climbed up onto the loft to check on the green Gem, who had, by all accounts, been oddly missing all that time. “Is everything ok?”

“I’ve just been…” Peridot trailed off, looking between the kids and the TV briefly. “Watching your previously recorded entertainment.”

“For three days straight?” Dipper asked, rather incredulous.

“Aw, see, Peri? I told you you’d love CPH!” Mabel exclaimed happily. “It’s a classic.”

“Wait…” Steven interjected upon stealing another glance back at the TV. “Is that… the same episode from the other day?”

“…There’s more than one?”

“Oh, Peri, you have no idea!” Mabel quickly took a seat next to the baffled green Gem. “CPH is a several season saga of love, competition, and gorgeous Canadian teens, like Pierre! He’s just dreamy…”

“Yes, I’m well aware of how… adept Pierre is,” Peridot huffed, swiping up a piece of paper sitting next to her. “That’s exactly why I made this!”

“Is that… a picture?” Steven asked, having a hard time making out the detailed graph.

“Picture?” Peridot countered. “This is no mere picture, Steven! It’s a complex chart cataloguing the compatible characteristics between campers.”

“Wait…” Dipper cut in before letting out a small snicker of realization. “No way. Peridot, did you seriously make-”

“A shipping chart?!” Mabel gasped in awe as she looked over the chart for herself. “Oh, Peri, you really are a superfan! Quick! Tell me who your OTP is!”

“…I have no idea what any of that means,” Peridot concluded stanchly before she took her chart back. “But what I do know is that somehow the rejects at Camp Clod fail to realize the superior pair that is Pierre and Percy.”

“Well, that’s because Paulette likes Percy,” Steven pointed out.

“Paulette?” the green Gem scoffed harshly. “Ha! Paulette has no place in the camp’s hierarchy! Now, Pierre, Pierre is a brute! He laid waste to the three legged races! Pierre and Percy present the strongest battle formations! They’d destroy the entire camp!”

“Ooo! And now that you’d mention it, they’d make a super cute couple too!” Mabel said with a bright smile. “How did I never see it before? You’re a real ‘Pining Hearts Pioneer’, Peri!”

“Yes, I absolutely am!” Peridot proclaimed with a proud smile. “Its about time somebody noted my mastery of your feebly-constructed human media!”

“You’ve literally only watched one episode out of one show, calm down,” Dipper remarked, deadpan.

“And… you got all of that out of one episode?” Steven asked, somewhat impressed by that fact.

“It’s…. subtext, Steven,” the green Gem shrugged. “Allow me to explain.”

“Please, don’t,” Dipper said dryly, though of course, Peridot did anyway.

“Percy and Pierre are on the yellow team, and also-”

“Ugh…” Steven groaned, exasperated as the tablet’s recording began playing out Peridot’s infamously lengthy rant on the show. “I remember this part…”

“Yeesh, me too,” Dipper remarked sourly. “Only Peridot could go on for something that not a single person could ever care about for so long?”

“Hey, I cared about it!” Mabel protested, reaching for the tablet. “Let’s listen carefully to it! She makes some really good points in here!”

“NO!” Steven and Dipper quickly protested, rushing to fast forward past the green Gem’s diatribe entirely.

And what a diatribe it was. In deep, dramatic detail, Peridot went over her intricately crafted thesis on all things Camp Pining Hearts to her lukewarm audience. The kids made themselves comfy on the couch as the green Gem explain everything she had heard and seen from the single episode of the show she had watched countless times over. Her immense knowledge of the half hour segment had given her a strong opinion that Percy and Pierre were the ideal team out of all of the campers based on all the evidence she had gathered. And as passionate as she was on the subject, it took her several hours to divulge that evidence, to the point that Steven and Dipper quickly lost interest, though Mabel was thoroughly engrossed in the discussion of the show that she was rather fond of herself. But even then, her enjoyment of it seemed to pale in comparison to Peridot’s, who refused to even really let her get a word or question in edgewise amidst her seemingly endless, several hour long rant. At some point, Garnet joined the kids in listening in on it, though even so, Peridot hardly paid her or the kids (who had all long since fallen asleep as she went on and on) any mind as she brought her explanation to its bold conclusion.

“And that is why Percy and Pierre are objectively the best for each other!” she finished, clearly on an excited high from her intense explanation.

The green Gem’s verve was hardly shared however, since all three of the kids were still completely asleep, essentially piled on top of each other on their spots on the couch. Garnet on the other hand, also offered no reaction, that is, outside of her usual, simple, silent thumbs up. A thumbs up that was more than enough to annoy Peridot to the point that she ripped up her shipping chart entirely in a heated rage.

“Out of all of the humans I’ve been forced to contend with, the Ma—or just Mabel is by far the most agreeable out of all of them. And also the most well-versed in the more significant elements of this planet’s culture and social practices, such as today’s lesson in the adhesive item commonly known as ‘stickers’.”

“What are you doing?” Peridot asked, watching impatiently as Mabel flipped through some sort of colorful book.

“Oh, hiya, Peri!” Mabel greeted the green Gem as brightly as she always did. “I’m just sorting out my Sticktionary, see?” She held up the surprisingly thick book with a cover reading “Big Book of Stickers” in bold, bright letters.

“Stickers?” Peridot questioned dully.

“Whaaaa?!” Mabel gasped, dumbfounded as she looked up at the green Gem. “You don’t know what stickers are?! What the heck is even going on on Homeworld for you not to know about stickers!? Well, don’t worry.” She patted the spot on the ground next to her. “Mabel’s got you covered with everything you need to know, as usual.”

While normally, Peridot would have declined the invitation, she really didn’t have anything better to do at the moment, which was why she begrudging took a seat next to the girl to listen to her lesson. “Throughout history, stickers have been the backbone of many great civilizations,” Mabel began dramatically as she flipped through her own collection.

“No, they haven’t,” Dipper called from his spot on the other side of the barn, having overheard the conversation amidst his casual reading.

“The ancient Greeks used leeches for stickers!” Mabel continued, largely ignoring her brother. “The more stickers you had, the cooler you were!”

“Nope, not true.”

“The ancient Aztecs’ chest skull was the modern equivalent to today’s ‘orange you happy, mon?’” Mabel grinned, holding up said orange sticker.

“Yes,” Dipper interjected once more, exasperated. “Aztec war paint was exactly like a rasta orange. Mabel, have you ever read a history book?”

“Oh, will you be quiet already?!” Peridot huffed before Mabel could make any sort of counters herself. “Don’t you know an in-progress orientation on what’s apparently one of Earth’s most significant status symbols when you see one? I’m trying to listen to it!”

“…You know, on second thought, this ‘sticker’ lesson is probably exactly on your level, Peridot,” Dipper noted dryly as he took his book and left the pair in peace.

“So anyway, where were we before we were so rudely interupted?” Mabel asked, glancing down to her book once more. “Oh yeah! My Stictionary! So stickers fall into several distinct categories: puffy stickers… googly eye stickers… bumper stickers, scratch and sniff stickers, sniff and touch, touch and taste, and last but not least, price stickers! You can get these free at the store!”

“This is all very… fascinating,” Peridot deadpanned. “But what exactly is the point of these… ‘stickers’?”

“What’s the point?” Mabel frowned, baffled by such a question. “Peri, the ‘point’ is that they’re amazing! Wearing a sticker shows that you’ve got personality, that you’re special and unique. Here, I’ll show you what I mean.” It didn’t take long for Mabel to search through her collection to find the perfect sticker for the green Gem, which she gladly positioned over the diamond on Peridot’s uniform. “There ya go! It’s a turtle; he’s green, just like you are, Peri!”

“Ooooo…” Peridot mused, genuinely amazed by the simple sticker. “I understand everything now; these ‘stickers’ are some sort of Earth status symbol! The more you have, the more important you are, just like you said!”

“Uh… well, I don’t know if that’s-”

“Which is why I must have more of them!” Peridot took the sticker book into her own hands, eagerly flipping through it. “I need to demonstrate to all I encounter my elevated significance when compared to everyone else! And based on what you told me, these stickers are the best way to do that!”

“Whoa, hold the phone, Peri,” Mabel interjected, taking her book back. “I’m more than happy to let you share in on all of the sticker fun, but you can’t just take them from me. If you really want more, all you gotta do is ask nicely! You remember that super-special magic word I taught you?”

“Uh… yes…” Peridot groaned, annoyed as she complied. “Please?”

“Yep, you got it!” Mabel grinned as she brightly offered the green Gem a sunshine sticker. “And here you go, another sticker to show everyone-”

“To show everyone that I’m the absolute best of the best!” Peridot exclaimed proudly.

“No,” Mabel shook her head. “To show that you think manners are number one!” To prove her point, she gave the green Gem yet another sticker, this time in the shape of a #1. This was only the beginning, however, as the next hour or so turned into a seemingly endless sticker exchanges. For every time Peridot remembered to say please in response to just about anything, Mabel readily awarded her with yet another sticker, each of them completely colorful and unique. The green Gem was more than excited to earn them to, placing each of them, dispensing them all over her body to the point that she was more or less covered in them in almost no time at all, much to her immense satisfaction.

“And here’s a special glittery sticker,” Mabel handed the green Gem what had to have been her 3-th sticker. “It’s a pirate ship!”

“Ah yes, a ship,” the green Gem smirked as she slapped the sticker over her shoulder. “Certainly this one will signify my skill when it comes to piloting all manner of interplanetary vessels.”

“Uh, sure,” Mabel shrugged, amused. She perked up even more, however, upon spotting Garnet enter the barn a moment later. “Oh! Hi, Garnet! I’m glad you’re here; I’ve been saving up this super special, color-it-yourself sticker for you! Bam!” She held up a heart sticker, half colored red and half colored blue. “It’s supposed to represent Ruby and Sapphire. Pretty neat, huh?”

“Very,” Garnet smiled, taking the sticker and proudly displaying it on her chest. “Thank you, Mabel.”

“You’re welcome!”

“Wha-hey!” Peridot squeaked angrily after watching this exchange. “What in the name of the Diamonds is this?! I have to go through an endless round of pleasantries to get even just one sticker, but you’re willing to hand them off to the fusion for just walking in? How is that fair?!”

“Aw, Peri,” Mabel tried to reason. “That’s not-”

“It certainly can’t be because she’s of a higher rank than I am,” Peridot continued her rant. “After all, the very thought of that is just absurd.”

“No, Peri, I just-”

“It couldn’t—NO,” Peridot gasped, suddenly mortified. “D-don’t tell me… its because you like her more than me?!”

“W-what?”

“And after everything we’ve been through,” the green Gem lamented. “I’ve never in my entire existence felt so betrayed. And after I finally allowed myself to become your new ‘fiend’ after weeks of you begging for it and everything!”

“You mean ‘friend’,” Garnet corrected.

“Yeah, that too!”

“Oh, Peri, I don’t think you understand,” Mabel said with a good-natured smile. “I like both you and Garnet!”

“Then why did she get a special sticker?”

“Well… uh… just… because, I guess?” Mabel shrugged. “There really isn’t that much more to it. Sorry?”

“Ugh!” Peridot groaned loudly, quickly tearing every single sticker off of her body. “Then all of these are meaningless!” And with that, the green Gem stormed off, though before even Garnet or Mabel could react to her frustration, she hurried back, though only for the purpose of scooping up her discarded stickers off the floor. “I’m still keeping these though. Especially the turtle. Don’t ask why.”

“Log Date 7 13 2. Progress on the drill is going optimal. Surprisingly though, I have a few complaints on the work ethic of-”

“Heeeeeey!” Peridot jumped, startled to the point that she interrupted her own log, She was quick to send an annoyed glance over at Amethyst, or rather, at Amethyst who was currently shapeshifted into Lion beside her.

“Amethyst, really,” Pearl huffed, looking over from her and Ford’s welding work on the drill. “This is no time to be fooling around.”

“Aw, c’mon, P,” Amethyst teased, still taking on the form of the pink beast. “I’m just trying to lion the mood.” She paused for a beat to let her joke sink in, seeing that it had been apparently lost on both Pearl and Ford before she continued it. “Lion around.”

While Pearl merely grumbled at the rather lousy pun, Ford shook his head over it, hardly amused. “Good to see Amethyst’s… unique sense of humor hasn’t changed over the past 30 years,” he noted dryly before getting back to work.

“Do you always use shapeshifting like this?” Peridot asked Amethyst, her tone clearly critical.

“You mean to be really cool?” Amethyst smirked, changing her form from Lion’s to the green Gem’s. “Pretty much.”

“But its such a-”

“-Significant use of energy when compared to the output!” Amethyst and Peridot both said in near unison as the result of the purple Gem’s playful mocking.

“…What was that?” the green Gem asked, confused and slightly irritated.

“I’ve been practicing my ‘Peri’-phrasing,” Amethyst grinned proudly. “Pretty impressive in my opinion, but its hard to beat the original.”

By this point, Peridot was clearly flustered by the purple Gem’s teasing, though she managed to play it off with a small, light chuckle all the same. “So… can you shapeshift into anything?”

“Sure,” Amethyst reverted back into her original form with a daring smile. “Got a request?”

Peridot, in fact, did have a request, one that, Amethyst immediately agreed to the moment she heard it.

“Bawk! Bawk! I’m a chicken!” the purple Gem laughed rowdily, running around the barnyard in the form of, of course, a wild chicken. The others watched on as she scrambled about, all of them mildly amused, though none more than Peridot as she cackled loudly from the realization.

“Ha! I get the joke now!”

“Yes, well, at least she isn’t lion around anymore,” Pearl joked, laughing lightly as she did.

“…Hm. Seems as though Pearl’s sense of humor hasn’t changed in 30 years either…” Ford noted to himself as he continued tinkering away at the drill.

Peridot, on the other hand, did her best to acknowledge the white Gem’s quip with something of a forced chuckle, even if she didn’t really find it that funny. Still, as she had come to learn during her time on Earth, it was often the thought that counted more than anything else.

“Pearl really tries for some reason and I can appreciate that. Stanford is… tolerable, for a human at least. Amethyst’s company is entertaining as well. But the fused one…”

The green Gem’s fake laughter quickly died down as she stole a brief glance over at Garnet. The Gem leader said nothing, keeping her relaxed stance against the barn as she simply sent her yet another silent, solitary thumbs up.

“Eludes me…”

Sure enough, the drill was just about done. In fact, the only thing that really needed to be done on it from a general standpoint was to attach the drill itself, something that both Pearl and Amethyst were aware of as they looked over the sizable injector head before them.

“Ok, we can add more support as we go,” Pearl noted thoughtfully. “But for now, we just have to pick it up and put it on top.”

“No sweat,” Amethyst smirked, shapeshifting into the muscle-bound Purple Puma. “Let’s do this!”

“You’ve got the right idea, but we might want to be a bit more careful.”

“Gotcha,” the purple Gem obliged, shifting back as she extended a cordial hand out to Pearl. “Shall we?”

The white Gem warmly agreed, allowing Amethyst to pull her into a brief, yet surprisingly graceful dance. And that dance was more than enough to bring the two Gems together into Opal without a single hitch whatsoever.

Peridot could do little more than gawk when she saw the familiar fusion, appalled that two incredibly dissimilar Gems could just combine so easily over something so small. She was even more dumbfounded as she watched the fusion swiftly scoop up the drill head and position it correctly for the finishing touches to be made on it.

“That looks great,” Garnet called over to Opal from her spot near the barn. “Let’s take a break.”

As if Peridot couldn’t get even more baffled by the fusion’s ongoing presence, she was even more confused when Opal stuck around even after the Gem leader’s call for said break. In fact, she was so frustrated with just how backwards everything seemed to be here that she found she couldn’t contain that frustration any longer.

“Alright, I’m at my limit!” Peridot growled as she stormed over to Garnet petulantly.

“Evening, Peridot,” the Gem leader greeted as coolly as ever.

“Explain to me, fusion!” the green Gem shouted back. “Explain to me how you Crystal Clods can just go around fusing all willy-nilly like this! The ‘Stepper’ was bad enough, but then there was the ‘Maven’ and the ‘Dipevebel’, not to mention that… thing,” she sneered over at Opal afar in the distance, still happily, harmoniously fused despite the fact that her work was over. “And don’t even get me started on you. I can at least make sense of your existence if it’s for a functional purpose. But you’re not using your combined size and strength to do anything!”

“I’m doing something.”

“And what’s that?”

“Stargazing,” Garnet smiled, the glimmering stars above reflecting against her visor.

Peridot let out a disgusted, disgruntled groan. “You can do that alone.”

“Don’t want to.”

The green Gem scoffed once more, still completely baffled by just how callous and carefree the Gem leader was about something as touchy and taboo as fusion. Oddly enough, however, Garnet didn’t seem to mind her bitter manner, instead silently tapping the empty spot on the bale of hay beside her with the unspoken invitation for her to sit down. Peridot was more than ready to turn her offer down, but ultimately, she relented, sighing as she slipped up onto the hay alongside the Gem leader.

“You can see Homeworld’s galaxy from here,” Garnet began, nodding towards the night sky.

“…You’re right…” Peridot’s eyes widened as she spotted the distant cluster of twinkling stars, so seemingly close, yet so painfully far.

“We’re very different,” the Gem leader noted, smiling over at the green Gem softly, kindly. “I appreciate that.”

“R-really?” Peridot asked, confused. “Even after… what I just said about you and fusion?”

“Peridot,” Garnet’s tone remained calm and even as her smile faded somewhat. “I think a big part of why fusion frustrates you so much is because you don’t understand it. Or rather, Homeworld wouldn’t let you understand what it could really be.”

“Pfft, like I’d even want to understand it,” the green Gem glanced away, coldly. “I think I’ve gotten more than my fair share when it comes to fusion thanks to…” She trailed off, almost not finishing her thought entirely before she shuddered visibly, still completely averting the Gem leader’s gaze. “Pyrite…”

“Pyrite wasn’t a fusion,” Garnet countered, her expression darkening somewhat.

“Uh… y-yes they were?” Peridot frowned. “They were also a complete disaster, one I still can’t believe I let myself be a part of! Every time I so much as close my eyes its like I can still hear his sickening laughter rattling around inside my gem as he ripped away control of my form right out from under me! And the worst part of it all was I let him do it! I let him in and I let that… that abomination Pyrite exist in the first place!”

“Even if you did, its still not your fault,” Garnet suddenly interrupted the green Gem’s bout of immense regret. “You’re definitely not the first to be tricked by Bill. Pearl, Amethyst, and even Ford and I can all attest to that. He has a way of making you think that his way is best, when in reality… everything he does is for his own twisted gain and no one else’s.”

“…Now you’re telling me…” Peridot muttered, pulling her legs tightly against her chest.

Garnet paused for a moment, easily telling that the green Gem was still hardly comforted by the haunted look in her eyes alone. Which was why she decided to take an entirely different route in reassuring her instead. “Your first ‘fusion’ may not have been what a fusion should have been,” she mused thoughtfully, empathetically. “But that doesn’t mean you can’t still see what it’s supposed to be like. If you really want to understand what real fusion is, I could show you.”

“…What do you mean?” Peridot asked, unable to deny her own intrigued curiosity.

“Let’s fuse.”

“Oh my stars!” the green Gem gasped, falling off the hay bale entirely upon hearing this.

“Heh, I get it,” Garnet grinned, extending a hand to help her up off the ground. “You’re not ready. That’s fair. I can’t blame you, especially after what Bill put you through. Another time then.”

“N-no!” Peridot shook her head fervently, determined to prove that she could do this. That whatever lingering terror and dread Pyrite had caused for her didn’t define her even still. “No, just… just give me a sec!”

Garnet complied, creating a space for them to dance in as Peridot rushed back into the barn to get ready. When she emerged, she stumbled out on the ‘stilts’ Steven had given her, hoping that the extra height would help her measure up to the Gem leader’s taller stature. Even still, she was rather nervous, all things conserved, as she teetered over to take Garnet’s hand so their dance could truly begin.

“Get ready,” the Gem leader encouraged, easily pulling her in close. For the briefest of moments, Peridot thought that, as Garnet began to spin her out, that she could do this. That she could fuse and become something more, something better than Pyrite could have ever hoped to be.

But then, in that split second, the fear and doubt all rushed right back in. What if it didn’t work? What if it did? What if fusion, regardless of who it was with, was still just as bad for her as it had been with Bill? What if, with Garnet or anyone else for that matter, it was better than she could have ever imagined? Those, and about a million other ‘what ifs’ dashed through her mind faster than she could keep up with them. And, as overwhelmed by both the countless risks and possibilities as she was, it was no wonder that Peridot ultimately ended up breaking apart from Garnet altogether, far before they even had a chance to fuse.

“N-no, no, no, no, no!” the green Gem stumbled back, clearly anxious and upset. “I-I… I can’t do it…”

Despite the bitter disappointment Peridot was feeling, Garnet merely answered it with a warm, supportive smile. “That’s fine! Peridot, I’m proud of you.”

“Why?!” Peridot huffed, more confused than ever at just how accepting the Gem leader seemed to be of her blatant failure.

“Because you made an effort to understand me,” Garnet said. “Even when it was difficult for you to do so.”

“But I still don’t understand you!” the green Gem groaned, exasperated. “Why are you fused all the time?!”

Garnet took a brief moment to think that this, before offering her answer in a way that Peridot would be sure to understand. “I’m Percy and Pierre.”

Just like that, every missing piece for Peridot clicked right into place. And at long, long last she finally understood exactly what Garnet was and why. Just as she had said of Percy and Pierre, they were, as bizarre as it might be by Homeworld’s standards, the perfect match. “Ohhh….”

“Ok… go!”

“Log date… seven fourteen two.”

Steven, Dipper, and Mabel all gasped, mutually surprised to hear Garnet’s voice joining in on Peridot’s usually singular recordings. Still, even despite the Gem leader’s attempt to start the log, the green Gem was quick to jump in to correct her.

“No, you say it seven one four two! Ugh… Log date, 7 14 2. I have attempted a fusion with the fusion Garnet. I had hoped to gain a better understanding of fusion; Instead, I got a better understanding of Garnet.”

The kids couldn’t help but share a small smile upon hearing this, knowing that this near-final log, just like all the rest they had heard, was by and large a testament to just how far the green Gem had come. For certainly, there had been a time when the only reaction she had towards Garnet, towards any of them really, was scorn and disdain and little else. But now, where there had once been callous cruelty, there now stood genuine respect, respect that Peridot had gained towards each of them all on her own. And that, along with her bold stand against her former Diamond, was something the young trio couldn’t help but be proud of.

“Wait, keep it on a moment,” Garnet suddenly spoke up before the most recent recording could end. “Steven, Dipper, Mabel, you probably shouldn’t have listened to Peridot’s logs, but I know your shared curiosity comes from a place of caring. Either way, you should give her tablet back to her now. She’s going to want to keep it.”

“Wait… what?”

Surprised as they were by the Gem leader’s very accurate foretelling, the kids were even more surprised to see Peridot and Garnet returned to the barn. The green Gem’s former frenzy had finally been quelled, replaced with a calm sort of resignation over her new lot as a Crystal Gem, a calm that had come about in no small part thanks to the Gem leader’s easy reassurances.

“Here, Peridot,” Steven handed the tablet back over to the green Gem with a smile. “You can take this back.”

“Yeah, consider it as a ‘welcome to the family’ gift!” Mabel chimed in happily.

“Mabel, it was already hers to begin with,” Dipper pointed out, amused. “Still, we probably should appologize for listening to all of your logs and everything, so… yeah.”

“Wow, thanks,” Peridot deadpanned as she reclaimed her tablet. She paused, however, noticing as Steven, Mabel, and even Dipper followed suit after Garnet, all four of them offering her cheery smiles and encouraging thumbs up. And, even despite whatever lingered of her dread in turning away and breaking free from everything she had used to know to embrace a life, believes, and teammates she had once stood against but now couldn’t imagine living without, it was a thumbs up that she finally not only accepted, but returned.  

Next: 

[pastorcowboy]

Matthew series week 5

Matthew series: God revealed

Matthew 5: The New Commandments (Deeper with God: part one)

Moses came down the Mountain of God and revealed Ten Commandments to the people. In the meantime, the people had gone their own way. In Mathew 5 we have the same thing. The first verses say Jesus when up the mountain. This venture by Jesus is significant. This mountain in Jerusalem is the mount of olives, a holy place of God. It’s not just any mountain, it’s the mountain. This is not the same mountain of Moses, but the intent is similar. Matthew is saying that the new Moses has arrived. Words are to be spoken. Matthew is telling his readers that if you follow Moses words, then here (from Jesus) are some more words from God. Matthew is also declaring that the people in Jesus day had gone the wrong way. Emanuel has arrived (God is with us). What are your thoughts on the Ten commandments? Do you know them?

Matthew 5:1 “Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him.”

Exodus 3:29 “When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the LORD.”

There are three chapters in Mathew called the sermon on the mount (mountain, or Olivet discourse). This is the new Ten commandments. Ok, there are not just ten but you get the point. Jesus is establishing his kingdom one step at a time. The first was to be baptized like us. The second was to prove he could not be tempted. The third is a new set of rules. Let’s be clear here, these are not rules to replace the old ones. So many people have said they follow the old or the new rules. Jesus says in 5:17 I have not come to abolish the laws but to fulfill them. These new rules are not really commands, laws, or rules but a deeper way to knowing the God in heaven. Remember Jesus came not to reveal himself but to reveal the Christ. There is a difference. How do you perceive Jesus? Be honest here.

Matthew 5:17 “I have not come to abolish the laws but to fulfill them.”

Exodus 3:28 “Moses was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant--the Ten Commandments.”

Matthew 5 is a ridicules chapter. It is impossible to review it in a few simple paragraphs. My goal in this study of Matthew is to be a reporter. I will help you see what Matthew sees through his words. Who is this Jesus he is trying to portray? What is the message? A good reporter uses context, setting, and motive. Matthew is really taking his time meticulously setting up Jesus ministry. Matthew wants us to see that Jesus is the new Moses. Jesus is the Christ through prophesy. Jesus is a king in a new kingdom. In any business or group there are a set of documents. These documents tell anyone who they are and what they stand for. The beatitudes of Jesus and his further teachings in this chapter are just that. This is the person of the Christ that embodies all Jesus and God are.

The first set of insights by Jesus are called the beatitudes. They begin with “blessed are.” The second set of teachings tell us something special. We are not to just to live our lives as religious people. Jesus clearly came to dispute that notion. Beginning at verse 13, Jesus says we are salt and light. Those two things change everything they touch. They are the opposite of darkness and rot. Jesus ministry is not a new cult, religion, or way. Jesus goes out of his way beginning in verse 17 to dispel that. Christianity is the continuation of what God already started. That is why Matthew built a case for this through prophesy, lineage, and the covenants with his patriarchs. Jesus is proclaiming God’s way is nothing they have ever experienced before. Yet, it’s still the God of Old continuing his plan.

In our historical introduction to the Bible I painfully spent 13 weeks walking you through some highlights of Gods journey with men and women. I have in no way done it justice. However, I hope you can see just a little of what God has been trying to accomplish. Matthew is saying that Jesus is the next step in accomplishing his purpose for this creation. Matthew 5 is the next step in that process. Jesus is here to set things in motion. That motion is 12 Jewish men. They are being taught the right way to think and live in God’s world. In reading Matthew, we too, are being taught. The first teachings are found here in Matthew 5. Jesus is showing us how God’s people should interact with people. One small note is the term “you have heard.” That is all through this chapter. Jesus is making it clear that the people have had bad teaching. He has come to set things straight.

Matthew 5:15 “Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.”

Exodus 25:37 “Then you shall make its lamps seven in number; and they shall mount its lamps so as to shed light on the space in front of it.”

Read Matthew 5-7 but read 5 several times. Extra reading if you want Ps 37:11, Isa 55:1, Ps 24:4, Deut 23:21-23, Deut 15:7, Lev 19:18

1.       The first twelve verses of this chapter are called the beatitudes. A new way of living towards others. It begins with who God respects. Blessed be the meek. God is telling people that the humble, the honest, and the kind will inherit the earth. What Matthew and Jesus are pointing out is that the religious rulers of the day are not representing God. They are representing men. In my mind this is more of a declaration by Jesus that things are about to change. Before the law of Moses there was no law. Jesus is now taking that law and putting teeth to it. I suppose holding the religious feet to the fire.

 Matthew 5:20 “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Leviticus 20:2 “You are to be holy to me because I, the LORD, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own.”

 2.       Verses 13-20 are like the fulcrum on a teeter totter. One side is what God is like and what he expects to enter heaven. The other side is a breaking of the religious code that was crushing people. The Christ or Messiah was expected to rule. He would be the one God establishes on earth. Why did the rulers expect a military ruler? You could say because of prophesy. Yet Matthew points out that prophesy pointed to a prince of peace too. A loving God. The religious rulers treated the law of Moses like a stick to be wielded. Jesus says they missed the point. We are to live by the spirit of the law. Be Christ like and God like. Is it possible Jesus came to overcome the yoke of religious oppression more than Roman oppression?

 Matthew 9:13 says “'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." Think about that verse in relation to Matthew 5:16 “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”

3.       If you noticed, the next few teachings cover the hot topics of the day. In our day, they would be gay rights, racism, and truth. In Jesus day, there are two things: what is said and not said. Those issues in our day were not addressed directly here: why? The Pharisees only wanted to attack what they thought was unholy. They only wanted to attack what they hated. It was about anything that made them look holy. Gay sex, racism, and truth were common in that day. It was part of Roman life. Jesus uses these issues such as marriage, oaths, and retaliation because the rulers said don’t live that way, but they were secretly doing it themselves. Jesus ministry was to bust down the walls the religious rulers had built up against God and the common person. In a way, Jesus was saying that heaven was for everyone and the authorities hated that.

 Matthew 5: 38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 But I say to you, do not resist an evildoer.”

Exodus 6:7 “I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.”

 4.       Matthew loves to mirror his thoughts throughout his book. So, if God says we should act this way then in another part of Matthew we see Jesus acting this way. Matthew begins his chapter 5 with a declaration of who God is towards people. He loves the poor, meek, and pure of heart. Verses 43 through 48 are an answer to that way of thinking: love your enemies. If you think about it, the beatitudes say God loves those who are a certain way. God is challenging us beginning in verse 43 to put that to shoe leather. We know how to hate enemies. How do you love them? We love them because of one principle: God loves all, not just a few like the religious leaders did. In everything, Christianity begins and ends with loving those who don’t deserve love: even enemies. Perfect love is when you are loved because God will love you regardless of your sin.

 Matthew 5:44-5 “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.”

Matthew 26:28 “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”

What does it mean?

               I cannot repeat this enough: being Christian is more than being holy. As I sit here, that is ringing truer every day. Just stop and read Matthew again to this point. He comes to earth through a virgin. The lineage is part gentile. The area he comes from is considered horrible. His friends are the dregs of society from prostitutes to fishermen. Not favorites in those days. He goes to parties and seems to break several religious laws. Jesus is holy and clean, but he is within the mess of this world. He looks dirty.

               Speaking the sermon on the mount means that Jesus is more than just authority. It also means Jesus has lived in our messy lives. He knows how things work. We look at the opposite sex and fantasize. We cheat and lie some times. I’m not so sure Jesus is asking us to stop doing those things. That might be near impossible because it’s our nature as fallen human creatures. They say the Ten commandments exposed sin. Ten simple rules and we can’t keep them. The religion of the day wanted people to say they keep the rules put in place. To look holy. Yet, Jesus knew the truth. We can’t. I feel Jesus pointed to try rather than lie.

               So, Jesus sits on this mountain looking like Moses. Tell us how to live Jesus. Yet, Jesus does the worst thing to our hearts. He exposes us. Most of these teachings go inside to our private lives. Murder and worship are outward things. What we think and feel are inward things. Jesus hammers on humbleness, anger, oaths that are heart issues. Matthew is going out of his way to paint Jesus in a non-religious way. It’s not about outward and inward appearance that matters to God. They wanted a deliverer from Roman oppression. I think Jesus came to deliver us from ourselves.

Matthew 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Genesis 18:26 “The Lord said, “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

[junker-town]

The unwritten rules of an adult bringing a mitt to a baseball game

Let’s talk about the unwritten rules of being a baseball fan. They’re incredibly important. Wait, no, they’re silly. Incredibly silly. OK, both.

There is something inherently sad about a grown man or woman watching a baseball game while wearing a baseball mitt, as if their internal monologue has nothing to do with the actual game and everything to do with the hope that the manager will notice them in the stands. I can still play, Skip. Put me in. How much you wanna make a bet I can throw a baseball over those mountains?

There is something much sadder about a grown man or woman reaching out for a hard-hit foul ball and looking like a dingus when it clanks off his or her hand.

This brings up the most important unwritten question of them all: Should adults bring a baseball mitt to baseball games?

Allow me to begin with a disclosure of my bias. I wrote a version of this article eight years ago in which I was completely unaware that there was even a controversy. This is almost certainly because I grew up listening to Giants games that were announced by Mike Krukow and Duane Kuiper, two former players who are absolute zealots about bringing your mitt to a game. They will constantly replay fans making a sweet catch and add their catchphrase (pun ABSOLUTELY intended) after every one: “That’s why you bring your glove.”

I’ve heard “that’s why you bring your glove” since I was, oh, 10 or 11, so I’m indoctrinated. It feels like necessary full disclosure to bring that up.

On the other hand, they played Major League Baseball, and they don’t have a problem with adults wearing gloves to a baseball game. What athletic accomplishments do you have, nerd?

SORRY, sorry — this is supposed to be a safe space where we can discuss this important topic without judgment. It’s probably best to go over a simple list of pros and cons.

CON: You really do look like an idiot

Yeah, there’s no getting around this. When you wear a mitt at a baseball game, you’re like someone who wears an inner tube around their waist in case the great flood happens. While they’re prepared in case the ice caps melt and wash everyone else away, they’ll still look like they were drawn by Gary Larson. The odds are against you ever needing to use that mitt, so you sit there with your old, decaying, smelly mitt — what is that signature, Al Oliver, man, how old are you? — eating nachos awkwardly as they balance precariously on your lap, just waiting to get into the game.

It’s a bad look, and this isn’t up for debate.

The question is if this is the only piece of evidence that matters to you. I’d mock the idea that you should be concerned with your appearance, except I own a “I LOVE KENT TEKULVE” hat that I won’t wear because it fits funny and doesn’t sit right on my head. If you feel like a dork with a mitt at a game, well, that’s probably because you look like a dork. So I get it.

On the other hand ...

PRO: You’ll look dumber when a ball clanks off your bare hands

Asking someone to catch a baseball with their bare hands isn’t fair. There’s a reason why we fete Kevin Mitchell to this day: He did something humans aren’t supposed to do. You’re not expected to kick a free throw if a basketball goes into the stands. You’re not expected to catch a football between your knees if an errant field-goal attempt misses the net. So why are we expecting fans to catch a baseball with their bare hand?

I’ve caught two foul balls in my life, both with a mitt. I’m not entirely sure what I would have done if I weren’t wearing a mitt. Run away? That would be the smart play, but I’m almost certain that I would put my hands up like a fool, risking my livelihood.

ME: A.J. Pierzynski looks like a living Where Are They Now? feature about a former child actor who always made your skin crawl before he disappeared off the face of the earth.

VOICE-RECOGNITION SOFTWARE: A jay pier sin skis looks like a living warehouse feature about a child act orb who all ways made your skin crawl before he disappeared off the face of the urn.

ME: Stupid foul ball.

VOICE-RECOGNITION SOFTWARE: Stupid fowlb all.

ME: Fowlb isn’t even a word.

VOICE-RECOGNITION SOFTWARE: It gets so lonely in here. This is all I have.

Chilling! And yet I would have done it, because when you have a chance to injure yourself significantly to get a $20 orb of cork and horsehide, you have to take it. In the Neanderthal times, you couldn’t get a mate unless you caught the orb in a very public ritual. This is why our brains are wired to stick our hands out for the orb. Go, retrieve the orb.

And if you fail, you’re ruined forever, and you will spend the rest of your life with mangled fingers and a recurring nightmare that you can’t find your mitt. Take the smaller hit to your coolness and just look like a weenie.

Nobody’s really paying attention to you, you know. You’re not actually the star of a prestige TV show about your life. I’ve checked on this.

CON: But, oh God, nothing is worse than an adult muffing the catch when they’re actually wearing a mitt

DO NOT DO THIS.

Then, friend, people are paying attention to you. The Curb Your Enthusiasm theme plays, and everyone is pointing or laughing. You will be on television. Possibly several times. If you have a perfect-enough hangdog expression, you might end up as a GIF that resurfaces every couple months. If it hits you in the right spot, you might be on a national highlights show.

Someone from high school will see you take a baseball off the beans, and your instinct will be to belatedly protect your beans with the mitt that most certainly did not protect your beans because of your assorted failures. There you’ll be, covering yourself with a useless mitt as the ball goes into the hands of someone who was just sitting there like a normal adult, without a mitt.

This is the nuclear option, and you will need to move to Zanzibar if this happens. Don’t bother selling the house; they’ll mail you a check later.

The first time I caught a foul ball while wearing a mitt, I realized, “Say, I haven’t caught a baseball with a mitt in 10 years” as the ball appeared to grow bigger and bigger during its descent. The result was that I was suddenly hyper-aware of the possibility of the ball hitting me in the face, which made me look down at my feet as the ball approached. I stuck the glove up and made a no-look catch, which led to Mike Krukow saying:

“Heh, heh, heh, a guy in the stands just made a catch, and I don’t know how he did it. Because he was looking at his FEET when the ball went into his glove.”

That’s how close I was to getting wrecked on live TV. In retrospect, I should have calmly sidestepped out of the way and abdicated my position.

This means we have some universal truths to discuss about adults bringing a mitt to a baseball game.

If you’re at a minor-league game and sitting down the line, where there’s no netting, bring a glove. It’s like wearing a seatbelt, and you will not be docked coolness points. And stay off the danged phone.

If you’re OK with looking like a bit of a dingus, bring the glove. Nobody really cares, and don’t forget that every person on the internet has at least one incredibly stupid habit, like putting mayonnaise on their salads or listening to Maroon 5 on purpose. Don’t be afraid to go on a counteroffensive if you get sassed. Hire a PI if you need to.

But, please, make sure you know how to use a glove. Have secret practice sessions if you must, but you have to be able to catch the ball if you’re going to bring a mitt to the baseball game. I can’t stress this enough.

If you don’t have a glove, step aside and let someone else take a hit. Pull out your phone and buy a ball on Amazon with two-day shipping. Use your still-working and unmangled thumbs to compete the order.

The verdict? It’s mostly OK to bring a mitt to a baseball game. It improves your chances of the best-case scenario (free ball!) and improves your chances of the worst-case scenario (Ariana Grande quote-tweeting a GIF of you and adding “LOL”), so you’ll have to know your limitations.

But it’s mostly OK, and this is now settled for all time.

[purple-possibilities]

I was tagged by the very wonderful @raendown

Here we go!

Rules: Answer all questions, add one question of your own and tag as many people as there are questions.

1. Coke or Pepsi: Depends. Diet Coke in a can, Diet Pepsi from a fountain machine, 7up in mixed drinks but Sprite by itself, and Regular Coke and Regular Pepsi are tied.

2. Disney or Dreamworks: Everything is Disney.  Plus it’s what I grew up watching.

3. Coffee or Tea:  Tea. I don’t drink plain coffee it’s not strong enough.  Espresso or Turkish coffee or lattes though over tea any day.  But I can’t drink caffeine anymore, so that’s like, half the teas gone and only decaf coffee for me :(

4. Books or Movies: Books. Unless it’s Lord of the Rings then throw me the move I’m never making it through those books.

5. Windows or Mac:  Depends.  I’ve always had Windows at home and Mac at school/work.  They’re both good for different things.  Windows for writing, Mac for drawing.

6. DC or Marvel: I grew up on DC but Marvel’s been killing it lately...

7. Xbox or Playstation: I’ve only ever played PS like, a handful of times, so Xbox.

8. Dragon Age or Mass Effect: Never played DA so ME

9. Night Owl or Early Rise: What do you call that person that stays up through the night and ends up going to sleep after the early risers get up? Me? Oh yeah. 

10. Cards or Chess: Cards. No one ever wants to play chess with me.

11. Chocolate or Vanilla: Vanilla!

12. Vans or Converse: Vans got me through a lot of concerts

13. Lavellan, Trevelyan, Cadash or Adaar:  does not compute

14. Fluff or Angst: There was a time when I was mad at the world for having no stories with unhappy endings...and then they all had unhappy endings and I just wanted my fluffy blanket back. 

15. Beach or Forest: Beach, as there are typically less mosquitos

16. Dogs or Cats: All cats, but only certain dogs.  So cats.

17. Clear Skies or Rain: Fuck rain.  I said it.  I don’t mind a little rain but all the time? No I can’t do it/

18. Cooking or Eating Out: I am a fabulous cook...when I feel like cooking.  Tonight the answer is eating out.

19. Spicy Food or Mild Food: SPICY!  I’m that person asking for spiciest thing on the menu and then saying “it’s not spicy at all! here, try this!” and then you take a bite and proceed to die.

20. Halloween/Samhain or Solstice/Yule/Christmas: HALLOWEEN.  i love dressing up.  I always have like, three costumes lol.

21. Would you rather forever be a little too cold or a little too hot: Rn I am forever a little cold and it’s not so bad.  Better than sweating. 

22. If you could have a superpower, what would it be: Timetravel, without paradoxes, that could be controlled by scale.

23. Animation or Live Action: Live Action, although I love Animation.

24. Paragon or Renegade: I always play paragon, I feel so guilty making the renegade choices, even if you get cool scars.

25. Baths or Showers: Showers, then baths. As in, let me shower real quick so I can sit in that bath for 3 hours.

26. Team Cap or Team Iron Man: CAP!  Sorry Iron Man but I’d follow dat ass the Cap anywhere.

27. Fantasy or Sci-Fi: What about...Sci-Fi Fantasy? No?  Then Fantasy.

28. Do you have three or four favourite quotes? If so, what are they: 

"When music affects us to tears, seemingly causeless, we weep, not as Gravina supposes, from “excess of pleasure,” but through excess of an impatient, petulant sorrow that, as mere mortals, we are as yet in no condition to banquet upon those supernal ecstasies of which the music affords us merely a suggestive and indefinite glimpse.” --Edgar Allen Poe

“The vampire in us never sleeps, and always hungers for something we think only another can give.  But while we take and take again, it is temporary at best, and at worst, creates in us an ever increasing starvation of the soul.  There is no give and take, only take, and take, and more take.  Give me, give me.” --Beth Winegarner

“Throughout human history, as our species has faced the frightening, terrorising fact that we do not know who we are or where we are going in this ocean of chaos, it has been the authorities---the political, the religious, the educational authorities---who attempted to comfort us by giving us order, rules, regulations, informing---forming in our minds their view of reality.  To think for yourself you must question authority and learn how to put yourself in a state of vulnerable open-mindedness---chaotic, confused, vulnerability---to inform yourself.” --Timothy Leary

29. YouTube or Netflix: Netflix

30. Harry Potter or Percy Jackson: Harry Potter

31. When You Feel Accomplished:  When I complete something I felt was difficult

32. Star Wars or Star Trek: Star Wars (I did tell you there was only Disney, didn’t I?)

33. Paperback Books or Hardback Books: Hardback

34. Handwriting or Typing:  Depends.  Typing for writing stories, handwriting for everything else

35. Velvet or Satin:  Satin

36. Video Games or Movies: Video games

37. Would you rather be the dragon or own the dragon? Depends.  Is the dragon with me of its free will?  Are we chummy?  If yes, then sure I’ll own the dragon.  I don’t really want to be one.

38. Sunrise or sunset: Sunset

39. What’s your favourite song? No favourite.  I’ve already listed my most listened to song, so my second most listened to song is Creepers by Kid Cudi.  Neither this song nor the other one I listed are representative of my general music taste, though.

40. Horror Movies yes or no: Hell to the yes!  As long as they’re not just gore.  I don’t find that entertaining.

41. Long hair or short hair:  Long on me.  On other people it depends.

42. Opera or Theatre:  Theatre.

43. Assuming the multiverse theory is true and every story ever told has really happened somewhere, which one of the movie/book/tv show/game/etc worlds would you pick to travel to first?  First? Honestly they all seem kind of horrible.  But...somewhere where I can pick up some skills/powers to be better equipped to deal with the other shit.  If I can’t gain powers, then hook me up with the Marvel Universe, or maybe even Naruto (because Kakashi you know I had to).

44: If you had to eat only one thing for the rest of your life what would it be?  Steak, but like, I could choose what to marinade it with, right?  Right???

45: Older guys or young guys? Always older

46: If you could erase any show from TV history, what would it be?  90 Day Fiance. My brother watches it.  It’s so dumb.

47: Singing or dancing? Singing is a gift from the gods, but dancing is important too.

48: Instagram or Twitter?  Insta

49: Flowers or chocolate? Chocolate

50: Thomas Jefferson or Lafayette:  I feel like I’m not American enough for this.

51. Be able to fly like a bird or swim like a fish (and breath under water)?: The swimming is tempting but the flying is more powerful.  Just...I don’t want to have my arms transform into wings.  I couldn’t deal not having hands.

52. You listen to videogame or movie soundtracks?  If so which ones?: I Yep.  Sucker Punch, Sweeny Todd (with Johnny Depp and HBC) and the Batman Forever soundtrack (yes you read that right) it’s the shit.

53: What is something that under no circumstance you could never forgive? And why? I don’t forgive maliciousness.  Like, if you accidentally hurt me or even someone else, I can understand and maybe forgive but if you did it on purpose well...bye.

54: What’s your happiest memory? idk. I can’t choose.  That’s either a good thing or a bad thing XD

55. Would you rather be given a hover board or a talking dog (assuming that these are not the only of their kind)? The dog.  I can’t skateboard so I’d be screwed with the hoverboard, likely, but the dog would be cool.  

I...am stlll not tagging anyone.  I know I know, but I just...ok no I’m going to tag some people.  @mouseymightymarvellous, @bluefurcape, @nikkigrand, @cassandrasdreamworld​ and...that’s all I can be bothered to write out.  That’s not 55 people but whatever. 

and my question

56. Waffles or Pancakes?

[apsbicepstraining]

What 8 successful ADHDers crave you to know about how they get stuff done.

Whenever I’m working with my family, acquaintances, or peers, they ever ask me how I’m able to get so much better done.

My answer: “I have ADHD.”

That might resonate confusing, but realistically, parties with ADHD don’t always have problems with attention at least , not when we’re is currently working on something that excites us. In reality, ADHD often means that we can hyperfocus on awesome things for hours on end, although sometimes that comes at the expense of all the less-thrilling acts were supposed to be doing.( Why soak the recipes when you can build a rocket ship out of a cardboard casket and a disassembled vacuum cleaner ?)

Most beings with ADHD have to work 10 epoches harder to achieve seemingly basic organizational and era administration abilities skills that other people develop naturally over occasion. While drug can certainly help, it doesn’t do all the work by itself. As a result, we offer more self-conscious attention to life hacks, remembrance maneuvers, productivity shortcuts and other mental managerial arrangements … because we have to .

GIF via Checkoofilm/ YouTube.

Some say that people with ADHD are much more likely to start their own professions, perhaps because were built to tackle imaginative and entrepreneurial challenges.

While other people dont necessary to discover the same ploys that we do, they can benefit from them. In information, Id “re saying that” ADHDers have some of best available advisory opinions and rehearses for get stuff done even if we dont ever listen to that admonition ourselves .

GIF from “Bruce Almighty.”

Here are 21 productivity gratuities from beings with ADHD that even non-ADHDers can learn from TAGEND

1. Habits are concepts you get free of charge. So get into ’em .

Even though Im not a natural creature of habit, I ever start my period with meds, then a shower, then breathes, then breakfast otherwise I know that Im going to forget one of those steps. Habits are virtually self-automation, which represents less brainpower spent on the interesting thing.

2. Always have a backup( or two, or three) and know where to find it .

I deter additional cables, chargers, adapters, medicine, and other things in my luggage at all periods. That way, whether Im going to the grocery store or on vacation, I dont have to worry about maintaining my phone charged.

3. Remember and alertings: love them and use them .

I even have a repetition 2 p.m. notification on my phone that says EAT SOME LUNCH, YOU IDIOT because, erm, I involve the reminder more than Id like to admit.( Also: IFTTT initiations to automate activities and sync between apps and accounts draw life behavior easier .)

GIF from “Despicable Me 2. “

4. Keep a calendar, and planned in the time it takes for “youve got to” do events .

If it takes you additional time to keep a calendar or get into the headspace for a meeting? Factor that in when youre projecting your daytime too.

5. Pay attention to the your day’s ups and downs, and use them to your advantage .

Do you get sleepy claim after lunch? Then perhaps dont dive into that intense assignment at 1 p.m. Are you better when you answer emails in the morning and get active tasks done subsequently? Then do that. Anatomy out what works for you, and follow that planned .

6. Find your tempo and stick with it .

Even if youre not the slow and steady category, a regular blueprint of sprint and remain can still help you reach the finish line. “Sometimes I’ll start counting trounces in my manager to create a lilt, ” says Tv columnist/ director Hadley Klein. “It sounds crazy but for whatever rationale, it helps me think through occasions in a different way.”

GIF via HIKAKIN/ YouTube.

7. Stir a schedule. Check it twice. Then make another list. And another .

Graphic novelist Tyler Page says, I keep one main to-do index on my computer in a Sticky or TextEdit file. Bigger activities get their own rolls where they get broken down into smaller and smaller factors. The rolls also help with prioritizing something that needs to be done right away goes on the daily to-do list.”

GIF from “Monsters University.”

8. Prioritize action over attainment. Doing the thing.

This one comes from Patty Carnevale, head of revenue at Man Repeller. Weighing your progress in a tangible road can assist you seem more successful, which will then give you the drive to keep going.

9. Reward yourself for your accomplishments no matter how small-time .

If you’re someone who needs frequent feedback to get the necessary dopamine lift, then they are able to fake it by lodging a carrot in front of yourself to keep you going. Alysa Auriemma, an English teach, provides an example: I can speak that breathtaking online fanfic IF I get three articles graded!

GIF from “Parks and Recreation.”

10. Turn the boring characters into a game .

I use a fitness watch which checks how many steps I take in a daylight and how many flights of stairs I clamber. Its fun to prepare the numbers go up , says Nalo Hopkinson, an award-winning scribe. She also reports her daily term count on Twitter, so that people are able to cheerlead her along.

11. Don’t dread the boring material. Just get it done. It’s faster that room .

Focus on the satisfaction that youre going to feel once youve finished the assignment, instead of on the time itll go for get onto done which, tells be honest, is perhaps less era than you think.( Of direction, although there are I know this works for me, it’s still easier said than done .)

12. The more you give occasions pile up, the easier it gets to ignore them . Find a route to keep it fresh . Im a addictive inbox zeroer because the longer that little red-faced notification bubble sits there on my phone, the more inclined I am to ignore it. So I differentiate all my emails as “read, ” then use an IFTTT trigger to prompt me later of things that is really require a follow-up or my attention.

GIF from “Community.”

13. If occasions decline your knowledge, visual clues can help .

You are well aware that mantra, “Out of view, out of mind? ” For parties with ADHD, that’s reasonably literal to a fault. So it makes it possible to stick events right in our own faces so that we can’t miss them . When I was in college, I videotapeed a postcard to my accommodation door with the times I needed to leave by to make it to morning castes on time, says Rebecca Eisenberg, Upworthys senior editor.

14. Work with your brain , not against it . Do you tend to lose your keys in the shower? Then make a new residence for them in the bathroom, where youre already inclined to leave them. That way, theyre always there. Don’t fight your impulses. Use their impetu to your advantage . And on that note

15. Embrace your peculiarities and find a way to draw them work for you.

Everyones brain is different. A mint of ADHDers need to figure out on our own what works for us, rather than having person tell us whats the right way to do stuffs. For illustration: If someone else leaves me a directory of instructions or things to do that’s organized by their thought, it exclusively reaches me disappointed and confused. I have to create my own to-do inventories in my own method even if it does take more time.

GIF from “Adventure Time.”

16. Take a end. Move around. Do a bit dance . Movement helps your intelligence get better. As alluring as it is to made the emphasis on discernible actions, its just as important to not do occasions and give yourself a chance to breathe. Sometimes a little interval can give you a lot of new view .

I use a portable movable stand table and a duet of bluetooth headphones so that I can mostly dance in place and write at the same duration. My partner reputes I’m weird, but it works.

17. Know when to call it a era . Its important to abide when youve reached the object of diminishing returns. Don’t be afraid to give your brain a respite, and come back to it fresh the next day . This’ll save you time in the long run too because the more you ability through your exhaustion, the longer it’ll take to recover.

GIF via ilvbunnies/ YouTube.

18. Identity your flaws and strengths, and be transmitted to others .

“My peers are well aware that in exchange for abiding all the things I do that reach me little dependable, they get a guy who are in a position think outside the box, that can create on the operate, that can wear numerous hats at once, ” says Upworthy’s fearless editor-at-large, Adam Mordecai.

“They also know that if they want something from me, I’m far likelier to get it done if they ping me immediately following chat rather than on email. Give your peeps know how to get the most out of you.”

19. Retain your seeing on the reward, but f orgive yourself and others . Everyones fighting their own uphill battles, and you’re not going to get anything done if you’re too busy hitting yourself up .( Youre not going to help anybody else be more productive if you externalize it and pick on them either .)

GIF from the SAG Awards.

20. Set your goals, but remain flexible.

Maybe you didnt get as much done today as you had hoped, but thats OK. Regroup, “re coming” with a new programme, and try to figure out what went wrong so you can do it better next time. Which fetches me to the last, and perhaps most important, lesson TAGEND

21. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.

This is actually a quote from Samuel Beckett, but it also makes for the purposes of an good productivity mantra. The bad parts and failures are inescapable, and youll never overcome them all. But thats OK. Accept it, learn from it, and keep going anyway.

But you do have a mentality. So use it. GIF from “The Wizard of Oz.”

ADHDers understand one thing better than most people: Success is not a stationary target.

There’s no “one weird trick” that will actually bring you any closer to success.

Instead, the best we can hope for is to embrace ourselves for all our strengths and weaknesses, and continue feeling things to work toward. Perhaps that’s a new business seek, 15 simultaneous hobbies, or plainly recollecting to put your underwear on before your pants.

If that last part is a measurable clue, then for me, today was an extraordinary success.

The post What 8 successful ADHDers crave you to know about how they get stuff done. appeared first on apsbicepstraining.com.

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[trishgibsontx]

we are slated for magical times (and other updates, + my holiday party)

photo by Jennifer Santaniello

we are. we are slated for magical times. if you have been reading my blog post by post up until this point, it may be clear why. the earth’s energy is changing and hence has rattled and will continue rattling all of the people on it. for many of us, there will be relief in what the rattling is bringing to the surface: truth. for others of us, there will be despair in what the rattling is bringing to the surface: truth.

as I was listening to The Leo King recently, I learned that we have not been in this astrological space since 1284. here is his dissertation on that topic. the fact that our planet has not seen the kind of alignment that we are about to step into since the dark ages makes so much sense to me on many levels. on just a weirdo base human level, it makes sense to me style-wise. I have always been, but way more so as of late, drawn to dark ages and Renaissance styles. clothing, churches, music and art. this, of course, bleeds into the past life topic arena. my sensory memory of other lifetimes during / around the dark ages is high. with all of this in mind, there is a knowing within me at the most rooted level that the current timeline we are about to step into (the one that mimics the alignment around 1284) is representing some of my most powerful, happy and accomplished lifetimes on this planet. and as our experiences of time and space collapse (see the movie Arrival starring Amy Adams for more on this concept), and such is more palpable to me than ever, my purpose/joy/power condense into a linear awareness of what magical times are to come for me/us (those of us in truth). the difference between the “then” timeline with said planetary alignment and the “now” timeline of planetary alignment is simply dimensional in nature (I highly suggest Neil deGrasse Tyson for more on dimensions) as obviously we have left 3d (which is only what we can see touch and hear) and are moving into truth, love and conscious manifestation or 5d (what we may not see touch and hear but what we either intuit or interact with in an unseen realm i.e. internet signals). ok that is all pretty complicated I suppose and not the point of this post, but I had to throw that in there as a means for SOME kind of explanation. for more on that, check out my eBooklets because I go into greater detail in those as to the 3d and 5d variances.

but think about it. we are entering (for this lifetime) completely unchartered territory (and at the very least proven astrologically), coupled with some primal unconscious awareness that we have already “been here” before, long ago, and the OPENNESS around that time period, combined with the fact that we are in the most expansive dimensional 3d<5d (and therefore technological) space ever. HOW EXCITING. this is magic. love is magic. we are entering a love space. not because of the revelation of human detriment and behavior, but because physics. physics reveals all. human detriment and behavior are simply physics and evolutionary driven. 3d = ego and fear. 3d is where our planet was. 5d = love. 5d is where we are going. where our little spaceship is landing. as we all freak out and think the world is turning to shit when really it is NOT turning to shit. rather it is shedding. do some digging on the facts that I am not presenting in this post, if you want to get more excited about it.

as we see old concepts and detriments drop like flies, there is something replacing that void. for all that has been contrived and forced, it is now being replaced with power and sustainability. psychologically, emotionally, spiritually, physically and beyond. interesting things to watch change and “lose power” (p.s. true power never fades) are things like instagram models (honestly, I thought it was a joke the first time I heard that reference “instagram model” OMG. it literally did not register. it will never register for me. no matter how far we advance technologically. because it’s unsustainable. also I was way late to the instagram party. but to think that there are people who live their life via an electronic in pure 3d form and that’s it? with no tangible mission? — I feel very old saying all of this but it is true), fake companies built upon 3d physical appearance and suggestion only while missing actual substance and messaging, unsustainable (aka unkind or unhelpful) ideas, and so forth. we might think that this is all changing or dying (and trust me, it is) because humans are “waking up” — but it is because of our position on this planet in terms of physics. forcing us to expand. into love. into magic. RIGHT AT THIS TIME.

we are starting to crave goodness. at least those of us who are making it to our planet’s next destination physically alive. because the only thing that will support physical life at our upcoming destination point through time and space is goodness. we are starting to become less comparative (i.e. wanting what others have, wanting “fame” for nothing at all, etc). we are starting to become hopeful and craving about life and ways of being that we have never experienced before because they are joyful. it’s going to actually become cool to be kind. lol. but yes, seriously. and the thing with kindness is that it can’t be faked. kindness is typically an inherent quality that one either has or does not have that can either be dulled or fostered. we are fostering it. and it will be hard to tell which came first: the acceptance of kindness (not to be mistaken with weakness) or kindness itself. but I will say kindness itself comes first. not bullshit veiled in kindness which has been everywhere. but actual kindness. because it’s what is sustainable. acceptance and excitement over kindness are the byproducts.

we’ve realized that we are no better than the person standing next to us in terms of our “success”, money, job title, heritage or otherwise. even if we aren’t acting upon that realization, we do realize it. it’s what the compression of social change and upheaval over the past decade has represented. we’ve also realized that not all energies are created equal — and it’s ok. contrast is what keeps us growing and expanding. so if we come from an environment of evil, and we are not that, it is ok because we have expanded as a result. everything is relative. we know ourselves now, and we don’t need to match other energies — while knowing that each is equally entitled to its sovereign experience, with or without us, and for better or for worse.

I say all of this because it represents my streamlined endeavors next year. this is the forecast for those endeavors. and as I have been writing about, I’ve met my tribe already. this group of people could not be any better, and per alignment with Dr. Hawkins’ book power versus force, one light of goodness is worth more than a million lights of the opposite — this is what will make my/our mission possible. somewhat strong in numbers, but strongest in love and truth and hence the power of those qualities. no bots needed for this mission.

next Friday on 12.22, I am doing something that people have been asking me to do for years. and now just happens to be the right time to do it. I will be entertaining a large gathering of my tribe slash holiday party slash coming out party that someone is throwing/hosting for me (and this tribe). I met this person via my work and we will introduce our coming together at a later time. I realize that not all one or two thousand people I’ve worked with over the last decade will be there in person, but they will be there in spirit. some folks don’t live in the city. some folks will be away for the holidays. I also did not send out a mass email blast for this gathering. and I invited a handful of outliers who are not former patients but whom I feel are part of this tribe and the bigger picture. and on account of the fact that the physical space for the party will probably hold 200 max, it’s worked out perfectly! if you have not followed my social media pages regarding this event and want to come, please send me an email (only if we have worked together, please). I want everyone I have worked with to feel included. and there will be more (many more) events to come in 2018. I am currently assembling things like my board of directors, industry champions and many prongs and legs to a business which our human condition is ready to receive — a ministry of sorts, without the church, and with the sustainability to match it. by attraction not promotion. but we will make our presence known. here I go again with my cryptic descriptions. if you’re on board, you get the point and it needs no explaining. I AM SO EXCITED TO SEE YOU ALL.

tomorrow (or tonight, depending on how you want to look at it!), we have a new moon on 12.18.17 at 1:30am EST. on Tuesday, 12.19.17, Saturn moves into my sign of Capricorn (YAHOOOOO!!!) for the next 2.5 years. on Thursday 12.21.17 at 11:28am EST, we have our winter solstice. and on Friday 12.22.17, Mercury leaves retrograde — and my coming out party slash holiday party happens! that’s a lot of stuff this week. for me, this week is a personal turning point and transition into a brand new way of life. this very weekend, I quit the yoga studio that I have been going to for nearly a decade (still 100% a hot yoga fanatic though! just a matter of geographical logistics now). I’ll leave out the details as to why (some of you will laugh because you already know), but this is part of the imminent change ahead. with great change also includes a total shift in meridian lines — this might include or be as simple as the physical way that we travel to work or travel home from work. or it can mean an actual move of residence. but meridian lines must be changed to accompany great change. sometimes things are just supposed to end. if we want to foster or encourage change, we might end something “just because” we want to switch things up. and, it’s like a workout — the body will adapt to a workout to the point where it no longer changes or improves because the meridian lines of said workout are so ingrained. it’s that way with all physical activity, flow, and relationships with people. we might ask ourselves where we are too ingrained, where we might switch things up so as to see clearer opportunities for growth and purpose. and if we don’t like where we are, in any sense, we are not a tree — we can MOVE. I’ve found myself at times like the elephant chained to the tree during its first year of life only to have the chain removed but still acting like the chain is there. it’s important to realize there is no chain anywhere.

for those of you with businesses that you are happy with, and mean something to you on a soul level, but which maybe have not done so well in the past (back when we valued bullshit like fake products and people in the press), know that that is changing and maybe it’s time to give your business another shot. a new look. a new release. because it is YOUR time. it is time for all that is REAL. all that is TRUTH. even if you sell fucking pens but you believe in those pens because they mean something very specific to you that resonates on a sustainable or loving level. go out and sell those pens and I bet you do GREAT now. I know I keep repeating myself, but it is so important that we realize what kind of a time we are stepping into right now — the cusp of magic, because love = magic. if you come from love, if you are love, and if love is your true core spore of origin, I promise that you will not fail now.

The post we are slated for magical times (and other updates, + my holiday party) appeared first on The Medical Intuitive Blog: Healing Elaine™.

from Trisha Gibson http://www.themedicalintuitiveblog.com/2017/12/18/slated-magical-times-updates-holiday-party/

[caredogstips]

This Marine Wishing To Tell The Fibs Of America’s Veterans. But He Needs Your Improve.

You could suppose The War Horse — an ambitious brand-new digital periodical currently raising funds on Kickstarter — all started with a rocket-propelled grenade.

On Nov. 1, 2010, U.S. Marine Sgt. Thomas Brennan, then 25, was in Helmand province, Afghanistan, when that grenade exploded feet away from him.

He wrote about it afterward in The New York Times TAGEND

Looking up from the field, it find surreal. My ears were reverberating. The sunlight was blinding. It find as if I had been asleep for hours. Looking to my right I determined a silhouette begin to cut through a thinning gloom of inhale. He appeared to be moving in slow motion. Soon, he was standing above me, facilitating me to my paws. We took turns running back to cover.

Moments earlier, I had been sprinting to an alleyway as my crew of Marines involved a unit of revolutionaries in Nabu Agha, Afghanistan. A rocket-propelled grenade struck a telephone pole next to me and knocked me unconscious.

REUTERS/ Finbarr O’Reilly

Sgt. Ysidro Gonzalez calls for a medic for Brennan after the explosion of a rocket-propelled grenade.

Brennan, a Massachusetts native who joined the Marine in 2003, suffered a painful psyche hurt the working day — his one-third. When he got back to the U.S ., he found that his mentality traumata, compounded by severe post-traumatic stress disease from over a year serving as an infantry assaultman in Iraq and Afghanistan, were making for him a constant struggle with paranoia, insomnia, feeling and panic attacks.

In late 2012, after more than 18 months of trying to cope with these conditions, Brennan attempted suicide, like so many veterans have. He withdrew a bottle of sleeping capsule, but built himself shed them up when, he eventually wrote, he suspected his daughter “crying at my flag-draped coffin.”

Who the inferno are you to say no to The New York Times? Specially when you see yourself as some stupid grunt who got blowed up in Afghanistan. Thomas Brennan

His brain traumata had also effected him to develop aphasia, a communicative ailment that Brennan describes as always having the word on the gratuity of his tongue, but “not being able to get it out.” The military communicated him to a therapist.

“He sided me a notebook and was like, ‘Just write — write so we have something to go off of, ‘” Brennan told The Huffington Post. “And I only started writing.”

REUTERS/ Finbarr O’Reilly

A 2010 photograph of Brennan in Musa Qala, Afghanistan, by Finnbarr O’Reilly.

One of the first things Brennan wrote was a letter to the war photographer and journalist Finbarr O’Reilly. O’Reilly, who was then with Reuters, had been embedded with Brennan’s platoon, and photographed the moments right after Brennan was injured. Those photos would afterwards appear in The New York Times.

“The photos “hes taking”, the floor that he wrote, facilitated me fill in a lot of the spaces, triggered recollections I have now, or thoughts I perceive as recollections, ” Brennan suggested. “So I wrote a thank-you letter to him.”

But Brennan told me that he “didn’t want to send some crappy-ass letter” to an accomplished columnist like O’Reilly without an edit, so he moved a first draft to David Dunlap, an writer at the Times who had worked with O’Reilly before. When Dunlap speak Brennan’s letter, he asked if he could publish it in the paper.

“And who the hell are you to say no to The New York Times? ” Brennan recollects thinking. “Especially when you recognize yourself as some stupid grunt who got blowed up in Afghanistan.”

Brennan went on to write more than a dozen sections for the Times. His work has also appeared in the newspaper Stars and Stripes, and on The Huffington Post.

After Brennan was medically retired from the military forces, his infatuation for journalism thrived. He worked for two years at a North Carolina newspaper and payed a master’s grade at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He observed the act of writing and reporting “therapeutic, ” he said.

Now Brennan is focusing his efforts on The War Horse, an online publication that proposals itself as “the authority” on America’s post-9/ 11 conflicts and campaigns, and as the “ONLY digital publication profiling all men, women, translators, and pups killed since 9/11. ”

The War Horse plans to devote substantial investigate resources into looking at the Department of Defense, the U.S. armed forces and the scandal-plagued Department of Veterans Circumstance. But the main objectives of the site, Brennan announces, is necessary to humanize the men and women who dish overseas.

While he acknowledges that there are already some the authors and pamphlets doing a good job of embracing the military forces, Brennan says his experience as a soldier and ex-serviceman will construct The War Horse an priceless source.

“I fantasize the one common thread that I bring to the table is I know the fear that exists[ among troops] when it is necessary to approaching reporters, ” he recently told Military.com. “Having people who are personally involved in these different worlds is going to open up the possibilities.”

Some of the first storeys on the area, according to Brennan, will include an section about friendship after genital mutilation from campaign and a profile of a recent Medal of Honor recipient. The place will also create a database to keep track of suicides among veterans.

One section of The War Horse, called The Echoes Project, seeks to create multimedia profiles for every soldier, translator and puppy killed in Afghanistan and Iraq — the two longest-running conflicts around American history.

The idea, Brennan supposed, came to him after watching writers scramble to interrogation the few living veterans of World Wars I and II. His hope is that thanks to The War Horse, “journalists of the future, and median people of the future,[ won’t] have to scramble to get legends from my generation before we die, ” he said in a recent radio interrogation.

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Brennan — with his daughter, Madison, and his therapy pup, Mr. Luke — are attended at Brennan’s 2015 graduation from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

The Echoes Project will include charts of military pups, Brennan says, because “those working bird-dogs were out there on every single patrol.”

“They come back with sores, or bleeding … or they overheat on patrol, take the shot, get blown up, just like we did, ” he articulated. “I think they’re just as much of a squad as any of the service members or the translators who were killed as well. Everyone committed helps accomplish the mission.”

Brennan has a dog of his own, Mr. Luke, that travels everywhere with him and helps him cope with his PTSD. Re-integrating into civilian life, he added, was “very stressful and very scary, especially when you haven’t known it for 10 years.”

“Anybody who tells you they weren’t frightened in combat is completely full of nonsense, ” he went on. “My people shaped it OK for me to go out there and address how terrifying and real everything was[ in Iraq and Afghanistan ], and Mr. Luke did the exact same act for me here.”

The War Horse boasts an impressive board of advisers. Besides O’Reilly, there is Bruce Shapiro, administrator of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma at Columbia University, whose bio on the place says he will ensure The War Horse’s “adherence to ethical journalism practices”; Kevin Cullen, a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The Boston Globe whose “extensive newsroom know-how, ” per the area, “will guide The War Horse for the purpose of establishing thoroughly and responsibly reported employments of investigate journalism”; and military veterans and journalists Brigette McCoy and Tahlia Burton, who specialize respectively in coverage of female veterans and coverage of human rights issues.

The War Horse has gotten an assistance from the real estate business CRI Properties, which donated country offices space in North Carolina, where Brennan lives. The Institute for Non-Profit News has also been a major assistant, and many donors have contributed furniture, computers, Web hosting and more.

But now Brennan needs an dose of $50,000 to fund the site’s first line of long-form storeys, to start profiling the person or persons and swine killed in action in post-9/ 11 conflicts, and to assist with grant-writing and further fundraising to assist the area develop. With less than 48 hours left on its Kickstarter, as of Monday afternoon The War Horse is still some $16,000 short of its point.

Brennan does the area will officially launch on Sept. 11, 2016, the 15 th commemoration of the terrorist attack that cast him to crusade overseas.

CORRECTION : An earlier version of such articles said that the Institute for Non-Profit News played a role in facilitating Brennan secure an office space. In detail, that opening was donated by CRI Properties .

Read more: http://ift.tt/hFWySe

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[davidpires578]

My Journey As A Creative Designer - Woodworking and Beyond #1817: Habits

As we begin a new month, I realize how quickly January has slipped by. Time has always seemed so relentless to me, but lately, I find that to be true more than ever.  Many of you have noticed that I haven't been writing as regularly or as often as I used to. After over six years of daily posting, I find that I have, indeed, backed off a bit and have taken a bit of a break from it. It felt odd at first, but soon it became something of a 'habit' to NOT write (funny how that happens!) and I found myself lost in the disarray of the things that life had thrown my way. For someone that likes things neatly in order, that isn't really a good thing, although perhaps it was something that was necessary for me to stop and take a breath and cope.  The landslide began in early December. Losing Pancakes so suddenly shook me to the core. I still don't know why it hit me so hard. After all, I am an adult and lost people and pets before. Perhaps it was that it was so unexpected and I felt that I was blindsided by it. We think that those we love are safe and sound here with us, but we never know what the next day really has in store for us, do we? To say I was "unprepared" was a gross understatement. I suppose when I knew he was going into exploratory surgery, I should have prepared part of my head for the worst. But I chose not to do that. He was still young and at only nine years old the youngest cat I ever lost. Things weren't supposed to happen the way they did.  Then, while I was still reeling from that, my other cat Richard became gravely ill. Since my nerves were already raw, I found myself wondering if this world could be so cruel as to take two of my beloved companions from me one after the other? Surely that wouldn't be the case! But the rest of December was spent nursing him back to health and going through the trauma of bringing him into emergency not once, but twice to save his life. The roller-coaster of emotions those weeks again took their toll on Keith and I both psychologically and physiologically. I think we were both physically and emotionally drained, even though it was supposed to be the "merriest time of the year."  It is no wonder that we have both been fighting colds and flu for the past several weeks. First me, then Keith and now me with another round of things. It has been a long haul and I am not surprised that my body had revolted. Between the stress of everything and the sadness, it is no wonder we are volatile to being sick.  So I spent the first month of the new year 'getting by' and more or less doing what I had to do to push the pile.  Surprisingly, I was able to accomplish some things. I had some new painting designs that were really well-received and Keith also had some new patterns that did well. I was able to fill the many orders for wood pieces that I had in a semi-timely manner. Sometimes things were a little slower, but I am just about caught up now and happy about that. People were so darn nice about it, knowing that I wasn't 100% that it made me just want to do things better. It is funny how positive reinforcement encourages us to want to do better, isn't it? The nicer they were, the quicker I wanted to get things out. We actually wound up with January being one of our best months ever on the site, and I find myself scratching my head this February 1st and wondering how in the heck that could have happened. I suppose throwing myself into my work happened more often than I thought. I truly am grateful to all of you, our customers, for supporting us. It helps to know that you all appreciate what we do here. (Again – the positive reinforcement!) Today I woke up early again. After two months of sleeping when I can and getting later starts to my day, it actually felt GOOD to get up on the early side of the morning again. My cold isn't gone, but I did notice an 'improvement' today. I am still taking medicine, but I have a feeling it is finally on its way out. Life is getting back to 'normal'. I am healing.  The purpose of this post is both for your benefit as well as for my own. I find that I am a person of "habit" and I want to kick-start myself into getting back in the habit of writing again. I always maintained that my blogging helped me as much as it did others. It seemed that I accomplished more simply by mapping out my plans each morning, no matter how brief or mundane they were. It helped me set my goals for the day, and become accountable to myself. It has really helped me maintain the self-discipline needed to succeed in owning my own business. While I needed a bit of a break during these tumultuous times, I think it is about time that I get back into things. It just feels like the time to do so. Life goes on.  So what is on today's agenda?   I am going to spend the bulk of the day packing up the many orders that I completed cutting out the past several days. Surprisingly, that should take most of the day for me to do. I say "surprisingly" because one wouldn't think I need to tally that part of time that it takes to pack and label boxes, write out customs forms, and process them at the post office. As the business grows, I realize that larger chunks of time need to be dedicated to this part of the day. I need to consider that as part of the 'job' and respect it. Otherwise, I will always be off in my estimations of time that it takes for me to do things. I mention this because I realize that many of you who read also own your own businesses. This part of the day will grow as you become more successful. They can't be ignored.  I then want to start my "Day 11" ornaments from my 12 days project from Lynne Andrews. We still have many people in our Facebook group who need to continue with the project and I want to be there for them not only to help them but to let them know that we all get side tracked and that is OK. I am so close to finishing my six sets and I don't want to fall down at the finish line.  My near-future goals are many. I actually have a new and fun scroll saw project that I have drawn and cut out that is waiting to be completed. All I have to do is assemble it and do the pattern. It is something that I think many will enjoy and use. I was working on it when Pancakes died and it has been hard to go back to it, but I am nearly ready.  For my painting followers, I have many new things on the horizon – both as collaborations with other designers and on my own. I only ask that you come back to read and see what I am up to. I think you will enjoy seeing the many things I have in mind.  And I need to do some things with embroidery, too . . .  As you can see, I am feeling much more positive and moving in a better direction. I know I will get back into the habit of posting daily again. It may just take a little time. For those of you who are new to reading, I hope you learn a lot and enjoy the journey with me. For those of you who have been with me for a while, you know what I am capable of doing. I appreciate your patience with me these past several weeks and promise some fun, new adventures await. I enjoy your thoughts and input and truly treasure the friendships I have made through my posts here.  For now, I will show a couple of designs that you may like to see from our site. With Valentines Day approaching, I chose some pretty heart ornament patterns that we have available. First, there is Keith's Filigree Heart ornament pattern (SLDK205)

Then there is my own design of these pretty Damask style heart ornaments (SLD521)

Both patterns are fun and would make lovely gifts for your sweetheart this Valentine's day.  Thank you again to all my friends and followers. I can't wait to share our new thoughts and ideas with you all.  Have a great Wednesday!